Chapter 3: Twists and turns of fate

Fighting a wave of dizziness that passed over her, Iris allowed herself to be escorted back down the stairs of Dumbledore's office and up yet another flight to the hospital wing.

"And what is your name dear?" asked Madame Pomfrey, closing the door and bustling down the aisle towards her office.

"Erm, Cassandra--Cassie... Pearl," she said, choosing the name of her best friend in nursery school.

"Well, Cassie, you're Professor Pearl now," the elder lady pointed out as she swept back up the aisle rolling a screen ahead of her. "Now, if you'll step behind this we'll see what's what. Have you had anything unusual you've noticed? Any symptoms at all?"

"A little light-headed, a little dizzy, but that's about it. And it may well be a combination of nerves and not having an appetite. Other than that, nothing. Really."

Iris, mentally noting that she would have to start answering to a whole new name now, secretly hoped the questioning did not press much further. She had already lived through enough and then relived it again all in the same day; she did not know if she could bear having to do it again. Nevertheless, when the nurse pressed on her abdomen she felt a flicker of fear as the nausea slid over her again and Madame Pomfrey knitted her brows.

"Oh dear, my girl. It seems you might be pregnant. I'll just do a quick charm to see if I'm right."

"Sure," was the numb response.

"Probare graviditas" she said, tapping her wand on Cassie's belly. Cassie gasped as not only the wand tip, but also her belly glowed gold. Again she felt tears welling up that she struggled to fight back, knowing the full import of what she had seen.

"I'm sorry, dear, I take it this was not planned."

Cassie could do nothing but shake her head. Clearing her throat, Madame Pomfrey continued.

"Then I feel I must tell you that you do have options to consider, though none of them are available here. You can, if you choose, have the child, and there are any number of homes to be found for a child--or, should you choose not to have it, there are any number of trained healers at St. Mungo's who could help you there. You'll want to see them either way, though. Should you decide to continue with the pregnancy, you will need pre-natal care.

"Mmm."

"But there's plenty of time for that and much to do in the meantime. Let's get you settled in for now. There seems to be nothing else amiss, and a good peppermint tea with just a pinch of ginger will soothe the tummy troubles. I'll have some sent right up to your room. Now up you get."

Cassie couldnt help but think that some of the brusqueness had to do with the fact that she was clearly unmarried. Discounting her escort's curtness though, her overriding feeling was that Malfoy had somehow reached out and delivered a stunning blow from beyond the grave. It occurred to her how lucky she was that he had not found out about her condition as well. But what in the sweet hell was she going to do with his bastard child? There was no question. She did not want to keep it.

Once she was shown to her room, having explained to Madame Pomfrey the meaning of the password (Fruit Loops)and left to a relieved silence, she took her time exploring the suite-sized chambers that were now hers. The biggest shock of all though was meeting herself face-to-face in the carved mirror over what had to have been a Rococo period vanity. There, staring back was the face she was used to, yet with so many subtle changes that she hardly recognized it. Her nose seemed shorter, hair lighter and certainly longer, lips fuller and face thinner. Yet with so many minute touches, she doubted even her family would know her. The biggest surprise, so to speak, was that her breasts seemed to be back down to their normal size.

It never ends, she mused to herself, shaking her head and reflecting on all the events of the day. "Well no more backaches at least."

"That's the spirit," replied her vanity mirror, shocking her into silence.

Moving back into the bathroom, she was excited to find while wondering aloud how she would get the bath water to run that she need only say the word "bath" before water started running out of the spout at a perfect temperature. Sighing in deep contentment, she slipped out of her new robes and into the warm suds. Thinking through everything she had done and seen in only a few hours, her life seemed suddenly surreal. Worse yet, she tried to picture herself with a child of frost blond hair and ice eyes. She was sure it would be her own kind of unjust scarlet letter, having people see her and know. To know what had happened to her and from where that child had come. Despite the bath and its warmth, Cassie felt chilled and dirty. She had to do something, but could she trust St. Mungo's? Enough of that for now. Madame Pomfrey was right on one thing, she did have time to consider options and go with the best one. If there was one thing she was good at, Cassie reminded herself, it was planning. It had gotten her this far at least. Resigned for now, she climbed out of the tub, which drained automatically and put on the robe hanging on a nearby rack. Crawling onto the bed, she curled up within minutes and fell into a fitful sleep full of memories.

In the week and a half that followed, Cassie met most of the rest of the faculty. Earthy Professor Sprout, who turned out to be somewhat of a gossip, filled her in on the goings-on and backgrounds of everyone, including herself. She and Hagrid seemed to be the earliest risers in the castle, and nearly always met at breakfast. One day, on discovering the library, she met not only Madame Pince, but Professor Trelawney as well, flitting about the divination section. It was the realization that Trelawney was obviously not leaving her lesson plans up to the Fates that finally got Cassie working on her own.

What in the world did one teach magical children about non-magical society? Where did one begin? In the end, she decided to keep things simple, especially for the first weeks of the term. The first few years of students would get a day-in-the-life lesson, while older students would have a chance to ask her questions on life as a muggle. Eventually with those classes she could move into more abstract aspects of Muggle life, such as politics, religions, relationships and so on. Younger students could learn about less dense subjects: vacations (Disneyland!), travel, games, occupations...the more she thought, the more excited she got planning.

So caught up was she in her lesson plans and poring over Professor Burbage's work from previous years, that she was surprised to have a note materialize on her desk one day with a familiar purple script:

Have just returned, and at present am preparing to searches underway for such objects as we discussed on your arrival. I would appreciate your meeting me in my office this evening at 8 sharp. PS-I am currently enjoying Licorice Snaps."

"And so it begins," she said aloud.

"As always," replied the mirror sighing.