WARNING: Some mention of child abuse, some violence.
Chapter 5:
Draco flew as long and hard as he could handle. He hadn't been away from Ginny's side in a week, other than classes, and barely knew what he thought about the situation aside from worry about her and her future.
Was he ready to be a dad? Well, that was a quite definite no. His own father hadn't been the best example of the role, and he barely thought he was suited for fatherhood.
Catching a glance of the sun shining off of a head of shining black hair, he made his way down to Blaise's side.
Blaise clenched his jaw as he watched Draco descend, landing with an effortless grace so characteristic in all of his movements.
"Blaise." Draco dropped his broom to the ground carelessly, striding to face his lover, friend, partner, barely a foot of space separating the two.
Dark blue eyes met steel grey for a long moment, before Blaise took a deep breath, "How is Ginny?"
"Pregnant." Draco rocked back on his heels, languidly folding his arms over his broad chest.
Blaise shot him a look, before continuing, "Has she made any decisions?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh."
Draco could not really recall a time when they had been so at odds with each other. It felt incredibly strange not to be on the same page.
Narcissa Malfoy had been at one too many Wizarding benefits with the slightly frightening Savvy Zabini before she saw the small, shy figure of Blaise Zabini, trussed up in formal wizarding robes, and looking vastly uncomfortable.
"Hello there." She smiled gently down at the solemn, dark-haired child who looked to be around the same age as her Draco.
"Good evening." He responded, glancing up at his mother with something akin to fear in his beautiful navy eyes. Narcissa recognized the look, and she felt white-hot rage sweep through her as she took in Savvy's predatory smile.
Lucius had asked her to court Savvy's favour, as she was a powerful pureblood, but she had always turned Narcissa's stomach. Before, it was because of her predatory presence, and the sheer number of husbands she had worked her way through with the majority dying prematurely. Now, though, she just had to look in Blaise's eyes to see something was so wrong in the Zabini household.
Mustering up a smile from somewhere, Narcissa looked at Savvy's coolly beautiful face, "Savvy, Blaise must spend some time with Draco."
"Of course, Narcissa." Savvy smiled back, showing startlingly white teeth against her olive-toned skin. Blaise flinched as his mother draped a slender arm over his shoulders, and squeezed him to her side, "Would that be okay with you Blaisey?"
"Yes." His voice was quiet, overly polite, and Narcissa couldn't really imagine her little Draco standing there, being that polite, for that long. She smiled, a genuine smile, into the little gamine face.
Sure enough, Blaise Zabini showed up in the Malfoy floo hall the next morning with a pop, and a big smile ready for the nice blonde lady. Instead, he encountered a startled Dobby, who yelped, and dropped the tray he was carrying.
"I'm here to see Master Draco." Blaise enunciated carefully, remembering his Mother's instructions. Her approval was… well, very difficult to get…most of the time anyway.
"Master Draco? You is here to see Master Draco?" Dobby bobbed his head as he carefully picked the tray off the floor, while casually smashing his fist into the side of his neck in punishment for dropping the tray.
Blaise nodded, unconcerned with the behaviour of the house elf. His mother's house elves were, if anything, worse.
"Blaise?" Narcissa walked into the room and smiled at the little boy, holding out an elegant white hand for him to grasp onto, "Let's go find Draco."
He hesitated for a moment, nervous of the physical contact, before smiling slightly and holding her hand. Narcissa's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the pale pink scars that encircled his wrists, and she sighed.
"Do those hurt?" She asked quietly, motioning to the raised skin, not surprised when Blaise pulled back, wrapping his hands in his robes, looking away.
They stood there like that, the five year old being far too quiet for a five year old, until Draco screamed for his mother. Narcissa smiled, a bright, though serene smile, as her little boy came running into the hall, stopping abruptly when he saw Blaise.
"Mother?" He asked uncertainly, instinctively reaching out a hand to grasp her expensive robes.
Blaise watched this with a look of extreme consternation. He could not imagine touching his mother's clothing, nor could he imagine running to her. It was very difficult for his young mind to process, but he believed he saw… something in Narcissa's gaze as she looked upon her son. Not anger… not hate… not vindictive pleasure… something softer, purer.
"Draco, I would like to introduce you to Blaise Zabini." Narcissa held out her hand once again to the dark-haired little boy, slowly, waiting for him to trust her enough to touch her again. When he did so, she felt an unbelievable sense of accomplishment.
Draco, remembering his father's stern teachings on decorum, Malfoy pride, stepped out from his mother's side, holding his head rigidly high, and inclined his head ever-so-slightly, "Good day to you, Master Zabini."
Blaise grinned, showing off tiny white baby teeth, making Narcissa smile back at his shy little face, "Does it hurt to stand like that?"
Narcissa covered her mouth with her hand, determined not to laugh, and ruin Draco's moment, so reminiscent of his father.
If anything, Draco's nose seemed to go higher into the air in affront at the question, "Do, it does not."
"Ok." Blaise smiled charmingly, liking this odd blonde boy, "Do you want to play with my Nimbus Junior?"
"Yes!" Draco's airs were dropped as both boys ran for the door to play with the toy broomstick.
Narcissa's eyes narrowed as she watched them from out of the window a little while later. That Blaise Zabini… a beautiful child, nice little boy, and scared witless of his own mother. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead. She couldn't interfere, and it made her feel powerless.
Lucius Malfoy wrapped a possessive arm around his wife's slender waist as she watched the boys playing, and kissed her forehead, content to be home. Narcissa leaned back against him, knowing that in a few short years, Draco would be fully immersed in his father's teachings as opposed to her own, and knowing how much that would change him.
It wasn't a good thought. Lucius could so seldom take a step back and see the larger picture. His world tended to be in terms of black and white, pure and sullied… It was heart-breaking for her to realize that there was a good chance that Draco would turn out much the same way.
Smiling tremulously, Narcissa leaned up to kiss Lucius' beautifully shaped lips before walking away into the house that had always felt more like a mausoleum than a home.
--
Ginny had a purpose. Padma was going to talk to her, whether she liked it or not, and Ginny was not going to let the intermittent nausea that she had been experiencing hinder her efforts. It was really too bad that Padma just didn't realize this yet.
Tricking the portrait that stood in front of Padma's Head Girl door was actually pretty easy. Taking out a knife that Charlie, in his misguided enthusiasm for Muggle weaponry, had sent her, and announcing that she was "pregnant, unbalanced, and violent", had gotten the door open with a yelp.
Moving into the room, Ginny let her eyes adjust to the low lighting before trying to take in her surroundings. She was, of course, familiar with the room.
"Padma?" Ginny whispered, worried that she had maybe caught her friend sleeping. Turning to leave, she heard a moan.
"Why, you slag…" She murmured, whipping around, to see a pale leg amidst the darkness of the bed, "Padma!"
Later, Ginny would desperately try to forget the sheer amount of her brother's flesh that was seen at this moment.
Sitting in a chair, not ten minutes later, across from Padma who was wrapped in her blanket, while George hid in the washroom, Ginny arched a pale red eyebrow.
"You knew." Padma accused softly.
"I did."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Why didn't you?"
"Because it's weird!" She exclaimed, standing to pace, and blushing fiercely when Ginny put her hand over her eyes. Wrapping the blanket around her naked form a little more securely, Padma wandered over to her bureau.
Ginny watched her in bewilderment, "You think your relationship is "weird"? And I thought I had issues…."
"That's not what I meant." Padma glared at her over her shoulder, "I meant, that it's odd to talk to my boyfriend's sister about my boyfriend."
"Oh, trust me, I don't want to hear about him." Ginny assured her, still confused.
"Good!" They both turned as they heard George call from the bathroom.
"Well, this is a little bizarre." Padma seated herself on the chair across from Ginny, folding her legs carefully beneath the blanket.
"But strangely amusing." Ginny added helpfully.
"True."
They sat in silence for a long moment, only interrupted by George calling, "My bits are about to freeze off."
Ginny decided that that night was as good a time as any to try obliviating herself.
"We didn't even get to the good part." Padma confided somewhat glumly. Ginny stared at her, wondering if obliviate would be enough.
"I honestly don't know what to say."
George made his way back into the room, frantically holding Padma's purple silk bathrobe over himself, trying not to let it gape too much, and show his sister exactly why he was so popular with the ladies.
"Not that I don't love you or anything, Gin, but this is not the best time." He sat carefully beside Padma, grasping her hand.
"No, I want to talk to you! I've missed you!" Padma exclaimed, smiling at her friend, and then turning to frown at her boyfriend.
"Well, this is rather awkward…" Ginny murmured, trying not to laugh at the pained look on George's face as he stood to gather his clothing and retreat once again to the washroom.
"Why are you so pale?" Padma asked immediately, her dark eyes focused on Ginny's face. "Are you sick again?"
"Not quite…" Ginny glanced at the closed door, wondering just how much George could hear in there, "I'm pregnant."
Padma gaped at her, and her brother came rushing back into the bedroom. "What did you say?"
"Fuck it, I'm never having sex." Padma breathed, and if anything, George got an even wilder look in his eyes.
"Whose the father?" He demanded of Ginny.
"Don't know, don't really care…" She answered, staring down at her hands.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm really not sure." Ginny looked up to meet Padma's eyes, and saw the caring there, the love, and tried to blink back the tears. She wiped them away angrily, "I'm determined to stop feeling sorry for myself."
"Have you told mum and dad?" George asked, sitting down next to his sister, not minding that he had not pulled on his shirt yet, just wearing a pair of black slacks, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She shook her head mutely in response.
"Can I do anything to help?" Padma leaned forward to grasp her hand.
"Not really." Ginny spoke quietly, grateful for the support, "Draco is leaving it completely up to me, but Blaise… well, we're not really speaking right now. He just can't understand that I might not want to keep the baby."
George sympathized with Blaise, but just looking at his baby sister now… She was way too young for this. She had so much ahead of her.
"Are you gonna tell mum and dad?"
"I'm trying to put it off as long as possible." Ginny sighed, rubbing her forehead with her free hand, "McGonagall has given me two weeks before they're notified, and I'm almost at the end of that."
"Well, that's easy enough." George had that glint in his eye, the glint that various friends, family, and teachers had come to know and fear in both the twins, "Leave that to me."
"Thanks George." She smiled, a bit of the tension lifted from her shoulders. That was one less worry. And she really didn't want to know what he intended to do, whereas Padma was looking pretty interested.
"Okay, I don't want to think about this anymore." Ginny made the decision, and stood, "Let's head down to dinner. George…"
"Yeah, I have to head back to Hogsmeade." He leaned over kiss Padma goodbye, giving her a big wink, and a whispered, "I'll come back later."
"I don't really need to think about that!" Ginny called after him as he stepped into the fireplace. In return, he shot her a shit-eating grin, and raised his index and middle finger in an obscene gesture.
Ginny turned back to Padma, "And this is the boy you've chosen to affiliate yourself with?"
Padma shrugged.
--
Charlie clicked the little velvet box open and closed in a nervous sort of way. He had no need to look down into its dark depths, the twinkling diamond ring it held he had picked out with a great deal of difficulty on his list trip into town.
Checking his chunky leather watch, he realized that Emily was running late. Again. The scene was set for romance at their little cottage, he had conjured so many roses that it looked like he was sitting in the middle of a florist shop.
A bottle of red wine was open on the counter, letting it breath, and he had tried to put together a pasta dish from his mother's recipe, which may, or may not be a success. He was quite honestly, a little scared to try it, and was putting that off, hoping that she would simply appreciate the effort.
Clicking the little box, he listened to the satisfying creak, and then snapped it closed. Creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, on and on.
Realizing that if he continued playing with it, he was going to break it, Charlie stood up, and went to stand by the window, the better to see Emily before she approached the door.
Things had been so off between them lately… He hoped that this would make everything better.
Creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap….
Charlie leaned his forehead against the cool window, seeing a spurt of fire in the distance from one of the dragons. He fervently hoped it wasn't one of his, errant fire was usually seen as an example of a trainer not doing his job properly.
As his wand stayed silent and calm in his pocket, Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. He would have gotten the buzz from the Director if it had been one of his.
Snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap, creak, snap….
Okay, he was bored. Very bored. Pulling Ginny's latest letter out of his pocket, he re-read her neat print.
Hi Charlie,
How are the dragons?
Everything's good here.
I'm pregnant, don't tell mum.
Love,
Ginny
Chuckling lightly at Ginny's teasing, he shoved it away again, inwardly cringing at the very thought of his baby sister having a baby of her own. What a joker, she must have developed that under the twins' watch.
As far as he was concerned, she would be a virgin until hitting the grand old age of eighty, and not a minute before. He believed this, despite what George had said about her whereabouts on Christmas Eve. That was just… disturbing.
Smelling smoke, Charlie automatically glanced toward the dragon pens again, frowning slightly when he didn't see the cause. Shrugging, Charlie decided to have a glass of the wine as he waited, and he made his way to the kitchen.
The reason for the smell became clear, as thick black smoke billowed out from around the door to the oven. Charlie sighed, and pointed his wand at it to turn it off. This was not quite the night he had envisioned.
Throwing the pasta into the garbage, Charlie blew out the candles and decided to make his way to bed. This would obviously have to wait for another time, as a proposal really didn't go so well if the woman in question was missing.
Charlie punched his pillow, admittedly a little more violently than necessary, and settled in. He had to wake up early, and really could not afford to lose any sleep.
Try as he might, however, sleep was a long time in coming. He just… he had no idea what was going on, and it frustrated him to no end. By the way she was acting, he would have thought that she was pregnant, but he knew that Emily had had her period just a few weeks previously. That sort of thing was hard to hide from someone that you lived with.
Emily made her way into the house, almost tiptoeing to avoid alerting Charlie to her presence. The dining table was set for two, and candles still smoked softly as if to mock her. Her shoulders slumped.
Charlie lurched out of sleep as he heard the bedroom door creak open softly. He closed his eyes again quickly as she puttered around silently, pulling on one of his t-shirts to sleep in.
As Emily slid into bed, she held her breath, and moved carefully to avoid touching him, and possibly waking him up.
"Why were you so late?" He asked quietly, trying not to startle her.
Emily sighed, "I had to work. You know that."
Reaching out a large callused hand, he gently cupped her chin and turned her to face him. "Emily, what's going on?"
"Nothing." She summoned a smile, and turned to fully face him, "How was your day? Did you achieve anything with that new dragon?"
"We'll see." Charlie stroked a piece of chestnut hair off of her cheek, frowning slightly when he noticed how she stiffened, and seemed to pull away from him. "I missed you tonight."
"I saw that you had made dinner," She responded, reaching up to smooth her hair back, pulling it out of Charlie's fingers, "I'm sorry I missed it."
"Me too." Charlie placed his arm across her curvy waist, "I have something to ask you."
"What's that?" Emily flinched a little from his touch, wanting to move, but not sure how to go about it.
"I want to know…" He moved closer, "If you will marry me."
"What?" Staring into his caramel eyes, Emily was in a state of shock.
"Marry me, Em." Charlie smiled, and leaned forward to kiss her slack lips, "I have a ring, give me a minute and I'll grab it for you."
"Charlie…" Emily spoke faintly, "Where is this coming from?"
Staring at her, he responded, "I love you Emily. We live together. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Say yes…"
"Oh Charlie…" Emily closed her eyes, wondering if this was what hell felt like, "I can't."
Charlie sat up in astonishment, and stared down at her, the covers falling around his waist, exposing his strongly muscled broad chest, "What?"
Sitting up, Emily faced him, her eyes holding his intently, "I can't."
"Why not?"
She took a deep breath, hearing her heart pounding rapidly, a pain in her chest, "I'm…. in love with someone else."
"Excuse me?" Charlie shot up, standing beside the bed in the nude, his powerful body tensed as if he was going into battle, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry Charlie." Emily could feel the tears starting to slide down her cheeks, "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Who is it?" Charlie clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to scream.
"Keiran." Emily bowed her head, sniffling, feeling so incredibly guilty and miserable, "Neither of us meant for this to happen. We just… fell in love."
"Keiran?" Walking over to the wardrobe, Charlie pulled on a t-shirt and his sweatpants, so angry that he couldn't help but slam his palm into the wardrobe door.
Emily jumped as she heard the crack of flesh against the wood and scrambled to her feet, "It just happened! Come on Charlie, things haven't been right between us for months!"
"So that gives you some sort of permission to go out and fuck my partner?" Charlie's voice dropped to a dangerous level, and he stalked out of the room to pace in the living room.
"It wasn't just sex! We fell in love!" Emily yelled as she followed him, holding her shirt to her thighs, trying to keep it from flying up.
"I don't understand you, Emily." Charlie rubbed his short red hair and glared at her, trying to control his Weasley temper. "I want to marry you, and you were sleeping around behind my back. Why didn't you ever say anything? Why would you do this? Are you so lacking in morals?"
"I'm sorry!" She cried back, her face red and blotchy, her beauty hidden in her extreme distress. "I just… I didn't know how to tell you, and we had just moved in together. I tried to stop it, but I just… I couldn't."
"Huh." Charlie was feeling an absolute lack of empathy for her situation, "I think you're a bitch. I think that you did what was easiest for you, and didn't give a shit about anyone else."
Emily just stood there staring at him, slightly in shock. Charlie had never really gotten angry in front of her, she had never heard him raise his voice.
Charlie took a deep breath, trying in desperation to control himself, "I want you out."
"What?" She stared at him in shock.
"I want you out!" He yelled, "How can that surprise you? You cheated on me!"
"Fine!" Emily shrieked back.
Stalking off, leaving Emily to gather her things, Charlie grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey from the kitchen, and strode out the back door to sit on the porch and drink himself into oblivion. It hurt.
--
Theodore Nott was in a little bit of difficult situation. On the one hand, he had his father, Leo Nott, who had decided that he wanted to follow a muggle-born madman, which was all well and good, but on the other, Draco and Blaise were the more imminent threats, and they scared him.
What to do… Walking down the hall to Divination, he noticed the Lovegood girl skulking in the corner, and realized again at just how often she was around. She had a very good ability to keep to the background, and he had to wonder just how much she heard, and knew. It was enough to boggle the mind. Then again, she was quite possibly insane, so she could be just standing there drooling on herself.
He was one of the first people into the hot, stuffy, classroom, and he took his customary seat next to the door. Theo was a firm believer in being able to make a quick exit if necessary.
Keeping an eye out for Trelawney, he pulled the crystal ball to himself, and stared into it intently. It had been misty for him ever since Christmas break, and he had to wonder if perhaps this was due to the fact that while he was so undecided, his mind would simply not focus enough to show him anything.
Peering into it again, he tried to clear his mind, like his grandmother had taught him. Deep breath in… out… in… out… in…. out…..
"Master Nott." A cruel, high-pitched voice commanded his attention to a snakelike… creature. That was not a man. It was a thing.
"My Lord?" He responded despite himself, hating the hopeless tone to his voice, hating that he could feel himself bowing towards the thing.
"Have you succeeded in breaking the Granger girl?" The snake-like thing chuckled in obvious pleasure, his thin, pink tongue sweeping out with a snap to lick at non-existent lips.
Theo shuddered briefly, before responding, "Not yet, my Lord. She is proving difficult."
Those horrible red eyes were focused on him, and he could feel a twinge of pain rush through his leg. The Dark Lord was adept at controlling non-verbal spells such as the Cruciatus to an unheard of degree.
Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Theo struggled not to moan in pain.
Shaking his head as the vision cleared, Theo stared down at the threadbare, red clothe that covered the small table in front of him. Was that his future?
Draco made his way past Parvati Patil into the Divination classroom, his eyes automatically picking Theo out beside the door. He made it a point of generally knowing where Nott was whenever he could. The boy was still an unknown threat.
Vince sat down beside Draco, and buried his large hands in his short, dark hair. "Pansy's decided that she wants me to be as involved as possible in the wedding planning."
Chuckling at the look of horror on his friend's face, Draco responded, "Have fun with that."
"Feck off."
Theo watched Draco and Vince converse, feeling a slight shot of envy at their easy camaraderie. He really didn't feel that with any Slytherins anymore. They were so deeply in Draco and Blaise's camp, and Draco and Blaise were more and more against following the Dark Lord.
He had made it his business to know as much about Malfoy as he could. Know thy enemy, and all of that. Draco was one of the hardest people to read, though. He had the expressionless mask down to a fine art, and it rarely slipped, unless he decided to smirk in cold amusement.
Blaise sauntered into the classroom moments later, and Theo narrowed his eyes at him as well. Blaise was difficult as well, simply because you never quite knew how he felt about anything. Right at that moment, there was a large grin across his face, as if he found something incredibly entertaining.
The class went at a snail's pace from Blaise's perspective. He really hated Divination, and thought it was pointless at the best of times, a scam at the worst, and Trelawney was just this side of completely of her rocker. Her encounters with Umbridge had made her even worse than before.
"Mr. Zabini, have you received your vision?" She asked him dramatically, her eyes peering at him through her large glasses.
He sat back, and put his hands behind his head, smirking, "Oh, I think I saw the Gods last night with a hot little redhead."
"Excuse me?" Trelawney looked at him with bewilderment across her face as the rest laughed. Even Draco's mouth twisted a little.
After the class, Blaise happy that Trelawney's general daze meant that she didn't really give out detention for students being mouthy, made his way to the Great Hall.
Sitting, he made sure that Vince, and Theo were separating him and Draco. Despite their meeting on the pitch earlier, they still were not on great terms.
Automatically, he looked for Ginny's bright head, and found her seated with Padma Patil at the Ravenclaw table, heads bent together in intense conversation. He smiled slightly, knowing that Padma had been avoiding Ginny for whatever reason. They seemed to have worked things out. He knew how much Ginny had missed her friend.
Focusing on his roast beef, he tried to avoid Pansy's eye. Draco had told their friend everything, and she had been trying her best to interfere as much as possible.
"Holy crap, if you three aren't fighting, you're fucking. So melodramatic!" She railed at him in a low voice, glaring at Theo when he glanced over with raised eyebrows, "Unless you have something constructive to contribute to the conversation, I wouldn't say a fucking thing, Nott."
He glanced away dutifully, slightly afraid of Pansy in this type of mood.
"Look, Pansy, I know you make it your business to be a pain in my ass," Blaise said to her good-naturedly, "But my relationships are not really your concern."
"I don't care." She replied stubbornly. "The three of you need to pull your heads out of your arses, and stop pretending that you're guest-starring on Coronation Street."
At his blank look, she clarified, "Muggle soap opera. Very melodramatic. Which I've already called you, but I stand by it."
"You need a good shag." Was the only reply she received.
"Done and done." Vince contributed from down the table, raising his goblet in a toast to Blaise.
Pansy rolled her eyes and continued, "Listen, she needs you. Not just Draco, because Gods' know, he's as emotionally stunted as you are, and together you make a passable, fully-functioning wizard."
"Hey!" Draco called out in mild irritation, leaning around Vince to glare at her. Pansy waved her hand in dismissal, concentrating on the dark-haired male in front of her who simply shrugged.
Conversation among the seventh year Slytherins died out around that point, and Blaise made a point of leaving the hall early for the Prefect meeting that he and Padma were to oversee.
Ginny and Padma made their way down to the meeting, Draco following close behind.
Handing out the new schedule for rounds, Blaise avoided Ginny's bright blue gaze, and Draco's steel one.
As the meeting was adjourned, and the various groups of prefects started making their way out of the room, Blaise caught Ginny's hand, and pulled her back to him. Draco saw, and exchanged a glance, his mind touching Blaise's with a soft caress, do I need to be there?
Blaise shook his head, happy at the mental contact that he had been so long without, and for the way that Draco prodded Padma along when she would have stopped to be by Ginny's side.
Ginny watched him with weary eyes, and he let go of her hand to stand in front of her, gazing into her familiar face, the freckles across her nose and cheekbones standing out in stark relief in the paleness of her skin.
"I'm sorry." He stated simply, quietly. "I love you. I want what is best for you. I can't begin to be happy that you might not want our child now, but I want things to be perfect when we, you, me and Draco, have children."
"You hurt me." She stated, moved, but unable to forget his painful words from before, "I just… I don't know Blaise."
"What don't you know?"
"I don't know if I can really… trust you right now. Be around you." Ginny spoke softly, and so honestly that he had little choice but to nod in acquiescence. "I love you too, Blaise, you know that, but I'm… I need to think about my future right now."
"I realize that…" He started to speak, but she shook her head, "I don't really think that you do."
"Ginny…" Blaise tried again, "I am trying."
"I know that." She smiled, and reached out to run a soft hand down his chiseled cheekbone, feeling him shudder at her touch. "I think this is more about me."
"But Gin, the thing is, it's not." He couldn't help but disagree at that point, "That is my or Draco's child growing inside of you as well." Blaise reached out a hand to caress slight bulge of her stomache, still very much disguised by her school uniform.
Ginny drew in a breath, "I know that. But it is also my body."
She backed away from him, gathering up her school back, and heading for the door.
"Ginny, don't leave." He called, walking quickly to catch up with her. She broke into a run, almost desperate to leave the tension behind.
Blaise cursed under his breath, and sped up, needing to talk to her further, needing to be with her.
Ginny ran blindly, knowing that Blaise was following her, needing to be by herself, and knowing that he wouldn't be able to understand that. She made her way to the stairs that would take her down to the main floor, and glanced over her shoulder as she started making her way down them.
Blaise had made his way to the top of the staircase when he saw her foot slip. His heart jumped into his throat as he heard himself scream her name.
"Ginny!" She heard her name being called, but was unable to stop her momentum. Falling, she hit her head, and was forced into a darkness.
Running after her falling body, Blaise was too late to catch her as she fell right to the bottom, landing with a heavy thud on the stone floor below, blood splattering in an obscene pattern around her slight form.
A/N: I was originally going to split this chapter into two, but I felt so bad about how long it had taken me to update, that I decided to leave it as is. Please let me know what you think. I've furthered through about three plot points, which is a lot for a chapter, and so a lot happened.
I know it's an evil place to leave the chapter! I know! And I know that Charlie's little story does not make sense in the larger picture yet, but it will, I promise. I also promise more smut in upcoming chapters, as I know I have been very negligent in that arena.
Yes, Blaise's mom will play a role in this story, she actually makes an appearance outside of memories! I know, shocking. And I have plans for Luna, even though this chapter only briefly mentioned her. I also have some plans for Theo, who I want to develop more as a complex character.
Thank you for reading, and for sticking with this story! There is a lot to come. This story is not even a quarter finished, trust me on this.