Chapter 59-The Big News
The gossip mill was flowing as Katy, Lily, and James returned from their disturbing journey to Azkaban. James remembered all the hurtful gossip Venus Adams had caused when she had been sent to Azkaban. Something of the sort seemed to be occurring once again.
Poor Halle and Sirius had tried to simmer down the false rumors, but barely prevailed. They managed to stop any serious rumors about James being sentenced to life in Azkaban for killing Cole.
Yet, Halle and Sirius had some of their own problems to face.
Trying to shake off the cold, horrendous feelings resulting from Azkaban, Lily, James, and Katy sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast; prepared to face their classes. Remus smiled at Katy, glad she had made it home safe, whilst sipping some orange juice and reading the Daily Prophet.
Sirius was performing his regular morning ritual which included inhaling every scrap of food possible on the table. Normally, Halle would just sip delicately at some coffee and talk occasionally with the others. She had never been a morning person. On that day, however, it was quite apparent that she was definitely not a morning person. There were bags under her eyes and she was stifling a yawn.
"So, did all go well with Adams?" she asked the three.
"Yeah, she took it a little-," James started to say, choosing the right words. "She took it a little more differently than expected."
"Well, that's good," Halle said.
"Halle, love, can you pass down that tray of bacon?" Sirius asked, taking a breath from his tireless work of consuming his breakfast.
Halle reached for the bacon, smelling the grease protruding from it. Her face looked slightly discolored.
"Thanks, hun," Sirius said, picking off six pieces. He looked down the table, examining what remained.
"Oh, and do you mind passing down the eggs? The sausage would be nice too," Sirius commented.
Halle looked rather disinclined to do so, but tried to anyways. When she smelled the sausage, that's when she lost it. She got up and ran out of the Great Hall.
"Did she want some of those?" Sirius asked, rather clueless as to the situation.
No one knew why exactly Halle walked out. Katy and Remus shook their heads.
"She hasn't touched any food all morning," Lily said. "I highly doubt that bit of sausage would have mattered that much to her."
"Someone should go check on her," Sirius voiced. Everyone looked at him.
"Oh, right," Sirius said, getting up and walking out to go find Halle.
He found her in the girls bathroom right outside the Great Hall. He heard her in one of the stalls, clearly vomiting.
She began coughing and leaned over the ceramic toilet when she felt his hand swoop her hair out of her face. She looked up, her eyes blotched red from crying.
"Food poisoning?" Sirius asked. "Those house elves can be mean little buggers sometimes."
"Sirius, I don't think it's food poisoning," Halle said.
"Well, why are you sitting here throwing up if it's not food poisoning? When you said the way I eat makes you sick, did you actually mean it?" he asked her.
"It's my acute sense of smell," Halle informed him, feeling fear in her own words.
"Since when did you have an acute sense of smell?" asked Sirius, leaning down to look her in the eye.
Her chocolate brown eyes hinted fear and uncertainty.
"Since I became pregnant," she said, wondering how on Earth she was going to manage this one.
"Did you know that Cole and Lily had an affair?" a girl at the Ravenclaw table asked another.
Lily and James sighed and returned to their breakfast. No matter what they did, rumors were bound to follow.
"No, that's not what I heard," another Ravenclaw countered. "I heard that Cole and Katy were in the Room of Requirement when Lily and James found them in a compromising position. The fight broke out over who got to use the room."
Katy bit her lip and blood rushed to her head. She'd had enough of all the gossip.
"Would you all please just shut up!" she shouted, standing up. All eyes were on her. Professor McGonagall looked beside herself by this bluntness. She didn't know whether to take points off or say the same thing herself. She compromised by merely pretending she didn't hear one thing Katy had said.
The Great Hall resumed to their usual chatter although they did not speak of any gossip. Katy sent reproachful looks
over to the Ravenclaw table all through breakfast. Things were a lot quieter than they would have been
normally.
"Are you sure?" asked Sirius, beside himself. His hands were in his hair and he was pacing inside the girls bathroom.
"Yes, I'm sure," Halle responded. "It's called morning sickness. That's why I'm vomiting."
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about afternoon or evening sickness," Sirius said, quite relieved.
"That's where you're wrong," Halle muttered. "Sirius, what are we going to do? We can't have a baby."
"We're going to be parents," whispered Sirius. The thought seemed to have just entered his mind.
"I'm going to pregnant while I'm at Hogwarts," Halle said. "People are bound to find out. You heard them all inside the Great Hall. They're like lepers. They derive any bit of information which can spin that hateful wheel of gossip. I can't stand to be talked about."
"That's the least of our concerns," Sirius said. How was he, Sirius Black, going to be a
dad?
Halle awoke, sweating and feeling the taste of vomit erupt inside her throat. She quickly got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She heard footsteps and felt Katy's hand hold her hair back. When Halle had finished, Katy handed her a wash cloth and a cup of water to rinse out her mouth.
"Food poisoning?" asked Katy. "Those house elves are stealth little devils, they are."
"No, not food poisoning," Halle said. She patted her stomach subconsciously and wished that it had been Sirius with her.
Katy sat down on the floor and closed the door magically with her wand.
"You're not telling me something," Katy said. She saw the look in Halle's eye that told her something had happened that was not in the plans.
"Me and Sirius-" Halle began to say. She thought and paused. "Me and Sirius are going to-"
"You're going to what, sweetie?" Katy asked.
"I'm pregnant," Halle confessed. She felt tears flow from her eyes. She couldn't stop them from pouring out.
Katy moved over to comfort her friend and wrapped her in a sisterly hug.
"Aw, Halle," Katy said, trying to calm her down. Inside, Katy was shaking as well. Her best friend was pregnant. They were so young and had just gotten married. How did they know things were going to work out?
"It's so scary," Halle said. "One minute you're just enjoying being married and the next you're carrying around another life. It's so strange and terrifying. What if I'm a bad mum?"
"We'll all be here to help you," Katy said. "That's what we're here for."
"Sirius should be here," Halle said. "I miss him."
"We're going to have to tell the others in order to work something out," Katy said.
"I don't want to go through this alone," Halle cried.
"You won't have to. You have a husband who loves you," Katy replied.
Lily and James thought of what they could do to help their friends. Sirius needed to be with Halle at this time, to help her through it.
The two of them walked to see their friends in the Gryffindor Common Room. They saw Halle and Sirius talking quietly over by the fire.
"We think you two should take the Heads room," James offered. "I'll go back to sleeping in the dorm and Lily will too. We'll say that Dumbledore requested it if any questions get asked."
"You guys need that room more than we do," Lily supplied.
"Thanks," Sirius said. "You don't know how much this means to us."
Lily heard footsteps walking up the stairs. Her first instinct was to open her eyes but the willpower did no come. She heard the footsteps grow softer and felt James slip into her bed. She smiled and opened her eyes.
"How did you get up here?" she asked, whispering so not to wake the others. James closed the curtains around the bed and snuggled up against Lily.
"Godric Gryffindor did not put enough faith in us boys," James teased. "He didn't expect for anyone to become illegal Animagi during their stay here. Let's just say that I found a way to sneak up here successfully."
They sat in silence for a few moments, comforted by the rhythms of each others breathing.
"So what do you think about Halle and Sirius?" James asked her, breaking the silence.
"I think that we made the right choice," Lily said. "I'm glad we didn't get married. It would be so awful to go through pregnancy while still in school."
"I'm glad we're waiting too," James said. "I don't know how Sirius is handling all this. If it were me, I don't know what I'd do."
"Poor Halle," Lily said. "Maybe she won't start showing until after we leave Hogwarts."
"It's not going to be easy on them," James said. "Has it ever been?"
"Who on Earth referred to this phase in pregnancy as morning sickness?" Sirius asked, holding back Halle's hair and going through the whole routine once more in the Heads bathroom.
It was at least three in the morning and Sirius had felt Halle get up. He followed her in the bathroom. He never realized how much work women had to go through during pregnancy. He hated to see his wife in such a delicate state.
"Obviously a moron," Halle said. "I wish it really was morning sickness."
"As do I, my darling," Sirius said, yawning.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go to bed."
They climbed into the bed which had customized to fit their preferences.
Halle sat awake for a few moments, scared of what the future had in mind for her. What would Dumbledore think of all this when he found out? Would he look at her differently?
How in the name of Merlin was she supposed to raise a baby? She knew absolutely nothing on how to be a parent. She began to feel tears rise in her eyes. She was scared.
She sat scared for a few minutes until she felt something that comforted her and made it seem as though everything was going to work out just fine. Sirius had slipped his arm around her waist and let his hand rest on her belly.
A/N: Everyone should have seen that one coming. I hope you liked it, although some people may not. I'd love to hear either side. Please review.