Moments

I don't own anything in the HPverse

Chapter 14

Knock, knock.

My bedroom door opened before I could sit up and my dad walked in.

I had been lounging in my room since I got home because I didn't know what to say to my parents. Okay I knew what I was supposed to say, I just didn't want to say it.

"Hey" dad said as he leaned against my dresser. "You've barely spoken three words since you got off the train, and now you're hiding in your room."

"I'm not hiding" I said automatically.

Truthfully I was hiding. I was afraid one of my parents were going to ask what I've been up to and I'll respond by saying I knocked up my girlfriend. That's not really the way I want them to find out. See I figured I could go out and buy a card that says something along the lines of 'congratulations, you're going to be grandparents' and leave it for my parents to find under the Christmas tree. Of course with my track record they'd probably think it is a joke.

"Everything okay?"

"Yea, sure" I replied. "Tired that's all. Seventh year is harder than I thought it would be."

"Ah, yeah, can't really help you there. Never attended my seventh year" Dad said with a grimace.

"You were too busy out being cool" I said knowing dad didn't like to talk about the old days. "So the scouts from Puddlemere showed up for the first match versus Slytherin. I think they might try to recruit me."

"I know one of the coaches. They're a pretty good team. It would be a good fit for you" dad said.

"I hope so."

Dad isn't the type of guy who would pull strings or name drop to make sure his kids got everything they want. If I want the position I'm going to have to work for it. It's a good thing though. I wouldn't want to make a team just because my last name is Potter. I know there were rumors before I was born that the only reason why mum made the first line up so fast was because she had just married dad. It wasn't true and I'll probably have to face something similar.

"You'll make the team and you'll be good" dad said.

"Thanks"

"Of course you still have yet to break your mother's record"

"The match against Ravenclaw, be there. I'll send you a letter two weeks in advance. Bring mum. Not only am I going to break the record for most points scored during a game, I'm going to beat the record for largest landside at Hogwarts"

"Ravenclaw is that bad?"

"I'm that good" I replied.

Dad chuckled. "Ok, I'll let you go back to resting. Dinner is going to be ready in about ten minutes"

"Okay, I'll be down"

I felt a little bit bad after dad left the room. I couldn't exactly explain why. Dad never had a real family until us. He made sacrifices for me, Lily and Al, mum did too. I knew he'd be so disappointed. I was supposed to wait. You know be older, have a job, my own home, marriage, stability, all that other adult stuff. It made me wonder what kind of life I could provide for my kid. I don't have a job. Making it in the pro leagues isn't always a guarantee. Relationships don't always work. Families don't always work out the way they're supposed to.

A little over six more months to go, it seems like so far from now. But I know time will go by quickly and then…and then I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to have to be responsible for someone. Can I handle that? I can't even face my parents.

Instead of tossing my pillow over my face and screaming into it I decided to get up. I won't be able to stay in my room the whole holiday, and besides hiding out is cowardly. I'm a Gryffindor for a reason.

I went downstairs all confident. I'll just gather my parents and tell them both. I found mom in the kitchen.

"Oh hey James. Perfect timing, can you go set the table?" mom said bustling around with various food trays.

There was roast beef, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, steamed broccoli, and horseradish sauce. Mum cooked at lot, probably because it was our first day back. This looked like a mini feast.

"Sure thing" I said going to set the table.

Okay, I balked. But seriously, it wasn't like I could say it right then and there. I need to tell them both at the same time. This way dad can keep mum from cursing me. Dad will be so busy trying to keep mum from blowing a fuse that all the attention would be taken off of me. No? Yeah, that's probably not going to happen either.

"Thanks for setting the table James, can you call down your siblings?" mum asked as she set a pitcher of pumpkin juice on the table.

I walked over to the stairway. "Al, Lily, dinner's ready. You better come get some before I eat it all" I yelled up the stairs.

Mum playfully shoved me as I reentered the dining room. "I could've done that. You were supposed to go up there."

"We can't apparate in the house and I didn't feel like walking up the stairs" I said, "besides here they come."

Dad came in first. Oops, guess I forgot to call him down, but he got the memo. Dad sat down at the small mahogany table. I never understood why parents sat at the opposite ends of a table. They're a couple they should want to be together, but it's whatever.

I sat down, Lily was across from me, Al next to her, and mum was sitting opposite dad. Al and mum were talking Quidditch, Lily was trying to talk dad into letting her dye her hair. A tiny scoops owl flew into the kitchen. We all looked up. It had been a while since we received an owl at dinner time. Dad used to get letters from the ministry all the time and have to go into work for some sort of emergency.

The owl dropped a letter in my lap.

"One of your birds misses you so much already she had to send you a letter before we could have our first day of vacation?" Al sneered.

"Shut up. You're just mad because you don't have any" I replied automatically.

I ignored Al as he said "I get plenty of girls" and opened the letter.

James,

I know we agreed to meet up during the holidays but I'm going back to Hogwarts tomorrow. When I told my parents they were so angry they kicked me out of the house. They said…well they said a lot of things I'm not going to bother writing down because I know how you'll react. I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight and I'll floo back to school in the morning. Don't worry about me. I'll send you another owl when I get back to school.

Alison L.

I read the letter twice. I didn't even realize I was standing up until my mum asked "Is everything okay?"

"Not, really no" I replied. "I'll be right back."

I went into the living room tossed floo powder into the fire and barely waited for the flames to turn green as I stepped inside "The Leaky Cauldron!"

As I stepped out of the fire I quickly shook off the soot that was clinging to me. The place was kind of crowded. Not its usual lunch time rush crowded but still filled with suspicious characters. There were two men in hoods over in a corner, a weird looking old lady smoking a pipe right by the door, a drunk passed out under the table.

"Hi Mrs. Longbottom" I said to the owner/barmaid.

"Hello James, I'm surprised to see you here. What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a friend of mine who is supposed to be staying here. Her name is Alison, she's about five five brown hair, and midnight blue eyes" I tried to picture what she was wearing today, "Um I think she was wearing black jeans, a pink pigmy puff tee shirt, and white fur boots."

Mrs. Longbottom smiled, "Yeah, I think I saw a girl with that description earlier. She checked into room 403."

"Thanks" I said and I headed upstairs to the rooms.

I knocked on the door twice.

Ali came to the door looking irritated then she registered it was me and the irritation changed to surprise. "James, what—"

I cut her off by pulling her into a hug. "I shouldn't have made you talk to them alone" I muttered. Only then did she finally loosen up and hug me back.

Her hold on me tightened as she began to sob making me feel like a world class prick. I should've been there for her. She shouldn't have had to tell her parents alone. What arseholes they turned out to be. Who kicks out there barely seventeen year old, pregnant daughter?

"I will never leave you again" I muttered into her hair. I lead her into her room so we wouldn't get caught standing around crying by some weird bar creep.

I sat on the edge of a twin sized bed and pulled Alison onto my lap while she continued to cry. It lasted a few minutes.

"I'm sorry" she said, "I should've have cried like that."

"It's okay. Are you all done crying?"

"Yeah, I think"

"Okay let's grab your bags and check out of here."

"What?"

"Did you really think I'd leave you here alone in a pub, just so you could go back to school and spend Christmas alone? It was foolish of me to think that delaying in telling my parents would change anything. It's supposed to be my job, as your boyfriend, to take care of you and our baby. Instead I've been thinking about myself. So we're going to go to my house, I'll tell my parents that we're having a baby and we'll spend the holidays together. No matter what their reactions are. Okay?"

I took her a moment but then she nodded slowly, "Okay."

"Good. I'm going to shrink your bags so they're easier to carry and we'll head on out"

"Wait, I have to wash my face, fix my hair, and change clothes. I can't meet your parents looking like this."

"You look beautiful as always." I kissed the top of her head. "I'll just go down and check you out of the room."

"Okay."

I went back downstairs. The bar had cleared some.

"Did you find her?" Mrs. Longbottom asked.

"Yeah. I'm just checking out for her. She's going to spend the holidays with me after all" I said.

"Well that's good. You seem awfully smitten with her. Not that many guys remember what their girlfriends are wearing."

I blushed. "Yeah, I am."

"Good for you. Make sure you tell your parents I say hi and I hope you all have a good holiday."

"We will. Have a good holiday yourself. Make sure the professor doesn't spend his whole holiday grading papers."

Mrs. Longbottom smiled. We said our goodbyes and I headed back upstairs.

Ali was ready to go. She changed into a simple pair o f blue jeans and a red cashmere sweater.

We used the floo I came in and headed back to my house.

"James is that you?" mum called from the dining room.

"Yeah, I'm back" I called.

I squeezed Ali's hand and let her into the dining room where my family still sat. I noticed they had no problem digging in without me.

"Mum, dad, this is my girlfriend Alison. We're having a baby. She's going to be staying with us for the holidays. Ali this is my dad, Harry, you might recognize him since he's always in the papers. My mum, Ginny, she used to play for the Harpies, taught me almost everything I know about Quidditch. You probably already know the black sheep of my family, Al the snake. And my sister Lily, who you've also probably met before. Oh, and Mrs. Longbottom says hello."

Ali ducked into my shoulder blushing as my family stared.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" mum said, "It sounded to me like you said you're having a baby."

"We are" I replied. Ali turned stiff as I tried to tug her towards the empty seat at the table. I pulled on her arm. What she'd freeze up for?

"Cool I'm going to be an aunty" Lily said just as Al said, "Figures the first girl you bring home just happens to be pregnant. No offense Ali, it's not your fault your fault my brother is a dumbarse."

"Shut up" I told him.

I managed to get Ali to sit in the usually vacant seat but she still wouldn't look up and her face was red.

Rolling my eyes I said "Help yourself to anything, my parents always make more than enough."

I sat down myself and started loading my plate.

"Al, Lily, why don't the two of you go up to your rooms?" mum suggested.

"And miss all the fun?" Al sneered.

"I haven't finished eating" Lily pouted.

"Kids do as your mother tells you. You can take your plate with you" dad said in his no nonsense voice.

"Fine, but I'm taking dessert too" Al said.

My parents waited until the others cleared out to speak.

"Would you care to explain how this happened?" mum asked.

"We had sex." Ali kicked me and hid her face behind her hands.

"Don't sass your mother" dad said. "What she meant was, we didn't even know you had a girlfriend, let alone someone you were serious enough about to get intimate with."

"Seventh year has kind of been busy, I didn't get a chance to write a lot" I replied.

"You were busy enough to have sex" mum said.

"I'm sorry" Ali finally spoke up, "Mr. and Mrs. Potter neither of us intended for this to happen."

"And how do I know you're not some sleeze claiming to be pregnant with James' kid because you're looking for Potter money or fame?"

"MUM!" I said outraged, "Ali is not like that! Don't you think I'm smart enough to tell the difference between someone who cares about me versus someone who just cares about my name?"

"Calm down James, have a seat and don't raise your voice at your mother" dad said calmly.

I hadn't even realized I was standing.

I sat back down and dad continued "It is a valid question. We don't know anything about Alison. I'm not saying that she is like that, it's just the two of you are so young."

"You proposed to mum at my age" I pointed out.

"Your mother and I knew each other since I was twelve. You two barely know each other."

Did that really matter? Some people fall in love at first sight, I bet they didn't wait until they knew each other for over a decade to do it.

"I swear to you I hadn't intended on trapping your son" Alison said. "It just happened."

"It just happened" I repeated. "Ali isn't like all the other girls I know. She didn't throw herself at me. I asked her out. We started dating. We had sex. It was the heat of the moment, well moments really, cause we did it more than once"

"James we don't need details" dad inputted.

"What I'm trying to say is that we didn't think to use protection. It wasn't a trap. Ali isn't that kind of girl. It just…happened" there was no other way to say it.

"I'm going to need something stronger" dad muttered after he took a sip of his juice.

"You and me both" I muttered back causing my mother to glare at me.

"Your parents? What do they think about all this?" mum asked.

"My parents….We haven't had the best of relationships since we found out I'm a witch. They don't like magic, they don't understand it. For the past few years we've been slowly drifting apart, but I guess being pregnant was the final straw. They kicked me out…" her eyes began to water and I immediately reached up to wipe them away. "I didn't think they'd actually kick me out. I knew they'd be mad but to completely abandon me…."
I thought she got all of the crying out of her system at the Leaky. I glared at mum for making her cry as I pulled Ali into my lap. Mum returned the glare tenfold.

Mum and dad exchanged glances. Doing that weird think were parents communicate with their eyes. It's like telepathy or something. I wonder if there is a spell for that or if it's something all parents learn the moment their kid is born.

Mum sighed. Yeah! Win for dad!

Mum cleared her throat and addressed Ali for the first time. "How far along are you?"

"We're a little over two months" I said as Ali dried her eyes.

"Are you at least seventeen?"

"Yeah," Ali cleared her throat, "I had my birthday last week."

"What's with the twenty one questions?" I asked.

Mum ignored me.

"So what's your plan?"

"Plan?"

"What are the two of you going to do?"

"We're not getting rid of the baby, if that's what you mean" Ali said.

"I meant how are you going to take care of the baby? Where will you live? If you're just turning seventeen that means you're only in your sixth year you still have one more year of school left. Are you going to finish school? What about after school how do you plan on taking care of a child? Where do you plan on working? I'm not just talking to her, this is directed at you too James. The both of you are children yourselves. Have you thought about anything like that at all? The baby won't just pop out with everything he or she needs. Did the two of you even discuss any of this with each other?"

No, we hadn't thought through all of that. I mean there was still time for all the planning and stuff later right? I mean the first obstacle was to live past telling our parents. We're both alive so far, so I can say so far so good.

"Ali is going to finish school. We'll live off my Quidditch pay and trust fund. We'll get a house, dad promised he'd help me look if I got good grades."

"Where is the baby going to be while you're at work and Alison is in school?"

"I don't know."

"Do you plan on getting married?"

Ali and I looked at each other at the same time we answered "No."

"It may be acceptable for unmarried couples to have babies in the muggle world, but that's not the way it works in the wizarding world."

"Who cares if people expect us to get married?" I asked.

"Do you even realize what you're going to have to give up? You may have to give up Quidditch. She might have to give up school. You're both defiantly are definitely going to have to give up your time. You need to actually have a plan. This baby is going to be here sooner than you know it. I want you to grow up, take care of your responsibilities."

"I will" I said. "I am. I'm not running away. I could've been an asshole and said I'm not going to take apart in the kids life at all, but I didn't. We're going to figure things out together. We've still got time."

Dad took a deep breath. "How about we all cool off and take a breather? I'm sure James and Alison now have a lot to think about. It's been a long day, they did just get here. We'll pick up this conversation once we've all had time to think on it. Alison you're welcome to stay as long as you want. Please help yourself to anything, although I suggest you start with a meal. You look a bit peaky and not eating isn't healthy for the baby. I'll set up a spare bed in Lily's room."

"Why can't she stay in mine? It's not like I can get her pregnant again."

"You're not having premarital sex in my house."

When did my parents get so old fashioned? They traded looks again. It's so irritating. I wanted to know what they were thinking.

"You're on dish-duty this week James, so be sure to clean up when you two are done" mum said as she left the dining room.

Was she serious? Most of the food went uneaten. What was I supposed to do with all this?

"We are so unprepared" Ali muttered on the verge of tears again.

Is crying a side-effect of pregnancy? I wondered as I put arm around her shoulders "Don't worry. Everything will work out, I promise."