The Party
The Thursday of the party arrived more quickly than Ginny thought it would. It arrived so quickly, in fact, that she did not have time to buy a gift for James. So she arrived a little late with a sad look on her face. She searched Harry out.
"Harry." She said when she found him. He turned around and threw his arms around her.
"Ginny!"
"Let me breathe, Harry." She gasped. He smirked slightly and let her go.
"Harry, I forgot a present, so could I give it to James later?" she asked, feeling a little bad that she hadn't brought a present.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Gin. I think he'll have enough presents." He said, smiling. Ginny smiled and then Patty walked up.
"Ginny," she said. It wasn't in a snooty voice (which surprised Ginny to no end) but in a friendly one. Patty held out her hand for Ginny to shake. Ginny took it, and smiled.
Maybe they were finally going to get over their stupid little fight.
"Gin!" Hermione said, smiling and walking up to Ginny with her baby. Ginny smiled and looked at her niece with wonder.
"She's beautiful, Mione." Ginny said. Hermione's smile widened.
"Thanks, Gin." Ginny smiled, but felt a stab of pain. She remembered Kari at that age. How she missed her daughter!
Ginny and Hermione spent the next few minutes reminiscing about their school days, another thing that brought back some not so pleasant memories for Ginny. But then Percy called Hermione over, and Hermione went over to where he was standing to see what he wanted. Ginny mingled with the crowd, talking with many people that she hadn't seen in a long time.
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Draco sighed.
"Kari, we're going over to Uncle Harry's. Are you ready yet?"
"I wanna go see Mommy." Kari whined. Draco rolled his eyes at his daughter, giving her a look. She just narrowed her eyes and glared at him. The girl was getting an attitude.
"You can see Mommy some other time. I told you, Kari, she needed time to herself."
"But I wanna!" Kari exclaimed.
"Karissa Malfoy, if I ever hear that tone from you again, you will not be seeing anyone, let alone your mommy." Draco said in anger. Karissa glared at him again, and stalked off.
"Karissa," Draco started warningly. She turned around and gave him a winning smile.
"Yes, Daddy, I is ready." Kari said sweetly.
He groaned. Well, this was going to be fun.
--
Draco sat in a corner, being moody, as Kari played with some of the children that were her age. He watched in amusement as Bill and Fleur herded the children into a discreet playground so they wouldn't get in the way.
A shadow fell over Draco and he looked up, shielding his eyes.
"Oh, come on Draco, be social." It was Patty. "We didn't invite you here to sit on the bench and glare at the crowd."
"But it's what I feel like doing. Watching Kari."
"No one is going to steal her here, Draco. We're your friends."
"Blossom was Ginny's friend." Draco stated. Patty rolled her eyes. This was a long standing discussion between them.
--
Harry looked over to where Patty was standing. She was failing to get him out of his seat. If she didn't… the plan wasn't going to work. Harry watched where Ginny was. They were on opposite sides of the yard. His eyes fell on Kari.
Perfect.
He walked over to Kari.
"Hi, Kari, how are you?" he asked. He felt Draco's eyes glaring into his back. He gave Kari a smile which she returned.
"I'm okay. Daddy isn't happy though." She said in a soft voice. Harry smiled.
"Do you want to make Daddy happy?" Harry asked. Kari nodded. And Harry whispered in her ear,
"Want to go get some punch? And then Daddy won't have to worry."
Kari smiled and nodded.
"Draco!" Harry said and Draco's face snapped up from Kari's.
"Yes, Potter?" Harry rolled his eyes before saying,
"You really need to get over that." He paused to allow Draco time to roll his eyes. "Kari and I are going to go get some punch. You go mingle." He ordered.
Draco glared, but obeyed. He did watch Harry and Kari walked over to the punch table. And then walked to the punch table as well, getting something to drink. Harry gave him a look, but didn't say anything. Instead, he steered Kari to where her mother was standing. Kari took no time in being shy. She saw her mother and ran to her, attaching herself to her legs.
--
Ginny felt something hit her leg, and heard a small voice squeal "Mommy!" She looked down.
"Kari!" she said, smiling widely. Then her smile faltered as she realized exactly what Kari being here meant. Draco was here somewhere too.
--
Draco saw Ginny at the same moment that the realization dawned on her. Her face became cloudy, and she looked around the yard to see if she could see him. Their eyes locked. Draco wordlessly walked toward Ginny and Kari. Upon reaching them, he said quietly,
"Virginia? Why are you here?"
"I was invited, Draco," she said coolly. He arched an eyebrow.
"Invited? But that means…" He looked to the punch table where Harry was quickly turning around. He smirked and looked at Ginny. "Why, my dear, I do believe we have been set up."
----
Harry heard this and smiled. Part three was complete. Now, if only… He smiled.
Again, Kari would be the one to bring her parents together.
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Hums loudly What? Oh, yes… Well, that didn't turn out quite as I expected it to. Ah well, the characters will have their say, and when they do, I must listen to them. Sad, really. But what can I do?
Sorry about last chapter… that was pretty mean. But I only had time to post one chapter (You're saying- then why did you post such a long author's note? The answer… um… I write author's notes when I write the chapter, and… I'm just stopping while I'm not too far behind. The answer is I really don't have a good reason. But look, I'm posting this now.)
Have a nice day!
-Lili