Watching

Watching

Chapter 33

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

The pain of losing my husband has brought me to this point--the day I gain a child. I've been in labor all morning and the time to deliver my son has finally come and gone. He's sleeping in my arms.

He looks exactly like his father. He's got the Malfoy hair and eyes, the narrow pointed face, the slenderness that is inherent to the line...but he's also got a few Snape features in him.

For instance his birthmark. It's on his right shoulder blade and S that every Snape has been known to possess is there. He's also got a bit of green in his eyes. A bit of my eyes...of my mother's eyes....

I felt a sob rise in my throat and wished more than anything that Draco could be there to see and to hold his first-born. If only he had lived....

But if he hadn't been right there right then, I would have died, as would this baby.

"What are you going to name him?" Hermione asked once she and Harry had been allowed in.

I looked from my son to my father and Lucius before I turned to Harry and Hermione. "Draco Severus Lucius Malfoy," I said softly. I bit my lip to hold back more tears.

"That's a long name," my father said softly. "There's a lot there to live up to."

I nodded and felt my eyelids grow heavy. I think my father may have noticed for he walked over to me to take my son away. "Sleep," he said softly. He said my son down in a nearby crib and shooed everyone from the room. He looked back as he shut the door.

I looked over to the crib and gasped slightly at what I saw. Draco, my love, my husband, was standing over the crib, gazing down at his son.

He looked up at me. "Now you know why I went," he said softly. "I love you."

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

He shook his head. "Don't be," he said softly. "Don't ever be sorry."

"I love you," I said through my tears.

He nodded. "I know," he said. "I've always known." He paused, something big on his mind. "You're done now, you know," he said softly. "With the things you have to do. And you're weak, from childbirth. No one knows that you're bleeding still. You have a choice right now," he said softly. "You can die and allow Harry and Hermione to raise our son, or you can live and do it yourself. All you have to do is close your eyes."

I sighed heavily, somehow not at all disturbed or confused by his words. I knew that this was the reason my mother had not allowed me to die. I knew that this was the last thing I had to do.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When I woke, I was still in my room. Confused, (after all, hadn't Draco said that I would die?) I stood up and walked over to the crib.

I reached out a hand and brushed it against my baby's cheek. That was when I noticed I was transparent. I looked back over to my bed, where I was lying still.

"Oh," I heard myself whisper.

I heard a chuckle from behind me. I turned and saw Draco.

"You may want to tell your father that you're dead," he said softly. "You know, just in case."

The door opened then and my father walked in. He froze when he looked at me standing over my baby.

"What?" he whispered softly.

"I died," I whispered, looking back over at my body. His eyes followed mine and he gasped. "I was still bleeding," I informed him. "I guess something went wrong and we didn't know it."

He turned back to me. "Why?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper. "Why did you do this?"

"You mean why didn't I send for you?" I asked. He nodded. "I didn't know," I said simply. "I was tired, I went to sleep, then I woke up dead."

"But..."

"Will you ask Harry and Hermione to raise him?" I asked, turning back to my son. "If they won't, will you?"

He nodded wordlessly. I disappeared.