ROCKSTAR ⇒ jegulus

ELEVEN

James walks, with a heavy heart, to his manager's office once he is finished with Regulus' office. His legs are growing tired from his constant walking, but he'll be damned if he learns to drive now. He has made it this far without knowing how to drive and operate a car, and he reckons that he can make it even further.

He knocks on the large mahogany door before him. "Come in," Chimes the voice inside.

James clears his throat as he enters the office, large, tall windows cloaked in velvet red curtains stare back at him. "So, I'm doing to assume you've read that article? Given the missed calls?" James doesn't even greet her. He wastes no time with formalities.

Minerva McGonagall looks up at him through her the gold rimmed lenses of her glasses. "James, take a seat," She gestures towards one of the two chairs in front of her large desk. "We have a lot to talk about. Let's get you off of your feet," Her tone is simultaneously soft and stern all at once, as it so frequently is.

James crosses the room and eases into the chair, feeling like a young schoolboy held as a hostage in the principals office. "Before we get into this, can I just say that I'm sorry?"

"For?" McGonagall asks.

"I...I don't even know,"

"For your baby? Or for not telling me, your manager, about then?" McGonagall questions. "James, son, you have nothing to be sorry for. How far along are you?"

"I'm just about eleven weeks," James answers. "So, almost three months, nearly the second trimester," He says, adverting his gaze towards the table between them.

"And were you planning on bringing this to my attention once you had hit the safety mark of the second trimester?"

James purses his lips. He nods, thinking for a moment. "I'm keeping this baby. I..." He cuts himself off with a small croak. "I just didn't want to have to tell the world when I wasn't prepared to, and...and, y'know, the second trimester is the safe guard, I...I was going to come clean then," He utters. "Sorry...I've had a rough morning," He wheezes.

"I can only imagine," McGonagall hums.

James isn't referring to the leak of his pregnancy to the media, and by default; the whole world. His rough morning hadn't properly begun until Regulus had bluntly dismissed him from his office.

"James, I respect your decision to not announce your pregnancy until you were ready to, and I'm sorry that that decision was made for you by somebody else. I also want to make you vividly aware that you could have always come to me when the going gets tough, young man," McGongall chastises gently. She shakes her head. "Honestly, James, I'm not your mother, it isn't up to me to scowl you. I would have been happy to offer any advice that I could have,"

James swallows. "Thank you," He whispers quietly, fiddling with his thumbs as he looks down to the hardwood floor. He feels a weight lift off of his shoulders. "I...I really appreciate that. Um, so I don't know what this means for the band, is my next concern, I guess. I'm going to have to take the last month of my pregnancy off, and...and I don't know if that's going to be for the best or for the worst,"

"You do whatever you feel is best for you, James. You and your baby. Now, my next concern is the paternity of your baby. Sirius' brother? Yes?"

James nods, humming. "Yes,"

"I've been in contact with the head editor of Starlight magazine, you know? He is absolutely adamant that Regulus Black had nothing to do with that article that was published this morning. He is extremely hell bent on it, James. I phoned him once the article had reached me, he said that he will personally get to the bottom of this,"