Now, Then And Forever
Disclaimer: Everything from
the last chapter's disclaimer applies here. But I don't remember what I put so
I'll say it again. It's J K's not mine. (See how the not
is bold and underlined?)
Ginny awoke to the smell of pancakes. Fresh made
pancakes. She immediately had a vision of a magnificent pile of hot pancakes
dripping melted butter and almost immediately started drooling. She sprang to
her feet and walked to the door. The wonderful smell grew stronger. Then she
saw a flash of blond hair. It was Draco. Wearing an apron, standing in front of
her stove. And he was cooking. Cooking! She couldn't contain her
laughter and started giggling uncontrollably. Which cause him to whirl around
and glare at her indignantly.
"What the heck is it, Ginny?"
"Draco... apron!" she coughed in an attempt to
smother her giggles. "I mean... Draco Malfoy... cooking... stove!" she started
spluttering again. Draco came up to her side and started patting her back. She
burst out laughing again and felt her legs give way. She grasped his arms and
made an effort to stand up and try to regain her dignity.
"Excuse me for trying to be nice to you," he
muttered, annoyed. "Last time I do anything like this again. I was just trying
to make it up to you for being-"
"Annoying. A git. Nosy. A pig. Or a ferret!" she
chuckled again. Draco's arm slid around to cover her mouth and cut off the
seemingly endless supply of giggles.
"Did I ask you? Anyway, this was the only apron in the
whole damn house."
"I don't cook much. Normally I go out with my
friends or stick something frozen in the microwave. But it's good that you're
aware that the apron–which should speak for itself, really–has a fluffy bunny
rabbit on it."
She pulled herself away from his clutch and took him
in again. His hair–normally so perfectly groomed–was mussed from sleep. Of
course, there was the apron. The red apron with a white rabbit standing out
from it. Red and white, she mused. So much opposites yet they go so well
together. Her eyes traveled
up his body, to his face, where his smirk made her aware of the fact that she
was staring. Don't go red, don't go red. Don't blush, don't you dare blush.
Not in front of Draco Malfoy. She did anyway, and his smirk widened.
"Looking at something Ginny?"
"What makes you think that?" she muttered, somewhat
embarrassed.
"Perhaps the fact that you were... Oh, I'll go out
on a limb here. Maybe because... you were looking?"
She was about to get annoyed when she got a vision
of Draco in a field of red flowers, white bunny rabbits jumping alongside him;
his striking blond hair making him blend right in. She started giggling again.
And once again his hand reached around and covered her mouth. "Women," he
muttered. This was met with a jab in the gut.
"Look, Draco, you've gone to all this trouble, so
why don't you hop along there and get us some food?" She smiled at her rather
lame pun. (Which of course he wasn't aware of – she wasn't about to share that
visual image with him.) It widened to a grin as he did as she had told him to,
with just a couple of grumbles. This is going to be fun...
***
"That was nice!" Ginny smiled prettily at him. "I
had no idea you could cook. I always figured you were the owning a house-elf
kind of guy."
"I do. But I went through a rebelling stage where I
made friends with a house-elf. She taught me how to cook."
"Ooo, bad rebelling Draco." Ginny smiled wickedly.
"Yup." He smiled back. "But," he added as an
afterthought, "my father never found out anyway, so it was a bit of a waste. By
the way, what were those?"
"You don't know what they are?"
"No, not really."
"Then why did you make them? And how did you
make them?"
"There was a nice picture on the cover. And there
were instructions on the box." He smiled rather sheepishly. Suddenly the
doorbell rang.
"Oh!" Ginny jumped up. "I forgot! I... uh... was
meant to baby-sit for a friend of mine. Would you mind? Just... wait here." She
ran to the front door. Draco ambled there too, taking his time.
"...remember to feed Emily her medicine after lunch,
and Ben's feeling crabby lately. Don't worry if he cries more than normal. The
doctor says he's fine. Make sure Emily doesn't share anything with him though
or he might get her cough. Don't... oh. Oh! Sorry Gin, I didn't know you had company."
"I... oh, you mean Draco?" Ginny gave a nervous
laugh as she saw Draco come up to them. "Don't worry, he's a friend. From...
school. Yeah! He's a friend from my old school."
Draco saw how nervous she was and a naughty thought flitted into his head. He decided to spice things up a little and give her friends a little to talk about. "Friends, luv? I thought we were a little more than that..." he smiled at her friend meaningfully. "I only met her again yesterday." He slung an arm over Ginny's shoulder and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"Well then, I'll just leave you two alone now. Don't
worry about the kids, they'll be good as gold." She smiled at Draco meaningfully
and gave Ginny a wink before shutting the door, leaving them alone with the two
children.
"Draco!"
"Yes?" He gave her as innocent a look as any Malfoy
could.
"Wha... why... you... git!" she spluttered. "You... Liz thinks... we... argh!"
"Now now Gin, hon," he coaxed. "Why are you getting
all worked up?"
Ginny shook off his arm and glared at him, hands on
waist. "Draco... now she thinks that we... we..." She blushed a deep red. He
just looked at her, wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Never mind. And here I was wondering why all the
Gryffindors hated Slytherins that much, when you didn't seem too bad at
first. You're definitely living up to your reputation Draco – sneaky, sly-"
"-clever, smart, rich, incredibly good-looking..."
"Not to mention ve-ry modest," Ginny added
dryly.
"Ah-em. But of course."
Ginny picked up a baby–Emily-from the double pram and plopped her in Draco's arms. He looked at her bewilderedly and shot a frightened look at Ginny. "Oh, for heaven's sakes, take her to the living room."
"Me? Ginny, you take it." He held the baby an arms
length away from him. Ginny pushed his hands away from her – back towards
Draco.
"Nuh uh. I've got Ben. You take her (Heavens–it!)
to the living room now and start playing with her. I'll be right along. Now,"
she told him firmly. "Listen to me Draco. By the end of this day you'll be as
good a dad as any guy can be. Hopefully."
***
"See then, it's not too bad, is it now?"
"Yes it is," Draco grumbled, but aside from it all, he
really wasn't as annoyed about baby-sitting as he acted to be. "For me. But
you're good with kids. I wouldn't have expected you to be."
"Why?"
"Well, you know..." Ginny looked at him quizzically.
"It's the whole... bad girl image." He wanted to hit himself as the words came
out. But she didn't look offended at all. Just amused. Which maybe was just as
bad. She was laughing at him. Again! For the what? Hundredth time that day?
"Bad girl image? Dunno, I never thought of it that way. I
assume you mean my clothing and such? It was just so annoying back... then.
Being the youngest and all. This is my time to just be me, and screw anyone
else who has any other ideas. Anyway, I like kids. People always bossed me
around–Ginny do this, Ginny do that. Now it's my turn!" she smiled
cheerfully at Draco-who was listening interestedly-before rambling on.
"I wouldn't have thought it of you, too. Being the
dad sort."
"What!" he gasped, flabbergasted. Dad sort?
She ignored him and continued her little speech,
"Look, the kids absolutely adore you. They like you so much it's cute. You'd
make a wonderful dad someday. Really!"
"Yeah," he drawled sarcastically. "Right."
"Shhh," Ginny hissed suddenly. "Em said something."
Emily held her hands out to Draco and giggled happily.
"Dada!"
Draco shot a desperate look at Ginny, "Please...
tell me she did not just say what I think she said."
"Oh!" Ginny burst out in a fit of hysterical laughter. "She… she called you Dad!" Ginny picked Emily up and swung her into Draco's arms. "Daddy Draco! May I say... I told you so! Daddy Draco!" Emily gurgled.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Ooo, a kiss! (On the
forehead, but still, a kiss!) And Daddy Draco! I had no clue that was coming
in... it just did! J Review please. Or I'll send the babies after
you. "_" ß
Evil eyes... Just review! I'll do a thanks section next chapter! Promise!
Thanks to...
ginny5, pyrobunnie, Apocalypse,
w&m_law,
Butterflygurl,
natz_hp_fanatic,
Alex, jane Bob, anchud, A persona – Thanks for reviewing! I love
reviews! J
Review, review! You get you own little space up here! (I'd love this bit to be
so much bigger… Hint, hint…)