(A/N: It was just brought to my attention that I fucked up the prologue… The whole marry wedlock thing was a mistake. Sue me. I was at school. Anyway, what I meant to say was that Ginny didn't want to marry him because of the baby and for that reason only. If you don't like the manipulative Draco, he's not in this chapter. He's more shy than anything… Ginny's doing this whole `hard to get' concept. Plus, she doesn't want to get hurt again so yeah. I apologize for any misunderstandings. Continue…)
Draco didn't see her for the next few months until they boarded the Hogwart's Express. She didn't give him the time of day. She ignored him and avoided him like the plague.
When she returned for her seventh year, she almost died in horror. Draco Malfoy, her old flame and baby's father, was the Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies teacher. Her baby, Adrian Weasley, stayed at home with Molly, her mum. He had silvery blonde hair and light, but smoldering steel colored eyes that were so perceptive and kind. He rarely ever cried. His pale skin made the tiny freckles so much more prominent on his nose and the ones splattered across his rosy cheeks. When his cherub lips curled into a smile, two large dimples formed. What was scary was that Adrian had a smirk so similar to Draco's.
During the welcoming speech, the sorting hat and the all throughout the meal, Draco kept his eyes trained on her, gaze never wavering. She felt a prickle as if someone were stalking her, but paid no heed to his intense glare, only holding Colin's hand and chatting with the other current seventh years in Gryffindor. Colin was Head Boy so he had to leave earlier than everyone else. He gave her a small peck on her cheek and walked away after giving her the new password to the Gryffindor Tower. Draco's glare strengthened. Ginny turned her head around at a ninety-degree angle to smirk nastily at him complacently before resuming to eat her dinner.
"Gin, Malfoy has been staring at you the entire time we've been back at school!" Maria Sanchez told her.
Maria Sanchez was a mixed Greek and Hispanic seventh year that had moved to England when she was but three years old. She had long, wavy raven black hair and sparkling green eyes that shone with mirth and hidden secrets. She was extremely studious and very gorgeous like a nymph. She was one of Ginny's closest friends.
"So?" was Ginny's indifferent reply.
"Man… If I had a chance with him, I'd be so damn happy," she smirked suggestively.
"That's wrong and not to mention illegal, Ri. And also absurdly disgusting," she wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"This coming form the girl who goes out with Colin Creevey," Maria laughed.
Ginny never told anyone except her mother about Draco or the baby. During school, she had done a few tailoring charms after the first four months and an obscuring charm on her robe so no one was any the wiser.
"Malfoy's a sodding prat," Ginny said sternly.
"Yes, he very well is, but he's a sexy sodding prat," Maria answered slyly.
They giggled over it.
"I hate that bouncing ferret. He's a righteous arse, is what he is," Ginny sobered up enough to say before scowling at the prospect of him in general.
"Hmm…" Maria mumbled in agreement.
"Do you want to just get back before everyone else or stay here with these people?" Ginny questioned.
"Let's go," she replied.
They got up and left the Great Hall together. They were chatting idly about the new Gryffindor firsties before a large hand was placed on Ginny's shoulder.
"What?" Ginny sighed heavily, facing Draco.
"I need to talk to you, Miss Weasley. Privately," he added in, as he didn't see any form of movement other than the required blinking and breathing from the other girl next to her.
"Password's Eggnog. See you in the Common Room later," Ginny mumbled.
Maria left, casting a suspicious glance to the couple behind her wearily. Ginny's arms folded across the expanse of her chest when she realized that Draco was not about to say anything anytime soon. Her foot began to tap on the marble floor impatiently.
"Well?" she muttered in exasperation.
"How's the kid?" he whispered gently in a way that was almost deemed as shy, only not because this was Draco Malfoy, the womanizer.
Ginny's glare immediately softened against her will and better judgment. He actually cared about the baby he made. It would've been easier for Ginny's emotional and mental conflicts if he didn't.
"Adrian in fine. His birth date is on July twenty third. He has silver hair, gray eyes and spots of freckles," Ginny recited.
"Can I see him?" he questioned timidly.
She paused hesitantly, not knowing how to reply to such an innocent and easy behest. He is Adrian's father, she thought to herself. So she chose out her words carefully and proceeded with caution.
"I guess so, but it has to be on a Hogsmeade weekend. That's the only way I can see Adrian, save holidays and pictures," she told him.
"Sure!" he replied with much enthusiasm, which was most uncharacteristic of him.
Ginny smiled at the simple joy it brought to his life.
"Can I… maybe… get a picture of him?" he queried nervously.
Ginny pulled out a two by four inch picture and handed it to him. It was the one with Adrian gurgling and cooing while Ginny was trying to feed him the brownish mush that looked eerily like applesauce. She had the rounded curves of a mother, perfect and flared in the right places. She was wonderful in Draco's eyes. Whoever said beauty was only skin deep had obviously never met Ginny before because she was beautiful inside and out.
"Thank you," he smiled sincerely.
"Sure," she replied.
She turned on her heel and headed back to the Gryffindor Towers. Once she stepped through the portrait hole and into the common room, Maria pulled her upstairs before Colin could bombard her with millions of questions. When they reached the girls' seventh year dormitory, they jumped into Ginny's bed. The force of their combined weight created the springs to retract and elevate.
"What happened with him? What did he say? What did he do?" Maria interrogated thoroughly, not even bothering to wait for any answers.
"Nothing, nothing and pretty much nothing," Ginny grinned saucily.
"You're no fun," Maria pouted childishly.
Ginny just shrugged her shoulders good-naturedly.
"Can I do your nails?" Maria questioned.
This is why Ginny loved Maria so very much. She was so happy, energetic and vivacious, constantly changing from topic to topic because of her attention deficit disorder. Ginny nodded as Maria began to pull out her nail polish pack from her trunk. Maria was muggle born so she did most things by hand instead of magic.
"Which color?" she asked.
"I like that one," Ginny pointed.
It was a pale pink in color like the seashells upon the sandy beaches. The musty scent filled the air as she opened the clear bottle. They laughed over old jokes and new things. Maria painted two layers of the pink and the clear sheen to make it gleam vibrantly. Ginny painted Maria's nails in a thick blood red color. The finished products were shimmering nails.
"I want to break up with Colin," Ginny sighed deeply.
Then she gasped, clamping her hand to her own mouth. It didn't consult her brain on what she was going to say before she blurted it out. Maria's eyes bulged out in realization. They had just been discussing Draco Malfoy.
"So you do like Draco Malfoy!" Maria exclaimed.
"Shush! Not so loud!" Ginny whispered loudly.
"I knew it!" Maria cried.
"Go to sleep," Ginny mumbled, pointing to Maria's bed while attempting to push her out with her feet.
"Fine, fine. Be like that. Keep all the sordid details to yourself even when I've been your friend for seven years and counting. You won't even allow me the small pleasure of living vicariously through you," she huffed in mock annoyance.
"Night, Maria," Ginny chuckled.
She just muttered incoherently as they changed. Ginny slipped into a pair of yellow cotton pajama pants that had little brown monkeys in different positions and a black tank top while Maria wore a satiny blue night gown that looked like those sexy negligees in the provocative store behind Madame Malkins. The lights shut off once the other three girls in their year slipped into the room and changed. Then there was absolute silence.
"Gin?" Maria whispered.
"Yeah?" she replied huskily, filled with sleep.
"Do you think I have a chance with Malfoy?" she questioned.
"Maybe," Ginny answered half-heartedly.
"You like him, don't you?" Maria queried.
"Yes. No. Maybe. Kind of. A bit. I don't know," Ginny confessed, irritated with herself and her own predicament.
"He's hot," a voice piped in.
"We all know, Veronica," Maria said.
Veronica huffed in indignation.
"Go to sleep," another girl murmured, blatantly annoyed.
They all drifted off into a deep slumber, thinking of a certain blonde haired, gray eyed current DADA teacher and what tomorrow would bring for them.