Dragon and Angel

CHAPTER NINE

DRAGON AND ANGEL

Draco had been sitting in the cozy kitchen, talking with Molly Weasley for well over an hour. Much to his surprise, he found it amazingly easy to talk to the older woman. To Draco's relief, they hadn't spoken any further about Ginny. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about her, but he would much rather talk to her.

The sound of someone entering the house, by floo, interrupted the flow of their conversation.

Molly smiled at Draco. "That'll be Ginny." She patted him on the hand and she stood up to greet her grandchildren. Draco's ingrained aristocratic manners brought him to his feet also.

"Grandma! Grandma! Uncle Harry took us flying again," Drake exclaimed as he ran into the kitchen and straight into Molly's open arms with his sister trailing not far behind.

"And I played gob stones with Aunty Mione and Mummy and we had secret witches business and Uncle Harry told Drake off." Angel's head bobbed up and down in confirmation for emphasis.

"He did not!" Drake scowled at his sister. "We had important Wizards business."

"Oh really, well I think we'd better get you two cleaned up before dinnertime," Molly said laughing. "Come on upstairs and into the bath with you both."

As Molly herded the children towards the staircase they both noticed the strange man standing in the room with his gaze firmly fixed on Drake.

"Who's that man?" Angel stopped and turned to fully face Draco.

"He look's like the man in Diagon Alley, the one that hurt Mummy!" Drake whispered urgently.

"Come on you two upstairs, right now," Molly said as she steered the twins up stairs.

Draco had been so entranced with his young son that he hadn't noticed Ginny standing in the doorway with her hand across her mouth, her eyes showing nothing but fear.

Ginny had approached the kitchen at a more sedate pace than her children. However, she stopped dead at the entrance to the cosy room. Draco, she thought. Oh my god! No! Lucius must have told him. What am I going to do? It was if time had slowed as she stood there watching him gradually turn his attention away from the children and toward her.

There she was -- his fiery Angel. She had always been pretty, but now she was simply beautiful. He could think of no other way to describe her. Her hair had darkened slightly over the years to a rich dark red, giving it a luxuriant look, and her figure, he noticed, had matured since he'd last seen her, she had gone from being a skinny school girl to a woman with curves, in all the right places. Her cinnamon eyes, that he had loved all those years ago, now held fear as they stared at him.

"Hello, Angel." Draco smiled nervously at her. "Umm... How have you been?"

Too shocked to move or speak, Ginny continued to stand in the doorway, staring at the blond wizard who was now making his way toward her.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny snapped out.

"My father -- he told me about seeing you yesterday. We need to talk Gin." Draco hated the way his voice sounded desperate, but he couldn't help it, his emotions were so strong and were showing themselves in his tone. "Please?"

Oh god, Lucius has told him. What if he wants my babies? Ginny's thoughts were in turmoil.

She looks frightened of me. Why would she be frightened of me? She's pale enough to faint, Draco thought. Oh god, I hope she doesn't.

"Please, Angel. I'm not here to hurt you. I-- I just want to be part of your lives," Draco pleaded as he slowly moved close enough to catch hold of both her hands. "Can't we just sit down and talk? Please?"

"I--" Harry's voice kept playing over in her head, 'he should be part of their lives; he should be there for them; you don't know what it feels like'. Ginny took a deep breath, in the hope that it would steady her voice.

"Let's sit down," she whispered without looking up at him.

They moved to the table and took a seat each. Draco sat at the head of the table and Ginny on the side, in the chair closest to him. Her hands were fidgeting on the tabletop. He reached out and covered her hands with his, feeling her tense the moment he made contact.

"Why didn't you tell me, Gin?"

"I don't know. You were gone and I was so scared. I didn't really know what I was doing. I was only seventeen," Ginny whispered as tears silently ran down her cheeks.

"It must have been so difficult for you, on your own."

"It was. I had my family and friends, but most of the time I felt alone."

"You know, I would have come back, had I known. I would have looked after you."

"I wasn't sure," Ginny whispered with shame creeping into her voice. "I didn't even tell my family about you right away, but after Drake was born, I couldn't deny it -- he looks just like you."

"Yeah, he does. Pansy said they thought I knew. She said you told them I knew and didn't want anything to do with you," Draco's voice strained to keep his emotions in check. He felt like yelling this at her, but he didn't want to frighten her anymore, than his mere presence already had.

"I know and I'm sorry. It's just, they were all harassing me to tell them who the father was, so I told them I had spoken to the father and he didn't want to know and I didn't want to talk about it, because it was too painful. I didn't think they'd understand. You know my family. My brothers probably would have hunted you down at the time. It was only after the birth that I told them you were the father," Ginny said through the tears now cascading down her face.

"Gin, please don't cry. You know I could never handle it when you cried," Draco said as he leaned across the table to get closer to her.

"I'm so sorry. I should have told you. Now they all think you're dreadful." Ginny was now sobbing.

"Ah, they thought I was dreadful before any of this happened. Remember?" Draco smirked trying to lighten the situation, in the hope that Ginny would stop crying.

She gave him a half smile through the tears as he tried to wipe them away with his thumb. "I guess they did."

At that moment, bathed and in her pajamas, Angelique padded into the kitchen. She walked around to where Draco was sitting and proceeded to climb onto his knee, much to his surprise. He looked quizzically at the little girl and she smiled at him.

"Hello there, and who are you?" Draco asked as Ginny tried to rid her face of tears.

"Don't you know me?" Angel frowned at him.

"No, I don't think so. I'd definitely remember meeting a little girl as pretty as you."

Angel turned to Ginny. "Mummy, why doesn't Daddy know me?"

Draco almost dropped the little girl off his knee. "What?" he choked out as Angel clambered down to stand beside Ginny.

"Draco, are you alright?" He knew about the children so why is he acting this way, she thought.

Before Draco could respond, Drake walked into the kitchen, fully clad in his pajamas. He looked to his mum, whose face was still red and eyes still puffy from her recent tears. He turned toward Draco, glaring at him before launching himself at him with an angry growl.

"You hurt my mummy!" His small fists pummeled Draco. "You made her cry," he yelled as he landed a sharp kick to the side of Draco's leg. No one made his mummy cry. No one!

Draco was trying to gather Drake's flailing arms, but the little boy kept evading his father's larger hands.

"Drake, don't hit Daddy!" Angelique shrieked.

"Drake! Stop it this instant!" Ginny demanded raising her voice.

His little hands stilled as he heard Ginny's tone. "But, Mummy, he made you cry." He didn't take his darkened gray eyes off of Draco.

Draco could tell the little boy was quite angry. He had his eyes and they darkened to the same shade, when he was feeling the same way.

"Drake, look at me," Ginny said gently and the little boy turned to face her. "Honey, I upset myself, but I'm okay now. All right?"

The little boy nodded, though Ginny could tell he wasn't entirely convinced. She would have to keep an eye on him, while Draco was here. Drake would defend her no matter what. In the last year he'd taken on just about all of his uncles at some point, plus a few friends of the family, a couple of shop keepers and, of course, Lucius Malfoy, just for good measure. His attacks, at this point, were cute, but as he grew they would definitely have to be stopped.

While Ginny had busied herself with Drake, Angel had scrambled back onto Draco's lap and was busy checking him for any obvious injuries that may have been inflicted by her brother. She ran her hands over his arms, chest and then his face, brushing his long hair gently back over his shoulders.

"Gin? Who is this?" Draco very slowly inclined his head toward Angel.

Angel sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. She turned in his lap, so they were face to face, placed her hands on each of his cheeks gently, so their gazes were locked and said very slowly, "My name is Angelique Molly Weasley Malfoy and you're my Daddy, silly."

Letting go of his cheeks Angelique threw her small arms around his neck and hugged him with all her might.

"Gin?" Draco choked out, as his air was just about cut off. "Where did she spring from?"

"What do you mean, where did she spring from? She sprung from the same place Drake sprang from," Ginny answered her voice beginning to rise with anger. What was wrong with him? Was he only interested in Drake because he's a boy -- an heir?

"Evening Weasleys," Arthur called out as he entered the kitchen through the back door. He took his worn cloak off and hung it on the nearby rack then turned to greet the family. His expression hardened when he saw who was sitting at the table. "What is he doing in my house?"

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