The Saviour of a Marriage is Born

[Adrianne Finch]

Adrianne had been at home that day, her little boy cuddled up the large mountain that was her stomach. She was due any day now and this time, she felt a lot more relaxed. This baby had not bothered her at all; the occasional kick caused Adrianne to stroke her belly, cooing over the little being inside, but other than that, this child had been a blessing. Lorin was a nightmare pregnancy but Adrianne, a hand ruffling his hair, would not change him for the world. He was two years old, now. My, time had flown! Adrianne was starting to wonder about schooling for him and whether he would be better off at Durmstrang where they taught the most essential subject; the Dark Arts. It was at this moment, Adrianne felt a very strange feeling. A warm feeling. She gently moved Lorin aside but as she stood up, she gave a gasp. Her waters had broken.

For three hours, Adrianne had writhed in a bed at St. Mungo's. She was covered in cold sweat and she groaned. The 'blessing' baby was causing her terrible trouble. Adrianne had not known if Ioan had been contacted with the news. Maybe he had been held up at work. "Well, no hurry." Adrianne breathed in reply to her thoughts, "it's not like the little beggar is planning on being born anytime soon.." She had had plenty of pain killers but this baby seemed intent on torturing her. Well, at least it seemed to take after it's mother. This made Adrianne, in between gasps of pain, to wonder whether this baby, which she knew not the gender of, would have it's mother's or father's eyes. She could hear a noise outside as a sudden shocking pain hit her. Great, she thought to herself, you can't even wait for your father to get here before you arrive, can you?

 

[Ioan Finch]

Ioan had been in the middle of a meeting with another death eater when he'd received a message via owl. Curious, Ioan detached the letter from the owl's leg and unfolded it, reading the hastily scrawled writing twice before he realized what it said. He didn't recognize the writing, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the content. Ioan jumped up from his seat, his colleague doing the same and Ioan gave the man a quick explanation and apology for why he needed to leave. As soon as he was out of range of the no-apparition zone that the man had around his home, Ioan stopped walking and tried his best to calm down. It was difficult though because he was about to become a father for the second time and if he didn't hurry, this baby like his son Lorin would be born before he'd even arrived.

Placing his hands in his pockets, Ioan apparated from the European countryside that he'd been standing in to the cobblestone walk of Obsidian Harbour. When he was sober, apparating was no trouble at all for the young death eater and he quickly began to walk towards St. Mungo's. He stopped briefly in the alleyway between the hospital and a potions shop to mask the death eater tattoo that he had not concealed earlier. It would put a damper on his day to have some foolish mudblood or muggle lover see the tattoo and report him on the day of his child's birth.

Ioan's blue-green eyes quickly scanned the lobby as he quickly made his way to the birthing area that Adrianne had been in when she'd had Lorin. He was stopped by a male healer just as he was about to enter the area telling him that he couldn't enter without permission. "Like hell I can't" he spat out loudly enough for the whole ward to hear, which made the man cringe. "My wife is in one of these rooms about to have my child, and I will be present even if I have to curse you to get by." Without even waiting for the man's reply, Ioan brushed past the healer and opened up the closest door. Adrianne was inside, and Ioan entered, closing the door behind him. He walked up to the bed slowly. "Adri...I'm here" he told her as he took his jacket off and draped it on a chair. She looked as if she were in a great deal of pain, and Ioan wondered whether all childbirths were like this. "Are you alright?" he asked, stupidly perhaps, but it was the first thing to come into his mind. He'd never actually witnessed anything like this before.

 

[Adrianne Finch]

If Adrianne had had the strength, she would have answered Ioan in a rather venomous way. Instead, she let out a loud, pained scream. A midwife ran in and told her to keep breathing. "Of course I'm going to keep breathing!" Adrianne screamed back, angrily. However, a sudden indescribable pain hit her. "Ioan!" she screamed for him, trying to grab at his hand. Last year, she'd broken Larissa's fingers, this year, it would be his.

Uncontrollable tears were running down Adrianne's cheeks. She wished that this pain would stop, that it would all be over. Once upon a time, Adrianne had thought there no worse pain than that of the Cruciatus curse. But she had been so very wrong. Even with pain killers, childbirth was no picnic for Adrianne. The sweat had been uncomfortable, yes, but the pain was unbearable. She didn't even notice, as this baby was forcing its way from her, the veil of sweat running down the back of her neck. This baby had been quiet before now, had not been a problem. It had saved all that to unleash on one spectacular day. Adrianne was thankful that Lorin was with a neighbour of hers; she had worried that allowing him to witness all her screams would not only cause him to stress (and cause her stress) but would mean his associating this child with something negative. Adrianne just wanted her children to get on well and maybe then, they could be a proper family.

Proper family or not, however, Adrianne vowed to always love her children and her husband. This child was going to seal that deal. With a loud, blinding scream, Adrianne grabbed onto whatever was nearest, with her other hand, gripping tightly. She was trying, desperately, to clench her teeth so she could push but she was too busy screaming at the torture she experienced. The midwife was, once again, trying to be helpful, asking Adrianne to push. Adrianne swore. A lot. The midwife, someone obviously quite new to the occupation, seemed very hurt, but Adrianne wasn't going to be apologizing any time soon.. Over the deafening pain and her own screams, she managed to hear someone tell her it was almost there.

Adrianne gave it one last go and, at the sound of a baby cry, she passed out.

 

[Ioan Finch]

Ioan was at a loss as to what to do. He didn't think Adrianne wanted him too close because she looked to be in terrible pain and was lashing out at everyone- the midwife especially- but when she yelled his name, Ioan instinctively moved closer and held out the hand she was grabbing for. Within moments, Ioan felt her squeeze and heard the unmistakable crunch of his ring finger breaking. Is this normal? he thought to himself as he looked on, horrified at what the midwife was doing. During the entire pregnancy, Adrianne had not complained of any discomfort which was a good thing for Ioan because he knew that he would not have heard the end of it if she had. Now though, his wife looked like she was...struggling.

"Is there nothing else you can give her?" he'd asked the midwife more than once and she simply shook her head and told him that she was doing all she could. Ioan pressed his other hand to Adrianne's head to wipe some of the sweat from her brow. Even though it was the middle of the winter outside, in the room, it felt like the middle of the summer and all of the heat seemed to be coming from Adrianne. Ioan could feel the trickles of sweat running down his own back, a combination from the heat in the room and his anxiety at how long this was taking. The minutes turned to hours and still the baby had not come out.

With a scream louder than any he'd heard so far, Ioan felt another one of his fingers break as Adrianne bore down and pushed. His eyes widened as Adrianne unleashed a slew of curses, some of which were aimed at him and what he'd 'done' to her by making her pregnant. As the midwife seemed to ready herself, Ioan knew that the baby must almost be out. "Hang in there" he muttered to his wife, though whether she heard or not, he could not tell. Unable to take his eyes away from the midwife, Ioan watched as the baby finally arrived. "It's a girl!" the midwife cried out in exhaustion. With a tired smile on his own face, Ioan turned to Adrianne. "You did--" he choked out and then stopped as he saw his wife unconscious. "Do something! Help her!" he yelled as he shook her hand. "C'mon Adri...C'mon" he called out to her. He barely noticed as the door opened and another healer, the one he'd yelled at earlier, entered the room and went to help Adrianne.

Ioan brushed his hands through his hair as he was pushed out of the room so that the healers could attend to the new baby and Adrianne. He was worried though. He'd never seen his wife in so much pain before. A giant ball seemed to enter his throat as he thought about losing his wife. He loved her of course and the thought of losing her, especially now that they had brought two beautiful children into the world was unbearable. Slowly walking over to a seat, Ioan sat for the first time in hours and put his head in his hands as he waited for the healers to tell him what was going on.

 

[Adrianne Finch]

For fourty-five minutes, healers moved in and out of the room where Adrianne lay. The baby had been placed in a small crib, not too far away from its mother. A healer cooed over it as it slept. Such a tiring thing, was birth, for both mother and child. Adrianne had been washed as she slept, her body was clean and the bed sheets had been changed. The healers had concluded that it was minor internal bleeding caused by the birth which had resulted in Adrianne losing consciousness. There was a general hum, echoing from the entrance hall. Everything was going to be fine.

The darkness had been nothing and meant nothing. She would have remained unaware of her existence, had it not been for the other pair of eyes in the room, slowly opening. Adrianne was staring up at the ceiling, a healer beside her, checking her pulse. "Wh.. Where am I?" Adrianne breathed weakly, her head messed up from the sudden light. Bleary eyed, she forced herself to sit up a little way. The healer instantly insisted upon her laying down and getting some rest. Adrianne, finding her memory coming back to her, would have none of it. "Where's my baby?" she demanded, looking to the healer. "Give me my child, now." If she'd not been so tired, Adrianne would have sent a spell at this woman. The woman turned to the cot she had been standing over and carefully scooped up the small baby, swaddling it. It was awake and, as Adrianne took it in her arms, she smiled. "Oh!" she said, rather taken by the child's eyes alone, "You are beautiful."

After ten minutes of cuddling the small being, Adrianne sent the healer out to fetch Ioan. The woman was obviously not into the idea of being bossed around by a patient, but Adrianne was old hat at what was too far in St Mungo's. After all, she had worked there for three years now. Adrianne would soon be turning twenty-five. Twenty-five years old- the age one must be before the ultimate honor can be received.. And it certainly would be an honor. Adrianne soon forced the idea of a dark mark, from her head as the healer walked back into the room, standing to one side. Adrianne smiled down at her baby.

 

[Ioan Finch]

Ioan shot out of his seat, a scowl on his face, when he heard his name being called. For an hour, he had been in the waiting room barred from entering and seeing Adrianne and their baby. "Finally..." he muttered as he walked past the healer and into the room without thanking her.

Ioan breathed a small sigh of relief as he saw that Adrianne was alright. He had been very worried for a while and with no news or anything from the healers, he had been left to fear the worst. Scratching the back of his head as he looked down at Adrianne holding their baby girl, Ioan winced. My fingers he realized as he held them in front of his face. Two of his fingers were turning an odd shade of purple and swelling rapidly. The healer standing beside him looked up and removed her wand, quickly sending a spell his way to fix them up. He grimaced in pain for a moment and then felt the pressure lift. Muttering a thanks, he turned once again to his wife and drew closer.

The first thing he noticed when he looked at his daughter was the startling shade of her eyes. They were red and very much like her mother's. "Oh..." a small crossed his face, "she looks just like you, Adri." He simply stared down at the child they had created together for a moment and then slowly lifted his blue-green eyes to Adrianne's red ones.

 

[Adrianne Finch]

Adrianne couldn't help but feel a little guilty for breaking Ioan's fingers.. But then, he had cheated on her again, so maybe he deserved the pain. Pushing her thoughts of Ioan's fingers aside, she smiled as he instantly commented on their daughter. "Yes, and by the pain she caused me, it seems like she might be more like me than just eye colour." Adrianne's smile darkened slightly, her thoughts on the future; most traits were formed in the womb and, though they could be molded slightly, they usually stuck with a person through life. Their daughter would probably always be a cruel one. A silent killer.

The midwife was in the room, watching Adrianne. The two of them had met only once before, yet only one of them remembered the other. It had been a very tiring job and it had been her first with the need to avoid as much attention as possible from all the muggles walking round but, somehow, Adrianne had done it. She had been dressed head-to-toe in black, a scarf covering face, her eyes the only thing in view. The man had walked down an alleyway and she had followed, hiding in the shadows. She remembered someone apparating behind her, witnessing the spell at it hit the man's chest, knocking him to the ground, dead. The woman had seen it all but had only seen Adrianne's eyes, moments before she vanished.

She had heard nothing and assumed all was well.. But now she was wondering if her cover had been blown. And then, words Adrianne dreaded. The midwife asked if they knew one another. Adrianne paused for a moment, before smiling slightly. "I'm a healer here," she said, thinking that she would have to fill Ioan in later on why she had suddenly tensed, "I work in the residential ward.. And I've just had a baby so, could you kindly find your way to another room?" The midwife took the hint and left. Adrianne nodded to Ioan before standing up. Another healer in the room tried to speak, to tell her she needed rest. "I do not need rest here. There is none to be had. I wish to dress and take my baby home." Adrianne paused, turning to Ioan. "Would you look at that- we haven't even named her." She had not put much thought into names.. But maybe Ioan had? "So," she said, her hands on her hips, "what are you going to name her?" she asked, changing from the enchanted hospital gown to her normal clothes.

 

[Ioan Finch]

Ioan nodded his head in agreement. He had the feeling that Adrianne would turn out to be right about their child. Turning his attention back to the baby, Ioan watched as she nestled in closer to her mother and closed those red eyes of hers. The baby not only looked like Adrianne, but if the pain she had caused Adrianne was any indication, then she would grow up to enjoy inflicting pain as well.

As the woman who had helped Adrianne through the birth asked Adrianne a question, Ioan glanced curiously at his wife. Her body had tensed up and although she gave the lady one answer, he had the feeling that the two ladies knowledge of each other was from somewhere entirely different. Ioan watched the woman's retreating figure for a moment, still wondering, before he turned his attention back to his wife in time to catch her nod.

Ioan reached out to help Adrianne as she stood, but it seemed she didn't need his assistance. He shook his head and a smirk crossed his face as she scolded the healer who had attempted to get her to lay back down. When she turned back to Ioan, his eyebrow rose as he realized that they hadn't named her. Surely, they couldn't leave the hospital without first naming their daughter. Suprisingly enough, Ioan had given it some thought, going through many names, none of which seemed quite right. As he gazed at his sleeping daughter, one came to him. Before he could voice it though, the healer came forward, insisting that Adrianne get back in bed. Ioan looked over and realized who it was. Ioan gave the male healer a cruel smile. "If my wife says we're going home, we're going home. Why don't you do yourself a favor and get lost because you are really testing my patience." Watching as the man's eyes widened before he quickly headed for the door, Ioan shook his head and then turned back to Adrianne as if nothing had just happened. "Alana" he said, a small smile on his face. "Alana...Ruby" he nodded his head, liking it more now that he'd said it aloud.