Chapter 9
'Dear Al,'
These words had been etched into the parchment for a good half an hour now, and Ti was still pulling a blank. What was there to write? Nothing. That's what there was. Nothing.
She ripped the top off of the parchment and screwed it up, throwing it over to her bin, and leaving it lying in its position on the floor next to it along with all the other identical scrunched up pieces with the exact same two words on them.
She'd been lounging around the house in jogging bottoms and overly-sized jackets since she returned home, and she was refusing to take off one of Al's Gryffindor scarves he'd lent her ages ago, much to her father's dismay. She couldn't help it – It smelt just like him.
She trudged down the stairs and walked towards her father's office. It got awfully lonely when only two people lived in a house as big as theirs, and it sometimes got overwhelming for a girl Ti's age.
She didn't say anything as she walked in. She just sat on the beanbag in the corner that she'd practically forced her dad to keep in there for when she didn't want to be alone, and pulled her legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them comfortably.
Blaise looked around and gave her a confused look. Ti couldn't blame him – She'd been refusing to tell him or anybody anything about what had happened, and it was getting to him.
She gave him a sad smile in greeting and he put down his quill. "What can I do? Please let me help..." he said almost desperately, turning his chair around to look at her better. It was pretty obvious that having a daughter had bought out the best in Blaise. Though still a Slytherin at heart, there was practically nothing he wouldn't do for her.
"I'm fine," she summed up, giving him a weak smile and standing back up. "Just tired. I think I'll go and take a nap." She kissed her father on the cheek, gave him an affectionate hug and left for her bedroom.
Literally as soon as she'd put a foot through the door, there was a tap at the window, and Ti, who had had her sight set on her feet, looked up and smiled when she saw Dave with a companion who appeared to be a school owl. She pushed the window up to open it and helped the sweet little owls inside and took the letter off the school owl's leg.
"You were nice and quick," she smiled, running the back of her finger down Dave's back a couple of times, making him give a small hoot.
She opened the letter and felt her heart leap from her chest at Al's last name. Obviously it was the older Potter Maya was referring to, and not Al. Either way, she was happy that the two were finally speaking like normal people. It was almost too obvious that they liked each other.
She gave a small smile and stroked both owls for a final time (she'd been doing so as she read the letter) and pointed towards her bedroom door. "You know where you live," she said to Dave, holding him up on her finger and watching him fly out of her bedroom door towards their owlery. They always kept the door open, so they had a nice strong draft excluder to keep the house at a normal temperature when it was windy. "You can stay here until you're ready to fly back," she told the other owl, pointing in the direction in which Dave had just departed.
She took a seat at her desk and, using the parchment meant for Albus, started writing a reply to Maya.
Maya,
Sorry about the random departure. I'll be back Sunday afternoon, so you don't have to wait too long. But I have a small favour to ask you.
Ti paused, chewing the end of her quill for a second, pondering how to ask without giving anything away.
Please could you see how Al is without him getting suspicious or knowing I asked? We're not really speaking at the moment...
Well done with James, though! Conversation is a bit of a let-down on the news-front, but you have to start somewhere! You can tell all at dinner on Sunday.
See you then, I miss you too!
Tielle, xxx
Ti decided that that was all right for a few days. She went up to their little owlery, tied the letter to Wings' leg and watched as he flew off.
All she had to do now was some work the professors had set her. Joyous occasions.
WOAS
The rumour that Tielle was pregnant had spread around the school quickly; it was Hogwarts after all. Adapting on that, the students quickly found out that Ti and Al's relationship had ended as quickly as it had started, which didn't look good with the situation at all.
Unfortunately, Al had heard the rumour and, though he now believed Ti never cheated on him, doubted her a little bit. Not as much as everybody else did, but still.
So, when Ti got back to school on Sunday afternoon as promised, she was a little surprised at the whispering and dodgy looks. This wasn't the first time she'd been gossiped about, obviously, she was just very aware that this time seemed bigger... Like something massive had happened that she was involved in. She just put it down to the whole shock with a Gryffindor and Slytherin dating.
After looking quickly up the Gryffindor table and not seeing Albus, (which was good for her because she'd been completely dreading seeing him) Ti found Maya on the Ravenclaw table and smiled to herself, thankful to see the girl after such a long time. Greeting her by flinging her arms around Maya's neck, she laughed a little as the younger of the two looked around to see who it was before hugging back with a grin and sat beside her. "I've missed you!" Ti told her enthusiastically.
"I've missed you too," Maya replied with a smile, stopping what she was doing as Tielle took a seat next to her.
"So, what's the latest on Tielle?" Ti asked, referring to herself in third-person for the sake of it. She just wanted to know what people were saying about her. Seriously, people needed to stop gossiping and just get a life.
Maya looked at her plate and shrugged a little, making Ti feel a little unnerved. Whatever it was seemed to be making her shy all of a sudden. What was so bad that her best friend couldn't even tell her?
"Maya, what is it?" she tried again, a little scared about the answer.
"I think we should go somewhere private for this," Maya replied quietly, quickly looking around the Great Hall and then getting up from her spot and dragging Ti by her hand to classroom eleven. The whole way there they were followed by whispering and pointing... It was actually like being famous. You build a reputation at school and suddenly everybody knows everything about you.
After they'd perched themselves against opposite trees, Maya sighed a little. "You're not going to like this," she said honestly.
"Try me," Ti challenged. How bad could it be?
"According to half the school, you're pregnant with Malfoy's kid," she said bluntly, leaving Ti to sit there blinking in a shocked silence. Apparently it was worse news than she'd been expecting because, at that point, Ti stood up and fiercely kicked a poor innocent tree trunk as though this violent attack would make it all go away. Why were people so stupid? She was a virgin for Merlin's sake!
Judging by the pain now shooting through her, kicking the tree hadn't been such a good idea. After cussing at it for a few seconds in language so strong she was a little surprised at herself, she slid back to the floor and huffed, giving Maya a quick apologetic glance for the use of colourful words. "Funny that. Didn't know virgins could get pregnant," she commented after she'd had time to cool off.
Maya, who knew just to just leave Ti alone while she was angry, finally spoke again. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that," she said, smiling a little. "Just give it time, the rumour will go away."
"Yeah, in a few months when it's pretty obvious there's not a baby growing in my fucking uterus."
Maya snorted a little. Ti was just so typical, sometimes. Even when she was in a position like this she still managed to be her usual self.
"Anyway, I'm going to go to my dorm and sort some stuff out there," Ti said eventually, helping Maya up from the ground and hugging her quickly before heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she added as she shut the door behind her.
WOAS
That evening at around eleven when she was lying in bed attempting to get an early night's sleep ready for lessons in the morning, Ti realised that she hadn't eaten dinner earlier. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to sleep now she was thinking about food, so she quietly got out of bed and headed out of her dorm and through the common room. Luckily, having their common room in the dungeons only made it easier for the Slytherins who knew how the kitchen could be accessed to get there.
Tickling the pear, Ti watched as it turned into a handle and smiled before opening the door. She automatically made herself comfy on a counter and ordered a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a glass of water from one of the willing house elves that was still awake and working.
This was her routine when she was hungry and couldn't sleep. It actually happened more than anybody would think. Ti loved food. Possibly more than life itself. She didn't care that she was a fussy eater or what the consequences of unhealthy food were; she didn't even care that she wasn't as thin as everybody else. She was herself and herself liked food. A lot.
Once she'd eaten her sandwich and had drunk half of her water, she saw the door of the kitchen open and inwardly started cussing. If that was a professor, she'd be in trouble for sure, and she'd been back for no less than six hours. Luckily it wasn't a professor. Unluckily, it was Albus.
Ti caught his gaze for a second before looking away and drinking the rest of her water.
"Hey," he said quietly, almost awkwardly.
"Hi," she replied, wondering why this had to happen to her, now of all times.
The awkward silence was a little unnerving.
"Look, Ti, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions about you and Malfoy. I never should have believed him over you." He moved closer to her, but she stopped him.
"I actually wanted to thank you for that." Wait, Ti, where are you going with this? "I'm glad you came to your senses about that because I was telling the truth, but... You believed Malfoy because you don't fully trust me. I don't really mind, I can understand that, I just don't want to continue with anything until I'm sure you can actually trust me."
Albus looked like he'd been slapped with a fish. "Wha..." he started but Ti cut him off.
"It's probably best if we pause this for a while, y'know?"
Now he was just staring at her. Awkward. "I do trust you, Ti."
"I know you don't, and I'm fine with that. You have a good reason not to. Just tell me if you don't think you ever can. I don't fancy the thought of waiting around for a guy. That's everything I'm against." She nodded to him in a way of saying goodbye and left quickly before anything else could go wrong.
"Ti!"
Oh, crap. Why was it so easy to follow people in this stupid place? "Yeah?" she said, turning around. There wasn't any point in ignoring him, now, was there?
"I trust you. I swear, I do."
"Whether I believe you or not, I just think we should give each other some space while the whole pregnancy thing settles down." She knew he'd have heard that rumour before now and there was no point in pretending he hadn't. "The only chance of me being pregnant right this second is if I'm the Virgin Mary."
Al smiled a little. "We can be friends during this confusion, right?"
"Of course we can! I love freaking out people in my house by talking to Gryffindors." She winked at him and pointed towards the stairs which she had to climb to get to the Entrance Hall. "I'd better go before I get caught out of bed again."
"Sure," he nodded. "See you tomorrow?"
"You shall." And with that she gave a small wave and went up the stairs at a leisurely pace, not caring that he was watching her. She could be friend with him while everything was being sorted out, couldn't she? Of course she could. Waiting was okay, and they'd be exactly how they were when they were going out... minus the lovey stuff.
Ti got back to her dorm and didn't manage to drift of to sleep for at least two hours. How was she meant to sleep when she was having doubts that she and Albus could function as friends?
They could function as enemies and they could function as boyfriend and girlfriend, but there was a part of her that knew they could never go back to how they were right before they started going out, and it was actually a little upsetting.
Life isn't a fairytale. Not everybody gets a happy ending.
And that was exactly the pessimistic attitude that was sure to destroy what they had left.
A/N - Reviews? :3
~Tielle
