*I'm a little dismayed to find that I lost six alerts (that I know of) after that last chapter. I hope there aren't any readers out there that think I feel any empathy whatsoever toward Terry Boot. The whole point of his character is to add angst. We're supposed to hate him. Maybe I'm being melodramatic and paranoid here. But I just wanted to make that clear.

KassandraLeighWeston- yes, the dark magic is gone from Draco because the mark is gone. But as Ron pointed out, he was a git before the mark ha ha

TearsOfTheHeart7 & Ishi-Kanekami- I love hearing the theories! And usually if someone is too close, I'll change my story a bit to make it a little more unpredictable. But I have to say, it didn't even occur to me to use polyjuice. That was a great idea.

FantasyFiend09- Kudos to you too for coming up with polyjuice. And, ooh, twins would have been another good idea. But the kids in the dream are not twins. I thought I had written in that the boy appeared to be a couple of years older than the girl, but I couldn't find it when I looked back on chapters.

IsabelEmrys- Boot will eventually get his. And McGonagall will explain herself in a future chapter

cassy1994- Terry's plan isn't particularly clever, but it will have results!

K-Noire- wow, I hope you didn't give up anything important! ha ha

hotflower901-lol, me 's partly why I picked it.

HidaKakuFangirl- I couldn't ask for a better compliment than that!

RenaSakura- I've done that too, getting confused between stories. But I'm glad it made you want to read my story again.

Julesie11- I'll try to work Harper in a little more :)

Thanks to Cascol3, DazzlexMe, QuirkyKitty93, AnimatedCharacter, DarkLinkLovesLink, Zebra-Girl22, paramoreeloverr, writing bird, and da-blk-saiyangirl for reading and reviewing!

January 1 1999

While the professors were busy greeting and checking in the students returning on the Hogwarts Express, the Seventh and Eighth Years were relaxing in their common rooms.

"Oi, where are you going Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry reluctantly stopped. "To talk to Ginny."

"Oh. Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll go alone," Harry answered.

"Why would Ron need to go with you to talk to Ginny?" Hermione questioned.

"He doesn't need to, I just said."

"But why would he think he needed to-"

Harry cut her off. "Mione, please. I know you can't help yourself, but let it go."

"Sorry," she replied apologetically.

Without another word, Harry left Gryffindor and walked purposefully to Ginny's room. When he arrived, Dean was there as well. But Harry would have expected that.

Harry cleared his throat before beginning what was sure to be one of the most uncomfortable conversations of his life.

"So, Ron tells me that the two of you are marrying this month. The thirtieth?"

Equally uncomfortable, Ginny replied, "Yes. I'm embarrassed to say that Dean and I are unexpectedly . . . expecting."

"You and Dean. Are you certain?" Harry asked, not quite tipping his hand. He was hoping for Ginny to come clean about the situation before he called her on it.

"Yes. I haven't had . . . I've been very late. A healer confirmed it."

Dean remained quiet throughout the exchange. Harry addressed him.

"And you think you're ready to raise a baby?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I'm gonna have to be."

His cavalier response infuriated Harry. "You guess?"

"Harry, it's none of your business," Ginny defended her man.

"What if I think it is, Gin. What if I think maybe that's my baby you're carrying."

"Harry we were already broken up by the time-"

"I heard you," Harry admitted finally. "At your parents' house on Christmas. I heard the two of you talking about it. You're not sure whose baby that is." He pointed at her still flat belly.

Ginny's eyes widened. "Harry . . . "

"What if it is? Are you going to marry Ginny?" Dean interjected.

"No," Harry answered honestly.

"Well, I will. I love her. We can make a family, a home."

"With my baby?"

"You can't make a real family. Why would you even want this baby?" Dean asked.

Harry felt as if he were punched in the gut. Is that what they thought? Because he's gay, he can't be part of a family. He didn't have a chance to defend himself before Ginny interrupted his thoughts.

"That's not what Dean meant," she said using the most gentle tone she could, she tried to explain. "It's just that, you've gone through a lot of changes recently. You really need time to get to know yourself better before you take on the task of raising another person. It's not because you're gay. Harry, I would never keep you away, if this is your baby."

"But you planned to. If I hadn't said anything, you would have kept quiet about it."

"No, Harry. I wouldn't have been able to do that. Maybe in the beginning," she confessed. "But we would have told you. Eventually."

Harry shook his head. "Eventually? After I'd missed all the important stuff? I understand what you're thinking. I understand that you even think you were doing the right thing for me. But it isn't. I was raised by people other than my parents. I'm not about to let my own children go through that. It's not a reflection on you, but I can't do it."

"Oh, Harry, I hadn't thought of that. I'm so sorry." She hugged him to her. Tears fell onto his shoulder as she sobbed. Harry glanced at Dean.

"Yeah, she does that a lot. Wait a second and she be all happy again," he laughed.

"Shut up, Dean," she wiped her eyes and released Harry.

"There is a way we can clear all of this up. Before you have the baby. A healer told me it's possible, if mine and Dean's magical signatures are different enough."

"Will it hurt the baby?" Ginny asked.

"He didn't say," Harry frowned. That thought hadn't occurred to him. But surely the healer would have mentioned it. "Of course we'd only do it if it were safe."

Dean watched the pair as they discussed a plan to go to St. Mungo's for an exam. He felt as though they were leaving him out of the decision process.

"Do I get a say?" Dean broke in.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What if it doesn't sound safe to me. Do I get a say, or are you two just going to go ahead without me?"

"Dean, this benefits you as well. If it's not your baby, you won't have to marry Ginny, " Harry explained.

Dean gave a small humorless laugh. "See, that's where we're different. I don't see it as having to marry her. I get to marry her. I love Gin, whether or not this child is mine."

"You mean, you want to go through with it, even if the baby turns out to be Harry's?" Ginny was incredulous.

"I love you. And you're going to need help. And Harry has already said he's not going to marry you."

She looked at her ex boyfriend. "Well, frankly, I wouldn't want to marry him either."

"I'll support you any way I can," Harry added. "I promise."

"Why don't we wait to find out for sure before we go making any more plans," Ginny suggested. "We should go to St. Mungo's as soon as possible.

The trio decided to go the next day, as it was Saturday. Classes wouldn't resume until Monday and Ginny thought she would burst if she had to wait a whole week before finding out the truth. Harry put in a floo call to the healer he and Draco had seen. He was normally loathe to use his status as a celebrity, but in this case, he made an exception.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

January 2 1999

Ginny, Dean, Harry and Ron sat in chairs waiting for the Welcome Witch to call them back to a room. Each was tapping a foot or drumming fingers or biting fingernails. Harry would have preferred to bring Draco, but since he got himself suspended from any outside activities, he brought Ron.

"Did they say how much longer?" Ron asked.

Harry turned to him. "You were here, Ron. You know as much as we do." He'd brought Ron for moral support, but was now regretting it. Ron seemed more nervous than he felt.

"Miss Weasley?" the Welcome Witch called and looked toward Ginny. "Come with me."

The four stood up.

"Oh. Are you all coming in?"

Ginny glanced at the boys. "Yes. But only two are being tested. That one is my brother." She pointed to Ron, unnecessarily. It was bad enough to have two prospective fathers. Ginny didn't want the witch to think there were three.

The witch lead them to a room down the hall and the foursome once again sat waiting.

Healer Cummins walked through the door smiling. "Harry, good to see you again." He held out his hand to shake.

"Hello," Harry returned. "This is Ginny, Dean and my friend Ron."

The healer frowned as he shook their hands.

"Oh, Ron is just a friend. He's Ginny's brother. Draco and I are still together."

"You don't owe me any explanation, Harry," Cummins said. "So," he looked at the chart. "Is this what you were asking me about last week? You want to find out which of you boys is the baby's father?"

"Yes," Ginny answered for Harry. "Is this safe?"

"Certainly. I wouldn't offer the procedure if it weren't," the healer told her. "The spell is relatively simple. It's a modified version of Prior Incantato. The tricky part is interpreting the results."

"I'm not sure I understand how it works," Ginny said. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"Magic has a frequency, like sound waves or light waves. And each wizard has a relatively unique one. Not nearly as unique as fingerprints, mind you. But as long as Harry and, um," Cummins paused.

"Dean," Dean reminded him.

"Yes. As long as Harry and Dean's magical frequencies are different enough, we should be able to rule one of them out."

"Can we do it now?" Harry asked, anxious to get it over with and get back to Hogwarts.

"I'll need you one at a time. Would like to go first, Harry?"

Harry nodded his head and followed the healer out of the room and into a smaller, nearly empty room. Cummins dimmed the light and performed the spell. A ghost image appeared around Harry, like an aura. The healer used his wand and a strange device Harry had never seen before to capture some of the image. The entire procedure took less than fifteen minutes. Dean, then Ginny followed.

An hour after first speaking with the healer, the quartet waited anxiously for the results.

Harry and Dean both stood as Healer Cummins walked into the room. But it was Ron who spoke first.

"Well?"

Cummins gazed into the expectant faces of the four Hogwarts students. Deciding not to add to their anxiety any further, he answered Ron's question curtly.

"Congratulations Dean."

Harry and Ginny both let out a huge sigh of relief. Ron slumped in his chair.

"At least that's done," Ron said. "And Mum will never have to know that there was any question about that baby's father."

Ginny's face reddened, but she gave no retort.

Harry held out his hand to Dean. "I hope you're prepared for this. Good luck mate." He turned to Ginny. "My offer still stands. Anything I can do to help," he smiled.

She hugged him. "Thank you."

"If you don't mind, though, I'd like to get back to school. Draco will be anxious to hear."

"Of course," she replied. "Dean and I have some questions for the healer. You and Ron go ahead."

Ron kissed his sister on the cheek, and he and Harry left.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

January 8 1999

"This is becoming a habit," Draco smirked as he walked into his dormitory to find Pansy siting on his bed.

"I need to talk to you," she said, uncharacteristically serious.

"Are you okay?" He sat down beside her. "Did something happen?"

"No. Not to me." She fiddled with her hands in her lap.

"Pansy, you're scaring me. You're never this serious."

"Remember my mother's diary? The one I found the rules and clues to the wand game?"

He nodded. "What of it?"

"After we set up the game I tossed it aside and didn't give it a second thought." She paused, "Until this week."

Draco raised his eyebrows, indicating her to continue.

"I read more of it. And most of it was just a bunch of boring crap about school and boys. Some of it was stuff that happened during the games." She made a face. "Stuff I really didn't need to know about my mother."

"Pans, get to the point already."

"Okay. She wrote about what happened when the game was over. Dra, everything went back to the way it was before."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, all the couples that got together, broke up afterward. It was the game the whole time. It was like a matchmaker. But it only worked while the game was still going on."

Draco furrowed his brow. "My parents stayed together, obviously. And your parents."

"Your parents were already a couple before they started the game. And my parent weren't actually paired up during the game. They dated after that. No wonder they had a rough marriage," she chuckled.

"So, you're saying . . . that when the game is over, none of us will stay as couples?" Draco was trying to make sure he understood what Pansy was implying. "But isn't the game pretty much over already? There hasn't been a party in over a month."

Pansy nodded. "Yes, but the game hasn't been dismantled. The spells are still on the cauldrons."

She could see the look of panic growing on Draco's face.

"Then, we simply won't take the spells off," he said.

"Draco, what about all those couples that really aren't quite so in love as they think? Is it really fair to force them to stay together?"

Draco laughed out loud. "Ha! Since when have you ever cared about fair? I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that Harry only loves me because of the game. You're wrong!" He was shouting as if the louder he said it, the truer it would be. "And I don't love him because of the game."

"Are you certain?"

Draco stood and began to pace the room. He did love Harry. It wasn't the game. He wanted him before they had been paired together. But Harry hadn't even discovered his true sexual nature until the game began. Draco shook his head. No, Harry broke up with Ginny before that. That had nothing to do with the game. Did it?

"Don't remove the spells," he said quietly. "Please."

"If you're so sure that he loves you, why not? Look, I know I'm hardly one to judge. But is that really how you want to live your life? Do you really want to spend your life with a man that only loves you because of a spell? It's no better than an Imperius."

He stopped pacing and glared at her. "I won't come back to you, if that's what you think. Even if it turned out Harry's only with me due to the spells, I won't come back to you," he said angrily.

She crossed her arms over her chest. The thought had occurred to her. If Draco and Harry broke up, she may have a chance with him. A very small one, but more than she had now.

He knelt before her, more calm. His expression softened as he pleaded. "Pansy, don't remove the spells. Please. In my heart, I know that what Harry and I have is real. But I can't take a chance that it's not. Maybe it's the Slytherin in me," Draco took her hands in his. "I'm happy for the first time I can remember. Please don't take it away from me."

Pansy looked into his eyes. She never could deny him anything. The one time she did, she regretted it and probably would for the rest of her life.

She sighed. "All right. I'll take the cauldrons home and put them in the cellar. No one will disturb them there."

"Thank you." His voice trembled. He moved to the bed and rested his head briefly on her shoulder.

"Are you sure you can live with condemning everyone else while you're happy?"

"They all seem happy to me," Draco justified. "And who's to say they won't be happy in the future? Ginny and Dean are getting married for crying out loud."

"We could be keeping some of them from their soul mates."

Draco laughed humorlessly. "Don't you know by now that guilt trips don't work on me?"

"Yeah," she chortled. "It's not like I really give a crap if Tracey marries Goldstein. Or anybody else for that matter."

"That's my girl," Draco smiled. Then his smile faded. "Did you tell anyone else about this? Blaise?"

"No, I only just found out. Don't worry. It'll be our little secret."

Draco nodded and smiled again. But he knew better than to think he could really trust Pansy. She would hold this over his head for a very long time. But at the moment, he had no choice.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

sorry, I like curve balls. And to make my readers anxious