InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I haz a cheezburger."

Anthony Goldstein (deprecation) wrote in the_8th_floor,
@ 2011-09-14 21:07:00

Entry tags:

anthony goldstein, padma patil

Who Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil
What: Trying to get back on the same page
Where: Anthony's flat
When: Wednesday Evening

Things had not been going well for Padma and Anthony lately. She had been acting strange, he had been worried and every time they had spoken recently it had ended in a fight. Anthony hated not being able to talk to his best friend, but was hopeful when she finally accepted his invitation to his place after work. Mandy was going for the week on holiday, so maybe they'd actually have the opportunity for a real conversation.

He was just finishing unpacking the takeaway he picked up when he heard the knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 01:20 am UTC (link)

Deciding to view the abortion as 'behind her' was far easier than Padma thought it would be. Until she realised she needed to leave for Anthony's. He'd want to know why she was so weird, and what happened, and George this and that, and she very nearly cancelled entirely before shaking her head and reassuring herself that it was Anthony - her best friend next to Parvati - and that he'd respect her right to talk, or not talk, about anything else.

She smiled as she enterd the flat, the aroma of food hitting her instantly. "Not Indian," she smiled at him. "Hi. Thanks for ... wanting to get together." Might as well just dive in. "We've been off lately. I've been off. You've been ... amazing. I wouldn't have put up with me nearly as long as you did - or have."

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deprecation
2011-09-15 01:25 am UTC (link)

Anthony folded up the paper back and tucked in his pantry before walking over and reaching his arms out to hug her. She looked...tired.

"Amazing? Stop or it will all go to my head," he chuckled and lead her into the dining room. "Hope you like sandwiches."

Sitting at one end of the table, he unwrapped one of them and put it on his place. "I picked up several kinds so feel free to choose. I'm just going to put the rest in the icebox so I don't have to cook for the next few meals." With Mandy being gone, he immediately went back to his old habits of minimalized eating. Except when he met up with Lavender, of course.

"So. How are you?" He asked sincerely, trying to gauge her body language and expression.

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 01:31 am UTC (link)

"You could do with a bit more ego," Padma teased after they hugged. "I do like sandwiches."

She looked over the selection, selected one without tomato, and settled at the table. Such a loaded question he asked, and she wasn't near sure where to being in answering it.

"I think I'm doing ... a lot better," she said honestly. "It was beyond a crazy summer. Now it's fall and things are at least settling. I'm not fired, which is a huge relief. I got a fine and probation, George slightly worse, but all in all, not terrible for ruining a whole bunch of people's lives." She hadn't told Anthony when the trial was, she hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of it, and it had all worked itself out. Now she could put it behind her and move on with her life.

Which she supposed she needed to figure out if it involved George or not. Ignoring him wasn't fair.

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deprecation
2011-09-15 01:36 am UTC (link)

Anthony had not been aware that the trial had taken place and chose not to press her for details. Obviously the whole thing had been very stressful for her. "Well, I am relieved that you didn't lose your job over that whole incident. And given any luck people will soon forget it ever happened." The moment he said the words, he knew how unrealistic that sounded. "Okay, it's unlikely that they will forget that the Restrictions have been restored, but maybe they won't automatically tie the issue back to you and George."

He took a bite of his sandwiched and chewed before continuing. "Speaking of which, how are you and George?" Anthony almost didn't ask her that, since Padma had not been very happy last time George's name was mentioned, but he was curious.

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 01:45 am UTC (link)

She laughed a short, biting laugh, "No, I don't think they'll forget unless something else comes along to make them forget. Giant orange is a little more sensationalist than 'trying to save Muggle's life' like Mandy did. Though I don't know if she got into official trouble for that, I never asked ..."

Her and George, her and George, her and George. Catch and burn, right? "I'm not sure I want him in my future," she said after thinking over a few bites of sandwich. "Not that I don't like him anymore, I do, but I just don't think ..." that she could have his baby. She'd already looked at a future with him in the face and turned it down. "It's just two culture clashes. I'm not sure I'd be anything if I married him, does that make sense?"

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deprecation
2011-09-15 01:53 am UTC (link)

"Culture clashes?" Anthony had not expected that response. Of all the reasons to not marry George Weasley, that never came to mind. In fact, the fact that he wasn't a pureblooded Indian boy was one of the things Anthony liked about George. He felt that if she did marry someone against what was expected for her that at least she would be doing it out of love. "And I'm not sure I understand what you mean by....you wouldn't be anything if you married him. Or why you're even bringing up marriage at all?"

It made him nervous wondering how quickly women started to think about marriage once they started a relationship. Not that Anthony was anti-marriage. He was, in fact, a big supporter. But he felt it wasn't something to rush into with anyone. There were other things he needed to get to first.

"Padma, you will be something regardless of whom who marry - or if you decide not to get married at all." Anthony took a sip of his drink. "I honestly had no idea you were so concerned by the topic."

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 02:02 am UTC (link)

Padma nodded, "Yes, culture clashes. He's quintessential British, and I'm Indian; he celebrates Christmas and I believe in a multitude of gods. Come of it, I'm not even sure if he believes in the one attached to Christmas. I'm 25, I need to think about marriage at some point."

The next bit was hard, a delicate line, but she had to explain, she owed him at least that much, "Recent events have caused me to evaluate the topic of marriage and what I want and who I want to be. I don't want any child I have to be so caught up in everything wonderful about being George's son and a Weasley - I don't have anything comparable to offer except a job I can't talk about and a senile grandmother."

She wasn't sure that helped, at all.

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deprecation
2011-09-15 02:10 am UTC (link)

Now Anthony was completely lost. "Yes, you're 25. I'm 25. And we probably should start thinking of marriage and families. But there's still time to make these sort of decisions. We haven't been rushed into drawing a line in the sand."

He didn't understand her thoughts on Indian/British relationships. It was important for Anthony to find someone who shared his values. Knowledge, hard work, tradition, family. But he never felt the need to require someone to be a certain race, ethnicity, blood, or religion. Anthony would have married a girl like Padma, even with all their differences, because the things they shared were far more important than the things they didn't.

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	lotusoftheriver 2011-09-15 02:15 am UTC (link)
	"Maybe some of us have been rushed," Padma said softly. She set the last bit of her sandwich down and looked him square in the eye. "Anthony, I had an abortion on Saturday. George's." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

deprecation
2011-09-15 02:21 am UTC (link)

No amount of warning would have prepare Anthony to hear the statement that Padma just made. In fact, he almost didn't believe it was true.

"Abortion?" The word sounded foreign in his mouth. "You were pregnant?" He was about to ask 'with a baby?' because it was that difficult for him to grasp.

There were too many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn't know where to start. "I...oh, Merlin. I'm so sorry, Padma." Anthony had suddenly no desire to eat the rest of his dinner. "Are you okay?

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 02:24 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, pregnant," she said softly. She figured he'd be shocked, but he hadn't outright said anything condemning, so that had to be a good sign, right?

She pushed at the edge of her plate, "It was the best choice. I'm not ready for a child, and I doubt George is anywhere close to being ready. I just ... it made me think, and I'm just not sure I ever want to have his child."

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deprecation
2011-09-15 02:37 am UTC (link)

"I..." Anthony still didn't know what to say. How did this happen? Padma was a very responsible girl. Somehow he immediately assumed George had to be blamed for this, even if he wasn't sure how.

"I guess you had to do what was best for both of you." He finally responded, but it didn't begin to express what he felt. If the situation had been his, if he had gotten someone pregnant...Anthony's mind was flooded scenarios he had honestly never thought of before. He understood that it was in many ways a woman's decision to carry a child, but he felt in his gut that at 25, with a decent job...that he would have done whatever was necessary to be a father for that child. As well as a husband for the woman he had gotten pregnant. It was instinctive to him, like eating or sleeping.

But he tried to hold back all of these conflicting emotions. Anthony was worried about her and angry at George and saddened by the whole thing and guilty...very guilty for reasons he didn't quite understand.

"I can't believe this actually happened," he said quietly.

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lotusoftheriver
2011-09-15 02:52 am UTC (link)

"It's all right," Padma said. "I'm not torn up about it; I couldn't have had a child. This was the logic, correct choice to make. Adding in emotion would have manipulated the situation far too much."

Anthony seemed to be struggling with it, and she didn't know what to say to make it okay. Saying 'it was the day I was nearly killed' didn't really seem comforting at all.

"I ... the number of things I can't believe," Padma said with a small laugh. "But Anthony, it's done, it's over, it's behind me, and I've got ... the future ahead of me. Just that right now I have to decide which path to go on. Not that I'm going to marry Vijay, but I have to decide if George is on that path anywhere at all, and ..." Now her resolve started to break. "I don't think he is," she whispered.

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deprecation
2011-09-15 11:20 am UTC (link)

Anthony nodded, understanding the comment at least. Sometimes you had to take emotion out of the equation in order to find a solution. That's why they were Ravenclaws instead of say...Gryffindors.

Lavender. George.

He pulled his attention back to Padma. "So you're going to break up with him after he just found out that he got his girlfriend pregnant and decided not to keep it." That sounded rough. But maybe he deserved it. He should have been more careful. Anthony sighed, realizing that he would have to put this whole situation to the back of his mind until later when he had time to properly sort it out.

Anthony stood up and walked over to her. "Come on, let's sit in the living room." The kitchen seemed hardly the place for the conversation.

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	lotusoftheriver 2011-09-16 01:33 am UTC (link)
	Well, now a dilemma. Did she let him think that she was that terrible to dump that on someone and then just break up with them? It was rough. Was she really thought of by Anthony as someone who would do that to someone? She followed him to the living room and sat on the sofa before very quietly answering, "Ant ... I didn't tell him. Just that it was a scare." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	deprecation 2011-09-16 11:21 pm UTC (link)
	Anthony turned to Padma, unable to hide the look of shock from his face. "You didn't even tell him?" His head seemed to swim at the thought. He tried to remain calm, for her, but he was struggling to digest this information. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lotusoftheriver
2011-09-17 06:44 am UTC (link)

She was, strangely, calm. "No," she said simply. "I didn't." It hadn't even been an option, telling George, and not something she'd considered, not even when Healer Tonks had brought it up.

George would have complicated things, been entirely too emotional. What if he wanted to keep it? What if he wanted to keep it and marry her? What if he recognised that it was her choice, but fought against that choice? What if he told people of her choice? And finally, what if he agreed with the choice and allowed her to make it quietly? It was too large of a risk to get that last answer, and none of the others would have possibly ended well.

But that wasn't an explanation she owed Anthony, or George, or anyone.

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	deprecation 2011-09-17 01:45 pm UTC (link)
	Padma didn't give an explanation for why she responded how she did and Anthony did not ask for one. He had not been one to go through the experience so he didn't have a right to question her intentions. "I'm sorry you had to go through such a difficult situation alone." It was obvious that Padma had some of Gryffindor's bravery in her as well. "How are you now?" (Reply to this) (Parent)