The last place Draco expected to find himself on a Sunday morning was outside of Ron Weasley's small cottage, but that was exactly where he was. Following the letter Daniel had received the previous evening, Draco had been unable to sit back and do nothing. Weasley needed to be told to back off, and since his wife and son were unable to do it because of the restraining order, it was down to him to ensure the redheaded moron ceased to bother his family.
"You didn't have to come with me," he said, turning to his companion, Bill. He'd gone to Bill to get Ron's address, but the eldest Weasley had insisted on accompanying Draco, and had in fact withheld the address until Draco had agreed to his terms. "I promise I won't hurt your brother," he added reluctantly.
"I'm not here to protect Ron," Bill said with a snort. "I'm here to protect you, Draco. I will not let Ron provoke you into doing something rash, or worse still lying about what happens between the pair of you. He is not worth getting into trouble for, Draco."
"I know that, but I can't just let things lie," Draco admitted. "I won't have him bothering Daniel with his hateful letters. You saw the tone of the one last night, and when Daniel doesn't reply, they're only going to get worse. Before you know it, Daniel himself will be the target of your brother's venom, and I won't stand for anyone being derogatory about my family."
"I agree that Ron needs to be told some home truths," Bill said. "Just don't let him rile you, Draco. Don't do anything you will end up regretting."
"The only thing I regret is not doing something to him all those years ago when I caught him with Daniel," Draco muttered. "I should have crucioed the git where he stood, instead of just threatening him."
"And then you would have joined him in his cell in Azkaban," Bill pointed out. "You did the right thing all those years ago. You put Daniel and Hermione first. Just make sure you do the same today. Make sure your family is your first priority."
Promising that he wouldn't do anything rash, Draco took a few calming breaths before heading towards the front door of Weasley's house. Curling his hand into a fist, he hammered on the door, not caring if he was waking the redhead up. When he got no immediate response, he continued to hammer on the door with his fist. Even when he heard footsteps inside the cottage, he kept up his hammering on the door, and only just stopped in time as the door swung open to reveal an annoyed looking redhead.
"What the hell?" Ron demanded, his annoyance turning to full on anger when he spotted who exactly had been hammering on his door. "What do you want, Malfoy?"
"We need a word," Draco said, pushing Ron back inside his tiny cottage and pinning his against the wall with his wand aimed at his throat.
"Bill," Ron squeaked, spotting his brother following the blond into his house. "Stop him. He's going to kill me."
"Don't be so dramatic, Ron," Bill said, closing the door behind him so no passersby's could witness what was going on. "We're just here to talk."
"We?" Ron spat. "You mean, you're here with this scumbag."
"Don't push me Weaselbee, I'm not in the best of moods," Draco warned, digging the wood of his wand into the soft flesh of the redhead's neck. "My message is simple. Stay away from my family. You are to stop writing letters to my son."
"As if I would want to write to your son," Ron spat. "I wrote to Harry's son. He is not yours, Malfoy."
"He's not mine by blood, but he's mine in every other way that counts," Draco retorted. "He is my son. And if you send him one more of your poisonous letters it will be the last letter you ever write as I will personally break every single bone in your hand, and I will make it hurt."
"Your threats don't scare me, Malfoy," Ron sneered, his voice not sounding quite as confident as the cockiness etched on his face.
"That wasn't a threat, Weasley, it was a promise," Draco hissed. "Your attempts to get Daniel to drop the restraining order end now. It won't be happening."
"It has nothing to do with you," Ron snorted. "None of this has anything to do with you, Malfoy. And you can't stand that, can you? You can't stand that your control over Daniel is coming to an end. He's making his own way in life, and leaving you and your toxic family behind. He's choosing my family, Malfoy. That's what really bothers you, isn't it? You know that once he's officially part of my family, he'll not give you and yours a second look."
"He is not choosing your family, you moron," Draco snorted. "He is choosing to marry Victoire, who just so happens to be your niece. It has nothing to do with you. Daniel wants nothing to do with you."
"That's because he's never had the chance," Ron spat angrily. "He was kept away from me for seventeen years by that bitch of a mother of his. And even once he turned seventeen, you and her were still controlling him. You wouldn't let him revoke the restraining order. But now he's getting married, he's embarking on a new life, and there is nothing you or her can do to stop it."
"And that right there, shows that you know nothing about Daniel," Draco chuckled with a shake of his head. "Daniel is every bit as stubborn as his mother, maybe even more so. If he wanted to revoke the restraining order, nothing Hermione or I could say would change his mind. The reason it hasn't been revoked is that he doesn't want it be. He wants to keep you away from him."
"No, he will change his mind," Ron stubbornly insisted. "Now he's marrying into the family, everything will change for him. I can be there for him, Mum and Dad can be there for him. He will get the family his bitch mother denied him for years. He will get a proper father figure, and he will get grandparents."
"For Merlin's sake Ron, stop being such a moron," Bill snapped. "You may not like it, but Daniel has always had a father. Draco has always been his father, and a damn good one he's been. And he does have grandparents."
"Yeah, ones who are over the other side of the world, not even able to remember they have a daughter," Ron scoffed. "They don't even know Daniel exists."
"You know that's not who I meant," Bill snorted. "Lucius and Narcissa are Daniel's grandparents. They love him, and he loves them. It's time you accepted the way things are, Ron. You lost your chance to get to know Daniel over twenty years ago, and it's too late to change it now."
"I won't give up," Ron vowed. "I will speak to Victoire if I have to. I will get her to change Daniel's mind."
"You will go nowhere near my daughter," Bill warned his younger brother. "I mean it Ron," he reiterated when Ron gave him a disbelieving look. "If Vic complains about you hassling her, I will make sure you regret it. I will cut you out of this family so fast your head will spin."
"You can't do that," Ron retorted, sounding cocky but looking unsure of himself.
"Can't I?" Bill questioned with a smirk. "If you press on with this, I will disown you. Given how things stand, I am also certain George and Charlie will stand with me, and I'm even pretty sure I can convince Percy to side with us. And with all of us refusing to have anything to do with you, who do you think Mum will choose? Would she really risk losing so many of her family for your sake?"
"I would have Ginny," Ron argued. "She would be on my side."
"It would still be two against four," Bill said. "Try it and see, Ron, but don't bet on coming out the winner. And even if Mum does pick you, don't you think she'll end up resenting you when you've caused her to lose so many of her children and grandchildren. Think carefully about your next move little brother. It might just change everything for you."
"And remember what I said about Daniel," Draco warned, adjusting the pressure of his wand against Ron's neck so he was finding it hard to breathe. "Leave my son alone, or you will regret it and I will enjoy every moment of your suffering."
Giving Ron an icy glare, just to let him know that he wasn't bluffing, Draco finally stepped away from the redhead and turned to leave. However, as he reached for the door, Bill's voice stopped him as he warned Ron not to think about causing trouble for Draco because of their visit.
"Don't forget, I witnessed the entire thing, and this was just a friendly chat," Bill warned his brother. "No-one was hurt, and just you remember that Ron."
"He did threaten me with violence though," Ron muttered.
"I told you Weasley, it wasn't a threat, it was a promise," Draco said in a low voice, looking back over his shoulder to where the redhead was still standing against the wall. "One I will not hesitate to keep if you bother Daniel again. Let this be the last of it, and let this be the last time we ever set eyes on one another."
Not waiting to see if Bill had anything else to say to his brother, Draco yanked open the front door and rushed out into the warm daylight. While he was pleased that he'd kept his temper, there was a part of him, a rather big part if he was being honest, that regretted not hitting Weasley. A thump was the least the redhead deserved, and Draco couldn't help but think it might have made him feel a whole lot better. But as it was, he would have to hope that his threats, combined with the ones Bill had issued, would do the job and Weasley would go and crawl back into whatever hole he'd been living in for the last two decades.
"Come on, let's go and grab a drink," Bill said, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder.
"Do you normally drink on a Sunday morning?" Draco asked with a chuckle.
"No, but I think that we could both do with one after that," Bill replied.
"Do you think it made a different?" Draco asked with a sigh. "Or did we just waste our time and energy?"
"I don't know, I guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope that Ron sees sense," Bill said with a sigh. "Maybe he'll finally get the message when Daniel makes no move to remove the restraining order. At one point he will have to admit to himself that it's Daniel's choice to keep him out of his life, and it has nothing to do with you and Hermione."
Draco wanted to believe that Bill was right and eventually his younger brother would see sense. However, he wasn't going to count on it. His gut was telling him that there was still trouble to come courtesy of certain Weasleys.
Two Sundays after discovering that Victoire was going to marry Daniel, Molly was preparing lunch with the knowledge that Ginny and her family would be present. Ginny and her family had returned from holiday in the middle of the week and Molly had already spoken to her daughter and made arrangements for the Sunday visit. Not only was she excited to share Victoire's news, but she was also looking forward to hearing about her daughter's holiday.
Despite Molly's eagerness to share that news that finally Harry's son would be officially part of the family, Arthur cautioned her to take her time in breaking the news to Ginny. And so when her daughter and her family first arrived, Molly made no mention of the news. Instead she fussed over her three grandchildren, chatted merrily with her handsome son-in-law and allowed Ginny to show her pictures of the family holiday and to chat about what they'd gotten up to over the past couple of weeks.
"I don't suppose we've missed much here," Ginny eventually remarked, giving Molly the perfect opportunity to share the good news.
"Actually, we have had some news," Molly said with a smile. "Victoire is getting married."
"Oh, that's nice," Ginny replied with a smile. However, almost instantly the smile dropped to be replaced by a frown. "Hold on, wasn't she dating Harry's son?"
"Yes, Daniel is finally becoming part of the family," Molly gushed. "Isn't it wonderful?"
"Not really, no," Ginny replied bluntly. "I'm sorry Mum, I know how you feel, but I just don't feel the same way. I went along with your plans to have him in our lives all those years ago, but I can't say I was disappointed when they didn't work. I'm sorry, but to me that boy is simply a reminder of how Harry and Hermione betrayed me. He's a reminder that my first love wasn't true to me."
"But that was all so long ago," Molly argued. "You've long since gotten over Harry. You're happily married with a family of your own. Having Daniel in your life shouldn't bother you."
"Maybe it should, but it does," Ginny admitted with a shrug. "I'm sorry, but he's reminder of the past that I simply don't want to have."
"There's not much you can do about it, Ginny," Arthur said softly. "He's marrying your niece."
"And I genuinely hope they're very happy together, but I want nothing to do with it," Ginny said with a shrug. "You can give Victoire my congratulations, but you can also tell her not to invite me to the wedding. I won't be going, and I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings by declining her invitation."
"And you don't think refusing to attend the wedding in the first place will hurt her feelings?" Molly questioned, horrified by the stance Ginny was taking over the addition of Daniel to the family.
"I think it's best that I'm honest with her," Ginny insisted. "And it's not like I'll be the only one not there. Ron's not going to be there either."
"That hasn't been decided yet," Molly corrected. "We are still hopeful that the restraining order will be revoked before the wedding. After all, we are all going to be family now."
"As I said, not me," Ginny said. "I have no intention of ever setting eyes on Daniel Potter. Not after what his mother did to me. And don't try and change my mind, Mum. I am not changing my stance on this."
Molly desperately wanted to argue with Ginny, but she could tell by the glint in her eye that she meant every word she said, and nothing would be changing her mind. However, as sad as it was that she wanted nothing to do with Daniel, it was also understandable given the circumstances of his conception, and Molly found that she couldn't entirely blame Ginny for how she felt. All she could hope was that in time, as Daniel settled in and became part of the family, Ginny would come around and would want to meet him. And if Ron could also be brought back into the fold, it would be perfect and Harry's son would finally have the family he'd been denied for over twenty years.