Thank you again to everyone who is reading this story. I do appreciate it. Please bear in mind that this chapter is dealing with teenage pregnancy. The discussions don't necessarily reflect my beliefs but instead are conversations I felt needed to be present.


Consequences

"Please tell me you are joking?" James finally responded. He had barely said anything for about five minutes, just stared at Narcissa and hoped that this was some sort of dream. Or nightmare. Whatever.

"Oh yes James, I thought this would be the perfect joke." Narcissa responded, her eyes were wide and bloodshot. And there was no pregnancy glow, but rather a brittle anxiety that seemed to radiate off her body.

"Well, Sirius would have found something like this hilarious." Not that he thought this was a prank. Narcissa wasn't a good enough liar for starters. Although he kept looking at her, hoping this would turn into an elaborate hoax. Or a dream, it could still be a dream.

"It's just how did this even happ…" No there was no point in even asking that. He knew how it had happened. "What I meant is, we were being careful."

"Not all the time, and you know it." And he did, Damn it.

"I'm sorry, it's just, this is a nightmare." He was up and pacing now, running his hands through his hair more times than he could count. "I mean…did you want this to happen?" It was an unfair question and he knew it the moment he asked it.

"Are you kidding me? Did I want this? Are you fucking insane? Do you know what this could do to my reputation, my family's reputation, my life? It's easy for the guy, they can just walk away, pretend they have nothing to do with it.

"Hey, you know I would never do that!" Both their voices were echoing around the stands. James glanced around, but luckily the area had been long abandoned after quidditch practice. In part, because the stands were freezing. James had only stayed when he saw Narcissa coming to meet him, and he was starting to wish he was wearing a thicker jumper. "I'm sorry, but you know what it's going to be like. Everyone will expect me to marry you. I don't want that, not yet.

"Oh, I'm sorry if that would be such a burden. But did you ever for one minute consider that I don't want to be married any more than you do? That I have plans for my life as well. I mean, why would I want to marry someone that's only marrying me because I'd been stupid enough to get knocked up?"

"I didn't mean it like that! But, what are you going to do? If neither of us wants this."

Even that seemed to be the wrong thing to say. "So, just like that you don't want it?"

"I didn't mean it like that. One day, I'd love to get married, have a kid or two, be happy. But not right now, not while we're in school and the whole world outside is falling to pieces. And you don't want to do this either." Although admittedly, if this conversation had revealed anything, it was that neither of them really had a clue what they wanted.

Narcissa just stared at him for a minute, before shrugging. "Whether we want this or not, it's here. We have to deal with it."

"So, like I said, what do you want to do?"

"Why is it my decision, and not ours?"

"Well, because it's your body, even if it's our baby."

"Our baby, right." Narcissa replied, with a wry smile. James hadn't meant to say it, hadn't wanted to think of it as his child, yet he already was. "I don't know, I was thinking my sister could raise it."

Ah yes, the old pureblood solution to single motherhood. Hand the baby over to the next appropriate relative. "Really? I am not letting this baby be raised by Bellatrix. She's insane, and who knows how she would poison its mind."

"Bella's not insane, I told you, stop saying that. And besides, I meant Andromeda."

James could still remember Andromeda's piercing gaze when he had met her. And what seemed like an instant dislike towards him. Somehow, he couldn't imagine that going well either. Although she was still a preferable parent than Bellatrix, being less likely to sacrifice it to Voldemort.

"That's not what I meant…I mean, are you sure you want to have it?" And just like that the baby became an it again.

"You mean have an abortion?" Judging from the tone of Narcissa's voice, James could already guess this wasn't something Narcissa wanted to acknowledge as an option. "How exactly is that a better option than having either of my sisters, including the insane one, raise our child?"

"Maybe I don't want to grow up, knowing I have a child out there, that I'll never know. And it is an option, even if you don't want to acknowledge that. And I think it's one we need to consider."

"What happened to it being my body?"

"It is your body, but this is a decision that will affect us both."

"I can't believe you're saying this." And neither could James. It was like words he didn't even believe were coming out of his mouth.

James had had enough. He felt like he couldn't win and all he seemed to be doing was making everything worse. He looked at Narcissa's tear stained face, the last thing he wanted to do was cause her more pain. "I need some time Narcissa. Just to process this, okay, and then we'll talk about it."

"What? No, please don't leave yet."

"I have to." If he stayed he would end up saying something to hurt Narcissa even more.


When James finally dragged himself back into the Gryffindor common rooms, Sirius was waiting for him. An expectant look on his face.

"You okay Mate?" He asked. Of course, Sirius knew. James didn't even know why he was surprised.

"I'm fine, just exhausted."

"How's Narcissa?"

"I don't know. I think we're both in a state of shock. I had to leave I couldn't even think properly."

"What do you mean, you had to leave?"

"I just walked away." And he already felt like an asshole for doing it. He would have to go find her and apologise. "God, what am I going to do?"

"Well for starters, you need to go find Narcissa. Why would you leave her like that?"

"I don't know, I kept saying the wrong things. I needed to get out of there, and think for a moment." And now that he'd had a chance to think, he still had no clue what they should do.

"What did you say?"

James didn't even have the heart to answer, he just glanced at his friend.

"You didn't? You really can be an ass at times." James just nodded, he knew he'd been stupid. Or at the very least totally insensitive.

"I just…what are we supposed to do? Get married while we're in school? Or hand it over to one of Narcissa's relatives. None of whom seem to like me. Present company excluded."

"What does Narcissa want to do?"

"I…" He didn't know. Narcissa had mentioned having Andromeda raise the baby but she didn't really say if that was what she wanted. "I'm going to go find her and talk to her."

"Dibs on Godfather!" Sirius shouted, as James walked back out the common room. God this was going to be a long night. He should have eaten something.


James finally found Narcissa in the room of requirement, she was pacing back in forth, gesturing to thin air when he walked in. When she finally turned around, James could tell she was annoyed.

"Oh, so you're finally back."

"I'm an idiot, I know. I'm sorry for being an insensitive ass." Apologising always seemed like the best strategy around angry woman, especially pregnant ones.

Narcissa's face softened, "It's fine. I get it, we're both panicking. But…I can't have an abortion. There's just too much death already in this world."

And when she put it that way, James couldn't help but agree. "I know, it's okay. I wasn't trying to push it anyway. It's like you were saying, I panicked, and didn't think about how you would already be feeling."

"Thank you," Narcissa responded, resting her head on James's shoulder. It was amazing how just that small act made him feel better. Helped them both calm down. There were still so many questions they hadn't answered though. So many questions he probably hadn't even thought of. In fact, as he thought that he realised there was one very obvious question he hadn't asked.

"Do you know when you're due?"

"I'm not 100% sure. I think I'm a bit over a month pregnant."

James wasn't great at mental maths. "So…"

"Probably July."

"That would be good, school would be finished and everything." All they would have to deal with would be their parents. Which was a really terrifying prospect in itself.

"I'll need to use the Christmas Holidays to actually find out when it's due. Knowing my luck, I'll end up going into labour in the middle of exams."

That didn't sound like the worst idea to James, at least she wouldn't have to finish their exams. And it wasn't like these were important ones this year. NEWTs weren't until next year. Next year, crap. "What are we going to do next year?"

"I don't know, James. I'm going to wait until I know how far along I am exactly before making any more decisions. The Christmas Holidays are only a few weeks away anyway." It felt like the last year had went past in a flash, and that the previous Christmas disasters had only just passed.

Narcissa seemed to sense James' thoughts. "I just want to have a decent Christmas this year, after the catastrophe that was last year."

That seemed fair. God knows, Narcissa deserved to have a good Christmas. "So you won't be telling your parents over Christmas dinner?"

"You never know, maybe I'll tell them and Aunt Walburga will choke on whatever she's eating. Sirius would love that."

True dat. "Speaking of which, we're going to have to make Sirius the godfather."

Narcissa laughed, wrapping herself closer to James, "Okay, but just remember, that means he's raising our child if we both die horrible deaths."