Chapter Eight: And Then There Was Trouble
-Ashley-
When I woke up, I didn't open my eyes. I felt so great, so happy and relaxed, and there was some part of me that said if I opened my eyes, all that would be ruined. I should have listened to that part of me.
I opened my eyes and instantly knew everything was wrong because of three things.
I wasn't in my room.
I was naked.
George was lying right next to me, naked as well.
I quickly sat up and covered my hand with my mouth so I wouldn't scream. I knew it couldn't have happened. I would have stopped it before it'd gone farther. But the moment I moved and felt a little pain in my lower half, I knew my fears were correct.
George and I had slept together. And that would have been the worst part if I had not remembered that we forgot to use protection.
My eyes shot down to my arm, my Dark Mark tattoo out in the open. I quickly hid my arm under the covers. George was still asleep, but there was no telling when he would randomly decide to wake up. Had he seen my tattoo the night before? Did he say anything about it? I couldn't remember.
I had to get out of there.
I slid off the bed as quietly as I could and put my clothes on. Then I tiptoed to the door and slipped out, praying that George wouldn't awake to the sound of the squeaky door. Once I was in the living room, I sighed. I couldn't just leave George. I'd just asked him to be my boyfriend the night before, and then we'd slept together. That only made me look like a slut and a horrible, horrible person.
I looked around the room and decided to leave George a note, telling him I had to go home for a bit but I would be back to see him later. That wasn't a lie. I definitely had to come back and talk to him. We couldn't pretend as though this had never happened. Once I had the note in place, I Floo'd my way home (not wanting the loud crack to wake him). The second I was home, I was yelling for my best friend.
"NIKI!" I rushed into her room, but was surprised to see Fred sleeping in her bed. Had she made the same mistake I had?
"Ashley!" I felt hands slide over my mouth and I was pulled back from the room. Niki silently closed the door to her room and frowned at me. "Are you crazy? Why are you screaming?"
"Why is Fred is your bed?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Niki sighed. "It's not what you think. He said he would stay with me until you got back. Since you didn't return last night, he slept in my bed and I slept in yours. It was innocent, I swear. Where were you, anyway?"
I could feel my body began to shake with fear as I sat down on our sofa. Niki, sensing my fear, sat beside me and asked, "Ash? What happened? What's wrong?"
I felt the tears building up in my eyes. "I may be pregnant."
Niki's eyes were wide with shock as she exclaimed quietly, "What do you mean you might be pregnant?"
"George and I… we went all the way last night."
"What do you mean you went all the way?"
I let out a breath as I turned to her. "We. Had. SEX. Do I need to go into details and spell it out in the effing sky for you?"
"No, no," she said, holding up a hand to stop me from going any farther. "Your point is made." She put her arms around me and let me cry into her shoulders. "What happened?"
I explained to her the events that led up to my first kiss with George, which led to even more. "But I don't get it," she said as I rubbed the tears from my eyes. "I thought you and I decided to remain virgins until we were married."
"That was always the plan," I replied. "But I guess plans change." I sighed and said, "Nik… it was amazing. I mean, it was with a guy I really, really care about, someone who I may be with for a long time. But it occurred to me this morning that we forgot to use protection."
"It was only one time though. Chances of you being pregnant aren't that great."
"It only takes one time. That's what we were always taught." That's when a big thought hit me. "How will George take it if I am pregnant? I'm only eighteen and he's almost twenty-one. We're not ready to be parents! Plus… we've only known each other for a little over a month! A month!" I could practically feel my blood pressure go up from stress. "This can't be happening. This cannot be happening."
"Sshhh, Ash, it's okay," Niki said as fatter tears began to roll down my face. "I'm here for you, okay? I'll be here to help you with everything you need."
I sighed as I wiped away more tears. "Thank you. You're the only one who can help me right now."
Niki and I were in and out of St. Mungo's for the next few days. Finally, after holding my breath for so long, I heard the news I'd been waiting for. I wasn't pregnant.
I decided not to tell George about my pregnancy scare. I felt there was no need to worry him as well. But I did talk to him about our first time, and we both agreed to no more sex until we'd been together longer. We'd only known each other for a month. To me, that wasn't long enough to start a sexual relationship.
After that, I tried my best to be careful when I was around George, whether it was stopping me from going too far when we kissed or keeping my secret from him. But of course, things just had to go wrong someday, now didn't they?
-Ashley-
It was Fred and George's twenty-first birthday. This was a very special age for them, so Niki, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I decided to take them to Paris and stay for five days. Since Niki and I had lived in Paris for most of our lives (meaning we were the only ones besides Hermione who could speak French), we made reservations at a hotel called Belle Rêveur, which was French for "beautiful dreamer."
"Fred and George are going to love this," Hermione said that day as we waited on the Weasley clan. Ron and Ginny were in charge of getting their brothers packed and ready without revealing the surprise. "They've always wanted to visit France."
"They only wanted to go so they could promote Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," Harry laughed.
Before Hermione could reply, we heard body after body after body after body fall out of the fireplace.
"Get off me, you buffoon!" we heard a muffled cry.
"I told you not to push!"
"My God, you two are impatient!"
"It's our birthday! We have every right to be impatient if we want!"
"Yep," Niki said, shaking her head. "The Weasleys have arrived."
"We'll leave the bags here! Come on!" We watched as Fred and George eagerly dragged Ron and Ginny into the room, the biggest smiles on their faces. It was as if they were five and not twenty-one.
"Happy birthday, Fred and George!" we all yelled at the same time.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Fred said impatiently. "It's our birthday. Now what's the surprise?"
"We're not telling you anything until you calm down," I said. When they both were finally quiet, I said, "We've all decided to take you to Paris."
"Four rooms, two beds and one bath in each," Ron added. "We leave today and we stay until the fifth."
Before Ron was finished, the twins were already grabbing us and pushing us towards the fireplace. "Come on, we gotta go! Come on!" I couldn't help but laugh at their child-like state.
"What's the name of the hotel?" George asked once we all had our bags ready.
"It's Belle Rêveur," Hermione said in a rush. "But listen –"
"No time!" Fred yelled as he threw in his Floo powder, then grabbed his bags in one hand and Niki in the other. "Using the buddy system. See you all on the other side!" Before Niki could get a word out, Fred cried, "Belle Rêveur!" and they were gone. I wasn't at all surprised when George did the same with me.
I'd stayed at the Beautiful Dreamer hotel only once when I was a child, with my grandparents and my mother. It'd been so long ago that I'd forgotten just how beautiful the place was. "Bienvenue dans la belle Rêveur," I said quietly to myself. I smiled as I watched my friends explore the wonders of the hotel, and at that moment, I knew there was nothing that could go wrong on this vacation. Everything would be perfect.
-George-
None of our girlfriends wanted to share rooms with us. Niki and Ginny were in one room while Ashley and Hermione were in another. We were a bit disappointed at first. I mean, Mum wasn't around to tell us boys and girls couldn't share rooms. But to be honest, I couldn't trust myself to room with Ashley anyway, not after the night we had sex. Nope, sharing a room with Ron was much better, no matter how badly I wanted my girlfriend.
The first two nights were excellent. Niki and Ashley took us to the places they would visit when they lived there. I never understood why they left such an amazing, beautiful city like Paris to live in rainy, gloomy London.
The third night, while everyone else went out again, Ashley and I decided to stay in her room. We laid together in her bed and talked about… well everything, really. She told me about her childhood and the summer she and Harry met for the first time. I told her about my childhood, family, and life at Hogwarts.
As I stared at her and took her in, this beautiful, flawless witch who I could call mine, I noticed something about her. I'd noticed many times before but had never thought about it until that night.
"Ashley?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you always wear long sleeves?"
I watched as she pulled her sleeves closer to her, as if she felt uncomfortable with my question. "Oh. Um… when I was sixteen, I got an incredibly embarrassing tattoo. It's not something I'm proud of, so I wear long sleeves to cover it up. I've, uh, never let anyone see it. Not even Niki."
"Must be horrid if you haven't even shown your best friend."
"Trust me, it is," she said quietly, not looking at me.
As curious as I was to see if this tattoo was as horrible as she claimed, I wasn't going to push her to show me. Instead, I held her hand and kissed her, to which she happily returned my kiss. Ever since we'd started dating, I'd become much more romantic than I could ever remember being.
We were tangled up in each other, our kisses becoming deeper with each breath we took, but we knew to stop before things went further. I stared at her again, taking in her features. Her olive skin glowed and she smiled the smile that I loved, a smile I knew I'd given her. Her smoky gray eyes sparkled with even more happiness. And yet, there was something else there…
I saw the fear and pain grow in her eyes before she cried out in agony.
She squirmed beneath me and grabbed her arm, screaming bloody murder. I climbed off her and stared in horror, not knowing what to do.
"Ashley?" I yelled. "Ashley? What's wrong?"
She began crying and writhing around on the bed in pain. I was scared. I had no idea what was going on and no idea what to do. She made her way off the bed and crawled to the bathroom. I was off the bed and after her, but I was too late. She slammed the door in my face.
"Ashley!" I yelled over her cries and screams. "Ashley! Let me in!"
The screams became even louder and I backed away from the door. She wasn't going to let me in. I knew this already. After a few minutes, her cries turned into sobs. Without thinking, I grabbed my wand and yelled, "Ahlohomora!" The door unlocked and swung open. I slowly walked into the bathroom and saw Ashley leaned over the sink, gasping for air as though she had just run a marathon, running cold water over her left arm. I gasped as I saw her tattoo. The snake slithered in and out of the skeleton head. All of the sudden, I was able to put two and two together.
My girlfriend was a Death Eater.
A/N: Ta-da! I have finally finished Chapter Eight! I'm sorry you all have had to wait a month longer than I planned. But college is finally over with, so hopefully I will have this story finished before August, as long as nothing else distracts me.
If all goes as planned, I should be uploading this chapter on my birthday. I am… wait for it… nineteen! Dang, I'm getting old!
