That Mistake I Made

"Um, Katie..." Fred looked at her with a serious expression (which was extremely rare).

Katie held up her hands to stop Fred, "I was on my way out anyway. Take care." Instead of Apparating, she left through the door. Fred watched her leave and when she did, his eyes slowly went back to Angelina.

"What's this about a baby?" He tried to sound as calm as possible.

Angelina looked out the window and bit her bottom lip.

"Come on, talk to me," Fred sat on the edge of the bed. "I heard it all."

Angelina began to shake her head.

"Well, then I don't have to talk to you," she said with a nervous laugh. It was a shame how much of a coward she seemed to be now. Where's that Gryffindor pride?

Fred took both her hands in his. "So, I'm going to be a dad?" The lopsided grin that ALL the Weasley boys possessed, formed on his face. It then faded slowly when he saw the solemn look on Angelina's face.

"I can't have this baby, Fred." Angelina began to cry hysterically.

A pair of arms wrapped around Angelina and her crying became heavier.

"I'm *sniff* so sorry *sniff sniff* Fred! Please don't *sniff*... *sniff* be angry!"

Fred pulled away from Angelina and looked deeply into her eyes, "Right now, I'm your support, Angelina. I can't say I'm mad, just confused."

"That's exactly how I feel!" Angelina cried loudly. "I've never been so confused before in my life! And Fred, I'm afraid. I don't know where my life is headed!"

Fred closed his eyes and rubbed circles in the center of Angelina's back.

"If it makes you feel any better, Angie, I'm the father of the baby." There was no hint of doubt in Fred's voice. That soothed Angelina somewhat.

For what seemed like ages, Angelina's sobs had calmed down and subdued to minor sniffing. Her bedroom door closed and locked, she lay in Fred's arms rocking, and daring herself to steal the smallest of glances from him.

The one time she did look up, she saw Fred staring determinedly at the ceiling with his jaws clenched tightly and a straight expression on his face.

Looking back down, Angelina wasn't expecting him to speak just yet.

"What's the plan?"

There was deadly silence and Fred's grasped tightened on her shoulders and upper back. "We've got to work something out before I go back to work," Fred said with slight chuckle.

Angelina failed at holding back a sad sigh. Pulling away from Fred's security, she looked down at her hands and began to twiddle them.

"I've already gone to Knockturn Alley, Fred."

A groan escaped his mouth, telling her exactly that he wasn't too pleased.

"And I talked to a woman about the Antiquo Infanus potion."

Fred sighed softly.

"She said that the process would only take a week of healing time."

Fred slowly began to move away from Angelina.

"Since I have those Tutshill auditions..."

There was a soft growl coming from Fred.

"I can't throw my life away because of one mistake that I made."

"Our mistake," Fred corrected her.

Before Angelina could say anything else, he put a finger to her lips. "Shush, Angie. You keep going on about this mistake you made. You fail to realize that I was with you that night."

Angelina wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You know crying won't change anything," Fred went on. He hadn't meant to sound harsh, but honesty was definitely the best thing right now.

Angelina wiped her eyes again and there was a deadly silence.

"Angie, you can't be serious about this... thing, can you? I mean, it wouldn't be right."

"Fred... I know you don't think it's right, but in all honesty, it's what's best. I can't have this baby. We can't have this baby."

Fred couldn't believe his ears. Sure it was a shock that he was going to be a parent, but he couldn't facet the idea of Angelina actually wanting to be rid of this baby. This life that he and she had created. It just wasn't natural. His mum didn't just get rid of Bill when she had become pregnant right after her graduation from Hogwarts. In fact, she had married his father.

"Well, I've got to go back to work now. I just sort of left in the middle of some conversation with George. I'll talk to you late, Angie."

Fred unwrapped his arms from around her and scooted away to stand up.

Angelina jumped up and stopped Fred from Apparating.

"That's it! You're just going to leave! You're not going to say anything else to me!"

Fred laughed darkly. "What do you mean is there anything else to say? You've already made your decision. I come here to work out a problem with you and you've already made the decision without me!

"I guess I wouldn't be so upset if you'd have told me from the beginning, instead of me running in and..." Fred stopped in mid-sentence.

Surely she didn't believe any of what he was saying.

Fred put his hands to his mouth and looked down at the floor.

Angelina was pregnant and she was having an abortion. The realization hadn't hit him until just then. And when it did hit him, it hit him hard. It seemed as if the wind was knocked from his chest by some great and pounding fist.

Angelina couldn't stop the tears and after a while, neither could Fred.

They had both never been so afraid in their life.

"Angelina," Fred pleaded, "don't do this. Please, let's just give it some time. Let's tell your parents. Let's tell my parents. We shouldn't have to take the easy way out. It's not what we should do!"

His voice was so quiet it even startled him.

Angelina began to shake her head 'no'. There was no discussing it. Angelina was having this abortion and that was the end of it.

"Fred," she whispered, shaking her head.

Fred had wanted to sit down, but he honestly couldn't be in this room any longer. It was making him sick to his stomach and Angelina wasn't exactly helping the situation.

As Angelina reached out to grab onto Fred's hand, he snatched it away.

"I need some time," Fred said quietly.

"Just give me some time."

And with that, he Apparated from the bedroom.

Angelina fell face first on the bed and began to cry loudly again into her pillow. She made sure that her sobs couldn't be heard by her father if her were to come in early from work.