A/N: Final chapter...or the second final chapter if you prefer it to end at chapter 22. Some may not like where this goes...

If you liked the story...great, nice to have you spending your time with my pretentious, curdled mind. Scary ain't it?! :)

If you hated this story...ahh well, sorry to have wasted your time, I can't give you those minutes back. At least it was free. :)

25: EPILOGUE 3: Mortality

Next day, both women still felt exhausted. In some ways they weren't surprised, after their night, but in other ways they wondered if they had succeeded in giving away their immortality, or if it had all been a bizarre night for nothing, and it was only ordinary exhaustion and nothing more.

The day after that, they were still feeling very tired and drained and they decided to call Stefanie over to see them. The German veela wasn't long in arriving, and where they had expected some crude suggestive innuendos, they found their friend very serious. She looked at Fleur first and placed a hand at her temple and one on her chest. After a few minutes, Stefanie took her hands away.

"Can you tell anything?" Fleur asked.

"Yes," said Stefanie and nodded. "You're no longer immortal."

Fleur sighed with relief: a relief she didn't know she would experience. Then she looked at Hermione with a suddenly forlorn, hopeful expression. Please don't let it just be me, she thought.

Stefanie saw Fleur's look and straight away placed her hands on Hermione. She was longer delving into the younger woman, checking for more than her immortality, and hoping the old healing hadn't been disturbed, but she finally sat back.

"And me?" asked Hermione.

"You are no longer immortal as well," said Stefanie, giving a half smile to the brunette."You had no trouble with the charm?"

"No," said Fleur. "It was all very strange, but it felt like it worked."

"Something worked," said Hermione. "For us to be mortal again. Will we both rapidly age now?"

"That I do not know," said Stefanie. "This is unknown territory. I was checking on the healing I did, because I did wonder if becoming mortal again might put my old healing under threat."

"Really?" asked a worried Hermione. "I didn't think of that?!"

"But it seems fine," said Stefanie. "I didn't want to alarm you. And there's nothing to be alarmed about concerning that now, anyway."

"Well, it worked," said Hermione. "We're both very tired, I know that much."

"That will be your bodies adjusting to your new state," said Stefanie. "Not that I've ever dealt with this kind of thing before, but any big change to a body can cause tiredness or even shock."

Stefanie left and said she would check them again if and when they required it.

Hermione hugged Fleur. "So, as no one knows for sure, I might wake up tomorrow with grey hair, stiff knees and be starting my menopause!"

Fleur laughed. "Yes, we have such fun to look forward to!"

"You don't regret it?" asked Hermione.

"No. We'll grow old together...even if that stage only takes a few days to begin now!" said Fleur, staying cheerful." As long as I'm with you, I can cope with anything life throws at us."

XXXXXXXXXX

After a week, the pair went back to England and back to work at the Ministry. They didn't talk to anyone else about what had happened. Most of it wouldn't have been believed for a start, and secondly, it was a very personal experience and journey, and that was before thinking about using the charm and how on earth it could be explained.

For the next few weeks and months Hermione became something of a workaholic, now mostly in her office at the Ministry, immersing herself in her work to try and process what had happened. She and Fleur talked a lot, as only the Frenchwoman had any idea what they had been through.

They settled into a more ordinary life and, although their physiology had been the same as from 1998, their bodies had begun to realize that they had been frozen in time a little, and needed to catch up. Their new mortal state meant that, in weeks, Hermione spotted the first couple of grey hairs and both she and Fleur felt they ought to cut back on the chocolate, as they were feeling a bit wider at the hips. Neither cared about it much, because they were pleased to have their lives back to somewhere near normal and it was all part of the process.

Hermione was annoyed to find that she suffered with period pains again, which seemed to drag on for a week at a time, and made her wish for her menopause more than ever. She thought she might also be having issues from her posture, sitting at her desk for hours, as her back and sides gave her trouble too. One thing about being immortal, she thought one day, as an ache in her side made her have to get up and stretch. I certainly didn't feel all these aches and pains.

As the days and weeks passed and she grew accustomed to feeling various pains - some more persistent than others - there were a small nagging set of questions and answers in Hermione's mind, on accepting her status as a mere mortal. She wondered whether getting a few grey hairs and putting on a little weight, was the true extent of it. Vanity didn't come into it much for her, but other things concerned her instead. For some reason, rapid change made her think of rapid changes to cells, and changes to cells quickly brought her to thoughts of cancer. She chased those thoughts away again. But she knew that her mother's mother had died of cancer at an age not considered to be old. She tried hard not to dwell on those thoughts.

However, the thoughts returned when, one day, Hermione had to stand up from her desk and stretch, as she had had to do many times before, to stretch her back and legs, but then she got a stitch-like pain in her side and had to lean over the desk and take a breath until it passed. Her hand went to her side, and in her mind she thought about how her internal organs might be reacting to sudden aging. She was convinced that she felt a little lumpy one side.

Was she experiencing a problem with her kidneys? Was it her gall bladder? Were the dragging feelings and pains she sometimes had, low in her stomach, some kind of problem with her bowels? After all, she was the right age group for these problems and cancers to start showing their ugly head. The amount of stress she had been exposed to in her early years, cannot have helped.

Hermione spoke to Fleur about these things, but in a general way, not wanting to worry her with her own fears. Hermione always generalized the talk about getting older and how suddenly it had happened for them, with Fleur admitting that she felt a little stiff in her legs and back, in the mornings. She had said she had felt Hermione's exhaustion and aches too, through their bond, and asked her to take more time off and lessen her work load, which Hermione agreed to.

As time went on, Hermione became more and more convinced that she had some kind of health problem and wanted to spend as much time with Fleur as she could. She hadn't dared to ask Stefanie or Sophie to check her over. She knew that was stupid, but she was so convinced that what she had was a consequence of everything, and no one could do anything to help. She didn't want to watch Fleur look at her every day, as though each minute was their last. If she were ill, then let it be quick and sudden and not give the heart-breaking drawn-out weakening and sickening, a chance to happen.

A lot of the time she felt fine, but the pains would take her unawares. When she was thinking optimistically, she considered that maybe she just had menopausal issues and irritable bowel syndrome. She hadn't worried about putting on a bit of weight and looking a bit bloated at times, as it hid that she might be more ill and Fleur didn't mind, or notice, any unusual lumps and bumps, which gave Hermione confidence. Even the part-veela had put on some weight too and they loved each other no matter how the age was affecting them. Hermione sometimes felt pain when they made love, but that only spurred her on, as reaching a climax seemed to ease any pain and make her feel better. That would then make her think it was only menopausal, and maybe she had fibroids or something, and finding release somehow eased her upset insides.

With both women working hard, they hadn't seen much of their friends for a few months, only some of the veelas when they stayed with Aimée. But they got an invitation to the Burrow, for the twenty-first birthday party of Harry and Ginny's youngest child: their daughter Lily. All the family and some of their old friends were going to be there, so Hermione and Fleur decided to go and see everyone.

Before they left their home to make their way to the Weasley's house, Hermione was feeling a bit nervous. "I haven't seen some of them for ages," said Hermione. She looked in the mirror as she brushed her hair and tied it back.

"Well, we'll probably be told that we've aged, now," said Fleur with a wry smile. "It will be a whole new experience, making them wonder what it is that's made us look older suddenly."

"We don't look that old!" said Hermione.

"No, but to them it will look sudden, as we've apparently not changed in about thirty years, until now!"

"Before, they thought it was all that sex, I expect now they'll think we've gone on to drink and drugs."

"That might be fun to play with?!" said Fleur.

"I feel nervous enough as it is, without you adding to it," said Hermione, opting to go to the toilet again before they left. She had felt a pain in her side and stomach again, on sitting down on the toilet, and hoped she was able to get a comfortable chair at the Weasley's, not wanting to have to deal with that all the time they were there.

"I suppose Romilda Vane will be there?" said Fleur outside the bathroom door.

"Great! Another thing to make my day?!" said Hermione, before she flushed the loo, washed her hands and then opened the door. "Well, if you're ready we'd better make our grand entrance."

On arrival at the Burrow everyone shared a round of hugs, hand shakes and greetings. It truly seemed as though everyone was there, except Luna, who was somewhere in South America for a month. Bill was there, looking more of a rogue than ever and, with a bit of aging, he looked like an old rock star trying to reclaim his youth. He had Ulrica with him and they looked so at ease in each other's company. Teddy Lupin was there, with a more moderate hair colour today: jet black.

Ron and Romilda were there, with the latter being so pleasant, that Hermione couldn't find any fault with the woman. Ron mostly kept to conversation with Dean and Neville. Several people were present whom Hermione didn't know and were friends of Lily's and the Potters'. The Burrow was enlarged slightly, to accommodate everyone being there, including adding extra toilets.

Hermione could feel eyes upon her, as soon as she and Fleur arrived, but tried to remind herself it was probably because she hadn't seen most of the people in the room for months. She and Fleur were split up to different parts of the house, as various people came and talked with them, or wanted them to meet other people.

It was hard to think of Lily Potter as a twenty-one year old. Harry and Ginny's youngest, and already a career with the Holyhead Harpies quidditch team, following in the footsteps of her mother. And she had a job at the Ministry, or teaching quidditch at Hogwarts, waiting for her whenever she got tired of professional sport.

After only a short time Hermione began to feel tired, conversation at these events could be exhausting at the best of times. She found a seat, taking only small sips from the champagne that was flowing. They had been at the Burrow for a few hours now, but Hermione actually began to feel a bit ill. She wondered if it was the champagne, and put her current half-full glass on a side table. There didn't seem to be anything else on offer to drink.

Fleur was talking to Bill and his parents in the kitchen, when Ginny came over to sit next to Hermione. They had spoken earlier, but not for long, and not on anything more than how lovely Lily looked and what an amazingly huge birthday cake she had, which most people had been onto their third large piece of by now; not to mention all the buffet food the Weasleys and Potters had provided.

"How's life with everyone's favourite part-veela?" Ginny asked with her familiar grin.

"Fine," said Hermione. "The usual boring every day stuff that everyone else does."

"But you're both okay?"

"Yes, we're fine," said Hermione, trying to remain cheerful, when she actually felt really queasy.

"What's wrong?" asked Ginny.

"What?"

"People use the word 'fine' more than once, and as vaguely as you do, when they're hiding the opposite," said Ginny, concerned.

"I forget that you're a journalist," said Hermione with a smile.

"And THAT was deflection. I've seen many a quidditch manager, or politician, pull that one on me."

"Honestly, Ginny, we're okay."

"You don't really look it," said Ginny. "I know I haven't seen you for ages, but you look..."

"Crazy?" said Hermione with a laugh.

"There you go again, deflection!?" said Ginny. "You can tell me anything, Hermione. I know we haven't seen each other lately but we were always like sisters. If you're ill, or Fleur is, please tell me. I can see the strain in both of you. Let me help you if I can, if it's only to listen."

Hermione picked up her champagne glass, took a sip, wished she hadn't, and put it down again. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe it."

"After everything, we've seen?" said an incredulous Ginny. "Try me."

"It's complicated," said Hermione. "And...rather personal."

"I'm still listening. AND not about to publish it anywhere."

"Something happened to Fleur, and to me, back in 1998," said Hermione, then quickly carried on to stop Ginny's protest of knowing they had got together then. "After all that business. We...we...sort of became immortal." She shut her eyes, waiting to absorb the laughter, or derision, and disbelief.

"Immortal?" whispered Ginny. "Truly? This isn't some diversionary bollocks?"

"No, I'm telling you the truth," said Hermione. "But the thing is, a few months ago we...we...how do I say this? We found a way to become mortal again and it worked."

"What?!" said Ginny, then lowered her voice back to a near whisper. "You reversed it? Why would you do that?"

"Look at your daughter," said Hermione, as she and Ginny cast a gaze over to Lily, as she was cutting a slice from her huge birthday cake - which didn't really seem to be getting much smaller - for her father, Harry. "How would you feel if you knew, with certainty, that you would have to watch her die and go to her funeral?"

"Hopefully it won't ever happen," said a horrifed Ginny.

"No and I so hope it doesn't," said Hermione solemnly. "But think about it: you would see everyone you've loved die...age and pass away. Watch any children your children had, die, and their children and their children and then anyone you ever got close to, after all of them had passed on, and see it repeat and repeat, leaving you alone again and again."

Ginny looked to Hermione and nodded her head in understanding.

"What seems wonderful and like the answer to a fairy tale wish, always has consequences and Fleur and I didn't want to have to face that future, and when we found a way, we reversed it."

"Is Fleur regretting it now? Or you?" asked Ginny. "Is that why you both look so strained."

"No," said Hermione, smiling. "We've finally begun to age, that's all."

"And put on weight," said Ginny.

"One can always rely on a Weasley for tact," said Hermione, chuckling.

"I've been a Potter a long time now," said Ginny, indignantly. "Although it was getting tiresome seeing you and Fleur not changing and my hips spreading like my mother's!"

"You'll always be a Weasley inside." Hermione began to feel very queasy and was beginning to think she would need to go to the bathroom, her side and stomach ached and she wasn't sure if she needed to throw up, or relieve her intestines the other end.

"You okay?" asked Ginny.

"I just told you about..."

"You've gone really white," said Ginny.

"Oh," replied Hermione. "Well, I'm feeling a bit crap actually. Too much champagne and that cake was really sweet. A bit of tummy ache."

"You know where the loos are," said Ginny. "If you feel too yucky, don't feel you have to stay. It's not fun feeling ill and having to socialize."

Hermione stood up, and then felt her lower abdomen spasm painfully, which made her wince. "I really need to go now," she said, as she rushed off to the first of many loos installed in the Weasley house for that day.

Fleur had looked round to see Hermione pass her, and had sensed that her partner was uneasy and in pain through the bond, but she couldn't tell what it was. When she saw Hermione go to one of the bathrooms, she calmed herself, thinking it was either too much food or too much champagne.

Getting to the toilet in time, now more sure which end was going to cause her trouble, Hermione sat down, expecting everything she had ever eaten to pass through rapidly. All she could do was sit there and wait for it to end. She finally wiped herself and saw that the paper came away slightly blood-stained, almost like the start of her period, which was something not due for another couple of weeks. Then another pain came, like something was crushing her back and her abdomen and it nearly paralyzed her.

Am I dying? thought Hermione; all her doubts of the past few months came crashing down upon her. Has it been a tumour all along? And it's now ruptured something? No, don't say that...maybe Stefanie could heal me...or Sophie...

As she experienced the pain within her, she could almost visualize a solid mass attached to her bowel, or her kidney; a solid cancerous mass, finally outgrowing its space and trying to gain more space by ballooning its way past other organs, squeezing them out of the way to make more room for itself to continue growing and killing her. Except, today, maybe it had tried too hard and pushed something vital out of the way, something that was now failing her. She wiped herself again, seeing the same slightly bloody discharge. So, she used a wad of toilet paper as a make-do sanitary pad and pulled up her trousers and flushed the toilet, before putting the toilet lid down and sitting on it, feeling despair.

A knock came on the door. "Hermione, it's me," said Fleur. "Are you ill?"

For a moment Hermione couldn't answer. She realized that Fleur could probably feel her pain and worry. What do I tell Fleur? She thought. It was my idea to be mortal again...and this could mean I leave her sooner...

"Hermione?" said a more worried Fleur.

Again Hermione didn't answer, as she didn't know how to.

"I'm coming in," said Fleur, as she unlocked the door magically, walked in, closing and locking the door behind her. She looked at Hermione and saw how pale and troubled she looked. "Hermione?"

"I...I don't know what's happening to me," said Hermione, her voice close to breaking. "I...I think there's something seriously wrong with me, and I don't...ahhh..." She broke off as another wave of pain coursed through her, which then made her shiver, like she hadn't done for years.

"I'm taking you back to Stefanie," said Fleur.

"We can't just leave...we..."

"No arguments, we're leaving!" Fleur walked back to the door, opened it and went into the hallway and called for Bill. He was soon there.

"Hermione's unwell, we need to leave now, and not be held back with questions," said Fleur. "I hate having to leave you to explain things, but could you let the others know, I've taken her back home."

"Sure," said Bill. "Like old times?! What is it? Migraine, or virus, or not holding her booze?"

"I don't know," said Fleur.

Bill saw the worried expression on his ex-wife's face, and dropped all humour from his demeanour. He leaned forward and hugged her. "Hey, you know I'm always here for you. If you need anything, ask me, yeah?"

"Thanks, Bill," said Fleur, genuinely grateful.

The Frenchwoman went back into the bathroom to find that Hermione was still in pain and shivering, holding her arms around herself to try and get warm. "It's all sorted, we're leaving," said Fleur, as she wrapped her arms around Hermione and Side-Along Apparated them to her grandmother's house, straight to the bedroom that Hermione had first stayed in, which was always free for them to use.

Fleur lifted a pain-wracked Hermione onto the bed, and quickly ran across the landing and down the stairs, calling for anyone who was in the house. In the kitchen she found Sophie reading a book at the table, who had then stood up, to find out why Fleur had suddenly arrived unannounced and was dashing around.

"Is my Grandma or Stefanie here?"

"No, they're at a meeting in the community," said Sophie. "What's wrong?"

"It's Hermione," said Fleur. "She's in a lot of pain. She's upstairs. We don't know what's wrong."

"Send your patronus to bring Aimée and Stefanie back," said Sophie, as she quickly made her way upstairs to see Hermione.

Hermione was on her side curled up, her arms still hugging herself as she shivered and battled the waves of pain, and with embarrassment she could feel that the toilet paper wad hadn't been enough and she was probably bleeding more now; it certainly felt like it, but she didn't have the energy to try and hide it, or make an excuse for it.

Sophie went to her. "Will you let me take a look at you? Until the others get back?"

Hermione nodded. "I...I don't know what's...hap...happening."

"Did you eat something different, or drink something?" asked Sophie as she reached for Hermione's wrist and felt her racing pulse.

"I might have had a little too much champagne and maybe cake...but nothing weird," said Hermione grimacing. "I had bad diarrhea...but I think I'm bleeding...when I shouldn't be. I've been getting pains for months, in my side, stomach and back...I know what it is...it can only be...a tumour. My Grandmother...she had..."

"Let's not think about that, now," said Sophie, reassuringly. "Can you lie on your back for me?"

Sophie lifted up Hermione's shirt and as she undid the waist of Hermione's trousers, she could see from the damp patch at the crotch that the woman had either wet herself, or was indeed bleeding. Feeling so much compassion for her younger friend, she gently pressed a hand along Hermione's upper and lower abdomen, trying to feel for any lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there. As she pressed lower, Hermione yelled in pain, her whole body going tense, but Sophie continued her examination.

Fleur rushed in with Stefanie and Aimée behind her. "She's worse?" asked Fleur, worried. "Please, help her..."

Sophie had finished her initial examination and took Stefanie to one side and whispered something in her ear, which made Stefanie stand back with a frown. Sophie whispered something further, which left Stefanie lightly shaking her head, and putting a hand to her chin in thought, before giving a resigned sigh.

"What is it?" asked Fleur.

"It IS a tumour, isn't it?" said Hermione, through almost gritted teeth. "It's a tumour and it's killing me, right now, isn't it?"

"You can do something, can't you?" said Fleur, tears beginning to well in her eyes, shocked to her very core at hearing the word 'tumour' in any way connected to her partner. "You can deal with tumours, can't you?!"

"Not always," said Stefanie, calmly. "And in this case..."

"You have to do something," said Fleur despairingly. "There must be something!?"

A grave-looking Stefanie put a hand on Fleur's shoulder. "In this case, anything I might be able to do for a tumour wouldn't work."

"What?" asked a confused Fleur. "But she's in pain...you have to do something?!"

"And we will be doing something, because now we need to help Hermione deliver your baby," said Stefanie, giving a smile now.

"WHAT?!" Hermione nearly shrieked in exclamation. "But...but you said we couldn't. You said it was impossible?! I've had periods and everything, and I don't even look pregnant! I'm a bit more porky around the hips, and a little bloated at times, but not damn well pregnant!?"

"Still not impossible," said Sophie. "I've had muggle women patients who never needed to change dress sizes while pregnant and those who still had periods and, like you now, thought they were dying instead of actually going into labour. I think you'll find that your waters broke, not anything more sinister."

Hermione looked to Fleur with a frightened, despairing look. "My love, I haven't slept with...I...I haven't been unfaithful. I..."

"I know you haven't," said Fleur, in shock herself and not for one moment thinking Hermione would have been unfaithful to her and most certainly not with a guy. Not knowing what to do she held her partner's hand and brought it to her lips to kiss the knuckles.

"I'm...I'm not ready," said Hermione, feeling more fear than she had felt in years.

"Which is why we're here," said Stefanie. "After everything you two have been through and experienced, I suppose we should have expected the unexpected and in an unconventional manner, in every way. I have a feeling that having a piece of Fleur's soul within you was just enough veela to make this possible."

They made Hermione as comfortable as possible and ready for her labour, getting her to breathe correctly and getting her to feel the contractions more perceptibly. Fleur held her hand, which was already feeling very bruised, while Stefanie and Sophie kept an eye on everything and Aimée made sure they had a supply of cold cloths, towels and hot or cold drinks as needed. As it was mostly an ordinary muggle birth, Sophie became the main medical carer.

After a couple of hours of pushing and resting, Hermione was exhausted and still in a state of shock that she wasn't dying but giving birth to a child. Sophie told her that the shivering she continued to experience, in a lesser form, was mostly her body, and now her mind, in shock.

"Another couple of pushes," said Sophie a short time later. "When you feel the contractions."

Hermione did as she was told, sweat pouring off her. "It's soon got to be over!? Please let it be over?!"

"I can see the head," said Sophie, as she leaned over between Hermione's legs. Another push later and she said, "The head is out. We need one more big push."

"Why don't you bloody push!?" snapped Hermione.

Fleur's eyes nearly popped out of her head, but Sophie laughed. "I'm used to it. That's quite mild compared to some of the things..." Sophie didn't get to finish her sentence, as she was gently supporting the baby's head and Hermione almost growled, and pushed again, and the baby was easily pulled free.

A few moments later, with the initial medical checks done and a little clean-up, a newborn baby girl was placed into Hermione's exhausted arms. The brunette had tears running down her tired sweaty face, and she was shaking slightly again, so Stefanie wrapped a blanket around Hermione's shoulders.

"I can't believe it," said Hermione, looking down at the wrapped bundle, which emitted the occasional normal baby noise every so often.

"My darling, you did it," said Fleur, as she kissed Hermione's forehead.

"We did it," said Hermione. "It...it worked. What we did worked. I never thought..."

Fleur was crying now too, as she held Hermione and laid a hand on her daughter. The other three women in the room were wiping away tears of joy as well.

"You'll have to think of a name," said Aimée.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "A few hours ago I thought I was dying. I hadn't considered we'd need to be naming something?!"

Sophie and Stefanie had finished attending to Hermione's medical needs and saw that, with no trouble, the little girl had latched onto one of Hermione's breasts, when she opened her shirt, and had seemed to get the idea of breastfeeding with no need for coaxing. Hermione had thought her slightly enlarged breasts was just weight gain, not ever imagining that her body was preparing for motherhood. The three older women then decided to leave the little family alone for a while, for some privacy.

Hermione kept looking at the baby she held, in disbelief, then she looked to Fleur, with a little frown. "You're okay with this, aren't you?"

Fleur started laughing, then crying again. "Of course I'm okay with this. Tough if I wasn't! She's arrived!"

"I never thought this would ever happen," said Hermione. "I feel such a fool for not knowing. I had all these aches and pains for months...and I thought..."

"Why didn't you talk to me?"

"I tried to, but I didn't want to worry you," said Hermione. "I was convinced I had a tumour growing, or something going wrong, because of becoming mortal again and..."

"...and I would want to know and help you. "

"...and I couldn't face breaking your heart by telling you," admitted Hermione. "I hoped it would be sudden, so you didn't have to know it was coming. Shit, I'm such a bloody fool..."

"I still would have wanted to know. I felt you were not at your best for a while, but I thought it was just tiredness from work and those aches and pains of age," said Fleur, her voice breaking slightly. "We've been through so much together and that's the point: we've been through it together. Don't hide something like this from me. However hard it is, we're stronger together."

"I'm sorry, my love," said Hermione. "My head was a mess. I haven't dealt with it at all well, and I can see that now. I suppose I also didn't want to say anything to you, because it would have made it more real. I didn't dare talk to Sophie or Stefanie...and...and I wasn't ready to...leave you. I know we chose to be mortal again, but I expected more than a few more months with you...I..."

"Hey, shhh," said Fleur, pressing kisses to Hermione's cheek, lips and forehead. "It doesn't matter, now."

"It's so crazy that I never thought I was pregnant?!" said Hermione. "I mean, I had my periods still, so why would I think I was pregnant? Especially after what Stefanie said. How was I to know?"

"I think everything was a little different because of the rare circumstances of the conception and everything," offered Fleur. "Nothing about this was going to be 'normal' exactly. I'm sure it worked on you because you have a piece of my soul, and that was enough veela within you to make that charm recognize the purpose."

"I would say that's the most likely explanation," answered Hermione. "I used to read about women that went into labour, without knowing they were pregnant, and think they were either lying or plain stupid, because there's no way you wouldn't know? But now?! Wow!"

"I love you, Hermione," said Fleur, as she leaned in and pressed her lips to Hermione's again, she then kissed their sleeping baby's forehead. "I love you both."

Fleur held their baby for a while so Hermione could take a short nap. The Frenchwoman was having trouble believing that she held a child in her arms, and not only that, a child that was both her's and Hermione's. She spent ages just looking at the face of their child and the perfectly formed fingers. She considered that it would definitely take some explaining to others.

They'll either think Hermione has been unfaithful with some man, or that we used the muggle artificial thing I've heard about. Fleur thought.

"You're wondering what we're going to tell people?" said Hermione, as she stirred from her nap.

"Reading my mind again?" said Fleur with a smile.

"We'll do what your grandmother does in difficult situations: we'll say it's something veela," said Hermione, with a laugh. "That's usually enough to confuse, satisfy and scare off further comment."

"Yeah, that might just work!" Fleur chuckled. "What are we going to call her?"

"I thought about that while I took my nap."

"You think while you nap?" Fleur raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Of course you do!"

"I was thinking through names, to thank people and give continuity," said Hermione. "Do you have any?"

"No, I haven't really thought about it," admitted Fleur.

"What about: Catherine Aimée Stefanie Sophie Luna Delacour?" said Hermione.

"You'd use my last name?" Fleur had changed her name back from Weasley to Delacour, not long after her official divorce to Bill had gone through. She had told him that it wasn't to hurt him and in some ways it was to free them both from any guilt and make their futures simpler.

"Why not? It's your child too, and it was the veela part of you that saved us in many ways, many times, and the veela part of you that made any of this possible," said Hermione. "Are you okay with Catherine for her first name?"

"Yes," said Fleur, nodding, as she looked into the face of her daughter. "It's the child the Catherine we know, never had with Sister Marguerite, and without Catherine none of us would be here. I think it's a lovely name."

"We can always shorten it to Kate, or Katie, or Cathy," said Hermione. "However she turns out."

"Well," said Fleur, looking serious. "With our brains and good looks, she can't go wrong!"

Catherine let out a little cry and Hermione took back her daughter and settled her on her chest, opening her shirt and seeing if it was the breast the baby wanted. Watching it made Fleur feel so connected to them both.

"I might get a little jealous of her," said Fleur, with a smile she couldn't hide.

Hermione looked up with a crooked grin. "You will have me back soon enough. It won't be forever...especially if I get sore like I've heard some mums do. Then you'll get 'them' back a lot sooner."

Fleur leaned over and gently kissed Hermione on the lips, while she trained a hand down to Hermione's open shirt to lightly hold the free, swollen breast, running her thumb over the old scar her partner still had from the incident with Joan of Arc's sword. "You're so beautiful," said Fleur, as she looked into the brunette's eyes. "Both of you, are so beautiful." She kissed her daughter's cheek as the baby suckled on Hermione's nipple, then she pressed a very light kiss to Hermione's other breast over the scar.

When they told the others, the names they had chosen, it touched the women deeply and Fleur and Hermione decided, at that moment, that they wanted to bring up their daughter in the veela community, as much as possible, enjoying the peace and home comforts of their cottage.

And few days after the birth, once both sets of grandparents had seen little Catherine - the Grangers being Side-Along Apparated to France by Aimée - Hermione and Fleur entered their cottage and Hermione gave a deep sigh and felt tears welling up. Fleur settled their daughter into a beautifully ornate wooden cradle, that the community had made for them as a gift, and then wrapped her arms around her partner.

"I'm so happy," said Hermione. "I love you so much and I love our daughter."

"And I love you both too," said Fleur. "We've been allowed to make our own little family and I've never felt so lucky and privileged in all my life, as I do now. I get everything."

"Exactly," said Hermione. "I get everything I ever wanted, and I didn't even know I wanted them, until I got them. And now I can't imagine life being different, or wanting it to be so. I'm...I'm not sure..."

"What aren't you sure about?" asked a concerned Fleur.

"I'm not sure it would work a second time."

"A second time? Oh, my love, this is a miracle enough! I wouldn't put you through that again, even if it were possible. I don't want to risk anything by messing with charms and theories any longer; we have a daughter to think about now: a daughter I never thought we'd ever have. We need nothing else...just each other and her. We'll bring her up, as well as we can, and she'll have so many aunts and uncles fussing around her, and all we'll have to do is make sure she isn't too spoiled!"

The women held each other for a few silent moments.

"I'd understand if you wanted to live in England more, to be near your home and parents," offered Fleur.

Hermione stepped back from their embrace and cupped Fleur's cheek. "We have the advantage of fast travel to see them whenever we want to, but this is my home now. You are my home. Wherever you and little Catherine are, is my home. And here has been so important in our lives. It feels so right."

And that is where they stayed and began their lives as a family.

THE END

A/N: For the record, I dislike stories with babies/kids...not exactly into kids in real life, give me kittens and puppies any day. But I'd never used the idea in any story, so along with my dislike of strange penis manifestations(LOL), I thought I'd try writing it for once. I think it works here...just.

Oh and the weird pregnancy is based on a couple of people in my family. One was convinced they had a tumour and the other hardly changed dress size throughout their pregnancy. Fact is stranger than fiction...mostly. :)