It was just after dawn on Boxing Day and as tired as Harry was he’d been watching Ginny sleep for close to an hour now. Once they’d gotten home last night she’d held him to his promise. Her need for him was not exhausted until after the third time they’d made love. Harry mused slyly to himself, “if this is what it is to have a pregnant wife then I’ll take it!”
As Harry continued to watch Ginny, he still could not quite believe that she was now carrying their child. He wondered, “she’s so tiny, physically powerful yes, but what if the baby’s too big? Considering... Oh Merlin, what if it’s too big?”
The thought of this possibility brought tears to Harry’s eyes as he began to remember…
Harry, Ron, and Arthur had already been pacing in Harry and Ginny’s living room for several hours when a piercing scream startled the three men so badly that it made Arthur swear and forced Harry with Ron behind him to tear up the stairs and bolt through the door to Harry and Ginny’s bedroom.
Both men stood horrified at what they saw. Harry had never seen a baby delivered before, yet something told him that there was entirely too much blood on the sheets. Molly was kneeling behind Ginny and holding her up at forty-five degree angle. Hermione, who was in her last weeks of healer training was helping the midwife with the delivery, none of the women paid much attention to the two men standing in the doorway. The last contraction must have been what prompted the scream because all three women were trying to convince Ginny that she still had to keep pushing. Another contraction ripped through her and she screamed again. The look of terror and pain on her face made Ron want to move heaven and earth to take the pain away for her, she was his little sister and since they were the closest in age the older Weasley children had looked to Ron to be Ginny’s primary protector, now she was trying to deliver a baby who was taking a very long time about joining the world and there was nothing he could do to spare her this pain. He could not begin to fathom what was going through Harry’s mind just now. Ron placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder squeezed it and while he’d never prayed before he prayed now.
Another scream pierced through Ron’s thoughts and snapped him back to the room. Harry, who had been stonily silent from the shock of what he’d seen upon entering the room, started growling in anguish “WHAT’S WRONG? WHAT’S HAPPENING TO MY WIFE? SHE’S BEEN IN LABOR FOR OVER 7 HOURS! TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING!" Ron was now restraining Harry from lurching toward the bed, however Harry continued to rant at the top of his lungs. Hermione rushed over and slapped Harry so hard that a loud crack was heard as her hand made contact with his cheek. Ron was sure the crack was the sound of something, like Harry’s jaw breaking. Harry became quiet.
Hermione looked at both men and whispered in a deadly voice, “the baby is too big for her. She is frightened and beyond exhausted. Molly has to hold her up so she can push." Hermione lowered her voice further, “if we don’t get the baby out soon we’ll not only loose the baby we’ll loose Ginny too.”
Harry started ranting again, “oh no, no, no. This is my fault. I got her pregnant, Oh Merlin no, no, no please?” He had sunk to the floor and was rocking back and forth crying. “This is my fault.” His voice became louder as he yelled, “Ginny, I love you, I’m sorry I did this to you.”
Hermione knelt in front of Harry although her heart was breaking for him she knew she had to be stern with him. “Harry if you don’t clam down and get back downstairs I’ll slap you again.”
He growled again “I’M NOT LEAVING HER!”
“Yes you are. Ron, get him out of here.” Hermione spat. Ron lifted Harry bodily from the floor and dragged him from the room.
Once downstairs, Ron explained to his father what was happening. Arthur lost the ability to stand and fell into an armchair. Harry, racked with guilt and pain was no longer able to hold himself up so he crumpled to the floor and started muttering again that this was his fault because he was so much taller and out weighed Ginny by a considerable amount. He kept repeating this over and over while rocking back and forth. He started crying again when another scream cut through the house. Arthur turned white and became sick while Ron joined Harry on the floor wrapped his arms around his best friend and started to say “she will be fine, the baby will be fine." Ron continued to repeat the statement until all three men were saying it together repeatedly.
Ginny’s screams were almost non stop for the next fifteen minutes until suddenly, the house went deadly silent and Hermione’s voice rang out “HARRY! RON! DAD!" All three men raced to the bedroom. As they barged in they could see Molly gently laying the limp form of Ginny back onto the bed. Ron could see the terror in Harry’s eyes as he, Harry, rushed to his wife’s side.
Arthur spoke first. “What, what’s happened? Is she, are they?” He could not bring himself to finish the question. Hermione walked over to them with a bundle in her hands.
“Ginny is going to be just fine, she is going to have to rest for a while but otherwise, she will be alright.” Hermione hesitated. This is when Ron noticed two things; one that she did not mention that the baby was going to be ok and two that the bundle in her arms was completely covered. He swallowed as Hermione looked at her husband and father-in-law. Very quietly she said “we lost the baby”. At that moment Harry let out a howl that broke the heart of even the season midwife. Ginny had weakly whispered to Harry that they’d had a son who’d been stillborn. He could do nothing other than hold his wife in his arms and cry along with her.
Ginny turned over in her sleep. Harry found himself praying to whatever powers that oversaw such things that this delivery would not be as difficult and most of all that this child would survive. “We are both strong people,” he said to himself “but I don’t know that either of us could live through again what we went through after losing James.”