A/N: Once again, I am sorry this is taking so long. However, I am still chugging away; chapter nine is coming. Thank you for all the well-wishes! I will be doing a large thank you to everyone that has reviewed after Chapter 10! -LadyBrannon
Ginny woke to a safe, warm feeling. She kept her eyes closed for a few minutes to allow them to adjust to the light that was shining on her face. As she waited, she nestled into the warmth beside her and felt a warm, steady movement. Almost immediately, she recognized that the rhythmic movement belonged to her sleeping husband. He was breathing in and out at regular intervals marked by erratic, soft soothing snores.
She slowly opened her eyes and regained her bearings. The room was filled with bright, streaming light that gave a false sense of warmth to the room. In fact, the room was quite cold. It was, after all, only a few days after Christmas. They were no longer at Hogwarts. No, they were at home…at the Burrow…in Ginny's old room. They had returned yesterday at the insistence of Professor Dumbledore after a long, long talk that was very informative and upsetting.
After the incident in the hallway with the red-headed girl in the painting, Ginny and Draco had ran as fast as they could to Professor Dumbledore's office. By the time they reached the magical statues, gasped out the password, "Juju Beans with Banana Ice Cream," waited for the statue to rotate them up the circular entry way and actually entered Dumbledore's office it was all they could do to breathe. Excitement was oozing from every pore and they could barely contain it.
"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, to what do I owe this honor?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"Sir," Draco gasped out, "it seems that I-umm-umm-I might be the Dragon in the prophecy." He sat down on a burgundy and crème striped winged back chair. Ginny dropped in a matching chair to his left.
"No…" Dumbledore immediately shot back.
"No?" Ginny asked, with incredibility in her voice.
"No, you might not be the Dragon, Draco. You ARE the Dragon" Dumbledore said, laughing at his own joke.
Draco simply looked at Dumbledore with exasperation etched on every feature, dropped his head to the front of Dumbledore's massive cherry desk and began lightly beating his head on it. "Argh…"
This sent Professor Dumbledore and Ginny into a fit of giggles. While she was laughing, Ginny leaned over and gently rubbed her husband's back in a soothing manner.
Professor Dumbledore gave Draco a few more minutes to get the exasperation out of his system. Then, he proceeded to explain to them the importance of all they had learned.
"Since you two are already bonded, we find ourselves amidst the prophecy. What has already occurred cannot be changed; we will have to move forward from now. As far as I know, Merlin has not shown himself in any form. Our plan of attack cannot commence until such time. However, what we can do is work on the historical side of the prophecy and the lineage of your families."
With that said Dumbledore turned in his rotating leather chair, opened the glass door on the cherry Barrister Cabinet and rifled through some papers in the top area. He turned around with the book that he had loaned to Ginny and Draco earlier in the day. He flipped through a page or two, re-set his glasses on his nose and leaned over to look at the text closely.
He cleared his throat and began speaking, "Okay, I would speculate, Draco, that your maternal grandmother was a mermaid. Was your maternal grandfather a merman or a selkie? Your paternal grandfather was an incubus. Your paternal grandmother was a Fairy Queen. Is this correct?"
Draco looked at Dumbledore in amazement!
"Yes, my paternal grandfather was a half-human and half-incubus by the name of Thelian. My paternal grandmother was a Fairy Queen of the Waltham Forest named Helena. She was an infamous fairy that was known for destroying evil minds because she could. They had one son and you know him as Lucius. My maternal grandmother was a mermaid from the Bay of Fundy in North America. She did a great migration with several of her friends from her home village to the Irish Sea. There, she met my paternal grandfather. However, my maternal grandfather was not a merman or a selkie; he was a human as far as I know."
"Okay, so most of this adds up to what the prophecy states. The one discrepancy seems to be your maternal grandfather. The prophecy states that he was of the sea, but you are sure he is human. Is there anyway for you to learn more about his ancestry"
"Not really…Mother did not speak of her family." Draco answered.
"Okay…you will need to make finding out about your maternal grandfather's ancestry your first task." Dumbledore informed Draco. He then turned to Ginny and continued, "Ginny, you are the Woman of Secrets and also the Predictor. We also know that you were beget from the Union of Flames who are comprised of the Teller of the Souls and the Keeper of the Souls. Now, we know that your mom, being the Teller of the Souls, can read auras. Thus, she is able to see the true soul of any human. Keeping that in mind, I think that once we finish this discussion you and Draco should return to the Burrow to discuss this with your mom and dad. Your dad is the Keeper of Souls; essentially he bonds with the Teller of the Souls to protect all those of the light. We know this happens once a millennium and produces you. Your job is to reveal Merlin accurately and defeat him. If you fail, you will destroy Draco. So, we wait for Merlin to show himself. However, there are other players in the prophecy; let us ponder who these people may be, okay?"
Ginny and Draco nodded. Dumbledore put the tip of the wand to the page he was reading and said, "Descriptio! Descriptio!" Two parchments flew in the air and gracefully floated to the desk in front of Ginny and Draco. They looked down and recognized the prophecy in English. They each picked up their copy and read it again.
After a few reads, Draco and Ginny replaced their respective papers back on the desk and looked at Dumbledore.
Ginny took a deep breath and said, "Are the saviors, pawns and Ones all the same? If they are…I'm afraid I know who they are and one of them is going to die. Am I right?"
"Draco, what do you get from the prophecy?"
"That Harry, Ron or Hermione is going to die." Draco solemnly said. Ginny choked back a sob. After all, they were her family too.
Dumbledore nodded with a sad look in his eyes. Draco looked at Ginny, pulled her out of her chair and onto his lap. He held her close and rocked her as she sobbed.
Once Ginny had calmed down, Dumbledore insisted that they go home to the Burrow and talk to everyone there.
The worst was yet to come…
Ginny sighed and with tears in her eyes gently woke Draco up. He slowly opened his eyes, quickly took in Ginny's tears and pulled her close. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and rolled her onto her back. As he moved down to gently kiss her on the lips, he murmured, "It'll be okay…It'll be okay."
He then captured her lips in a soothing kiss that soon became passionate. Ginny reveled in the warmth of his mouth on hers. She needed an escape from reality and nothing could be more heavenly than she and her husband making love. She moaned in delight when Draco removed his lips from her mouth and began sucking down her jaw to her neck and onto the sweet hollow between her breasts. Ginny ran her hands up and down his back with a special caress around the mound of his buttocks.
Soon, he was bringing her to well known heights that never failed to amaze them both. With one last thrust, they both cried out. Draco dropped his forehead to hers. After a few moments, that they used to catch their breaths, Draco said, "Ginny, we cannot put this off any longer. Let's go down to breakfast and talk this over."
Ginny nodded and they got out of bed, took a shower, put on clean clothes for the day and headed down the stairs. Both had very somber looks on their faces when they greeted the rest of the Weasley family, sans Bill and Charlie, for breakfast.