"Just lie still!" Elizabeth said, exasperated. "You're a grown man for heaven's sake."

"And therefore perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Severus grumbled.

"History and current circumstances say otherwise," Elizabeth said firmly, laying the sheet of his bed gently over him. The burns were healing nicely, but the doctor had stressed the need to be careful with the new skin.

"You don't need to look so pleased with yourself," Severus glared.

"Why not?" Elizabeth grinned. "You're alive, Lucius is gone, and I'm getting a little payback for all those times you hovered over me while I was sick."

"Damn my history of being a caring father," Severus rolled his eyes. "If you're going to hover, at least bring me some water."

"You're such a pleasant man," Elizabeth smirked, going downstairs.

"You have a wand!" Severus shouted after her, but shook his head. Muggle tendencies died hard, and Elizabeth had always failed to think of magic first when presented with simple tasks. Glasses could be summoned and water could be conjured, but his daughter was going to walk all the way downstairs, fetch both, and bring them back upstairs. "Good thing I'm not dying of thirst," Severus grumbled indulgently.

Elizabeth was about to start back up the stairs when there was a knock at the door. A quick look out the peephole revealed Draco Malfoy's sharp face on the doorstep.

Elizabeth paused. The knock came again.

In one smooth movement, she opened the door and drew her wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Draco dropped like a rock to the porch, his eyes wide open in shock. "What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked, as if he could answer her. She pointed her wand at him again, levitating the wizard into the house. "Don't move," she said, unnecessarily, heading up the stairs.

When she arrived, Severus had his own wand drawn. "Did I just hear you body-bind someone?"

"Draco Malfoy is downstairs," Elizabeth said.

"Having a cup of tea, I presume?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Lying in a full bond bind in the foyer," Elizabeth avoided his gaze.

"Elizabeth Rose Evans," Severus frowned.

"Don't even pretend that I should have let him in without precautions," Elizabeth scowled. "He's a Death Eater. His father threatened to ruin our lives, and he almost killed you."

Severus closed his eyes, and blew air through his teeth. "This is why I stopped hiding things from you," he muttered. Opening his eyes, he pointed at the door. "Release him, and bring him up here."

"Hiding what things?" Elizabeth asked.

"Release him," Severus ordered again.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth, glaring, but went downstairs. Draco was still lying on the floor where she'd left him. A quick search of his pockets revealed his wand, which Elizabeth relieved him of before unbinding his legs and face.

"Is disarming me your hobby, Evans?" Draco grumbled as she helped him to stand.

"When you're in my house, and your father almost killed mine… yeah," Elizabeth gestured to the stairs. "Careful, I wouldn't want you to fall and die."

"My father is dead, by the way," Draco said testily, gingerly climbing the stairs, his arms stuck to his sides. "Thanks so much for your condolences."

"You'll forgive me if I save my tears," Elizabeth said, opening the door to Severus' room and gesturing for the wizard to go first.

"Won't turn your back on me?" Draco asked, a hint of taunting in his voice.

"I'd love to never lay eyes on you again," Elizabeth hissed. "But no one turns their back on a Malfoy."

"Both of you, stop it," Severus snapped. "You're not children anymore."

"She has my wand," Draco said, trying to sound less petulant than he felt.

"Elizabeth," Severus looked at his daughter.

"He can have it back when he leaves," Elizabeth said firmly. "Which, hopefully, will be soon."

Draco pressed his lips together, but didn't argue. "I just came to tell you that, due to Father's death, my financial situation has been remedied." He eyed Elizabeth's wand. "I'd like your permission to take Astoria to our London house until the baby is born."

"Baby?" Elizabeth looked from Draco to Severus. "What baby?"

"You didn't tell her?" Draco looked at the older wizard.

"I didn't know that it was her business," Severus said smoothly. "However, if you wish," he turned to Elizabeth. "Astoria Greengrass is pregnant with Mr. Malfoy's child."

Elizabeth snorted. "I should have known you couldn't cover your—

"Elizabeth," Severus interrupted sharply. "If you insist on hovering, be quiet." He turned his attention back to Draco. "If Miss Greengrass wants to leave school, that is her choice," he said. "She is of age. However, are you certain that you can provide the care she needs?"

"I'll hire help," Draco said firmly. "This baby needs to be born in our home. Father is gone, and Mother will, presumably, do what I wish."

Arrogant prat, Elizabeth thought to herself.

"It is, of course, your decision," Severus said. "You may want to think, however, that your social standing will not be repaired by having the mother of your illegitimate child live with you, out of wedlock, without your father as a chaperone."

Is this Victorian England? Elizabeth bit her tongue to keep from talking.

"We'll marry, privately, this weekend," Draco said decidedly.

"There are only a few weeks left in the term," Severus said. "Are you certain she won't want to finish her exams?"

"She'll have no need for that," Draco said, shaking his head. "With Father gone, I have responsibilities. I'll need her to manage our home."

Elizabeth casually set one of his shoes on fire.

"Elizabeth!" Severus shouted, as Draco hopped from foot to foot.

"Sorry," Elizabeth said calmly. "My wand slipped."

*S*S*

"It wouldn't have hurt him," Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she finished changing Teddy's diaper. "He was just being such an arse."

"You don't want to run my household?" Fred asked, unable to keep a straight face all the way through the question. He ducked the dirty diaper Elizabeth tossed at his head and grinned as he straightened up. "Malfoy is a prat. Always has been. Astoria kind of has a stick up her arse, if I remember correctly. Maybe she wants to be the next Lady Malfoy."

"Apparently she's not uptight enough to avoid getting pregnant," Elizabeth smirked.

"Maybe you should teach her to light Draco's feet on fire," Fred said, picking up the diaper and tossing it in the bin. "Might come in handy. But feel free to forget it after that," he gestured to his feet. "I like my toes."

"It wouldn't have really hurt him," Elizabeth rolled her eyes again. "But the bonus is that Remus now has to deal with Professor Cranky."

"And we get to babysit," Fred said, swinging Teddy into the air. "Watch this," he set the baby on the sofa. "Look, Teddy! Scary!" He made a face at the Metamorphmagus.

Teddy gave a shriek and his hair turned stark white.

"Fred!" Elizabeth knelt in front of the sofa. "You scared him!"

Fred laughed. "No, I didn't. Look at him!"

Teddy shrieked again, and laughed, his hair turning a series of rainbow colors as he hollowed with laughter.

Elizabeth shook her head and scooped up the baby, tickling his stomach. "You've learned your first prank, hmm? Before your first word?"

"He says words," Fred said, sitting on the sofa with a self-satisfied look. "Sort of."

"Uncle Fred is weird," Elizabeth whispered conspiratorially to Teddy. "Don't believe everything he says." She turned to Fred. "How did you teach him to do that?"

"Long sessions of making faces at him and rewarding him when he went white." Fred patted Teddy on the head.

"Rewarded him with… what?" Elizabeth asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Melted ice cream," Fred grinned. "He really likes it."

"Of course he does," Elizabeth laughed. "Don't tell Remus."

"Hey, he's the next generation of Marauder," Fred smirked. "We have to train him to live on the edge early."

Elizabeth put her feet on the ottoman. "I'd like to stay off the edge for awhile."

Fred sobered. "Speaking of 'edge', should we talk about the reason you didn't tell me about Lucius until he wasn't a problem anymore?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "It happened so fast. I knew I had to tell my dad, and then it was almost immediately over." She looked at Teddy, who was happily shredding the copy of the Daily Prophet he grabbed off the sofa. "A world without Lucius Malfoy," she said softly. "Maybe we can breathe."

*S*S*

The glass crashed to the floor of the shop, the brick that smashed the front window landing squarely in a barrel of fake vampire teeth.

Elizabeth jumped back, staring at the sudden hole in the wall with fear. The cash register drawer she'd been holding fell to the floor, coins scattering everywhere, mixing with glass fragments.

"Betsy?" Fred shouted, taking the stairs two at a time, running from the upstairs office. "Betsy! What happened?" He looked at the glass covering the floor. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Elizabeth found her voice and shook her head. "I don't… I don't know what happened."

"You're sure?" Fred put his hands on her arms, quickly looking her up and down. "Merlin, Betsy, you're bleeding!" He held up her arm, showing her the red liquid seeping through a cut in her light blue sweater.

"I guess we need glass-proof robes," Elizabeth said weakly.

"That would only help if you wore them," Fred said irritably, gesturing to the magenta robe she'd discarded.

"Are you honestly suggesting that I have glass in my arm because I'm not wearing a robe?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him.

"No," Fred rubbed his free hand over his face. "Of course not, I'm sorry. We need to get you patched up and call the Aurors." He sat her on stool and inspected the wound more closely. "I can get the glass out, but it's too deep for me to fix. You want me to call Madam Pomfrey, or your dad?"

Elizabeth didn't answer, her eyes trained on the barrel of teeth. Fred followed her gaze, and read the bit of parchment tied to the brick.

The Dark Lord will avenge murder.

*S*S*

"Mr. Weasley, can you state for the Court your profession?"

Fred eyed the wizard in law robes. "I own and run Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley."

"And your fiancé?"

"She's developing our Defense department."

The wizard adopted a false confused look. "I thought Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was a joke shop?"

Fred resisted every comeback he could think of that would make the wizard look stupid. "We also have a line of Defense merchandise."

"Is any of this equipment offensive as opposed to purely defensive?"

Fred met Elizabeth's eyes across the courtroom. "None of our equipment has offensive capabilities unless the owner is attacked."

"But these pieces do harm to others in addition to protecting their owners, am I right?" The blue-robed wizard spoke to the jury.

"A few," Fred said quietly.

"And you provide these weapons to the Ministry."

"They aren't weapons," Fred protested.

"Answer the question, Mr. Weasley," the Chief Warlock prompted.

"The Aurors buy our Defense products, yes." Fred glared at the microphone in front of him.

"Anyone else?"

"I'm sorry?" Fred looked at the Wizard.

"Do you sell your products to anyone other than the Ministry?"

Fred nodded. "Several private Defense companies as well as the occasional citizen."

"So you provide weapons to private citizens?"

"Objection," the lawyer on the other side of the room, wearing red robes, stood. "The witness has made it clear that the word 'weapon' is inaccurate."

"Your honor," the blue-robed wizard argued, "the definition of weapon is something that can be used against another."

"But the intent of the Weasley's Defense products are not for attack."

"Use another word, Mr. Allen," the Chief Warlock addressed the blue-robed wizard.

"I'll rephrase," Allen said, turning back to Fred. "You sell products, which could harm another person, to private citizens?"

"Yes," Fred said tightly.

"No further questions," Allen turned and went back to his table, passing the man chained to the center chair.

"Your honor, the prosecution would like a brief recess before questioning the witness."

"10 minutes," the Chief Warlock granted. "You may step down, Mr. Weasley."

By the time Elizabeth and Severus made it to the room behind the courtroom, Fred was already sitting, pinching the bridge of his nose. Severus straightened the cuffs of the gloves he'd worn to cover the lingering scaring from the burns. His face had healed nicely, but the constant use of his hands had slowed the healing process.

"Why are they so fixated on what we sell?" Elizabeth looked at Severus.

"Because they don't have a case," the prosecutor, Mr. Tandy, came through the door. "James Shandon is guilty, so they're trying to put you on trial. They are hoping that the jury will think that he was involved in some kind of higher-purpose protest."

"He threw a brick through our window," Fred said tiredly. "Because he's a Death-Eater sympathizer."

"No one is questioning that he threw the brick," Tandy nodded. "The problem is that if we have even one juror that has some kind of authority problem, he may be back on the streets." He turned to Elizabeth. "Our best option is to play up your presence in the store. Make the jury understand that this man could have killed the Savior of the Wizarding world."

"Is that really necessary?" Severus put his arm around his daughter. "Why is this even a question? This is a criminal case, not civil. They aren't asking for money, just to be safe in their place of work."

"There are a lot of eyes on this case," Tandy explained. "Anything involving your daughter is involved in is going to draw attention."

Severus felt Elizabeth shaking slightly against him. He was surprised. There had been plenty of similar problems over the past year. Everyone wanted access, wanted to get close. Some went about it in more intrusive ways than others, but Elizabeth had learned to take it in stride.

"Going to the bathroom," Elizabeth muttered softly, ducking out of the room.

Severus looked at Fred, but the other man just gave him a meaningful look and frowned. It was clear that Fred knew what was going on, but didn't want to discuss it in front of these people.

*S*S*

The trial ended with the brick-thrower sentenced to ten days in Azkaban, but not before the Defense had laid every detail of the Weasley business on the table.

"I'm going to go home," Elizabeth said, kissing Fred outside the courtroom.

Fred nodded. "I'm going to check on the shop and then I'll come over, alright?" He watched her disappear, then turned to Severus. "It's times like this I think of moving across the pond."

"Take my daughter out of the country, and I'll put to use the twenty undetectable poisons I should have used on you years ago," Severus said good-naturedly. He gestured to the place Elizabeth had been standing. "She seems… more upset than I'd think."

Fred sighed. "It's not the trial," he shook his head.

Severus looked concerned, but decided not the pry. If his daughter wanted to tell him why she was so—

"Have you seen the guest list for the wedding?" Fred asked quietly, interrupting the older man's thoughts. "It's… overwhelming. For her. For me too, I guess, but mostly for her. She never wants to be the center of attention, and this is shaping up to be a whole day of exactly that, with everyone in the Wizarding world looking on."

Severus sighed. "I don't know that it can be avoided."

"Yeah…" Fred grimaced. "If we eloped—

"Marry my daughter without me, and Hogwarts students will be using your body parts in Potions."

"Two death threats in five minutes," Fred smiled a little. "Not my day, really."