Author's Note: Hello everyone! Before getting into the content of the newest chapter, I just wanted to take the time to thank each and every one you, my faithful readers and reviewers, and apologize for (once again) taking so long to get this chapter up. In this chapter we will finally have some resolution to the big 'Harry' problem (Sorry for the bad pun, I had to!). I hope you all enjoy it and please remember to review!
Finally peeling her curious eyes away from her daughter's terrified face and trying to ease the dramatic situation that's literally just appeared at her front door, Mrs. Weasley steps out of the Burrow's kitchen doorway and walks over to Draco, whose hands are still clutching the collar of Harry's shirt fiercely. "You're at my house now, Draco Malfoy," Mrs. Weasley says sternly with a hand on her hip. "Let Harry go."
Draco obeys immediately as a caught-with-his-hand-in-the-cookie-jar look spreads across his face. Glad to be free from Draco's death-grip, Harry shrugs his shoulders and straightens his shirt, all while still casting murderous glances at Draco.
"Now," Mrs. Weasley continues, her curly red hair waving threateningly in the cold breeze, "I want someone to explain to me exactly what's going on here and why the two of you decided to bring this fight to my doorstep."
"You've all been lying to me, that's what's going on!" Harry snaps. "Jayde was pregnant with Malfoy's child! They have a son! And not one of you saw fit to tell me!"
"First of all, Harry James Potter," Mrs. Weasley interrupts firmly, "I won't be called a liar in my own home."
Seeming embarrassed, Harry's face flushes and he looks down at the ground in shame before muttering a quick and bitter, "I'm sorry."
Ignoring this, Mrs. Weasley continues. "Secondly," she says, "that wasn't our secret to tell; whether or not to tell you was Jayde's decision, and we couldn't do anything but respect her wishes." At this, Harry looks up at me with hatred, but Mrs. Weasley immediately scolds him for it. "Don't look at her like that," she says. "Has the thought occurred to you, Harry, that Jayde didn't tell you because she knew you'd react this way? Because she knows you get upset very easily?"
Harry's eyebrows furrow at this, and he casts sideways glances at each of the newcomers. Everyone except for Mrs. Weasley, including Ron, looks away uncomfortably, trying to avoid Harry's questioning gaze. Draco, however, is staring straight at Harry bluntly, wearing an expression that practically screams "I told you so." Thankfully, however, Harry nor Mrs. Weasley notices this, and Mrs. Weasley continues.
"Jayde," she says, addressing me for the first time, "Hermione told me you'd decided to tell Harry… she said you were going to send him a letter. What happened to that?"
"I did send him a letter, Mrs. Weasley," I reply, feeling anger and hurt build up inside of me once more. "He never got it." At this, I cast a particularly nasty look in Ginny's direction, and she gulps loudly in response.
"What do you mean, 'he never got it', and why do you keep looking at Ginny like that? What's she got to do with all this?" Mrs. Weasley asks. I look up at her respectfully in response, but find that she's casting a threatening look at Ginny instead of me, as though daring her daughter to have had any part in causing this blowup between Draco and Harry. Although I'm very upset at Ginny right now, I'm still her friend and I don't want to get her in trouble. I hesitate before answering, which causes Mrs. Weasley to turn her eyes back on me and ask impatiently, "Well?"
Feeling like a tattle-tell and giving Ginny a momentary apologetic look, I take a deep breath before beginning. "After I sent the letter," I start slowly, trying to stay calm, "Ginny told me that the owl had arrived for Harry just after he left to go help Fred and George in the joke shop. She said she'd taken the letter from the owl and laid it on Ron's bed, where Harry was sure to get it."
"That's right, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione speaks up, verifying my story while giving Ginny a curious look.
"Well what's the problem then?" Mrs. Weasley asks, not quite grasping what happened just yet.
"There was never any letter on my bed for Harry," Ron says with bewilderment.
"Exactly," I reply, giving him a meaningful look. Ron still seems confused at this, but Hermione gasps loudly, indicating she understands, and she and Harry eye Ginny with an extreme amount of intensity. Mrs. Weasley, however, is beyond the point of casting intense glances.
"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" she bellows, her face turning almost as red as her hair. She pauses in shock for a moment before continuing at the same volume. "You lied to Jayde and took Harry's letter, didn't you?" she asks. Seeming to think this a rhetorical question, Ginny doesn't answer and simply stares forward blankly with her jaw set and tears quickly building up in the corners of her eyes. "Answer me!" Mrs. Weasley yells a moment later.
Startled, Ginny jerks out of her trance-like state and answers "Yes" quickly and quietly.
"How could you do such a thing?" her mother probes. "Why would you do something like this?"
"Because she likes Potter!" Draco replies loudly, drawing everyone's attention and causing me to gasp loudly in response to his boldness.
"Draco!" I say meaningfully, casting him a look that clearly tells him I can't believe he's just said that.
Ginny, feeling betrayed, looks at me in an accusatory way. "Jayde!" she exclaims, clearly mortified.
"What?" I call in response. "I didn't tell him!"
"You didn't have to!" Draco interjects. "It's obvious! I'm sure half the people here knew it all ready! Why else would she take the letter?"
"Wait. Ginny likes Harry?" Ron asks, clearly confused and slightly disgusted.
Shaking their heads at Ron's snail-like slowness in catching on, nobody answers him. Instead, Mrs. Weasley addresses Draco. "Obvious or not, why would Ginny's crush on Harry make her do this?" she asks, her eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.
"Because she was trying to protect him!" he replies immediately. "Ginny's trying to protect Potter because she likes him, Jayde's trying to protect Potter because she's afraid of losing him as a friend, everyone else tries to protect Potter because they don't want to hurt him and they think he's too fragile… does anyone else see a pattern here?" Draco pauses for a moment here, but then continues. "I am so tired of everyone trying to protect Potter all the time!" he says. "Trying to protect him only ends up hurting the people who were trying to protect him, and I'm tired of seeing Jayde upset because of him. Maybe if people would let Potter deal with his own problems, he wouldn't act like such a spoiled arsehole!"
My mouth drops open wide in response to Draco's statement, but before I can speak, Mrs. Weasley does. "That's quite enough!" she says sternly. "Calling people arseholes… are you a father, or a five-year-old?"
My eyes widen in response to Mrs. Weasley's question, and I'm afraid that Draco's going to react horribly… I know he surely doesn't like what's just been said to him. Before anyone else can speak, though, Ron chimes in. "Malfoy, you're practically the King of spoiled arseholes," he accuses angrily. "You've got no room to talk."
Quickly becoming even more furious, Draco opens his mouth to respond, but Ginny speaks for the first time, preventing him from doing so. "Not anymore he's not," she says quietly. "Draco's changed a lot since he met Jayde, and since Skylar was born."
At this point, I have to fight the urge to run forward and hug Ginny, and when Hermione nods her head in silent agreement, my eyes quickly fill with tears. Mrs. Weasley seems unaffected by this statement, however, and feels the need to continue her interrogation of Ginny. "Speaking of Skylar being born," she says sarcastically with her hands on her hips once more, "where is Harry's letter?"
"It's- it's in my room," Ginny replies quietly, unable to meet her mother's piercing gaze.
"Well don't you think it's about time Harry got it?" Mrs. Weasley retorts loudly. Without answering, Ginny quickly turns on her heel and heads through the Burrow's kitchen door, letting it slam closed behind her. As the rest of us wait for Ginny to return in an awkward silence, I try to remember exactly what I'd written in the letter. I find that to be a difficult task, however, because it was written such a long time ago. Ginny bounds through the kitchen door only seconds later and extends her left arm towards her mother, trying to hand her the letter.
"It isn't my letter!" Mrs. Weasley says, refusing to take the envelope from Ginny's hand. "You took Harry's letter, now you're going to see to it that he gets it," she continues. Seeming embarrassed, Ginny's face flushes at this, but she doesn't hesitate to walk over to where Harry's standing and extend her arm.
"I'm- I'm really sorry, Harry," she says quietly, looking down at the ground as he takes the envelope from her. When Harry doesn't respond to Ginny's apology, her face flushes even more and she walks off silently to stand beside Hermione.
As Harry begins tearing open the envelope's seal, I start to feel quite a bit nervous, though I'm unsure as to why that is. Seeming to sense my uneasiness as he always does, Draco walks over to stand beside me on my right side and wraps his left arm around my waist in a comforting way as everyone watches Harry abandon the envelope on the ground and open the letter slowly. As Harry slowly starts to scan the parchment, I look at his face, hoping to be able to gauge his reaction to the words I've all but forgotten. I halfway expect to see anger flare on his face once more, but his face softens instead.
After reading and looking at the page intently for a moment, Harry looks up, staring me directly in the eyes. "You really love him, don't you?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowed.
Though I'm a bit taken aback by his question, I answer nonetheless. "Yes, Harry… I do," I say quietly.
Though he doesn't verbally respond to this, Harry nods his head slowly, seeming to have finally realized something that he's been trying to deny all along. "And you, Malfoy," he says suddenly a moment later, turning his gaze to Draco. "Do you…?"
Draco interrupts Harry at this point, seeming to know what's coming. "If you're going to ask me if I really love my wife, Potter, the answer is yes," he says firmly. At Draco's reference to me as his wife, I feel my face flush, as it always does. I look up and to the right at him, trying to show him the elation I feel at the thought of being his wife, but find that he's still staring at Harry intently.
I direct my attention towards Harry as well, and find that he's looking at me once again. "And you're – you're happy?" he asks once my eyes lock with his.
Unable to prevent myself from smiling slightly in response, I nod my head before replying simply and meaningfully, "Yes."
Nodding his head slightly, Harry looks down and takes a deep breath for continuing. "I've been acting horribly," he says quietly before looking up at me once more. "I thought there was no way you wanted to be with Malfoy… I thought he'd tricked you somehow. Maybe that was just wishful thinking. I only wanted what was best for you… but now I can see that you already have it."
My heart swells at Harry's statement, but the look on his face prevents me from being joyous despite the huge step that's just been made towards resolving this conflict. Looking like he's just lost his best friend, Harry quietly says, "I promise you, from this moment on I won't try to interfere anymore… I won't bother you ever again."
I feel Draco breathe a quiet sigh of relief at this, but I feel anything but relief right now. I start to step out of Draco's hold on my waist, but he tightens his grip, causing me to turn and look him in the eyes. No, darling, he says to me through his mind. Don't go over there just now.
Draco, he's hurting, I reply. I want him to know that I still want to be his friend.
Love, I'm sorry to say it, Draco answers, but there's no way you and Potter are coming out of this situation as friends. 'Just being friends' isn't going to be enough for him...
How do you know? I interrupt.
Because it wouldn't be enough for me, he replies.
Shocked almost to tears by Draco's empathy for Harry, I look away momentarily but still refuse to give up. Gathering my resolve, I turn to face Harry once more. I have to at least try, I think to Draco as I make my way to where Harry's standing a short distance away, staring at the ground.
Harry looks up once I pause in front of him, and although my mind is racing with phrases that I hope might save our friendship, none of them make their way out of my mouth. Instead, I lean forward and pull Harry into a gentle hug; the first I've given him in a long time. Harry seems taken aback at first, but slowly wraps his arms around me in response. "What's this for?" he asks in my ear quietly.
"I still want to be your friend, Harry," I respond. I wait for a moment, expecting Harry to say something in response. When he doesn't, I pull away from him slowly and look into his eyes. "Is that possible?" I ask, my eyebrows furrowed with worry at what his response will be.
Though it takes him a moment and seems difficult for him, Harry nods his head after a moment's pause and says quietly, "I'll always be your friend, Jayde."
A huge smile spreads across my face at this, and tears quickly build up in the corners of my eyes. I seriously consider hugging Harry again as a single teardrop makes its way down my cheek, but before I can do so this tender moment is interrupted by a loud 'Crack'. Searching for the source of the noise, I turn around to find that Pinky has just apparated at Draco's feet.
I immediately become afraid that something's happened to Skylar, but Pinky begins relaying the reason for her interruption without a moment's hesitation, quickly calming my fears. "Master Draco, Mary and Martha is asking Pinky to come and get you and Missus Jayde," the elf explains. "They say they has to be getting home soon." Casting a short but meaningful glance up at me, Draco returns his gaze to Pinky and nods in response.
"Thank you Pinky," he replies. "Tell Mary and Martha we'll be there in just a moment." Pinky immediately nods her head and disapparates, and as soon as she's done so Draco extends his hand for me. "I'm sorry, love," he says sweetly, "but we've really got to go."
I quickly look back at Harry and smile once more before nodding my head in agreement with Draco's statement and making my way back over to him. I intertwine my arm with his when I reach him, but just as we're about to apparate another thought crosses my mind. "Wait, Harry!" I exclaim, causing Draco to stop the apparition process. "Will you come to the wedding?" I ask uncertainly after I'm sure I've got Harry's attention.
Harry's eyebrows furrow in response, but instead of giving me a yes or no answer immediately, he simply replies, "I'll think about it."
Though I'm not quite satisfied with his answer, I realize that it's not a 'no' and that Harry probably really does just need some time to think. After smiling hopefully at him and then smiling at Mrs. Weasley and everyone else as well, I turn my head to the right and nod to Draco, indicating that I'm ready to go now.
At this, Draco immediately begins to spin on the spot, and just before we disapparate I see Ginny rush towards us. "Jayde, wait!" she calls desperately. Though I see the sad look on her face and want to stop to see what she has to say, it's too late; with a quiet 'Pop' everything fades to black as Draco and I disapparate.
