Turns out, my classes in High School—French, not Spanish. So, if my Spanish is a little off, (or a lot off,) I apologize.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I can't do the whole conjugating thing, either. Which means I can't write Spanish.

Illness

Leigh Ann Nelson
March 25, 1996, 2:32 a.m.
Officer's Quarters

My eyes opened from dead sleep and I sat up, ignoring the dizzy swirling in my head. Something is wrong. I reached over, feeling for Viktor, but he was gone. And not even a note this time. The last few times, he'd tried to leave me something so I didn't think he was leaving me. Some of them had been things like, "Gone to class, you slept in," plus a cute little Bulgarian saying that I loved. Others were not so adorable, consisting of concealed messages to tell me where he was going, but leaving me out of what he was actually doing.

Suddenly my throat burned and my stomach lurched. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the toilet, barely making it before I threw up the contents of dinner last night. It hadn't tasted too good going down, but it was even worse coming back up.

I leaned my head against the cool steel of the toilet, hoping for that round to be over with. This had happened the night before, too, and Viktor had pulled my hair out of my face and begged me to get help. I insisted I was fine. I never got sick, and when I did, it wasn't for , a person would go to the doctor, but I just felt that I was about to have a horrible period, so I kept away.

And then I realized something terrible.

I was now three weeks late on my period.

2:58 a.m.
Army Barracks

"A-Alex," I said softly, shaking her, trying to wake her from her sleep. I'd snuck out and gotten into the barracks, somehow, without the watch noticing me. I shook her silk nightgown-clad shoulder again and tried to keep quiet so I wouldn't wake anyone else up. "Alex, wake up, please."

My best friend stirred under her standard-issue wool blanket, turning over to look at me with her strange blue eyes. "¿Dios, qué tiene que una muchacha hacer para conseguir algún sueño por aquí? I'm up, I'm up!" She looked as if she were about to cuss me out, but then she saw who I was, all decked-out in my ratty t-shirt and PJ pants and all. She then saw the look on my face and she was on instant alert. "Anna? What is wrong?"

I shushed her, so as not to wake the others in the bunk. "Come with me," I said softly, grasping her hand, trying to pull her away. She fumbled, still half-asleep, trying to get out of bed and stay straight up at the same time. I pulled her all the way back to my bunk in the crisp air of March, only in our pajamas, and I closed the door to my bunk.

"What's wrong, mi amiga?" she asked softly, probably noting my green color and the slight sheen of sweat on my face. She gently caressed the side of my face, looking at me with concerned eyes as I sat down on the bed. She knelt in front of me, taking my hand.

"I…" I couldn't talk, and I was shaking. I knew what my problem was, but I didn't think that I could voice it out loud. "Do you remember what I told you, what happened after Christmas break?"

She nodded, the same look on her face. "Yes, I do, but I don't see how that matters at the—" Suddenly she stopped, and recognition dawned on her face. She gently placed her hand on my starting-to-round stomach, looking at it questionably, then looking into my eyes. "¿Usted está embarazado?" she asked in her Spanish way, looking up at me through her thick black eyelashes. "You are pregnant?"

"I-I think s-so, b-but I don't know, a-and I'm sc-scared, Alex," I said softly, finally able to cry. She moved up and sat next to me on the bed, hugging me, gently rocking me back and forth. I knew that I'd always wanted children, but a child without Viktor? While still in school? I was so confused, I just didn't know... She whispered soothing things to me in Spanish, speaking so fast and soft that I couldn't understand it, but it made me feel better all the same.

"And you aren't married," she said, slowly pulling away, grasping my hand in hers. I shook my head, no, we weren't, but I'd made love to him (multiple times, as my mind wouldn't let me forget,) and now I'd have to live with the consequences. We'd talked about it, right? What had we decided? To wait? To...what had we decided? "Where is he, amour?" she asked softly, gently smoothing down my hair with one hand, the other being crushed by one of mine.

"I-I don't know," I said, and I realized that I meant it. He hadn't been at school for ages, and I knew that I might never, ever see him again. Viktor was still gone, still fighting part-time in Bulgaria, trying to stamp down the raging battle going on up there. Every few weeks he would come back and teach for a week, and then disappear again. I would barely see him at all. He might sneak into my room and lie beside me, but he wouldn't touch me in another sexual way, not after the last time, after I'd seen into his mind and he'd seen into mine.

"And he is the only one, yes?" she asked softly, hugging me close once more. I nodded, and she sighed, gently placing a hand on my stomach. "What will you do?"

I was instantly appalled. "You think that I would get rid of him?" I asked, pulling away from her, grasping my slightly protruding stomach.

"¡No!" she exclaimed, just as appalled as I was about the subject. "No, mi amiga, I was just saying, how will you stay in the Academy? You cannot be pregnant and do PT!"

I took a deep breath, thinking about that. No, I couldn't. And it would only be a matter of time until I started showing. "I'll have to go to the nurse, get a pass."

"It would be very suspicious, if you suddenly stopped running," Alex pointed out, still stroking my hair and looking as if she were a mother with her own child. I paled at the thought, and at the thought of myself being with child. "Perhaps you should drop out, amour. It would be the only thing to do."

"No," I instantly said, shaking my head and standing up. I turned to look at my friend. She was beautiful, smart, and a good friend, but she didn't see the entire picture. "My dropping out would be the last thing he'd want." Why did it sound like we were talking about a dead man?

"You can't hide this forever, though," she insisted, reaching out to stop my pacing. But then she saw my determination, and she tried to find other things I could do. "You can go to the doctor and get excused, perhaps, or get a pass from the Headmaster. He will want to know who the baby's father is. You may get expelled, and Viktor will lose his job."

"Then I'll show them this," I said softly, moving over towards my small jewelry box, opening it, and sliding on my engagement ring. Her eyes widened at the diamond rock on my hand, surrounded by small amber stones.

She stared at it a moment, before looking up at me. "Muchacha, that is still one big rock." For some reason, I knew that she would say that. She took my hand and offered to walk down to the Medical Bay with me, and I agreed that now would be the perfect time. We both got dressed in our casual Friday wear, I in a quite baggy shirt, her in her usual sexy clothes, and snuck down to see the Doctor.

Doctor McCall had always been a slightly strange woman, with far-off eyes and a look about her that made a kid not want to be treated by her, but she really, really was a good doctor. Its just that when she adjusts her glasses and squints at reading things, you kind of don't want to have her operating on you. And her Brooklyn accent was slightly disconcerting.

"Doctor," I said softly, knocking on her door. I saw that she had left it open, and she had been working on paperwork. Being a civilian, she didn't have to wear our uniforms, but she was dressed as a doctor, at least. "Doctor McCall?"

She looked up, her blue eyes looking buggish behind her large, bottle cap glasses. "Oh, hello, dears. Is there something I can do for you, at…" She picked up an alarm clock next to her desk. "Three in the morning?"

"Its important, Doc," I said softly, playing with the engagement ring on my ring finger. "Really important."

She sat her pencil down, a note of seriousness in her eyes. "Do you know your symptoms? Muggle or wizard? How long have you experienced the symptoms?"

I felt a blush appear on my face as the doctor walked towards us, sitting me down on a table as soon as I said, "Both Muggle and wizard, I'm afraid. Its been a little over a month, the symptoms, anyways."

Her steel-blue eyes met mine, and she looked me directly in the eyes as she took my blood pressure, tested for fever. "And you think you're that far along, then?"

The blood rushed from my face, and I looked fearfully to Alex. A hard determination was on her face. "H-how did you know?" I asked, feeling horribly scared and alone.

"Middle of the night, two girlfriends, sneaking about and worried. You said both, and that it's been a month. I'm dreamy, not stupid, sweetheart." She handed me a small bottle of pills and a simple blue piece of paper. "These are your prenatal vitamins, and this is a pass to all of your physical activities. Physical activities are actually alright for the baby, but walk, instead of run, and keep it easy. Until we know how your body will react to the pregnancy, I don't want you stressing yourself. For the next month, you'll be fine with your clothing, but after that you'll have to wear regular clothes I'm afraid. You may lose your Officer status. I'd take it up with the General." That was when she noticed my ring, and she exhaled a sigh of relief. "Thank God, you're married."

"About to be," I said softly, feeling even more of a blush come to my cheeks. She seemed much more comfortable about me being pregnant now. But I knew that I had to tell her something. "Doctor-patient confidentiality, right?"

"Right."

"Lets say that the father is someone he shouldn't be," I said slowly, watching her back stiffen. "He's my fiancé, so don't worry." I added this very quickly, and her shoulders relaxed again. She was mixing some kind of potion. "But lets say that I've known him for a long time, and he works for the school…"

"Who, Viktor?" she asked softly, turning to show a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "The little devil."

"How—what? Ow!" The woman pulled a piece of my hair out and put it into the potion.

"Dear, we've all known, long before he was even hired. Don't you read a paper?"

"Of course I read the paper, I—" And that was when it hit me. I knew that Rita Skeeter hadn't posted anything, because of her and Hermione's deal. Then it could only be one person, and I'd been gone right after the Fourth… "Aunt Taylor."

"Yes, your aunt wrote an entire article on it. It was a large buzz, but then you were kidnapped, and that took over. Everyone kind of forgot, but then he applied here, and we all knew. As long as we didn't see you, you could do whatever you wanted with each other." She was saying this as if it were nothing. "Oh, poo. That means that I've lost the bet."

I was so confused, you have no idea. "What?"

"When Viktor joined the staff, we all made a bet to see how long it would be until you got engaged or showed yourself to the school, or slept with together, or all three! I thought that, you being a sensible Officer," she looked at me sternly over the top of her glasses, before turning back to her work, "that you would wait until the school year was out before you both chose to admit anything."

I turned to my best friend, hitting her in the arm. "You knew about this?"

"Well, yeah, I saw the article, but then I did not stop looking for you! Like the Doc said, we all forgot about it as soon as you were kidnapped!" She looked affronted, so I sighed and put my hand on her arm. She jerked it away. "No, muchacha, I'm upset."

"I know you looked for me the entire time, Alex, but I can't just believe that everyone knew that we were together this entire time..." I looked to the doctor, realized thing all of the teachers had been in on the bet. "So who won the bet, then?"

"The General, actually, and McCoy might have gotten some kind of second place winnings." The potion in her hand, which had previously been clear, suddenly turned pink. "Ah. Pregnant. I thought so. Damn. I lost three galleons."

I didn't know if I should be upset about the bet, or if I should be worried about being pregnant. It wasn't that I wasn't...ready, I was. I'd always wanted kids. But I'd figured that it would be planned, and not a surprise.

"We can not, and then see what happens."

I groaned and leaned my head back against the wall. How stupid am I? I practically begged to get pregnant! A lot from that night was a little hazy, mostly the conversation beforehand. So, technically, this had been planned. And it should not have been a surprise.

I'd always thought I'd be older, with a job that paid well and not just an application to work for the government. I'd always thought that I'd have a little house in the country with a wrap around porch and a swing, all painted in white and light blue. It wasn't really funny how it all seemed to change in one moment—or one night.

I'm...pregnant.

"Chica?" Alex asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Ju-u-ust peachy."

Hmm. Who could have forseen this? Me! This all leads up to the very last chapter, which I already have written. I'm not sure how many chapters are left. I know that I have at least four written ahead of time, but there still needs to be a few more added in. Don't fret! There will be more Viktor goodness to go around!