Hanging out

Chase sat on the front steps of the school and stared at the entrance hall doors. The side that led down to where the carriages dropped everyone off, she kept staring at them. Just beyond those doors, Andrew had punched Elijah, she had her first real meeting with a guy who wasn't trying to take advantage of her, and she had fallen in love. She hadn't known it then, but she had already been in love, she had just confused it for her angry and sadness towards Andrew.

Chase looked completely normal at the moment. Her robes were specially made, and magicked, so that she looked as skinny as she always did, but she weighed more, and was actually hiding a pregnant belly beneath it. She was about ten weeks along, and the belly was slowly starting to form, and it was definitely changing her entire life. First off, she had a strict meal plan, that gave her just the right amount of food during the day, that would sustain her, and keep the baby growing at a healthy rate, second was the mood swings. She would be deliriously happy the next, get really flirty, and then suddenly be horribly, tear wrenching sad. She hated mood swings, but they were better then morning sickness, which she had cleared up by a simple potion, which she had lent to another pregnant girl.

Chase stared at the doors for a long moment. She had had another mood swing, and gotten very sad about Andrew, and now she sat, staring at the doors, thinking of their magical, and not so magical summer. He had literally just been, a summer romance. They had broken up on the train there, and she had gotten the man she would most likely spend her life with, if he would have her. Seeing as he was the most popular guy in school. A Slytherin, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, had a reputation with just about every girl, but he had chosen to stay with her. HER of all people, when she had told him she was pregnant. He had chosen her, and now they were hopelessly in love. But still, Chase had these moments when she got sad, wondering how different her life would be if she had stayed with Andrew.

Victoria was wandering about the corridors, and decided that she needed a bout of fresh air. She didn't have much sanity when she hadn't been outside for awhile. All of these memories of her childhood outside of Hogwarts were haunting her, to the point of having strange nightmares. It was very often when she needed the outdoors to escape from the terrible thoughts. She wasn't about to randomly lose control of herself and freak out on someone who could easily return the favor... She stepped out of the school and took in the views. It was a particularly warm November day. She didn't even need a jacket. There were brown crinkly leaves drifting in the slight breeze, and it smelled of grass.

Victoria was dressed for classes, regular robes, and her Gryffindor scarf. Her brown hair blew in the wind, and made the air just then have a slight twinge of citrus. She loved the outdoors.

Then, she noticed a girl sitting on the steps. She hoped she hadn't interrupted anything by her presence... She decided to go sit near the girl, because she looked lonely, at the least. She also looked sad, and confused. "Hi... What's your name?" she asked the girl.

Chase hadn't heard anyone pass her, but suddenly there was a person standing and talking to her. Chase smiled at her and stood up, holding out her hand. "Chase Moor, Seventh year Hufflepuff, I hope I haven't bothered you or anything." She said lightly, smiling at the girl. She seemed nice enough, but these days Chase was rather wary about who she let be her friend. A friend enough to confide anything in anyway. Last time she had had a friend, well it hadn't turned out very well. Chase could almost hear the shouting echoing across the last five weeks. Had it really only been a month ago that she had told Jack, and Jack had blown up? Surely not, but counting back it had been only a month or so ago.

Chase smiled at the girl and sat back down, patting the step next to her. "I hope I wasn't in your way or anything." She said flicking fiery red hair over her shoulder gracefully. Sure Chase was Pregnant, sure Chase was clumsy, and rather hard to take at times, but one thing Chase was almost always, was graceful, at least now a days. She hadn't always been, just thinking back a few months prior, she had left a line of disheveled people in her path when trying to move through a crowded restaurant. Again it had to do with Andrew, what was with all of these memories? They were going to drive her insane! "Pull yourself together Moor, this girl doesn't know anything about you, she can't even tell your pregnant! You just look like another lonely girl sitting on the steps, play it cool!"

Chase grinned at her. "What brings your outside on a day like today? It's kind of chilly today, I think Winter is settling in, and you know how it is here, so much snow you can't even get outside to Herbology, and that's the nearest class!" She giggled lightly and flicked her hair again. It was a nervous habit of hers, and she spent so much time around guys she just continued to do it, even in the presence of girls. "What's your name?" She asked politely, looking the girl over carefully.

Victoria thought this girl might just be insane, what with all of these weird faces she was making. But she wasn't one to judge. She wasn't really one to talk when it came to insanity, considering all of these screwed up dreams she'd been having. She loved making friends, so she sat next to Chase. "I'm Victoria Nightshade. Fourth Year Gryffindor. You can call me Vicky, if you want." She flashed one of her "friend-making-smiles" and continued. "You weren't in my way or anything, I just decided to say hello because you looked kind of lonely." She laughed quietly. "It is pretty cold out here... Maybe I wasn't too smart to have left my coat up in the dorms. Oh, at least I have my scarf." She pondered for a bit, trying to think of something to say. Generic questions first.. she thought. "So how have you been? Hard telling this point in time... Everyone seems constantly donwn these days." she said, remembering when her life had been that way, even without all of the meddling with the split Wizarding Community.

"Nice to meet you Victoria-Nightshade-Fourth-yea- Gryffindor." She repeated with a smile. "That's a long name if you ask me." She smirked and then let the smile fall off her face. The standard, you look lonely, how are you, everyone looks down type questions made Chase actually smile a bit. It was like everything was normal, like she didn't have a baby inside of her. No, this girl didn't know any of that, this girl was completely clueless to what her life actually was like, and Chase felt that one aspect cheer her up. She grinned at the girl and shrugged.

"I blame the cold weather actually, people just get down when it's cold and dreary outside, without the comfort of snow on the ground, and just this dull, dead look of everything. I think it depresses people, makes us see the worst in everything. For me, it makes me think about my past a bit more then I want to. Like over there." She said and pointed at the doors, just outside of them. "My ex boyfriend hit a guy who was being nice to me.. the guy who was being nice to me is with me now.. but still, I kind of miss my ex, he was very nice." She said shaking her head.

She ran her hand through her hair and stared at the stair below her, thinking. "It's been a hard summer is all I guess, and now.. well Christmas is coming up, and it'll be hard, a lot harder then I want to admit actually." She said shaking her head and looking over at the tall girl. She smiled at her and shook her head. "It's just been a horribly long year, and I want it to be over, and this New Years, I'm doing everything I can to make next year a lot better then this one." She said with a small laugh, but it quickly faded and she found herself staring at the doors to the Great Hall.

Victoria let out a sigh. This girl and she had a lot in common, actually. Her memories seemed to be getting the best of her, too. Maybe Chase could be someone, finally, that she could actually talk to about things that are actually important, and mean something. Not the regular, shallow conversation most people exchanged regularly, like when the next Quidditch match was, or how Potions work was such a drag. This girl seemed pretty nice. Vicky decided that she could tell her a bit about her past.

"Yeah. Cold weather tends to remind me of when my parents split up. That was a bad time. So much fighting and arguing... Though, I've never really gotten myself involved with guy drama, I have enough within the family as it is... Christmases are the worst though. That's when most of the memories set in."

Victoria thought about all of the nightmares she'd been through and shuddered. She was sure Chase had probably had her share. Vicky was used to having everyone be nice to her at Hogwarts, just not at home. She wondered how it would be like to have drama here, too... Man, would that suck.

Chase nodded slightly and smiled at the girl. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents." She said lightly, and immediately started to think of her family. She went quiet for some time, wondering weather or not she should tell her about herself or not. She didn't want her sympathy, she had had enough of that to last her a life time, but still. This girl had shared her personal problems already, and even though she was a Gryffindor, Chase could see herself being friends with her. Why not get everything out on the table, and then decide if they really would be good friends or not. She bit her lip and then ran her hand through her hair swiftly before turning to the girl.

"Yeah... It's kinda bad, I technically don't have anywhere to live right now, I mean, I guess I live here, but outside of Hogwarts I'm kinda homeless." Chase sighed and rested her elbows on the stair behind her, staring at the doors to the Great Hall. "I had just lost the memories for the past year at the end of the summer... and I went home, and not even two weeks after I got home from school, having no idea what I did the last entire school year, my entire family was murdered by a Death Eater." She said with a sigh, her eyes had an odd distant look, as though she wasn't entire there at the moment, but lost in memories.

"I went to live with a friend, who's house got attacked by a Demon.. I fled, how could I fight? I couldn't even use magic at the time, and then I went to Hogsmeade, and met my ex boyfriend... well, we hadn't dated, he's my ex now, but... we started to like each other, I was staying at the inn in Hogsmeade, and we got along great, we moved in with each other... and then on the Hogwarts Express... before the Demons attacked the train, he broke up with me.." She sighed. "I was devastated, I thought that maybe, just maybe I could find a real home, but he destroyed that thought, after the attack, I went and healed people, and met the person who is my current boyfriend.." She took a deep sigh, and wondered if she should tell this girl she was pregnant. She decided against it and looked at her carefully, wondering how she would react to THAT.

Victoria was silent for a spell; pondering the information just given to her. She didn't really know what to say. She wasn't about to just say nothing though.. She was a Gryffindor, should be brave enough to say at least something.

"Wow.. what a life." she said. "It can't be easy with Dark people seeming to be after everyone you know..." she trailed off for a moment. This made her glad she was a Muggle-born.... For now.... The Death Eaters probably wouldn't come after the Muggles until after they've killed everyone who had actually fought against them. "It's nice you have a boyfriend now... Sometimes they can be lifesavers. In the figurative sense, that is." she added. With this war going on, it could be literal very soon. "I'm really sorry you don't have anywhere to live... Do you plan on moving in with your boyfriend after school lets out?"

Victoria's eyes wandered around for a moment, fixing on different things, the doors, the steps, the Forbidden Forest in the distance... She silently sat and waited for the girl to speak agian, for she didn't think she had anything else to say.

Chase bit her lip. "He wants me to... sometimes I feel like he's prepared to hide me from the world... and it makes me feel odd, I mean..." She stopped for a second and then bit down on her lower lip, chewing on it without really thinking about it. "You see..." She sighed and suddenly put her face in her hands. "I'm pregnant with his baby... but if I weren't... If I were just Chase Moor, he would have left and forgotten me ten weeks ago..." She said and then pulled at her hair slightly. "But no.. I'm Chase Moor, with his child, and sometimes, it makes me so sad..I believe now that he loves me... at least he says he does. But he wouldn't have... he wouldn't have loved me without this baby inside of me.."

Chase sighed and looked up at Victoria. "Is it selfish? Is it selfish to want him to like me before he did? I mean... it's just, all of this stuff in my life, and then I realize that I wouldn't be where I am now without his help, his help has saved me, his help has helped me in so many ways, and I love him so freaking much." She buried her face in her hands again. "So I guess that's why I'm sad... take it or leave it at that, I'd like to be your friend Victoria, you're a cool person." She grinned at her lightly and then frowned. "But ya know.. it seems that every person who is my friend, tends to suffer, so if you don't want that.. then I suggest you walk away right now, and forget about the girl you met today." She said with a sigh. "I ruin everyone's lives."

Victoria grinned. "Sometimes suffering is worth a good friend." she said. "I tend to screw things up everywhere I go in the Muggle world with all of my angsty-magical-teenagerness, but hell, if they can't deal with it, I don't care." She smirked. It was true. So many people had gotten hell from her antics, depression-triggered or otherwise, and she was proud of it. "You don't look pregnant at all... but if that's what you think is keeping him with you, I suppose it's a good thing." Victoria let out a slight sigh; and thought about her own social happenings. She'd never had a boyfriend of her own... Too wrapped up in schoolwork and being meek and scared of everything around her to interact with the male species. She thought some more about what Chase had been telling her, then said something that she thought was completely true. "You know, Chase? I don't think this kid would've left you if you weren't with his child. Not if he was mentally right, anyways. You're pretty great, I reckon." She knew there might be more to this story that she didn't know; something that would change her mind, but she liked to think positively, so, for the moment, that was what she thought.