In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: LXIV

Kassia's Point-of-View
Mykonos, Greece
Late June 1895

A sharp pain in my chest ripped me from my sleep. I felt disoriented when I looked around the room. My breathing quieted after I remembered where I had been staying. Ominis had altered the office to work as a makeshift nurse suite.

The date had been so close. There was only a week left until we would have to induce her if she hadn't started contracting.

A figure stood in the doorway. I rubbed my fists to the darkness surrounding my vision to make out the person clearly.

It was her. She stood before me in a nightdress and appeared weary. Her eyes had dark rings around them from the lack of sleep, and her hair and nails looked brittle from the little girl stealing her beauty. At least that was the saying.

She had one arm cradled around her large belly and the other pressed into the doorframe.

"Kass?" She sounded winded. "I think my water broke."

I lit the chandelier in the room with my wand to see a substance trickling onto the floor.

"Contractions?" I kicked my feet over the side of the bed and yawned.

"Five minutes apart each time. Almost exactly on the dot." Her voice was calm, but an array of wrinkles had formed on her face.

I pushed my hands on the tops of my thighs to stand and guided her into the makeshift delivery room. I had assisted in hundreds of child-birthing procedures; however, I had not completed it solely by myself before.

But she hadn't needed to know that. "Perfect. I can handle textbook labor." I kept my voice under control. It had been obvious I was excited, but delivering children when you were so close with the woman made it a wholly different experience.

Antoinette laughed when she entered the room. "Am I to pray instead of get this baby out of me?"

I had conjured a padded bench for her to kneel against that had a place for her arms to rest above it. It was procedure to lie down during birth, but it was never listed as the most effective way.

"This position tends to be more comfortable for women. Lying flat had only become common when King Louis XIV of France fetishized the practice. The thought of a man taking joy in this absolutely disgusts me." My face twisted slightly while I scoffed at the idea.

"Hm. Well, I believe you," her voice was quieter, "Should we wake Ominis?" I watched her eyebrow raise on one side, and she appeared concerned.

I called for Klein to keep her company until I returned. "I'll grab him. Just kneel down and try to breathe evenly. I have a feeling this is going to progress fairly quick." I practically sprinted to the other room and burst inside the chamber.

Ominis was lying on his side but stirred at the noise I created. "What's wrong?" His groggy voice spoke into the air. It was reflex at this point.

Any time Antoinette moved too fast or felt any sort of pain, he tended to her. Or hovered. Klein had attempted to step in many times, but Ominis had been unrelenting.

"It's time, Ominis. Come on. Get up." My voice was harsher than I'd liked, but I was wholeheartedly anxious. I despised the feeling.

I drug him into the room where she had been resting against the bench. Her smile was warm when Ominis entered the scene behind me.

"Omi." Her tone shrunk smaller than before. Her breathing became similar to heaving when she dug her elbows into the padded bar.

Ominis glided past me and knelt beside her. His fingers traced patterns on her back to help calm her down.

"Any changes?" I questioned to Klein.

"Contractions are now three minutes apart and longer than before." He smiled up at me, and we waited. The suspense grew with each moment.

Thankfully this was a magical labor, and I hadn't needed to check her cervix or keep monitors on her and the baby. I waved my wand above her to view the pertinent information.

I reached in the bag beside the labor area and grabbed a pain relief potion. I handed it to her, and she chugged it quickly.

The charm had shown she was seven centimeters dilated. Not bad. One more and she could attempt to push, but she would know when she was ready.

Antoinette gestured for me to come over to her, and I complied. She whispered in my ear, "Kass. Is it normal if I were to feel like I have to," she hesitated before she said it, "poop?" Her face looked disgusted as she scrunched it together.

I chuckled and flicked my wand above us. Eight centimeters. "You're ready. You can attempt to push now, if you'd like. There's no real technique. Just make sure to breathe, and to be honest, most women tell me it's similar to defecation. So, you weren't wrong in that regard." I laughed again and winked at her.

I gowned and masked up. I put sterile gloves on and knelt beneath her. Her screams echoed through the room with each contraction, and before I knew it, there was a small, pale head becoming visible.

"I can see her!" I yelled from my position. That would at least give her some incentive to continue. A lot of women would give up at this point if there was not a reward of some sort waiting for them.

She kept pushing until the baby's head emerged. Small cries escaped the newborn. "Okay, sweetheart. I'm going to need you to give me one large push for the shoulders. You'll feel some pressure."

Her fingers dug into the push bar, and I could see the whites of her feet from jamming them against the floor. The sweat was pooling on the wood beneath her, and wrenching noises emitted from her throat.

But she had done it. I maneuvered my hand to help guide the baby down and out. Gravity definitely worked in my favor.

Klein conjured a small cot right behind her, and she sat down, carefully ensuring we didn't tangle the umbilical cord.

She laid back, and I gently placed the miry infant onto her chest. The little child was beautiful, but it had been too difficult to know who she resembled in that moment since she was so wrinkled and small.

"Ominis. Would you like to cut the cord? It's a muggle tradition, but some find it to be quite a sweet moment between the new family unit." Before he had time to respond, I pulled him near her and guided the sterile scissors into his hands.

I switched gloves and held the cord in my palms while he severed the tissue. He let out a breathy laugh at the feeling. While the baby squirmed on Antoinette's chest, I tied the cord. It was my first time clamping it, but it hadn't been rather difficult. Thank Merlin.

I swiftly delivered the placenta and handed it to Klein to develop a post-natal potion for Antoinette to dose on. It tended to keep the mother's nerves in order for the next few months.

I watched the three together, and the baby's eyes opened when Ominis had knelt down to caress the child's hair.

I held in my gasp. They had resembled Ominis' from the time before Mercurio cursed him.

Antoinette must've known as well because she had the same reaction as myself, and she began annotating every single thing about the infant's appearance to Ominis.

I would come back later to discuss latching and feeding styles. They needed this time together. I crept out the door and slowly shut it till it clicked closed.