10.

"Remember the breathing, Gin. You have to do the breathing; come on baby, breath in, like this;" at his instruction, Harry demonstrated by taking a deep breath, making a gasping heeee sound as he di.. Despite the way the pain of contractions were gripping her there was a small part of her somewhere within, that wished more than nothing that she could take Harry's breathing instructions, and shove them promptly up his behind, "and out, haaaaaaw." He finished, his brow furrowed, and his glasses askew.

"I'm not a bloody donkey!" Ginny cried, grasping Harry's right hand in her left as she rode out her latest contraction.

"Well now, how are we getting on?" A strange, and chipper voice called out from the general direction of the room's door.

"Oh, I'm having a ball," Ginny retorted, glaring at the mediwitch, who didn't reply, instead let out a small chuckle, which caused Ginny to narrow her eyes at the woman further, and cast a quick diagnostic spell, and simultaneously examining a the clipboard that had hung from the end of Ginny's bed.

They were in London, in a new, fairly small, magical clinic that existed to take some of the stress from St. Mungo's, where the strain of delivering the rising number of magical babies, which had been on a significant increase since the war. There were only ever a few Healers on duty here, as the place was staffed primarily by mediwitches who had undergone specialist further training into childbirth, from both a Muggle, and magical perspective.

"How much longer do you think it will be?" Harry asked the woman, who had introduced herself as Maggie, a fact Ginny had had absolutely zero desire to know.

"You're close now, Mrs Potter, nine centimetres, I'd say, a few more contractions and you're going to start pushing" Maggie replied, her voice beaming with positivity.

"Gin, are you sure you don't want your mum here? Because now is when I'd need to call her, you're going-"

But what, or where, exactly Ginny was going, according to her husband, would remain unknown, as, at that moment, Ginny cut Harry's train of words mid-sentence; "Harry Potter, if you even think about calling my mother right now I will name this child Goosfraba, and divorce you! Oh, holy shhh-" Ginny trailed off, unable to make any further noises as the contraction took hold.

"Okay, Mrs Potter," Maggie began, having now seemingly taken up permanent residence with her head examining Ginny's privates, "on the next contraction, I want you to push into your bottom, okay? This is it."

"It? But, I'm only nine," Ginny said, suddenly in a panic as she realised tears were streaming down her face, "you said I was only nine, I'm not ready, I.." she finished, unable to speak any longer, as fear gripped her, turning her head to face Harry, Ginny found his green eyes with her own, and, between staggered breaths, managed to croak; "I can't do it."

"Gin, you are one of the only people in the world that can do anything, look at me," he said, as Ginny turned away, her sudden fear overwhelming, she turned her head quickly back to face him, "you're going to do this, you're already amazing at this."

Ginny had no time to respond, as the familiar pain was already appearing again, she felt Harry's hand tighten around her own, and somewhere, Maggie was informing her to push. But Ginny was otherwise unawares, the pushing was bloody awful, she remembered that much, but everything that came in between was lost.

xxx

"Do we have a name?" Maggie asked, kindly, as she took one last measurement of their son, how big his head was, apparently, before placing the small, naked bundle to rest against his mother's bare chest once more.

"Not yet," Harry answered, his voice quiet and his eyes red. Ginny tore her eyes away from her son for the first time since his birth, ten minutes prior, to look at her husband.

"Yes, he has a name," Ginny said, a dreamlike happiness seemed to be resonating around them as she spoke, she rarely remembered feeling as content as she did now, "his name is James Sirius Potter."

At her words, the stream of tears that had fallen from Harry's eyes began to fall again, and he replied, huskily, as he stroked her hair with one hand, and James' with his other, "I love you, both of you. More than life."

A/N And that's it, More than Life, technically my first multi-chapter fic, is finished! I've been overwhelmed by the popularity of this one, for a tiny idea, MtL has done remarkably well!
I am incredibly grateful to all of you who followed this with me, to everyone who has reviewed and read, thank you.