For the Sake of the Baby
Chapter 12
Summary: Ginny and Draco have to say goodbye to each other for the summer and they both go home to BIG surprises! Draco's got a little one at home and Ginny's got several! At school there's new kid causing some trouble between the lovers, nasty rumors are beginning to spread and it's starting to look like things will never be the same again. Plus Draco and Ginny get paired up for another practical project! And what does a sack of flour have to with it??
Disclaimer: I own only the characters you don't recognize as JK Rowling's. I also own most of the plot line. Anything you recognize is obviously not mine and all will be credited at the end of the fiction. Unfortunately, I am not making any money from this story.
Author's Note: Hello, hello! So school's sort of settling down – okay, not really but it'd be nice to think it was. I've found the time to write tonight mostly because it's Prom weekend and I'm not old enough nor do I have a date that's old enough to go. So here I am! This time, I'd like to send a thank you to Lan, my new beta reader! Hopefully, this time it will be at least a little more correct grammatically and whatnot. So...on with the story!
Chapter 12
The Beginning of a Very Long Night
All day long, Draco continued to find letters from random girls lying around in his classes – and they were all addressed to him. Though the day started with Debbie and Sarah, it ended with Renee, Michelle, Kelsey, Pansy (which he shivered at), Courtney and Naomi. As he walked out of his last class toward the Great Hall, he toyed with the eight letters he had tucked deep within his robes.
Should he tell her? Should he not? Both thoughts crossed his mind and of course, he wanted desperately to choose the latter of the two – but he also knew that the consequences would be far worse if he let Ginny find out from anyone else. He would have to tell her tonight when they met. Maybe she would believe him, but perhaps not. His chances weren't good; after all, who would believe that Draco Malfoy had been completely loyal to any girl at all, let alone his proclaimed 'true love', Ginny Weasley? No one would. He would be alone – even Blaise didn't believe him and they'd been friends since before they'd come to Hogwarts. He was completely and totally alone.
At least he'd have Sarah, Renee, and all those other girls to keep him company when Ginny found out.
He would have to tell her – she would surely understand, right? It's not like he'd done anything with these girls, no matter what they were thanking him for. Where had he been through that whole experience anyway? Why would these girls think up these strange stories?
Tonight he would confront Ginny and tell her the truth behind all of these rumors. Surely she would believe HIM over everyone else. Tonight he would find out.
On his way to the secret room that he and Ginny had uncovered the year before, Byron stopped him.
"Hey, Draco! Where are you headed?" Byron asked, blocking the hallway.
"I'm going to meet Ginny," Draco said shortly, not really in the mood to deal with his bratty cousin.
"But I thought that the Gryffindor common room was the other way," Byron said thoughtfully glancing down the hallway toward it.
"It is," Draco said simply and kept on walking.
"I heard about your exciting night last night, Draco. Actually, come to think of it – I heard the whole rendezvous through the wall. It sounded quite fun, really – you should have told me you were having a party," Byron said cockily.
"I wasn't having a party," Draco said through gritted teeth.
"I'm sure Ginny will be angry she wasn't invited. Now why wasn't she invited Draco, I must ask. Is she not pretty enough, or smart enough, or is she just becoming to boring for you?"
"There wasn't a party to be invited to. And if there was one then she would have been the only one invited because she is the only one pretty enough, the only one smart enough and the only one who doesn't bore me. I never want to hear you question that again, Byron. I don't know where you or these girls got these ideas from but I can tell you what you can do with them. You can shove them right up your –"
"Draco! I've been looking all over for you! We were supposed to meet ten minutes ago!" Ginny's worried voice announced her arrival.
"I'm sorry, Gin, but Byron felt the need to stop me and ask me a few questions. Now I'm done and I've made my point and I was just getting ready to look for you," Draco lied, avoiding telling her that he had been about ready to slit Byron's throat.
"Oh, hello Byron," Ginny said, avoiding all eye contact with him but making an effort to be polite.
"Good evening, Ginny," Byron said, reaching for her hand and kissing it in what was supposed to be a polite and gentlemanly gesture.
Ginny instinctively pulled her hand away from his grasp as quickly as possible and clasped her hand around Draco's as a sign of her disgust and contempt toward him. Ginny loved the shocked look that passed across his face as she did this. It was like her own sweet revenge for tricking her – she made him look like a fool. He hadn't thought that his astonishment had shown because he had quickly covered it up with that empty look that the Malfoys had so perfected, but Ginny had been around Draco long enough to catch those subtle looks of emotion.
"I can see I'm not needed any longer," Byron said icily, "I'll see you later, Draco," he added, intentionally ignoring Ginny as he swept passed them and up the corridor.
"Do you understand what I mean about how dangerous he is?" Draco asked.
"I'm beginning to," Ginny said as they walked hand in hand up the corridor and through the passage to the small, cozy room of theirs.
"What finally made you see?" Draco asked out curiosity. He had never really seen Ginny and Byron together.
"Oh nothing in particular, I guess. I've just observed some of the stunts he's pulled and it's made me think about what you said a little more," Ginny said, feeling guilty as soon as the words left her mouth. She knew it was an awful lie to tell, but it was also a believable lie.
Draco opened the door to the hidden room and allowed Ginny to walk through first before looking around to ensure its secrecy and closing it behind him again.
There was a lot at stake tonight and Draco and Ginny both knew that their secrets must come out. Tonight was a crucial night – should they tell or should they not? The letters were burning a hole in Draco's pocket and Ginny's guilt was tearing her up inside. Tonight would be interesting...
Okay, okay, that was the absolute worst chapter you've all ever read and I know it. How pathetic is that? I really wish that there was something I could do about it! I know what you're all thinking, "well, you've had six months to make it perfect – or at least more than ten paragraphs long... what gives?" Honestly... a mixture of things.
First, I'm not quite sure what the next step in the fic should be... I know what is going to happen next but I don't know how to write a few chapters that will lead you all into that action. This would be one of my first and probably the worst case of writer's block I've ever had.
Second, because of the above factor, I have been increasingly unmotivated to write because it just frustrates me and I've been so incredibly busy. That's why I decided to come to a (horrible) stopping point and at least get this much of it up just to signal that I'm still trying to make it work.
Third, because of a mixture of both above reasons, my mind has wandered to another fic that's (in my opinion) a much better plot line, much more mature and from what I've written, is a much nicer read. My writing style has changed drastically since I began writing either one of these fics and it's increasingly harder to build on it. I can't wait to post it but I'm not posting until it's half done that way I can write at my leisure without the pressure of having to update.
I do feel really horrible as the author about the entire scenario but at least you may have an absolute kick-butt story come out of it that will be a good read while you're waiting for me to write in this one. We'll see how it all goes, shall we?
Anyway, review and let me know your thoughts on the whole situation and the crap I've posted for a chapter. I would love to get some feedback! God knows I don't deserve it...
Here's a summary of the upcoming fic: It will be (tentatively) called: A Backwards Fairytale. I don't want to give too much away for fear of someone else taking the idea and running with it or what not, but you will all be witnesses to me! Here it is:
Summary: Fairytales are supposed to be lovely stories told to children at bedtime, where handsome, valiant knights rescue their damsels in distress. For Ginny Weasley, her fairytale life ended up a twisted, even backwards version of that – so backwards that it may not end how she wants it to. And with Draco Malfoy attempting to be a knight in shining armor who 'rescues' her from the perfect life she'd always wanted and takes her to a life more properly found in her nightmares, how could it? But we all know that any good fairytale starts with a fiery redhead and an angry ferret.
This fic will be a much better, developed plot and it will just be better. I'm not going to have them in love in the first 3 chapters or even maybe the first ten. It takes longer than that in real life and it will take longer than that here. But it's not going to be slow going at all... you'll just have to read and find out! I promise you will love it!
Wow, so that was longer than the actual chapter almost right? Crazy... I'm leaving now to go cry in the corner.