Troublesome

Severus knocked heavily on the thick wooden door. He waited for a second before knocking again. After what seemed to be ages, the lock clicked and the door opened. His mother smiled faintly at him, but Severus could see that she looked worried as she led him into the kitchen. She was being extremely cheery which is extremely abnormal for his mother, a naturally sullen woman. She had even made his favorite breakfast, cinnamon rolls with coffee.

As the two ate silently, Severus could feel Eileen’s curious gaze on him. He did not want to put a damper on the morning, but he knew his mother would badger it out of him. As he polished off the last bit of his second cinnamon roll, his mother predictably cut to the chase.

“You know, the last time you told me you were in a compromising position, you ran off with You-Know-Who. Please, darling, you’re going to give your dear old Mum a stroke if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

Severus choked a bit. He’d been dreading this, but he didn’t know who else he could trust. He wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Do you remember the girl that I brought to have breakfast last spring?”

“The quiet one, how could I forget? She didn’t take to kindly to me,” the woman said, unable to keep the bitter tone out of her voice. “Really, your taste in women hasn’t always been the best. Remember that muggle girl that you took a shying too? The redhead, what was her name again?”

Severus stiffened.

“Lily,” he choked. “This isn’t about her, Mother. This is about Evelyn.”

“Right, sorry dear,” his mother reached across the table and patted his hand, smiling sweetly, though he knew it was fake.

“She came to me a while back and told me something interesting,” Severus said, not really sure how to tell his mother, his domineering mother, that he’d gone and gotten his student pregnant. “She’s with…erm…child. So to speak.”

Eileen paled considerably.

“Is it…yours?” She finally managed after several moments of overbearing silence. Severus nodded grimly. “Oh, Severus,” she said sadly, her face crumpling. “No one knows…I mean besides…”

“No, not even Evelyn knows I’m the one. I obliviated her last spring. Some one walked in on us so I obliviated both of them, I thought it’d be for the best. I wish I’d erased my own memory.”

“Well, you have to tell her!”

Severus shook his head and looked down at the coffee mug clutched tightly in his hands. The steaming black surface rippled slightly.

“I can’t, Mother. “

“How’re you supposed to take care of her if she doesn’t know? I didn’t like the girl, but Jesus, Severus, she has a right to know!”

“I’ll tell her eventually, just not yet.”

Eileen rolled her eyes.

“I guess that’s better than never.”

The two sat for the longest time, sipping their coffee, staring each other down, not saying a thing. Finally Eileen sat down her coffee cup and touched her prematurely wrinkled face, smiling. It was the first time in a very long time that Severus had seen his mother smile so genuinely.

“I’m going to be a Grandmother,” she whispered to her self. “Oh Severus, I know this is a terrible burden on you and the circumstances aren’t exactly perfect, we have to make the best of the situation. You’re bringing another life into this horrid world, and who knows, perhaps this child will brighten your life. You know, our lives haven’t exactly been easy, but goddamn it, you were the only good thing I had.”

“I hope it’s a girl,” Severus managed. Eileen raised her eyebrow.

“You know, most men hope their unborn child is a male, but you, you’re different.”

Severus shrugged and magicked the coffee pot to pour them both another cup of coffee.

***

Evelyn examined herself in the mirror. She had just gotten out of the shower, and as the steam rolled away, her reflection cleared. There was definitely a lump on her lower abdomen, and as Evelyn rubbed her hands over it, she couldn’t help but feel some sort of affection towards it.

Perhaps being a parent wouldn’t be all that bad.

She’d decided as soon as she had received the last letter from her mother that her mother would never be happy with her. Evelyn would never make her child feel that way, she’d vowed. Her child would get a kiss and would be told “I love you” at least five times a day.

She’d give her child everything she didn’t have.

She’d do her goddamned best to make sure the kid was happy and well adjusted. That, she thought, might be kind of hard, especially since she didn’t know who the father was. Evelyn suspected that she might have been raped and was blocking it from her mind, so maybe not knowing was best.

She threw on her clothes that she had extended magically to better fit her new found girth before the other girls woke up. She felt famished and headed down to get an early breakfast.

The Great Hall was almost completely deserted, aside from a few teachers, Professor Snape being among them. She smiled up at him and gave him a small wave, which he chose to ignore. She shook her head and took a seat at the Slytherin table and began to help herself to a healthy helping of bacon and cream of wheat. As she added sugar to her hot cereal, some one sat next down to her. She was slightly surprised because people generally left her alone and she was even more surprised when the person spoke to her.

“I see I’m not the only early bird,” Draco Malfoy said. Evelyn said nothing, a bit weary of the fourth year. “I know you. You’re Evelyn Hewitt, right? Your mother and my mother were best friends at Hogwarts.”

Evelyn stirred the sugar in to her cereal.

“Shy are you? There’s no need to be, I won’t bite.”

Evelyn looked up. Malfoy wore the same arrogant smirk he always wore. Evelyn rolled her eyes, and Draco sobered up, his expression suddenly became serious.

“Today’s a Hogsmeade day, you want to go?”

Evelyn looked up at him, suspicious.

“With you?”

“Well, yes. Well, with a couple of friends.”

“Parkinson won’t like that,” Evelyn retorted and turned back to her cereal.

“Pansy will get over it. So what do you say?”

“Get bent, Malfoy,” Evelyn mumbled, sure he was playing some sort of cruel joke on her. Draco sputtered and Evelyn smiled to herself. She’d ruffled Malfoy’s feathers and she relished the moment as she took a bite of bacon.

“I’m being serious, Hewitt. I know about you, I know more than you think,” he said. Evelyn looked up, alarmed to see his eyes on her abdomen.

“Are you blackmailing me?” She asked incredulous. Malfoy smirked and said in a low whisper, “It depends on how you look at it. I’ve got a proposal for you.”

Evelyn sat her bacon down, suddenly not hungry. She looked up at the head table, hoping that Professor Snape was still there, hoping desperately that he might be able to help her, but he was gone. She turned back to Malfoy, not sure what to say.

“You’re going to need money,” he started, his haughty demeanor back. Evelyn had no choice, she had to listen. “I need experience, especially in the sex department. Pansy is going to want to do it after the Yule ball and it’s obvious that you’re experienced in the matter. “

“You want me to be your whore?” Evelyn gasped, disgusted. Draco shrugged.

“Well, technically yes, but ‘whore’ is such an ugly word. I’d like to think of you as a tutor.”

Evelyn didn’t know what to think. This idea shouldn’t have appealed to her, but she knew Malfoy wasn’t joking. The Malfoys were filthy rich and Evelyn knew she needed the money. Besides, she was completely alone and…oh it was ridiculous.

“So what do you say?”

“I don’t know, Malfoy. It goes against everything I stand for.”

“I’ll pay you five hundred galleons for the first session and we’ll work out a steadier rate then.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened. She was due a lot faster than she thought, and money would be an issue especially if she had to keep the baby a secret. She didn’t want to ask for her parents’ help. Five hundred galleons was an awful lot. How could she turn it down now? It was completely degrading, but money was money.

“Alright,” she said slowly. “I’ll do it. But you can’t tell anyone.”

“You’ve got my word.”

“You can’t tell anyone, anything, and by anything I mean, anything,” she narrowed her eyes.

“You’ve got my word. I’ll meet you at three o’ clock, the Shrieking Shack.”

Malfoy stood and left as more people began to file in. Evelyn wished she hadn’t of agreed.
***

Three o’ clock rolled around, and Evelyn stood in the Shrieking shack, looking around, wondering if Draco was pulling her leg and was sitting in a tavern somewhere laughing at her with his friends. She wondered around, inspecting the place, wondering if it was really haunted. She came across what she assumed used to be a bedroom. There was a cracked mirror hanging over a dresser, and a single mattress lay on the floor, a tattered quilt barely covering it. She sat heavily on the bed, and waited.

She heard footsteps and then her named being called. Her heart leapt to her throat and thought about not answering, but before she could find a way out, Malfoy entered the room.

“Oh there you are,” he said and began to loosen his tie. Evelyn closed her eyes and hoped he wasn’t going to strip all of the way.

“I want the money first,” she whispered hoarsely. Draco shrugged and produced a bank note from his pocket, blank but signed by his father. She examined it.

“Is this real?”

Draco scoffed. “Of course it’s real, don’t be such a twit. You’re going to need some one to cash it for you, however. I don’t think the goblins will cash it with out a responsible adult with some form of credit.”

“Your father is going to ask questions,” Evelyn said.

“My father was the one I suggested I do this. He doesn’t want me to be inexperienced on my wedding night,” he shrugged as though it were perfectly normal. “Of course, he suggested I hire a professional harlot.”

Evelyn was still suspicious.

“I could write what ever amount I wanted on here and you wouldn’t know it until it was too late.”

“You need the money worse than I do, I’m only trying to help,” Draco smirked.

“Right, well where do you want to start?”

“I was thinking along the lines of oral.”

Evelyn shuddered at the thought but decided to persevere, if not for herself, for her child.

Next Chapter will be coming really soon. I hope you all don't hate me too much but it will be moving pretty fast from here on out. As always leave meh some feed back. I CRAVE FEEDBACK Rawwwwwrrrrrrrr *giggle*