Charlie
We all read the headline of the paper, waiting on Hermione’s response. She didn’t say anything, instead she fell to the floor, and I managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
“Hermione.” I called for her. “Hermione answer me!”
She gave no response, suddenly everyone was around us calling out to her.
“We need to take her to St. Mungo’s. Now, I’ll go get mum.” It was Bill who orchestrated all of us.
I picked her up and we went through the floo first. I said a silent prayer that nothing was wrong with her, that the babies were okay. As I walked out of the floo I yelled for help, soon there were three different healers guiding us to a room. I had never been to this part of the hospital before, Hermione’s floo must be synched to a special area.
“She just fainted, but she’s pregnant with twins.” I answered questions from them. I told them I was staying with her.
“Only family can stay in the room with her right now. Her emergency contacts are Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, should I alert either of them?” The smaller of the three asked.
“No!” I had to keep my yell suppressed. “Harry is on his way, and she no longer has anything to do with Malfoy. If he is told anything she will raise hell, nothing of this is to be let out into the public. Do you all understand?”
They all nodded. “Good because I’m sure the Minster wouldn’t like it if one of his closest friends was going around hexing people.”
They all looked very sheepishly, I know Hermione doesn’t like her status thrown around, but desperate times, and I am very desperate.
“Only family is allowed in here though, are you the babies father?” The taller man asked.
Merlin help me, she might kill me, but I can’t leave her alone in here. “Yes. My family will be here any second. Can someone tell them I’m here with her? Tell them Charlie is in the room with her.”
After a very long four hours, they finally gave us some results. My anxiety was high, because if something happened to the babies, she might not recover.
I sat in the chair next to her bed, looking at her face while the three healers spoke to one another.
“Did she have exposure to Cruciatus?” It was from the tall healer, whose name was John.
“Yes, during the war, she was tortured with it.” I looked up from her. “What does that have to do with this.”
“It appears to have some remanent damage to her body. It should have been seen earlier but it appears to have been overlooked.”
“Wait, Hermione said that after the war a Healer told her it would be near impossible for her to get pregnant. And then after she found out she was pregnant, the healer said she looked okay.”
“It would appear that the Healer was lying. Her body is straining to keep up with the pregnancy. Her magic is trying to accommodate and heal the parts of her that are under distress.”
My face paled, he was implying that she was dying, because of the babies. I can’t do this alone. I held up my hands. “Hold on, I need my family in here with me before you continue.”
The smaller one left the room and returned with everyone. They looked at me and then looked at the Healer.
“What’s wrong?” Harry was the one to ask.
Mum stood next to me one hand on my shoulder, dad on the other side. The other healer probably told then that I told them I was the father. They would probably be upset later.
“As I told him, Miss Grangers body is under a lot of stress from the babies, along with the cruiciatus curse, in which her body suffered permanent damage. Her magic is being stretched thin to heal the area’s damaged and is trying to accommodate it.”
I closed my eyes tight; I knew that he was going to say next. “There is a possibility that this pregnancy will kill her. There is very little we can do.”
“What can we do?” Mum asked.
“There are three possibilities. One, can end the pregnancy here. Two, we can give her potions to try and ease the pain until she gives birth, but if we reach that point, there is a strong possibility that she will not survive.” He took a breath and looked at me. “The last option is to link her magic with another person.”
“What?” Was all I could muster.
“This would be a permanent solution; you would have to be around each other constantly. Especially during the pregnancy, afterwards it wouldn’t have to be as constant. Has she been clinging to you more during the last two weeks or so?”
“Yes, she has the last couple of days.” I can’t make head from toe in this situation.
“It was her magic calling to yours, she probably felt more comfortable next to you. Her attraction to you was probably what made her magic seek you out.” He looked at her again. “Since you’ve been holding her hand, her breathing is better.”
I looked down at her face and there was more color in it. “This doesn’t make sense. Her magic can’t just reach out to someone.” I paused; I couldn’t figure any of this out. “When will she wake up?”
I looked once again to him. “We aren’t too sure. But if this isn’t decided soon, and she isn’t awake, we think she might not wake up.”
I heard the intakes of breath from everyone. This time it was Ginny who spoke. “We can’t make this decision without her. No. She would hate for her choice to be taken away.”
“I understand but this is her life.” Healer John looked around the room. “I cannot tell you what to do, you all understand her the best. We will give you two hours to make a choice but understand that she is severely unstable. We will investigate the Healer that she went to.”
The Healers left the room. Silence consumed us for a few minutes. All I can do is hold her hand.
“She would want to keep the babies.” It was from Harry.
“It’s her life Harry.” Ginny responded.
“I know, but she would want to try, no matter what.” He breathed. “I was there after the war when she was told that she could never have children. She wasn’t the same, for months it was bad.”
“I mean how would we explain it to her when she woke up, Gin? I’m sorry Hermione, we chose your life, and the babies would have most likely killed you? She would never forgive us. She would become a shell of a person and I don’t know if she would survive that.” He sat in the chair on the other side of Hermione.
“So, what do we do? Bound her to Charlie?” Ron spoke up. My eyes still haven’t left her face.
“I think that would be the best option.” Mum said from behind me. “She would never forgive us for taking the babies from her. And Being bonded with Charlie works because she will be in Romania for a while anyway.”
“I wouldn’t forgive anyone if they chose to take my children away.” This was from Fleur, her accent still thick. I turned around and Bill nodded with her.
“I’ll do it.” I told them. “She just told me a few days ago that she finally was able to enjoy her pregnancy. Her face brightens up when looking at her bump. I couldn’t take that away from her.”
“Charlie, what did he mean by investigate the Healer?” Dad asked.
“Apparently the healer that Hermione went to told her that everything was fine. But when they examined her today, they said anyone would know that she was sick. So, the healer was lying to her.”
Everyone’s jaw went slacked, then hardened. Silence once again overtook us.
“Who was she?” Bill asked.
“I’m not too sure about her last name but her first name was Megan. We didn’t come here though, the office was small, no one in the front either. I thought that it was to keep Hermione’s secret.”
“I need to look into this, you both left through Grimmauld right? To go to the appointment?” Harry asked. I nodded. “Okay, I’ll see if I can find the place.”
“I’ll go with you.” Bill moved closer to him.
“Me too.” Ron told them. Anger was present on his face more than anyone’s. Hermione was one of his closest friends, not as close as she was to Harry, but he would fight anyone for her. I knew that much was true, he considered her family to him as much as Ginny was.
I turned my face back to her, my hand gripping hers tighter. Hoping that she can forgive me for making this choice. They left and everyone else found a seat or transfigured something. She would want this, a chance for her little family to survive, if that meant tying her to me then so be it, I want this for her no matter how much it will hurt me.
I looked to mum, who still had her hand on my shoulder. “Can you get the Healer? We should do it soon.”
She nodded. I wonder if she can sense my affection for Hermione. She always seems to know, even before we realize it, it was like that for Harry and Ginny.
When she returned with the Healers, they asked everyone else to leave the room. There were objections of course, but I shooed them away. It could be dangerous with too many people in here.
After they were gone, I looked to them. “Are you sure this will work?”
“Yes.” Healer John answered me. I nodded. “You need to be next to her. This might put you to sleep for a little bit. It’s your magic adjusting to hers.”
The healer extended the bed and motioned for me to lay next to her. I grabbed her hand and nodded to the healers.
“This might be a little uncomfortable, this has not been done many times so we have not a lot of information on how the pain will be for you.”
I nodded again. They started to move their wands in unison, I heard them begin the spell, then there was a burning in my chest. It felt worse than a burn from a dragon. I couldn’t scream though, I must keep it in, if I scream it might mess up the healers. This needs to work.
The burning stops and it feels warm instead, it feels like home. I keep my eyes closed and the drowsiness takes me over. Drifting me off into the darkness. Hoping that this works, praying that she isn’t feeling this pain and she will be okay when I wake up.