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Chapter 26. Self-pity, single dad and biggest mistake

"That's her? Why would James sleep with her?"

"Who even is she? Have you seen her before?"

"I don't like her."

"Slut."

Those were just some of the wonderful things I heard the next day as I walked down the corridors of Hogwarts. I had contemplated just staying in my bed all day and wallowing in self-pity, but, sadly, my roommate is Rose Weasley and the mere mention of skipping classes receives a scary death glare and rant. I was pretty sure I would have been hexed by her, too, if I wasn't pregnant with her second cousin.

So I had to endure the glares, the laughs, the scoffs and the jokes. I put all my effort into being invisible that day, I sat at the back of the classes and didn't speak to anyone. The teachers, contrary to my previous thoughts, didn't give a shit about me being pregnant. As long as I finished the word and handed it in on time, it became clear that teachers really didn't care about what the students did. One of two gave me a hard, disappointing look, but other than that they ignored me.

That couldn't be said for the student population.

It was like I was a celebrity that had visited the school for the day. Whenever Harry Potter or Ron Weasley came to the school everyone went into a frenzy. Girls fainted, boys hopped around like bunnies on crack, and the relatives of Harry or Ron scoffed and sulked until said relative left. Albus hated it when his dad came back for a lecture, he glared at anyone who asked him about it and cursed all the way through the lesson. Naturally, I found his pain hilarious and sarcastically mentioned to anyone who would listen just to see Albus' face when the person started to squeal and clap.

He once threw a pie in Lane Bones' face for asking him if his dad would sign an autograph. Albus got detention for a week, I laughed for three hours. It was a good day.

Anyway, my plan of invisibility wasn't working so well. I had even avoided my friends all day with the hope that if I walked around on my own people wouldn't pay attention to the loner. Apparently, being on my own made me more vulnerable. Go figure.

By the time lunch came I was about three comments away from exploding. I could feel my anger bubbling in my stomach and I was gulping ever three second just to keep it contained. On the way to the hall a group of Ravenclaw's shouted that I was a bitch, two Slytherin's laughed and pointed at me, three Gryffindor's tittered as they passed me and a group of Hufflepuff's sent me sympathetic looks.

I gave them the finger. Sympathy was worse than hate.

"Excuse me, if it true you're pregnant?"

"YES!" I screeched shrilly to the person, expecting some bastard Slytherin that wanted to snigger at me. Instead, I saw a little girl with brown eyes the size of dinner plates and about four foot tall. Tears welled up in her Bambi-like eyes and she ran off, sobbing dramatically.

I hate my life.

"Screaming at innocent children now, Callie-bean?" a voice that I knew so well and wished I didn't. "There was no need to make her cry now, was there?"

"Piss off, Malfoy. I've got no tolerance for your shit."

Scorpius smiled in amusement. "Malfoy?"

"Leave her alone, Scorp, she's stressed," Rose scolded. "Callie, want to go to the kitchens for lunch?"

"It's better than the hall," I sniffed as Coco skipped over and linked arms with me. "If one more Slytherin dares to insult me I swear to Merlin I'm going to cast an unforgivable."

"Now, now, let's not get send to Azkaban just yet," Albus primed as we headed for the kitchens. "I don't think it'll be very nice for the kid if it's born in a prison cellar, do you?"

We took a seat at the table in the kitchens as Rose told the house elves what we wanted. She was hugging one when I looked over. Rose had a strange obsession with house elves and their rights and, while I thought they were entitled for everything a Wizard is, it was rather creepy. I mentioned this once to her dad, he laughed until he was red in the face and said it must be hereditary. I still don't get it.

"Have you seen the papers?" Coco asked as we waited.

"No," I sighed. "Are they bad?"

They all looked uncomfortable. My heart plummeted to my arse. "Well, they're not good..." Albus trailed off, running his hand through his hair.

I snatched the paper from the counter beside me and sure enough on the front page was the headline 'Harry Potter's going to be a grandpa!' and a picture of James from the latest Hogsmeade trip with Dom and Freddie beside him, while there was a small, and awful, picture of me from last year when I had gone to Diagon Alley with the Potter's.

I remembered that day well. My dad had been called for an emergency at work and my Aunt Annie had gone to the Lake District with Sage, so there was no one to take us for our sixth year things. Albus had offered to go with them and, without thinking it through, we agreed. Ten minutes after arriving the paparazzi flooded the streets wanting a shot of the Potter's or Weasley's. We had to fight our way to every shop through the massive crowd while bright camera's blinded me. It was the day I became eternally glad that my family wasn't famous or going to be in the future. I hated every second of the day and I had to go back with my dad the week after anyway because I wasn't able to get everything I needed. The crowd had become too rowdy and we had had to emergency apparate back to the Potter's before anyone got hurt.

I had been scarred for weeks while Albus had shrugged after landing (and seeing mine and Coco's incredulous look) in a way that said 'it's life'.

I felt sorry for him in some ways.

I scanned the article and my stomach churned as I got to the bit about me.

James Potter, 18, son to Harry Potter, is going to be a dad! Mr. Potter, who is known for his cheeky and misbehaving attitude, said to be inherited from his grandpa, James Potter I, has gotten a girl from his school pregnant. The woman is said to be named Calliope Denison, eldest daughter of the Head Obliviator, Adrian Denison, and is sixteen… and best friend to Albus Potter, Harry Potter's second son.

A source had this to say. "I don't think I've even seen James and Callie talk before. They were never friends, I don't even think they liked each other. Everyone reckoned there was something going on between Albus and Callie, which I still think there is, because they always hung about together. I don't even know how she got James to sleep her. It must have involved some kind of love potion or curse because James wouldn't have done it otherwise… personally I think she got knocked up on purpose because she likes the attention and money. I mean, I wouldn't put it past her."

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"So, basically, the articles say that I'm a pathetic bitch that drugs men to get myself pregnant and that I'm making your family hate each other?"

"Pretty much."

"Brilliant."

Sighing, I put the paper back on the table and pushed it away from me like it was poison. Everyone in the Wizard world was going to think I was a mental case and needed to be institutionalized before I got every famous guy to knock me up. Oh, merlin, even my family were going to see this. My Aunt Annie was going to go crazy. She was probably already strangling the editor of the paper, my Nana will have fainted, and Natasha and Kristina were probably dancing on bars… mostly because that's what they do every night, but it will also have some effect on them that I was slammed for the nation to see.

"Hey, it's not that bad," Coco said.

"How is it not that bad?"

She blanched. "I have nothing comforting to say. Rose, help me!"

"They'll find something else to gossip about soon, Callie," Rose soothed. "I promise. The papers soon get bored of things."

"I dunno like, Rose. This is pretty big, I don't think it's going to blow over fast—OW!"

"Shut the hell up, idiot!" Rose snapped. "You need to learn to control your mouth."

Albus snorted and looked at Scorp. "You're an idiot."

"Um, hey guys," a voice interrupted suddenly. James was stood by the door looking awkward and determined. "Callie, can I talk to you?"

No.

My body didn't work well with my brain so I found myself getting up and walking to him. After my downright embarrassing confession last night, I didn't want to be around him. He was going to want to talk about it, I knew he was. He was going to get me to talk about my feelings and all that other deep stuff that I hated to talk about to people. I just wanted him to forget about it.

I wonder if I could practice my obliviating skills on him…

"So, listen, I want to talk something over with you."

Oh, here it is, what the fuck was I going to do?

"This morning I went home to talk to my mum," I raised my eyebrows at him, I wasn't expecting that. "We had a really long talk about everything and… and we came to the decision that if you don't want to raise the baby, I will."

I froze.

"What?"

"After what you said last night I realized that you aren't going to change your mind on this adoption thing, but I don't want to give up the baby so I needed to talk to my mum. We agreed that we don't want to give it up and she promised that she would help me as much as she can if I wanted to keep the baby myself. And, well, I've thought it over and I want this baby, Callie, and if you don't want it with me then I'm going to do it on my own."

He said it so boldly, so confidently that I didn't dare argue back. Then again, really, I had nothing to argue about, but with James I always seemed to argue so it was a natural reaction. I looked into his brown eyes and saw the fire in them.

"You really want to do that?" I unintentionally whispered. "You want to bring the baby up on your own?"

"Well, no, I'd rather you be there, too. But if you don't want the baby then, yeah."

"So in the space of a month you've went from hating and denying the baby to wanting to bring it up on your own?"

He sighed and glared slightly at me. "Do you really have to throw that back in my face?"

"It's a hard thing to forget," I chuckled bitterly. I paused and he shuffled, but still held his bold stance. "And you think you can do this?"

"Yeah, I've got a great family. They'll help me. My parents and grandparents have already told me they'll help as much as they can and I've got another hundred relatives I can turn to for help, and friends."

I stopped and looked over at the stone wall behind James. I hated to admit it but it sounded like a good plan. We were both getting what we wanted. My baby was going to a loving and safe home and James was getting to keep the baby like he wanted. Plus, I was going to be able to carry on my life as normal, get my N.E.W.T.S (though that seemed less important than it did this-morning), hang out with friends, while my baby stayed at the Potter's… a floo ride away from me.

Maybe James would let me visit a few times a week…

No. No, I wasn't going to do that to my baby. I wasn't going to pop in and out of its life. I wasn't going to be a potential flight risk for the rest of his life. I wasn't going to do what my mum did to me and give it hope, only to crush it like a tiny bug.

I was either in or out, and the best thing for this baby was for me to be out completely.

I was doing the right thing.

"Okay." I murmured, my fight disappearing quicker than it appeared. "Okay. We can do that."

"Okay?" James beamed excitedly. I nodded, trying to plaster a smile to my face. "Brilliant. Wow, I thought I was going to have to put up more of a fight than that."

"No, you're right. You have the right to have your child without me," I replied. "And at least I know the baby is going to a loving home. I was really worried about that."

"Great. So we all get what we want," James nodded twice.

"I suppose."

"I'll see you later then, yeah?" he turned and started to walk away. He stopped before he turned the corner and I sucked in a breath to stop my flow of tears threatening to escape. "By the way, seven girls have already asked me what love potions you used on me," he grinned boyishly. "I told them the one from the WWW so my Uncle gets more business. Hope you're okay with that."

I glared. "You annoy me."

"Hey, shouldn't you be apologizing for drugging me? Or even turning me against my brother? Apparently, I hate him now."

"Go and take a long walk off a short cliff."

"Well, that's not nice is it," he smirked and I folded my arms. "By the way, I totally forgive you for drugging me to sleep with you."

"Ew. You weirdo."

He winked. "Anytime, love, anytime."

And then he was gone and I was left to sink to the floor and sob. About what, I didn't really know. I was getting what I wanted, I was getting my normal life back and my baby was going to be safe and loved.

So why did I still feel like shit?

The bell rang minutes later and I rushed to my next lesson, hoping silently that Coco had grabbed my bag from the kitchen. She had, she handed it to me in lesson with an accusing look and smile. She didn't notice my red eyes and for once I was thankful that my sister was so oblivious to obvious things. By the time lessons ended my eyes had stopped stinging and I made my way back to the common room with the others. I took a seat next to the fireplace, I seat I realized that I greatly missing having avoided the common room in fear of running into Natalia or someone noticing my bump.

Hey, at least one good thing came out of people finding out.

That's me, always looking on the bright side of things.

A few minutes later James and his friends came into the common room and took various spaces around the fire. James sat on the arm of my chair and grinned at me, looking a lot happier than I had seen him in weeks. I looked at the flickering flames of the fire, ignoring the boisterous chatting around me and trying to concentrate on anything but my feelings because I knew if I did I would break down.

I couldn't help but think I was making the biggest mistake of my life.

Thoughts?

Sorry for the late update, I've been meaning to get it out for days but I've been so busy with homework and school and... well, there's a lot going on.

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Thanks,

Laylax