Hey, I hope this chapter is ok. It is a lot of information, mainly a
retelling of the Story that Draco told, but from Jessica's father's point
of view.
Oh, and my movie recommendation, if you have not gone and seen 'Catch me if you can', go and see it, it rocks!!!!!
Enjoy and review
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Kayla Anne Warner, who is currently one year and one month old, daughter of Jessica Evelyn Warner and Draco Malfoy, is of magical blood. That is why, it is of the child's best interests, that this hearing be held here, in a magical setting, as opposed to the muggle courts where the sensitivity of the following facts will not be completely understood, or even brought forth as evidence" Mr. Weston began, opening the folder that he had with him and quickly skimming the first page of information.
"Now, it is my knowledge that Miss Jessica Warner had in fact passed" Mr. Weston continued, "I am sorry for you loss, Mr. and Mrs. Warner. Miss Warner had died soon after the birth of her child, and now Mr. Draco Malfoy wishes to take custody of the illegitimate, half blood child that he believes to be his kin"
"I am sorry to bring this up, and I apologize for any offense this may cause any of the people in the room, but are you certain that Kayla Anne is in fact Draco Malfoy's child?" Mr. Weston asked.
"If you were to ever see the child in question, you would realize that there is no doubt that the infant is a Malfoy, they have the same looks and even the same temperament, taking this into consideration, as well as Jessica Warner's own personal values, The Warners are more than willing to admit that Draco Malfoy is Kayla's father." Samuel White, the Warner's representative said. Mr. Weston nodded.
"Good, then a paternity test will not be needed." Mr. Weston added.
"From what I understand, both parties that are involved in this custody case are more then capable of looking after a child such as young Kayla. Jacob Warner holds a steady, high paying job, which would be your families main source of income, you already have a high amount of savings which can be used as needed. Evelyn Warner, I understand that you look after the child everyday, and would be there to support Kayla in a nurturing environment."
"Draco Malfoy is also capable of looking after his child, I understand you graduated with honors from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, along with a personal commendation from headmaster Dumbledore himself ..." Draco nodded "You are starting your job next week, Magical law enforcement department. And I must say, your family also has a fair amount of money."
"With that said, we must now consider the next most important thing that will affect young Kayla's life. Her involvement in the magical world. The Warners have voiced their distress on having a child that was born into our world, where as Mr. Malfoy has already voiced his choices to nurture his daughter's magical gifts, helping her grow into the best witch that she could become. "
"Two contrasting decisions, it is our intention in this hearing to find which decision would be best for all involved. I wish to begin the individual questioning of each of you, I will simply be asking questions of your involvement in Kayla's past, her present, and how you would like to be involved in the future of the young life which we are here to settle arrangements for......"
"Sir, may I ask that I be given some time with my clients, to help them prepare for the questioning?" Mr. White asked. Weston nodded.
"Yes, we will leave it here for the moment, please return promptly at one o'clock so we can continue with the testimonies." Mr. Weston stood, and disappeared from the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
As soon as they made it out onto the street outside the ministry office, Draco and Ginny both let out a breath that neither of them knew they were holding.
"Well, I think that went well" Ginny began, Draco smiled at her weakly.
"Come on Weasley, I owe you lunch" was all he said as he began off down the street towards the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny fell into step beside him.
"We are doing well Draco" she said again, reassuringly.
"I think it is too early to say Gin." Draco replied, holding open the door and ushering her inside. They sat at a table in the corner, towards the back where they were sitting in the shadows.
"This afternoon is going to be a lot harder than this morning, all we did earlier was sit and nod at everything the Weston said. Now I am going to have to actually answer questions." Draco mumbled to himself. "I can't do it!"
"Yes you can, you know you can. You are just being pessimistic. All you have to do is tell them the truth, pretend you are just talking to me. And don't let anything that the Warner's may say get to you." Ginny told him. He nodded mutely and then ordered his food.
"They may question you, you know that right?" Draco asked. Ginny nodded, they realized that she may have to answer some questions, if not about Kayla and Jessica, then definitely about her friendship with Draco.
"Then I will take my own advice, tell the truth and just stay calm. The allegations they may throw at us may not be exactly civil" Ginny began softly, he nodded.
"I thought that to. But we just can't take anything that they say to heart. If they make any accusations, then I guess we would just have to politely correct them" Draco told her.
"I hope this is over soon, I really do. For every ones sake"
"Do you still think we have a good chance?" he asked. Ginny nodded.
"Of course I think that you have a good chance, did you hear what Weston said, it very much sounded like he was leaning towards your side of the argument." Ginny told him reassuringly.
"Just keep telling me that please"
~*~*~*~*~*
They returned to the ministry of magic offices. They were first back into the room, so they sat quietly, waiting for the Warners, and for Mr. Weston to return from lunch.
Once again, she could feel him trembling. "Calm down Malfoy"
He smirked, his eyes clearly challenging her to be calm of she was in his position. She smiled, and once again the door opened. Jacob, Evelyn and Mr. White, their representative, entered, taking up their earlier seats.
The tension in the air was thick, and it threatened to quickly choke the room's occupants. Draco stared solidly at the table top, carefully tracing the patterns in the dark wood top. The Warners were whispering to each other, careful not to let anything slip by to Draco or Ginny's ears.
Mr. Weston did not enter the room till quarter past one. He placed his folder of parchments on the table, and then took up his chair at the end of the table.
"I am sorry for being late, but there was something at the office that had to be handled. Now, let us get started with the testimonies. I wish to hear from each of you in the room. This includes you Miss Weasley, and then I will open the floor to any one from the outside that you would wish to bring into the hearing. It is important that you explain things as detailed as possible so that no necessary pieces of information be left out."
"So Mr. Warner, lets start with you. If you would, could you please relay the events, as you know them, from the day that Jessica met Mr. Malfoy?" Mr. Weston began, unrolling a long roll of parchment and preparing a quick- notes quill.
"Jessica met Draco two summers ago. His family lives a few towns over. I have know idea what he was doing around our local area, but they met each other in a park. Jess and her friends were playing soccer and hanging out, I guess just doing normal things that 15 year olds do when the don't have to be at school. Jess told us that one of her friends kicked the ball to where Draco was sitting, and he kicked it back. Draco was all alone, so they invited him to kick the ball around with them, and then they invited him to hang out with them the next day."
"Jess and her little group were great kids, you didn't have to do much to be accepted by them, so they became friends with Draco almost immediately. But I could tell she thought Draco was special. She would come home with stories about him, it was always Draco this and Draco that, and from that time on, my wife and I both knew she liked him. Maybe even loved him from the beginning."
"We didn't know much about him, but from what Jess had told us, he was an alright person. Dysfunctional family, didn't really get along with his parents, a boarding school in Ireland for 9 months of the year. That was about all we knew about him, but we trusted Jess' judgment, if she wanted to get to know Draco, we were not going to stand in her way."
"They continued on as friends for a about two weeks, before they went on a real official date. From what Jess told us, she reversed the roles and asked him to the movies instead of waiting for him to ask her. That was the type of person Jess was, didn't like to wait for some one to do something that she could have easily done herself." Evelyn and Draco both nodded slightly, agreeing with Jacobs words. "So they went out to diner and a movie, and then after that, they were completely inseparable."
"Jess brought Draco to come and meet us not long after their first date. We got along with him well enough, he was a very nice person, and he treated Jessica with respect. Both Evelyn and I believed that Draco would be the one to stick around for a while."
"They got a lot more serious about each other over the following weeks. They still hung out with the group of friends, but they also spent all of their spare time together. Draco was just like another item of furniture around the house. He was like family."
"I don't know when it was that their relationship turned...sexual. I did not even know that Jessica and Draco were sleeping together until she came to us about Kayla. But towards the end of the holidays, they were definitely sleeping together. Although I do not necessarily condone people of their age having sexual relations, I also knew that Jessica more then likely understood the repercussions of their actions. By no means was I happy, but I still, to this day, support my daughter's decisions."
"Draco and Jess broke up soon before returning to their respective schools. I assume that this was when Draco told her about his involvement in the magic world, and they decided that it was best if they went their separate ways. Jessica told us that it had been a mutual decision between the two of them, because their differences would come between them and make it hard for them to have a life together"
"Draco went back to his boarding school, and they didn't talk to each other after that. But it was only a few weeks before Jess found out that she was pregnant. There was only one possibility as to who the father was. We decided to support Jessica with what ever decision she made for her future and the future of her baby. It was her decision not to involve Draco in Kayla's life, and like I said, we supported her decision."
"She thought it was only fair that Draco was told of the existence of their child. She wrote him a letter, explaining that she was going to be having his child but that she did not want him to be coming around, I think deep down, she was scared of how Draco's magical blood would effect their baby, and she wanted the baby away from that completely."
"We did not get a reply to the letter, so we took that as Draco understanding Jessica's wishes and going along with the plan of not having any contact with Kayla, but soon after, we got a letter from him, asking Jess to reconsider her decision"
"He wanted to be involved in the life of his child. We all respected him for taking responsibility for the life that he helped create, but we were not going to allow him near the baby either way"
"Jessica was lucky to have had a normal, natural pregnancy, with no complications what so ever. She carried Kayla for the full nine months, and she delivered on her exact due date, May 28th. But, it seems, that we were not going to be blessed with that same luck for after baby Kayla was born"
"A few days after Kayla's birth, we sent a letter to Draco. It only seemed right that he be informed of his child, a little girl that looked like him and funnily enough, was born on his birthday. Jess sent him the letter and a photograph, but reminded him that she wanted him away from the child."
Jacob took a deep steadying breath before continuing on with his story.
"Jess was weak, the strength that she had before the pregnancy, even during the pregnancy, had left her completely. We were informed that this was quite normal, and that it could take a week to get her back into a healthy pattern, especially for a first time mother who was so young. But, Jess picked up some sort of illness while she was in her weakened state, and she didn't have the energy to shake it."
"A few months later, the sickness claimed her. I guess in some ways, it was a blessing. She had been so weak and pale towards the end, and her quality of life was definitely not what she had been used to. I only wished that she had been able to see her little girl grow up. She died, on the 23rd of July."
"I wrote a letter to Draco after Jessica's death, he had a right to know that she had passed. I explained to him how and when, I assured him that we would continue to look after Kayla, and I also told him that the original rules applied, that he was not to see his daughter."
"I saw Draco at my daughter's funeral, and that was when I realized that Draco truly did love my Jessica. It wasn't just him paying respect to his baby's mother, it was him paying respect to the woman he loved. We had a small gathering at our house afterwards, and Draco returned to the house with us. I had a feeling that he would try this, so I had Jessica's brothers waiting, and unfortunately, we had to remove him with force from our property."
"It wasn't until this last Christmas that we heard anything from him. He sent a letter and a stuffed toy to Kayla as a Christmas present. We gave her the toy, and we have kept the letter, but I doubt that Kayla will ever see it, or know who her favorite stuffed bear is really from."
"A child of Kayla's age needs stability in his life sir, and my wife and I are providing that for Draco's daughter. We love Kayla as if she was our own child, because she is only in this world as a result of our child. We are keeping Jessica's alive by caring for her daughter. And we hope to continue Jessica's wishes alive by not allowing Draco any interaction."
"It is no longer a fear of Draco being different, because, as you say, Kayla is different to, it is now a fear of what type of damage introducing his father figure to her will do, especially if Draco is not going to be around for his child ......"
"I will be there for my child" Draco interrupted quickly.
"Thank you, Mr. Warner, at this point in the proceedings, I wish to ask if there is anything else that you would like to add to your story?" Mr. Weston asked. Jacob took a deep breath, and shook his head, indicating no.
"Well, then, now I have a few questions for Mrs. Warner ........"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy!!
Oh, and my movie recommendation, if you have not gone and seen 'Catch me if you can', go and see it, it rocks!!!!!
Enjoy and review
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Kayla Anne Warner, who is currently one year and one month old, daughter of Jessica Evelyn Warner and Draco Malfoy, is of magical blood. That is why, it is of the child's best interests, that this hearing be held here, in a magical setting, as opposed to the muggle courts where the sensitivity of the following facts will not be completely understood, or even brought forth as evidence" Mr. Weston began, opening the folder that he had with him and quickly skimming the first page of information.
"Now, it is my knowledge that Miss Jessica Warner had in fact passed" Mr. Weston continued, "I am sorry for you loss, Mr. and Mrs. Warner. Miss Warner had died soon after the birth of her child, and now Mr. Draco Malfoy wishes to take custody of the illegitimate, half blood child that he believes to be his kin"
"I am sorry to bring this up, and I apologize for any offense this may cause any of the people in the room, but are you certain that Kayla Anne is in fact Draco Malfoy's child?" Mr. Weston asked.
"If you were to ever see the child in question, you would realize that there is no doubt that the infant is a Malfoy, they have the same looks and even the same temperament, taking this into consideration, as well as Jessica Warner's own personal values, The Warners are more than willing to admit that Draco Malfoy is Kayla's father." Samuel White, the Warner's representative said. Mr. Weston nodded.
"Good, then a paternity test will not be needed." Mr. Weston added.
"From what I understand, both parties that are involved in this custody case are more then capable of looking after a child such as young Kayla. Jacob Warner holds a steady, high paying job, which would be your families main source of income, you already have a high amount of savings which can be used as needed. Evelyn Warner, I understand that you look after the child everyday, and would be there to support Kayla in a nurturing environment."
"Draco Malfoy is also capable of looking after his child, I understand you graduated with honors from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, along with a personal commendation from headmaster Dumbledore himself ..." Draco nodded "You are starting your job next week, Magical law enforcement department. And I must say, your family also has a fair amount of money."
"With that said, we must now consider the next most important thing that will affect young Kayla's life. Her involvement in the magical world. The Warners have voiced their distress on having a child that was born into our world, where as Mr. Malfoy has already voiced his choices to nurture his daughter's magical gifts, helping her grow into the best witch that she could become. "
"Two contrasting decisions, it is our intention in this hearing to find which decision would be best for all involved. I wish to begin the individual questioning of each of you, I will simply be asking questions of your involvement in Kayla's past, her present, and how you would like to be involved in the future of the young life which we are here to settle arrangements for......"
"Sir, may I ask that I be given some time with my clients, to help them prepare for the questioning?" Mr. White asked. Weston nodded.
"Yes, we will leave it here for the moment, please return promptly at one o'clock so we can continue with the testimonies." Mr. Weston stood, and disappeared from the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
As soon as they made it out onto the street outside the ministry office, Draco and Ginny both let out a breath that neither of them knew they were holding.
"Well, I think that went well" Ginny began, Draco smiled at her weakly.
"Come on Weasley, I owe you lunch" was all he said as he began off down the street towards the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny fell into step beside him.
"We are doing well Draco" she said again, reassuringly.
"I think it is too early to say Gin." Draco replied, holding open the door and ushering her inside. They sat at a table in the corner, towards the back where they were sitting in the shadows.
"This afternoon is going to be a lot harder than this morning, all we did earlier was sit and nod at everything the Weston said. Now I am going to have to actually answer questions." Draco mumbled to himself. "I can't do it!"
"Yes you can, you know you can. You are just being pessimistic. All you have to do is tell them the truth, pretend you are just talking to me. And don't let anything that the Warner's may say get to you." Ginny told him. He nodded mutely and then ordered his food.
"They may question you, you know that right?" Draco asked. Ginny nodded, they realized that she may have to answer some questions, if not about Kayla and Jessica, then definitely about her friendship with Draco.
"Then I will take my own advice, tell the truth and just stay calm. The allegations they may throw at us may not be exactly civil" Ginny began softly, he nodded.
"I thought that to. But we just can't take anything that they say to heart. If they make any accusations, then I guess we would just have to politely correct them" Draco told her.
"I hope this is over soon, I really do. For every ones sake"
"Do you still think we have a good chance?" he asked. Ginny nodded.
"Of course I think that you have a good chance, did you hear what Weston said, it very much sounded like he was leaning towards your side of the argument." Ginny told him reassuringly.
"Just keep telling me that please"
~*~*~*~*~*
They returned to the ministry of magic offices. They were first back into the room, so they sat quietly, waiting for the Warners, and for Mr. Weston to return from lunch.
Once again, she could feel him trembling. "Calm down Malfoy"
He smirked, his eyes clearly challenging her to be calm of she was in his position. She smiled, and once again the door opened. Jacob, Evelyn and Mr. White, their representative, entered, taking up their earlier seats.
The tension in the air was thick, and it threatened to quickly choke the room's occupants. Draco stared solidly at the table top, carefully tracing the patterns in the dark wood top. The Warners were whispering to each other, careful not to let anything slip by to Draco or Ginny's ears.
Mr. Weston did not enter the room till quarter past one. He placed his folder of parchments on the table, and then took up his chair at the end of the table.
"I am sorry for being late, but there was something at the office that had to be handled. Now, let us get started with the testimonies. I wish to hear from each of you in the room. This includes you Miss Weasley, and then I will open the floor to any one from the outside that you would wish to bring into the hearing. It is important that you explain things as detailed as possible so that no necessary pieces of information be left out."
"So Mr. Warner, lets start with you. If you would, could you please relay the events, as you know them, from the day that Jessica met Mr. Malfoy?" Mr. Weston began, unrolling a long roll of parchment and preparing a quick- notes quill.
"Jessica met Draco two summers ago. His family lives a few towns over. I have know idea what he was doing around our local area, but they met each other in a park. Jess and her friends were playing soccer and hanging out, I guess just doing normal things that 15 year olds do when the don't have to be at school. Jess told us that one of her friends kicked the ball to where Draco was sitting, and he kicked it back. Draco was all alone, so they invited him to kick the ball around with them, and then they invited him to hang out with them the next day."
"Jess and her little group were great kids, you didn't have to do much to be accepted by them, so they became friends with Draco almost immediately. But I could tell she thought Draco was special. She would come home with stories about him, it was always Draco this and Draco that, and from that time on, my wife and I both knew she liked him. Maybe even loved him from the beginning."
"We didn't know much about him, but from what Jess had told us, he was an alright person. Dysfunctional family, didn't really get along with his parents, a boarding school in Ireland for 9 months of the year. That was about all we knew about him, but we trusted Jess' judgment, if she wanted to get to know Draco, we were not going to stand in her way."
"They continued on as friends for a about two weeks, before they went on a real official date. From what Jess told us, she reversed the roles and asked him to the movies instead of waiting for him to ask her. That was the type of person Jess was, didn't like to wait for some one to do something that she could have easily done herself." Evelyn and Draco both nodded slightly, agreeing with Jacobs words. "So they went out to diner and a movie, and then after that, they were completely inseparable."
"Jess brought Draco to come and meet us not long after their first date. We got along with him well enough, he was a very nice person, and he treated Jessica with respect. Both Evelyn and I believed that Draco would be the one to stick around for a while."
"They got a lot more serious about each other over the following weeks. They still hung out with the group of friends, but they also spent all of their spare time together. Draco was just like another item of furniture around the house. He was like family."
"I don't know when it was that their relationship turned...sexual. I did not even know that Jessica and Draco were sleeping together until she came to us about Kayla. But towards the end of the holidays, they were definitely sleeping together. Although I do not necessarily condone people of their age having sexual relations, I also knew that Jessica more then likely understood the repercussions of their actions. By no means was I happy, but I still, to this day, support my daughter's decisions."
"Draco and Jess broke up soon before returning to their respective schools. I assume that this was when Draco told her about his involvement in the magic world, and they decided that it was best if they went their separate ways. Jessica told us that it had been a mutual decision between the two of them, because their differences would come between them and make it hard for them to have a life together"
"Draco went back to his boarding school, and they didn't talk to each other after that. But it was only a few weeks before Jess found out that she was pregnant. There was only one possibility as to who the father was. We decided to support Jessica with what ever decision she made for her future and the future of her baby. It was her decision not to involve Draco in Kayla's life, and like I said, we supported her decision."
"She thought it was only fair that Draco was told of the existence of their child. She wrote him a letter, explaining that she was going to be having his child but that she did not want him to be coming around, I think deep down, she was scared of how Draco's magical blood would effect their baby, and she wanted the baby away from that completely."
"We did not get a reply to the letter, so we took that as Draco understanding Jessica's wishes and going along with the plan of not having any contact with Kayla, but soon after, we got a letter from him, asking Jess to reconsider her decision"
"He wanted to be involved in the life of his child. We all respected him for taking responsibility for the life that he helped create, but we were not going to allow him near the baby either way"
"Jessica was lucky to have had a normal, natural pregnancy, with no complications what so ever. She carried Kayla for the full nine months, and she delivered on her exact due date, May 28th. But, it seems, that we were not going to be blessed with that same luck for after baby Kayla was born"
"A few days after Kayla's birth, we sent a letter to Draco. It only seemed right that he be informed of his child, a little girl that looked like him and funnily enough, was born on his birthday. Jess sent him the letter and a photograph, but reminded him that she wanted him away from the child."
Jacob took a deep steadying breath before continuing on with his story.
"Jess was weak, the strength that she had before the pregnancy, even during the pregnancy, had left her completely. We were informed that this was quite normal, and that it could take a week to get her back into a healthy pattern, especially for a first time mother who was so young. But, Jess picked up some sort of illness while she was in her weakened state, and she didn't have the energy to shake it."
"A few months later, the sickness claimed her. I guess in some ways, it was a blessing. She had been so weak and pale towards the end, and her quality of life was definitely not what she had been used to. I only wished that she had been able to see her little girl grow up. She died, on the 23rd of July."
"I wrote a letter to Draco after Jessica's death, he had a right to know that she had passed. I explained to him how and when, I assured him that we would continue to look after Kayla, and I also told him that the original rules applied, that he was not to see his daughter."
"I saw Draco at my daughter's funeral, and that was when I realized that Draco truly did love my Jessica. It wasn't just him paying respect to his baby's mother, it was him paying respect to the woman he loved. We had a small gathering at our house afterwards, and Draco returned to the house with us. I had a feeling that he would try this, so I had Jessica's brothers waiting, and unfortunately, we had to remove him with force from our property."
"It wasn't until this last Christmas that we heard anything from him. He sent a letter and a stuffed toy to Kayla as a Christmas present. We gave her the toy, and we have kept the letter, but I doubt that Kayla will ever see it, or know who her favorite stuffed bear is really from."
"A child of Kayla's age needs stability in his life sir, and my wife and I are providing that for Draco's daughter. We love Kayla as if she was our own child, because she is only in this world as a result of our child. We are keeping Jessica's alive by caring for her daughter. And we hope to continue Jessica's wishes alive by not allowing Draco any interaction."
"It is no longer a fear of Draco being different, because, as you say, Kayla is different to, it is now a fear of what type of damage introducing his father figure to her will do, especially if Draco is not going to be around for his child ......"
"I will be there for my child" Draco interrupted quickly.
"Thank you, Mr. Warner, at this point in the proceedings, I wish to ask if there is anything else that you would like to add to your story?" Mr. Weston asked. Jacob took a deep breath, and shook his head, indicating no.
"Well, then, now I have a few questions for Mrs. Warner ........"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy!!