The Shotgun Bride

Chapter Eight: Whoopin'

**

Draco pulled into the Weasley's driveway, carefully avoiding the few chickens that scurried across the gravel. Ginny leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, and said, "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he replied.

Ginny opened the door, and swung one leg out onto the loose gravel when she saw the front door swing open. Ron charged out, yelling something that she couldn't quite make out over the rumble of the Chevelle's motor. However, what she did hear didn't sound very uplifting.

"Um, Draco?" she said.

"Yeah?" She glanced over, and saw that Draco's eyes were focused on the front porch of her home. Ron had been joined with the twins, Bill, and Charlie. Percy was holding Ron back by one arm, saying something probably meant to make Ron less angry. From the unnatural shade of red that Ron's face turned, and the furious way that he wrenched his arm away from his older brother, it obviously hadn't had its intended effect.

"Maybe you should leave. Quickly."

"Is it safe to let you out?"

"Should be," Ginny replied, and hopped out of the car.

Unfortunately, in the short time that their conversation had taken place, Ron had charged off the porch, across the weed-spotted area where the chickens still pecked at their food, and was now standing next to the Chevelle.

"Get out of that car, Malfoy!" he yelled. Ginny noticed that the veins in his neck were sticking out in a most unattractive manner. She wondered if she should mention this, but decided against it as Charlie spoke up.

"Come on, Malfoy, we only want to talk."

Ginny could see Draco roll his eyes in a manner that clearly stated that he knew exactly what Charlie meant by 'talk'.

"Sorry, but I really need to get going," Draco said, revving the engine some and fiddling with the shifter.

"Can't face us like a man, huh?" taunted Ron, peering into the passenger side window. Draco scowled at him, and Ginny saw him reach for the ignition. She silently pleaded him to stay in the car, and peel out like there was no tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Draco turned off the car, climbed out, and stalked around the car, standing nose to nose with the most enraged of her brothers. Ron began to yell about her honor, Draco's lack of respect for her, and how badly he was going to pound the blond boy's face into the ground.

Draco, in turn, simply said that Ron was clearly a mite angry, and that he ought to calm down some before he said something he might regret.

Ginny backed away from the two boys, and whispered to Fred, "How'd he find out?"

"Dad spilled the beans," replied Fred.

"What?" snapped Ginny. How dare he take her one chance to utterly shock her older brothers away from her! She had the whole thing already planned out in her mind. She was going to oh-so casually wave her hand with her gorgeous engagement ring on it under their noses...

Except that she didn't have an engagement ring. She glared at her bare ring finger accusingly, but it remained naked. She considered bringing this up to Draco. He needed to buy her some beautiful, platinum and diamond ring that would make everyone she knew just turn green with envy. She didn't care that he would have to hold up a convenience store or two in order to be able to buy her a massive rock. He just had to do it.

"I'm going to kill you for touching my sister!" Ron yelled at just that moment.

Maybe asking about a ring wouldn't be the best move at the moment. Maybe she should just wait until Draco healed from the can of whoop-ass Ron was about to open on him.

"But..." Draco began to protest, then thought better of whatever he had been about to say. "Hey, I wasn't the only one there!"

"True," Percy said. "Ginny, remember the story about the free milk and the cow?"

Ron snorted. "Malfoy obviously doesn't care for that story."

"I'm buying the cow!" Draco argued.

"After you took some free milk," replied Ron.

"Yeah, didn't want to buy the car until after you test drove it, did you?" asked Charlie, cracking his knuckles.

"There's nothing wrong with test driving the cow!" protested Draco. "Wait, that was wrong..."

"Exactly how many cars have you test-drove?" asked Ron snidely.

"That's a personal question!" shot back Draco.

"I'm not sure that I like being called a cow or a car," Ginny said, glaring at all of her brothers and her fiancé.

"Hey," said George suddenly. "Where's my money?"

Everyone, including Ron and Draco, turned to look at him.

Charlie hissed, "Now is not the time, George."

"Yes, it is," argued George. "Cough it up."

Draco looked confused. So did Ginny, for that matter, especially as all her brothers reluctantly pulled crumpled bills from their pockets and threw them at George, all muttering about lucky guesses.

"Thank you muchly," said George grandly, smoothing the bills into a neat stack. "Go ahead with the pounding."

Draco scowled, and said, "There isn't going to be a pounding. We're all mature adults-" Then he looked around at the group of redheads that surrounded him, circling him like jackals. Or perhaps vultures would be a more accurate description. "Oh, shi-"

The rest of his curse was cut off abruptly by Ron's fist hitting his jaw.

Draco tried to hit back, but he was outnumbered. Fred and George both got a few good punches in on his midsection, and once Draco hit the ground from Bill's punch in the nose, Fred aimed a kick nicely at the fallen boy's nether regions.

"Oomph," was all Draco seemed capable of saying. "Oww."

He tried valiantly to get away from the angry brothers, but they were too much for him. Punch after punch was rained down on the boy until Ron ran over to the side of the house. He grabbed the two-by-four that supported the air conditioner, and carried it over to where Draco lay on the gravel. He began to swing when Ginny, who was being held back by Percy, the only brother to not participate in the beating, screamed, "Ron! Don't do that!"

She wrenched her arm away from Percy's grip, and ran over to her fallen fiancé.

"Are you okay?" she said to him, touching his bloody face gingerly. He gave her a look that clearly meant, "No."

She turned to her brothers, and snapped, "I can't believe you! You could have killed him!"

Ron shuffled his feet, and the two-by-four drooped in his grip. "Sorry?"

"Sorry? Sorry? You nearly kill my fiancé by ganging up on him and beating him up to a bloody pulp, and the best you can come up with is 'sorry'!" Ginny was in full-out Molly Weasley mode now. "You could have at least made it a fair fight!"

Just then, the crunch of tires on gravel was heard. Ginny looked over to see her mother's Impala cruise up the driveway. She helped Draco sit up, and lean against the side of his car. Her mother pulled up beside the muscle car, and climbed out, giving the scene presented to her a disapproving look.

"I go to the store for ten minutes, and look what happens!" she snapped, then sweetened her tone. "Sugar, are you okay?"

Draco managed to nod, but let out a moan as he tried to stand.

"Oh, you poor dear!" Molly exclaimed, and reached over to help him up. "Let's go in the house and get some ice in that eye, and clean you up some. I think there's one more piece of cake left, I'll fix that up for you."

Molly ushered her soon-to-be son-in-law into the house, fussing over him the whole way.

Ginny followed them, and her brothers trailed behind her, muttering about the injustice of the last piece of cake going to that mumble-mumble.