A/N: I'm sorry, I don't purposely delay posting. Sometimes, it just takes that long to get a chapter ready. In fact, I've decided that this is the last story I will post that isn't completely finished first. I think everyone will be much happier that way. Anyway, chapter 14 is being e-mailed to my beta, today. Usually that means 2 to 3 days before I can post, however, my beta has her own life to deal with, and sometimes it just takes longer. This chapter took me a week and half to write because my work load has increased drastically. I'll continue to do my best, but it isn't always easy, and sometimes you just have to wait.

Chapter 13

"No, Ginny never made it to St. Mungo's, Rachel. She disintegrated during that final curse. Harry tried to save her. He wouldn't let go of her hand, that's how he lost his," Charlie explained carefully.

Rachel ignored him.

"We didn't know who brought her in. She was in a coma for a week, before she woke; she had no idea who she was or where she was. I remember a colleague discussing the case with me. It was odd because there was no trace of any curse or spell damage on her, and yet there was something clearly wrong. I remember feeling sorry for her, and puzzling over her condition, but I never saw her again after that day. I had so many other cases to deal with, I didn't really think of her again for at least a couple of weeks. When I finally asked my colleague how she was doing, he said that they were unable to help her, and that a family member had claimed her and taken her home. I guess I was satisfied that she'd be taken care of, so I let it go."

"Rachel! It couldn't have been Ginny. She's dead!" Charlie cried, feeling the old wounds begin to reopen in his heart.

"She's dead," he repeated in a whisper feeling a tear slip from his eye.

Rachel wrapped her arms around him and held him close while he cried. She was starting to doubt herself. The girl she had seen looked a lot like Ginny, but it had been over five years ago. It was possible that Rachel was mistaken.

She winced and tightened her arms around her sobbing mess of a husband.

He and his family had been through so much. If they started investigating, only to discover that Ginny was really and truly dead, it would only cause them even more grief. No, if Ginny was alive, Rachel would have to find her without Charlie's assistance. Maybe Hermione would help her.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"And what did you do yesterday?" Draco Malfoy, sole heir to the Malfoy fortune asked his breakfast companion.

"Yesterday?" Brown eyes blinked at him in confusion.

He resisted the urge to sigh in frustration, again wondering what had possessed him to undertake such a project.

"Yes Darling. Think hard now. What did you do yesterday?" he said as calmly as possible.

Her pale face scrunched up in concentration.

"Horses, I think. I think I went to the stables," she said finally.

Draco couldn't stop the sigh this time.

"No, dear. It rained, you spent the day in the library reading. Can you remember that?"

She flinched at his tone, though it hadn't been very sharp.

Giving him a frown, she tried again to recall the previous day's activities. The only thing that popped up in her head was a pretty brown horse with a white diamond on its forehead.

"A horse. I remember a horse…" she stopped talking and looked down at her plate when he glared at her.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to forget…" she broke off with a sob, and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Stop that! Stop crying. There's no reason for it," he demanded.

She nodded and took a couple of deep breaths.

"The healers tell me that you are getting better, but I see no evidence of it," he gave a disdainful sniff.

"But I am getting better! I recognize the house and you… Are you sure I didn't see any horses yesterday?"

He slammed a fist onto the table.

"Will you give up on the sodden horses? I told you it rained all day yesterday. You stayed inside. Besides, we don't even have muggle horses in the stables!"

They glared at each other.

"You recognize me, huh? Who am I then?" he asked with a sneer.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"My husband?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

"You are my husband," she stated firmly.

"And my name is?"

She thought for a moment, then shook her head helplessly.

He rolled his eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," he said slowly.

She shrugged as if she didn't care and then turned to look out the window.

Draco resumed eating, silently preparing himself for the inevitable question that always followed when he'd remind her of his name.

"Draco?"

He swallowed the food in his mouth, then slowly raised his gaze to hers.

"Who am I?"

His eyes traveled over her, taking in the expensive violet dressing gown, smooth white skin, and chocolate brown eyes. The sun streaming through the tall dinning room windows accentuated the blazing red hair that rained down her back like a river of fire.

For all his complaints and frustrations about her, he had to admit she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. This was why he took her in. He waited patiently for the day she would remember everything. He only hoped that when or if she did, she wouldn't hate him.

"I can't tell you that. You have to remember on your own."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Rise and shine, Harry!" Ron called happily and started jumping on his friend's bed.

"What the…" Harry mumbled as he sat up and reached for his wand on the nightstand table.

It wasn't there. His glasses were though, and the first thing he saw when he put them on was Hermione twirling his wand in her hand.

"Sorry, Harry. We didn't want to take any chances," she said, tossing him the wand.

He was about to argue and lecture them on the dangerous of surprising an ex-Auror, when it suddenly occurred to him what day it was.

"Holy shit, I'm getting married today!"

Ron laughed and Hermione tutted.

"Really, is there a need for such language?" she scolded, but couldn't stop her grin.

"C'mon, Hermione! The bloke's only got a few hours of freedom left," Ron protested.

"Oh, all right, but don't say anything like that in front of the children," she said, placing a hand on her belly, distractedly.

Both Harry and Ron froze.

"Hermione? Is there something you want to tell us?" Ron asked, looking pointedly at her mid-section.

She blushed and dropped her hand.

"Well, I suppose it's okay to tell you guys. I'm pregnant!" She cried with a grin.

Harry and Ron gave her weak smiles.

"That's great, Hermione," Harry said.

Ron nodded, but looked a little green.

"What?" she asked, not understanding why they weren't sharing in her excitement.

"It's nothing Herm-" Harry began, but Ron interrupted him.

"It's Snape's spawn Hermione. We're still trying to get used to the idea of you being married to him. And now you're carrying his child…"

"It's just weird. But we'll get used to it," Harry finished for him.

Her hands balled into fists.

"It's my child too," she said through clenched teeth.

Ron and Harry looked at each other and then nodded as if they'd had some kind of telepathic conversation.

"Are you happy about it?" Harry asked, catching her off guard.

Hermione had to stop and think for a moment. Was she happy about having a baby?

Being an only child, Hermione hadn't had much experience with babies. She knew that they were a lot of work and responsibility, two things Hermione never shied away from. She hadn't really allowed herself to dwell on the reality of her situation.

She was pregnant. In less than eight months she would be bringing a new life into the world.

She smiled and nodded.

"You know me, I'm always happy about a new challenge."

Harry gave her a skeptical look, but Hermione shook her head at him.

"Enough about me, today is all about you, Harry. Well, Melanie really, but… Oh, you know what I mean," she said.

Dobby the house elf suddenly appeared with a loud crack.

"Is Harry Potter ready for breakfast?" the little elf asked eagerly.

"Yes, Dobby," Hermione answered and Dobby disappeared again.

"We're not going to the Great Hall?" Harry asked as Dobby reappeared with a small table and three chairs. A snap of his long fingers and a breakfast feast nearly too large for the small table, appeared.

"Nope, we can't risk you seeing Melanie. It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding," Hermione said settling herself in a chair and wondering what she wanted to eat first.

"She's right. Besides, you're going to be surrounded by people all day long, we thought a quiet breakfast with just the three of us would be a nice way to start the day," Ron said quickly joining Hermione at the table.

"Can Dobby get Harry Potter anything else?" the elf asked, hopefully.

Harry blinked, still not completely awake yet, and shook his head.

"No Dobby, I think we're… What's that you're wearing?" Harry asked, pointing to a piece of paper that was pinned to Dobby's hat.

Dobby grinned.

"It's my invitation to Harry Potter's wedding," he said beaming.

"Why are you wearing it?" Hermione asked.

"Dobby doesn't want to lose it, Professor. All the other elves treat Dobby like a celebrity, 'cause Dobby is Harry Potter's friend," he explained.

"That's great, Dobby. Thanks for breakfast," Harry said.

Dobby bowed and disappeared again.

"Hmm, that's odd," Harry commented taking a seat at the table.

"What?" Ron asked around a mouthful of food.

Hermione made a face at him.

"I didn't send Dobby an invitation. I mean, I didn't personally exclude him or anything. Mrs. Walsh had me make a list of people I wanted her to send an invitation to. I'm sorry to say that Dobby never even crossed my mind," Harry admitted.

"Well, then Melanie must have invited him," Hermione pointed out.

Harry wasn't even aware that Melanie knew Dobby. He shrugged and joined Ron in making faces with a mouth full of food while Hermione tutted and tried not to laugh at them.

Yes, his friend's had definitely given him an enjoyable morning to what would prove to be a very trying day.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Melanie emerged from her bathroom to find her bedroom crowded with arguing women.

"Don't be ridiculous! Melanie is a virgin, she shouldn't wear that for her first time," Katie was saying heatedly to Genelle, who was holding the most risqué piece of lingerie Melanie had received.

"And Harry is still a little uncomfortable about the whole student/teacher thing. Seeing her in something like that so soon might scare him away," Hermione pointed out.

"Oh, it won't scare him away! I bet it would be just the thing to get him to look past the fact that she is his student," Mrs. Walsh countered.

"What are you doing in my underwear drawer?" Melanie demanded, pulling the skimpy piece of satin out of Genelle's hands and stuffing it back in the drawer.

"Is my baby ready for her wedding?" Theresa asked, completely ignoring her daughter's question and smoothing Melanie's damp, dark tresses fondly.

"We're here to help you get ready," Genelle said, with a smile.

"Great! I need someone to…" she broke off at a tapping sound coming from her window.

Katie, who was closest, opened it and allowed an owl to fly into the room.

They were all surprised to see it head for Hermione and drop the letter on her head.

"Oh, what's this?" she asked, opening the envelope.

As she scanned the letter a look dawning horror emerged on her face.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Katie asked.

"What? Oh, I'm fine. I need to go. I'll see you all at the wedding," she said distractedly and walked from the room.

If she hadn't been so preoccupied she might have noticed the menacing crouched figure trying to hide in the shadows of the sitting room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Katie walked out of Melanie's room and would have spotted the intruder in the sitting room, if she hadn't seen the flash of red hair disappearing into Harry's room.

Curious, she moved closer to listen.

"Is he ready?" George asked Ron stepping into Harry's bedroom.

"He's in the shower," Ron offered.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Did you need me to tell him something for you George?" Ron asked.

George shook his head.

"No, I actually came to find you."

"Well, you found me. What do you want?"

George looked at him appraisingly for a moment.

"I need help," he said, finally.

Ron sighed, having a pretty good idea what his brother was about to ask.

"Help with what?" he asked anyway,

"Katie. I don't know what to do. I'm afraid I may have messed things up too badly to fix. I don't know where to start," George confessed and went to sit on Harry's bed.

Katie put a hand to her mouth and desperately tried to hold back the tears. She had suspected that George was seeking a way to get out of marrying her, but to hear him ask Ron for help was humiliating!

"And what makes you think I can be of any help to you?" Ron snapped.

"She likes you Ron! I was hoping…"

"Only because I was nice to her! I've shown her attention, while you've ignored her. Of course she likes me," Ron interrupted angrily.

George glared at him.

"I'd let her go, you know. If her marrying you was an option, I'd just step aside…"

Katie couldn't listen anymore. Hand firmly pressed against her mouth, she fled to her room.

"But, you said that you are in love with her," Ron protested.

"I am. I love her, and I want her to be happy. The more time that passes, the more I see that she'd be much happier with you!" George yelled.

Ron was speechless.

"I don't deserve her! And after the way I've treated her, she'll never give me another chance," George moaned, dropping his head in his hands.

"You would give up the one woman you truly love, just so that she could be happy?" Ron asked.

George looked back up at him.

"Of course. Wouldn't you?"

Ron shook his head.

"Then you don't really love her."

Ron sighed again and placed a hand on George's shoulder.

"Well, my marrying her isn't an option. I do like Katie a lot, but you are my brother. I want you to be happy, George. So, yes. I'll help you try and win Katie's heart," Ron said.

Harry walked out of the bathroom just in time to see George pounce on Ron in a bear hug that knocked them both to the floor.

"Did I miss something?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Are you ready to… What is it?" Severus asked in concern.

Hermione was sitting in a chair by the fire reading a letter, that was clearly distressing her.

"Who is it from?" he asked when she raised her pain-filled gaze to his.

"Mum and Dad. They want me to come home for Easter."

"So? What's wrong with that?" he asked.

"I told you! They know nothing of the law. How are they going to react when they find out that I'm married and pregnant?" She demanded.

He shrugged.

"You won't know until you tell them. And I think you should tell them. It will scratch one more worry off of your infinite list."

She sighed and glanced back at the letter.

"All right. I'll go, and tell them everything. But it would probably be best if you didn't come with me," she said, finally.

"Why not?" he asked, secretly relieved.

"Because you're scary."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Draco looked up from his newspaper at the chiming of the clock. It was two o'clock. In two hours, Potter would be married and no longer a concern of his.

It would be a welcome relief. He could finally take Ginny out of hiding. Perhaps seeing Hogwarts and her brothers again would help her regain her memory.

Draco sighed and turned to watch the dying flames in the library's fireplace.

They would be furious with him at first. But what could they do? He was legally married to Ginevra Weasley-Malfoy, and they'd just have to accept it. He glanced at the gold band around his finger. He'd been her husband for a whole week now. They'd gotten married in Paris to get around the law. Normally evading a law like that would get someone sent to Azkaban, but all he'd had to do was make a little donation to the Ministry. Well, little by the Malfoy standard anyway.

But he'd kept Ginny from her family for too long. With each passing month, it became clearer to him that the daily mental exercises and potions were not helping her. Every morning, she awoke with no memory at all. He spent every morning explaining to her that she had lost her memory and he was trying to help her regain it. The very idea was always devastating to her.

Although as time passed she seemed to accept her situation a lot easier. At first she would spend most of the day depressed and scared. Now when he would tell her that she had lost her memory, she'd think it over for a minute, then nod as if that made sense to her.

The healers had told him she would gradually get better, but at the rate she was going now, he'd be fifty before she'd remember his name longer than a day.

Draco looked back at his newspaper and sneered at yet another article singing the praises of the Marriage Law. It was because of that stupid law that things had been so difficult for him.

First, he'd been forced to submit a contract of his own. With his money and reputation he knew that there would be very few witches that would turn him down, despite his father being a Death Eater. So he'd picked the one he'd known would. Hermione Granger.

He smirked. She'd ended up married to Snape just to avoid him. He'd found the whole thing rather amusing.

The pressure to submit another one had been so strong, that he'd finally just taken Ginny to Paris and married her. Now with his monthly 'donations' to the ministry, they were finally leaving him in peace again.

He was worried about tomorrow. He intended to take Ginny to Hogwarts then. Potter would be off on his honeymoon, but her brothers would be there. Perhaps seeing them and the school would help fix whatever was wrong with her brain. But if she did regain her memory, would she hate him?

He threw the paper down and got to his feet.

"Honey?" he called, and a split-second later a house-elf appeared.

"Yes Master?" the quivering elf asked.

"What is Gin- uh, your Mistress doing?" he asked.

"Mistress is sleeping, Sir. She was tired from the memory exercises."

"She is taking all of her potions?" he questioned.

"Yes, Sir," Honey squeaked.

"Good, good. Be sure that's she up for dinner at five thirty. We'll be dinning with another neuro-magic specialist," he informed her.

"Another specialist, Master?"

Draco glared at the elf for her boldness and she cowered in fear.

He sighed, not in the mood to bully. He walked over to a window and stared out across the property.

"What else can I do but keep trying?" he asked, hating the desperation he heard in his own voice.

"I believe that Mistress is happy here with you. Perhaps you should let her be. Give her the chance to heal on her own," Honey suggested, tentatively.

"It's been five years! She's not going to 'heal on her own'! If she knew…" he whirled around to face the now-shaking elf.

"If she realized what had become of herself she'd expect me to do everything in my power to bring her back!"

He started pacing, and nearly tripped over a book that had been left lying in the floor.

"What's this?" he demanded, angry at having the elf witness his clumsy moment.

"It's the book Mistress was reading yesterday, Sir."

Draco's eyes widened with shock as he stared at the cover. A beautiful brown horse with a white diamond on its forehead stared back at him.

Are you sure I didn't see any horses yesterday?

Yes, she had. She remembered.

He nearly knocked the elf down as he ran for the stairs.

"Cancel the specialist!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Draco now knew without a doubt that bringing Ginny to Hogwarts would restore her memory. After that, things were going to change.

They would leave first thing in the morning, but Draco would spend tonight making love to his wife. It could very well be the last time he got the chance.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Melanie stepped out of her room sighing with relief when she found the sitting room empty. She was still in a bathrobe, though her hair and make-up had already been charmed to perfection.

She wanted to wait until the last minute to put on her gown and she'd needed to get away from her over-bearing mother and well-meaning friends.

Sinking into the sofa, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth, and everything went dark.

End Chapter 13