A/N: you all know how much I love D and G together, so here they are. A bit of what is going on--on the parents' side. THIS IS THE SECOND CHAPTER POSTED TODAY! READ 16 FIRST!
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Day 3
Malfoy Estate
Easter Sunday
5:10am
Draco laid awake, staring at the ceiling going over the information that was given to the four of them last night.
Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore had said they had definitely found magical traces at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and that it was Nott's signature, and most likely a portkey. What they had used wasn't known but it was affirmative that there was a portkey there and it fit the area that his daughter and Brian were last seen. James had said he was sitting on the steps of the castle talking to some girls and had seen them in the distance at the edge of the forest walking towards the school…then they turned around and walked back right around the bend and he couldn't see them anymore. He wouldn't have known it was his cousin and Brian if one of the girls he was talking too nodded down that way and asked if those two, Brian and Marissa, were an item.
`So, at least they were seen alive and healthy…but what made them go back?' Draco wondered, his arms under his head, feeling weary from head to toe. He and Ginny had been sleeping in fits during the past two nights. The previous night he had talked with Harry about the note and talked to Pansy about Nott's place in Australia. Nothing she could offer them helped. She only knew about his home in Australia...and she still felt it was dangerous for her and Amy if she came back from hiding out in Romania, so she had floo'd Amy and had a private talk with her about what was going on with the Potter's and Malfoy's. Draco found it odd that here he was a temporary guardian for his ex-girlfriend's daughter.
All of them knew that it would be too good to be true if Nott was holding them in Austraila, but he honestly had no other thoughts. And it was driving him mad.
He could see the affect it was having on the younger children too. Erin had woken up twice last night with nightmares and Ginny had to lay with her in bed, with Amy on a cot in the same room, to calm her down. Devon walked around with a scowl on his face and Derek and Dixon just seemed lost and were actually NOT fighting for once. Ginny seemed to be functioning on auto pilot, making meals, constantly cleaning the same surface over and over, occasionally shutting herself in Marissa's room.
He knew Marissa was alive and well. He wasn't sure until the early morning hours the day after they disappeared. It was quite the opposite feeling he had after confirming with his children, the Potter's and Janet that she hadn't been seen IN the school since classes had let out. And by eight that evening he and Harry knew something was terribly wrong, a feeling of intense worry had been draped over their houses and when Draco finally realized in his own way that she was fine, it took a bit of the weight off his shoulders.
Right now, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he moved his arms, wrapping them around Ginny who was quietly awake probably thinking about everything like he was.
"What're we doing today?" she finally whispered, her hand absentmindedly making circles on his chest.
"I made a bunch of notes when I talked to Pansy yesterday; I hope we could all go through those. Maybe even get to go through their rooms at school again…," he let his voice drift off, not liking the feeling that he couldn't control any of this. The Ministry had stepped in and had people at every known magical community in England and Scotland, questioning anyone, everyone about Nott.
"I didn't find anything when we got to go through them on Saturday. I'm sure there's nothing there; this wasn't something they were planning on doing." Ginny's voice was quiet and scratchy from the three hour of sleep she managed to snag last night. Draco's hand came up to his chest and grabbed her fingers.
"Dumbledore has put out alerts and word to all wizarding schools here in Europe and the three in America…though they have the whole week off for Easter so who knows when they will actively look for any sign of Nott and two English teens."
"I don't think he'd take them to another school, do you?" Ginny looked up at him, seeing the circles under his eyes and discontent that was apparent, to her, all over his face.
"Not really. He probably secured a house somewhere…something away from everyone else so he could move around without anyone really noticing him. Pansy said he liked older houses and he'd fix them up with his brother then sell them. I just wish we could read Marissa's mind and know where she is." The vice like grip on Ginny's hand was the only emotion he gave away about how much this was really bothering him. As she had cried six or seven times since Friday night, he hadn't shed one tear. She was certain it would happen, if not now, when they found her.
Pushing herself up on her side she kissed Draco's neck and settled her head under his jaw.
"I wish the same thing. Have they made any progress on Nott's note with tracing?"
She felt him shake his head, the grip on her hand being forcibly relaxed.
"Another day they should be able to narrow down the traces and at least get us a region where it was sent from and the kind of floo powder used."
There was more than one kind of floo powder. If you had money, you could always buy the most commonly used which covered the use of anything being able to floo to the more expensive fine powder that could be used for expensive objects that enabled you to safely send that item from one place to another. There were many kinds, and colors in between. Certain ones for animals, restricted ones for criminals…and each Floo Factory had their own unique signature, so the Malfoy's and Potter's were anxiously awaiting news on that end.
"I don't want to go to dinner tonight," Ginny murmured. They all were supposed to go to The Burrow for a nice Easter dinner and so far no one had cancelled. Most likely for the reason that Molly thought if everyone was together, it would be therapeutic. `Maybe for her', Draco thought. He didn't want to leave the house "just in case" and he was pretty sure the Potter's felt the same.
Thinking about the Potter's brought his mind back to the duel and the words Marissa had spoken to him hours later about it. That whole scene, that whole rivalry thing with Potter seemed so miniscule and unimportant right now he actually felt ashamed for having felt that way at all.
"Is your mother coming over today?"
"Before lunch she said," Draco answered feeling her kiss his neck and her cool hand slowly sliding downwards. His breath hitched in his chest and he wondered if it was so wrong to think about something else for a few minutes, something that didn't have to do with their daughter gone missing.
"Draco…," Ginny whispered, her hand still and he lifted his head peering down at her upturned face and he saw
that she, like him, needed to feel something GOOD after the past three days of the most awful thoughts running through
their heads. Reaching down he lifted her effortlessly onto his responding body and kissed her, with all the feeling he
could muster. Fifteen years of marriage; seventeen years of knowing each other had given them the knowledge to know
exactly what the other needed just from a touch or sound. And this time was not the time to be slow, gentle and loving.
With an impatient wave of his hand he locked their door and set up the silencing charm and his hands went back to
tugging her nightshirt off as her hands worked on his pants, yanking, pulling and grabbing at clothes; throwing them
off the bed that was slowly becoming a war zone. Him on top as she pushed off his boxers, her on top as he yanked her
pajama pants down and flung them to the side. He heard her pleading with him to move his hands faster and finally
resorting to magic her knickers landed on top of her pants and with a surprising move he flipped her over, barely
waiting until she was lying back fully on the bed when he pushed in to her.
Ginny grabbed him hard around his thighs and challenged him with the strength of her thrusts meeting his. She wanted to
drive all feeling but him from her mind and body…and for a bit it was working. Her heart was full of him, her pulse
pounding out any doubts, his mouth absorbing her cries until he couldn't stand it anymore and tore his lips from
hers. Feeling her mouth against his neck and the reverberation of her cries was his undoing and with an
uncharacteristic yell he gave her what she wanted and pushed into her as hard as he could, exploding them both into a
million pieces…and as he gasped for breath against the smoothness of her shoulder a distant memory curled it's way
into his conscious…the night they conceived Marissa more than fifteen years ago. And to top that night off he
didn't even know he was going to be a father until he returned from fighting those Death Eaters months later. He
swore to himself he would NEVER go away like that again, and now Marissa was gone.
What he and Ginny had just done, reminding him of that night in his flat, just brought back the realization of how much he did love Marissa and all his children and now he felt like a failure for not being able to find his eldest child. All of these thoughts took form in a haze of emotions and for only the fourth time since Ginny had known him he cried. He buried his head in her shoulder and pillow and let all the stress go. Only Ginny's constant murmurings and relaxing hand movements calmed him to the point where he could regain control.
And after fifteen years of marriage Ginny knew what she needed to do now to unite forces with Draco. Coffee. And then getting back to the task at hand.
"I'm going down to start coffee and go over Nott's note one more time," she whispered in his ear and he rolled off of her, kissing her near her ear and sighed, "I love you" as he did so. She laid a hand on his back and repeated it softly in his ear. After a quick trip to the bathroom she got dressed and let him recapture his control in the privacy of their bedroom.
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Ginny sat at the kitchen table staring at Nott's letter again. Gracing the table with his letter sat two cups of coffee and a plate of grapes. As soon as the Malfoy's had received the original letter via floo, Draco had made two copies and delivered the letter to the Ministry where Dumbledore was now an advisor to the Ministry for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Well Malfoy, looks as if your little speech from Hogsmeade has worn off. I want my daughter and I know Pansy has entrusted her to your care while she tries to hide from me. You have mine; and I have yours. And as a bonus I have Potter's boy too. I'm giving you until Tuesday (5 days should be enough time to think about what you REALLY want to do) to make your decision. Meet me with my daughter at noon, in Kerry, Ireland at the Valentia Harbor, slip 9. Tell Potter I'll give him his son at the same location for the sum of a million galleons. He should be able to afford it. I don't want you or Potter to be there…only that Muggle that married Weasley to deliver them. You don't get your daughter if I don't get mine.
Nott
`Why Ireland? Why there in Ireland, Nott?' Ginny drummed her fingers on the table and took a sip of her coffee almost spilling it down her shirt when she heard a soft noise at the door. Looking up she saw Draco standing there, buttoning the sleeve of his shirt, his hair wet from his shower.
"Hey." Ginny reached out her hand and he took it, looking down at the table where the note was. "Do you have a world map available?" she asked him and watched with a flick of his wrist, one appear on the table. He had many talents, and a minor knowledge of wandless magic being on of them. Something she hadn't been able to do except for the basic silencio and accio spells. Feeling him squeeze her fingers in silent gratitude for knowing what he needed upstairs he sat down across from her and watched her run her fingers along the coast of Ireland.
"Why here? Why not HERE?" Ginny asked quietly, running her finger along the coast of Ireland moving from west coast to east coast. "I think he is totally off our lovely little English/Scottish island," Ginny said sarcastically, resting her chin in her hand.
"And not in Ireland either," Draco said softly, looking at the map, his coffee, then up at his wife. Meeting his gaze she could sense he was edgy and wasn't in any mood to just sit. Leaning across the map, she grabbed his arm and held on.
"Go do what you need to do."
"I can't leave you here with five children to deal with by yourself," Draco said.
"Hermione said she was going to come over with her kids later; she thought Harry was going to try and go through Nott's flat he had in Hogsmeade. I figured you were going with him. We'll be fine here. Really, Draco." Ginny squeezed his arm harder and he nodded. Bending down he kissed the top of her hand, then looked at her steadily.
"You know…upstairs…the charm," he hedged with a note of caution in his voice.
"I know," Ginny whispered. "I'm not bothered…are you?" she watched him stand up and walk over to her side, pulling her up and into his arms.
"No," he pressed his face into her hair. "I'm going over to Harry's then onto Nott's. I'll contact you if we find anything…let me know about your mother's."
"Okay," Ginny sighed and reluctantly let him go, letting her lips linger on his before he apparated to the Potter's.
Ginny sat down heavily in her chair and buried her face into her hands, taking deep calming breaths.
`Please,' Ginny begged to a higher entity, `Let me find my baby…I'll do anything….'
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The Potter Estate-earlier that morning…
5:19am
Hermione stirred feeling a heavy arm draped over her waist and the rise and fall of Harry's chest against her back, almost distracting her from dreading yet another day.
She stared at the wall where each of her child's baby pictures hung. Each one looking a bit different but so much like each other at the same time. Brian was the biggest baby, being born full term. Her eyes welled up with tears as she stared into those oh so familiar brown eyes and watched him move his head, mouth opening and closing in the picture.
`This wasn't supposed to happen. No one was supposed to be able to take my child from me,' Hermione thought angrily. `I'm going to find that bastard.'
"Hey," a voice came behind her ear and Hermione twisted herself around to see Harry staring at her. "Don't think too hard over there," he gave her a small smile and she couldn't help but smile back.
"How'd you know I was awake?" she turned onto her side and searched his sleepy eyes.
"You were all tense. You aren't when you sleep." Harry ran a hand up and down her arm then paused on her shoulder. "Do you mind if I go to Nott's with Draco this morning? We're going to search Nott's flat for ourselves."
"That's fine. I'm going to Ginny's later and we're going to use their library to research portkeys and see if we can find anymore clues from his note," Hermione answered quietly, but Harry could hear the note of determination in there. Back to the library; it had never failed her before.
"We're going to find him, Harry," Hermione touched his face and rubbed the tips of her fingers along his stubble.
"Yes, we will," he agreed and bent forward touching his lips to hers. "He'll be okay," he assured her in between kisses.
"'Course he will; with Potter and Granger in him," Hermione's voice hitched. Harry had yet to see her cry and had been waiting for it. He saw the tears, but they always stayed in check. He heard the tremor in her voice but yet, she didn't break down. Harry already had eight hours earlier as they struggled with the thought that they wouldn't be together as a family for this holiday. And as he had been going through the motions of getting ready for bed, he saw a picture of his son in his Quidditch robes; the one Hermione hung on the wall above Harry's dresser and he just fell apart right there. Right as Hermione walked in the door, to find him sitting on the bed his face in his hands, glasses thrown to the side. She had held him and they talked until they fell asleep…bringing them to this point.
"And a Malfoy next to him; no one stands a chance," Harry whispered against her forehead and he held her, stroking her back as she let the first tears come.
"I miss him. I want him here with me…with us," her voice cracked as she struggled to stop.
"Me too. Me too," Harry pulled back a bit and wiped the tears off her cheeks, kissing her because he was still not quite sure after being married for over sixteen years what to do when she did cry, which was never that often.
But Hermione knew and she fell into his kiss, rolling herself on top of him and with a little nudge of her hips she told him what she needed. With a few creative hand movements, Harry put up the charms around their room and took off what clothes they didn't need at the moment. Slowly, she explored him, her hands wandering from his cheeks to his legs as if memorizing him, yet he be taken from her too. He felt the gentle urgency of her movements, and he let his lips rest under her ear as she rose up above him.
"Hermione," he whispered in her ear, feeling her pause and shiver. Harry reached up and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the tears that were left behind as he held her tightly and together, in their own slow loving way they poured out their feelings, giving each other hope and peace even if it was just for a little while.
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Nott's Flat
8am
Easter Sunday
"The more I am in this place, the more I just want to burn it down," Harry said tightly as he rifled through Nott's sparsely populated desk. Nothing. He slammed the drawer and turned to the table in front of a beat up old chair. There sat the ugliest, scarred muggle type coffee table Harry had ever seen in front of a brown, tweed reclining chair. He actually performed scourgifying charm on his hands when he finished touching the desk. How could anyone live somewhere so dirty?
"Tell me about it," Draco mumbled looking in the kitchen, opening cabinets and pulling out dishes…not being to careful about it. CRASH!
"Oops," Draco sarcastically voiced and Harry shook his head in amusement as he rifled through some dirty cups and a napkin on the table.
"Careful in there," Harry said loudly, tossing a magazine on the floor and seeing a piece of paper came fluttering out from the corner of his eye.
CRASH! THUNK!
"Have to hate those slippery fingers, and I can't remember the spell to clean it up either." Draco banged the cabinet door shut.
"That's more like it, Malfoy," Harry replied bending down to pick up the paper. He turned it over, his eyes running down the receipt.
"Hey, I found something." Harry turned and walked towards the kitchen, smacking right into Draco as he turned the corner.
"Sorry…look, it's a receipt at a toy store in London…for a lifelike cat," Harry looked up at Draco and
watched him read quickly through it.
"Portkey?" Draco mumbled and Harry nodded. "Marissa loves cats. I wonder how he knew that?"
"Well…I'm sure Erin might have mentioned it to Amy who could've mentioned it to Pansy or even to her father for some reason," Harry deduced watching Draco pocket the receipt dated two days before their kids' disappearance.
"I don't see anything else in here. Nothing in the bedroom, nothing in the drawers. No more magazines." Harry turned in a slow circle his green eyes taking in every detail of the flat. Draco didn't say anything and Harry turned to look over his shoulder and saw him staring out the window. For a moment he didn't say anything, not quite sure how to comfort another man, let alone Draco Malfoy.
"Let's go take that receipt to the Ministry and see if we can find Dumbledore. Maybe…," Harry let his voice trail off knowing that it wouldn't reveal where his son was being held. Draco just nodded thinking the same thing and as he pocketed the receipt he looked across the doorway and saw Harry watching him. For a moment neither one said anything, the pain not being masked in their eyes or on their faces about what they were going through. Never being able to hold Harry's intense gaze for very long, he looked down and performed a scourgifying charm on his hands.
Harry cleared his throat, clearly unsure what to say of the "moment" that passed between them.
"Ready? Maybe he'll let us into the forest this time and we can walk around there ourselves." Harry pocketed his wand and with a nod of agreement, both apparated to the Ministry in search of Professor Dumbledore.
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Hogwarts Castle
Forbidden Forest
10:25am
"Dammit…this is really beginning to piss me off!" Harry stormed around the bush where the portkey was. He could certainly feel that there was something magical here, but he couldn't hone in on the waves to see where the portkey had taken Brian and Marissa.
"I know," Draco said simply kicking at the ground with his shoe feeling Harry's anger and once again, glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of that powerful force anymore.
They stood there under the cloudy sky and slightly chilly air, each thinking of the next step to be taken in finding their children. They had met with Dumbledore, after waiting for him to arrive and showed him the receipt. He said that he would send someone out to the store to contact the owner, who was probably at home on Easter Sunday to see if he knew anything about Nott; if Nott had said anything about the animal. Harry and Draco had wanted to go and talk to the owner but Dumbledore had refused, saying that they were both so emotionally invested that it would be hard for them to question the toy store owner properly and not scare him away.
Harry walked around in circles muttering to himself, occasionally pausing and glancing up at the castle. To anyone watching, whether they knew him or not (which rarely happened in the magical world) you could see he was agitated and growing more so by the minute. Draco sat on a log watching him pace and felt, or rather knew he needed to say something. Neither one was much of a talker about their feelings. They got along alright most of the time. Sometimes they would get into arguments like their younger days but being adults now at the age of 34, and remembering the Duel, they knew when an argument was not going to gain anything and usually fell silent, knowing they rarely agreed on anything so why keep up the bickering? Now, Draco knew he was going to have to talk to Harry about what he felt the first night the children disappeared.
"Do you know what your son is thinking most of the time?" Draco asked out of the blue, surprising Harry who stopped and stared at him.
"Why?" Harry questioned, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets and staring down at Draco who was looking past him, towards the Quidditch Pitch.
"Just answer the question first," Draco asked in a subdued voice and waited for Harry to process what he was going to say.
"Well, I was a teen once, albeit not in as normal of an environment as his…," Harry began tentatively.
"No, what I mean is do you ever just know by looking at him how he is feeling or what he might be
thinking?"
"Sometimes. Yeah. When he was younger it was easier because he couldn't mask his emotions very well…as he gets older it's harder. Why do you ask?" Harry realized that this conversation might become interesting, especially with Draco initiating it so he took a seat on a fallen log and watched Draco who was still looking out over the grounds.
"I can with Marissa…but as you say it gets harder as they get older. I taught her Legilimency when she first started here and we'd practice on each other." Draco fell silent remembering him and his daughter sitting in his office discussing the benefits and problems of Legilimency and him patiently waiting for her to have her first breakthrough into his unguarded mind (all memories she shouldn't be seeing either in his pensieve or pushed way back into a place she couldn't "break into" at the young age of 11).
"I haven't taught him that since I wasn't fully taught it myself," Harry acknowledged, reaching down to pluck up a blade of grass, immediately feeling the slight vibration of magical energy. He closed his fist around the blade, willing the magic to explain where it might have taken his son.
"She learned pretty quick…she was twelve when she finally reached my mind. Actually surprised me, which is good in the grand scheme of things. She was so excited and wanted to try it out on her mother. I had to sit her down and explain again that this was something to be used in emergency situations, or in the future depending on what career she wanted and that then it would come in handy. The only person she was allowed to use it on was me. Well, soon after that…," Draco paused, feeling slightly embarrassed by what he was about to reveal, but it was essential that Harry understand the background before he jumped right out with his story.
"Yeah?" Harry could see Draco was uncomfortable and was now curious as to what he was going to say.
"Ginny knows this, but if it goes any further I may have to hurt you…."
"I'm sure you could anytime you wanted," Harry quipped.
"BUT," Draco shot him a glance telling him to keep quiet, "ever since she was 13 we could have brief conversations using legilimency. Nothing huge, just a few brief thoughts, typical "how was your day" or "don't tell your mother what I got her for Christmas"…just things to keep her mind sharp, and mine too, I suppose. I found though as the years went by, up until the past few months I could get a good sense for how she was feeling based on her body language, the way she looked at me when we talked, but she was also getting better at shutting off her thoughts from me. I'm sure if I persisted I could have pulled her thoughts out, but I'm not one to do that. But, anyway…," Draco glanced at Harry who was watching him interestedly, his eyes bright behind his glasses. "I called her to my office after Potions class on Thursday, asking her what she was doing after class. I have never done that…they have their own lives to live and mold while at school and I made a promise to my children that I wouldn't meddle unless I needed to. I had to ask for some reason and she said she was going down to Hagrid's. I just had this strange sensation there was something more…I think because I knew she was going with Brian, but she didn't tell me that. She said "a few friends". So, when she didn't come home with Derek and the others I knew immediately something was wrong."
Draco saw Harry nodding out of the corner of his eye as he stood up and began pacing slowly at the edge of the forest, staring down at the ground, collecting his thoughts and trying to say what he needed to without feeling stupid.
"Well, later that night I was sitting with Ginny in the kitchen and as I was looking out the window I got this feeling she was fine. That Brian was fine…I figured if she was fine so was Brian because if he wasn't, I know she wouldn't be feeling like everything was going well. It was like she was in my head for a split second, dropped off that thought and then was gone. Later that night, or I guess I should say later that morning, as I came up to bed Devon was still up which I wasn't surprised about. I stopped in and talked to him a bit; telling him I truly believed that Marissa and Brian were unharmed and he actually said he got the same feeling. I looked down at the paper he was holding at his desk and saw it was a drawing. He doesn't usually draw, Marissa having inherited that from Ginny but Devon is a fair artist…it was a landscape picture and he handed it to me…saying it just came to his head and maybe it would help."
With that Draco reached into his back pocket and tossed the folded up piece of paper to Harry who flicked it open.
"I didn't tell Ginny or anyone but the more I think about it, why couldn't have Devon known? If I had that thought that Marissa was fine, why couldn't Devon? I taught him too and he and Marissa are close, more so than Erin and her own twin brothers are."
Draco fell silent, not quite believing he had just said so much…not being the one to talk much it was unusual for him
to open up to anyone except his family about certain matters.
"I think, Draco, that both you and Devon had some kind of connection from her. I don't doubt that…you've always been close to her. I've noticed Brian taking more of an interest in Marissa lately too." With that comment Harry looked up at Draco who gave a slight nod of agreement. "So, it wouldn't surprise me that she would be able to let you know how he was doing too…it makes me feel good that she can do that…with you…actually, since I haven't heard anything…," now it was Harry's turn to trail off as he studied the drawing feeling a lump rise in his throat, wondering what his son was doing. `Probably sleeping,' Harry guessed looking at his watch: 10:45am.
Harry stared at the drawing, willing the tears to move away. `No way am I going to lose it in front of Malfoy,' he told himself sternly, looking at the hill and trees in the picture. He peered closer at the trees, noticing the particular shading that Devon had done. Every branch had a darker hue where it attached to the trunk. `They look so familiar', Harry brought the picture closer and studied it.
"I've seen these trees before," Harry said quietly and Draco stopped his pacing, spinning around to face Harry.
"Where?"
"America…you'll have to ask Hermione where because it all ran together after awhile for me." Harry handed the paper back to Draco and as if by silent, mutual agreement they apparated back to the Potter house, where Harry's daughters were out planting flowers in the front garden. He hugged each of them and Draco smiled at them, noticing that Harry's children too were subdued. Walking in the front door, they found Hermione talking on the phone to her parents. Quickly hanging up after seeing the look on Harry's face she turned to him and he silently handed her the picture Devon drew.
"Do you recognize those trees?" Harry asked pointing them out. Hermione tilted it towards the window letting more light fall on it.
"I believe they're birch trees. We saw these when we went to visit Washington DC and stayed near the Chesapeake Bay…who drew this?" Hermione looked at Draco, knowing none of her children could. None of them could draw as well as the Malfoys.
"Devon did. Said the picture came to him the night Marissa and Brian disappeared," Draco explained taking the picture back and pocketing it.
"So, you're thinking that he had a vision or something?" Hermione asked so seriously that Draco couldn't help but to give her the abbreviated version of what he told Harry.
"I haven't even said this to Ginny, I just told her I knew she was ok, and she believed me. She knows that Marissa and I have always…connected on some level, for some reason." Draco shifted uncomfortably then realized he should probably go show the picture to Ginny. At first he felt he was protecting her from getting too excited, but now that reason seemed insufficient especially since the Potter's knew about the reason behind the pictures.
He bid them farewell, and promised to get in touch later. Quickly he apparated back home to a still sleepy household, with Ginny arguing via floo with her mother about coming to dinner. She glanced up at him and he nodded towards his office and she nodded back, knowing to meet him in there when she was done.
Minutes later, and an argument won to have dinner at their place she joined him in his office and shut the doors behind her, knowing he was going to talk about something not meant for their children's ears, whom could be heard moving around upstairs. Ginny had gone up to wake them up saying that the Potter's were coming over at 11 and Grandma Malfoy a bit later for lunch.
Draco patted the seat next to him on his loveseat and he proceeded to re-tell the story to her, that he had told Harry
and showed her the picture. Ginny wasn't angry and she didn't shed any tears; nodding at all the right places
she said she was glad he told her. They talked for a few more minutes about their mornings and were interrupted by
knocking…the children were up and wanted to know if they could eat.
Life didn't stop for anyone or anything, as the overseas owl verified when he flew to the window later that day, with a piece of parchment tied to his leg, with an old piece of string.
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A/N: I hope to have the next chapter up soon…again from Draco and Harry's POV! And from the kids. Thanks!
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