Part III

The cobra's fangs sliced into the earth exactly where Harry had been lying a moment before. He rolled over again and staggered to his feet, his wand at the ready. The cobra lifted its great head from the ground, leaving gouges in the dirt the size of cars, and then struck again as Harry dived out of the way.

He could vaguely hear shouting as the other wizards panicked. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see several of them spinning on the spot and finding themselves unable to Disapparate. The momentary distraction seemed to be working to his side's advantage; ropes flew out of several wands and wrapped themselves around many of the hooded figures.

Harry very nearly paid for his lapse in concentration as the cobra's fangs landed inches from him. He sent a stream of spells at it, all of which bounced off its scaly skin and dissipated into thin air. It slithered forward, covering more ground in a second than Harry could in five. He stumbled back as quickly as he could and dodged out of the way as the cobra's great fangs sliced into the earth in front of him. He sent another spell at the great serpent, but the jet of light ricocheted and hit a tree, causing it to explode into flames.

Guerra laughed and urged the snake on: "Attack!"

The snake advanced, hissing wildly, and Harry backed up so quickly that he tripped and landed sprawled on his back. He could hear someone laughing and squinted past the enormous serpent, able to make out the silhouette of Benedito Fonseca from the firelight.

Then the snake hissed and turned its head, and Harry, following its gaze, saw that Ron had shot ropes at Guerra, and that he was falling, writhing in his bindings. As Fonseca ran to save his companion, Harry shouted, "Incarcerous!" and the second wizard fell.

And then several things happened at once: a blue light shot down from the sky and as Harry spun around it materialised itself in front of him into a small dog, opening its mouth to say, "Dear Mr Potter, this message is on behalf of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, we are contacting you because your wife –"

And Harry was so in shock that he did not hear Guerra's strange spitting noise, did not hear Ron's shout of "HARRY! LOOK OUT!", did not hear the loud hissing sound behind him.

There was an awful, sickening pain, the terrible feeling of something shearing through his innards, the warm gush of liquid down his body –

And then everything went black.

Ginny gave another great push, gripping Hermione's and her mother's hands so tightly that she knew she would feel guilty about it later. At the moment, however, there was nothing but an icy numbness where her heart should have been. She could feel it in her gut, that feeling that something was terribly, horribly wrong and that Harry was in serious danger, if not dead already.

The thought shook her more than her next contraction, but she pushed again, a sob escaping her throat. If he died while she was giving birth to his son, how could she face her children again? Especially if this one looked as much like him as James did...

"We've found him!" a Healer shouted, bursting into the room, and Ginny looked up, startled. "He was in Brazil on a mission and was badly injured –"

"What?" Ginny gasped, her heart stilling in her chest. "He's –"

"They're bringing him here, ma'am – it appears he got your message just before he was injured, and the other Aurors saw it and thought to rush him here instead of the nearest hospital in Brazil – of course, they had to stabilize him first, as he'd lost a lot of blood –"

"Oh, God," Ginny tried to say, but all that escaped her throat was a dry whimper.

"Will he be all right?" she heard Hermione ask as if from a distance.

"Dunno, ma'am – it doesn't look good –"

And Ginny could stand it no longer. All the emotions she had held back over the last few hours came crashing down on her, and she let out a strangled, sobbing scream as she pushed her child out and into the world.

Ginny dozed fitfully, her dreams woven through with blood and the metallic taste of fear. She was deep in a dream in which Harry, covered in blood, was reaching for the baby in her arms, when a shriek awoke her.

"Oh my – Ron!"

She peeled her eyes open, blinking slowly, and gasped as she caught sight of the figure in the doorway. For a moment she was certain that she was still dreaming, that her husband was standing in front of her, drenched in blood – then she realised that the figure had no glasses, and his eyes were decidedly bluer.

"Ron," she breathed.

Hermione was on her feet beside Ginny's bed. "What – Ron –"

"It's not my blood," said Ron gently, and Hermione swallowed hard and hurled herself at him, throwing her arms around him as she buried her face in his shoulder. He stroked her hair, but his eyes were fixed on Ginny.

She took a deep breath. "Tell me," she said firmly.

Taking Hermione's hand, Ron led her to the chairs by the bed and sat in one, lowering his shaking wife into the other. And then he began to tell Ginny everything.

"HARRY! LOOK OUT!"

It was too late; even as Ron shot a silencing spell at Guerra, running towards the bound wizard, the cobra reared up again and dived towards Harry.

Its fangs sliced through the air and drove straight through Harry, whose back arched as blood erupted from him. Before he could even scream, his body slackened and he crumpled to the ground.

Ron felt as though all the breath had left him. He changed direction, charging towards the enormous cobra. It reared again and Ron snatched Harry off the ground a split second before the cobra's fangs split the earth again and dirt exploded around it. Ron half-dragged, half-carried Harry towards the edge of the clearing, trying to hold the wound closed. Hot blood spilled over his fingertips and Harry's face turned a sickly, grayish colour.

The cobra's ugly head whipped through the air, following Ron's movements. Its tongue flickered between its fangs, and its hood flattened. Ron knew exactly what it was going to do a moment before it did it.

The cobra dove towards him, and Ron's wand was wedged between him and Harry, and he knew this was how he was going to die, and he closed his eyes, bracing himself –

And something bright flared through his eyelids, and he heard a crackling roar. He opened his eyes a crack, and then a bit wider, staring.

Dennis Creevey stood in front of the cobra, brandishing a flaming rope at it. The cobra hissed and retreated, its enormous body slithering across dead leaves. Dennis waved his wand over his head and the rope swung up like a lasso and secured itself around the cobra's neck.

The rope tightened so much that Ron could hardly see it. Then there was a sickening squelching noise, and the cobra's head fell to the ground with a crash that shook the whole ground. Its body followed, slumping to the earth, thick black blood oozing out of it.

There was a small cough and Ron looked down, startled. He had forgotten about Harry, and now his stomach seemed to fill with lead. Harry had gone a strange pasty colour, his lips nearly white, and he was shivering violently, ragged gasps escaping him.

"No," Ron muttered, laying Harry on the ground and stripping off his own jacket. He pressed it to the wound, staunching some of the blood, but within seconds it was soaked. "No, no, no!" he said again, his voice rising to a shout. "NO!"

"Ron – is Harry –"

"Get him a Healer!" Ron shouted at Dennis, who ran off immediately. Ron's hands were shaking so badly he could hardly press them against Harry's stomach. "Damn it, Harry, Voldemort couldn't kill you and I'll be damned if an effing snake does!"

Harry gave a shuddering gasp, his breath hitching. "Jn...n..." His chest heaved as blood pooled around Ron's hands.

"Don't you dare die on me," Ron snapped, applying more pressure. "Don't you effing dare!"

"Jn...nee..."

"Ron!"

He didn't look up. The colour was rapidly draining from Harry's skin, and he gave another cough. Ron's hands fisted in his jacket, which was drenched in warm blood.

"Ron, the Healers..."

He was aware of someone trying to move him out of the way, but he stayed put. "No," he gasped. "No, he's –"

"The Healers will take him, now, Ron, he'll be all right."

There was a pair of small hands on his shoulders, but they were surprisingly firm; they gripped him beneath the arms and hoisted him up. His jacket fell from his numb hands, covering Harry like a shroud.

"No..."

"Ron, it's all right, they're taking him to the hospital now –"

"No – St. Mungo's..."

"What?"

Ron turned and looked Dennis in the eye. "His wife's giving birth. He needs to go to St. Mungo's."

"I'll tell them." Dennis released Ron, who swayed on the spot. He watched Dennis through a film of shock as he ran towards the green-robed Healers and spoke to them in rapid Portuguese. They shook their heads, clearly against the idea, but Dennis said something else to them and they glanced at each other and then nodded.

White strips of cloth shot out of their wands and bound themselves around Harry. Small spots of blood began to grow on them, but Harry was bleeding less profusely and his breathing seemed to have eased slightly. The Healers told Dennis something, and he nodded, moving back over to where Ron was still standing, his body shaking.

"They're going to stabilize him and then take him to the hospital," said Dennis, putting a hand on Ron's shoulder. "He'll be all right."

"You were amazing," Ron blurted out, his voice hoarse. "With the snake. That was incredible."

Dennis blushed. "Oh, it was nothing," he said modestly, his ears turning pink. "Anyway," he added, rubbing his hands together. "What do you say we wrap this case up?"

"Oh, we'll wrap it up," said Ron darkly, his hand tightening around his wand. "Now, which of these wizards should we hex first?"

Ginny had been biting her lip throughout the entire story, and it was now bleeding slightly, but she didn't seem to notice. "It's my fault," she whispered. "If I hadn't kept telling them to find him –"

"It isn't your fault," Ron mumbled shamefacedly. "If I had Silenced the damn Parselmouth he couldn't have given the command." He shook his head to clear it. "Anyway, after that we gathered all the wizards up and then I came back here. I think the other Aurors have gone to see Kingsley – he's rather irritated that the bloody Head of Office didn't think to find a way to contact us." He grinned. "I'd love to see the look on that man's face when Kingsley –"

"Ron," Ginny interrupted, "my husband?"

"Oh, right," said Ron, sobering. "Well, I've just been in to see him, and he's pretty badly hurt." Ginny held her breath, waiting. "They managed to extract all the venom and start healing the wounds, though, so...it looks like he's going to make it." Ginny exhaled in relief, the anxious pressure over her breaking. "Anyway, he'll be all right, but where's my nephew?"

He leaned forward excitedly, and Ginny couldn't help but smile, albeit wearily. "He's –" she began, but it appeared she did not need to finish her sentence. At that moment Albus woke up and began to cry, his wails filling the small room in seconds.

"I'll get him," said Ron, starting up, but Ginny stopped him.

"Thanks, Ron, but I don't really want my son's first glimpse of you to give him nightmares," she said, and Ron, glancing down at his bloodstained clothes, seemed to agree and sat back down. "Hermione, would you mind?" asked Ginny, and Hermione nodded, standing shakily and going over to the cot in the corner.

She lifted him gently and brought him to his mother, who folded her arms around him, cradling him gently. She shushed him, rocking him back and forth, until he quieted. "He's not as fussy as James," said Ginny, smiling down at her son. "He just likes a bit of peace."

BANG.

The doors crashed open and Ginny jumped, Albus beginning to wail again in her arms. She soothed him, glaring over his little head at whoever had just opened the doors so unceremoniously.

Her lips parted in surprise.

The Healers were wheeling in another hospital bed, and on it was –

"Harry," she breathed.

He smiled up at her from his lying-down position on the bed. His chest was heavily bandaged, the white spotting through with red, but he was awake and he was alive and he was here.

"We'll give you some privacy," Ron murmured, and he led Hermione out of the room.

Ginny took Harry's hand as the Healers wheeled his bed right next to hers and squeezed his fingers, drawing strength from him. He shifted slightly to see her better and gazed up into her eyes.

"Hey," he said.

She let out a strangled sort of laugh. "'Hey'?" she repeated incredulously. "You nearly died and you just come in here and say 'hey'?"

"Well, what would you like me to say?" asked Harry, a smile playing around his lips.

"I'd like you to say, 'Sorry I left, Ginny, and I promise that next time you're about to go into labour I'll be right next to you,'" said Ginny huffily, and Harry grinned.

"Fine. Sorry I left, Ginny, and I promise that next time you're about to go into labour I'll be right next to you," said Harry, and Ginny laughed.

"Thank you," she said, entwining her fingers with his. "I'll be holding you to that."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," said Harry, smiling. She smiled, too, and kissed him, pouring all the unspoken words of gratitude and joy and love into his lips.

"Would you like to see him?" she whispered.

"Of course," he whispered back.

She moved over slightly and shifted Albus in her arms. He had quieted again, but had not fallen back asleep, and his eyes were open and gazing around the room.

"I think he'll have your eyes," said Ginny softly, and Harry smiled slightly.

"Poor kid," he said, and they both chuckled.

"I like your eyes," Ginny told him.

"I like your hair," he murmured back.

"I like your lips."

Harry smiled. "Show me how much?" he said, and they kissed as Albus, between them, yawned and fell asleep.

All was well.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the support on this story! What began as a 500-word oneshot became an 8000-word threeshot with 6 reviews, 7 favourites, and 18 follows. I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a review for me - I read every single one of them and they always make me so happy! I hope you enjoyed this little plot-bunny, and as always, happy reading!