Chapter 10: Surprise!
The clock in the common room struck midnight. The last few were heading off to bed, Audrey barely saying anything as she followed Kelsey up to the dormitory. Hailey and Draco were on the opposite sides of the common room, Hailey reading a book for Transfiguration, and Draco working on his essay.
"Good night, you guys. Don't stay up too late!" Said Pansy, who was also reading a book. She put it down and went up to bed.
"'Night Pansy." Said Hailey. As soon as the door of the girl's dormitory closed, Draco looked at Hailey. He put his quill down again.
"So…y-you really want to do this?" he asked her. She nodded.
"Yes." She said. They snuck out of the common room together, making sure not to wake the Fat Lady. Hand in hand, Draco lead her to the library, quietly. They shut the door quietly behind them, and settled themselves in a corner, where Draco knew nobody would hear them. Merlin knows what they did from that point on. Only now and then would they rest, but it was two hours later they had deliberately stopped and fallen asleep, hugging each other tightly.
Hailey awake to the bright sun in her eyes, and forgot where she was for a minute. She turned around to see Draco sprawled out on the ground, drool forming. She immediately remembered what had happened the night before, and remembered how much it felt like a dream. She lay there for ten minutes, thinking about how close she and Draco were, and how she would never do that with any other guy. The feeling of someone stroking her hand startled her. She turned to see Draco's smiling face.
"That was wonderful, Hailey." He said. She blushed.
They decided to make a quick move back to their dormitories. It was still a bit early, about five to be exact. It was late enough for prefects and teachers to be awake so they had to be extra careful, but they made it safely. After a long kiss, they walked up to their separate dormitories. She climbed in her bed and pretended to be asleep.
Hailey was in a daze during the day. She couldn't concentrate during any classes, which she barely had any of. Snape was in and out of Potions, and Walden wasn't teaching again. Draco and Hailey kept exchanging smiles throughout the day. Pansy began to wonder what was going on, Hailey was not the same. When she was supposed to be making a Love Potion in Potions, she was in her own world, and writing little notes and hearts on her notebook.
"Now I know how Snape feels." She murmured, a smile forming on her lips. Pansy overheard her.
"What?!" she cried. Hailey snapped back to life.
"Oh…oh, nothing. I meant stressed." She said. Pansy gave her a look of suspicion but smiled.
"Yeah. Sure you did, Hailey." She said. Hailey looked up, trying to be in real life again. Across the room, Audrey was shooting Hailey some funny looks. She was aware of her jealousy, but this time she thought Audrey might suspect something. But then again, how could she? Hailey ignored the looks.
"Hailey? What's up with you today?" Pansy said. Hailey half-heard her, and just raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"Something's wrong. Something about you is not right at all. Is there something you want to tell me?" she said. Hailey looked at her before laying her head in her hands.
"Nope. I'm fine." She said dreamily, and began writing more hearts down. Pansy continued to stare at her.
"Hailey, you're scaring me. You never act like this. EVER!" she said.
"I'm just…tired." Hailey replied and yawned.
"Yeah right. I'm only looking out for my best friend, I'm not trying to like…oh never mind." She said. Hailey shrugged.
"Don't do drugs, Pansy." Said Hailey, and fell asleep. That's when Pansy got the impression Hailey had just admitted she had been doing drugs. She panicked. Hailey was only half-awake to hear everything.
"Draco. Hailey…is doing drugs. Why hasn't she ever told me? Has she told you?" she said.
"What! Hailey…drugs? No, that can't be. She's never been like that, oh no. She better not be like this because of her brother. This is really bad. What can we do?" he said.
"I don't suggest telling Dumbledore, this will get to be a huge deal. We have to play it by ear, and just try to help Hailey. Maybe she'll realize it's not a good thing. I'm going to check for drugs around her bed tonight, if you can look around the places you and Hailey have been together." Said Pansy, panic sounding in her voice. They looked over at Hailey, who was drooling on her desk.
"She could need to go the bathroom…you know…to…" Pansy eyed Draco.
"Should we really wake her up? I think she'll be okay if she gets some sleep." Draco answered.
That's what they did, they let Hailey sleep for the remaining time. They covered up for her when Snape asked what was going on, but as soon as Potions was over, they woke her up. She was still in a dazed mood. Hailey really figured women really felt like this after doing it, and then it struck her like a baseball bat. Was she…she couldn't be…Her head shot straight up and she raced to the bathroom.
"I've gotta go!" she said to her friends before she tore down the halls. Pansy trailed close behind her, Draco following them. Hailey ran into the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and making sure nobody was in there, she locked the door to the bathroom. She then thought it was silly for locking the door, nobody ever went in.
"Oh well, I'm being safe." She said out loud. This attracted Myrtle's attention.
"Who's there?" she said, flying out of her stall. She stopped and smiled slightly at Hailey's appearance.
"It's me, Myrtle." She said. Moaning Myrtle and her had met once before, and she had often visited the bathroom, either for when she needed time alone or she needed to use the bathroom THAT badly.
"Hello Hailey. Something wrong, or are you just here to be out of class?" Hailey looked at Myrtle. She knew she could tell Myrtle things, and she wouldn't tell anyone. They trusted each other.
"I'm worried about something…I did something and now…I'm just really worried." She said, and looked at her feet. Myrtle invited her to sit on the floor, while she just floated around in front of her.
"What happened?" she said.
"I…went all the way with my boyfriend." She said, not tearing her eyes away from the floor.
"Oh really? Well…I'm sure you liked that. What's so bad?" said Myrtle.
"I've been acting really strange, and my best friend AND boyfriend think I'm on drugs, or at least I think they do. I don't know how to explain this to myself. Am I acting like this for a reason?" she asked Myrtle. She looked like she was pondering Hailey's question for a moment.
"I think it's usual. But…what do you think? I died a virgin anyway, I wouldn't exactly know." Myrtle looked sad for a second.
"Don't worry about it, this was just to prove something. I never really planned on doing this, not until I was married. But, am I…would you think…pregnant?" Hailey choked on the words.
"I hate to say this, but that's not a question to ask me. I know you're not too keen on asking the nurse here, or even telling a few of your friends. Why don't you…borrow a few books from the library and have the privacy of looking at them here. I can help you if I can…but don't count on my help." She said. Hailey broke into a grin.
"Thank you so much! I wish I could hug you!" Hailey grinned. Myrtle sighed.
"I wish I could give hugs."
"Well, I'd better be off now…thanks!" Hailey left, as Myrtle reluctantly waved goodbye. Draco and Pansy weren't around, and she was guessing they were in the next class, so she just headed off to the library to begin searching. She really didn't want to wait any longer. If she were caught by a teacher she'd just say…she was asked to look something up for Professor Walden. She hoped nobody would question her too much.
Finding a few books that she thought would be helpful, she hurried off to the common room to begin reading. The time passed so quickly, she was reading word for word, and didn't look up at all. She didn't talk to anybody, and even when Draco came and acted all lovey-dovey, she couldn't stop.
"Draco, can it wait?" she would say, and would stay downstairs reading when everyone headed off to bed.
The next couple of days were different. She was more nervous than ever, but so were Draco and Pansy. She wasn't acting normal. She fell asleep during every Potions class. Even Snape was getting back to normal, and he noticed her every time.
"Miss Cousland, would you like to join us?" he'd walk up to her and say. She'd open one eye and shoo him away.
"Bunnies are going to eat me." She murmured. Nobody knew why she acted this way, except for her. She wasn't eating anymore, nor was she sleeping. Draco and Pansy continued to think she was on drugs and watched her every move. Hailey was the last one to go to bed at nights, sometimes way past midnight. She spent all of her time reading and thinking. She also snuck out to talk to Myrtle often, they were thinking of things together. If only Hailey weren't nervous about what she had done with Draco a few weeks ago.
"Why can't I find anything!" Hailey yawned, putting her final book back. She had almost read the entire library, and had found no help on her symptom. Hailey almost collapsed, she was so tired and so hungry.
"Must…find…something else." She said, trying to keep her balance on a bookcase. She walked around, finding more books.
"Oh…it's another book. Have I read this?" she said. Someone walked by her. She barely recognized anyone anymore, it had been too long since she had had a real human conversation. Shapes seemed blurry to her now. With only a few hours of sleep a night, and not much food at all, she couldn't concentrate.
"Hailey?" a voice said. She tried to put her eyes into focus. She let out a yawn.
"I'm Hailey." She answered, looking in the opposite direction.
"A-a-are you okay?" the voice said.
"I think I'll sit down." She said, and sat on the ground. The figure walked away.
"Boy, that was rude." She muttered, before she got up and walked away. She walked into Myrtle's bathroom, clutching her books.
"Hi Myrtle." She said.
"Hailey, you don't look yourself." She said, wiping her eyes.
"I haven't been sleeping that much. I've been reading…I haven't been eating either." She said.
"You have to get some sleep soon. You won't make it if you don't. I told you, I can help you!" said Myrtle.
"No. I need to find something. I don't want to ignore it, what if I ignore it and I find out I am…going to have Draco's child. I need to find out, so I can find a spell to get rid of it. I've been having no luck, why don't any of these books carry information?" she said, slumping against a wall.
"Probably because nobody is old enough. I guess the best thing you can do is keep looking. Ask a teacher for help, say it's for…your mum or something." Myrtle suggested. Something hit Hailey like a stick. She scrambled out of the room, not leaving Myrtle enough time to say goodbye.
Why didn't Hailey think of it before? Professor Walden must have a lot of things like that, especially after going with Snape! She met students coming out of classes, and ran to find Pansy. It was time to tell her best friend. She found her walking down the hall next to Draco, both of them not looking particularly happy.
"Pansy!" Hailey called. Her best friend looked at her and walked over. Draco followed.
"Hailey…you look…horrible." Pansy said, looking at her in horror. It had been the first time she had talked to Hailey in the longest time. Looking at her head on frightened her.
"Don't ask about that, Pansy can I talk to you? I need to…tell you something." She said. They both looked at Draco.
"I'm gone!" he said, and walked away. Pansy turned back to Hailey and grabbed her in a hug.
"What's wrong?! It's so nice to talk to you again!" she said. Hailey squeezed her with the little strength she had and looked into her eyes. She explained everything that had happened, from when she asked Draco, to why she hadn't been in many classes and had been acting weird. She looked at Pansy, her expression surprised but pleased.
"Thanks for finally telling me, Hails. I feel a lot better now. Does Draco know?" she said. Hailey shook her head.
"Don't tell him, please! I don't want him worrying about me. I have a plan, will you help me?" Hailey asked her, voice hopeful. She smiled back at her friend.
"Tell me."
"Well…since Walden has been out so much, she might be having the same problem as me. I'm not saying she is, but we can take a chance. What if she has some things in her office that could help me? You distract her while I search." She explained. Pansy nodded.
"That sounds good." As Hailey turned to leave, Pansy stopped her.
"Hailey, please. Get some sleep and eat something. You've been worrying Draco and I very much. Do something for your boyfriend, just stay healthy." She said. Hailey looked at herself. She had lost a lot of weight, and in the mirror she could see her eyes looking exhausted and bags were visible.
"I'll try. It's been too hard for me, I've been worrying about a lot of things. You don't think I still worry about my brother?" she answered. Pansy hadn't thought about that. Hailey pulled on her hand.
"Come on, let's do this before it's not an option." She said. They set off together to Professor Walden's office. To their luck, she was not there. The office was open, and Pansy stayed outside and pretended she was interested in a book. Hailey snuck in to snoop around a bit. Sure enough, Hailey's plan had worked. Walden's office was filled with books that Hailey needed, as she scanned each title, she tucked them all under her shirt. She and Pansy left right away after Hailey closed the door. They went into the closest room-Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Myrtle was happy to see Hailey happier.
"Find what you need?" she said. Hailey grinned.
"Yes! Pansy and I are going to read through now, see if we can find anything." She said.
"Okay, let me know if I can help in any way…" she said and floated back into her U-Bend. Pansy and Hailey went through the books, and they were all perfect.
"I bet that's why Walden isn't here. I bet that's why Snape hasn't been here, or hasn't been in a great mood." Said Pansy suddenly. Hailey looked at her.
"Why?"
"They're expecting a child. Most of these books are naming books and how to care for your wizard child. How sweet!" Pansy exclaimed. Hailey found it hard to imagine Snape fathering a child.
"Okay. That's interesting. But can we look at that after? I'm trying to find out what…I need to find out!" she said. Pansy set the book aside and opened another one. After a few minutes of silence Pansy gasped.
"I got it! I got it! Your problems are solved! Just do what this says, and it'll tell you!" she cried. Hailey read it over and it was simple enough. They shrieked and exchanged a hug. Myrtle reappeared.
"Found something useful, I see." She said. They both nodded and grinned. They turned back to the spell. It instructed her to say a few things and then press it to her tummy, and if the sparks turned green it meant she was indeed having a baby. If they were blue, she was home free. Hailey took a deep breath, and muttered the spell…she did as the test instructed and touched it to her stomach. All three of them gasped as they got the results.