Casualty of Love: Turning Tables

Choose To Be Happy With Me

I was walking around with Elijah, not going anywhere in particular. "So, turns out that I'm having twins," I said abruptly, not in the mood to beat around the bush.

"Really? That's awesome! You should name one of them after me," he said with a genuine smile. It was strange to see Elijah happy about something that had to do with Draco and I, so immediately I was suspicious. 

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'that's awesome'? Who are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Oh... Is this a bad thing? I just thought it would be cool to have a baby named after me! I could teach him all of my tricks and then he'll be a total lady killer."

I gaped at him. "No, it's not exactly a bad thing... You're just acting so different. And I haven't talked to you in weeks. Where have you been?"

"Around," he said with a small half smile. My intuition sparked.

"Elijah, have you been hanging around with a girl? Oh God, it's not Emmy again, is it?"

"No way! But, yes, I have been hanging around with someone who happens to be a female."

"Who is it?" I gasped and stopped walking.

He stopped to and gave me a 'Really?' look. "Not that it's any of your business--"

"If it was me, you'd want to know!"

"I know... Well, it's Lucille..." He looked down at his feet.

"Wow... I have to say, I didn't think she'd be into your...lack of finesse. Or your whole bravado thing... But congratulations! I'm glad that you finally decided to be happy," I said, continuing our walk.

He looked back up at me and followed. "I'm not sure that's something you can decide."

"No, it is! Once you choose to be happy, reasons to be happy will come. Happiness is a state of mind, my friend. What you think, you become. ...I think Buddha said that."

Elijah laughed at me. "When did you become the expert on happiness...or Buddha for that matter?"

"I spoke to your brother yesterday and he helped me a lot."

We rounded the corner and I looped my arm through the crook in Elijah's. "It seems like Nehemiah always knows what to say..."

"He really does... I told him I would name my baby after him. Maybe, if I had a boy, I could name him Nijah," I said, laughing.

"I'm sure Draco would love that!" he said sarcastically.

"Hey, they're my babies too! I pretty sure I get a say!"

"Draco could say the same! By the way, how is he dealing with all of this? I mean, he's got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders now."

"I can't believe you just asked about Draco. Seriously, who are you? Anyway, I haven't talked to him since I told him about the twins... I really should go see him... But two babies is a lot less responsibility than having to kill one of the greatest wizards of all time!"

"Which he didn't do... And I would beg to differ. Having babies is a lot scarier than facing sudden death if you don't finish an impossible task."

I hit him on the shoulder. "Whatever! I suppose you're just ecstatic that it's Draco in this situation and not you, then! C'mon let's go back to the Slytherin common room. I should probably apologize to Draco."

After arriving at the common room, I found Draco. "I need to talk to you," I told him. He followed me hesitantly, probably thinking about me going off on him yesterday for something that was out of his control. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly and it seemed to ease his tension.

I found an old broom closet because I knew that no one would go looking there and cast the muffliato charm to make sure we couldn't be heard. "First of all, I'm really sorry about what I said yesterday, I know it's not your fault... You had just about as much say as I did in all of this," I said, make a wide hand gesture to indicate what I meant.

"It's okay... I know you didn't mean it." He smiled at me and I instantly felt better about the situation.

"Also, I talked to Nehemiah yesterday and he gave me some really interesting news... The Order will be moving us into hiding sometime in May," I said with a weak smile, anticipating his reaction.

"Wait, what? We're going into hiding? And how did Nehemiah hear this?"

"He spoke with the Order last weekend... He's joined."

"Allie, you can't trust him! He's a death eater! How do you know he isn't telling you this just so he can tell the death eaters that we're planning to leave?"

"Because I trust him, Draco. He would never do that to us! I don't know why you have such a problem trusting people..."

"What about my parents? They'll be killed if we go into hiding...and so will yours!"

I felt heat rush to my face. I hadn't thought about that. "I'll just have to talk to Nehemiah about that... He can talk to the Order for us. Listen, it's not just about us anymore Draco," I said, taking his hand and placing it on my growing torso.

His expression looked pained. "How did we get here?" he said after a moment.

"Do you really want a play-by-play?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Not what I meant. How did things get so fucked up? How did we get to the point of being married, about to have two kids, and having to go into hiding all in our last year of school?" He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter! We can't change our situation so we have to make the best of it! Choose to be happy with me, Draco." I smiled at him. "We're in this together, okay? For life, whether you like it or not...so we might as well make the best of it."

"You're right... It's just easy to feel angry about everything," he admitted.

"You don't have to tell me. This isn't the first time I've chose to be happy--it takes work. But we can do this... It'll all work out--I just know it," I said, attempting to convince us both simultaneously. I wrapped my arms around him and after a moment, he did the same.