13th July 1972

Andromeda steadied her trembling hand and muttered the incantation, pointing her wand towards her stomach. She gasped as the green spark shot up. Positive.

So she was pregnant. That was... inconvenient, to say the least. Why weren't they more careful? These were dangerous times. Bringing up a child during the war would not be easy. But that was not her only worry. She had always known that she would have to choose between Ted and her family eventually, but she never dreamed that it would be this soon. Andromeda had barely been out of Hogwarts for a year; she had a small office job in the Ministry which didn't pay much, but her parents weren't worried about the money, especially since the job was only meant to be temporary, until she got married and became a full-time housewife.

Ah, yes. That was the other small complication. Andromeda was engaged to Rabastan Lestrange. The families had arranged the marriage when Andromeda was only thirteen. It was always planned that her and Bella would have the most gorgeous double wedding. And at that age, it had been all that Andromeda could ever dream of.

But that was before she met Ted. There was something about him that meant that he brought joy to everyone around him. Even a spoiled little Pureblood Princess like Andromeda used to be. But she wasn't like that any more. He had changed her for the better. And she knew that he would make a fantastic dad.

At this thought, Andromeda felt a stab of guilt. She was having a baby! She had been thinking about it like it was just an inconvenience, something getting in the way of how she wanted to live her life. But it was a blessing! She was going to have a child, Ted's child. Now that was amazing. She just wanted to run around and share her joy with everyone.

Who could she tell? She knew that Ted would be thrilled. Should she tell him straight away? Or should she prepare him? She had heard people say that men could be... awkward when they first found out they were going to become fathers. Andromeda didn't think Ted would be like that - although she knew some men were funny about commitment, Ted had never had that problem as far as she knew. But she needed to come to terms with it herself first before there was a possibility of her having to console her shocked boyfriend.

But she just had to tell someone. Andromeda knew that if things were different, she would tell Bella. She told Bella everything. There was something comforting about Bella's scorn. It made her problems seem so much less significant.

But she couldn't. Bella didn't know about Ted, and besides, nobody could know, not yet. Andromeda needed to make some decisions. This was one of those cases where it was a choice between what was right and what was easy. She didn't want to have an abortion; she couldn't stand to kill a living baby, Ted's living baby, just because of her own mistake. Well, maybe it wasn't exactly a living baby yet. But it would be one day.

There were other options. Andromeda could easily go to Rabastan and tell him she had slept with another man (he didn't have to know it was Ted) and sob and grovel, and she knew he loved her enough to forgive her, even though she felt nothing for him. Then they could lie and pretend it was Rabastan's baby. The wedding would go ahead as planned and Andromeda could live a cosy, secure life.

But she knew she couldn't do that. She had to follow her heart. She loved Ted, and she was willing to give up anything to be with him. The only reason she hadn't left to be with him already was because she had hoped to save up some money to live on; Ted's family wasn't very well off. But you don't need money to be happy, Andromeda thought. She knew she would have a perfect little life with Ted and their baby. There might be some hard times, but that didn't matter. They loved each other.

"ANDROMEDA!" her mother screeched from downstairs, interrupting her daydream. "DINNER'S READY!"

"Just a minute!" she called.

She sighed. She hated her family's beliefs, but they were her family, she couldn't help loving them. And her pregnancy would be much more difficult without her mother's support. Who could she turn to with questions? There was always Ted's mother, she supposed, but although she seemed nice, she had only met her a couple of times, so it would be slightly awkward. How was Andromeda supposed to become a mother when she wasn't even on speaking terms with her own?

A/N: This is for Eirinn Croi's Pondering Parenthood Challenge on HPFC. There will be 10 shortish chapters, one for each month of the pregnancy and one for the birth. Thank you to my wonderful beta, kci47, who helped me out with some ideas for this!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, obviously.

I just wanted to add, because I know this is a sensitive issue for lots of people, that I have absolutely nothing against people choosing to have abortions. But Andromeda obviously can't have an abortion, because that's not what the mighty JKR decided, and we wouldn't have the wonderful Nymphadora Tonks!

On a lighter note, I love reviews! (Hint hint...)