The Shotgun Bride

Chapter Nineteen: Aftermath

***

"So," Molly Weasley said. "What happened to the July wedding?"

Ginny grimaced and said, "We decided that it would have been a disaster, and that we really just wanted a small wedding."

"Small," repeated her mother.

"Yeah," Ginny said boldly.

"How small was it? Were Lucius and Narcissa invited? Are you ashamed of us?" The questions came rapid-fire from Molly.

"It was just us, Mom. We eloped, meaning that there was no family there. At all," Ginny managed to get out. She decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and chose not to answer the question about shame. She already missed being on her honeymoon, and they'd only been home for three hours. On her honeymoon, there had been chocolate and sweet loving and isolation from everyone but Draco. Okay, there had been a stripper and a zealous hotel matron and that creepy guy who hung out at the ice machine, but compared to her family they were nothing.

She poked at the sandwich in front of her. Right now, the only people home were her mother and Hermione Granger, who was involved in an on again, off again relationship with Ron. Her brothers were due to arrive within the hour, though, so Ginny knew that this was only the first part of her punishment for having the gall to elope to avoid a Fourth of July wedding that she hadn't even wanted in the first place.

"So you really got married?" Hermione asked from across the table.

"Yeah," Ginny replied.

"When are you moving out then?" Hermione asked. She idly played with a strand of teased, permed brown hair. "I heard on Dr. Phil that one of the most important steps to establishing a good marital base and positive environment for your children is to create a healthy, happy home."

Ginny fought the urge to stick her spoon up the girl's nose. "Soon, probably."

"Where is Draco?" Hermione asked.

"He had to talk to his aunt," Ginny replied.

"Oh, how is Andy doing?" Molly asked. "I haven't seen her since she moved to the west coast."

"I don't know," Ginny replied. "He went to see his Aunt Bella."

Silence fell upon the table like ravening wolves.

Finally, Molly spoke. "I didn't know she was out of prison."

"Yeah, she got paroled," Ginny said in the most upbeat manner she could muster. The next thing she had to say was going to cause her mother to implode, she feared, so she spat it out quickly, before she lost the nerve. "We're kinda moving in with her."

Molly sputtered for a moment, and then took a deep breath. Ginny had just braced herself for a screamed tirade a year long when a "Yoohoo!" echoed through the house.

"Mom, you in here?" Charlie's voice called as he entered the room. "Oh, hey Gin. Have fun?"

"Yeah," she said.

"C'mon in, baby," Charlie said over his shoulder. A petite girl with wildly pink hair appeared around the doorway, and said, "Hello!"

"Hi, Charlie!" chirped Ginny happily. She loved her brother dearly at that moment, for saving her from a night-long lecture about not associating herself with disreputable sorts.

"Hey, Gin, you back already?" Charlie said easily.

"Unfortunately," Ginny replied honestly, ignoring the indignant snort that came from both her mother and Hermione.

"And who is this with you?" Molly asked, looking at the girl who was standing way too close to her second son.

"This is Tonks," Charlie said.

"Hi!" she said brightly, grinning and waving.

"Nymphadora?" Molly asked. The girl in question flinched. "Andy Tonks's girl?" Molly continued, glancing over at Ginny. "How is your mother doing, dear?"

"She's fine," replied Tonks. "A bit upset over Aunt Bella's early release from the pen."

"I heard about that," Molly said. "Just a few minutes ago, in fact."

"So, are you and Charlie dating?" Ginny interceded quickly, wanting nothing more than to direct the conversation back away from the topic of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Yeah," replied Charlie.

"And when did this happen?" Molly asked.

"We met while I was at work," Tonks said, "And things just progressed from there. We've only been officially together for a few weeks."

"I see," Molly said.

Charlie lead Tonks to the table, and they sat down. The other Weasley brothers began to file in, followed by their father, all joshing around. Ginny greeted them all.

"You look really familiar," George said to Tonks.

"I don't remember meeting you before," she replied.

"Really," Fred said. "People always remember meeting us."

"I wonder why," Tonks managed with a grin.

"So," Ginny said, only to be interrupted by Percy saying, "So who is this, Charlie?"

"My new girl," Charlie replied, draping an arm around the girl in question and grinning.

"I'm Tonks," she clarified.

"So, is it serious?" Bill asked. Ginny looked around incredulously. Why wasn't anyone interested in asking her questions? She was the one in the limelight, damn it! She was about three seconds from accidently mentioning her soon-to-be living situation when her thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey, I recognize you!" said Fred loudly to Tonks. "You work at Hooters!"

"What?" Molly asked. "Where?"

"I'm a waitress," Tonks said. "It's no big deal."

Ginny watched her mother look appalled, then questioning. "You said you met Charlie when you were at work?"

"Yeah," Tonks said brightly. "I accidently dropped a plate of hot wings on his lap."

"What, he ask you out after you cleaned up the mess?" Ginny asked. Judging from the redness of both Charlie and Tonks's cheeks, that had been the order of events. The twins snorted. Ginny's ears perked up as she heard a familiar engine outside.

"Draco's here!" she announced happily.

She pretended not to feel disappointment at the disappointed grumbling of her brothers.

A few minutes later, Draco felt every eye in the room turn to him as he entered. He quickly slid into the seat Ginny had thankfully managed to secure next to her, and mumbled a greeting. He hated how being near the Weasley clan made all the patented Malfoy self confidence and charm fly right out the window. He just prayed that the inevitable blond jokes he knew he would endure wouldn't surface during this first meal with him as a legal member of the family.

Immediately, Fred, ever the comedian, said, "Why did the blond throw the butter out the window?"

Draco had to remind himself that killing a brother-in-law wasn't the best way to start a marriage. Though in the comics Gambit had, and he'd ended up with Rogue... No, best not to even entertain the thought.

Ginny must have noticed the way his grip on the knife was tightening and sliding more into a stabbing position than the slicing position appropriate for the pork chops, because she interrupted Fred quickly. "Anything interesting happen lately?"

Blank stares met her question.

"Are you okay, Gin?" Ron asked, concerned.

"Yes!" she snapped. She pretended that she didn't see the looks exchanged around the table.

"If you're tired we can go," Draco said quietly.

"Go?" said Molly, who was a master eavesdropper. "You aren't staying here?"

"I thought you were going to talk about things," Draco said, giving Ginny a sideways glance.

"I didn't get around to everything," Ginny replied defensively.

"We're going to be staying at my house until we get moved in with Aunt Bella," Draco bravely announced to his mother-in-law.

"Why? Is there something wrong with staying in my house?" Molly asked.

"Of course not, Mom," Ginny said. "There are just less people living there, so it makes more sense."

"So now it's too crowded here?" Ron asked. "You just think you're better than us, don't you?"

"No, but I would like to be able to get into the bathroom in a decent amount of time, and that's possible at Draco's," Ginny replied.

"Really, my mother insisted," Draco intervened. "She wants to get to know Ginny."

"That's awfully nice of her," Molly said suspiciously.

"Yes, it was," Ginny said. "And I think we should head out. Let me grab some things."

"Okay," Draco said, shoveling the last few bites of his dinner into his mouth quickly. "I'll be waiting."

As soon as Ginny disappeared down the hall, Draco remembered that he was in the middle of hostile territory.

"So," said Molly sharply. "Decided to elope?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Draco replied honestly. Lately, a lot of things had seemed like a good idea at the time. Really, if he got jumped again, he thought that trying to build a time machine to prevent himself from ever thinking that Ginny Weasley was hot would be a good idea.

"What if we were looking forward to a big wedding?" Hermione asked. Draco managed to not tell her to shove it. Hermione was one of the kinds of people he hated most in the world. She was a Yankee. And not one of the Yankees that had the decency to stay up north where they belonged, either. She was one that came down to his part of the world, and then decided to adopt their mannerisms and way of talking until it all became like one big mockery of who his ancestors had fought to be.

"Tough," was all that he said.

"That's not a very good attitude to have," Hermione snapped back.

Draco remained silent. He couldn't alienate his in-laws within five minutes of being alone with them, after all, even though Hermione wasn't really an in-law. He doubted Ginny would see it that way, and he for one wanted to stay on his wife's good side as long as possible.

"You know," Hermione said to the vaguely familiar pink haired girl sitting next to the brother known as Charlie, "Draco and Ginny are moving in with Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Why would you do that?" asked the girl.

"Because she's family and offering cheap rent," Draco replied. "Besides, I like her." He squinted at her. "Aren't you my cousin?"

"Oh! Now I know where I know you from! You're Aunt Narcissa's boy- I remember pushing you off the boat that one time," replied Tonks.

"Yeah, I remember that too," Draco replied sullenly. "But I also remember you being gullible enough to think that worms really were natural spaghetti."

Charlie chuckled. "You really ate worms?"

Tonks flushed. "Just that once."

Tonks and Draco grinned at each other. Draco was relieved that he finally had an ally within the Weasley network.

"I think Hermione was trying to start trouble knowing we're from feuding parts of our family," Tonks said.

"I was not! And I'm sitting right here!" Hermione protested.

"She must have been," Draco replied. He could see the twins grinning as Hermione sputtered indignantly.

"But why would you want to live with someone who's been in jail?" Tonks asked.

Draco glared.

"Oh, I forgot," she said. "Sorry."

Just then, Ginny flounced back into the room with a bag thrown over her shoulder. "I'm ready!" she said, pecking her parents on the cheek.

"Alright," Draco said, standing up and thanking Molly for the meal.

They left the Weasley house, and a few minutes later arrived at the Malfoy trailer.

"Mom! We're here!" Draco yelled as they walked in the door. He turned to Ginny and said, "Dad's out with his friends for the evening."

"Hello dear!" said Narcissa Malfoy as she hurried into the room on heeled slippers, holding a cigarette between two red daggered fingers. She set an empty plastic martini glass on the table as she settled on the couch. "Ginny, welcome."

"Thanks, Mrs. Malfoy," Ginny said nervously.

"Oh, call me Narcissa! We're family, after all," Narcissa said sweetly. "Sit, sit!"

Ginny glanced over at Draco, who shrugged. He'd never seen his mother this sickeningly sweet before either.

"So," Narcissa said as they settled on the couch. "You're part of the family now."

"Yeah," Ginny said in a hopefully upbeat tone.

"Married to my little boy," Narcissa continued, ruffling Draco's hair. He pulled away, blushing as

Ginny giggled. "And with a little one of your own on the way."

"Yeah," Ginny said again, her hand unconsciously resting on her lower stomach

"And you're moving out," Narcissa said, sounding as though she wanted to burst into tears

"Mom, it's okay," Draco said awkwardly, glancing briefly at Ginny. "Mom, really."

"But you're my baby!" Narcissa said, allowing the tears to set loose.

Draco awkwardly wrapped an arm around his mother and said, weakly, "There, there," while patting her back gingerly.

Narcissa sniffled into her son's t-shirt. "My baby's grown up!'

"Mom. C'mon, this is... Mom!" Draco said, attempting to pull away from Narcissa's death grip on him.

"Aww," Ginny said.

"You're leaving me all alone here!" Narcissa wailed.

"Mom, it's not like you're alone, you have Dad," Draco said. "And it's not like I was here all that much before..."

"It's different now!" Narcissa protested.

"Narcissa, it's not like we're going to be far away," Ginny offered.

"Shut it, you brazen hussy!" snapped Narcissa. "I'm talking to my boy."

Ginny gasped.

Draco sighed. "Mom-"

"Don't you "Mom" me!" snapped Narcissa.

"I think that I need to show Ginny to our room," Draco said, standing. "I think she's tired."

"Fine, fine, ignore your mother," Narcissa replied, waving a hand around.

"Mom, I didn't mean to," Draco began.

"Go!" snapped Narcissa.

"Come on," Ginny whispered. With one last glance at his mother, Draco ushered Ginny towards his room.

"And I thought it would be more pleasant here," he muttered.

"Silly goose," Ginny whispered cheerfully. "Of course they're all going to make our lives hell. It's their job."

"I know something that would make my life less hellish," Draco said, shutting the door.

"Really, because I had something in mind as well," Ginny replied, shoving the old clothes off the bed and into the floor. "C'mere, hubby."

***

The next morning, Ginny was practically bouncing in anticipation as they drove to Bellatrix Lestrange's house.

"Your aunt isn't going to hate me like your mother does, is she?" Ginny asked nervously.

"Mom doesn't hate you. At least not when she's sober," Draco said consolingly. "If she'd been up for breakfast she would have been perfectly civil to you."

"Uh-huh," Ginny replied.

"Here we are," Draco said. "And there's Aunt Bella, outside waiting on us."

He parked on the driveway, and climbed out. Ginny did the same, smiling at Bellatrix prettily as Draco introduced them. Bellatrix had limp black hair and a thin face, with crudely rendered tattoos decorating various exposed parts. Ginny's eyes had focused on the skull and snake on one arm for several seconds before remembering that staring was rude, and instead inspected her new living quarters instead.

"Oh, this house is gorgeous," Ginny said, staring at the house. It was split level, with a detached garage and lots of yard.

'Are you using the garage?" Draco asked.

"No," replied Bellatrix. "I don't have a car. Damn police auction..."

"Awesome," Draco said. "I'll be able to work on mine even in the rain."

"When Reindeer gets out, though, he might want to use the garage himself," she added.

"Reindeer?" Ginny asked.

"My husband. Lord only knows when he'll get out, though I expect it shouldn't be all that far in the future," Bellatrix clarified.

"I see," Ginny said. She really didn't want to know where the nickname came from, so she changed the subject. "So, which window is ours?" she asked, looking at the upper floor's windows and planning on the view she liked best.

"Come on in. I'll show you where you'll be staying," Bellatrix said, leading them up to the house.

They followed her inside, and then down the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked.

"Your room," replied Bellatrix. "It's right around the corner here."

"In the basement?" Ginny asked.

"Hey, a bar!" Draco exclaimed. "This room is great!"

"Basement," Ginny repeated. "I thought we would get our own room..."

"This is a room," Bellatrix snapped. "A good one too."

"See, we have our own entrance," Draco said, pointing to the sliding glass door that dominated one wall.

"And the windows are... very high in the air," Ginny said, looking at the other side of the room. "And look! Our very own heat ducts, right out there in the open on the ceiling!"

Bellatrix's hand twitched. "Demanding little thing you married, isn't she?"

Draco remained silent, not willing to alienate either the aunt who was housing them for cheap or the wife whose bed he was planning on sleeping in. Ginny glared at Bellatrix, and was mere seconds from sharing her thoughts on her hostess when Draco spoke up. "Can Ginny see the rest of the house?"

"Fine," his aunt replied shortly.

Ten minutes later, Ginny had been led on a full tour of the house and back yard, and she became a mite more enthused about the idea of living in a basement as it dawned on her that, with the exception of Bellatrix Lestrange, she would have the run of a house. Her very own house, she thought, nevermind the details of ownership. This was going to rock.