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Chapter 25: Drace

And so the world kept turning.

Ginny did meet with Narcissa later that week and the two women bonded over their shared grief for Draco. As intimidating as she had initially seemed Narcissa turned out to be warm and inviting to Ginny. She seemed to love from Ginny from the very beginning and could not stop telling her how much she appreciated her approaching in the cafe.

Not long after that Ginny invited Narcissa over to Grimmauld Place to have dinner with her family. She was immediately welcomed in with open arms and before long Narcissa Black was a regular staple among the group.

Everyone was amazed with the effect that Narcissa had on Ginny's demeanour. It was like they after 8 long months they finally had their sweet and loving little sister back.

With Narcissa around Ginny was happy and calm. She seemed much like the Ginny she used to be except with a certain bittersweet sadness that could be seen whenever she would check out of the conversation to a deep steadying breath before reinserting herself into life once more. She put forth the effort but socializing still seemed to be more than she could handle at times.

One thing that had not changed though was Ginny's fierce determination to continue the search for her missing fiancé. She had become a thorn in the Ministry's side insisting that they take extra measures to get home as many people as possible.

By December she had singlehandedly gotten legislation passed to ensure that when the Ministry seized former deatheater residences or hideouts they would have to perform through checks of the entire dwelling and perform dark magic sweeps to ensure that no one was being covertly held there. Because of all this the ministry had located close to 200 people who otherwise never would have been found using their old methods of search. While Ginny was ecstatic that these people were able to return home, none of them was Draco.

By the time Christmas rolled around Ginny was the only one who still held any real hope that Draco would come home. She just couldn't let go of the prophetic dreams starring Draco that had yet to come true and the feeling in her heart that the love of her life was still very much alive.

The only one who actually believed her was Narcissa but it was mostly because she couldn't bear to think of her only child no longer being alive and her grandchild being fatherless. But regardless of this Narcissa went about the task of ensuring that Ginny's baby would not just be taken care of by the money that Draco had left them but would have much, much more.

On Christmas Day Narcissa pulled Ginny aside amid the festivities to ask her a very important question. The pair entered one of the non occupied rooms to talk. Narcissa wasted no time in getting right down to business. "Ginny love, I was wondering if you would allow me to name the baby the next Malfoy heir?"

Ginny was a little stunned by the request. "Are you serious?"

Narcissa smiled. "Of course. Your child is the last surviving Malfoy and I want to make sure that he has exactly what his birthright owes him. He would have been anyway as soon as you and Draco had said your vows but now we just have to work around the system to make sure that everything happens the way it should have."

"Well if you're sure..." Ginny began, biting her lip. "Then alright. Yes. What do we need to do?"

Narcissa looked absolutely thrilled. "Don't you worry about a thing! I will take care of all of it. The only thing that might involve you is that the baby's name will have to be Malfoy and you might also have to change your name."

"That's not a problem. His last name is Malfoy regardless and I was going to change mine when I got married anyway so I don't mind at all."

"Perfect!" The older woman exclaimed before she hugged the other in joy.

On New Year's Day Ginny was puttering around the kitchen after lunch trying to clean up all the dishes from the spectacular lunch that all of the Weasley men had cooked for the women. It was a Weasley tradition to have this domestic reversal on New Year's Day, originally as a gift to their mother but eventually extending to their wives as well.

Ginny's heart clenched as she remembered last year when Draco had made her a sandwich for his part of the tradition. It wasn't as big a deal the year before because of them being in the middle of a war but she wished Draco were here now so there could be a repeat of the chocolate chip cookie fiasco.

She sighed and brushed away a tear from her cheek, turning around to make sure that no one had entered the kitchen and noticed. The entire holiday season everyone had been on hypersensitive overload with her. She understood that they were just trying to be sensitive around a time of the year when family is supposed to be so important but she felt that if one more person tried to hug her she might go on a killing spree.

Ginny took the plates over to the sink and dropped them in. She was not supposed to be doing the dishes but it was therapeutic for her. She turned on the water and winced in pain as a spasm rippled through her abdomen. She had experienced these pains before usually when the baby moved around a lot but the ones from today seemed to be a little more intense than usual; she assumed it was just because she was farther along in the pregnancy.

She continued to do the dishes and when she was about halfway done Ron entered the kitchen and stared laughing. "You're supposed to keep the water in the sink, not all over the floor Ginbug."

Ginny turned over her shoulder and gave him a confused look. "What are you talking…" she trailed off as she looked down at the floor. "Oh bloody hell. Ron, go get mum and Narcissa, I am almost positive that that is not water from the sink."

Ron turned a peculiar shade of green in the three seconds it took for him to process Ginny's request. He then spun on his heel and tore off through the house screaming at the top of his lungs, "Ginny is going into labour!" over and over again.

Before long, Ginny was settled in a room on the maternity ward of St. Mungo's Hospital. The whole family, with the exception of Angelina and Fleur who stayed home with the children, migrated to the hospital. The doctor had barred almost everyone from being allowed in the room because of the obvious chaos and stress they would cause for Ginny. He only permitted her parents, Narcissa and Hermione in the room and only because they were the people that she specifically requested.

Now that her water had broken, the contractions were even more intense and more frequent than they had been. If the family did not think that Ginny had handled the pregnancy well then that was nothing compared to how she handled labour. She was screaming from the pain, levitating people and even objects that had been spelled to stay down. She cursed at everyone vocally and even tried to magically curse a few people.

Finally after nine gruelling hours the newest Malfoy heir was welcomed into the world at 3.3 kilograms. A perfect baby boy, who, after being magically checked and cleaned up, was placed in Ginny's arms. He opened his eyes and looked up at her and she was not surprised to see that they were the most beautiful silver-grey colour she had ever seen

This time Ginny could not help but let the tears spring out of her eyes. There were too many conflicting emotions going on within her all at once; Joy tempered by grief, fear masked by courage.

The four who were present for his birth waited patiently as Ginny let out all her emotions and repeatedly kissed her baby and cooed at him how perfect he was. Finally her father plucked up the courage to interrupt her and ask the question that was definitely on everyone's minds, what was his name?

"Drace," she said in a voice so low it was almost a whisper.

"What was that love?" her mother said.

Ginny cleared her throat and tried again. She pried her eyes away from her perfect baby and looked straight at Narcissa, who already had tears in her eyes. "Drace." She repeated. "His name is Drace Arthur Malfoy."

A few hours later, Hermione walked around the room cradling the beautiful little boy. Everyone but the trio had left for the evening with promises of coming to visit in shifts throughout the next day.

"He really is perfect Gin."

Ginny, who was lying back resting with her eyes closed, lifted her head and looked at her best friend. "He is isn't he? And he looks so much like Draco, I just know that when he finally gets hair it will be platinum blond."

Harry chuckled from the couch he and Ron were both sitting on. "Have you seen that family? Of course he will be. They are all platinum blond. You are the most colour that that family has ever seen."

"He's right Gin." Hermione chimed in. "You're going to have a miniature Draco with a Weasley temper running around, and we all remember how much fun Draco was in his first few years at Hogwarts so just imagine what this little one will be like."

"Hey wait!" Ron said with a smirk. "You all are not taking into account how awful Ginny herself was as a child. She set traps, through fits and was just pure evil. If karma is anything then she is in for a long couple decades."

"Hey now," Ginny defended herself, trying mostly in vain to keep from laughing. "I was no worse than you were sir. And you all need to stop verbally abusing my newborn or I will have the nurse nazis remove you all!"

"Na uh!" Ron countered snickering. "I don't know about you lot but I am a super awesome famous war hero!" he puffed out his chest and gave his friends his most cheesy grin.

"Hey!" Hermione responded to her boyfriend. "So am I and the public likes me better! Plus I am holding the baby so I am much more special than you."

"Guys! Let's not fight." Harry tried to diffuse the fake argument. His face twitched with the effort he put in to keeping a straight face. "We all know that I am by far the most famous and the most awesome AND I have the scar!"

The three then began to go back and forth, all trying to defend their position amid their laughter.

"Children!" Ginny said suddenly. The three paused in their debate to turn to the young woman. "Let's face it, I know you all think you're very, very special but honestly when it comes to notoriety you all pale in comparison to me. And now that I have a baby, you three are just going to fade into the background."

There was a small pause where all four looked back and forth between each other before they all burst out into laughter once more. When the side-splitting giggles had finally subsided and they had all calmed down once again Harry said, "Gods I hate being famous."

"We know love." Ginny assured as she lay back on her pillow. Hermione brought Drace back to her so she could rock the nearly sleeping baby. "I don't know how you've dealt with it for so long. Ron, Mione and I have only had to deal with a few months of people following us, shaking our hands and wanting to take pictures with us. It is rather awful and it kind of scares me when I think about Drace having to deal with it."

"Well nothing is going to happen to that baby Ginny." Ron assured her with a very firm resolve.

"I know love. All three of the Weasley grandchildren have far too many guardians for anyone to worry about that." She paused. There was something that she had been meaning to ask Harry but had never found the right moment to do it. "And speaking of guardians, Harry, I have been wondering and now is as good a time as any to ask, would you be Drace's godfather?"

Her friend looked up at her shocked. "Really?" she knew they were both thinking of the role Harry's own godfather had played in both of their lives.

"Really," Ginny smiled at him. "I can think of no one better than you love. Plus you are the only one who is not related to him by blood or marriage but I know you will mean much more to him than just a friend so I figured this would be a great way to solidify the connection."

"Well then of course! I'd be honoured!" he beamed.

Yes, Ginny thought, Harry could never be Drace's father but she would allow him to play a very important role in his life just as Sirius had played in Harry's.

Not long after that the trio left the new mother and her baby so that they could get some rest. With any luck the pair would be able to go back to Grimmauld Place sometime the next day.

Nearly a year and a half after the best day of Ginny's life, her whole life was turned upside down once again.

Ginny stretched out her body and gave a small sigh as she woke up from her short nap. She was just waking up her head still full of sleep. Her eyes fluttered open.

She was lying on her beautiful crimson colored couch in the middle of the large living room in her simply decorated flat. Everything was decorated in either gold or the crimson of the velvet couch. She allowed herself to smile for the thousandth time at the irony of her decorating choices.

Rosaline Pennybaker, the very Slytherin interior decorator that her fiancé had sent her too had not enjoyed decorating this fabulous space in the middle of Wizarding London in all Gryffindor colours. Not that Ginny had cared. Quite the opposite, Ginny had enjoyed every moment she had spent with Rosaline because after Ginny straightened her out at that first meeting the woman had begrudgingly done everything to Ginny's exact specifications. She had even had it finished early enough that by the time Ginny was off her maternity bed rest and Drace was beginning to have a set routine that she could deal with by herself the flat was ready for the young family to move into.

The move was incredibly easy due to the fact that all her brothers had helped her. There were so many of them and she had so few belongings that they each only made two trips and everything was there. While the boy had done that all of her sister-in-laws had helped her unpack so that her entire move was done in just over an hour and she had not lifted a finger. Really her mum and Cissa had ensured everything ran smoothly and was perfect for Ginny. The only thing she did was occasionally point and hold her baby.

And what a perfect baby he was. Drace was now nearly eighteen months old and he was the best baby she had ever met. He was affectionate, sweet and so good it sometimes shocked Ginny. She loved him more than anything in the world, except possibly his father and she was never more acutely aware of who his father was then when she looked at him. Just as she and the trio had predicted on that night in the hospital, Drace was a Malfoy through and through. He had very pointed features that would become aristocratic as he grew, he had the soft platinum blond hair and the biggest silver grey eyes Ginny had ever seen. Drace was a mini Draco and if it weren't for the wave to his hair and the fourteen hours she remembered being in labour she might not have believed that was actually her child at all.

He was also very similar to Draco in personality, so sweet and yet more than anything he was protective of Ginny even at just eighteen months old. He always got very upset whenever her brothers tried to mess with her and he loved his godfather dearly but never trusted Harry when he got too close to Ginny. He loved Ginny more than anything and was the best baby in the world.

Speaking of her baby, she probably should go and check on Drace, but she didn't hear any crying. She decided to once again try and close her eyes so that sleep could reclaim her, but something didn't feel right.

Ginny had an odd mix of sensations. First she had the feeling that she had seen this scene before, a familiar sense of déjà vu that was different from the normal comforting sense of lying on her couch in her flat. It was also coupled with the feeling that she was being watched. This combination caused her to forgo her attempts to return to sleep and instead turn her head towards the foyer that led to the front door.

She had to be dreaming. There at her front door stood Draco. He was slightly older and weathered but undoubtedly the same gorgeous man she had fallen in love with. He was starring at her with a sad longing in his beautiful silver eyes, as if all he wanted to do was come and scoop her up into his arms but he didn't. Instead he turned towards the door that was still slightly ajar.

This couldn't be real. Ginny wanted to call out to him, say his name, and hear his voice, to see if he was real or just another dream but she couldn't make her voice obey. Something inside her was afraid that if she tried to break the silence he would once again disappear. She felt her silence would somehow ensure that he couldn't leave her again. She just watched as her love put his hand on the door handle and shut the door.

Draco turned back around to face her and continued to stare without saying a word.

Ginny brought herself into the sitting position, her whole body tense with the stress of not knowing for sure that he was real.

After what seemed like an eternity he finally uttered one single word. "Hi."

Chapter next :P let me know what you think! Lots of love!

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