HI all, this has a lot of back story to it, mainly about Draco and
Jessica's relationship. (Who is Jessica you ask? Well she was mentioned in
the last chapter, but she is Draco's baby's momma)
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"So, do we all remember the rules from last year?" Ron asked the other three as they stood at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall. Harry nodded, and both the girls rolled their eyes.
"Yes Ron, we remember" Ginny smiled sarcastically. "We have only played this game with the same rules since your fifth year, how could we not remember them"
"Just checking Ginny, because I seem to remember that Harry cheated last year" Ron replied, glaring at his best friend. Harry stepped back and covered his mouth in exaggerated shock.
"How dare you say something like that to me, you ungrateful swine, how many times have I saved your life over the years?" Harry grinned.
Ron replied by mumbling something that sounded like "I never would have needed saving if it wasn't for you" but he was smiling along with the others.
It was just after Christmas dinner, and the four Gryffindors were planning on spending the rest of the night continuing a Christmas tradition, Hide- and-Seek.
It started years back when they were being stupid, walking back from their dinner and hiding from each other, and now, they had continued it every year. The rules, which for some reason Ron loved enforcing, were quite simple to follow.
You could go any where in the castle except for the common room, if you were caught by Peeves, Filch, Mrs. Norris or Snape, you were out for the round, after going to hide, you had an hour to get back to the entrance stairs with out being caught, otherwise the person would was "It" could come after you with the Marauders Map.
The biggest scandal of the previous year (according to Ron) had been the fact that Harry had cheated. As soon as he was out of sight, he had thrown the invisibility cloak on and then sat on entrance stairs. He was obviously the first one back, and he won the game. Ron never shut up about it for weeks.
"So, who is going to hide and who is going to look?" Hermione asked
"Well, since Harry cheated last year" Ron grumbled.
"You never said it was against the rules to have the cloak with me" Harry replied in his own defense. Ginny smiled.
"Well, since you won't shut up about last year, maybe you should be looking for us first" Ginny replied. Hermione nodded.
"I agree, you look for us first as punishment for making us listen to you complaining for the last twelve months" Hermione smiled. Ron sighed in defeat.
"Fine, but who ever I catch first is up next" Ron replied and sat on the stairs. The other three looked at each other, and then took off in three different directions.
All four of them had learnt early on in the duration of this tradition that the game was easy to win. The school was huge, and there was no way that you could be caught (unless the allocated hour was up and some one had the map). In this game, predictability was the only factor you had to watch out for.
Ginny mentally went through all of her hiding spots from previous years. Hermione had learnt the hard way about hiding in the same place twice, and Harry had learnt his lesson about hiding close to the stairs. The easiest way not to be found was to go as far away from the stairs as possible and then double back to get to the stairs.
Sticking to the shadows, Ginny ran as quietly as possible through the halls. She didn't want to get caught by Filch or Snape, because then she would have to answer to Dumbledore (even thought she was sure that he knew they played. He knew everything).
After turning as many corners as possible, Ginny realized that she was heading towards the Astronomy tower. The perfect hiding spot really, because she knew that Ron would not want to climb all those stairs to get her. He was a lazy ass some times.
She pulled open the door and looked up the stair case. There were literally hundreds of stairs, if not thousands, but it would be worth it if she could win the game.
The upwards journey was tedious, but she made it eventually. When she got to the top she was surprised to see that the door to the observation room was open. The observation room was the classroom that the astronomy classes were held in. Inside there was a black board and star charts, and then, one of the walls had been taken away so that students could really see the stars while studying.
Moving to the slightly opened door, she pushed it open just a little bit more. Her attention was drawn to the solid stone safety barrier, and more importantly, the person who was standing on it.
Draco was standing on the safety barrier, his eyes shut and his arms stretched out. The icy cold air whipped around him, blowing his hair into his eyes. Ginny watched him silently, she was too scared to say anything, just incase she startled him and he slipped.
A disturbing thought broke into her mind, what if he was here to kill himself. What if what ever was going on with him had gotten to a point where he had decided he could no longer deal with it. What if...
"Hi Weasley" Draco's voice broke through the silence of the astronomy classroom, Ginny looked up at him, his eyes were still shut and he was still facing away from her.
"How did you....?" She asked. Draco smiled a little.
"I have a sixth sense about things like that, I can always tell when some one is watching me, but don't ask me how I knew it was you" He replied. He was still yet to turn to her and Ginny was still yet to leave the doorway.
"Umm, Draco, you aren't going to jump are you?" She asked, sounding quite scared "because no matter how bad it seems now, it is not that bad in the big scheme of things"
Draco chuckled and finally looked over his shoulder at her. Once again he was surprised at the concern that he saw in her eyes.
"I am not going to jump, I just....I just wanted to know what it would be like to fly" He told her. Ginny took a few steps towards him.
"Well, could you get down, because I don't want you to know what it would feel like to fall" She told him. Draco chuckled and then climbed down off of the barrier. Ginny approached it and they stood together in silence.
Ginny watched him as stared at the stars, there was so much hidden behind his eyes, pain and loss beyond his years. Just from his eyes he looked so lost and alone, he looked like a child who had been forced to grow up, small and venerable but with wisdom and maturity. He was deep in thought, and Ginny wished she knew what he was thinking, she wished that he felt comfortable enough around her to open up and tell her how he felt. Just from his eyes, she could tell he needed a friend.
"A knut for your thoughts?" she smiled, trying to keep her tone light. Draco glanced at her and sighed.
"Why do parents and grandparents always think that they know what is best for children?" Draco asked. Ginny shrugged.
"Problems with your father?" She asked. Draco shook his head.
"Problems with my daughter" he replied
Out of all of the possible answers that Ginny had expected, that was most definitely not one of them. Her first impulse was to laugh, but she could see from the look in his eyes that he was dead serious.
"Wow, ummmm, your ... daughter? Wow" she stammered, choking on the shock. "You have a daughter?"
"Yes" Draco replied.
"Umm, how, no don't answer that, I know how, but, umm, whoa..... I didn't expect that" Ginny cursed herself for not being able to form a proper thought in her mind. She looked at Draco, who was looking down over the school grounds.
"What happened?" She asked after she had given herself some time to process what he had told her. He sighed.
"That is a very long story Ginny" He told her. She smiled reassuringly.
"I don't have to be anywhere, unless, of course, you don't want to talk about it" Ginny replied. He sighed, and moved over to sit at one of the tables.
There was a silence between them as Draco just sat and gathered his thoughts. He was sick of hiding his thoughts and feelings from people, he wanted the opportunity to share his pain, he needed to share it, otherwise he knew he would go mad. The thoughts and feelings were eating him away from the inside, and he knew he would have to unload them sooner or later before he was driven to doing something like jumping from the astronomy tower.
And Ginny was here, and for the first time in his life, he realized that he could trust her. She seemed to really care about what he was going through. Who would it harm if he let some on into his little world.
"Today was her first Christmas" he told her in a soft, broken voice. Ginny came across the room and sat down on the floor by his feet. She shot him a look of encouragement.
"Then why didn't you spend it with her?" Ginny asked softly.
"I am not allowed to" he replied. Ginny could have cried at the pain that was in his voice.
"What do you mean that you are not allowed to?" She asked. Draco sighed.
"I might be easier if I start from the beginning" Draco told her, she nodded and reached out for one of his hands. It was a bold move, she knew, but she wanted to assure him that she could be trusted. Ginny smiled as she felt him squeeze her hand lightly.
"The summer between my fifth and sixth year, I met this girl. She was everything that I had ever hoped for. She was beautiful and she understood me in a way that no one had ever understood me before. I loved her, and from what she told me, she loved me to. But she was a muggle" Draco explained.
"A muggle" She repeated. It was a shock to her that Draco Malfoy, especially the Draco Malfoy of two years ago, would fall in love with a muggle girl.
"Yeah, I know, I was shocked to. I never expected to fall for a muggle either. Her name was Jessica Warner, I met her at this little park near my house, she was there with a whole bunch of her friends. They were kicking around this black and white ball, I guessed it was the sport they called soccer. Jess and her friends invited me to join them. And the day after that, and then again the day after that"
"They didn't treat me like I was different, I think because they didn't realize I was different. Jess was the only one who asked me questions that I needed to create answers for, but she seemed to trust everything I told her."
"Jess and I got close over the weeks, and it wasn't long before she asked me out. She asked me because I was too scared that she would turn me down if I asked her. After a few dates we got really serious about each other, we told each other everything, but I still created stories about myself, like where I went to school and why she couldn't met my parents. Her parents liked me, or at least I thought that they did, but now, I am not so sure"
"What did your father say when he found out you were dating a muggle?" Ginny asked, Draco smirked at the memory.
"He disowned me, then my mother threatened to leave him and take everything, so he took it back. He was in no way happy that I was with Jess, and he forbids me to have her in our house. I had no intention of taking her home, because that would mean I had to answer to many questions."
"My mum met her though, and she loved Jess. Mother was not really as anti- muggle as father was. Jess and I spent the rest of the summer together, and we continued to get closer. We both thought we were old enough and mature enough to take the next step. So we did"
Ginny, who was still holding Draco's hand, gave it another reassuring squeeze. He smiled down at her.
"In the end of August, we were all getting ready to go back to school. Jess wanted me to transfer from the boarding school that I told her I was going to so that I could go to the same school as her. That was when I felt the need to be honest with her. I sat her down and I told her all about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, I told her about the conflict between good and evil in our world, and I even explained to her about quidditch. At first she thought I was joking, and then she thought I was lying. She screamed at me and said I was crazy and that if I didn't want to go to her school I should just tell her the truth instead of making up some insane story about witchcraft....."
"So what did you do?" Ginny asked softly, Draco was shocked out of his memories suddenly and looked down at her. He had forgotten that she was sitting by his side, holding his hand and listening to him as he spoke.
"I did what I had to, to prove it that I was not crazy. I did a spell, and got a warning from the ministry, after that she believed me. She was shocked and surprised, but she believed me. Jess was angry I had not told her earlier. I tried to answer all of her questions, she believed me, but I could tell that she did not want to."
"I could tell that the moment I told her the truth that our relationship was over. Jessica told me that she could not deal with what my future would be as a wizard, I understood, it was a lot to deal with, because part of me wasn't sure if I could deal with her future as just a plain muggle. I never would have made her move to the Wizarding world, but I knew that I never would have moved to the muggle world for her. We decided that it was for the best if we just left it as a summer relationship. A great relationship that we would hold close to our hearts for the rest of our lives, but never could go back to"
"When I came back to school, that was when I started to get depressed. That was when people began to notice I was different. No one cared, but I was changing. I had no idea that breaking up with her would affect me so bad. I really did love her, which surprised me."
"I got a letter from her, about a month after school started again. Nothing could have prepared me for what she had to tell me.." Draco began.
"She was pregnant" Ginny finished for him. Draco nodded.
"The baby was due around the end of May, and it was, with out question, mine. Neither of us had been with any one in that way before, and she had not since, so this child was mine. Jess told me that she didn't want anything from me. She didn't want me to send her any money for the child, she didn't want me to see the child, in fact, she never wanted me to see my child."
"I had mixed feelings about hat at first. Part of me was ok with it, because I was 16, and that is way to young for me to have a child. I was to young to take responsibility for my actions, so I was glad that I didn't have to be around. But then, my dad found out that Jess was pregnant."
"He went ape, he was so angry that I could have gotten a muggle girl pregnant, he was so pissed that I had created a child that would be a half blood. The more that he hated me and my unborn child, the more I loved my child. I felt responsible for my kid, so I contacted Jess, but she would not let me be involved in our child's life. Part of me respected that, but another part of me, a larger part of me just sank deeper into the depression I was already in."
"I never believed in love at first sight until I was sent this." Draco continued, reaching into his coat pocket and removing the photo. He looked at it quickly before handing it to Ginny "Kayla Anne Warner, taken when she was aged 2 days old. My daughter, my baby, my angel."
Ginny studied that picture of the baby silently for a few minutes. The little girl was gorgeous. The little girl was so much like Draco, they had the same hair and eye color, and her tiny little mouth was twisted into a cute little smirk, the Malfoy smirk. Draco was right, because even Ginny found herself falling in love with the little angel.
"I am exactly 17 years older than my daughter. She was born on my birthday, May 28th. She was a happy, healthy little girl, but the strain of birth was to much for Jessica to handle. After she had Kayla, she was weak and she never gained any of her strength back." Draco took a deep breath, he had hardly spoken about any of this to any one, and the slowly healing wounds were being ripped open yet again, but he knew he had to get it all off of his chest, once and for all.
"She only lasted about a month and a half after Kayla was born before she ..... passed away" His voice was softer as he completed the sentence. Ginny looked up at him, and there was a tear running down his pale cheek. She reached up and wiped it away carefully.
"When I was told she had died, I went to her funeral. I saw Kayla for about a minute, she was so small and so delicate, so tiny. I couldn't believe that I had helped create that. I felt like crying. I also felt like crying because that was when I was told that I was never going to be allowed to go any where near my daughter."
"I was going to look after her after Hogwarts, I was going to get a job and a place to live and I was going to have her come live with me, but that would never happen, Jessica's parents would never let me do that, they wont even let me write letters to her. They told me to stay away, and for a long time I did, but then, I thought, the hell with it, she is my daughter right, I have every right to see her. I sent her that bear and a letter for Christmas, I got a letter back telling me that even me writing to her was causing Kayla damage"
"That is a load of bull!!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, Draco jumped slightly, and wiped the tears that he had on his cheeks. When he looked closely at Ginny's cheeks as well, he saw that she had been crying also. "You are that girl's father, how could you be damaging her?'
"I just want the chance to see her, just once" He sighed sadly.
"And you will see her, don't give up Draco. You said that you were going to look after her after Hogwarts, well, the Draco Malfoy I remember would never have given up with out a fight" Ginny replied.
"What am I suppose to do, march up to Jessica's parents and say 'Hi, I will be taking my child now' it just doesn't work that way" Draco sounded defeated.
"Then you could hire one of those Muggle Law blokes and take them to court for custody" Ginny suggested. Draco shook his head.
"I thought of that. They would never...." He began, but Ginny stood and held his face, looking him in the eye.
"Do you want to see your daughter Draco?" She asked bluntly. He nodded.
"Oh God yes, more than anything in the world" he replied.
"Then you should fight for her. Would you let me help you fight for her?" Ginny asked. Draco took a deep breath. Ginny looked so sincere, she was so sincere, she really wanted to help him see his daughter.
"I just want my daughter, if you think I should fight, and you want to help me fight, then I would appreciate the help. I really would" He smiled. Ginny nodded.
"Then I will help you. And I think the first thing you should do is help yourself." Ginny told him softly. The last thing she wanted to do was make it sound like she was giving him orders.
"What"
"Start eating again Draco, people are never going to believe that you can look after a baby if they don't even think you can look after yourself"
He nodded, what she had said made perfect sense. Who would believe that a scrawny, pale, malnourished teenager could look after a baby? No one.
"Ok, I will start eating again" he replied. She smiled.
"It may take a little time Draco, but I am sure you will see your daughter again" She smiled. Draco stood and wiped the remaining tears off of his face.
"Thank you for listening" He smiled.
"Thank you for trusting me....and I am really sorry for your loss" Ginny replied. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. At first Ginny was shocked, she had never seen Malfoy hug any one, but after a few seconds, her arms looped around his shoulders and she hugged him back.
"Get healthy soon Malfoy, this is like hugging a skeleton" Ginny smiled. Draco chuckled lightly.
He had a feeling that with Ginny's help, he would be healthy again in no time. Then they could start the battle to see Kayla.
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Review please, please please
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"So, do we all remember the rules from last year?" Ron asked the other three as they stood at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall. Harry nodded, and both the girls rolled their eyes.
"Yes Ron, we remember" Ginny smiled sarcastically. "We have only played this game with the same rules since your fifth year, how could we not remember them"
"Just checking Ginny, because I seem to remember that Harry cheated last year" Ron replied, glaring at his best friend. Harry stepped back and covered his mouth in exaggerated shock.
"How dare you say something like that to me, you ungrateful swine, how many times have I saved your life over the years?" Harry grinned.
Ron replied by mumbling something that sounded like "I never would have needed saving if it wasn't for you" but he was smiling along with the others.
It was just after Christmas dinner, and the four Gryffindors were planning on spending the rest of the night continuing a Christmas tradition, Hide- and-Seek.
It started years back when they were being stupid, walking back from their dinner and hiding from each other, and now, they had continued it every year. The rules, which for some reason Ron loved enforcing, were quite simple to follow.
You could go any where in the castle except for the common room, if you were caught by Peeves, Filch, Mrs. Norris or Snape, you were out for the round, after going to hide, you had an hour to get back to the entrance stairs with out being caught, otherwise the person would was "It" could come after you with the Marauders Map.
The biggest scandal of the previous year (according to Ron) had been the fact that Harry had cheated. As soon as he was out of sight, he had thrown the invisibility cloak on and then sat on entrance stairs. He was obviously the first one back, and he won the game. Ron never shut up about it for weeks.
"So, who is going to hide and who is going to look?" Hermione asked
"Well, since Harry cheated last year" Ron grumbled.
"You never said it was against the rules to have the cloak with me" Harry replied in his own defense. Ginny smiled.
"Well, since you won't shut up about last year, maybe you should be looking for us first" Ginny replied. Hermione nodded.
"I agree, you look for us first as punishment for making us listen to you complaining for the last twelve months" Hermione smiled. Ron sighed in defeat.
"Fine, but who ever I catch first is up next" Ron replied and sat on the stairs. The other three looked at each other, and then took off in three different directions.
All four of them had learnt early on in the duration of this tradition that the game was easy to win. The school was huge, and there was no way that you could be caught (unless the allocated hour was up and some one had the map). In this game, predictability was the only factor you had to watch out for.
Ginny mentally went through all of her hiding spots from previous years. Hermione had learnt the hard way about hiding in the same place twice, and Harry had learnt his lesson about hiding close to the stairs. The easiest way not to be found was to go as far away from the stairs as possible and then double back to get to the stairs.
Sticking to the shadows, Ginny ran as quietly as possible through the halls. She didn't want to get caught by Filch or Snape, because then she would have to answer to Dumbledore (even thought she was sure that he knew they played. He knew everything).
After turning as many corners as possible, Ginny realized that she was heading towards the Astronomy tower. The perfect hiding spot really, because she knew that Ron would not want to climb all those stairs to get her. He was a lazy ass some times.
She pulled open the door and looked up the stair case. There were literally hundreds of stairs, if not thousands, but it would be worth it if she could win the game.
The upwards journey was tedious, but she made it eventually. When she got to the top she was surprised to see that the door to the observation room was open. The observation room was the classroom that the astronomy classes were held in. Inside there was a black board and star charts, and then, one of the walls had been taken away so that students could really see the stars while studying.
Moving to the slightly opened door, she pushed it open just a little bit more. Her attention was drawn to the solid stone safety barrier, and more importantly, the person who was standing on it.
Draco was standing on the safety barrier, his eyes shut and his arms stretched out. The icy cold air whipped around him, blowing his hair into his eyes. Ginny watched him silently, she was too scared to say anything, just incase she startled him and he slipped.
A disturbing thought broke into her mind, what if he was here to kill himself. What if what ever was going on with him had gotten to a point where he had decided he could no longer deal with it. What if...
"Hi Weasley" Draco's voice broke through the silence of the astronomy classroom, Ginny looked up at him, his eyes were still shut and he was still facing away from her.
"How did you....?" She asked. Draco smiled a little.
"I have a sixth sense about things like that, I can always tell when some one is watching me, but don't ask me how I knew it was you" He replied. He was still yet to turn to her and Ginny was still yet to leave the doorway.
"Umm, Draco, you aren't going to jump are you?" She asked, sounding quite scared "because no matter how bad it seems now, it is not that bad in the big scheme of things"
Draco chuckled and finally looked over his shoulder at her. Once again he was surprised at the concern that he saw in her eyes.
"I am not going to jump, I just....I just wanted to know what it would be like to fly" He told her. Ginny took a few steps towards him.
"Well, could you get down, because I don't want you to know what it would feel like to fall" She told him. Draco chuckled and then climbed down off of the barrier. Ginny approached it and they stood together in silence.
Ginny watched him as stared at the stars, there was so much hidden behind his eyes, pain and loss beyond his years. Just from his eyes he looked so lost and alone, he looked like a child who had been forced to grow up, small and venerable but with wisdom and maturity. He was deep in thought, and Ginny wished she knew what he was thinking, she wished that he felt comfortable enough around her to open up and tell her how he felt. Just from his eyes, she could tell he needed a friend.
"A knut for your thoughts?" she smiled, trying to keep her tone light. Draco glanced at her and sighed.
"Why do parents and grandparents always think that they know what is best for children?" Draco asked. Ginny shrugged.
"Problems with your father?" She asked. Draco shook his head.
"Problems with my daughter" he replied
Out of all of the possible answers that Ginny had expected, that was most definitely not one of them. Her first impulse was to laugh, but she could see from the look in his eyes that he was dead serious.
"Wow, ummmm, your ... daughter? Wow" she stammered, choking on the shock. "You have a daughter?"
"Yes" Draco replied.
"Umm, how, no don't answer that, I know how, but, umm, whoa..... I didn't expect that" Ginny cursed herself for not being able to form a proper thought in her mind. She looked at Draco, who was looking down over the school grounds.
"What happened?" She asked after she had given herself some time to process what he had told her. He sighed.
"That is a very long story Ginny" He told her. She smiled reassuringly.
"I don't have to be anywhere, unless, of course, you don't want to talk about it" Ginny replied. He sighed, and moved over to sit at one of the tables.
There was a silence between them as Draco just sat and gathered his thoughts. He was sick of hiding his thoughts and feelings from people, he wanted the opportunity to share his pain, he needed to share it, otherwise he knew he would go mad. The thoughts and feelings were eating him away from the inside, and he knew he would have to unload them sooner or later before he was driven to doing something like jumping from the astronomy tower.
And Ginny was here, and for the first time in his life, he realized that he could trust her. She seemed to really care about what he was going through. Who would it harm if he let some on into his little world.
"Today was her first Christmas" he told her in a soft, broken voice. Ginny came across the room and sat down on the floor by his feet. She shot him a look of encouragement.
"Then why didn't you spend it with her?" Ginny asked softly.
"I am not allowed to" he replied. Ginny could have cried at the pain that was in his voice.
"What do you mean that you are not allowed to?" She asked. Draco sighed.
"I might be easier if I start from the beginning" Draco told her, she nodded and reached out for one of his hands. It was a bold move, she knew, but she wanted to assure him that she could be trusted. Ginny smiled as she felt him squeeze her hand lightly.
"The summer between my fifth and sixth year, I met this girl. She was everything that I had ever hoped for. She was beautiful and she understood me in a way that no one had ever understood me before. I loved her, and from what she told me, she loved me to. But she was a muggle" Draco explained.
"A muggle" She repeated. It was a shock to her that Draco Malfoy, especially the Draco Malfoy of two years ago, would fall in love with a muggle girl.
"Yeah, I know, I was shocked to. I never expected to fall for a muggle either. Her name was Jessica Warner, I met her at this little park near my house, she was there with a whole bunch of her friends. They were kicking around this black and white ball, I guessed it was the sport they called soccer. Jess and her friends invited me to join them. And the day after that, and then again the day after that"
"They didn't treat me like I was different, I think because they didn't realize I was different. Jess was the only one who asked me questions that I needed to create answers for, but she seemed to trust everything I told her."
"Jess and I got close over the weeks, and it wasn't long before she asked me out. She asked me because I was too scared that she would turn me down if I asked her. After a few dates we got really serious about each other, we told each other everything, but I still created stories about myself, like where I went to school and why she couldn't met my parents. Her parents liked me, or at least I thought that they did, but now, I am not so sure"
"What did your father say when he found out you were dating a muggle?" Ginny asked, Draco smirked at the memory.
"He disowned me, then my mother threatened to leave him and take everything, so he took it back. He was in no way happy that I was with Jess, and he forbids me to have her in our house. I had no intention of taking her home, because that would mean I had to answer to many questions."
"My mum met her though, and she loved Jess. Mother was not really as anti- muggle as father was. Jess and I spent the rest of the summer together, and we continued to get closer. We both thought we were old enough and mature enough to take the next step. So we did"
Ginny, who was still holding Draco's hand, gave it another reassuring squeeze. He smiled down at her.
"In the end of August, we were all getting ready to go back to school. Jess wanted me to transfer from the boarding school that I told her I was going to so that I could go to the same school as her. That was when I felt the need to be honest with her. I sat her down and I told her all about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, I told her about the conflict between good and evil in our world, and I even explained to her about quidditch. At first she thought I was joking, and then she thought I was lying. She screamed at me and said I was crazy and that if I didn't want to go to her school I should just tell her the truth instead of making up some insane story about witchcraft....."
"So what did you do?" Ginny asked softly, Draco was shocked out of his memories suddenly and looked down at her. He had forgotten that she was sitting by his side, holding his hand and listening to him as he spoke.
"I did what I had to, to prove it that I was not crazy. I did a spell, and got a warning from the ministry, after that she believed me. She was shocked and surprised, but she believed me. Jess was angry I had not told her earlier. I tried to answer all of her questions, she believed me, but I could tell that she did not want to."
"I could tell that the moment I told her the truth that our relationship was over. Jessica told me that she could not deal with what my future would be as a wizard, I understood, it was a lot to deal with, because part of me wasn't sure if I could deal with her future as just a plain muggle. I never would have made her move to the Wizarding world, but I knew that I never would have moved to the muggle world for her. We decided that it was for the best if we just left it as a summer relationship. A great relationship that we would hold close to our hearts for the rest of our lives, but never could go back to"
"When I came back to school, that was when I started to get depressed. That was when people began to notice I was different. No one cared, but I was changing. I had no idea that breaking up with her would affect me so bad. I really did love her, which surprised me."
"I got a letter from her, about a month after school started again. Nothing could have prepared me for what she had to tell me.." Draco began.
"She was pregnant" Ginny finished for him. Draco nodded.
"The baby was due around the end of May, and it was, with out question, mine. Neither of us had been with any one in that way before, and she had not since, so this child was mine. Jess told me that she didn't want anything from me. She didn't want me to send her any money for the child, she didn't want me to see the child, in fact, she never wanted me to see my child."
"I had mixed feelings about hat at first. Part of me was ok with it, because I was 16, and that is way to young for me to have a child. I was to young to take responsibility for my actions, so I was glad that I didn't have to be around. But then, my dad found out that Jess was pregnant."
"He went ape, he was so angry that I could have gotten a muggle girl pregnant, he was so pissed that I had created a child that would be a half blood. The more that he hated me and my unborn child, the more I loved my child. I felt responsible for my kid, so I contacted Jess, but she would not let me be involved in our child's life. Part of me respected that, but another part of me, a larger part of me just sank deeper into the depression I was already in."
"I never believed in love at first sight until I was sent this." Draco continued, reaching into his coat pocket and removing the photo. He looked at it quickly before handing it to Ginny "Kayla Anne Warner, taken when she was aged 2 days old. My daughter, my baby, my angel."
Ginny studied that picture of the baby silently for a few minutes. The little girl was gorgeous. The little girl was so much like Draco, they had the same hair and eye color, and her tiny little mouth was twisted into a cute little smirk, the Malfoy smirk. Draco was right, because even Ginny found herself falling in love with the little angel.
"I am exactly 17 years older than my daughter. She was born on my birthday, May 28th. She was a happy, healthy little girl, but the strain of birth was to much for Jessica to handle. After she had Kayla, she was weak and she never gained any of her strength back." Draco took a deep breath, he had hardly spoken about any of this to any one, and the slowly healing wounds were being ripped open yet again, but he knew he had to get it all off of his chest, once and for all.
"She only lasted about a month and a half after Kayla was born before she ..... passed away" His voice was softer as he completed the sentence. Ginny looked up at him, and there was a tear running down his pale cheek. She reached up and wiped it away carefully.
"When I was told she had died, I went to her funeral. I saw Kayla for about a minute, she was so small and so delicate, so tiny. I couldn't believe that I had helped create that. I felt like crying. I also felt like crying because that was when I was told that I was never going to be allowed to go any where near my daughter."
"I was going to look after her after Hogwarts, I was going to get a job and a place to live and I was going to have her come live with me, but that would never happen, Jessica's parents would never let me do that, they wont even let me write letters to her. They told me to stay away, and for a long time I did, but then, I thought, the hell with it, she is my daughter right, I have every right to see her. I sent her that bear and a letter for Christmas, I got a letter back telling me that even me writing to her was causing Kayla damage"
"That is a load of bull!!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, Draco jumped slightly, and wiped the tears that he had on his cheeks. When he looked closely at Ginny's cheeks as well, he saw that she had been crying also. "You are that girl's father, how could you be damaging her?'
"I just want the chance to see her, just once" He sighed sadly.
"And you will see her, don't give up Draco. You said that you were going to look after her after Hogwarts, well, the Draco Malfoy I remember would never have given up with out a fight" Ginny replied.
"What am I suppose to do, march up to Jessica's parents and say 'Hi, I will be taking my child now' it just doesn't work that way" Draco sounded defeated.
"Then you could hire one of those Muggle Law blokes and take them to court for custody" Ginny suggested. Draco shook his head.
"I thought of that. They would never...." He began, but Ginny stood and held his face, looking him in the eye.
"Do you want to see your daughter Draco?" She asked bluntly. He nodded.
"Oh God yes, more than anything in the world" he replied.
"Then you should fight for her. Would you let me help you fight for her?" Ginny asked. Draco took a deep breath. Ginny looked so sincere, she was so sincere, she really wanted to help him see his daughter.
"I just want my daughter, if you think I should fight, and you want to help me fight, then I would appreciate the help. I really would" He smiled. Ginny nodded.
"Then I will help you. And I think the first thing you should do is help yourself." Ginny told him softly. The last thing she wanted to do was make it sound like she was giving him orders.
"What"
"Start eating again Draco, people are never going to believe that you can look after a baby if they don't even think you can look after yourself"
He nodded, what she had said made perfect sense. Who would believe that a scrawny, pale, malnourished teenager could look after a baby? No one.
"Ok, I will start eating again" he replied. She smiled.
"It may take a little time Draco, but I am sure you will see your daughter again" She smiled. Draco stood and wiped the remaining tears off of his face.
"Thank you for listening" He smiled.
"Thank you for trusting me....and I am really sorry for your loss" Ginny replied. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. At first Ginny was shocked, she had never seen Malfoy hug any one, but after a few seconds, her arms looped around his shoulders and she hugged him back.
"Get healthy soon Malfoy, this is like hugging a skeleton" Ginny smiled. Draco chuckled lightly.
He had a feeling that with Ginny's help, he would be healthy again in no time. Then they could start the battle to see Kayla.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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