Chapter 11
Misery
Parvati felt numb. She felt as if everything was moving in slow motion and she could hear her heart beating in her ears as she stared slightly slack jawed at the Healer who had just confirmed what Padma had been telling her all along.
"No," Parvati said, shaking her head dismissively, "You've made some kind of mistake, I'm not pregnant."
The healer gave her a sad smile and nodded, "I'm afraid you are, Mrs Nott."
"Don't call me that!" Parvati spat angrily, gripping the sides of the bed that she was lying on tightly as things that she did not want to see began to strain at the edges of her vision. Her breathing became faster as the dark shapes and memories began to seep into the corners of her mind again.
"Parvati," Padma said, pushing the Healer aside and grabbing Parvati's shoulders as she started to twitch slightly, trying to stop the memories from coming back altogether, "Parvati stay with me. Come on Par, you can fight it."
"What's wrong with her?" The healer asked cautiously.
"Like you don't know," Padma snapped, not taking her eyes off Parvati, who was starting to calm down a bit.
"No, I don't actually," the healer said coolly, obviously not impressed with Padma's tone, "Enlighten me."
Padma sighed and shook her head, "I can't, not with her in the room."
The healer suddenly seemed to understand and nodded curtly. Parvati shivered slightly as she saw the specks of black around the edges of her vision retreat. She hated that feeling of blackness and lost hope that came back to her immediately every time somebody mentioned something to do with her life with him.
"Alright, Miss Patil?" she looked at Padma for confirmation on her surname. Padma nodded once and the Healer proceeded with her results, "There is no doubt about it, you are pregnant."
Parvati shook her head stubbornly, "I'm not," she said, "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not."
"Look," the Healer said, showing Parvati an ultrasound photograph, purposely covering the name at the top with her thumb, "this is your baby."
Parvati's eyes widened at the sight of the moving ultrasound and that was when it really hit home. She was actually pregnant. She was actually going to have his baby.
"I want an abortion," she stammered. The healer looked at her in slight shock.
"I-I'm sorry?" she asked in confusion.
"I want an abortion," Parvati said, articulating every word with anger behind it.
"We can't do that," the healer said, still slightly taken aback by Parvati's abrupt request.
"Why not?" Parvati asked, looking from Padma to the healer.
"Because we can't perform an abortion when you're this far into your pregnancy, if you wanted an abortion you should've said so when you came in at eight weeks."
"I didn't come in at eight weeks!" Parvati shrieked, "You want to know why I didn't? Because I didn't even know that I was pregnant until about half an hour ago!"
"How is that even possible?" The healer asked, still confused.
"I can't do this," Parvati said, jumping down from the bed and walking out without a backwards glance. The Healer, who had no idea what was going on in the slightest turned to Padma, the look on her face demanding answers.
"Do you know the meaning of this?" The healer asked irritably. Padma nodded slightly, adjusting Isaac in her arms.
"Would you care to explain?"
Padma sighed and sat down in the chair next to the bed that Parvati had been. sitting on moments before, "She hasn't had the best year." She said simply. The healer raised an eyebrow before giving Padma a look that told her to continue, "She was forced into marrying some twat because of the marriage law between purebloods and he wasn't the nicest of men," she said, pursing her lips together, "He did something to her that caused her to be hospitalised for six months and the Healer's told me that she was pregnant as soon as they knew, but then my husband's mother died and we had to leave her with a friend who didn't know either. I think they expected me to tell him to tell her, but that didn't happen. She's had no idea until now."
"That's horrible," The healer said, "Imagine that bombshell being dropped on you after six months in hospital."
"I know," Padma said, "The only reason that I brought it up was because I thought that she knew."
"You would've had to have told her eventually," the Healer said. There was a small pause before the Healer addressed the elephant in the room, "So I'm guessing the reason that she wants this abortion so badly is because he raped her?"
Padma nodded solemnly, "Yeah."
"I wish I could give it to her," the healer said, "but we can't after she's moved into the second trimester."
Padma stood up, "I understand, I'll tell her that."
"Thank you," the Healer said, "And tell her that I'm sorry about what happened."
"I don't think it would be wise to bring that up," Padma said, "But I'll try to convey it as indirectly as possible."
The healer nodded, "Also, tell her that her options are either to keep the baby when it is born or to give it up for adoption."
Padma nodded curtly, "Okay, I'll tell her but I think I already know what she wants to do after its born."
Both Padma and the Healer exchanged a knowing look before'- Padma turned and followed her sister out into the Hallway.
When Dean arrived home to find the flat empty, his immediate thought was that Theodore had managed to escape Azkaban, had broken back into his flat and had taken Parvati, Padma and Isaac hostage in exchange for his freedom or something. But then Dean realised that he had been questioning Theodore in Azkaban only half an hour beforehand and that there was no way he could've gotten loose, swum across the ocean to the nearest land and gotten to Dean's flat in Half an hour without his wand.
"Hello?" he called, "Is anyone there?"
There was no answer. Dean's heart began to pound quickly in his chest, every horror movie that he had ever seen in his life coming back to haunt him, "Parvati, Padma? Are you here?"
There was still no answer. He reached sideways and flicked on the lights, almost blinding himself as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light that was slicing through the darkness. Squinting around the room, he saw nothing that ever suggested that Parvati and Padma were ever here. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest as he walked into the kitchen slowly, thinking that they could've been making dinner and had gone out to buy some more ingredients. Instead, he found a note.
So many different scenarios coursed through Dean's mind at the sight of the note. It could be a ransom note, or a note full of clues leading him to where Parvati and Padma were being held. He unfolded it with fumbling fingers and read it nervously.
Dean,
We've gone to St Mungo's, don't know when we'll be back. Don't worry about us and don't cook dinner, we'll get takeaway.
Padma
The relief that coursed through his veins was indescribable. He didn't even know why he had thought of any of the other stuff. It seemed so irrational now that he thought about it. He guessed that he was just paranoid after what had happened to Parvati and how Theodore had managed to find them just after asking the conductor of the knight bus for directions.
He read the note over and laughed slightly at the bit that told him not to cook dinner. He guessed that it was a dig at how much he ate cheese on toast. Secretly, he was grateful that they were getting takeaway, he was getting sick of Cheese on toast for every meal and he was the one that decided what he ate.
Sitting down on the couch he pulled out his work and began to copy out the notes that he had written when he had interviewed Theodore in Azkaban. He hadn't wanted to do it, especially after what he did to Parvati but at the same time he was curious to know what Theodore's motive behind the abuse was because nobody was just an abusive git for no reason.
He began to rewrite the notes into a transcript in order. Theodore had seemed more loopy than the last time, but had had no control over what secrets came out of his mouth, revealing everything to Dean, who was yet to make sense of the garbled words that had come out of his mouth.
Carefully, he began to write on a fresh piece of paper all of the words that had been the most hard to translate, which were probably the best kept secrets. The questions that had the most mixed up words were the ones in which Dean had asked him why he had done what he did. There was one sentence that took Dean forty five minutes to make sense of and when he finally did, he dropped his quill in shock. The sentence, when said normally read.
I saw my father do it to my mother, it's normal in a marriage isn't it?
AN: I'd love it if you could leave a review. It would make me happy.
Until Next Time
~The Original Horcrux~