6

Chapter 5: Do You Believe in Magic

Magic was real.

Emma was still trying to wrap her head around that and now she had to deal with Harry's witchy quasi-adoptive mother who was giving her the evil eye and his best mate Ron who didn't seem to like her.

God, did she feel nauseous.

Even though she had adjusted from the jet lag, the baby didn't. The morning sickness seemed to have gotten even worse since they've been in England when she wasn't so dead tired.

She practically was falling the sleep all the time now. Like the day she met Harry's friends, she was still embarrassed of meeting them downstairs in Harry's soccer—no quidditch—jersey.

God, the magic thing.

She didn't blame Harry for not explaining it to her sooner, because she probably wouldn't have believed him and to be fair, her freak out was pretty epic. But at the same time even though she was freaked out, she had been telling Ron the truth when she told him that she was relieved.

So, this had been the secret that Harry had been hiding besides the secret child—who apparently neither Ron, Hermione, nor especially that Ginny girl knew about.

"I don't want them to know, love. The whole thing with Milah was more than a little embarrassing."

No one seemed to mention Milah though, or acknowledge that she existed. Rather, there were several innuendos made that Harry was involved with Ginny. Even Ginny had said so much to Emma.

Although, the girl had tried to be nice to Emma, she could tell that Ginny didn't really like her. But at least she wasn't as offensive about it, like her brother. The only friend of Harry's that seemed to give her any sort of chance was Hermione.

She was surprised when Ron had invited her to dinner at his house, but then after Harry had explained what was going on—that magic existed—Emma had put together that Ron wanted to force Harry's hand in telling her the truth. Like it would make her run away or something.

She wasn't happy about it, and was surprised Harry wasn't happy about it either but his mind was on a lot of other things.

And to be fair, her husband did have his plate full and the way he kept looking at Emma, it was as if he thought she'd explode or run for the hills finding out that magic exist.

Admittedly, there was a part of her that did want to run. When Harry had sat her down and told her that he had to tell her something and then revealed that he was a wizard she wanted to laugh. Instead, she bit her lip and said, "That's not it, and you know it. What deep dark secret aren't you revealing to me, Harry?"

"Magic is real, love." He said, "I know it's hard to believe."

"No," She said. "What's hard to believe is that I'm married at seventeen to a guy who has another child. And whose friends hate me."

"They don't hate you." Harry said, "Hermione says you're good for me."

"Well, Ron and his sister don't like me." She said, "And don't insult me with the magic talk. What is the deep dark secret? Really. Please tell me you're not an serial killer, and that you chopped Milah's body into little bitty pieces and threw them into the English Channel, and that's why you're having difficulty locating your son because it would somehow implicate you for her murder."

He shook his head at her. For a minute, he looked a lot older than a seventeen and shook his head. "What an active imagination you have, dearie."

She groaned, "Harry, please, not 'dearie'. Do you want me to chop your body into little itty bitty pieces and throw it into the English Channel?"

"No," He said. "But I am not lying to you about the magic thing. Do you remember the day we met and you tried to pickpocket me?"

She nodded; she was still surprised he caught her. One of the many things when you grew up in the illustrious care of the state was how to pickpocket someone. She had quickly rationalized that given Harry's back-story that he had probably weary to her tricks, but it still didn't make sense how he was able to pickpocket her. No one had ever done that before.

"I used a summoning charm to get my stuff back." He said.

She shook her head. "No, you just were able to nab your stuff back. You said you learned a lot of things when you grew up with those monsters."

He shook his head. "True, I do know how to nab a pocket or two. But summoning charms are so much more efficient, love."

"I am so having you committed." She said ignoring his babbling.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I understand that, but let me prove this to you."

Emma laughed. "Oh, this will be rich."

"Such a cynic, dearie." Harry said as he waved his hand. "Sorry, I meant love."

Imagine to Emma's surprise when a single white rose appeared in her hand.

"For you," He said with a smile.

Emma looked at the rose, "It—it appeared out of nowhere."

Harry nodded, "I told you magic. Though, I wouldn't exactly say, nowhere, love. It came from magic, my magic in fact. The flower reminds me of you."

"Really?" Emma said, "A white rose? Isn't that a little cliché?"

Harry rolled his hand and the flower disappeared and was replaced with a single white tulip. "Is that better? The white rose reminds me of you, but I do vaguely you mentioning you liked tulips."

Emma nodded and was lost for words.

"You know white tulips mean forgiveness," Harry said. "I hope you forgive me. I know I should've told you early, but I didn't think you'd believe me."

"I wouldn't," Emma said. "I still don't know if I do, I mean this is probably just some fancy allusion like David Copperfield does in Vegas. Magic is not real."

"But it is, love." Harry said. "How would you like a whole bouquet of tulips?"

Another wave of his hand and it tulips bouquets appeared everywhere. Each one more grander than the next. Emma watched about twenty of said bouquets seemingly appear out of nowhere.

"That is just excessive." Emma said.

"I could make it rain flowers," Harry said. "I think that would be more excessive, dearie."

"You'll have to make it rain flowers if you keep calling me 'dearie'." Emma snapped, but she couldn't help but be oddly amused at all of this if a bit freaked out.

Imagine to her surprise when flowers started pouring into the room.

"Do you believe me now?" Harry said with an impish looking grin.

"Please, don't tell me that means you're going to keep calling me dearie." She said as the flowers continued to fall on their head.

Harry waved his hand the tulips stopped falling on the floor. "No, but do you believe in magic?"

"I guess I do," Emma said looking at him. "Is this why you've been so moody? I mean, I sort of thought there was something besides the Bae thing."

"I'm hardly moody," Harry said.

Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe a little moody." He said, "I'll concede that."

Emma laughed before she said, "I'm glad you told me about magic, Harry."

She was glad, but that didn't mean she was freaked out. Especially about said dinner. She had tried so hard before they left to go to the Weasleys that night. Emma wasn't much of a dress wearer and didn't have a lot of options; save for the stuff Harry brought her to wear this summer.

There was no way she was going to wear her wedding dress again. The gold number that she wore when they went clubbing was out too, way too short. So her only option was the red dress, which was not very conservative especially since her breasts had begun swelling.

They were really the only visible sign that she was pregnant. Well, if you didn't count her gaunt looking face. She couldn't wait until the first trimester was over. She was tired of the random bursts of nausea and being exhausted all the time. The doctors and books all swore the second semester things got better. Even her mood would improve, apparently. Apparently, the random heightened states of emotion wore off in that second trimester—the apparent golden trimester.

Emma found it funny that most of the books didn't mention that things got bad again during the final trimester, but at this point she just wanted the throwing up to stop.

Harry found her that night puking—per usual—and shook his head. "Are you sure you're okay, love."

He really made an effort to call her love lately, which she appreciated. The way he said her name now, wasn't near as creepy as before. But then again, anything was better than 'dearie' which he occasionally slipped into.

Emma shook her head, "The doctors say it's perfectly normal for morning sickness at this stage."

"You look positively green," He said, "I really could brew something that could settle you stomach. That is if you'd like."

The whole magic thing had made her a bit weary. While it did explain a lot, at the same time Emma didn't like the fact that Harry could just randomly magic things up. Though she did enjoy the tulips, not the ones on the floor though. She made Harry make those disappear. But when it came to ingesting a magical potion when she was pregnant, she wasn't sure and told Harry as much.

"I wouldn't hurt our child, you know that." He said as he adjusted his tie in the bathroom mirror.

He was wearing one of his new suits. The suits had appeared shortly after their wedding. Sometimes Emma wanted to yell at Harry and tell him that he was seventeen, not thirty. But the suits looked good on him—in fact if anything they made her want him more.

"I know," She said. "The magic thing still creeps me out. I'm freaked out about going to Ron's house tonight."

"It will be okay," Harry said.

"He hates me," Emma said. "You know that."

"I would say hate is a strong word," Harry said. "He'll get over it in time. He just has this cockamamie idea that I would be marrying Ginny."

"She seems to have the same idea," Emma said before dumping out her lunch into the contents of the porcelain bowl.

"You sure you don't want that potion?" He asked.

She nodded. "I think I'm okay now, hopefully."

She wished she would've had taken that potion. Everything about this dinner was making her stomach turn. From the way Ron had been glaring at her, Ginny's passive aggressiveness, and Mrs. Weasley's not so passive aggressiveness.

The woman's eyes practically popped when saw Emma's dress.

Then there were the questions. Questions about what Emma planned to do with her life—she really had no idea. She told the woman that she wanted to take the GED. That was something, she guessed. She and Harry had talked about eventually going to college. He told her that they didn't need the money, and she believed him, but at the same time she wanted to do something productive with her life. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, so she would start with trying to get her graduate equivalent degree so she could have the option of even going to school.

But this wasn't good enough for Ron's mother. Worse, she practically had a coronary when mentioned that Harry and her were planning on staying in New York.

Or maybe it was Ron who had the coronary since he started going off about Harry throwing away his dreams for Emma. Then he and his mother had practically gotten to a tag team about how they planned to convince Harry to dump Harry while talking up that stupid pie Ginny made.

Personally, Emma was being nice when she complemented it. She hated rhubarb almost as much as she hated apples and was planning on letting Harry know that tonight. She wondered if he could conjure a pint of Mayan Chocolate like he could white tulips. That was the only thing to make up for this dinner.

She snapped after a little remark about how Ron was going to ruin Operation Dump Emma and spat out, "The time for what?" Emma said, "For Harry to change his mind, that's NOT going to happen. Let me assure you, our marriage is real and were having a baby together."

Of course, she hadn't been meaning on telling these people about her pregnancy. Harry's friends or not, it was none of their business. And Harry himself really hadn't said much about telling them either. Needless to say, it wasn't probably the best thing to say.

At that point she had to run out of the room to throw up that rancid rhubarb pie. Seriously, she did not get how it was a signature dish.

She didn't know how long she was in the bathroom until she heard someone knocking on the door.

"Emma," It sounded like Hermione, "Are you okay?"

She almost forgot that Harry's other friend had been at the dinner. She hadn't really said much during dinner. Not that she could get in a word edge wise with the way Ron's mother was interrogating her.

Emma sighed heavily flushing the toilet and opening the door. God she felt so dizzy. It was like everything she ate today had gone into the toilet, come to think of it, it probably had.

When she opened the door Hermione shook her head when she saw her.

"I guess I didn't have to answer your question," Emma finally managed to muster."

"No," The bushy brunette said. "Do you feel like you can walk?"

Emma shrugged but before she could say anything she had to run back to the toilet.

Hermione sighed heavily as she walked over to wear Emma was. "Has this been happening often?"

"All the time," Emma said after she dry heaved. "I can't wait till the first trimester is over. They say it gets better."

Hermione nodded. "Have you gone to a doctor they might be able to give something to help the severity?"

Emma shrugged. "It's only gotten worse recently. Harry's offered to brew me a potion, but I don't know if I want the baby to be exposed to magic. Let alone, a magical potion brewed by Harry."

"Yeah, Harry's potions are lousy." Hermione said, "And I get not wanting to use magic when you're pregnant. Though a proper potion would probably help or a non-magical doctor could probably give you something too. You don't want to get dehydrated."

Emma nodded. "I think a part of this is all this, I didn't expect it to come out this way."

"At dinner?" Hermione asked. "I'm sure. Though you certainly got both Mrs. Weasley and Ron to shut up, I don't think I've seen that happen before."

"I didn't want to upset them," Emma said. "I know Ron's Harry's best friend and it seems like Mrs. Weasley has been a mother to him."

"I don't think mother is how Harry is describing her right now. " Hermione stated. "He's not happy."

"Good," Emma stated. "When I get done puking my guts out, I'm going to tell him I want to go home. I don't think I can handle the smell of rhubarb or how I'm not good enough because I'm not Ginny."

Hermione sighed heavily, "I'm sorry, Emma. They shouldn't be acting like that."

She shrugged. "Yeah, they shouldn't. I get that Ginny and Harry were a thing, but he acted like it was nothing serious."

In fact, he laughed in her face when she asked him if he had some epic romance with Ginny Weasley.

"Really, dear…love." He said, "An epic romance? Ginny and I barely got to first base if you must know, and that was only through the use of potions."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Really, you had to take a potion to kiss her?"

Harry sighed. "It seemed more romantic like a quest now, but yeah sort of pathetic. The thing was Ginny was a distraction. I wish I would've been more focused back then. Maybe Professor Dumbledore would still be alive."

"Harry," She shook her head. "Please. Don't. Remember, you are not Batman."

He laughed at this. "No, I'm not. But believe me when I say, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to Ginny Weasley."

Hermione looked at her when she said this and nodded. "I don't think Harry is lying to you if that's what you're worried about."

"I didn't even ask."

"Well, I can understand if you're questioning it." Hermione said, "Ginny and Harry did have a thing, but it was never that serious despite Ronald's beliefs."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Am I sensing resentment there towards Ron, or is that hopeful wishing on my part?"

Hermione smiled, "A little resentment. Ron is one of my best friends but he is a bit daft, and has made some moronic choices in the past."

"Some involving you," Emma said.

Hermione nodded, "Honestly, if it wasn't for Harry we probably wouldn't be friends. But he isn't a bad guy."

"But he hates me." Emma cried, inwardly cringing at herself. God, did she hate being so emotional."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Hermione said. "I don' t think Harry will let you hate you long."

Both Ron and Mrs. Weasley apologized to her as soon as she managed to go downstairs. She nodded and told them thank you before she and Harry left the home.

She raised an eyebrow when they got back to the townhome and asked what he did.

"Nothing," Harry said. "I just told them if they appreciated my friendship they would treat my wife with respect."

"I don't trust Ron," Emma said with a sigh.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, "I could whip you up a potion to help with the nausea it wouldn't harm the baby, I promise."

She shook her head. "There's no need. Hermione said not to bother with your potions, that she'd help me deal with it tomorrow."

She still hated thinking that Harry would be sneaking off to Hogwarts tomorrow to grab some sort of potion ingredient that was needed to find Bae. Emma had begged to go with him but because she didn't possess magic, it would be impossible for her to get to the school.

At least that's what Harry claimed.

Personally, Emma thought it had something more to do with her safety. And for once she didn't argue if only because of the baby.

That and the nausea would've made her the weakest link. She still didn't like the idea of Harry going off to the school though. God knows, what could happen to him. He stated telling her a little bit about his adventures: a mystical stone, a giant snake that could kill you with a mere glance, a magical goblet that forced you to compete in a wizard gladiator type of competition. The place wasn't exactly where she wanted the father of her unborn child to go to and she let him know as much.

Harry sighed, "I'll be fine, trust me. I'm more worried about you."

"Me?" Emma said, "I'm not going to a school with a murderous headmaster."

"Snape is child's play." Harry shrugged. "I can handle him."

"Really," Emma said crossing her arms. "You can handle a wizard that killed your headmaster who was considered like the second coming of Merlin."

"Oh, he was hardly like Merlin." Harry said, "Dumbledore did not have near the amount of raw power that fool had. Although, they were both greater good sycophants."

"Um, Merlin, isn't real." She said finding her husband's rant amusing. Then it hit her that he might be real because of magic. "Oh, God, is Merlin real."

"Yes," Harry said. "Though currently stuck in a tree because he was a obnoxious busybody who didn't know when to back off."

"That's not how I read the Arthurian legend," Emma said.

"That's because history was rewritten to favor him," Harry said. "Well, at least in the muggle world."

"I can't believe we're talking about Merlin." She said, "This seems unreal."

"Oh, trust me." Harry said, "This is only the tip of the iceberg. Your color is looking better, you think you can stomach something?"

"I don't know," Emma said. "Maybe if there's no rhubarb in it, English staple or not I can't stomach the stuff. And neither can our child."

"Rhubarb is an acquired taste," Harry said. "I really am not found of it either."

"Call me surprised," Emma said. "The way Mrs. Weasley was going on, she acted like it was your favorite thing ever."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm going to make some of my famous rice."

"Famous?" Emma said. "Really, Harry?"

"It's good," He said. "Not as good as the lamb stew I used to make, but my rice is decent."

"All you have to do is throw a cup of Uncle Ben's in the microwave and cook for a minute and it's done." Emma said, "I don' t think there's that much effort to it."

Harry smiled, "My rice is a little more complex than that."

His rice turned out to have brown sugar, butter, and raisins in it. It was good and oddly enough it settled Emma's stomach for the night.

Before they went to bed that night she asked him something, "Promise me that you'll come back to me Harry." She said.

"I'll come back to you." He said.

It did not reassure her at all.

Their goodbye was sort of anticlimactic. Hermione came over and Harry left to get to the school. He didn't tell Emma how he was going to get there, just to stay safe.

She was annoyed. Emma wanted to tell him that she was with him but the blots of nausea she felt kept her from saying this. She knew she'd just get in the way, which was why she was reluctantly allowed Hermione to babysit her.

Hermione shook her head as Harry laughed. "You're not happy about this are you?"

"No," Emma said. "I'm not. But I'm not going to argue, since I know I'd get in the way with my constant puking."

"About that," Hermione said. "I brought a potion, if you want to take it?"

"I'd rather not," Emma said. "Sorry, the magic thing still sort of weirds me out."

"I get it," Hermione said. "Did Harry tell you I'm from a non-magical family?"

Emma nodded. "It's why you're not in school."

"Right," Hermione said. "But all this magic stuff has been difficult for me to get used to too. I can assure you that the potion won't hurt you or the baby, there's no reason to suffer."

"I'll think about it," She said before she had to run to the toilet—again. She could see Hermione shaking her had at her out of the corner of the eye.

A part of Emma knew she was being silly. The potion would help; she saw how magic could be amazing. But it scared her. She knew that the morning sickness was more severe than most cases, but nothing to get too upset over.

That was until she felt it.

The cramping, she winced for a moment until she was able to stand up. She almost toppled over but was able to lean herself against the wall. She still knocked over the trash can though causing Hermione to come into the bathroom.

"Emma?"

Emma barely was able to get the words out, "Hospital. Now."

Hermione raised her eyebrows but nodded. "You think you can make it outside?"

There was a lot of pain but Emma nodded her head as she bit her tongue, hoping she wouldn't scream.

Hermione told her it was going to be okay, and they managed to make it outside away from the wards so Hermione could apparate them—or poof as Harry called it—to the nearest muggle hospital.

Emma didn't listen to her reassurance. Instead, she was worried about her baby. What if she lost it? She would blame herself. She should've taken care of herself. She should've taken the offers for the potions, and should've been a little more honest that the morning sickness was more on the extreme side than normal.

But she had honestly thought it was normal, she had never been pregnant before how would she know? Heck, she had been a virgin before she met Harry all of this was new.

She had started hyperventilating she knew this because Hermione had told her to calm down.

"It's going to be okay, Emma. We're almost to the edge of the wards now. God, Harry did a good job with these wards. I—"

Hermione fell to the ground and Emma felt herself barely able to stand as she felt another wave of nausea coming up as she heard someone giggling.

A mad giggle, Emma thought as she looked up to see a woman with large violet eyes holding what appeared to be a stick—a wand—at her. "Cissy, look what I found? It seems like Potter's been hiding something besides the ickle mudblood in your house."

"Oh, God, Bella. Did you take your potions this—well, what do we have here?"

Emma turned to see a blonde woman looking at her. She was holding out as a wand as well. "Seems like Potter has been keeping more secrets than we realized, I guess this explains the strengthened wards."

"Such a pretty thing aren't you," Bella said. "Don't you think she's pretty, Cissy? I don' t think it's fair."

Don't say anything, a voice in the back of Emma's head seemed to tell her. She had heard that voice several times in her life. It was her survival voice. It was the voice she heard that night that told her to get away from Ralph and Diana. The same voice that got her away from Ingrid, she felt her body numbing. While the pain the cramps were still there, Emma had to focus on getting away.

"Bella, you're being ridiculous." Cissy said before turning her attention towards Emma, "Your name, girl."

Emma stared at her defiantly. She wasn't going to speak. Something about those two were just off, she didn't know what it was about them but she felt like if she opened her mouth it would be used against her.

"Cissy, I don't think she's going to answer you." Bella stated.

"Stating the obvious," Cissy said. "Are you sure you didn't curse her she's so still. I'd rather not have to use alternative methods of getting her to talk if it's not needed. I'm not one for show."

Bella started laughing. "Only stunned the mudblood. She should be able to talk unless she's mute. Do it, Cissy, do it!"

The blonde woman rolled her eyes clearly annoyed at Bella. Emma would be too, there was just something that screamed delusional about that one. "Unlike, you, Bella, I like to be a little bit more subtle in how I get my information. Girl, speak now, before I do something I regret."

Emma didn't do anything.

She couldn't get her to talk, she told herself. She would be silent. If she talked they'd get whatever it was they came here for and they'd get rid of her.

She wished Hermione would wake up. She hoped they didn't hurt her, but the way Hermione's body was lying unconscious on ground she was betting otherwise. She could still do this, she told herself. She wasn't helpless. She could rescue herself. She looked around for anything, any potential weapon.

Of course, even if she found something she didn't know if she could get up. She was still having excruciating cramps. She couldn't lose the baby, she couldn't.

"Girl!" Cissy snapped, "I am running out of patience. You wouldn't want Bella to be entertained would you?"

At that moment the woman waived her wand towards Emma. A brief sense of pain caused Emma to scream, bit down on her tongue harder where it bleed.

She could literally see stars, if only for a few seconds and then found herself vomiting all over the sidewalk.

She heard someone laugh. Given the shrill quality of it, she could tell it was Bella. "Oh, Cissy, that was good. Not as good as a crucio, but it's a nice start. Make that intruder feel the pain she caused by soiling the Noble Ancient House of Black."

Cissy, Emma was sure, was rolling her eyes before turning her attention towards Emma. "Doesn't feel good, does it? Maybe you'll talk now. You already don't look too good, and I'm afraid Bella might be on the right idea if you don't talk. Now where is Potter?"

Emma didn't say anything again. Telling herself that they were just going to hurt her anyway.

"Fine," Cissy said. "Be that way, maybe this will change your mind."

She pointed her stick at Emma again, and this time the pain was tenfold and Emma could hear herself yelling herself hoarse. The baby, she thought, the baby. She wouldn't give up for it or for Harry. She loved them.

She felt a force from her body leaving it. Had she been able to see she would've saw that it was blindingly white like the tulips Harry had given her. Has she been able to focus, she would've seen it surprising both Cissy and Bella and causing them to apparate away.

Emma didn't see that though, in fact she didn't see anything again until she opened her eyes seeing Ron Weasley's face and him asking her if she was okay.

"Hospital," Emma croaked. "For the baby. Now."