Oh These Cravings...

Ash had made her way down to the kitchens. It was almost past curfew but she didn't really care. It had been the first time all day that she wasn't nauseated and could actually fathom eating something other than saltine crackers and dry toast. She hadn't wanted to return to school but she knew she had to. Dropping out because you were pregnant was no longer an option and since she still had yet to tell her brother she wanted to keep it from him as long as possible.

She went into the kitchens wondering what she should eat, everything was just looking good to her all of a sudden. Especially a tuna salad sandwich with chocolate sauce on it. It was the strangest thing. She wasn't used to these types of cravings...plus she normally hated tuna. She really felt a little crazy as she took a bite of her sandwich and had been wishing that there was someone other than Varod that she could talk about it with. He just wouldn't understand what she was going through fully.

Chase put her hand on her rather rounded belly and sighed. She was hungry, it happened more and more now that the baby was actually drawing it's nutrients from her food. She could never get enough of it in her. She slipped down the corridor and tickled the pear before entering the kitchen. Being a Hufflepuff had it's advantages. Chase wasn't exactly trying to hide her pregnancy today and had on silk pajamas that were getting rather tight around the stomach and chest area. For she was starting to expand in both of them. Her PJ pants weren't elastic, so that they were getting a bit to tight, she would have to do a spell on them later.

She walked in and looked around the kitchen for a moment before realizing she wasn't alone tonight. A girl who she recognized as a Gryffindor was sitting a table. She moved into the room and sat down beside the girl. "Hallo." She said with a grin before a house elf brought over a small plate of crackers and cheese before heading off to make some more chocolate things. That's what Chase usually got in the kitchens, and they knew by heart what she liked the most. Chase looked at the Gryffindor girl and then grinned. "Night time snack eh? Miss Dinner? I did that one time, boy did I regret it, I'm Chase Moor, Well Chastity, but everyone calls me Chase, Seventh Year Hufflepuff what's your name?" She asked and dipped her finger into a little bowl of melted chocolate that a house elf had sat in front of her.

She didn't really think of her pregnancy at that moment, but knew that it was because of it that she had odd cravings. Like just then a pickle slathered in mayonnaise sounded very good. Normally she would have been revolted, and the next time a house elf passed she asked for one. The poor creature gave her an odd look before rushing off to find a pickle and some mayonnaise. She smiled and looked at her. "Oh! Tuna and chocolate, one of the very first things I craved.." She stopped and blushed almost as deeply as her red hair, that at the moment was tied back in a high pony. "Sorry, I guess it's kind obvious right now isn't it?" She asked and rested her hand on her stomach before dipping her finger into the chocolate again.

Ash looked up seeing a girl walk into the kitchen. The house elves even knew what she was getting before she had time to sit down. A small smile came to her face as she glanced down at her stomach. She was the first person outside of her own house that had actually managed to start a conversation with Ash. It was really her own fault because she tended to keep to herself now that she was back in school. But with the hormones raging through her, she was starting to feel a bit lonely.

"Yeah kind of." she replied as the girl went off introducing herself. It actually made her smile, "I'm Ash McKinley, well Kiara Ashling but I hate my first name and everyone just tends to call me Ash now. I'm a seventh year Gryffindor." she added with a smile. Her eyes went to the chocolate that was sitting in front of them and as a house elf passed she asked for a plate of sliced apples, before taking another bite of her sandwich.

She had to laugh at Chase asking for the pickle with mayonnaise and she blushed a little when the girl mentioned that tuna fish and chocolate were one of her very first cravings. "Yeah I normally hate tuna, actually." she said almost as red as the girl. "Mine will be before too long. I think I'm a little lucky though because other than the morning sickness and strange cravings no one knows yet."

She found it oddly comforting that there was someone in this school in the same predicament that she found herself in now. "I just can't bring myself to tell my brother." Just then the house elf came back with the slices of apple and she picked one up and dipped it in chocolate before putting it to her mouth. "How far along are you?"

Chase looked at the girl and then her eyes went wide. "Oh my Merlin! You're pregnant too? That's amazing!" She said and hugged the girl. "Yeah, it's odd, actually I got a potion from Khaat at St. Mungos, clears up the morning sickness just like that, it was amazing! You don't feel nauseous or anything. It was great." She said shaking her head. "Besides the mood swings I'm pretty normal actually, well except a baby is growing inside me, I'm about ten weeks I think... just enough to show the little darling growing up." She said shaking her head.

"I actually have robes that just kinda.. hide it, some kind of magic makes me look absolutely normal, while my tummy is actually under all of the clothes. Luckily I don't think I'll show very much, but because I was skinny, I'm showing early." she said shaking her head. "Elijah just couldn't want to see it, that and I think he likes the fact that my chest is getting larger.. I wasn't very... bodacious before." She said and then laughed lightly, taking the pickle when it was handed to her and taking a huge bite out of it. "This is actually the first time I've really had cravings.. I tend to stay away from the kitchens.." She said and then sighed.

"How far along are you? Have you had any problems with anything? Us girls, we gotta stick together don't we? I mean, we are BOTH pregnant!" She said and then giggled. "After the initial shock is over, it's actually quite enjoyable, I understand why people DO get pregnant.. like they WANT to get pregnant, at first I thought I was just gonna sit and cry the entire pregnancy, but then.. well I got really happy, oh! We should work out together! We should! You gotta keep moving, or else the baby won't develop right, you want strong legs for the birthing process, and everything, I'm sorry, I just read up on everything I need to know.." she said shaking her head. "I've never met another student who is pregnant before! I'm so excited now! We need to be like... the best of friends okay?"

Ash felt a little weird at being hugged by the girl. She wasn't used to too much attention from people she didn't know. Except when she went on her little escapade the year before and actually managed to go on tour with a band. That had been great, except now she was back in school and pregnant. She listened to the girl and nodded, "Khaat didn't give me anything like that." she replied with a sigh, "Maybe I should ask her when I go back, all she gave me were prenatal vitamins that I have to take everyday."

She listened to the girl talk, "I wonder if I'll start to show early." she thought contemplatively. Her chest already felt swollen and sore to her but she really wasn't going to tell many people that. She looked at the girl as she mentioned Elijah. She actually only recognized his name because she had a class with him. "I'm sure you were just as cute to him then as you are now." she said smiling as she finished off her sandwich turning her attention to the apples that were sitting there taunting her.

"I'm about four weeks actually." she said looking at her, "Nothing to get excited about yet but still enough that my fiancée flipped out happily when he found out." She laughed as the girl said they needed to work out together. "That would actually probably be a good idea. We can be belly buddies that way we have someone who knows exactly what the other is going through and is the same age. I don't have any family other than my brother to help me through it and I'm terrified to tell him."

Chase looked at her and smiled. "I would hope so.." She said to the Elijah comment. "You know it is kind of weird.. being by yourself and all, I feel like, so many times better now that I know someone who is going through something like me!" She said and then smiled. "Except I don't have any family at all.. soo... this is my family." She said softly, her hand on her belly again before shaking her head. "Well I'm kind getting out of my morning sickness phase, so I bet I could let you have some of my potion!" She said smiling. "It really is a life saver." She said smiling at her. "That way you can eat without troubles.. I'll get it for you before you go back up to your common room." She said smiling at her.

"I have my own classroom set aside with my exercise equipment, I had to ask a few teachers, but they got it all figured out. You have to keep in shape, or it'll be hard to look like you did before the baby. I read that in a book!" She said puffing out her chest with pride. "I used to have such a hard time reading... but I'm a lot better now!" She said with a giggle. "I guess I'm just... oh well." She shook her head. "It's been difficult, my family was killed this summer.. then my boyfriend broke up with me, after I found out my other best friend is like, dating the dude that killed my family, and then I met Elijah, and it got out of control, and I'm not doing anything to prevent it at all! So.. I got pregnant.." She said shaking her head.

"It sounds like a lot, but.. I really love Elijah, we aren't engaged, I think he's still uncertain of what's going on right now. Half the time I think that he might pack up and leave, and I fully understand if he does.." She said shaking her head. "It was a mistake.. but now, I guess I'm just afraid of being all alone, so the fact that you are all alone too! We'll support each other okay? I'll take care of anything you can't! We'll hang out, and exercise and eat the right foods, and who knows, maybe we'll have our babies around the same time, we aren't that far apart!" She said giggling.

"I'm not sure if I could have it." she said looking at Chase..."I honestly think its a miracle I was able to even get pregnant...Varod is a vampire." she said sheepishly. She knew how some people thought about vampires. Varod's ex was the perfect example. Most people thought they shouldn't exist but she was honestly glad he did. He was the love of her life.

She thought about her brother, "My brother was all I had..." she said sadly, "Until he got married to that B**** he's with." she realized how hateful she sounded and immediately felt bad, "Sorry...I just really detest her. She's the reason my brother and I barely speak anymore if we even do when I go home." She really hadn't meant to talk about her sister in law like that...it had just slipped up. She was normally really good about holding her tongue about her.

"Maybe I should borrow some of those books from you." she said looking at her, "I don't think it would hurt to have a good idea of what I'm about to get myself into ya know." She was very clueless about what to expect. Somethings she knew from seeing her sister in law pregnant once but she had made sure to avoid her when she found out she was pregnant. "We should pick out times I think for us to work out. Its always easier when you have someone to work out with. Maybe on nice days we could walk the grounds."

"I think thats my greatest fear about this...well one of them." she said looking at Chase, "I don't know what I would do if Varod ended up leaving. I don't think he would...he just seemed so excited about it when I told him but I'm glad to know that I have someone to help me through this now." She smiled looking at her. "No we aren't though I think you might have to have yours late for us to be on the same day. Or me really early." she laughed a little nervously at that thought. But they weren't really far apart. She was just entering her second trimester and Ash was getting into the middle of her first. It was actually very possible that they would have their babies around the same time.