Amour

EPOCH-MAKING

"What are you saying?" Hermione was settled comfortably into one of the beanbag chairs in the library, balancing the bowl of popcorn on her growing baby-bump, while watching a DVD. Snape was on the other side of the room, working at his desk. "I said I'm taking a leave from the school too, for these next few months."he repeated.
"What for? I'm not due for a few more months..."
"I want to take care of my wife. I said I'm gonna be there every step of the way. I want to be here to hold your hair back everytime you throw up. I wanna give you foot-massages, cook you your favourite meals myself, pamper you in every possible way. I want to be here when our baby kicks for the first time. I don't wanna miss a single thing."
Hermione scoffed,"Mr.Snape, would you come here please?" He looked up,"What do you want?" But Hermione, apparently too engrossed in the movie, just raised her hand and beckoned him to come over. He sighed, put down his quill and got up to go across the room and kneel by his wife. Hermione pulled him by the ear to get him closer. "Professor Severus Snape, although you are so very sweet, you should remember that you have other responsibilities too. So, abandon this stupid plan of yours. I'll be fine."she said this in a tone like talking to a baby. And he argued like a baby too,"But I don't want my wife to go into labour while I am still trying to civilise a bunch of mutts!"
"Like I said, I'm not due for another few months, so it won't come to that. I wouldn't dream of you being elsewhere when I go into labour. For the last whole month I am fully yours to take care of. But for now, you do your job and come home to me every night and spoon me." She nuzzled his nose and he finally complied, although showing a great deal of reluctance, and then they both giggled. "Oh my god!"Hermione suddenly gasped out, holding her belly. "What is it? What?!"he instantly became alert. "I just felt..."Hermione's eyes grew larger as she looked towards her husband, realising what the peculiar sensation was,"I just felt the baby move!" An excited grin spread across Snape's face and he put his hand right underneath hers to feel it too. As Hermione let out another mirthful laugh, they both felt the foetus shifting inside. "Looks like our baby is happy that its dear mother is happy."he observed, running his hand over the skin which had just then protruded bulbously. Hermione blinked back happy tears,"You are happy, aren't you? How could you not be? Mommy and daddy are gonna take such good care of you..." Snape bent down to kiss her stomach over her dress, mentally promising that himself and then reached up to find Hermione's lips and engage them in an affectionate kiss.............................................
One afternoon Snape came home to find Hermione standing on a stool in the kitchen, trying to take down a jar from an upper shelf. "Honestly woman, you're pregnant! And you are a witch, or did you forget that too?"he shrieked out and helped her down himself. Hermione smiled sheepishly, admitting her crime."I suddenly had this insane urge to have some pickles. You know about these weird fetishes I have developed lately, right? Mrs.Reynolds is probably taking a nap in her room, so I didn't wanna disturb her. But my wand is all the way up in our bedroom. So I thought...relax nobody got hurt-" "You know, this is exactly why I didn't wanna let you get out of my sight for a single moment."he grumbled. Padfoot scurried in and hopped around them, happy to see his master back, so Snape took down the cookie-jar and threw him some crumbs. "Right. The reason I came was to inform you that the Potters and Weasleys are going to be here this evening to throw you a baby shower or something."he told her and Hermione was instantly delighted. It had been some tedious months for her and it would be nice to have some people around to maybe keep her mind off things.
"So..how's it going?"George asked, after they all arrived, with gifts to welcome the baby.  "Good..good, great. Severus has been the sweetest of husbands and I don't think I could've done it without him."
"Although she insisted I stay at Hogwarts for the earlier part of it. But I told her, not anymore. No force can make me stay away from my child any longer, not even you Hermione."Snape retorted, holding Hermione's tummy in one hand. "Aww, look at you two..."gushed Molly. "You even have that beautiful pregnant woman glow, Mione."observed Ron. Hermione smirked,"Yeah, if you've been throwing up all morning you'll have that glow too." They all laughed. Soon Mrs.Reynolds brought in some food and they dug in. "I brought these tuna melts for you, my dear, try some."Molly urged but Hermione covered her mouth and nose, crinkling up her face. "No no, any kind of fish makes her sick. She hates the sight of sea-food now."Snape informed. Molly quickly took it away while Snape rubbed her back and coaxed her to drink some water to get over the feeling of nause. After she felt better, Hermione made a toast,"I have loved these last nine months! And even though I am so looking forward to the next part, I am really gonna miss being pregnant."Hermione observed and Snape kissed her hair. "I know right..?"Ginny gave a knowing smile,"I just loved the whole of it. Being able to bring another life into this world...it's just something else." She and Harry held hands. "But,"she exchanged a guilty look with her husband,"It's also kind of a relief to get away from them once in a while. My god...Jessie cries all day, everyday. And just when I get her to sleep, James wakes up and demands to be played with." "Like I said, it can be a lot of work."Harry said pointedly at Snape. Hermione was engaged in her thoughts for a while. "Oh, I have to go pee. Apparently this baby thinks that my bladder is a squeeze toy. Ha ha." She excused herself and ambled away. After a while Snape knocked on the door, calling out,"Honey, do you need help?" Hermione had been sitting on the toilet seat for a while thinking- now she jerked awake. "No, I- I'm fine. Well, uh, actually, I do need some help." "Why didn't you just say so?"He went in and helped her up. He was about to leave but Hermione didn't let go of his hand. "They were telling the truth, you know. This is not going to be easy." He understood her concern. "We never expected it to be easy. Sweetheart, would you relax already? I'm sure it wouldn't be harder than defeating the Dark Lord!"
"Don't joke about that!"
Snape chuckled,"Okay, then how about battling a dragon, for instance? Hell, you even tamed Grawpy enough to listen to you." Hermione smiled then. "And I have decided something."he let her know.
"What?"
"After our baby is born, I'm gonna permanently leave my job. No, I won't hear any more protests. I will be retiring and you would officially take over my position. I've had enough of my teaching career. I'm gonna be a stay-at-home dad. It would be a genuine privilege for me to devote my entire time towards taking care of my family." Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but he captured her lips in a kiss so that she couldn't say anything; Hermione finally gave in to the kiss, thinking she should let him do what he desired and that it was only good for their family afterall...............................................
Hermione was a little late for her delivery and she was getting more irritable by the day. "Still no baby, huh?"Snape jokingly asked, turning over the newspaper while Hermione returned from the bathroom after visiting it for the twentieth time. "Do you want me to come over there and sit on you? ‘Cause I’ll do it."she warned. She plopped down into the sofa. "Gods, I have never been so uncomfortable in my entire life! Get out, get out!" Snape put the paper down and came to soothe her,"Look, sweetie, I- I know how miserable you are, I wish there was something I can do..."
"Aw, you've done enough-"
"Let's go to the hospital again. Maybe Dr.Mortimer could suggest something."
"Alright, but I'll just nip at the loo one last time, just in case. And if I don’t come out in five minutes it’s because I’ve choked myself to death, trying to push this baby out one way or another!"she exclaimed.

"So, four days late huh?"Dr.Mortimer asked, checking her boards."You must be a little uncomfortable."
"Yeah, just a tad."Hermione admitted, to which Snape let out a guffaw and then tried to stifle it by biting down on his lip. Dr.Mortimer informed,"You’re about 80 percent effaced, so you’re on your way. It still could last a little while longer. If you’re anxious there are a few ways to help things along."
"Do them."Snape pleaded.
"Actually, they are things you can do. Just some home remedies, but in my experience I’ve found that some of them are quite effective."
"Well, we are ready to try anything."
"Okay, there’s an herbal tea you can drink. You can take some caster oil, there’s eating spicy foods…
"Great! We will do all of those." They both agreed..........................
"Come on finish all of it."Snape urged her, while forcing down himself the last of the take-out food they had ordered. "We tried all the spicy food. It’s not working."she said, throwing down the chicken leg she had been working at. To provide support, whatever she was doing, he was too.
"Okay here, have one of these peppers. Oh ha… Oh God! So…so hot! I feel like my ass is on fire." He rubbed at the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead and accidentally touched his eyes. "Oh my- By the way, you don’t want to touch the pepper and then touch your eye. Ow!"
"Are you okay?"
"Uh huh..." He got up to splash his eyes with water from the bathroom. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and George popped in through the fireplace. "Hey, reckon we could give you some company while you go for a walk?"
"Yeah, the doctor suggested that didn't she?"
"Poor Sev has already done so much, so we thought we could help out a little bit too."
"If you ask me, sex is the most effective way among these home remedies prescribed by the doctor."
"Whoa, we can't help out with that!"
Hermione hopped up."Why didn't I get to know about this before?" She called out to her husband,"Sev, let's go to our room. We are going to have sex right now!" Snape came out wiping his face, completely clueless,"Wha-"
The boys took a step back from Hermione. "Uh, Mi. You're leaking."Ron pointed out. "Oh, Hermione. I think your water just broke!" Hermione clutched her belly and stared at her husband. "My water broke!" Snape grew flabbergasted while his limbs froze into place, too excited to function properly. "I'll get the pillows. You get the towel."Harry bounded up the stairs. George ran for Mrs.Reynolds. Ron went out to find Mr.D'onfrio to inform about the situation. Snape rushed to his wife to hold her hands. "It's happening...it's-"Hermione gushed. "It is. Don't worry, it will be okay. We're gonna have our baby."he smiled, tears in his eyes. Hermione's tears brimmed over."We're having our baby." Their kiss was interrupted by George, who came in with an assortment of towels and a change of clothes for Hermione; he was already on the move. "Come on, are we crying or are we having a baby?" They all bustled off out of the house- Hermione's contractions hadn't started yet, so they could apparate and so they apparated directly to St.Mungo's hospital.