Chapter 7

A Few Difficult Conversations

x-X-x

The words reverberated through Teddy's head.

I'm pregnant.

I'm pregnant.

I'm pregnant.

The sound of a sob escaping Victoire's lips jerked Teddy back to the present. Seeing the tears pouring down her face, he pulled her close.

"I'm sorry."

The words were mumbled into his chest and he was barely able to make them out. But they broke his heart. He pulled his arms even tighter around Victoire, a few tears escaping his own eyes as he struggled to get control of his thoughts and his emotions.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," Teddy said, his head tucked against Victoire's hair.

"This changes everything," Victoire said, her voice just slightly stronger.

"Yes," Teddy agreed. "But it's not your fault."

Victoire wrapped her arms around Teddy and held on tight as she began crying again. He just held her, silently, while she cried herself out. His own eyes were suspiciously wet by the time the blonde in his arms began to quiet. He didn't let her go, but rather continued to hold her, both of them taking comfort from the other, not speaking or crying but just holding tight. Finally, after over half an hour of silence, Victoire pulled away.

"What are we going to do?"

Teddy looked down at her, taking in the fear and uncertainty written across her face. After a few moments, he just pulled her close again and sighed. "I don't know, Vic. I really don't. But we'll figure it out. I promise." Against his chest, Victoire nodded.

After another few minutes of silence, Teddy asked, "Have you seen Madam Pomfrey yet?"

"Yeah," Victoire said, not moving from her spot against Teddy's chest. "I've suspected for awhile now but as soon as admitted it out loud, Mandie and Sara took me. We went on Monday after Mandie found me getting sick in the girls lav."

"You've been sick?" Teddy asked, concerned.

"Morning sickness is a bitch."

"I'm sorry, Vic. I wish you didn't have to go through that."

"Yeah, well, it won't last forever. At least I hope not."

"Good." Getting back to his original question, he asked, "But Madam Pomfrey said everything was fine?"

"Yeah. She said I was six weeks along, so that makes me about seven weeks now. She wants to see me again in another week."

"Is everything alright? Or is it just a normal checkup?"

"She gave me a bunch of information and told me to think about what I wanted to do. I think I have to decide by then and then she'll go from there."

"I see," Teddy said carefully. "And have you decided?"

Victoire pulled away from him and looked directly into his eyes once more. "I need to know, Teddy. Do you want this baby? Because I don't have to go through with this. There is a potion that would take care of it."

"Is that what you want?"

"I asked you first."

"It's your body, Vic."

"I know. But I really need to know. I need to know what you're thinking."

"Honestly?" At Victoire's slight nod, Teddy said, "I'm scared shiteless. I have no idea what I'm thinking. I'm still trying to process it all. And I know this is not the right time. We're too young. You're still in school. I have healer training. We're not ready." Teddy paused and then said, "But the very thought of getting rid of it makes my blood run cold. No matter what else, that's our baby Vic," Teddy said as he placed a hand on her still-flat stomach. "A little piece of you and me."

At his words, Victoire visibly relaxed. "That's how I feel too," she said, a slight smile on her lips. "We should have been more careful but what's done is done and I don't think I could live with myself if I killed an innocent baby. Our innocent baby."

"So I guess we're going through with this. We're gonna be parents."

"That's a scary thought."

"I know. Me, a dad?" Teddy groaned. "And we have to tell our dads. They're going to kill us. That is, if my mum leaves anything left for them to kill."

"Teddy, your parents can't really judge. I mean, Ginny had James during her seventh year."

"Yeah but they've always told us not to follow in their footsteps. So they can definitely kill us. Plus, your parents were grown up, out of school, with jobs, and married when they had you. So they can definitely kill us."

"True. But they won't kill me. I'm carrying their grandbaby. So they'll just kill you."

"Thanks," Teddy said, sarcasm dripping from his mouth. "Throw me to the wolves."

"Always," Victoire responded with an evil glint in her eyes but a teasing smile on her face.

Getting serious again, Teddy said, "We should tell them together."

"Maybe we can get them up here for next month's Hogsmeade weekend."

"I'll start working on getting that day off now. And as soon as Hicks says yes, we can ask our parents to come up. Maybe we can get a room at the Three Broomsticks or something. I don't really want to have this conversation in public."

"Yeah, me neither." Cuddling back into Teddy's chest, Victoire asked, "Do you think we're going to be okay?"

Teddy relaxed back into the cushions of the couch, pulling his girlfriend with him. "Yeah. I really do. I can't tell you how right now. But I love you, Vic. And we still have some time to figure everything out."

"I love you too, Teddy," Victoire said, closing her eyes. Her breathing slowly leveled out as she fell asleep, cuddled into her boyfriend's chest.

x-X-x

Meanwhile, back in the Gryffindor common room, the rest of the group had taken over the couches by the fire. After first casting both Muffliato and a privacy charm, conversation quickly turned to what was going on in the Room of Requirement.

"Do you think they're okay?" Sara asked nervously.

"Would you be?" Mandie asked back.

"It depends on what you mean by okay," Owen said, ignoring Mandie. "If you mean, are they physically okay, at this moment, I would say sure, they'll be just fine. I'm sure they won't kill each other and while Teddy might faint or something, they'll be fine. If you mean in the broader sense, mentally, physically, emotionally, long-term, will they be okay through this whole mess, then who knows. I mean, this is absolutely insane."

"Speaking of which," Mandie said, pinning each of the three boys with a glare, "How exactly did you guys find out about Victoire?"

"Er – " James said, fidgeting in his seat.

"You see, we uh, well…" Freddie tried.

"Seriously, James," Mandie said, focusing in on whom she perceived as the weakest link. Whenever James started fidgeting, secrets were sure to come out. "Out with it. We'll find out, one way or another and we need to make sure other people haven't figured it out. So tell me, or I swear, you won't be able to sit comfortably for the next –"

"Fine!" James yelp. "We followed you, alright? We were worried about Victoire and you guys had gotten all secret-y and stuff so we had no choice!" he ended emphatically.

"You what?" Mandie asked, incredulously. "When did you follow us?"

"On Friday, after Ancient Runes," Owen answered.

"We used the new Chameleon Clusters from my dad's store to blend into the background and followed you," Freddie added.

"And then when you ducked into the girl's lav, we stuck Extendable Ears under the door," Owen finished.

"We just wanted to be sure you guys were fine and since you kept disappearing, this was our only option," James said, a slight plea in his voice.

"It's actually kind of sweet," Sara said.

"In a creepy kind of way," Mandie muttered petulantly.

"Well, we were right to spy on you guys," Freddie said. "If we hadn't, we wouldn't know what was wrong, Teddy wouldn't have been here right now, Victoire would still be fretting about how and when to tell him, and you girls would have still been hiding from us."

"Yeah, I'd say positives all around," James said, grinning.

"Fine," Mandie said. "You're forgiven. This time."

"Aww, we love you too, Mandie," Freddie said, grinning like an idiot. "We knew you couldn't stay mad at us." Mandie just shook her head, well used to the boys' antics.

"So, not to change the topic or anything," Owen said, "but what do you think they're going to do? I mean, this is huge."

"Well," Sara said, "I think Vic's going to keep it. That's basically what she's been saying. I think she just needed Teddy to be okay with it."

"And what if he's not?" James asked, his tone uncharacteristically serious.

"What do you mean, James?" Mandie answered. "Of course he'll be okay with it." At the circle of looks she received, she amended, "Well, not okay but he'll support Vic. He loves her. And it's just as much his fault as it is hers."

"I'm not sure I would be," James said. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to just fix the problem?"

"How can you say that?" Mandie asked incredulously.

"Well, they're just so young. There's no way we're ready to be parents yet."

"What if your parents had decided to 'just fix the problem' as you so eloquently put it? They weren't any older than we are now."

"That was different."

"Oh, really? How was it different? They were students. They were still teenagers."

"Yeah, but they had just won a war. They weren't really teenagers, were they? Not really. You've read the history books. You've spoken to my parents. Would you have felt like a kid still after going through all that? A baby was no responsibility considering what they'd already gone through."

"You think so, James? Ever think that maybe after all that, they were desperate for a little time without responsibility, where they could act like irresponsible teenagers?"

"Well, then they shouldn't have gotten pregnant."

"Exactly! But they did and your dad stuck by your mum. And they had you, though Merlin only knows why they didn't just throttle you. I know I could!"

Freddie, Owen, and Sara watched in horrified amusement as the conversation quickly spun out of control, their heads swiveling back and forth as if at a muggle tennis match as they watched James and Mandie's argument escalate.

"Well, same to you," James said, his tone laced with frustration.

"Ugh! You're such an idiot, sometimes, James. Why can't you act like the adult wizard you are? Sometimes you act younger than Albus."

"You're not so great to be around all the time either, Mandie. Sometimes, I wonder why we're even friends!"

"Well, maybe we shouldn't be then. If you're going to act like a ickle firstie, maybe I don't have any time for you."

"Oh, now you're bringing Albus into this, are you? I don't know why you're always harping on me to include him."

"Because he's your little brother, James. You know I let my brothers hang around with us when they were first years and we were fifth years. It's the nice thing to do. Although I suppose that explains it. You wouldn't know nice if it mounted a Firebolt 6000 and flew right at you."

"He's eleven, Mandie. He doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of seventeen year olds any more than we want to hang out with him."

"He looks up to you, James. Of course he wants to hang out with you. And don't go putting words in the rest of our mouths. I would gladly hang out with your brother."

"He's got Rose. And I'm sure Dom and Roxy are keeping an eye on them. It's a pay it forward kind of thing. We already had our turn watching out for Dom, Roxy, and Molly. Now it's their turn."

"That's not how it works and you know it. You all are supposed to watch out for each other. I would kill for a family as big and close as yours is, James. All I've got is Brian and Benjie. And you guys. Although I could do with one less of that right about now."

"I can't do anything right, can I Mandie?" James said, his tone defeated.

"I didn't say that," Mandie said, her tone similarly depressed, creating a stark contrast to the loud and angry voices they had been throwing at each other. "You just don't think sometimes."

Brown eyes stared at blue as James and Mandie finally ran out of steam. No one made a sound as they waited for the spell to break. Finally, James looked away, causing Mandie to sigh.

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed," Mandie said as she got up slowly, not looking at James. Turning to Sara, she said, "Wake me when Vic gets back," before turning and heading up the girls' staircase without another word.

James just stared as she disappeared, his mind clearly elsewhere.

x-X-x

Mandie had just climbed into bed when the door to the dormitory opened. It was still early and the rest of the seventh year girls hadn't come up yet so Mandie wasn't surprised when she turned to see Sara entering.

"I don't want to talk about it," Mandie said preemptively.

"I think you need to," Sara responded evenly, climbing onto the end of Mandie's bed. The redhead pulled her knees to her chest, leaning against the headboard on the opposite end of the bed.

"What do you want me to say, Sara? James asked for it."

"I'm not talking about whatever just happened downstairs. Whatever that was. I'm talking about what was going on underneath it. And what happened this morning. I thought you were going to Hogsmeade. What happened at breakfast."

"Nothing. I just changed my mind."

"Yeah, that's what you said when you showed up this morning. And I let you get away with it then because we were both distracted by Victoire. But now it's just you and me. So no lies. What happened? I know it had to do with James."

Mandie sighed. Sara always seemed to know what was at the root of an issue. It was annoying really, how she seemed to get to the crux of a problem and worm the information out. Over the years, she'd learned it was easier to just give in and answer the blonde.

"James had a date with Catherine Higgins," Mandie said flatly.

"Ah, I see."

"What do you see?" Mandie asked, annoyed again. "Because I certainly don't see. I mean, she's a pig but if he wants to go out with her then it's his problem."

"Did you want him to ask you to Hogsmeade instead?"

"No!" Mandie said too quickly. "No, " she repeated with less volume. "Why would I want that?"

"He's asked you out to the first Hogsmeade weekend every year since third year. And numerous times between. Maybe you were just being nostalgic, not liking change."

"Yeah, I'm sure that was it," Mandie said, grasping onto the reasoning. Sara just looked at Mandie critically.

"Or maybe," Sara said after an uncomfortable minute of staring and Mandie, "you're upset because you wanted him to ask you so you could actually say yes this time."

"Wha- Why would I- I mean, what?" Mandie sputtered.

Sara just sat silently, staring at Mandie.

"Why would I want him to ask me? It's annoying."

"I think you know."

"I've told him no a dozen times before."

"True."

"So what makes this time different?"

"Only you can answer that, Mandie. But have you ever thought that maybe you're ready now?"

"I've known James for almost seven years. Why would I be ready now if I wasn't ready before?"

"You've always said you didn't want to ruin the friendship. But I think you were just using that as an excuse."

"An excuse for what, exactly," Mandie said, wrapping herself in her indignant tone, not liking how accurate Sara's assessment felt.

"Your dad's a jerk, Mandie," Sara said, reaching forward to put a hand on Mandie's leg. "He left your mum and you and your brothers and never looked back. He's lower than a cockroach. But not all relationships fail. Not all men leave."

"I don't think I want to take the chance," Mandie said, her voice small.

"Mandie, you have to take the chance. All life's a chance. And just look at your mum. She took a chance after your dad left and she's extremely happy with your stepdad. And I can see how much he loves you and your brothers, too."

"She's only been married to him for a few years. That doesn't mean anything."

Sara sighed. "I does and you know it. Not all relationships are like your mum and dad's and not all guys are like your dad. If you won't look at your mum and step dad, just look at the Weasley's. Grandmum and Grandad Weasley have been together forever. And look at James's parents. Harry and Ginny have been through hell and still stayed together."

"I don't want to lose him, Sara. I can't. James is too important to me. I can't risk it."

"Oh honey, I think you're going to lose him if you keep fighting this. Because even if you keep him as a friend, you'll both always know you're hiding from what's really there. And it will never last if you keep hiding."

When Mandie didn't respond and just stared at her bed curtains, her face a mix of sadness and confusion, Sara decided to leave the conversation where it was. She stood slowly, so as not to disturb the girl contemplating her life and love on the bed, and went over to her trunk to begin her own nightly rituals. When she climbed into bed ten minutes later, Victoire was still nowhere to be seen and Mandie hadn't moved from her spot at the head of her bed.