Darkness Shadows Light

CHAPTER SIX - IT SOUNDS LIKE ENGLISH, BUT I DON\'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU\'RE SAYING

By breakfast time Harry had felt much better and had even managed to eat something. He caught Snape looking at him, but couldn\'t discern what that gaze meant. Did he regret the previous evening? Proba kno knowing his lover. He realised he still had to tell him Ron\'s decision and wondered whether he could risk sneaking down to the dungeons that evening. He would also be able to tell him whatever Madam Pomfrey had to say when he and Ron went to see her after lunch.

\'Come on Harry, it\'s time for Transfiguration,\' said Hermione, interrupting his thoughts and giving him a strange look. \'You looked like you were somewhere else!\'

Ron smirked at him knowingly and Harry smibackback. He decided it was nice to have one friend who knew what was going on and whom he didn\'t have to lie to.
Trying to put everything to do with Severus out of his mind, he headed to his first class of the day.

*****

At lunch Harry forced himself to eat something though he was feeling sick about going back to see Madam Pomfrey. No one but Ron seemed to notice anything.

\'Are you ready?\' Ron asked in a low voice that only Harry could hear.

\'I think so,\' Harry replied nervously, getting up.

\'Where are you two off to in such a rush?\' asked Hermione suspiciously.

\'Um, we\'re going to get in some Quidditch practice as we\'ve got a free now.\' Ron had finally made the team last year as a beater after Fred and George had left.

\'What, straight after eating?\' Hermione looked even more suspicious.

\'Yes,\' said Ron defiantly as if to say what of it.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief, assuming it was typical boy behaviour.

Harry and Ron hurried off before Hermione came up with any more questions.

When they got to the hospital wing, Harry was relieved to see Madam Pomfrey was on her own. She looked at him disapprovingly.

\'I thought I\'d be seeing you back today,\' she remarked briskly. She looked at Ron, \'and why is Mr Weasley here?\'

\'Because he\'s as involved as this as me,\' said Harry nervously, wondering if they would pass this first hurdle. Madam Pomfrey was extremely adept at seeing through lies after the number of years she had spent working at Hogwarts with children trying to fake illnesses to get out of lessons.

\'Really?\' she said, raising her eyebrows. Ron blushed, but in the circumstances it seemed fairly likely he would if he actually was the father. \'At least you appear to be accepting responsibility, though I don\'t suppose you expected this outcome to your...involvement.\'

\'We\'re not involved,\' Ron suddenly blurted out. For a horrifying moment Harry thought he had lost his nerve and was going to confess. \'It was a mistake, a one night stand. I like girls really.\' With relief, Harry realised Ron was sticking to the story he had come up with. Ron was now hanging his head and looking thoroughly ashamed. Harry wondered how much of it was acting.

Madam Pomfrey looked from one to the other with a doubting look on her face.

\'This type of conception between two wizards is very rare and I\'ve never heard of it in the circumstances you\'ve described. Are you sure Ron is the father, Harry?\'

Harry panicked, he hadn\'t given a thought about whether the story he had concocted would be believable under these circumstances. He realised he should definitely have found out more about wizard pregnancies before telling Madam Pomfrey. Now the only choice was to brazen it out.

\'Of course Ron\'s the father,\' said Harry with as much indignation and decisiveness he could muster.

\'Well, I suppose it\'s possible,\' conceded Madam Pomfrey. \'Just highly irregular.\'

\'What are the usual circumstances?\' asked Harry curiously.

\'Well, as far as I know, there are only four recorded cases - so it\'s fairly difficult to talk about *usual* circumstances - and in each case both the wizards were very powl anl and also were deeply connected to each other, what some people would call soul mates.\'

\'Oh,\' said Harry, weakly. No wonder the medi witch found it hard to believe Ron was the father, they were hardly soul mates and Ron could be described as a competent wizard, but never a *powerful* one. But then-

\'Well this baby doesn\'t seem to fit into that at all!\' said Harry. \'I\'m not exactly a powerful wizard and there\'s no doubt that I\'m the one who\'s pregnant.\' He remembered Severus had said the same thing about it taking a powerful wizard, but he hadn\'t really been in the right frame of mind to take it in.

\'You\'re more powerful than you realise, dear,\' murmured Madam Pomfrey.

\'But I\'m nowhere near the top in our year,\' he protested. \'How can I be powerful?\'

\'There\'s more to magic than just booklearning,\' was the mysterious reply which reminded him of something Hermione had said at the end of the first year. Before he could ask any more, she changed the subject.

\'Now, Harry, would you lie down for me please,\' she sbrisbriskly, indicating the examination couch and then bustling off to one of the supply cupboards. Harry took off his shoes and laid down.

\'That was a bit close,\' whispered Ron, \'I thought she wasn\'t going to believe us.\'

\'I\'m not sure she does,\' replied Harry thoughtfully. \'But if she doesn\'t I don\'t think she\'ll tell anyone.\'

Madam Pomfrey returned to the pair.

\'Drink this,\' she said, holding out a small purple bottle. Harry took it and, sitting up a little, swallowed obediently.

\'What was that?\' he asked belatedly.

\'Just something to help a spell,\' she replied, then she waved her wand over his stomach and said a spell that neither Ron or Harry recognised. Slowly above Harry a tiny, semi-transparent object appeared.

\'What\'s that?\' asked Ron, mystified.

\'That is your baby,\' replied Madam Pomfrey.

\'Wow,\' said Ron in awe. \'It\'s tiny,\' 'As 'As I thought, Harry, you\'re about six weeks along, though I suppose you\'d know that.\' she said, giving them both a penetrating look. Harry blushed, of course if it only happened once with Ron, then they\'d know exactly when he\'d conceived.

\'Yes, that would be right,\' Harry said, managing to meet Pomfrey\'s eye. He returned his attention back to the tiny shadow, sitting up a little to see better. Through him ran many feelings: love, worry, astonish. B. But his main feeling was an overwhelming need to protect this small being.

\'Well I\'m glad to see this baby isn\'t totally unwanted,\' said Madam Pomfrey dryly, making Harry realise he had been just staring at it with a soppy smile on his face.

\'There\'s nothing I want more,\' Harry said simply. Ron looked at him in astonishment, he had been completely awed by seeing what was growing inside Harry, but he had not realised what this actually meant to his best friend.

Eventually Madam Pomfrey ended the spell and after a cursory examination of Harry, let him get up.

\'Well you seem in fairly good health,\' she said. \'I know you\'ve been suffering from morning sickness from what you said last time.\'

\'Yes,\' said Harry. \'That\'s one of the reasons I came. Is there anything you can give me for it?\'

\'Yes, of course. Not something I normally keep, but Professor Snape kindly brewed it up today.\' Seeing the startled look on Harry\'s face, she misinterpreted it. \'Don\'t worry, I didn\'t tell him who it was for.\' She once again went over to the cupboard and brought out a fairly large blue bottle.

\'Now take this every night just before you go to sleep, it should stop any sickness. If you have any side effects, come straight to me.\' she warned. \'Now there\'s a few things you need to know,\'

Harry sighed, this was taking longer than he\'d hoped.

\'What?\' he asked.

\'First of all don\'t drink any potions unless you\'ve checked with me first, especially not those you\'ve brewed in your potions classes.\'

\'Fine,\' replied Harry, that would be easier than she realised.

\'No transfiguring yourself or letting anyone else transfigure you,\'

\'Yes, no problem.\' Not something he was in a habit of doing anyway.

\'And finally...no more Quidditch,\'

\'What?!? You can\'t be serious! I\'m the team captain, I\'ve *got* to play.\' Ron looked equally horrified.

\'Not any more you don\'t,\' Pomfrey replied firmly.

\'But why?\' spluttered Harry. \'I\'ll be careful. I\'m hardly pregnant at all. Surely I can keep playing for a while?\'

\'No, Harry, from now on you need to be extremely careful. This isn\'t a normal pregnancy, if something did happen that caused you to lose the baby...well it\'s more than likely you would die as well.\'

\'I don\'t understand,\' said Harry blankly.

\'This is a baby created by magic,\' she explain \'T \'Therefore until it is born you two are linked by magic and anything that causes that link to be suddenly broken would be such a shock that you would probably not survive. This happened in two of the four cases I know about.\'

\'No more Quidditch then,\' said Harry defeatedly, there were few things he enjoyed more than being Seeker, but it wasn\'t really worth the risk. \'What happened to the other two babies?\' he asked.

Madam Pomfrey suddenly looked flustered.

\'I believe they turned out to be very powerful wizards,\' she said. \'But I haven\'t got time to talk about tnow,now, I think it\'s time you two got to lessons.\' And with that she hurried away from them.

\'That was a bit strange,\' said Ron after they had left the hospital wing.

\'It certainly was,\' replied Harry. \'I definitely think there was something she wasn\'t telling me.\'

\'What?\' said Ron, surprised. \'I was talking about seeing the baby and you beio mao maternal!\'

Harry found himself blushing. \'It\'s alright for you, you\'ve got loads of family - more than you could ever want - but I\'ve never had a real family and never thought I would. The timing isn\'t exactly brilliant, but I truly want this baby.\'

\'I guess I can understand that,\' Ron replied. As much as he moaned about his family he still loved them immensely and couldn\'t imagine life without them. \'But I don\'t know how everyone in Gryffindor are going to react when they find out you\'ve got to give up Quidditch.\'

\'I know, I don\'t know what I\'m going to tell them. I don\'t want everyone to know about the baby yet.\'

\'I guess we\'re going to have to come up with a good reason,\' said Ron.

\'More lies,\' sighed Harry. \'I\'m not going to know what\'s true soon.\'

Ron looked at his watch, \'Well you\'d better think up a good lie soon, as to why we\'re late for Divination!\' And with that they rushed off to the North tower.