How Do You Choose Between What is Right and What is Easy?

Chapter 21

Seven people stopped at the door to the hospital wing. It was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and their five oldest children. Mr. Weasley, who was in the front of the queue, knocked three times upon the hospital wing door. After a few moments, they heard footsteps heading towards them from inside, and the door opened a crack. Madam Pomfrey's head appeared around the door.

"We'd like to see Ginny, please," Arthur said, looking at Madam Pomfrey solemnly.

"Well, at least you asked," she said haughtily, opening the door widely and allowing them to enter the sparsely clean and completely white hospital wing.

"What do you mean, 'at least we asked'?" Fred asked politely.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy," she said (calmly, but contemptuously), "just felt obligated to barge right in here when they arrived, apparently completely oblivious of the fact that I have patients here that need quiet and rest."

"We'll try not to stay too long, Madam Pomfrey," Bill said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder for a moment.

Madam Pomfrey grasped his hand for a second, almost in a motherly fashion, and said, "You may all stay as long as you like. I know you, at least, know how to be respectful. Ms. Weasley is in the third bed on the left. She was visiting with Mr. Malfoy, but went back to her bed when his parents arrived."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Arthur said. "We appreciate everything you have done for our daughter."

"You know it's no problem," Madam Pomfrey responded politely. "Stay as long as you like, and please let me know if any of you, or your daughter, needs anything."

"We will," Molly said, her voice still sounding slightly tearful. "Thank you very much."

Madam Pomfrey gave them one last encouraging smile before heading back to her office, and the Weasleys continued on to Ginny's bed, which had the curtains closed around it. When they reached it, Arthur went behind the curtain first, followed by his wife, and next by their children.

"Oh, wonderful," Ginny said, crossing her arms. She was wide awake, and she didn't look in the least bit happy. "It's my own little personal invasion," she said sarcastically.

"Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said consolingly, "please don't be this way. We just came to see if you're okay."

"Well, I'm fine, so you can just skive off and leave me alone. I don't want to talk to any of you. Except for Bill. Bill, you can stay."

"We'll wait outside then, Ginny," Arthur said sadly, with an unmistakable air of someone who is most definitely upset.

"That's fine. But no eavesdropping from any of you, please. What I want to talk to Bill about is for his ears alone."

"We'll respect that, sweetheart," Arthur said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder to stay her retort.

"And you can stop calling me 'sweetheart,'" Ginny bit back, not looking at him. "I'm not your little girl anymore."

"You will always be my little girl," he said sadly. She said nothing in return, so he left, followed by everyone but his oldest son.

Bill waited until everyone had gone, and then pulled a chair up to her bed before sitting down. "So... what did you want to talk to me about, sis?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Draco," she said, looking at him with a monotone face.

"Who?" Bill said, confused.

"The Malfoy's son," Ginny said, impatiently.

"What about him?"

"He wants me to keep the babies."

"What - both of them?"

"Yeah. He doesn't believe in abortion."

"Not very Malfoy-like, is it?" Bill asked, a weird look on his face.

"Trust me - he's nothing like his parents."

"So... why both? Whether or not he's against abortion, I can't see him being happy about one of the children belonging to Harry."

"Oh, he's not. But he wants to be a part of both children's lives. He wants to raise Harry's as his own. Dumbledore's already assured me that Harry won't ever be able to get anywhere near me, Draco, or the children ever, and Draco doesn't want one of them growing up without a father. We'll tell him - or her - when they're older the truth, but that's definitely not something a young child needs hanging over their head when they're growing up."

"So..." Bill said, obviously confused. "He doesn't want you to get rid of Harry's child, he wants to be a part of their lives, and he's willing to raise both as his own.... I don't get it. Shouldn't that make you happy?"

"It does. It makes me very happy."

"Then... what's the problem?"

Ginny crossed her arms before answering. Looking him straight in the face, she said two words: "His parents."