Author's Note: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRY!!! I am so sorry you guys! I had schoolwork and then during these holidays I had writer's block and nothing would come out. I think I wrote myself into a corner. But it's off now and I wrote this today, so it's hot off the press and I wanted to post it as soon as possible before I lose readers. I'm so sorry, forgive me. I know it's not legal to do this to you. So sorry for the cliffie and all. I think you guys might enjoy this chapter. Please, don't kill me. O_O On with it now, so you guys don't kill me anymore.

*This is the Edited Version!* Oh my God… I noticed the errors after I went to sleep last night. I was just like pondering and it hit me! Okay, the reason for the whole ten and 24 year old thing is that when I originally wrote the chapter, Krystal was only 5 years old, which would account for Draco being 24. Afterwards I decided to change the age for obvious reasons and I completely forgot to change Draco's age. So I'm sorry for the confusion and stuff. It is now changed though!

Chapter Eighteen

~Krystal Elizabeth Malfoy-Weasley~

"A… girl?" said Ginny, snapping her head to look at the Mediwitch oddly. Draco had nearly the same reaction as her, he opened his mouth several times but no sound came out so he closed it again. Gillian smiled broadly and handed the small bundle to Ginny, who took it with trembling hands and curled it in her arms.

She was extremely beautiful, with scarce, flaming red hair upon her rather large head of a baby. The color of her eyes could not be yet told, though they had a translucent characteristic to them that Ginny was sure she recognized.

The baby was barely heavy, being so delicate and fragile, Ginny was almost afraid of holding it, as she thought she might break it if she held it too tightly. Draco's head prodded above her shoulder, possibly to confirm if it really was a girl.

You couldn't tell if it was by simply looking at the face. Slowly, Ginny unraveled the sheets from the small body and looked upon her baby. It indeed was a girl, there was no mistaking that.

The pain she had felt when giving birth could not even compare to the emotion that now crowded her from the inside at seeing her daughter right there, in front of her. The outcome of a forced marriage, of an undiscovered love… how could it be possible that it was so beautiful? How could she love her so much when she had just met her?

Ginny caressed her face and her head tenderly, the way only a mother could and then she kissed her baby's forehead very gently. She heard Mediwitch Gillian's voice faintly. "What are you going to call her?"

Draco hesitated; they had not thought a name for a girl, thinking it was a boy. He was about to voice his thoughts, but then Ginny's voice interrupted him. "Krystal Elizabeth Malfoy," she spoke delicately, gazing at the small girl's twinkling eyes. Draco raised an eyebrow at Ginny, but she was much more interested in her baby, than on his expressions and reactions at the moment.

* * *

Draco was now sitting outside on the ground, pondering about a lot of things. First of all, why it had been a girl? He was supposed to have been charmed to only have boys. And when he had asked his father about this on an owl after Ginny had had the baby, his father had been just as skeptical as he, claiming they had done the spell on him and disappointed that it had been a girl.

The first though that came to mind, of course, was that of her cheating on him. But he discarded that thought as soon as he saw the resemblance of Krystal and him and as soon as he did, without Ginny's knowledge, the spell to know if it was his or not. Now, he should not be bothering or troubling himself thinking about that, but he was.

It wasn't that he was mad that it had been a girl, but he was confused, you could say troubled.

He sighed, his gaze getting lost at the nature around him. He was still for a long time, as well as silent. He lost track of time and did not know how long it was before he felt Ginny sit beside him and remain quiet. He could hear her soft breathing and another's, pretty sure… the baby's. He turned to look at her and gave her a weak smile; she smiled back at him, holding small Krystal in her arms. It had been three months already.

"Draco, just hold her," said Ginny, frowning now. "Please? You haven't held her even once in three months." She looked at him and pointed with her head down at their baby. Draco gingerly looked down at his daughter's face; she was sleeping soundlessly.

"It was supposed to be a boy," he said slightly grudgingly, Ginny frowned even more deeply and stood up. He eyed her for a moment, she was holding Krystal out to him, and he shook his head. "I'm not going to hold her, Virginia," he said shortly. Ginny gave a big sigh, probably attempting to calm herself. She turned on her heels and stalked off, rocking the baby in her arms.

Night fell and Draco was undressing in the bathroom, getting into his pajamas to sleep already. He exited the bathroom and found the bed empty and their baby sleeping on her cradle beside Ginny's side of the bed. He walked over to the cradle and looked down onto the peaceful baby's face.

He basically glared down at it, rather. He turned away, but the girl cooed, he turned once more to watch her and saw that she was still sleeping, she probably must have cooed in her dream. Did babies have dreams? He figured they must have, though probably they didn't make any sense. Draco perched his arms, folding them on the rim of the cradle and looking down at Krystal. Her hair had grown slightly and her eyes had become silver, like his, though now they were closed.

He reached out a hand to caress her small face, tenderly and the small baby seemed to cling to his hand slightly, he couldn't help but smile. He sighed meaningfully. "You're my daughter," he said softly, though there was no one else there. "And I do love you. Just as I love your mother," He slowly picked her up and kissed her forehead tenderly and then held her to him.

Ginny watched from the doorframe, her eyes filling with tears. At last he admitted it. She walked over to him and embraced his waist from behind, then made her way around, still embracing him, until she was at his side. "Just as I love you," she said, cupping the back of his head and giving him a brief kiss to then kiss her daughter's cheek.

* * *

It was a breezy summer day, and a small boy of about eleven years of age sat on some stone steps which led to a bigger house. And summer was drawing to a close. The boy had piercing green eyes and a mane of brown, messy hair. He was sitting shyly on those steps, overlooking a girl, about his same age, with bright, flaming red hair that reached her shoulders and gray eyes streaked with bright blue.

She gave out some sense of importance and superiority in the way which she held herself, apparently so confident and unbothered by the breeze that now ruffled her hair. She was standing on the same steps on which he was sitting, though completely at the other corner, her hand upon the railing and looking out onto the distance, as if expecting something, or someone. It was the latter, as he came to find out when she ran towards a figure of an unmistakably powerful man, both in built and in arrogance.

The girl flung her arms around the man's neck; he had half kneeled on the ground to welcome her with open arms. "Grandfather Lucius!" cried the girl, overcome with joy as her grandfather stroked her hair.

"Krystal," he drawled out, kissing her forehead quite tenderly. "How have you been behaving?" Krystal smiled with glee and untangled herself from him.

"I've been good, you can ask mummy and father!" she said over-excitedly, then she seemed to think better of it and stood straight, her hands holding each other as she looked up innocently at her grandfather's face. He smirked down at her, opened his mouth to speak, but then looked at the boy sitting on the stone steps and tilted his head, his lip curling up in almost a snarl. "And who is this?" he asked smoothly, as if not minding showing his disdain.

"Oh," said Krystal, overlooking the boy with superiority and sneering at him much like her father did. Her resemblance was uncanny. "Potter," Lucius jumped slightly at the name and glared at the boy. "Michael William Potter," she said with venom. "He's Uncle Harry and Auntie Hermione's son. He's my age." She stuck her nose up in the air, as if the mere thought of sharing attention with another person was preposterous.

"Uncle and Auntie?" said Lucius, his voice dripping with venom as he shuddered; he muttered something under his breath that Krystal did not quite catch. Just then Draco, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione came out onto the threshold and each pair of parents walked towards their respective children. Lucius nodded at them all, snarling a tad at Hermione and Harry for obvious reasons, and then he forced on a smile for Ginny.

"Virginia," he said taking her offered hand and kissing it, she nodded with a small smile which did not reach her eyes and snaked an arm around her daughter's shoulder. Ginny had changed quite drastically; she was much respected in an otherwise ignorant society of the 'high class' of the Wizarding World. She held herself with quite an arrogant air, though those that knew her knew that she was not like she looked like at all. She was still a warm-hearted person, with quite a character, much like her mother, but very, very nice.

"What brings you around, Lucius?" she asked calmly and he, who was looking at his cane, raised his eyebrows at her, and then he looked at Draco, who had an arm around his wife's waist. Lucius looked from one to the other with a sigh of disdain, shook his head and then cleared his throat.

"I was merely passing through the neighborhood and I thought I would drop in and see my precious granddaughter and bring her a gift." Lucius pulled a box from within his robes and handed it to the small girl, who opened it eagerly to find a necklace.

The necklace had a long silver chain which bore a pendant with an embedded crest and labored edges and had several sapphires encrusted. She squealed at such a piece of jewelry and Lucius smirked at her. "It was your grandmother's, she wants you to have it, precious." Krystal nodded and let Lucius put it on her.

"Say 'thank you', darling," said Ginny to Krystal gently and the small girl kissed her grandfather on the cheek and hugged him, muttering in his ear. Lucius nodded at them all.

"I must take my leave—"

"Oh, Lucius, I'm sure you've met our friends, Harry and Hermione Potter, along with their son, Michael?" asked Ginny sweetly, or feigned so. She grinned at him and Lucius shot a dark look at her, but then forced yet another grimace.

"Potters," he said shortly, before dissaparating off the Malfoy grounds. Ginny heaved a sigh and shook her head, looking at Draco meaningfully.

"What?" said Draco boringly, "He never liked Potter and you know he always loathed mudbl—muggleborns," he corrected himself as Ginny shot him a dark look at pointed with her head at their daughter. Ginny crossed her arms. "My apologies, Hermione," said Draco through gritted teeth, as if the mention of Hermione's name damaged his composure.

He hadn't changed much; he was still the same towards his beliefs, though Ginny often pestered him about them. But, no one is perfect.

"Mummy, mummy!" said Krystal, tugging on her mother's robes, Ginny looked down at her with a smile. The little girl pointed at the garden in the distance. "Can I go play?"

"Sure," said Ginny and smiled more broadly, Krystal meant to leave but her father stopped her.

"Be polite, darling," he said and stroked her hair slightly. "Take Michael with you, or at least ask him." Krystal's face fell considerably.

"Do I have to?" she asked crossing her arms and furrowing her brow meaningfully. Draco shot her a look and she concurred. "Oh fine, but if he even touches me, he's done for," she turned towards Michael. "Hurry up, then!" she commanded and began to walk away, huffing indignantly and Michael after her, rather grudgingly as well as his parents had positively commanded him to go with Krystal.

"She's your daughter alright, Malfoy," said Harry, looking at Krystal's expressions and way of walking thoughtfully as Ginny and Hermione went inside the Manor to talk or to do some girl stuff they knew nothing about.

"Oh hush, Potter," said Draco, seething, "I only have to like you when my wife is here." Both men glared at each other, the ever present cloud of their childhood rivalry above them. Then… they both broke into a grin and shook their heads. "Come on, Potter, let's have a drink."

"We'll never get that enemy spark going on again, will we?" asked Harry as he walked beside Draco towards the manor. Draco shook his head. "I thought so. Blame it on Ginny and Hermione"

"Pity," said Draco, shaking his head. "I had so much fun torturing you. The thrill is gone." He then smirked that trademark smirk of his; the one that still made all the girls melt at his sight. After all, he was only thirty years old. "I still have Weasley, that's a plus. I always look forward to our little rows."

* * *

"Hurry up, Potter, I don't have all my time for the likes of you." Krystal was walking back towards the manor, it was already sunset and she knew she should be in before dark, when all the alarms and wards around her house triggered.

She could not believe her father had made her play with that Michael Potter, the goody-goody child of her aunt and uncle. Now, it wouldn't bother her if he didn't require so much attention. Just because he was the child of the famous Harry Potter did not mean he had to steal her thunder. Harry Potter, the famous wizard who'd destroyed some old dark lord twice or something, Krystal remembered in her young mind of a ten-year-old. Her mother had told her all about it.

When Krystal was born, she made headlines of every newspaper and magazine in the Wizarding World, hey; she was famous by the mere fact of her father's name and such. But so was Michael. The thing was that Michael had been born exactly two hours before her and hence, whilst she made the headlines, so did he; only he'd make them first.

She was pampered and spoiled to no end, but was also taught hard work by her mother's side of the family, and she loved all of her cousins and aunts and uncles and both her Grandmothers as well as both her Grandfathers; though she could see they despised each other. She had inherited her father's cool and distant way of being, looking down upon others instead of looking at them as if she were at the same level. But she also had to learn to be nice and warm and friendly, like her mother.

Sometimes, the two personalities combined clashed and it was too much for the poor little girl.

But she enjoyed growing up at her manor, showered with gifts and pampering, with love from both of her parents. She was taught the utmost manners and had already her broomstick. She had inherited her father's abilities to play Quidditch, as well as her mother's. Though she preferred being a Keeper, instead of either Chaser or Seeker.

Both children reached the stone steps which led to the house, Michael, despise his sulking, got there first and opened the door to enter, but let Krystal pass first because it seemed like the nice thing to do. However, she stalked past him without a look back and kept on walking long after he'd closed the door and was on her heels with the fear of getting lost inside the manor.

They reached a landing which was well-lit with torches and candles; a tapestry of some kind of landscape hung on one of the walls. The fire on the torches crackled slowly and the flames played with Krystal's ginger hair. She looked around, perhaps looking for some kind of ghost or house-elf and then opened the tapestry to reveal a wall. Michael cleared his throat behind her.

"Shh," she said, feeling around the wall, not looking back at Michael. "It's a passageway; it'll get us faster to the meeting room." She finally found what she was looking for, muttered a few words and disappeared beneath the tapestry. He did not make an attempt to move, but her hand shot out from behind the tapestry and grabbed his wrist, forcing him inside.

"Not even the ghosts know about this," she said coolly and released him while she grabbed one torch from the wall and began to walk. "Father doesn't know I know it, so stick close if you don't want to get lost, it's quite easy, even for you." They remained silent for the next five minutes it took them to go pass that narrow corridor, lit and guided only by the light from the torch, which was decreasing every second.

By the time they'd reached the end, the fire had completely gone out and Krystal had placed the unlit torch on another holder in the wall, while she opened before her and both got out. He could watch her properly now and saw her red hair covered with a small amount of dust. She, however, was already busy with getting it out. When her hair was dust-free, she kept walking and knocked on a wooden door that was very close to where they had just come out.

They waited for a reply until "Come in," was heard faintly from the inside in which he recognized as his aunt Ginny's voice. Krystal opened the door and made her way inside, Michael hesitated, and then followed suit. Their parents were sitting by the fire in the circular room. His mother was leaning back to his father's chest as he held her by the waist. On the other side, a perfect mirrored image of his parents were his Aunt Ginny and Uncle Draco, in the exact same position, they all welcomed their respective child; Krystal coming to rest on her mother's lap and Michael coming to his father's side, still standing up. The other three begun talking amongst themselves.

"Were you a good boy, Michael?" asked his mother, cupping his face lovingly and smiling at him. He gave her a half smile.

"Yes, mum," he replied almost forcefully. Krystal was too mean to him and too distant for his appreciation. He didn't like it that they were to be considered cousins, though they had not any link by blood. He had been forced to call Krystal's parents Aunt and Uncle, just as he was sure she was forced to do the same to his parents.

* * *

They said goodbye to the Potters as they dissaparated from the Manor's Grounds and then they went inside. Krystal stood expectantly before her parents. "Go to sleep now, darling," said Ginny, kneeling towards her. "Tomorrow we're going to take you to Diagon Alley so you can get your things for school. Go on."

"Can father lead me up, mum? Instead of you?" she asked with the innocence she still possessed. Draco smiled down at her and picked her up. She giggled slightly, giving a small squeal.

"Off we go then, I'll see you upstairs, love," he added to Ginny, who nodded and watched her husband and her daughter disappear up the stairs contentedly.

Author's Note: No, it's not the end. But at least it isn't a cliffhanger like last time. Again, so sorry… Please forgive me, please, please, please. I'm begging here, people! It's a five page chapter, I tried to make it long so you guys won't kill me too much!

Preview for the next chapter:

-Krystal is going to Hogwarts people! Yes, I'm skipping the Diagon Alley shopping part. It's boring, I'm sure you don't want to read that.

-Oh! D/G moments, we all like those! You'll see. ^_~ Oh… and a small hint, it won't be too fluffy. Hey... this is R after all. Those of you who like the R-ness of things will enjoy. I guarantee.

I skipped 11 years because I have something in mind. What do you say to the words "flashbacks"? It will make the story longer for those of you who want it longer. And no, it will not be fluffy from now on. D/G is just not fluffy at all. The next chapter will not be too fluffy I promise. Because while I do enjoy fluff, sometimes I get sick of it. You'll have to wait and see. Do be kind and leave a review.

-Blue Rain