A/N: Canon up until the final battle for the most part, except Draco stays at Hogwarts during the Horcrux hunt. Anything you recognize does not belong to me. All mistakes are mine.

February, 2001

"No Draco, that's insane!"

"Please. I'm running out of options."

"This is not an option."

"I don't have time to find another one!" he snaps, and she stares at him silently. She hasn't seen him since his trial, almost two years ago now, and the time is visible on his features. His eyes sit deeper than she remembers, the brows above them creased with lines of worry. He is pale, even in the moonlight, his matte hair falling in his eyes in a distracting way he never would have allowed before.

"Ginny please… I… I can't lose her. Not again. Not like 'Peia," Draco clutches the toddler closer to his chest, his face twisting in pain at the mention of 'Peia and Ginny knows she would do anything to help him. Even something this insane.

"Explain it to me again," she finally says, sighing as she sits on the lumpy couch in her small living room. Draco's eyes grow big in surprise, and she realizes he never expected her to agree. This is truly his last-ditch effort to save his daughter and Ginny doesn't fault him for a moment.

"Pansy… Pansy burned her hand." He fumbles with the blankets for a moment, pulling the tiny hand of the sleeping toddler out. It is bandaged heavily, a finger twitching slightly beneath the gauze. Ginny jumps to get the burn paste from her medicine cabinet, biting her tongue before she could wake the toddler by cursing Pansy Parkinson to seven hells. Probably both toddlers. She stops in her tracks, burn paste in hand.

"And you think I'm going to let you take my daughter to that insane woman?"

Draco sucks his teeth, she notes, satisfied for a brief moment.

"It was a test. Carina Failed it. Even worse," he nods to the burn paste that she still clutches, "the burn paste doesn't help the wound. So it's just going to get worse."

"A test? What kind of insane test is burning a child?" This time, her voice rises and the little girl in Draco's arms stirs. He shifts and hushes her, kissing her forehead softly and Ginny has to look away from the pair.

"Have you ever seen a pure-blood with a newborn? Better yet, heard of a pure-blood witch's pregnancy?"

Come to think of it, no she never had seen or heard of either of those things. In fact, she remembers her shock from earlier - when Draco showed up on her doorstep with his daughter begging for Ginny to help him - very clearly. Before tonight, she had no idea that the blond and Parkinson had a child. Which was odd really, considering the Daily Prophet was having a field day with everything the Malfoys did these days. Just last week, she had read about the stylish charcoal robe Draco had worn to a lunch meeting with a mysterious new business partner in great detail. How he had a toddler whom she had never heard of seemed strange indeed. Ginny shook her head no, put the burn paste on the coffee table, and took a step closer to Draco and the child.

"When I was a baby, I floated a dish a house elf dropped to the table. It was instinctual magic, and I was then introduced as the Malfoy heir to the rest of society. Elves are trained to do things like that sometimes. They'll drop dishes that clatter loudly, make puddles so the kid falls over, float a toy just out of reach… The first couple times, the child will cry or throw a fit, but they eventually catch on and perform magic to get the outcome they want."

Draco paused with a sigh and tucked the dark locks behind the little girl's ears. Ginny glanced down at the child, noticing the pointed nose of Draco Malfoy on her heart shaped face immediately. She was undeniably a Malfoy, so much like …

"Carina grabbed hot coal out of the fireplace last week, so she knew it would burn. She barely just started using her hand again, since the burn paste didn't work on that either, and Pansy… she bound her hand and floated some embers straight out of the fireplace." His shoulders tensed, the vein in his neck bulging out slightly. Ginny nodded, pretending to understand, just so he wouldn't have to keep telling the terrible story of Pansy's cruelty.

"She didn't do any magic. Just cried."

"She's a squib," she whispered. "You're afraid."

"Of course I'm afraid! Ginny please, I know it's crazy. But this is my last chance before my daughter gets seriously hurt or…"

"Give her to me."

His head snaps up, eyes rounding, and he stretches his shaking hands with the toddler towards the redhead. Ginny takes her, tucking her arm under her bottom and making sure the blanket is still tucked around her.

"Elara Ivelle," she whispers her own daughters name to this child, Draco and Pansy's child, like a mantra, over and over. The blond looks away from them, his eyes shutting tightly.

"Come on," Ginny finally says, and heads towards the nursery.

"I don't have a real plan here Ginny. I just figure, they're young enough, and with Potter's and Pansy's colorings, maybe we can just get away with…" he trails off as soon as the baby in the crib comes into view. She's sleeping soundly, chest rising and falling, a fist squeezed tightly around a blanket. Her tiny nose is pointed, and the moonlight shining through the window highlights her white blonde hair.

"Wha… What?" He stammers out and Ginny sighs.

"You're going to have to charm her hair color at least."

AN: This is something I have been thinking about on and off for quite some time now. This has always been the first scene, and it is the middle of our story. There are two timelines, one starting during the Trio's 7th year and ending right here, the other starting right here and continuing on. Each chapter will be one or the other, alternating. I hope it doesn't get too confusing, I've never written anything this time-jumpy before, but I think it is the best way to tell this story.

I am breaking my own rule slightly, because I am still working on the last two chapters of this piece. (I prefer to upload complete works to avoid leaving you guys hanging) However, I would love some feedback on this before it is finished, so please feel free to leave me your comments/suggestions! :)