Ginny Weasley was, to put it mildly, confused. As she slid a very tired hand across her forehead and glanced around her dorm, the light snores of her friends only added to the chaos in her mind. What on earth…? A folded piece of paper lay on her bedside table, shining ever so subtly so as to attract her attention. In a strange mixture of sighing and yawning, she grabbed the letter addressed to her.

Ms. Weasley,

I apologise in advance for the tardiness of these words, but time is of the essence. Could you, please, come meet me in Professor McGonagall's chambers as soon as you read this? Discretion is in order, as you might have already gathered.

Thank you.

Albus Dumbledore

Not unlike the zombies she had seen in one of Hermione's movies, as her sleepiness-induced laziness slowly turned into a more alert state, she grabbed her robe from the chair by her bed and got up from the bed as quietly as she could. None of her friends even stirred in her sleep, and it was with a slight frown of envy at their comfortable sighs that she soundlessly walked into the Common Room and past the (highly outraged at the lateness of her request) Fat Lady.

In mere seconds, she found herself at Professor McGonagall's door. Before knocking, though, she felt the need to breathe in and out a few times; the whole situation was a bit too weird for her liking. I mean, it was well past three a.m. and she had been summoned to what appeared to be a very late (and secret?) meeting with quite a scary professor. Praying that she had done nothing wrong, she knocked. First tentatively, and then a bit more confidently. Yeah, she was a Gryffindor, after all.

As she heard footsteps coming towards the door, she bit her lip and smothered her presumably all-over-the-place hair. Really, how had she not remembered to comb it before…? Oh, right. The urgency.

An unsurprisingly put together Minerva McGonagall opened the door swiftly. "Oh, do come in, ."

"Thank you, Professor."

The Professor's chambers were dark and shadowy save for one single frail-looking candle in the corner. Ginny ignored the shiver that assaulted her spine, and instead squinted her eyes in order to better make out the two figures near the candle.

"Is that…?" No, it couldn't be.

"Please, take a sit, ." Dumbledore's voice resonated from the farther end of the room, and his silhouette became increasingly more visible to Ginny's incredibly tired eyes.

Professor McGonagall conjured a chair and the redhead mouthed a still stunned thank you. "Hum… Professor, what…?" How could she even phrase something she absolutely didn't understand?

"First things first: thank you for attending this meeting. I understand it might seem… unconventional, at best." Dumbledore chuckled lightly, and Ginny could have sworn she heard her Head of House snort.

"Oh, that's perfectly fine, sir…"

"I am truly glad you think so, because by the end of our conversation, you might not feel the same way. Contrary to what Minerva here thinks, I do know I will be asking a lot of you." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled playfully in Professor McGonagall's direction.

The Professor merely huffed. "Nonsense, Albus. I trust your judgement."

"You are too kind, my dear friend." He smiled. "But I do know you have some… reservations."

"Well, then, we should…" McGonagall simply avoided his intense stare. "I mean, the girl has classes tomorrow."

"Of course, of course. I shall speed this along. Draco, show yourself, please."

Ginny sucked in a breath as she saw Draco Malfoy's slim figure straightening itself from behind the table. He appeared to have been sitting on the floor (why on earth…?), covered by the shadows. Ginny felt McGonagall stiffen, and she would have laughed at her badly disguised discomfort had she herself not been feeling the exact same way.

The redhead had never really realized how tall Malfoy was. Indeed, as he stepped away from the shadows and into the light, she felt suddenly intimidated by his big figure. The candle managed to light his face in all the wrong places, making his face appear to be more angular than it really was. Contrary to what Ginny might have thought, though, the mere sight of him wasn't terrifying – or, at least, her instincts to draw her wand didn't kick in.

He looked almost… sad?

"Weasley." With a curt nod, he sat on a chair in front of her.

"M-Malfoy." She stuttered, glancing back and forth from Dumbledore to McGonagall.

"Now that we've put the pleasantries out of the way, I do believe we should go on to more pressing matters. Draco, would you like to do the honours, or should I?"

The blond merely shrugged, his eyes never leaving Ginny's, his forehead wrinkled and his lips thin and untrusting.

"Well, I shall start, then." Dumbedore smiled pleasantly, no doubt actively ignoring the tense atmosphere. "You see, Miss Weasley… may I call you Ginny, my dear?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Lovely girl." He acquiesced kindly. "Ginny, we need your help. And by we, I mean the Order. However, before I can begin filling you in on the details, I must go through what I believe to be a mere formality and inform you that what will be discussed here cannot ever leave this room."

Ginny could only nod at his grave tone. "You have my word."

"Very good." He signalled Professor McGonagall, who took a sit near where the Slytherin had previously been. "Draco here is in a bit of a predicament. You see, he, unbeknownst to the majority of the Order, and the entirety of his fellow Hogwarts' colleagues and family at home, has been working as a spy for our side. His reasons are for him to disclose, should he ever feel inclined to, and that is not what I called you here to discuss. We need you to do some undercover work."

"Undercover, sir?" She noticed Malfoy's increasing restlessness and fidgeting, his eyes always fleeing towards McGonagall.

"Yes, Ginny. Hum… Minerva, could you…?"

"No." Malfoy's voice echoed through the room. "I'll do it."

"Of course." Dumbledore nodded.

Malfoy stood up from his chair, rather clumsily for what Ginny was expecting, and knelt down beside McGonagall, who merely looked apprehensively at him. A soft sound was then heard coming from Malfoy's arms, and Ginny gasped as her now fully awake eyes fell upon a tiny, tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket.

"A baby…?"

Both Professors' gazes softened at the sight, but the Slytherin did not seem to notice, for he continued to walk towards his chair and proceeded to sit down. Ginny felt a whirlwind of emotions rush through her very confused mind, and she resisted the urge to stand up and go see the baby boy for herself. Instead, her gaze rested on Malfoy, who was looking nowhere but into the carefully wrapped blanket with a hard frown.

"Draco here has found himself guardian of this baby, and we need your help protecting him."

"My help? But, Professor, how can I possibly help? I have no experience whatsoever with babies, I'm afraid." She countered softly, still watching the blond from the corner of her eye.

"Although I cannot yet tell you the specifics – in part because I do not know them myself - , this child is in great danger, as his whereabouts are currently being sought after by Voldemort himself."

Draco flinched at the word and grunted into the darkness.

"Already? But sir, he's just a baby…"

"Indeed he is. As you know, however, that never seemed to stop Voldemort before."

Ginny sighed in agreement. "It would be an honour to help, but quite frankly I'm not seeing how."

"That's the beauty of our soon-to-be- arrangement. Professor McGonagall and I have been discussing this with Draco for two weeks now, and we've come to the conclusion that you are the best person to act as his guardian as of now."

At that, Ginny was stunned. Looking straight into Malfoy's eyes, who had finally decided to grace them with more than his mute presence, she found she could not really put her racing thoughts into words.

"M- Me…?"

"You." Malfoy simply stated.

"Oh my… But Professors… Malfoy, I really don't think I'm the most qualified-"

"You are, Weasley." He replied sharply. "Believe me when I tell you I would rather not place this responsibility on you, but pushing my personal feelings aside, and as cordially as I can muster, I must ask you to accept this task."

"Ms. Weasley, I'm sure your head is filled with questions – and quite valid ones at that - , but since we will most likely not be able to answer them anyway for right now, I must request that you embrace the courage I know lies in you very Gryffindor heart and embark in this journey as blindly as the rest of us." McGonagall smiled fondly, and, Ginny could almost swear, a little protectively. "Should you agree to help us, Mr. Malfoy will explain all the details at a more convenient time. Like tomorrow, after classes." She looked pointedly a Dumbledore, who merely chuckled apologetically.

"You know it was necessary to make this as secret a meeting as we possibly could, Minerva." Dumbledore said, sternly, to which the Professor solely replied with a disapproving nod.

Ginny's head was spinning with all the information. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think something like this would ever happen. But she did always say she wanted a more active part in fighting this war alongside her friends and family…

"Please."

Malfoy's pleading tone was what probably did it. She was sure she must have imagined it – attributing it to the exhaustion that was slowly catching up to her - , but it almost seemed as if Draco Malfoy was desperate. There was no evil glint in his eyes, no smirk framing his lips, no insults forming at the beginning of each sentence. Only the furrowed brows, the wrinkled forehead, and the hard frown heavy on his eyes reminded her of the stuck-up Slytherin prat that the all knew and loved – not.

"Okay. Okay."

"We cannot thank you enough, Ginny." Dumbledore smiled, sincerely. "Meet Professor McGonagall after classes, tomorrow, and she will inform you of the more practical aspects of this arrangement. In the meantime…"

Ginny saw Dumbledore glance sideways at Malfoy, who nodded, absentmindedly, and stood up. "Thank you, Weasley." He said, politely, and walked over to what the redhead now recognized as a cot. "Bye, you." She heard him whisper.

The next thing she heard was the door closing behind him.

Bloody hell… what in Merlin's name is going on?

A/N: So, what did you guys think? What with it being the first chapter and all, I beg that you be all but too rash with me… It was an introductory chapter, and it will (hopefully) get better as the story progresses.

Please, leave a review, with either a suggestion, criticism (constructive! Please!) or an answer to my question, if you want:

What should I name the baby?

Thank you so much for reading. Kisses**