Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the story line...sadly. JKR owns everything - including the characters, spells, and the entire world of Harry Potter. I wonder if I could buy it from her for a dollar?
Thanks to my wonderful, wonderful beta - dragonsangel68.
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Chapter 11
Ginny woke happy. Happier than she'd been in weeks. Her son was snuggled to her front and Draco was snuggled to her back. She would have thought it to have all been a dream, but she could feel Draco's warm breath through the satin on her shoulder. She stroked her son's head and smiled to herself.
She had to get over her giddiness. This was serious business. She had to have a serious talk with Draco and she couldn't do that with a big, stupid smile on her face.
She gathered Jayden up in her arms and rolled onto her back. Lifting Draco's arm off of her stomach, she rolled away from him and placed Jayden where she had previously been.
She felt the cool wood floor beneath her feet as she made her way to the bathroom. She used the loo and got into the shower. She quietly returned to the bedroom to find fresh underwear and her bra. She didn't know why, but she just felt like lounging in her favorite nightshirt while still being fresh from the shower. She wrapped her hair up in a towel like she always did on days she didn't have anywhere pressing to be and went into the kitchen. She tiptoed past Nippy, who had made herself a spot underneath a hutch in the dining room.
Ginny began making Jayden's breakfast as well as something for herself and for Draco. Just as she finished serving everything onto plates, Draco appeared with Jayden cradled in his arms. He had the forethought to look sheepish.
"Hi."
"Hi. Why don't you put Jayden in his high chair and I'll get breakfast served up."
"Alright, I can do that. How does this thing work?"
"There are levers on the bottom that release the tray. Pull those and pull the tray out a bit before you try to put him in. You fasten the little safety belt and then pull the levers to push the tray back up. Don't push it so far back up that he doesn't have any room to move."
"Alright." Draco balanced Jayden on his hip and did what Ginny asked, but it didn't turn out as it was supposed to. "How do you manage this with one hand? Oh, bugger it." Draco took out his wand and the high chair moved of it's own accord. He put Jayden in, the belt fastened itself and the try moved up a proper distance.
"Took you long enough to figure out the easy way."
"Why didn't you just tell me to use my wand?"
"You're resourceful. You need to figure out some of these things on your own. I had to."
The last remark stung a little, and Ginny knew it. It was meant to sting. "We have to talk. You know that, right?"
"Yes, I know. Let's have breakfast first, and then we'll take Jayden somewhere. Then we can talk alone - ok?"
"We'll take him to the Burrow so my parents can see him. They haven't seen him in weeks. They'll be thrilled to have him. I'll owl them right away. Your owl is still here, correct?"
"Yes, she is."
Ginny went to the small desk that had previously housed all of Draco's work-related things and pulled out a piece of parchment. Draco summoned the owl and it landed on the desk just as Ginny finished scribbling the note. She attached it to the owl's outstretched leg and it flew off to deliver the note. Ginny returned to her breakfast.
Jayden was pretending his highchair was the best drum in all of the land rather than eating his breakfast.
"Draco! DRACO! Make him eat some of his breakfast, please."
Draco took the spoon from his son and began the arduous, not to mention messy, task of trying to get a small child to eat applesauce.
After all was said and done, Ginny and Jayden had both managed to eat most of their meal. However, Draco was covered in a good portion of Jayden's breakfast that hadn't made it into the child's mouth. Ginny was almost falling out of her chair with amusement at the sight before her. Draco had applesauce in his hair, on his face, and dripping down his chest.
"Serves you right, Malfoy."
"Hush."
"I'll clean him up, you go ahead and eat," Ginny offered.
"No, I'm not very hungry at the moment." Draco stood and began to leave the room. "I'm going to take a shower, if you don't mind."
"Fine."
"Oh and Ginny?"
She turned to look at Draco. "Yeah?"
"It's Draco, not Malfoy. Malfoy is merely my surname." He glided from the room and towards the bathroom. "A surname I plan to give her, if I have my way."
Ginny packed some of Jayden's things and began to prepare for whatever might befall her in the next few hours.
"Da!" Jayden pointed at Draco while looking at Ginny.
Ginny turned to look at Draco and then looked back at Jayden. "Yes, Jayden, that's Da." Jayden clapped his pudgy little hands together in happiness.
"Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-"
Draco's mouth hung open a little. "Is he calling me Da?"
"Yes, Draco, that's only natural considering you are his father, no matter how negligent."
"How does he know?"
"I showed him your pictures every day. I show him pictures of all his relatives, but mostly you. Even if his Da's not around, he should know who his Da is."
Draco was speechless. He walked across the living room and hauled Ginny up into his arms. "I'm so, so sorry for what I've done. We're going to talk about it and figure out how I can make it up to you."
"It's not me you should be worried about. It's Jayden."
"No, it's you. He knows who I am, thanks to you, and he seems perfectly happy to let me pick up where I left off. It's you who's going to hold the grudge and you who I have to figure out my relationship with. Kids are easy, adults are the difficult ones."
"You might be right. Should we go? My parents are expecting us."
Draco grabbed the bag Ginny had made for Jayden and hoisted it onto his shoulder. Ginny grasped her own bag by the handle and picked up her son. Draco wrapped his arm around both of them and pulled out his wand. With a crack, they were gone.
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