Unexpectedly Expecting

58: A Home Delivery

Hermione

Exactly a month after the Battle of Hogwarts, I was pruning roses in the Manor gardens when I felt the tell tale sign that my water had broken before I felt any pain at all. Both my doctor and my healers warned me to check for Braxton Hicks contractions, which would become more frequent with the twins moving more into the position of the birth canal. But no, this was a deep ache, and the wetness between my thighs felt almost like I peed myself.

"Shit," I muttered to myself, and then felt the first real contraction. I groaned, and dropped my basket of freshly pruned roses on the grass.

I stood up carefully, and tried to get to the Manor as quickly as possible, truly wishing that I could apparate, because that would make traveling to my bedroom much, much easier.

I stumbled into my bedroom, my bedroom, not the master bedroom, because that was further than my legs could carry me. I made my way into the bathroom, and turned on the shower head to medium hot, my regular water temperature. I undressed quickly until I was naked, and simply relished the feeling of the water falling on to my head and body.

Ten minutes passed, and another deep contraction hit. "Damn it, boys. Don't you do this now. I don't need to be delivering in a shower stall for Merlin's sake. Smocky!"

Smocky popped in, and she looked worried. "Oh, Mistress! Mistress, is it time for the twins to come?"

"It sure looks that way. Where is Master Severus? I need him here," I winced at a brief cramp in my lower back that throbbed there.

Smocky calmed herself down to her credit, but then again, she had already gone through this, having already had Dobby's daughter Mila; it was a pity he would never get to meet her.

"Smocky believes Master is working in his lab at the present time," Smocky answered. "Until then, sit up more, and when the pain hits again, let gravity do the work."

I nodded. "Mm. Does labor hurt just as much for house elves?"

Smocky smoothed back my wet hair from my face, smiling, "Worse. Elves like us have bigger heads as younglings. Smocky felt like she was being torn to pieces when Mila came. But Mila did, and Smocky loves her so much."

I chuckled weakly, "I'm sure you do. It's just my luck that I get pregnant and for my first one, it's a double feature. I must be lucky, I guess, that my husband's swimmers are especially effective, because we weren't even trying."

Smocky rubbed my belly soothingly, "There, there, younglings. Easy does it. Smocky will get Master Severus right away. Until then, try to breathe."

I laughed, but it came out as a wheeze, "I'll try. And if it hurts, I'll just keep reminding myself to never let him touch me like this again so I never get in this predicament."

"Sure, and maybe Peter Pan will swoop in from Never-Never Land and carry Smocky away for a night of unbridled passion," Smocky teased. "That's after she takes out Tinker Bell for...reasons."

I smiled. "I swear you have my husband's gift for sarcasm."

"It's a gift and a curse, Mistress. Now, Smocky will go and bring him here by his ear if she has to, she swears."

"Give him hell, Smocky."
"She sure will, Mistress."

She disapparated away, and I was left counting down the times between each time I wanted to curse my husband for knocking me up. The pain was coming in nine minute intervals now. How dilated was I down there? Was I too far gone for the magical muggle pain killers? I had to be, right?

In what felt like forever, Severus finally burst into the bathroom, and he quickly came to my side. He shut off the now ice cold water, and said nothing as he checked between my legs.