Eleven Years Later
Ginny stopped at the large metal gates and looked inside at the green grass. She couldn't believe that she had come back here. But now that Alysia had seen Draco she had no options. She had of course told Ralph who had announced it in front of her parents. Things in the Burrow were tense. The only way to fix it was to see Draco again.
But she didn't know if she wanted to. As strange as that sounded the fact was she had been betrayed was only half of her emotional feeling towards Draco. Part of her still loved him, part of her still wanted to be held by him. It was completely and truly mad.
She closed her eyes slowly and took in a deep breath. There was only one way she would prevent herself from going back. Thinking of a spell that she had not performed in a long time she looked at the house. The silver of her patronus ran through the grass and into the house. It was only moments before Draco was facing her at the gate.
"Ginny what are you doing here?"
"We need to talk."
He opened the gates and she stepped inside. She waited as he locked them again before following him into the house. This time they stopped in the kitchen. For the second time she was hit by how much it looked like the Burrows. There was a warm family touch to it that was so unexpected to her.
Draco put a kettle over the open fire looking at her closely.
"Do you still take two sugars?"
"Yes and a dash of milk."
She lowered herself into a chair thinking how absurd this situation was. She had gone there to sort things out once and for all. And instead she was sitting at the table while Draco of all people made tea. When he had poured two cups he sat down opposite her. He was silent for a moment. Ginny didn't know where to start but she didn't need to.
"We have a daughter then?"
Slowly Ginny nodded. The tiniest of smiles came to Draco's face.
"She looks like you."
"Only a little. It's the red hair and freckles. The rest of her is Malfoy that's for sure."
"She calls you mother."
"Yes I've noticed that."
Draco just nodded closing his eyes.
"What's her name?"
"Alysia."
"Alysia."
He whispered it to himself. His eyes were closed as he repeated it over and over again. Ginny watched in silence as he did so.
"What is she like?"
"A bit like my mum really. She loves cooking and unlike me she's inherited my mother's ability to do it. She's such a natural. But she's got the famous Weasley temper. She gets so riled up at times, hands on hips, eyes narrowed."
Ginny laughed to herself slightly.
"But she's like you too. It surprises me sometimes how much since she's never met you, well not really. She's got your habit of picking up a book and reading the first chapter or two and then flicking to the end to see how it finishes. Then the smirks and sarcasm it can only come from a Malfoy. But unfortunately she's also developed your arrogance on things. If she doesn't like something or doesn't understand it she'll just ignore it, won't try to figure it out. And her language, well you heard her 'mother' that is such a Malfoy thing."
Draco still had his eyes closed but he laughed gently.
"She's beautiful. You should be proud."
"I only gave her half the genes. If she's beautiful you have a part to play in that."
Ginny watched as slowly Draco opened his eyes and smiled.
"I have a daughter!"
"And a son."
Ginny watched as Draco's face changed. His look of understanding, of knowing slipped and his mouth fell open.
"What?"
"Twins run in my family Draco."
"Twins? Twins."
Ginny let Draco sit there. His eyes were wide and he looked like a lost little lamb. Slowly though Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out a small photo. Gently she laid it on the table watching Draco carefully. His eyes darted over the picture looking at Alysia once more. She watched as he touched the girl's hair in the picture as it fell and rest on her ribcage. He looked at her grey eyes streaked with brown and smiled at the Weasley freckles tickling her nose.
Then slower than before he let his eyes move to the boy. Ginny knew that he would never be able to mistake him for his son. Ralph had the Malfoy looks while Alysia was more the Weasley. Ginny watched as Draco touched at Ralph's face. Drinking up the image of his son, of how his blonde hair so alike to Draco's fell in curtains to his ears. How he too had grey eyes that could pierce straight through to your heart. The only physical evidence that he was indeed a Weasley were the freckles that littered his nose just like his sister.
"What's his name?"
"Ralph."
Just like Alysia's name Draco whispered it over and over again. Testing it on his lips to see if it sounded right coming from him. Almost painfully he tore his eyes away from the picture to look at Ginny.
"Can I keep this?"
She just nodded. Draco climbed to his feet carrying the picture. With a muted spell it was enclosed by a frame. Then carefully he placed it on the wall smiling. His children were watching him now, even if he couldn't watch them.
"Are they alike?"
"Not in the least. They go together like well a Malfoy and a Weasley."
Ginny laughed gently thinking about them.
"Like I said Alysia is very much like you. She's got the superiority complex about her. It's almost as though she knows she was born to wealth, that her family's belief or part of it anyway, is that they are better than everyone else. Don't get me wrong she isn't as bad as your family but you can see it in her. She won't do something for nothing."
"But Ralph on the other hand, well he's a giver. He wants to help people worse off than himself. You know he did a two mile run a couple of weeks back to raise money for some muggle charity called NSPCC. Then before that he played a charity football match to raise money for something called RSPCA. Oh and his pocket money. He saves it up week by week and at the end of the year gives half of it to some worthy cause. He doesn't think of himself it's always of other people."
"Sounds like a Weasley."
"Sure it does because that's who is. Alysia got the whole Malfoy attitude and Ralph got the Weasley one. But Draco you should see him when he's in one of those moods. He takes after Fred and George in the whole playing pranks department. He's going to give Hogwarts an awakening that they've been missing all these years. He's already spending all the time he can in the shop getting hold of material I don't even want to know about."
Draco sat back down opposite Ginny. He was watching her very carefully.
"I would like to meet them. If you'd let me."
"I can't stop you."
"Of course you can. If you want me to keep away from them I will. I haven't played a part in their life in eleven years. It's been all you Ginny and I'll respect whatever you want."
"I meant I can't stop you because Alysia has already seen you. Ralph looks so much like you that she worked it out. Then of course she told Ralph who announced it in front of my parents. You're going to have a lot of explaining but you'll have to see them."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. If it wasn't for the fact they want to see you I wouldn't let you."
He looked down at the table again. Ginny could tell that the moment was upon them. She had come here not only to talk about the children but to set them straight. She loved him but she could never trust him. They had no future; they didn't even have a past. All they had was betrayal.
"Ginny I need to explain some things."
"I don't want to know."
"That doesn't matter Gin. You said yourself that I'm going to have to explain things to your family. So let me tell you first. Let me tell you so you can prepare them for what they'll hear. So that you can shield the children from the information you don't want them to know."
Reluctantly Ginny sighed. She knew that she needed to hear what Draco had to say. But that didn't mean she had to like it. She didn't want to know what he had to say. All she wanted was to close her eyes and pretend like the last fifteen years had never occurred. She would wish that it was the summer just after Dumbledore's death, that she could go back and change everything.
"I love you Ginny and I have done for a long time."
"Don't –"
"You need to hear this. Yes our relationship started off as a lie. Voldemort wanted me to do whatever I could to get close to the Order. We all knew that the Weasleys were a part of it so I latched myself onto you. But Gin there's just something about you, you're perfect. The way you don't sugar coat things. How you're always up front and say things to the point where it sounds blunt. You didn't treat me any differently to anybody else, you weren't afraid of me; you didn't see the rich arrogant side. You just saw me. Nobody has ever done that before. It made me feel differently towards you. A way I'd never felt before."
"Draco I don't need to hear about your feelings."
"Yes you do. You see I didn't know what they were! I was so confused. When I faced Voldemort I had to use all my skill to block my feelings for you out. But I still didn't know what they were. In the end I had to go to Tonks and tell her what I was feeling. I didn't know who else to speak to, she's family so I thought that she would do. And you know what she told me? She told me that I was in love with you. And when she said that I knew it was true."
"But Draco –"
"But nothing Gin. I had fallen in love with you. My plan to use you to get to Potter well that had fallen through. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt you. So I tried to break things off with you. Tried to end it before I got in even deeper. But every time I tried to walk away I felt sick. I just couldn't do it. When I left Hogwarts I was in pieces not getting to see you every day."
"Draco –"
"I needed you more than I ever needed anything else. That's why I asked you to marry me. That's why I got you to move in with me. I couldn't function properly without you. When we set the date I knew that was it. I couldn't continue working for the Dark Lord. I felt like I was betraying you. So I left. I made a very public announcement that I was against Voldemort when I took down Lestrange."
"You did what?"
"Rabastan Lestrange. I knew that he was going to go do some muggle torture so I turned up and put a stop to it. Got him thrown into Azkaban for it as well. The Dark Lord wasn't happy at all. He sent for me and I ignored it. That was when he learnt the truth. That I had left his service for you. But Gin you don't just walk away from him. He sent the Death Eaters to kill you. He wanted to take everything I had away from me so that I'd go back. He wanted to punish me by killing you."
"You already told me this."
"Yes but you see Gin there's more to this than you seem to think there is. You told me you were pregnant and the world stopped. I already knew that I couldn't live in the wizarding world anymore. It would be impossible. But when you said that I knew that I couldn't live with you either."
"What?"
"Even now Gin he knows where I am. But I don't leave this house. I don't go to him and I don't go anywhere else. So he leaves me. I'm no good to him anymore. I'm a broken man. But he knows I'm here. He always knows where I am. I thought that we could go away together, you're powerful Gin, you can fight Death Eaters. But when you said you were pregnant I got scared for the baby. What if we couldn't protect it? So I sent you away and returned to him knowing that he'd leave you alone to have the baby as long as I stayed."
"Voldemort knew I was pregnant?"
"No but he knew you were alive. The Death Eater had come back saying that you were still alive, he hadn't been able to kill you because I had come back. The Dark Lord wasn't happy but that evening when I returned he forgot about you. I had to let you live on your own for you safety. I thought of you everyday though and I kept saying one more day until Potter kills this bastard then I'll have my family back."
"You should have told me Draco. You should have let me know."
"I couldn't."
Draco's eyes shifted to the table as silence engulfed them again. Ginny took another sip of tea ignoring the fact it was lukewarm.
"Ginny there's more I need to tell you. It's about Charlie."
Ginny watched as he twisted his hands in front of him.
"I know Bill told you that Charlie learnt the truth and how he came after me. Well the thing is Avery killed him. It was a meeting and he followed me straight into it. The Dark Lord screamed for us to kill him. I tried to protect him though. But Avery got passed me and killed him. I fled that night to France and got a small apartment. I stayed hidden for years. But I needed more space so I moved here."
"Draco you should have come to me!"
"How could I? I'd left you alone for all those years. I'd just played a part in your brother's death. All I could do was leave and hide. I was too ashamed for anything else."
Ginny watched as Draco lowered his head onto the table. Life was complicated that was for sure. And she still didn't know what was to come.