DISCLAIMER: Draco, Ginny, Voldemort, and all the other characters from Harry Potter belong to the lovely JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury and Warner Bros. I’m sorry, but I stole them. Don’t hurt me. Cassie, however, is mine. All mine.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: This chapter is sort of a filler. I’m sorry it took nearly a month to get it out. Actually, it was the chapter after this one that was giving me trouble. This one wrote itself rather quickly. Thanks for those of you who stuck by me. Amy and Tessie my betas and the gals at the Draco/Ginny review board that make me laugh. I’m starting to get lazy and name by chapters after television show episodes because it’s easier than thinking them up on my own.
* * *
“Can you just stand still, please?” Draco asked imploringly. “Please,” he added still more desperately after she failed to listen to him.
Cassie did her best to comply. She had been bouncing around the whole hotel room. Now, since her father had asked so nicely, she just bounced in place like a small, female jackhammer. She stretched all the way up until she was on her tiptoes and her calves couldn’t hold her up anymore. Then she fell back down, her heels striking the ground hard. She’d smile innocently at him, like it had been someone else who had bounced up and down after he had specifically asked her not to. Then, when she thought he wasn’t looking, she’d do it again.
“I wanna wear the pink one!” she cried, standing on the balls of her feet and wobbling dangerously.
Ginny was running errands, so he was in charge of getting Cassie dressed this particular morning. It was more difficult than he had anticipated. For starters, you had to stop her from bouncing to dress her. And then she always wanted to wear poofy dresses. (“Like Princess Aurora!” she said.) Nothing else was to her liking. But Ginny would never go for that. Besides, it wasn’t suitable attire for the day of shopping they had planned.
Draco sighed. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for her. “Mummy said that you couldn’t wear that because it’s raining out and you’ll get it muddy,” he said. She scowled. Even a new a parent, like Draco, could tell she wasn’t happy now. She had even stopped bouncing. “You can wear your pink shirt,” he said in his best “Let’s Make a Deal” tone as he held out said pink shirt. It was flowered and had frilly sleeves. Cassie obviously found this appealing. She kept looking from the shirt to the dress, debating inwardly.
“Ok,” she said finally and resumed bouncing.
Draco was surprised at how quickly he was adjusting to his new life. Before he had been a father in the “I’ve made a child” sense and now he was one in the “I’m a parent” sense. He was rapidly realizing that they were very different. He used to imagine what it would be like to have her around. His fantasies never included being woken up at ridiculously early hours to watch cartoons or following her around 24 hours a day to make sure she didn’t touch anything. Although it was hard and tiring, when he was getting angry with her, he’d merely remind himself of those lonely years he had spent without her. Then, little things like dressing her, weren’t so hard anymore.
Cassie insisted she could dress herself but she always got her head up her sleeve and her pants on backwards. So, somebody had to help her. She giggled a lot when Draco tried to rearrange her limbs inside her shirt. She was very ticklish. She fell into fits of uncontrollable laughter when he had to buckle her belt. His silky hair tickled her stomach. Cassie always needed belts to hold her pants up. Draco would swear she was the skinniest little girl ever.
“It’s like dressing a flag pole,” he teased with a knowing smile. He had been wiry as a child. To some extent, he still was. His mother had often commented on his appearance. She found it distressing and had clothes custom made for him, not that she wouldn’t have anyway.
“Ok!” she said as soon as he was finished. She made a move as to go off running around again.
“Wait!” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “I have to brush your hair.” Her hair always ended up sticking up in all directions after she had been asleep because she tossed, turned and kicked all night long. At the moment it was tangled into a mess he wasn’t sure he could solve. It slightly resembled an afro.
She eyed him skeptically. Hair brushing was not her favorite pastime. It was right up there with baths. But, when he offered to let her sit on his lap, she happily obliged. In the past few days, Cassie had been easily convinced to do things she didn’t want to do by saying that Daddy would help her. She was often seen clinging to his leg. She was just as happy to have him around as he was to have her around.
“Ow!” she yelled before the brush even touched her head.
“I haven’t started yet,” he said exasperatedly.
“Ow! Ow!” She continued to shriek every time he brushed a knot out of her red-blonde hair. “Owwwwww!”
Draco sighed. If his friends at Hogwarts could only see him now, brushing his pink clad daughter’s hair like she were his doll. He wondered what they’d think. Probably nothing, his mean half thought, Crabbe and Goyle were never big thinkers.
“Ow!” she shrieked again, this time more loudly. Anyone who waslistening outside the hotel room door would think he was abusing her.
“You’re not pain tolerant. We need to toughen you up,” he grumbled half-joking and half-serious.
“It doesn’t hurt when Mummy does it,” she said irritably. Draco slumped dejectedly, feeling like a failure as a parent.
Cassie started squirming in his lap. Her eyes darted around the room as if she had never seen it before. “Stop moving,” he commanded but she didn’t listen.
“Ow!” she cried, still moving her head in every direction. “Ow!”
Then like magic, she stopped.
Her eyes focused on something straight ahead of her that he couldn’t see and she stopped yelling “Ow!” every time he did something. She stared unblinkingly off into the distance. He knew she was having a vision. He had seen her do it at least twice everyday since he had reunited with her. Usually it was nothing. He had never seen her have a vision about Voldemort or the Death Eaters but Ginny told him that those were different because she got a frightened look on her face. Since she seemed fine, he used this opportunity to quickly brush her hair without her screaming.
A few moments later Cassie turned around to look up at him, her eyes saying, “Ok. Where were we?”
“All done,” he proclaimed proudly. She turned around and looked in the mirror above the dresser.
Her face fell. “I wanted the pink bows,” she said sadly. Draco had tied her hair into a pony-tail with just a simple elastic.
He groaned. “Should’ve known you’d want the poofiest, pinkiest thing.”
She grinned. “Yep,” she agreed, pleased with herself. “Where’s Mummy?” she asked abruptly as he was tying the pink ribbon in her hair.
“Doing laundry,” he answered.
“What’s laundry?” she asked. Cassie always had lots of questions.
“Washing clothes.”
“Oh. Why don’t they just call it ‘washing clothes’?”
Draco frowned. He hated when he couldn’t answer all her questions. The truth was, why Muggles did the things they did were a complete and utter mystery to him. He was only just beginning to understand electricity and the telephone. Ginny thought it was best to live amongst the Muggles since they wouldn’t recognize them or report back to Voldemort. He couldn’t disagree with that but he still wished he were around people who knew what Quidditch was.
“I don’t know,” he finally responded. Cassie made a face. She couldn’t continue with her line of questioning if he didn’t know the answers. She’d have to think of something else to ask.
“Why’s Grandmother so sad?” she said abruptly. At first Draco didn’t register what she had asked. She has posed the question much like she had the one about laundry.
It took him a while to think of a suitable answer. Why was Grandmother so sad? His mind flashed back to that Christmas when he had seen Molly Weasley in Diagon Alley. She had looked hallow and alone like she had lost the spark that made her continue on.
“You remember how you felt when I was away?” he began cautiously. She bobbled her head up and down. “Sad, right? You missed me?” Again, she nodded. Inwardly, Draco grinned but he maintained a somber outward appearance. “Well your grandmother misses Mummy the way you missed me and the way I missed you. Mummy is her only daughter and she loves her very much. She wishes Mummy could be around.”
To his surprise, Cassie rolled her eyes. “Daddy,” she admonished much the same as she did when he did something foolish. For example, when he hadn’t known how to work the hair dryer. “Not Nana,” she corrected. “Grandmother.”
Draco blinked. She meant his mother. He had never seen his mother sad, unless she was at a funeral or something and just pretending. But she never really meant it. She wasn’t the sad type since she never concerned herself with important matters. Suddenly the image in his head of Molly at Christmas changed. Now it was Narcissa with the piles of presents tumbling to the ground. “Death Eater,” the people hissed and refused to help her. “Her own son doesn’t even speak to her anymore,” one lady murmured to another. The other woman nodded. She shook her head in disgust. And Narcissa began to cry softly, trying to hide it so they wouldn’t see.
Cassie had turned around. She was looking at him curiously. “She misses you, Daddy,” she observed.
He couldn’t find his voice, so he merely nodded in agreement.
“We could cheer her up!” she said brightly. “We could go visit. We could play! I could show her my blanket!” Cassie thought this was the best idea in the world. In her simple world, it was. Someone was sad, so the obvious solution was to go cheer them up. It only made Draco feel worse. The three of them going to Malfoy Manor to show Narcissa Cassie’s blanket was perhaps the worst plan ever. But Cassie didn’t understand that “the bad man” was in control of the place her Grandmother lived and that going to visit her would surely mean her capture.
“We can’t. It‘s not safe,” he whispered mournfully. Cassie’s face fell.
“Is it because of the bad man?” she asked, her big eyes filled with tears. Draco nodded. “He ruins everything!” she cried grumpily, folding her little arms across her chest and sulking.
“We will go cheer her up as soon as we can.” He only said this to make her smile again, and she did, but he couldn’t help hoping this was a promise he could keep.
The door swung open revealing a ragged looking Ginny who carried a large basket of clothes in her arms. Draco tried not to flinch when he recognized some of his own delicate clothing thrown hastily into the pile. He hadn’t asked her to do his laundry. She had just gotten sick of his clothing going unwashed since he didn’t know how to clean them, even the Wizard way. She dumped the basket to the ground as soon as she crossed the threshold.
“Muggles are nutters!” she exclaimed exasperatedly, pushing a lose strand of crimson hair out of her face. “It’ so much harder this way. I don’t know how they get on without magic.”
Draco wanted to say something snide about her being the one who insisted they live the Muggle way. Somehow he managed to keep his tongue. He had remind himself that it wasn’t her fault she was on the run from the world’s most powerful Dark Wizard.
Cassie immediately scrambled out of his lap. Without saying hello to her mother, she rummaged through the newly cleaned clothes. Some of them ended up on the floor, much to Ginny’s chagrin. Cassie flashed a triumphant smile when she produced what it was she was looking for: her blanket. She buried her face in it the way she had the night Draco gave to her, then her face fell.
“It’s not as fuzzy anymore,” she said dejectedly.
Ginny fell upon the nearest bed with a frustrated growl. “Someone Avada Kedavra me,” she moaned. Then she hurried to add, “I didn’t mean that literally,” when she saw Draco observing her.
He scowled, annoyed that she assumed he knew how to do that curse. He did know, but that wasn’t the point. She seemed to think that evil families sat around and passed these things on to one another. And Lucius had never gotten around to teaching him. Too busy making people miserable, Draco assumed.
“I thought we were going to the market today,” he said pointedly ignoring her earlier comment and trying to change the subject.
* * *
It was the same open-air market that he had first seen them in. It was bizarre. The last time he had visited the place, he had been brooding and alone. Now he waltzed in, hand-in-hand with his five-year-old daughter and her mother on her other side. Somehow, it didn’t feel like the same place at all. It seemed happier. Perhaps because walking down the street didn’t result in a tight pain in his chest due to his intense loneliness.
Ginny needed to buy a few things. She immediately went off and started browsing. Draco didn’t notice what she was looking at. He was occupied watching Cassie. Her eyes flickered across everything and every person in the area. They finally came to rest on a group of children playing in a patch of grass. After a few moments of watching, she slowly let go of his hand as if it were a forgotten toy. She took cautious steps toward the group, eyeing them with a sort of longing that he knew too well.
She stopped at the edge of the grass like there was some sort of invisible barrier preventing her from going over to them. It rather reminded Draco of his younger self. He had never had many friends. He had never played with the other kids on the playground because either his father didn’t approve of the families or his mother didn’t want him to ruin his new clothes. Curious as to her reasons, he sank to one knee so he could be eye level with her. She didn’t seem to notice him she was staring so intently at the other kids.
He was about to open his mouth to ask but she responded before he could pose the question. “I can’t go play with them,” she said matter-of-factly with traces of sorrow in her voice. “We have to leave soon...” her voice trailed off. “Besides...”
“What?” he wondered.
As if on cue, one of the girls in the happy group looked up. She noticed Cassie and smiled brightly. The new little girl jogged over so she stood exactly as Cassie did, except she was on the inside of the invisible barrier facing out while Cassie was outside facing in. “Do you have any dolls?” the girl asked merrily, pleased to have found another girl about her age.
Sadly, Cassie shook her head no. She didn’t have any dolls. She had one once, but they had left it behind when the Death Eaters had attacked. She missed it but knew her Mummy couldn’t buy her a new one.
The other little girl’s face fell. “Oh,” she said blandly. Now she found Cassie uninteresting. After all, there was no point in playing with girls who didn’t have dolls, so she turned on her heel and returned to playing with her other friends without a second glance.
Cassie looked up at her father, “See?” Draco nodded. “I play by myself,” she said with more cheer than he thought possible. He felt horrible. He wanted to go shake that girl and tell her that she would be lucky to count Cassie as her friend.
What was worse, it all seemed so commonplace to Cassie. He almost wished she had cried. But she didn’t, she merely went on with her life as if this were both accepted and expected. She hopped away from him, staring at the ground with interest. He got the feeling that she had become really good at entertaining herself. She crouched down low to stare at her reflection in a puddle that the previous night’s rain had left. A brown leaf was floating in the middle of it. She pushed it with her index finger, making indistinct noises as she did.
“What’s that?” he asked, eager to get inside her world.
“The Princess is trapped on the island with the Evil Sorcerer.” She gestured to one side of the puddle. “So the Prince,” she poked the leaf, “is going over in his boat to rescue her. But there are monsters who work for the Sorcerer in the ocean,” she whispered conspiratorially. She pushed the leaf across the glassy surface of the puddle making attack noises and mimicking screams as, presumably, the Prince was attacked by the monsters. “Hold steadfast on your course, brave prince, the princess needs you!” she said in a deep voice.
“Draco! Come here!” Ginny was calling him over. She had her arms filled with piles of items she had purchased. She was swaying slightly under them, not because her bundle was heavy but because there was just so much. Still keeping watch over Cassie out of the corner of his eye, Draco hurried over to relieve her burden. She gratefully dumped the majority into his larger arms.
“Thanks,” she absentmindedly in the manor of someone who had been taught to say “please” and “thank you” to everyone as a child.
“What is all this?” he asked, looking at the items he was now carrying. Most of it was fabric of some sort that hadn’t yet been made into anything. The rest of it, he didn’t recognize.
“Cassie’s new nightgown. She ripped her old one the last time the Death Eaters attacked,” she explained, not giving him her complete attention. She was still looking around, presumably for a place to buy some more things she needed. She set her bags down to get a better look around.
Instinctively, Draco glanced over at Cassie. She had abandoned playing with the leaf in the puddle. Now she was walking back and forth as if she were on a high wire. She had her arms outstretched to keep her balance and was careful not to step in anymore nearby puddles. Satisfied that she was all right, his mind then jumped to the next thing he had been thinking.
“You make her clothes?” he said incredulously. For someone who had his clothes tailor-made since childhood, this was horrifying. It was a travesty. Wasn’t it only poor kids who didn’t have shoes that had to pile in one bed with their fifteen brothers and sisters who made their own clothes?
“Yeah,” Ginny said, still not paying him any attention. She glanced up to check on Cassie. She frowned when she found her daughter no longer avoiding the puddles but jumping right in them. “Cassandra!” she said in warning tone, “Stop that.”
Cassie either didn’t hear her mother or pointedly ignored her. She saw a particularly large, inviting puddle that was just calling out to be jumped in. Cassie’s shoes landed in it with a large splash that went all over the sidewalk. People hurried out of the way to avoid the flying water. Cassie grinned. She had made that one go really far! It was probably some kind of puddle record. She wanted to see if she could do it again.
Ginny opened her mouth to yell at Cassie again, but Draco’s voice snapped her attention back to him. “You don’t have to make her clothes anymore, you know,” he said, in a way that grated her nerves. He sounded so superior. “I have money.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re getting on just fine, thank you. We don’t need your money.”
Another splash erupted from Cassie’s side of the street. A few people shouted as they were hit with the cold water. Cassie attempted to look innocent under her mother’s piercing glare. “Cassie, don’t splash people.” Ginny was becoming rapidly annoyed with both Draco and her daughter.
“Ok,” the little girl agreed brightly. She could do that. It just meant she’d have to be more careful when she jumped in the next puddle.
“I didn’t say you needed my money,” Draco argued defensively. “Just that you don’t have to make her clothes anymore. It’d be a lot easier for you, if you could buy store bought clothes.” He didn’t understand why she was getting so angry. If someone gave him the opportunity to stop doing a lot of unnecessary work, he’d surely take it.
Ginny folded her arms across her chest. Her family had never taken charity before, and she wasn’t about to start a tradition, especially with Draco Malfoy of all people. He acted like he was doing her a big favor. Cassie was happy and healthy. What did it matter that her mother made her clothes? Cassie had never complained.
“Cassie!” she cried exasperatedly. “Stop! You’re going to get all wet!”
Cassie, who had just hopped in another puddle couldn’t understand why her mother was so mad. She hadn’t splashed anyone except herself that time. She looked down at her muddy clothes. “I am all wet,” she said proudly. And as long as she was already wet, she could continue with her playing.
She danced along the street, looking for more puddles. They were good for jumping. It should rain more, she thought. She looked up and frowned. Her Mummy and Daddy were fighting. She didn’t know what it was about. They had never fought before. Suddenly she didn’t feel much like playing in puddles anymore. She wished they’d stop yelling. What if her Daddy got mad and then he left again? She didn’t want that. She liked him. Her Mummy thought he was a “slimy git”; Cassie didn’t know why. He was always nice to her and he had even selfishly risked his own life to protect her from the monsters under the bed. She stopped bouncing in the water by a rickety old bench. The puddles weren’t fun anymore. Now she just wanted to go home. It was obviously something in the market making them fight.
Two old women were sitting on the bench that Cassie was standing by. They wore heavy coats to protect from the cold even though it was relatively mild out and they had plastic scarves on their heads to keep the rain away from their hair. “See those two,” said the first with the raspy voice of one who had smoked too many cigarettes. She pointed at Draco and Ginny with a long, gnarled finger.
Cassie perked up. They were talking about her parents. She looked furtively around. Her Mummy said it wasn’t nice to listen to other people’s conversations, but then again, her Mummy also told her not to shout at people. Ginny was doing a fair amount of shouting at Draco now. She flung her arms about and gestured emphatically. He only scowled at her, unmoved by her show of emotion.
“They fight like Sal and I did,” she continued.
The other woman chortled with laughter, which ended with a coughing fit. “He’s better looking,” she said once the fit had subsided.
Cassie cocked her head to one side, listening more intently. The first woman looked indignant. “He seems nice enough,” she pointed ignored the crack about her husband being ugly, “she should just take the money from him.”
Then they started talking about another couple, that was kissing deeply on the bench across from them. (“Sinful!” “Glad she’s not my daughter!”) No longer caring to hear the old ladies’ conversation, Cassie meandered over to where her parents were still fighting. They were hollering so loud that it hurt her ears. Annoyed and upset, she tugged on her father’s pant leg. They both instantly clammed up when they saw her. Her mother looked like she had been caught with hand in the cookie jar. She had never intended to get into it in public, especially with her daughter around, but Draco just made her so mad.
Cassie narrowed her eyes. “No fighting!” she pouted cutely.
Feeling incredibly guilty, neither parent had any response to her proclamation. Pleased that they were finally quiet, Cassie grinned. “Daddy, those ladies over there think you’re handsome.” she said, twisting back and forth mischievously.
Draco was used to such attention he merely smiled. Ginny snorted with laughter. She could barely stand she was shaking so hard. He glared at her. Didn’t she think he was handsome? “What?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” she said through giggles.
“And they said you should take the money from the nice man, Mummy,” Cassie smiled impishly.
This only made Ginny laugh harder. “I don’t see any “nice man”,” she teased devilishly, “Only Draco.”
He frowned. It was actually true, he wasn’t a very nice man, he just didn’t like to be mocked. He was far better at mocking others than being mocked by them. On the bright side, at least she wasn’t taking his head off anymore. He’d never offer her money again if that was the way she was going to treat him afterward.
Cassie didn’t think it was funny either. “Mummy!” she gasped, her mouth wide open.
Ginny stopped laughing abruptly. It was something about the way her daughter was looking at her that made her like she was the kid and Cassie was the adult that was scolding her. She shifted awkwardly in her place. Draco smirked at her discomfort. It was wrong of her to make fun of Draco in front of Cassie. He was her father and whatever problems Ginny and he had shouldn’t be aired in front of her. “Sorry, Cass,” Ginny apologized much like she would to her own mother.
“Apologize to Daddy,” the girl instructed. Then she beamed as an idea struck her. “You should kiss and make up.” She started to bounce hopefully.
Draco raised an eyebrow expectantly. He quite enjoyed tormenting her like this.
Ginny shrugged, trying to look as if it weren’t killing her to say, “Sorry, Draco.” She sounded rather like she’d rather chew glass than say it again.
“Already forgotten.” Draco waved a hand in the air, assuming an air of forgiveness. He might as well pretend to be the bigger person, as he had gotten his satisfaction watching Ginny squirm. She glared at him, making in clear she saw through his act. He smirked.
At least they understood each other.
Cassie’s face fell. “But you didn’t kiss,” she whined.
Pretending not to hear what Cassie had said, Ginny picked up her things again. “Come on, Cass, we’re going home,” she said. She gave Draco a warning look as she passed him. In return, he smiled sardonically.
Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder. She strode through the marketplace with brisk steps and her head held proudly in the air. She reminded Draco a bit of his mother. Narcissa had long strides. He often had trouble following after her as a boy. His legs had been just too short. For that same reason, and also because she was pouting, Cassie lagged behind.
Draco watched her carefully, not wanting her to get lost. She crossed her arms over her chest and moped for a bit. Then she got bored of that because no one was paying attention to her sulking. She seemed to want to stop and play in a bed of flowers but didn’t dare. She often looked up to check on her mother, who had slowed her pace somewhat. When she did, she waved at Draco.
He liked watching her. It gave him a strange sensation in his stomach. He often thought about her as a baby. He wished he hadn’t missed seeing her grow up. He still marveled at how big she had become. The previous years had been like his life was on hold. He hadn’t done anything of value. It was like he had slept through everything. Now, he was awake and couldn’t believe that life had gone on without him. He desperately wanted those five years back. There were too many moments, like this one, that he had missed.
Cassie bopped along to music in her head, occasionally, she’d spin around and dance a bit. Passersby gawked at her. She didn’t care. She didn’t exactly keep pace with them. They hurried past and rushed into stores; Cassie danced. Draco was walking at a snail’s pace to keep in time with her. Often, people got annoyed because she was in their way. They’d prod her onward or rush to get around her.
He saw a large boy, a little older than Cassie, advancing on her on the sidewalk. Draco could see what was going to happen before it did. He just couldn’t stop it. One minute, she was twirling merrily, the next, she was on the ground. Cassie and the boy’s shoulders collided; his weight advantage sent her sprawling to the cobbled stones. The boy brushed right by her as if a fly had buzzed around his ear. He didn’t look back.
Cassie didn’t react right away. She looked from the back of the retreating boy to her knee, which had taken the brunt of the fall. It wasn’t until a stream of bright, red blood appeared that all hell broke loose. Her lower lip began to quiver then she broke into full-fledged sobs. Her entire body shook under the force of them so that her breaths became choppy and shallow. Her wails seemed to carry forever. Draco couldn’t believe something so tiny could be so loud. People all the way down the street turned around to see what was making such a sound.
In an instant, Ginny was on top of her. She pulled her daughter into a warm, motherly embrace. “It’s ok, baby,” she soothed, “It’s ok. It’s just a scrape.” Still, Cassie wailed on.
Draco didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just stand there and watch her cry. It was too painful. But he knew he couldn’t be like Ginny. He couldn’t hug and kiss her so that everything would be all right. He wanted to, but it just wasn’t him. Besides, if Ginny couldn’t comfort her, what help would he be?
It wasn’t a sudden change. It occurred to him slowly, almost like he didn’t know what it was, as he watched Ginny’s attempts to console his bleeding child: he was angry. There were times in his life when he had been angry about everything: they weren’t serving food he liked for dinner, he wasn’t top in the class, that first year looked at him funny. But the last few years it seemed all his nerves had been deadened. It was almost nostalgic to feel anger again.
Without thinking about what he was doing, he wheeled around. The boy who had knocked Cassie over was still only a few yards away. An older woman, who Draco assumed was his mother, was with him now. She was tall and thin unlike her boy. She looked like she had too much cosmetic surgery, because her face was pulled back taunt. She was giving the boy, who reminded Draco of a young Goyle, some chocolate to eat.
“Excuse me,” he said in a tone that was anything but polite. It was clear he meant, ‘Excuse you.’
The woman looked up at him with a haughty expression. “What do you want?” she demanded, acting superior. She didn’t like being disturbed by strange men on the street.
“You son,” he glared at the boy, “knocked my daughter over.”
She peered over his shoulder. Cassie was still on the ground sobbing with Ginny. Nonplussed, she returned her attention back to Draco. “So?”
As soon as the word came out of her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. His whole face changed. It was like watching Jekyll turn into Hyde before your very eyes. This was not to say that Draco turned into a wild man. On the contrary, a composed coldness that had been buried deep under the surface emerged again. He glared at her and she trembled ever so slightly. Draco had the kind of glare that would allow him to win a staring contest with Medusa herself.
“She was in his way,” the woman argued, all the while trying to maintain her holier than thou attitude. It was hard when Draco was eyeing her like she was nothing but something gross on the bottom of his shoe so her voice wavered a tad.
“If your son didn’t take the area of a small planet then she wouldn’t have been.” He hissed the words in a deadly, threatening manner. Then, just to up the discomfort level, he took a step closer to her so that their noses were almost touching. “What do you fed him? Tubs of lard?”
“How dare you!” she shrieked shrilly. “Why I’ve never seen someone so rude...!”
“Guess you don’t own any mirrors,” he drawled as he cut her off. He was getting a rather perverse sense of pleasure at torturing this woman. Her son was hiding behind her legs, looking up at him fearfully.
Draco smirked. It was like riding a bike.
“If you don’t get away from me right this instant, I’ll sue! My husband is a very wealthy man...” she began, thinking this would scare him off.
Draco only surveyed her more closely. Her hair, her clothes, her son, they all screamed bourgeoisie. Again, he smirked. She really didn’t know what she was getting into. Being superior because he was better off than other people was his forte. “Lady,” he said patronizingly. “I’ve spent more money on shoes than you’ve ever seen in your lifetime,” he looked her up and down again, “and despite your weak attempts to cover it up, I’m guessing that it’s been a pretty long life.” She grabbed her heart, shocked and horrified. “You don’t want to get into this with me. All I wanted was for Tubby to apologize to my daughter, but now I realize that was a mistake. I don’t want him within a hundred meters of her.”
With that note, Draco turned on his heel and returned to his family. He had beaten her into the ground; she had been a weak opponent. There was no point in continuing the battle. The woman stared after him disbelievingly, her mouth hanging wide open. She was just too stunned to move. Then when it dawned on her that he hadn’t physically harmed her, she hustled her son away frantically before he could he could get the chance.
“Are you all right, Princess?” he gently asked Cassie as he kneeled down to her level. Her sobs were becoming few and far between and her knee wasn’t bleeding as much now. She nodded mutely through a loud sniffle. Touched, he pulled her into a tight hug. Cassie gladly hugged him back. She didn’t know the man who had just told off that woman, and Draco wasn’t about to introduce her. Her Daddy wasn’t mean. He wasn’t cuddly like her Mummy was, but he would never look down on her because she was poor. It was like Draco had morphed back into Jekyll the moment he had turned his attention back to Cassie while that other Draco returned to his hole and waited for the next time he was needed.
Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck. She cried softly with her face buried against his skin. Ginny was still stroking her back, even though she had handed Cassie over to Draco. “It’s ok,” they both said at once. They exchanged a knowing look. They sat on the ground, forcing all the people to walk around them, consoling their daughter. All that had happened just minutes before was forgotten. When Draco looked back on it, he realized that moment was the first time he had felt like the three of them were part of a family. Certainly not a perfectly functional family, but a family nonetheless.
Gradually, Cassie cries lessened. When she had stopped completely, but still looked down, Draco picked her up and balanced her on his hip. She slid around a bit, since he was not used to carrying children around. He had never even been carried like this. Eventually, he adjusted. “You ok?” he asked again.
“Mummy kissed it; made it better,” she explained vacantly, still frowning. Ginny kissed the top of her head, hoping that if she kissed her once it was better and if she kissed her twice it’d be fixed.
“I know,” declared Draco as an idea on how to cheer her up struck him. “How ‘bout I take you and Mummy out for ice cream.”
“Ooooh,” Ginny gushed, widening her eyes in an attempt to look excited. “We like ice cream, right Cass?”
Cassie twisted her face, the way she did when she was thinking. “Can we turn it upside down and make it look like a clown?” she asked.
Draco had to look to Ginny for the answer to this. He had no idea what she was talking about. Ice cream like a clown? Ginny grinned widely and nodded. “Of course. Who would eat ice cream if it didn’t look like a clown?” she teased, but Cassie didn’t catch it. The girl smiled weakly when her mother said this.
Still, Cassie was not back to her cheery, dancing self. This upset Draco, he wanted to keep her happy, so he looked for other ways to cheer her. It had to be something happy and playful that they could do together. There weren’t very many kid things that he knew how to do. He really hadn’t played childish games when he himself had been a child. The only game he had been allowed to play was Quidditch. Even then, he could only be Seeker because his father said the other positions were not dignified.
“I could teach you how to play Quidditch?” he said hopefully.
Cassie made a face. “Eww.” She looked like she were sucking on a lemon. “Boy sport.”
Again, he was confused so he turned to Ginny. It was a good thing she was with them, Draco thought, which lead to him wishing he didn’t need her to come along. Ginny just laughed. “Cassie is a girl and she cannot play boy games,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
In his arms, Cassie nodded fervently. He looked at the Ginny, startled. “What happened to that ‘Girl Power’ stuff you were spouting at Hogwarts. Weren’t you the one who lead the protests about the Slytherin team not having girls on it?”
Ginny made a face as if to say, ‘Do you really want to get into this?’ He had said some politically incorrect things those days. As captain of the Slytherin team, he had been right in the crossfire, not that it bothered him. He didn’t care what other people thought.
She cleared her throat. “Yes, well, it seems we were all misguided. Cassandra has set me straight. Girls should play with dolls and boys play Quidditch,” she said sarcastically. Ginny, of course, zealously disagreed with this statement but had learned that fighting with Cassie was like fighting with a brick wall. She would just wait until her daughter grew out of the girly-girl phase. This was lost on her daughter, who bobbed her head in agreement.
“It was nice of Cassie to set you right,” Draco winked at Ginny, who laughed a tiny bit.
“It’s a good thing she’s here,” she looked thoughtful. “What would life be like without her?”
“We wouldn’t go for ice cream as much, that’s for sure,” Draco shot back playfully.
Cassie looked from her Daddy to her Mummy and back again. They were smiling at each other and they weren’t yelling anymore. She smiled too. She liked it better when they were happy than when they were fighting. She wanted them to be a family. She saw visions of her Mummy’s family, she wanted them to be like that. Only, she didn’t know where she could get so many brothers. She’d have to ask her Daddy.
She closed her eyes and tried to picture them in her head. She liked her uncles, they were funny. Without warning, her mind clouded over rapidly until she couldn’t see what was in front of her anymore. It was only gray mist, and then images began take shape in the mist, like they were part of it and then got sharper and sharper until there was no more mist. There were lots of people and they were coming closer.
Draco and Ginny were still teasing each other when Cassie did something that stopped them in their tracks. She didn’t scream or cry, she just whispered one word with her eyes were glazed over because of the vision. The look on her face told Draco it was not a good vision.
“Mummy...” she breathed, her voice filled with fear. The sound had the effect of dropping an ice cube down Draco’s back. It made a pit in his stomach and the little hairs on his arms stand up.
Ginny’s eyes widened with fear. She said aloud what they all knew, “The Death Eaters are coming.”
* * *
AUTHOR’S NOTES: This chapter is sort of a filler. I’m sorry it took nearly a month to get it out. Actually, it was the chapter after this one that was giving me trouble. This one wrote itself rather quickly. Thanks for those of you who stuck by me. Amy and Tessie my betas and the gals at the Draco/Ginny review board that make me laugh. I’m starting to get lazy and name by chapters after television show episodes because it’s easier than thinking them up on my own.
* * *
“Can you just stand still, please?” Draco asked imploringly. “Please,” he added still more desperately after she failed to listen to him.
Cassie did her best to comply. She had been bouncing around the whole hotel room. Now, since her father had asked so nicely, she just bounced in place like a small, female jackhammer. She stretched all the way up until she was on her tiptoes and her calves couldn’t hold her up anymore. Then she fell back down, her heels striking the ground hard. She’d smile innocently at him, like it had been someone else who had bounced up and down after he had specifically asked her not to. Then, when she thought he wasn’t looking, she’d do it again.
“I wanna wear the pink one!” she cried, standing on the balls of her feet and wobbling dangerously.
Ginny was running errands, so he was in charge of getting Cassie dressed this particular morning. It was more difficult than he had anticipated. For starters, you had to stop her from bouncing to dress her. And then she always wanted to wear poofy dresses. (“Like Princess Aurora!” she said.) Nothing else was to her liking. But Ginny would never go for that. Besides, it wasn’t suitable attire for the day of shopping they had planned.
Draco sighed. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for her. “Mummy said that you couldn’t wear that because it’s raining out and you’ll get it muddy,” he said. She scowled. Even a new a parent, like Draco, could tell she wasn’t happy now. She had even stopped bouncing. “You can wear your pink shirt,” he said in his best “Let’s Make a Deal” tone as he held out said pink shirt. It was flowered and had frilly sleeves. Cassie obviously found this appealing. She kept looking from the shirt to the dress, debating inwardly.
“Ok,” she said finally and resumed bouncing.
Draco was surprised at how quickly he was adjusting to his new life. Before he had been a father in the “I’ve made a child” sense and now he was one in the “I’m a parent” sense. He was rapidly realizing that they were very different. He used to imagine what it would be like to have her around. His fantasies never included being woken up at ridiculously early hours to watch cartoons or following her around 24 hours a day to make sure she didn’t touch anything. Although it was hard and tiring, when he was getting angry with her, he’d merely remind himself of those lonely years he had spent without her. Then, little things like dressing her, weren’t so hard anymore.
Cassie insisted she could dress herself but she always got her head up her sleeve and her pants on backwards. So, somebody had to help her. She giggled a lot when Draco tried to rearrange her limbs inside her shirt. She was very ticklish. She fell into fits of uncontrollable laughter when he had to buckle her belt. His silky hair tickled her stomach. Cassie always needed belts to hold her pants up. Draco would swear she was the skinniest little girl ever.
“It’s like dressing a flag pole,” he teased with a knowing smile. He had been wiry as a child. To some extent, he still was. His mother had often commented on his appearance. She found it distressing and had clothes custom made for him, not that she wouldn’t have anyway.
“Ok!” she said as soon as he was finished. She made a move as to go off running around again.
“Wait!” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “I have to brush your hair.” Her hair always ended up sticking up in all directions after she had been asleep because she tossed, turned and kicked all night long. At the moment it was tangled into a mess he wasn’t sure he could solve. It slightly resembled an afro.
She eyed him skeptically. Hair brushing was not her favorite pastime. It was right up there with baths. But, when he offered to let her sit on his lap, she happily obliged. In the past few days, Cassie had been easily convinced to do things she didn’t want to do by saying that Daddy would help her. She was often seen clinging to his leg. She was just as happy to have him around as he was to have her around.
“Ow!” she yelled before the brush even touched her head.
“I haven’t started yet,” he said exasperatedly.
“Ow! Ow!” She continued to shriek every time he brushed a knot out of her red-blonde hair. “Owwwwww!”
Draco sighed. If his friends at Hogwarts could only see him now, brushing his pink clad daughter’s hair like she were his doll. He wondered what they’d think. Probably nothing, his mean half thought, Crabbe and Goyle were never big thinkers.
“Ow!” she shrieked again, this time more loudly. Anyone who waslistening outside the hotel room door would think he was abusing her.
“You’re not pain tolerant. We need to toughen you up,” he grumbled half-joking and half-serious.
“It doesn’t hurt when Mummy does it,” she said irritably. Draco slumped dejectedly, feeling like a failure as a parent.
Cassie started squirming in his lap. Her eyes darted around the room as if she had never seen it before. “Stop moving,” he commanded but she didn’t listen.
“Ow!” she cried, still moving her head in every direction. “Ow!”
Then like magic, she stopped.
Her eyes focused on something straight ahead of her that he couldn’t see and she stopped yelling “Ow!” every time he did something. She stared unblinkingly off into the distance. He knew she was having a vision. He had seen her do it at least twice everyday since he had reunited with her. Usually it was nothing. He had never seen her have a vision about Voldemort or the Death Eaters but Ginny told him that those were different because she got a frightened look on her face. Since she seemed fine, he used this opportunity to quickly brush her hair without her screaming.
A few moments later Cassie turned around to look up at him, her eyes saying, “Ok. Where were we?”
“All done,” he proclaimed proudly. She turned around and looked in the mirror above the dresser.
Her face fell. “I wanted the pink bows,” she said sadly. Draco had tied her hair into a pony-tail with just a simple elastic.
He groaned. “Should’ve known you’d want the poofiest, pinkiest thing.”
She grinned. “Yep,” she agreed, pleased with herself. “Where’s Mummy?” she asked abruptly as he was tying the pink ribbon in her hair.
“Doing laundry,” he answered.
“What’s laundry?” she asked. Cassie always had lots of questions.
“Washing clothes.”
“Oh. Why don’t they just call it ‘washing clothes’?”
Draco frowned. He hated when he couldn’t answer all her questions. The truth was, why Muggles did the things they did were a complete and utter mystery to him. He was only just beginning to understand electricity and the telephone. Ginny thought it was best to live amongst the Muggles since they wouldn’t recognize them or report back to Voldemort. He couldn’t disagree with that but he still wished he were around people who knew what Quidditch was.
“I don’t know,” he finally responded. Cassie made a face. She couldn’t continue with her line of questioning if he didn’t know the answers. She’d have to think of something else to ask.
“Why’s Grandmother so sad?” she said abruptly. At first Draco didn’t register what she had asked. She has posed the question much like she had the one about laundry.
It took him a while to think of a suitable answer. Why was Grandmother so sad? His mind flashed back to that Christmas when he had seen Molly Weasley in Diagon Alley. She had looked hallow and alone like she had lost the spark that made her continue on.
“You remember how you felt when I was away?” he began cautiously. She bobbled her head up and down. “Sad, right? You missed me?” Again, she nodded. Inwardly, Draco grinned but he maintained a somber outward appearance. “Well your grandmother misses Mummy the way you missed me and the way I missed you. Mummy is her only daughter and she loves her very much. She wishes Mummy could be around.”
To his surprise, Cassie rolled her eyes. “Daddy,” she admonished much the same as she did when he did something foolish. For example, when he hadn’t known how to work the hair dryer. “Not Nana,” she corrected. “Grandmother.”
Draco blinked. She meant his mother. He had never seen his mother sad, unless she was at a funeral or something and just pretending. But she never really meant it. She wasn’t the sad type since she never concerned herself with important matters. Suddenly the image in his head of Molly at Christmas changed. Now it was Narcissa with the piles of presents tumbling to the ground. “Death Eater,” the people hissed and refused to help her. “Her own son doesn’t even speak to her anymore,” one lady murmured to another. The other woman nodded. She shook her head in disgust. And Narcissa began to cry softly, trying to hide it so they wouldn’t see.
Cassie had turned around. She was looking at him curiously. “She misses you, Daddy,” she observed.
He couldn’t find his voice, so he merely nodded in agreement.
“We could cheer her up!” she said brightly. “We could go visit. We could play! I could show her my blanket!” Cassie thought this was the best idea in the world. In her simple world, it was. Someone was sad, so the obvious solution was to go cheer them up. It only made Draco feel worse. The three of them going to Malfoy Manor to show Narcissa Cassie’s blanket was perhaps the worst plan ever. But Cassie didn’t understand that “the bad man” was in control of the place her Grandmother lived and that going to visit her would surely mean her capture.
“We can’t. It‘s not safe,” he whispered mournfully. Cassie’s face fell.
“Is it because of the bad man?” she asked, her big eyes filled with tears. Draco nodded. “He ruins everything!” she cried grumpily, folding her little arms across her chest and sulking.
“We will go cheer her up as soon as we can.” He only said this to make her smile again, and she did, but he couldn’t help hoping this was a promise he could keep.
The door swung open revealing a ragged looking Ginny who carried a large basket of clothes in her arms. Draco tried not to flinch when he recognized some of his own delicate clothing thrown hastily into the pile. He hadn’t asked her to do his laundry. She had just gotten sick of his clothing going unwashed since he didn’t know how to clean them, even the Wizard way. She dumped the basket to the ground as soon as she crossed the threshold.
“Muggles are nutters!” she exclaimed exasperatedly, pushing a lose strand of crimson hair out of her face. “It’ so much harder this way. I don’t know how they get on without magic.”
Draco wanted to say something snide about her being the one who insisted they live the Muggle way. Somehow he managed to keep his tongue. He had remind himself that it wasn’t her fault she was on the run from the world’s most powerful Dark Wizard.
Cassie immediately scrambled out of his lap. Without saying hello to her mother, she rummaged through the newly cleaned clothes. Some of them ended up on the floor, much to Ginny’s chagrin. Cassie flashed a triumphant smile when she produced what it was she was looking for: her blanket. She buried her face in it the way she had the night Draco gave to her, then her face fell.
“It’s not as fuzzy anymore,” she said dejectedly.
Ginny fell upon the nearest bed with a frustrated growl. “Someone Avada Kedavra me,” she moaned. Then she hurried to add, “I didn’t mean that literally,” when she saw Draco observing her.
He scowled, annoyed that she assumed he knew how to do that curse. He did know, but that wasn’t the point. She seemed to think that evil families sat around and passed these things on to one another. And Lucius had never gotten around to teaching him. Too busy making people miserable, Draco assumed.
“I thought we were going to the market today,” he said pointedly ignoring her earlier comment and trying to change the subject.
* * *
It was the same open-air market that he had first seen them in. It was bizarre. The last time he had visited the place, he had been brooding and alone. Now he waltzed in, hand-in-hand with his five-year-old daughter and her mother on her other side. Somehow, it didn’t feel like the same place at all. It seemed happier. Perhaps because walking down the street didn’t result in a tight pain in his chest due to his intense loneliness.
Ginny needed to buy a few things. She immediately went off and started browsing. Draco didn’t notice what she was looking at. He was occupied watching Cassie. Her eyes flickered across everything and every person in the area. They finally came to rest on a group of children playing in a patch of grass. After a few moments of watching, she slowly let go of his hand as if it were a forgotten toy. She took cautious steps toward the group, eyeing them with a sort of longing that he knew too well.
She stopped at the edge of the grass like there was some sort of invisible barrier preventing her from going over to them. It rather reminded Draco of his younger self. He had never had many friends. He had never played with the other kids on the playground because either his father didn’t approve of the families or his mother didn’t want him to ruin his new clothes. Curious as to her reasons, he sank to one knee so he could be eye level with her. She didn’t seem to notice him she was staring so intently at the other kids.
He was about to open his mouth to ask but she responded before he could pose the question. “I can’t go play with them,” she said matter-of-factly with traces of sorrow in her voice. “We have to leave soon...” her voice trailed off. “Besides...”
“What?” he wondered.
As if on cue, one of the girls in the happy group looked up. She noticed Cassie and smiled brightly. The new little girl jogged over so she stood exactly as Cassie did, except she was on the inside of the invisible barrier facing out while Cassie was outside facing in. “Do you have any dolls?” the girl asked merrily, pleased to have found another girl about her age.
Sadly, Cassie shook her head no. She didn’t have any dolls. She had one once, but they had left it behind when the Death Eaters had attacked. She missed it but knew her Mummy couldn’t buy her a new one.
The other little girl’s face fell. “Oh,” she said blandly. Now she found Cassie uninteresting. After all, there was no point in playing with girls who didn’t have dolls, so she turned on her heel and returned to playing with her other friends without a second glance.
Cassie looked up at her father, “See?” Draco nodded. “I play by myself,” she said with more cheer than he thought possible. He felt horrible. He wanted to go shake that girl and tell her that she would be lucky to count Cassie as her friend.
What was worse, it all seemed so commonplace to Cassie. He almost wished she had cried. But she didn’t, she merely went on with her life as if this were both accepted and expected. She hopped away from him, staring at the ground with interest. He got the feeling that she had become really good at entertaining herself. She crouched down low to stare at her reflection in a puddle that the previous night’s rain had left. A brown leaf was floating in the middle of it. She pushed it with her index finger, making indistinct noises as she did.
“What’s that?” he asked, eager to get inside her world.
“The Princess is trapped on the island with the Evil Sorcerer.” She gestured to one side of the puddle. “So the Prince,” she poked the leaf, “is going over in his boat to rescue her. But there are monsters who work for the Sorcerer in the ocean,” she whispered conspiratorially. She pushed the leaf across the glassy surface of the puddle making attack noises and mimicking screams as, presumably, the Prince was attacked by the monsters. “Hold steadfast on your course, brave prince, the princess needs you!” she said in a deep voice.
“Draco! Come here!” Ginny was calling him over. She had her arms filled with piles of items she had purchased. She was swaying slightly under them, not because her bundle was heavy but because there was just so much. Still keeping watch over Cassie out of the corner of his eye, Draco hurried over to relieve her burden. She gratefully dumped the majority into his larger arms.
“Thanks,” she absentmindedly in the manor of someone who had been taught to say “please” and “thank you” to everyone as a child.
“What is all this?” he asked, looking at the items he was now carrying. Most of it was fabric of some sort that hadn’t yet been made into anything. The rest of it, he didn’t recognize.
“Cassie’s new nightgown. She ripped her old one the last time the Death Eaters attacked,” she explained, not giving him her complete attention. She was still looking around, presumably for a place to buy some more things she needed. She set her bags down to get a better look around.
Instinctively, Draco glanced over at Cassie. She had abandoned playing with the leaf in the puddle. Now she was walking back and forth as if she were on a high wire. She had her arms outstretched to keep her balance and was careful not to step in anymore nearby puddles. Satisfied that she was all right, his mind then jumped to the next thing he had been thinking.
“You make her clothes?” he said incredulously. For someone who had his clothes tailor-made since childhood, this was horrifying. It was a travesty. Wasn’t it only poor kids who didn’t have shoes that had to pile in one bed with their fifteen brothers and sisters who made their own clothes?
“Yeah,” Ginny said, still not paying him any attention. She glanced up to check on Cassie. She frowned when she found her daughter no longer avoiding the puddles but jumping right in them. “Cassandra!” she said in warning tone, “Stop that.”
Cassie either didn’t hear her mother or pointedly ignored her. She saw a particularly large, inviting puddle that was just calling out to be jumped in. Cassie’s shoes landed in it with a large splash that went all over the sidewalk. People hurried out of the way to avoid the flying water. Cassie grinned. She had made that one go really far! It was probably some kind of puddle record. She wanted to see if she could do it again.
Ginny opened her mouth to yell at Cassie again, but Draco’s voice snapped her attention back to him. “You don’t have to make her clothes anymore, you know,” he said, in a way that grated her nerves. He sounded so superior. “I have money.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re getting on just fine, thank you. We don’t need your money.”
Another splash erupted from Cassie’s side of the street. A few people shouted as they were hit with the cold water. Cassie attempted to look innocent under her mother’s piercing glare. “Cassie, don’t splash people.” Ginny was becoming rapidly annoyed with both Draco and her daughter.
“Ok,” the little girl agreed brightly. She could do that. It just meant she’d have to be more careful when she jumped in the next puddle.
“I didn’t say you needed my money,” Draco argued defensively. “Just that you don’t have to make her clothes anymore. It’d be a lot easier for you, if you could buy store bought clothes.” He didn’t understand why she was getting so angry. If someone gave him the opportunity to stop doing a lot of unnecessary work, he’d surely take it.
Ginny folded her arms across her chest. Her family had never taken charity before, and she wasn’t about to start a tradition, especially with Draco Malfoy of all people. He acted like he was doing her a big favor. Cassie was happy and healthy. What did it matter that her mother made her clothes? Cassie had never complained.
“Cassie!” she cried exasperatedly. “Stop! You’re going to get all wet!”
Cassie, who had just hopped in another puddle couldn’t understand why her mother was so mad. She hadn’t splashed anyone except herself that time. She looked down at her muddy clothes. “I am all wet,” she said proudly. And as long as she was already wet, she could continue with her playing.
She danced along the street, looking for more puddles. They were good for jumping. It should rain more, she thought. She looked up and frowned. Her Mummy and Daddy were fighting. She didn’t know what it was about. They had never fought before. Suddenly she didn’t feel much like playing in puddles anymore. She wished they’d stop yelling. What if her Daddy got mad and then he left again? She didn’t want that. She liked him. Her Mummy thought he was a “slimy git”; Cassie didn’t know why. He was always nice to her and he had even selfishly risked his own life to protect her from the monsters under the bed. She stopped bouncing in the water by a rickety old bench. The puddles weren’t fun anymore. Now she just wanted to go home. It was obviously something in the market making them fight.
Two old women were sitting on the bench that Cassie was standing by. They wore heavy coats to protect from the cold even though it was relatively mild out and they had plastic scarves on their heads to keep the rain away from their hair. “See those two,” said the first with the raspy voice of one who had smoked too many cigarettes. She pointed at Draco and Ginny with a long, gnarled finger.
Cassie perked up. They were talking about her parents. She looked furtively around. Her Mummy said it wasn’t nice to listen to other people’s conversations, but then again, her Mummy also told her not to shout at people. Ginny was doing a fair amount of shouting at Draco now. She flung her arms about and gestured emphatically. He only scowled at her, unmoved by her show of emotion.
“They fight like Sal and I did,” she continued.
The other woman chortled with laughter, which ended with a coughing fit. “He’s better looking,” she said once the fit had subsided.
Cassie cocked her head to one side, listening more intently. The first woman looked indignant. “He seems nice enough,” she pointed ignored the crack about her husband being ugly, “she should just take the money from him.”
Then they started talking about another couple, that was kissing deeply on the bench across from them. (“Sinful!” “Glad she’s not my daughter!”) No longer caring to hear the old ladies’ conversation, Cassie meandered over to where her parents were still fighting. They were hollering so loud that it hurt her ears. Annoyed and upset, she tugged on her father’s pant leg. They both instantly clammed up when they saw her. Her mother looked like she had been caught with hand in the cookie jar. She had never intended to get into it in public, especially with her daughter around, but Draco just made her so mad.
Cassie narrowed her eyes. “No fighting!” she pouted cutely.
Feeling incredibly guilty, neither parent had any response to her proclamation. Pleased that they were finally quiet, Cassie grinned. “Daddy, those ladies over there think you’re handsome.” she said, twisting back and forth mischievously.
Draco was used to such attention he merely smiled. Ginny snorted with laughter. She could barely stand she was shaking so hard. He glared at her. Didn’t she think he was handsome? “What?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” she said through giggles.
“And they said you should take the money from the nice man, Mummy,” Cassie smiled impishly.
This only made Ginny laugh harder. “I don’t see any “nice man”,” she teased devilishly, “Only Draco.”
He frowned. It was actually true, he wasn’t a very nice man, he just didn’t like to be mocked. He was far better at mocking others than being mocked by them. On the bright side, at least she wasn’t taking his head off anymore. He’d never offer her money again if that was the way she was going to treat him afterward.
Cassie didn’t think it was funny either. “Mummy!” she gasped, her mouth wide open.
Ginny stopped laughing abruptly. It was something about the way her daughter was looking at her that made her like she was the kid and Cassie was the adult that was scolding her. She shifted awkwardly in her place. Draco smirked at her discomfort. It was wrong of her to make fun of Draco in front of Cassie. He was her father and whatever problems Ginny and he had shouldn’t be aired in front of her. “Sorry, Cass,” Ginny apologized much like she would to her own mother.
“Apologize to Daddy,” the girl instructed. Then she beamed as an idea struck her. “You should kiss and make up.” She started to bounce hopefully.
Draco raised an eyebrow expectantly. He quite enjoyed tormenting her like this.
Ginny shrugged, trying to look as if it weren’t killing her to say, “Sorry, Draco.” She sounded rather like she’d rather chew glass than say it again.
“Already forgotten.” Draco waved a hand in the air, assuming an air of forgiveness. He might as well pretend to be the bigger person, as he had gotten his satisfaction watching Ginny squirm. She glared at him, making in clear she saw through his act. He smirked.
At least they understood each other.
Cassie’s face fell. “But you didn’t kiss,” she whined.
Pretending not to hear what Cassie had said, Ginny picked up her things again. “Come on, Cass, we’re going home,” she said. She gave Draco a warning look as she passed him. In return, he smiled sardonically.
Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder. She strode through the marketplace with brisk steps and her head held proudly in the air. She reminded Draco a bit of his mother. Narcissa had long strides. He often had trouble following after her as a boy. His legs had been just too short. For that same reason, and also because she was pouting, Cassie lagged behind.
Draco watched her carefully, not wanting her to get lost. She crossed her arms over her chest and moped for a bit. Then she got bored of that because no one was paying attention to her sulking. She seemed to want to stop and play in a bed of flowers but didn’t dare. She often looked up to check on her mother, who had slowed her pace somewhat. When she did, she waved at Draco.
He liked watching her. It gave him a strange sensation in his stomach. He often thought about her as a baby. He wished he hadn’t missed seeing her grow up. He still marveled at how big she had become. The previous years had been like his life was on hold. He hadn’t done anything of value. It was like he had slept through everything. Now, he was awake and couldn’t believe that life had gone on without him. He desperately wanted those five years back. There were too many moments, like this one, that he had missed.
Cassie bopped along to music in her head, occasionally, she’d spin around and dance a bit. Passersby gawked at her. She didn’t care. She didn’t exactly keep pace with them. They hurried past and rushed into stores; Cassie danced. Draco was walking at a snail’s pace to keep in time with her. Often, people got annoyed because she was in their way. They’d prod her onward or rush to get around her.
He saw a large boy, a little older than Cassie, advancing on her on the sidewalk. Draco could see what was going to happen before it did. He just couldn’t stop it. One minute, she was twirling merrily, the next, she was on the ground. Cassie and the boy’s shoulders collided; his weight advantage sent her sprawling to the cobbled stones. The boy brushed right by her as if a fly had buzzed around his ear. He didn’t look back.
Cassie didn’t react right away. She looked from the back of the retreating boy to her knee, which had taken the brunt of the fall. It wasn’t until a stream of bright, red blood appeared that all hell broke loose. Her lower lip began to quiver then she broke into full-fledged sobs. Her entire body shook under the force of them so that her breaths became choppy and shallow. Her wails seemed to carry forever. Draco couldn’t believe something so tiny could be so loud. People all the way down the street turned around to see what was making such a sound.
In an instant, Ginny was on top of her. She pulled her daughter into a warm, motherly embrace. “It’s ok, baby,” she soothed, “It’s ok. It’s just a scrape.” Still, Cassie wailed on.
Draco didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just stand there and watch her cry. It was too painful. But he knew he couldn’t be like Ginny. He couldn’t hug and kiss her so that everything would be all right. He wanted to, but it just wasn’t him. Besides, if Ginny couldn’t comfort her, what help would he be?
It wasn’t a sudden change. It occurred to him slowly, almost like he didn’t know what it was, as he watched Ginny’s attempts to console his bleeding child: he was angry. There were times in his life when he had been angry about everything: they weren’t serving food he liked for dinner, he wasn’t top in the class, that first year looked at him funny. But the last few years it seemed all his nerves had been deadened. It was almost nostalgic to feel anger again.
Without thinking about what he was doing, he wheeled around. The boy who had knocked Cassie over was still only a few yards away. An older woman, who Draco assumed was his mother, was with him now. She was tall and thin unlike her boy. She looked like she had too much cosmetic surgery, because her face was pulled back taunt. She was giving the boy, who reminded Draco of a young Goyle, some chocolate to eat.
“Excuse me,” he said in a tone that was anything but polite. It was clear he meant, ‘Excuse you.’
The woman looked up at him with a haughty expression. “What do you want?” she demanded, acting superior. She didn’t like being disturbed by strange men on the street.
“You son,” he glared at the boy, “knocked my daughter over.”
She peered over his shoulder. Cassie was still on the ground sobbing with Ginny. Nonplussed, she returned her attention back to Draco. “So?”
As soon as the word came out of her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. His whole face changed. It was like watching Jekyll turn into Hyde before your very eyes. This was not to say that Draco turned into a wild man. On the contrary, a composed coldness that had been buried deep under the surface emerged again. He glared at her and she trembled ever so slightly. Draco had the kind of glare that would allow him to win a staring contest with Medusa herself.
“She was in his way,” the woman argued, all the while trying to maintain her holier than thou attitude. It was hard when Draco was eyeing her like she was nothing but something gross on the bottom of his shoe so her voice wavered a tad.
“If your son didn’t take the area of a small planet then she wouldn’t have been.” He hissed the words in a deadly, threatening manner. Then, just to up the discomfort level, he took a step closer to her so that their noses were almost touching. “What do you fed him? Tubs of lard?”
“How dare you!” she shrieked shrilly. “Why I’ve never seen someone so rude...!”
“Guess you don’t own any mirrors,” he drawled as he cut her off. He was getting a rather perverse sense of pleasure at torturing this woman. Her son was hiding behind her legs, looking up at him fearfully.
Draco smirked. It was like riding a bike.
“If you don’t get away from me right this instant, I’ll sue! My husband is a very wealthy man...” she began, thinking this would scare him off.
Draco only surveyed her more closely. Her hair, her clothes, her son, they all screamed bourgeoisie. Again, he smirked. She really didn’t know what she was getting into. Being superior because he was better off than other people was his forte. “Lady,” he said patronizingly. “I’ve spent more money on shoes than you’ve ever seen in your lifetime,” he looked her up and down again, “and despite your weak attempts to cover it up, I’m guessing that it’s been a pretty long life.” She grabbed her heart, shocked and horrified. “You don’t want to get into this with me. All I wanted was for Tubby to apologize to my daughter, but now I realize that was a mistake. I don’t want him within a hundred meters of her.”
With that note, Draco turned on his heel and returned to his family. He had beaten her into the ground; she had been a weak opponent. There was no point in continuing the battle. The woman stared after him disbelievingly, her mouth hanging wide open. She was just too stunned to move. Then when it dawned on her that he hadn’t physically harmed her, she hustled her son away frantically before he could he could get the chance.
“Are you all right, Princess?” he gently asked Cassie as he kneeled down to her level. Her sobs were becoming few and far between and her knee wasn’t bleeding as much now. She nodded mutely through a loud sniffle. Touched, he pulled her into a tight hug. Cassie gladly hugged him back. She didn’t know the man who had just told off that woman, and Draco wasn’t about to introduce her. Her Daddy wasn’t mean. He wasn’t cuddly like her Mummy was, but he would never look down on her because she was poor. It was like Draco had morphed back into Jekyll the moment he had turned his attention back to Cassie while that other Draco returned to his hole and waited for the next time he was needed.
Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck. She cried softly with her face buried against his skin. Ginny was still stroking her back, even though she had handed Cassie over to Draco. “It’s ok,” they both said at once. They exchanged a knowing look. They sat on the ground, forcing all the people to walk around them, consoling their daughter. All that had happened just minutes before was forgotten. When Draco looked back on it, he realized that moment was the first time he had felt like the three of them were part of a family. Certainly not a perfectly functional family, but a family nonetheless.
Gradually, Cassie cries lessened. When she had stopped completely, but still looked down, Draco picked her up and balanced her on his hip. She slid around a bit, since he was not used to carrying children around. He had never even been carried like this. Eventually, he adjusted. “You ok?” he asked again.
“Mummy kissed it; made it better,” she explained vacantly, still frowning. Ginny kissed the top of her head, hoping that if she kissed her once it was better and if she kissed her twice it’d be fixed.
“I know,” declared Draco as an idea on how to cheer her up struck him. “How ‘bout I take you and Mummy out for ice cream.”
“Ooooh,” Ginny gushed, widening her eyes in an attempt to look excited. “We like ice cream, right Cass?”
Cassie twisted her face, the way she did when she was thinking. “Can we turn it upside down and make it look like a clown?” she asked.
Draco had to look to Ginny for the answer to this. He had no idea what she was talking about. Ice cream like a clown? Ginny grinned widely and nodded. “Of course. Who would eat ice cream if it didn’t look like a clown?” she teased, but Cassie didn’t catch it. The girl smiled weakly when her mother said this.
Still, Cassie was not back to her cheery, dancing self. This upset Draco, he wanted to keep her happy, so he looked for other ways to cheer her. It had to be something happy and playful that they could do together. There weren’t very many kid things that he knew how to do. He really hadn’t played childish games when he himself had been a child. The only game he had been allowed to play was Quidditch. Even then, he could only be Seeker because his father said the other positions were not dignified.
“I could teach you how to play Quidditch?” he said hopefully.
Cassie made a face. “Eww.” She looked like she were sucking on a lemon. “Boy sport.”
Again, he was confused so he turned to Ginny. It was a good thing she was with them, Draco thought, which lead to him wishing he didn’t need her to come along. Ginny just laughed. “Cassie is a girl and she cannot play boy games,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
In his arms, Cassie nodded fervently. He looked at the Ginny, startled. “What happened to that ‘Girl Power’ stuff you were spouting at Hogwarts. Weren’t you the one who lead the protests about the Slytherin team not having girls on it?”
Ginny made a face as if to say, ‘Do you really want to get into this?’ He had said some politically incorrect things those days. As captain of the Slytherin team, he had been right in the crossfire, not that it bothered him. He didn’t care what other people thought.
She cleared her throat. “Yes, well, it seems we were all misguided. Cassandra has set me straight. Girls should play with dolls and boys play Quidditch,” she said sarcastically. Ginny, of course, zealously disagreed with this statement but had learned that fighting with Cassie was like fighting with a brick wall. She would just wait until her daughter grew out of the girly-girl phase. This was lost on her daughter, who bobbed her head in agreement.
“It was nice of Cassie to set you right,” Draco winked at Ginny, who laughed a tiny bit.
“It’s a good thing she’s here,” she looked thoughtful. “What would life be like without her?”
“We wouldn’t go for ice cream as much, that’s for sure,” Draco shot back playfully.
Cassie looked from her Daddy to her Mummy and back again. They were smiling at each other and they weren’t yelling anymore. She smiled too. She liked it better when they were happy than when they were fighting. She wanted them to be a family. She saw visions of her Mummy’s family, she wanted them to be like that. Only, she didn’t know where she could get so many brothers. She’d have to ask her Daddy.
She closed her eyes and tried to picture them in her head. She liked her uncles, they were funny. Without warning, her mind clouded over rapidly until she couldn’t see what was in front of her anymore. It was only gray mist, and then images began take shape in the mist, like they were part of it and then got sharper and sharper until there was no more mist. There were lots of people and they were coming closer.
Draco and Ginny were still teasing each other when Cassie did something that stopped them in their tracks. She didn’t scream or cry, she just whispered one word with her eyes were glazed over because of the vision. The look on her face told Draco it was not a good vision.
“Mummy...” she breathed, her voice filled with fear. The sound had the effect of dropping an ice cube down Draco’s back. It made a pit in his stomach and the little hairs on his arms stand up.
Ginny’s eyes widened with fear. She said aloud what they all knew, “The Death Eaters are coming.”
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