Until The End Of Time -
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Chapter 2: Losing My Ground
Ten points (and maybe a sneak peak at the next chapter) to anyone that can name where my chapter title(s), and story title, come from. They're all named after songs. Not all, such as chapter 1, are named after recent songs/artists though.
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"Oh my Gods. Oh my Gods. Oh my Gods." Ginny chanted endlessly as she began to hyperventilate in the kitchen. After Silas had said that he and the man had the same eyes, she'd quickly escaped back into the kitchen muttering about having to find something to clean the food up with, when in actuality she just needed to get away from him. As soon as she'd handed Silas off to an apologetic Trishelle, she began to have a panic attack. She was completely oblivious to Joy standing in front of her attempting to calm her down. Right now, there was no calming down.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" Joy snapped loudly, clapping her hands in front of Ginny's face. This caught Ginny's attention, but she still couldn't catch her breath, "You need to breathe. Silas needs his mother, so you can't suffocate, okay?"
Ginny nodded, closing her eyes she attempted deep breaths, managing a few short shuddering ones. All it resulted in was tears and hiccups, "Gods, Joy. Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. How could you not tell me?" She sent an accusing look at her friend, before shaking her head, remembering that Joy herself only had the name of a company, not its representative. "Six years ago he broke my heart. When I showed up to try and tell him I was pregnant, he didn't even let me get the words out. He threw money in a sock at me like I were a house elf or a common whore! Now he's standing in my restaurant, with our son in the kitchen, and I can't tell if he's so dense that he hasn't realized it, or just doesn't want anything to do with either of us."
"You didn't really give him a chance, Ginny." Joy said softly, curling her hands around the panicking redhead's shoulders to stop her pacing, "You ran away before he could say anything." Joy watched defeat creep on Ginny's face as the latter hung her head in shame, "Why don't you and he go talk at your flat? I'll take care of things here, and bring Silas by later tonight, alright?"
"No. No, no, no. I'm not ready for that!" Ginny said, immediately panicking again as she shook her head back and forth frantically. "And what if the things I say ruin our chance at this investor?"
"First, he's part owner. There are two owners, so they have to make the decision jointly. And if he's a good businessman, he would put aside his personal issues if it means making money. Second, you're ready for this. You have to be. You had to know this would happen sooner or later. And while I'm sure you wish it were much later, it's insignificant now. You have to do this. If not for yourself, for Silas." She knew she went a bit low using Silas as bait to get Ginny to do this, but she knew it was the only way.
Ginny was silent for a minute, before she sighed. She blinked back tears before she moved away from Joy. She shook her head softly again as she realized what she was about to do, and took a deep breath. "Alright." She said softly, before she went out into the restaurant. She looked around, trying to spot the blonde hair among the few people left still eating dessert, but couldn't. She felt relief, anger, and rejection swarm through her. She shook her head with a bitter chuckle, and turned to go back into the kitchen. Only she was faced with the hollow of a neck, a water drop slowly sliding around the curve to disappear into his robes. She slowly looked up and felt her breath hitch under the intense gaze of Draco Malfoy. She felt like she was 16 again, crushing on the rogue Slytherin that had helped the downfall of Voldemort by scheming with Dumbledore, Harry, and Snape to make it look like they'd killed Dumbledore when it'd really been a projection of sorts. She felt 18 again when she'd managed to seduce him onto the dance floor of a club, and leave him wanting more, so that he came back to her and chased her for weeks before falling into bed together. She felt 19 again, telling him she loved him. She felt 19 again, when he broke her heart. She felt 19 again, when she tried to tell him he was going to be a father and he slammed the door in her face. She felt 20 again, giving birth to Silas without Draco by her side. She felt 25, about to tell Draco that he is in fact a father. She felt 25, about to die.
"Looking for me?" Draco's smooth voice asked, thin lips curling into a sneer as he stared down at her.
Ginny nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, "We need to talk." She said, looking down and refusing to meet his gaze as she rattled off her address, "Apparate there. I'll be waiting if you want to talk." She said, before she herself Apparated to her flat. She immediately collapsed on the couch, dropping her head into her hands as she took deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart and queasy stomach. She jumped slightly as the sound of an Apparation filled her flat. She looked up slowly to look at his face, even though she didn't have to, to know what he was feeling. She could feel his rage before he even Apparated in. "Let me explain…"
"Explain?" Draco exploded, taking two steps towards Ginny, his cheeks reddening from anger, and his hands balling into tight fists. "Explain what? That that's my son?"
"I tried to tell you…"
"Bollocks! You obviously didn't try hard enough, Ginevra."
Ginny's expression of defeat immediately became one of rage that matched Draco's. She stood from the couch angrily, "I did! But you kept slamming the door in my face. Literally. The last time I tried was when you clearly told me that you never loved me, and was just in it to… what was it? Oh yes. 'Pop the cherry of the first Weasley girl in a generation'. You handed me a sock filled with money. In case you hadn't noticed, I wasn't your whore, and I certainly wasn't your house elf. I wasn't going to become the next Narcissa Malfoy, who Lucius only married because he wanted an heir. I wasn't going to subjectify my child to that kind of unloving environment. I wasn't going to subjectify myself to that either. I loved you, and you were just in it for a roll in the sack. For me, Silas was created from a place of love. I wasn't going to have you continuously clarify that he came from a mistake, not love. I'm not going to have you clarify that for my son."
"In case you're forgetting," Draco growled, roughly grabbing Ginny around her biceps, "without me, he wouldn't exist. You'd have nothing and no one if it weren't for me. Doesn't that give me a right to at least know that I have a child out there?"
"Are you deaf?" Ginny asked, roughly pushing Draco off of her, "I'm not going to have you turn my son into the Malfoy protégé and heir, okay? He's growing up normal. I'm not going to have him turn into a spoiled prat who uses women for his own personal reason, spinning all sorts of lies, and only being involved in himself. I'm not going to raise another you." Ginny spat as she stepped away from Draco, out of grabbing distance when she saw the dangerous glint reenter his eyes, turning them a murky grey.
"He's my son too. I can take him away from you as easily as I gave him to you."
"What were his first words? When did he have his first cold? When did his first tooth come in? When did it first fall out? What day was he born? What's his middle name? What's his favorite sweet? What's his favorite food? Toy? Story? Movie? Lullaby? You have no idea. He's not your son. And if you so much as talk to him without me around, I will unleash a hell on you that you will never recover from, do you hear me?" Ginny growled, stepping into the protective mother role. She was fiercely protective of Silas. Sometimes she thought that it was more than mother's instincts that turned her into a lioness around her cub.
There was crack as Joy Apparated in with Silas in her arms, the little boy giggling and squealing. "Again!" He cried out, waving his arms around in excitement, causing Joy to laugh. She sobered immediately when she saw Ginny and Draco were still going at it. She expected them to last five minutes before Ginny blew him up or he stormed out in frustration, seeing as Ginny had that affect on people. Joy muttered sorry and ducked out of the room with Silas still in her arms, heading for the little boy's room.
"You didn't give me the chance to know those things." Draco said quietly, a hard edge still to his voice though as he watched Joy walk off with his son, "But I'll be damned if you continue to shut me out of his life, Ginny." Draco growled, staring Ginny down with a look of pure determination. After a moment, Joy entered the room, and he looked to her. "You just found yourself an investor. And we're very hands on. Congratulations." He said, quickly grabbing Joy's hand and shaking on it. He smirked at Ginny's outraged gasp. He'd just made a magically binding agreement. It was unbreakable, unless they both wanted bad fortune for the rest of their lives. He turned back to Ginny, the smirk gone, "I'm going to be in his life now. You're not going to stop that. If you do, I'll meet you with my own hell."
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Ginny turned her head to the side, and blearily opened her eyes. By routine, she should be staring at her clock to read what time it was. But she was instead staring at a wall, sleep swimming through her eyes as she tried to focus on it. She sat up slowly, to find her head at the foot of the bed and her feet at the head of the bed, not to mention a pounding headache the size of all seven continents put together. "Shite." She cursed, pressing her hand to her forehead.
"Morning, sunshine." The overly happy, and slightly smug, voice of Joy rang through the room.
Ginny opened one eye to look at the woman, and attempted a one-eyed glare, "Bugger off."
Joy clucked her tongue, "Language, Ginevra." She said in a condescending tone as she walked towards the bed, munching on bacon. "How're you feeling this morning?"
"Like I got dropped off Hogwarts." Ginny groaned, scrunching her nose up as the smell of Joy's bacon made it to her nose. "Bloody hell, get that away from me!" Ginny cried as she scrabbled up in a tangle of her sheets and comforter as she scurried off the bed with her hand covering her mouth and nose to block up the impending upchuck and smell of bacon. She felt incredibly queasy, kind of like she had when she'd had morning sickness with Silas; only that was more like constant sickness not just in the morning. "What happened last night?" Ginny asked groggily as she swayed on her feet.
"Before or after Draco Malfoy became our new investor?" Joy asked nonchalantly as she continued to nibble on her bacon with an innocent expression across her features.
"Unfortunately, I remember that part. Not so much anything afterwards." Just the mention of his name made
Ginny's stomach churn again with the memory of their argument and his promise to be in Silas's life.
"Well, after he left, you tucked in Silas, had a panic attack, and drained an entire bottle of Firewhiskey. Of course, I told you it was a bad idea, but you told me to sod off." Joy said with a sigh, shaking her head sadly as she paused briefly before thrusting the bacon towards Ginny, "Breakfast?"
The smell hit Ginny again and immediately the bile rose in her throat. She groaned and wheeled around heading for the en suite bathroom, leaving Joy with a smug grin on her face as she finally finished off the bacon. The latter rubbed her hands together to displace the crumbs on her fingers and stood slowly. She walked to the bathroom where Ginny was already flushing the toilet and resting her face on the side of the porcelain bowl. "There's a hangover potion on your dresser so drink up. We've got somewhere to go to in an hour.
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Ginny met Joy in the restaurant 45 minutes after the Firewhiskey had made its way through her system. As she stood in the center of the eating area, she immediately examined the difference between hers and Joy's outfits. Ginny had dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a white satin tank top, with a square-shouldered blazer over it, and boots to complete the ensemble. Her long red hair was let loose in its natural waves, with her grown-out bangs pulled back over her head, and pinned against the crown. Joy however, was wearing a business outfit with her own little twist to it; she wore pinstriped black pants, a white Oxford shirt with a black cap-sleeved vest over it, and the short sleeves to the Oxford shirt were pulled up over the sleeves of the vest. She also wore high heels, and her wavy brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail. Warning bells went off immediately in the red-head's head.
"Joy," she started hesitantly, "Where exactly is this 'somewhere' we're going?"
Joy spun around as she heard Ginny for the first time, "We're going to be late!" She exclaimed with a sigh as she shoved the pen in her hand between her teeth and began gathering up various papers that were strewn across the counter.
"Lia and George were in the middle of something when I called them to watch Silas. I had to wait. Now, I repeat, where is this 'somewhere'?" Ginny repeated slower this time, as if she were talking to Silas when she wanted the truth from him. She had a sinking feeling that she already knew where they were going, but was hoping against all odds that she was wrong so that she didn't have to murder her best friend. She really didn't want to do that for several reasons.
"We have to…" She sighed and spat out the pen, "We have to go meet with Draco Malfoy and his business partner." Joy said fast as she shoved the papers into her purse carelessly with a huff. "Look, I know that's the absolute last thing you want to do, but shove it aside because we're now in a magically binding contract with Draco's company. I personally don't wish for bad fortune for the rest of my life, alright? I'm sure you wish it on him, but I'm your best friend, and if you love me at all, you'll act professionally for half an hour at most and suck it up. We need this. Not that we have much of choice in the matter anymore, okay?"
Ginny had no choice but to think over Joy's tirade. Sure, she could throw a tantrum and refuse to go just so she didn't have to see Draco again and feel the permanent knife in her heart twist around some more; but she knew that she had to be a professional and meet with him. Not as Silas's father or her ex, but as a business investor. "He so much as brings up Silas, and we leave, do you understand me?"
Joy released the breath she'd been holding and sagged in relief. She ran up to Ginny and hugged her briefly, "Thank you so much, Ginny. I owe you big, I swear on it." She gathered up her purse, and pulled her wand out of the concealed compartment on the side of the bag, "Ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Ginny's hand and Apparated them to their destination.
"You know, you risk splicing the both of us every time you do that. Not to mention you risk that with my son." Ginny told her grumpily, wishing she were at the dentist getting a root canal with no Novocain rather than be standing in the lobby of wherever they were that was known as her ex's business. She always expected him to go into the broom business, or something. If he were, what would be the point of investing in a little rundown shack of a restaurant that barely met with its bills? Surely he wasn't doing it out of the goodness of his heart. Generally shriveled, black hearts weren't filled with goodness.
"Get the bitter sourpuss off your face and smile." Joy said through her own smile as she nudged Ginny with her elbow.
Ginny quickly took their advice as a tall, slender man approached them. She straightened her jacket nervously and smiled, "You look like you're going to an interview at a multi-million galleon company, and I look like I'm going to a barbeque." She hissed bitterly through her teeth as her eyes scanned the room and noticed all the men in suits, and all the women in skirts or pants suits. She stuck out like a blast-ended skrewt with gas.
"Welcome, ladies. I'll be taking you to meet with Mister Malfoy and Mister Zabini." The tall man said as he came to a stop in front of Ginny and Joy. He looked down his nose at them with a small sneer and looked them up and down. He then stuck his nose in the air and turned, "Follow me." He drew slowly, sashaying off.
"Wanker." Joy muttered under her breath as she looked at Ginny through lowered eyes with a small shake of her head.
Ginny let out a small snort of laughter, quickly covering it with a coughing fit, as Joy said exactly what Ginny had been thinking about the pompous arse that was leading them towards their (Ginny's more specifically) doom.
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Alright. I'm leaving it off here or I'll have no basis for the start of the next chapter. I was kinda stuck with this one, which is why it took longer than the promised week to bounce out. But, here it is. And I've come up with some ideas on how to get the D/G rolling, and who will help them along ('cause they're both so stubborn they'll need help!). I've also got a scene for Christmas time planned out that I'm really liking the idea of. But that won't be for a few chapters.
I wanna thank everyone that's reviewed so far between FFN and Portkey (which the amount of reviews for 2 chapters has greatly surprised me). You have no idea how much it means to me seeing as this is my first chaptered fic in a couple years. So all the reviews are loved, and I hope I get more.
Also, if you wish to leave suggestions for future scenes or what you'd like to see from this in the long-run, don't be shy to leave those thoughts in reviews!