Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. I do however have a couple of annoying friends that poked and prodded me all day about getting this chapter out, one who happens to be watching me type this at this very moment. Say thank you, for without them, you might not have gotten this until late tomorrow.
Well, here we are again. I'm thrilled to say I got many reviews! Thank you guys so much! You make me feel loved.
Now don't judge this chapter too harshly as it was very hard to write. I hope you enjoy it all the same!
Now, I don't have too much to say other than point out the fact that hopefully I'll be writing more and more soon seeing as I have less than two weeks before school is out! Yay! So, don't expect any till the 13th at the latest since I have to study for finals. If you see an update before then, get on to me for I should be studying.
So, without further ado:
Chapter 49
Draco POV
Being a normally light sleeper, it didn't surprise me to be woken up by the sound of the door creaking open in the dim evening light that filtered into the room. Ginny was still fast asleep against my side, her head resting on my chest and vivid red hair sprawled out behind her. I didn't mind the pain caused by it, I could deal with pain. I wouldn't have traded this moment for anything in the world.
Looking up from the wonderful girl sleeping on me, I saw her father standing in the doorway. I met his eyes and I felt a silent understanding. He wasn't looked at me like he hated me, the look I'd expected. Instead, it was a tender look as he gazed upon myself and his sleeping daughter.
After a moment of silence, Mr. Weasley walked in and lowered himself into the old rocking chair that resided in the corner of the room. Sitting there, he let out a sigh as he looked at me. "Well, Draco," he said quietly, so as not to wake Ginny. I was surprised at his use of my first name. This man was full of surprises.
"Mr. Weasley," I responded with equal softness. Sitting up slowly, I slid Ginny off my chest and onto the pillow, pausing when she stirred in her sleep. After a moment, she settled back down, not even opening her eyes as her breathing evened out again and she fell back into deep sleep. I smiled down at her sleeping from and pushed a strand of red hair off her freckled face.
"You love her don't you?" I heard her dad asked suddenly.
I looked up at him, having been lost in Ginny's sleeping face. I knew there was no use in denying something so obvious, something I guessed Ginny had already told them if the yelling downstairs earlier had been any indication. "Yes Sir, I do," I told him honestly, involuntarily holding her closer to me. "Very much."
"You're not who I would have picked for her," he said honestly with a shake of his head, but a smile still played on his lips as he looked at the two of us. "But, I see a lasting kind of love between you two." His eyes took on a faraway look as he gazed down at his only daughter. "You should have seen her when she thought you were lost to her forever. I'd never seen her more heartbroken."
I looked down at Ginny after a moment and frowned. I didn't like to think about her in any kind of pain, emotional or otherwise. I knew without asking I'd been the cause of a lot of that pain lately. Brushing her cheek gently, I shook my head. "I'm sorry to have caused her any pain. I've tried again and again to let her go, to save her from the pain of being with me but she's too stubborn to let me do that," I said, a smile playing on my lips. "I don't want to hurt her, but I think it causes more pain to be apart."
When I looked back up at the man before me, he nodded. "It's a fact everyone in this family is going to have to come to terms with. Nobody is happy about this, but I know that there's no changing her mind. She loves you too much, Son," he said, smiling at me.
I nodded back at him, feeling an unexpected acceptance from this man that I was brought up to think as nothing but a blood traitor. "I don't want to cause strife in your family though," I told him. "That's one of the reasons we were keeping this secret, one very small reason, the reactions of her family. I didn't want to be the cause of more pain."
"Well, the cats out of the bag now," he responded with a shrug. "There's no worrying about it now, what's done is done. Everyone will have to deal with it in their own way but they will have to deal with it. You're here to stay, that much is obvious. I know my boys, they'll fight it a bit but in the end, they won't want to lose their sister. I only really worry about Ron."
I nodded in understanding. Ronald Weasley did not exactly like me. I think loath would be a sufficient word. That was very clear. The one thing that wasn't clear was why this man that hated my family more than anything else would be so accepting of my being with his only daughter. "Can I ask you a question?" I asked the balding man in the rocking chair, the father of the love of my life.
He nodded, motioning for me to continue. Leaning back in the chair, he crossed his hands on his stomach and started rocking.
I looked down at Ginny and then back up at her father. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you hate my family. I had expected everything but acceptance from you of all people. Don't take offence, but it's true. Why is it that you sit before me now as if I wasn't my father's son?"
His eyes seemed to get misty as he sat their silently. After for a minute, he said. "Because, brokenhearted over your absence, my little girl told me about you. Not you specifically, but about this man. She told me of how he'd been risking his life just to keep her safe, telling her of upcoming raids that could spell life or death for so many people. She described to me a good man."
Looking me dead in the eyes, he said, "I promised her I'd accept him, because I could tell he was a good man. That man just happened to be you. Just because your last name is Malfoy, doesn't take away from what you've done for all of us. It doesn't make you good or bad. What makes that is what's inside."
After he finished taking, he stood. Before he could walk from the room, I stopped him. "Mr. Weasley," I said. He turned back to me and waited for me to continue. Swallowing every bit of pride I'd ever had, I looked up at the man whom I'd always looked down upon.
All of my life I'd seen him as lower than dirt. Even after meeting Ginny, I wasn't sure how I would react to this man that I'd never known as nothing but a muggle-loving blood trader. It was then I realized he was much more than my father knew, much more than I'd ever been told. He was a soft-spoken man with a kind spirit, a loving father with open ears, but most of all he was accepting, even of the son of his enemy.
"Thank you," I finally said.
Smile back at me, he said, "No Draco, thank you." And with that he was gone, closing the door quietly behind him.
I lay there for a while afterwards, my mind spinning too much fall back asleep. I spent that time gazing down a Ginny and thinking about what her father had said. It was a relief to know that her father, if only her father, was on our side. It was with a peace in my heart, a hope for the future, that I drifted back to sleep with Ginny in my arms.
Ginny POV
"Ginny," I heard someone saying my name, pulling me from sleep. "Ginny, come on. Get up." I opened my eyes to see Mum standing over my bed.
I looked over at Draco, happy to see him resting peacefully, before looking up at my mum. With a yawn, I slipped out of Draco's warm arms, trying not to disturbed him and followed Mum out of the room and into the hall, closing the door behind. It was only after the door was closed that we spoke again, trying not to disturb Draco.
"I know this hasn't been the most usual Christmas but we're going to have Christmas dinner and still going to open gifts, if only a bit late," she said as we walked down the stairs. As we got closer to the kitchen, I could smell the familiar aroma of the dinner drifting throughout the house.
"Good," I said with a smile, hugging my mum. "I'm starved!" Skipping happily ahead of her, I made my way into the living room where my family was gathered while Mum continued into the kitchen to finish the final fixings of dinner.
The room fell silent at my entrance but at the moment, I was too happy to care. Plopping down on the sofa next Bill, I cooed at the baby in his arms. She really was too cute. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was nearly nine at night. It was defiantly a delayed dinner, but still a Christmas dinner all the same.
After a few minutes, the silence began to get a bit much so I turned to the two American girls that I'd yet to find out the names of, and gave them a smile. "I don't think we've officially met. I don't even know your names," I said with a laugh as Amour jumped into my lap.
George was the first to snap out of it. "Oh," he said suddenly. "How did you not know? It doesn't matter though. This is Chelsea," he said, motioning to the tall brunet beside him.
"And this is Katie," Fred cut in, introducing the shorter blond one.
"It's good to finally meet you guys," I said, giving them a wave before going back to petting my cat. "So, what brought you guys here anyway?"
They both sat up and gave wide smiles before launching into their description of how they came to hear about Fred and George's joke shop. The two of them going on and on broke the tension and before long conversations started back up all around the room. The only ones that stayed sulky were Ron and Harry, who sat in the corner of the room by tree still surrounded by presents.
A few minutes later, Mum poked her head back into the family room, announcing that dinner was ready. Everyone filed into the kitchen and took seats around the overcrowded table once again that day. This time the table was filled with all sorts of dishes of food and plenty of eggnog to go around. I filled my plate to the rim with baked ham and turkey, sweet potatoes, several rolls, plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and several other foods. I was famished.
Though there was a bit of obvious strain around the table, it went as smooth as expected. All throughout the dinner, I was debating on whether or not to take food up to Draco or to simply let him sleep. Eventually I decided to just leave him be. Breakfast would come soon enough and he needed the rest to heal. Not even magic could heal everything, only time and rest could.
After dinner, we all drifted with very full stomachs into the living room. Voluntarily sitting in front of the tree, I started handing out presents to my family members. The majority of the presents it seemed went to Bill and Fleur for little Victoire. Once all the presents were handed out I opened my own.
I opened the ever so expected sweater from Mum and Dad, putting it aside to wear tomorrow. Next I unwrapped a book of healing spells, From Maladies to Maiming's by Felix Broke, from Bill and Fleur. It was hard to set that aside to pick up my next gift. I wanted so bad to start reading it. But I willed myself to put it down and opened my next gift, the one from Fred and George. I was stunned to see new pair of dragon hide boots. Those were the most durable you could get. They'd be warm too.
Smiling I picked up the small box from Charlie, opening it to revile a dragon tooth. That was something I'd always wanted, even when I was little. Years ago, I used to tell Charlie anytime he'd mention wanting to work with dragons that he'd have to get me a dragon tooth one day. And now he did. Thanking him profusely and with several hugs, I picked up my next gift.
This one was from Percy. Well, with this one, it was the thought that counted. It was a new quill set. Mind you, the quills were pretty and he got me a bottle of color changing ink but, leave it to Percy to by me that for Christmas. I thanked him anyway, making a mental note to write him in a few weeks with the ink to make him happy.
All in all, it was a good Christmas. Sure, it was crazy and emotional and full of drama, but it was good nonetheless. It was with heavy eyes, too much turkey at dinner, that I made my way up the stairs after saying goodnight to my family. They'd given in without much of a fight, except for Ron, when I said that I'd be sleeping in my own room tonight and not on the sofa.
Not even turning on the lights when I got in there, I quickly changed after check on Draco again and making sure he was still asleep. I picked Amour up and hugged her too me. She'd gotten me though so much of my depression without Draco. Who would have known a cat could be such a comfort. Putting her down inside my closet, her preferred sleeping place on my basket of clothes, I shut the door almost all the way, just enough so that she could slip out.
With a yawn I crawled back into my bed, amazed at how tired I was even though I'd slept most the day away. Pulling the covers up to my chin, I snuggled against Draco. It felt so right. I was almost asleep when I felt him pull me closer, whispering in my ear, "Goodnight, my love."
"Goodnight," I murmured back, smiling against his chest.
It was then I felt his finger tilting my chin up. I opened my eyes to meet his stormy gray ones. "I love you," he whispered, kissing me softly.
I felt my eyes close again in response, sigh against his lips. He chuckled when he pulled back, smiling down at me as my eyes slowly opened again. "I love you too," I said with a happy sigh before cuddling back against him. His arms snaked around me once again and I felt a kiss on the top of my head before I drifted off to sleep.
Did you enjoy it? I hope I wrote it okay. I really like writing the part in the beginning with Arthur and Draco. I thought it would be totally perfect for her dad to talk to him. What did you think of it? I hope you liked it!
Well, BJ would like to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews! Keep them coming for he's happy and so am I!
So, again I don't have much to say other than thank you all so much for reading! I love you guys! You make my day with ever hit, make my week with every review! And trust me when I say I'll need your reviews to sustain me through this next week before finals. It will be a living (insert bad word of your choice here).
Well you know the drill by now:
A happy author writes better and faster! So review and make me happy!
