Disclaimer: *shuffles onto the screen* I don't own Harry Potter, or any of
his classmates or other associates. I do, however, own the phrasing of the
words and the plot. *whips out a big stick* Mine! Back off!
AN: Be warned: I don't really intend to update this story anytime soon. I'm only putting it up to see what kind of response I get to it. I have other stories I have to writing at the moment and RL to deal with. Basically, I just want to know if this is an idea I should pursue or if I should drop it like yesterday's whore. Either way, the title WILL change...
"You knew I was a wizard! You knew this might happen!"
"Yes! I knew intellectually, but nobody ever expects such things to happen to them!"
"So now that it has, you're just going to abandon me? You're just going to up and walk away?"
"It was never meant to last! We were both meant to go back to school at the end of summer and forget it ever happened!"
"Yeah well, that might have worked for you, but it never would have for me. Especially not now. Being pregnant's not exactly something you forget about...."
"Terminate it."
"No."
"Harry...."
"No! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The Boy Who Lived can't turn up at a wizarding hospital asking for an abortion. And it's not like I could go to a Muggle doctor here in London. Or did it escape your notice that I'm male?"
"Harry."
"No."
"Harry, it wouldn't be -"
"No!"
"You know you can't keep it!"
"Why not? Why can't I keep it? Because you don't want it?"
"It's not practical."
"What's that got to do with it? This is my child we're talking about. I'm not going to give up on it because it's not 'practical'. If you don't want it, or me, then fine! Bugger off. Go screw some other poor boy. Preferably some other.... some muggle. At least you won't be able to screw up his life by getting him pregnant.
"I'll raise my child on my own."
"Harry -"
"Oh don't worry. I'll be sure to tell my child who the bastard is that fathered him. That way he'll be able to spit on you if he ever has the misfortune of meeting you."
"I don't think you should do this."
"You can't stop me."
* * * * *
Harry felt like crying.
It was ten to eleven on September the first, he was standing outside King's Cross station, Hedwig was making a god-awful racket in her cage, the taxi driver was demanding double payment for putting up with her, and his trunk was stuck.
Harry blinked hard. He refused to succumb to tears again. It seemed like that was all he had been doing since....
He refused to even think about it.
He swore at Hedwig - something he never did, but it worked; the owl was so surprised, her beak clacked shut and she blinked her large yellow eyes at him. Harry shoved a wad of money into the taxi driver's hand, not knowing and not caring how much was there. He set one foot on the rear fender of the car, leant into the boot, took hold of one handle on his trunk and pulled with all his might.
The trunk stubbornly refused to budge for a moment, but then with a screech it came free and Harry went tumbling backwards, the trunk sliding down after him. Harry had only the presence of mind to flip over onto his front, wrapping both arms about his stomach before the heavy trunk settled painfully on his back.
Harry let out a dry sob of relief. At least his child was unharmed. But now he was stuck and the Hogwarts Express left in seven minutes. Another sob followed, this one of frustration.
"Harry!"
From his prone position pinned to the ground, Harry looked up. He thought there had never been a sweeter sight. Racing towards him were his two best friends, followed closely by their partners. Harry grinned weakly up at them.
Ron and Draco immediately hauled the trunk off Harry's back and Hermione helped him to his feet.
"Fashionably late as always I see, Potter," Draco drawled.
Hermione swatted her boyfriend on the arm, "Draco!"
The blonde Slytherin smirked at her and she rolled her eyes. Ron snorted, "Can't you two flirt later?"
Ron received a swat from his own girlfriend for that.
"We don't have time for this," Blaise said, "the train leaves in five minutes."
She snatched up Hedwig's cage and hurried back into the bustling London station. Ron and Draco lugged Harry's trunk between them and Hermione and Harry brought up the rear.
They made it onto Platform 9 ¾ with barely a minute to spare. The Platform was quickly emptying of students and the five of them had to shove through the parents fare-welling their children to reach the train. Harry's trunk was stowed in a baggage rack and the group turned towards the front of the train.
Harry caught Hermione's arm, "Can we not sit in the Prefects' car?"
Hermione paused, "Harry, we're supposed to. Especially since I'm Head Girl and you're -"
"I know," Harry cut her off, "It's just that there's something I want to speak to you guys about, and I don't want to do it where the other prefects can hear us."
Hermione shared a glance with the others, who all shrugged. She turned back to Harry, "Okay you win."
Harry smiled gratefully and turned to the opposite end of the train.
All the compartments they passed were filled with babbling students. There were none left empty. Draco remedied this however. At the end of the last car, there was a compartment that held only two first years. Draco went in, sat down and glared at the pair until they fled the compartment.
He smirked as the others filed in after him and received another swat from Hermione, "Draco! That was horrible!"
Draco pulled his girlfriend down onto his lap, "It worked though, didn't it?"
Hermione crossed her arms primly and glared at Draco. Ron snorted and allowed Blaise to push him down opposite the other pair and perch on his lap. Harry suppressed a twinge of long as he claimed a seat against the window. He sighed and leant his head against the glass.
He was happy for his friends, he really was. It was just that, coming so soon on the heels of his.... break-up?.... it hurt to see them so happy. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had long ago gotten over their mutual animosity. They had been forced to when Dumbledore had instigated a scheme forcing the students to work together.
He had literally stranded a dozen different groups of students in the wilderness and told them that they wouldn't find their way out until they learnt to work together. Naturally, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had been paired up with Draco, Greg Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Blaise Zabini. It had taken them three weeks to learn to work together and they were the last group back to Hogwarts.
But Dumbledore's scheme had worked, and the group was friends from that point on. That had been halfway through the fifth year. Almost a year later Ron and Blaise had started dating, and Draco had asked Hermione out at the Yule Ball that year.
Harry had gone through three boyfriends in the time his four friends had been together. Well, four if he was forced to count....
Harry sighed and thumped his head against the cold glasses. He'd be damned if he'd let that *bastard* make him cry again.
"Harry?" said Blaise.
He looked up.
"'What did you want to talk to us about?"
Harry glanced at the still open door. Hermione sighed, fished her wand from her pocket and cast a locking and silencing charm over the compartment, "Is that better?"
Instead for answering, Harry withdrew a small object from his pocket. He turned it over and over in his hands while his friends waited for him to speak. He ran a thumb over the words carved into the front of the badge.
Finally growing impatient, Ron said, "Harry?"
The green-eyed boy looked from Ron to Draco and back again. He held out the badge to either of them, "I think one of you should have this."
"You can't be serious, Potter!" Draco exclaimed. Ron just gaped at him.
"Harry, that's your Head Boy badge! You can't just give it away," Hermione protested.
When neither boy made any move to take the badge from Harry, he let it drop in his lap. His hand rested unconsciously against his still flat stomach.
"I don't think I should be Head Boy this year," he murmured, not looking at his friends, "It's too much additional responsibility. I'll have more important things to worry about."
Predictably, it was Hermione who said, "What could be more important than being Head Boy? It's a great honour, Harry and not one you give up for the sake of Quidditch!"
Harry's hand tightened involuntarily over his stomach. He refused to meet Ron's eyes, "That's another thing. I have to give up Quidditch," he glanced up and smiled wryly at Draco, "that should make it easy for you, Draco."
"What?!" Ron exploded, "Harry, we need you on the team! Without you, Draco'll catch the snitch every time. What could be important enough to make you quit the team?"
Harry looked up now and squarely met his friends' eyes, "I'm pregnant."
He continued on as his friends gaped at him, "I'm about a month along now, so it'll be due around Easter. That means I can't fly all year, but the team should be all right, Ron. You should consider Dennis Creevey as my replacement. I've seen him playing with a practice snitch and he's pretty good.
"And I don't think I'll be up to taking care of the duties of Head Boy, what with being pregnant and having to study for the N.E.W.Ts and all. Actually, I was considering not even being a prefect, but I don't know yet. I'll have to talk to Dumbledore when we get to school...." Harry knew he was babbling, but he didn't seem to be able to control his mouth.
Hermione slid off Draco's lap and went to sit next to Harry, taking one of his trembling hands in her own, "That's wonderful, Harry. It probably wasn't the best idea to fall pregnant just before your seventh year, but it's still wonderful."
Harry stopped babbling and smiled tentatively at Hermione. She smiled back and squeezed his hand lightly. He looked around at the other three. Draco and Ron were still gaping at him, rather shocked expressions on their faces, but Blaise was smiling at Harry. She slid off Ron's lap and came to kneel at Harry's feet. She reached out a hand, but stopped just short of Harry's stomach and looked up at him.
"May I?"
Surprised, Harry nodded, "I'm not showing yet, though."
Blaise smiled and rested her hand on Harry's midriff, "I know, but you can still sense the baby if you're very gentle. I remember sensing my aunt's baby when she was only three weeks pregnant."
Harry blinked, "I thought I was imagining it."
Blaise shook her head and concentrated on Harry's unborn child, "Oh no. You weren't imagining it. Here, put your hand next to mine."
Harry rested his hand beside Blaise's on his stomach. He felt a very slight, but very definite tingle of warmth in the palm of his hand, clearer than anything he had felt before. He gasped softly and shared a smile with Blaise.
Beside him, Hermione whispered, "May I feel it?"
Instead of replying, Harry drew her hand onto his midriff as well, and pressed it to the tingling presence of his unborn child. She gasped.
Suddenly, there were two more hands resting on his stomach as Draco and Ron tried to sense the child as well.
"Wow," Ron whispered in quiet awe.
"That's incredible," Draco agreed.
The five of them sat there like that, gently basking in the warmth of Harry's baby, until the train rocked and interrupted their semi-trance. Draco, Ron and Blaise reclaimed their seats and Hermione sat back in hers. She smiled again at Harry.
"Who's the father?" she asked innocently.
Harry blanched and looked away.
Hermione rested a hand on Harry's shoulder and sat forward anxiously, "Harry?"
Harry stared steadfastly out the window, watching the countryside hurtle by, "Jason Phillips. He was a muggle."
'Was?' queried Draco.
"He didn't.... Did he?" asked Ron.
"Die? Hah," Harry snorted derisively and turned away from the window, letting his friends see the stark expression on his face, "No such luck."
"Then what happened?" Blaise asked.
Harry's hand drifted back to his stomach, "He left me when he found out that I was pregnant. He said it wasn't meant to last, that we were both meant to go back to school and forget all about it."
"Oh, Harry," murmured Blaise.
Hermione wrapped an arm about his shoulders and Harry let his head rest against her.
Neither Ron nor Draco spoke. They didn't know what to say.
TBC at a later date.
AN: Sorry about the fact that I'm not going to update for a while. I was really feeling down about my other works and I needed something fresh and new, and - hopefully - lots of wonderful reviews.
*is sinking into a morass of self-doubt*
The doctors told me the only cure was a hefty shot of reviews. Please help me! I'm too young to die!
AN: Be warned: I don't really intend to update this story anytime soon. I'm only putting it up to see what kind of response I get to it. I have other stories I have to writing at the moment and RL to deal with. Basically, I just want to know if this is an idea I should pursue or if I should drop it like yesterday's whore. Either way, the title WILL change...
"You knew I was a wizard! You knew this might happen!"
"Yes! I knew intellectually, but nobody ever expects such things to happen to them!"
"So now that it has, you're just going to abandon me? You're just going to up and walk away?"
"It was never meant to last! We were both meant to go back to school at the end of summer and forget it ever happened!"
"Yeah well, that might have worked for you, but it never would have for me. Especially not now. Being pregnant's not exactly something you forget about...."
"Terminate it."
"No."
"Harry...."
"No! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The Boy Who Lived can't turn up at a wizarding hospital asking for an abortion. And it's not like I could go to a Muggle doctor here in London. Or did it escape your notice that I'm male?"
"Harry."
"No."
"Harry, it wouldn't be -"
"No!"
"You know you can't keep it!"
"Why not? Why can't I keep it? Because you don't want it?"
"It's not practical."
"What's that got to do with it? This is my child we're talking about. I'm not going to give up on it because it's not 'practical'. If you don't want it, or me, then fine! Bugger off. Go screw some other poor boy. Preferably some other.... some muggle. At least you won't be able to screw up his life by getting him pregnant.
"I'll raise my child on my own."
"Harry -"
"Oh don't worry. I'll be sure to tell my child who the bastard is that fathered him. That way he'll be able to spit on you if he ever has the misfortune of meeting you."
"I don't think you should do this."
"You can't stop me."
* * * * *
Harry felt like crying.
It was ten to eleven on September the first, he was standing outside King's Cross station, Hedwig was making a god-awful racket in her cage, the taxi driver was demanding double payment for putting up with her, and his trunk was stuck.
Harry blinked hard. He refused to succumb to tears again. It seemed like that was all he had been doing since....
He refused to even think about it.
He swore at Hedwig - something he never did, but it worked; the owl was so surprised, her beak clacked shut and she blinked her large yellow eyes at him. Harry shoved a wad of money into the taxi driver's hand, not knowing and not caring how much was there. He set one foot on the rear fender of the car, leant into the boot, took hold of one handle on his trunk and pulled with all his might.
The trunk stubbornly refused to budge for a moment, but then with a screech it came free and Harry went tumbling backwards, the trunk sliding down after him. Harry had only the presence of mind to flip over onto his front, wrapping both arms about his stomach before the heavy trunk settled painfully on his back.
Harry let out a dry sob of relief. At least his child was unharmed. But now he was stuck and the Hogwarts Express left in seven minutes. Another sob followed, this one of frustration.
"Harry!"
From his prone position pinned to the ground, Harry looked up. He thought there had never been a sweeter sight. Racing towards him were his two best friends, followed closely by their partners. Harry grinned weakly up at them.
Ron and Draco immediately hauled the trunk off Harry's back and Hermione helped him to his feet.
"Fashionably late as always I see, Potter," Draco drawled.
Hermione swatted her boyfriend on the arm, "Draco!"
The blonde Slytherin smirked at her and she rolled her eyes. Ron snorted, "Can't you two flirt later?"
Ron received a swat from his own girlfriend for that.
"We don't have time for this," Blaise said, "the train leaves in five minutes."
She snatched up Hedwig's cage and hurried back into the bustling London station. Ron and Draco lugged Harry's trunk between them and Hermione and Harry brought up the rear.
They made it onto Platform 9 ¾ with barely a minute to spare. The Platform was quickly emptying of students and the five of them had to shove through the parents fare-welling their children to reach the train. Harry's trunk was stowed in a baggage rack and the group turned towards the front of the train.
Harry caught Hermione's arm, "Can we not sit in the Prefects' car?"
Hermione paused, "Harry, we're supposed to. Especially since I'm Head Girl and you're -"
"I know," Harry cut her off, "It's just that there's something I want to speak to you guys about, and I don't want to do it where the other prefects can hear us."
Hermione shared a glance with the others, who all shrugged. She turned back to Harry, "Okay you win."
Harry smiled gratefully and turned to the opposite end of the train.
All the compartments they passed were filled with babbling students. There were none left empty. Draco remedied this however. At the end of the last car, there was a compartment that held only two first years. Draco went in, sat down and glared at the pair until they fled the compartment.
He smirked as the others filed in after him and received another swat from Hermione, "Draco! That was horrible!"
Draco pulled his girlfriend down onto his lap, "It worked though, didn't it?"
Hermione crossed her arms primly and glared at Draco. Ron snorted and allowed Blaise to push him down opposite the other pair and perch on his lap. Harry suppressed a twinge of long as he claimed a seat against the window. He sighed and leant his head against the glass.
He was happy for his friends, he really was. It was just that, coming so soon on the heels of his.... break-up?.... it hurt to see them so happy. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had long ago gotten over their mutual animosity. They had been forced to when Dumbledore had instigated a scheme forcing the students to work together.
He had literally stranded a dozen different groups of students in the wilderness and told them that they wouldn't find their way out until they learnt to work together. Naturally, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had been paired up with Draco, Greg Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Blaise Zabini. It had taken them three weeks to learn to work together and they were the last group back to Hogwarts.
But Dumbledore's scheme had worked, and the group was friends from that point on. That had been halfway through the fifth year. Almost a year later Ron and Blaise had started dating, and Draco had asked Hermione out at the Yule Ball that year.
Harry had gone through three boyfriends in the time his four friends had been together. Well, four if he was forced to count....
Harry sighed and thumped his head against the cold glasses. He'd be damned if he'd let that *bastard* make him cry again.
"Harry?" said Blaise.
He looked up.
"'What did you want to talk to us about?"
Harry glanced at the still open door. Hermione sighed, fished her wand from her pocket and cast a locking and silencing charm over the compartment, "Is that better?"
Instead for answering, Harry withdrew a small object from his pocket. He turned it over and over in his hands while his friends waited for him to speak. He ran a thumb over the words carved into the front of the badge.
Finally growing impatient, Ron said, "Harry?"
The green-eyed boy looked from Ron to Draco and back again. He held out the badge to either of them, "I think one of you should have this."
"You can't be serious, Potter!" Draco exclaimed. Ron just gaped at him.
"Harry, that's your Head Boy badge! You can't just give it away," Hermione protested.
When neither boy made any move to take the badge from Harry, he let it drop in his lap. His hand rested unconsciously against his still flat stomach.
"I don't think I should be Head Boy this year," he murmured, not looking at his friends, "It's too much additional responsibility. I'll have more important things to worry about."
Predictably, it was Hermione who said, "What could be more important than being Head Boy? It's a great honour, Harry and not one you give up for the sake of Quidditch!"
Harry's hand tightened involuntarily over his stomach. He refused to meet Ron's eyes, "That's another thing. I have to give up Quidditch," he glanced up and smiled wryly at Draco, "that should make it easy for you, Draco."
"What?!" Ron exploded, "Harry, we need you on the team! Without you, Draco'll catch the snitch every time. What could be important enough to make you quit the team?"
Harry looked up now and squarely met his friends' eyes, "I'm pregnant."
He continued on as his friends gaped at him, "I'm about a month along now, so it'll be due around Easter. That means I can't fly all year, but the team should be all right, Ron. You should consider Dennis Creevey as my replacement. I've seen him playing with a practice snitch and he's pretty good.
"And I don't think I'll be up to taking care of the duties of Head Boy, what with being pregnant and having to study for the N.E.W.Ts and all. Actually, I was considering not even being a prefect, but I don't know yet. I'll have to talk to Dumbledore when we get to school...." Harry knew he was babbling, but he didn't seem to be able to control his mouth.
Hermione slid off Draco's lap and went to sit next to Harry, taking one of his trembling hands in her own, "That's wonderful, Harry. It probably wasn't the best idea to fall pregnant just before your seventh year, but it's still wonderful."
Harry stopped babbling and smiled tentatively at Hermione. She smiled back and squeezed his hand lightly. He looked around at the other three. Draco and Ron were still gaping at him, rather shocked expressions on their faces, but Blaise was smiling at Harry. She slid off Ron's lap and came to kneel at Harry's feet. She reached out a hand, but stopped just short of Harry's stomach and looked up at him.
"May I?"
Surprised, Harry nodded, "I'm not showing yet, though."
Blaise smiled and rested her hand on Harry's midriff, "I know, but you can still sense the baby if you're very gentle. I remember sensing my aunt's baby when she was only three weeks pregnant."
Harry blinked, "I thought I was imagining it."
Blaise shook her head and concentrated on Harry's unborn child, "Oh no. You weren't imagining it. Here, put your hand next to mine."
Harry rested his hand beside Blaise's on his stomach. He felt a very slight, but very definite tingle of warmth in the palm of his hand, clearer than anything he had felt before. He gasped softly and shared a smile with Blaise.
Beside him, Hermione whispered, "May I feel it?"
Instead of replying, Harry drew her hand onto his midriff as well, and pressed it to the tingling presence of his unborn child. She gasped.
Suddenly, there were two more hands resting on his stomach as Draco and Ron tried to sense the child as well.
"Wow," Ron whispered in quiet awe.
"That's incredible," Draco agreed.
The five of them sat there like that, gently basking in the warmth of Harry's baby, until the train rocked and interrupted their semi-trance. Draco, Ron and Blaise reclaimed their seats and Hermione sat back in hers. She smiled again at Harry.
"Who's the father?" she asked innocently.
Harry blanched and looked away.
Hermione rested a hand on Harry's shoulder and sat forward anxiously, "Harry?"
Harry stared steadfastly out the window, watching the countryside hurtle by, "Jason Phillips. He was a muggle."
'Was?' queried Draco.
"He didn't.... Did he?" asked Ron.
"Die? Hah," Harry snorted derisively and turned away from the window, letting his friends see the stark expression on his face, "No such luck."
"Then what happened?" Blaise asked.
Harry's hand drifted back to his stomach, "He left me when he found out that I was pregnant. He said it wasn't meant to last, that we were both meant to go back to school and forget all about it."
"Oh, Harry," murmured Blaise.
Hermione wrapped an arm about his shoulders and Harry let his head rest against her.
Neither Ron nor Draco spoke. They didn't know what to say.
TBC at a later date.
AN: Sorry about the fact that I'm not going to update for a while. I was really feeling down about my other works and I needed something fresh and new, and - hopefully - lots of wonderful reviews.
*is sinking into a morass of self-doubt*
The doctors told me the only cure was a hefty shot of reviews. Please help me! I'm too young to die!