Hermione
My limbs feel heavy, my eyelids feel like they were sown shut. My chest feels warm, almost too warm, like when Crooks used to lay on my chest during the night. Memories flood me, of the prophet and hearing Charlie calling my name. Once I finally got my eyes open, I noticed the bright lights. Someone is holding my hand, their hand it big. It must be one of the boys.
I turn my head to see Charlie in the bed next to me, it’s him who has my left hand in his. Maybe that’s why my sleep was peaceful, he was with me. I turned my head again to see where I am, it looks like a hospital room. Realization floods me that I am in a hospital.
My right hand immediately goes to my stomach, are they okay? Merlin, something must have happened, that’s why I’m in a bed. I feel my breath becoming labored, I need answers, I look around for my wand, but it is nowhere to be seen.
Someone walked through the door, it’s a man that I don’t know, but he’s in a healer’s robe. He looked alarmed to see me, I wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out, my throat was too dry.
He walked toward the table next to the bed and poured me a glass of water. I took it and looked at him. From the look of the room, I guessed that I was at St. Mungos.
“I’m glad to see that you are awake Miss Granger. I am John Bohen, I have been assigned your healer.” He said.
“Yes, what’s happened? Are my babies, okay? Why is Charlie in the bed with me? Is he okay?” The healer raises his hand, and my questions stop.
“You are okay now. You are in better condition now, as are your babies. Would you like to see?” I nod my head. He waved his wand over my abdomen, and I could see their heart beats, almost perfectly in beat together. I let out a sigh of relief. They were still there.
“There are somethings that happened that I need to explain to you. Let me express that I am sorry for what happened to you. This should have been caught earlier in your appointments.” He sat in the chair next to the bed.
“What’s wrong?” My voice is shaky. My mind running a kilometer a minute trying to figure out what he’s saying before he says it.
“You see, the effects of the Cruciatus curse is still affecting you, and your pregnancy was causing too much stress on you and your magic. Your magic was struggling to heal your body. And when you fainted, was the peak point of stress. If we had waited any longer you would have died.” I could feel my face pale. If they had waited for what?
“Your family made a choice for you. There were only so many options that we had. One was to terminate your pregnancy. Another was to bind your magic to another person’s. The last was to try and keep you stable through your pregnancy, but the chance of you dying along with your babies was high.”
I turned to Charlie again, if he was in the bed with me and my babies had a strong heartbeat then I know which option they chose. “Why was it, Charlie?”
“Well, considering he is the father to your children and the strong attraction your magic has to one another, he was the best possibility.” I looked at the healer. Charlie must have told them that, my normal healer didn’t even know who the father was.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well Mr. Weasley said that you had been closer to him the last few days, yes?”
“Yes, it just felt the most comfortable next to him.” I recounted how I felt sleeping next to him.
“Your body has been in distress for at least 3 weeks. Your attraction to him amplified your magics response to his. Your magic was calling for his.” He took a breath. “This means that for the duration of your pregnancy you will have to be close to him for most of the day. Physical touch is the best but even proximity to one another should do. It will lessen once you aren’t pregnant anymore and most of the stress is gone. But you will still have to be close to him, for the rest of your lives.”
I blinked several times. I was essentially bound to Charlie for the rest of my life. This was something more powerful than Marriage. With Marriage there was a possibility of divorce depending on the ceremony, we were forever. I looked at the healer. “He knew this when he agreed?”
“Yes.” He got up from the chair. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel fine, there is a warmth in my chest, but it’s not unbearable.” I rubbed the area between my breasts.
“That is to be expected. You should feel better in a couple of days.” I nodded. “Do you want me to call in the rest of your family they are in the waiting room.”
A brief panic spread, if I was at St. Mungo’s that mean t people probably saw them bring me in. “Who knows I’m here?”
“Only your family, this is a private area, as you know. You linked your floo to this area specifically. Mr. Weasley made sure to threaten everyone against speaking a word that you are here.”
A smile briefly passed my lips. “Don’t call them in yet. I feel tired and want to rest for a bit more. Please give them an update.” He nodded and left.
I turned my body towards Charlie, his face looked so still, I got used to seeing him with a smile on his face. I reached up to grab his face, his beard was prickly, new growth showing. I let go and placed my hand on his chest, burrowing my head into his arm. He still felt like home, perfect. And now he shared his magic with me so I could survive, so my babies could survive.
I felt something like a throbbing in my chest, and I know that feeling. I am falling harder for him; I don’t think I want to stop. I listen for his shallow breaths and go back to sleep.
. . . .
There is more heat now, and something feels heavy on me. I open my eyes and I can’t see anything. It takes me a second to realize that I’m burrowed into Charlie’s chest, and it’s his arm around me that is weighing me down. He must have moved in his sleep.
I wiggled to try and get out of his grip, but that seemed to make it worse, he gripped tighter. I needed to be let go, my body needed some release.
“Charlie.” I whispered. He showed no signs of waking. “Charlie.”
I gave up and got louder. “Charlie!”
He jumped a little in the bed, his head moving fast from side to side before his eyes settled on me. A smile spread across his lips, before panic. “You’re awake. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, and I need to use the restroom.” His brows ruffled, and I wiggled again to get out of his grasp. He realized and moved his arm. I made my way to the loo and then returned to the room; Charlie was sitting on the edge of the bed.
He was fidgeting with his fingers, nervous. Probably thinking of what to tell me.
I walk over to him, standing in front of him. He opened his arms to me, and I walked into his embrace. We stayed there for a few minutes, not saying anything, just us.
“Thank you.” I looked up to his eyes. “You didn’t have to, but you did. Thank you for saving me, and my babies. I talked to the healer for a little bit, he explained what happened while I was out. You bound yourself to me for all of our lives.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You also told them that the babies were yours?” I asked. “You know they will put that in the official documents, that will be sent to the Ministry once I give birth. Why?”
“Because they weren’t going to let me stay with you, and I didn’t know exactly when Harry was going to come, and Malfoy is your other contact. They were going to contact him. I might have been a little aggressive with the Healers.” He turned his head away. “I wasn’t going to let them do that, so I told them the babies were mine.”
“Oh, Charlie. Thank you, but now I’ve put you in a compromised position.” My voice was becoming a little weary.
He pushed me away a little from his chest. He was staring at me with a weak smile on his lips. He kissed my forehead, and his face grew more sincere.
“I would do it again. You deserve to be happy, Hermione.” He pulled me back into his chest. “This just means that you get to look at your favorite Weasley all of the time.”
I giggled at him, always trying to make a dark situation light. Now I knew where the twins got that habit from. I was bound to him for the rest of my life. I could get used to these hugs, even if nothing romantic ever came out of it.
“We probably should let the rest of the family in though. It has been about 4 hours since the did the spell to bind us. And about nine to ten hours since we brought you in.” I nodded. He helped me back into the bed and I watched him walk out the door. I felt a little colder now that he was gone. It must be the magic, I wonder if he could feel that too, like a little piece is missing.
I can ignore it for the moment, my hands find their way to my bump. My babies are safe and healthy. For that I can forever be grateful, a smile spreads across my lips and some tears fall. None are sad, happy tears for the life I can have with them.
Everyone walks into the room; I see Harry with his puffy green eyes. He comes to me and grips me in a tight hug, I look over his shoulder and see everyone else, they all have somewhat similar looks to them, even the twins. They are smiling but nothing could hide the fear that they were feeling.
Suddenly the gravity of what could have happened hits me. I would be dead, if I didn’t tell anyone, if Harry wasn’t with me that day, if Ginny hadn’t spilled the beans. If I had said nothing and took my healers words to heart that nothing was wrong, I would be alone and dead. If it wasn’t Romania that needed a person, I could have gone somewhere else and died alone, they wouldn’t have known what happened until it was too late.
I grip Harry’s shoulders tighter and begin to cry, hard and heavy. I don’t care that the others can see me cry, that I am an emotional mess. I’m alive because this bunch is nosey, because they love like crazy. It takes a few minutes for me to gather myself.
I let go of Harry to look at everyone else. Harry moved to hold Ginny who was next to him They are all standing around the bed, Charlie standing right behind Harry. I notice that the cool feeling in my chest is gone. “Thank you all. I love you all so much.”
Tears keep falling from my eyes. I catch Charlie’s gaze. “What’s wrong? Does something hurt?”
“No, it just hit me that if I were alone, I would have died. If I hadn’t been told to go to Romania, if I went to some other country, I would have been alone and dying. If I had just left…”
Charlie had his arm around me. “You’re not alone, we are all standing right here. Just worried about you.”
From the look on everyone else’s face this thought already crossed their minds, they were holding each other. Probably worried for hours that I wasn’t going to survive this.
“I know, and I am forever grateful.” I looked to Molly. “Did the healer tell you that I woke up earlier and he explained the situation to me?”
She nodded.
“Good, look at this. Charlie hand me my wand please.” I needed to show them what the healer showed me. The babies heart beats. He handed me my wand and I performed the spell, I had learned it over the last week, using it in secret when I had a moment to myself.
Over my belly the sound and sight of their heart beats came to life. Everyone looked in awe. I put my wand down and looked around the room at their faces.
“That is how I know everything will be okay.” Smiles spread across the room.
Small chatter began to surround me. Everyone took turns asking me how I was. Until the healers came into the room and checked on me and Charlie. They deemed us both fit but wanted to keep us overnight for observations.
Harry, Ron, and Bill were in a corner with serious looks on their face. I turned to Ginny.
“What’s going on with them? They look pretty upset.” I asked her.
“Oh, it’s something with work that Ron and Harry asked Bill to help them with.” She explained.
I nodded; it must have been something serious based off their looks. Ginny told me how they managed to get most of my stuff sent to Charlie’s place on the reserve. Which puzzled me at first but then I realized that I would have to live with him, we would spend most of our time together.
It was closer to ten at night when everyone began to file out. Charlie and I would return to the burrow in the morning and leave for Romania at night. Once Harry and Ginny left it was only us.
“I feel like they were more overwhelming than anything else.” I spoke.
“Yeah, they’re a crazy bunch.” He walked to the bed and sat on the side. “Are you okay?”
I took a deep breath. “Yes and no. Yes, because I am alive, and my babies are safe. No, because you were forced into something. And we’re bound to each other essentially forever, in a bond stronger than marriage, for us there will be no separation.”
He moved closer to me and grabbed my hand. “Hermione, I chose this because I wanted to. Yes, we are bound together, yes that is a little strange. But, if it’s the two of us we can make it work. Our magic works together because of our feelings for one another, whatever they may be.”
I pondered that for a second, my feelings for him in the beginning were of admiration and then they grew into something like love. But what are his, they would also have to be something like love. But maybe his love is more familial, that would make the most sense.
“I guess my son’s name will be Charles then.” I smiled at him. His grin grew. “How are we going to explain the reason that we need to live together in Romania?”
“We can just tell them that the babies are mine. No one will really question it. And that would be the safest way to keep people from asking too many questions.” He paused. “If that’s okay with you. Sorry I told the Healers that, they weren’t going to let me stay with you because I wasn’t family.”
“It’s okay, I understand why you said it.” I whispered. “I’m just worried about what happens if the babies look like him.”
“We can cross that bridge later love. For now, we can just focus on making sure that you and the babies are healthy.” He smiled. “Little Charlotte and Charles.”
“You know the rest of the guys are going to be upset that they lost the bet.” I giggled.
“Let them.” He moved to get into the bed with me. “Let’s get some sleep, we have traveling to do tomorrow.”
“Do you want to feel my bump?” I asked quietly, I wasn’t sure if this would be too much, I didn’t ask anyone else before. He is silent for a moment, and I think I might have just made a mistake.
“Yes.” I looked into his eyes, they looked warm. I guided his hand to my bump and there was a small pulse, probably just his magic and mine. We stayed like that for a few moments. “It’s strange to think that there are two in there.”
“I know, in a few months we should be able to feel them move.” I told him. I let him keep his hand there as long as he wanted. When he moved it, he wrapped me in an embrace. The lights in the room dimmed to nothing.
“I’m happy it was you, Charlie.” I didn’t specify what I was talking about, but he knew.
“Thank you.” He hugged me tighter. I could hear his heartbeat through his shirt and felt his breath on my hair. He was home.