A/N: SometimeSelkie, thanks a bunch.

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The Safe House

Chapter Nineteen

Hermione leaned into her husband on the sofa in the front room of Grimmauld Place. She was deep in thought whilst Ron was absent-mindedly stroking her arm, staring blankly out the nearest window. The couple were waiting for Harry's arrival; an urgent owl had arrived that morning requesting both of their presences. Ron had stopped participating in Order business after Christmas, and Hermione had not been actively involved since the explosion at the Muggle museum. They knew that Harry had been meeting with Narcissa Malfoy, hoping to make contact with Lucius Malfoy. Hermione knew where Ron stood on Narcissa's plan to leave a message for her husband. He thought it was a waste of time, and he had rowed with Harry again about whether they should move on or keep searching for Voldemort. Ron did not trust the witch, always connecting her to her son's betrayal, but Hermione was undecided on Narcissa's motives.

Voldemort, by all estimations, had called one last meeting of his followers in late September, explaining to them that he had come up with a new plan. A plan that would require his absence for some time, but that he would be back and stronger than ever when he returned. The only Death Eaters remaining that had any knowledge of this plan were leaving with him, and that left the Order wondering if he was running or if had convinced himself that he had succeeded in his plan with Ginny. Because they all believed that Ginny was not a Horcrux, and Severus Snape had guaranteed that Voldemort's plan was impossible, the only urgent reason to continue searching for the evil leader would be to find the missing witch.

Hermione was torn. Ginny had been like a sister to her, and yet she was ready to live a normal life. Other than the Battle Of Hogwarts, most of this war had been fought in small attacks or in acts of terrorism. It had been years of living in fear of being found and of painstakingly searching for Horcruxes and Voldemort's many followers. Losing her baby had almost killed her spirit, and she was well aware of how much it had affected Ron. It was hard to argue with him when he pointed out that his entire childhood had been spent during a time that Voldemort was in hiding. He spoke of happy memories with his family, though he rarely mentioned Ginny. He wanted them to have their own family, their own happy memories. She wanted it so badly that it made it easy to pretend that Ginny's clock hand was not still pointing at 'home'. It was easy, in her mind, to let her friend be dead. That is, until she saw the pain in Harry's eyes.

Harry and Pansy walked into the front room from the kitchen. Their bodies were close to each other, and Hermione narrowed her eyes at her friend. She was not expecting Pansy to be included in this meeting. It had always bothered her, the way Harry had turned to Pansy when Ginny had left him. She knew that Ginny was only interested in joining the fight, not in actually ending her relationship with him. At first, she thought that maybe Harry was using Pansy to make Ginny jealous, to make her come running back to him. But the fact that Pansy had joined him in his missions and in his bed had not been missed by Ginny, and Hermione had to agree that her friend was justified in cutting him off completely. After Ginny's disappearance, Harry had included Pansy in more and more Order business, but he did not inform the Order of the whole truth about her rescuer. Only Ron and Hermione knew about Draco's complete role in the war. Hermione transferred her gaze to the Slytherin witch and noticed that her eyes were glassy.

Harry sat down on the other sofa, and after a moment of hesitation, Pansy joined him. Harry challenged Hermione's frown with his eyes and waited for Ron to turn from the window before beginning. "We found Goyle. He completely broke for Pans." Harry looked proudly at the woman to his right, but she hung her head.

Ron spoke first, "That's what we are here for? Because you found Gregory Goyle? Who bloody cares? What load of rubbish could he have to tell anyway?" He harrumphed and looked back out the window.

Hermione gently squeezed his thigh, trying to get him to at least act like he cared. She tried to sound sincere as she asked, "How did you get him to talk, Pansy?"

The upset witch looked up, surprised at being addressed. She glanced at Harry before replying. "We have a history. He had always been a good friend to me. I had spared him from Theo's wrath once, and he really cared about," she paused and fresh tears fell from her eyes. Harry took her hand in comfort and quickly stole a glance at Ron.

Hermione noticed Harry checking with Ron, and she felt Ron tense at her side, indicating that he was indeed paying attention. She continued with the kind tone, "Go on, Pansy. What did he care about?"

"He cared about Draco as much as I did." She sniffed once and then shuddered as she noticed Ron level his cold eyes at her and Hermione's eyes darken at the mention of the Slytherin. She bit her lip and held on to Harry's hand more tightly.

Harry scowled at his friends and took over the story. "He told us something I thought you would like to hear, and it will help us with our plan. He told us that he knows, for a fact, that Draco Malfoy is dead." Pansy again hung her head as she began weeping silently.

Ron had shifted his entire body towards Harry and removed his arm from Hermione's shoulders. He leaned forward and took Hermione's hand, mirroring the couple across from them. "You have my attention. I would love to hear about that bastard's death. Oh shut up, witch! He was a traitor to both sides, and he doesn't even deserve your pathetic tears."

Harry gritted his teeth, but he knew better than to get into that argument with Ron. He stroked Pansy's hand with his thumb as he continued. "Goyle was there the night it happened. Voldemort had called an informal gathering late on the night of June 4th, 2005. They had met at Malfoy Manor, unannounced. He had brought together all of the Death Eaters that Draco had been close to. At this point, Narcissa had already come to us. It was all part of a plan to make Lucius suffer, though we don't know why. Voldemort also wanted to send a warning to the others. At midnight, he announced to the party that he had a special surprise for Lucius. He then performed the Curse of the Mark on Draco for almost a half an hour. They all just stood and watched as he laughed. Goyle said he rarely performs this curse because, according to speculation, it would take too much of his power. According to Voldemort, only traitors would be treated with this kind of death. Goyle also commented that he had never heard of him performing it for more than ten or fifteen minutes. There was no way Draco could have survived."

Pansy suddenly spoke up, "It was on his birthday! He waited so that he could kill him on his birthday!"

At this, Ron began laughing loudly. "How perfect! Gotta hand it to him on that one. Bloody brilliant, I tell ya. And doing it front of all his friends and his father. Thank you, Pansy. Thank you so much for finding out this little bit of information. I may have to visit Goyle myself just to hear the firsthand version of it. In fact, maybe we can use a Pensieve and watch it all happen. Of course, actually watching the slimy git twitching in pain would be so much better."

"Enough, Ron." Hermione had sat forward. She looked into her husband's eyes and could see the hurt that lay behind the mask of indifference that had returned to his face. "It's done. He is gone. He has paid for his actions. It's time to move on." She turned back towards the other couple. "So how does this help Narcissa's plan?"

Harry was still watching Ron as he answered. "Now that we know for a fact that Malfoy was killed, we have the perfect way to get Lucius's attention. Since they never found his body, we are going to claim that we did. We're going to let Narcissa bury her son, and we think that Lucius will make an effort to visit the grave, which is where she will leave him a message."

Hermione became much more interested and eagerly asked, "How can you be sure he will go to the grave?"

"Luna will be publishing an exposé, to go along with his burial announcement, questioning whether Draco was a Death Eater. This will hopefully get to him. Since technically, we are not supposed to know when he died, his death date will be left off of the headstone. We also think that he should be buried at the Malfoy Estate."

Pansy, having controlled her tears after Ron's outburst, joined in with, "Lucius Malfoy can be a terrible man, but he loved his son. He will find a way to pay his respects. And because his birthday is now so significant, Narcissa believes that he will choose that day to visit the grave."

Hermione looked over at her husband, who was glaring at the Slytherin witch, and sighed. More than saving her long-lost friend, she wanted to save her husband. And hoping that this could, once and for all, lead to the end of Voldemort's reign of terror, she took a deep breath and said, "Let's plan this funeral."

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Draco stood over his seven-month old son, washing him in the sink of the upstairs loo, and wearing a large grin on his face. He had been humming whilst he performed his nightly duty. He enjoyed this time with his son; it was one of the few things that he alone did with the baby. Thuban happily splashed in the shallow bath of water and alternately sucked on his fingers and toes.

"You better be a good boy tonight, Snitch. Mummy has finally agreed to let you sleep in your own room. Do you realize how long it has been since Daddy and Mummy have had a proper shag in a bed? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'll take the floor or sofa or any other place over none at all. But if you ever want to have a brother or sister, you're going to have to let us have some more time to ourselves. Not that I would know about having a sibling, but your mum has loads of brothers, and they all seemed pretty happy about that in school."

Thuban responded with a loud laugh and several babbling syllables.

"I agree completely, which is why, if you are ever to have that brother or sister you want so much, Daddy and Mummy need to start practicing more. Which brings me back to my main point." He carefully lifted the wiggly and slippery baby from his bath and wrapped him in a towel. "I really need you to sleep all night tonight, and not be afraid of your room. You have napped in there all week, Snitch; you should like it."

Thuban chirped a few more syllables and then sneezed into his father's chest.

Draco dried and warmed the baby with his wand before dressing him in a fresh nappy and his pyjamas. "Please don't let Mummy hear that, Thuban. She won't let you out of her sight if she thinks you're getting sick. Besides, I thought we had an understanding. You are half-Gryffindor and should be brave enough to stay in your room tonight."

The smallest Malfoy scrunched up his little cherub face and sneezed again.

"I see. So you must be more Slytherin, then. Well, besides that being the right way to go, and Daddy is very proud of you, with what do I need to entice you?"

Thuban continued to look upset and then began to whinge his special cry for Ginny.

"Impressive move, my son. All right then, I will give you time with Mummy all by yourself, but then she's mine."

He turned with Thuban cradled in his arms to face a smirking Ginny leaning against the doorframe of the loo. She chuckled at the caught expression on his face. "Are you corrupting my precious baby? Bribing him so that you can have your naughty way with me?"

Thuban immediately turned towards his mother and wriggled to get closer to her. Draco looked down at him, kissed his forehead, and whispered, "Remember our agreement." He handed the baby to Ginny and winked at her as he passed by. He stopped at the door to their bedroom and enjoyed the view of the newly vacant space where the cot had resided for far too long.

After twenty minutes of reading and waiting patiently for Ginny to finish nursing, Draco tiptoed across the hall and peered into the other room. He silently watched Ginny with Thuban. She was so beautiful to him as a mother, and he was still somewhat in awe when watching her suckle his child. She glanced up at him and gave him a warm smile before indicating that the baby had fallen asleep. Draco quietly crossed to her and gently lifted the little boy after Ginny kissed his cheek goodnight. He slowly lowered him into the cot and froze in place, prepared to soothe him if he were to become fussy. After a few more minutes of watching the subtle rise and fall of his little tummy, Draco turned to his wife and lifted his brows. Ginny reached over the side of the cot and tucked the covers more securely around the sleeping baby. Draco checked the Extendable Ears to make sure they were angled towards the cot and followed Ginny out of the room, softly closing the door behind them.

Ginny stood at the closet, changing into her nightgown, when Draco grabbed her from behind and began assaulting her neck. He mumbled his words whilst his lips were working up towards her jaw line. "You will not be needing that this evening, my love."

And before she could respond, he had lifted her up and carried her away from the closet, placing her on the bed. He stood in front of her and began pulling off his own clothes with a broad smile on his face. She was still in her bra and knickers, and she leaned back on her elbows, enjoying the show before her.

He laughed at her new pose and almost tripped over his trousers. "You see how excited you make me?"

"Not yet, it seems." She looked pointedly at his crotch and laughed.

"Oh, Ginevra, you know that I'm more than capable of being ready."

"Darling, I'm not worried at all, except for why you're acting like a teenaged boy. It's not as if we haven't been together lately."

Finally naked, he pushed her back onto the bed and climbed on top of her. He began stroking her breasts and let one of his hands slowly work down to her bum. He gave her a lingering kiss before he said, "I can't help it if I'm happy about getting our room back. And it's been five full nights of sleep; I feel amazing."

She turned her neck to allow him access to her favourite kissing spot, and he reached underneath her to unclasp her bra. Taking her sensitive nipple into his mouth, he began moaning as he pushed his pelvis into her. Ginny gasped at his attack, and she sighed, "Yes, you are amazing. And I concede my earlier statement. You are definitely ready."

It only took a few more thrusts of his hips before Draco growled into her chest as he yanked her knickers down her legs. Ginny giggled at him and playfully put a foot up on his chest. He gently took her ankle in his hands and began kissing down her leg very slowly. When he reached his destination, he did not hesitate to continue his oral exploration of her body.

Thoroughly enjoying his attentions, Ginny bucked against him and held onto his head with one her hands. Just as she was about to climax, he sat up and smirked at her. "Did you want me to continue, love? Or should I truly be a teenaged boy and leave you wanting?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "Draco, it would be impossible for you to leave me wanting at this point without neglecting your own needs. Now finish what you've started and make us both happy." She reached down and grabbed hold of him, causing his whole body to jerk forward. He let her toy with him for a moment, his eyes glazed over in lust. Finally, he kissed her deeply and fulfilled her request, making them both happy two times that night.

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A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review.

I hate to say it, but it does get a bit discouraging when there is not a lot of response. Tell me your thoughts please. This fic is pretty much completed, but I'm always open to re-working things. Plus, it keeps me motivated to finish up the next chapter and get it posted.