Chapter 19

Ginny was surprised to be excited to go to Hogwarts tonight. She tried to tell herself she was excited to see the twins, but she knew that it was the idea of seeing one of the Malfoy men that got her going. Which man, she was unsure of. She took extra care towards her appearance, and before heading out she changed into her favorite Muggle jeans. She knew they made her curves look great. She was very thankful that working for a hockey team meant she had access to exercise equipment to help her keep a very womanly shape. She then grabbed her new cloak.

Lucius was there waiting when she landed. "Ginevra."

"Hi."

"Let's head up there." Lucius gently placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her. "How do you expect them to react to the press making up stories?

"Well, Lucy will feel like there is no such thing as bad publicity Gavin might feel he has to protect us."

Lucius nodded. "Are you alright with me using his protective instinct to bond with him?"

Ginny knew Lucius was very good at manipulating, but she also knew that that was a skill Lucy got from him, and her daughter always worked on sharpening that skill. For as much as Lucy honed her skill, Gavin learned to know when someone was trying to manipulate him. The question was, because she expected Lucius and Gavin would have a common goal, would Gavin allow it? "Would I be a bad mother if I said you could?"

He gave her one of his rare smiles. "I made mistakes with Draco, so I don't want to repeat those," he admitted.

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

"Like sheltering him from what my relationship was truly like with his mother. I also was very hard on him."

"Like I haven't made mistakes," Ginny confessed.

"Raising them as Muggles will never be your best moment," he replied and smiled teasingly.

The main doors of Hogwarts opened for them as they reached the top stair. The Headmistress was there to greet them. "Hello Ginny Weasley! When Professor Malfoy said you were coming to speak to the children, I had to make sure I was available to greet you! Hello Lucius."

"Headmistress McGonagall, how have you been?" Ginny smiled at her former professor.

"I'm good, thank you. The twins are amazing children! I see so much of each family in them. I hope to see that Gavin will take after you and amaze us all on the pitch."

"Still have a place in your heart for Gryffindor?" Lucius questioned.

"I have seen Lucy fly; I would just like to even the playing field," she claimed defiantly. Both Ginny and Lucius knew that she was lying, but left the matter alone. "The twins are waiting for you."

As they walked to the small sitting room that the school provided to allow visiting family members some privacy, Ginny removed her cloak. Without being asked, Lucius took it from her and fell back a couple of paces to admire the view.

"Hey Mom! Sir," Gavin greeted

"Mom! Daddy!" Lucy happily chirped.

Gavin gave Ginny a hug. "Why are you here?" he carefully asked.

"Well, the press has started to ask questions about you two," she answered.

"Your mother and I know this is going to be in the papers for a long time. That is our fault. We could try to tell them the truth, but in the end, because of everything, every angle is going to be explored and ripped apart 27 different ways," Lucius informed the twins.

"We think it might be best to ignore them. Simply admit the basic fact that you are our children and change your last name to Malfoy," Ginny explained. "But at the end of the day, this will affect you more than anyone."

"So no matter what, they're going to print what they want," Gavin clarified.

"Yes. I'm sorry, guys. This won't be easy," Ginny said. I'm just glad that the magical press isn't like the Muggle press over here, Ginny thought. She had heard the odd story about the British press and how cruel they could be.

"I don't want any fuss," Gavin pouted. "I've known my name would get changed for months now."

"We'll be okay, Mom and Dad. Let's do it," Lucy stated.

Ginny was surprised at how easy that was.

"Ginevra, you said you had something to talk to Lucy about," Lucius said.

"Oh yes. Excuse us.'' Ginny led Lucy out of the room. Lucy looked puzzled. Once out in the entrance area, Ginny explained, "He needs to talk to Gavin, father to son."

"Oh, right." Lucy grinned.

Back in the room, Lucius looked at Gavin. "I need your help."

"With what?" Gavin looked suspiciously at his father.

"The press will not be kind. While I can protect your mother, and you, too, for the most part, there will be info that gets to the student body here. I would like you to keep me informed of anything that you see or hear that would upset the ladies."

"Why?"

"Son, you know Lucy far better than I. You will also see first hand how others will use the info they have. If you tell me about it, I can do my best to counter it, using many different methods."

The boy looked shocked. "Like what?"

Lucius realized where Gavin's mind went. "Paying parents to have their children's mouths stay shut."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I could do that."

"I knew I could count on you! Now, we should say good night to your mother and sister."

Once back with Ginny and Lucy, the group said their goodbyes and Ginny and Lucius made their way back to the main doors. At that moment, Draco was hauling two students in. He saw his father, who spoke first. "Draco," Lucius greeted.

"Father, Ginny," Draco said quickly. "Sorry, I'm in the middle of something." He avoided any eye contact with Ginny and ushered the boys down a hall.

"I don't miss school," Ginny muttered. She had more than her share of detentions, which were very unpleasant and mostly in her sixth year.

"Would you consider having a drink with me?"

She was a bit hurt by Draco, but clearly it had meant more to her than him. She wasn't going to hold her breath for him, or anyone. "Sure. I'm going to need the strength for the coming day."

They arrived at a little pub near her flat, found a quiet table, and sat down. "Lucy went with you quite easily. I was surprised she didn't push to stay."

"She doesn't want you to be upset with her," Ginny explained, laughing softly. "I wish she felt that way about me. Anyway, I explained what you were doing. She keyed in on everything Draco said about your family. She feels she would be best off if we get together. If Gavin warms up to you, then she can get him to help her reach that goal."

"I would like to get each of them a gift, something to mark the name change. I think a necklace of some type for Lucy, but Gavin, I'm having issues figuring out what he would like."

"A watch might be nice; I'm not sure of what else to suggest. If I was looking for a special gift back in Edmonton, it would be something sports related. But from you, who wouldn't know hockey from monster trucks, it wouldn't mean anything. So I assume you already know what we have to do to change their names?"

"I asked my lawyer to do the prep work, so he will have some paperwork for you to sign tomorrow or the next day." He took a sip of his drink. "Have you had a chance to think?" he asked.

She looked at him for a long moment before replying, "I did. Honestly Lucius, I'm torn; part of me wants to, but part of me is scared too."

Lucius reached over, took her hand, and squeezed it lovingly. "I'm not going to hurt you. Gavin would skin me alive!"

She smiled at his joke. "I think a boy who has yet to master the basics of magic is no match for you! I guess I'm willing, but I'm not promising anything," she cautioned.

"Fair enough. Would you like to join me in going to a Quidditch game next Saturday?" he asked.

"And give the press a chance to photograph us?" Ginny pointed out.

"If we run and hide, they will just badger us longer. Besides, how often are the gossip columnists at games?

"Sure, why not," she answered.

As they walked to her door later, Ginny did her best to ready herself for the kiss. "Thank you for the drink," she said, turning to face him.

Lucius turned towards her and gave her a quick peck of a kiss. "Good night, my dear," he said, then turned and walked away.

Ginny was so disappointed, she didn't say anything until he got to the lift. "Lucius!" she pouted.

"Damnit," he said, turning towards her. "I was trying to be a gentleman." He was back in front of her in a second, taking her in his arms and kissing her properly. When he wanted to grab her ass, he instead broke away. "I said I would court you and I meant it! Now go in and ward your place against me for tonight."

She looked at him defiantly. "Well, courting in my book means I should still get a good goodnight kiss."

Two days later, Ginny was leaving her building and heading for the office when Lucius greeted her with another takeaway cup. "I thought I could walk you to the office," he said, handing her the cup. He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, that was very thoughtful." She smiled at him.

"I'm sad to say it wasn't just me being thoughtful. The story, or I should say, a story, is in the paper."

"Already? Mr. Barrow said the papers would be filed yesterday, so I expected we would have another couple of days."

"They have known about it for nearly a week. Thankfully, it's not the lead story, but it's still on the front page." He handed her the newspaper, folded just right so she could read the whole article:

UNKNOWN MALFOY HEIRS UNCOVERED

Documents were filed at the Ministry to change the last names of a set of twins.

"Do I want to read the rest?"

"Probably not. This seems like a teaser story, and I believe the hope is to sell more papers in the coming days. You are named, but they haven't guessed if it's Draco or myself that is the father. I'm sorry. I already spoke to Draco and he was going to let the twins know before they go to breakfast. I also sent an owl to both of them."

"That sounds good. Thanks."

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Good. Thanks for asking."

"Are you enjoying your work?" he inquired.

"It's not as much fun as working for the team I was with in the Muggle world. I miss the fast pace of the games, lining up interviews for the game breaks, and even the travel."

"You had to travel? Who took care of the children?" he asked.

"I traveled some of the time. Stella loved having the kids stay with her."

"The Muggle with the camera?" he clarified.

"Yes. She and her husband David were like grandparents to the twins."

"I did some reading on hockey. You would have been away a lot then."

"Not as much as you would think. My assistant did some of the road trips, and in the last couple of years, she did almost all of them as she was engaged to one of the goalies."

"That's good."

Ginny stopped and reached for Lucius' arm, stopping him. He turned to face her. "I know how you feel about Muggles, but Lucius, in the Muggle world, our life was very good."

"I am trying to understand why you stayed there for so long. It's getting colder," he stated, changing the subject.

A/N That is seven chapters in less than a month. Please leave a review.