Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters that came from the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the song "What Might've Been" that belongs to Sister Hazel. Wonderful band if I do say so myself.
On with the story:
What Might've Been
One dark and dreary August day, Draco sat back in the seat as the Hogwarts Express finally left the platform in London. Who knew that he, Draco Malfoy, would actually go to the dinner that celebrated the 1600th birthday of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Apparently by the look on everyone's faces, no one expected him to come after what happened that Christmas Day. The day that he was to propose to Ginny Weasley, but he never showed up to see her. Soon he was thinking about how she changed his life.
***In Draco's sixth year of school at Hogwarts he had changed a lot. Having his father in Azkaban, which was really a Godsend, made Draco re-consider his life. No longer did he want to be the mean, evil git that everyone made him out to be. He wanted to be one of the good guys now, and boy, were the rest of the Slytherins angry with him then because he was their ringleader of evil and now he wanted to be good? No one understood that, not even those on the good side of the spectrum. They shunned him away too, thinking that once a mean, evil git always a mean, evil git. No one saw what could have been but one person, Ginny Weasley.
Ginny had that kind of faith in people. She had the ability not to look at a person's past or look at a person's faults; she had the ability to look at the heart of a person and judge from there. Ginny was an angel sent to Draco to help him to fully come to the good side of the world and leave the bad behind without a look back. But what Ginny didn't really know was that as long as she was helping Draco out he would never look back to the dark side as long as he had Ginny beside him the whole time. But that is not what happened. After a year of helping him with everything, Draco fell madly in love with Ginny and he had asked her out. She didn't have a boyfriend at the time so she said yes. Over the course of her sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts they had dated, even sharing a few private nights of passion that started in the afternoon and lasted until the early morning hours. By Christmas of her last year she had fallen head over heels in love with him and she didn't want to live her life without him in it, so on Christmas Day she decided that when he came by to see her that she would tell him she loved him. Only things didn't go as planned.
Sure I think about you now and then
But it's been a long, long time
I've got a good life now I've moved on
So when you cross my mind
I try not to think about what might have been
'Cause that was then
And we have taken different roads
We can't go back again
There's no use giving in
And there's no way to know
What might have been***
"Damn, I can't believe that I didn't tell her I loved her sooner. I am such a damn idiot!" Draco seemed to scream at himself, and didn't seem to notice that the compartment door slid open to reveal a beautiful woman standing on the other side.
"Tell who you loved her?" the woman asked. "I know who ever it was should have been ecstatic to hear that coming from you Mr. Malfoy."
"Who are you? And how do you know me? And why are you messing in my business?" he asked. He was sure that this woman would leave now that he was playing twenty questions with her.
"I am someone that you should know who I am, I know you VERY well Draco because of some things we shared while I was in school, and I am messing in your business because I was once your business. Remember me now, Draco?" she knew she was teasing with his mind now and she enjoyed every minute of it.
"G-G-Ginny." Draco said more of a statement rather than asking her who she was.
"Yes." she said not even in an audible whisper. She never knew that seeing Draco after ten years would toy with her emotions so much.
"Is it really you or am I dreaming?"
"You are not dreaming, you are very much awake. So am I for that matter, when I heard your voice I thought it was too good to be true, but here you are sitting there. Draco, I think we need to talk," she said, getting straight to the point of her little visit to see him. She desperately needed to know what happened that Christmas.
"Sure. Go ahead, but let me tell you something first. I miss you and you are a sight for sore eyes. Believe me, Ginny. I miss you a lot."
"Draco, we can't do this again. That is why I need to talk to you. What happened between us?"
"I don't know, I mean that Christmas I was running a little late to see you because I wanted to get you the best present I could think of. But when I finally got to the Shack you were not there so I figured you had forgotten so I left."
"Draco, I didn't forget you. I thought that when you didn't show that you didn't care. So I left and never went back. I was going to tell you that night that I loved you, but you never showed and it broke my heart." She started to cry when she told him; never had she thought that she would be able to tell him how she really felt about him.
"Oh, Ginny. Don't cry. I am sorry I didn't come when we agreed to meet, but you don't understand how I wanted that present to be perfect for you. That is why it took me so long to find it." He couldn't believe that he was trying to explain for what he didn't do ten years ago. Could he be able to do it tonight because he still loved her with a passion and didn't want to see her go a second time?
"What was it then? You can tell me now."
"Let me ask you something first, Ginny. How is your life been going thus far?"
"OK, strange question to ask, but my life has been great! I have one of the greatest jobs ever, and I have a son who is the sweetest thing that could have ever happened to me." She said. Draco was heartbroken, she was married and she had a son. How could he have ever let her go before, maybe if he just picked any ring that she would be his and her son would be his son too. But what he didn't know was that her son was actually his son and that she never married anyone because she still loved Draco with all her heart. "Would you like to see a picture of him?"
"Yeah I would like to." he said, while she dug her wallet out to show him the only picture of Andy where he looked like his father. He was only four in this picture, so it was about six years out of date, but Ginny wanted to see if Draco could tell if Andy was his or not.
"He might have the red Weasley hair, but he has the looks of his father. And I am grateful for that or no one could tell he was his son."
"Who is his father? And he is adorable, I mean that, Gin. He is absolutely darling, just like you."
"Well, his father and I used to date, but apparently things didn't work out. After we went separate directions, I found out I was pregnant, and on the fifth of August I had Andy. I don't know what I would do without him in my life. He is the last part of his father I have to remember him bye." Draco could tell that she almost started crying when she was talking about Andy. Apparently it was hard being a single parent; hopefully he would never have to live like that.
"I take it that you were in love with his father?"
"More than in love, I was ready to marry him, but I don't know what happened between us. I really wish I knew. But I will tell you this, I still love his father, I probably always will."
"Well, I am sorry about that for you. I really am. I will tell you what I was getting you for Christmas, or rather show you, if you will tell me who Andy's dad is."
Ginny hesitated for a moment before she said, "Deal."
We could sit and talk about this all night long
And wonder why we didn't last
Yes they might be the best days
We will ever know
But we'll have to leave them in the past
So try not to think about what might have been
'Cause that was then
And we have taken different roads
We can't go back again
There's no use giving in
And there's no way to know
What might have been
Draco fiddled around in his coat pocket and found that ring box that he carried with him everywhere. He was to hurt to take it back to the jewelers and to afraid to find Ginny and tell her how he still feels.
"Draco, I don't know how I am going to say this. Especially to you."
"What? I mean as long as Andy isn't the spawn of Crabbe or Goyle, I will be ok with the name you give me. But showing you this is kind of hurting me inside, I meant to give you this a long time ago." He handed her the ring box and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Oh, Draco." she cried.
"Ginny, I know that you have moved on with your life and your love, but I really did mean to give this to you that Christmas. I just wish you still loved me the way I still love you." Tears crept into her eyes.
"Draco, I don't know how to tell you this, but I never fell in love with anyone else but you and I still love you."
Then it dawned on Draco that Ginny said that she fell for Andy's father and never got over him. Could it be that he, Draco Malfoy, was Andy's father. "S-s-so I am Andy's father?"
"Draco, I couldn't tell you before. I just didn't know how to tell you. Please forgive me?"
"But Ginny, when?" he asked, his head reeling over the shock that he is a father.
"Well, I found out two days before Christmas that I was about three weeks pregnant and I was going to tell you then, but we didn't meet up. I was also going to tell you that I loved you at Christmas. I know that wouldn't have been much of a gift, telling you I was pregnant, but I wanted it to be special." She was starting to cry when she told him about it not being much of a present, but Andy was the best gift that Ginny could ever have asked for.
"Ginny, you know you could have come and told me! I would have been right there for you two, and you know that I would never have left you alone if you were pregnant." Draco was almost in tears about finding out he was a father. "Ginny, that box in your hand, I want you to open it. OK?"
"OK." was all she was able to whisper. She already knew what was in the box it was a ring. One that Draco had gotten for her, the woman he loved, still loves. "Oh Draco. It is beautiful. But why did you keep this all these years?"
That same old look in your eyes
It's a beautiful night
I'm so tempted to stay
But too much time has gone by
We should just say goodbye
And turn and walk away
"I kept it because I knew that I didn't want to part with something that reminded me of the love I have for you. Ginny?" Draco asked her, she was sitting there with her hands in her lap admiring the princess cut diamond that he had gotten ten years ago, but had never given it to her.
"Yes?" She was almost in tears, she knew that she loved Draco so much that she would have married him without a ring, but seeing it sitting in that box was almost to much. She didn't know he cared that much for her.
"I know this is a little late, but.oh hell, how do I say this?"
"Say what?"
"Virginia Margaret Weasley, will you marry me?"
She just sat there in tears. Was this real, was he finally proposing? She didn't know whether it was for love or duty, did Draco feel as though since Andy was his that he needed to be the father that he never had.
"Draco, before I say my answer, why do you want to marry me?" she wasn't able to talk above a whisper
"I want to marry you because I love you. I have always loved you. I WILL always love you, and I want to be there with you everyday for the rest of our lives. I want to take care of our son, and maybe have more kids with you. Ginny, I want to marry you for you. I love you so much." Draco said in a voice that meant what he said, and it was also reflected in his silver eyes.
"Draco. Yes, I will marry you. And I love you too. And just between you and me, Andy is really looking forward to a little brother or sister, he even told me so this morning."
Draco slid the ring on her left hand ring finger and kissed her lips ever so gently.
"Well, I think that can wait until a later time, or at least until we are off the train." That was the first time all evening that either one of them laughed at anything and now that they were back together and going to start a family of their own, it would not be the only laughs shared between them.
"Draco, there is one thing I need to know." She said later that night when the dinner was over and they headed back toward the platform at Hogsmeade hand in hand. Little did they know it, they were heading right toward the Shrieking Shack
"And that would be what my darling?"
"I wonder what it would have been like what might have been if we actually met that Christmas at the Shack."
"You know what, I bet it would be nothing like it is now. We wouldn't be walking to the place where everything happened to us, both the good and the bad, we would probably be at home with our kids and we wouldn't have found that lost love that we once shared. Hell, the love that we share now." At that last bit of his little speech, he opened the door to the Shrieking Shack and led her to the bedroom that they had met several times in and they started creating a whole new generation of Malfoy's. Each would be very different than the others, but each would learn how to live, laugh, learn, and love in the world that was so great for their parents.
Neither Draco nor Ginny would ever question what might have been ever again, because they knew that they were not missing anything out of their life, they had each other now and that was all that was important.
And try not to think about what might have been
'Cause that was then
And we have taken different roads
We can't go back again
There's no use giving in
And there's no way to know
What might have been
No we'll never know
What might have been
A/N…that is it for this one! Hope you liked it
Jenna Kat