A private encounter

Pam sighed and sat down on a bench in the empty corridor on the fourth floor of Hogwarts. There was just too much drama in her life right now. Micah was in France--how long she didn't know--and Pat wasn't speaking to her. There was something going on with him but she didn't know what.

Well, maybe she deserved it. She'd been acting like a real snot to him when he was just trying to help out. Still, he didn't have to treat her like a glass doll.

She rested a hand on her growing stomach and winced as one of her twins kicked. It must have been the boy but she wasn't sure. She hated these past seven months just as much as she loved them.

Hearing movement in the area, she looked around. "Hello?" she called out, her wand by her side.

Hearing the person say hi, Pam relaxed a little and when she saw it was the girl who had come over during the holidays...Alliana, she smiled back at her.

"Oh, you don't have to go," Pam said. "Plenty of room for two Gryffindors."

What was going on with her? She knew she'd been somewhat of a pain over the holidays, especially when Alli had come over to their house. Maybe she was trying to make amends with her year mate? It felt awkward though, and if there was one thing Pam didn't like it was awkwardness.

"Hey?" she called out taking her chance now in case Alli really was going to leave. "Do you know what's going on with Pat?"

Cause he won't tell me a thing, she thought with a sigh. One of her twins kicked again.

When Alli stopped in her tracks, Pam raised an eyebrow. It was just a simple question wasn't it? Wasn't Alli Pat's girlfriend?

She could see concern on Alli's features but pushed that aside for a minute so she could process what she'd just learned. Alli. And. Pat. Broke. Up.

That explained so much.

"Well that explains it," Pam said putting her hand to her forehead in realization. "Here I thought him just plainly ignoring me and being Mr. Solitude, staying up way past curfew in the library and avoiding the outdoors as much as humanly possible was because of NEWTs."

Now, for the part she was dying to ask.

"What possessed you to do a boneheaded thing like that?" she quickly snapped at the girl before she could lose any nerve. Alli was nice but Pat was her brother. Unspoken Wood rule number one: You do what you have to for family. "He loves you!"

Okay, there was some new information she didn't expect and Pam knew that there might be some shock on her face.

"Okay, back up," she requested. "We're talking about the same Patrick Wood? The one who wouldn't stop talking about you for days the first winter holidays you two were dating? The one who gets a smile on his face the minute he hears your name?"

Well, not that it was common any more. If Alli was mentioned, Pat just scowled. Again, not that she'd know much about that. Stupid being in separate houses.

"So now I have to go smack some sense into that boy," she muttered--not too softly as so Alli could hear her. "I still owe him for treating me like a glass doll over break. Why'd he request the break up is beyond me."

Shaking her head, she looked back at Alli. Yet another kick came and she couldn't help but talk back.

"Will you stop kicking!" she groaned. "Really?"

Pam couldn't believe how much of an idiot her brother was. Breaking up over a misunderstanding? What, was she in a soap opera now or something?

"Oh, like last winter?" she asked and then wished she hadn't. That fight had sounded bad and that hadn't broken them up.

Pam hoped things would clear up soon otherwise she'd not hesitate to hex her brother from here to London. The one thing that broke her out of her musings when Alli asked how the twins and her were doing.

Pat must have told her, she figured. Now she must pity me. The girl with twins without any help.

"I'm doing alright," she said with the mask that had donned her face for most of the holidays. "Be easier if they'd stop kicking all the time."

Pam was thankful that Alli didn't say the usual I know what you're going through tripe that she was expecting. It was really annoying at times to refrain from reminding some people that no, they didn't know.

The twins stopped kicking and Pam relaxed for once. Her two children were going to be a handful once they were born. She was in disbelief that she only had two months before she had to really be a mother.

"Thanks," she said softly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She'd rather not talk about it, or show her true reaction to all the drama. When Alli asked if she could sit down, Pam couldn't help but think that was rather brave. Guess she was a Gryffindor, bravery to sit with someone who wasn't really all that friendly to her.

"Sure," she nodded and moved her wand.

Pam looked over at her fellow Gryffindor and Prefect, wondering just what was it like to be her for a change. Her life seemed relatively normal, no due date looming over her head. Maybe that was why she was trying to have an actual conversation with the girl. Or maybe it was because it was too much energy to be hostile to everyone.

"Seven months," she said when Alli asked how far along she was. She never thought it would be this long of a ride, but even more of a surprise was the fact that she actually enjoyed most of it. "One boy, one girl. Seems genetics likes that combination with Wood children."

She was going to give her children her last name. Maybe give the boy Micah's name as a middle name but that was it.

Thank you for not making Mummy sick every day, she thought to her two twins.

Pam chuckled lightly. She'd forgotten that Alli had a twin brother. "Guess the odds that you'll have twins are very high, if you ever have kids," she said.

"I've got an idea for the boy's middle name and of course they'll both have my last name," Pam said. "I just don't know about first names for either one."

*You could always name the girl after your mother* she thought.

"Guess I need to hurry up, don't I?' she smirked.

"Well, that's good at least," Pam said when Alli said she wouldn't mind if she had twins. Between the shock of the pregnancy and the shock of having twins, Pam forgot to really have time to freak out about this.

Micah, I wish you were here, she thought but then banished it to the depth of her mind. She'd raise her children alone--with Pat's help of course.

"Yeah," Pam nodded when Alli told her that she still had time. "But I thought I had time seven months ago and now look where I am."

This small talk of theirs felt odd, that was for sure, Pam thought. Though was it odd that this was the first decent conversation the two of them had had when they had been in the same house for their Hogwarts years?

"Yeah," she nodded. "Just like I'm sure you and Pat will be back together before the end of the year. Oh, and I'll get him on a broom before we leave as well!"

Ooh! Maybe she shouldn't have brought that up, she really didn't want things going back to being awkward. Wait, when did she start caring?

"If anyone can get him on a broom," Pam puffed up her chest with pride, "it'll be me."

She snorted when Alli said that it'd be difficult. Pat was always good for a dare when they were younger, and never liked to be called chicken. He'd do it alright, if not for her then for her children. They shouldn't grow up thinking their uncle was a coward should they?

She was glad that she was finally talking to Alli, and could see that she was just an ordinary girl--instead of the girl who could do no wrong her brother described her as. Maybe that was why he'd gotten so mad at her? Because he put Alli on a pedestal and reality finally caught up? Alli was Pat's first girlfriend after all.

Sweet Merlin! She was sounding mature! Must be the fact that she was two months away from motherhood.

"You're both mental," she shook her head. "What's so great about solid ground when there's the excitement of the air above?"

Pam chuckled. It had been a while since she was this lighthearted with someone of her own gender. Pat had always been good for a fly in their second year, well until he had fallen off. Now, he was still scared silly of all thing heights but brooms especially.

Alli seemed nicer than Pam thought she was going to be, which made her glad. Pat really did love her, even if they had broken up. They'd get back together--whether naturally or with the help of a meddling 'little' sister.

I hope whichever of you is older doesn't rub it in the younger one's face, Pam thought with an inward sigh.

"Yeah it is a long way down," she nodded. "But that's what makes it fun. Doing flips, doing crazy stunts, and just plain enjoying views you don't get from the ground. Besides, I don't think you can be a klutz when you're sitting."

Pam wondered how Pat would react if he ever found out that she was talking to his ex, but then remembered that he didn't control who she hung out with. He knew that and she knew that. It just seemed a little weird now, being friendly to her brother's ex. It almost seemed like she should take a side.

But she didn't. Alli was a nice girl and she knew that her brother (despite all his protests) could be a little immature at times.

Hearing Alli's points, she shrugged. "To each her own then. I just can't wait until I can fly on a broom again. These two little ones here have made it mighty impossible to get on."

She also didn't want to fall off and harm them but Pam thought that went without saying.

"Trust me, unless you figure out a way to top my brother's epic fall from his broomstick in Second year when he flew too close to the Willow, I doubt you could make a klutz out of sitting," she said with a chuckle and then froze a little. Pat had sworn her to secrecy about that. Yeah, she could assume that Alli knew--what with being Pat's girlfriend for how long--but Pam doubted that Alli knew the specifics. Of course she could and Pam just didn't know but that was besides the point. Pat swore her to secrecy about that fall (especially the details) and she just went and blabbed it to his ex!

Some sister she was. She grunted a little as one of her little ones kicked yet again.