Father and Son

~Chapter 5~

The Night Before Their Wedding

When Ginny and Luna arrived back at Potter Hall, there was more than one bad surprise waiting for them. The kitchen was covered in food, the hall set under water, and David tied up to the ladder of the pool. Ginny rushed over to her son while Luna fetched the children and brought them to the bathroom.

'David! What happened? What are you doing here? What...'

'Mum!' David said annoyed. 'Would you please untie me first? I've been lying in the bloody sun for at least fifteen minutes and I want nothing more than get my hands free at last to throttle those nasty little brats!'

Ginny smiled at him sympathetically.

'What happened?' she asked and took out her wand to cut the ties around his wrists.

'First they were all nice and everything, and then they were thirsty, so we went to the kitchen, and everything went out of control.'

'Yes, I've seen the kitchen!' Ginny grinned.

'Really, I tried everything, mum, but they wouldn't listen to me. I was about to stun them when they got my wand.'

'Was anyone hurt?' Ginny asked, suddenly worried.

'No. They just tried some spells with my wand and I ended up here.'

Still fully clothed, he climbed out of the pool, and Ginny had to laugh even more. David scowled at her.

'Where are Diana and Amaris? And where's Harry?' Ginny asked as they entered the cool living-room.

David sank into an armchair. He didn't know what to tell his mother. If he told her Diana was with him, she'd want to know where she was now.

'Mum, can I have some pumpkin juice?' He mused that playing on time was probably the best way out of his mum's questions.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. She knew he was trying to avoid any questions. Being married to Draco for sixteen years had given her an immense knowledge of his tricks and moves, which the children soon took over. On the other side, David had to cope with Emma, Sam, and Rachel on his own, and Ginny knew how tiring that was.

'All right,' she gave in and went to the kitchen, cleaning it with only a flick of her wand.

The second she had vanished, Harry and Diana came rushing out of the fireplace making David jump out of the armchair. Harry carried an unconscious Draco over his shoulder. Both, Harry and Draco wore obvious marks of a fight. David saw that Diana was pale under all the dirt and ashes from the fireplace.

'Father!' David hurried over to help Harry take Draco over to the sofa.

Behind them glass shattered.

Ginny had returned from the kitchen.

Seeing her husband unconscious and bleeding, she had dropped the mug of pumpkin juice, clapping her hands over her mouth.

She rushed over to them and fell to her knees in front of the sofa.

'What happened?' she asked, fear rising in her eyes.

'I'll explain everything later. Where's Luna, she's got to heal him first. I don't know how hard the curse hit him.'

'I think she took the children to the bathroom...'

'I heard noise downstairs, what has happened?' Luna said, suddenly standing in the door.

'Luna, he was hit by an Incarius-curse,' Harry explained to his wife.

Luna came over to them and started muttering healing-spells. She was chief-healer at the spell damage ward at St. Mungo's Hospital and knew this kind of injury all too well.

Ginny looked from Draco to Harry, who refused to meet her eyes.

Luna felt Draco's pulse.

'He'll be all right. Just a few spells and a strengthening potion and everything will be fine. Harry, dear, why don't you make Ginny and the children some of Molly Weasley's famous tea that she gave you for emergencies.' Luna looked at her husband with her protuberant, misty eyes, smiling dreamily, but Harry got the hint.

'Come on, you lot.' He put a hand on Ginny's shoulder, leading her to the kitchen. The twins followed them.

Sitting together with some of Mrs. Weasley's 'special' tea, Ginny got her voice back.

'Okay, what happened? What really happened? You will tell me now, what you two are doing here, why David was looking after Ron and Hermione's children, where you two," she addressed Harry and Diana, who were both still covered with dirt, "were and why the hell you come back with Draco, who HAS BEEN HITTEN BY AN INCARIUS-CURSE!' she shouted at them. Harry was fearfully reminded of Mrs. Weasley's howlers.

'It was...' David started, completely unnerved at being at the receiving end of his mother's rage.

'And I will have none of your usual evasions, young man. I want to know what the hell is going on here!' Ginny said in a threatening voice.

'That's the reason why we are here, mum,' Diana said looking apologetic at her. 'We wanted to know what's going on.'

Ginny's rage was blown out like a candle in the wind and she looked down on her hands.

'The children came to me and asked for you, so Diana and I went off to search you. David offered to watch over the children while we were gone,' Harry explained to Ginny.

'We met Malfoy and...'

'No need to end this sentence. I know my husband when he's drunk,' Ginny said quietly.

'He's drunk?' Harry asked, surprised.

'How do you know?' Diana asked somewhat impressed. 'You haven't even talked to him.'

'He smells of Ogden's Firewhiskey. He used to smell like that when he was at the Sleazy Skull. A pub in Knockturn Alley, where he used to go with his mates.'

The old pain sounded through the disgust in her voice. David and Diana exchanged knowing glances.

Luna appeared in the kitchen and sat down on Harry's lap, obviously pleased with herself.

He laid his hands around her waist, but she took his hand, muttering a healing spell.

'How did you know...?' Harry asked.

'God sees everything, your wife sees even more.' She smiled.

'Not hard to see, is it?' David pointed out. 'You are a right-hander, but you're holding your mug with the left one.'

'David, stop sounding like your father! I've heard enough of him for one day;' Harry responded dryly.

'He...'

'Leave it, David!' Ginny ended the argument.

David went silent, but glared at her.

'Is he all right?' she addressed Luna.

'Yes, quite. Though he might still have some pain for a while. But he's out of the biggest trouble,' Luna said, looking out of the kitchen window, seeming completely uninterested.

'Speaking of trouble,' Harry said, alarmed by the sudden silence, 'where are the kids?'

'In the bathroom,' Luna said, unmoved.

Ginny and Harry got to their feet, horrified.

'You left them alone?' Ginny shrieked.

'Don't worry, I stunned them,' Luna informed them matter of factly.

'You stunned them?!' Harry gasped at Luna.

He still wasn't used to her weirdness at all. Although they were married for more than five years, she kept surprising him with strange statements and unexpected actions.

Ginny blinked for a moment, apparently not knowing whether to laugh or to tell her friend off. She decided to say nothing and sat down again, sipping her tea.

'Dad stunned us once. He still has scars from that,' Diana pointed out, looking accusingly at Ginny.

'That's not true, Diana, and you know that!' Ginny said, affronted.

'Dad told us!' Diana said stubbornly.

'Your dad told you a lot of things that aren't true. He was exaggerating when he told you that old story.'

'He has a long scar at his elbow,' David pointed out. 'He said he kept it to remind him not to be at the receiving end of your rage.'

In the living-room, Draco was awake and had been listening to the conversation for a while.

Now he rolled up his sleeve and looked at the slightly reddened scar. It was true, he had kept it to remind him not to mess with his wife. Not for his safety, but for their marriage. For Ginny. While looking at the old scar, he waited impatiently for Ginny's response.

'That's... he...' Ginny stammered and went silent again, not looking at anybody. 'Yes. I'm responsible for that scar. I... I accidentally gave it to him on the day before our wedding,' she finally said, her voice cracking.

Draco closed his eyes upon hearing that. He knew that she was crying now, although he couldn't hear it. He knew she remembered that day now. He inwardly cursed himself for not remembering it during the last weeks, hell month. He had sworn to himself that he'd try everything to make Ginny happy, to not make her angry at him or make her cry. That was why he had kept the scar.

In the kitchen, David and Diana looked shocked at their mother. They hadn't meant to make her cry. And Ginny didn't blame them for accusing her. They didn't know what memories they had woken up with their accusations. Nobody knew about those memories. Nobody but the one they were about. The one who shared the memories of that night and knew what she was feeling. Guilt.

Without knowing that he was thinking of exactly the same, she looked over to the living-room. And upon seeing him lying on the sofa, the images returned. Images of the night before their wedding...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

August 1999

Ginny sat in the kitchen of the Burrow. Crying. Her marriage already began with a disaster. She was almost having a nervous breakdown. First, the wrong flowers had been delivered, and then her wedding gown had to be altered because she had gained weight. And worst of all Draco had heard this. Like always, he had said the exact wrong thing and she went completely mad.

While they were arguing, Draco had rushed down the stairs, following her and - leaving out the last steps - unluckily fallen to the ground. The consequence was a broken arm. Ginny, still beside herself, fuming and a nervous wreck, had messed up the healing spell and removed Draco's bones from his arm.

Not only that she had to endure a lot of mock from her brothers, who found this most hilarious, now Draco had to regrow his bones over night. Miss Weasley had taken her son-in-law-to-be to St. Mungo's without Ginny's knowledge.

Now she sat on the kitchen floor, leaning at the wall next to the unfortunate stairs. Her knees pulled up against her chest, she was quietly sobbing.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She winced. Completely lost in her thoughts, she hadn't heard anyone come into the room. She looked up and saw two cold grey eyes staring back into her own.

Draco got to his knees in front of her. His left arm lay in a white loop in front of his chest. He held her cheek in his right hand and gently wiped away her tears with his thump.

'Draco...,'she sobbed. 'I'm so sorry!'

'Hey, it wasn't your fault. I tripped over my own feet,' he calmly replied.

'But if we hadn't argued again...'

'...then I would have asked who you are and what you have done to my fiancée,' Draco cut in.

Ginny glared at him.

'So that's what you think? That I'm always arguing about something? Why then marry me? Because of the children?'

'Ginny! I would marry you all the way, even without the kids. How many times do I need to tell you that?! Don't you trust me? Don't you believe me that I love

you?'

'Then why are you always saying such things to me? Like today. I didn't want you to know that I gained weight again, because I knew you would tease me about it!'

Draco looked down.

'I didn't mean to hurt you.'

'But you did! You are doing it all the time!' Ginny exclaimed angrily.

Draco rose to his feet again. He didn't dare to look in her eyes.

'If that's how you feel, it would be better if we didn't marry,' he told her coldly.

'And what do I do then?' Ginny asked and got up, sounding frightened.

Draco looked at in surprise.

'I'm lost without you!' she said quietly.

He reached for her with his healthy arm and pulled her against him, hiding his face in her long red hair.

'I love you, Ginny. And I swear, I'll do my best not to hurt you.'

'I know. Do you think we can work things out?'

'We will.'

Suddenly, Draco felt a sharp pain in his arm.

'What is it?' Ginny asked, worried.

'It's just the arm, don't worry. The bones are regrowing,' Draco explained with a painful expression on his face, while Ginny helped him over to a chair.

'Can you... can you please peel a pear for me?' Draco asked, indicating towards the fruit bowl in front of them.

'A pear?' Ginny asked suppressing a laughter.

'I like pears!' Draco said, almost pouting.

'I didn't know that.'

'Now you do.' He smirked.

She grabbed one of the pears and fetched a knife from the drawer.

Draco watched his wife-to-be as she clumsily tried to rid the fruit of its peel.

New tears floated over her cheeks

'You look like you're cutting onions,' Draco remarked, disgruntled

Ginny glared at him again.

He sighed.

'Why are you crying again? You know that I hate it!'

Ginny sniffed and tried to wipe her tears away, focusing on the pear.

Draco shook his head, stood up and went over to her, laying his healthy arm around her waist and his head onto her shoulder.

'What is it?' he carefully asked.

'I'm an awful wife. We are not even married and I already got your arm broken, removed the bones from it, started two arguments in the last twelve hours and...' she tried to get air between her sobs, '...and I didn't even... know that you like... that you like pears. I always thought you hated those. And now... now I'm even unable to cut them properly!'

'That's why you're upset?' Draco asked a bit too rude, letting go of her.

Ginny whirled around glaring venomously at him through her tears.

'I do not expect you to understand. You're no good either!' Ginny snapped at him. 'That's what's bothering me! We are both not ready for marriage! It is doomed to fail!'

'You don't have to tell me that! Bloody hell, I know that I'm not the right man to marry!' he shouted back at her angrily.

'Then why don't you go? Why not leaving me and being free of all duties?' she screamed.

'Because I fucking love you!' he roared.

Ginny opened her mouth to shout something back at him, when she realized what he had said.

'I love you, too,' she said sighing. 'But why doesn't this nightmare stop then?'

'Don't know,' he growled, not looking at her.

'Can't you try to understand how I feel, sometimes? Or at least stop mocking about it?'

'And you could stop exploding at every single word I say! I don't mean those things, it's just...'

'What?' Ginny asked.

'I don't know how to handle your feelings. I don't know what to say when you are crying, I don't know how to comfort you, I don't know how to calm you when you're exploding, I just don't know such things! Every time I start to think I know you, you are doing something I can't cope with and everything starts anew!' he confessed, searching her expression. He feared she wouldn't understand him.

'Me, too!' he heard her say and couldn't quite believe his ears. "I'm sorry, I overreacted. I'm just so nervous about tomorrow!' she told him reaching for him.

He took her in his arms, holding her close to him.

'Ginny, if it wasn't for the children, I would have never proposed to you this early.'

'We can wait, if you want to. We don't have to be married. We love each other and we are a family...' she said, looking up at him.

'That's why I want to marry you as soon as possible,' he told her looking seriously. 'I want us to be a family. I want you as my legal wife and I want the children as my legal children. I don't want to be the bloody prat who impregnated you any longer. I want to be the father!'

'You are the father!' Ginny told him.

'Not in the eyes of the wizarding law and a lot of other people we know,' he said, sounding angry to hide his hurt. Since their first child Amaris had been born about a year ago, many people had demanded that Ginny and he should marry that instant. Their decision to wait until Ginny's graduation was regarded with scornful eyes.

'I don't want my children to be bastards any longer,' he said, looking down.

'They are not...' Draco stopped her rising temper by laying his cold fingertips onto her lips.

'You know the terms my society uses for them,' he said, almost sadness shimmering in his voice. His family, which was still very important to Draco, regarded his children as a shame for their wizarding society. It was not the fact that their mother was a pure-blood traitor, a Weasley, at least she was a pure-blood, nor that they were parents at the age of eighteen and nineteen. What the old-fashioned pure-blood society really shocked was, that the two of them had refused to marry.

'What I'm trying to tell you is, that I do not marry you for the children's sake or my family pride. I marry you because I love you. I want to wake up next to you every morning, I want to raise our children with you, and I want to get old with you, Ginny Weasley!' He smirked at her. 'And you're pretty good-looking, so we'll be a matching pair.

'But that I want to marry you now is because of the children and because of my and of our family's pride.'

Ginny smiled at him, all her anger vanished. That was what she loved about him. They could scream at each other, they could fight all they wanted, but he'd always find a way to get things straight again.

He let go of her waist and cupped her cheek with his hand. Then he leaned down to kiss her passionately.

When they came up for air again, Ginny smiled cheekily at him:

'You know what? For me, you'll always be the bloody prat who impregnated me!'