AN: I hope that little cliff-hanger last chapter didn't catch you TOO off-guard (heh-heh). Now our couples have some major planning to do. Speaking of planning (plotting?), lets see what Lucius and Malcom are thinking...
CHAPTER 13 – ADJUSTMENTS
"Parents?" gasped Harry, although he had not failed to understand what Ginny had said. He was simply trying to gauge her reaction before allowing his own to take root.
"Yes, Harry. Parents," she answered.
"Are you sure?" he asked, although he knew she was.
"Yes, love, the Sensory Charm was quite clear. We're going to be parents."
"Oh, Ginny, are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Not even a trace of morning sickness or anything else."
"No, Sweetheart. I meant are you fine with this … with being pregnant?"
"Like I said in Professor McGonagall's office, I'd really rather have waited a few years, but it isn't a tragedy. We are getting married, you know."
"I know, but I also know this wasn't in your plans. We have options, you know."
"Yes, I know, but this is our baby, Harry … yours and mine ... our son or daughter. There's only one option as far as I'm concerned," she continued before staring up to meet his eyes. A soft smile crossed her lips. "We'll be fine."
"Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry, love," he gasped, unable to grasp the magnitude of what was happening in their young lives.
"It's my doing, Harry. I'm the one who jumped you and shagged you senseless. Anyway, I'm not sorry at all – just surprised."
"Oh, Ginny," he repeated as the knot in his stomach began to ease. "Of course we'll be fine. God knows we can afford as much help as we need along the way. Whatever you need, Ginny – we'll get you whatever help you need to make this work."
"We want a family regardless of the timing. Let's just relax and enjoy the experience as best we can," answered Ginny.
"You're amazing, Ginny. Truly amazing!" he replied as a wide smile began to spread across his face.
"I wonder what Professor McGonagall is going to think about this?" asked Ginny, a sardonic smile flickering on her lips. "I bet it was going to be hard enough to have a married couple in school. Now we'll be parents before the end of the school year. It has probably never happened before at Hogwarts!"
"I think Minerva will cope with it just fine," answered Harry. "I know Dumbledore would have done."
Ginny reached her arm around Harry's neck and pulled herself up to meet his lips. As hard as it was to accept being pregnant at the age of sixteen, she couldn't have asked for a better situation. She was with the man she had loved ever since she could conceive of such thoughts. The war had ended in a fashion better than they could have possibly hoped for, even with the loss of so many friends and her beloved brother. But the future looked brighter than Ginny could have dared to hope for when Harry, Ron, and Hermione had Disapparated from Bill and Fleur's wedding. There were many worse things that could befall them than adding a child to the equation of their love.
Harry's lips responded immediately to her kiss. He had been afraid to let his emotions run free, waiting to see how Ginny would react to the news of being pregnant. As much as he had looked forward to a few years of being a couple, the thought of having his own family was causing Harry's heart to soar. After almost eighteen years of being all but alone in the world, he was going to have a family of his own … and not only that, a family with the woman he loved more than life itself. He looked into Ginny's alluring brown eyes and allowed himself to relish the fact that his life had turned from an endless nightmare into a dream that seemed almost too good to be true.
Sliding his arm down to her waist, Harry pulled her firmly against his chest. Her lips parted as they deepened their kiss. In a matter of only a few minutes, she was again on top of him, clenching his rapidly hardening penis within her.
"Harry?" she asked longingly, "Do you think it can always be this wonderful?"
"Yes, love," he replied, "always. Always this good."
Pansy sat up in Draco's bed, the sheets pulled up tightly against her chest, and wondered what had happened to harden his heart over the last year. The pain in her heart was palpable, as real as if he had struck her with the Cruciatus curse and had only momentarily relinquished his assault. Although no promises had ever been exchanged, Pansy had always assumed that she and Draco Malfoy were destined to be together. In fact, she had never even considered the fact that she might end up with another wizard.
Pansy heard the shower running in the next room and allowed her mind to consider the possibility of going in to join Draco – to make him see the error of his ways, but her pride wouldn't allow it. She had long though about how incredibly erotic it would be to share a shower with her one and only lover – how they could find new and exciting ways to love one another. Now she realized that he was doing nothing short of washing her scent off his body. The thought was devastating, and she suddenly found that she could think of nothing but getting out of Malfoy Manor as quickly as possible.
She literally jumped out of his bed and began wrestling herself into her clothes in rapid fashion, pausing only to wipe herself against Draco's duvet, wishing that she could expel every drop of him from her body. At last, tears began to well in her eyes. She felt ashamed for the first time in her life and the feelings were overwhelming.
As the tears began to cascade down her cheeks, she slipped on her blouse and skirt and reached for her robes. In only another moment or two, she would be free to walk out of Draco's room and out of his life.
Nothing had ever seemed as clear to her as the need to be away from this man in whom she had invested far too many of her emotions.
She fumbled with the buttons on her robes, hoping to be gone before Draco got out of the shower, but suddenly she froze. The door knob turned, and a freshly showered, totally naked Draco Malfoy emerged from his bathroom.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"Away," was all she could manage in response.
"Away?" he replied. "In case you haven't noticed, we've got a lot to figure out."
Despite her best efforts, Pansy's heart soared momentarily. What could Draco mean about having things to figure out? Had she misunderstood everything that had just taken place? She thought for a moment before responding.
"Exactly what do we have to figure out?"
"I thought that would be obvious," he continued. "We have to figure out how to keep Father's plan from killing us."
Pansy's sense of logic knew without doubt that Draco was right. Lucius and Malcolm were setting them up in the worst way, leaving them behind to cause a diversion while Lucius escaped to safety. They needed to have their own plan of escape, but none of her powers of logic could stop her heart from dying within her chest.
She thought about Ginny Weasley, who would soon be marrying the man she had always loved, while she could no longer avoid the obvious conclusion that she would be starting anew.
"Well," thought Pansy, "unless someone stops Draco's father, Ginny will be starting anew, as well."
Strangely, the thought did nothing to ease Pansy Parkinson's agony.
Harry sat at the desk in their bedroom, listening to Ginny's soft breathing as she slept peacefully in their bed. He looked away from the stacks of letters that sat before him, bittersweet tears still streaming in rivulets down his face. The afternoon sun was fading, yet Ginny's brilliant hair continued to glow radiantly upon their golden sheets. No matter how frequently he glanced in her direction, it shocked him every time to see that she was actually there.
To his right side sat his mother's letters that had been written for his birthdays, two through ten. On top of the dwindling pile to his left was the letter she had prepared for his eleventh birthday – his last before returning to the Wizarding World. He found himself oddly reluctant to open this letter. The first nine had been overwhelming, with each one describing a bit more about what it meant to have magical blood. Each letter had been filled with loving advice, coaching Harry in ways to deal with being different – about being a wizard in a world full of Muggles. She had lived through the same process of discovery and knew what it would be like for Harry. She had offered hope that he might come to meet a few of his own kind along the way, as she had with Severus Snape.
She also warned of the dangerous temptation of the Dark Arts and begged her son to avoid them at all costs. Her letters did not state explicitly that Snape had fallen victim to these temptations, but given the insights he had gleaned from Snape's memories, Harry winced in sympathy for his mum and the terrible loss she had suffered when her first friend in the Wizarding World had been lost to the allure of evil.
He reached for the next letter – the one that his mum had intended for him to read on his eleventh birthday – and began to read the next missive sent to him from beyond the grave, for Lily had long since stopped writing as if she hoped these letters would not be necessary.
He swallowed deeply and wondered exactly how long his mum and dad had known that they had little, if any, chance of survival.
Our dearest son,
Happy birthday, Harry! Be especially gentle with your Aunt Petunia today, for this will undoubtedly be a painful time for my sister. Today you turn eleven, a momentous day in the life of any wizard, for you will now reach the age at which you will be officially accepted by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Unlike most Muggle-born witches and wizards, I already knew that I was a witch thanks to the knowledge Petunia and I had gained through our friend, Severus Snape.
Although she had known the truth long before I turned eleven, this birthday will undoubtedly remind her of the watershed event that separated two formerly close siblings and set us upon paths that could not have been more widely divergent.
I pray that she has managed at some point to find peace with the fact that she was born without magic.
Attending Hogwarts will be your first full step into the magical world, as it was for me. I beg you, son, to be very cautious as you begin to make friends and associates. I can only assure you that things will not always be as they seem, and you must be very careful of those with whom you associate. I entered my first year believing that my dear friend Severus would always prove kind and good. In contrast, I found myself completely repulsed by a cocksure man, who would go on to become my wonderful husband and your father, and his best friend, your godfather, Sirius Black.
Other than a general warning to choose your friends wisely, I can only add this piece of advice: Avoid anyone who claims that some wizarding families are better than others based upon purity of blood! Hopefully, Lord Voldemort will have fallen long before now and issues related to purity of blood will be long behind you. However, such issues have caused problems for as long as magical blood has flowed through human veins, and it would be naïve to think such prejudice would die whenever he falls.
Do not take this to mean, however, that you cannot trust pureblood families. Your father and godfather are both purebloods and are two of the finest, bravest wizards I have ever met. As I have mentioned to you in previous letters, Lord Voldemort would welcome either with open arms. He would do the same for the Longbottoms, Frank and Alice, who have also fought with us against the powers of darkness. Assuming he survives, you will soon meet their son, Neville, who was born on July 30, 1980, only a few hours before you came into the world. You will doubtlessly become acquainted with the Weasley children, whose parents are also purebloods who have never been tempted by the evil plans of the Dark Lord.
Hate and fear have always fueled the powers of Darkness. Evil leaders use fear to turn otherwise good people into their followers. Lord Voldemort and his inner circle of Death Eaters have convinced many within the Wizarding World that our kind will die out if we marry and reproduce with Muggles or Wizards of less than "pure" blood. Once this has been introduced, it becomes easier to convince otherwise decent people that it is necessary for our survival to alienate or even kill those who are less than pure.
You, Harry, will be called a Half-Blood wizard because I am Muggle-born. The fact that your father comes from one of the oldest and most respected wizarding families will not be considered important by Death Eaters. Neither will they concern themselves with the fact that I was at the top of my class in Hogwarts and am considered by many to be a powerful witch.
Of course, discrimination is not limited to wizarding families. Ever since Petunia was denied admission to Hogwarts due to her lack of magical abilities, she appears to have lost all affection for me. Your father and I have discussed whether or not it would be best to have you placed under the care of your godfather, but Professor Dumbledore insists that should something happen to us, you will be better protected by growing up amidst Muggles. I trust Professor Dumbledore above all others, as should we all. He is the only wizard Lord Voldemort has ever feared, and your father and I trust him without exception.
He is not only a talented and powerful wizard, but also a good man.
Enough with warnings and advice! It is your birthday, and a most important one at that. Hogwarts School is a marvelous place, full of exciting things to be learned and wonderful people who will become your friends for life – the place where I met and fell in love with your father – the place that will do more to inform your life than anywhere you have been before and are likely to go afterward. If only we could be taking you to Platform 9-3/4 to experience this great joy with you!
How I pray it will prove unnecessary to be writing these letters, but your father and I know better. Still, hope lingers even in the midst of the darkest of times.
Give Petunia my love today, and if possible, find ways to show her how grateful we all are to her for her opening her home and heart to you.
Enjoy this new and wonderful chapter of your life and know always that your mother and father love you beyond anything we could have imagined possible before you came into our lives.
With love always,
Mum and Dad
Harry folded his mother's letter as carefully as he could, wanting desperately to keep it in perfect condition, and added it to the stack on the right side of his desk. His heart ached terribly, and he knew without doubt that he could continue no further this day. His mind reached cautiously back into the past, remembering his first meeting with Draco Malfoy in Madam Malkin's shop and how, despite his insecurities, the arrogant ramblings of the Death Eater in the making had left him both terrified and saddened by human nature's capacity for heartlessness. He flashed forward in time only a few weeks to his meeting with Molly Weasley, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. His mother's words about the Weasley family echoed in his ears, foretelling the manner in which he would come to make his first lifelong friend and meet the girl who now shared both his bed and his life, fulfilling him in a way he could never have anticipated, becoming his equal in all things and his soul mate in ways he hadn't known could exist.
He thought further forward to the arrival of the pompous little girl who, despite her know-it-all attitude, was already seeking to help others in need. Ron Weasley, the pureblood wizard who represented all that was good in the Wizarding world, yet suffered for his perceived inability to compete with the glories of his brothers before him. Hermione Granger, who despite her compulsion to excel, was as loyal and pure of heart as anyone he could ever hope to meet – the sister he had always wanted but could never have had otherwise.
As lonely as Harry had been in so many ways, he wondered how he could possibly have been more richly blessed. He swallowed deeply, wiped the tears from his eyes, and rose from the desk. With only a few steps, he crossed the space between the desk and the bed, raised the covers, and slid back into place next to Ginny. He slipped his arm over her and cupped her breast as he had the first time they slept together. He had intended to avoid disturbing her sleep but obviously failed to do so, for her fingers rose up to interlace with his as she snuggled her back firmly against his chest.
"I love you, Harry," she whispered before drifting back to sleep.
