CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

SUPPORT

"You're what?" I exclaim, my mouth hanging open. She looks me straight in the eyes, still crying silently, and smiles sarcastically.

"Pregnant. Up the duff. Knocked up. Have a bun in the oven. With child. Etc etc etc." She mutters bitterly.

"But - but how?" I stutter, then realise how stupid I just sounded.

"How? Please, Lily, I'm sure you know how. Or did Mummy not teach you how babies were made? Well when a man and a wom-"

"Molly! Please be serious for a minute." I say.

"I've been serious for weeks, Lily! So forgive me if I don't want to talk about my goddammed stupid fucking life." She shouts and then bursts into tears, "I can't do this alone. I just can't!"

"You're not alone. You have all of us, your family. And what about Jack. You have him right?"

"Jack? Yeah right." She scoffs, "Three years mean shit-all to him. He has a future, a career. He can't be put off from that by a child. Not one that he doesn't even want."

"I'm sure if you told him-" Molly interrupts me.

"I already have Lily. He made himself perfectly fucking clear. At least the bastard hasn't told anyone, I guess."

"Oh Molly." I sigh, not knowing what to say.

"How ironic is it," She sobs, "That it's me that gets knocked up. Not Dom, who sleeps with more guys than the number of books she's read in her whole life. Me. "The Perfect One". What a joke, right? Dad's going to kill me. I'm - I'm supposed to -" She breaks off. I sit down on the cold, tiled floor and wrap my arm around her shoulders while she cries. By the time she's calmed down, I have a few questions.

"How long have you known?" I whisper. Whispering seems appropriate even though there's nobody around.

"The second week back at school. I hadn't had my period and I started throwing up...so pretty obvious what was going on."

"How far along are you?" I ask her.

"Well we had sex on my birthday, the 16th of August and that was our first and last time, so about 3 months, I think. I'm not really sure how these things work. I made my clothes baggier so when I get bigger it won't show as much."

"Molly you need to see a healer. What if something goes wrong?"

"I can't Lily. I can't go to the hospital wing because they'll phone my parents. And I can't leave school. I'll be fine."

"Molly...you were drinking last night at the party. That's dangerous i-"

"Woah, woah, woah Lils. I turned my firewhiskey into pumpkin juice, I'm actually quite good at spells. It seems that the only spell that I can't cast correctly is the damn contraceptive charm!" She puts her head in her hands and groans.

"Maybe it happened for a reason. Like ...fate?" I say, without thinking. She looks at me, rage evident on her face. Note-to-self - never piss off a hormonal, emotional and pregnant girl.

"Fate? What kind of sick, twisted fate would land me with a child when I'm still a child myself?! What possible reason would there be, please inform me Lily. Because I'm 17 years old! I'm a prefect. I get perfect grades and I've never had a detention. My parents are proud of me, my teachers adore me and I have - had - a great career ahead of me. I could have done anything. I even waited 3 years before having sex with my boyfriend. I did everything right, I did-" I put my arm around her again and hug her tightly, despite her attempts to shake me off.

"I'm sorry Molly. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry this is happening to you." I whisper. She shakes her head on my shoulders.

"I know. Me too. Thanks for being here. You won't tell anyone right?" She asks me.

"Of course not. But you have to tell them. Preferably before you get huge."

"I know, I know." She nods, more to herself than me, "I'll tell everyone at Christmas, when we go home. It'll ruin everyone's holidays probably, but I guess I have to."

"Yeah. Listen, do you want me to stay with you? We can go to your dorm or something. But either way, we should probably get off this floor. It's dirty and freezing and we'll probably catch something." I laugh, the atmosphere suddenly cheerier.

"No it's fine. I think I want to be alone. Thanks for sitting with me though. You know I'm here for you too, right Lils?"

"Yeah. Oh guess what happened at lunch."

"What?" She asks, curious.

"Fred and Roxie had a massive fight. Screaming at each other ... well, mostly just Roxie. Do you know what's ging on with her?" I tell her, hoping that she'll feel better knowing that everyone else is having problems too.

"No. I don't really know much of what's been going on with anyone. I guess I've been pretty self-involved recently." She sighed.

"Well, you do have a pretty good reason to be."

"Yes, but still. I'm the oldest, I'm supposed to look after all of you. And look at you, wasting your Saturday afternoon babysitting you."

"I would hardly call it "wasting my afternoon". You needed someone to lean on. I was here." I smiled supportively.

"How did you know I was here anyway?" She asks me.

"Sara Becket told me. She heard you crying."

"The muggle-born Slytherin?"

"Yeah. She won't tell anybody else though. She's quite nice."

"Ok. Well, I'm gonna go have a nap. I'm so tired all the time. With being pregnant, prefect duties and trying to stay on top of all my work, I'm so exhausted."

"Ok. Bye Molly." I give her a quick hug and we part ways.