Time Is Galleons

It had been a week since George had even spoken to me. He avoided eye contact with me—he just avoided me in general. I didn't know what to do. My boyfriend found out I was pregnant and avoided me. I didn't feel as if I lied to him. I just. . .waited to tell him. I wasn't ready to tell him. Which was understandable.

Fred tried to help me with it. But even he, George's identical twin, didn't know what to do. I was sitting in the common room on the couch by the fire. I had a hand on my lower stomach as my gaze held in the fire. No one knew I was pregnant except for the twins.

Fred sat next to me a slugged an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. His head rested on mine and he sighed. "George won't come out of our dormitory. He's just been sitting at the table next to his bed and been "studying" or "doing his homework." He's been talking to Lee a lot. I don't know if he's told him, love."

I turned my head and looked up at him, "Do you really think he's told Lee? It's none of Lee's business!"

"I don't know. He's not really speaking to me a lot. Something about being on your side or something."

"Oh Freddie," I sobbed as he pulled me on to his lap and stroked my hair. "I don't think I did anything wrong!"

"I understand that he's upset. But he's acting like you betrayed him. You were scared. You're right, Abbie. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I just want my boyfriend back!" I sobbed into his shirt.

"If he doesn't talk to you by an hour after diner, I'm giving him a serious talk."

"Promise?"

"Of course, love. Speaking of dinner, let's head down there."

"I'm not that hungry, yet, Fred.." I let out a small sigh as I rested my head on his shoulder, wiping the tears off my face.

"Well I'm hungry." He said as he poked my lower stomach, "and since they're a Weasley, they'll be hungry too." I couldn't help but to laugh as I nodded, slowly getting off his lap. "Maybe it'll be a girl, we don't have many girls in the family that are related by blood."

"That'd be nice."

"Well, what're we waiting for?! After you, my love!" Fred said as he held his arm out, waiting for me to walk first.

It took Fred and I a little while longer than we had anticipated, the stairs just didn't want to stop switching on us. When we got down to the Great Hall, Fred went to go sit on the other side of the table to sit next to Louise while I sat next to Hermione. I gave her a small smile.

She turned to me, frowning, "have you been crying?"

"Me? No." I think it would have have been best if Fred and I had waited a little while to come down to dinner.

"Is it because of the reason that George isn't talking to you?" She said in a hushed voice as she leaned even closer to me.

I, of course, said nothing. I couldn't say no. I just looked over at George across the table and a few seats down. He was looking down at his food, but Lee looked right at me, giving me a look. "Are you taking the piss?" My voice started to raise, catching George's attention. "You told him?! It's none of his damn business!"

"Not like you thought it was my business!" George went from silent to yelling in all of about three seconds.

"That was different!"

"No, it wasn't!"

"George. . ." I could hear Fred warning him.

George stood up and opened his mouth to say something when an owl dropped a letter in front of him. He looked down and then his head whipped up, looking at me, "why am I getting a letter from your father?" He looked down at it once more as if for confirmation before looking back at me, a confused and disgusted look on his face, "you told your father?"

"What? No." I said, looking absolutely confused, "I haven't talked to him in weeks. . ." My voice was growing considerably smaller. Why was my father sending George a letter? I leaned in closer to take a better look at it.

"Ha! Did Mum send you a howler, George?" Ginny asked, laughing.

The colour drained from my face just as quickly as it did from the twins'. It was a howler.

George picked it up quickly, running into the Entrance Hall. When I realized what he was doing, I ran after him. I shut the Great Hall door behind me as he glanced around the hall, checking for other students. Once he realized there was none, he hesitated as he opened the letter instead of waiting for it to blow up itself.

"I have asked you to protect my daughter from harm!" The letter yelled, only starting. "Protect! Not impregnate my daughter! I am absolutely disgusted, you being seventeen and my daughter only being fifteen! I cannot fathom how something like this could have happened! I have owled your mother and father, you bet your ass they will hear about this. How do you two expect to raise a child? What money do either of you have?! You will be lucky if I don't pull my daughter out of school! And I've owled Dumbledore. I am disgusted, absolutely disgusted!"

After the second sentence of my father's howler, tears had been silently streaming down my face as I had been staring at the letter in disbelief. How did he find out? I hadn't told anyone besides Fred and I know for a fact Fred would never do such a thing.

"This is just all too rich." We heard a familiar voice say as our heads both whipped over into the direction it came from. "I was wondering when the mudblood's father was going to send something like this, Weasel. You lot can't even fit in your home, how are you going to fit another Weasel in there? It won't be a surprise when you lose your house from no money. Your empty Gringott's account is going to pay for your baby?"

"How the bloody hell do you know about this?" When George asked, the Great Hall doors opened and Fred, Lee, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny came out to see what was going on.

Malfoy couldn't see who had just came out of the Hall from where he was facing. "You should really check to make sure no one's in the Quidditch locker rooms before you tell your friends that your mudblood girlfriend's pregnant."

I could hear Ginny and Hermione gasp right before George balled up his fist and ran for Malfoy.