The Reason Why (Harmione)

Chapter 30

A/N: The name of this child was inspired by a headcanon. I don't know who the author was.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened. "I'll be right back," she told Hermione before rushing out of the room.

She nearly flew down the stairs and clutched the railing to stop. Everyone in the room stopped their conversation and stared at her. "It's Hermione!" She panted. "Her water broke!"

At the speed of light, Harry stood up from the couch and ran up the stairs. When he got to Hermione's room, she was standing, holding onto the bedpost to keep herself from falling. Her pants were very clearly wet.

Harry hurried over to her. It wasn't until he had taken her hand that he became aware of everyone else standing in the doorway watching. "We'll meet you at St. Mungo's," he told them curtly. Then he turned on the spot and the two of them took off for St. Mungo's.

~ooo~

Hermione screamed in pain, squeezing Harry's hand until it turned purple. Harry winced, but didn't make a sound. "HOLY FUCK!" Hermione shouted. "GET THIS DAMN THING OUT OF ME!"

"You're almost ready, Mrs. Potter," the nurse said calmly. Clearly this was not unusual behavior for women in labor. But it was unusual behavior for Hermione. She'd been in labor for ten hours and she was very clearly tired of it. "You're at nine centimeters."

Hermione did something between a groan and a scream.

"You're doing great, Mrs. Potter. Just keep breathing."

Hermione gritted her teeth to keep herself from shouting at the nurse that she didn't want to breathe. But she did as she was told.

Harry sat beside her, caught between thinking that he should talk to her and thinking that anything he said would be the wrong thing. So instead he smiled silently and bared the pain she was causing in his hand.

The nurse nodded. "Alright, this contraction should be coming to an end now. On the next one, you're going to push."

Hermione nodded, biting down on her bottom lip.

It was only two minutes until the next contraction, but it may as well have been an eternity for Hermione.

The doctor had entered the room now and had taken the nurse's place as she had gone to care for someone else. "Alright, on the count of three," he told her. "One, two, three, push!"

Hermione gritted her teeth and pushed. She somehow managed to grip Harry's hand even harder, causing him to yelp in pain. The sound was covered with Hermione screaming. The doctor had to yell to be heard.

"I can see the head! Here come the shoulders! Keep pushing, you're doing great!"

Hermione let out a gasp as she finished pushing and the baby's cries filled the room.

"It's a girl!" The doctor shouted.

Hermione smiled and leaned back on her pillows, still breathing heavily. "Harry," she whispered between breaths. "We have a daughter."

Harry smiled. He reached out and pushed away the hair that was stuck to her face with sweat. He kissed her forehead, then she raised her chin so he could kiss her lips.

After a few minutes, the doctor placed the baby in Hermione's arms. "Do we have a name yet?" He asked.

Hermione looked at Harry, then back at the doctor. She nodded. "Yes, we do."

~ooo~

The baby's first visitor had to duck into the room. When he sat down, the chair nearly collapsed beneath him. But he had never looked happier. "Hello Harry, Hermione," he said.

"Hello, Hagrid," said Hermione. "I'm glad you came. You're her first visitor."

Hagrid perked up, then immediately ducked back down when his head crashed into the ceiling. This did not hurt his enthusiasm at all. "It's a girl?"

"Yes, it's a girl," said Harry with a smile. "And there's something we need to tell you."

Hermione nodded. "Hagrid, we decided to name her Lily after Harry's mother. As for her middle name, we decided on Ruby after you."

Hagrid seemed stunned to silence for a moment, then his eyes filled up with tears and he swept Harry into a bone-crushing hug. "Yeh didn't have to do that."

Harry squirmed his way out of the hug. "Of course we did, Hagrid. It's the least we could do for you."

Hagrid pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose. "Yeh'll never know how much this means to me," he said through the tears.

Hagrid was still shedding tears of joy when the nurse returned to the room. She looked mildly disturbed, but didn't comment on Hagrid. Instead she carefully made her way around him. "Mrs. Potter, you can take her now," she said, placing Lily Ruby Potter in Hermione's arms.

"Thank you," Hermione said with a smile.

"Do you need anything else?" The nurse asked.

"No, thank you, we're alright," Hermione told her.

The nurse nodded. "Let me know if you need anything," she said, then left the room.

When Hagrid had finally steadied, he reached out to Hermione. "May I?"

"Of course," said Hermione, gently handing Lily to him. He could fit the child in one hand.

Hagrid looked down at the child with a huge smile on his face. "Hello Lily," he said. "Welcome to the world."

The baby giggled. Hermione gasped. "Hagrid," she said. "That's the first time she's ever laughed."

A/N: Finally updated!! I hope you liked this chapter. All cuteness must come to an end. (Evil laughter). Anyway I only changed the baby's middle name because tbh I don't really understand why Harry named his daughter after Luna (as much as I like her). So yeah the name Ruby was inspired by a headcanon that I thought was really cute, but in the headcanon Ruby was the first name. The rest was all my idea. I always thought Hagrid deserved to have Harry's kid named after him. Well I'm talking too much so bye!!! 😋