Shadow - Sequel To Light

Chapter Fifteen: Suffocate

True to his word after his game, Harry met the family and I at the Great Hall.

"Hello, love. Alright?" He asked, looking down at me carefully. I knew he was asking about me and the baby so I nodded.

"They know. Mum approached me about our anniversary and I blurted it out, not knowing what she was talking about at first. I'm sorry." I grimaced.

"Sweetheart, I don't who knows. I love you and I already love the baby inside you. Besides, they're family and family doesn't have to keep secrets from one another." He gave me a peck on the forehead, running his hand over my still fairly flat stomach. "And how are my other babies?" He grinned, turning to the pram with James and Lily inside. While he was crouched down, looking at the twins, Ron made his way down the hall to us with the remaining brothers who had played and Draco, who was walking so there was a large gap between them.

"What are you lot going on about?" Ron grinned.

"Nothing, just waiting for you to come." Harry smiled, standing straight and greeting them all except Draco, we were in a public place and that would be obvious. "How about we all go in? I've designated a table for our family, away from everybody else." He gestured for us to go inside. "It's in a private room so you should be able to come." He whispered to Draco, nodding his head to let him know which way to go that would take him straight to the room.

Draco left in that direction while the rest of us stopped in the Hall. The family waited while Harry and I made our usual announcements and commenced the feast. Congratulations were given to Harry and his team over their win and I paused for a moment to give an apology to Adrian. It felt so strange apologizing to him but I was the bigger person and I was doing what needed to be done, what good people do. Once I stomached the apology, I eagerly followed the family down to the private room Harry had had prepared for us.

Being with the family, which I felt included Draco, was such an amazing feeling. Despite the dark cloud that seemed to linger just above our heads, we were happy and united. My only worry was for our unity when our enemies seemed to be gaining more strength than we could fight. Love is an amazing thing, it brings people together and binds stronger than almost anything else in the world. However, love isn't always perfect and the same love that united us could break us.

"Alright there, love?" Harry inquired, noticing my silence.

"I'm fine, just going through some things in my head."

"Well, stop it. We'll deal with things as they occur. Until then, I need you to attempt to relax as much as possible. I'll handle whatever occurs as long as I'm assured that my wife and children are okay. I need to be assured that, at the end of the day, you and our babies, both born and unborn, are healthy and safe."

"The only completely safe, no questions about it, place here is our chambers and I will not lock myself in there for the duration of my pregnancy." I argued and he smiled at me, looking as if he had already expected my arguing.

"I'm not asking you to lock yourself away. I'm asking that you and the babies stay there whenever you can and I'm asking that you trust me. Trust me to handle some of the things you've been struggling to handle. Trust me with the safety of our family." He trailed to a whisper.

I sighed, pressing my forehead against his. "Harry, if I never trusted you with anything else, I trust you with my life. You've shown me over the years that you can get us out of some tight spots and I trust you enough as the father of my children to keep us all safe. Just remember, I always had a part in getting us out of those tight spots, too. Don't forget, me being a mom and pregnant doesn't make me incapable of being a brilliant witch." I smirked.

"I could never forget how brilliant you are, love. Never." He chuckled, swooping in to kiss me.

"Oi, none of that, you bloody love birds. Save getting off until after supper." Ron joked, holding little Lily in his arms. He took her hand, making her point at Harry and I. "Say, 'No, no, Daddy and Mummy. No nasty stuff around the food.'" He tsked, causing the whole table to join in his humour.

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That night, after supper, it was decided that the entire Weasley clan would move into our chambers or adjoining chambers until everything was settled. Mum and Dad stayed in one of the extra rooms, while Harry worked to empty our entire floor and put the rest up in the remaining rooms. With the entire floor dedicated to our family, including a rather secret room with a discreet entrance for Draco, I spent hours ensuring the safety of the entire floor.

Harry was overjoyed with them staying, it was a good way to keep me fairly distracted. As weeks passed and the term was about to go on break, Harry began to keep more and more details of our enemy away from me. He, Ron and Draco had weekly meetings on new developments but it was always while I was in class or so late that I was too knackered to go. I worried about what they weren't telling me but my new fatigue didn't allow for too great an effort to find out details.

Before Christmas break could come, I had to visit the matron because my pregnancy was already going so different than the first. I was much more tired and nauseated than I had been while I was pregnant with Lily and James and it was effecting me harshly. The matron gave me a stronger dose of herbs and potions to take. She took time to explain that, because the pregnancy had happened so quickly after the first, my body hadn't completely snapped back hormonally so the reintroduction of pregnancy hormones was boosting the levels already present.

Because of my new extreme pregnancy symptoms, Harry had taken to having me on bed rest whenever I wasn't in class. He even went out and found me a safe, cleared personal assistant that could be at my beck and call. I loved that he cared so much that he didn't want me stressing too much or doing too much but him forcing me to rest was stressing me out. I mean, come on, I'm Hermione Potter. I never just sit down and relax, I need work and movement to live and Harry was causing me to suffocate.

With the break and our anniversary coming so quickly, I braced myself to take it for the remaining days then I was going to confront Harry about it. I had set my sights on knowing everything that was going on by the time the Spring term began and I didn't lose battles. Yes, I'm calling convincing Harry to keep me involved a battle because, though I am who I am, Harry is himself and he didn't budge for most people. For me, though, he was going to budge. He was going to allow me to know what was going on, go to my classes and get out of our bed.., and he was going to like it.