"Yes Professor?" I asked tentatively after class.
"Sit, I've got something I'd like to discuss with the two of you," She ordered. We sat down quickly at the chairs in front of her desk.
"Now then, I wanted to ask if you two would be interested in becoming Animagi. You two were particularly comfortable in your forms so I thought you might be interested. You could try whatever forms you like, but I highly suggest the forms you had during the spell."
I was excited by this. I didn't know if I could… with me being how I am, but I knew I could speak to Professor McGonagall in a moment.
"That sounds…fantastic," Oliver answered with a grin.
"Yes, excellent," I replied with a grin.
"When is a good time for you two?" McGonagall asked. We thought for a moment.
"After 4:30 on Monday, and after dinner on Thursday," I answered for both of us.
"Very well, that will be fine," McGonagall agreed, "You'd better get to your next classes."
"Oliver, you go ahead. I need to speak to Professor for a moment," I ordered. He gave me a curious look but went ahead and closed the door behind him.
"Well Ms. Grier? What could you possible need to tell me that Mr. Wood wasn't allowed to hear?" She asked curiously. Everyone knew that there was little I hid from Oliver.
"Professor, as much as I want to do this, there is something that concerns me," I paused for a moment then continued, "You see, I'm pregnant." I didn't offer to let her know whose child. That wasn't her business, and besides that most people would be able to tell you without thinking about it.
"Well Ms. Grier, you will still be able to become an Animagus, but I'm glad you told me nonetheless. How far along are you?" She asked, concerned.
"About three months," I replied.
"Does anyone else know?" She asked.
"At Hogwarts, only Madame Pomphrey, Professor Dumbledore, and Braeden," I replied.
"Very good, well, I appreciate your discreetness. If you need anything, let me know," She said, in an almost caring tone.
"I appreciate that, and if you keep to yourself…" I trailed off.
"Of course Ms. Grier, perhaps you ought to get going," She replied shortly.
"Yes Professor," I replied politely, and left. There I found Oliver waiting for me outside the door.
"What'd you talk to her about?" Oliver asked.
"Just the essay she assigned during class," I replied, glad for once that Professor McGonagall had assigned an essay.
"Oh," Oliver replied, kind of in a slow way. It was really cute. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. He gave me a heart-melting smile, but unfortunately when I dropped his hand, his smile did the same.
"Only a few days," I muttered. (Authors note- I've changed the date we're on. In a few days means Saturday. For anyone who is like, super OCD, you'd remember that the Saturday in question was supposed to be a Hogsmeade trip to buy dresses for the Halloween Ball. I'm changing this in this chapter. You'll see how, but I thought you'd want to know)
"A few days longer than I want to wait," Oliver murmured.
"I appreciate you waiting. I promise, I'll let you pick however you like to tell everyone and anyone you want. Be as explosive as you like," I smiled at him. This seemed to please him, and he grabbed my hand again as the corridor was empty.
"Let skive off charms," Oliver suggested.
"I dunno…" I replied.
"Oh c'mon, you know all he's gonna do is teach the summoning charm…. again," Oliver pushed.
"Oh, alright," I replied with a smile, then asked, "So where are we going?" I asked, hoping he'd say the pitch.
"As much fun as it would be to go to the Quidditch Pitch, we're going to Hogsmeade," He replied with a grin.
"How are we gonna get out of here to get to Hogsmeade?" I asked him.
"By a trick Fred and George showed me," He replied mysteriously.
"What have they shown you that they neglected to tell me?" I asked him curiously.
"A secret passage into Hogsmeade, lets go," Oliver replied with a grin and dragged me off down the hall. I followed eagerly. We soon reached a mirror. I gave him a curious look and asked:
"Where does this passage go, and how do we open it?"
"This passage goes to a back room at the Hogs Head Pub, and you open it like this," Oliver demonstrated. He pulled on the mirror lightly, and I heard something click. With that the door swung silently open.
"Nice trick. How'd you really open it though, because I heard the click Oliver," I said with a smirk.
"Its just a little button switch thingy on the backside of the mirror. All you do is push it," He explained.
"Oh, well in that case, lets go," I replied. He led me into the passage and I closed the mirror behind me. It was dark, so Oliver muttered the lumos spell.
Once at the other end, Oliver pushed open a section of the wall, which opened like a door. We found ourselves in a loo. We barely managed to get into the room because it was so small.
"Bloody Hell, how is anyone supposed to use this loo?" I asked. Not only was it tiny, but it was disgusting.
"I don't know, but we're not. Fallon, get out of here," Oliver ordered as I was closer to the door.
We managed to stumble through the door to the loo, which was also tiny, and into the pub. The bartender was too drunk to even notice us come in or leave.
"So, we're here, now what?" I asked Oliver.
"Well, lets go to the Quidditch store first, and then, I believe you've got a dress to buy?" Oliver said with a grin. I rolled my eyes and replied,
"Yes, your right, I do need to buy a dress, and if I buy it now, I won't have to waste the schools Friday trip to Hogsmeade buying a dress," I said agreeably.
First we did go to the Quidditch Shop. We knew the owner very well. He was also his own shopkeeper. His name was Charles, and he used to play on the Dublin Demons as a Beater, until he took a bludgers to the shoulder and never could play again.
"Oy Charles, how has business been?" Oliver asked with a grin as we went through the door to his shop.
"Been better, been worse. I didn't know there was a Hogwarts trip today," Charles said lightly.
"That's because there's not," I retorted with a grin.
"Oh, so you two found one of the passages?" Charles questioned.
"You know it," Oliver replied with a grin.
"So have you got anything new?" I asked Charles
"Actually, yeah. This is something just for you Fallon," He said with a grin.
"Well are you gonna tell me what it is?" I asked annoyingly.
"Of course love," Charles began, and Oliver glared at him when he heard the word love. Charles just did that with all girls though. Ignoring Oliver, he continued, "I've just been sent a whole line of quidditch gear more aimed at females."
"How could the gear possibly be any different?" I asked him curiously.
"Well," he began, and pulled out a pair of chasers gloves, "These are the ladies gloves. They are overall smaller, especially at the fingers knuckles and wrist."
"Well, those aren't for me," I laughed at myself and the boys joined in. It was common knowledge to us that I had very large hands, even by a guys standards. Its part of the reason I was such a good chaser.
"Other than that, I've gotten in some boots in girls sizes not that they really concern you either," Charles continued then referred to my abnormally large feet. "And, this is something you might be interested in," He stopped for a moment pulled a box from behind the counter, and continued, "you of course know the padding in most uniforms for males specifically," He said, referring to the padding in most quidditch uniforms to protect males…sensitive area. "Well, they've come up with something for girls you may be interested in," He pulled something from the box on the counter. It was a very light yet sturdy padding made to cover the chest area, a sensitive area on girls. I was really interested. I held out a hand in a gesture so Charles knew I wanted to see the padding. He gave it and I inspected. It would be very light weight so it wouldn't interfere with my playing, and it would be useful for the times when you catch quaffles and you have to catch them using your body too.
"How much is it Charles?" I asked him a bit warily. I wasn't about to pay a million galleons for the padding, much as I thought it'd be useful.
"For you my dear," Oliver begins glaring again as Charles said this, "I believe that 7 galleons is fair enough." I knew he was taking off part of the price. I wasn't an idiot.
"I'll take it. You know my size Charles," I said with a laugh. I happened to have to have large everything. I handed him the galleons and then grabbed the pads and left. Once outside I pinned Oliver to the wall next to the shop and looked up at him.
"Oliver you have every right to feel jealous, but you need to understand that I don't want anyone else. I haven't for a long time. I promise, you're the only one I want," I confided in him gently. Our lips meet in a slow and sweet kiss. Tenderly his lips caressed mine as he gently rubbed the soft insides of my wrists. Soon though, Oliver became aware of the fact that we were still outside and that time would be running short soon.
"C'mon Fallon, you've still got to buy a dress. Let me take that bag," Oliver broke away from the kiss and grabbed the bag from Quality Quidditch supplies before I had time to complain. We walked down the streets of Hogsmeade until we happened upon a formal wear shop.
"Here we are Fallon. Don't look so…depressed. You're going to have a great time and you know it, don't be sulky," Oliver ordered upon seeing my expression. I could never remain, as he put it, sulky, around Oliver.
"You're right Oliver. I mean, we both know there's more to life than Quidditch…" I trailed off and looked at him. We said together the line we said whenever anyone said there is more to life than Quidditch:
"There's just nothing that gives you the same high, and nothing so amazing." We grinned at each other and walked into the store. A sales witch was inside behind the counter. Upon seeing us enter she came over to greet us.
"Hello dears. What can I do for you today?" She asked helpfully.
"I need to buy a dress for a formal ball we've got coming up," I replied.
"Oh, well come right this way," She replied and rushed me away from Oliver. He gave me a grin and sat on a bench to wait.
"Okay dearie, what size are you?" She asked.
"Four," I replied easily. One major perk to Quidditch right there.
"Well, that makes it easier. Lets see, what colors look good on you…" She trailed of as she pulled a few dresses from a rack and held the up to me. "Definitely not gold or silver…" She muttered as she replaced them on the shelf. She help up now a red dress. A little on the dark side. "Yes, red is very good… and dark blue…and dark green and black and white," the muttering continued as she sorted through the colors.
"So, I'm thinking you should get a dark red, dark blue, dark green, black or white dress," She announced to me. "Which would you prefer?"
I thought for a moment and concluded.
"Red. I'd like to get a red dress," I said with finality. She led me to a section of the store where the red dresses hung, and she and I began to sort through them. She made suggestions or disuggestions depending on the gown.
Finally I came across a dress I adored. It was a strapless red dress. It had a white design near the middle next to a split. Beneath the split was white fabric to match the design. I tried it on and it fit perfectly, as if it had been made just for me. Odd, but I chose to ignore it.
I came out to show Oliver, but he was sitting with his back towards me. The assistant who had been helping me was waiting though, and she exclaimed loudly upon seeing me.
"Marvelous! That is the perfect dress. You simply must buy it dear," She said as she circled around me. This drew Oliver's attention and he turned to face me.
"Wow," He began as the assistant who had been helping me went to the front with the money I'd paid her. "Its perfect. Fallon, you look amazing." Then he stepped closer to me and whispered in my ear, "I can't help but imagine it gone though." I laughed quietly and replied back:
"Not that you'll get the chance to see," I countered jocularly.
"C'mon, we've got to get going or we'll be late for our next class," Oliver said. I changed back to my normal clothes and vanished the dress to my dorm. I came out of the dressing room and Oliver and I quickly jogged back to the Hogs Head and then back to Hogwarts.
I had my dress and I had Oliver. I would tell him soon enough that I was pregnant and on top of that, we were going to beat Slytherin on Sunday after the dance. My world is perfect right?
Well little did I know, the very next day, my secret would come into play…