The Shotgun Bride

Chapter Three: Parents

***

Draco and Ginny entered her parents house for the second time that evening. They paused just inside the entrance, making sure both the screen door and the front door were securely shut. Draco leaned against the door, sighing in relief.

"You shouldn't be so nervous of them!" Ginny admonished him, pacing around the hallway. Draco shrugged, and picked up a knickknack from a shelf. He twirled the figurine, which was shaped like a sad faced little girl, around. Ginny watched as the figurine twirled over, and over, and over.

"Stop it!" she finally snapped, grabbing the knickknack. "Why are you nervous around my brothers?"

"Well," he said, glaring at her, "there are like a dozen of them, and they all looked mad! Well, except the one with the silly haircut. He just looked kind of dumb."

"There are only six," Ginny began testily, ready to defend her brothers.

Draco cut in. "Only?"

"..and Percy isn't dumb! He's a perfectly intelligent..." Ginny trailed off. "Well, you might be right about Percy, but still! You shouldn't let them get to you!"

"I don't! Really! They're just a little..." Draco considered it for a moment, "imposing."

"We'll talk about this later," Ginny said, and she flounced off to the kitchen. Draco made a sound of agreement, and followed her.

They entered the kitchen. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were sitting at the old table that sat in the center of the room. The table was scarred and stained with everything from paint to fingernail polish. It was a true testament of the brood of children that had been raised in the house.

Mr. Weasley motioned for the young couple to join them. Ginny sat across from her mother, and Draco sat warily down across from Mr. Weasley. He set his ice pack down on the table, and Mrs. Weasley fussed over his black eye for a minute, then admonished her husband for a little while longer. Finally, though, she cut straight to the point.

"Have you two thought about what you're gonna do?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Um..." Ginny said, and glanced at Draco, who just shrugged. They hadn't thought about the future much. Actually telling the family had been a much larger concern, and they hadn't even gotten to Draco's parents yet.

"Where are you going to live?" Mr. Weasley asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Uh.." Draco said, gulping nervously. Mr. Weasley glared at the boy. The boy slunk down in his seat, looking scared at the look on Mr. Weasley's face. Anyone with half a brain would be afraid of the look on Mr. Weasley's face, especially they knew that the look was, in deed, intended for them. Mr. Weasley wore the expression of a man on a mission. Seek and destroy. Draco was right in being very, very nervous.

"Are you going to work?" Mrs. Weasley asked, interrupting her husband's glaring time.

"Well..." Ginny began, then floundered. Maybe they should have thought all this out before coming over to tell her parents...

"Are you going to go to college, either one of you?" Mr. Weasley asked. They were like doing the good cop-bad cop thing! Except they were both the bad cop! It wasn't fair!

"I'm not sure..." Ginny got out. Draco just shrugged. He figured there was no use trying to dig themselves out of this particular hole. Just ride with it, he thought. Worst they can do is kill you. Then he realized that the worst they could do was kill him, and he promptly regained his healthy fear of the Weasleys.

"So, basically, you don't know where you're going to live, work, or anything else about your future." Mrs. Weasley stated. She looked at the young couple.

"Pretty much," Ginny replied, blushing.

"Well, isn't that just peachy keen!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, glowering at her only daughter. "I really expected more from you than that, Ginny." The glower escaped her face, and was replaced by a look of sadness. " I just want you to know that you have really disappointed me today."

Ginny felt like sinking straight through the floor. Having the ground swallow her up seemed like a much happier prospect than having her mother guilt trip her, because it was working! She felt like jumping up and hugging her mother and apologizing for everything and crying in her mother's arms! But she wouldn't! She would be strong!

She would!

Her mother dabbled a handkerchief at her eyes, and smiled mournfully at Ginny.

Ginny's resolve immediately failed her.

"Oh, Mommy!" she cried, and leapt at her mother, hugging her and bursting into tears. Mrs. Weasley also burst into tears. Mother and daughter sobbed together. It was a very emotional scene.

Then the women cried. And cried. And they cried a little more, for good measure.

So, of course, the two men in the room immediately began to shift in their seats uncomfortably.

"So, um," Mr. Weasley said, looking at the ceiling, floor, and refrigerator, anywhere besides the blond at the table and the sobbing women.

"Uh, yeah," Draco replied, likewise staring out the window, at the orange curtains, and at the box of animal crackers on the counter, avoiding looking at any person in the room.

Finally, finally, the women's sobs began to die down.

"I love you, mommy," Ginny sniffled, pulling away from her mother's embrace.

"I love you too, Ginny Winny," Mrs. Weasley choked out before blowing her nose into her damp handkerchief.

Mr. Weasley and Draco had identical looks of disgust on their faces. How could those two manage to act so very sugary? No one acts like that! No one! The two manly men glanced at each other, and, seeing the same expression reflected on the other's face, nodded in an unspoken agreement. It was well past time for this little talk to come to an end.

"Dear," Mr. Weasley said, trying to draw his wife's attention away from their daughter. "Dear!"

"Oh, sorry, honeybun," Mrs. Weasley said upon noticing her husband's pleas for attention. Ginny was still sniffling, and wiped at her tear-soaked face with the shoulder of her shirt. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talked quietly for a few moments, then they turned to the young lovers across the table.

Mr. Weasley sighed, and said, "I don't like you one bit, boy, but I'm not going to try to kill you..."

Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

"Unless you hurt my daughter in any shape, form, or fashion. Then, I won't stop myself from ripping your rat faced little head off, spitting down your neck, and turning your skull into a hood ornament. Got that?"

Draco nodded mutely.

"Well, I'm guessing you haven't told your parents yet?" Mrs. Weasley cheerfully asked Draco, who just shook his head. "Well, you'd better get onto that. Go on, now."