First we eat (Agnes)

It was one of those rare morning when Victoria actually woke up in time for breakfast. She was up and out of bed before her alarm clock even got a chance to ring. Thank Merlin for that, as the Ravenclaw despised that sleep-ruining box with it's horrid jingles. She had tried to get rid of it before, but without something forcing her to get out of bed she would just sleep until noon. And while Victoria was no stranger to skipping classes, she couldn't possible miss all of them. In her mind, as long as she stayed on top of her homework and handed in assignments on time she would be just fine. The motivation to do better than fine was simply fading these days.

She pulled her hair in a long braid and put on a blue sweater with a large silver necklace before heading downstairs. Because house pride and all. The prospects of a large breakfast made her skip happily to the Great Hall. The room was half empty of course, filled with mainly first and second years who still diligently went to every breakfast. Victoria was like that as well, until she discovered the magic of sleeping in. She found her way to the Ravenclaw table and sat as far away from a group of first years as possible. It was not that she didn't like eleven year old kids. But it was just too early to feel like a babysitter.

After filling her plate with enough eggs and bacon to feed an army, Victoria's mind started to wander. She glanced at the other tables half expecting she would see someone she knows, but she didn't. She was surrounded with first years and prefects, who seemed to be everywhere lately. How grand. Pulling out her schedule for the week, she read the long list of homework and assignments that were due very soon. She sighed and just pushed it away, refusing school work to ruin this day. This would be a glorious day, she told herself. And it would start with an equally glorious breakfast.

"Gosh." Agnes sighed. It was too early to be awake. Way too early. However, Agnes was officially eleven weeks pregnant. Wow. What an accomplishment. This whole baby deal left her with so many cravings, it was unreal! Not to mention, she looked fat. She wasn't the size of a watermelon yet, but she had a weird bump in her stomach, as if she'd eaten a whole turkey before Christmas break and it was all stuck in her lower intestine. That's how fat she looked. Really, Agnes thought she looked ridiculous. She'd read somewhere that pregnancy was a beautiful gift and clichés like that, but it's not exactly a gift at such a young age. Agnes was still very angry with herself, but she needed bacon. She needed it. Bacon was the elixir of life and she was in need of quite a big dose of it, so she went down to the Great Hall, wearing her ridiculous pink onesie. "Should've worn this when you were with Hunter, Agnes." She told herself, "Nobody finds this shit attractive in any way."

What made her even more angry was that she couldn't exactly close her jean's buttons anymore. She had to struggle for ages to get them to close, and she wasn't even that big. She was just bloated up. Groaning, she came into the Great Hall to find very strange looks from a bunch of first years at the Slytherin table, along with some snickering that was exchanged between a sterling blonde Slytherin child and her brunnette sidekick. Agnes walked past them, "Shut up you dickweeds. Don't make the huge pregnant Kraken eat you!" she yelled at them before spotting Victoria at the Ravenclaw table. Glaring at the kids, she debated whether to eat at her own table or to join Victoria. Shrugging, she decided for the latter. Agnes pushed up the sleeves of her onesie and took a seat next to her one and only favorite Ravenclaw classmate. The rest of the Ravenclaws sucked. Specially the one who'd gotten expelled. Yes, those sucked majorly.

"Hi. She greeted her as she sat down, taking a plate and filling it with bacon and only bacon. Yes, glory! Agnes immediately took a bite out of the crispy goodness and it melted in her mouth. "Holy brother of Buddha." she said, taking a glass and filling it with orange juice. Gosh, who knew she'd be eating twice her weight now? A few weeks ago she could barely eat anything. Turning to Victoria, she smiled, Agnes was in a much better mood now that she'd taken at least one bite of the bacon. "How are you, Victoria?" She asked, taking another bite. "Is your brother still as sexy as always?" Gosh, what had she just said?! Was this part of being pregnant too? It must be. Agnes had seen the guy around and she knew he was related to Victoria...but he wasn't sexy. Even if it wasn't part of the pregnancy, and she was just going insane, she would blame it on it. Without looking at Victoria's reaction, she took yet another mouthful of bacon. Gosh, she was going to gain so much weight.

Victoria's full attention was on the last piece of bacon that was left on her plate, so she scarcely noticed the brunette that took a seat next to her. Until the girl spoke to her that is. The simple 'hi' jolted the Ravenclaw from her scattered thoughts as she examined the girl sitting to her right. Agnes, aka the only cool girl in her year because the rest were scum, was shoving bacon into her mouth with strange enthusiasm. As if her life dependent on swallowing as much meat as humanly possible in a single minute. Did Agnes take up competitive eating as a hobby without letting her know? Because that was the only reasonable explanation in her mind. 

As she watched her eat, Victoria couldn't help but chuckle. It wasn't that she was trying to be mean. It was just that it was rare to see someone enjoying themselves to fully as Agnes was with something so simple as bacon. "Are you hoarding food for the salvation army?", she caught herself saying with a smirk as she glanced at her plate which was overflowing with food. "Hey I totally get it. No one gets in the way of me and my breakfast. Well, if I am awake for it that is", she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. The truth was that most of the time she wasn't. The choice between food and sleep was always simple for her - she'd choose sleep every time. "Eh I am alright", she responded not very enthusiastically. How could anyone be hyped up in the morning? It was common knowledge that nothing interesting ever happened before noon anyway. 

The next question made her raise her eyebrow at Agnes and she almost chocked at her last bite of food. Victoria and her brother do have their disagreements from time to time. And Anthony might be a lot of things but... sexy certainly wasn't one of them. Even the though of it made her cringe. Ugh, gross. "You are joking, aren't you? I mean for Merlin's sake! I am trying to eat here", she commented as even the though made her appetite fade. "You didn't...? On second thought, don't answer that question", Victoria said with a chuckle. Even if, and that was a large if, Anthony had a string of girls he had hooked up with, his sister was the last one who wanted to find out about it. I guess some girls were into that silent, sulking and mildly retarded guy that was hiding in the corner. To each his own. 

As Victoria was trying to distract her mind away from her brother and towards something else, her eyes fell on the Gryffindor sitting right next to her. She couldn't help but examine her fully before asking "What about you? Are you, um, alright?" She tried to make the question sound as less awkward as possible, but she wasn't sure if she had succeeded. "And thanks for not commenting on... well, you know", she said with a sigh and a finger pointing towards her hair. Which was purple. Like very purple. It was an accident of course. No one in their right mind would want their hair to be purple. But it was too late now. She had to wait at least two weeks until she could try and change it back to a normal color. 

*I am keeping Victoria's hair purple for a while. Because it is awesome and she is a badass. Also Hunter did a great job for the avatar  *

Letting out a small laugh when Victoria commented on her new eating habits, Agnes considered her reply. Could she say something so embarrassing to Victoria? "More like...eating for two." Agnes replied simply before shoving more bacon into her mouth and smiling as Victoria confessed something about her own eating habits. "Sleep beats food all the time." Agnes agreed. Raising an eyebrow, Agnes grabbed another plate and filled it with strawberries and grapes and oranges, because in that second they looked insanely delicious. "You don't sound alright." Agnes pointed out the obvious before adding, "What's wrong?" Though she didn't care much for people, such as Evan and Chasen and every other stupid guy in the universe, she still cared about some...like Hunter and Victoria, more specifically. So, of course Agnes was worried about Vicky's tone, but maybe she was reading too far into it?

Fighting the urge to comment further, she turned to look at her friend before letting out another laugh. "I'm half joking, but yes, I suppose." She liked guys. In general. They were all good looking to a certain point. Anthony Campero wasn't really an exception, but there were obviously better looking guys. "He's not so bad, but..." she trailed off as Victoria dared suggest something so absolutely ridiculous and ugh. "What? No! Vicky!" She grimaced, pushing the bacon aside. "I learned my lesson with...you know who." She muttered, because obviously Victoria had heard - or even seen - what happened last term between her and Williams, which was probably her biggest regret. "I don't sleep with people anymore." she concluded, because really, whether there were feelings or no feelings involved, Agnes kept on getting hurt. This time, it was the baby incident.

"If you consider being tired all the time alright, then yes, I'm alright." She still wasn't sure what to tell people, because she wanted someone to share this unfortunate mistake with, but maybe not all of it.... "Commenting on what?" She smirked a little, to let Victoria know that if she didn't want it being brought up,  then it wasn't going to be brought up. To Agnes, it looked pretty good regardless of color. It was daring! "You look pretty badass, though. Not gonna lie." she smiled before pouring some water into a glass and taking gulps of it. This eating thing better stop soon.

Victoria was still finishing her eggs when Agnes was in the process of explaining her eating habits. Eating for two? More like for two hundred considering the size of the small bacon mountain the Gryffindor had going on on her plate. Let alone the second plate of grapes and oranges. I mean who binges on fruits anyway? It just didn't... wait. What? Victoria's gaze froze as something struck her in that instant. For a moment she forgot to breathe and completely lost her ability to speak. Turning her head towards Agnes, she examined her face and searched for any signs of a joke. Any hint at all that this was some big prank where they all get to laugh about it in the end. Perhaps a hidden smirk, or a bursting laughter that was just waiting to happen? Anything? Anything at all! But what she saw in her friend's face was mostly fear.

Her mouth fell open from shock as she was trying to articulate the many things that were rushing through her head. All the questions that were still unanswered were creating a confusion and chaos that quickly overpowered her mind. Which meant that she couldn't function like a normal person or even do simple things such as sit down in a straight line. As she lost control of her own motor functions, her body started to lean backwards and her chair titled to an obtuse angle. Before she knew it, the chair had lost it's balance and Victoria was smashed to the floor with a loud thump. Closing her eyes, she had started to wish that this was all a dream. That Agnes did NOT just tell her what she did and that Victoria wasn't embarrassing herself by laying on the floor of the Great Hall. "WHAT??", she finally said a bit too loud.

"I am fine!", she growled at a bunch of first years who were starting at her intensely. Well everyone was staring at her really but she couldn't possibly yell at them all. That would be too time consuming. But the Ravenclaw got up on her feet and took a seat like nothing had happened at all. She took a few deep breaths before rejoining the conversation with Agnes. "Never mind me and my brother!", Victoria insisted as the conversation started to go in another direction. Who cares about Anthony and who she has slept with before! Well actually, the latter is quite important in this situation. But that was to be discussed later. "So... Umm, when? When did you find out", she asked as it was the first question on her mind. Deep down, she was still expecting two people to jump up behind her and yell prank at the top of her lungs. 

"Ok so wait, are you even sure? Have you done a test?! Have you been to St. Mungo's?!", she asked in a hushed tone. She tried to remember every healing book she ever read but her main interests were healing spells and potions, not pregnancy. Until now that is, as tonight Victoria would go read every pregnancy book the Hogwarts library can offer. Which was hopefully at least one. Because besides the basic symptoms, she did not know anything about being pregnant. "But how... I mean I know how, that's not what I am asking. But with whom?", she asked as she went through the possible suspects in her mind. The first asshole that came to mind was Evan, but he wouldn't dare. Would he? "THAT FUCKING GIT! How fucking dare he? I swear I will slit his throat and hang him on the astronomy tower. If Williams think he can just get away with shit like this...!", she ranted.

Agnes watched as the brunette's face went from confusion to realization and lastly to shock. She'd half expected it, for everyone to be so shocked when they found out, so it wasn't as offensive as it would have been had Agnes not thought about others' reaction. Agnes wanted to burst out laughing, pretend it was a terrible prank, and she might have done so but the reality of it was too much for her to handle. She let Victoria handle herself before planning to address her once more, but as Agnes stared at her with a blank expression, Victoria fell off her chair. Scared, Agnes jumped up with worry and even tried to offer her hand for the girl to help herself, but she yelled - and Agnes figured it was also directed at her since she was still a bystander - and got on her own feet without anyone's help. Typical Victoria. Resisting the urge to shrug and make it look like it wasn't a big deal, Agnes took her seat next to her plum-haired friend and waited for the bombs to drop.

Which they did. Victoria refused to talk about herself, or her brother for that matter, and Agnes suddenly regretted telling her about it. "Maybe I should have told you differently." She muttered mostly to herself, before Victoria attacked her with questions Agnes didn't feel like answering for everyone to know. "Please! Keep it down!" She hushed and turned on her chair to be able to fully look at Victoria. There were tons of first years around, and she wasn't so sure she wanted to discuss this matter at the moment, but she'd already started so it had to be done. "When? Over the summer." Lie number one. "How did I find out...well, I didn't find out until a few days ago. I'd been feeling terrible and with my father's passing I thought it had to be related! Then, I kept feeling worse and went to the healer who told me that I was...you know." She still wasn't comfortable saying the word out loud, pregnant. It was as if saying it out loud would make it even more real than it was.

"Am I sure? Yes." Agnes said, not excited about it at all. How would be excited about having a kid?! Nobody! She was even more sure that she was because she was growing, she was feeling the pregnancy within her and it often kept her up at night. "Not at St. Mungo's no." She confessed, before casually taking another piece of bacon to calm herself down. Agnes expected that question too, the one about who the other half of the Stupid Duo was, and Agnes wasn't exactly ready to give out an answer. She knew that she wasn't going to tell the truth, she couldn't tell the truth. Ruining Hunter's happiness by dropping this bomb on him would be way too much, and Agnes was a lot of things but that wasn't one of them. However, before she could manage a reply, Victoria was accusing Evan of being that other stupid half. Agnes jumped a little as Victoria expressed her opinions on him, and it wasn't surprising to hear that, one way or another, he'd be hung from the Astronomy Tower. Evan was definitely a highly loved contestant for that kind of death.

It wasn't really until that moment, when Victoria bad-mouthed him, that she realized how much she actually still liked him. Her eyebrows narrowed and her cheeks warmed, "No! He's...not. Ugh." she managed to reply. It wasn't even embarrassing that her closest friend would even think Evan was the one to get her such a 'gift', it was just wrong for anyone to say those things about him. Sure, he'd played Agnes in a terrible way, but that didn't stop her from falling in love with him before. The image of him and Darcy, which she wasn't sure if she'd actually seen or imagined, was still marked on her brain and she wished he hadn't even been brought up fully. Saying 'you know who' was better than saying his real name, because with the first one she could actually put a different face to the same person and she'd be fine, but with the latter she could not. "It's not his." She finally said, and she wasn't very sure if she sounded confident enough in her answer, but she did notice the slightest bit of upset in her voice as she spoke.

The questions in her head just didn't stop messing with her thoughts. Which made her reaction a bit too loud for a public setting. "Shit! Sorry", she continued in a hushed tone. The group of young Ravenclaws that were sitting a few seats down suddenly took an interest in Victoria's conversation with Agnes, but she shot them a glare until they all looked away. People should mind their own business. The students at Hogwarts loved to gossip and it was common knowledge that nothing could be kept a secret forever. But this... well it had to be an exception to the rule. For as long as possible. "Over the summer? But you didn't tell me anything happened when you were back home. Was it towards the end? Because if so, you must be...", Victoria stopped herself before she could finish that thought. She didn't want to risk anyone overhearing her and possibly guessing their topic of conversation? It was nearly Christmas! Which meant that she was somewhere between three to four months along. But how was that possible? The Ravenclaw analyzed her friend's body from head to toe. Besides perhaps a bloated stomach, Agnes wasn't showing any sings at all. She had expected a larger stomach for someone in her second trimester, but then again she just might be really good at hiding it with baggy clothes.

"So you did see a healer?", she asked again, just to make sure. Because that fact made it undeniably real. Victoria couldn't write off Agnes' behavior to speculation or just a general state of anxiousness. Slowly but surely, the hope that this whole thing was just a prank started to die inside of her. Her chest tightened with worry for her friend. They were too young for this, all of them were. Hogwarts created a loving sanctuary for all of it's students, a place outside of the adult words. So much so that Victoria often forgot her own age or that something like this can indeed happen. But there was no running away from the truth now, no use in hiding at all. "Alright, so you are sure. But you should still go to St. Mungo's. The healer's there are much more advanced than at Hogwarts. And are you taking everything you need to be? I know there are certain potions and such depending on the... well time. And you should be taking care of yourself. You know, sleeping and eating properly. As in healthy and nutritious food. Not this junk", she insisted as she snatched the piece of bacon out of her hand and pushed the plate away from her. "I will be damned if this baby grows up on bacon grease and sugar", Victoria whispered her warning, being quite serious. 

So it wasn't Evan, she realized with a bit of shock. For her, he was the first and obvious choice. And not only because half of the school had seen them making out, but because she was sure that Agnes genuinely cared about him. Which never made sense to her really, as Williams was definitely not her favorite person. In truth, he was a git. And not in the good sense of the word, like Hunter was. No, Williams was just a git who would hurt Agnes sooner or later. Victoria was sure of it. But he didn't deserve all of the blame as this situation clearly wasn't his fault. "Ok, I believe you. But if not him.... then who? I mean does he know? About any of this?", she asked. Trying to think of who would be the next logical choice, she realized that no other name came up even as an option. Perhaps it was someone from her hometown, someone Victoria didn't know. Well whoever it was, it seemed that Agnes didn't want to reveal his identity. And while she was more than just curious, Victoria would in the end respect her decision and privacy. "I doesn't matter really. What matters right now is you", she concluded.

"You don't have to be alone in this you know", she said offering a sympathetic smile to her friend. She had no idea what the Gryffindor was going through right now.  Obviously, she herself had never been pregnant before. But that didn't stop her from supporting Agnes in every possible way. "Look, I am sorry I freaked out back there. You just took me by surprise, that's all. But this is not... all bad. I mean things like these happen. But it's not the end of the world. And I will always be here, for whatever you need. Through all of this. I mean it. I won't leave you, I promise", she swore. Victoria wasn't really the emotional and sentimental type, but the situation made it necessary. And she had meant every word. If Agnes' wasn't going to have the guy's support through her pregnancy, well than at least she would have Victoria's. "But first things first. I will give you a few books that you should read about your... um state." Because that is how Victoria resoponded to all unknown situations - go to the library and read about it first.

Agnes gave Victoria a small nod, letting her know that it was okay despite her funny and louder than necessary reaction. Seeing Victoria glare at the young Ravenclaws, Agnes smiled a little. “Towards the end, yes.” Agnes confessed, pushing the bacon away and enjoying her plate of fruit instead. A balance between junk food and healthy food was needed for the baby, or so Agnes thought. But, really, she’d never been a big fan of bacon and these last few months she’d eaten three times her weight in it. It was simply disgusting. But the fetus thing seemed to enjoy it, so why not? “Four months...I think? About to be, I suppose.” She said between bites, "I mean, I can hide it pretty well for the most part. It’s just the jeans that suck, because they don’t fit anymore. Sweatpants are a blessing, however.” Agnes smiled a little bit, thinking that they really were a blessing. They were always so comfortable!

“Not yet, no. I’m waiting until I tell my mama and Ansel.” Agnes told her, “He’s my brother.” She suddenly remembered the ultrasound picture, the one the healer at Hogwarts had provided rather secretly. “Well, I have a picture of it, if you don’t believe me…” And really, Agnes couldn’t blame Victoria. Had the tables been reversed, Agnes wouldn’t have believed it either. And in a sudden need of more bacon, she quickly grabbed a few pieces of it and mixed it in with her fruit, half listening to what Victoria was saying until she snatched the bacon away. Turning to look at her, Agnes said, “But- he likes it! I think…?” Was there any other explanation? Her child would be a bacon-devouring monster, for sure. “And, I sleep just fine. Like, 10 to 12 hours a day.” she frowned, because saying it out loud made her sound like a bigger loser than she already was. Her frown didn’t leave her face, in fact it became even more real when Victoria mentioned potions she was supposed to drink. “Why would I need potions for? I thought pregnant people only needed sleep and food…” There was no way she would drink some nasty, gooey liquids. No way. And then there went her food….Victoria had succesfully taken it away, leaving a warning that made Agnes laugh. Actually laugh. “What about turkey bacon? It’s healthier!”

“Um.” Agnes didn’t have the slightest idea of what to tell her. Lying to everyone was one thing, lying to Victoria was another. “His name is Lucas.” she lied, giving the first name that came to mind. “He was just a guy I met back home….we went to France to, um, deal with my father’s death thing….and so, I guess I was too lost because of it that I went to this stranger to keep me okay.” Which, was technically partly true. She’d been heartbroken, not by her father but by Evan, and she’d figured hooking up with a semi-stranger, Hunter, was okay since it had no real emotion nor relationship contracts. It was just free. Giving Victoria a small smile, thanking her sincerely for her support, Agnes said, “You sound like a mother. Stop it.” This whole conversation had turned too cheesy for Agnes to deal with, as right now all she wanted was to continue eating her fruit and bacon salad, but then Victoria told her she was going to do some reading. “What?” Agnes turned to look at her. “Nooo. I don’t want to read about it!” Was there any worse way to find out about pregnant stuff than by reading it? No.