Growing Pains

Chapter Nineteen

"AGGHH!" Ginny screamed, standing over the bed, her arms braced in front of her. Harry was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulders.

"Ginny, dear, would you be more comfortable if you were lying down in bed?" Molly Weasley asked her daughter from a chair in the corner.

Ginny had been in labour for almost eleven hours already, and everyone was already exhausted. Molly had sent the rest of the family home for a very late supper, which she had originally prepared for the family lunch that day that had been cancelled (for obvious reasons).

"I'm fine mum!" Ginny grunted through the tail end of a contraction.

There was a knock at the door and Padma walked in, grabbing a pair of gloves from a container on hanging on the wall.

"Alright Ginny, how's your pain?" Asked Padma, giving her a sympathetic smile.

Another contraction hit Ginny about that time, and her cry of pain gave Padma her answer.

"Harry, how far apart were those contractions?" Padma asked.

"About twenty or thirty seconds, I'd say," he responded, wincing as Ginny gripped his arm tightly.

"Ginny, when this contraction is over, I'm going to have you lie down so I can check how dilated you are," she said.

Ginny breathed hard and gave Padma a thumbs up. After about a minute, the contraction came to an end and Ginny began to slowly climb in bed, with the help of Harry.

"Okay Ginny, you're at ten centimeters. I'd say it's about time to start pushing," Padma smiled. Another contraction grabbed ahold of Ginny, and she yelled a string of words that made Molly's cheeks turn as red as her hair.

Padma pulled her wand out of her scrubs and waved it lazily in the air, and almost immediately a team of medi-witches entered the room.

"Okay Ginny, whenever the next contraction comes, I want you to push as hard as you can, okay?"

Ginny nodded and gripped Harry's hand in preparation. A look of determination crossed her face and as soon as the next contraction came, she pushed as hard as she could.

"Come on sweetie, good girl!" Molly praised, holding her daughter's other hand.

"Okay Ginny, your baby is crowning! Keep going!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Breathe," Padma coached. "You baby's head is out! I'm going to need you to give me a big push next time for the shoulders."

Ginny nodded and gripped the hands she was holding way harder, prepared to push the hardest she had ever pushed.

"Okay Ginny, push!"

"Good girl, keep pushing!"

"Come on Gin, I love you. You're almost there!" Harry exclaimed.

Suddenly, the room was filled with the cry of a baby. Everything else was silent.

Until Padma exclaimed, "It's a boy!"

Ginny let out an exhausted and relieved bark of laughter, grabbing Harry's hand as she watched the Healers clean up their son and cast charms to check his vitals.

A few minutes later, after Ginny had delivered the afterbirth and their son had been cleaned up, James Sirius Potter was being cradled in the arms of his loving parents.

"He's so beautiful," Harry commented softly, stroking the thick tuft of dark red-brown hair his son had. He and Ginny were lying side by side on the small bed, admiring their gorgeous son.

"I bet he'll have your eyes," Ginny responded, not even glancing up from her perfect baby.

"You mean my mother's eyes?" Harry joked, and this time Ginny turned and grinned. "I just hope he doesn't have my eyesight, the poor bloke."

"Well, other than Percy, my family has perfect eyesight," Ginny bragged, puffing her chest up a bit like she always did when she felt pride from her family.

There was a knock at the door, and Molly poked her head inside.

"Are you three up for visitors?" She asked. Ginny and Harry smiled and waved her in. Following her was Arthur, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Hermione.

"Hey," Hermione said in a soft voice, walking over towards her friends. Ron followed her, placing his hand on her shoulder when she stopped to admire her godson/ nephew. She placed her hand on top of his, and they stood in awe of their gorgeous new family member.

"He's beautiful. Must have gotten his looks from our side of the family," Ron joked, and Harry slugged his shoulder lightly.

Percy, Charlie and Arthur gathered around the other side of the bed.

"Can I... can I hold him?" Charlie asked tentatively. Ginny nodded and gently passed James to her brother.

"So what name did you two decide on?" Arthur asked, gazing at his precious new grandson.

"We decided to name him James Sirius Potter," Ginny responded, looking lovingly up at Harry, who blushed.

"That's a strong name," Arthur smiled.

James let out a cry and everyone whipped around to Charlie, who's eyes were wide with terror.

"What did I do?" He asked, passing James to Ginny.

"He's a baby Charlie, he cries all the time," Ginny laughed, unbuttoning a flap on her hospital gown and letting James nurse.

"Oh. Okay, I thought I hurt him. You know, this is why I prefer dragons," he joked, and everyone laughed.

Hermione smiled down at her nephew and best friend. "Okay, well it's late so we'll let you three get some rest."

"Alright, thank you. We'll see you tomorrow," Ginny responded, punctuating the sentence with a yawn.

After everyone had bid their farewells, Harry flipped onto his side and watched his beautiful wife and son as they both quickly fell asleep. James began to whimper in a half-conscious state, and Harry quickly and gently lifted him from where he lay on Ginny's chest, as not to wake her up.

As he cradled his sleeping son in his arms, Harry realized, this is what it felt like to feel like everything in life was perfect. And at that moment, it was.