Disclaimer: Still haven't got time to steal Harry Potter from J.K. Rowling. So still not mine.

AN: Sorry everyone! I haven't updated in ages, but I had good reason: I was in a place witch had no internet :/ At all! So before you get all mad at me, try to imagine my misery. :D And thanks to my wonderfully patient beta ThereIsSuchAThingAsLove.x. (And belated Merry Christmas to you too ;)

CHAPTER 4

Don't Turn Away From Me

"Rose Weasley, pay attention!" Professor McGonagall's strict voice shocked Rose, who had been daydreaming. The whole class was staring at her and she quickly pulled her sugar quill out of her mouth. Too bad it was already half melted.

The Transfiguration professor's eyes narrowed dangerously and Rose gulped. The older woman took a couple of steps, and was suddenly standing next to her desk. Some of the other students hissed with compassion. Everyone knew that McGonagall couldn't eat sweets anymore (something to do with a heart problem or something) and therefore reacted with passion every time a student ate sweets in her class.

"I'll take this, if you don't mind." The older woman's gloomy voice didn't leave any room for objections. Rose almost started to cry when her treat was taken from her hands. That was her last sugar quill! But Professor McGonagall wasn't done yet. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and I'll expect you in my office after the class."

Rose whimpered slightly and Connor, a Rawenclaw boy, who was currently one of her best friends, patted her forearm reassuringly. "Don't worry, she's not even in a bad mood. You should've seen what she did to Windel last year." He shuddered at the memory. "Besides, this will be a great opportunity to tell her about your…thing." What he'd said didn't lighten Rose's mood, but her friend had a point.

She had finally decided to tell her parents and the Headmistress about her pregnancy. It hadn't been an easy decision, but after Connor found out, he had convinced her that it was for the best.

-Flashback-

Rose sat in the furthest corner in the library, hiding from the world. It was her second favourite safe-place, and because the other one wasn't available right now (she had tried to go there but everything reminded her of him) she spent most of her time here.

This time she was there for multiple reasons. First, she was once again lonely; Connor hang out with his Rawenclaw friends, all her dorm friends were too girly to hang out with (seriously, who could talk about nails for over an hour!), they had never really gotten on well with her female cousins, and the boys had their own stuff going on, plus her best friends had graduated almost two years ago.

Her other reason were books. She hadn't inherited her mother's love for them, but she still enjoyed reading sometimes. Especially now, when she had found this great book called 'Pregnancy for beginners'. Despite the stupid name, it was perfect for her because everything was explained very simply and there were great pictures.

And her last reason was of course, the peace. No one ever came to that part of library. Probably because it was full of old books, mostly about history. So she could hang out there and no one would disturb her. Calmness was almost touchable; she inhaled deeply and turned another page from her book, leaning slightly back on her chair.

"Wazzup!" Rose startled and dropped the book on the ground. Thick carpet abated the sound and smoothly she kicked it under the table. Quick glance told her that it was hidden and she sighed with relief. The frizzy haired girl raised her dark brown eyes and met pale green ones.

"Connor, Merlin you scared me." She received a weird look from the boy but he sat down opposite her anyways.

"What are you doing here? I don't think I've ever seen you in library." Rose joked lightly trying to distract him from asking questions from her doings. It seemed to work, since his frown turned to smile and then as a mock pout.

"Nothing much, came to see my friend whom I haven't seen promptly in weeks." Brunette boy glared her but she could see the mirth behind his gaze.

"Don't exaggerate. It's been only couple days." Connor didn't look convinced. "So you're saying that on these past twelve days you haven't been buried in library?" Rose stiffened and started to count days backwards. It couldn't be that long since the school started. Could it?

Connor sighed dramatically. "Yes Rose, if you haven't noticed, you've been neglecting one of your best and only friends." That stung hard and she dangled her head. It was true that she didn't have that much friends anymore. Not now when they had all graduated and when Scorpius…Her throat seemed to close.

"Hey hey, sorry. Didn't mean to make you feel like a loner, only little guilty." She smiled back at him. Connor had become her best friend in Hogwarts last year. They shared their secrets and sorrows and both could trust each other solidly. Too bad they weren't at the same house and therefore couldn't see that often.

"It's alright. I've had a lot in my mind." Rose smiled weakly. Connor furrowed his brows and slumped back in his chair. It was his listening position and the redhead prepared to explain him something about NEWT's. No way she was going to tell him the truth. Maybe later. Maybe.

Unfortunately, Connor straightened his legs under the table at that moment. He kicked something heavy and solid, which moved under his toes.

"What the…?" Her eyes widened. The book! Their gazes locked and the boy seemed to notice her panic. Both dived under the table at the same time, trying to reach it.

"OUCH!" Rose's eyes watered over the pain and her hands shot up on her forehead. Their heads had bumped together. Half blind, she tried to reach the book again, but only thing she managed to do was to crash her head on the table. At the same time, Connor had grabbed the heavy obstacle and was now reading the headline.

"Would you care to explain, why exactly were you reading a pregnancy book?"

-End of Flashback-

Rose had tried to make excuses, but Connor had only looked at her with one brow raised until she had blurted the truth out. After the first shock, the Rawenclaw had actually been really cool about it and maybe little exited too. Then he had listed a million good reasons why exactly she should tell her parents and Headmistress McGonagall, even if she was going to have it adopted.

Well, Connor was somehow sure that she was going to keep it and had already declared himself as a godfather. Then he had rambled on and on how sweet and cute all the baby-stuff was. Rose snorted.

He could sometimes make it so clear he was gay that she wondered how no one else had realized it. Only couple persons knew about it: Connor himself, his best friend Frederic Davies, Rose and also Louis, whom Connor tried to hit on last summer; something that Louis still hadn't recovered from.

When the class ended, the Ravenclaw poked her in ribs and then looked her meaningfully. Rose groaned and headed to Headmistress' office. It was time to jump. And crash down.

"Come in, Ms. Weasley," a dignified voice called from inside. How the elder woman had arrived there so much earlier than she had, was beyond Rose's intelligence. The door opened with a creak and the Gryffindor stepped inside. She saw McGonagall was flipping through some papers and she was unsure what to do.

"Sit down, please. We'll start in a moment." Rose felt the fear in her stomach increase. Start what? She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to relax herself. She wondered - had the Gryffindor Head always been so intimidating? Suddenly a memory struck her. When she was eleven and she got her letter to Hogwarts, her dad had spat his pumpkin juice out of his mouth and declared 'That old hag still teaches there?' His outburst was followed with her mother's disapproving 'Ronald's. Rose giggled while suddenly longing for those days when she was just a little girl without any worries.

"Is there something funny Ms. Weasley?" The 'old hag' was observing her behind her glasses. The younger woman swallowed and tried to contain her smile.

"No, nothing. Just remembered something."

"Very well. Perhaps we should get to the point then." Rose nodded shortly, still trying to figure out why eating sugar quill in class was such a big deal.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a long time now... are you having some kind of problem, Ms. Weasley?" The older woman sounded genuinely concerned and Rose shifted slightly on her seat.

"What?"

"Something seemed to bother you at the end of last year and I noticed that you still seem distracted. Would you like to talk about it?" Her stern voice had disappeared and instead her tone was soft and kind. Rose shifted again. Her mum always told that she wore her heart on her sleeve, but she hadn't realized she was that easy to read.

"Well, there is something…Connor said I should tell my family and you but…" She stopped in the middle way. This was it. Her professor still waited, hands crossed. It was now or never.

"I'm, uh, kind of pregnant." Silence followed her statement. The old professor looked startled, but not as shocked as she should've been. Or maybe Rose was just imagining?

"Oh my. Well, I have to say I'm quite surprised. After all, you're one of my smartest students, despite your lack of interest in classes." She smiled sadly. "But I am not going to lecture you. I'm sure your parents already have." Rose had to turn her gaze away.

"I haven't told them yet." It came out as mumbling, but McGonagall still heard her. She lifted her hand on her chest.

"Dear child! You haven't told them? How far along are you?" The Gryffindor was ashamed. Now it seemed so stupid, not telling her parents before telling her teacher.

"About three months." She still didn't seem to get more than whisper out of her throat. Gently, the Head of Gryffindor patted her hand.

"Would you like me to call your parents here? So you could tell them now?" Rose looked up suddenly. Now? She wasn't prepared. She began to panic and the room started to sway. But on the other hand, it would be over then. No worries about that thing anymore. And her mother would probably have some comforting words and solutions. And Professor McGonagall wouldn't let her dad kill anyone, right? Slowly, nodded. There was no backing up now.

Minutes passed and finally flames turned bright green and her parents stepped out of the fireplace. Hermione took one look at her and her brows furrowed immediately. Rose stood up nervously and went to hug both of her parents.

"Hi mum, dad." Ron ruffled his daughter's hair and grinned.

"What did you do now Rosebud? I thought your mother told you not to get in fights anymore." Rose smiled weakly, while Hermione observed her carefully.

"Care to enlighten us why we're here Rose?" Her tone was light and careless, but her eyes sparkled in a way that left weird feeling in Rose's gut.

McGonagall stepped forward. "Perhaps you'd like to sit down first?" Ron's smile disappeared and it changed to worry. "Is there something wrong? Did Rose hex that Malfoy kid into a snail or something? Because in that case I'm not paying his medical treatment, his bloody mother bloody owns the hospital and besides…"

"Mr. Weasley! Please stop spouting nonsense from your mouth! That is not why I called you here!" That quietened Ron, the old Gryffindor head still had some authority after over twenty years. He reddened a bit and sat down, next to his wife. "Now Ms. Weasley, you may tell your parents what this is all about." All three pair of eyes turned towards Rose.

She inhaled deeply and tried to open her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Opening and closing her mouth again and again, she began to look like a fish.

"Ms. Weasley, you do realize we don't have all night?" She took couple deep breaths and gathered all her Gryffindor courage.

"I'm pregnant." Both her parents froze. Hermione blinked couple times.

"Is this some kind of joke, Rosie?" She whispered hoarsely, obviously trying to figure out why her daughter would say such a thing. All Rose could do was shake her head and then gaze intently at her shoes. She could already sense the storm rising.

"A-are you serious?" She hated when her mother started to stutter. It was so un-Hermione and usually meant big problems. The silence stretched longer and longer. No one dared to say a word. From the corner of her eye, she saw her dad turn redder and redder. Finally he explosed.

"Who was it?" He growled lividly. "I want to know who the bastard was! How dare he touch you! How could you let him touch you Rose! Huh? HOW! Did he force you into it! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" He had stood up so fast, that his chair fell down. "WHO WAS HE! ANSWER ME ROSE WEASLEY!" He grabbed her shoulders and started to shake. Rose was scared, she had always been her fathers little princess and she had never seen him this mad. Her teeth chattered together.

"Petrificus Totalus." Ron fell down pertrified. Minerva McGonagall said the spell with such calmness that she could've simply been ordering tea for herself. Then she returned to her book, like nothing had happened. Tears were falling down Rose's face. Hermione didn't say a word, but she had obviously calmed down after her husband's fit. Rose swallowed and wiped her tears away.

"I'm sorry mum. It just happened and…And I'm scared and I don't know what to do. I'm not ready to be a mother, I don't even know should I keep this child or…" Her voice drifted away and she lifted her eyes to meet her mother's.

"Sorry Rose, but I am not going to tell you what to do this time. You did this by yourself and you're going to solve it by yourself. You have to carry you responsibility." Her mother's words stung like a slap in the face. She seemed calm, but at the same time deadly serious.

"But I didn't think!" Small sob escaped her lips.

"You sure didn't. I always considered you as a smart girl…I guess I was wrong." She was clearly more than disappointed; Hermione had always thought her daughter would follow her footsteps as a model child, student, wife and then mother. In that order.

"Mum! I'm sorry! I didn't mean this to happen!" Rose was getting desperate and it shone through her voice.

"I'm sorry too Rose. We still love you no matter what you do, but you need to do this on your own. I'm sure that after your father calms down, he will agree with me. We'll write you soon." Hermione stoop up not even giving her daughter another look.

"Goodbye Minerva, it was nice to see you again." Suddenly Rose could hear her Grandmother-Molly's voice ringing in her head 'Witch should always remember not to give their flower before marriage, because once wizard gets one free, he doesn't want to buy the whole bouquet.' And she knew she would be disappointed in her too. All of them would.

And despite the green flames on the fireplace, she felt her insides turn cold.

"Hey, Weasley! Wait up!" Rose began to walk faster. She really didn't want to have this conversation. Not now when she already had a bad day. The footsteps behind her sped up, leaving Rose no other choice but to run.

"Weasley!" The person behind her started to run too and Rose cursed; couldn't he see that she didn't want to talk to him? A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. She was now facing a very angry Gryffindor Quidditch captain.

"Oh, didn't see you there, McLaggen." She replied with a fake happiness, pretending it was normal to run around the corridors.

"You weren't at the Quidditch try-outs today." His words and tone were accusative and they made her squirm awkwardly.

"Yeah, I know." She chirped happily and then turned to leave like it was no big deal. Actually it was. For her and for the team. Too bad Madam Skittle had said that she had no business in Quidditch field as long as she was with a child.

"Why! You're the best beater the team has had in ages." McLaggen almost cried out, waving his hands desperately. Rose tried to brush the guilt off, failing miserably.

"Don't know, didn't feel like it anymore." The redhead shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. Lies, lies and yet more lies. They seemed to control her whole life now.

"You've been on the team since third grade! Don't you think you owe it to the team to play for this last year?" He was now pulling his hair desperately, obviously trying to control himself so he wouldn't attack her.

"I'm sorry McLaggen…It just…I don't find Quidditch interesting anymore. Tell the guys I'm sorry." His face dropped and her insides churned when he gave her his most contemptuous look. She hadn't seen that facial expression on McLaggen's face since Slytherin had won the Quidditch Cup last year – by cheating.

"Yeah yeah, Thanks for ruining our chances Weasley. I'll make sure the team knows." He gave her one last nasty look, then brushed past her like she was nothing. Rose felt her insides squirm harshly. This day was too much to handle.

She turned around, grabbed the nearest vase and threw up on it. And she knew that it had nothing to do with the pregnancy.

Lyrics are from Cranberries – Ode to my family. Never listened this band, not my music taste but found these lyrics appropriate. I hope I didn't make her parents reaction too harsh and out of character. I just wanted to make it clear that they are angry and disappointed.

And then I must warn you, the next chapter may (or may not) take little longer (again) :( But, I try to add some length in it, just to make it up to you guys.