Hiya! I'm back again with another update. I'm having trouble writing again, and awesome substantial reviews and feedback usually inspire me a lot. So...tomorrow's my first day back to school - new term, ugh. so inspire me! And you'll get another chapter quick, haha. I really like feedback!
bela
Chapter Eight, Stefanie Rousseau
"My own little world is what I deserve,
Cause I am the only child there is.
I'm king of it all,
the belle of the ball -
I promise I've always been like this." -'Center of Attention', Guster
Ginny woke up the next morning feeling anything but rested. She had no idea what to do, who to call, what to say, or where to turn. Her room felt empty and she didn't how to fix it. Reluctantly, she got up and went downstairs to make the kids' breakfast.
Breakfast went quietly. Ginny tried to smile for the sake of the kids, but found it difficult. Mia was a huge help, as usual, and Ginny couldn't help but stare at Stefanie Rousseau's number and wonder.
Mike decided to take the kids out to the playground down the street for the morning, and so Mia and Ginny were left to clean up breakfast.
After another cup of coffee and a long silence, Ginny showed Mia the piece of paper, and told her her plan - which, at the moment, was just cold calling the woman.
"That's a bad plan." Mia replied. "Do you even know what you're going to say to her?" Ginny shook her head.
"I don't even know who she is. I suppose I'll just tell her that Draco told me to contact her, and...oh, I don't know." Ginny sighed as she stood up and made her way over to the phone. "Might as well do it now." She dialed the number and waited a few minutes.
"Hello?" Ginny heard a woman's voice on the other end.
"Hi," she said timidly, "I'm looking for Stefanie Rousseau?"
"You've found her...who is this?" the woman said.
"My name's Ginny Weasley...Draco Malfoy told me to call you?" Even though that was the truth, she said it as a question, hoping the woman would know better what was going on. There was a silence on the other end for a minute - the longest minute of Ginny's life. She looked over at Mia, who gave her a questioning look. Ginny just shrugged.
"Well...it's been a long time since I heard THAT name." Stefanie said with a chuckle. "So, Ginny Weasley, how do you know Draco?" Ginny sighed and smiled at the kind tone.
"I'm his wife," she said happily.
"WHAT? THAT --" Stefanie screamed so loud she made Ginny drop the phone. It twirled on the end of the cord as Ginny caught her breath and picked it back up. As soon as she heard the tirade was over, she put the phone back to her ear.
"I'm sorry," Ginny said timidly, "What?"
"Since WHEN!" Stefanie yelled. Ginny couldn't understand why she was so upset, couldn't understand what the big deal was, or why this woman cared so much.
"For about twelve years, why?"
"TWELVE --" Ginny pulled the phone away from her ear again. Mia was practically in hysterics, as she could hear Stefanie screaming from over at the table. Neither of the two could make out the words, but Stefanie Rousseau was screaming her head off.
Once the noise died down again, Ginny put the phone back up to her ear.
"I'm sorry...is there a problem?" Ginny asked, getting a bit annoyed at the constant outbursts.
"Yes! There is! I'll tell you what the problem is! That...stupid, stupid boy eloped and DIDN'T TELL ME! Can you believe it! And I used to call him my favorite cousin! Psh! If he can't even tell me when he's getting MARRIED, then I suppose that makes TONKS my new favorite cousin!" Stefanie yelled. Ginny heaved a sigh, finally figuring out how she and Draco knew each other, and mouthed 'cousins' to Mia, who nodded in understanding.
"I'm sorry - it's not that he didn't tell you - he didn't tell anyone." Ginny explained, "we weren't exactly...around."
"That's ridiculous! He should've sent me an owl! Called! Emailed! Faxed! Apparated! FLOWN OVER TO TELL ME!"
"Listen," Ginny said impatiently, not wanting to go through the whole story with Stefanie. "Draco's in trouble, and he told me to call you, but I don't know why." Ginny got a little offended when Stefanie started to laugh - hard. "What's so funny?" She asked indignantly.
"That stupid brat is always in trouble, haven't you noticed that yet? Hasn't called me in years, didn't tell me he was married, and now I have to come bail his stupid arse out of jail." Stefanie sighed dramatically. "Where do you live?" Now Ginny was completely confused - she had no idea what was going on, even though she was in the middle of it.
"A small town just outside of Hogsmeade..." she said tentatively, "It's mostly Muggles."
"Alright, well. I suppose I'll meet you in The Three Broomsticks in an hour? That'll give me enough time to shower and get ready, and find a few things." Stefanie sighed heavily again and then cheerily bid Ginny goodbye.
After she hung up the phone, she realized how much she didn't know.
"So," Mia began as Ginny sat down at the table. "Who is this woman?"
"Draco's cousin, apparently. Although I know Tonks doesn't have any sisters, and I'm pretty sure it's a violation of basic human rights for Bellatrix to have children, so...I suppose it's on his father's side. Although she mentioned being Tonks' cousin...I really don't have a clue." She finished, beginning to giggle.
"I get the feeling she's one for the drama." Mia said amusedly, and Ginny laughed.
"Oh? And what possibly clued you into that?" The girls laughed and decided they should tell Mike about the trip, maybe even take them to see the stores in Hogsmeade. Ginny figured that if they already knew about Wizarding kind, they might as well go with her.
When they got to the playground down the street, Izzy was so excited that when she tried to run over, she fell and hit her head on the sidewalk. Of course, next came the ear-piercing screams, and after almost a half hour of shushing and words of comfort from her mother, Izzy finally calmed down. She was still, however, in no mood to go anywhere. Ginny figured it was sensory overload - the poor girl had seen so much so quickly, and was definitely not ready for much more.
Mia decided to stay behind with the two littlest girls, while Mike offered to take the three older ones out for lunch.
"I suppose that might be a good idea," Ginny sighed after a moment, rubbing her forehead in frustration.
"No! Moomm!" Emma whined, "I wanna go with you!"
"Emma, you can't." Ginny stated abruptly, "I need to talk to an old friend of Dad's, and we need to do it privately."
"Mom! I can help! People like me!" She cried, pleading.
"Emma!" Damon interrupted, "Let it go!"
"You stay out of this!" She yelled.
"Emma," Ginny tried to quell the coming storm - if the twins got into it, all hell would break loose. "Please just go with Uncle Mike?"
"But Mooooommmm," she pleaded, "They're all boooyyys." Ginny sighed and considered it. If they had a boys' afternoon, and Ginny took Emma...
"Gin," Mia whispered, walking through quickly. "She's not going to give up on this one." Ginny sighed heavily and looked at Emma's indignant posture. She then looked at the clock on the wall, and had fifteen minutes to get to the Three Broomsticks.
"Alright, fine." Ginny said, giving in. "Mike and the boys will go on an afternoon together, Mia will stay here with Izzy and Julia, and you can come with me just this once." She emphasized. Ginny just didn't have the time or the energy for an outright fight with her oldest daughter, who was definitely one of the most headstrong people she'd ever met.
As they all got ready and went their respective ways, Ginny and Emma drove to the edge of Hogsmeade and walked in.
Emma behaved better than Ginny expected her to, marveling at all the different stores and clothing, and everything that was new and different.
"Mom! Look!" She'd cry whenever she saw something that intrigued her. Finally, they approached the Three Broomsticks.
"Emma," Ginny began before they entered.
"I know, I know," the little blond interrupted, "Be good, don't interrupt and be nice." She mimiced with a finger wagging to an imaginary figure below her.
"I'm serious, Emma." Ginny said warningly, "We're meeting an old friend of Dad's, and I need you to be nice to her - she doesn't know you."
"Don't you mean I don't know her?" Emma corrected. Ginny sighed and smiled amusedly,
"Not quite." With a confused Emma in tow, Ginny entered the bar and looked around. She was a few minutes late, so she figured Stefanie would already be there, but then remembered that she had no idea what Stefanie looked like, so it would take awhile to figure that out...
"Oh. My. God." Came a shocked voice from their left. Both girls turned and saw a pencil-thin woman with long, light brown hair stand up. She had bright blue eyes which were as wide as saucers, and fixed on Emma. "You're Draco's, aren't you?" She said as she approached them. Her eyes moved up to Ginny. "That makes you Ginny Weasley." She said.
"Stefanie Rousseau? Pleased to meet you," Ginny said politely, sticking out her hand. Stefanie shook it politely, but looked back down at Emma.
"You did not mention that you had a daughter." Stefanie stated matter-of-factly. Emma scrunched up her nose in confusion, then opened her mouth to say something, but Ginny interrupted.
"This is Emma, but yes, we have kids."
"Kids! As in...plural?" Stefanie cried, "When I get my hands on that boy..."
"That boy turned thirty this past month." Ginny mentioned, "Could we discuss this sitting down?" Stefanie seemed to jump at the realization that they were standing in the middle of the doorway and led them over to a table that already had two butterbeers on it. Emma grimaced.
"Mom, I'm not going to have to drink pumpkin juice, am I?" She asked bluntly. Ginny blushed,
"Emma! What did I tell you?" She hissed quietly.
"What?" Emma shot back defensively, "It's gross!" Ginny turned to Stefanie, ready to apologize for Emma's outburst, but the other woman looked thoroughly amused.
"She certainly is Draco's, isn't she. Honey, you shouldn't say things like that so loudly. If you have to drink something, sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it. But no, you don't have to drink pumpkin juice right now." Stefanie laughed. Ginny smiled and nodded. As they all sat down, Ginny ordered Emma a butterbeer. Emma sat quietly and watched as the older two women talked.
"So, why didn't you tell me you had children? How many is that? How old are they? I assume Emma's starting at Hogwarts in the fall?" Stefanie shot off questions so quickly that Ginny was surprised she had time to breathe in between.
"I didn't mention it because, well, it didn't come up, and you were so upset about him even being married..."
"Well, yes, I am. Doesn't call me for a decade, then sends his wife to call me - doesn't even call himself! Stupid --"
"He doesn't exactly have access to a phone in Azkaban." Ginny pointedly interrupted.
"What's Azkaban?" Emma asked loudly. Stefanie gave her a sharp look.
"Young lady," she said quietly, but sternly, "when adults are talking, you shouldn't interrupt them like that. You should wait until you're in the privacy of your own home and ask then, understand?" Emma nodded, wide-eyed at the scolding. "Oh, Merlin, I sound like my mother..." Stefanie muttered before clearing her throat. "Anyway, we were in the middle of something?"
"Oh yes - there are five children --" Ginny began, but Stefanie choked on her sip of butterbeer and had to do a lot not to spit it all out. Her eyes watered a bit, and she tried to control a few small coughs, but after a moment she stared up at Ginny.
"Five?" She gasped quietly. "I'll kill him. That's what I'll do...kill him..." she said through a few small coughs.
"Emma and Damon are twins, they're eleven and yes - going to Hogwarts in the fall. Alex, Isabelle and Julia are younger." Stefanie looked like she was about to cry - she even sniffed a bit.
"They sound beautiful," she said quietly.
"They are," Ginny smiled, "So...you're Draco's cousin?" Stefanie cleared her throat.
"Unfortunately. My mother was his father's younger sister. When things got bad around these parts, her boyfriend whisked her off to France, and after I was old enough I went to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. Visited every summer and Christmas, though. They just didn't want any part of the silly war that was going on, especially after it flared up again. I always tried to convince Draco it was silly to stay in England, but one day, he just stopped answering my owls. Brat." Stefanie explained. Ginny felt a bit of a pang of pain as Stefanie talked so lightly of the war that had nearly destroyed her life.
"So...your family never had to fight?" Ginny asked with a child-like innocence in her voice, quivering with the pain that she'd thought she'd come to terms with long ago. Stefanie didn't seem to notice.
"Nope. Morons never reached France. Sort of tried, once or twice, but nothing ever really came of it. We have different priorities over there." Stefanie said nonchalantly. Ginny took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to gather her thoughts. "Are you alright?" Stefanie asked, suddenly concerned.
"Yeah, sure." Ginny said, nodding and taking another deep breath. "It was just...you talk about that time so lightly, I can't even imagine..."
"Why?" Stefanie asked, confused. "It was a long time ago. Harry Potter defeated them more than ten years ago. Everything's over, no one even cares about the loose Death Eaters anymore, so long as they're not hurting anyone." Ginny laughed bitterly as she took a sip of butterbeer.
"I understand all that, but some of us...were in the thick of it. My brother is Harry Potter's best friend, I actually dated him for awhile. While Draco's family...well, you know all about that, I assume." Ginny said quietly, trying not to look Stefanie in the eye.
"Wait - Ginny Weasley - as in, Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes? Your brothers are geniuses! They opened a branch in a town outside Beauxbatons - Brilliant stuff! I'm always amazed at the zany things found in there - do they really invent them themselves?" Stefanie realized excitedly. Ginny giggled,
"That's Fred and George - the expanded to France? That's incredible."
"Just last year," Stefanie added.
"Yeah, they invent everything themselves. Shoulda seen them when they were kids, inexperienced and looking for test subjects. And when they first started the company, Hermione had quite a time keeping them from testing the Skiving Snackboxes on unsuspecting first years."
"Skiving Snackboxes!" Stefanie marveled dramatically. "Probably one of the best inventions of our time. It's such a shame they're younger than I am - I could've used some of those fainting ones. As it were I just had to do it myself - theirs is much more effective." She smiled. "So, when did you leave England? Did you leave together?" Ginny nodded.
"Towards the end of his seventh year, my sixth, he asked me to just...leave with him." Ginny said quietly, with a blushing smile. Stefanie gasped quietly and got an affectionate look on her face.
"And you two just ran away together?" Ginny nodded, blushing even harder. She glanced at Emma, who was wide eyed with her mouth open, staring at her mother in amazement. Stefanie noticed, "Ladies don't leave their mouths open to catch flies in." She said with a stern look. Emma's head snapped towards her, and she immediately shut her mouth and sat up straight, mimicing Stefanie's perfect posture. She turned back to Ginny. "That is the most romantic thing I've ever heard." She sighed. "So what went wrong?" Ginny looked at Emma uncomfortably - she was trying to keep this away from the children as much as possible. She'd mentioned Askaban in this conversation, but that was alright because Emma had no idea what that was - that it was a prison. None of the children knew where Draco had gone, or why.
"Apparently...before we left..." she began timidly, glancing worriedly at Emma.
"Emma, what's your full name?" Stefanie interrupted gracefully. Emma's head snapped up to look at the woman and she dutifully responded.
"Emma Grace Malfoy." She said mechanically.
"Alright, Emma Grace, you can call me Aunt Stef, ok?" Emma smiled broadly,
"Ok."
"Now, you have to understand," Stefanie continued, ignoring Ginny's confused look. "There are some things that grown-ups talk about that you can't tell anyone else. You're not supposed to even hear it, so it isn't your business to relay it to someone else. Do you get that?" Emma nodded. "Will you promise me that you won't tell anyone?"
"Not even Damon?"
"Not even Damon." Stefanie said seriously. Emma looked at her, obviously thinking hard. "Emma Grace, I asked you a question. If you can't keep this conversation to yourself, we're going to have to ask you to leave, and you won't be able to hear any of it." She said regally. Ginny couldn't believe the change in her voice when she talked to Emma, but more than that - Emma seemed to be listening to the woman. Really taking in what she had to say. Ginny had never had such power over the little girl. Draco had a bit of it - mostly in the past week when he'd gone back to the attitude he'd had as a kid, but not as much as Stefanie seemed to have right now.
Emma gulped, but nodded.
"I promise, Aunt Stef. I won't tell anyone." She said seriously.
"Thank you," Stefanie smiled. "You were saying?" She asked, turning back to Ginny. Ginny took a second to marvel at the immediate connection Stefanie and Emma had, but thought it quite resembled the one Draco and Mike had made that first day in the diner. She was glad Emma would listen to someone, finally.
"Before we left," Ginny began again, taking a deep breath. "Draco disappeared for a week."
"Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared?" Stefanie asked, obviously very concerned.
"You know he was a Death Eater, right?" Stefanie nodded. "Well, one night there was a battle, and he went off to fight...and he...just didn't come back." Ginny remembered the torturous night in vivid detail. She remembered looking out the window, waiting for him, falling asleep in the hospital wing...
"He didn't come back?" Stefanie gasped quietly, shaking Ginny out of her memory. Ginny took a deep breath and shook her head.
"He was supposed to check in with me at the Hospital Wing every time...as soon as he got back..." she continued in a quiet voice. "But he didn't come back."
"Ok..." Stefanie interjected, nodding. Ginny glanced down at Emma who had a hurt and scared expression on her face. It tore Ginny up that she was there, so innocent and ignorant. Ginny's hand graced Emma's face, and the little girl smiled up at her mom in encouragement.
"When he did come back, a week later," she continued, looking up at Stefanie. "He broke up with me."
"How long had you been together?" Ginny considered the question, and went through the whole year in her head.
"Well...we never...there was never a real definite moment when we got together. But I suppose it had been...maybe five or six months? I don't know, that's when he kissed me, it all just sort of spiraled out from there. Or from the library...I don't know - it'd been awhile." Ginny realized they hadn't really ever 'gotten together'. It had just sort of...happened.
"What do you mean about the library?" Stefanie asked. Ginny smiled and took another sip of her drink - Emma mimiced her perfectly.
"It was a hard year for me, sixteen. So at night I would sneak out of my dormitory and sit in the library...on this one window sill..." Ginny happily remembered her quiet sill, the book she'd transfigure into a cushion... "I'd just sit there for awhile in the quiet, sort of escaping from it all. One night, Draco found me there. And he sat with me, instead of turning me in. Suppose he needed a quiet place to get away from it all, too...Anyway, after awhile we ended up talking, and we'd sit up at night and just...talk. In the library." Ginny explained thoughtfully, lost in the good times of that year.
"Is that how you met Dad?" Emma asked quietly, a small smile on her face. Ginny laughed softly.
"No, that's just when I started to like him." She said amusedly.
"Draco can have that affect on people." Stefanie nodded in understanding.
"It was more his father - your Uncle Lucius." Ginny said quietly. Stefanie visibly winced.
"Yeah...he can have that affect on people, too." Stefanie said admittedly. "Anyway - back to the story - he didn't come back. That's so sad." She said, a concerned looked on her face.
"I was terrified. I thought he was hurt, or dead, or worse. I had no idea what was going on," she admitted, "but I was sick with worry. I did nothing but go to class and wait in the Hospital Wing for him to come back."
"That's so sweet," Stefanie sighed.
"It was awful." Ginny said bluntly. "And then when he came back, he broke up with me." She said, still a tad on the bitter side. Stefanie, though, hearing this for the first time, gasped and put her hand over her open mouth.
"No!" She said in quiet disbelief. Ginny was a little confused at the incredible level of attention her story was getting, considering...she was doing a terrible job of telling it, and it wasn't that fantastic of a story to begin with.
"Yeah, I know." She said, chuckling. "He told me that this was stupid --"
"That what was stupid?" Stefanie interrupted. "I'm sorry for interrupting." She added quickly, with a pointed look at Emma.
"It's alright, and our relationship - he said our relationship was stupid and that it had to end sometime." Stefanie gasped again.
"That little..." She started to mumble under her breath, but after glancing at Emma again, she cleared her throat, looked back up at Ginny, and apologized again.
"It's fine," Ginny said. "Anyway, he sort of broke up with me, and then we didn't talk for a week - pretty bad week, too, considering we were partners in Potions - and then he just came to me and asked me to leave with him, said he couldn't deal anymore. And so I thought about it, and we left." As she finished, the pieces all fell into place in her head. The killings, the random conversation the week he was gone at the breakfast table about the spike in murders, the week they didn't talk...leaving. Her eyes widened as she was lost in her thoughts. "He planned it all..." She whispered in amazement.
"What?" Stefanie asked quietly.
"He broke up with me and didn't talk to me because he'd spent the week killing people," Emma gasped quietly, but went back to her perfect posture as soon as the adults looked at her. She looked a bit scared, but Ginny continued. "His soul must have been ripped to shreds..." She said, her voice starting to quiver. "I can't...I can't imagine what that was like. He...it must've been so hard. Why didn't he tell me?" She asked no one.
"Because Draco's a tough guy." Stefanie answered with a bitter laugh, "who's convinced he's the only one in the whole fu--...world who knows what pain is."
"Merlin, and I pushed him to come back here...He's probably sitting in Azkaban reliving that week over and over again..." Ginny said softly, taking a deep breath and imagining how miserable Draco was.
"Sweetheart," Stefanie said softly, "if he cares about you as much as it seems, he's probably reliving the week after that." That didn't help Ginny much.
"I have to go see him." She said determinedly.
"We'll go together, tomorrow. I assume you have someone who can take care of all your kids?" Stefanie said decidedly. Ginny nodded,
"A friend of mine and her son." She clarified. Stefanie looked at a silver watch on her wrist.
"Alright. I have an appointment back at home in about ten minutes. How about we say...ten o'clock tomorrow morning, I'll meet you at your house and we'll Apparate over?" Stefanie offered. Ginny just blushed.
"Actually...we..well, we left when I was sixteen, so..."
"You don't have an Apparition license, do you." Stefanie said, understanding. Ginny shook her head. "Alright, fine. You can Side-Along Apparate, we'll work it."
"Ok," Ginny said quietly. "Thank you," she added. Stefanie smiled and patted Ginny's shoulder as she stood up.
"Any friend of Draco's is a friend of mine." She said with a smile, then she looked at her watch again. "Shoot...stupid French - always too punctual." She said with a smile as the three girls walked out the door together.
"Have a good day," Ginny added politely. Stefanie smiled back,
"You too. And hey," she added, "don't worry too much about Draco - he's a tough guy. He can take it, so long as we get him out of there soon."
"I know you're right, I'm just so worried - and the kids. What am I supposed to tell them?"
"Don't worry, Mom." Emma interrupted, "I'll take care of Damon and Alex and Izzy. And Julia doesn't really care much." Stefanie beamed down at the little girl, who reveled in the approval.
"Good girl." Stefanie said happily, "you're a huge help, you know that?" Emma just smiled up at her.
"You really think we'll be able to get him out of there?" Ginny asked Stefanie hopefully.
"I'm not leaving him in the dust, and I haven't lost a case yet, so...yes. He'll be out before the kids go back to school." She said, nodding.
"You're a lawyer?" Ginny said, confused. Stefanie looked at her, just as confused.
"Yup. Suppose Draco doesn't know that, though. In France things are different - they actually give people the benefit of the doubt." She laughed bitterly.
"But I didn't think..."
"They don't - not here in England. But they will. Oh...they will..." She said, looking like she was contemplating something maniacal. "Alright, ladies, this is where I leave you. Have a wonderful afternoon, and Emma? Remember everything I said."
"I will, Aunt Stef!" Emma said, smiling. Stefanie smiled back down at her.
"Bye girls! Tomorrow at ten!" She said, as she apparated away.
Emma stared at her now empty space in awe and only took one moment before starting to walk and talk.
"What did she just do? What's Azkaban? How did you and Dad meet? Who did Dad kill? Why would he do that? What made you leave here? Why doesn't England have lawyers? How's she going to get to France in ten minutes? Where did Dad go when he disappeared? What's Apparition? What did you mean when you said Dad's soul was ripped? What's worse than being dead?Mom, I really like her!" Emma fired off question after question as they walked out of Hogsmeade and drove back home. Ginny just let her ask questions, get it all out of her system, and then turned to her in the car before they walked inside the house.
"I can't answer all your questions right now, Emma, I have to make sure everything's ok with Izzy, and tell Mia what happened. But write down some of them, ok? So you remember, and sometime this week, we'll go out to lunch, and I'll answer all your questions. Sound good?" Ginny offered hopefully. Emma nodded excitedly.
"I still can't tell Damon?" She asked sadly.
"No, not yet. Maybe he can come to lunch with us, but I don't know just yet. You can only talk to me and maybe your Aunt Mia about it - it's grown-up stuff, ok?" Ginny said, "remember what your Aunt Stef said." That seemed to hit Emma. She straightened up and nodded, and as they walked back into the house, Ginny just hoped Mia's afternoon went better than hers had...