"Michael! You have an owl." Cho called from the living room of their little home where they had gone into hiding.
Michael entered the room and took the letter from the owl, stroking it absently as a thank you. He recognized Ginny's handwriting almost instantly and felt slightly annoyed. She had sent him an owl when he and Cho had gone into hiding with a Secret Keeper? Well, he had gone with Cho as company. Otherwise she would have withdrawn into herself. He knew that was not healthy and he did not mind being her shoulder to cry on.
He ripped open the letter, wondering why it was written in a very careful and elegant scrawl as opposed to the urgent scribbling he was used to. It read:
Dear Michael,
No, I'm not in trouble. No one is, so long as your Secret Keeper has remained loyal.
Loyalty is the reason that I am writing to you. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to remain loyal to you. I've never told you the truth, but now I feel the need to do so. I'm sorry I had to tell you in a letter, but circumstances made me have no choice.
I'm afraid that our relationship has deteriorated beyond repair. You know this; you probably admitted it to yourself often beforehand. I think it best that we file for a divorce. I have already sent the papers to the proper authorities and alerted Mum to the matter. I will take full responsibility for the children, so you need not worry about them.
I'm sorry that our relationship has come to this and even more sorry that I could not do this in person. However, I know that I cannot remain loyal and that our relationship is only hampering you in other areas of your life.
Hopefully you agree with me in these matters and will sign the papers when they are sent to you.
With regret,
Ginny
He dropped the letter in shock. Was there any way she could have known about himself and Cho? No, no way. Nobody knew about the two of them. Their going into hiding had started it all, after all. They had simply gotten out of control. But... no, Ginny would have mentioned that in big splotchy letters if she had known.
That only meant that Ginny had transgressed with Malfoy. He had seen it coming, ever since Draco had taken up a teaching position along with her.
"Ginny wants to file for a divorce." He told Cho.
The woman's eyes widened, "S-she can't have found out, could she?"
"Of course she didn't." He said sternly, "Apparently, Ginny feels she can't remain loyal to me, so a divorce is the best course of action."
"Harsh." Cho commented.
He rolled his eyes, "Don't you see? This is good for us! With a divorce, we'll be able to be together openly!"
She smiled and threw her arms around him with a kiss as her response.
"You sent him an owl?" Draco hissed at Ginny as they watched the children have a snowball fight outside.
"There was no other way to tell him." The red-head said lightly.
"Bloody hell, Weasley, can't you even try to pretend to be worried about his and Cho's situation? And what about working this all out? I thought you were going to try to work things out and you were just completely overtired or drunk last night!" He exclaimed, hiding his pleasure at the news.
"Honestly, Malfoy, I take it very seriously. Besides, you know that our relationship's been horrible since I took this job." She replied, fixing him with her fiery gaze.
"You mean, since I took this job alongside you." He corrected, smirking.
"Yes," She agreed without a pause, "I believe this is for the best of the children, anyways."
"For the best?" Draco repeated. "Do you have any idea what your overly weasel-like children will do to you?"
"Well, Joseph will probably be very confused and stop talking for a bit. Daniel will probably go into a little spout of withdrawal. Alexis will try to kill me when she finds out why. Aleanor will yell and stamp her feet and try hard not to do any physical damage to me. Oh, and Amanda will never forgive me." She said as if she were discussing the weather.
"Mental woman," He muttered, "I have had more than my share of trouble with mental women."
"Only two mental women, actually, though in different ways' Pansy was evilly mental, I'm mental in a Weasley way." She retorted.
He rolled his eyes and tugged at her scarf teasingly, "Whatever you say, weasel." He teased.
She took a mitt-full of snow and shoved it in his face before running off with a laugh.
"Hey, Brandy, what's your mum doing with Malfoy?" Chiharu asked, throwing a snowball at Ralph.
"Having a snowball fight," Brandy said dismissively, throwing another at Elida.
"While lying on top of him on the ground?" Scott demanded, pitching his at Ryan.
"Er..." Brandy faltered long enough to be hit in the back of the head by one of Elida's.
"Say, those rumours aren't true are they?" Ralph demanded, shoving a handful of snow in his twin's face.
Brandy avoided the question by throwing a snowball at Ryan, missing horribly and getting hit by his retaliation. She winced and picked the cold substance off her cheek. Snowball fights were a lot more fun with Alexis. She was as feisty as Brandy, though in a less evil way. She grinned slightly, ducking to hide her expression.
"Well?" Scott persisted, holding Ralph in a head-lock.
Brandy shrugged, "It's her story to tell." She said evenly, dodging one of Chiharu's snowballs.
"It is?" Ralph demanded, struggling under Scott's arm. "You're mum's shagging Malfoy?"
Brandy arched an eyebrow, "I'm not going to answer you, Ralph. It's Mum's story to tell."
Chiharu looked over her shoulder, "Well, they've stopped their little snowball fight."
"Thank Godric, that was getting embarrassing." Brandy said gratefully.
"Spill." Ralph ordered, having managed to pin Scott to the snowy ground.
"Her story." Brandy retorted.
"Smfrl." Scott said.
"What?" Elida asked, leaning closer, "Speak up, Scott, can't hear you."
"Smfrl!" He shouted.
"He says spill." Ralph told them with a grin, shoving his twin's face farther into the snow.
"It's her story! If it annoys you so much, go ask her yourself!" Brandy exclaimed, laughing.
"Alright, we will." Ralph exclaimed, climbing off his twin and helping him to his feet.
Brandy would have slapped her forehead if she was one for excessive body language. Instead, she groaned and trudged after the spunkier members of the Weasley Clan that were trapped in Hogsmeade. It was late February now, without any change in the dampening levels on Hogwarts. As such, they were still trapped with the overgrown bat and her mother.
Ralph and Scott went right up to her mum, making Brandy hide her face in her gloved hands. They had their arms folded across their chests and were perfect replicas of each other. If it was not for the letters on their jumpers, they would have been indistinguishable.
"Are you two shagging?" Scott demanded, as Ralph had only managed to look like a fish.
Of the two, Scott had a bigger mouth and found it easier to ask the harder questions. In Brandy's opinion, Ralph was the one with a conscience and the majority of their combined brains. At the moment, she wished she could have hit Scott over the head with a particularly large clump of snow or that Ralph had kept sitting on him.
Her mother looked horrified for a moment, then started laughing uncontrollably, "Sweet Merlin, you really are Fred's son." She exclaimed, continuing to laugh.
"Well? Are you?" Ralph demanded, no longer a fish-weasel.
Draco arched an eyebrow, "Don't make me dock points from Gryffindor for language." He threatened.
"Ha! So you are!" Scott exclaimed, pointing at Draco.
He got no response from the adults.
"Denial says it all." Ralph shook his head, looking at his twin.
"First step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." Scott said wisely, nodding at them but still talking to Ralph.
Brandy recognized their tactic. They often used it when they knew the answer, but wanted someone to confirm it. It usually worked, even on adults. They had even managed to use it on their infallible grandmother once. She saw Professor Malfoy's mouth twitch in response.
"Aha! The Malfoy twitch of admitting!" Ralph cried, pointing.
"We speak the truth!" Scott concluded, clapping his twin on the shoulder before marching away.
Brandy grinned impishly at her mother, who was still sitting in the snow and looking completely dishevelled. "You should've known they'd find out the moment it happened." She said brightly before following her cousins.
"I have to admit that I'm jealous, Bill," Seamus said impishly, looking the eldest Weasley in the eyes, "I've wanted to spend a night alone with Ginny for years. How come Malfoy gets all the fun?"
The Headmaster winced, "She's my sister, Seamus, please don't say that."
"Why? She's a nice little piece of work. I heard she's lots of fun in the-"
"Finish that sentence and you won't get to have such fun ever again." Bill said menacingly.
Seamus' eyes widened in horror, "You wouldn't!"
"Oh, I would," Bill assured him, his gaze steely, "She's my baby sister."
"Not as much of a baby as you think she is." Seamus growled, "She's had her fair share of boyfriends. But why Malfoy?"
"Because they work well together," Bill said, waving aside the matter.
Seamus bristled jealously. "Ginny and I work well together!"
"I need someone here to keep up the level of insanity and amusement." Bill told him, grinning.
"Cruel. Are you so lacking in humorous creativity that you need my pitiful genius to amuse you?" Seamus whined.
"You need to watch over Colin, anyways."
"Nothing's wrong with the boy. He's just like I was at that age." He said smoothly.
"That's the problem." Bill said sweetly.
"Mental, that's what you are." Seamus snapped.
"No, you are. Even without Ron around to hex you into next week, Ginny's still got the rest of us to watch over her and do that for him." Bill replied, then fell silent.
"Remember how they lived." Seamus told him encouragingly, his heart giving a painful twinge.
Bill smiled and patted his shoulder, "Come on, help me plan something fun for Easter." He urged.
Seamus needed no further provocation. He loved planning fun things for the students. He bounced along at the taller man's side, chatting animatedly about what they could do. Bill was rather good in Charms and Transfiguration and such things, so he could do what Ginny would have. So what if Easter was more than a month and a half away? He could have his fun. The magic dampener would be gone by then, after all.
Zoë rubbed her arms and shivered, "I don't see why half these corridors aren't heated." She told Dante.
"To save energy?" Dante offered.
Zoë rolled her eyes, "If you're talking about that eckeltricity stuff..."
"Magical energy, Zoë," Her friend clarified, "Every spell takes a certain amount of magical energy. That's why this damper is so annoying; it lowers our ability to create magical energy and saps our physical energy."
Zoë had been watching a ghost go by.
Dante sighed, "And you didn't hear a word of that. Figures."
"Hmm?" Zoë asked, looking back at her, "Sorry, did you say something?"
"Never mind, let's just go visit her." Dante grumbled.
Zoë blinked. Why did Dante sound so irritated all of a sudden? Had she done something? Oh, right, she had not paid attention. Oops. She thought. Dante was rather touchy nowadays, a way that Zoë was very unused to seeing her. It was confusing, Dante never got angry or frustrated usually.
"You're worried about Zeph, aren't you?" She asked impulsively.
Dante nodded, "Of course, aren't you?"
"Yeah! But she'll be fine, Dawn. If she was getting worse, your uncle would have sent her to Hogsmeade with your Mum." Zoë said encouragingly.
Dante smiled slightly. "You're right, thanks Zoë."
"No problem." She answered, tucking her black hair behind an ear, "Hey! There's Liam and Xander! Liam! Xander!"
Dante winced at the pitch of her voice, but Zoë ignored that. Instead, she ran towards the boys who had just exited the hospital wing. They looked a little rough around the edges, like they had not been getting much sleep. When Dante looked hopefully at them, they both shook their heads.
"She's the same as ever." Liam murmured.
"She'll wake up as soon as Dethol fixes this." Zoë said confidently, "If she was getting any worse, Professor Weasley would move her to Hogsmeade, no?"
"But why are they keeping her here, then?" Liam demanded sharply.
Dante answered, "Professor Weasley knows that she sleeps only one hour a night since we got here. He would rather she get some rest here than go to Hogsmeade. Not to mention that she might be targeted by the Death Eaters, seeing as she's the daughter of two of their main foes."
Xander looked thoughtful, though Zoë dismissed that as a usual Xander-face. He was always thinking, just like Dante. Except not, because he was quieter and barely spoke. Not in the creepy remorseful way that James did, but in the thoughtfully quiet way Xander did. That was why he was Xander, after all. No one could be more like Xander than he could.
"It's March fourth, shouldn't Dethol have found them by now?" Liam asked quietly.
"Hey, that means I've been twelve for two months now." Zoë realized.
Dante elbowed her, "At least pretend to care about her, Zoë."
"I do care, Dawn, I just have the attention-span of a mosquito." She replied, "And, Liam, he had absolutely nothing to go on. We'll be lucky if he finds them before summer, if at all."
"Boy, aren't we a happy person." Natasha's dry sarcasm cut through their conversation.
"I just don't see why you guys are all so impatient. We knew it would take a while for him to find them, so why do we keep expecting Zephari to wake up any day now? If she does, we'll be told." She said rashly.
Natasha rolled her eyes, "Zoë, shut it please. You're not being helpful." She ordered, though Zoë was not insulted by it.
Zoë stuck her tongue out yet obeyed. No one wanted to hear her opinion, fine. She would simply observe and stay quiet. Already her tongue was burning. She wanted to say something. But she had resolved not to. No, she would stick to her resolution. No more talking unless absolutely important.
This was going to be a long day, she realized.