i caught myself

[jezebel]

No they're not.

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[Gideon Prewett]

... I don't think I'm understanding the joke here. Sorry.

[jezebel]

There...is no joke?

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[Gideon Prewett]

Well, I mean, it was funny at first, but... haha, come on, Jezebel. You know babies don't come from storks. My sister's had a bunch of kids. She can fill you in on all the details.

[jezebel]

I don't want to talk about this anymore. You're making me upset.

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[Gideon Prewett]

Okay, now Gideon was thoroughly confused.

What was even going on? Jezebel couldn't possibly believe that babies still came from storks. Gideon didn't know all the details on what went on inside the body, but he did know what had to happen for a baby to be made. Heck, he'd asked Fabian to bring him johnnies to prevent such a thing. And... yes, he'd believed the broomstick story longer than he probably should have, but it wasn't like anyone filled him in on the truth. To be honest, he kinda liked the broomstick story better anyway, since it seemed less messy. Gideon wanted to get married and have kids of his own someday, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to make his wife go through the whole pregnancy thing. Besides, a pregnant Molly was scary enough. If all women got like that, he definitely was up for adoption or something. He knew babies were messy (the time he and Fabian were babysitting an infant Percy while Molly went out to the market was still terrifyingly fresh in his mind; he would never look at baby food the same way again) but he didn't mind that so much. He really didn't think he could handle the whole birth part, and if he couldn't, it wasn't fair for him to expect his wife to, was it? But if she wanted to, well, that was up to her and he'd do his best, but--wait, he was off-track. He was being confused about Jezebel.

Well... he was very confused about Jezebel. He thought they were joking at first, and even though babies weren't really something couples talked about before they even kissed, he went with it because he decided to like that she was bold like that. Except now it seemed like she wasn't talking about the actual way to make babies. She... she really seemed to believe that babies came from storks. And he'd actually upset her by thinking she was joking! Gideon hadn't meant to hurt her feelings, but... well...

Well what? He had no idea what to say to her. Storks! He knew he should apologise, except he kinda didn't want to, because he was right. People had babies all the time and there weren't any storks around Molly's house or anything. But how could he... he couldn't tell Jezebel that. He wasn't the right person to talk to her about it. Or was he? Well... maybe... if they ever got to that point. If not... well, she needed to talk to Madam Pomfrey. Or her mum. But he was definitely concerned, because he knew Jezebel was unique, but this was... way unique.

All right.

[jezebel]

As soon as she received the note, Jezebel shut her eyes tightly and combed her fingers through her hair, trying not to frown too deeply because her mother had always told her that frowning too much gave you wrinkles. 'But then again, mother also told me that babies come in storks, and everyone disagrees with that,' a traitorous voice whispered in my ear. I tried to shake it off, tried to shove it back into the recess of my mind because there was no way mother and father had lied to me for so long. 'I am fifteen years old!' I thought furiously. 'Almost sixteen! I know what to believe and what not to believe, and I believe that storks exist and that that's where babies come from. Everyone else must be...just...wrong!' And yet...

And yet there was still that niggling in the back of her brain, trying to crawl it's way to the front. The same one that appeared when she'd been in Raiden's dormitory, asking him to teach her about sex because her parents had never even mentioned that such an act existed. And, apparently, everyone and their mothers (no pun intended?) knew that said act was what caused pregnancy, not kissing, and that, after a certain amount of time, it was not a stork that brought the baby, but rather it was somehow...expelled from a girl's lady parts; '...except that sounds completely ridiculous because how on Earth could a baby fit through there?!' I exclaimed in my mind, frustrated with the direction of my thoughts, that I was allowing myself to even think of this, to doubt my parents' words. They would never lie to me! Certainly not my father! Then again, neither would Imogen, and Gideon had no reason to lie to me, either, but... this was what she had believed her whole life! All those fairy tales, all those warnings from her mother not to go around kissing strange boys because she'd end up with a stork pecking at her window one morning and she wouldn't know what to do with herself then.

In other words? Avoidance and, more importantly, denial was the way to go.

Lifting and turning her head suddenly in Gideon's direction, Jezebel flashed him a brilliant smile and then turned to write a reply.

Will you walk me to my next class? I saw boyfriends do that before with their girlfriends before. Unless you don't want to...I have Charms.

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[Gideon Prewett]

Yeah, sure. I have Care of Magical Creatures, but Hagrid doesn't care if I'm a little late.

[jezebel]

Yay! Okay, thanks!

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[Gideon Prewett]

I'll carry your books too, if you like.

[jezebel]

Oh. But why would you do that? I haven't broken any bones lately...

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[Gideon Prewett]

Oh. Well. Boyfriends do that for their girlfriends. I think?

[jezebel]

Ohhh. But, wouldn't that be too heavy for you? You have your own books, after all, and I wouldn't want you to be troubled with it when I'm perfectly capable of carrying them. But, I mean, if you really want to, then I don't mind!

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[Gideon Prewett]

I'll be all right. I have muscles.

[jezebel]

Well, I do know that. I might have felt them up a bit when we were dancing. ;)

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