(Four years later; 2002)

"Adam, stop pulling. I don't want to lose you." I ordered sternly as my four year old son yanked on my hand as we weaved through the crowd in Diagon Alley.

"But we have to hurry, Momma! Uncle George promised to show me one of their new jokes!" Adam argued, continuing to tug on my hand.

"Adam John! If you don't stop pulling on me this instant we'll go strait home!" I snapped sharply, and just like that, he walked obediently by my side. Worst comes to worst, threaten to cancel any plans with the Weasley twins.

Diagon Alley had come a long way since the end of the war nearly four years ago. Everyone had pulled together to get all the shops up and running again within a few years. And now the shops and streets were as crowded as when I used to come here for school supplies as a child.

"And remember, you better behave yourself and do what George tells you to do." I reminded him. Normally George and Fred were good about keeping Adam away from any possibly harmful products, but the protective mother in me still worried on occasion.

The Weasley's had become a family to both me and Adam. They took me in and helped me get on my feet, and now me and Adam lived in our own small apartment and I dropped Adam off either at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes or the Burrow to be babysat when I went to work four to six days out of the week. Fred and I also started dating a little under a year ago, after, as George puts it, dancing around each other for about two years.

However, no one got out of the war unscathed, physically or emotionally. Everyone lost someone they cared about. Percy Weasley, after only hours of reconciling with his family, died saving Fred's life. They had been fighting side-by-side when the wall behind them exploded. Percy hadn't had time to completely knock Fred out of the way, and instead shielded Fred with his own body, getting himself killed by taking the blow. Fred damaged his arm and got a concussion that took almost a month to heal, but guilt and grief ate away at him for months afterward.

Charlie Weasley nearly met the same fate, nearly getting his arm severed off by a Sectumsempra curse, but Madame Pomfrey was able to save it. However, this ended Charlie's career at the dragon reserve in Romania. But last year he became Hagrid's assistant at Hogwarts, both in teaching Care of Magical Creatures and as groundskeeper and caretaker of the animals. He loved this job about as much as his job with the dragons, and Molly loved having him closer to home.

"Momma, what time do you have to work?" Adam asked, looking up at me.

"Well, I've got to be there in about an hour, so-"

My shoulder crashed into something, lurching my body sideways a bit. My head snapped to the side to face whomever I'd crashed into, about to apologize.

"Watch where you're going!" someone snapped, the voice making my blood freeze. My eyes snapped up to meet familiar, cold, gray eyes. They were surrounded by a pale face with platinum blonde hair that was neatly combed back.

His eyes widened a bit as he looked over my face, recognition flashing across his face.

"Momma, we gotta go!" Adam tugged on my hand, snapping me back to the present. I hurriedly looked away from the man before me and went to follow my son. However, a hand grabbed my arm, stopping me and making me freeze.

I slowly turned and looked up at him, watching nervously as he looked between me and Adam. I waited in tense silence for several moments before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Is that my son?"

I swallowed, unsure if I should lie or tell the truth. But my silence gave me away. He glared at me.

"Why didn't you tell me I had a son?" he demanded, his grip on my arm tightening.

I glared back at him. "You may have helped create him, but he's not your son. And there was no way in hell I was going to hunt you down and tell you about a son I didn't want you around."

Draco Malfoy glared down at me. "If he's my son I have a right to have him."

"Even if he's a son you helped create by lying, seducing, and using me?" I growled, yanking my arm from his grip. "I want nothing to do with you, and I don't want you near my child. Now, if you'll excuse me, we have somewhere to be."

I turned and moved to usher my son along when Draco's cold voice made me freeze again.

"I have connections, Annie. Connections in the Ministry, and money to easily pay off to the right hands. If it came down to you or me, do you really think anyone would give you full custody of our son?"

I gritted my teeth and looked back at him. He was staring me down with a serious expression.

"Why do you want anything to do with him? You were never in his life for the past four years, and he's had a perfectly happy life."

"But I didn't get any choice in that, now, did I?"

"You really think I would risk my son being hurt the way I was?" I demanded quietly, turning back to get in Draco's face, keeping a grip on Adam's hand behind my back.

"It's your decision, Annie. We either work out a shared custody agreement, or he can come live with me permanently." Draco reasoned smoothly, his voice and stature cool and professional.

I gritted my teeth to the point I thought they'd crack.

"Momma?"

I glanced down at Adam, who was watching me nervously, before I looked back up at Draco. "I'm not talking about this here, with my son present, and when I need to get going. I'll meet you for lunch sometime and we can talk this over like adults, okay?"

"Fine. Tomorrow, noon, at the Leak Cauldron sound good?" Draco suggested with a smirk.

I took a deep breath through my nose to try and stay calm. "Fine. I'll be there."

"Good." Draco smirked again before taking a step closer, looking down at me from only several inches from my face. "And just keep this in mind: if you try to run away or go into hiding with my son…I have the resources to drag you both back and have him taken from you so fast, it'll make your head spin. Clear?"

I swallowed, hiding my fear by glaring at him with the most hatred I could muster. "Clear."

With that, I spun around and hurried Adam through the crowd, and I didn't slow down until the familiar, brightly-colored building of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes came into view. Seeing his favorite place in the world, Adam picked up his pace until he was dragging me the last few steps.

The door swung open and we entered the shop, looking around. There were about two dozen customers wandering about the shop, and straight ahead I saw a familiar redhead talking to a female customer and her young son.

"Fred!" Adam ran forward and Fred had just enough time to notice him and barely caught Adam when he threw himself at the jokester. Fred laughed loudly as he lifted Adam up to hold him.

"Hey Bud." Fred smiled at him before turning back to talk to the customers, the woman smiling a bit more fondly at how Fred interacted with Adam. However, Adam looked at the product the other boy was holding and interrupted, pointing at the joke product.

"I have one of those! They're awesome! You should get it!"

The other boy clutched it to his chest and looked hopefully up at his mother. "Can we, Mom? Please?" he begged. His mother smiled and nodded.

I approached my son and Fred as the woman lead her son to the register.

"Nice job helping with that sale, Adam!" Fred held up his hand for a high five, a huge grin on his face. Then, he looked over at me, his grin dropping just a tad as he looked at me. I was smiling, but I could tell I wasn't completely into it. And apparently, so could Fred.

"Hey." Fred grinned at me, and I smiled back.

"Hey." I leaned up on my toes, one hand on Fred's shoulder for balance so I could kiss his cheek.

"EW!" Adam covered his eyes with both hands, causing Fred and I to laugh, Fred ruffling Adam's unruly, sand-colored hair.

"Do I hear my favorite little helper?!" a familiar voice called through the store seconds before George rounded a corner with a huge grin on his face.

"Uncle George!" Adam shouted, lunging forward in Fred's arms with his hands stretched out for the other twin, nearly causing Fred to drop him. Us three adults laughed as Fred handed the boy over to his brother.

"You wanna help me out at the register for a bit, Adam? Verity's stocking shelves right now." George asked, holding Adam on his hip.

"Yeah!" Adam yelled enthusiastically, throwing his hands in the air.

We laughed again as George nodded to me before taking my son up towards the front of the shop. My eyes followed the two, watching with a small smile as my son interacted with one of his Uncle figures. Small moments like those, just regular, everyday, happy moments for my son, those are what I live for.

I felt a larger hand take mine and start pulling me in a specific direction. I followed Fred easily, knowing he wanted to talk to me in private about what was on my mind.

"Hey, Georgie! We're going to double-check the inventory in the back!" Fred called to his brother, who nodded, before Fred lead me into the back room. It had a desk, a filing cabinet, a work table, lots of boxes stacked up along the walls, and a back door that lead to the staircase to the twins' flat above the store.

Fred shut the door behind us, turned on the lights, and turned me to face him, looking down at me and scanning my face.

"What's up?" he asked quietly.

I sighed, looking down at my feet. "You really don't want to know. It's going to make you mad."

"Well, it's clearly upsetting you, so I'd really like to hear it, if you want to talk." Fred suggested pointedly.

I nodded, knowing he was right.

"Okay. Um, Adam and I ran into an old classmate on the way here, and the interaction wasn't…friendly."

Fred's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Who?"

I swallowed, looked him straight in the eye, and said, "Draco Malfoy."

Fred's eyes widened and his whole body went tense. He turned away from me and stood there, staring at the far wall blankly for a while.

I had always sworn I wouldn't tell anyone what had happened my sixth year at Hogwarts, or who Adam's father was. My own parents had never known, I'd refused to tell them, which was partly why they'd thrown me out. But the Weasley's not only took me in, they became family. I got close to nearly all of them, especially the twins and Ginny. And through that, they all got close to Adam. It was hard to tell who took care of Adam more; me, Molly, Ginny, Fred, George…they all helped me out in so many ways, including raising Adam. And through that, they'd earned my trust.

Then one night, about a month or so after the final battle had been won, Fred and I had been hanging out in the living room of the Burrow with some warm Butterbeers. He started venting about his guilt over Percy's death, and eventually I started talking about Adam's father. From there, George overheard us, and I eventually told Molly, Ginny, and Arthur, who told the others. They all finally understood why I wanted to keep Adam from his father, and they completely stopped bringing the subject up and hinting that I should look for the man who got me pregnant.

It all started a few months before the end of my sixth year, when Draco had started "pursuing" me. He was flirty in a way that made me uncomfortable, but at the same time he knew just the right things to say to make me feel warm and girly. Then one night, he got me a drink and I let my guard down. I later realized it had been a fire whiskey, and he just kept giving me bottles of fire whiskey, to the point I knew what was happening, but I had no conscious idea of how to stop it from happening.

He had sex with me. I guess it was technically rape, because I certainly didn't want it, but I couldn't stop him. I could see it happening, and feel the pain. Nothing about it felt good, and I felt disgusting afterwards.

He didn't even look in my direction once after it happened. And then, a couple weeks before school was out, I started getting sick. I went to Madame Pomfrey, she did some tests, and told me I was pregnant.

There was no way I was going to allow word to get out that I was carrying a Malfoy. I had no idea what Draco would do. I'd always figured he'd want nothing to do with the baby, since my parents were a Muggleborn and a bloodtraitor, but I wasn't going to take that chance. But now, my worst nightmare had come to life.

"What did he say?" Fred asked quietly, still not turning to look at me.

My breathing got shaky. "He figured out that Adam's his son, and then he started going on about how he has a right to his son, and that if I didn't want to work out a custody agreement, he had connections and he could easily have Adam taken away from me, and-and-"

I was gasping for breath when strong arms wrapped around me, and I fell into Fred's chest, my chest heaving as I tried and failed to stop my sobs from escaping. Fred held me tightly, one hand repeatedly stroking the back of my head and he whispered soothingly into my ear.

"Shh, it's okay Annie. We won't let that happen, okay? We'll work something out, I promise." Fred kept whispering similar phrases over and over until I finally managed to calm down enough to breathe normally.

"Maybe I'm overreacting." I murmured, my head still resting on Fred's chest, my arms around his waist. "I mean, just because he hurt me doesn't mean he'd hurt Adam. Maybe…Maybe he's changed, him and his family did change sides at the end of the war, after all."

"They ran like cowards when they realized their side was going to lose, is what they did." Fred growled, burying his face into the side of my head. "Just because they weren't charged and dumped in Azkaban, doesn't mean they're any more innocent than Voldemort's other followers."

"What should I do?" I asked quietly. "I have to meet him for lunch tomorrow to talk about it. And he's right, he could pull some strings and have my son taken from me completely, and I can't risk that. He's the only good thing that happened to me from that time period, I can't lose him!"

"Shh," Fred pulled back to look down at me, his hands soothingly rubbing my shoulders. He looked thoughtful as I took a couple deep breaths. "Maybe you should just go to lunch with him and talk it out, see what ideas you come up with. If you're not sure what you want to do, maybe ask him for some time to think about it, and when you come over we can discuss what would be the best option. Or I could come with you if you want?" Fred suggested gently, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I slowly shook my head. "No, I'm not sure that'd be a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have you sitting with me while I did this, but your guys' hatred for each other might make negotiating with Draco a bit difficult." I pointed out gently, to which Fred nodded in sheepish agreement, "Apart from that, I guess I'll just see how it goes, and if I really don't like any of his ideas, I'll ask for time to think about it. Okay?"

Fred nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, that's probably the best idea." he gave me a small peck on my lips before we turned and left the backroom.

We approached the register counter, where George was ringing up a customer while Adam was sitting on the counter and greeting people.

Once the customer had paid and left, George turned to look between us before his eyes fixed on me.

"So," he began quietly, glancing at Adam, who was preoccupied talking to a young couple, "Adam tells me you ran into 'a mean man who hurt his momma' on the way here. Wanna explain what that's about?"

I sighed, glancing at Adam to make sure he wasn't listening. "Long story short, I ran into Draco, he figured out Adam's his son, and now we're meeting for lunch tomorrow to discuss some kind of custody agreement because he threatened to take Adam away from me if I didn't cooperate."

George's eyes were wide by the time I quit talking. When I finished he swore under his breath, glancing worriedly at Adam before looking back at me.

"You got a plan to deal with this?" he asked quietly.

I shrugged. "I'm just going to see what he's got to say and figure out the best situation for Adam."

George sighed, nodding sullenly.

"Anyway, I've really got to get to work. Thanks again for taking Adam for the afternoon." I turned to Fred with a smile.

Fred scoffed, pulling me close with an arm around my waist. "Are you kidding? You're both family. You really need to stop saying thank you. It's been like this since he was a baby."

"I know, but still." Fred kissed my cheek, making me smile. "I'll see you guys later." I kissed Fred on the lips before kissing the top of Adam's hair. "Bye Adam. Behave okay?"

"'Kay Momma. Bye!" Adam waved as I left the shop, heading to Sugarplums' Sweets Shop.

After many of the shops in Diagon Alley were reopened I went around trying to find a job that I could get without having to take my NEWTs, since I never went back to finish my seventh year at Hogwarts. It was pretty easy to find shops that would be willing to hire me, but I also needed a job I could be good at. I ended up working two part-time jobs at Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop, and Sugarplum's Sweets Shop, since neither wanted to hire full time. This was partly because, with all the unemployed witches and wizards, they wanted to try and offer as many opportunities as they could. However, I got more hours at Flourish and Blotts in the month before the school year starts up, since they get super busy with the Hogwarts students needing to buy their school books.

Hermione, who I talked to a lot since we both lived with the Weasley's for a while after the war, tried to talk me into going back to take my NEWTs so I could get better job opportunities. But I make pretty good money with my jobs. Sure, I'm not rich, but I have enough to afford my apartment, any necessities, and treats once in a while. And I loved both of my jobs.

The next day I dropped Adam off at the Burrow before going to lunch with Draco. It's a Saturday, and that tends to be the busiest day at the twins' shop, and I didn't want Adam to be around some of the products unsupervised. Plus, he loves visiting Molly at the Burrow, and she loves having him around. It gives her something to do and he keeps her company, since she's home alone a lot of the time, with Arthur working. Though sometimes Fleur drops her and Bill's two year old daughter Victoire off as well since she works part time.

When I arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, I looked around until I spotted the familiar, silver-blonde hair and crisp dress robes. I took in a deep breath before I approached, taking the seat across from Draco.

He looked me up and down before giving me a cool look in the eye. "You're late."

I glared at him. "By two minutes, Draco. I had to drop my son off at a sitter's before coming here."

"You could've just brought him along." he retorted. "I would like to officially meet my son, who you kept away from me." he pointed out sharply, his cold, gray eyes glaring into me.

"If you knew anything about parenthood, you'd know how protective mothers can be over their children. I'm not letting Adam near you until you give me one hell of a good reason to trust you with the most important person in my life."

"Keep in mind you wouldn't even have him if it weren't for me."

"And that's supposed to make what you did to me any better?" I asked incredulously. "You have no idea the hell I went through because of you. When I found out I was pregnant, I was devastated, because I thought the baby would be nothing more than a constant reminder of what you did. But miraculously, Adam turned out to be the only good thing in my life back then. And I'd sooner die than let you hurt him like you did me."

"What are you expecting me to do to him? It's not like I'd do to him what I did to you." Draco snapped sharply, before he sighed quietly. "Look, Annie, I'm not the same person I was sixth year. I was going through a rough time that year, and I took it out on you. But I've changed, the war changed me. I'm dating Astoria Greengrass, we both work in the same department in the Ministry. I don't have the same views I once did, and I would never harm my son."

I looked him over, gauging his sincerity. "See, you've always been a bit of a smooth talker, Draco. So, forgive me if I have doubts on your honesty and sincerity. I've still got the emotional scars from what you did to me, which has been causing a bit of a strain on my current relationships."

It was true. Despite the fact that I cared about Fred, and I knew he loved me, I was still scared. I was afraid to be intimate with him, and he knew my fears and understood them. He never pushed me for more than I was ready for, and because of this, even though we'd been dating for nearly a year we hadn't gone any further than a mild make out session. I was scared that it would hurt, like it did the first and only time I'd done it, and the insecure part of me was worried Fred wouldn't want anything to do with me afterwards, even though I knew that was ridiculous.

"Look, I truly am sorry for what I put you through." Draco spoke quietly, his head lowered and not meeting my eyes, "But I'm trying to make up for what I've done in the past. I would truly like a second chance, and a chance to get to know my son. Please."

I chewed on my lip. I really wasn't sure about this, and I wasn't sure if I could believe him or not. But at the same time, he could easily have Adam taken from me if I didn't cooperate. So I had to choose the lesser of the two evils, so to speak.

I sighed before I started speaking slowly, "How about this? We meet up for dinner sometime in the near future, and I bring Adam along so you two can meet and get to know each other. After that, when I take him home I'll ask him his opinion of you and what he would like to do considering your custody of him."

Draco looked up and met my eyes, "What if he says he doesn't want to live with me?"

"I don't know, what then?" I asked challengingly, daring him to make any kind of threat towards my son.

"I want some form of custody of him, Annie. Besides, he's just a child. He doesn't really know what he does or does not want, seeing as how one dinner meeting couldn't possibly give him a good enough impression of me to make that kind of decision. Besides, I have a feeling you don't exactly speak kindly of me around him."

"I don't speak of you at all around him." I argued sharply. "He's no idea who you are to him. The only impression he's had on you so far is that you're 'the mean man who hurt his momma' due to our interaction yesterday." I explained, remembering what he'd apparently told George.

Draco grimaced before clearing his expression and speaking again, "That interaction aside, he's old enough that he'll eventually have some questions about where I've been his whole life, if he hasn't already."

"Actually, he hasn't asked any questions of the kind. He knows what a father is, mind you, but he has enough male role models in his life that he'd never had a need for one."

"Oh? Like who?"

I bit my lip, wondering how to answer him. He definitely wouldn't like the fact that his son was practically raised by the Weasleys, given their bad family history.

"Some family friends that took me in after your friends the Death Eaters killed my parents. Adam and I barely escaped."

Draco winced again before going back into a business-like posture. "Which brings me back to our earlier topic. What are we going to say to him to explain my absence from his life for the past four years?"

"What do you mean 'we'? Why should I help you come up with a cover story just to save your face to our son?" I asked, crossing my arms defiantly.

His cold, gray eyes glinted. "Because the story I can come up with is that you kept his dad away from him because you were too selfish to share him. What would he think of that?"

I gritted my teeth. This was exactly what I was afraid of him doing. Twisting things around to make me out to be the bad guy. I swallowed before trying to come up with a cover story.

"How about…you left to help out with the war…" the words left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was true, but he was helping the other side, "and I got pregnant, but had no way of contacting you and couldn't find you after the war was over, and you never knew you had a son."

Draco nodded. "Alright. So where does this leave us?"

I sighed, thinking over what day would work for having a dinner. I couldn't do it tomorrow, Sunday, because we were having dinner at the Burrow with all the Weasleys. I worked on Monday evening, so that wouldn't work, but I worked during the day on Tuesday, so I'd have the evening off.

"How about dinner on Tuesday?" I asked.

So, we agreed to meet for dinner at five o'clock on Tuesday, and I was dreading it.