Goodnight Sweet Girl

Fifteen: Truth and Prophecy

Eventually the three Gryffindors and Professor Snape left the Burrow to return to Hogwarts, and with their departure Ginny Weasley went off to bed. Once Ginny was settled away Arthur and Molly Weasley fell back on their worn sofa together. Molly Weasley had tears in her eyes, but her husband was positively distraught. She put her arms around him and he could hold back no more. The man let loose his grief as his wife rocked him back and forth.

"Oh, Molly. Our baby. Our poor baby, and that monster. Wasn't bad enough he almost killed her with that bloody diary! He had to go and ruin her. Why Molly? Why our Ginny?"

She patted his back and shushed him. "Arthur, I wish I knew, but we have got to be strong for her. You know she could have gotten rid of it, but she didn't. She's got her reasons, and truth be told I'm glad she didn't. A thing like that could change a woman. Our little girl is growing up and she's got a lot of choices ahead of her, and none of them are going to be easy. And we can't blame a poor innocent baby for how it came into the world."

"She's going to have the baby of a Death Eater," Arthur almost sobbed.

Molly pulled back and looked at her husband. "Arthur, you look at me right now," she snapped. "If you dare turn your back on our first grandchild you'll find yourself sleeping in the attic with the ghoul. We both suspected how it happened, and now we know. It was not her fault. We both know what he's capable of."

"If I ever set eyes on Lucius Malfoy again, I will kill him, Azkaban be damned!" Arthur Weasley declared.

"You will do nothing of the sort! His time will come!" his wife hissed and then shook him. "Arthur! You promise me that you will do nothing of the sort. I won't lose you over this. We are strong and we both will be there for our daughter and her little one!"

"She is our little girl! How can I do nothing?"

"Because that is how it must be! It is not our place to be judge, jury, and executioner! The best we can do is look after Ginny and the baby," Molly answered.

Arthur Weasley nodded and then he drew his wife closer, clung to her for dear life. She held her husband close and watched as the fire in the hearth slowly died down to glowing embers. Neither of them willing to let the other go.

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The three Gryffindors were now headed back to their common room. All three were unusually quiet. The dark haired boy had his arm about the waist of the blonde girl, and the redheaded boy walked by the dark haired boy in companionable silence. Finally the blonde stopped walking, and the two boys stopped and looked at the girl in bewilderment.

"Weasley...Ron, I'm sorry," the girl said softly.

The redheaded boy looked at the girl in confusion. "For what?"

The girl took a deep breath. "For everything I ever said about your family. I was wrong. You've the greatest family in all of the wizarding world. Even after all the things I've said and petty things I've done to you and your sister and after all my father's done, they can still welcome me. I know Ginny told me 'Welcome to the family,' but does that stand from you as well?"

Ron looked at the blonde from head to toe and then a small smile crossed his face. "Yes, but don't expect any hugs. You're still a Malfoy..."

Draco gave Ron a funny look and then said. "I am not going to be a Malfoy for long. In case you can't recall Potter proposed, and soon there will be a little Malfoy calling you Uncle Ronniekins."

"If I know my mum, that kid is going to be brought up a Weasley," Ron said.

"Fair enough," Draco replied.

"Um, it's late, my invisibility cloak is in the dorm room, and Filch's cat might be about. I'm not fond of the prospect of detention with him any time soon," Harry cut in.

"Right," Ron and Draco said in unison, and gave each other funny looks and didn't stop until they'd reached Gryffindor Tower and were in the common room by the fire filling in a very worried Hermione on what had happened at the Burrow.

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That morning breakfast was filled with the chattering of the gossips of every table. Draco was the reciever of many curious stares and pointed fingers. Everytime someone was brave enough to actually walk up and ask about the credability of the rumors he would a give a glare that sent the student slouching away. Harry was constantly by his side, not that he minded, he was still in awe that Harry could remain so loyal.

Then after taking some bacon and putting it on his plate he noticed Hermione of all people giving him funny looks. He raised a silvery blonde eyebrow in her direction, to which she blushed and returned to her pancakes.

Ron was being less than conspicuous, as usual. Draco looked from Ron to Hermione, his curiosity getting the better of him, and then he elbowed Harry in the ribs to get his attention. Harry looked up with a start as he had previously been mere seconds away from falling asleep in his porridge.

"Wha?" rolled off of his tongue before his thought processes were working functionally.

"Your friends are giving me funny looks, Potter. I thought they were okay with us last night, now they just keep staring," Draco hissed in his ear.

Harry straightened and then looked toward Ron and Hermione noticing how they were looking at Draco, not unlike the rest of the students and some of the staff in Great Hall.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Draco finally snapped in their direction and said it loud enough for everyone else in the hall to here.

Ron quickly shook his head, face burning bright, and returned to stuffing his face, but Hermione just continued to look at him intently as though she were deciding whether she should tell him something or not.

"Granger, what is on your mind? You're staring as if I've grown a second head! You know we have lived together in the same room for the past months, since when have I become so interesting to look at?" Draco snapped, having run out of patience.

"It's just that... Well, I never would have thought..."

"Spit it out, already! I would like to return to my breakfast with one less set of eyes looking at me."

Harry was watching Hermione intently now, wondering what was going on in that brilliant mind of hers.

"Very well," Hermione said, and then she took a swallow of her orange juice and let out a deep breath. "You, Harry, Ron, and I should see the headmaster immediately. I have been doing research on wishing stones, and I found something that could be of interest to you. You see the stones show reflections to wishers, but in your case your stone carried your guardian as well, and I think I know why. It is very rare for a wishing stone with a guardian to find its charge, as yours did, and considering how rare your particular stone is... Well, I really feel we should see the headmaster."

"What do you know, Hermione?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Your eyes, Draco, all Malfoy's have those eyes correct?" Hermione asked softly.

Draco's brows drew together in puzzlement before he answered her question, "The ones born with the Malfoy blood do."

"And your name means Dragon of Bad Fate? Oh, dear. According to the legend the stone carried the guardian meant to change the dragon's fate..." Hermione's eyes widened as she stared at the girl that was Draco Malfoy.

"What are you talking about? What legend?" Draco snapped in frustration at having no idea what she was talking about.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything about your family history, Malfoy?"

"Enlighten me," Draco challenged.

"Your family is descended from one of the greatest and most dangerous sorceresses ever known in Great Britain, and possibly the world," Hermione said rather smugly at the jaw dropping effect that had on Draco.

"B-but," Draco sputtered, "How is that possible? My family didn't move to Britain until the late eighteenth century. Originally the Malfoys are from France."

"No, they fled from Britain, or more accurately Camelot, before they could be persecuted for the death of King Arthur, who was murdered by the bastard son of your ancestress."

"But Arthur was slain by Mordred, his son with his sister Morgana Le Faye..." Draco paused as realization hit him. "Are you saying that my family is descended from..."

"Morgana Le Faye," Hermione finished for him and then she took another deep breath before continuing, "And that stone you wear, that wishing stone is made from moonstone, and the only known wishing stone made of moonstone was charmed by Morgana Le Faye herself. She also wore a wishing stone made of blue lace agate, a milpreve, that was said to the be the seat of her power..."

Draco's breath caught. He lifted his right hand and tapped his right ring finger with his wand and a circlet of silver ornately carved in celtic knots was on his finger, but even stranger was the round blue stone set in the silver of the ring. Hermione's eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" Hermione asked in awe as she took Draco's right hand and closely examined the stone.

"My father," Draco choked out. "It is passed down through my family from oldest child to their oldest child. How did you find out about Morgana?"

"You knew?" Ron spoke up.

Draco nodded. "Of course. Before Morgana had an affair with Arthur she was in love with a knight. She met him when he was a squire. His name was Thomas, Sir Thomas the fair, and he's certainly my ancestor. It is believed that the Malfoy line gets their fair hair and complexion from Sir Thomas."

"And you get your eyes from Morgana," Hermione concluded.

Draco looked perplexed at this. "But according to the stories her eyes were mismatched, one green and one lavender, because she was a changling."

"According to my research, after the death of her first love she became cold and her eyes changed to a silvery gray, much like yours are now," Hermione said and then continued, "And it makes sense that you got that stone. It was meant for you. I found a prophecy. A forgotten stone would find its way to the Dragon of Bad Fate and the guardian would alter that fate, and the fate of the child born of the sins of the father of the dragon."

"Alright," Draco said calmly. "Say I believe you. Why do we need to see the headmaster?"

Hermione looked at Ron and then glanced at Harry and Draco, before she answered, "Because I think he is the one that gave you that stone."

"What?!" Both Harry and Draco yelled together. Draco tried to stand, but Harry put his hands on the blonde's shoulder to keep the blonde from doing anything rash.

"There is something else," Hermione said quietly.

That caught Draco and Harry's attention. She sighed. "I think I know why you are so powerful. According to legend that stone on your right ring finger was the seat of all of Morgana's power. She changed the fate of all of England and perhaps that changed the fate of your family. Now that your fate has been altered once again as the prophecy said, then perhaps the stone may once again bear her power for her descendants."

"That would explain what you did yesterday," Harry pointed out. "You just held up your hand and none of the teachers could move until you lowered it. That was wandless magic and it was powerful."

"Bloody hell, and that was quite a powerful show. Not even Dumbledore could move!" Ron said.

Draco looked at Harry and then took his hand. "Walk with me. We are going up to that table and I am not going to leave that meddling old codger alone until I know what is going on with this ring and this bloody moonstone!"

Harry sent a perplexed look to Hermione and Ron, and got up with Draco. Both of the students approached the staff table much to the curiosity of their fellow students and those seated at the staff table.

Draco didn't stop until he stood before the headmaster. "It would seem that you have a lot of explaining to do, Headmaster Dumbledore, and I have no intention of leaving you at peace until I have some answers."

Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid made as if to get up, but Draco held up his hand in their direction and neither could move. Dumbledore looked at the young fair haired girl standing before him and sighed. Now was the time for truth.

"Very well, Draco. After breakfast you, your fiance, and myself shall continue this discussion in my office. Until then please allow Professors McGonagall and Hagrid the ability to move. I'm most certain that they would like to finish these delightful blueberry scones they just added to their plates," Dumbledore said and then offered a dish toward Draco and Harry. "Would you care for a scone?"

Ron and Hermione looked up at the scene and Ron leaned toward Hermione. "I'm not sure you should have told him so soon Mione. Malfoy doesn't look too happy."

"I don't think later would have necessarily been better, Ron. Delaying the inevitable is not always wise," Hermione replied.

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Draco sat down in a plush red chair, much like the chairs by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Harry sat in a simlar chair next to the nervous blonde and took Draco's slim hand into his own, the left hand, and he lightly fingered his mother's ring, a small smile playing across his lips.

Dumbledore took the comfortable leather seat behind his desk and then held out a dish of candy toward the young couple. "Lemon drop?"

Harry took one and Draco looked at the candy skeptically with a raised eyebrow, to which Dumbledore said, "I assure you young Draco, that it has not been poisoned."

Draco took one and popped it into his mouth and suddenly made a pinched face as the sour taste errupted on his tongue. "Gah! What is that?"

Dumbledore chuckled as Harry turned to explain to Draco the "properties" of a lemon drop. "It's name should tell it all. It's supposed to taste like lemon."

Draco shook his head. "Muggles."

"Yes, very creative aren't they?" Dumbledore spoke up, then Draco looked at the headmaster.

"Well, we are here, in your office as you said this morning, now will you kindly tell us what you know about how I came to be the way I am, because I know that you know more than you have told me," Draco said.

Dumbledore nodded in assent and then cocked his head in Draco's direction in a most peculiar way. "Ah, yes Mr. Malfoy, or would you prefer Miss? But never mind that. First I have a question for you. What do you know of your geneology?"

Draco sighed, and then Harry spoke up, "There was something mentioned this morning about him being the descendant of Morgana Le Faye."

"Most extraordinairy. I really should compliment Miss Granger on her researching abilities, and I assume you have confirmed her findings with that ring you wear on your right hand?"

Draco looked up with a start. "How do you know the origin of that ring?"

"I must admit that I wasn't certain, but your abilities with wandless magic have confirmed my suspicions, and there is something most peculiar about your name. Draco from Draconis which means..."

"Dragon," Draco said cutting him off.

"Precisely," Dumbledore said and then smiled, his twinkle brightening. "There is a prophecy concerning a certain wishing stone and a descendant of it's lady...

Fate at her hand was cast.

Descendants of her lover lost,

To pay a hefty sum of cost.

Still the stones of the lady

Are meant to be united.

Guardian and magic

To come together

With the blood of the lady

And the name of the dragon.

In unity the fates again

At her hand shall be cast,

Bringing light to darkness

Of all that is past."

"So fate will change at my hand? That is why my reflection was a woman? That is why I am now a woman?" Draco said, his tone suggesting anger and shock. "Answer me this, how did someone like you come across this stone? And why did you send it to me?"

"Ah, and that is a good question. The stone came to me from an old friend, a morrigun delivered. That is a rare bird, one that is usually reserved to deliver news of death. I was most shocked to have such a messenger at my window, but alas its tidings were friendly. It left me with the stone you now where beneath your shirt. However that pendant is not the rightful setting for the stone. I have that here, in my desk," Dumbledore said and then began to go through his desk until a few moments later when he lifted out a small pendant on a delicate silver chain. The small pendant was a several interconnected Celtic knots, but it was incomplete. "Might I see the stone please?"

Draco merely nodded, took the moonstone from about his neck and handed it to the old headmaster. Dumbledore said a strange incantion and the talon released the stone into the headmaster's hand. The headmaster then placed the stone into the empty place in the Celtic knot pendant. The silver coils of the knot wove around the stone and then the pendant began to glow a brilliant grayish-blue until the light became silver. When the glow finally faded the stone was encased in the silver Celtic knots and suspended from the delicate silver chain. The headmaster then handed the necklace back to the blonde.

"This rightfully belongs to you my child, and when the time is right you shall pass it on to you first child. Congratulations to you both. Might I inquire if you've set a date?"

Draco stood up and took in a deep breath. "I think I need some fresh air."

"Draco, are you all right? I know this is a lot to take in, but we can get through this," Harry said.

Draco held up his hand and Harry felt frozen in space unable to move. When Draco realized what he'd done he swallowed thickly and lowered his hand. "I'm sorry Harry, but I need some time alone. I just found out that my family history has been tied to my fate, and authority figures that I thought I could trust are the reasons behind what has happened to me. Give me time. If you want your ring back I will understand."

"Draco, what are saying?" Harry asked, fear rising like bile in his throat.

The blonde looked up at the black haired boy with the fiery green eyes and the lightening bolt scar on his forehead. "I feel as though I've been betrayed, not just by a headmaster, but by fate itself. I don't know if I can marry you anymore. So please, let me have time to think. I promise you'll be the first to know my answer."

Harry let out a sigh and then nodded. "All right, I will wait for you. Always. And keep the ring, I couldn't imagine it on anyone else's finger."

Draco closed his eyes and when he opened them again those silvery gray depths were filled with tears. He tentatively walked toward Harry, who was now standing, put his hand on the nape of the dark haired boy's neck and brought him down until their lips met in desperation, and then Draco broke the kiss by turning away.

"Thank you, Harry," the blonde whispered. "I won't let you wait long. I promise."

Draco then walked out of the headmaster's office unsure of where he was going.

Harry let out a shuddering breath and then fell back into one of the red plush chairs, he was shaking. Albus stood up from his desk and approached the young man. Harry looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Why did you do it?" the boy asked.

Albus Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment and then opened then, gazing intently into fiery green eyes. "It was not for me to meddle with fate. The stone was meant for him my boy, and it met with its purpose. Fate is a strange entity entirely, and one dangerous to tamper with. Morgana Le Faye is one of the few to meddle in fate, and look at those results. All will mend itself in time, my boy, in fact time is working for you at this very moment, even as we speak."

Harry looked up at the old man, finally catching those twinkling blue eyes. He saw something there. There was something that Dumbledore wasn't telling him, and Harry knew that the headmaster wouldn't tell him until the time was right. The boy sighed again and felt as though everything in the world was slipping from his fingertips, and then he wondered... When had Draco become his whole world?