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She’d gotten up early to make sure there was time for Mimi to have an extra long walk before being locked up in the flat for most of the day. Normally Dora would have simply brought Mimosa with her to Fin’s house. The little dog accompanied Dora almost everywhere except work and when she was meeting up with Kit, who Mimi disliked for some odd reason. Disliked was a gentler term for Mimi’s feelings toward the handsome Auror but by keeping the dog home it saved Dora from seemingly endless nights of spiraling panic that always led to the same result; Dora cutting herself on the bathroom floor and Kit thinking poorly of her for owning such an ill-behaved pet. Morgana only knew what he would think when he found out that Dora was pregnant. She’d already had a dream in which Kit asked her to marry him, wanting to raise the baby as his own and Dora knew him well enough to know nothing of the sort would ever happen like that. He wasn’t interested in her like that and now that she was pregnant she doubted she could change his mind. Of all her male friends, Kit was the only one Dora had ever really wanted anything more from, besides a couple rounds between the sheets which was standard fare for any friend not named Fin. She assumed that was why Mimi disliked him so, she could sense Dora’s crush and mistook the energy or something. It was strange and confusing, and it cost Mimi the opportunity to spend more time with Kit but Mimi was always welcomed with Fin.

Fin was used to the pup accompany Dora everywhere by now and Mimi even had her own little set of dishes at his house because she was obviously welcomed to join anytime her mummy visited. It certainly had nothing at all to do with the fact that Fin was a prissy little witch who didn’t like the idea of a dog licking a plate that he’d later be eating off of, even if the plate had been washed thoroughly. Today, however, Fin needed no extra paws running around to worry about. There was going to be a full house as it was, because even though his family consisted of only three people, Fin excluded, managing their big personalities was like herding blast-ended skrewts. Dora agreed to stand in as a bit of a buffer, hoping to be able to redirect any inappropriate conversations about Aurelius’ completely incorrect belief that Fin was somehow not up to par. Fin was bloody perfect and his father was a tit. A handsome tit, but a tit nonetheless.

There were plans for Dora to arrive early because Fin’s father was always early and being a good friend, Dora wanted to minimize the length of time her bestie would have to be exposed to thinly veiled insults about his lifestyle, work, and romantic life. She had truly attempted to speed up the process of getting ready, she’d even laid out an outfit the night before but putting on the pink dress in the daylight made Dora looked washed out. She had to change. Her hair would be simple enough, she wasn’t planning to curl it today. She would simply wear it straight, a little fluff to give it some body but nothing time consuming until she was met with a stubborn lock of hair that wanted to be defiant and make her run late. By the time Dora fixed her lipstick and disapparated from her flat, she was no longer going to be early. Shooting for on time was now the goal.

Fin’s large mansion was literally like a second home for Dora. She had lived with him for more than a year while saving up for a place of her own, and she still felt at ease simply walking in whenever she wanted. Grabbing hold of the knob, Dora began to turn it but she stopped. Internally arguing with herself, she wasn’t sure that letting herself in in front of the Averys would be the best way to start their lunch off. Every action had to be weighed against Daddy Avery’s disapproval, and in the end she decided to wait and allow Fin to invite her in like a proper guest. She rang the doorbell and waited on the porch, her hands smoothing over any perceived wrinkles in the front of her olive-colored dress.

She wanted to simply crawl into a hole and die. How had this happened?! Everything around her seemed so much larger and scarier than it had ever appeared to her before. The walls around her were closing in and the hall seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. She could hear Fin’s voice but the words sounded distant and unearthly. It was as if he was only pretending to speak real words. She could feel his breath warming her hair as he spoke, feel his arms tighten around her thin frame, but none of it seemed real. It was very much like a dream, a nightmare. By the gods, if only this was a nightmare that she could wake from. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Fin” she whimpered, face buried in his chest.

Pain formed at her temples and the center of her forehead long before the tears had stopped. Curled into the fetal position, her knees tucked up near her chest, she laid her head on Fin’s lap and stared into the void. At one point, Mimi had leapt up and tried to lick Dora’s face as she laid on her best friend for comfort, the pup’s breath smelling of chicken. Dora had simply turned his face away, curling further into Fin without a word to either of them.

Fin was the closest thing Dora had left to family, and wherever he was she felt at home. Fin signaled safety for Dora, even if she couldn’t recognize as much. She could be vulnerable with him and knew that he would pick up the pieces. He always had, even when they were young, but this wasn’t something he could buy her way out of. The enormous truth of her situation had yet to settle on her but that feeling of unknown terror lurked in the back of her mind, just out of reach but ever present. Dora hadn’t been able to provide any sort of answers to the questions Fin had posed, in truth she hadn’t even really understand any of them, no matter how many times he repeated them. From the moment Fin’s arms had wrapped around her thin frame, Dora had been in a fog. She was practically catatonic now, except for the momentary resurgence of tears and repeated statements of hopelessness that she spontaneously emitted from time to time.

Not even in sleep could she escape her current situation. Her dreams were full of absolute nothingness, enveloping her and pulling her down into a dark pit that seemed endless and cold. The only sounds were that of babies crying and Mimosa barking. She was alone, scared, and impossibly fat. Dora woke off and on all night, managing to sneak away from Fin long enough to hide away in the toilet and alleviate some of the pain that her tears had been unable to release. When she climbed back into Fin’s bed and nestled herself in his arms again, she sported a new bandage on her thigh.

She felt so tiny standing next to Fin without the added five inches her heels would have given her, though he was absolutely right to force her to change. She never would have made it in her initial attire. The boots and shorts were a necessity and she had managed to transfigure her bag into a little satchel that she could carry over her shoulder without worrying about it slipping and tumbling down the path behind them. Thank goodness for accessories, or else how would she have managed a flask all the way up here? She took the shimmery flask from Fin and took a drink, hanging on to it while she swallowed and looked out over the scenery. Taking another sip, she smiled. “Pretty worth it,” she agreed, resting her head on his shoulder. “So long as you never develop those photographs.” She was only half kidding but in truth Dora would be mortified for anyone back home to see her dressed down as she was, even if her rear end was on display in her short shorts as Fin snapped her picture hiking up behind her. She wouldn’t mind reliving these moments with him privately but if he had plans to share these photos in a slideshow like her mum used to after her vacations with daddy, Fin had another thing coming. Maybe she could cherry-pick the photos he shared. She had looked spectacular on the beach yesterday, and he’d gotten a nice shot of them lounging on the deck of their cabana under the starry sky their first night here. This definitely was a wonderful holiday, Dora was so pleased with herself for planning it.

Frantic, Dora pushed open each of the bedroom doors one by one. Fin’s room was the largest and she gave it a thorough search, not the least bit concerned that she might be walking in on her best friend and some random witch in flagrante delicto. His room empty and her mind not processing as rationally as it should, Dora ran to the room that she had once claimed as her own. Empty. Trying each of the guestrooms in a panic, she failed to recognize that there was no reason for Fin to be in any of these rooms. Not at this hour. Not without company, and he’d have mentioned if he was planning to have visitors; either to keep Dora away or to ensure she came over more frequently to play buffer between him and his family. The Averys weren’t her biggest admirers but they were respectable enough to not be flat out horrid to Fin in front of her. His family most definitely was not here, but the raven-haired witch didn’t know what else to do so she pushed open another door and looked around at the unoccupied space with mounting anguish.

As if the gods had finally had enough of watching her suffer, Dora heard Fin’s voice ring out behind her. She swung around to see him standing at the top of the stairs, her black hair falling limply around her shoulders. The spinning motion made her nauseated, but she forced the sick feeling down as she moved towards him, tears running down her face. Sticking her hand into the pocket of the cloak she still wore, Dora pulled out a small glass vial. “This!” she said shrilly, waving the wizarding pregnancy test in front of her as she closed the space between them, the faint pink liquid sloshing around inside the vial. As soon as he was within reach, Dora wrapped her arms around him and let the weight of her body hang there as she sobbed into his shoulder. Never had she considered this to be a possibility for her future. Unwed. Unloved. Pregnant. She was every bit the failure her mum believed her to be.

The symptoms would come and go but whatever sickness this was, Dora was thoroughly over it. She would feel perfectly fine one minute, then completely nauseous the next. Brushing her teeth made her queasy. The normally delicious smells from the Burmese restaurant down the street made her queasy. Bloody everything made her queasy! She was spending more time in the toilets at work than behind the bar, and when someone jokingly asked if she were pregnant Dora refuted such an idea with the force of the sodding Hogwarts Express. No bloody way was she pregnant! That was simply absurd. Absolutely bonkers.

Attempting to ignore the niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach, Dora distracted herself with housework. There were a few plates and glasses left in the sink that she’d not bothered with from the day before, and the clean dishes in the drying rack were already piling up. Tidying up the kitchen only took a few minutes, but the work left her completely knackered, so she decided to take a little nap before meeting friends for drinks. Mimi curled up beside her, Dora stroked the pooch’s head until her hand eventually stilled and sleep had taken her. Sordid memories filled her head, mingling with surreal encounters to create the most bizarre series of dreams Dora could remember in a long time. She slept fitfully on her cubbied bed of the studio flat, eventually pulling the deep purple blankets up over herself as the chill from the open window took hold of her.

Barking woke her some time later and when Dora opened her eyes she saw that it was dark. How long had she slept for? The disorienting feeling of having just woken up was interrupted by the overwhelming need to run to the loo. Bent over the toilet, she relieved herself of the contents of her stomach and slumped down against the cool tiled floor. “Bollocks,” she groaned to herself. She could feel a pounding in her head as Mimi continued to bark near the front door. Thank Merlin Dora had had the good sense to sound proof her flat or else the dog’s barking would have given her away. Pets were not allowed in the building. “Mimosa,” Dora whined from the bathroom, not the least bit authoritatively. “Please. Be quiet.” Knowing her request would not be answered, Dora pulled herself up from the bathroom floor, smoothed her hair as she passed by the mirror, and found the pair of shoes that she’d kicked off in her sleep; one on the floor with its mate tangled in the sheet on the bed. Grabbing her cloak and Mimi’s leash, and shutting the opened window to her balcony, Dora took the pup out of the building so that she could tinkle.

It was late and despite having slept for several hours, Dora found she didn’t have the energy to go out with her friends tonight. Several long nights in a row of work must have finally been catching up to her. Clearly there was nothing else the matter. Tired, but not wanting to be up with a rambunctious dog all night, Dora decided now was as good a time as any for Mimi’s evening walk. They’d walk around the block and then return home. Maybe she’d start that new book she’d gotten at the library a few days ago. A soothing cup of hot cocoa and a good book sounded lovely. They rounded the corner and walked past an Italian restaurant. Dora turned her nose up at the smell of it as she passed. There was a cleaners and a hardware shop, a little muggle bookshop she’d visited a number of times, and a pharmacy. Dora stood outside the pharmacy staring in through the large floor to ceiling windows. Mimosa happily sniffed around a nearby bush, unaware of the battle currently waging inside her master’s head.

***

“Fin! Fin, I need you! Where are you? This sodding house is too bloody big! Fin!” There was a definite tone of panic in Dora’s voice as she let herself into Avery Mansion, dropping Mimi’s lead and letting it trail behind as the dog ran off into another room, happy to be unmonitored for the time being. “FINLEY!” she wailed at the top of her lungs, wandering into the living room and not finding him there. She turned back around and headed for the large staircase that would take her to the first floor, still calling his name. Tears were streaming down her face and all Dora wanted to do was to curl up with her best friend and let him convince her that it was all a bad dream.

Dora was in utter heaven. Breakfast with a handsome Auror who was suggesting “slow dancing” in a cupboard for her birthday! The term easily shifted into something much more sensual in Dora’s mind as she pictured Kit, undressed with his rugged scars on show, gyrating against her in a darkened cupboard. Merlin have mercy! She was going to need a fan to cool herself down. Obviously, that wasn’t at all what Kit had meant for Dora to take away from the remark, the adorable grimace on his face told her as much but she also knew him well enough to know he’d never EVER say such kinky things aloud. At least not to her. Most likely to no one.

His remark about gift wrapping himself deserved a response, a full on one with all sorts of eyelash batting, biting of her lower lip, showing off her cleavage, and whatever else she could do to retort to such a serious rebuke of her affections, but Mimi interrupted them yet again. Standing from her chair, Dora turned to face the dog through the door. “You stop that, you naughty girl. What on earth is your problem today?” Turning to her breakfast date, she sighed. “I’m so sorry, Kit. She’s just being absolutely wretched. I think I should probably take her home. I honestly can’t think of any reason for her to be like this.”