𝘼 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙄𝙣 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 //𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦

Chapter Four

The week after Harry’s thirtieth birthday, he joined Daphne at her Healer’s appointment to hear their baby’s heartbeat for the first time. They sat in the waiting area with other nervous soon-to-be parents, watching magical portraits of cherubic infants coo and hiccup at them from the walls.

Daphne clutched Harry’s hand, leg jiggling in anticipation. He sent her a reassuring smile, cupping her cheek with his free hand and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“You okay?” he inquired softly.

She nodded, biting her lip. “I’m just really anxious. It still doesn’t seem real.”

“Potter, Daphne,” a bored-looking witch droned from the doorway of the waiting area, and Daphne and Harry stood, his hand on her lower back as they followed the witch down a long hallway and into a room.

“Change into this gown,” the witch said, tossing Daphne a light green bundle of fabric. Daphne caught it reflexively, narrowly escaping being hit in the face.

Harry frowned at the witch as she left the room. “Guess she doesn’t know who I am,” he remarked with a shrug. Daphne smacked him with the gown.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and a middle-aged Indian witch strode into the room. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. I am Healer Sandhu. How are you feeling?”

“Nervous,” admitted Daphne.

“Totally normal,” Healer Sandhu replied, waving her wand at the machines in the corner to power them on. “Did you need a recommendation for a prenatal potion, or have you found one you like?”

“I’ve been taking one that my friends recommended,” Daphne said, and Healer Sandhu gave her an approving nod.

Gesturing for Daphne to sit back against the propped up exam table, Healer Sandhu gently covered her legs with a blanket, then lifted the hospital gown up to expose the skin of her belly. Murmuring a diagnostic spell, the healer slowly moved her wand over Daphne’s abdomen, rotating it this way and that until she found what she was looking for. She spoke another incantation and then the fast, wave-like sound of their baby’s heartbeat filled the room.

Tears gathered in Daphne’s eyes and she squeezed Harry’s hands between hers, finally allowing herself to believe what her heart and body were telling her: she was going to be a mother. She and Harry had created new life together, were going to be parents, had given sweet James a little brother or sister.

Harry was teary-eyed too, pressing their clasped hands to his lips, laughing at the sound of his baby’s heart beating.

Healer Sandhu smiled at them, continuing to move the wand over Daphne as she spoke. “Nice, strong heartbeat we have there. And—” she broke off, frowning, silencing the room.

Daphne’s heart dropped. “Is something wrong?”

Healer Sandhu held up one finger, continuing to listen carefully as she swept the wand over Daphne’s stomach again, furrowing her brow.

“Healer Sandhu—,” Harry began, but stopped at the sight of her face breaking into a smile.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to worry you,” Healer Sandhu finally said, “I just needed to be sure.”

“Sure of what?” Daphne asked, feeling light-headed.

The healer repeated the sound-amplification charm and their baby’s heartbeat filled the room once more. But now there was a different sound, almost like an echo of the first. Healer Sandhu smiled at them.

“Congrats, mum and dad,” she said, “Both of your babies have strong heartbeats.”

Later that night, the bored nurse from Healer Sandhu’s office greatly enjoyed telling all her friends at the pub that she had been the one to revive the Harry Potter when he had fainted in her exam room.