"Are you ready to leave?" Draco asked walking into Ginny's suite without knocking. She was pulling a brush through her hair as he approached her at the vanity. Despite her bloodshot red-rimmed eyes she still looked beautiful. She had on a simple black pencil skirt and a green silk blouse. Putting down her brush she picked up the locket from her desk and slipped it around her neck, tucking it under her blouse.

"I think so," Ginny replied with a sigh.

"Hermione owled to say there still hasn't been any change," Draco said softly, laying a hand on Ginny shoulder. She turned to bury her face in his chest.

"I just want him to wake up," she sobbed.

"Ssshh, I know. I do too," Draco said, wrapping his arms around her. He felt as though he had never held someone as much in his life, as he had spent with his arms around the red head this week. "I have something I want you to look over before we go to the hospital."

"What?" Ginny asked, her sobs ebbing as she drew back. Draco reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a scroll. He handed it to her without another word.

Ginny unrolled the document and couldn't hold back a gasp. They were adoption papers.

"No matter what anyone says, including me, you are his mother. And you deserve to have all the rights that go along with that. But I think we've already both accepted that the seven years you raised him inexplicably tied the rest of our lives together."

"Draco, this is a huge step," Ginny said quietly. She had sat down at the vanity to read over the details of the agreement. Draco leaned forward, he had had the scroll drawn up nearly two months before the accident, but hadn't been sure how to present it to her.

"I don't ever want to have the fight we had six months ago again. Scorpius loves you and considers you his mother. That's enough for me. I don't expect you to be responsible for his expenses – but I want you to have a say in his life. It wasn't an easy decision, trust me, I don't like to hand that type of power over to anyone. Especially a Weasley," Draco said with a smirk. He pulled a quill out of his pocket and handed it to her. "As you can see, all that's missing is your signature."

Ginny took the quill and pulled some ink from one of the drawers. She dipped it in and paused above the parchment. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she touched the quill to it and scrawled her name. The scroll rolled itself up after this and disappeared.

"Let's get to the hospital," she said softly. Draco nodded and offered his hand to disapparate them.

"Baby, we just need to wake up now," Ginny was saying later that day. She had her hands wrapped around one of Scorpius' as she spoke quietly to him. There were still guards posted at his door. Draco had disappeared again, as he had so often that week for hours at a time. She tried not to think about the meetings he was in, with Aurors and perhaps some less desirables.

She talked for a while longer about the preparations for his birthday party the next month and how much she had missed him while she was at Hogwarts. There was a knock at the door and one of the guards peeked his head in.

"Mr. Potter is here to see you," the guard said softly. Ginny nodded that she understood and he closed the door. She and Draco had agreed that only their parents would be allowed in, all other family would have to wait until Scorpius woke up.

"Baby, I'm gonna be back so fast. Just work on opening your eyes for me," Ginny said softly. She was about to open the door when she heard a groan. She turned back, it was the first sound she had heard from him the entire week. Scorpius eyes were fluttering rapidly. She rushed back to the bed and grabbed his hand. "Scorp?"

"Mum?" he croaked. Ginny couldn't help the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. "Don't let the green-eyed monster in."

Ginny laughed then and bent down to hug the young boy through her tears.

"Do you want some water?" Ginny asked. Scorpius nodded weakly. She poured a glass and offered him the straw. He took a small sip and then frowned.

"Where am I?"

"Oh sweetheart, you're at St. Mungo's. You had an awful spill," Ginny replied. "Let me have them fetch your father."

Ginny stepped away from him to open the door. Harry was leaning on the wall across the hall from the guards, tapping his foot with an annoyed look on his face. Ginny had forgotten how much inexperience he had with waiting – generally his every wish was granted in the Wizarding world.

"About time –" Harry started. Ginny settled a glare on him, effectively stopping his tirade before she turned to one of the guards.

"Get Draco immediately," she said simply. She gestured to the other guard to remain and stepped back into the room, shutting the door firmly. Harry could just cool his broomstick a little longer.

When Draco arrived, his hair mussed from running his hands through it, Ginny was telling a rather distraught Scorpius that he hadn't missed the Debutante Ball and that now that he was awake he would probably be just fine to escort Victoire as planned.

"Of course, she's been very upset thinking that you might not be able to bring her as planned –" Ginny said softly. Scorpius was frowning. Narcissa entered the room right after Draco and immediately her hands flew to her mouth. She hurried to the bed to wrap her arms around the young boy.

"Sorry you didn't dodge that curse mate," Draco murmured to his son as he bent down to hug him. Scorpius' frown deepened but he smiled at the attention. If nothing else, his stay in the hospital appeared to have brought his entire family together.

"Scorpius, come down for dinner," Ginny called up her staircase. She ran a hand through her loose hair as she walked back into the kitchen. While she hadn't minded staying at the Manor while Scorpius was in the hospital, she was glad to have finally returned home. Scorpius had been cleared to leave the hospital two nights before and had spent both of them with Draco and Ginny at Malfoy Manor.

"How were his grades?" Ginny asked as she returned to stirring the pot on the stove. Draco was leaning back in the chair at the head of the small kitchen table nursing a firewhiskey. The haggard look he had worn for a week was slowly fading – much like Ginny's – but it had been a long day at work for him.

"They were fine. He did better in some subjects than others. His ability to master memorization is incredible," Draco replied. He swirled the whiskey around and took another sip. Ginny began serving the stew she'd cooked and placed a plate in front of Draco as Scorpius entered the kitchen.

"'lo Dad," Scorpius said with a smile as he climbed into his usual spot. Ginny put a plate in front of him. "Can I have a butterbeer?"

"No," Draco and Ginny said at the same time. Scorpius frowned but drank the pumpkin juice that was placed in front of him.

"Can I go to practice tomorrow?" Scorpius asked as Ginny joined them at the table with her own plate. Ginny took a bite while she glanced at Draco. Draco shrugged in response to her unasked question.

"If we go see Hermione in the morning and she says it's okay," Ginny said by way of compromise. The doctors had insisted the boy take it easy but she knew the last two days spent practically entirely in bed had been particularly tough for the ten year old.

"Deal!" Scorpius said happily. He continued with the meal, happy to be eating at home again. Despite the fact that his father's elves made delicious meals, they weren't the same as his mum's cooking. And he had seen her whipping mousse when they'd first gotten there, so he knew what was for dessert.

"Have you gotten your dress for the Ball?" Draco asked as they began dessert. Ginny was pouring tea for them both.

"Not yet," Ginny replied. "I was going to ask if there was a particular color you wanted to go with."

"Can we wear red?" Scorpius interrupted. Draco frowned, a fact that Scorpius missed because he was focused on his mother. "Victoire said she's wants to wear red and it IS her Ball."

"Sure darling," Ginny said with a smile at Draco's discomfort. He managed to mask his features as Scorpius turned toward him.

"Will you bring me to pick up my tux?"

"Yes, we'll go during lunch on Thursday if that's okay with your mum," Draco replied. Ginny nodded. Scorpius finished his mousse and asked to be excused to floo Victoire, and then Fred. Ginny reminded him to be careful and sent him on his way.

"I wanted to talk to you about Blaise's wedding," Draco said as Ginny began clearing the table. He stood to help, and seemed to surprise her, but she smiled anyway.

"I can watch Scorpius if you'd like to take the trip alone," Ginny said happily as she set the dishes to washing and poured herself another glass of tea.

"I was rather hoping you'd both come with me," Draco replied with a frown. Ginny looked up, surprised, and then back down to her tea.

"I thought I'd reopen the lab for the summer."

"It's only a weekend Gin, and he's my best mate. He stood next to me on my wedding day. I thought you'd like to see Italy."

"I've seen Italy," Ginny reminded him gently. She offered him a weak smile. "I'm not some girl for you to woo Draco. We talked about this before. I don't want it to get…"

"Complicated," Draco finished with a frown. He sighed and finished his tea. "I'm not asking you to marry me Ginerva. I'd just like for you to accompany me to the wedding. Pansy and Theo are going as well."

"I just need a couple days to think about it," Ginny said finally. Draco nodded as he handed her the last plate and took his seat at the table again. He poured himself another glass of firewhiskey as he put his briefcase on the table and tapped it with his wand.

"You don't mind if I do some work here do you? I thought maybe we could watch the Falcon's match with Scorpius later." Draco added as he began pulling parchments out. Ginny shook her head but didn't turn from the sink as the dishes finished putting themselves away. When she finally did turn toward him Draco was immersed in his work. She poured herself a glass of firewhiskey and retreated to the living room, lost in thought.

"Harry I'm not going to the Ball with you," Ginny insisted in a hushed tone as she glanced toward the hospital door again. Harry's eyes flashed and his frown deepened.

"Kind of last minute don't you think Gin?"

"I'm sure you can find someone to stand in. I saw you were taking Cho out again," Ginny spat. Harry scowled.

"You were at Hogwarts, you can't possibly hold that against me."

"You want to be with me but you don't Harry. Honestly, I think it would be better for us to cut our loses and try our best to salvage at least an amicable dissolve of whatever we've been doing for the last eight years. You need to move on with your life."

"Just take some time to think it over," Harry said finally. His voice was restrained but Ginny could see the anger bubbling just below the surface from years of practice. "Just remember what I take with me when I move on with my life."

Ginny heaved a sigh as she looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet in front of her. Rita Skeeter had written another scathing article of her romance with Harry. Below that were the poll rankings for her father, who seemed to be holding steady from here he had dropped six points the week before. She rolled the paper up and tossed it on the table. Untucking her legs and grabbing the empty tumbler she made her way back to the kitchen.

Draco was sitting at the table buried in parchment. Scorpius was seated at the other end reading a book on potions. Ginny paused in the doorway and smiled at the sight. She was still leaning on the doorframe when Draco muttered something under his breath and looked up – he met her eyes and smiled, one his legitimate unguarded smiles, and held the bottle up to her as he poured himself another glass.

"It's almost time for the match, want to go get the TV running?" Ginny asked Scorpius. He looked up and nodded happily. She handed her wand to him as he darted past her.

"Do you think you could read this over really quick?" Draco asked throwing the contract down in front of him. "It looks fine, but I feel like I'm missing something."

Ginny nodded, surprised, and walked over to the table. She leaned over it, placing her glass down so Draco could fill it and skimmed toward the usual preamble. The contract seemed pretty straightforward. She frowned about halfway through and pointed to a clause.

"That's a pretty huge fee for a breach Draco, and it seems like there's no penalty if they decide to walk away before the merger is complete. It essentially gives them two years to change their mind."

Draco looked where she was pointed and nodded. He marked it with his quill and smiled.

"I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid," he said.

Draco watched Ginny lean over the contract and had to resist the urge to pull her into his lap. He focused instead on pouring her a new glass of firewhiskey and waited as she skimmed the first part of the contract. He knew which clause he had a problem with, but was curious if she would pick up on it. When she began to frown and pointed to the clause that had frustrated him he offered another of his rare smiles.

"I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid."

"No, I'd never allow a clause like that in any of my contracts," Ginny replied. "And they've tried, especially when I was a startup."

"Tricky bastards," Draco muttered. He piled the paperwork up and tossed it in his briefcase. Locking it he stood and ran a hair through his hair. Ginny was leaning against the table sipping her firewhiskey.

"Tough week?"

"And it's only Monday," Draco replied with a sigh. He topped up his glass and offered her his arm. "But right now all I want to do is to watch the game with you and my son."