Chapter 14 – Options

"Victoire will join us shortly," Professor Bobbin informed Teddy, as she surveyed him from behind her desk. "But first, I think we need to have a chat."

Teddy gulped. He'd never once been called to the headmistress' office during his time as a student at Hogwarts. Yet there he sat, just over a year since he'd finished school.

He'd gotten a detention several times throughout his seven school years, as any ordinary student at Hogwarts did, and although he'd been terrified of his punishment, he would happily polish everything in the trophy room ten times over rather than face the horrific consequence of what he'd gotten into now.

It had almost been an hour since Victoire had dropped the bombshell, yet the terrifying news still hadn't sunk in, and Teddy was certain it wouldn't for a long while.

The way Professor Bobbin was looking at him now, so full of pity and disappointment, made his throat dry, and there was a constant sickness whirling in his stomach. Just the thought of how many people he'd let down – how many people would look at him with the overwhelming disappointment his old headmistress looked at him with now.

What would his parents say had they still been alive? Surely they would not be too impressed with their son offering them a grandchild when he was only nineteen. What on Earth was his grandmother going to think? And Harry and Ginny too – they were as good as parents to him.

Even Ron and Hermione. Hadn't Hermione warned him to be careful with Victoire – to wait until she was out of school? He could imagine the look of disgust on her face when she heard the news. But a small flicker of redemption burned inside him. After all, Hermione had warned him after Victoire had already conceived, so maybe, just maybe, Hermione wouldn't hate him quite so much.

But that small flicker of hope dyed out quickly when Teddy cast his thoughts to Bill and Fleur. If Bill didn't at least kill him then Teddy would surely be shipped off to Azkaban. Could you go to Azkaban for knocking up your girlfriend?

Of course not, that was ridiculous, he quickly realised. But Azkaban seemed the more preferable option when it came down to having to face Bill's wrath again.

And then Teddy had to consider Victoire. Her life was going to be a nightmare now that she was pregnant. How on earth was she supposed to do well in her NEWTs? And if she didn't do well in her NEWTs what career did that leave her to fall back on? What if her family disowned her, or she got expelled from Hogwarts? And all the whispering and teasing that would shadow her around the school would surely drive her straight into a deep pit of misery and humiliation.

And this was all Teddy's fault...

"Please don't expel Victoire," he pleaded.

Professor Bobbin looked slightly taken aback by this request. "Mr Lupin, I have no intention whatsoever of expelling Miss Weasley," she promised coolly. "Like I said earlier, Hogwarts has never been faced with this situation, and so we're not entirely sure how this is going to work, but I can assure you that expelling Victoire is not going to help her in the slightest."

Teddy definitely felt more reassured.

"This will undoubtedly affect her lessons and her studying – I've no idea how she's going to handle her NEWTs."

Teddy gulped.

"But firstly," Bobbin sighed, "I need to know what in the name of Merlin you were thinking, getting her pregnant in such a crucial time in not only her education, but her life," she demanded haughtily.

Teddy couldn't blame her for reacting in this way – what had he been thinking?

"Please, Professor, I didn't intend for Victoire to get pregnant! I didn't intend for anything to happen that night, but it just... did. It isn't exactly a good time in my life to be having a child either!" he cried desperately.

For a moment there was fire gleaming in Bobbin's eyes, but it quickly faded to sympathy. She tried to give him a much more reassuring look, and spoke in a calm, exhausted kind of tone. "Teddy, I'm sorry. This isn't your fault. We all need to realise that this is just as difficult and unexpected for you as it is for Victoire. I shouldn't be shouting at you – you're not the bad guy here. I should be trying to help you get through this as much as I am with Victoire."

Teddy didn't speak for a while. If he wasn't the bad guy, then who was? He was the one responsible for ruining everybody's lives. All he could muster was a faint "thankyou" to Professor Bobbin.

"So," she breathed out deeply, leaning back in her chair. "What are we going to do?" She continued to lean back, deep in thought, her eyes scanning the ceiling of her office as though somewhere up there were instructions on how to handle this unwanted and completely inconvenient pregnancy.

"It won't hurt it, will it?" Teddy asked suddenly.

Professor Bobbin broke out of her daze and settled her eyes back on Teddy's face. An expression of mingled confusion and curiosity crossed her face. "What won't hurt? Hurt what?"

"You know, the baby. It's not going to hurt to, err, get rid of it, is it?"

'To kill it' just seemed to be too horrible to say out loud. But Professor Bobbin sat up so quickly that Teddy jumped in shock, slamming his back into the hard wooden chair he was sat on.

"Get rid of it?" she asked coldly, a look of utmost disgust on her face.

Teddy was alarmed. "I just mean that, well, there must be some, err, magical, painless way to... remove the baby without it, umm, I mean, without it getting hurt or anything," he mumbled sheepishly. But Bobbin looked so distressed that Teddy could do nothing but stare down into his lap, feeling his cheeks go red.

"Teddy," she said in a shaky voice, sitting back down, and turning red herself. "Please forgive me for, err, losing my composure like that." She coughed awkwardly, pretending to straighten some papers on her desk so as to avoid looking Teddy in the eye.

"It's a highly delicate matter, of course," Bobbin went on apologetically. "And therefore highly inappropriate for my own personal judgement to affect your decision. I didn't mean to frighten you – to accuse you. It's just I, personally, would, err, struggle with the concept of removing the unborn foetus."

But Teddy was thoroughly confused now. Hadn't this been his only option? He'd just immediately assumed that Victoire wouldn't have the baby. It just wasn't fair on the child. It would have to grow up with two completely incompetent, unprepared parents. They had no money and no stability to raise a child – they would be terrible parents. Surely it would be far better to end its life now instead raising it in their hopeless conditions?

Teddy just couldn't imagine Victoire, so sweet, and young, and innocent, and tidy, having to deal with the stress and mess of motherhood. She'd never been keen on babies or young children.

But it wasn't his decision – it was Victoire's choice. And how could he do that to her – ask her to destroy her child simply because he was too scared of becoming a father. And the more Teddy thought about it, the sadder he felt about the suggestion he'd made.

What if this was his parents' situation? When his mother was pregnant with him, Teddy was surely as unexpected and inconvenient as his baby was. Nobody would plan to have a baby in the midst of all the dark and dangerous things that were going on in the world back then. His parents had no idea how he would turn out, what with his parents being a Metamorphmagus and a werewolf, but had they given up on him? No, of course not!

Despite all the world's going-ons, and the difficult prospect of raising a child they had no clue about how to look after, his parents had not given up on him, and Teddy could not do that with his child either. If this was what Victoire wanted, he would love and protect his baby, just as his parents had done with him.

Professor Bobbin was still staring at him apologetically. Teddy conveyed all his thoughts to her, and her expression changed to one of comfort. "What would you do if it was your baby?" Teddy asked desperately, in need of advice.

Bobbin looked down at her desk. "I would never, never consider giving up my daughter," she whispered fiercely, like a tiger protecting her cub, more to herself than to Teddy. But she blinked rapidly, looking nervous, as though she'd let slip something she really shouldn't have. "I mean my baby," she corrected urgently. "Whether it was a boy or a girl. If I had one, that is. Which I don't!" she added hurriedly.

But Bobbin looked highly uncomfortable now, leaving Teddy just as confused as ever. He'd never seen her act like this before, so protective over a child she supposedly didn't have. He hadn't really seen Professor Bobbin as a mother. It was true that she often acted very maternally and protective over her students, but she didn't have an actual daughter, did she?

"Yeah, I didn't mean, err... you don't have a child do you?" he asked cautiously.

Professor Bobbin didn't speak for a while. She looked vacant, her eyes going misty as though she was remembering, reminiscing.

Eventually she focused on Teddy's nervous face, and spoke in a quiet, trembling voice. "I had a daughter – a beautiful baby girl. It was a long time ago, and she's not a baby anymore though. Like you and Victoire, I didn't plan on getting pregnant, but having her helped me get through a difficult time in my life. She meant everything to me, but I – I had to give her away." she gulped, straining to hold back her tears. "I couldn't raise her by myself, and I had no choice. It was what was best for her, but I never would have given her up if I didn't have to," she vowed with determination.

Teddy didn't press her any further. The pain in her voice from talking about her daughter was too upsetting, and he didn't want to break her heart with painful memories. He wondered how many other people knew about Professor Bobbin's daughter. How old was she now? What was she doing?

"You'll have to stay somewhere," she said, startling Teddy. Her voice was completely back to normal, as though the conversation of her daughter had not just happened, but the sadness still gleamed hauntingly in her eyes. "You'll need to be close to Victoire. I suppose you could stay in Hogsmeade. I believe you're a good acquaintance of Hannah Longbottom, the barmaid of the Three Broomsticks?"

"Couldn't I... I mean, couldn't I stay here?" Teddy asked innocently. "In Hogwarts?"

But Professor Bobbin sighed deeply. "Teddy, Hogwarts isn't a hotel, it's a school. I can't just let you live here because your pregnant girlfriend is a student here."

"Why not?"

She ignored him.

"What if I was a teacher here?" Teddy suggested.

She laughed. "Teddy we don't have any teaching positions available, and you're not qualified to become a professor. Besides, you're far too young!"

"Okay, how about if I'm Gamekeeper with Hagrid? Then I could stay in his hut with him!" Teddy needed to be in the castle – Hogsmeade was just too far away from Victoire.

But Professor Bobbin shook her head, clearly amused. "I'm afraid Hagrid isn't in need of an assistant Gamekeeper, but I suppose we can arrange something. I'd be bending a few rules, but this situation is rather... drastic. We'll find you a room somewhere, don't worry. And as for Victoire... I guess we'll have to see what happens," she said grimly.