Ginny had been in Ireland for three days. Seamus had taken her to the countryside and it was wonderful. For just little while she'd been able to forget Draco, and all their troubles and just be.
Then on the fourth day, a pounding came to the door of the Finnigan house. Ginny had known, even before he came striding in with a house elf trailing behind him telling him he couldn't, that it was Draco.
Draco had stood over her as she lounged on the couch and glowered. "Get your things together now."
Seamus had leapt up from his seat and said "See here Malfoy, you can't just barge into my house and tell Ginny what to do."
Draco stalked over to put his face inches from Seamus'. "Finnigan, you're a nice enough fellow. I like you, I always have since the war, but I'm going to have to insist that you don't interfere with what's going on between Ginny and I. It wouldn't be good for your health."
"Draco, I don't want to go back!" Ginny said, standing, hands on hips.
Draco spun around to face her. "You may do whatever you like after my child is born. Until that time, I won't have you traipsing about from country to country with men like a little trollop!"
That was when Seamus grabbed Draco by the arm, swinging him back around to face him and landed a fist to his face. Draco immediately swung back and an all out fist fight ensued. Ginny and the little house elf both stood in horror as the two men went at each other. Seamus pulled out his wand and chanted a hex that Ginny couldn't quite make out, but Draco ducked it and in a now blind rage, pulled out his own wand. After hitting Seamus with a binding spell, he went in for the kill.
Ginny leapt (as much as she was able to leap with an 8 month pregnant belly) in front of Seamus and cried, "Please Draco, don't hurt him! It's not his fault."
When he noticed her hand in her pocket, no doubt clutching her wand, Draco felt his anger drain from him abruptly replaced by a feeling he barely recognized as distress. Ginny had only done that one time before. To protect him. From his father. Draco wasn't sure whether he was upset because Ginny had given Finnigan the same consideration as she did him, or if it was because she was moved to treat him as the same sort of threat she treated his father as.
"Forget your things, we'll send for them later. We're leaving now." He spat out at her as he took her upper arm and guided her towards the door. Ginny went along quietly. In fact she didn't utter another word till they were seated on the train to go back home. The she said only one word.
"Why?" she asked, but Draco knew exactly what she meant.
He looked out the window for a moment, then turned to her and said, "I told you if you tried to leave I would come and take back what was mine." And Ginny was horrified at the cold dark look in his gray eyes.
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Draco gazed at Ginny as she slept. She had fallen asleep after the first thirty minutes or so on the train, and gradually her head and fell onto his shoulder. He had eased her down, laying her head in his lap and he sat now, stroking her hair and gazing at her peaceful face.
She had asked him why and she hadn't had to say anymore for him to know what she meant. He had asked himself the very same thing, half a dozen times on the train to get her. The answer still wasn't completely clear to him. He hadn't intended to let her take the baby away, that was true, but it was something more too. Truth be told, while he was angry at Ginny, and resented what she had done, he didn't want her to be that far away either. Even if they weren't meant to be together, he wanted her where he could look at her. Speak to her, touch her hand, if he wanted to. He wanted her close. Of course, he wasn't quite willing to admit that, not to her or himself, but it was true. He convinced himself it was just simply in the best interests of his child to keep its mother where he could monitor her actions and let it go at that.
Draco escorted Ginny home to the burrow and left with only a curt nod to Bill. He didn't see or hear from Ginny for about three weeks after that. Then one day, Harry showed up on his doorstep.
"Potter." Draco said, "What are you doing here?"
"Malfoy, you need to come with me. Ginny's having the baby!" Harry said breathlessly.
For a moment, Harry saw Draco's eyes light up. Quickly though, the light was shuttered and the hard, cold look Draco had carried for months now, replaced it.
"I assume she's at St Mungo's?" Harry nodded. "Very well, I'll be along soon. I have some business to finish up here. I'm sure she doesn't need my help. Nor want it probably."
Draco turned to go retreat back inside his apartment when Harry put a hand out to grasp his shoulder. "Draco, you need to come now. Ginny's not doing well. The midwitch says she might not make it."
Draco turned to look at Harry with narrowed eyes. His mind simply wouldn't allow him to process what Potter was really saying so he said, "Not going to make it? Well, she doesn't have much of a choice, does she? The baby will come whether she wants it to or not. Or will the midwitch take it? What will that involve? Surgery? Is there any risk to the child for that? Or the mother?" Draco realized he was babbling.
Harry pushed Draco down into the chair he was standing in front of. He leaned in very close to Draco's face and looked into his eyes. "Draco, you have to listen to me now. We're not talking about Ginny not being able to deliver the baby. I'm saying to you that Ginny may not make it. She's probably going to die, Draco. The midwitch isn't giving us much hope. Poppy Pomfrey is there and even she says things don't look well. If you care for Ginny at all, you need to come. Now."
Harry watched as what he was trying to say finally sunk into the blond mans head. "Oh dear God.' Draco whispered.
"Will you come with me now?" Harry asked, holding out the portkey that would take them both back to the hospital. Draco nodded and the two men apparated with a pop.
In the hospital waiting room, Draco surveyed the Weasley family. Molly, in tears, was sitting in a chair in the corner, Arthur sitting beside her stroking her hand trying to console and reassure her. Bill, Charlie, and the twins were standing off to one side of the room, faces grim and silent. Percy sat, chewing on the end of a pencil, obviously trying to do paperwork, but the look on his face, and lack of writing on the sheet of paper he was holding, told Draco that he hadn't been able to get much done. Fleur Delacourt, Bills girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater Weasley, Percy's wife, The Patil twins (he could never tell which was which), the twins fiancées, Cho Chang and Hermione all sat at various points around the room, all looking worried. Ron paced the floor.
Just then, Poppy Pomfrey came out of the double doors at one side of the room. Molly jumped up and the other Weasley clan members clustered around her. Draco moved close enough to hear but a little apart from the group.
"I wish I had better news. The baby's already moved into the birth canal, that means we can't take it. Ginny is hemorrhaging badly. I'm just not sure we can save them both." Said Poppy.
Molly burst into a new flood of tears. Ron swore under his breath. Draco stepped forward. "Madame Pomfrey."
"Yes Draco?" she looked at him.
"May I see Ginny?"
Poppy looked at him speculatively for a moment. "It is your child. And Ginny has asked if you were here yet. You promise not to upset her? She can't handle it right now, and Draco, I warn you, if you do, I'll toss you out on your ear."
Draco nodded his head in acceptance of the rules and followed Poppy back through the double doors.
The sight in the delivery room was a bit more than Draco anticipated. There were several nurses darting here and there in the room, the midwitch and Madame Pomfrey, all clustered around Ginny, who was lying with her knees drawn up on a hospital bed.
Ginny's face was covered with sweat and her hair was plastered to her head, although it was quite cool in the room. Her face screwed up suddenly and as she cried out in pain, Draco watched with alarm as a bright red stain spread across the sheet that covered her legs.
"Should she be bleeding like that?" he asked Madame Pomfrey.
"No, she shouldn't. But every time she pushes she pumps out more blood and she must push to get the baby out." Said Poppy, hurrying over to Ginny.
"Draco?" Ginny called, between breaths and pushes.
Draco came over to the side of the bed. "Yes, Ginny?"
"I- oh- I picked out names for the baby-AHH-I-hope- you don't mind. If it's a girl-ohhhhhhhh-I'd like to call her Carina-and a boy-------Orion." She panted.
"Constellation names." Draco said quietly.
"Like their father's" Ginny ground out through another pain. "Is that ----ok?"
Draco took Ginny's hand. "You can name the baby anything you want to princess."
Ginny looked up in surprise at the nickname. But before she could answer, a hard pain hit her and Poppy Pomfrey shouted to push and Ginny did. This time, the bloom of blood was three times the size of the ones before and it sent all the other people in the room into a frenzy.
Poppy looked up from her place at the end of the bed and said to Draco. "I'm sorry Draco, but a decision must be made. Ginny will die if she hemorrhages like that again. We can either save her or save the child."
Draco never hesitated when he said "Save Ginny."
Ginny cried out "NO! NO! Don't you dare Poppy! You save my baby! Don't you dare!"
Poppy looked at Ginny, "But Ginny, there will be other babies. You have to!"
"No, no I don't have to. I know my rights. You can't do that, no matter what anyone else says, as long as I am coherent to make the decision its mine to make. Save my baby!"
Poppy Pomfrey went slowly back to the bottom of the bed. "Alright then Ginny, give it one more good push and let's see if we can't give this little person life."
Draco clung to Ginny's hand in horror as the blood dripped off the side of the bed and onto the floor as Ginny put every last ounce of strength she had in the final push. Though it seemed like endless hours, seconds later, Poppy cried, "I've got her. It's a girl!"
Draco turned, smiling, to look at Ginny. Slowly the smile dissipated and the blood drained from his face. Ginny had collapsed back onto the bed unconscious and her breathing was shallow and barely discernable.
Poppy Pomfrey passed the baby to a nurse who bustled it out of the room and shoved him as she sped around to the side of the bed. "MOVE DRACO! MOVE!" She and the midwitch huddled over Ginny, chanting spells Draco could barely understand. For fifteen minutes the two women worked over Ginny as Draco looked on.
The midwitch cried "Her blood pressure is still dropping Madame Pomfrey, and her respiration is slowing. I don't know what else to do!"
Poppy Pomfrey let her wand fall to the floor and hung her head in defeat.
"You aren't giving up?" Draco said. "She's still alive. There's still a chance."
"There's nothing more to be done. I'm so sorry Draco." Said Poppy Pomfrey.
Draco threw himself down on his knees beside Ginny's bed and grasped her slack hand.
"Ginny, please." He said softly. "Ginny, you have to come back. Carina needs her mother. How can a little girl grow up without a mother Ginny? You can't leave her……You can't leave me, Ginny. You asked me why on the train from Ireland. The reason why is because I can't live without you Ginny. I love you. Please Ginny, come back to me. Please." Tears fell from his face and onto Ginny's hand.
Draco searched her face desperately for any sign of life. Then suddenly, he felt her hand tighten on his, just for a moment. He jumped to his feet and went to Madame Pomfrey.
"Try again." He said.
"There isn't any point. We've-"Madame Pomfrey began but Draco took her by the shoulders and gave the woman a shake.
"TRY AGAIN!" he roared.
Madame Pomfrey went to the bed and the midwitch approached from the other side. Again they went though the spells and incantations. But this time, the midwitch gasped.
"She's coming round. Blood pressure rising, respiration steady."
"The bleeding has stopped!" shouted Madame Pomfrey, triumphantly.
Draco felt a great wave of relief wash over him has he sank into a chair near Ginny's bed. As Madame Pomfrey left to tell the Weasleys that everything was alright, he looked up and asked, "Madame, would you be so kind as to have someone bring me my daughter?"
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Ginny drifted towards the beautiful light in the distance. She didn't quite understand what was happening, but she knew she had to get to that light. Moving towards it seemed to be the most important thing in the world.
Then faintly she heard someone call her name. Turning back to look behind her into the darkness, she heard it again. She recognized the voice as Draco's.
"Ginny, please." He called. "Ginny come back to me."
Ginny moved towards his voice, but then she hesitated looking back at the light. So warm, so comforting. She knew if she went to it she would find love and happiness.
Draco called again. "Carina needs you. I need you. I love you Ginny. Please."
Something wet touched Ginny's hand. Looking down, she knew the drops were Draco's tears. She had to go back.
She gave one last glance over her shoulder at the beautiful light, then trudged determinedly back into the dark, back to Draco.
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Ginny opened her eyes. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. She turned her head to see a handsome blond man sitting next to her with a pink wrapped bundle in his arms.
"Hello Princess." He said, smiling softly at her. "Would you like to meet your daughter?"