Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns all things Harry Potter.
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Coming Home
Chapter 6: Arrival
Ginny shivered with excitement as she waited at the arrivals gate at Heathrow. Despite speaking to Evan every day since she had arrived in London, she missed him terribly. She had never been separated from him for so long. And in the next several days she would need to help him adjust to England, her family, and the wizarding world. She was worried about how quickly Evan would adapt, but she had every confidence in him. He had an uncanny ability to understand any situation he was thrown into and act accordingly. It was one of the most glaring differences between his personality and Harry's, but it would be useful now. As she waited for Evan and Elsa, who was accompanying him, Ginny though back over the last several days.
The day after Ginny's dinner at Draco's flat, her father had brought her to the Ministry. He had called in a few favors to have some of his more discreet colleagues come in on a Sunday to help her do her necessary business. She registered herself and Evan, had her fire connected to the Floo Network, and renewed her Apparation license. She was quite lucky with this--her father's friend didn't bother to test her, even though he likely knew that she hadn't tried to Apparate for years. She was sure she would have splinched due to sheer nerves.
Ginny had visited the Burrow frequently. At first, Ginny's relationship with Molly had been a bit awkward. But the two of them started cooking together, and had slowly slipped back into the easy companionship they had had before Ginny left. Soon they were talking openly again, and there was only the slightest bit of distance to remind Ginny that she had been gone.
Ginny had had drinks with Bill and Percy at a Muggle pub one evening. Bill was careful not to push her for explanations and to treat her as an adult, even though she could tell he still thought of her in pigtails. Percy was not so sensitive. He asked her about everything from her nursing career to Evan's favorite subjects in school. Bill repeatedly tried to change the subject, but Percy could not be deterred. Finally, when Percy asked if Ginny was dating someone, Bill dragged him away before Ginny could answer, declaring that it was getting late and Penelope would get worried if Percy didn't get home right away. Ginny had smiled gratefully at Bill as he artfully steered the sputtering Percy out of the pub.
Ginny had lunch with Hermione one day, and the other woman filled her in on what all of her friends from school had done in the past few years. She also spoke enthusiastically of all the research she had done for her revision of Hogwarts, A History, which she had written in her spare time. Much to Ginny's distress, Ron still refused to see her, but Hermione assured her that she was working on it. She hoped she would be able to convince him to attend the family dinner on Sunday.
Ginny was also seeing more of Draco. They had coffee together every morning, and Ginny was amazed at how much she enjoyed his company. They seemed to have no shortage of things to talk about, but even more surprisingly could enjoy silences together. Outside of Ginny's family, Elsa was the only other person with whom she had felt so comfortable. They never spoke of their first conversation in his flat, but it was never far from Ginny's mind. And she found that despite her earlier reservations, she was beginning to trust Draco.
Ginny had cooked dinner for Draco at her flat the night before Evan's arrival--a big step for her, because she was reluctant to let anyone from the wizarding world know where she lived. Ginny had served Draco an Oregon Pinot Noir with dinner, and he was suitably impressed (but had nevertheless threatened to serve her a Burgundy so she could see how the grape should really be treated). He considerately left early so she could get a good night's sleep before meeting Evan and Elsa's early morning flight. As he left, he took her hand briefly and wished her luck. She went to bed happy that she had decided to give Draco a chance. Unfortunately, her excitement for Evan's arrival in the morning kept her awake most of the night, and she found herself wishing Draco had stayed later.
And now here she was, impatiently bouncing on her toes, trying to get a glimpse of her son. As soon as he saw her, he threw himself into her arms. He seemed to have hundreds of stories saved up to tell her and hundreds of questions. The two of them chattered incessantly for most of the train ride into the city while an amused Elsa looked on. Eventually, Evan's talk gave way to yawns, and he fell asleep with his head in Ginny's lap. Ginny smiled down at him, and smoothed his unruly hair out of his face.
"Ginny?" asked Elsa quietly. "How are you doing? I know this move is hard for you."
"It is hard. But Remus has been a great help. And most of my family is happy to see me again. And I've made a new friend. Despite the difficulties, I'm doing okay. But seeing Evan again... It reminds me why I did it in the first place. It's worth it. He's worth it."
The three of them spent the rest of the day pleasantly. They explored some of the shops near Ginny's flat together, then met Remus for lunch. Evan was startled when his "hamburger" was a beef patty on a plate, with no bun, and his "lemonade" was carbonated, but he took it in stride. After eating, they toured the Tower of London. Remus held Evan, Elsa, and Ginny spellbound with his stories of what had happened there. Many of them were wizarding stories, but he was careful never to say too much in front of Elsa. Ginny smiled at Evan's enthusiasm, especially when he whispered to her excitedly about spotting his first ghost.
In the morning, Ginny was almost out the door on her way to the coffeehouse when Elsa spotted her and asked where she was going. She explained that she had coffee in the mornings with a new friend she had made. Elsa insisted on tagging along to meet her friend, and bringing Evan too. Ginny looked doubtfully at Evan and said, "Oh no, you two don't need to come."
"Of course we'll come. We want to meet your friends, don't we, Evan?"
Evan looked carefully at Ginny, somehow sensing her reluctance, and didn't respond to Elsa's question. This didn't seem to matter to Elsa, who grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the flat.
Draco's face lit up in a wide grin when he saw Ginny, but when he saw that she was not alone, his expression quickly changed. She guessed that he hadn't expected her to bring the others.
"This is my friend Draco," Ginny introduced. "Draco, this is my best friend Elsa and my son Evan."
"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said, and kissed the back of Elsa's hand. She giggled.
"It's nice to meet you too! I'll go get our drinks."
Draco had turned his attention to Evan and they regarded each other somewhat warily. Draco finally spoke.
"Hello, Evan. Your mother has told me a lot about you. She never did mention, however, how much you resemble your father."
Evan had picked up on the slight coldness in his tone, and responded in kind. "You knew my father, then?"
"Yes," Draco responded carefully, clearly uncomfortable. "We were at school together."
"Were you as one of his friends?" Draco shot a brief glance at Ginny, looking for help. She just shrugged. He was on his own.
"Not exactly... Your father and I didn't exactly get along when we were in school."
"Oh," Evan said, his voice icy by now. Ginny could sense waves of antipathy coming off him. She had felt Evan stiffen a little when Draco had smiled at her, but that was nothing to his anger now. Apparently Evan didn't want to know someone who hadn't gotten along with Harry. She couldn't blame him, really; that had been her first reaction when she had discovered Draco's identity. And Evan had a child's view that his dead father had been perfect; it would be very hard to convince him otherwise. And Ginny could tell that Draco found Evan's resemblance to Harry extremely disconcerting. She began to doubt that she could extract herself from the current situation with her relationships with both Evan and Draco fully intact.
Luckily, Elsa returned just then with their coffee and conversation. She pelted Draco with questions, which he answered politely. But he also kept shooting glances at Ginny and Evan. Evan sat sullenly, glaring at his cup of chocolate. Before long, Draco excused himself, saying he had a meeting. Ginny was not deceived, but Elsa seemed disappointed. She waved a cheery goodbye, and didn't seem to notice the awkwardness surrounding the other three.
Elsa chattered about nothing in particular until they got back to the flat, and then pulled Ginny into the kitchen for a private chat when they did.
"Oh Ginny!" she enthused. "He's gorgeous!"
Ginny gave her a confused look. "Who do you mean? Draco?"
"Yes, Draco! You know I've been trying for years to get you to date again. And this is it. This is the guy!"
"Draco? But that's ridiculous! We're just friends, and that's rather shaky as it is."
"Come on, Gin. You have to have noticed the way he looks at you," Elsa said incredulously.
"I have no idea what you mean, Elsa. And it's strange enough that we're friends. Our families have always hated each other. And he was not particularly nice to me, my brothers, or Harry in school. It has been really hard for me to look past that and give him a second chance. And he may be willing to befriend me, but he would never think of me that way. He has too much family pride."
"Believe what you want, Ginny," Elsa said, "but you're blind if you don't see it."
"You're crazy, Elsa. We're friends, and I'm not even sure of that after today."
Elsa and Ginny both jumped as the kitchen door slammed shut. Evan had heard everything they said.
***
Evan was moody for the rest of the day. Ginny was sure he would at least be fascinated by the torture devices in the dungeons of Madame Tussaud's, but even that couldn't capture his attention for long. Harry used to get into funks like this, and it exasperated her just as much when Evan did. Before he went to bed, Ginny cornered him in his room and confronted him.
"Okay, Evan. Out with it. What's bothering you?"
He just turned his back on her.
"There's no use refusing to tell me, you know. I'm much more stubborn than you. I'll badger you until you say, so you might as well give up now."
Still no response.
"There really is no use hiding things from me, you know. I'll get it out of you sooner or later, just like I used to with your dad."
This seemed to catch his attention, at least a little.
"Yes, you are a lot like Harry that way. I haven't forgotten how to deal with it."
That set him off.
"Are you sure?" he spat out. "Because you seem to have forgotten everything else!"
Ginny was taken aback by his viciousness. "What do you think I have forgotten?" she asked quietly.
"Dad! You've forgotten Dad!"
"Of course I haven't forgotten your dad. I could never forget. And you are so like him, that all I have to do is look at you and I remember."
"It didn't seem like it today. You're friends with that man who hated Dad. And it doesn't matter to you! Just because he's good looking, you're willing to forget that he was mean to Dad! And today is Dad's birthday too!"
"Evan..." Ginny wasn't quite sure what to say, and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "I haven't forgotten Harry. It's true that Draco was mean to your dad in school, but Harry was almost as mean in return."
Evan began to protest.
"Evan, you have to understand that Harry was not perfect. He was moody and stubborn and impulsive. He put his friends in danger more than once because he didn't stop to think about what he was doing. We all make mistakes in life, including your father. And we all deserve second chances."
Evan continued to glare stubbornly at the blanket he was picking at.
"Do you remember the time you tore up Manuel Rodriguez's homework because he accidentally stepped on your bag?"
Evan nodded.
"Was that the right thing to do?"
Evan shook his head.
"Would you do something like that again?"
Evan shook his head again.
"Would you think it was fair if people held that against you for the rest of your life, even though you have learned your lesson?"
"No, I suppose not," Evan conceded reluctantly.
"Then do you really think it's fair to hold something against Draco when he has learned his lesson?"
"I guess not," he mumbled quietly. "But I still don't like him."
"You don't have to like him, you just have to accept that I do. And I am not going to forget Harry just because I'm friends with Draco."
"I'll try. But I don't want to see him."
"That's fine. You can stay here when I go for coffee. Fred and George have set up wards to let me know if anything goes wrong in the flat when I'm not here. Just one of the advantages of magic, you see."
Evan smiled a bit at that. "When can I see some magic?"
"Elsa is leaving tomorrow--maybe I can show you some simple spells in the evening. I'm rather out of practice though, so it won't be anything too impressive. But on Sunday, we're going to my parents' house and that's full of magic. Plus you'll get to meet most of the family."
Evan gave Ginny an unexpected hug. "Thanks, Mom," he whispered into her chest.
"For what?"
"For moving here. I'm going to have cousins and magic. I can even put up with Draco for that."
"Oh, Evan. I love you very much, you know. I'm sorry I waited so long to bring you to meet the family, and you will the day after tomorrow. But now it is time for you to go to sleep."
"I love you too," he said, settling back into his pillows. Ginny stayed with him, gently smoothing his hair, until his breathing evened out and she was sure he was asleep.
***
The next morning, Ginny slipped out for coffee before Elsa could ask to accompany her. Evan saw her go and grimaced a little before waving to her as she left. She hadn't realized that she had been worried that Draco wouldn't come until she felt relief at seeing him. And he seemed relieved that she was there (and alone) as well.
"I'm glad you came back. I was afraid you wouldn't," he said as she sat down. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. It wasn't fair of me to spring Elsa and Evan on you like that. I wasn't planning to bring them along, but I wasn't quick enough leaving the flat, and Elsa insisted."
"It isn't your fault at all then. I was just a bit shocked to be faced with a miniature Potter. I guess it hadn't really sunk in before that that you had been married to Harry Potter. I mean, I knew it intellectually, but yesterday I finally felt it in my gut."
"I figured it was something like that. I should have warned you about how much he is like Harry, but it just didn't occur to me. I'm so used him, after all."
"And I should have realized that now that he is here, you might bring him with you. Though I feel as if I could have handled things differently."
"Well, Evan doesn't like you much. Though I think it is more because of filial loyalty than anything you said. You didn't like Harry so he doesn't like you. Kind of like Harry and Snape."
Draco laughed at this. "Well, as much as Evan looks like Potter, I don't think I could hate him with the passion that Severus hated Potter. Evan just reminds me of things I would rather forget."
"Ah. He reminds me of things I would rather not forget. It has helped, over the years, that Evan is so like Harry. And it isn't just in the way he looks, I'll have you know. It is almost as if I have a bit of Harry with me still. And I guess that in a sense, I do."
"You still love Potter, don't you?"
"Of course. I think I always will. It's fading, though. Yesterday was his birthday, and I forgot. I think that's part of what was bothering Evan. I've just been so caught up in the future that I forgot the past."
"There's nothing wrong with that. At least if it means you're less likely to spend days at a time depressed and refusing to leave your bed like you did a couple of weeks ago."
"I suppose you're right. I will be reminded more of Harry now that Evan is here. Maybe it's better if I can get some distance from it all... We're going to see the family tomorrow. Everyone will have their best stories about Harry to tell Evan. And I will need to be strong for his sake. I hope I can do it."
"You can."
"How do you know?"
"You were strong enough to come back to the wizarding world, despite your family and the press, for Evan's sake. You are strong enough."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, just go and do it, and enjoy having your family around you." Ginny couldn't help but think he sounded wistful as he said this.
"I will," she said uncertainly. Then she remembered how warm the Burrow felt when she had last visited her mother, and added more firmly, "I will."
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A/N: I am afraid this chapter is quite... transitional. Hopefully, the next one will make up for it. Also, Evan's experiences with British cuisine are based on my own experiences many, many years ago. Globalization being what it is, there are probably very few restaurants that still serve a bunless hamburger, but I wanted to give him at least a little bit of culture shock. I hope that it wasn't too inaccurate.
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Coming Home
Chapter 6: Arrival
Ginny shivered with excitement as she waited at the arrivals gate at Heathrow. Despite speaking to Evan every day since she had arrived in London, she missed him terribly. She had never been separated from him for so long. And in the next several days she would need to help him adjust to England, her family, and the wizarding world. She was worried about how quickly Evan would adapt, but she had every confidence in him. He had an uncanny ability to understand any situation he was thrown into and act accordingly. It was one of the most glaring differences between his personality and Harry's, but it would be useful now. As she waited for Evan and Elsa, who was accompanying him, Ginny though back over the last several days.
The day after Ginny's dinner at Draco's flat, her father had brought her to the Ministry. He had called in a few favors to have some of his more discreet colleagues come in on a Sunday to help her do her necessary business. She registered herself and Evan, had her fire connected to the Floo Network, and renewed her Apparation license. She was quite lucky with this--her father's friend didn't bother to test her, even though he likely knew that she hadn't tried to Apparate for years. She was sure she would have splinched due to sheer nerves.
Ginny had visited the Burrow frequently. At first, Ginny's relationship with Molly had been a bit awkward. But the two of them started cooking together, and had slowly slipped back into the easy companionship they had had before Ginny left. Soon they were talking openly again, and there was only the slightest bit of distance to remind Ginny that she had been gone.
Ginny had had drinks with Bill and Percy at a Muggle pub one evening. Bill was careful not to push her for explanations and to treat her as an adult, even though she could tell he still thought of her in pigtails. Percy was not so sensitive. He asked her about everything from her nursing career to Evan's favorite subjects in school. Bill repeatedly tried to change the subject, but Percy could not be deterred. Finally, when Percy asked if Ginny was dating someone, Bill dragged him away before Ginny could answer, declaring that it was getting late and Penelope would get worried if Percy didn't get home right away. Ginny had smiled gratefully at Bill as he artfully steered the sputtering Percy out of the pub.
Ginny had lunch with Hermione one day, and the other woman filled her in on what all of her friends from school had done in the past few years. She also spoke enthusiastically of all the research she had done for her revision of Hogwarts, A History, which she had written in her spare time. Much to Ginny's distress, Ron still refused to see her, but Hermione assured her that she was working on it. She hoped she would be able to convince him to attend the family dinner on Sunday.
Ginny was also seeing more of Draco. They had coffee together every morning, and Ginny was amazed at how much she enjoyed his company. They seemed to have no shortage of things to talk about, but even more surprisingly could enjoy silences together. Outside of Ginny's family, Elsa was the only other person with whom she had felt so comfortable. They never spoke of their first conversation in his flat, but it was never far from Ginny's mind. And she found that despite her earlier reservations, she was beginning to trust Draco.
Ginny had cooked dinner for Draco at her flat the night before Evan's arrival--a big step for her, because she was reluctant to let anyone from the wizarding world know where she lived. Ginny had served Draco an Oregon Pinot Noir with dinner, and he was suitably impressed (but had nevertheless threatened to serve her a Burgundy so she could see how the grape should really be treated). He considerately left early so she could get a good night's sleep before meeting Evan and Elsa's early morning flight. As he left, he took her hand briefly and wished her luck. She went to bed happy that she had decided to give Draco a chance. Unfortunately, her excitement for Evan's arrival in the morning kept her awake most of the night, and she found herself wishing Draco had stayed later.
And now here she was, impatiently bouncing on her toes, trying to get a glimpse of her son. As soon as he saw her, he threw himself into her arms. He seemed to have hundreds of stories saved up to tell her and hundreds of questions. The two of them chattered incessantly for most of the train ride into the city while an amused Elsa looked on. Eventually, Evan's talk gave way to yawns, and he fell asleep with his head in Ginny's lap. Ginny smiled down at him, and smoothed his unruly hair out of his face.
"Ginny?" asked Elsa quietly. "How are you doing? I know this move is hard for you."
"It is hard. But Remus has been a great help. And most of my family is happy to see me again. And I've made a new friend. Despite the difficulties, I'm doing okay. But seeing Evan again... It reminds me why I did it in the first place. It's worth it. He's worth it."
The three of them spent the rest of the day pleasantly. They explored some of the shops near Ginny's flat together, then met Remus for lunch. Evan was startled when his "hamburger" was a beef patty on a plate, with no bun, and his "lemonade" was carbonated, but he took it in stride. After eating, they toured the Tower of London. Remus held Evan, Elsa, and Ginny spellbound with his stories of what had happened there. Many of them were wizarding stories, but he was careful never to say too much in front of Elsa. Ginny smiled at Evan's enthusiasm, especially when he whispered to her excitedly about spotting his first ghost.
In the morning, Ginny was almost out the door on her way to the coffeehouse when Elsa spotted her and asked where she was going. She explained that she had coffee in the mornings with a new friend she had made. Elsa insisted on tagging along to meet her friend, and bringing Evan too. Ginny looked doubtfully at Evan and said, "Oh no, you two don't need to come."
"Of course we'll come. We want to meet your friends, don't we, Evan?"
Evan looked carefully at Ginny, somehow sensing her reluctance, and didn't respond to Elsa's question. This didn't seem to matter to Elsa, who grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the flat.
Draco's face lit up in a wide grin when he saw Ginny, but when he saw that she was not alone, his expression quickly changed. She guessed that he hadn't expected her to bring the others.
"This is my friend Draco," Ginny introduced. "Draco, this is my best friend Elsa and my son Evan."
"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said, and kissed the back of Elsa's hand. She giggled.
"It's nice to meet you too! I'll go get our drinks."
Draco had turned his attention to Evan and they regarded each other somewhat warily. Draco finally spoke.
"Hello, Evan. Your mother has told me a lot about you. She never did mention, however, how much you resemble your father."
Evan had picked up on the slight coldness in his tone, and responded in kind. "You knew my father, then?"
"Yes," Draco responded carefully, clearly uncomfortable. "We were at school together."
"Were you as one of his friends?" Draco shot a brief glance at Ginny, looking for help. She just shrugged. He was on his own.
"Not exactly... Your father and I didn't exactly get along when we were in school."
"Oh," Evan said, his voice icy by now. Ginny could sense waves of antipathy coming off him. She had felt Evan stiffen a little when Draco had smiled at her, but that was nothing to his anger now. Apparently Evan didn't want to know someone who hadn't gotten along with Harry. She couldn't blame him, really; that had been her first reaction when she had discovered Draco's identity. And Evan had a child's view that his dead father had been perfect; it would be very hard to convince him otherwise. And Ginny could tell that Draco found Evan's resemblance to Harry extremely disconcerting. She began to doubt that she could extract herself from the current situation with her relationships with both Evan and Draco fully intact.
Luckily, Elsa returned just then with their coffee and conversation. She pelted Draco with questions, which he answered politely. But he also kept shooting glances at Ginny and Evan. Evan sat sullenly, glaring at his cup of chocolate. Before long, Draco excused himself, saying he had a meeting. Ginny was not deceived, but Elsa seemed disappointed. She waved a cheery goodbye, and didn't seem to notice the awkwardness surrounding the other three.
Elsa chattered about nothing in particular until they got back to the flat, and then pulled Ginny into the kitchen for a private chat when they did.
"Oh Ginny!" she enthused. "He's gorgeous!"
Ginny gave her a confused look. "Who do you mean? Draco?"
"Yes, Draco! You know I've been trying for years to get you to date again. And this is it. This is the guy!"
"Draco? But that's ridiculous! We're just friends, and that's rather shaky as it is."
"Come on, Gin. You have to have noticed the way he looks at you," Elsa said incredulously.
"I have no idea what you mean, Elsa. And it's strange enough that we're friends. Our families have always hated each other. And he was not particularly nice to me, my brothers, or Harry in school. It has been really hard for me to look past that and give him a second chance. And he may be willing to befriend me, but he would never think of me that way. He has too much family pride."
"Believe what you want, Ginny," Elsa said, "but you're blind if you don't see it."
"You're crazy, Elsa. We're friends, and I'm not even sure of that after today."
Elsa and Ginny both jumped as the kitchen door slammed shut. Evan had heard everything they said.
***
Evan was moody for the rest of the day. Ginny was sure he would at least be fascinated by the torture devices in the dungeons of Madame Tussaud's, but even that couldn't capture his attention for long. Harry used to get into funks like this, and it exasperated her just as much when Evan did. Before he went to bed, Ginny cornered him in his room and confronted him.
"Okay, Evan. Out with it. What's bothering you?"
He just turned his back on her.
"There's no use refusing to tell me, you know. I'm much more stubborn than you. I'll badger you until you say, so you might as well give up now."
Still no response.
"There really is no use hiding things from me, you know. I'll get it out of you sooner or later, just like I used to with your dad."
This seemed to catch his attention, at least a little.
"Yes, you are a lot like Harry that way. I haven't forgotten how to deal with it."
That set him off.
"Are you sure?" he spat out. "Because you seem to have forgotten everything else!"
Ginny was taken aback by his viciousness. "What do you think I have forgotten?" she asked quietly.
"Dad! You've forgotten Dad!"
"Of course I haven't forgotten your dad. I could never forget. And you are so like him, that all I have to do is look at you and I remember."
"It didn't seem like it today. You're friends with that man who hated Dad. And it doesn't matter to you! Just because he's good looking, you're willing to forget that he was mean to Dad! And today is Dad's birthday too!"
"Evan..." Ginny wasn't quite sure what to say, and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "I haven't forgotten Harry. It's true that Draco was mean to your dad in school, but Harry was almost as mean in return."
Evan began to protest.
"Evan, you have to understand that Harry was not perfect. He was moody and stubborn and impulsive. He put his friends in danger more than once because he didn't stop to think about what he was doing. We all make mistakes in life, including your father. And we all deserve second chances."
Evan continued to glare stubbornly at the blanket he was picking at.
"Do you remember the time you tore up Manuel Rodriguez's homework because he accidentally stepped on your bag?"
Evan nodded.
"Was that the right thing to do?"
Evan shook his head.
"Would you do something like that again?"
Evan shook his head again.
"Would you think it was fair if people held that against you for the rest of your life, even though you have learned your lesson?"
"No, I suppose not," Evan conceded reluctantly.
"Then do you really think it's fair to hold something against Draco when he has learned his lesson?"
"I guess not," he mumbled quietly. "But I still don't like him."
"You don't have to like him, you just have to accept that I do. And I am not going to forget Harry just because I'm friends with Draco."
"I'll try. But I don't want to see him."
"That's fine. You can stay here when I go for coffee. Fred and George have set up wards to let me know if anything goes wrong in the flat when I'm not here. Just one of the advantages of magic, you see."
Evan smiled a bit at that. "When can I see some magic?"
"Elsa is leaving tomorrow--maybe I can show you some simple spells in the evening. I'm rather out of practice though, so it won't be anything too impressive. But on Sunday, we're going to my parents' house and that's full of magic. Plus you'll get to meet most of the family."
Evan gave Ginny an unexpected hug. "Thanks, Mom," he whispered into her chest.
"For what?"
"For moving here. I'm going to have cousins and magic. I can even put up with Draco for that."
"Oh, Evan. I love you very much, you know. I'm sorry I waited so long to bring you to meet the family, and you will the day after tomorrow. But now it is time for you to go to sleep."
"I love you too," he said, settling back into his pillows. Ginny stayed with him, gently smoothing his hair, until his breathing evened out and she was sure he was asleep.
***
The next morning, Ginny slipped out for coffee before Elsa could ask to accompany her. Evan saw her go and grimaced a little before waving to her as she left. She hadn't realized that she had been worried that Draco wouldn't come until she felt relief at seeing him. And he seemed relieved that she was there (and alone) as well.
"I'm glad you came back. I was afraid you wouldn't," he said as she sat down. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. It wasn't fair of me to spring Elsa and Evan on you like that. I wasn't planning to bring them along, but I wasn't quick enough leaving the flat, and Elsa insisted."
"It isn't your fault at all then. I was just a bit shocked to be faced with a miniature Potter. I guess it hadn't really sunk in before that that you had been married to Harry Potter. I mean, I knew it intellectually, but yesterday I finally felt it in my gut."
"I figured it was something like that. I should have warned you about how much he is like Harry, but it just didn't occur to me. I'm so used him, after all."
"And I should have realized that now that he is here, you might bring him with you. Though I feel as if I could have handled things differently."
"Well, Evan doesn't like you much. Though I think it is more because of filial loyalty than anything you said. You didn't like Harry so he doesn't like you. Kind of like Harry and Snape."
Draco laughed at this. "Well, as much as Evan looks like Potter, I don't think I could hate him with the passion that Severus hated Potter. Evan just reminds me of things I would rather forget."
"Ah. He reminds me of things I would rather not forget. It has helped, over the years, that Evan is so like Harry. And it isn't just in the way he looks, I'll have you know. It is almost as if I have a bit of Harry with me still. And I guess that in a sense, I do."
"You still love Potter, don't you?"
"Of course. I think I always will. It's fading, though. Yesterday was his birthday, and I forgot. I think that's part of what was bothering Evan. I've just been so caught up in the future that I forgot the past."
"There's nothing wrong with that. At least if it means you're less likely to spend days at a time depressed and refusing to leave your bed like you did a couple of weeks ago."
"I suppose you're right. I will be reminded more of Harry now that Evan is here. Maybe it's better if I can get some distance from it all... We're going to see the family tomorrow. Everyone will have their best stories about Harry to tell Evan. And I will need to be strong for his sake. I hope I can do it."
"You can."
"How do you know?"
"You were strong enough to come back to the wizarding world, despite your family and the press, for Evan's sake. You are strong enough."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, just go and do it, and enjoy having your family around you." Ginny couldn't help but think he sounded wistful as he said this.
"I will," she said uncertainly. Then she remembered how warm the Burrow felt when she had last visited her mother, and added more firmly, "I will."
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A/N: I am afraid this chapter is quite... transitional. Hopefully, the next one will make up for it. Also, Evan's experiences with British cuisine are based on my own experiences many, many years ago. Globalization being what it is, there are probably very few restaurants that still serve a bunless hamburger, but I wanted to give him at least a little bit of culture shock. I hope that it wasn't too inaccurate.
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