Chapter 4- Decisions and Consequences

"Am I the…?" Tom asked, not bringing himself to say the now extremely frightening "f" word.

"What? Of course not! I mean, we never…" A slight blush crept on to Cecilia's face.

"No," Tom quickly said, shaking his head. "Never. But if it isn't mine, whose child is it?"

"That's the problem," Cecilia spoke so quietly and quickly that Tom had to lean all the way across the table to hear. "I don't know who the father is. I have no recollection of ever…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes became glazed.

"Are you saying someone erased your memory?"

"Exactly," she frowned, biting her lip.

"How do you know you're even pregnant?" Tom asked. "Maybe it's a false alarm."

"No," Cecilia sadly said, "I can feel the child inside of me. I'm definitely pregnant." She put her head into her hands.

"Are you not telling me something?" Tom asked, growing suspicious.

"Laurence said he was the father," she blurted out.

"You…and him?" Tom asked, disgusted and outraged at the same time.

"I don't know," Cecilia said, her blonde hair moving ever so slightly with the shake of her head. "I'll admit that it doesn't make much sense. I was never fond of him in that way, but besides you, he's the only likely candidate."

"I just don't understand why somebody would erase your memory," Tom began massaging his temple, knowing another huge headache was approaching.

Cecilia shrugged. "None of this makes any sense. I'd never thought I'd be so stupid."

"Maybe you were under the influence of something," Tom remarked casually. Suddenly, he sat up straighter, an explanation to all of this forming in his mind. "Perhaps a lot of people were under the influence of something. Perhaps somebody threatened to tell a professor what was going on, so somebody else, not wanting to be caught, erased their memory of the event, erasing the memory of everyone in the room also, just in case someone else should decide to tell."

"I don't know, Tom," Cecilia hesitantly began, "To perform a spell like that on a roomful of people is quite difficult."

Tom nodded, his gaze moving towards and finally landing on Laurence and his friends sitting across the room. "It would be a difficult spell for most people, but let's not overlook the intelligence of our dear Ravenclaw friends."

"Oh my goodness," Cecilia gasped. "You're right. I do believe I remember hearing something about the crazy parties the Ravenclaws sometimes hold." She clutched her throat, the look on her face one of pure disgust. "To think that I actually went to a party like that. And to think…" She looked down at her stomach.

Tom didn't hear anything Cecilia was saying; his mind was hard at work, trying to make sense of everything. "What doesn't make sense is the fact that Laurence already knew he was the father. If the whole room's memory was erased, his would've been erased as well."

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "He has a massive crush on me. Laurence probably had no clue, but was just saying that in hopes that I would actually date him or something."

"Well, one thing is certain," Tom leaned towards her, his face set hard with resolve. "We have to get rid of it."

Cecilia's hand flew down to her stomach, and put them protectively over it. "No," she said simply. "Laurence and I already decided that I would carry the child and then put it up for adoption after it was born."

"Are you mental?" Tom nearly shouted. "Do you know how much ridicule you're going to face? I can just imagine what the Slytherins are going to say when they find out that you're pregnant!"

"I'm going to carry the child, Tom," she said, and it seemed as if she was trying to convince herself of this. It was uncertain enough to make Tom wonder if her mind really was made up to carry it.

An unseen clock chimed, signaling for everyone to get to their first class. As Cecilia and Tom stood up, he left her with these final words, "If you change your mind, come to me. Last year I read a book on how to perform things like that. It's quite simple actually. I could do it with my eyes closed." With that, he walked away, leaving Cecilia more upset and confused than ever.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. When Potions arrived, Cecilia and Tom worked on their potion in silence, only talking when necessary. It was like an imaginary wall had built itself between them, and Tom was in no mood to try and break it down. Dinnertime came, and as Tom walked into the Great Hall, he saw Cecilia sitting with Laurence, so he proceeded over to the Slytherin table, taking a seat next to Zion. Every now and then Tom would glance over at Cecilia, only to find her looking right back, a sad expression on her face. Before Tom could motion back or mouth something to her, her attention would be diverted quickly back to Laurence.

"You were smart to stay away from the Mudblood," Zion whispered to Tom as desserts galore appeared on the table.

"I didn't stop talking to her because of you," Tom spat. "Your sad attempt at blackmailing me was far from impressive."

Zion laughed. "Oh, so are you telling me the Mudblood broke up with you? No wonder you seemed so upset."

Tom sighed and shook his head slowly. "How many times must I tell you that we're just friends?"

Zion ignored his statement. "Did she break up with you for the Ravenclaw? Seems like she wanted to have a more 'intelligent' conversation, Tom."

"Would you shut up?" Tom asked, on his last nerve.

"No need to blame me for your own faults," Zion said defensively, a slight smirk on his face.

"That's it," Tom said, standing up. "You're a complete idiot, Zion. And I'd appreciate it if you never talk to me again." With that, he left the Great Hall swiftly, and headed up to the library where he planned to spend his night.

Two hours later, Tom was sitting in a library chair, reading the same book he had read a year ago about how to get rid of unborn babies. He was slightly disturbed at it all, but knew that it would be the only way to save Cecilia from months of torment.

"Tom?" he heard his name called and looking up from his book, saw Cecilia standing at the library doors, her face streaked with tears. Putting down the book, he stood up, and motioned for her to come over. She ran to him and put her arms around him, locking him in an uncomfortable embrace.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked, his face flushed.

"I thought he liked me," she said between sobs, "but as I was walking back to the Gryffindor common room, I saw him snogging some girl. Oh, it was mortifying. I was too shocked to even say anything. I just ran away, and I knew I had to find you. I asked some Slytherins where you were, but they said they didn't know. And I knew you spent a lot of time here, so I came here and found you." She broke away from him, wiping away tears and trying to regain her composure. "I had to find you because," she took a deep breath, "I want the baby gone."

There was a moment of silence as Tom tried to revover from the shock of everything she just told him. "Uh, okay then," he said hesitantly.

"Just tell me what I have to do," Cecilia whispered.

Tom turned around and picked up the book he was just reading, trying to find the page he was just on. "Lay down," he instructed. She complied and Tom knelt down beside her. "I just have to perform an incantation. It says here that it might hurt a little," he added, pulling out his wand. "Are you ready?"

Cecilia took a deep breath. "Yes," she said bravely.

Tom gulped and looked down at the book. He muttered the incantation quietly, bringing his wand slowly down as he said it, until it rested on Cecilia's stomach. A band of black light shot from the wand and wrapped itself around Cecilia's middle. It began to grow smaller and smaller until it looked like it was in her. She let out a blood curdiling scream and the hairs on Tom's arms stood up. He stared in shock as her body began to twist in ways he didn't think possible for the human body to do. Suddenly, the black light was gone, and instead, there was a patch of blood right in the center of her stomach. The patch began to grow and grow, until Cecilia's whole stomach was covered in red. Tom panicked, not having any idea what to do. Cecilia began to sit up slowly, almost as some force was pushing her forward. Her eyes flew open, and she screamed once more, before collapsing onto the ground in a heap of blood.

Tom grabbed the book and began looking through it swiftly, trying to find a spell that would get rid of the blood. He found one a minute later, and performed it quickly. The blood covering Cecilia seemed to retract, and in a few minutes there was nothing left. She was still unconscious, and Tom shook her slowly, trying to get her to wake up. "Cecilia?" he whispered, as the thought that she could possibly be dead entered his mind. He began to shake her more forcefully, and moisture began to fill up his eyes. "Cecilia! Wake up!" he shouted, not caring if anyone heard.

Suddenly, her body jerked forward, and with a start, Cecilia woke up. Her pupils were huge as she sat up, trying to figure out where she was. "Cecilia?" Tom asked hesitantly, reaching out towards her. She turned towards him and her pupils suddenly grew small. A strangled sob escaped her lips. "Tom," she cried, "Oh God!" Moving towards Tom, she collapsed in his arms. She began to cry, and started to say something that Tom couldn't understand.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"The baby," she cried, "It was yours."

Author's Note: OH SNAP! Did you see that coming? Well, maybe you did. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 4 of Those You've Known! I would really, really, really, really, really, REALLY appreciate it if you would REVIEW. Tell me if you like the story. Tell me if you don't like the story. Tell me you like pie. I DON'T CARE. Just REVIEW! It makes me happy =)