A/N: Thanks to SometimeSelkie for being my beta.

The Safe House

Chapter Sixteen

"Happy Birthday to the one, who has brought joy to us all

Let's celebrate this time of fun, with the Happy Birthday Call

Happy … Happy … Happy Happy Birthday!"

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Draco kissed his wife and her round belly after she finished singing the little song to him. "I have not heard that since I was little." He had just entered the kitchen to find his wife cooking a special breakfast for him.

"My brothers always would sing it to me, but then they would tickle me so I kind-of hated it after a while. Don't worry, no tickles from me." She turned back to the stove and finished loading the plates with food.

Draco walked up behind Ginny and kissed her neck. "None?" Then he took the plates from her and began setting the table for her.

"Well, not the brotherly kind. I don't think I could do much damage right now anyway, I feel so big and clumsy. Snitch is about to be renamed Bludger. And to think I still have over a month to go." She started rubbing her large belly lovingly and then switched to rubbing her back before she carefully sat down in the closest chair.

"You are beautiful, and I love seeing my baby growing inside of you." He knelt in front of her and kissed her tummy. "Snitch, you need to be nice to Mummy or she will not be nice to Daddy."

Her eyes gleamed with amusement. "I am always nice, Draco. I don't know what you are talking about." He glanced up through his lashes and gave her a quick smirk before returning to his breakfast.

Ginny had become rather moody over the last few weeks. She was feeling tired and cranky one minute, scared and anxious the next, and then overwhelmed with joy and love for both the baby and her husband. She knew that Draco had been jumping through many hoops in order to keep her calm, and then as if to demonstrate such mood swings, she started crying as she remembered all the ways he showed her that he loved her.

Draco saw the tears start and immediately plastered a calming smile on his face. Seven more weeks. Seven more weeks and then you get your wife back. He let her cry for a moment, hoping it would pass, and then when it didn't, he crossed over to her and started rubbing her shoulders. This, of course, made her cry even more, and he stopped quickly, stepping back from her and looking to the heavens for some kind of answer. Unfortunately for Draco, this too was a mistake, for Ginny had turned to tell him that she loved him and saw the look of exasperation on his upturned face.

She began nastily, "I'm so sorry that I am so much trouble for you, Draco. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be living with me like this. You can't even get away from my giant, fat, grotesque –"

"Ginevra, stop it. I just told you that I think you're beautiful. Why would I keep pestering you for attention every night if I thought otherwise?"

"That's right, I can't even perform my wifely duties properly. I can't do anything anymore!" She started sobbing again.

When he saw her eyes clench shut, he shook his head. "You are doing everything you should, love. You made me a wonderful breakfast. You sang me a birthday song – "

"Oh God, Draco, I'm ruining your birthday," she wailed, her voice rising to screeching level, and she pushed her food aside and lowered her head onto her arms.

"No, you're not. As I was saying, you are doing the most important thing of all. You are," he knelt down next to her again and lifted her face while he placed one hand on her tummy, "making our child. You are making Snitch strong and healthy and perfect. Just like you."

She sighed and gave him a watery smile. "I love you. I'm sorry I'm so loony." Her tears had stopped falling and her voice was returning to its normal pitch. "That was quite lovely, what you said. Thank you."

He stood and kissed the top of her head, and with another calming smile adorning his face, he finished his birthday breakfast.

ooo

Starting in the last three months of her pregnancy, Ginny began teaching Draco many of the basic healing spells that could be needed during the birthing process. He had been nervous about being the one with the wand, but as she constantly reminded him, he really would not want her anywhere near a wand whilst she was giving birth. They had begun to write out different plans or scenarios for Draco to follow so that he would feel as prepared as possible. Ginny, unfortunately, had not ever worked with obstetrics because her focus had been on emergency healing for the war. She had learnt the basics in the early days of her training, but that had been years before. She had only witnessed one live birth, but since it had been Fleur's first delivery, Molly had been in charge. That had also been many years ago and before she had completed any of her training.

From June into July, any free time was spent mostly on getting everything ready for the baby. Ginny had decided that the entire house would need to be cleaned at least twice before she would even consider giving birth. This meant that Draco was a very busy man, as he would not allow Ginny to do much cleaning this late in her pregnancy. By the middle of July, the house was up to par for the expectant mother, and Draco was starting to feel more prepared to help deliver his child.

As the months had passed, Draco had kept putting off telling Ginny about his plan for leaving the house. At first, it was because she had become so happy. The second trimester of her pregnancy had been a joyful time for both of them. If he was very honest with himself, he was enjoying having sex again and did not want that to end any sooner than necessary. Once she entered the third trimester, the training for the baby's arrival had begun. Draco had never forgotten about his plan, but learning about the possible complications of birth proved to be a welcome, although frightening, distraction. Ginny had calculated that the baby was due on or close to the twenty-fourth of July. With one week left, Draco realized that his time had come, and he would have to let Ginny know what he was determined to do.

Draco came in from the garden and deposited the vegetables in the sink. Ginny was sipping some tea and humming to herself, lost in her thoughts about the baby. She had been in a very good mood all day, and he felt encouraged to start the serious conversation.

"Ginevra, we need to talk about something important." He pulled his normal chair around the table in order to sit closer to her.

"Are you really that worried? I'm feeling great, and besides, I will be doing all the real work." She looked at him, giving him a loving smile.

He took her hand in his and began, "I have found a possible way to break the wards – that does not involve me dying." He gave her a serious look, and she nodded. "I did some research on a spell I remembered from Durmstrang, and I found the spell which could release me from the Mark."

She didn't look happy for even one moment at his revelation, but she did look concerned. "I'm just going to assume that since we have not left the house, that this spell isn't as simple as you would like me to believe."

"Ginevra, don't get upset. It is a Dark magic spell, but I have given this a lot of thought, and if it comes down to protecting you and our child, then I will perform it."

She exhaled sharply through her nose. "All right. Let's have it then. What is it?"

"The Orad Karashuotta Spell allows the caster to release his or her magical core. I would become non-magical, essentially a Squib. I would never be able to regain my magical abilities. It should break the bond with Voldemort as it is only my magic that connects me to him. If it works, then we could leave."

Her eyes began to glisten, but her voice was steely. "You will not do this spell. You cannot give up your magic, Draco. There is no reason for you to even consider this. You – "

"No reason? I'm looking at two of them right now." He gripped her hand tighter and continued, "I do not want to do this, Ginevra, but I won't hesitate if there are any problems during the delivery. I would rather die than let something happen to either one of you."

"You said 'if it works' and that it 'could release you'. What if it doesn't? Then what? You'll have given up who you are. Would you really be willing to take that chance? I cannot ask that of you." He started to answer her, but she ignored him and continued to defend her position. "What if we are still stuck here, and I need your magic to heal the baby or me? No, it's too great a risk, Draco."

"You're not asking, I'm giving. This is what I can do to protect you. Part of me would like to just do it now and get us out of here. Don't you know that I love you and our baby more than I could ever love being a wizard?"

"And if it doesn't work?"

"I promise that I won't do it unless there is no other option left. I promise, Ginevra."

He pulled her over onto his lap and held her to him. She whispered words of love into his neck and prayed that they would never be faced with such a terrible decision.

ooo

July twenty-fourth was a beautiful day to have a baby. Unfortunately, it did not happen for the Malfoys. As she lay next to Draco that night, Ginny bemoaned the thought of being pregnant any longer. She was not feeling well. Her back was aching, and her feet and legs were swollen. There had been many false alarms throughout the day, but no real labour pains had begun. By the twenty-eighth, she was almost unbearable to be around. Draco was faced with the dilemma of leaving his very pregnant wife unattended in order to keep his own nerves under control or of tolerating Ginny's terrible mood and becoming delirious with anticipation. Finally, on the afternoon of the thirtieth, Ginny screamed with pain and then shouted with joy as she stood in the kitchen.

Draco, who had been taking a much-needed nap, came rushing through the swinging door from the hall. "Is it time?" His eyes were wide with fear, and he felt his stomach turn when he noticed the puddle of fluid beneath her.

"My water just broke and SWEET MERLIN!" she screamed as she grabbed her large belly.

Draco rushed to her side and gave her support. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay - "

"Draco, stop saying 'okay' and help me to the bedroom."

"Are you sure you can walk?"

"Of course I'm sure. Now, look at the time, we need to keep track of the contractions."

He glanced at his watch that she had insisted he started wearing for this purpose. "3:43."

When Draco had situated Ginny in their bed, she immediately told him to get out the list of instructions and to prepare the room. He gathered the towels and the basin of water, he set out the potions on the bedside cabinet, and he reread the list of instructions out loud. An hour after arriving in the bedroom, Ginny was starting to fear that something was wrong. She had not felt much movement for a while. She did not know any of the advanced spells to reveal the baby's health and progress, so the two expectant parents had to simply wait and try not to fear the worst. Suddenly, Ginny started having a contraction. Draco jumped at her cries and ran to the bed from his chair. She smiled at him after it passed and told him that it wasn't so bad.

Four hours later, she was not smiling. The contractions were becoming stronger and occurring closer together. Draco had moved back to her side and was holding her hand. In his mind, the baby would have already been delivered an hour or two after her water had broke. She had told him otherwise, but he simply could not imagine that it would take this long. At 10:30, Ginny decided that she needed to walk again. Draco walked along side her for twenty minutes, pausing every five minutes for Ginny to get through another contraction. Finally, at 11:37, Ginny began pushing. It was such a thrilling and terrifying experience; Draco lost all track of time. He continually encouraged her and cooled her with the wand. When he finally saw his baby, it was as if the world had stopped moving. He couldn't believe it was over and that he was a father.

"It's a boy!" Draco held his son up, used the wand to sever the cord, and quickly placed him on Ginny's bare chest. She smiled and laughed as she began cleaning and drying off their baby boy who had begun screaming.

Ginny looked up at her husband and said, "Draco, I love you. Thank you."

"I love you." He moved around to her side and kissed his baby's head. "Thuban Severus Malfoy. My son. I love you more than words can say."

Draco wept with joy as he watched Ginny and Thuban. His son was calming down as Ginny cooed at him and stroked his head of hair, almost white like his father's. He was so happy and lost in thought that he almost didn't notice her arms starting to loosen around the baby.

"Ginevra!" Draco grabbed Thuban and placed him in the bassinet that he had sitting next to the bed. He noticed that she was bleeding, and he grabbed the instructions. Even though he had studied the paper repeatedly, seeing his wife unconscious and lying in a pool of blood was enough to make him lose all focus. He briefly thought about using the Orad Karashuotta Spell, but he was afraid that she was right about needing him to be able to perform magic, and he realized that there would be no time to find help outside of the house if it did work. He quickly grabbed the vial of Blood Replenishing Potion and forced it down her throat.

He shouted, "Ennervate!" and her eyes fluttered open. He gently picked up his crying son and carried him back to her. "I need you to try to feed him."

Her eyes were glassy, but she nodded her head. "Okay," she rasped.

Once Thuban was starting to nurse and was secured in place with a few pillows, Draco performed one of the healing spells that Ginny had taught him and began vigorously rubbing her lower abdomen. It was only ten minutes, but to Draco it was as if a lifetime had passed before the bleeding had stopped and Ginny became more alert. He looked at the clock and noticed it was 1:05 a.m. He used the wand to clean up the blood and gently removed the towels from underneath Ginny. He crawled into the bed, exhausted from the stress of the delivery, and wrapped his arms around his family.

Ginny finished nursing Thuban, and handed him over to Draco. "He is so beautiful. I have never seen something more beautiful than our son."

"Yes, he is. You are amazing, Ginevra. I'm so proud of you. I will never be able to thank you enough. Look how perfect he is."

"Yeah well, he looks like you." Ginny smiled up at Draco and then yawned.

"You should sleep, love. Didn't you say we should sleep when he does? It's already almost two in the morning. He was born around 12:20, I think. I forgot to look at the time."

After swaddling the baby in a blanket and reluctantly placing little Thuban in the bassinet, Draco climbed back in bed and snuggled up to Ginny who was already fast asleep.

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oooooOOOooOooOOOooooo

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Molly had been distracted all day. Something was bothering her, and somehow, she thought it had to do with Ginny. She had walked past the family clock probably twenty times that afternoon. Arthur had even noticed during dinner that she had left the table three times for no apparent reason, always returning with a mixture of relief and confusion on her face. He finally asked her what was happening in their living room, and she answered that she had no idea.

Later in the evening, after convincing Molly to take a walk and enjoy some time together, Arthur stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing off the dishes. "You know, I think Charlie has decided to stay here after all. He says that it's too dangerous with his injuries to go back to the dragons, but I think maybe he finally met someone." After a moment of silence, he turned back to the table and noticed that his wife had once again mysteriously disappeared. "Molly?"

Placing the last dish on the drying rack, he wiped his hands off on the towel and headed for the living room and for his wife. "Molly? Did something happen?" He tried to stay calm as he glanced between the preoccupied witch and the family clock.

"What? Oh, no. Nothing has happened," she complained.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Something is wrong with Ginny." She finally broke free from the clock and stared into Arthur's worried eyes. "I don't know what it is, but I know it's her. Her hand hasn't flinched all day."

"Molly, you have to stop looking for trouble. You know you will always find it. Let's just go to bed." He reached for her hand and began to gently tug her towards the stairs, but she stopped in her tracks.

"I am not going to just go to bed. If something is happening with Ginny, I want to know about it."

"Well, that's not going to happen whether you are watching the clock or not." He frowned and then took a deep breath. It was hard to feel so helpless when it came to his missing child, and he chose to not dwell on it most of the time.

"I know that," she snapped, but then she gave him an apologetic smile. "I know I can't be with her, but I can be with her in spirit, and if something happens to her, I want to be thinking of her when it does. Can't you understand that?"

He slowly crossed back to her and embraced her gently. "Of course, I understand. Let's make ourselves comfortable. I'll get us some tea." He kissed the top of her head and led her to the sofa, placing an old blanket across her knees.

Together they watched the clock and talked about their missing daughter. They were well aware of what could be happening to their youngest child, but Molly refused to think that Voldemort was acting out his plan. Instead, they laughed and cried as they remembered all of the special times that they had shared with Ginny. It was after midnight, and Arthur was recounting the first time he had taken Ginny with him to the Ministry when Molly's face turned pale. Even before Ginny's hand had clicked into place, Molly noticed the slow and steady movement from 'home' to 'mortal peril'. She moved forward from the sofa and sank to her knees in front of the clock. Arthur quickly joined her and held her close to him. Quietly, they sent prayers and love to their daughter, counting the moments until surely she would be leaving them forever. Molly buried her head into Arthur's chest as the hand began another painfully slow movement, but Arthur couldn't tear his eyes away from the clock. His heart burst with joy as he realized that the hand was moving back to 'home' and his silent cries turned into loud laughter in his relief. Molly had quickly ripped away from his tight embrace as she heard him laughing, and after checking for herself to see if it was true, she joined him in his excitement. Together they sat on the floor of their living room, hugging and kissing each other, and trying not to remember that their happiness could be taken away again at any moment.

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A/N: Reviews please. It makes my day and gives me the courage to keep writing and posting.

Orad Karashuotta - Aramaic for Expel Magic