A/N: Lots of drama at the end of this one. I hope you can handle it. And cookies to whoever can guess what's gonna happen next. Enjoy!

Draco read the note he'd just received one more time with a frown and tossed on his desk as Scorpius wandered into his study.

"'lo Draco. Grandmother said you're moving back to the Manor soon?" Scorpius asked, taking in the study. Draco nodded and gestured for his son to have a seat.

"Pumpkin juice? We should talk a bit. And as you mum is running late…Again…We have some time," Draco all but seethed.

"She's in the lab again," Scorpius said looking rather sad. "She promised she'd spend some time with me this weekend but then Hermione called her away. Pumpkin juice would be great."

Draco snapped his fingers and one of his mother's elves appeared.

"Firewhiskey and some Pumpkin juice please," Draco stated evenly. The house elf nodded and disappeared.

"What did you want to talk about?" Scorpius asked throwing himself on the couch. Draco refrained from correcting his manners. He wanted to talk to go well.

"Well, I'm going to need your input for your room. They've re-done a suite for you but you'll get to finish it up so to speak. It's going to be right down the hall from mine. I was hoping that you're comfortable enough to move back with me. Or at least spend some time there."

Their beverages appeared on the table at that point and Scorpius grabbed his to take a drink and think about Draco's question. Draco took a sip of his firewhiskey, his mind already on later that night.

"Have you talked to mum about it?" Scorpius asked finally. Only delaying the inevitable.

"We haven't talked per se…We've owled a couple times about it. She said it was your decision," here Draco held up his hands to stall Scorpius' reply. "You don't have to answer right away. But I would like you to come over after lessons Friday and take a look at your suite. I'm not going to force you to live with me. But you are my son…"

Scorpius frowned and took another drink of his pumpkin juice. He still felt like Draco was more of an uncle than a father at this point. Despite the fact that Draco made a point to be at every practice and game…Which was more than he could say for his mum at this point come to think of it. Before Draco she'd made a point to be at every practice no matter how busy she was. Now she hardly ever left her lab except to sleep. In fact he spent more time at Grandmother's in his room here than he did in his bed at home.

"My room. I'd like it to be dark green. Tan bedsheet and comforter. Nothing on the walls – no wallpaper. But some pictures, I'll bring them from Mum's. And can I have my own fireplace to make floo calls?"

"There's one in your study already. I'll have it connected but it will only have limited contact points until you go to Hogwarts. Family only, if you want to call anyone else you'll have to come find me." Scorpius nodded his head in assent to this.

"I'll come stay until Mum's done with whatever project she's working on. Then maybe I can spend some time with her? And I want to go to the Burrow for Christmas. I'm sure Grandmum won't mind. Usually we spend Christmas Eve with Grandmother and then I go stay at Grandmum's with one of my aunts while Mum and all them go to the Minister's Ball – suppose I'll be going this year though."

"Who did you learn to be so Slytherin from?" Draco asked with a smirk. Despite the conditions he was happy with what he'd gotten. And Scorpius already drove a hard bargain, that was something to be proud of.

"Mostly Grandmother. But I heard Harry talking and he says, a lot, that Mum should've been in Slytherin with how she's been running her business."

"You shouldn't eavesdrop on adults," Draco said with a frown.

"It's just Harry," Scorpius replied with a scowl. He'd expect a lecture from Mum, and maybe even Grandmother but not his father. He'd heard that Draco and Harry didn't get along.

"And whoever he was speaking with," Draco replied.

"Just Uncle Ron…And I know you think he's an idiot. I heard you say so to Theo."

Draco looked at the clock and put his firewhiskey on the table. Ignoring Scorpius' last comment. He wasn't going to go back on his statement to Theo, and his son's means of gathering information were something – he wasn't going to punish him for being too smart.

"You've got to go clean up for dinner with your grandmother. I'm going to go wash up and collect your mum for our dinner. I'll talk to her about you coming to stay with me and see if she approves of your conditions."

"Don't tell her about me listening in on Harry's conversations," Scorpius asked with a pleading look. Draco laughed.

"Oh mate, even implying your mum's a Slytherin would earn me a lecture. You just don't let on and your secrets safe with me."

Scorpius ran off then and Draco walked to his bathroom, humming to himself, to prepare for his date. Perhaps tonight won't be so bad after all.

Draco flooed directly into Ginny's farmhouse as directed and quickly cast a scourgify charm on himself. He hated flooing, but she hadn't mentioned the apparation wards and he didn't feel like testing them today. He straightened his tie and pulled at the clasp on his cloak before pausing to take a look around him.

The living room was done in her usual earth tones that set off the darkened hardwood floors nicely. She had a set of off-white leather couches and a muggle television mounted to one wall. He was slightly surprised at that, but then remembered that she had been with Harry for a long time. Figured his son would be raised in a house with muggle appliances. He remembered his argument with the coffeemaker a month ago with a scowl. Ginny had had to save him, after he'd set the fire alarm off of course. There was a portrait of her and Scorpius over the mantle, and several of her and her family on the mantelpiece. Only one contained a picture of Harry, who was busy scowling at Draco. Draco scowled right back and stamped out the urge to set the picture on its face.

"Evening Draco," Ginny said stepping through the doorway. She was in a tight, short black dress that fell a couple inches about her knee. It set off her legs nicely, which were looking much longer in a pair of strappy heels. "Gonna tell me where we're going that I had to get all dressed up?"

"No, I don't think so," Draco said with a smile.

The dress she was wearing had a sweetheart neckline that he thought she must favor, though this one had straps that ran over the shoulders. She was wearing the locket he had seen her in at one of Scorpius' games – in fact he had rarely seen her without it except at the ball when his mother had insisted she wear the diamond necklace, and a pair of simple diamond studs. Her hair was arranged in a pile on top of her head with two curls framing her face.

She walked into the hall to gather her cloak and he followed her. Taking it from her, he held it out for her to pull on. He let his arms trail down her arms after and felt her shiver under his touch.

"Aren't we going to be late for our reservation?" Ginny asked turning. Draco smirked.

"We're already a little late, don't worry about it."

"Still we should go," Ginny took his hand and pulled him out the door. She slipped her arm through his and looked up at him.

"I can apparate from here?"

"Oh yeah, I put you in the wards a long time ago," Ginny said with her own smirk. Minx should have been in Slytherin, she knows how much I hate flooing.

Draco apparated them directly in front of the restaurant they'd be going to. One of the perks of being their top investor. He opened the door and gestured for her to go in first.

"Mr. Malfoy, a pleasure to see you again. And Ms. Weasley – we haven't seen you in a while." The maître'd said with a smile. He gestured for them to follow and led them to a descrete booth in the back of the restaurant. Draco took off his cloak and helped Ginny out of hers. "I'll send your waiter right over."

"So you've been here before," Draco said with a frown as he slipped into his seat. Ginny laughed at his look and nodded.

"Harry's brought me here once or twice. The foods delicious."

"I'll have to find somewhere else for our next…dinner," Draco said with a scowl. Ginny didn't have a chance to reply because their waiter materialized at that point.

"I'll have a firewhiskey," Draco said, still frowning.

"A glass of merlot please," Ginny said. Draco looked at her in surprise, he rarely saw her drink wine. When the waiter left Ginny reached across the table to take one of Draco's hands.

"You don't have to outdo Harry. Trust me, he's in the past."

The waiter appeared with their drinks, a couple glasses of water, and after taking their orders disappeared again.

"So I talked with Scorpius about coming to stay with me for a while," Draco said with a small smile. Ginny nodded.

"I take it that it went well since you're not frowning or scowling."

"He said that he'd come stay until you're not spending so much time in your lab. Drives a hard bargain that one, but we came to some mutually agreeable terms…That included Christmas at the Burrow," Draco did frown at this. Ginny laughed.

"It's not so bad. Hopefully they won't make you run the gauntlet like they did with the other guys I brought home." Draco looked almost terrified at this and she laughed again.

"I'm joking Draco. They don't even know that we're out to dinner, you'll be fine. And you seem to have made a good impression on Hermione and Fleur, they'll help me keep everyone under control."

"That's comforting," Draco replied, still frowning. "I do need to talk to you about Scorpius though. I think he's feeling a little neglected with all the time you've been spending in the lab. And I can't help but feel that that's partially –"

"Don't," Ginny said firmly, scowling. "I just want to finish this potion. And we're so close, I can feel it. I'll talk to Scorp about it. Maybe he can come help me now that it's just brewing. I have some other orders I've been neglecting."

"I could help you know," Draco offered. Ginny looked up in surprise. Their food arrived, no server necessary, and she cut into her chicken as she contemplated this.

"I assumed you were busy with the Malfoy Enterprises," she said finally. It would be nice to have an extra hand and she recalled that Draco was quite good at potions in school.

"I find that I spend a lot of time signing documents…and twiddling my thumbs. My mother put a very efficient management group in place while I was away. I don't want to ruin what they've accomplished. That's what my father would have done…But –"

"You're not your father," Ginny finished easily. She caught a whiff of fish then and frowned, taking several breaths through her mouth.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked finally, noticing that she had paled considerably.

"I'm just going to run to the powder room," Ginny said, quickly slipping from the booth and disappearing. Draco frowned after her. He took a bite of her chicken and shrugged. It didn't appear to be the food, it tasted fine to him.

When Ginny came back her face was still slightly drawn but she was smiling.

"How's your steak?" She asked as she sat down and took another bite of chicken. So it wasn't the chicken then.

"Good, how's the chicken?"

"Delicious, I love their chicken here."

"Are you okay? You still look a little pale," Draco said, concerned.

"Fine," Ginny said with a tight smile. She could still just smell the fish, she wondered who had ordered it in the back of her mind – cursing them. "Anyway, I'd really love for you to come to the lab. It would be an immense help."

"Of course."

They finished the meal in relative silence and Draco ordered them a slice of chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Thankfully the fish smell had disappeared and some of the color returned to Ginny's cheeks.

"So is there a reason you haven't been seeing anyone," Draco asked finally.

"I just needed…after Harry, I mean, I just needed to find myself. I'd spent so long…how did you put it…worshipping him, that I needed time to just be me. And then I was so immersed in raising Scorpius and running my business. It just never seemed to be in the cards," Ginny said honestly. She'd been expecting the question for sometime, and had discussed it, in some detail, with Narcissa. And unfortunately, her mother.

"Well I'm here to help you with Scorp now," Draco said with a soft smile. Ginny decided that she rather liked his smile. He rarely showed it in public, which made it all that more special. She found herself smiling in return. They finished the cake and Draco stood. He offered her his arm and the maître'd met them at the door with their cloaks. Draco slipped his on and then held Ginny's out to her.

"Draco," Ginny said suddenly as the door was opening. "Draco, we didn't pay."

"Ah, Master Malfoy does not pay when he eats here," the maître'd said with a smile and closed the door behind them. Ginny looked at Draco, confused.

"I own a majority of the restaurant, so the meals are usually on the house. I only pay when I bring a big group. Don't worry about it."

Draco apparted them back to her front porch and looked down at her with a smile. Ginny turned and opened the door before looking over her shoulder at him, noticing his disappointed look she laughed.

"You don't have to leave, you can come in you know," she said. She shrugged out of her cloak and put it on the rack. As Draco hung his he noticed that, unlike her cloaks in school, most of these looked new and quite expensive. He didn't comment but he let his hands brush against the material as he wandered past, definitely expensive.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" Ginny asked from the kitchen, already heating a kettle as he walked in. He nodded and sat at her table. It was cozy, seating only four, and made of mahogany wood. This seemed to be her favorite.

"I really like the house," he said generously. She turned and beamed at him.

"Thanks, your mother helped me a lot with the pieces, but I'm afraid we have a rather different taste in décor. Some of the guest rooms are done more to her taste. And the dining room, I needed her help most with that because I've never had a formal dining room before."

"Her taste certainly doesn't show through in what I've seen," Draco said. "Especially the muggle pieces in your living room."

"I couldn't help myself. We had the room here and dad love it, so I kept it. I hardly watch it anymore. Although it is charmed to broadcast live Quidditch games," Ginny said with a smile. Draco perked up at this and glanced at the wall.

"So we could catch the Falcon's match?" He asked. They were playing a team in the America's that night and he had meant to go home and listen to it. Ginny laughed and nodded.

"Sure," she poured their cups of tea and handing him his led the way across the hall to the living room. She fiddled with the switches on the set for a minute and then tapped her wand to the side in a complex fashion. In an instant the television lit up with a view of the arena that the Falcon's were playing in. Just in time to see Ron with a brilliant catch.

"Looks like he's on his game tonight," Ginny said. She settled into the couch with a happy sigh. Draco followed suit and found that she had soon leaned against him, sipping her tea. He draped his free arm around her shoulders as his listened to the commentator. Draco became quite engrossed in the match, his favorite team was the Falcon's, and Ginny found her mind wandering to the last time she'd watched a match on the television.

"Glass of wine, Gin?" Harry called from the kitchen.

"No thanks," Ginny replied. Scorpius was already in bed for the night. The Falcon's were playing overseas again, must to Hermione's annoyance as she was in her last trimester, and the game was on too late to let Scorpius stay up and watch.

"You sure," Harry said, walking into the living room with two glasses and a fresh bottle of white wine. Ginny nodded. He shrugged and poured himself one taking a sip.

"Harry there's something I need to talk to you about," she said suddenly, her attention straying from the match some minutes later.

"Anything Gin, you know that."

"Harry, I'm pregnant," Ginny said.

"You're what?" Harry replied, his face void of emotion. "I thought you were taking the contraceptive potion, that's why we don't cast the spell."

"I must have forgotten last month…I was so busy with the lab and taking care of Scorpius…Is this really such a bad thing?"

"We're not married. And you don't seem to want to go that direction anytime soon – you haven't even picked a date yet. Ginny we're not even living together anymore. You told me that you were taking the potion." Harry had pulled his glasses off and was rubbing the bridge of his nose now. "Well what are you going to do about it?"

"What am I going to do about it? What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean," Ginny spat in reply.

"Well, are you ready to get married then? Because if not – then," Harry started.

"Don't even say it."

"Let's be realistic Ginny. What would people think, what would they say? You're already raising the Malfoy brat." Harry reached out to touch her then and she slapped his hand away.

"Get out," she said coolly.

"What?"

"GET OUT. GET OUT NOW," Ginny screamed. He stood and went to collect his cloak and then paused by the fireplace.

"Oh and Harry," he turned, hoping she had changed her mind. "Take this."

He automatically reached up to catch what she had thrown at him. The ring. And before he could say anything her door was slamming.

Two months later, Scorpius entered her bedroom to find her curled up in bed crying.

"Mum, mum it's almost lunchtime. Are you okay?" Ginny didn't reply. She just rolled away from him, arms wrapped around her stomach. She couldn't hear him through her tears and she didn't want to see him. Scorpius frowned. He wandered out of the bedroom and into the hallway. With a sigh he trucked down the stairs. Scrawling a quick note, and wishing that he was allowed to floo call, he attached it to his owl and sent it out the window.

Grandmother

Mum won't leave bed. Hungry. Come soon.

Scorpius

"Be quick 'bout it Archimedes."

It felt like days before the floo roared to life and Narcissa was stepping out, brushing dust off her cloak and hanging it on the peg. He noticed a large wicker basket on his arm.

"Is your mum sick dear?" She asked, concerned. She'd never heard a negative thing about Ginny from the young boy. Not since that first day in Diagon Alley, and she was very concerned by his owl.

"No just sad. Did you bring lunch?" He asked hopefully. Narcissa chuckled and put the basket on the table. She pulled out a plate with roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans on it.

"Now eat the vegetables too, dear. I'm going to go and check on your mother. And don't go in the basket or your hair will turn blue." Scorpius didn't doubt this. He hoped that meant there was dessert in the basket. He quickly settled in to eat his meal and Narcissa turned to head upstairs. She could hear the sobbing before she even reached the top. Oh dear.

She stepped into Ginerva's bedroom and made her way to the side of the bed that Ginny was facing.

"Ginerva, what's wrong dear." Ginny met her eyes and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. "Dear, you have to talk to someone. I could call your mother if you'd prefer."

"No," Ginny said firmly. She stopped crying but she refused to look at Narcissa. Narcissa huffed.

"In case you haven't forgotten you're supposed to be raising my grandson. He had to owl me for lunch because you've laid in bed all day for god only knows what reason. Now you either tell me, or I will find him a more suitable home."

Ginny started sobbing again and Narcissa wondered if maybe tough love was not the way to go.

"I've lost him," Ginny sobbed, crying harder into the pillow.

"I would hardly consider getting rid of Mr. Potter a loss my dear, no matter what your mother might think." Narcissa said flatly, noticing that Ginny's hand was devoid of it's usual ornamentation.

"Not Harry. My baby, my baby boy," Ginny said. She was hiccupping now. No longer sobbing, but her hair was plastered to her face in an unseemly way. Narcissa reached out and stroked some of it back.

"Scorpius is right downstairs. I know he's getting bigger, but that's hardly anything to cry over – in fact I think you're doing a fantastic job," Narcissa said. Completely misreading the situation.

"I've…I've had a miscarriage Naricssa," Ginny wailed, burying her face again.

Oh. Narcissa thought. Well that was not what she was expecting. Breaking an engagement, freaking out over Scorpius…fine…But a miscarriage.

"Oh Ginerva, I'm so sorry," Narcissa said. At this she climbed into the bed and pulled the girl to her. A rare display of affection, but perhaps more a display of camaraderie. She knew what losing a child was like. She'd lost three. She held the young girl close until she'd fallen asleep and then she went to find Scorpius. She would owl Luna and ask her to take the boy while she brought Ginerva back from this depression. Gods only knew that she understood what the girl was going through. The poor thing.