Malediction: the love and life of Astoria Malfoy

Chapter Twenty Seven

They'd sent me home the next night, expecting us to be fine, to know what we were doing.

We didn't.

Thirty minutes after we'd brought him home he got the hiccups. It was as if a bomb went off. We were frantic, crowding around him.

"Is this normal?" I said, with an obvious edge of panic.

"I don't know, how would I know!"

"Whatdowedo, whatdowedo?!"

"I don't know!"

(Rapid breathing, more hiccups.)

"WHAT IF HE STOPS BREATHING!?"

"AH! STOP DON'T SAY THAT!"

"WHAT IF HE DOES!"

"HE WON'T -- WILL HE?!"

"I'M A HORRIBLE MOTHER ALREADY. . . ."

Then he sneezed for the first time, his little eyes shutting tight and opening again.

It was like a calming draught was defused in the air. "Aw!" we both cooed, looking at each other with giddy smiles, still standing before Scorpius like he was a foreign creature.

Then he started to cry. I took him up in my arms quickly, bouncing him up and down slightly, cooing him. After a minute or so, he began to calm down, his eyes drooping, closing, falling asleep. I smiled widely at Draco, I calmed him down!

He smiled, placing one hand on my back, the other on Scorpius's. I half whispered, half mouthed, doing everything in my power not to wake the baby, "Can you do me a favor?"

He nodded, and I motioned my head in the opposite direction, to the stairs. "Can you get the crib down here?"

With a mildly confused expression, he nodded again, walking over to the stairs, pulling his wand out and muttering an incantation. Slowly, the crib floated its way down the stairs, hitting the banister with a loud bang. His head shot in my direction, eyes wide, looking down at the baby. I put my hand out, reassuring him that Scorpius was still passed out.

The crib made its way to the center of the sitting room, and I slowly placed Scorpius down into it. "Thanks," I said to Draco.

I plopped down on the couch, still exhausted from the hospital. He sat beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder. After a moment, he asked, "How are you feeling?" There was a distinct fearful concern in his voice.

"I'm okay," I said.

"You're lying."

"Well, I mean I did just have a baby, so perhaps I'm not ready to take on a mountain troll or anything, but. . . ."

He snickered, tightening the arm wrapped around me. Before he could ask anything else, my eyelids were falling over my eyes, my head sinking into his chest. I was asleep in seconds, apparently more tired than I'd thought.