Troublesome

I lied some what. I said that the rest of the story would be told from Evelyn's point of view and it probably won't be all her. A plethora of other characters will come in to play as well. I was extremely tired when I finished writing that last chapter and posted it. I wasn't exactly proud of it, I couldn't find any inspiration but this next chapter is very inspired. Anyway, as always, read and review.


Evelyn’s eyes searched the street before her, trying to decipher which building it was she needed to go to. It hadn’t been very long ago since she’d been down this street but yet it seemed like a lifetime.

Muggle London was confusing, but she knew how to read a map well enough to get her where she needed to go. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and read the address once more and stuffed it back into her pocket. Her eyes found a small brick building that seemed separated from the rest of the street. The numbers read the same as they had a year previously. She was definitely in the right place.

She approached the doors, took in a deep breath and pushed the button off to the side of the door. The red light above the button flashed and Evelyn leaned in close to it.

“My name is Evelyn Hewitt, I called earlier today to make an appointment?” she said, her voice almost a whisper. She was frightened, the place always had that effect on her but it was even more forbidding now because she had no idea what to expect.

The door gave an audible click and Evelyn hurried to open it before it shut her out.

The lobby was friendly enough, but the people who occupied it seemed sad and lost. Of course, Evelyn was lost her self, but these people seemed almost sleazy. There was a girl who couldn’t have been more than fourteen sitting next to an angry looking woman who Evelyn assumed was her mother. Evelyn smiled slightly at the girl but the girl looked down at her feet, tears pouring from her eyes.

Evelyn approached the counter and the woman behind the glass slid the window open and handed her a clip board with out looking at her.

“Fill them out, and bring them back when you’re done. One of our staff will see you shortly,” the woman said, her voice sounding dull and bored.

Evelyn searched around for a seat, but the only available one was next to the angry looking mother. The chairs were made out of hard plastic and were uncomfortable. Evelyn took off her sweater and sat it down to make a cushion for herself and began to look over the forms. There were all the standard questions, her name, her date of birth, family medical history and all that stuff but the questions soon tapered off into the nitty gritty, personal questions that Evelyn had a hard time answering.

What is the purpose of your visit?

How long have you been sexually active?

Have you ever been pregnant before?

What is your martial status?

When was the date of your last menstrual cycle?

She could not answer any of these questions directly. She was nervous and she wondered if they kept all of this on file for ever.

She went to fill out the first questions but realized she had nothing to write with. She turned to the mother beside her.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, but do you have something I could write with?”

The woman looked at her for a second, her dour expression gone. She looked almost sad, but her expression was more lost than anything. She patted Evelyn’s hand with her shaking hand. Evelyn noticed that her hands were warm and sweaty, but friendly despite how upset she seemed to be.

“Of course dear,” she said, smiling slightly and began to rummage around in a big black bag that stood at her feet and produced a pen. She handed it to Evelyn. Evelyn began to fill out the forms, one by one, still not sure why she was there.

“Does your mother know you’re here, dear?” The woman sitting next to her was staring at the forms and once Evelyn looked up, she took Evelyn’s hands in her own. “Your mother loves you, dear, she needs to know. My daughter didn’t tell me anything until it was too late,” the woman inclined her head to the crying teenager sitting next to her and at a closer glance, Evelyn could see the girl had a sizeable bump on her abdomen.

“Beg pardon?” Evelyn stuttered, not really sure what else to say.

“God loves you, please, darling, please don’t get rid of that blessing in your womb. It isn’t God’s will. Keep your child, darling. It’s a living being just like you and just like me. You wouldn’t kill me would you?”

“I’m not…I’m just…”

The woman’s sour expression returned.

“You can’t fool me and you can’t fool God.”

It was lucky for Evelyn that a nurse dressed in whites came through a swinging door and announced a name. The woman and her daughter stood up and followed the nurse through the door. Evelyn was so disturbed by the woman’s words that she barely managed to fill out the form and give it back to the lady behind the glass.

Two weeks until she was due back at Hogwarts. She needed to find a solution by then. She still wasn’t sure why she was here and had a hard time explaining it to the nurse who took her blood pressure, listened to her heart beat in the dimly lit examination room.

“I haven’t gotten my cycle since last March,” Evelyn started to explain to the nurse who stared at her like she was dumb. “I thought it could possibly be because of something that happened.”

“Like what?” The nurse said as she leaned against a cabinet, her arms folded across her chest.

“Well, last summer I came in and had…” Evelyn still had trouble saying it. “…an abortion and I thought that perhaps it messed something up down there.”

The nurse surveyed her for a few seconds with an accusing stare and Evelyn wished she was elsewhere.

“Evelyn, I can assure you that our procedure of fetus removal is almost one hundred percent safe, not to say that it’s completely safe, but I’d say about ninety five percent. There is that possibility and I will let you speak with a doctor but I think we need to rule out a few other possibilities before we jump the gun and assume that you’re uterus is scarred because you were scraped.” Evelyn cringed at the nurse’s tone.

“I can’t possibly think of any other reason that this would be happening,” Evelyn stated, a bit flustered.

“Well, I think we’d better run a few tests just to make sure,” the nurse said. “Some sexually transmitted diseases will stop a period.”

“I haven’t noticed anything strange down there.”

“Except the absence of your period.”

The nurse turned, bent down, opened a drawer and pulled a cup wrapped in plastic out. She handed it to Evelyn, who in return, stared at it completely confused.

“Go down the hall, there’s a lavatory, I need you to capture your urine,” the nurse commanded, opening and holding the door open for Evelyn who numbly obeyed.

Evelyn had never before had to pee in a cup and she found it quite difficult especially in the sterile little cubical. She could hear all the sounds of the seemingly busy little clinic and it gave her stage fright fearing that they could hear her peeing. The pee finally came and Evelyn was relieved that she was able to catch a reasonable amount, though she had been shaking and had managed to pee all over her hands as well as in the cup. After she washed her self and wiped the cup down with a paper towel, Evelyn opened to door nervously to find the nurse standing outside the door. The nurse held out her hand and Evelyn handed her the plastic cup. The nurse seemed nonplussed that she was holding a container full of human piss. It sickened Evelyn a little to even look at it.

“Go wait in the examination room. We should have your results in about twenty minutes,” the nurse commanded though her toned had softened.

Evelyn wasn’t sure what to expect. This whole ordeal had scared her. She had started to think that something was awfully wrong when she missed her period two months in a row. She hadn’t told her mother though her mother was a healer at St. Mungo’s. She was scared that it did have something to do with the abortion and that she’d have to tell her mother about the abortion and about Ulric.

And then there was the period of time that had been completely blanked out of her mind. She wasn’t sure if that had to do with anything now, but it was strange. She’d gone to bed one night and woke up the next morning to find that several weeks had passed and no matter how hard she tried to remember, the missing period wouldn’t resurface.

She sat for what seemed to be ages, twiddling her thumbs before the nurse finally reappeared, a folder tucked under her arm and a box of tissues in her hands. She sat down on a stool and sat the folder on the cabinet. She turned to Evelyn; her face wore down with concern. This worried Evelyn.

“You’re test result came out positive,” she said, bluntly. Evelyn stared at her, not sure what she meant.

“Positive for what?”

“You’re positively pregnant, Evelyn. I was sure that was the problem the moment I saw you. Have you not looked in the mirror lately?”

Evelyn’s blood ran cold.

“Are you sure that’s what it says?”

“These things never lie, Evelyn. We offer counseling here as well if you’re interested. We need to set you up for a check up and a sonogram; you’re way over due for one.”

“It’s impossible; I haven’t had intercourse since the abortion…” Evelyn stammered. She felt as though she were on the verge of having a heart attack. The room was fading out but she quickly regained her senses before she fell. And then it all made sense.

There was the no period thing and therefore a while she’d been getting sick regularly but passed that off as a bug because there was something going around during that time. She’d been eating a lot more and had put on a lot of weight, thus making her breasts grow, but she’d put it off as a hormonal problem. And really it was a hormonal problem, a hormonal problem of epic proportions.

“When do you want to schedule a check up?” The nurse asked, bringing Evelyn back to her senses.

“Um, I don’t think I will.”

“Do you want to schedule another…”

Evelyn thought for a moment. Another abortion would solve the problem but the woman from the waiting room words came back to her.

“You can’t fool me and you can’t fool God.”

“I can’t fool myself either,” she thought.

“No, no. I think I’ll go through my regular erm…” she wasn’t sure what the correct term for a muggle healer was. “For the check up and such.”

“Alright, well, I guess we’re finished here then,” the nurse said, and opened the door. “If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to schedule another appointment.”

Evelyn left that day, trying to come up with a plan. If she was going to keep this baby, she needed to figure out who the father was and what she was going to do about school. She had come up with a plan the last time, though the situation was different this time, perhaps there was some way to make it work.


***

“Do you mind if I take Nita with me to Hogwarts this year?” Evelyn asked as her mother went through the check list of all of her school supplies that one of the house elves had picked up for her in Diagon Alley earlier. Evelyn was to leave in the morning and her mother did not trust house elves enough to assume that they’d get everything done on the first try.

“I don’t know, darling. What possible use could she be to you at Hogwarts? Do they even allow students to bring personal house elves?” Her mother asked, not looking up from her inspection.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t. Its N.E.W.T year and I need all the assistance I can get. It was horrid during fifth year, I barely remembered to eat.”

“Well, I don’t see what possible harm missing a few meals could do especially since you put on all that weight this summer. Honestly, I’m going to have to start ordering diet potions for you.” Her mother frowned disapprovingly and Evelyn sighed. Her mother had been on her case to lose weight since Evelyn had come home from Hogwarts. Diondra Hewitt was a superficial woman, something that Evelyn had found quite bothersome. She couldn’t rightly tell her mother that she was pregnant and that there was no simple way to lose the weight that was gained. Evelyn had read up on pregnancy during the last two weeks and learned that she was at an appropriate weight and any less might cause health problems. If nothing else, she could stand to gain weight.

“Please, Mummy, can I please take Nita?” If convincing didn’t work, begging was worth a shot. Diondra raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

“Alright, but if they send her home, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

Evelyn hopped up and engulfed her mother in a rare hug.

“Thank you Mummy.”

Her mother stiffened in her arms, and Evelyn withdrew, almost embarrassed by her affection. She bit her lip and smiled meekly at her mother.

“Oh I do wish you’d stop that horrid habit. You’ll have an over bite and you wonder why you’ve got chapped lips all the time,” her mother said, her nose in the air. Evelyn wasn’t aware that she was doing it; it was sort of a natural reaction. She knew her mother hated it.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

***

Evelyn lay in her four poster bed, too excited to drift off to sleep. The first night back at Hogwarts always had that effect on her. This was her last year, her final year, and though some of the circumstances were a bit out there, she was determined to make the best of it.

Nita had made her self at home with the other Elves down in the kitchens. All Evelyn had to do to summon the Elf was to say her name twice. It really was handy to have Nita there with her. Evelyn didn’t feel as alone in the world as Nita knew of Evelyn’s little problem. Really, now that Evelyn had thought on it, Nita had been more of a mother to Evelyn than Evelyn’s mother had. No Evelyn’s mother had a job, she liked to think herself a career woman, and the fact that she got knocked up didn’t deter that. Motherhood would not get in the way of her job. A day after she’d given birth, Diondra had handed the little squirming bundle that was Evelyn over to Nita and went back to work.

At least if she had any cravings, Nita would be there to give them to her. That was a plus. Right then, however, Evelyn was sufficiently satiated in the food department. She’d over indulged in the feast, after all she was eating for two and at every meal, and her mother eyed her dangerously as Evelyn reached to help her self to a second serving, making Evelyn push her plate away. She had seen pictures of starving children from third world countries and the thing that she noticed the most was the hollow, hungry look in their eye. Evelyn wondered if she had the same look about her. Tonight was the first time in a long time that she felt sufficiently fed and did not feel an urge to sneak down to the kitchens to find something to eat. Being so satisfied almost made her feel loved, which she was for sure she wasn’t.

The thing that kept entering her mind as she was about to drift off to sleep was a pair of grey steely eyes that kept watching her, even when she wasn’t watching them. The eyes belonged to a fourth year she barely knew by the name of Draco Malfoy. She had noticed him staring at her at the start of the feast, even through all the excitement about the Triwizard Tournament. At first, she paid no mind, and continued her business, but every time she looked up, he was staring straight at her, a small smirk upon his lips. It scared her a bit. His eyes were taunting and they seemed to be telling her, “I know something you don’t know.”

Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn’t. That was the last thought that she consciously remembered before drifting off to sleep finally. She had Potions first thing and it wouldn’t do to be tired during a lesson with Snape.

***

For some reason, Evelyn had always enjoyed Potions. She enjoyed Potions with Professor Snape even more. She didn’t know what it was about her Head of House that she liked so much but she did enjoy the way he taught. To most, Professor Snape was an old grumpy bat, but to Evelyn, he was a man who enjoyed his work. It may have not appeared outwardly, but Evelyn could tell by the way he explained a certain potion that he was a man cut out for his work. It was almost as though he were in love with his potions and every single one held a different sort of special significance. To watch Professor Snape teach Potions was like watching a man serenade his lover.

Evelyn had been looking forward to seventh year Potions since she was a first year, when Professor Snape had outlined his entire syllabus the very first day of classes. They were going to be making complex perhaps even illicit potions this year, like the Polyjuice potion and mild poisons. Poisons had always interested Evelyn every since her mother had taken her to work once as a young child and she watched as a wizard lay dying, his wife had poisoned him. It was the passion of the crime that had entranced the young Evelyn who had found her mother’s stash of romance novels and had read stories about far away lands and passionate nights…

This year was her year. This was the year she was going to make her parents proud, regardless.

Evelyn sat at rapt attention as the dark Potion’s master glided into the room, the door shutting behind him, casting out the extra light that had flooded in from the torches in the hallway. He took his usual place behind his podium and surveyed the class, all seven of them.

“Seven of you have made it this far. It was seven more than I had ever expected. I congratulate you but today is when the real work begins and the foolishness ends,” he slammed his fist down on the podium and stared threateningly at a couple of Ravenclaw girls who were giggling up a storm in the back of the classroom. At the sound of his fist making contact with the wood, the girls immediately ceased their mindless prattling and sat up straight. “Today we’re going to be brewing a Blood replenishing potion. The infirmary likes to keep this potion in large quantities in its stores because of the childish shenanigans you idiot students get up to and it will be more important with certain…impending…events. Who ever brews the most of this potion and brews the best quality will receive a small honor for Services to the school.” The Professor said. He turned towards the black board and waved his wand. The instructions appeared on the black board and the Professor pulled a watch from his pocket. “You have an hour before class is dismissed. Get busy.”

The watch caught a sliver of light from one of the torches and glinted. Something stirred in Evelyn’s memory. She stared strangely at it for a second, trying to understand its significance but shook her head slightly, and tried to concentrate on the instructions on the board. She was determined to get that honor. Her parents wouldn’t have a choice; they’d have to be proud then.

As the time progressed, Evelyn found her self completely engrossed in the potion. Had she looked up, she would’ve noticed a certain Potion’s master staring at her in the most peculiar way. The look in his eye was almost…ravenous.

I know it's a bit peculiar for Evelyn to do things the muggle way, but I thought it might fit in better with the story. No one in the muggle world knows who she is and this eliminates the chance of some one else finding out.