Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. Let's just get that failure of mine out of the way, okay? I am not J.K. Rowling nor will I ever be. My life sucks, yes I know.

Now, how 'bout this, a new story! Pretty awesome stuff! It's based post Hogwarts, in case you didn't know, and that's about all I'm going to tell you! You'll just have to read on and find out.

For those of you who didn't know, I'm the author of Set in Stone and Thin Lines. They are both Draco/Ginny stories too and Set in Stone is complete. Thin Lines, much like this, Is still in active progress and I just now posted chapter twenty. If you enjoy this chapter, then you should go check those two out!

Without further ado…

Chapter 1

Draco POV

Rudolphus Lestrange was my target and finding my lunatic uncle was not going to be an easy job, if not an impossible one. Becoming an Auror was a difficult task especially with my not so decent background but in a way, that's what made me a good Auror. I knew how dark wizards thought as I'd been one of them and I'd grown up around them. That's why I was given the task of tracking down the last, major Death Eater left, Rudolphus.

I'd searched every major lead I'd been given and each one had failed. The best information we had to go off of was a letter sent to Harry Potter about a month ago threatening his life. I'd recognized the handwriting as that of my uncle and asked to be put on the case. But that lead seemed to have run cold. I'd just finished taking to my last major lead and was disappointed with the results.

Walking to the side door of the small building in the not so busy part of downtown London that the muggles unsuspectingly shared with wizards and witches, I was beginning to question my sanity on asking for the case. Having only been in the department for three years, I was far from a senior Auror, though higher up than anyone my age other than Harry Potter. But, he was good at his job, I'd admit, and deserved the rank he got. But if I hadn't asked for it, I wondered if they'd have not put me on the case. Some part of me guessed they would have anyway.

I let out a sigh as I opened the door, seeing the rain pouring down, but stepped out into it anyway. I'd gone out the side door into the alleyway so I could apparate without being seen by passing muggles but before I had a chance to do just that, I heard something that stopped me in my tracks, crying. Now, growing up the way I did, I'd heard many people cry, usually at the wand of a very angry wizard or two, but this kind of crying was different. No, this was a woman crying but not out of pain. I stood still to see if I had been noticed through the pouring rain.

The sobbing merely continued and my curiosity got the better of me. I couldn't see three feet in front of me through the pouring, freezing rain, and I wondered what anyone would be doing out here. Silently, using the stealth I'd learned long ago, I moved closer towards the edge of the alleyway, keeping my presents unknown. Finally I could see, at least a little clearer, a woman curled against the wall of the building I'd just walked from, crying as if her heart and been ripped out.

I thought to leave then, but something kept me rooted to the spot. The hair was familiar, bright red, though darkened from the rain soaking it, and even the sound of her sobbing sounded familiar, though I'd only heard it once before. Ginny Weasley was sitting in the pouring rain with no jacket or cloak to speak of, crying her eyes out.

Ginny POV

Earlier that day…

Watching my friend drop the last ingredient into the small cauldron, I stood back and took a deep breath. "Okay, Ginny, that's all but it has to simmer for five minutes before it's ready for use," Hermione said from beside me as she stirred the potion once more before stepping back from the kitchen counter.

"It's going to be the longest five minutes of my life," I muttered more to myself that to my friend as I slid down into one of the chairs at the table nearby. I put my face in my hands and closed my eyes, trying not to think about anything after the next five minutes. Try as I might though, the thoughts still crept up. "What am I going to do, Mione?" I asked in a terrified whisper. "What if-" but she cut me off.

"No what ifs okay?" she said firmly. "It does no good to fret when we don't even know anything yet. All of this could just be caused by stress, you know."

"I surly hope so," I murmured with a sigh. If stress was the true culprit, I knew for sure I had plenty of it. It had been just two years since I left Hogwarts, three years since the war had finally come to an end, and it was only just recently my life seemed to be really picking up. It had been hard in the months following the war, what with the death of so many friends. It was hard to handle, the loss, but I did handle it; I had no choice.

I'd gone back to school and finished out my seventh year without the ease at which I'd had the years before. I'd never really found school difficult, no subject except potions at least, but it was a difficult year for another reason. Though the castle had been repaired and the place scrubbed top to bottom, not a trace of evidence there'd ever been a war on the grounds left, the memory of that night still hung in the air.

Walking onto the grounds, I could point out spots I'd found my friends lying dead as clearly as if I'd just found their bodies. There were halls in the castle I avoided at all costs, not wanting painful memories brought up. And everywhere I looked, people were missing. My best friend since first year, Colin Creevey, had no longer been by my side. The days seemed too quite without Lavender's constant chatter. Everywhere I looked there had been loss.

But June came and went and I was finally able to leave the painful memories to rest as I walked from Hogwarts for the last time. Never again would I have to see the places where my friends died; never again would I eat in the same hall I'd wept over their bodies in. Though part of me was sad to say goodbye to the place that had been like home to me for seven years, I had been able to smile when I boarded the train home, though the tears accompanied it. I had last whispered goodbye to Colin and the rest of my friends who had not made it, leaving the one place attached to them behind me.

But as I settled back into life at the Burrow, I had started to think of my future. After the war had ended, Harry had come back to me. Now that being with him wouldn't put my life in danger, he didn't feel guilty about holding me, kissing me, being with me. I smiled more often and began to train, with Harry by my side as much as possible, for tryouts for the Holyhead Harpies team next season.

While Harry was busy a lot of times too, as he was working towards his future as an Auror, like I was, we still always made time for each other. Sometimes it would be going out to the field behind the Burrow and practicing Quidditch together, or going for a run to keep in shape, or just sitting down for a quick lunch, but we always managed to find time.

And for a while, I was happy as could be. My life was good, I had a wonderful boyfriend, great friends, and the pain of lost loved ones was, if not going away, becoming much easier to bear. After a year of living at the Burrow, I tried out for the Holyhead Harpies and was elated to find out I had made the cut and would become, as soon as I was trained up to their standards, one of the main chasers. With that and the fact I had a good sized paycheck coming in, I decided to move out of the Burrow.

Now, I didn't want to live alone but I'd known that Mum and Dad would have killed me, and him, if I'd suggested moving in with Harry at Grimmauld Place. So instead I asked Luna Lovegood, who I'd grown very close to ever since our fourth year when Harry had started up the DA. She was just as delighted as I was to have her own place and was making enough money with her job in the Magical Creatures Department at the Ministry to contribute to the rent.

We'd found a nice little flat in a part of London that was inhabited by not only muggles, but magical folk alike. It was nice balance and just a little ways from our flat, once you got past the blocks of housing and into the more commercial part of the area, there were several shops that muggles couldn't see designed especial for witches and wizards, much like places in Hogsmeade. Fred and George were even talking about putting up a branch of the joke shop up there, if they could convince Lee Jordan to run it as Ron was already running the in Hogsmeade. With or without the shop though, it was a wonderful place to live and Luna and I both loved it there.

But soon the joys of being on our own wore off and in set reality. We had bills to pay, things to do, and jobs to go to. I'll admit, my job was fun but it was also time consuming. And with the first match of the season coming up really soon the captain, Gwenog Jones, was putting a ton of pressures on us to be perfect. She reminded me, in a way, of how Oliver Wood used to obsess about the team back at Hogwarts except she had a higher goal, the Quidditch World Cup, that she dreamed of reaching and winning.

But could it be the stress from practices that caused me to miss my period two months in a row? Sure, I chalked it up to that the first month, but two? Could it be nerves about the upcoming match, my first professional game that everyone would be using to judge my potential, that was causing me to be sick these past few weeks? Possible but, then again, other things weren't adding up.

"It's ready," Hermione stated softly, pulling me from my thoughts and directing my attention towards the cauldron of potion she'd agreed to brew for me. I could have made it myself but I was never too good a potions and the better quality potion, the more accurate the results. The way Hermione made it, down to the last minute detail, it would be as accurate as it was going to get.

I sighed and closed my eyes for another moment. "I can't do it," I finally whispered after a few minutes of sitting in science, too scared to move.

"Do you want me to?" she asked, just as quietly.

I shook my head and let out a sigh. Finally, I stood from my seat and walked over to the counter, pulling out a few strands of hair as I went. "I might as well get it over with," I said more to myself that to her. My hand froze above the still, pure white liquid for a fraction of a second before I dropped the three strands of red hair in, holding my breath as they sank into the cauldron.

There was no denying it as I watched the white potion turn instantly a vivid, bright purple. Thought after thought ran through my mind as I stared down at the colorful potion. The one that kept coming back was the fact my parents were going to kill me. If the liquid had stayed white when I'd dropped a piece of my hair in there, I'd have been fine. But no, it had to turn purple. Yes, Mum and Dad were going to kill me. I was pregnant.

I hardly heard Hermione gasp behind me as the reality of it started to sink in. I was pregnant. There was a tiny life forming inside of me at this very moment. My hand slid down to my midsection and I couldn't help the small smile that spread across my face. A small baby was growing and developing right under my hand, just out of reach. I was pregnant.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked from behind me, a soft hand touching my shoulder.

"I will be," I said, my voice thick with the tears I hadn't realized had started to fall. "I will be."

"Do you want me to stay, or leave you to think?" she asked, always the considerate one. "Do you want me to wait here until Luna gets off work?"

I shook my head and turned around, giving my friend a tearful smile. "You don't have to stay. I'll be okay, really I will. It's just a shock, you know? But at the same time, it's a relief that I finally know what's going on with my body. I kind of expected it really, what with all the symptoms. You can't grow up in a home with a woman with seven kids and not know the signs of pregnancy. The tricky part will be telling people."

I frowned and began to think of how I should tell Harry he was going to be a father, or more difficult yet, tell my parents their only daughter had gotten pregnant out of wed-lock. "Dad is going to kill Harry," I said matter-of-factly, letting out a sigh. "Mum's going to murder me." I shook my head. "I just hope Harry take's it well."

"I'm sure he will," assured Hermione, filling a vial with the purple potion and getting rid of the rest. She handed me the bottle and smiled. "He's a good man. He'll do the right thing."

I laughed suddenly. "Maybe this will finally prompt him into proposing to me. I have a feeling he's been trying to for some time now, and that he just can't get the words out. Several times this past week he's stared to say something, only to stop before he gets the first word out," I told her, a smile on my face. And suddenly the future didn't seem so scary after all. I'd tell Harry, we'd get engaged, tell Mum and Dad, get married, and start our family.

"And it will be about time," she agreed with a laugh of her own. "You would have thought when Ron proposed to me, he'd have gotten the hint to finally ask for your hand." She shook her head and glanced down at the small ring Ron had gotten her just a few months earlier, a smile on her face. It had taken him much longer to propose to her than he'd wanted; he'd been saving up for the ring though. He didn't want to ask without something to give her.

Thinking of the ring soon to be on my finger, I started formulating a plan. "I have a lot to do before Harry comes over for lunch today," I told Hermione as I started to clean up the kitchen, putting the vile carefully down on the kitchen table, the first evidence of the life growing inside of me. It had only been nine o'clock in the morning when I called Hermione over to help me with the potion. It was about ten now and I had much to do before noon.

Hermione smiled at me and rolled her eyes. "You two have fun, okay," she said, heading towards the fireplace. "I'll see you later and you can tell me how it goes. I'm assuming telling Ron is a no for now?"

I paused in my hurried cleaning, looking back towards my friend. "Thanks for your help and yes, of course don't tell Ron. He'd have a cow. I want to tell Harry before Ron gets to him and kills him. Dating me was one thing, and even kissing he could tolerate, but I have a feeling he won't take lightly to knowing Harry got me pregnant," I said with a giggle.

"Okay, I'll let you two let him know when you're ready then," she promised before grabbing a handful of floo powder. "See you later." She gave me one last smile before tossing in the powder and heading home.

Turning back to the task at hand, I already had a plan formulating in my mind. I'd cook him a special lunch. I was hoping he'd get it without me telling him once I served up baby peas, baby carrots, baby corn and baby back ribs. But, if that didn't work, then I'd put the potion vile on the table while he wasn't looking. I could already see it in my head. He'd ask me what it was and I'd tell him positive proof he'd be a father in just a handful of months.

I set to work at once, going through my pantry to see if I had everything I'd need. When I had a list made of what was missing, I nearly ran down to the local grocery store, a smile on my face the entire way. Within half an hour I had lunch cooking. After charming the spoons to stir what needed stirred, I hurried to change into something nice instead of my usual jeans and t-shirt.

Time flew by and before I knew it the familiar knock sounded on my front door. I glanced at the oven to see how much longer the ribs needed to cook until they'd be done before rushing to the door. "Hey, Harry," I said excitedly, hugging him tightly the moment I opened the door.

He laughed and looked down at me, surprised at my sudden perkiness. Last he'd known I'd been worrying over the upcoming match. "Hey, Gin," he said, kissing me quickly before walking in and taking his cloak off. It was late October and starting to get really chilly, even in the middle of the day. I shut the door quickly behind him to stop the cold draft coming in. "How's your day been?"

"Eventful," I said, the smile on face impossibly huge. I was in such a good mood at the moment I didn't think anyone could change that.

"Really?" he asked, walking with me towards the kitchen where he smelled the food cooking. "Why has it been eventful?"

"Oh, I just had Hermione over this morning and she taught me how to brew a potion," I said, walking over to the oven to check on the ribs, seeing they were done, and pulling them out. "Lunch is almost ready but the ribs still have to cool though," I told him as I took the corn, peas, and carrots off the stove and put them into serving bowls to set out on the table, leaving them next to the hot ribs to stay warm though.

"Ribs?" he questioned with a small smile.

"Yeah, I felt in the mood to make baby back ribs," I told him, giggling as I poured us each a glass of pumpkin juice. Setting his in front of him, I joined him at the table. "I hope you don't mind."

"I've never minded you're cooking," he said with a shake of his head, taking a small sip from his glass. We sat in comfortable science for a moment after that, each lost in our own thoughts. "There's been something I've been trying to get out for the past week," he said suddenly, looking down at his hands on the hard wooden surface of the table.

I smiled widely at his words, knowing what that meant. He was finally going to say what he'd been unable to for what felt like ever. He was going to ask me to marry him. And that was without even knowing I was pregnant. That just made it even more meaningful. I nodded towards him to get him to say the words he was having a hard time forming.

"I'm leaving," he said abruptly, his wide eyes finding mine, worry in his face.

For a moment I almost answered yes, so sure of the words he was going to say, that it took a second to process what he was really saying. "You're what?" I asked, my voice very small as the two little words he'd uttered sunk in. Oh, I really should have told him about the baby the moment he walked in the door.

"I'm leaving, going to America," he said, his eyes beseeching me, apologizing without words for the pain he knew he was causing. Little did he know the pain was multiplied by two? He was leaving not only me, but our unborn child.

"Why?" I asked, tears forming in my eyes, though I tried to keep them from falling. "Why are you leaving me?"

"It's for your own good," he said quickly, trying to reach across the small table and take my hand in his.

I pulled away abruptly. "My own good?" I questioned, disbelief seeping through the pain. "How is you're leaving me for my own good?"

"Look, I know I've not told you anything about this, but there's been some problems arising, dangers," he tried to explain, pulling his hand back to himself, looking slightly hurt at my rejection of his comfort. "You know as well as I do that not all the Death Eaters were rounded up or killed after the war ended. Many went into hiding. About a month ago, I got a letter, a death threat to me and those I loved, from one of them trying to regain power in secret. It's not so secret anymore, but none of the Aurors in the department can find him. They've even put the best they have out there. So long as they're after me, you're in danger by just being with me."

"You did this during the war too," I reminded him tearfully. "You broke up with me for my safety but I kept fighting, helping in the war any way I could. Didn't I prove three years ago that I could handle my own? I was sixteen and taking on Death Eaters."

"I know, Gin, but I'm just trying to keep you safe," he said softly, a sad but resolved look in his eyes. "This just proves that you'll never be safe with me. I can't do that to you. I want you to be able to live a happy, worry free life. And by going to America, the Death Eater will know I'm not associating with anyone around here anymore and you'll all be safe. I've already put my resignation in this morning; I left not for lunch but for good this afternoon. Besides, in America I'm not nearly as well known and I'll have a good chance to find a place where they'll not be able to find me. I'll be able to walk down the street and nobody will know me, nobody will stare. I've never had that, not since I found out I was a wizard so many years ago. It'll be a new start."

I just stared at him, unable to believe my ears. Eventually, I pushed my chair back from the table and stood up, suddenly my resolution very firm. If he wanted a new start, a new life without me, then I wasn't going to keep him here by telling him I was pregnant, forcing him into something he didn't want because I knew he'd feel obliged to stay. What good would a marriage be if he didn't truly love me, no matter how much I loved him? At least now I'd have my baby, and that would be good enough for me.

"Ginny?" he asked softly, standing too.

"Just go," I said, my voice stronger than I thought I'd be able to manage, pointing towards the front door.

"Ginny, listen, I'm sorry. I'm just-" he started to say, but I cut him off.

"Just go!" I nearly yelled, the tears starting to pour down my face as the sobs I'd been holding in finally over took me. "You want to leave, then go."

He moved to pull me into his arms but I jerked away, nearly scrambling across the small kitchen in my haste. He understood then how bad he hurt me but even he knew it might not be too late to save this. With the right words, I knew I'd melt into his embrace and never want to leave. A very large part of me wished to hear him say something, anything, to take back what he'd just done. But instead he closed his eyes and looked down, looking sorry but saying nothing. Finally he turned walked out the door. A whispered goodbye was the last thing I heard before the door shut and Harry Potter walked out of my life.

The pain was unbearable, worse than when he'd broken up with me just a few years before. But this time there didn't seem to be any way of saving the relationship. He didn't seem to be planning to come back. A new start, he'd said. "Well, it'll be a new start for me too," I sobbed, forcing myself to stand up from where I'd sunk to the floor. "I'll be the best mother I can to you," I cried to my unborn baby, my hand going to rest on my abdomen again.

But the pain was still too hard. I needed to get away, clear my mind and forget about everything. So I did the one thing that always seemed to calm my nerves: run. I quickly changed into sweats and a t-shirt, not caring anymore how I looked. After putting my shoes on, sobbing all the while, I ran to the front door and down the steps, not caring to take a jacket. I couldn't feel the cold, I was too numb with pain.

I ran and I ran, my body used to the workout. But the tears never stopped and the pain didn't go away. Maybe if I hadn't had the messed up levels of hormones running through me from the pregnancy I would have been able to stop crying and clam down, but as it was all I could think about was how I was going to have to raise this child by myself and how it would never have a daddy because its daddy didn't want it. And that made me cry all the harder.

I didn't notice when the light rain started to fall and it was only after a particularly large drop hit my face that I stopped running, a stich in my side coming with every breath and tears mixing in with the rain on my face. But by now I was lost, having never run that far before. I couldn't apparate in my state of distress, that could harm me and the baby. And there seemed to be nobody around.

"I'm sorry," I cried softly to the child in my womb, having known about it for all of a few hours and having already failed it. "I'm sorry." Crying harder than ever, the tears not so much for my broken heart as for my scary future as the life inside of me, I side down against the wall on the side of a building in a nearby alleyway, pulling my knees to my chest and crying into them.

Draco POV

I stood there for a moment longer, unsure what to do about the girlfriend of the man I worked with crying in the cold rain. When I finally came to the conclusion she wasn't making any move to get up and seek shelter from the rain, I realized I had to do something. She'd catch her death in this kind of weather, as unprotected as she was. Even I, fully clothed and in warm clothes, was already soaked through from just a few minutes in this rain, and I was already freezing. I wondered how long she'd been sitting there.

I walked closer, stooping down in front of the small redhead. "Ginny?" I said, just loud enough for her to hear me over the rain. She slowly lifted her head and stared at me with a blank stare, her sobs never ceasing as she shook with them and the cold. "Come on," I said softly, pulling her up. But she sagged against me, not seeming to be able or willing to stand on her own.

Instead I lifted her into my arms, cradling her shaking form against my chest. "It'll all be alright," I told her quietly, holding her close and trying to comfort her, though I didn't know why. Not knowing where she lived, I turned on the spot and apparated back to Malfoy Manor, the brokenhearted woman in my arms.

Well, how's that for a first chapter? Tell me what you think of it! I won't keep writing it if nobody likes it. So, review and let me know what you think! If you leave lots of reviews, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow! I have it up and ready to go! Seriously guys, I don't just want your feedback, I need it!

Sorry if I seem kind of scrambled and rambling, I'm running on very little sleep and wanted to get this up before bed. Leave me reviews to wake up to and make my day! I'll be all smiles to tomorrow if you do!

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