Jamie woke up towards the end of the Charms lesson. He was quiet and only wriggled around a bit, for which his parents were both grateful. Hermione continued to studiously take notes, but Harry leaned down slightly and tickled Jamie's tummy. Jamie smiled and his little fists waved in the air. Several girls sighed as they watched Harry distract himself with his son. Hermione rolled her eyes in amusement.
After class, Hermione waited outside on a bench while Harry disappeared into the lavatory to change Jamie's diaper. Once Hermione was settled with Jamie at her breast, he left to actually use the loo for himself.
"Hey," Hermione looked up and smiled when she saw Ginny. The redhead sat down next to her with a three month old baby boy. "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not." Hermione took the moment to peek down the collar of her shirt and check on Jamie. Ginny pulled out a bottle and began to feed her little blonde boy. "Decided not to take the potion?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and snorted. "Not that Malfoy didn't want me to." Hermione cringed, remembering Ron's outburst about that match last night. "But if I took it, I wouldn't be able to play Quidditch, and then Slytherin would win. Obviously, that's not an option."
Hermione laughed. "What's his name?"
Ginny scowled again. "If you ask the ferret, it's Scorpius." Ginny's lip curled. Hermione pressed her lips together and tried not to smile. "But I call him Artie. And since Malfoy refuses to even hold him, his opinion is void."
Hermione's eyes widened. "He won't holdhim?"
Ginny shook her head. "He's basically pretending this isn't happening." She rolled her eyes before making a face, signalling the end of the topic. "Anyway, whose company are you suffering? I saw Harry playing around with the bugger in class but—"
"Hey, Gin."
Ginny looked up and smiled beautifully. "Hey, Harry." Hermione swallowed nervously.
"Is he all done, 'Mione?" Hermione nodded silently and handed Jamie over to Harry. "Hey, baby," he greeted happily before putting him to his shoulder to burp. Harry nodded at the still feeding baby in Ginny's frozen arms. He didn't notice Hermione's uneasiness nor Ginny's sudden tense posture and pursed lips as he asked, "And who's this?"
Ginny looked like she'd swallowed something bitter when she said, "Artie."
"After Mr. Weasley? He'll love that." Ginny made a noncommittal sound and looked down as she finished feeding Artie. Harry frowned, suddenly catching on to her gloomy face. "Malfoy's treating you alright, right Gin?"
Ginny looked slightly startled at the question. "Uhm… yeah, Harry. He hasn't done anything foul yet, at least."
Harry nodded once, looking serious. "Good, I just worry, you know? The rooms are small, and with all the weird feelings from the bond-"
"-Feelings?"
"Yeah, from the bond in the contract-"
"-You're already feeling feelings?" Ginny looked back and forth between Harry and a frantic Hermione.
Harry frowned. "Isn't everyone?"
Ginny's face grew pinched. She put Artie in his stroller and pulled her knapsack on. "No, Harry, they're not." Without another word, she left.
Hermione tiredly rubbed her eyes. "You're a real idiot sometimes, you know that?"
Harry made a pained face. "Yeah, yeah I do."
She sighed and stood. "Will you be okay with Jamie? Class has already started." Harry nodded. "I've left you the bag. He'll be good to be awake for a little while but then he'll need to go back to sleep. If an hour has passed and he's still awake, take him for a walk. The motion will probably put him to sleep. If you desperately need to, there is a bottle in the bag too. But you shouldn't need it, I'll breastfeed him at lunch. I'll meet you in the Great Hall?" Harry nodded again. Hermione sighed and came up to him. She took his face in her hands. "Stop feeling bad. You and Ginny haven't been together in over a year."
"She waited for me."
"And you waited for her." Hermione shrugged. "But when the time came, you didn't want that anymore. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault." Hermione stared into Harry's bright green eyes, her brown ones filled with warmth and understanding. Hermione hoped Jamie would get Harry's eyes. Harry hoped Jamie would get hers.
Harry nodded to the class doors beside them. "Go to class. We'll see you soon." After one more look to make sure he was okay, Hermione nodded. She kissed Harry's cheek and then dropped another on Jamie's head before grabbing her bag and disappearing through the door.
Harry sat down on the vacated bench. He set Jamie in his lap and tickled his tummy. Jamie's smile brought another to Harry's face.
Not long later, the headmistress turned down the corner into the hall. They smiled at each other in greeting.
"Is Miss. Granger in class?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
She peered over her glasses at the baby in his arms. "Ah… and I see little Jamie is awake now?"
Harry smiled. "Yes, would you like to hold him?"
Professor McGonagall seemed to be holding her breath for a moment. Finally, she nodded quickly. Harry handed the baby over and the headmistress tucked him into the crook of her arm. She smiled and crooned at Jamie and her entire demeanour melted. She eased onto the bench beside Harry.
"He looks just like you did at this age," she whispered.
Harry's eyes widened. "Really?" McGonagall nodded. "I - I didn't know you knew me as a baby, professor."
"Oh, yes. Actually, I was the first person James told when he found out Lily was expecting." Harry remained silent, watching as his professor smiled at old memories. "I was there when she finally agreed to date him. And he asked me to help him when he wanted to propose." The professor turned to Harry and gave him a full smile, filled with love and pride. "Your parents would be so proud of the man you've become."
Harry blinked and tried not to cry. "Th-thank you, professor."
Professor McGonagall took Harry's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "And if this baby is anything like you… I advise you to keep an eye on him."
Harry laughed and nodded. "I will, professor."
"Good." She handed Harry his baby and stood to leave. She paused and gave Harry a look. "And should you and Hermione need a sitter for an hour or two… consider my door open." Harry's eyes widened. Headmistress McGonagall looked around the empty hall. "But let's keep that between us, shall we?"
Harry laughed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Afternoon, Mr. Potter." Harry smiled after the headmistress and shook his head. She truly was one-of-a-kind.
/\
"I've already changed him," Harry said when Hermione sat next to him at lunch.
"Brilliant." Hermione leaned over the bed of the stroller perched on the bench between her and Harry. She smiled down at the fussy baby within. "Hi, honey." She spread her hand across his round belly. Jamie squirmed and put a fist in his mouth. "Oh, he doesn't even care I'm here, you're just hungry, aren't you?" She eased Jamie into her arms.
"Arithmancy?"
"Good. Professor Sinistra wasn't upset by my tardiness." She brought Jamie under her jumper and unclipped her nursing bra. "Help me with this?" Harry pulled out her collar like he had at break and Hermione followed the steps to get Jamie to latch. "Thanks," she said once she had Jamie fully settled. "How was your break?"
"Quiet. Jamie was good." He picked up a roast beef sandwich and placed it on the plate in front of him. "I transfigured the changing mat into a blanket and we played until he got tired. Then I read one of the baby books, one of the ones they'd given us?" He poured her some tea.
Hermione's head shot up. "You did?"
Harry ran a hand through the messy hair at the back of his head. "Well, I wanted to have some idea of what was happening. I know I'm used to relying on you, but this is different."
She smiled. "That's very mature of you, Harry."
"Yeah, well, I did save the world. So, better late than never." Hermione laughed. "Did you hear? The only other couples to get babies under 3 months were Neville and Hannah, and Nott and Greengrass." He stirred a little sugar into her tea just the way she liked it before picking up his sandwich.
"Really?" Hermione looked over to the Hufflepuff table where Hannah was bottle feeding a baby.
"Even more surprising, the only other one breastfeeding is Daphne Greengrass." Hermione's eyes widened and she turned to look at Harry. He shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich. Once he'd swallowed, he said, "I guess she found she wanted to be just as devoted to her child as you are to ours." She smiled at that and leaned her head against his shoulder. Harry popped a kiss on her head. He still wasn't totally comfortable with it all, but he wasn't going to make Hermione feel awkward about her decision.
"Is that so?" Hermione questioned as she pulled away once more, a little smirk playing at the corners of her lips.
"Mhmm… Anyways, I had my break at the same time as Neville and Hannah and met little Frank today. He's a newborn as well." Harry pulled a plate towards himself and put together a meal for Hermione. He'd deliberately read about breastfeeding to help familiarize himself like he'd promised Hermione he would. He'd been particularly intrigued by the whole process of how certain foods were good or bad for the baby. Knowing Hermione needed him to pick up some slack, but refused to ask for any help, Harry resolved to learn what he could do for her. Putting together a balanced plate for her to eat was among the simplest.
"And it turns out, Nott and Greengrass - they've got a two month old." Harry finished as he placed the meal in front of Hermione.
She smiled gratefully at him and peeked down her collar at Jamie. "When did you become such a gossip queen?"
Harry shot her a charming smile that never failed to make her smile in return. "Did you know? Lavender Brown also does not take Arithmancy and has a second period spare?"
Hermione grinned. "Really? Did you learn anything else while I was gone?"
"Loads." Harry leaned forward and grinned conspiratorially. Hermione smiled at the glint in his eye. "Dean got paired with a seventh year Slytherin and they've got two kids, four and two." Hermione's brows raised. "Yeah, they're little tyrants too, apparently. Not anything like Lavender's three angels."
"Oh, Merlin."
"Who would have guessed Lavender would be one of those mums." Harry and Hermione shared a significant look. They did. They both definitely did. Harry shook his head and shrugged. "I almost feel bad for Zabini."
"Almost," Hermione repeated with a smirk.
Harry grinned and turned to his lunch. "Almost."
Lunch was a louder affair than usual. The many children caused quite the havoc amongst the four house tables. Harry and Hermione watched in bewildered bemusement as Pansy screeched to Ernie MacMillan about their crying four year old boy, Parvati scolded two tanned twin boys, Seamus chased around a hyperactive five year old, and Goyle actually lost his child for a startling thirty minutes.
Hermione leaned towards Harry. "I know we haven't even gotten past the first day, but I feel like we've got it easy." Harry raised his eyebrows in silent agreement. They finished their lunch and headed off to the fifth floor, carrying Jamie's carrier between them, for their Family Planning class. "I'll have to feed Jamie again, probably. But he might sleep all the way through."
Harry nodded agreeably and sat down outside the classroom on a bench. Jamie, still awake, was quickly pulled into Hermione's lap. "I love babies," she stated simply, Jamie tucked into the crook of her arm. She touched her finger to his little button nose.
Harry smiled and moved to sit by her knee on the floor. "You're good with them," Harry commented as he reached across her lap and brushed Jamie's cheek gently.
"Thanks, Harry."
The hall filled up quickly with harassed parents and their noisy children. Only about half of the couples had children under one year old and even fewer than that had any so young as even six months.
Hermione studied the couples with younger children, wondering why they had infants instead of toddlers. How was it all decided? Hermione was about to ask Harry his opinion when the doors swung open.
A few of the older children squealed and raced inside. The students glanced at one another and shrugged before following the more rambunctious kids. The room was open and bright with long windows letting in the afternoon light. The floor was carpeted - something none of them had ever seen in Hogwarts before - and seemed to be set up with stations featuring different childrens toys and activities.
The students and children wandered through the daycare space with interest before a sound brought them to a terrified halt.
"Ahem."
All attention was brought to the small pink clad woman with a startling resemblance to a toad. Professor Dolores Umbridge stood at the back of the classroom. She had a terrifyingly sweet smile on her face and a hideously innocent bow on her head.
Ron swore. He passed Pandora to Hermione and stepped in front of Luna and Molly protectively, wand raised. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Yeah," Seamus scoffed, his wand also raised and standing protectively in front of his kids, "who let you out of your cage?"
Umbridge's smile tightened and her eyes hardened, but otherwise she appeared unmoved by their vitriol. "Hello, families," she raised her hands, "and welcome to Family Planning." More wands raised defensively. "I'll ask you to set a properexample for your children, thank you."
Ron refused to back down. "Try again, you cow. Why aren't you in Azkaban?"
"Azkaban is for Death Eaters," her hands raised again and her sleeves, which ended at her elbows, showed off her forearms, "of which you can obviously tell, I am not."
Padma Patil glared at the short woman, one of hands resting comfortingly over the head of her daughter's sleek black curls. "That's a technicality and you know it. You persecuted in the name of You-Know-Who without mercy. Thousands of muggle-borns died because of you!" A rumble of agreement sounded behind her.
"Well, Miss. Patil, I'm quite sorry you feel that way. But the ministry has already tried me, if you have any complaints I'm told there is a form you can fill out." Hermione rolled her eyes, her resolve to never work for the ministry was further solidified. "Now," she clapped her hands, "let's begin, shall we? I am in charge of your Family Planning class. You will use the time here to spend with your children and partner as a family. The expectations are that you grow together as a unit and-"
"-Are we actually going to stand here and listen to this?" Ron looked around the room incredulously. He shook his head. "I'm going to McGonagall." He turned and stormed towards the doors.
Umbridge raised her wand and a second later the doors slammed shut. Ron turned to glare at her, ears red. "This class is mandatory," her voice cut like glass, "and you are not allowed to leave without a formal permission slip. Skipping will not be tolerated and will result in immediate repercussions assigned by the ministry." The pink toad raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "Headmistress McGonagall is being made aware of the situation now. If you have any complaints you can see her after class or fill out a form for the ministry to pursue the problem themselves."
Ron glared at her vehemently. His face had gone nearly as bright as his hair. Hermione reached out a hand and gently touched his wrist. His eyes snapped to her face angrily. She gave him a look of concern. He needed to calm down. The last thing they needed was him being made an example of. Ron swallowed and nodded.
"Wonderful! Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. The goal is to foster meaningful relationships between you, your partner and your children. The ministry wants all witches and wizards to live happy family lives, and the best way to do that is to teach proper family values." Her smile was sickly sweet.
The students traded nervous and dreading expressions. Any unease they'd felt about this whole thing had grown to epic proportions while Umbridge continued to spell out what Family Planning class could and could not be used for. "You're not to use this as a study period, but to spend time with your family."
Hermione shifted Pandora who she was still holding, onto her hip and raised a hand. When Umbridge turned her head towards Hermione, her smile was terrifying. Not the horrific, barely concealed anger that Hermione was expecting; no. Professor Dolores Umbridge looked ecstatic to see Hermione. The young witch felt sick at the thought. She knew something was wrong, if nothing else, Umbridge's reaction to seeing her was a dead giveaway.
"Yes, Ms. Granger?"
"Some of us have very young children who will probably be sleeping during most of these classes. Are the parents not allowed to work on school in the meantime?"
"Excellent question!" Hermione looked sidelong at Harry. He was tense and glaring at Umbridge where he stood slightly in front of Hermione and Jamie in the stroller. "Parents are more than welcome to work on any schoolwork that requires collaboration or studying together. So long as the time is spent together. Any other questions?" A hand raised. "Yes, Miss. Moon?"
/\
Headmistress McGonagall couldn't get rid of Umbridge. Her presence there was not unlike her last time and was therefore sanctioned and approved by the ministry. Umbridge wasn't going anywhere, no matter how much her students rebelled. Each had grabbed a form off her desk to fill out and send to the ministry in complaint. It wasn't until Hermione found the fine print that the forms may not be fully filed until four to six months from then that they gave in.
The students resolved to ignore the old toad as much as possible while stuck in her presence. The trick worked better than they expected. Professor Umbridge seemed more than happy to just sit back and watch. Her sickly sweet smile never fell.
No one could figure out what the ministry was up to.
/\
"But why is she so nice?" Hermione questioned at the end of the week. She was lying in bed, changed and ready for sleep, save her racing mind. Harry was still puttering around the room, cleaning up and readying for bed himself.
"The toad?"
Hermione yawned. "She should hate me." Her hands fell to the mattress with a dull thunk. "I'm pretty positive she does." Despite this, Umbridge had been nothing but courteous to Hermione and Harry. More than, she had been almost… dotting. "She's up to something."
"They're all up to something." Hermione couldn't disagree.
Finally ready, Harry climbed into bed beside her. It was early, only nine at night but both were thoroughly exhausted. Regardless of how easy of a baby Jamie seemed during the day, he'd proven to be a monster at night. He woke up constantly and only just last night he had cried until nearly four in the morning. Harry and Hermione were nearly in tears themselves over how happy they were that it was the weekend.
Harry slid up next to Hermione and she rolled over so he could spoon her from behind. His hand wrapped around her waist and he pressed his nose into her curls. She smelled like tulips.
The way Hermione's body fit against Harry's as they lay together before bed was like bliss. His limbs felt heavy. His body sunk into the bed. He never wanted to move again.
"I left her to the centaurs, Harry." Hermione wasn't finished with their conversation. Harry tiredly opened his eyes. He didn't say anything, but she knew he was awake. "Do you know what centaurs do to adult trespassers?" He didn't. "By all rights, she should despise me. But she's nicer to us than anyone there."
He cleared his throat before he said, "Maybe she thinks we have the power to shut down her little project?"
Hermione frowned. "Do we?"
"I don't know. I did save the world." He nudged her head with his nose. "You helped."
Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes. "Prat."
"Bookworm."
Jamie woke them up three hours later.