WHO: Joy Diserafino & Finn McLaggen
WHAT: THE UNITED WIN! Annnnnnnnnd Finn gets a shock
WHERE: Wherever the celebration party is XD
WHEN: March 29, 1978

Joy was practically in a daze as she walked into the brown-and-blue clad Puddlemere United player's tent. She was so off in her own world that she hardly heard all the screaming and hooting and hollering and general celebrating going on all around her--all she could concentrate on at the moment was the sickening feeling in her stomach and her determination to find one person in the middle of all this craziness.

One person, one person that was very easy to find. Phineas McLaggen, Puddlemere seeker, and now Cup-champion captain, and there he was right in front of her. Laughing with his teammates, popping bottles of champagne and being drenched with them, and being happy. Hah, happy... Joy actually felt a strong twinge of guilt in her gut at knowing that she was probably going to ruin his night. She would have much preferred to do this any other time, but--

Finn McLaggen wasn't exactly the easiest star to get a hold of. He mostly holed himself up in his house, and she'd never get into there and it here, she knew he'd be here. She knew this would probably be her only chance until the new season started and she needed him now. Okay, so she needed his money now, but--ugh, it sounded so horrible, she--she was being kicked out though and--and oh oh how in the world had she gotten so close to him so fast and now she was right in front of him staring at him like an idiot and ugh ohhh---

"H--Hi. I--Finn?"

This celebration was literally ten years in the making.

Ten years since he’d first played on a real quidditch team, and now, now look at him! Look at his team! Just look! They were the champions of British quidditch. His team were the CHAMPIONS OF THE LEAGUE! It was---there was no way of describing how he felt at that moment. There weren’t enough words or time in the world to explain so Finn just continued to hoot and holler with his teammates, singing the Puddlemere fight song and chanting along with the cheers the fans often roared during the games and guh, his face was going to be so sore from all the smiling.

Wait until he told his parents! They should’ve been listening, but calling them and telling them, wow, his mam would be crying and his dad, well---maybe he’d be all uptight but at least he couldn’t say something negative about this! There was nothing wrong with this day! Nothing wrong with being a champion!

So when he spotted Joy (Joy, he remembered her, he actually remembered her name for some strange reason) coming up to him, Finn threw his arms up in an exaggerated ‘hello’ and swept her up into a hug. Sure she was just some fling he had, but she was there and right now everyone in this tent was freaking family. “HEY HOW ARE YOU?”

Okay, so that was probably the last thing she had been expecting. A rather shocked Joy stood there as she was gathered up into a hug, not really having the physical or mental willpower at the moment to pull away and waited until he had let her go before offering him a nervous, uncomfortable smile. "Hey, I'm--good, I'm... good, I--do you think I could talk to you for a minute?"

She looked around shyly (guh, when's the last time she'd felt shy?) at the rest of his teammates as if looking for approval, but everyone else was too preoccupied to even notice her, so she looked back to Finn, giving him the best puppy dog look she could muster up. It was actually quite genuine. "Just a second, please?"

“Yeah, sure,” Finn said, not able to hold back his wolfish grin as he took her hand and pulled her through the crowd, trying to find a quieter spot (but really, it felt like the whole world was shaking with the United, so it was kind of hard). He managed to kick three of his teammates who were jumping around on a couch playing air guitar away and flopped down, pulling Joy down with him. Honestly, she didn’t have to ask for some alone time like this, and maybe he should’ve been worried about messing around with the same girl twice, but he was in too good of a mood to really care if she was getting ‘attached’ or something.

He leaned over grinning cheekily. “So.”

If she had felt uneasy before, Joy felt even moreso uneasy now. Ah, yeah, definitely the wrong message he was getting aaaaand--

She coughed quietly, laughing nervously. "So," she said, leaning away just a bit as he leaned towards her. "I guess you remember--you know--four weeks ago, that night at Psyke's party--you remember what happened--" Joy gulped a bit, feeling a horrible sense of dread creeping up on her. Oh, he was going to die and then he was going to get up and leave and she was so dead, why was she here again? This was possibly the stupidest thing she'd ever done in her fucking life, second only to getting pregnant in the first place ohhhhh... "--this is really hard to say, so I'll cut just to the chase. I'm... pregnant." She shut her eyes tightly, figuring it'd be better if she didn't see his reaction.

“What?”

He must not have heard her correctly, because Finn swore she said she was pregnant. Pregnant? Yeah, yeah right. He’d been doing this for almost seven years now (having sex for longer, really, but that wasn’t the point---) and not once had he ever---pregnant? Did Joy really say she was pregnant? As in, having a baby pregnant?

Finn sat back, his smile disappearing completely and the slight buzz he’d achieved from the champagne completely washed away. She looked terrified, and fuck if that wasn’t weird. This was all weird. Why would she come to him now, huh? It’d been four weeks, surely she’d known (if she actually was pregnant, that is) for more than this one day. She’d decided that today she should bring it up? Today. Now that just made things weirder, and Finn frowned, shaking his head. Nah, he’d heard wrong. He’d had to have. “Come again?”

Joy shook her head swiftly, burying her face in her hands and rubbing furiously because she was going to cry, ugh these stupid hormones and stupid famous player men and stupid Quidditch and she didn't even know why she was blaming Quidditch cause, like, it had nothing to do with anything, but she needed to blame stuff because it made her feel better, not that it made her stop crying because this stupid baby did these stupid things to her and it was all stupid the whole world was stupid aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh

"I didn't want to tell you, alright?" she said, finally pulling her hands away so she could look at him. "But I'm broke and I just lost my job and my sister's kicking me out and I don't know what to do and I don't want to do this to you here, but I can't just call you up like a normal person, and I'm sorry!" She didn't even know why she was apologizing, she shouldn't be because he'd done this to her, damn it, but she was and she didn't know what else to say.

She was crying. Oh, oh fuck, she was crying and getting crazy. He was being cornered by a crying, crazy, pregnant girl---a crying, crazy, pregnant girl that was carrying his kid?

Finn suddenly felt like crying himself, and he sank heavily into the back of the couch, staring blankly out toward the middle of the party where he, just moments ago, had been having the time of his bloody life. Not even a minute ago, even, he was the happiest person on earth. He’d just been off to find Anna Marie, if she’d shown, which he was sure she had (thaaat was bad, that he’d chased Joy down so quickly but there were more pressing issues at hand---). He’d been thinking of attempting to settle down, because it wasn’t every day someone you once loved walked back into your life, it wasn’t every day that you became the captain of championship quidditch team, and it really wasn’t bloody every day that you found out some random girl from some random party was pregnant with you kid.

Without moving really, Finn’s eyes traveled sideways to Joy, more specifically, her stomach, where, so she said, his child was. It just---it didn’t seem plausible, and he gulped greatly, looking back out toward the party. He’d get to the whole being super annoyed that she was mentioning that she was broke after the shock factor wore off, “Are…you sure?”

Because—fuck, she’d been easy enough to get with on the boat, he had to ask.

She nodded quietly. She did the sleeping around thing a lot, sure, but she hadn't partied once since Psyke's birthday--hell, she hadn't felt well enough to with the morning sickness and the fatigue and hormone craziness.

"I'm sure, but I knew you wouldn't be, I mean--why would you trust me, any girl could come up to you and say she's pregnant and ask for money, but--but I'm--I wouldn't do that and this is the whole reason I'm broke, is because my Daddy, oh he was so mad and he--" She shook her head, realizing that she was getting far off the point. "--but, I--I set up a paternity test, I mean, that is--if you want me to prove it--you just have to be there, and--that is, if you're even interested. I understand if you're not--"

Finn put his face in his hands, much like Joy, and he quite suddenly felt like an idiot teenager again. Was she an idiot teenager, too? He didn’t even know how old she was, he didn’t even know her last name, he didn’t even know if Joy was her real name! And he’d gone and! Well he was kind of sure he’d went and gone and got her pregnant even though it takes two to bloody tango, you know!

Letting out a long breath he slapped his hands down to his knees. She was being reasonable. She was being…what, she was broke and needed money, the first thing that should have popped into his mind was that she was just some whore that was trying for a quick buck. But, there was always a but, she looked insanely upset and she hadn’t even wanted to tell him---that was---well that was fucked up more than her wanting money, in Finn’s mind, and he let out yet another frustrated sound.

“When’s this appointment?” he asked half-heartedly, kind of just wanting to go home now.

If there was any possible way a person could feel anything resembling hope in this situation, it was now. Honestly, Joy hadn't thought he'd care--she'd talk to him, he would tell her to forget it, and she'd leave and go... well, she hadn't gotten that far before, but it was okay because he was actually interested, he was asking when this appointment was... and it didn't mean anything, per se, but it kind of meant something.

She knew that he was the father, and if he was willing to go let her prove that to him, then that meant he might not totally want this completely out of his life (even though she was sure he did, but he wasn't just throwing her off, so), which meant that when she did prove it to him, she might possibly have a chance because it was his baby and maybe her life wasn't over after all.

But it didn't matter, nothing mattered yet, because she still had to prove it and he still had to react and she could be totally wrong and ugh and. "The first, of April... 2:45, St. Mungo's. I--you'll come?"

“April Fool’s? Bloody---yeah, I’ll go. I mean.” He shrugged, looking down at his hands and feeling like some sort of scolded puppy. Finn would be mad at himself later, this was---the shock value of all of this was too much to allow him to do anything besides listen dumbly to her explanation and go along with the plans she’d set. Not that he was exactly okay with all the plans, her being broke was a monster set back and she’d been kicked out and---fuck, the supposed mother of his child was homeless, that would cause a bit of a controversy, wouldn’t it?

That made him clench his teeth slightly, and while he knew he was just as equally to blame about this, couldn’t she have, you know, told him before things got so out of hand? Now he, as a noble Gryffindor forever and always, could simply not let this girl (because that’s what she was, and he was starting to feel like a little boy, now) live…where? On the couch of a friend? She’d put him in such a tight spot, he would’ve---if this----tonight of all night’s.

Sighing, Finn stood up and rubbed the back of his head. Feckin hell, when his team found out about this…well, they’d just have to shut the fuck up or they’re cut. Final. “Look, you can stay at my flat until the appointment, and after the fact…we can figure it out from there. Just---don’t tell anyone else, yet.”

Joy nodded quietly because, well--what else was there to do? If this were any other situation, anything else, she would undoubtedly have been all excited and amazed that she was staying at the flat of a star because, uh, total once-in-a-lifetime thing! But this wasn't just for fun and all the joy (aha... ha) was sucked out of the situation at knowing how serious a diliema they were in that was actually forcing them into this and guh, she was a horrible person, wasn't she? Coming here and (if he was a good guy, which apparently he was) forcing him into something like this, she was just as bad a using him and even though this was half his fault in the first place, she was a Gryffindor too--stuff like this just didn't sit right with her.

But what was there to do? Go take her baby and live in a box somewhere? Okay, so maybe that was a little overdramatic an analysis, but! But she wasn't allowed to go back home until she had a job and that wasn't happening any time soon because face it, it was her and she was crap at jobs--and crap at life, obviously oh god, how had she gotten herself into this situation again? Joy had really done herself in good, and it was so scary to know that this time, there wasn't any calling to Daddy and weaseling her way out of it. You couldn't pay off a baby like you could debt, you couldn't just get rid of it, it was there and--and it was there for the rest of her life.

"Thanks, I--I promise not to say anything," she said, rubbing at her eyes furiously because she knew that even if people weren't paying attention, this had the potential to be a scene and it was something he wanted under wraps. "I'll just--I'm... I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Finn grabbed the bridge of his nose and nodded, motioning for her to get up and follow him. He couldn’t stay at the part no matter how much he wanted to go over and forget about all this crap by downing one, two, six, ten bottles of something, anything, but he couldn’t now.

He was going to be a father.

He had to be responsible.

It was sickening.

“C’mon I’ll---can you---“ they were outside the tent now, and Finn looked around to see if anyone was watching. Hell, they’d probably figure he was just taking her off to a quieter spot, yeah? Fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, “Can you apparate? I don’t know how this…works.”

"No, it... side-along is okay, but--"

Ugh, she hated feeling so meek and hated feeling like such a burden and she wasn't used to this, she hadn't felt this way in bloody--no, she couldn't remember feeling like this ever, actually, and it was certainly an unwelcome change from her normal outgoing, I'm-a-Princess ways. Merlin, Joy would have given anything at that moment to go back to a month ago and change all of this. Forget the fun of getting to shag a Quidditch player, she'd stay the fuck away, she wouldn't even go to the bloody party, she'd forget all about it and tell Psyke sorry but she didn't feel well and she just couldn't and she'd never meet Finn and she'd never get pregnant and she'd never ruin his night tonight and it would all be okay, why couldn't it just be--

This was so wrong, this was so fucked up, why couldn't things just be alright again?