Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. Do any of you own something interesting? Like me, I own a basset hound with a shaved butt cause he just had surgery. He looks funny! Can't wait till the hair grows back.

Well, I know the last chapter was a bit disappointing because it was just a filler, but it played a major purpose. It got the story moving again! Now we can get back to the plot! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. I wrote it while I should have been job hunting… Again with the procrastinating… *sigh*

Well, not much to say other than thanks for all the reviews! Y'all are awesome!

Without further ado…

Chapter 56

Draco POV

What had my life come to? This was what I pondered as I sat at the dinner table in the Burrow while the Order meeting droned on around me. Sure, being able to be with Ginny openly for the past four months was quite amazing but with six protective older brothers and one very annoying Harry Potter who still held animosity towards me, alone time was almost unheard of. The first time in a long time I'd been able to just relax and hold her to me without fear of unwanted eyes watching was last night when she'd snuck into my room.

But, being with Ginny was really one of the only good things for me here. While almost everyone was more than kind and welcomed me with open arms, there was still tension with the precious Boy Who Lived. I thought for sure once I'd won his best friends over that he'd come around. No such luck. Living in the same house as someone who hated me, even though the feeling was quite mutual, really grated on my nerves.

To top it off, I wasn't allowed outside past the garden. That meant I couldn't get away from everything once and a while. Mr. Weasley told me that this was only for my safety. It would prove dire if I was found out. For all my father or Voldemort knew, I'd crawled away in the middle of the night that Christmas Eve and died somewhere. That worked out well for me in the sense that they wouldn't go looking for me but it limited my freedom significantly.

"What do you think, Draco?" I heard Ginny ask, pulling me from my thoughts. The conversation had turned to who would lead this next attack the Death Eaters were planning. It seemed like it was going to be the largest one yet. Everyone had been discussing if the information that my father would leading the raid had been likely.

"Come on, Gin," Harry cut in before I could respond to her question. "Isn't it obvious that he wasn't listening? He doesn't even care." He shook his head with a frown and leaned back in his chair. "I don't even know why you guys let him come to these meetings."

A few sighs were let out around the table. This wasn't the first time he'd said this or objected to my presence. It was getting old. Instead of standing up for myself or defending my reasons for being needed here, I simply turned away from him and to Ginny and proceeded to answer her question.

"If it's nearly as big an attack as we've been told it would be, then it is very likely that yes, he will be leading the attack. You-Know-Who won't let any mediocre Death Eater lead his biggest attack yet. Lucius Malfoy has been his right hand man for many years as has earned his trust, if that is really possible," I said to the group at large, hiding my smirk at the look on Potter's face. "You-Know-Who will want to stay out of the fighting until necessary to save his own skin. If he decides to keep Lucius out of the fights too, then it will either be Severus Snape leading the fight or Bellatrix." I'd been trying to avoid mentioning my family ties to all these people as much as possible. It was best not to bring it up.

"Well, is it likely he'll want to keep Lucius out of the fight?" Charlie Weasley asked from the other side of the table, brow furrowed.

"Not if he's confidant the attack will be successful. For it being on such a large scale, I'd say his confidence about it is high right now. Plus, he'll want someone he knows will do it right, which would be his reasons for choosing him," I answered, sure that my father would lead this fight.

Many people around the table nodded at my reasoning. "That sounds logical," Mr. Weasley agreed. Looking around the table, he moved the conversation onto the next order of business. "So, we need a strategy to combat this attack. We'll need everyone we can for such a large scale battle. Kingsley, I do believe this is your area of expertise."

Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded and spread out a map of Hogsmeade, the place of the attack. Though the Death Eaters had some of their hooks in Hogsmeade already, there were quite a few rebels they wanted to wipe out in one shot. "Seeing as how close it is to the Hogwarts, we will need to try and stop it fast to keep the students as safe as we can. We'll need to set up our defenses here, here and here," he said, point out the major spots on the map.

As he continued to discuss the battle plans, I leaned back in my chair, turning my thoughts from the planning. I wasn't allowed to fight in these battles. I hadn't left the Burrow since the day I'd arrived. As they strategized I thought back to the battles I'd fought, though I'd been fighting on the wrong side. I did only enough fighting to make it look convincing. I'd never really hurt any of the Order members, only those on my side when it was the only way to avoid them killing people.

In a way, I was glad for the fact I didn't have to fight anymore but part of me missed it. I felt so useless sitting back here while everyone else went to fight. To make it worse, Potter made sure to rub it in my face how I was completely useless as he went off to save lives. I ignored him, not letting him see that rubbing salt on my wounds hurt as bad as it did. I was a master at hiding my emotions. Only Ginny could see through it.

On the bright side of having to stay out of the fights, I got to spend time with Ginny without the prying eyes of her brothers. The only ones left at the Burrow on those days was Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, Ginny and I. Well, us and the baby. Little Vicky had taken a liking to me. I'd never had much experience with babies but she was a joy.

When everyone around the table started getting up and stretching, drifting their separate ways, I stood too. Taking Ginny's hand, I lead the way out the kitchen door and out into the little yard. "You okay?" Ginny asked as we made our way to a big oak tree that grew near the fence.

"I'm fine," I answered with a shrug, sitting down on the swing attached to the tree and pulling her down on my lap, pushing us a bit with my foot. The gentle swaying was always relaxing.

"I know you, Draco," she said with a sigh, turning in my lap enough to look at me. "You're not fine. Did Harry's comment get to you?" She laid her head on my chest then, making herself comfortable in my arms.

"It's not him," I answered honestly. "It's all of this. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than glad to be here with you, but I feel so useless. I can talk and talk and try to explain stuff all I want but it still doesn't make me forget the fact that I'm not fighting, I'm not helping. After all you guys have done for me, I can't help." I sighed and put my face against her hair, breathing in the smell of her vanilla shampoo.

"Do you not know how helpful that 'talking' is? Their entire planning is based around information you provide. You know the inner workings of these people: how they work, how they fight. You're a tremendous help," she argued. "And besides, I'd rather you be here with me than our there fighting. It's bad enough I have to worry if my family and friend will come back alive or not, I don't need to worry about you too. I might go crazy if you left to fight."

Holding her tighter too me, I let the silence stretch around us, peaceful as the swaying of the swing. Before long, I saw the door open and Mrs. Weasley standing there, watching us. From this distance, I couldn't make out her facial expression, but I knew she wasn't mad. No, she wasn't quite when she was mad. I'd learned that soon after my arrival. I finally understood where Ginny got her temper from.

After another moment of her watching, she turned and shut the door, leaving us be. I relaxed and closed my eyes, letting the motion of the swing and the feel of Ginny in my arms be all I thought about. Ginny stirred in my lap before long though, slipping off the swing and onto her feet. "We should go inside," she said, holding her hand out for mine. "I bet dinner's nearly ready." Taking her hand in mine, I let her pull me along back inside, leaving the mild evening behind us.

~!~!~

Ginny POV

As the last of my brothers walked outside into the dark night, the sounds of them disapparating filling the air, I held tightly to Draco. "I don't want them to go," I whispered, tears slipping from my eyes. "I hate this war. Will I see them all again? What if one of them doesn't come back? I can't lose them."

I felt his arms tighten around me in an attempt to comfort me. I knew acting like this was useless, seeing as it would change nothing, but I couldn't help it. "It's going to be okay," Draco murmured in my ear, pulling me away from the back door, closing it to block out the now empty yard. "Everyone will be fine."

"What if they're not?" I asked tearfully, worry filling me to the point I felt physically ill. Sometime I wished I was out their fighting alongside my family and friends if only to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn't have time to worry.

"What ifs will drive you mad," Draco said, pulling me into the living room and making me sit down. Taking his seat next to me on the couch, Draco motioned to Fleur. "May I?" he asked, reaching out for little Vicky.

The blond baby reached out with a smile towards Draco. "It would seem I don't have much say," Fleur said with a smile, putting on brave face in the absence of her husband. She stood enough to hand her daughter over before sitting back down next to Mum.

I watched as Draco took the little baby in his arms, cradling her gently. It never ceased to amaze me how good he was with my niece. The little girl we simply enchanted with the tall, aristocratic blond man. Squirming around until he held her up, she grabbed a handful of his hair. I felt a smile form on my lips as I watched the two of them.

Fleur turned to Mum and began talking to her, Mum knitting absently as she carried on their conversation. Picking up my book, I opened it to where I'd last left off but my mind wasn't in the words on the pages. Instead, I was watching Draco and Vicky. I'd never seen anything so sweet as the first time he'd held her. It was so obvious he'd never held a baby before but for some reason the little girl had taken an instant liking to him. Ever since that day, anytime Bill and Fleur brought her over they were inseparable. It would seem I wasn't the only Weasley that loved him.

The hours seemed to drag by so slowly, the clock seeming to stop more than once. Once Vicky had fallen asleep, Draco had taken her and put her in the playpen set up near the fireplace. She didn't even stir when he lay her down. I smiled at the thought of what it would be like when we had kids. He'd be so good with them. He had a gentle touch with babies.

As I watched Vicky sleeping, I wished I too could slip into the oblivion of sleep. It would be nice to escape the worry for a little while. Instead, I curled up in Draco's warm arms and waited. I waited for the return of my family and friends, waited for news of the battle, waited to see if any families would be rip apart on this night. The sun was just beginning to rise when they finally came home.

One look at my father's face, I knew something had happened, something bad. I waited with baited breath as, one by one, people began to file into kitchen. I let out a small sigh of relief when the last of my bedraggled brothers came in, each supporting battle scars. We'd have our work cut out for us trying to heal everyone. But someone was missing among the Order members.

Everyone took seats at the long table as Mum, Fleur and I, with help from Draco who'd begun to learn some of the healing spells, started healing people, starting with the worst first. Thankfully, nobody had been hurt too bad. Well, sort of. "What happened, Arthur?" Mum asked as she healed a cut on his head, her hands shaking a bit as she waited for the news.

"We were outnumbered," he began in a tired voice. "They didn't know we were coming, but they'd prepared for anything from the looks of it. We fought out best and even managed to drive them away for a bit." Dad shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "You were right Draco, Lucius was leading them."

Kingsley started talking then, telling how one of the major barricades was destroyed and the group of our guys had to scatter, being pursued by Death Eaters. "Mundungas was killed when he took a curse to save Harry's life. He was very brave tonight. He died nobly."

Silence descended on the table, the loss of one of our own taking its toll. Sure, nobody had ever really liked Mundugas much but he was still one of us. He'd still fought, to the death, trying to make this world a better place. He gave his life to save Harry. Why had nobody ever been nice to him? The guilt and sadness lay thick in the Burrow that early morning. It was with silence that people started to drift home to try and sleep.

For a second time that week, I found myself in Draco's room, unable to sleep in my own. I cried on his chest as the early morning light filtered into his room. It could have so easily been one of my brothers that had died. It could have been Harry. What would have happened if Mundungas hadn't taken the curse for Harry? How many more would die before this war was over?

Did you like it? Well, maybe like isn't the right word… Was it okay? Yeah, that's a better way to phrase the question. I knew it was only logical for someone to die but I didn't wanna kill someone I liked. I hope nobody is too broken up over Mundugas dying. At least I made him die heroically, even if it is a bit out of character. But, you never know, maybe he does have heart!

Keep those reviews coming people! BJ and I thank you very much!

And remember, a happy author writes better and faster! So review and make me happy!