Hello, sorry it took a while to update. For some reason this chapter was really hard to write! I'm actually going on holiday to Greece tomorrow, for two weeks, so I'll try and update but I can't guarantee an update whilst I'm away. This story had in no way been abandoned, so just make sure you keep reading and (most importantly :p) reviewing as it's reviews that give me the motivation to crack on and get an update out. Thank you all :)
xoxo- C

Chapter 35

The group of friends had gotten back to school late on the Sunday evening, consequently not leaving them much time for homework, namely Ella, George and Fred's lengthy potions essay. The three grumbled and chuntered under their breath when the rest of Gryffindor had all gone up to bed and they were all only on their opening paragraphs.

"What' even the point, I'm shit at potions," George groaned as he threw down his quill, causing it to blot on his parchment. "This is a complete joke!" He growled. "I'm going to bed, night." He stormed off to bed. Ella stood up to follow and persuade it was for the best to do his essay.

"Leave him, there's no persuading him when he's like this," Fred chuckled, pulling his girlfriend over to him so she was sat on her knee.

"I suppose," She chuckled, leaning into her boyfriend's touch as he ran over her swollen stomach which she was no longer hiding under baggy hoodies. She had had to preform several expanding charms on her clothes, but it felt nice to not be hiding in fear of people finding out her secret. Her family knew and that was all that really mattered to her. "I'm glad we've finally told everyone," She sighed.

"Me too," Fred replied, kissing her hair lightly. He held her for a few more minutes before speaking once again, "you know, I think I agree with George, I'll do the detention over this essay," he crumpled up the piece of parchment which had about five words on it.

"Hmmm, well I may as well do the same seen as I'll at least have decent company," She teased, playing with his long shaggy ginger hair. "Do you reckon our child will be ginger too?" Ella asked amused by the unrelenting ginger gene which passed through each and every Weasley, without fail.

"Well your mum was a redhead, so you're already part ginger and then I'm like full ginger so my guess says they will be," Fred teased, still gently drawing patterns on Ella's stomach with the tips of his fingers.

"I'm not sure it works like that," Ella threw her head back, laughing rambunctiously, "Ginger is a race or a blood purity,"

"My family begs to differ," He also laughed joyously, "You have a bit of reddishness in your hair," Fred observed, moving his hand to twist through her long hair.

"Must get it from my mum," Ella smiled pensively at the thought of her beautiful mother, "Now I'm going to go to bed before we wake the whole tower up or you decide that there is a ginger land to go along with your ginger race," Ella teased, kissing his lips lightly. Fred pulled her closer to him, his hand still in her hair, deepening the kiss. "Night," She whispered, breaking off the kiss and moving off of his lap and towards the stairs.

"Night," He said quietly, causing her to turn and give him a seductive wink before darting up the stairs.

Ella reached her bedroom, expecting to find everyone asleep, but instead found a mixture of her friends from 3rd year (just Ginny) to 7th year. They all looked at her, eyes open wide, gleaming with excitement.

"What?" Ella asked nervously.

"Oh my god look how much you're showing!" Katie nearly squealed. "How did I not notice?"

"Oh, I guess Ginny and Hermione told you all," Ella laughed, walking over to join them on her bed.

"Yes!" Alicia Spinnet giggled. She couldn't describe what or why but there was something about Alicia that Ella just didn't trust her for. She shrugged it off deciding she must be being stupid, the girl was just a bit annoying.

"How did everyone take it?" Angelina asked quietly to Ella, whilst the others were all involved in an animated discussion about baby names.

"Really good actually. A lot better than I thought…well most people anyway," Ella twisted her hands in her lap as she sat on her bed next to her best friend.

"Molly?" Angelina asked sympathetically. Ella nodded. She pulled her pregnant friend into a warm hug. "It'll be fine," She reassured her.

"So…" Ginny turned to Ella, "what baby names have you thought of?"

"I don't know," Ella chuckled, amused by the girl's fascinations, "we haven't really talked about names at all but I would quite like my mother's name in there somewhere if it's a girl," Ella allowed herself also to get excited about her baby, probably for the first time. The girls all let out a loud 'awww' before Angelina sent them all back to their own dorms, seeing Ella's tiredness grow. They all bid each other a good night and went to their separate beds.

The weeks raced by, Ella growing ever bigger, and the final tournament fast approaching. The word had spread about the scandal of a student pregnancy as the girls had promised to keep it a secret, so naturally the whole school knew within a matter of hours.

It was a warm, sunny Sunday early afternoon in early June and Fred, George, Angelina, Katie and Ella were all on their way out to the black lake's banks, where they were planning to spend the afternoon sharing some butterbeers and just have a laugh. Whilst they were passing through the entrance hall, the malicious, rotten looking Durmstrang headmaster stopped them.

"Miss Potter, I require a word with you," He said coldly. Ella's blood instantly ran cold, remembering the events of their last one on one meeting.

"She's not going anywhere with you," Fred snarled, his temper flaring.

"Fred, it's fine," She rested a soothing hand on his tensed arm which was getting ready to swing at the older man, "if he has anything to say to me, he can say it in front of all of us,"

"The ministry has ruled, and despite Dumbledore's best efforts, it is up to me whether you compete in the last task so you're doing it," He spat condescendingly, obviously very proud at his way of continually find ways to make her feel inferior even though she was no longer under his care. He reminded Ella of a dog with a bone; a very dim witted, smelly one at that.

"She can't you idiot! She'll be six months pregnant by then and she's meant to be on bed rest!" Fred yelled, launching at the older man, pinning him against the wall. In situations like these, using magic was half as satisfying as fighting the old school, muggle way.

"Not my problem, she shouldn't have been so easy then," He spat, sending Fred into an even larger rage. George jumped in just in the nick of time to prevent his twin from taking a hard swing at the Durmstrang headmaster. Igor quickly hurried off, like the coward he was.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as he left. However, Fred just turned his anger and directed it towards his twin.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled. "He deserved everything I wanted to do to him and more!"

"I agree with you on that but the schools busy so you'd most definitely get caught and weaken our case against him in court," George tried to reason but Fred was too livid and was having none of it.

"He will get sent down whatever I do! He's a grotesque, evil, loathsome little git and one day I will get him!" He yelled again, causing even more students to stop and stare at the drama unfolding before them.

"Fred," Ella hissed warningly, "common room. Now,"

Fred knew his girlfriend too well to argue with her and immediately gave his twin a last glare before stalking off in the direction of Gryffindor tower, Ella hot on his trail. As he walked through the portrait whole and into the common room, he went to take a seat in one of the comfy chairs by the fire.

"Ah!" Ella snapped, pulling him back up, "we need to talk. Your dorm," She pointed towards the boy's dormitories' staircase, up which Fred then slumped up sulkily at being told what to do by his girlfriend, who was still close behind him.

Once they entered the room, Ella placed a locking and a silencing charm on the door.

"Please, find some excuse that might actually stop me from hating you for the scene you just made," Ella said in a dangerously quiet and calm voice.

"I…I…" Fred hesitated, unsure of how best to explain himself, "I just can't stand the way he treats you."

"Grow up!" She yelled chucking the closest pillow straight at his head. She knew she was over reacting slightly but her hormones were all over the place were stopping her from being empathetic and allowed her only to feel her embarrassment. "Half the school was watching while you stood their screaming and shouting! When are you going to grow up?!"

"El, I'm so sorry but he's knowingly putting you and our baby in danger! I'm only trying to protect my family!" He yelled back, his own temper flaring. Why did she always have to be so stubborn?

"Oh give up!" She laughed with anger, pacing around the room, refusing to look at her boyfriend. "If you actually thought about things before kicking off you would realise that you are only making things worse for me! And then turning on your brother like that! If it wasn't for him you would have gone and put yourself in a whole load of trouble!"

"Why don't you go run to George then if he's so bloody brilliant?!" Fred hissed. Ella's eyes flashed dangerously as she turned to face Fred again.

"You know what?" She hissed in a low voice. "Maybe your mother was right. Despite being the older one, you act like a complete child still. You need to wake up! We can't act like kids anymore!" She yelled, tears of anger forming in her eyes. She walked to the door opening it before turning back to him one last time. "I'm not sure whether we can actually do this. We're done." She shook her head as she left the room.

Ella stormed down the boys' dormitory stairs, into the empty common room, just as the rest of their previous group climbed through the portrait whole. Angelina rushed forward to her friend and engulfed her in her arms, seeing the pain in her face. The act of kindness was enough to break the remains of Ella's barriers and façade as she began to sob.

"Shh," Angelina stroked her best friend's hair soothingly. "What happened?" She asked as Ella's sobs began to subside. The rest of the group still stood watching, unsure of what to do with themselves.

"We broke up," Ella gulped down another sob as she felt a pang in her chest as she admitted it to the rest of the group and, ultimately, to herself.

"Oh, Ella," George stepped forward pulling her into another hug, desperate to make up for his twin's idiotic behaviour.

"It's fine. I should have known better than to believe in the fantasy of a happy ever after. Realistically, there was never any way we were going to raise this child while we were both at school," She sighed, forcing a weak smile, "I'm exhausted actually and should probably obey Madame Pomfrey for once and rest," She excused herself to her bedroom where she lay, unable to sleep, all afternoon. Thinking over how she was going to cope now. She knew there was no way she could attempt to raise a child on her own at her age.

"What have you done?" George asked his twin scornfully as he entered their room to find him moping on his bed, sulking like a child.

"Nothing, she broke up with me," Fred tried to defend himself.

"Do you realise how childish you're sounding right now?" George scolded him. "Your pregnant girlfriend, who is due to give birth to your child in three months, is in pieces in her room wondering what to do about the future of your child because she feels like she can't cope,"

"She's not my girlfriend anymore and thanks then. It's always nice to know your own twin isn't on your side," Fred spat, still in a foul temper.

"Don't you dare!" George snapped, despite his irritation, his voice managed to remain fairly mild and quiet. "You know I always have and always will be on your side but you need to face up to things now. You've got child on the way that you might lose the rights to see or look after if you don't treat the mother with a bit more respect."

George's word finally broke Fred out of his foul, childish temper as he realised the gravity of what he had just done. He felt physically ill at the thought of losing both Ella and his baby; protecting them was the reason this whole argument started in the first place, before it all completely spiralled out of control.

"She's not going to speak to me, is she?" Fred grimaced, his head in his hands as he sat down on his bed in defeat. "Why was I so stupid?"

"I'm not going to lie to you mate, it's going to take some serious grovelling but it's you and Ella, you've got to make up. You've always manage to sort out any of your little arguments before,"

"But we've never had any like this before…" Fred sat staring at the floor, numb, "And that's just it though, Georgie. We've already had several arguments and fallings out before and we're off nearly as much as we're on. How are we meant to raise a child in that sort of relationship?"

"What happened to what you told me last time she didn't speak to you, eh? That you were so wrong for each other that you were right?"

"Last time we weren't about to bring a child into the mix," Fred sighed, lying back on his bed, his chest physically hurting from the loss of his girlfriend.

"Grovel, it's all you can do now," George sat next to his twin and the two shared a look. A look that showed a mutual understanding.

"Thanks, Georgie," Fred smiled weakly at his twin, "For everything,"

Three days had passed and Ella had only left her bed to go to the bathroom. Her friends were very worried about her, as she rarely even opened the hangings around her bed. She had completely shut herself off from the world and refused to come down to meals or lessons. The worry had quickly spread to the teachers when she still hadn't turned up to any lessons by the end of Tuesday. Angelina and Katie had been sneaking food out of the Great Hall to try and encourage Ella to eat but they often just found it discarded next to her bed.

Ella's lesson and meal boycott had left Fred with no opportunity to try and make it up to her, face to face. He had decided he needed to communicate his feelings of regret with her before she decided to do something radical or stupid in relation to his child. He saw Angelina, Katie and Alicia all entering the common room through the portrait hole just as he finished writing his letter to her.

"Ange," He called, stepping towards her before silencing at the presence of their head of house, who was climbing through the portrait hole, closely following the students.

"What?" Angelina asked impatiently. Despite her frustration at Fred for being a prick and her anger at him hurting her best friend whilst she was vulnerable, Angelina's long standing friendship with Fred meant she allowed him the chance to say what he wanted to say.

"How is she?" Fred asked, his voice thick with desperation, making the two students and the teacher take pity on him.

"Not great to be honest," Angelina shrugged, not wanting to lie to the boy but knowing that if she told him the full extent of how bad Ella was doing, it would kill him.

"Please can you give her this," Fred handed her a piece of parchment, folded in half with Ella's name scrawled across the front. Angelina eyed in hesitantly, not wanting to distress her best friend further, "please," Fred begged, seeing the hesitation, "I haven't seemed to see her to talk to her and I really need her to know how sorry I am and fix things. I don't want her to feel alone," He admitted, his face reddening slightly. It was then it struck Angelina just how much Fred must love her friend. A year ago he very rarely showed much affection to any girl other than flirting and shagging her, never mind spilling out his feelings publicly, potentially leaving himself open to humiliation if any Slytherin were to hear about it.

"Okay," She took pity on the boy and took the letter out of his hand, promising to give it to Ella.

Angelina, Katie and Professor McGonagall made their way up the girls' dormitory stairs to the 6th year girl's room.

"Miss Potter?" Professor McGonagall knocked on the door politely, entering regardless of the lack of a response inside. "Miss Potter?" She repeated softly, once she stepped inside the room, walking towards the bed which had the hangings drawn all the way around it. "Miss Potter," She said once again, in a more stern tone.

"Sorry, professor," Ella grumbled opening the hanging closest to the professor, only marginally so as her head was visible. She sat up slightly, pulling the covers up with her. The professor was taken aback at how run down and skinny the young girl looked, despite being around six months pregnant. Ella's eyes, which were dull and lifeless, had large, dark bags underneath them despite all the time she spent in her bed, supposedly sleeping. Her skin was a pasty white, despite its natural light olive tone.

"Girls, may I be able to speak to Miss Potter privately for a minute?" McGonagall requested, turning to the two students who had fetched her, informing her of their concerns about their fellow classmate. Both girls nodded and went to exit the room, before Angelina turned back around remembering the letter in her hand.

"I promised Fred I'd give it to you. You don't have to read it if you don't want but he's a wreck without you," Angelina smiled almost apologetically as she placed the letter on her best friend's nightstand and followed Katie in exiting the room.

McGonagall promptly opened the rest of the hanging, which had been partially opened, and sat down on the bed next to her student. "Tell me, dear, what's going on?" She asked, her voice riddled with concern and worry.

"I'm fine, just tired that's all," Ella feigned happiness with a weak attempt of a smile.

"Don't lie to Miss Potter. I've been working with kids long enough to know when they're lying. You aren't attending lessons or meals and no one, even your roommates to a certain extent, haven't seen you in days. Ever since a break up, I'm lead to believe?" She asked. Ella opened her mouth to protest she was fine but her words got caught in her throat as tears began to form pools in her eyes. Ella nodded before shaking her head, getting wound up.

"I don't know what to do professor," Her voice shook, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill at any moment, "I can't do it on my own," Ella said, getting increasingly frantic and her breathing becoming increasingly erratic.

"Shhh, shhh my child," Professor McGonagall pulled her student into her side patting her back to soothe her. Despite her usual sternness and dislike for fuss, the professor couldn't help but pity the girl and the situation in which she was stuck in. "Things like this often find a way of sorting themselves out. Just remember, you have a lot of people around you that care very greatly about you and even if you and Mr Weasley don't reconcile, you will never be alone in raising this child," She reassured Ella as her breathing began to return to a more normal pace and stood up, "Now I'll leave you to read the letter if you wish and I expect to see at breakfast tomorrow morning and if not I will require to be admitted into the hospital wing," Professor McGonagall said, her famous sternness returning to her tone, as she exited the room leaving Ella to dwell over the letter.

Ella reluctantly reached to her nightstand and picked up the letter with shaky hands. She didn't want to read it. She wanted to stay mad at Fred for what he'd said and done but she had accused him of being childish and by not reading the letter, she was being just as stubborn and childish as he had been but with worse intentions.

Ella,
I know you probably hate me right now and in truth I don't really blame you. I just hope you're okay. Know whatever you decide, even if that is that you never want us to get back together, that I will always be there for our baby. You're not alone. I love you so much and I can't sleep or eat not knowing how you are doing. I'm so sorry I was such an arse.
Loving you forever,
Fred

Ella smiled despite herself. He had an odd way of doing that to her. She reread it once, then twice and then for a third time. She drifted into the first proper sleep she had had since their argument, the letter still resting on her chest and the hangings around her bed undrawn.

"Aww, look at her," Katie sighed with relief as she and Alicia entered the room they shared with Ella, "and she read his letter. Maybe things are looking up."