"God, what's wrong with you? You look awful," George said, not bothering to
keep his voice down as Paris tripped over to Gryffindor table Monday
morning.
"I didn't sleep too well and thanks," Paris replied waspishly. She absolutely shattered, she hadn't slept a wink last night.
"Looks like you haven't slept in about three months. Christ," Fred added, before shoving a forkful of bacon and eggs in his mouth.
Paris caught Angelina, Alicia and Katie smirking knowingly at her. She shook her head as if to say 'No, it wasn't Oliver keeping awake.'
"Good morning!" Oliver said brightly, sitting down next to Paris. "Christ, are you alright?" He added as he noticed the dark circles around Paris' eyes after he kissed her cheek.
"I'm fine, didn't sleep," Paris muttered. She was bracing herself for when Marino clocked her. She'd shriek about the state of Paris' hair and skin when she noticed and Paris was in no mind to deal with that today.
"Oliver, I need to speak to you. Before Potions," Paris said quietly to her boyfriend who was now happily eating porridge.
"Why? Are you alright, seriously?" Oliver said, his voice low.
"No, not really," Paris replied and gave her eyes a rub. "Come on, let's go."
Paris and Oliver got up without a word and nearly left unnoticed.
"Where are you two off to?" Fred demanded.
"I need to speak to Oliver. Shut up and eat your breakfast. Oh and I want all of you, that's you Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie to meet me in the Gryffindor changing room at six o'clock tonight. Pass on the message to Percy and Marino please," Paris said in one long sentence. She dragged Oliver away before anyone had a chance to question.
"Marcus knows," Paris said instantly as soon as they were out of the Hall.
"What?" Oliver said sharply.
"He knows about the Prophecy and part of it has to do with him. Look," Paris sighed, producing the stone.
"Paris! You're supposed to keep it somewhere safe!" Oliver said when he saw their Prophecy.
"Never mind that. Look at these initials, they're Marcus.' His middle name is Randall," Paris said gravely. Oliver studied the stone hard.
"I already sorta guessed. They looked like his initials and I know because the Captain's full names are always on the lists of the teams for Quidditch. I didn't want to believe it though," Oliver admitted.
"I know," Paris said.
"How'd you find out?" Oliver asked suddenly, looking at Paris.
"I couldn't sleep so I wrote a letter last night to my parents, you know to try and clear the air. I bumped into Marcus in the corridor. I don't know what he was doing, it was about two in the morning," Paris explained.
"Two in the morning? Paris, you shouldn't be wandering the school in your condition at two in the morning!" Oliver scolded. Paris rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to tell our friends before they hear it from him," She said quickly.
"I thought you wanted to wait till we were comfortable with it. We haven't properly talked about it, don't you think we should talk to McGonagall about this? Or Dumbledore?" Oliver said uncomfortably.
"No, we need to tell them now. Tonight before they hear it as a rumour. They deserve to hear it first, from us. I'll go to Dumbledore about Marcus later. I can't worry about him now," Paris sighed just as the bell went for class.
"Looks like you'll have to. We've got Potions," Oliver said, hoisting his bag further onto his shoulder. "Come on."
Paris was sitting bolt upright on the bench in the Gryffindor changing room. She looked straight ahead, her mind buzzing with thoughts.
Her friends wouldn't be here for another ten minutes but Paris needed to figure out what she was going to say first and foremost.
The changing room bulged with memories, the walls aching to spill their secrets. Paris felt an old air of nervousness about the place from pre match jitters, many of which were Paris' own.
It was here that Paris first spoke to Oliver all those years ago. It was here she had struck up friendships with Angelina, Alicia and Katie and the players before them.
Paris had cried in here, laughed in here, been shouted at in here.
But now it felt so strange, so distant. The changing room was hers, the Gryffindor's. But it felt alien now. It would have to add one more memory tonight, something the changing room would probably never see again.
"Paris?" Oliver emerged through the door, his hair wet and stuck on his forehead.
"I've been looking for you, you didn't come down for dinner."
Oliver closed the door, shutting out the cold and the rain and came and sat down next to Paris.
"I couldn't eat," Paris replied, now looking at all the old team photos that adorned the far wall. Paris was on seven of them.
"I've had Marino pestering me all day. More like threatening me actually," Oliver said, ruffling his hair, tempting it to dry.
"Me too," Paris replied and smiled. There was no-one like Marino.
"You really going to do this? Are you ready?" Oliver asked, turning to Paris. She met his eyes and felt comfortable in his gaze.
"It's the right thing to do," She said quietly and checked the clock that hung above the door. Five to six.
Paris remembered wishing and praying the time would slow before a match, anything to put it off. Matches always made her so nervous.
Oliver slipped his arm around Paris' shoulders and kissed her cheek affectionately.
"I love you Paris," He said quietly. Paris rested her head on his shoulder.
"I love you too. More than anything," Paris said sincerely and meant it.
"Get out of my way! I'm going in first!" Marino broke the calm as she burst through the door, immediately scaling the room. She had apparently elbowed both twins out of the way. "You're already here! Good, tell me what it is!" Was Marino's first words to Paris and Oliver.
Behind her, Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Percy filed in quietly and sat down on the bench opposite Paris and Oliver. They all looked worried and interested at the same time.
"Sit down Marino," Paris said, sitting up straight again. "Sit down, we'll tell you all everything."
Marino sat down in a huff next to Percy and folded her arms and waited. Fred, George and Lee Jordan had now come in and were causing trouble trying to find seats.
"Lee insisted on coming," Angelina explained to Paris. Paris didn't mind, everyone would know soon enough anyway.
"Now can you tell us what's going on?" Marino piped up when the twins had finally sat down.
Paris looked at Oliver and took a deep breath. She was going to do all the talking apparently.
"I'm pregnant," Paris said clearly. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what she had said.
"WHAT?" Everyone bar Percy said at once. Then the room exploded. Everyone was talking at once and Paris couldn't make head nor tail of anything they were saying.
"Shut up!" Oliver bellowed in his best Quidditch practice twins misbehaving voice.
The room fell silent.
"Shut up all of you and let us explain," Oliver continued, glaring at everyone.
"Someone had better explain this," Fred said angrily.
"I am pregnant. You heard correctly, I am pregnant and am going to have a baby," Paris said slowly.
"But how?" Katie cried, clearly not understanding.
"Merlin!" George cried, giving Katie a patronizing look. "How'd you think she got pregnant? Getting struck by lightning?"
"George," Paris said. "Don't."
"When did this happen?" Fred demanded. He did not look impressed at all.
"Saturday night," Paris sighed.
"It's only Monday night! How do you even know you are...you are...you know?!" Fred said, reddening a little.
Paris took a breath, what she was about to say sounded ridiculous.
"Dumbledore told us yesterday," Paris said and before anyone could say anything, Paris produced the prophecy. "Look at this."
She passed the stone to Fred and everyone squeezed close to get a good look.
"This doesn't prove anything!" Fred said. "Those could be anyone's initials. What does it mean anyway?"
Paris took back the prophecy.
"Here's Oliver's. Oliver James Wood. Here's the date, which is the thirty first of October two thousand and three - that was the date on Saturday. Here's my initials, Paris Trojan Knightley. Underneath are some more initials which we aren't sure of yet and a date we have no clue about. Now these initials - M.R.F. they're the reason we wanted to tell you tonight. They belong to Marcus Flint or Marcus Randall Flint to be precise and there's another date and number we have no idea about either. Marcus knows about this, he told me last night. I wanted to tell you myself before you heard it from him," Paris explained.
Everyone looked like they had been petrified.
"You know what this means don't you?" Marino said suddenly.
"What?" Paris said.
"You're going to get stretch marks!"
It was a very, very long and detailed night for Paris. Everyone wanted to know absolutely everything starting from Saturday night to this moment in time.
They asked every possible question they could think of ranging from baby names to marriage to extremely personal questions about Saturday night.
All dignity Paris may have once had was thrown out of the window as the group didn't take 'no comment' as a suitable answer.
Paris had also over come her own worst enemy, the inability to speak about her family.
They had wanted to know what Paris was doing at two o'clock in the morning in the Owlery and Paris had no choice but to explain the long and sad story of her life. Her friends finally knew who she really was. No more secrets.
"Paris? Are you asleep?" Marino hissed from her bed when everyone had called it a night and went to bed.
"No, are you?" Paris hissed back, smiling at their little joke they had done since first year.
Paris heard Marino get out of bed and felt her get into Paris' own bed.
"I can't sleep, I'm thinking about all kinds of stuff," Marino whispered.
"Me too," Paris whispered back.
"I'm sorry about your mum and dad. I had no idea Par, why'd you never tell me?" Marino whispered as she tucked her arm around Paris' waist and gave her best friend squeeze.
"I didn't think you'd want to know. I'm sorry," Paris whispered sheepishly.
"Of course I'd want to know. From now on we tell each other everything ok? I'll always be here for you Par, always be ready to listen. You're my best friend," Marino said, her eyes glistening with tears.
"Thanks Marino," Paris whispered, close to tears herself.
"I'm so happy for you and Oliver, I want you to know that. I'm glad you found someone as good as him. He'll take care of you Paris and if he doesn't, I'll deck him," Marino said and Paris muffled a laugh.
"I'm scared Marino. I'm not ready to have a baby," Paris whispered desperately.
"You'll be fine, you've got Oliver, me, the girls, the twins even. We won't let you down, I'll make sure of it," Marino reassured.
Paris smiled gratefully and closed her eyes and fell into a well deserved sleep.
"I didn't sleep too well and thanks," Paris replied waspishly. She absolutely shattered, she hadn't slept a wink last night.
"Looks like you haven't slept in about three months. Christ," Fred added, before shoving a forkful of bacon and eggs in his mouth.
Paris caught Angelina, Alicia and Katie smirking knowingly at her. She shook her head as if to say 'No, it wasn't Oliver keeping awake.'
"Good morning!" Oliver said brightly, sitting down next to Paris. "Christ, are you alright?" He added as he noticed the dark circles around Paris' eyes after he kissed her cheek.
"I'm fine, didn't sleep," Paris muttered. She was bracing herself for when Marino clocked her. She'd shriek about the state of Paris' hair and skin when she noticed and Paris was in no mind to deal with that today.
"Oliver, I need to speak to you. Before Potions," Paris said quietly to her boyfriend who was now happily eating porridge.
"Why? Are you alright, seriously?" Oliver said, his voice low.
"No, not really," Paris replied and gave her eyes a rub. "Come on, let's go."
Paris and Oliver got up without a word and nearly left unnoticed.
"Where are you two off to?" Fred demanded.
"I need to speak to Oliver. Shut up and eat your breakfast. Oh and I want all of you, that's you Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie to meet me in the Gryffindor changing room at six o'clock tonight. Pass on the message to Percy and Marino please," Paris said in one long sentence. She dragged Oliver away before anyone had a chance to question.
"Marcus knows," Paris said instantly as soon as they were out of the Hall.
"What?" Oliver said sharply.
"He knows about the Prophecy and part of it has to do with him. Look," Paris sighed, producing the stone.
"Paris! You're supposed to keep it somewhere safe!" Oliver said when he saw their Prophecy.
"Never mind that. Look at these initials, they're Marcus.' His middle name is Randall," Paris said gravely. Oliver studied the stone hard.
"I already sorta guessed. They looked like his initials and I know because the Captain's full names are always on the lists of the teams for Quidditch. I didn't want to believe it though," Oliver admitted.
"I know," Paris said.
"How'd you find out?" Oliver asked suddenly, looking at Paris.
"I couldn't sleep so I wrote a letter last night to my parents, you know to try and clear the air. I bumped into Marcus in the corridor. I don't know what he was doing, it was about two in the morning," Paris explained.
"Two in the morning? Paris, you shouldn't be wandering the school in your condition at two in the morning!" Oliver scolded. Paris rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to tell our friends before they hear it from him," She said quickly.
"I thought you wanted to wait till we were comfortable with it. We haven't properly talked about it, don't you think we should talk to McGonagall about this? Or Dumbledore?" Oliver said uncomfortably.
"No, we need to tell them now. Tonight before they hear it as a rumour. They deserve to hear it first, from us. I'll go to Dumbledore about Marcus later. I can't worry about him now," Paris sighed just as the bell went for class.
"Looks like you'll have to. We've got Potions," Oliver said, hoisting his bag further onto his shoulder. "Come on."
Paris was sitting bolt upright on the bench in the Gryffindor changing room. She looked straight ahead, her mind buzzing with thoughts.
Her friends wouldn't be here for another ten minutes but Paris needed to figure out what she was going to say first and foremost.
The changing room bulged with memories, the walls aching to spill their secrets. Paris felt an old air of nervousness about the place from pre match jitters, many of which were Paris' own.
It was here that Paris first spoke to Oliver all those years ago. It was here she had struck up friendships with Angelina, Alicia and Katie and the players before them.
Paris had cried in here, laughed in here, been shouted at in here.
But now it felt so strange, so distant. The changing room was hers, the Gryffindor's. But it felt alien now. It would have to add one more memory tonight, something the changing room would probably never see again.
"Paris?" Oliver emerged through the door, his hair wet and stuck on his forehead.
"I've been looking for you, you didn't come down for dinner."
Oliver closed the door, shutting out the cold and the rain and came and sat down next to Paris.
"I couldn't eat," Paris replied, now looking at all the old team photos that adorned the far wall. Paris was on seven of them.
"I've had Marino pestering me all day. More like threatening me actually," Oliver said, ruffling his hair, tempting it to dry.
"Me too," Paris replied and smiled. There was no-one like Marino.
"You really going to do this? Are you ready?" Oliver asked, turning to Paris. She met his eyes and felt comfortable in his gaze.
"It's the right thing to do," She said quietly and checked the clock that hung above the door. Five to six.
Paris remembered wishing and praying the time would slow before a match, anything to put it off. Matches always made her so nervous.
Oliver slipped his arm around Paris' shoulders and kissed her cheek affectionately.
"I love you Paris," He said quietly. Paris rested her head on his shoulder.
"I love you too. More than anything," Paris said sincerely and meant it.
"Get out of my way! I'm going in first!" Marino broke the calm as she burst through the door, immediately scaling the room. She had apparently elbowed both twins out of the way. "You're already here! Good, tell me what it is!" Was Marino's first words to Paris and Oliver.
Behind her, Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Percy filed in quietly and sat down on the bench opposite Paris and Oliver. They all looked worried and interested at the same time.
"Sit down Marino," Paris said, sitting up straight again. "Sit down, we'll tell you all everything."
Marino sat down in a huff next to Percy and folded her arms and waited. Fred, George and Lee Jordan had now come in and were causing trouble trying to find seats.
"Lee insisted on coming," Angelina explained to Paris. Paris didn't mind, everyone would know soon enough anyway.
"Now can you tell us what's going on?" Marino piped up when the twins had finally sat down.
Paris looked at Oliver and took a deep breath. She was going to do all the talking apparently.
"I'm pregnant," Paris said clearly. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what she had said.
"WHAT?" Everyone bar Percy said at once. Then the room exploded. Everyone was talking at once and Paris couldn't make head nor tail of anything they were saying.
"Shut up!" Oliver bellowed in his best Quidditch practice twins misbehaving voice.
The room fell silent.
"Shut up all of you and let us explain," Oliver continued, glaring at everyone.
"Someone had better explain this," Fred said angrily.
"I am pregnant. You heard correctly, I am pregnant and am going to have a baby," Paris said slowly.
"But how?" Katie cried, clearly not understanding.
"Merlin!" George cried, giving Katie a patronizing look. "How'd you think she got pregnant? Getting struck by lightning?"
"George," Paris said. "Don't."
"When did this happen?" Fred demanded. He did not look impressed at all.
"Saturday night," Paris sighed.
"It's only Monday night! How do you even know you are...you are...you know?!" Fred said, reddening a little.
Paris took a breath, what she was about to say sounded ridiculous.
"Dumbledore told us yesterday," Paris said and before anyone could say anything, Paris produced the prophecy. "Look at this."
She passed the stone to Fred and everyone squeezed close to get a good look.
"This doesn't prove anything!" Fred said. "Those could be anyone's initials. What does it mean anyway?"
Paris took back the prophecy.
"Here's Oliver's. Oliver James Wood. Here's the date, which is the thirty first of October two thousand and three - that was the date on Saturday. Here's my initials, Paris Trojan Knightley. Underneath are some more initials which we aren't sure of yet and a date we have no clue about. Now these initials - M.R.F. they're the reason we wanted to tell you tonight. They belong to Marcus Flint or Marcus Randall Flint to be precise and there's another date and number we have no idea about either. Marcus knows about this, he told me last night. I wanted to tell you myself before you heard it from him," Paris explained.
Everyone looked like they had been petrified.
"You know what this means don't you?" Marino said suddenly.
"What?" Paris said.
"You're going to get stretch marks!"
It was a very, very long and detailed night for Paris. Everyone wanted to know absolutely everything starting from Saturday night to this moment in time.
They asked every possible question they could think of ranging from baby names to marriage to extremely personal questions about Saturday night.
All dignity Paris may have once had was thrown out of the window as the group didn't take 'no comment' as a suitable answer.
Paris had also over come her own worst enemy, the inability to speak about her family.
They had wanted to know what Paris was doing at two o'clock in the morning in the Owlery and Paris had no choice but to explain the long and sad story of her life. Her friends finally knew who she really was. No more secrets.
"Paris? Are you asleep?" Marino hissed from her bed when everyone had called it a night and went to bed.
"No, are you?" Paris hissed back, smiling at their little joke they had done since first year.
Paris heard Marino get out of bed and felt her get into Paris' own bed.
"I can't sleep, I'm thinking about all kinds of stuff," Marino whispered.
"Me too," Paris whispered back.
"I'm sorry about your mum and dad. I had no idea Par, why'd you never tell me?" Marino whispered as she tucked her arm around Paris' waist and gave her best friend squeeze.
"I didn't think you'd want to know. I'm sorry," Paris whispered sheepishly.
"Of course I'd want to know. From now on we tell each other everything ok? I'll always be here for you Par, always be ready to listen. You're my best friend," Marino said, her eyes glistening with tears.
"Thanks Marino," Paris whispered, close to tears herself.
"I'm so happy for you and Oliver, I want you to know that. I'm glad you found someone as good as him. He'll take care of you Paris and if he doesn't, I'll deck him," Marino said and Paris muffled a laugh.
"I'm scared Marino. I'm not ready to have a baby," Paris whispered desperately.
"You'll be fine, you've got Oliver, me, the girls, the twins even. We won't let you down, I'll make sure of it," Marino reassured.
Paris smiled gratefully and closed her eyes and fell into a well deserved sleep.