A Bouncing Baby Boy: Chp 1
Ginny Weasley looked down at the child on her lap. She looked at him. He
looked at her. Suddenly he gave her a toothless smile, and started to play
with his toes, gurgling sweetly all the while. Ginny sighed and patted the
baby gingerly on the head. "Din-din!" he cooed happily as she made contact.
Ginny sighed again.
"No Malfoy, Ginny. Or Gin at least. Not 'Din-din'."
He surveyed her, large grey eyes blinking guilelessly. Probably he didn't
even understand her. "Din-din!" he said and went back to playing with his
toes. Ginny rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was getting a headache.
***
Ginny Weasley was walking along to the Great Hall, minding her own business
when all of a sudden; she heard the sounds of a body being slammed against
a wall.
She should have just kept her head down and walked on by, fights were
getting more common now, tempers strained by the tension of Voldemort's
Comeback. Slytherin against Gryffindor, Hufflepuff fighting Ravenclaw...
Ernie Macmillan had started it with Cho Chang, giving her a month's
detention because she was she had been wandering the halls five minutes
after curfew and the whole thing had escalated into a House War.
Instead, Ginny had run towards the sound instead of away from it and found
her brother Ron, Hermione, Harry and Draco Malfoy dueling. It wasn't really
a fair fight as it was three against one, but since the one was a
Slytherin, Ginny ran to help them. "Ron!" she cried, as Malfoy aimed a hard
blow at his nose. "Are you alright?"
"Four against one?" asked Malfoy as he skipped a hex from Harry. "I call
that hardly fair, do you Potter?"
Harry just got more enraged, especially since Malfoy was right. "When did a
Slytherin care what was fair or not?" he asked furiously, "Ginny get out of
here!"
Ginny ignored him and rushed forward, Ron's nose was bleeding heavily. Out
of nowhere, Malfoy's two goons appeared from behind a statue. Crabbe and
Goyle rushed to help Malfoy; their fists were the size of cannonballs and
had the same impact on unlucky victims'. They had Hermione and Ron in a
deadlock immediately with Harry lying at their feet, Malfoy moved towards
them, wand in hand. Ginny lost her head completely - Gryffindors were not
famous for keeping their cool in a crisis - Ginny screeched the first spell
she could think of. She didn't know what spell she had even cast, but a
blinding burst of baby blue light shot out of her wand.
When Ginny opened her eyes, there were rainbow lights flashing before her
eyes and a strange wailing in her ear, like a baby's cry. Gradually the
lights faded away, but Ginny could still hear the crying and it was really
irritating her. Her eyes focused. Well, she noted, Ron's nose had stopped
bleeding thank god. He and Hermione were kneeling over Harry's prone form,
minutes later he opened his eyes and blinked. Ginny breathed a sigh of
relief that was short lived when Harry said in a strangled voice, "I c-
can't move."
"Take Harry to the Hospital Wing," she instructed Ron and Hermione. They
nodded mutely, having no eyes for anyone but their injured friend
Now where were Malfoy and his two goons?
That wailing baby noise was getting really annoying by now. Ginny turned
around and was greeted by a horrifying, terrifying and totally unbelievable
mirage. Crabbe and Goyle. On their knees. With a little naked baby giggling
happily in front of them, holding Crabbe's big nose in one hand and a lock
of Goyle's hair in the other. It had to be a hallucination. Ginny blinked.
No it was still there. And now Goyle and Crabbe had turned to her, their
brown eyes pleading with her to get the baby to let go of them. Ginny
gulped. She walked hesitantly up to the little child. "Umm..." she said,
feeling like a fool. "Er... could you let go of them please?"
No surprisingly the baby ignored her. He looked at Ginny, then back at
Crabbe and Goyle. "Ish?" he said, and tugged harder. Crabbe and Goyle
winced. Ginny winced too. She couldn't see why the two big idiots couldn't
just disentangle themselves from that cheerfully smiling baby between them.
Instead they treated it like some very fragile, very breakable object.
Ginny decided to grab the bull by the horns. She leant down and picked the
little baby up, gently shaking his fists to make him let go of Crabbe and
Goyle. He let go easily, smiling at Ginny as if to say 'See, I let go of
them because you told me to!' Ginny held him uncertainly, for one minute
their eyes met and Ginny felt a spark and a strange tenderness welled up in
her heart. The baby gurgled and put his hand to Ginny's hair and ran his
chubby, dimpled fingers through it. Unconsciously, she held the baby a
little bit closer. Then the moment passed and she found herself ordering
Crabbe and Goyle up. They got up clumsily. Ginny found it surprisingly easy
to boss them around, she told them to pick up the robes littered on the
floor which they did dumbly. Obviously Malfoy had them trained well.
Malfoy. Where was he? Ginny looked around, no sign of him. She took a
closer look at the robes Crabbe held; he just clutched them like a dummy.
They were well-tailored, fashionable, expensive looking garments. Just the
sort of thing Malfoy would have worn. Ginny's heart sank as she looked at
the little baby held in her arms. Fine silvery gold hair clung to his head;
big gray eyes stared up at her with no small amount of mischief glittering
in them. Pointed chin. Pale porcelain skin. Oh god no.
Ginny stopped holding him so close, instead, she held him an arms length
away. "Malfoy?" she asked uncertainly.
"Dwaco!" he replied, giggling and wriggling. Ginny's face went white. Draco
Malfoy was a little baby, she was carrying him, and he was as naked as when
he came into being.
"Give me those robes you two fools!" she snapped. They handed them over.
Ginny hurriedly wrapped the baby up in them. Obviously infant Draco was
used to gentler care and better fitting clothes. He started to wail
something awful. "Hush," said Ginny sternly. It didn't work, he was still
screaming, and getting louder every second. "Draco!" At the sound of his
name he looked up at her, tears streaming down his elfin face. "Ginny will
take you to your mummy and daddy if you stop crying ok?"
"Dinny?" He repeated her name. "Don' wan' Mummy. Want unkel Sevvie."
"You want who?" asked Ginny, forgetting to speak slowly and clearly. Draco
put his hands to his ears.
"Din-din don' yell so loud. Yucky."
"Ginny. My name is Ginny. Weasley if you prefer." Somehow there was
something terribly wrong about Draco Malfoy giving her a nickname. Even if
Draco Malfoy was now an infant and it was all her fault.
Draco had no qualms. "You. Din-din." And then in case she didn't
understand, "Me. Dwaco."
"Yes." Ginny decided it was time to get him to the Hospital Wing. Crabbe
and Goyle had long sneaked away and it was only she and little Draco left.
She could feel a headache coming on. "You're Draco. But I'm Ginny."
"Din-din."
"Ginny."
"Din-din."
"Ginny."
"Din-din!"
"Ginny!"
He screwed up his face like he was going to cry. "Ok, ok," interposed Ginny
rapidly, "I'm Gin-gin."
"Din-din."
"Fine. Whatever. Din-din."
They reached the Hospital Wing without anyone seeing them. Ginny pushed
open the door awkwardly with one hand. Draco was heavy. Hermione and Ron
were still there. They looked up as Ginny entered. The looks on their faces
were identical and hilarious. Draco burst into delighted laughter and
clapped his hands. "Stop squirming Draco!" scolded Ginny. She was only a
slight girl and the weight of a wriggling baby in her arms was a bit too
much to handle.
Madam Pomfrey came bustling up, a bottle of half orange, and half purple
liquid in her hand. "Miss Weasley!" she gasped, hurrying up to her and
taking the still fidgeting Draco from Ginny. The instant he was plucked
from Ginny's arms he screwed tight his eyes and began to yowl.
"Shh..." soothed Madam Pomfrey unsuccessfully. Ginny groaned.
"Draco!" she snapped. "Hush, right now. Din-din orders you!"
He didn't shut up. Instead, her sharp tone caused him to howl even louder.
"Din-din! Unkel Sevvie!" Ginny almost slapped him, her temper, slow to
ignite but fearsome when it did, would have snapped if Ron, knowing his
sister, hadn't grabbed her wrists.
"Who's Din-din?" he asked, "and who's Unkel Sevvie?"
Ginny ignored him as Harry's head popped out of a nearby bed. "What's going
on?" he asked weakly.
"Harry! Are you alright?" asked Ginny anxiously. There was the beginning of
a spectacular black eye and his nose looked somewhat out of place. Draco
seeing that 'Din-din' wasn't giving him her undivided attention screamed
himself blue in the face, tearing and ripping at the robes covering him
awkwardly.
"Oh Draco!" cried Ginny. She rushed to him in alarm (his face was now puce)
and snatched him from poor, dazed Madam Pomfrey's arms. "Hush..." she
crooned, rocking him in her arms. Gradually he quieted down reluctantly.
"Good boy," said Ginny, smiling at him.
When she looked up, it was to be greeted with incredulous stares from Ron,
Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and Harry. "Ginny?" asked Ron credulously.
"Yes?"
"Where did the baby come from?"
Harry, Hermione and Madam Pomfrey nodded in agreement. "Well?"
"Alright," gulped Ginny, cradling Draco. "But you're not going to like it."
