A Godfather's Love (aka The Other Side of the Coin)

20 - September 2000: The Twins Are Born

Of course, three weeks later, around the 5th of September and three weeks before Ginny's official due date, her own labour pains started. Before Harry was even fully awake, she had reported that her water had already broken, so they had to get to St. Mungo's double-time, because twin pregnancies had a penchant for happening more rapidly than single pregnancies. After that, things seemed to move in fast-forward. Everything was a blur when Harry tried to recall it later on.

This time, it was Harry who owled everyone concerned to meet him at St. Mungo's, having already put little Stephanie with Sirius so he could stay with Ginny while she gave birth. The area of his body around the incision was healing nicely, although still sore, and Harry felt sure that would be the case for at least another two to three weeks, since the residual pain meant that he hadn't fully healed internally, although the wound looked externally healed.

Shortly after Ginny went into the OR to have her Caesarean, Harry was met by Ron and Hermione, followed closely by Arthur and Molly Weasley. They naturally asked where Sirius was. Harry explained, "He's home, looking after Stephanie so I could be here. But he told me to make sure that he was kept informed as to Ginny and the babies."

Ginny's due date had been calculated so that it fell on the 35-week mark, the average duration of a twin pregnancy. However, her actual delivery date fell three weeks shy of that, around 32 weeks (or eight months). The babies were at least six weeks premature, so both she and Harry had been told to expect smaller than usual babies, both by Molly and their Healer, who had also been Molly's during her pregnancies. Molly recalled that Fred and George had been six weeks early, and neither had weighed much over five pounds. In fact, George had been the first-born twin, not to mention the larger of the two, at five pounds, six ounces, and Fred had been five pounds, three ounces.

It was roughly two hours before they heard the cry of the first child. "Merlin, what a cry! That's got to be a girl!" Arthur Weasley proclaimed after finishing off his latest cup of coffee (his sixth, if his calculations were correct).

Molly gave her husband a dirty look but didn't say anything because she didn't want to disturb Harry, who had worn himself out pacing and finally lain down with his head in her lap. In fact, he had been sleeping for the better part of the last two hours, as had Ron, who was lying with his head in Hermione's lap. Both ladies were soothingly stroking the heads of the sleeping men, and everyone except Harry and Ron reacted instantly to the loud cry.

Just the same, Molly wasn't about to allow Harry to miss hearing the first cry of his first child, even if she had to shake the stuffing out of him. "Harry, Harry! Wake up! Your baby!"

Harry groaned and reluctantly opened his eyes. "Huh? Whazzgoinon?"

"Your baby! Listen!" Molly replied in a loud whisper; a moment later another loud cry filled the air.

Harry listened for a moment, and then he heard it. "Oh, my God. Is that ... my child?"

"The first," came the reply. "The second should come any time now."

But it was an hour later before they heard another cry, and Harry had almost fallen asleep again.

"There it is, dear! The second baby's arrived!"

The cry was still quite loud, although noticeably quieter, at least to Arthur's experienced ears. "That's the boy," he informed everyone. "Hope we see them soon, Mollywobbles; after all, they're our grandchildren."

"Don't call me Mollywobbles--at least not in front of people," she hissed in a stage-whisper. "Besides, you know it generally takes a little while for them to bring the babies out to show off. Just be patient."

"Easy for you to say, woman," he threw back. "I've waited almost twenty years for this moment."

In fact, it was roughly an hour before the babies were wrapped up and brought out. Molly nudged Harry hard to keep him from going back to sleep. "The babies are coming!" Harry reluctantly donned his glasses, and his eyes widened upon seeing two mediwitches carrying one blue bundle and one pink bundle.

"Who's the father?" the one carrying the boy asked.

"That's me," Harry said. "Let me see." The nurse handed the baby over to Harry, who still wasn't quite sure of the proper way to hold him, so Molly helped. Once he was situated, all weariness seemed to leave him; he was too engrossed in bonding with his child. From what he could see, the boy was perfect, every inch of him--and what's more, he looked like Gin. If that was the case, Merlin knew what his daughter must look like. His second daughter, to be exact.

He then decided to hand the baby over to Molly to show everyone else while he stepped up to the other nurse so he could get acquainted with his new daughter. Again, she looked perfect, absolutely exquisite. Everything about her resembled him, especially the eyes, although he again hoped she took after Ginny when it came to the hair. It would be disastrous, especially for a young girl later in life, to have unmanageable hair, particularly if she were in a hurry getting ready for a date.

In fact, he thought he had a good suggestion for a name for his new son--Jacob Harrison Potter. That way he would be able to carry on the wizarding tradition of fathers giving their sons their Christian names for middle names, as he carried his father's. As for the girl, that was a bit tougher--but if he knew Ginny, she would ask if he'd picked any names yet, so Harry vowed to be ready with satisfactory answers before she awakened, if at all possible. Maybe Brittany Rose ... After a moment's thought, Harry's smile widened. That was perfect! Or at least he thought so. It remained to be seen what Gin would think of it. Which reminded him ...

"Excuse me," he asked politely. "How's my wife? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She's just deeply asleep. Would you like to sit with her?"

"As long as we have the babies there. I want her to see them when she awakens."

"No problem." The first nurse exchanged glances with the other, who left for a short while to bring back a double crib, smaller than normal but sufficient for two smaller-than-usual babies.

He whispered the names he had tentatively chosen, and Molly's eyes lit up. "They sound lovely. Now I hope Ginny agrees with you."

He really had no idea how long it would be before Ginny woke up; he could only hope that he could manage to stay awake. Maybe if he had some coffee, too, it would help, stage-whispering to Arthur to get him a cup next time around--with cream and a bit of sugar. He didn't want to leave her side, so he had the older man bring it back to him, then sipped it in order to get as much lift from the caffeine as he could.

Another four hours passed before Ginny awakened from the anesthetic spell. When she did, Harry placed himself so as to make sure he would be the first person she saw when she opened her eyes. His one hand was intricately entwined with hers, and he had a tender smile on his lips as their eyes met.

"Welcome back, luv. Our babies are here."

He leaned over to kiss her, and she smiled.

"I've seen them; they're beautiful. Oh, by the way, I've tentatively decided on names for them. Let me know what you think of these."

With that, he recited the names he had chosen. For a time Ginny was silent, and then she smiled and nodded. "They're lovely. Go ahead with it."

One mediwitch took down what they said, including it with the other vital information concerning the babies, which would be included in their joint birth certificate. As far as that went, Harry and Ginny had already gotten copies of their own, as well as copies of pictures of their parents holding them when they were babies, if only for the sake of comparing them to those of their children when they were older.

In fact, Harry was still holding their own daughter, and placed her in her mother's arms, looking around for his baby son after he had done so. He soon spotted the baby in Hermione's arms and she was oohing and ahhing over him just as much as if he had been her own. (No one present was aware of this just yet, but Hermione had missed her last period and was fairly certain that she was pregnant. However, she had not yet checked herself--which was why she hadn't said anything. She didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until and unless she knew for certain.)

After about fifteen minutes of Ginny holding her tiny daughter, little Jacob was brought to her, and the babies were exchanged between Hermione and Ginny. "I've already thought of a nickname for our son. How does 'Jake' grab you?" Harry finally said.

"Probably only natural, just as 'Britt' is probably only natural for our daughter," Ginny replied. "Or maybe Rose. A lot of people go by their middle names nowadays. Which reminds me--maybe our son will be called 'Harry,' just as you are. If that's the case, we can call him Harry, Jr."

"Whatever," Harry conceded. "What matters is that we gave them names they can live with their whole lives." He yawned deeply before he could stop himself and apologised when he noticed that Ginny had noticed. "Sorry, luv. I've been awake over twenty straight hours except for some napping in the waiting room."

"It's all right. What matters is that you were here when I woke up. Oh, yes. Have you told Sirius and the others yet?"

" 'Fraid not. At least not yet. I was thinking I'd do that when I leave here--but I didn't want to leave until I was sure you and the babies were okay." Only at this point did Ron finally step up, lean down and stroke one baby's face and the other's head.

"One looks just like you, mate, and the other like Gin. Good thing they're of the opposite sex and not identical. Otherwise we'd have the very devil of a time trying to tell them apart, just like Fred and George."

"Well, in that case, I'll be leaving now. See you tomorrow, luv. I'll try to bring Sirius then so he can see the babies. Good night."

"Good night, luv." With that, Harry Disapparated; Molly was already making plans to get pictures of her new grandchildren at the earliest opportunity. Meanwhile, it was probably best for all of them to go home and get some sleep themselves, then come back tomorrow. Maybe they could even beat Harry here, but there was no guarantee. She knew of no one more conscientious when something was really important, other than maybe Hermione.

After all had kissed Ginny goodbye one way or the other and the babies had been taken to the nursery, all the family followed Harry's example and left. Ginny was beginning to feel tired again, not to mention sore, so the mediwitch gave her a sedative and turned out the light. Even at that, Ginny had charmed the picture of Harry and herself, as well as the one of her family, to glow in the dark, and she gazed at them for a while, smiling with love and pride at her wonderful husband, equally wonderful family--and now her wonderful babies. She eventually fell asleep, still smiling.