Chapter Text
MC thought it was just butterflies.
A nervous fluttering feeling in her stomach that presented itself at random both day and night. She suspected that she was likely experiencing some anxiety, which was why she had made the appointment with the village healer in the first place.
Truth be told, she hadn’t been feeling overly healthy the last few months. Whether she was feeling sick, being sick or trying to hold it in, she was experiencing at least one of the three issues almost every day. It had been difficult to keep the disturbance to herself, both at work and at home. The other professors had made a few comments and inquiries about her well-being, all of which were reciprocated with an assurance that she was fine. Even a few of her Magical Theory students had given her a concerned look amidst an episode of nausea.
Taking over Professor Figs' job had been both an honour and a privilege for MC. She had already felt at home the moment she was handed the keys to the classroom, having spent so much time there with the late professor during their rebellion against Ranrok and his loyalists. She still missed the soft spoken father figure to this day. It had been almost ten years since his death, a fact that made her break down into a sobbing mess every time she thought about it recently. It had been a long time since she cried about it on a regular basis, but the last few months had her bawling at the mere thought of him.
Something clearly wasn’t right with her.
She had tried to put her strange mood down to stress, her husband's job as an auror not exactly helping her stay calm. He had been sent on some particularly big assignments as of late, the details of the bigger picture not shared with her due to confidentiality. He’d lose his job if a Ministry Official caught wind of him sharing the ins and outs of his work, and though they were living fairly comfortably, they could not afford for him to be out of work. Meaning no matter how much Sebastian wanted to discuss his day with her, he had to force himself to be tight lipped about it.
It was clear that whatever was going on had been challenging for him and his team so far. As much as he visibly tried his hardest to put a smile on his face and greet his wife with love, she knew he was on edge. So in the same way that he had to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself, she did too. She didn’t want to burden him with her problems when he was holding his own in.
Without telling him that she wouldn’t be attending work today, she kissed him goodbye that morning and watched him slip out of the front door to walk to the nearest floo station on Feldcroft. They had been living in Solomon’s house since the very day they graduated Hogwarts. It hadn’t exactly been what Sebastian wanted, but it was available to them, cheap to maintain and the perfect distance for her to travel to and from Hogwarts. They both had been saving up for a while to buy a place that wasn’t tainted with memories of Sebsatian’s uncle, though whenever she brought up a new home, he went quiet. As much as he didn’t like that this was originally his uncle’s home, it had also been Anne’s.
His twin had sadly passed away six years ago, at the mere age of twenty. It was still a sensitive subject, one that was rarely brought up unless Sebastian or Ominis mentioned her. Anne had never particularly liked MC after the events of their fifth year, and before she died her relationship with Sebastian had still been strained and tainted due to the Solomon incident. Still, MC wished she were here today. She wished that Sebastian could have had her at their wedding and ultimately built their relationship back up to where he wanted it to be. Unfortunately, time was not on her side, thanks to her untreatable curse.
Which made MC wonder, as she sat in front of the healer that morning with a rising feeling of nausea and an ache in her bloated stomach, whether she too had been cursed somehow. How many other logical explanations could there be for how ill she had been feeling?
“You’re pregnant.”
One, as it goes.
“What,” she deadpanned, not absorbing that vital piece of information at all.
“Congratulations Mrs Sallow. You’re pregnant,” the kind healer repeated softly. “Twenty weeks to be exact.”
MC felt as though her eyes were about to bulge out of her head. This had to be some sort of mistake. There was no way she had unknowingly been pregnant for twenty weeks. Five months of pregnancy without having the foggiest idea. Surely that wasn’t possible.
“No. No no no, definitely not,” she laughed, hoping the healer would laugh with her. He didn’t. “No way. There is no way that I’m pregnant, you must have it wrong.”
The middle aged man pursed his lips at her reaction, seeming a little uncomfortable. “I’m afraid I’m not wrong. You’re going to be a mo-”
“Please don’t say it,” she breathed, bringing a hand up to her chest to feel the rapid thudding of her heart. If there was anything she didn’t feel ready for, it was to be a mother. The panic began to rise in her chest as she abruptly stood up from the stool opposite the healer, knocking it over in her frantic rush. “Th-thank you. Thank you for your time.”
The healer stood up to try and stop her, but her legs carried her hurriedly out of the little hut and back towards the small house. Her lungs were burning with the heaving of her breath as her vision of the little village became foggy. She somehow managed to navigate her way back home though the thick tears in her eyes, fumbling terribly with the key to open the front door.
As soon as she entered, she darted straight for the bedroom, standing in front of the mirror and tearing every garment of clothing from herself until she was left only in her bra and knickers. That was when she finally saw it. Her stomach was far more swollen than she had anticipated. How she hadn’t come to the conclusion that there was a baby growing in there was beyond her. It was so clear. This was why she felt sick every day. This was why she was so incredibly emotional as of late. This was why she hadn’t had a period in so long.
Not because of stress, because of a baby.
What was she supposed to do about this? Sebastian had been up to his neck in stress recently, this would surely tip him over the edge.
Her head began to pound as she broke down in tears, her watery eyes still fixated on the swell of her stomach in her reflection. This felt like some sort of cruel joke to her. She wasn’t ready to be a mother. Was she?
It hadn't been something she had put much thought into. The couple were yet to discuss when they wanted to start trying for a baby. Sebastian had once made it clear that he didn’t want to raise kids in Feldcroft after what had happened to Anne. He must have thought about having a child with MC if he had thought about where he wouldn’t want to raise one. This had been mentioned to her by him a long time ago, a lot of things had changed since then.
She could no longer handle the abundance of thoughts plaguing her mind as she turned away from the mirror, throwing an old tattered night shirt of her husband’s over her head to cover the newly noticeable lump growing in front of her. Sebastian must have been really stressed lately, as he clearly hadn’t noticed his wife’s growing stomach any more than she had; and he noticed everything.
Without any idea of what she was supposed to do with herself now, she dragged her feet back toward the living room and curled herself up on the sofa. There were plenty of things for her to busy herself with until Sebastian came home, such as assignments to grade, dishes from last night’s dinner to wash up and a particularly stubborn family of weeds to yank out of the ground in front of the house. She knew that sitting there, hugging her knees nervously and letting her thoughts take over was not a smart thing to do, but that didn’t stop her.
It was all she could do. How could she fairly mark her student’s assignments with such a cloud in her mind? How could she even comprehend remembering how to wash a dish? How could she pull weeds out of the grass when there was a baby in her way? She had no urge to move for the rest of the day in fact as she sat there, weeping at every turn and flip she could feel in her stomach. What she had described to herself as butterflies before today was now the baby that had been growing for five months.
The unmistakable sound of her husband’s boots trudging up the steps to the front door nearly went amiss for her. She had been sitting there for hours, not taking her eyes off of the door that was now opening slowly, as if he were trying to be quiet. It must have been late as the house was pitch black, not a flicker of a candle or the dim hue of a lamp around her. He must have assumed that she was in bed.
She watched as he gently closed the door behind him, locking it quickly and carefully placing the key down onto the little table sat by the front door. As he turned on the little lamp, MC winced at the sudden light plaguing her vision.
“Fucking hell, MC,” Sebastian gasped sharply, holding his hand to his chest. “You scared the shit out of me! What are you doing sitting in the dark like that?”
He wasn’t angry. She knew that for a fact. If he were angry, he’d have had his famously deep frown on his tired face. Still, that did not stop her from bursting into tears, his raised voice triggering a reaction from her instantly. He may not be angry now, but would he be angry at what he was about to find out?
Sebastian froze where he stood, his eyes widening in shock. “Wh-what-,” he started, dumbfounded by her sudden breakdown. He quickly approached her, perching himself next to her curled form and placing his large hands over hers. “Hey, what’s the matter? What happened?”
MC didn’t respond, completely overwhelmed with emotion as the weight of the day finally hit her properly. The panic in her chest caused her heart to squeeze tightly, making her feel as though she were about to choke. She could feel the baby moving, causing her to draw her knees closer into her chest as she sobbed. Her husband’s large hands flew off of hers and cupped either side of her face. She could just about see him moving his head around in front of her, trying desperately to draw her attention to him.
“Look at me! Come on darling! You’re freaking me out, calm down sweetheart,” he pressed frantically. “Are you hurt?”
She tried her best to shake her head in his hands to reassure him, but whether she did or didn’t was a complete mystery to her. She was beside herself with grief. There hadn’t been enough time for her to comprehend her own feelings about being pregnant, how was she supposed to handle Sebastian’s?
He shifted himself toward her to wrap her up in his arms, stroking a hand through her hair in an effort to soothe her. With the side of his face now firmly pressed against hers, he whispered sweet nothings in her ear, urging her to calm down and tell him what was wrong.
It took the best part of thirty minutes for her to finally calm down, her viscous sobs whittled down to tiny hiccups as she rested her head against his, focusing on breathing slowly. Her emotional outburst seemed to have disturbed the baby as it began doing what MC could only describe as somersaults in her womb. She couldn’t help but squirm, the feeling freaking her out a little. Sebastian felt the sudden movement from MC, his head jolting back to see if she was alright as she wriggled in discomfort. His brown eyes scanned her face, trying to read the situation.
“Hey,” he whispered softly, his hand still absentmindedly combing through her hair. “What’s the matter? Did something happen at work?”
MC shook her head, her eyes starting to water again. “I…I d-didn’t go.”
Her husband frowned, slightly taken aback by her statement. “Oh…you didn’t?”
“No,” she replied quietly, attempting to sound more confident so that she could just break the news without breaking down again. “I had an appointment.”
He eyed her with concern, a little hint of irritance at the knowledge that she had gone to an appointment that he didn’t know about. MC watched as his throat visibly contracted, likely swallowing what he actually wanted to say so as to not upset her. “What appointment?”
Her eyes flickered back to her knees. There was no clear way for her to approach this delicately, her own emotions on the matter being too all over the place to break the news slowly.
“I’m…we’re going to have…” she trailed off, unable to say the word baby. The concern on his face grew by the second, clearly desperate for some sort of answer for her breakdown. MC took a deep breath, looking back into his tired brown eyes and whispering the words gently. “I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, she questioned whether or not he had heard her. His expression was yet to change, but his concerned stare became blank and distant. As much as she had been afraid of whatever reaction he might have, she now wished that he would at least give some sort of indication as to how the news made him feel. The lack of emotion made her chest fill up with panic for the hundredth time that day, her eyes blurred by tears once more.
Just as she was about to slip straight back into her breakdown, he smiled. A full smile, with teeth and dimples. Though her heart continued to race, she felt herself relax ever so slightly at the better than expected reaction from her husband. He let out a breathless laugh, running a hand through his messy brown hair as he looked down at her knees, almost as if he were trying to see through them to confirm the news. She uncurled herself from her ball on the sofa, laying her legs out in front of her. His large hand shot out immediately, caressing the small bump she had hidden behind her shins.
“Holy shi- you are. You are pregnant,” he confirmed to himself in disbelief. There was a momentary pause as he smoothed his hand over her stomach in awe, the mesmerised look on his face becoming a confused frown as he started to catch on. “There’s…there’s already a bump?”
MC swallowed thickly, already a bit flustered by his hand roaming her stomach. Before she could answer him, the baby moved again, nudging Sebastian’s hand unexpectedly and causing him to flinch away. His face paled slightly as he came to the realisation that she was not as early on in the pregnancy as he had first anticipated.
“Five months,” she informed simply, cautious of the way his breath had hitched in his throat at the revelation. “I didn’t know. I just…I thought it was stress or that I was a little ill. We’ve both been distracted recently and-”
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice,” he whispered, his voice laced with guilt. MC could see that he was beating himself up, and she did not want him to put that kind of blame on himself.
“Seb, I didn’t even notice…and the baby is growing inside my body,” her hand came up to run through his hair as she spoke softly. “Please don’t feel bad.”
He took her hand in his, looking at her with a troubled expression. “MC, I didn’t even notice you hadn’t been feeling well. Why didn’t you tell me you made an appointment with the healer today?”
This wasn’t something she thought about often, but she wondered whether or not she should tell him the truth. She didn’t want him to feel bad for being too stressed to notice the little things recently, and knowing how difficult his job is, he had nothing to feel bad about in her eyes. Ultimately, she didn’t want to lie to him in a moment like this. She had just told him he was going to be a father, telling him a lie straight after would have been cruel.
“Well you’ve been stressed recently and I know you can’t talk about it,” she said understandably. “I didn’t want to stress you out any further with something as silly as feeling sick.”
“But it wasn’t silly, MC. It’s a baby,” her husband whispered, rubbing a hand over his face. “I don’t want you to think that you can’t tell me when something isn’t right just because of my job.”
“Speaking of,” she interjected before he got lost in self deprecating thoughts. “How was work today?”
He smiled softly at her, placing his hand back over her small bump and rubbing his thumb back and forth the fabric of the old nightshirt she was wearing. “It was okay,” he recalled, looking more positive than he usually did after a day at the Ministry. “Work is fine. Don’t you go worrying about that.”
MC wasn’t sure whether it was her husband's reaction, the fact that she finally had an answer for her nausea or the fact that his job wasn’t such a hardship for him today, but she finally felt moderately calm. She was relieved to see him smiling, even if he did look exhausted. He seemed to read her mind before she could suggest that they head to bed, knowing that he would have eaten at work due to his late finish.
The auror stood up from his perch beside her, holding a hand out to his wife and pulling her up from the sofa. Their eyes met for a moment, a comforting feeling of assurance enveloping her as she could still see the ghost of that gorgeous smile on his face. It had been a while since she saw a smile of his last so long, the soothing sight being a rare occurrence recently. She pushed herself up onto her toes, pulling him down by the back of his neck to engage in a sweet kiss. His arms wrapped loosely around her waist, delicately pulling her into him without squishing the little human between them. The kiss was short but packed with love. He pressed a soft peck to her forehead before cradling either side of her bump with his hands, staring down at the mound that hadn’t been so noticeable before today.
The exhaustion of the day’s stress finally hit her as she yawned, stretching her arms up into the air dramatically. He chuckled breathlessly at her performance.
“Go on,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to her forehead. “Get into bed, I’ll be there in a minute.”
She did not need to be told twice. Her feet shuffled lazily toward the bedroom, climbing under the duvet and shuffling to her side of the bed beside the wall. As soon as her head hit the pillow her eyes started to flutter, the sheer weight of the day pushing her into her slumber. The click of the bathroom door was the last thing she heard before she drifted off, a protective hand on her stomach and a peaceful cloud in her mind.
___
Sebastian did not like lying to his wife.
Today was the day he was going to tell her. He had planned it from the very moment he had walked into the Auror Office that morning to find Leander standing over yet another poorly constructed package on Fletcher’s desk, a knowing and yet equally disturbed look on the red head's face. Sebastian knew what it contained. He knew he needed to get someone from the forensics team as soon as possible. He knew they were no closer to putting a stop to this.
Most importantly, he knew he needed to inform his wife of the threat to his life.
The severed foot in the blood stained paper packaging was one of many body parts that had been discovered on each of their desks in the last few months, each dismembered body part belonging to the Auror’s who had disappeared. That particular foot on Fletcher's desk belonged to one of his female colleague’s Hazel Duncan, a thirty-two year old Auror. His squad knew she was dead, having already received her right arm in three parts and all of her teeth. The highly decorated Auror was a mother of two, and Sebastian’s stomach churned at the thought that her husband and kids did not even know of her fate.
The Ministry was on high alert, the Minister himself demanding that the situation stay between himself, his security and the Auror’s. Sebastian had disagreed with this decision, but his opinion fell on deaf ears. He thought it only right to make the public aware of such a troubling situation. Hazel’s family had been told that she was on an assignment somewhere, unable to make contact until she had completed it. Had his job not been threatened, Sebastian would have told the poor man himself. At the end of the day, he would want his wife to be informed if he was the next to be butchered.
Auror’s had been vanishing one by one, even the few who had walked out on their job out of fear had been sent straight back to their office in butchered pieces. The body count was now at eight dead Auror’s and zero suspects. There wasn’t a hint of a clue as to where his innocent colleagues were being taken or who was behind such a brutal spree of murders. They didn’t even know any details of how they were being taken so easily.
There was nothing to go on.
His plans to tell MC had been swept away immediately at her news. Shamefully, he hadn’t paid much attention to her at all recently. Had his head not been so clouded with the knowledge that he was likely going to be chopped up and sent to Leander through the post, he would have noticed the change straight away.
The thought of being butchered brought up the little food he had consumed that day, hurling the contents of his stomach into the toilet harshly. He hoped to Merlin that MC couldn’t hear him, not wanting her to see him like this. She was bearing his child, one that he likely would not get to meet as he’ll probably be dead before she gives birth. Maybe it was for the best that she not be told when his head ends up in a pool of blood on Leander’s desk. She needed to be relaxed and safe, something he could not ensure for the next few months.
As he finished dry heaving over the rim of the toilet, he flushed the last of his stomach contents and gripped the sink, looking back at the dead man walking in the mirror. He needed her to be safe. He needed someone to be there for her. He needed the help of someone he could trust with his wife and child’s lives.
Deciding that he needed to get her situated elsewhere so that she could be watched over, he stood in the mirror for what felt like hours, conjuring a plan of action in the unobtainable mess that was his mind.
All while nervous butterflies fluttered in his empty stomach.