Chapter 17

"What am I doing here?" Ginny muttered to herself. She was sitting alone in a dusty old café in a hidden corner of downtown London. The windows were covered by thick curtains even though it was one of the few sunny February days and the lights were dimmed, throwing shadows over the walls. Draco sure knew how to pick secret meeting places.

She had received his owl a few days earlier:

Ginny,

It was wonderful to see you again. I would love to meet with you sometime this week. I'd like to hear about your life and ask you a few questions about raising children. If you are willing to meet with me, does next Thursday at 3:00 sound ok? I know a little café, The Fig Tree, in downtown London that we could meet at.

I hope to hear from you soon,
-Draco

She had immediately replied with her consent and he'd sent her directions to the café. After being nervous all day she finally worked up the courage to come only to find that she was over a half an hour early. The tapping of her fingers rang out through the empty room and the waiter looked over at her, irritated, but Ginny ignored the old woman and continued with her tapping.

Finally, after many long minutes of thought Ginny stood up and murmured, "Fuck, I can't believe I'm here, I should go." She walked to the door and reached out for the handle when it swung open.

Draco stared down at her surprised and then said, "I hope you weren't leaving."

"Um, no," Ginny stuttered, "Not leaving, no. I was," she paused, "getting some air."

"Oh, well, would you like me to join you outside?" Draco asked awkwardly.

"No, I'm fine," Ginny said quickly, "Let's sit down."

Draco gestured to a table and Ginny sat down. He sat down across from her and waved over a waiter. When the woman came over Draco immediately said, "Coffee, black."

"Um, do you have any herbal tea?" Ginny asked. The woman nodded and Ginny said, "I'll have that then." The woman jotted down their orders and then walked back behind the counter. Ginny turned to Draco and asked slowly, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Draco said, sitting back in his chair, "How are you?"

"I'm doing well," Ginny nodded gently, "How's Scorpio?"

Draco shrugged, "He's a baby. I feed him, change him, clean him and he seems to be happy."

"Draco, there's more to raising a child than taking care of it," Ginny said quietly.

"I know," Draco insisted, "That's why I wanted to meet with you. I'm having a really hard time Ginny."

"I understand," Ginny said quietly, "Really, I do, Draco, but in time you'll get the hang of it."

"I don't know," he said, wringing his hands, "Ginny, I can't seem to do anything right." He sighed, "Scorpio is usually calm and quiet, but there are times when he just won't be quiet and he won't calm down and I don't know what to do!"

"Calm down Draco," Ginny grabbed his hand from across the table, "Scorpio will be fine, he's acting like every baby does. You have to learn to love him and to hold him. It will take time, but you'll get it, trust me."

"How can you be so sure?" Draco asked, looking up at her.

"Because," Ginny smiled at him, "I know you Draco and I know the love you have in your heart, you just have to learn to give it to your son."

Draco nodded and took a sip of his coffee before asking, "So, tell me, what have you been doing these past years?"

MNMNMNMNMNMNMNMNMNMN

The next few months were a sort of heaven for Ginny. She met regularly with Draco to discuss what was happening with his son. He was so lost, so confused. The pained expression in his eyes seemed to dim the more they met, but the despair never faltered, never faded. He didn't return to work for months after Scorpio was born. He didn't trust anyone with his son.

One evening Ginny and Harry were sitting together on the couch when an owl fluttered in the window and dropped a letter in Ginny's lap. She read it quickly and then jumped up, "Harry, I have to go, it's an emergency, I'll be back in a little bit."

Ginny ran out of the fireplace and into Draco's front hall where he met her saying, "I don't know what to do, I can't figure it out. I can't do this Ginny, help me!"

"Where is he?" Ginny said calmly, trying not to panic.

"Upstairs in the nursery," Draco said, heading towards the stairs. Ginny followed as fast as she could. She hadn't been in the nursery since Draco had redone it. The walls were now a nice bright yellow and bordered in balloon wall paper. Stuffed animals were piled up everywhere and clean diapers were scattered around the room. Toys were flung across the room which was a complete disaster area. Ginny was surprised. Draco, who was usually neat and organized, looked like he was about to drop dead.

Trying not to giggle Ginny made her way to the crib where Scorpio lay shrieking and throwing a temper tantrum. Sighing Ginny touched his forehead gently and said, "Draco he has a fever, I need to cast some healing charms on him, ok?" Draco nodded, his eyes locked on his son. Ginny pulled out her wand and started muttering charms. When she finished, Scorpio was sleeping quietly, his arms wrapped around a small stuffed bear.

Ginny turned to Draco and asked, "Did you pay attention to what I did? You'll need to know basic healing so you can take care of him in the future."

"Yes, I remember we learned those charms at Hogwarts," Draco sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes, "God, this is the first time he's been quiet in days. Thank you." He smiled down at Ginny, "Would you like some tea?"

Glancing at the sleeping baby Ginny said, "Yeah, tea would be great."

As they made their way down to the kitchen Draco said, "All the house elves left days ago, they couldn't stand the screaming, so I'll have to make it myself. I can't guarantee it will be any good."

"Its fine," Ginny said, slowly sitting down at the dining table.

"When are you supposed to give birth?" Draco asked quietly, tapping his wand against two mugs of water, making them boil.

"Two weeks," Ginny said, sighing, "I feel like I'm going to explode. Even with my other son, I never felt this huge."

Draco smiled and said, "Olivia was miserable her last month of pregnancy. She would always say she felt bloated and poofy like a bubble."

"It's one of the downfalls of being pregnant," Ginny said, trying to adjust herself and get comfortable, "Sometimes I hate Harry for doing this to me."

Laughing Draco said, "One morning Olivia woke me up at two thirty and screamed at me for an hour about how it was my fault she had to have a baby. We had to replace some of our good china after that night."

Ginny laughed and took a sip of her tea and said, "My mum used to say that by time she had Fred and George my father had learned to stay far away from her in her last months of pregnancy."

Draco took a seat next to her and said, "My mum swears she never saw my father during her pregnancy. I'm not surprised."

Ginny smiled, "I like your mum." Draco smiled back, but didn't say anything. They sipped in silence until she said, "I should probably be going soon. Will you be ok?"

"Yeah, I'll probably just go to sleep," he said, "I haven't slept in days."

"Could you help me up?" she asked, attempting to push herself up.

"Sure," Draco quickly offered her his hand and helped pull her up. Even the innocent contact made Ginny's head spin and she almost tipped over. Draco grabbed her, trying to steady her, but only managed to pull her closer to him. He stared down into her eyes before croaking, "Ginny?"

"Yeah," she whispered back, trying to resist the urge to pull him even closer to her.

Before he knew what he was doing, Draco leaned down and kissed her deeply. Relieved, Ginny grabbed his shoulders, silently begging for more. It had been ages since Harry had kissed her like this, not to mention Draco was much better at it. He quickly had her pinned to the wall, touching every inch of her. She moaned, quickly unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. Within seconds he pulled away from her and yelled, "Fuck!" before slamming his fist down on the table and leaning against the opposite wall. "This isn't fair Ginny," he said quietly.

"I know," she whispered.

"No, you don't know," he insisted, "You don't know what it's like for me. I made the stupid mistake of leaving you. I married a woman I barely knew because I was stubborn. I have a baby and it's not with you. You have no idea how much I wish that baby," he pointed at her overlarge stomach, "was mine!" Ginny stared at him blankly until he walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders saying, "Please, Ginny, say something."

"We can't do this right now," she said near whisper.

"We'll never be able to do this," he sighed, dropping his head against her shoulder.

"No, we'll be able to talk about this, just not now," he looked up at her and her eyes finally focused on his, "My water just broke."

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it. I just started school again, after a few years of not studying, so I'm not updating as frequently, but I'm still writing this story! I will try to update at least once or twice a week.