Figured You Out

29: All is Well

Severus arrived at St. Mungo’s just seconds after Harry barged into his chambers yelling in some rather fit. He would have deducted points, shoved detentions in his face or hexed the boy if he was not screaming something awful and crying. It really surprised Severus that Harry would come to him crying and decided it best if he listened…after attempting to calm him down, nevertheless.

With a wave of his wand, he was dressed in his black attire and he walked at a fast gait down the corridor that led to the maternity ward. His black robes billowed about his body, giving him quite a powerful presence as he approached the door, however a young intern healer stepped in his path, holding a hand to his chest. “Sorry sir, but no one is allowed in here except for healers, medi-witches or interns – me.”

Severus looked down at the young man, using his most fearsome glare that sent students stammering away from him. “Mr. Keating, I suggest that you step aside,” he sneered.

The interns eyes widened in familiarity and he turned into the cowering student he once was, “Pro—Professor S-s-s-Snape? S-s-sir?”

Severus smirked, “it’s wonderful that you have found your vocal chords after all these years, however I have a rather urgent matter to attend to.” Severus sidestepped the intern and pushed his way through the swinging doors. His dark eyes scanned the room and fell upon a hunched over man sitting next to an empty bed and swallowed the small lump that grew in his throat. He cleared his throat and met Remus’ blood shot eyes as he uncovered his face with his arm.
“Well Lupin? Where is my daughter?” He said in a tone devoid of any emotion at all.

It took Remus a moment to register what Severus was asking and then he opened his dry mouth to speak. “She’s – uh – she is in the back room.” His voice was lost, as was his eyes as they lingered upon the Potions Master.

“What happened exactly?”

Remus’ bottom lip trembled before he looked down into his lap and composed himself. With a sigh he said, “she started having contractions. She went into premature labor.”

Suddenly through the wall they heard her voice, “you son of a bitch! Give me some kind of drugs! A potion! Something to stop the bloody pain!”

Remus ran a hand through his hair and then covered his face with his hands again. When the door to the back room opened and the bed with Amber laid on top came rolling in. Her breathing was still erratic as she continued to grit her teeth in pain. Remus stood and approached the four healers moving her bed back into place. “Does she have to go through with it? Were you able to stop the contractions?”

One of the healers took Remus off to the side, “Mr. Lupin, would you please step off to the side with me? I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Remus glanced over at Severus, “could you stay with her? I don’t want her to be alone.”

Taking a deep breath, Severus nodded and stepped to the bed. Amber opened her eyes after feeling a brief brush on her forehead and she looked up with her pain stricken eyes, tears slowly releasing from her eyes. She tried to give him a smile, but as soon as her lips curled, a contraction hit her.

“Don’t push, ride it out.” A woman healer told her sternly, as if not an ounce of care in the woman’s body.

Amber looked over at the woman, “don’t push.” She growled, her hand shaking as she lifted it to point her finger at the woman. “Why don’t you give it a try? I bet you would do just nicely.”

“Miss Bickers, please step outside. We do not need her blood pressure rising anymore than it has and we are about done here.” An elder healer told the young woman with a glare.

The woman healer gave Amber one last evil look before sticking her nose into the air and making her way to the doors. When the contraction subsided, Amber caught her breath and smirked as she looked up at Severus who looked at her curiously. Amber raised her hand and with a simple wave, she said, “ingrandisca il naso.”

Severus watched as the woman healer turned, clutching her face in her hands and then sprinting out of the room. “What did you do?”

“I gave her a nose worth sticking into the air.”

The elder healer handed Amber a vial, “drink this. It’ll stop your contractions and put everything back to the way it should be.”

“What about her dilation?” Severus asked.

“Mrs. Lupin’s pregnancy will be like any healthy mother’s is supposed to be. When it’s the right time of course, just try to keep your temper at a minimum.” The elder healer smiled as Amber tensed and looked wide eyed at the old man. “Something I said?”

Amber shook her head and blushed, “no…no thank you sir. I’m relieved, greatly relieved.”

The old man looked down at her through his small spectacles, “don’t do anything that will upset you. Take the potion that I will describe to Mr. Snape here, once a day and rest often.” He patted her head and walked away as Severus followed him.

Remus came over to her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “How do you feel?” He asked, his eyes looking over her sweat and tear stained face.

“Tired – so bloody tired.” She sighed and leaned back into the pillows as he brushed the hair out of her face. “It still hurts though.”

“The healer, I spoke with said that you will be fine from here on out until it is the right time for the baby to be born. I also found something out that has been plaguing me.”

“Oh?” She said surprised that there was anything besides happiness about the baby they were to have.

“There was a chance for the baby to… to be a werewolf, however it seems that fate only made part of that so.” He waited for her to say something but continued when she did not. “The healer said that he had checked up on that and our baby will only have the senses of a werewolf. It will happen like mine, around the full moon they become stronger and—”

“I understand that. So you’re saying that our child will not turn into a werewolf when the full moon rises, but will only have it’s senses?”

“Isn’t that great!” Remus exclaimed, kissing her lips softly.

When he pulled away, Amber stared at him and took his hand. “Remus, if you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t mind. I thought about that too, but it didn’t bother me because looking at you and seeing what a wonderful, faithful and caring man you are, it didn’t worry me.”

Remus kissed her again, held her for a moment, and sighed. “If only you knew how hard it was for me when I grew up.”

“Although I have only read and studied about werewolves lives, I will never be able to imagine what problems you went through when you were younger. I know there are restrictions when concerning werewolves but not every one of them deserve them.” She kissed his forehead, “like you. You don’t deserve the cruelty that wizards bestow upon your kind.”

“Since you are worn out, I suggest that you retire to bed for the night.” Severus said, stepping forward and tucking a piece of parchment in his robes. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at Amber.

“What?” She said innocently.

He cleared his throat and Amber saw the muscles clench in his jaw, “the healer also told me to relay this message to you.” Severus gritted his teeth, “he advises that you should not participate in any…extra-curricular activities.”

Amber gave him a confused look and glanced up at Remus, whose face had turned scarlet and was diverting his eyes to the floor. “It seems that I am the only one who is not getting this. I already asked Albus at a meeting if he could possibly send a message to the Ministry about my leave of absence and I am smart enough to know that I should not be on a broom—”

Growing frustrated at her nativity, Severus sighed exasperatedly, “you stupid girl! The healer as he so bluntly put it – meant no bloody SEX! FOR MERLIN’S SAKE!”

Amber’s mouth was set at a perfect, O-shape as she ducked her head and covered her face as a few matrons and healers peeked in through an opened swinging door. “Alright, I think it’s time to get back. Harry and Albus are probably wondering what’s going on.” She stole a glance at her red-faced father, who quickly turned with a billow of his robes and disappeared out the door. “Can’t even help me up.” Amber narrowed her eyes at the last spot she had seen him leave.

Remus kissed her temple, “he cares about you, you know that right?”

“Like hell he does. One minute he is warm and soft as he can get and then the next moment he is frigid and heartless as the teacher I once knew during my school days. He can’t just pick one person to be!” Amber cried softly.

Remus pressed her against his chest and shushed her softly, knowing that she was going into one of her emotional waves. “Amber, it’s alright. You know it is hard for him. He has to be two different people. He has to put on a stone exterior because…because you know what his job is. If someone saw him acting different from what they know, then that could turn into a big problem. Just take it easy ok?”

Amber pushed away and narrowed her eyes at him, “why are you defending that insufferable prick?”

Remus jerked away, stunned by her, “Amber—”

“Don’t you Amber me. All you men, I am sick of you! You did this to me!” She said, pointing at her large abdomen. “I feel like a bloody blimp!”

“A – a what?” He asked, his mind going blank, he was completely baffled that she referred to their baby in a negative way.

Amber pursed her lips, “you wizards! Unbearable dimwits—”

“Amber,” Remus said raising his hands. “Take it easy. Deep breaths now, don’t get upset over nothing.”

Even though she hated to admit it, he did have a point and she didn’t want to endanger their child twice in ten minutes. Looking up at the ceiling, she took a deep breath and calmed as Remus’ fingers stroked small circles in the palm of her hand. He was relieved that he stopped her from going into one of her emotional rants. He could also do without another one of those. “Ready to go love?”

Amber nodded, “I’m going to need some help, if you don’t mind.”

He immediately took one of her arms, lifting it over his shoulders, wrapped one around her waist and help her off the bed. Releasing his neck, she took his hand as he began to walk down the isle with her waddling by his side and he asked, “what is a blimp anyway?”

Amber laughed, “it’s sort of like an airplane. Except it’s made like a balloon and gigantic.”

“You’re not gigantic.” He stated with a squeeze of his hand.

“Maybe to you, but try going from a size six to a size eighteen and then you can tell me when I’m not gigantic.” She poked his stomach, “you’re not ticklish.” She frowned.

“You haven’t figured that out yet?” He said raising an eyebrow.

With a determined look, she pointed her finger at him, “I’ll find it Remus Lupin. I’ll find you’re spot.”

He chuckled as they left the maternity ward and he pulled out his wand.

She held up her hands in defeat, “ok. I won’t look if you don’t want me to find it.”

He smiled, pulling a book out of his bathrobe and tapped it, “portus.”

“Oh,” she said sheepishly and took hold of the book as he wrapped her tightly in his arm.

They landed in the sitting room in their chambers and found a group of people jump in unison as they arrived. “Err – hi.” Amber said with a hesitant wave of her fingers.

Professor McGonagall, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Madam Pomphrey stood quickly, rushing to them. Professor Dumbledore stood slowly from his seat and took a step closer however due to the rush he decided to stay back. Amber and Remus could not hear anyone in particular, so they just stared with their eyebrows raised, looking at them like they were sprouting heads. “Quiet!” Remus said, holding up his hands as he smiled at all of them. “We know each one of you are asking the same questions, so please be quiet for a moment.”

Amber sighed, “I’m fine. Everything is normal, I just need to rest more. Evidently I wasn’t being cautious enough.”

The whole group’s shoulders sank, relieving a breath that each were holding in. “Severus didn’t mention this to anyone?” Amber inquired.

“No, he didn’t even stop by.” Madame Pomphrey said pursing her lips. “Ought to teach that man some manners.”

Amber yawned and Remus rubbed her back, “why don’t we talk tomorrow. It’s terribly late and I think we could use the rest.”

“Remus about what we were talking about?” Harry said anxiously.

“I’ll relay it to the Order, don’t worry Harry, nothing will happen. I promise.” Remus said as he glared at the wall across the room. Harry nodded and stepped closer to Amber.

She pulled him into a hug, “I’m sorry for startling you Amber.”

“It’s not your fault. It might have happened anyway, I’m the one whose to blame here.” She smiled and ruffled his hair. Since Harry was taller than she was, he replied with a brush on top of her head. She scrunched her nose, “hey mister. Just because I’m shorter than you are doesn’t mean that you can do that.”

“Oh really?” Harry said attempting to do it again but her hand caught his wrist.

“See, I’m pretty quick for a pregnant woman.”

“Alright speedy, time for bed,” Remus said, giving her bottom a firm slap and chuckled when she squeaked.

"Bye Harry!" Amber called over her shoulder.

"Night Remus, Amber!"