Disclaimer: I know, none of it’s mine, yadda yadda yadda.

A.N: This is a rewrite from what is posted on ff.net. I’m fixing up the things that make me cringe when I go back to read this fic...

Breaking The News

~~~~~

“I’m pregnant.” A few moments of silence followed this declaration. And then. . .

“You’re WHAT?”

“You heard correctly. We’re going to have a baby.”

“But. . .wait. . .how?” he stuttered.

“Do I really have to explain it to you?”

“That’s not what I meant, you idiot! I thought we used a Contraceptive Charm!”

“We did. They don’t always work.”

“WHAT?” he yelled for the second time. “They don’t always work?” His face turned slightly pale at this realization.

“Okay, so not the time. It’s obviously way too late to fix that.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, still looking slightly off color.

“So, umm, what do you think? About the baby?”

“I’m bloody ecstatic, but you have to give me a few minutes. I’m still in a little bit of a shock.”

Relief spread over her face. “I was worried.”

“Why? You know that you’re not getting rid of me, ever.”

“I know, but still.”

“What, were you worried I would just abandon you or something?”

“You never know. A baby changes everything,” she commented timidly. Which showed she really was worried. She never did anything timidly.

“The only thing that will change is that I will have two little weasels to love. And that we will perhaps be lectured slightly more than before...”

She chuckled slightly, but then her face suddenly became grim. “Wait a minute...I’ve just thought of something. Your boss won’t exactly be dancing in the poppies when he finds out that a Weasley is carrying a Malfoy’s child.”

“Damn it!” he groaned. “I completely forgot about that...The Dark Lord is going to be in a very Cruciatus mood about this...”

~~~~~

Ginny sat in her potions class, thinking about Draco and the baby. And the way that it was made...a large grin appeared on her face from that memory. But happiness aside, this pregnancy was completely unexpected; after all, she was only sixteen. She and Draco had been seeing each other for nearly a year, ever since a certain dare had forced her to find out whether he wore boxers or briefs. Things were actually pretty good, except for just the one little glitch. He was a Death Eater.

Well, not really. He was more of a spy for Dumbledore, pretending to be a Death Eater. But this pregnancy would blow his cover. If Voldemort or Lucius Malfoy found out about the baby created by one of their own and a Weasley...to say the least, they would be very pissed.

But she didn’t know what to do. It could be her hormones, but she just wanted to settle down and have a family. Screw school and her distinct lack of money....But she couldn’t have her family without putting them all in danger.

She sighed. It was going to be a long potions class.

~~~~~

“Hermione, I need your help.” Ginny asked her the next Saturday when she found her alone in the common room. She was going to take advantage of the rare occurrence that Harry and Ron were not around to talk to Hermione alone.

“With what?” she inquired as she turned away from the essay she had been scribbling out ideas for.

“There’s something really important that I need to tell you...” Ginny began, wringing her hands slightly in nervousness. It was one thing to tell the father, but everyone else...?

“Okay. . .what is it?” Hermione prompted, looking at her expectantly.

“Umm, I think I’ll just come out and say it. I’m pregnant.”

Hermione just looked at her for a few seconds. It was taking her a little bit to process what she had just heard. A first for her.

“Whoa, Gin. That’s huge. When did you find out?” She seemed to still be in a bit of a shock.

“Just a couple of days ago. I’m only four weeks along.”

“Have you told the father yet?”

“Yes, and he’s actually taken it very well.”

“That’s good.” There was a slight pause. “Who is the father?”

“I can tell you, but you must promise to tell absolutely no one.”

“I promise.”

“Seriously, this is a matter of life and death. The father’s, if Ron finds out, and mine. You’ll understand why when I tell you who it is.”

“Okay, I promise. Who is it?”

“Please don’t yell at me.”

“I won’t if you’ll just tell me!” She was getting irritated at the stalling.

“Fine! It’s Draco Malfoy.”

Hermione gasped, “Malfoy?” At the serious look on Ginny’s face she asked, “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No.”

“Did he force you to? Because if he did, I’m going to–“

Ginny cut her off. “Of course not! I told you he took it well, and apparently I failed to elaborate. We’ve been dating for almost a year–“

“A year?!” Hermione interjected.

Yes. And trust me, he’s different than what you think. He loves me,” she said simply.

“Are you completely sure about that? I’m not quite sure that Death Eaters are quite capable of love,” Hermione asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I’m sure. And he’s not a Death Eater. He’s working with the Order,” Ginny responded in a tone that left no room for argument.

Hermione took the hint and dropped it, but according to the expression on her face, she was by no means agreeing with this quite yet. So she changed the subject. “Who else have you told so far?”

“Just you and Draco. I’m sort of afraid to tell anyone else. Ron will resort to strangling him with his bare hands, and so will Mum and Dad, and so will Harry, and even You-Know-Who...”

“I get the picture.”

“Speaking of Ron . . .” Ginny looked over at Hermione with an expression implying that she wanted something.

“Oh, no you don’t. Just because I am his girlfriend does not mean that I am going to tell him your news for you.”

“Pleeeeeze?” she begged.

“Absolutely not. You got yourself into this, and you can tell Ron.”

“But he’ll get really mad! You know, that kind of yelling isn’t good for the baby,” she said with her famous puppy-dog eyes that always worked wonders with her brothers.

“You’re not going to guilt me into this. And you know that he wouldn’t really get angry at you; he’d wait until had the father to take it out on. And you’re not going to let him in on who the father is,” she paused, and then added, in a slightly worried voice, “are you?”

“Of course not. I’m not that daft. Alright, I’ll tell him about the baby myself. It was worth a shot.” Ginny began to walk away.

“Oh, and Gin?” Hermione said as she was almost out of the room.

“Yeah?”

“Congratulations. And good luck.”

Ginny smiled weakly at her and left, dreading what she was about to do.

~~~~~

Telling Ron

~~~~~

“Hey Ron?” Ginny said cautiously as she approached Harry and her brother in a corridor near their common room. They were just coming back from dinner and seemed very content, so now seemed like a good time to break bad news. Ron was always in a better mood when he had a full stomach.

“Yeah, Gin?” he responded absently.

“Um, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“I mean alone.” She glanced meaningfully at Harry.

Ron did a quick check over his shoulder. “But there’s no one here. This corridor is empty.”

Ginny let out a small sigh at her brother’s obliviousness to subtle hints and said, “Yes there is; Harry’s here.” She turned in his direction and added, “Sorry, but I really do have to talk to just Ron. It’s a sibling thing.”

“No problem,” Harry said. “I’ll just head to the common room and wait for you there, okay Ron?”

“Sure,” Ron replied. Harry then walked off toward the Fat Lady with Ginny watched him closely until he was out of sight.

There was a small pause for a moment before Ron hesitantly asked, “So, what’s up?”.

“Okay...how do I say this...um, what would you say if I was in a serious relationship?”

“How serious?”

“Well, we’ve been going out for almost a year--“

“A YEAR? And you’re just telling me this now?” Ron interrupted in a small amount of shock. He’d never liked any of the boyfriends that she dated for just a month; it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t like the idea that this time his baby sister might actually be serious about someone. He looked as though he was about to say more, but Ginny cut him off.

“I’m sorry, but be happy that I’m telling you at all. Anyway, I just thought you should know that we’re in love.” She emphasized this, realizing it might possibly soften the blow of the pregnancy part if he knew the guy was serious as well. Not that anything would really help at this point, but it couldn’t hurt.

Ron’s eyes became even wider than they had at the previous confession, and he began to adopt the overprotective-brother face. “Well, get out of love, because you’re way too young to be that serious about someone!”

Ginny couldn’t help but cringe slightly at that comment; if he thought she was too young to be in love, he would definitely not be pleased about the baby she was carrying. Perhaps if she could really convince him that she was standing firm on this point...

“Well, I’m sorry Ron, but you’re going to have to deal with it. I love this man!” she snapped, her temper starting to rise.

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

“You’re not my mother. I’ll talk to you however I want to when you insult me like that. I despise that you still treat me as though I’m six years old!”

“I’m not insulting you! I’m trying to save you from making a big mistake! And who’s this git you’re in love with, anyways?”

“Don’t you dare call him a git! And I am not going to tell you who it is! I like him all in one piece, thank you very much! You’re not exactly known for being the kindest with my boyfriends, you know!”

“I don’t think that whole one-piece thing is going to be a possibility. Now tell me, who is this bastard that has brainwashed you and turned you against me? I think he is in serious need of some arse kicking!” he said, yelling loudly enough to prompt one of the nearby paintings to shout “Quiet down, won’t you?”. At this point, both of their faces, especially Ginny’s, had begun to turn bright red in anger, and the volume was increasing with each new argument. It was actually quite surprising that no one had appeared to break them up yet; when the two of them really got to fighting, you could actually feel the rise in decibels from several rooms away. And this was about as much as Ginny could take.

“HE IS NOT A BASTARD! YOU ARE THE BASTARD FOR ACTING LIKE SUCH AN IDIOT! HE DID NOT BRAINWASH ME, AND YOU ARE TURNING ME AGAINST YOU ALL BY YOURSELF!” Ginny shouted, her small body shaking with anger. She stomped off, resolved to quit speaking to him. Which meant telling him about the baby would have to come some other time, of course.

~~~~~

Ginny sat at the table the next morning eating her breakfast silently. Ron was sitting across the table from her, and every time he looked up she would look down into her food.

“Gin?” he said timidly. She just glared at him.

“Ginny, I’m really sorry about last night. I should not have insulted your boyfriend like that or threatened to beat him up. It was very wrong of me. Can you forgive me?” At this statement, Ginny stopped staring at her toast, surprised at his willingness to apologize. But then she noticed a proud smile on Hermione’s face. Realizing that she had coached her brother into a peace offering, Ginny mouthed “Thank you” to Hermione. Hermione nodded and followed up with a silent “No problem.” They both grinned.

“Ronald Weasley, I’m still mad at you--and don’t think that I’m not--but I’ve decided to speak to you again.” Ginny said with a stern look on her face. As Ron winced at the coldness in her voice, she smiled quickly to let him know she was just kidding. Sort of.

“Thanks, Gin.” he said, looking very relieved.

“I’ll see you later, Ron. And please refrain from interrogating the males in the school about who my boyfriend is, because I have enough to deal with right now without you making a fool out of me. And yourself.”

“So he goes to Hogwarts? Interesting. . .”

“Oh, stuff it.” Ginny walked out of the Great Hall to head to the common room.

Ron suddenly turned to Hermione, looking slightly confused. “What was that about having enough to deal with right now?”

She just continued eating her breakfast silently.

~~~~~

Ginny took a deep breath. ‘I will just go in and tell him now. No point in putting it off. And besides, what’s the worst he can do, strangle the air to death? He won’t know who the father is, so he won’t have anyone to kill.’ Determined, she slowly walked up to him.

“Ron, can you come outside with me for a minute?” she asked firmly, leaving no room for argument.

“Sure, what’s up? You don’t have a second boyfriend to tell me about, do you?” he responded jokingly. But seeing that her expression was far from joking, he started to get a little worried about what she was about to tell him.

“No, there’s no other boyfriend....” She took his hand and led him out to the garden on the south side of the castle. It was a beautiful night, and the stars were breathtaking. After a few moments, she sat down on a nearby stone bench and he followed suit.

“So, what did you need to talk to me about?” Ron asked, wondering why she had brought them all the way out here.

“Remember the boyfriend I told you about? You know, the one I’m in love with?”

“Yeah. . .”

“Well, we really are in love. I just wanted you to know that. He’s not just using me or anything.”

“Well good. Is that all? Can I go back inside? It’s a little chilly out here.” He started to stand up, but Ginny pulled his arm so that he was sitting again.

“Wait, that’s not it...” she said hesitantly. Wow, this was harder than she thought.

“What else do you need to tell me?” he asked, confused.

“I’mgonnahaveababy,” she mumbled.

Ron did a small double take and asked, “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you,”

“I’m pregnant,” she finally declared, bracing herself for his reaction.

He was in a bit of shock. The reality of the situation had apparently not struck him yet, as the next thing he said was, “No you’re not. That’s not possible. You have to have sex to be pregnant.”

She just looked at him with a face that clearly said ‘wow, you’re stupid.’ He glanced over at it and took a few moments’ pause....

“You’ve WHAT? You’re WHAT?” he yelled as the news finally started to sink in.

“I know, I’m sorry-“ she tried to say, but she was interrupted by all the shouting.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS! IT’S BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU ARE SIXTEEN AND NO LONGER A VIRGIN, BUT NOW YOU’RE PREGNANT TOO? HOW COULD YOU NOT USE PROTECTION?”

“But I did-“ she tried to slide in, but to no avail.

“I’M NOT DONE YET! NOW TELL ME WHO THE FATHER IS! RIGHT NOW! I NEED TO KNOW WHO DID THIS TO MY BABY SISTER! HE HAS JUST WON HIMSELF A PERMANENT PLACE IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM AT ST. MUNGO’S FOR WHEN I’M THROUGH WITH HIM!”

At this point, Ron had to take a breath so Ginny tried to calm him down.

“Ron, please stop yelling, it’s not good for the baby. Besides, as I have told you many times, we love each other. I’ve already told him and he has agreed to stand by me. He’s really being very wonderful about the whole thing. And by the way, we did too use protection. It just doesn’t always work.”

“Wait a minute. . .contraceptive charms don’t always work?” Like Draco, Ron also looked a little pale upon hearing this information.

“Okay, Ron, please focus here.”

“Yeah, right, sorry. But Gin, how could you let someone do this to you?”

“Ron, Hermione and I talk, and you are not really one to judge me for losing my virginity at sixteen.”

At this, Ron’s face turned a very bright shade of scarlet and he began to stutter out, “Yes, well, um, wait, we’re getting off the subject. You’re still much to young to have a baby. Now seriously, who is the father?”

“I’m not telling you that. I’m not completely stupid; you would never let him live.”

“Oh yes I would. I would limit the damage to maiming. He can’t be dead, because he’s got to marry you.”

“Ron, you can’t force him to marry me.”

“Oh yes I can. He got you knocked up, and he can pay the price.”

“Ron! So now being married to me is a punishment?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Ginny just glared at him. “Ron, you better start begging if you want to stay in contact with your darling little niece or nephew.”

“Sorry Gin, I really didn’t mean it that way. I just meant that he should be forced to realize that there are consequences to his actions. He’s going to have to be a father,” Ron put his face in his hands. He was completely overwhelmed with this whole situation.

“Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing?”

“You’re just so young!”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m keeping this baby, and I love it’s father. Now I just need to know if you’ll support me.”

“To support you, I need to know who the father is. It just wouldn’t feel right not knowing whose child you’re carrying. And he needs a serious talking to.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you,” she said in tone of finality.

“Then I can’t support you right now. I have to think about this.” He got up from the bench, turned away from her, and walked back toward the castle.

Ginny watched him leave, and she began to cry. Hard. She couldn’t even remotely control the tears that were falling down her face. ‘Okay,’ she thought. ‘This is so not fair. People should not be allowed to be mean to pregnant women!’

The Howler

~~~~~

Ginny and Draco sat outside, leaning against one of the trees close to the lake. Across the water, they could see the rich colors of the setting sun. It was nearly time to go inside; the teachers had decided Ginny shouldn’t be out after dark for her own safety. Yet they continued to sit in silence for several minutes.

“I told Ron last night,” Ginny said, breaking the peaceful moment.

After the second or so it took for Draco to understand what she was saying, he asked, “How’d he take it?”

“Um, let’s see, his baby sister has been impregnated when he thinks she’s too young to even kiss. I think he was pretty mad.”

“You didn’t tell him WHO impregnated you, did you?” he said with a hint of panic. Even Draco was scared of Ron when it came to his older-brother-overprotection syndrome.

“Of course not. You’d have been dead twelve hours ago. But he couldn’t handle not knowing who to take it out on.. He. . .” she paused, her voice breaking slightly, “he said he wouldn’t support me. I mean, he’s my big brother! He should be there for me no matter what! He made it sound as though I’ve done something awful. Maybe it was a mistake to keep this child in the first place. We are very young, and...”

Draco cut off her rant with, “Shh, it’s okay.” He put his arms around her and they went back to just sitting and watching the sky. This time there were a few small tears running down Ginny’s face.

~~~~~

“Hermione?” Ginny said as she walked up to the other witch. Hermione put down her quill and looked up from the five books she had spread out in front of her.

“Yeah, Gin?”

“Have you talked to Ron since last night?”

“I haven’t had a chance to, I’ve been really busy. Why?”

“I told him about the baby.”

“Oh! What did he say?”

“He said he can’t accept the pregnancy unless he knows who the father is.” She sighed.

Hermione’s previous look of concentration on her studying turned into a frown. “Honestly, he can be so stupid sometimes,” she scoffed.

“Yeah, but I need him. If he stops being so thick-headed, he could be a big help. And I want my baby to have it’s Uncle Ron....Do you think you could talk to him?”

“I’ll try. I know of a few ways to persuade him. . .” she got a goofy grin on her face.

“Okay, ew. I didn’t need to know that.”

“Sorry.” she said, the smile turning to a serious look. “At least it will be easy to tell your parents compared to him.”

“Yeah. I’m going to write them today. I don’t really want to tell them in a letter, but they need to know. Could you help me write it? You’re much better at that sort of stuff.”

“I hope you’re referring to the writing part, not the telling-my-parents-I’m-pregnant part.”

“Well, you never know,” Ginny said playfully. “With seven kids in the family, we Weasleys are very fertile.” She grinned.

“Don’t say that,” Hermione replied. “If you jinx the reliability of my Contraceptive Charm, I shall be forced to hex you. Now let’s get started on that letter.”

“Do you think we should tell them who the father is?”

“They deserve to know, I guess. But we should ask them not to tell anyone.”

~~~~~

Ginny sat at breakfast several days later, playing with her food. She was having issues with eating in the morning, but she didn’t want anyone to point it out and try to take care of her. Though they meant well, she wished people would stop asking her if she was feeling okay all the time.

Ron still wasn’t talking to her; he would just look down at his food every time she tried to say something. She sighed, feeling very depressed. When she looked up a few seconds later, she saw Draco smiling at her from the Slytherin table. That one look completely turned her mood around; she was having difficulty remembering what was troubling her. But upon switching her gaze to Ron’s cold face, she nearly started crying. Damn hormones.

A rustle of wings sounded throughout the Great Hall as several hundred owls flew in, carrying the mail. Ginny spotted a red envelope, feeling a slight dread as to what it was. A howler. Every time one showed up, she was afraid it was for her regardless of what she had done recently. And this time what she had done was sort of a big thing. She followed its path, watching it drop in front of Draco. This could not be good.

A loud, shrill voice filled the Hall. When Ginny recognized it, she groaned. It was her mother.

“DRACO MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU! WE’VE BEEN TOLD THAT YOU HAVE BECOME A GOOD PERSON, EVEN DECIDING TO GO AGAINST HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED FOR MY DAUGHTER. BUT IF YOU HAVE REALLY CHANGED LIKE GINNY SAYS YOU HAVE, YOU HAD BETTER MAKE IT MORE EVIDENT! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE RESPONSIBLE, AND THEN YOU GO AND GET MY SWEET LITTLE GIRL PREGNANT!”

‘NO!’ Ginny thought. ‘She was supposed to keep it a secret!’ She looked over at Ron, whose face was turning white with shock and gradually growing red with anger.

“YOU KNOW, YOU’RE LUCKY THAT I DON’T HAVE ARTHUR AND MY SONS COME SHOW YOU A THING OR TWO! BUT IF YOU ABANDON MY DAUGHTER AND GRANDCHILD, YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY!

“Oh, and Ginny dear,” she added in a much softer tone, “How are you feeling? Please owl back.”

The letter crumpled itself up and burned into flames. But the yelling wasn’t over yet.

“MALFOY! THE FATHER OF YOUR CHILD IS MALFOY? I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!” Ron bellowed as he ran over towards the Slytherin table.

“Ron! Stop it!” Ginny screamed as she ran to stop him. She reached him just before he got to Draco, and by putting herself in between the two, got him to stop running. He just stood and glared, his eyes glinting furiously.

“Ron, you are not going to kill Draco or I swear, I will personally make sure that you will NEVER see your niece or nephew! And I will hurt you in such a way that you will never be able to have children of your own!”

At this, Ron decided to back off. “Fine. I’ll let him live. For now.” He walked out of the Great Hall, his fists clenched.

~~~~~

“Oh, shit!” Draco said later, when he and Ginny were alone. “Everyone knows! You aren’t going to be safe. The other Slytherins will tell their parents, and it’s only a matter of time before my father finds out. And now that he’s escaped from Azkaban, he’ll certainly do something about it.”

“This is just...argh! I specifically told my parents not to tell anyone. How could they betray me like that!”

“That doesn’t matter now. It’s too late to take it back. The important thing is keeping you safe...” he said, switching into protective-Draco mode. And he’d complained that Ron did it...it was really very funny how alike the two were when they were looking out for her. Ginny broke out of her thoughts to listen to what he was saying, “...To do that, I’ll have to try to convince the other Death Eaters that I still am on their side. I’ll have to say I...um...brainwashed you. Yes, that’ll work,” he mumbled to himself, pacing back and forth through the room. It was almost as though he was simply planning to himself out loud. She wasn’t even sure he was aware that she was listening. “...And I’ll have to tell them that I want to keep the baby to raise myself and do away with you.”

At the sudden hurt look on her face, he quickly added, “I won’t mean any of it. It’s the only way to keep the Dark Lord from killing me, and you. If he thinks that I want to raise this baby as a Death Eater, he won’t hurt you while you’re carrying it. That’s the only thing that I can think of for now. Of course, we’ll have to figure something else out for when the baby is born. But please know that no matter what you hear me say to protect us, I love you and I will always stand by you.” He stopped his pacing to walk towards her and put his arms around her waist protectively.

She returned the gesture and looked up at him. “I love you too. I just hope that this will work...it’s a bit of a stretch.”

“I know, but we’ll figure something out.”

“I know.”

~~~~~

Disclaimer-This is all JKR’s. I kind of used one of her ideas more closely than usual, so I felt I should update the whole disclaimer thing. Not that the rest of it was mine anyways. *sigh*

Advice from the Batty One

~~~~~

Throughout the next few weeks, things changed for Ginny. Whenever she passed Draco and the rest of the Slytherins in the hall, she heard laughter. Including that of her boyfriend. And not the good type of laughing that never failed to lift her spirits; it was the cruel, mocking kind. It was for the best, she knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier. She tried to keep her head up and ignore them, but she was constantly close to tears. She’d heard all of the rumors: she was a slut, Draco was going to just kill her after the baby was born, she was so stupid for sleeping with him, all of it. And the laughter certainly did not help things. Occasionally, she would glance at her lover’s face. Whenever no one else was watching, he would give her a warm smile, making her tears cease. So long as she knew he loved her, she found it much easier to ignore everyone else.

But no one was more furious than Ron. His face had turned a permanent shade of red. He had blown up his cauldron with pure, uncontrollable anger on several occasions because he had to share the dungeons with the Slytherins every week.

During one particular class, it had taken Dean, Seamus, Harry, Neville, and Hermione combined to hold him back from strangling Draco. Though Ginny had told him about Draco’s. . . circumstances, he hadn’t really believed her.

On one such occasion, Draco had been talking to Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle. They were asking him what he was going to do about the pregnancy. He was forced to tell them a lie, keep his premise up, and Ron had overheard.

“Well, I’ll obviously keep the child. It will be pure blood, though Weasley is not exactly my first choice for the mother. I’m not sure what I’ll do with her after the kid is born. Once I’ve taken the child, I’ll probably use Cruciatus or Avada her sorry arse.”

At this statement, snickering could be heard from all of the Slytherins. Ron was so angry at this statement, his potion blew up for the third time that month. His face was so red it looked like it was about to explode as well.

It was the next comment from Pansy that pushed him over the edge.

“So, how did it feel to take that little bitch’s virginity? Was she any good?”

Pansy was extremely lucky the rest of the Gryffindors wanted to keep their house points by stopping Ron, or she would have probably been hexed into the middle of Timbuktu with a very uncomfortable rash and an angry Hippogriff.

~~~~~

Draco met with Ginny almost every night; at least, those when he was able to sneak away from the rest of the Slytherins. Every time, they would brainstorm what to do once the baby came and she wasn’t safe anymore. But neither could come up with anything.

All of the rumors and the front put up by Draco were finally, over time, getting to her. Often, she would start crying all of a sudden. It could sometimes take nearly an hour for him to calm her down. He hated seeing her grow so depressed, but there was nothing he could do. Except. . .

“Ginny, I’m going to talk to Dumbledore.” he said one night as he sat with her crying in his arms.

“Draco, you can’t! What if someone from the other side finds out you asked for his help? Then we’d be in more danger than we are now. I won’t let you,” she answered stubbornly.

“But it’s the only way. We are obviously not coming up with anything ourselves. Besides, if anyone sees me in his office, I can just tell them that he was interrogating me or something.”

“I suppose. But please be careful,” she agreed grudgingly after thinking it over for a moment. “After all, I do still happen to still love you, you little prat.”

“I know. And I will.”

~~~~~

Draco cautiously stepped into the headmaster’s office the next night.

“Ah, Draco Malfoy, please have a seat. What brings you here?” he said absently without even looking up from his desk.

“I need your help.”

“Really? You must be in dire need to come ask someone like me for something.”

“Yes. I am,” he said, not noticing the sarcasm. “It’s about Ginny. I assume you’ve heard the rumors?”

“Naturally. But I have no way of knowing whether they are true.”

“Whatever I say in here will not be told to anyone else, right?”

“Correct. Everything that goes on in this office never leaves this office.”

Draco took a deep breath and began, “I am a spy. I pretend to be a Death Eater in training, as my father would most likely kill me if I wasn’t. But I don’t agree at all with the Dark Bastard. I try to mess up every plan of his that I can without alerting him to my incompetence. It was working well, until Ginny got pregnant.” He paused for a moment before going on with his little confession.

“If they knew that I actually cared about her....” He shuddered, and continued, “So I have to pretend I just want her safe to protect my child, who I will raise to be a Death Eater. I hate having to say. . .” his voice caught slightly as he thought of what he had told people, but he continued, “say. . .the bad things about her, but it’s the only way to keep her and my child safe. The rumors are getting to her right now, and I can’t stand it. But it will be worse when the baby is born, and I will be expected to kill her, or at the very least, torture her. I could never do that,” he said vehemently. “But I can’t think of a way to protect her after she gives birth.

“I want us to all be a family, without He-Who-Should-Really-Be-Dead interfering. And I need your help to figure out how.” Draco sat back in his chair, looking as though a great weight had been lifted off of his chest.

“Well, that is indeed a problem,” Dumbledore said thoughtfully. “However, I don’t think that there is a way that you can be with Miss Weasley and continue to act as a Death Eater. They would see right through it, as she’s got too much fire and too much family history to be a suitable spouse in Voldemort’s eyes.” Draco flinched slightly upon hearing the name, but didn’t say anything. “You will have to make a choice: give up being a spy, or give up being with your family–at least, I assume that is what they are to you.” He nodded his consent, and Dumbledore finished, “Only once you make that decision will a solution be evident.”

“That’s a stupid question. I’d give up anything for her, even my life,” he said with a passion that made his normally gray eyes turn a vivid blue. “I don’t really want it to come to that because I don’t want her to have to raise the baby alone, but you know what I mean. Of course I choose her.”

“Wise decision,” Dumbledore said with the trademark twinkle in his eye, “One way to protect yourselves comes to mind, but the last time it was tried, it failed.”

“Well, what was it?”

“The Fidelius Charm. It is a spell in which a secret is magically concealed inside one person. That secret can only be discovered if the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it themself. Voldemort and his followers could only find you and your family if your Secret-Keeper wishes them to.”

“Why didn’t it work the first time?”

“There are too many factors for me to completely explain, but when the Potters-“ he was cut off by Draco.

“Wait a minute, the Potters were the ones who used it before?” he said skeptically. “And they failed? I don’t want to do anything that involves Harry, especially if it didn’t work.”

“If you would allow me to finish, the spell failed because the Potters’ Secret-Keeper was a spy for Voldemort and he betrayed them.”

“Wow. They were betrayed by someone they trusted to protect their lives?”

“Yes. Almost immediately after the spell was performed, Voldemort came to their hiding place, and, well, you know the rest,” he finished with a wave of his hand.

“But if the one person they trusted betrayed them, how do I know our Secret-Keeper won’t betray us?”

“You don’t.”

With that, Draco left. He had some major thinking to do.

A Debate

~~~~~

The days were starting to get a little colder as fall was slowly slipping to winter. On this particular late October evening, most of the students were inside. Ginny had wanted to be alone to think, so she was out by the lake.

“Hey, beautiful,” Draco said as he approached her. In his outstretched hand was a single red rose. He gave her a warm smile.

She looked at him suspiciously. “What do you want?” she asked him.

“I am insulted!” he said, faking a look of shock. “Can’t a man do something nice for the woman he loves?”

“Nope. What do you want?”

He sighed. “You know me too well, Ginny.”

“Yes, well, we have been dating for a year. And besides, I like it much better when you’re being your normal, sarcastic, insulting self.”

“Ah, so you like the bad boy thing, huh?”

“You could say that,” she said with a giggle. They stood there for a moment, just enjoying being in each other’s company.

“So, there was actually a reason that I came to talk to you, besides the fact that you’re much better to hang around with than those bloody gits Crabbe and Goyle.”

“And this reason was. . .?”

“I talked to Dumbledore about our problem.”

“What did he say?”

“He thought our best chance would be the Fidelius Charm.”

“Oh, I’ve read about that in Charms before. It’s the one where one person protects a secret within themselves, right?”

“Yep. So, what do you think?” he asked.

“I think that’s a really good idea. We can live wherever we want, and You-Know-Who won’t be able to find us.”

“Unless our Secret-Keeper blabs. Who are we going to trust with something like that?”

“I was thinking Ron.”

“WHAT?” Draco yelled, “I refuse to let him be responsible with whether I live or die. I’ll be gone in a day.”

“No, because he wouldn’t want anything to happen to me,” Ginny argued insistently.

Draco shook his head. “But I’m sure there’s a way around that. He could just kinda say ‘hey, Dark Lord, I’ll tell you where that bastard Malfoy is if you promise not to kill Harry or Ginny’ or something like that. You would be in no way included in the giving of the information that would kill me.”

“Ron knows better than that. I believe I have made it clear that if he does anything to you, he will strongly regret it,” she said, her eyes glinting in remembrance of her last encounter with her brother.

“But he still hates me,” Draco pouted.

“Draco, he understands how horrible this is. He knows that this same charm was involved in You-Know-Who killing Harry’s parents; and that it was because their Secret-Keeper betrayed them. He could never turn around and betray someone else like that, even you.”

Draco snorted. “Well that’s bloody likely. He’ll decide that he wants to be all noble instead of getting payback at the arse who taunted him all through school and knocked up his baby sister. Sure, that’s exactly what will happen.”

Ginny glared at him. “First, do not call yourself an arse. Second, stop referring to the pregnancy as ‘getting knocked up’ because it makes me sound like a slut, and if you say it again I’ll be the one to call you an arse. And I think Ron is the best person to do it. He would do anything to protect me, even die. He’s the one person that I’m closest to in my family. Please?” She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Maybe,” he sighed. “I still think it wouldn’t be the best way to go. Maybe we should get Dumbledore to do it.”

“No, he has too much going on right now. I don’t think we should ask him to do something like this.”

“I would insert a very nice comeback at this point in which one of my wonderful family members would be the best person to be our Secret-Keeper, but since I have none, I suppose we’ll have to go with the Weasel.”

Ginny glared at him yet again.

“Um, I mean we’ll have to go with Ron.”

“That’s better,” she said and gave him a small peck on the lips.

“Is that all?” Draco whined before pulling her in for a deeper kiss.

Asking the Secret Keeper

~~~~~

“Come ON, Draco,” Ginny said, exasperated.

“I still think that you should talk to Ron about this alone.” Draco replied. They were standing outside of the Gryffindor common room, and Draco was having serious second thoughts about going in.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. He’s just my brother!”

“Last I checked, he was not very pleased with me. He would most likely attack me before we even got a chance to ask him to be the one to protect me. And if we get that far, he probably won’t agree. Wait a minute...why are we doing this again?” he asked, pulling back yet again.

“Because he’ll keep our secret because he’ll want to protect me. Now let’s go! Bezoar!” she said, causing the Fat Lady’s portrait to swing open.

“Fine,” he grumbled as they stepped through the doorway.

“Hey, Ron!” Ginny yelled, spotting him sitting near the fire playing chess with Harry.

“Ginny! How dare you bring that...that...Malfoy into our common room!” Ron spat out as he walked towards them angrily.

“I told you so,” Draco muttered to Ginny.

“Oh, shut up,” she whispered back. Louder, and with her eyes blazing in a way that clearly said she meant business, she advised, “Ronald Weasley, don’t you dare do anything you will later regret.”

Hermione, registering the argument ensuing, looked up from her book, walked over to Ron, and took his hand in hers. Playing her usual role as the peacekeeper, she said, “At least listen to what they’re going to say.”

“Fine. What are you here for?” he grudgingly asked.

“We wanted to talk to you, in private,” Ginny said.

“Only if ‘Mione comes with.”

“Sure. Let’s go find an empty classroom.” At Draco’s laugh, she added, “Not for that, you pervert!”

“Okay, if I’m supposed to try and be all civil here, then you can NOT force those images into my head,” Ron said with an extremely disgusted look on his face.

“Sorry,” Ginny said with a giggle as she led the way back out of the portrait hole.

~~~~~

Once they arrived at one of the unused Transfiguration rooms and sat down in four of the old desks, Ginny began to talk. “Before we can ask you the favor we need you to do, you should know a little more about Draco. Tell him, honey.”

Draco looked at her, slightly shocked, “What? You want me to talk?”

“Yes. Now go.”

With a sigh, Draco began. “First, before I say anything else, might I mention that I love your sister and I will not abandon her ever, so you don’t need to kill me.”

“Draco...” Ginny said warningly.

“Alright. I suppose I should start by saying that I am not, nor will I ever be, a Death Eater like my father. I am a spy for Dumbledore. I have to at least pretend to be on the other side, or my father will kill me.” Draco continued to tell Ron and Hermione about the danger that Ginny’s pregnancy brought all three of them. “And so we need to go into hiding. That’s were you come in. I’ve talked with Dumbledore, and he said our best option was the Fidelius Charm. It’s a charm where one person has to-“

“I know what it is,” Ron interrupted coldly.

“Okay. Umm, well then,” Draco said, a tad nervously. “We were talking, and we thought that the Secret-Keeper should be you.”

Ron just sat there, still trying to process all of this.

Ginny started talking at this point. “We really hope you’ll do it. We trust you to keep our secret.”

“Let me get this all straight,” Ron said slowly. “Malfoy, the ultimate Death Eater, has gotten my little sister pregnant. But guess what? He’s not really a Death Eater, he’s a spy. And if You-Know-Who finds out about said pregnancy, she and the baby could be killed because it would be considered a betrayal. And now they’ve all got to go into hiding to stay alive. And it’s all Malfoy’s fault. Wow, I’m so very thrilled about all of this. But now I can be even happier. I have the chance to help protect Malfoy from the evil wizard that’s after my baby sister because of him. When do I start?” he finished sarcastically.

“Ron, we are both sitting right here. You don’t need to talk like we’re not in the room.” Ginny responded. “And we would really like it if you could help us. You would be protecting not only me, but your niece or nephew. You would be preventing them from having to grow up around Voldemort and all his little cronies like Draco had to. Because if he finds this child, that’s what will happen. We could always find someone else to do it, but I don’t trust anyone as much as I trust you.” At this point, she made sure her face was plastered with an angelic smile.

“I dunno about this,” Ron said, looking thoughtful. “I have to think about it. I’m still not sure that I believe he’s really not a Death Eater. What if this is all just an excuse for him to let You-Know-Who torture me for information?”

“Ron, get over yourself. This is not about Draco’s ‘personal revenge’ on you,” she said, quoting with her fingers and everything. “This is about him loving me and wanting to protect me. At first, he didn’t want you to be our Secret-Keeper because he was afraid you would give him up within a day. But he loves me enough to agree with me on this decision. He’s trusting you, one of his biggest enemies, with his life simply because I asked him to. What does that tell you?”

Ron just sat there in silence, dumbfounded. Hermione leaned over and whispered into his ear, “You know, I think they’re telling the truth. Maybe Draco really isn’t a Death Eater. Maybe you should listen to them.”

“Okay. I’ll believe you about the whole spy thing. But I’m not sure if I want to be your Secret Keeper. That’s such a huge responsibility. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Please?” Ginny said, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Ron sat in silence for a moment. The other three in the room just sat there looking at him, waiting for his answer.

“Alright. I’ll do it.” he finally declared.

“Good for you!” Hermione said, planting a kiss firmly on his cheek.

Ginny turned to Draco. “I told you so.”

Pickles and Ice Cream

~~~~~

Ginny sighed. It was really getting a tad annoying. Yes, she was pregnant, and yes, she was only sixteen, and yes, she was his only sister, but did Ron really need to baby her so much? Every time she so much as suggested that she had a slight craving for anything, he would go and get it for her within minutes. He was starting to walk her to class, holding her hand on stairways. And he refused to let her play Quidditch in her ‘condition’. He wouldn’t even let her go outside to watch the matches because ‘the cold was damaging to her health.’ It was ridiculous! Ever since he had decided to be their Secret-Keeper, he had apparently put aside his hatred of Malfoy and focused on helping his little sister. But this was going a tad overboard. Finally, she just couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’ll be right back. I’m in the mood for some chocolate ice cream and a dill pickles. I’ll just go make a quick trip to the kitchens,” Ginny said to anyone who happened to be listening as she got up from the Gryffindor common room couch. She had to struggle just slightly to stand, as her rounded belly was starting to show.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it!” Ron said as he eagerly jumped up and walked to the portrait hole.

“No need. I can go,” she replied.

“I insist. You should be resting, after all.”

“Ron, I am four months pregnant, not weak and diseased. Now let me go get my food.”

“But it’s really no trouble at all. Don’t worry about it.”

“Argh! Stop worrying about me so much! It is Draco’s job to do all of this pampering stuff, not yours. You know, if you don’t cool off, people will start to think that you’re the father.”

Ron just stood there, his whole face turning bright red. Harry and Colin Creevey were clutching their sides in laughter, hardly able to keep from falling out of their chairs. Even Hermione was trying to stifle a small giggle. Ginny left them like that as she went to get her ice cream.

~~~~~

“I heard about your little conversation with your brother in your common room yesterday,” Draco said with a smirk later that night as Ginny sat on his lap in the Greenhouse. It was too cold for them to be outside, but they didn’t want to be in the castle with everyone else. This was their time to be alone and just talk.

“Oh, you did, did you?”

“Yes. Rather amusing, that comment about Ron being the father of the baby. That’s my Ginny,” he said proudly, patting her on the knee.

“Wipe that smirk off your face. How do you know it’s not true?” she said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Because that would be icky.”

Ginny laughed. “It’s so good to be able to talk with you. The people in my house are so, well, boring.”

“I know. You will never find anyone as interesting as me,” he said playfully.

“Oh, shut it. Don’t be so arrogant.”

“But you love me anyways,” he said with a grin.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, the smile on her face not faltering.

“Actually, I thought we should talk about what happened.”

“What is this? A Slytherin wanting to talk it through? What has happened to the world as we know it?” she said, in mock surprise.

“Oh, you shut it. I just don’t like the thought of Ron being the one to get my love her ice cream when she needs it.”

“Aww, poor Drakie’s jealous!”

“I just want you to be cared for properly. And don’t call me that!”

“Oh, and Ron couldn’t take care of me, Drakie?” She giggled as she emphasized his name.

He scowled, choosing to ignore the ‘Drakie’ comment. He had learned the hard way that girls were not pleasant if you really crossed them when they were pregnant. “Yes, but I could do it better. I don’t like you only having him to rely on when you need something. That’s why I got you this.” He held out an absolutely gorgeous necklace. The pendant was a sideways figure eight with a gem set in each half. One was an emerald, the other was a ruby. It hung on a fine silver chain. The whole piece sparkled in the fading daylight.

“I had it made special for you,” he explained. “It symbolizes you and me, together forever. See the infinity sign it makes?”

“Infini-what?”

“Nevermind.” He had forgotten her low exposure to things like math. “Anyways, all you have to do is hold the pendant in your hand if you need me, and I’ll come. It’s charmed to send me a signal.”

“Draco, I love it! It’s beautiful! Thank you so much!” she gushed.

“Allow me to put it on,” he said before placing it around her neck. “You’re welcome, but please don’t tell anyone I gave it to you. I do still have a reputation, you know.” He grinned as she gave him a playful smack on the shoulder.

Fidelius

~~~~~

Ginny sat fingering her necklace as she stared longingly out the window. She could see the other students running around in the snow, engaged in a quite intense snowball war. She sighed. Draco had coaxed her into coming inside after a half an hour because of the baby. He didn’t want her to get too stressed out during the fight, or hit by a snowball. She knew he was right, but she didn’t have to like it.

It was easier to handle all of the taking it easy when she had the next week to think about. They were going to perform the Fidelius Charm at the start of the winter holiday, which was just five days away, to give them a few weeks to figure everything out without having to worry about school. Then they would be owled all of their assignments to keep up with the rest of their classes.

“Hey beautiful,” she heard someone say, breaking her out of her thoughts. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her ever-growing stomach.

“Hey Draco,” she replied.

“What are you doing here in the dungeon corridor?”

“Just watching the people outside. There were too many annoying brats in my common room playing Exploding Snap for me to think properly.”

He laughed. “Well, I hope that you don’t get too angry for me distracting you right now,” he said before turning her around and kissing her gently on the lips. As the kiss grew more passionate, he was interrupted by a sharp pain on his left inner forearm.

“Damn it!” he swore. There was only one thing that could mean.

~~~~~

“Ron! Ron!” Ginny yelled to the mass of students running through the snow.

“Ginny! What the hell are you doing out here? What’s wrong?” he yelled back from across the grounds.

“You have to come here.”

Ron hurried over to the doorway near where she was standing. Hermione and Harry shortly followed him with worried looks on their faces.

“Are you okay? What are you doing in the cold? You know it’s not good for you,” Ron said frantically.

“It’s Draco,” she said in an almost-whisper. “His Dark Mark burned.”

“WHAT?” Ron yelled.

“Keep your voice down!” Ginny hissed. “And let me finish! He’s being called, but he won’t go until we put the Fidelius Charm on me. He wants me to be safe.”

“We have to go to Dumbledore. And Flitwick, so he can perform the charm,” Hermione said, being the one, as usual, to come up with the most logical thing to do.

“Draco already went,” Ginny said. As she looked at Hermione, she could have sworn she saw the slightest bit of disappointment on her face at the though of being the second to figure out a plan. Ginny continued, “He had to go quickly to give Dumbledore enough time to set up the Portkey to the place where we were going to stay.”

“Now that I think about it, where were you going to stay?” Ron asked.

“There’s an old abandoned house near here. It’s on the edge of a small town that almost no one has heard of, so he won’t even think to look near there. It’s close enough to the school that we can easily owl Dumbledore if anything went wrong. I’m just glad they started to put up small protection wards already.”

“Could we talk on the way to the office? Making V-Voldemort wait longer for Draco to come will not make him happy,” Hermione said, determined to say the name. She sensed that this conversation could go on for a while if they didn’t get going.

~~~~~

“Wait! Draco isn’t here yet! I need to say good-bye in case...it takes him a while to get back!” Ginny said, her voice faltering slightly. She was standing in the doorway of the house that would keep her safe. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Dumbledore were standing in the front walkway.

“We don’t have any more time,” Professor Dumbledore told her calmly. “I know you wanted him to be here, but he may have had to go already. Voldemort’s pull is extremely strong. It would have been hard for him to resist it as long as he did. And if this is the case, it is even more imperative that we finish this quickly.”

“Fine. But I am doing it in protest,” she said grumpily, bracing herself for the spell.

“INCANTESIMO SEGRETO” was all she heard before a sudden wave of cold air passed through her body. She felt extremely light and distant, almost as if she wasn’t there. She heard faded voices, muttering that they couldn’t see her. It must have worked. She was safe.

But Draco wasn’t. He was out risking his life with the most powerful Dark Wizard in the world. She sank to the floor, feeling more alone in this one instant than any other time in her life. As the tears came, she felt for her necklace to reassure her. But it was gone.

~~~~~

A.N: “Incantesimo Segreto” means “Secret Charm” in Italian.

The Dark Lord

~~~~~

Draco had to get to Ginny, had to make sure she was safe under the charm. But he couldn’t stand the burning anymore. His arm felt like it was going to fall off. It had been almost a half hour since it had started, and the Dark Lord was not pleased that it was taking so long. He had already told Dumbledore what was happening, so he could leave if he really had to. He reluctantly decided to go to Voldemort and get it over with. He thought once more about Ginny, putting a smile on his face. After a moment, he returned his expression back to a carefully practiced blank look and Disapparated.

~~~~~

“What took you so long, young Malfoy?” a voice hissed at Draco when he arrived in the Riddle House where Voldemort was staying. He walked over to the source of the voice, knelt down, and kissed the hem of his robes. He was careful not to look the wizard in the face. Seeing those cold, red eyes the one time he had at his initiation was plenty.

“I’m sorry master. I had business to take care of before I left”

“Well, I had urgent business with you. I have just been informed of a certain heir-to-be of yours. Why was I not told sooner?”

“I wanted to make sure that the baby would not be lost first. She is only a little more than four months along, so she is only just past the time of miscarriages. I was going to inform you shortly.”

“LIAR! You wanted to protect her,” the horrible voice screeched.

“Only from stress that may have caused her to lose the baby. I wanted to make sure my heir was safe,” Draco answered as calmly as he could, working to keep his face clear of all emotion.

“Only your heir?” Voldmort asked suspiciously.

“Yes.”

“So, what will you do with the Weasley after the child is born?” He spat out her name as if she were the scum of the earth, making Draco burn with anger. But he restrained himself.

“I am not sure yet. I haven’t decided between Crucio, Avada, or both.” He almost snapped at that, but instead he thought of Ginny, safe, holding a baby-his baby. The smile on his face from that image must have pleased Voldemort.

“I believe that would be adequate. Though I am not quite pleased that your first heir is out of wedlock. You should know by now to take precautions against something like that before you have your fun.”

It took Draco’s last amount of willpower to hold himself back at that comment. ‘Think of Ginny,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I can’t go back to her if I get myself killed.’

“I’ve had an idea. After the child is born, I would like you to bring the mother here. Potter is friends with her, and she can be used to our advantage as bait. I will expect you back once before then to check in and make arrangements.”

“Yes, master. May I go now? I don’t want to make her too suspicious by being gone for a long time.”

“Yes. Go. But before you leave, I’d like to give you a little reminder that I do not tolerate withholding information, regardless of what you think. CRUCIO!”

Draco writhed in pain, laying on the cold floor of the house. All he could do to decrease the pain in any way was think of Ginny, and how he had to get back to her. After a few minutes, Voldemort lifted the curse and spoke.

“Be prepared to come back in the next week or so if I need to talk to you about our little plan. Now go!”

~~~~~

The second he Apparated back to Hogwarts, Draco went straight to Dumbledore’s office.

“Let me in, you stupid Gargoyle!” he yelled while banging on the entrance to the office. “Oh, bugger it!” He leaned against the wall near the stone gargoyle.

“Having problems, Malfoy?” a voice sounded from down the hall.

“Go away Pansy,” he said after she came close enough to recognize.

“I just thought you might like to know, the Headmaster’s password this week is ‘Cockroach Clusters’”

“Go away Pansy.”

“Okay, fine. I’m sorry I helped,” she paused, waiting for him to apologize or thank her.

“Go away Pansy.”

“Hmph,” she said as she stormed out of the corridor.

“Cockroach Clusters!” he yelled once she was out of earshot, causing the stone gargoyle to raise. He walked up the newly-revealed staircase and into Dumbledore’s office. He didn’t even bother to knock.

“Yes, Mister Malfoy?” Dumbledore said, looking up from his desk.

“Where’s Ginny?”

“She’s safe.” At this, Draco’s face became extremely relieved.

“And Draco?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t mean to tell you how to do your job, but do you think it may look suspicious if you wait to report her missing?”

“Damn it! I have to go back! Oh, sorry about the swearing.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” the headmaster said, gazing abstractly about the room.

“Thanks,” Draco said gratefully as he walked out of the office, sighing at the thought of what he had to do.

~~~~~

“Young Malfoy, back so soon?” the cold voice greeted him. Draco shuddered. He had already had plenty of that voice for one day.

“It appears that the Weasley has gone missing,” he reported stone-faced.

“Really? How odd. I suppose none of you had anything to do with that?” Voldemort looked around the room with narrowed eyes. “Because I don’t believe that I ordered anyone to do anything about that particular situation.” No one spoke. “Then you should go find her. Malfoy Senior, Crabbe, Mcnair, go with him.”

“But Master-“

“NOW!”

“Yes, Master,” three voices chorused.

~~~~~

“This is pointless! She could be anywhere!” Lucius Malfoy said angrily. “Try the locating spell again, Mcnair.”

Mcnair muttered a few words, but nothing happened. “It appears that she is not within range.”

“Damn it!”

They continued walking. By this time, they had gotten to a small town just outside of London. They were getting discouraged, and very annoyed with Voldemort. Draco was glad that he had never known exactly where she was going, as he didn’t want to reveal anything by mistake. He hung back from the others; he was getting bored with their idiotic arguing. A flash of metal caught his eye on the ground a few feet away, near an abandoned cabin. His eyes widened as he realized what it was. Her necklace. He hurried up to the other adults.

“It doesn’t look like she’s here,” his said, in the most apathetic voice he could manage. “Maybe we should try another town.” He prayed that they couldn’t see through his lie. He knew they wouldn’t be able to find Ginny because only Ron could tell them where she was, but he still wanted to get out of there. Just in case. They nodded their consent and Disapparated. Before following them, Draco stepped over to the necklace, picked it up, place a Concealing Charm on it, and slipped it into his pocket. With a crack, he was gone.

Crucio

~~~~~

Just as they were all about to give up and go back for the night, a searing pain ran through Draco’s left arm. He sighed. ‘Not again!’ he thought to himself. It was getting a tad annoying, this incessant summoning. He wanted to go to Ginny. With another sigh, he Disapparated.

~~~~~

“Young Malfoy!”

“Yes Master?”

“What is it that I hear about the Weasley being protected by a Fidelus Charm?”

“I was not aware of that. I still have no idea where she is,” he answered quickly.

“I see.” Voldemort looked as though he wasn’t quite sure whether to believe that or not.

“How did you find out?”

“The young Parkinson overheard a conversation between Potter and his two friends about putting the Weasley under the Fidelius Charm. She even overheard who the Secret Keeper was,” There was an almost giddy tone to his speech and a glint in his eye.

“Really? Who is it?”

“Ronald Weasley,”

‘Shit’ Draco thought to himself upon hearing this news. It felt like his heart weighed about twice as much as it had the second before. ‘Now he’s going to bring Ron here to try to get the information out of him. As if that isn’t bad enough, I can’t even begin to imagine what he’ll do to Ginny if he finds her.’ His evening was really turning into a nice big bag of old dog crap.

“That’s wonderful,” Draco said out loud as cheerfully as he could manage.

“Yes, it is. And since the brother Weasley is one of Potter’s friends, we can use him to bring the boy here. We don’t have to wait to bait him with the girl Weasley.”

“Wonderful,” he said, feeling more and more sickened by the turn of events.

~~~~~


Ron, Harry, and Hermione were wandering down the street near the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. They had been bored on this uneventful Saturday, and had decided to get away from the never-ending snowball fights. It wasn’t a Hogsmeade weekend, so they’d had to sneak out using the statue of the witch.

“So, Harry, are you nervous for the Quidditch game tomorrow?” Ron asked, starting an idle conversation.

“A little. I suppose it gets better as time goes-hey!” he yelled as he was knocked in the back with a strong stunning spell. He fell to the ground, and Ron and Hermione soon joined him.

~~~~~

When they came to, they found themselves inside an old house. They seemed to be in one of the main living rooms. There were several old, green, rundown couches lined up against a once-brightly-painted wall. An ancient brick fireplace occupied most of the space on the wall opposite them. They were tied onto several tall columns that stood in a row on the edge of the room.

“Ah, you’re awake. Let the fun begin,” a cold voice hissed from one of the dark corners of the room.

The owner of the voice stepped out from the shadows, followed by Draco.

Draco looked at the prisoners and tried to communicate to them that this was in no way his idea and that he was very sorry. They looked like they believed it, but they still had fear in their eyes.

“Weasley, I am led to believe that you seem to know where a certain someone who I want to find happens to be.”

Draco gave them a pleading look that clearly said ‘I didn’t tell him!”

“Go to hell!” was the only response Voldemort got out of Ron.

“I was afraid of this. That’s why I brought your mudblood girlfriend too. CRUCIO!”

“HERMIONE!” Ron yelled, watching in horror as the woman he loved writhed in pain, struggling against the bonds that held her to her column. But there was nothing he could do.

“Just tell me where your sister is and I will be obliged to stop.”

“Never.”

“Well then, I’m afraid we’ll have to just make her hurt some more,” Hermione gave a scream as her body began to twitch twice as hard. “This is getting a little boring. Potter is looking much too comfortable. CRUCIO!” Harry started to writhe in pain as well.

Ron looked torn. To save his best friend and his girlfriend, he would have to put his sister in horrible danger.

But Draco made it easy for him.

“STUPIFY!” he yelled, sending a jet of red light into Voldemort’s back.

Hermione burst into tears of relief as the curse was broken. Ron struggled to get out of his ties to go comfort her, and with a wave of Draco’s wand, he broke free. Hermione was also released, and he hugged her tightly and whispered to her that it would be okay. While they were off in their own little world, Harry broke free and shakily asked Draco, “Why did you do that? Now you’re in danger.”

“I had to. He wasn’t going to stop torturing you guys unless Ron told, and then Ginny would have been in danger. Better me that her.”

“You really love her, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” This statement was followed by an awkward pause.

“I suppose we should be getting back,” Draco said after a moment. “There’s some Floo powder over by that fireplace.”

“You go with Ron and Hermione. I’ll follow you.”

“Okay,” Draco said. He went over to the couple and walked them to the fireplace. He decided to go with them, as they were hardly in a state to concentrate on finding the right grate. He threw a handful of green powder into the flames, stepped in, and yelled, “HOGWARTS”

They all tumbled out of the fireplace in Dumbledore’s office. He looked slightly surprised at the unplanned visit. After a quick explanation of what had happened, he immediately thought of a plan.

“Draco, you are no longer safe. You will need to go in hiding with Ginny. I will get Professor Flitwick, and he will take you all there to perform the spell. I’ll go to find Harry, as he should have been back by now. I’ll have to call several Aurors for back-up.” He hurried out of the office to go get the professor.

~~~~~

“DRACO!” Ginny yelled. The spell had just been cast, and they were both safe for now.

She ran up to him and squeezed him into as tight of a hug as she could with her belly in the way.

“I missed you too,” Draco said. But he was interrupted by a slap on the face.

“What the hell took you so long? I was worried sick! And you KNOW that’s not good for the baby!” she yelled with an angry glare in her eyes.

“Sorry, love, I kept being called. I got here as soon as I could,” he then continued to tell her all of that night’s events.

“I’m so sorry that I slapped you. It’s just that I love you and I missed you so much!” Ginny started to cry into Draco’s chest.

“Damn hormones,” Draco muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Love you, dear.”

News

~~~~~

“Calm down, love. Stop pacing around,” Draco told Ginny.

Ginny looked up from her current spot on the other end of the room. “What do you mean calm down? Harry is still out there! He could be DEAD, and you are telling me to calm down?” By this time, she was nearly hysterical.

“Come here,” Draco told her gently. She complied, sitting next to him on the comfortable couch that was in their house. He wrapped his arms around her and continued, “Pacing won’t bring him back any faster. And I’m sure he’ll be fine. He is Harry bloody Potter, after all.”

“Don’t call him that!”

“You know I only mean it with the utmost respect,” he said sarcastically. “And besides, he has defeated You-Know-Who what, seven times now? There’s nothing to worry about. Plus-“

“Don’t even say that it’s not good for the baby. You don’t want to mess with me right now.”

“I wasn’t going to say that!” he said, mock-offended.

“Sure,” she said, giving him a look, “What were you going to say then?”

“Um...I was going to say that...um...”

“Told you.”

~~~~~

“DRACO! STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING THAT IS CAUSING THE EXPLOSIONS! I AM TRYING TO SLEEP! IT IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR CHILD IF I AM CONSTANTLY BEING WOKEN UP!”

“I thought you didn’t like it when people say something is not good for the baby!” he shouted back playfully.

“It is my prerogative as the mother to decide if something is bad for the baby, and no one else’s! Now shut it and let me sleep!” she replied in a grumpy voice from their bedroom.

Draco chuckled to himself. She was so cute when she was angry. Though he had to admit, his experimental potion-brewing had been making quite a bit of noise. But he was so BORED! He’d already been stuck in the house for twenty-four hours. His patience was growing a little, well, impatient. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he wanted to find out if Potter was okay. Only because Ginny was worried, mind you.

He looked up as he heard a tapping at the window. It actually scared him for a minute; he was a tad jumpy lately, what with the evil wizard wanting them dead. But it was just an owl, so he let it in.

“Ginny! Come here!” Draco yelled up to her, looking down at the message that the owl had just dropped in his lap.

“DRACO! WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU ABOUT DISTURBING ME WHILE I AM SLEEPING?” she shouted back.

“It’s about Harry!”

“Well, why the hell didn’t you just say so?” she yelled, sounding even more irritated.

“Sorry, love,” he said, smiling to himself. He could still never take her seriously when she was mad.

“Are you laughing at me?” Ginny said from behind him, at the bottom of the stairway that led up to the bedroom.

“Of course not.”

She just glared at him. “So what did that letter say?”

“Harry’s alright. They’re taking him to St. Mungo’s right now.” At the sad look on her face, he added, “But only as a precaution. He really is just fine.”

“Good. Did they say anything about Tom?”

“Who?”

“You-Know-Who,”

“Oh yeah, because of that diary that my dad gave you. Very sorry about that, love,” he said, half-joking. She had told him that whole story several months ago, and he had already been yelled at for that particular event.

“You better be sorry. Now, did they say anything about him?”

“Yes, here it is,” he said as he scanned the bottom of the letter. His eyes widened. “Merlin, they think he’s gone! Harry killed him!”

Ginny had a look on her face that was a mixture of shock and happiness.

“But don’t get your hopes up too high. They haven’t found a body yet, so they’re not sure. And we still have to stay here in case some of the Death Eaters want a little revenge.”

“I don’t care! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named might be dead! Yay!” She ran towards Draco and jumped up to give him a hug.

“Oy! I’m happy too, but I still need to breathe!” he said.

“Oops, sorry,” she said with a giggle.

“I haven’t heard that in a while. You know, you are really pretty when you’re smiling.”

“Why, thank you. You look quite handsome yourself.”

“I already knew that.”

“Oh, shut it and kiss me!”

“Well, if you insist...” he said, before pressing his lips to hers.

Disclaimer: Due to the fact that I have never actually given birth, I had to borrow a few ideas from what I’ve heard. The only specific one that’s not just a common joke is the “Open the window back up!” part. That would be from Mad About You.

Ah, the Drugs

~~~~~

Draco just stared in shock at Ginny.

“Ginny, luv, you’re...leaking,”

“Oh, that. My water just broke. I’ve been having contractions all day,” she said matter-of-factly.

“WHAT! Why did you not tell me before?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I’m damn well going to worry if I want to. Thank Merlin that they finally found Voldemort’s body and let us leave that house, or I’d be going mental right now! But what should we do first? We’ve got to get you to the hospital wing, and we’ve got to tell Ron and the others that you’re in labor, and Dumbledore will need to know, and we’ve got to gather some of your things that you’ll need in the hospital...” He trailed off as he went over to the corner of the common room where Ron and Harry were playing chess, still muttering to himself.

‘Ha! If he thinks THIS is sane, I’m not sure I want to see his definition of mental!’ Ginny thought to herself with a laugh as she slowly went to follow him. The pain wasn’t so bad right now, but she was getting a little nervous from all of the stories she had heard, and that one movie Hermione had showed her made it look like it was no picnic.

~~~~~

“How are you doing, Gin?” Draco asked her. After much chaos, including an extremely flustered Ron and a charm not allowing him to get her things from her dorm, they had finally gotten to the hospital wing.

“Ooh, just a second. This is a bad one,” her face screwed up in pain as the next contraction came, much stronger than the last. They were only a few minutes apart now.

“DRACO!” She yelled at him, still not quite over the wave of pain.

“Yes, dear? What do you need?”

“DRUGS!”

“What do you mean?”

“FOR THE PAIN! GIVE ME A POTION, A CHARM...SOMETHING!”

“I don’t even know if there is anything...”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I BLOODY CARE? GO GET MADAM POMFREY AND FIGURE SOMETHING OUT! GIVE ME ONE OF THOSE MUGGLE EPPYDURUL THINGS IF YOU HAVE TO!”

“I’ll be right back!”

“OH NO, YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO ME, AND YOU WILL STAY HERE AND HOLD MY HAND!” She demonstrated this as another contraction came, even more excruciating than the one before.

“Ginny, love, you’re hurting my hand,” he said, attempting to keep a straight face. But it was really hard to keep up the whole ‘men don’t cry’ thing when she had that death grip on his hand.

“THAT WOULD BE THE POINT! NOW FIND SOMEONE TO GET ME DRUGS!”

Hearing the extreme commotion coming from the hospital wing, Ron, who had been waiting outside for their parents, came in and stood by Ginny’s bed.

“Ginny? What’s wrong?” he asked, looking slightly uncomfortable with the whole birthing situation.

“Huh, Ron, I wonder...maybe it could be that I AM TRYING TO PUSH SOMETHING ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SMALL WATERMELON OUT OF A VERY SMALL HOLE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN WHAT’S WRONG?”

“I see,” Ron sent Draco a pitying look.

“Oh, stuff it,” he replied.

“I didn’t say anything,”

“But you were going to,”

“SHUT UP, THE BOTH OF YOU!,” Ginny roared, “RON! GO GET MADAM POMFREY TO GIVE ME SOME PAINKILLERS, OR THERE WILL BE NO BABY! IT WILL JUST HAVE TO STAY IN THERE! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

“Okay, I’m going,” he said, backing out of the room extremely quickly.

~~~~~

Madame Pomfrey finally entered the room after what felt like an eternity to Ginny. “I’m sorry dear, there isn’t anything that I can do at this point. It’s too late.”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN IT’S TOO LATE! YOU BLOODY WELL BETTER BE KIDDING ME!”

“No. There is a very small window of opportunity to administer anything for the pain, and unfortunately, the time has passed. You’ll have to do it without drugs.”

“WELL THEN OPEN THE FREAKING WINDOW BACK UP!”

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. It’s almost time for your baby to be born. You’re going to have to start pushing now.”

~~~~~

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!” Ginny screamed about thirty minutes later as she gave her final push, greeting her new baby girl into the world. A baby’s wail could be heard throughout the room, and both Ginny and Draco started crying. Or at least, Ginny did. Draco was still trying to keep up his manly image. It wasn’t working very well, though.

“It’s our baby, Gin!” He looked at her in shock. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Yes. She is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen,” she paused for a moment, extremely worn out, to look at her daughter. Finally, she continued, “But you are NEVER touching me again.”

-end-