Unofficial Portkey Archive

Blue-Eyed Angel

Chapter Nineteen

Ginny Apparated them directly into Draco's living room and they were furiously kissing within that very moment. Without taking a break from their pulling at each other's robes and dressings, Draco backed her up to his bedroom door.

Kicking it open, Draco pushed Ginny inside and closed the door behind them. She smiled at his roughness that was not overly domineering, just very eager, and turned to grab the front of his robes and pull him into a strong kiss, willing to be just as rough, both overcome with their desire and passion. There was something so intoxicating about doing something you know you shouldn't be doing. Having sex with Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, was definitely something they were each not supposed to be doing, thus why Draco could barely contain himself and Ginny was aching for him to take her.

Draco wanted Ginny undressed; problem was he had no idea how to get her out of her clothing. There seemed to be buttons, and zippers, and God-knows what else, and he did not know where to begin. He had never had to undress a woman before, and he had by no means made it a habit of wearing women's clothing himself, so he was more than a little lost. Ginny was already working on the buttons of the front of his robes and he felt like he was lagging behind.

It wasn't his fault men's clothing was so much more simple and straightforward.

Ginny managed to free his neck and upper chest, but was getting tired of all the buttons and her frustration was apparent.

"Why don't you take care of getting yourself out of that, and I will manage this," he offered, reaching up to hold her hands. She seemed to agree, starting in on her dress immediately with just as much haste as she had moments before with him, Draco reaching up to undo his buttons.

God, why did there have to be so many?

He managed the outer, then the inner row, and his robes slipped down off his shoulders and arms to pool on the floor around his ankles. He was left in a snug, black t-shirt and his trousers, far better than Ginny, who was still in peeling so layers of too much dress.

He could sense her annoyance and smiled, grabbing her shoulders to encourage her to turn around. He kissed the back of her neck, and down between her shoulder blades, all the while unlacing, untying, unhooking, unzipping, and unbuttoning her.

Ginny closed her eyes and smiled as a shiver ran through her body, the pace suddenly slowed way down so her body actually ached more for him with every delicate brush of his lips. She held the front of her dress to her breasts as it loosened, Draco working his way down her back with every new unclasping to kiss just a little lower. When he got to the small of her lower back she giggled and turned, allowing him to stand and her to kiss him softly at first, shivers still running through her body from the ghosts of his touches.

Ginny felt conflicted. She loved the tenderness, but her body was eager, and she could feel his lust radiating off his skin, still so much clothing between them, inhibiting their touches. Her blood was pumping and she was ready to go, body hot and throbbing with a fire only he could extinguish.

She kissed him more fiercely.

She would make sure they had their tender moments another time, right now they had their bed; she wanted to get down to business. She had waited for this long enough.

Ginny removed her hands and let her dress fall in a massive heap that was knee-high in its fullness. A strapless bra and lacy knickers were all that she was left with and Draco suddenly felt overdressed. He supposed, as complex as women's clothing was, it was efficient in the end.

He smirked in approval.

The sheer and lacy boy-cut panties and matching bra were red.

He liked red…perfectly Christmassy and appropriate, particularly when combined with the green dress. If his body were not already hard for her, it would have been, upon seeing that. As it was, he was afraid he might rupture something if he didn't release soon, the pressure building as great as his need and anticipation. He would have loved to be adoring and gentle, whispering sweet nothings and exploring her in full…but it would be torture for him to wait and linger, and he could tell Ginny didn't mind if they skipped the tender foreplay this once.

Ginny grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him around her to nearly throw him onto his mattress. He smiled at that, almost laughing, clearly enjoying the fact that she was not hiding her need for him.

He liked feeling like he was desired and needed. Surely every man did.

Ginny was grinning greedily, like she was more than a little satisfied with what lay propped up on the bed before her. She straddled his legs in her knickers and high heels still so that her cleavage the bra encouraged and enhanced was right up in his face, enticing him to take notice of what she had to offer him. He looked pleased with that smirk of his in place and was looking more and more satisfied the further she leaned into him. She could feel his warm breath on her breasts and him through his trousers, and it was enough to make her kickers damp. She leaned in, grabbing that long braid of his and pulled so his head was tilted back, her neck craning down to kiss him feverishly. Reaching down she pulled and then yanked his shirt out from his waistband.

Draco had enough of a mind to suddenly be a little self-conscious over Ginny about to see him with his shirt off, but he still lifted his arms to allow her to pull the shirt away while turning it inside out. She did not look at him right away, breaking the kissing just long enough to get the shirt over his head, so Draco took advantage of that and reached around to hold her bum and slip his middle and ring fingers between her legs to cup her from behind through her damp knickers. Ginny took a sudden shuddering breath and Draco moved his fingers away. He grabbed a handful of her bum in each palm and she giggled, resting her forehead against his, noses touching, her breasts up by his chin.

"You have a condom, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, a newly purchased box in his sock drawer. That had not been as exciting a shopping tip as he had anticipated. There were more condom varieties and sizes, colors and flavors apparently, than there was candy by the checkout. The task had been unexpectedly daunting.

Ginny rolled off of him to allow Draco to go fetch, and studied his body as he stood by the dresser and opened a drawer.

To be honest, she liked lean guys, Harry and Réamann both examples of that, both seekers, both narrow at the waist and long-limbed…but Draco was seriously skinny, skinny enough for her to worry about his health now that she was finally seeing him without a shirt on. She wasn't repulsed by it or anything, but she could understand how some people would be. He resembled something like an anorexic before treatment. What only compounded this piteous look were the scars that raked over his body, starting at his neck where they were usually barely hidden by his shirt collars and long hair, and lacerated all the way down to vanish past the waistband of his trousers. It was almost odd how the scars only covered his left side and arm. Apart from one set of apparent claw marks atop his right shoulder blade, and a tattoo on his right forearm, his right side was pure and unblemished. His left side, however, showed evidence of him having been very brutally mauled. That, more than the thinness, made her stomach a little tight.

She had never given it much thought before (when he had said he was a werewolf or when she had first learned of it) but she supposed what that entailed was him having survived a very serious, violent, and vicious attack. She had never really pictured him as a surviving victim of such a thing before. It was just one more thing that made her see him in a whole new light.

"Seeing me without a shirt on that much of a mood killer?" Draco asked, managing to sound only mildly concerned while sitting down on the mattress beside Ginny, not looking at her, looking very intently at the condom package as distraction.

"You were reading my thoughts again," she accused.

"No, just your face," he answered and Ginny felt her stomach clench slightly, again. Had she been staring?

"It doesn't bother me," she said, talking about his appearance, the scars. They had been over this the day before. It really didn't bother her and she made sure Draco would see that if he looked into her mind, and could feel that as she leaned over and kissed him, grabbing onto that silky braid of his again. It was just too much fun to keep her hands off of it.

Harry had scars from the war, Ron, Hermione, Neville…even her…they all had scars from the battles. It was just cruel fate that Draco's scars would be so bad. It was a result of those very scars -the illness he contracted- that he was so thin now, so she treated even that like a battle scar, a badge of courage.

Draco managed to smile at her from inches away at that thought of hers and pushed her down on the bed, not about to wait any longer to have her, not sure he could wait any longer to have her.

"Thank you," he managed between kisses. Ginny didn't answer, not sure what exactly it was he was thanking her for but sure "you're welcome" would have been in poor taste.

Draco was thankful that she didn't care that he wasn't as utterly masculine, and tough, and robust looking as Réamann or most guys…he could see that in her eyes, in her thoughts, and that peaked his sometimes waning confidence, particularly at this moment when anyone would be feeling a little exposed and vulnerable. He knew Ginny was fretting over her thighs and tummy, so he made sure he ran his hands over them, to show her how much he actually enjoyed them.

They managed to make clothing disappear rapidly at that point, each back to furiously undressing the other and Ginny even offering to slip the condom on him.

At that moment, the scars, the width of his shoulders, the circumference of his arms, the weight in his legs, did not matter. When right up against her, the soft suppleness of her body next to the thin hardness of his, they melded and fit so perfectly, it did not matter. Just in that chaste embrace they felt connected and unified. Ginny did not seem to mind his bony back as she ran her hands up and down it, and if anything, her unrestrained and uninhibited touches gave him confidence, like his did her, and helped him forget that this would be the first time he would be with a woman in nearly twelve years, or 4,326 days, or something like 104,824 hours…not that he was keeping track or anything.

There he was, pressing into her, her body almost too tense to welcome him but so soft and warm that he had to penetrate. They maintained very intense eye contact through it. Her body actually surprising him by how hot and moist it was already, him having to push past her clenched opening, ripping a gasp from her as he eased in. It was almost representative of their lives. He had to push so hard and struggle to get what he wanted so badly, but now that they were past all confining pressures and stigmas of their respective lives…now that he was finally sheathed in her…they had what they wanted so badly: each other. It was enough to make them both moan with their first need realized, their first desire gratified. Draco actually feared he would release himself right then with that sensational climax, now that he was pushed all the way inside a woman, not just any woman, Ginny: the girl he had wanted just in this way for so many years while all alone in Azkaban.

"Oh God," Ginny groaned, tossing her head back to sink it into the pillow, baring her smooth but still shimmering throat to him as she took all of him into her and she seemingly clenched tighter around him to hold him there, to prevent any more moving on his part at the moment. It took every ounce of control Draco had not to come with that as she moaned and wiggled her hips encouragingly while she adjusted to his fit and clenched and unclenched her internal muscles. She seemed to relax and they fell back into gazing at each other from inches away, now connected and still unmoving.

It was a deep and penetrating gaze, far more intimate and personal than his body's intrusion of her at the moment. They laid there for a while, connected and throbbing with radiating heat smoldering between them, eyes locked, both in slight awe as they came to grips with what they had just done.

They had hardly done anything that constituted as "sex" yet, but it was just so intimate that it was almost like they had already fully copulated. It felt like they had been lovers their whole lives, yet, this was the first time he had been able to do more than kiss her, or feel her body through her clothing. Draco was panting already and Ginny's mouth was open, lips full and moist, moist like other soft parts of her, and he wanted to be joined with her there like he already was below.

Draco crushed his lips against hers wish a deep intake of breath, and furiously kissed her and she welcomed him inside her there too. She gripped his back tight, nails in threat of biting into his skin but the mild pain was blissful at that moment.

They had not moved their lower bodies since he had eased in so they were left pulsing with their quickened heartbeats, her legs spread and bent up so her knees were in the air, all the while they lapped at each other, so desperate to share their need for one another without a word spoken. Draco was waiting for her to no longer be clamped around him so tight, but she didn't seem to ease. He wanted to ask her, but asking questions on the mechanics of sex, while in the middle of sex, seemed more than just a little awkward. All he knew is he couldn't remember his wife being this tight. He was sure his body was just the same as ever, so he could only assume Ginny was…narrow…perhaps. He attempted to withdraw some and Ginny gripped him tighter, but not in a way that suggested she wanted him to stop.

Draco withdrew near completely, and Ginny seemed to ease out a breath, like she could breathe better without him taking up that space in her, but he then thrust back in, apparently catching her off guard because her arms and legs clamped around him as she seemingly swallowed a whole lot of expletives. He was afraid he had hurt her for a moment, until she laced her fingers in his hair at the base of his skull and directed his face to hers, pressing their lips together as she reached down between them in his distraction to stroke herself for a moment and then grab his balls firmly, ripping a gasp from him then which broke their kiss.

Draco obliged her needy pelvic rocking, and managed even to contain himself as he moved in and out, focusing very intently on his rhythm. Ginny seemed engrossed in the sensations he was producing and evoking, but managed so smile at him, and lean up to talk into his ear.

"You can relax a little, you know," she teased, not wanting to laugh because laughing at a guy in bed was a serious no-no and she had a feeling Draco's ego was rather fragile when it came to these things…but then, what guy's wasn't?

Draco looked down at her and she smiled, showing she was playful by kneading her fingers into his back.

"Come on, you're tense," she then laughed, showing no discontent, and leaned up to kiss around his ear. Draco tried to relax, while controlling himself, and maintaining a rhythm, and making sure she was enjoying what he was doing and that it felt good, all while trying to enjoy himself, and appreciate how amazing this felt, and remember to relax, and it was a lot.

"Stop thinking about it so much," she breathed, pleasure stealing her giggles from her so that she fought to maintain a steady voice.

"Sorry," he muttered, his chin hooked over her shoulder so he could pant just above the pillow as she leaned up and away from it slightly to hold their upper bodies close while their lower bodies moved, his hips rocking and pumping into hers rapidly.

"Don't apologize…it's all natural…just follow your instincts, but…oh….do that again," she grunted between each of his thrusts, moaning then, loving whatever he had just done when he had turned ever-so-slightly to balance himself better as he was now laying atop of her as opposed to being suspended over her like moments before. He found his hands roaming now that he wasn't supporting himself in a sort of push-up position, and realized that he was now groping her breasts, and was ready to apologize before realizing he was allowed to do that. Accidentally brush a woman's breast with your hand and you apologize immediately. It was a habit hard to break for him, even while in the middle of making love to the woman in question. Playing with her breasts however seemed to entice some new sounds out of her, and he leaned up to look down at her, hands over both her breasts, watching her squirm.

He smirked. He loved her breasts, and he couldn't tear his eyes off of them for a long moment as he watched them move and bounce with each of his thrusts. He palmed both of them again and let his fingers sink into their suppleness, Ginny's eyes closing as her head tilted back again.

"Oh," she moaned, her body clenching around him and he gasped.

"Oh God, don't do that again," he panted, almost losing control.

"What, you mean this?" she asked, so mockingly innocent as she clenched those interior muscles of hers again. Draco let out a shuddering breath, but surprisingly few sounds, and she did it again a few times, trying to get him to make a sound worthy of what she was making him feel.

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A romp or two…or three…later, Draco was asleep, sound asleep, his steady deep breathing all that assured Ginny that he hadn't died after the exertion they had both endured. He had cuddled, earning him some major brownie-points from her, but he eventually pulled away to sleep. He apparently favored sleeping on his belly, his arms curled under his chest, so Ginny just snuggled close, right arm thrown over him.

She now knew just where Draco stood in the manhood competition. Every girl knows that it is not length that matters, but girth. Draco was probably just average lengthwise, but he definitely had girth. She had figured as much having held Draco in her hands and wrapped her lips around him, but feeling the pressure Draco created that no one else ever had confirmed it. It had actually hurt a little, but it was so satisfying, like a gentle fire between her legs. She felt the need to tell him this, but figured he deserved a little sleep, besides, she was sure it was, seriously, in poor taste.

She had underestimated him, expecting Draco to still be blushing and prude, but once he relaxed he seemed to lose whatever reservations he had over the act and…let loose. She was sure he had not completely "let loose," he still seemed rather modest and proper, but she could not complain…no way would she complain. Once he relaxed a little after their first go, he got a little more exploratory, a little more into foreplay, and tasting things. Far from having any need to perfect his technique, Draco seemed to have a lot of pent up sexual energy that he very amiably released on her. Sure, he had his clumsy, uncertain moments, but that was to be expected when with a new partner for the first time, no matter the amount of experience one had.

The third time had been the charm for her. Draco seemed determined to make sure she came at some point that night, his pride riding on that maybe. She had been close, building to the peak every time where she felt her muscles start to spasm, but that always sent him over the edge first. It wasn't until that last time that it had happened for her, Draco clenching his teeth to let her come first, allowing her to reach that blissful climax before collapsing on top of her to release as he trembled.

Ginny was grateful he had stuck it out.

She could not feel her toes.

Yeah, it had been that good.

They were snuggled close on the narrow mattress, side-by-side and under the covers to fight the cold, (the cold only being a factor and a problem after the fact and the deed was done, their sweat quickly chilling them) and Ginny was in that uncertain plain of not quite asleep but not fully awake when she heard the bedroom door open. Her tired mind could not make sense of who could possibly be opening the bedroom door since Draco was right beside her, but a little girl's voice met her ears and sufficiently woke her up.

"Daddy?" she asked, Draco taking a sudden deep breath through his nose as he was pulled from his sleep. Ginny's head peaked out from under the bedding first and the girl made an "oh-my" sort of exclamation as she quickly backed out of the room and closed the door, Draco's head having popped out from under the covers just after Ginny's.

"What…who was…?" Ginny attempted to ask, her mind now wide awake but just as confused as when she had first been roused. She had barely caught a glimpse of the girl, but platinum blonde hair had registered, and pink…a pink nightgown.

"Oh bloody hell," Draco hissed, throwing his blanket off and grabbing for his knickers from the floor, looking rushed and sounding panicked. "My daughter…I thought she was staying with my mother tonight…I have never brought a woman home before and she is accustomed to being able to climb into bed with me in the middle of the night," he managed as he pulled up the silky black boxers and rushed for the door, not bothering for the rest of his clothing, or his slippers, the situation far too precarious and serious to dwell on propriety. He threw himself out into the hall, Ginny left sitting there, wide-eyed, nude, and utterly lost.

Draco was a father?

Draco took several quick steps down the hall but realized the sobbing he heard was coming from the bathroom. He doubled back to try the door but found it locked.

"Clarissa, sweet pea, I'm sorry. Let daddy in," he begged through the door, Ginny in his room just feet away, overhearing him.

More sobbing came through the door.

"I'm so sorry, I did not know you would be home…" he said, leaning his arm up so his forearm was resting on the doorframe, him slowly beating his forehead against the wood just below it.

"You are going to yell at me," she cried.

"No, no, I'm not mad…you just came in at a bad time…I think we are going to have to start enforcing the knocking rule from now on. It's awright, let me in," he assured, waiting for her to open the door. Ginny had gathered up Draco's sheets and had them wrapped around her securely. She leaned out his bedroom door and he looked over at her with helpless and pleading eyes for her not to start yelling at him just yet.

This was not how he wanted her to find out about this.

"What's going on?" this coming from Michelangelo at the end of the hall, looking tired and confused as he stood in the doorway of his and Clarissa's bedroom in his oversized t-shirt and baggy shorts he wore to bed. Ginny stared, shocked all over again, looking at the boy that looked like Draco when they had been small, only with so much unruly, curling hair. Draco groaned while bending his knees slightly to sort of bounce in place. There was little else he could do.

"Michael, please, go back to bed…Clare, let me in," he asked, a little firmer than before, a new wave of sobs meeting him.

"Who's she?" Michelangelo asked, pointing at the barely dressed and staring Ginny.

"Bed, now," Draco commanded, snapping and pointing to Michelangelo. Michelangelo complied with a sour look on his face as he rolled his eyes like a well seasoned teenager, and slammed his door behind him. Draco dared a glace back at Ginny before pounding his palm firmly on the bathroom door.

"Clarissa, come on, you can't stay in there all night, come out," he said, Ginny disappearing into the bedroom and closing the door with a snap.

Draco started beating his forehead against the doorframe again slowly as he cursed continuously under his breath while he stood, closed out of all three rooms in that hallway.

"You promise you're not mad?" Clarissa asked timidly from inside the room.

"I will be if you don't open the damn door," Draco said, wincing after the words came out, Clarissa crying again. He walked out into the living room to take a deep breath and swallow his temper. He hated it when he lost his temper with the children and snapped at them.

He heard the bathroom door open, little feet scurry down the hall away from him, and a bedroom door open and close.

Draco sighed again and rubbed his face.

He really needed a cigarette, very, very badly, or a drink, he could go for a bottle right now.

Gathering his courage, and knowing getting completely pissed at the moment would not make Ginny think any better of him, Draco walked back to his bedroom and knocked softly before entering. He peered timidly around the door at first, tail -figuratively- between his legs. Ginny was on the bed, underwear on, her dress on her lap in a heap and tangled mess. She seemed to be unable to get it right-side-out and her frustration was apparent atop her confusion, her confusion leading to anger to compound the frustration and make her seem very unapproachable at the moment.

"Ginny," he asked meekly.

"You failed to mention you were a father, Draco," she snapped at him and Draco quickly slinked into the room and closed the door behind him. The children did not need to hear this. He did not want to think what else they might have heard already that night.

"I'm sorry. Even with all the time we sepnt talking, I was unsure on how to tell you," he said, all the reasons why he had not mentioned Clarissa or Michelangelo to Ginny either falling out of his mind or seeming so insignificant at the moment.

"When were you planning on telling me? Get a quick bang in before dumping this on me?"

"You implying that `dumping this on you' would be grounds for ending everything after this `quick bang'? Because, honestly, that's what I feared and part of the reason I did not tell you," he said, biting his bottom lip in a very insecure fashion. He did not like that she was implying that he had just wanted a "bang" and then to end it. That was a little hurtful, but then again, this was just a fling to her.

"No, damn it…it's not the fact that you have children, it's the fact that you lied…"

"I never said I was not a father. I simply did not tell you I was…that is not lying, that is just omitting the truth," he said defensively.

"Omitting the truth," she repeated in a way that was a telltale sigh of a Mrs. Weasley blowup. "Is that what you call it," she said, her voice rising slowly as she spoke. "What else have you been keeping from me by omitting the goddamn truth?" she demanded, voice firm now but not shouting, not yet.

"Nothing, nothing. Honestly…I have been very upfront with you this whole time I just…"

"You just what?" she barked impatiently, so close to yelling now.

"I wanted to protect my children," he said, looking at her and Ginny furrowing her brow, trying to hold onto her anger and not succumb to those lost, puppy-dog eyes of his.

"Protect them from what?"

"From you…from being hurt," he admitted softly, sliding his back down the door to sit on the floor, his thin arms down between his long bent legs, tousled braid over his shoulder to hang down with some slightly shorter pieces that had freed themselves around his face. "I can handle that this is just a fling to you, and I'm able to understand what that means and deal…but my children cannot. I did not want to introduce them to you only to have you suddenly not come around anymore after they have grown attached, or at the very least, accustomed to you."

Ginny looked at him and then looked away, angry.

"Why not at least tell me about them?"

"That reason is the part where I feared you would reject me. I already have so much working against my favor when it comes to relationships, but you come along and seem interested while not being intimidated too greatly over my…condition, or my past, and assured me my insecurities are tenuous. I didn't want to reinforce any doubts you had by telling you that I have children from my previous marriage."

"How many children do you have?" she asked, preparing herself for the answer.

"Just the two you…uh…met just now. Michelangelo is twelve…turned twelve this last Saturday. Clarissa is eleven, since mid-November," he said softly, not looking at her. He didn't have a lot of practice or experience in introducing the idea of his children to people and so he was thusly unsure of the exact reaction to expect. He had had plenty of years to imagine it would be pretty bad though.

"Wow," she said, her mind too boggled by all this to figure out how old Draco had to have been when Michelangelo was born.

"Eighteen," he answered for her.

"Damn it, stay out of my head," she growled.

"You wanted to know," he said defensively, looking away.

"This is why you married your wife then," she said and Draco glanced at her. "She got pregnant."

"We got married when I was nineteen…when we found out about Clarissa coming."

"Jesus," she said, "I believed you when you said you had no sexual experience."

"I never said I was a virgin," he snapped, really wishing it wouldn't come to shouting, not after the wonderful night they had just shared.

"Yeah, but you have two kids!"

"Which constitutes two sexual acts," he said with a flush and a grumpy glare off towards the corner.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're saying you managed two kids with only having had sex twice?" she said, understandably skeptical.

"Christina called me a `fertile little bastard' every time we saw each other. I'm not sure if she was being affectionate or not though, like you when you call me a prat," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, God," Ginny said, dropping her face into her hands. "And they look just like you," she mumbled into her hands, able to see Michelangelo when she closed her eyes, his face so much like a young Draco's burned into her retinas. She only assumed the fair-haired little girl looked like him as well.

"They have some of their mother in them too," he muttered, sucking on his bottom lip. "I can understand this is a lot to, um, take in all at once, but Réamann had…"

"Réamann knows?" Ginny suddenly interrupted, nearly shouting in her surprise.

"He came over unexpectedly and Michael answered the door. We never have company that is not family or Muggle neighbors so I did not think twice about letting him answer the door. Réamann was…surprised," he said, not sure what other word he could use instead. Flabbergasted came to mind, but that somehow made the whole situation seem silly or humorous, and it wasn't.

"He never told me," she said.

"Because I asked him not to tell anyone. He respected my desire for privacy in the matter."

"This is…heavy."

"I understand and can accept that you don't want to continue this…I had just hoped…"

"Wait, end it?" she asked and he looked at her with confused eyes. "Who said I wanted to end it?"

"I thought…"

"You're not currently looking into my mind?" she asked.

"You told me not to," he snapped, a little angry now. She told him not to do something, and was now wondering why he wasn't doing it? Maybe there was a reason he did not date…women's logic and reason had always confused him.

"If you were you would know that I'm not thinking about ending it, but just how am I going to face your children after this…the lousy thing about first impressions is you only get to make them once," she said and Draco couldn't help but smile at her. He pushed up off the floor and away from the door and crawled up onto the mattress to hold her face and kiss her gently.

"Thank you," he managed between two soft kisses.

"Don't think…" she said, her sentence broken up between his needy kisses, "that I'm not…mad…at you…over this," she said pulling away to look at him. "You have a lot of explaining to do," she said and he nodded all too readily, kissing her again as though so relieved that she had not blown a gasket on him that he could not stop touching her, to know this was real. He felt the need to make sure her brain was kept fuzzy because of his kisses, so she couldn't form a clear thought and realize a wiser choice than sticking with him.

"We are going to sit down…" she said between his kisses, him making an "mmhm" noise of agreement between her attempts to speak, "and you...are going to…tell me…everything," she said and he held her face and prolonged a kiss, whispering "yes" into her mind.

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Ginny needed to get home before Réamann. She could not wear her dress, but wearing home something of Draco's seemed terribly stupid if she was going to try and hide their relationship from Réamann still. She couldn't Apparate naked, that being a very stupid thing to do should Réamann already be home. That chances of that were slim, but still, if he was going to basically catch her in the act, she wanted to be dressed for the throw-down row.

Draco offered Ginny a few articles of clothing that apparently belonged to his mother that she had left there from one of her overnight visits. Draco apologized that it was "dirty laundry," but it smelled and looked perfectly clean to her. She supposed Malfoys were more scrupulous over such things.

While he had gone to fetch them, Ginny had studied a photograph he had offered her a look at. It was of Draco and the two children. It was a Muggle picture, unmoving. She had a certain fondness for Muggle photography, a frozen moment in time, though it was incomparable to her father's love for such things. Draco was bent over slightly in the middle, a boy on his right and a girl on his left, all three grinning as though caught in a laugh, Draco's arms hooked around them in a gathering-up sort of hug, like he was actually wrangling them for the picture. It was such a simple, yet touching little family photo, and Ginny had never seen Draco smile like that before. It was so big and honest, and open, his impossibly pale eyes shining in the bright sunlight of an obvious summer afternoon. She was jealous that she had never evoked such a grin from him like his children clearly had.

It gave her something to strive for.

"Come to Christmas Dinner, Draco," Ginny said as she gathered up her dress and tried to get her hair to stop making her look like a Gorgon.

"I can't," he said. "I should spend the day with my children, they are upset enough as it is, and they were already mad that I had gone to the ball," he said, not wanting to think right then what he would say to them about all…this.

"Bring them with you. Neville said he might bring his, though granted, they are a few years younger than yours," Ginny said and Draco flushed a little at that before responding.

"Oh-no. No, no, no, no. I don't think my welcome would be warm, and certainly not with my precious tots in tow."

"Please?"

"I cannot bring them. I have worked too hard to keep them out of the limelight and hidden in plain sight. I'm not about to throw them to the wolves now."

"We are not wolves," Ginny said indignantly.

"No, I suppose we are the wolves," Draco said bitterly before continuing on in his refusal. "I cannot bring them, it would only ruin everyone's Christmas, most importantly theirs."

"So not even Harry knows about them?"

"Potter? Good lord, no. Are you mental? He would be one of the last people I would ever let into my personal life," he said, adding "again" mentally to himself.

"How is it that no one knows then, that Harry doesn't know?" she asked, wondering how Draco could keep something like this out of the tabloids and she couldn't gain five pounds without someone claiming she was pregnant. It didn't seem fair.

"The guards at Azkaban seemed pretty understanding when it came to my desire to not have my children's births printed all across the front page of the news paper…imagine the story: a werewolf Death Eater shacks up with a fellow prisoner while in Azkaban, a baby resulting…" he said and Ginny had to agree, the story really would have been hot news, hot enough even for her to not likely miss. "My children did not need that kind of publicity, it is hard enough that they bare my resemblance," he said, sounding oh-so-bitter again. "I think the Cheer Charms the guards have to cast on themselves so frequently just make them all around nicer people after a while, and they helped me out some…after they stopped punishing me for the deed," he said and Ginny had to smile at that last.

"Well, um, Michael, right?" she said and Draco looked at her. "He's twelve," she said and Draco nodded. "He's not attending Hogwarts?" she asked, tilting her head to look at him. Draco heaved a sigh. Seemed like Réamann and Ginny both had a lot of the same questions.

"I had considered sending him to Durmstrang Institute, but my mother absolutely refused and I could not afford to send him there, the tuition for foreign students reasonable, if I had a reasonable income," he said meekly. "He attends Hogwarts, but under an assumed name. I worked it out with Minerva McGonagall over the summer," he explained.

"So she knows?"

"One of the few. She owed me," he said darkly and Ginny swallowed hard. They were getting on a very sore topic: the broken promises between McGonagall and him.

"So, so there is no way I could convince you to come?"

"I should be with my children."

"The dinner is not until late," she attempted in her argument.

"Even if I did manage to go, leaving the children with my mother, no one would enjoy my presence there or find it appropriate. It would be dreadfully uncomfortable."

"I would enjoy it," she said softly, leaning her head on his shoulder. "And Réamann likes you," she offered.

"Ginny…"

"I don't think you showing up would ruin it, like I said before, I think it would be an opportunity to maybe set things right."

"I doubt that," Draco said stubbornly.

"Let's make this your punishment then, for hiding all this from me," she said and he pouted. "No, no, don't give me those eyes," she said fighting not to look at him as he made his most piteous face of "don't do this to me."

"Ginny," he said softly.

"I think it would really irk Harry to see you there," she offered as another motive.

"Are you encouraging me to torment your precious Potter?" he asked, looking at her in slight surprise.

"He really hurt my feelings tonight, or last night…" she said, not knowing the time. "And I know how much you enjoy it," she added with a grin and Draco felt the need to groan with need for her.

"I knew I liked you for some reason," he said, capturing her in a passionate kiss that she happily returned and carried on for a long moment.

"You coming then?" she asked after they broke apart. Draco looked conflicted.

"What time would I have to make an appearance if I said yes?" he asked and she grinned.

"After eight," she said, hoping he would show."

"I'm only considering it because it would mean I wouldn't have to cook," he said and she laughed.

"A perfect excuse if I ever heard one."

"I am going to have to talk to the children about all this. They are not going to like that I am abandoning them for a second night," he said.

"You are not abandoning them. You are an adult; you should be allowed to have a life."

"Ha, you try explaining that to them," he mumbled.

"Would it help if I came over tomorrow, after Christmas day but before night, and help try and explain all this to them?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not about to be stuck doing damage control on my own," he said defensively in a "can you blame me?" sort of way. "If I'm going to have to explain to them about you…and tell them I'm spending dinner somewhere other than with them, I'm going to need someone there to protect me."

"Alright, alright…" she said, holding his hand tight.

They sat there for a long moment, a sort of unease falling between them with so much they still had unspoken.

"People are going to get suspicious of us," he warned finally, wrapping his arms around her as she tuned so he could hold her from behind.

"Réamann is the one that invited you, let everyone think he is the one with the crush, he talks about you enough," she said and Draco threw his head back to laugh.

-------------------

Draco was in his living room, the children content to entertain themselves with their gifts by the tree, Narcissa in the kitchen enjoying her bourbon. The three of them (Draco and the children) had not talked about what had happened that night. They all woke up that morning to open presents without a mention of any of it and no one was about to mention it to Nana. Draco was not sure how to take their utter disregard for the night before, but was glad he didn't have to try and explain to them his "lady friend" on Christmas morning.

Since they were not talking about any of that, Draco had not mentioned to them yet the idea of going to the Burrow that evening. He himself was not keen on the idea, but Ginny really wanted it, and he had a problem saying no to women.

No means no.

He needed to work on that.

He wanted to wait for Ginny to come over, to be there with him as he proposed the idea, to have someone to hide behind so as to shield him from his mother.

Draco realized he should probably mention at least that she was coming over beforehand. His mother would not be happy about it, and he did not want to talk about Ginny with the children right there (unsure of how they would react) but what choice did he have?

How would they react if she just came over suddenly, without warning?

Draco's stomach clenched at the thought.

"Mother?" he called.

"Yes, darling?" she answered.

"Could you come in here and sit down with me?" he asked, building his nerve.

"Something wrong?" she asked, appearing in the kitchen doorway.

"No, no, just looking to enjoy your company. Sit," he said, pointing to the chair that was Michelangelo's favorite.

Clarissa was playing with her doll she had been so excited to get. She had wanted it for months. Draco had, in his opinion, spent a ridiculous amount of money (which was a funny notion for a Malfoy but one he had come accustomed to) on the thing and had gotten one of the last ones left. Nearly had to punch some old grandmother to get it too. She got the one with the purple accessories, because the ones with the pink had been gone by the time he had gotten around to the Christmas shopping (meaning until he got his Christmas bonus) but he hadn't heard her complain yet.

Michelangelo had gotten a new football and some books he had wanted. Draco could not imagine any child that would ask for a book for Christmas, but he supposed Michelangelo had gotten his quota for toys for his birthday only days before.

Michelangelo read quietly, not looking up when his grandmother entered the room and sat.

"It was a lovely Christmas," she said with a smile, the curtains open so the snow could be seen falling outside and the tree's merry lights reflecting off the interior of the dark glass.

"Oh yes, quite," he said, right knee bouncing up and down rapidly. Narcissa noticed this and narrowed her eyes some.

"So, what did she get you?" she asked and Draco looked at her, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"We did not exchange gifts," he said, daring a glance over at the children who seemed oblivious to the conversation.

"You did not get your girlfriend anything?" she asked, looking indignant over the very idea. What kind of boyfriend didn't get his girlfriend a Christmas gift?

"No," he said, tucking his hair behind his ear, leg still bouncing but him noticing now and stopping.

"Oh, he was giving it to her last night," Michelangelo said, not looking up from his book. Draco turned pink from a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Michael!" he barked, wincing at the glare he could feel his mother giving him.

"Draco!" she scolded, using his name.

"Mother," he said, ready to plead and beg and apologize and promise anything just so that she would not yell at him.

"You brought her…that woman…here?" she said in a firm and slightly raised voice. His mother did not shout, her voice was always a steady tone, yet, she could fluctuate that tone in just the right way to make it cutting and harsh. She could reprimand for hours because she put no strain on her vocal cords.

"I had thought the children were with you…I," he said, tugging on his hair.

This was just terrible. Draco had a feeling this was Michelangelo punishing him, for waking him with the sounds of him having sex with Ginny, or just dating in general.

This was not how he had intended on this going down.

"That Ginny Weasley, she has a boyfriend, or so I thought. I read about them in Witch Weekly just a week or so ago…something about when he might pop the question and if `wedding bells would ring in the new-year' for them. I did not hear of a break-up," she said and Draco dropped his face into his hands. Of course his mother read the gossip magazines, and of course Ginny would be in them, so of course his mother would know that Ginny already had a boyfriend.

"The woman has another boyfriend?' Clarissa asked, looking over at them.

Draco was cringing.

This was not happening…

Would his mother allow him to send the children out of the room before he tried to explain this, explain himself and his affair with Ginny?

"Has she broken up with that Rossiter gentleman?" she asked in her firm tone and Michelangelo looked up at them then.

"Isn't he the chap you are working with at the Ministry?" Michelangelo asked.

"Draco," Narcissa pressed, voice very warning.

"No, no, she has not broken up with him, awright?" Draco snarled in a helpless and defensive manner, like he was disgusted by the answer he had to give in telling the truth. "Children, out of the room for a moment," he said, snapping his fingers at them urgently.

Narcissa looked wide-eyed and stiff.

He could see the twitch starting in her left eye as her lips became pursed together in the dreaded telltale sign…she was going to blow. Children and werewolves take cover; it was going to be bad.

"Michael, Clare, leave us," she said calmly, the calm before the storm.

The children did not argue. They practically ran from the room, Michelangelo able to smile at least.

"Draco-"

"Mother, please-"

"Do not speak until I say you can," she warned with one slender finger held up to him and Draco hunched his shoulders and withdrew instantly. She was using his name, not calling him affectionately "Angel" so he knew this was bad, and the children recognized that too. "You are seeing a woman, forget that she is a Blood-Traitor Weasley, who already has a man?"

Draco said nothing.

"What is wrong with you? What would possess you, of all people, to do something so detestable, so shameful, so despicable?"

Draco wished his mother shouted. Shouting would have sounded better than the heavy disappointment in her calm, smooth voice.

"She approached me on this. It's nothing…it's just-"

"Please don't tell me this is just some perverted sexual escapade, Draco, that would hardly make me feel better! Dear lord, I did not raise my son to…" she said but a knock on the door cut her off.

"Did I mention she was coming over?" he asked timidly.

Narcissa's eye was twitching in her otherwise composed face.

Draco sprung up from the couch like it burned him and fought not to run towards the door. If he did he would just run out it, and down the street, and far, far away.

He was a coward…but few in their right mind would claim to not fear his mother if they had ever witnessed her temper. His father's temper he could handle, a caning was quick. His mother's temper was prolonged torture though her disappointed tones.

She could make you pay for years.

He had been paying for years for his…discretions…when in Azkaban.

Opening the door Draco saw Ginny, but her happy face quickly wilted upon seeing Draco's helpless expression.

"Hey," she managed and Draco just looked scared.

"Hello, come in," he said, sounding friendly and it was almost convincing, if his eyes weren't screaming: "Help me!" and "Flee for your life!" at her.

Draco stepped back to allow her to enter and took her coat as he closed the door. Ginny saw Narcissa sitting on the chair a few feet away and from there she could feel the sharp cold of her glare.

"Um, hello, Mrs. Malfoy, how are you?" she attempted but Draco grabbed her wrist at their sides and shook his head very minutely, warning her not to even ask.

"Ginny Weasley," she said curtly, a pleasant smile across her face that Draco knew was hiding very malevolent thoughts and intentions.

"Yes, ma'am?" she asked, not sure what sort of scene she had just stumbled upon, knowing only that it was clearly a very bad one.

"My son was just entertaining me with a story," she said is a light tone and Draco was very still at Ginny's side.

"Really?" she asked.

"Oh, a charming little tale. Fictional for sure, because I know my son would never do any such thing," she said and Ginny's brow creased in the middle slightly as she looked at the woman, trying to understand. "It's about a woman and a man having immoral relations out of wedlock while the woman…a tart naturally…is in another relationship with another man," she said sweetly, folding her hands on her lap. Ginny flushed.

"Mrs. Malfoy-"

"I will allow you only one opportunity to explain yourself," she said, not having moved from her spot, prim and proper posture, frozen in her anger.

"I brought your clothing back…" Ginny offered, holding out a plastic shopping bag she had out the washed and pressed clothing in.

"You may keep it. I will only burn them," she said and Draco glared.

"Mother-"

"Draco, I demand to know what has gotten into you," she said firmly.

Draco sighed heavily and sat back down on the couch. Ginny followed after him and sat down uneasily. Her discomfort was immeasurable.

"May I talk?" he asked and his mother nodded curtly. "This looks terrible, I expected you to be angry, I do not blame you-"

"I should hope not-"

"But," he said firmly, cutting her off from her interruption, "you have to understand, this is not a well, sexual based fling," he said, glancing over at Ginny to support him on this and she nodded readily.

"It isn't, Ma'am."

"So you two have not had sex," she said and Draco and Ginny each looked away in a different direction, neither saying anything. "Good lord," Narcissa sighed.

"Mother, Ginny and I are seeing each other. It is more than just sex…"

"You are seeing each other under the table? This is some sort of affair isn't it?"

"Yes," Draco admitted uncomfortably.

"Draco-"

"Mrs. Malfoy, please, don't yell at him. This was my idea," Ginny jumped in and Draco looked at her. He appreciated her coming to his aid, but taking the blame? Did she want to die?

"Oh, I know it was. I raised my son to be an honest man," she said, glaring at Draco. He looked angry as he glared at the orange carpet.

"He is a good man-"

"And you are a hussy," she snapped and Ginny looked taken aback.

"Mother," Draco scolded.

"Let me tell you a little story, Draco," she said, cutting him off, "about a young man who had not listened to his mother, and had sordid relations with a woman out of wedlock. Let me tell you what became of that young man," she said and Draco's shoulders hunched.

"Mother, please don't do this," he begged.

"He wound up with a heartbroken mother, a shamed family, and a pregnant lover who he married to only then have her run around on him."

"Mrs. Malfoy…"

"You want to hurt like that again, Draco? Repeat that…debauchery? This one is as unfaithful as the last, but you know this from the start…why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Mrs. Malfoy!" Ginny shouted.

Narcissa rounded her pointed and stern face on Ginny like a bird of prey, eyes fierce. "I'm not fully elucidated on what happened between Draco and his wife," she said, part of her coming to grips with what she heard. So that was it, Draco had said he loved his wife more than she had loved him, but really, what he had been saying was his wife had run around on him, cheated on him. That was terrible. "But regardless of what occurred, you have no right to use that against him now!"

"How dare you…"

"You are treating him like a child!" she shouted. She had to admit that she herself tended to breakdown and do whatever she was told when her mother started yelling, and she had always figured Draco to be a serious momma's boy, but Narcissa was treating Draco like a bad little boy, scolding him. On top of that, she genuinely felt Narcissa was being unreasonable. "I can understand you were mad about what had happened when he was seventeen, or eighteen, or whatever, but he isn't seventeen anymore. He is not a child, he is not a teenager…he is a man," she said firmly.

Narcissa glared and Draco heaved a sigh.

"It's not going to be like last time," he said softly.

"Then what is it to be like, Draco, please, enlighten me," Narcissa asked in a tone that was light, like she was humoring him. Ginny hated that, passionately.

Draco looked at Ginny and begged with his eyes for her to not say anything. He then went into a long explanation about what exactly was going on. He even mentioned that they had shared feelings for each other back in Hogwarts but omitted the kisses they had shared in the past weeks before they had gotten together. He seemed to do a fairly decent job of summing up the relationship, but in the end he could not deny what it was. It was Ginny having an affair with him.

"Draco-"

"Mrs. Malfoy-"

"Don't speak," Narcissa snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do," Ginny warned.

"Mother, Ginny, please, don't fight…it's Christmas," Draco begged, his hands gripping the roots of his hair firmly as he propped his elbows up on his knees, jumping in before Ginny and his mother had a serious throw down in the middle of the living room.

Ginny and Narcissa glared at each other.

"What would you have me do about this, Draco?" Narcissa finally asked.

"Help me."

"Are you mad?"

"Please, I'm not asking you to like Ginny, or what we are doing…but asking you to help me with the children."

"Have you thought about them in this situation, Draco?"

"Yes," he said defensively.

"Well then," she said, voice light again as she blinked up at the ceiling, looking like she had something in her eyes. "I suppose, since it matters not to you my opinion, I guess I have no choice then to look into the best interest of my grandchildren while in the midst of this….situation," she said, letting out a shuddering sigh.

"Mother, no, please don't cry, please, please," Draco whined, sliding off the couch to fall to his knees before her and lay the side of his face on her lap and hug her lower legs. "Please don't," he begged.

"As a mother I only want what's best for my child, but I cannot force him to see things for what they are…to make good judgments. I just can't help but feel like I have failed…" she said, finally weeping softly.

Ginny watched on, not quite sure what to do. Narcissa had just gotten through making Draco feel like dirt, and now he was groveling on the floor before her, comforting her?

"You did not fail, you are an excellent mother," he said, urging her to believe him in his sincerity.

"This is not what I wanted for you," she sobbed.

"Nothing in my life has turned out how we would have liked, and that's no fault of yours. That's just life…fate…whatever. But please, support me in this? This one thing that makes me happy?" he asked, still hugging his mother's legs and pleading.

"Being the other man…makes you happy?" she asked, not understanding how that could be.

"Being with Ginny makes me happy," he said, carefully dodging that question.

"Angel," she said, reaching down to hold the side of his face, no longer calling him Draco, softening her tone.

"I want to spend Christmas night at the Weasley home. Ginny and Réamann invited me," he said and Narcissa became very still.

"It's just a dinner among friends. Réamann invited him, I just seconded the idea," Ginny added quickly, hoping the woman would not relapse into fits.

"You would leave your children for a second night?" she asked, horrified but soft-spoken still while looking down at her son before her as she held the side of his face.

"I'm not deserting them…it is just a dinner with people I knew years ago."

"You trying to make friends with them?" she asked, her tone slipping back into anger.

"No, Mother-"

"To associate with such people…Angel…honestly-"

"Mrs. Malfoy…"

"After all they did to you, you would forgive them? Just like that?"

"This is only for Ginny, Mother, I do not wish to be friends with them," he urged and Ginny looked at him.

"You want me to watch the children, while you go fraternize with…those people, and pretend to not be…fraternizing…with her while under their watchful eye?" she asked as though making sure she understood, and Draco looked down.

"I do not forgive them, I do not wish to be their friend," he assured. "I would not be out late; back before the children even fall asleep, I'm sure."

"I suppose, since you are a man, you can do as you like," she said brusquely. "After all, I'm just your mother," she said, standing and pushing Draco's hands away.

"Mother," be begged.

"I will leave you to explain this to your children. I'll be back shortly, we are out of bourbon," she said, grabbing her coat and heading for the front door.

She left Draco kneeling there on the floor between the chair and the end of the coffee table looking dejected and lost, his mummy rejecting him and him unable to beg and plead to make her understand like he had always done in the past.

Ginny could really see that that woman had Draco wound tight.

Hermione was right, the first thing she needed to do was undo all that Draco's mother had done to him.

"Well, that went well," he said with what Ginny could only interpret as complete seriousness.

"Well? That went well?" she gaped.

"You do not know my mother," he said, looking back at the chair she had vacated as he continued to kneel there beside the table.

"I can't help but feel it was really stupid for us to include you mother in this," Ginny said, sitting there on the couch, hands in her lap, feeling angry, and frustrated, and a little dirty and hurt at the same time.

"Like I could hide this from her?" Draco said, in disbelief that Ginny had considered that possible after having been in the woman's presence. "I can't hide anything from that woman, and don't think that I haven't tried. I was a teenager once," he said, looking away from her then. "Besides, we each need someone who is a part of our lives in on this, you told Granger," he said as he pushed himself up using the coffee table.

"Yeah, but Hermione is being supportive."

"Supportive? Her? Not from what I gathered when she came to see me."

"Hermione came to see you?"

"Yeah, the day that you came over, later that day…she looked like she would support you, but only begrudgingly."

"That's more than I can say for your mother."

"Hey, she has been the only woman in my life for nine years. Can you really blame her for being a little protective?"

"Protective, is that what you call it? Draco, she was ruthless, and she's insane."

"Yeah…what's your point," he said, not even trying to deny any of Ginny's accusations in regards to his mother.

"Draco, she isn't going to support you…us…in this, and she most certainly isn't going to help us."

"She is all I have. She is the only one that can watch my children for me. She is angry right now…we will let her cool down for a few days. Really, she will come around. She has wanted me to date for a long time…"

"Yeah, but I think she had a different idea in mind."

"Yes, well, she has never dated."

"She seems a little old-fashioned."

"Is being in an honest…monogamous relationship `old fashioned'?" he asked.

"Well, no, but for us it is not a possibility."

"Why not?"

"Draco, did you see the paper today?"

"I did…"

"Front page…our picture…that was just because we danced together. Could you imagine what would happen if it were to get out that we were dating?"

"It would be a circus," he agreed with a sigh.

"You have worked very hard to protect your children from all that…you would only expose them to the world if we revealed our relationship."

"You using my children against me now too?"

"No. Draco, no."

"My mother says I'm not being fair to them while living this `lie,' you say I won't be fair to them if I am honest…I'm at a loss here. What should I do? Tell me," he demanded.

"I can't tell you what to do, Draco, because I don't know," she said heavily.

Draco took a deep breath.

He needed someone to tell him what to do…someone other than his mother or Ginny because they were each telling him to do completely opposite things and they were cancelling each other out.

He couldn't figure things out on his own when it came to his life…he never had been good at that.

"Why don't you try doing what you want to do?" she asked, softly, like she was afraid of his answer.

"I have never done what I wanted, well, and had it end well…"

"What do you want, Draco?" she asked.

"To be with you," he said softly.

"Then be with me, and let the rest just work itself out."

"What about my children?"

"I adore kids, and I wouldn't mind them, if they would have me."

"My mother won't like this, that I didn't end it with you after she left," he warned.

"Is that what she is expecting?"

"Afraid so," he said heavily as Ginny stood and faced him.

"You are not a little boy, Draco. Loving a woman, and making love to her, are not bad things, no matter what she says."

"Is this really just a fling, Ginny?" he asked brazenly. Ginny looked taken aback.

"Draco-"

"No, before I decide what to do, before I risk my children in any way, I need to know what you true intentions are. Am I just a fling? If I am, then that's fine, but at least I would know, know for sure and know what to do. We just agreed this is more than sex," he said, reminding Ginny of what they had assured his mother, "how much more than sex is it?"

Ginny looked at him and then looked away without saying a word.

"You want it to be," he said and she shifted uncomfortably. "But it's not, or it's becoming more," he said.

"I thought all I wanted was a fling, but," she sighed. "Things have just…progressed," she confessed.

"Why are you still with Réamann then?"

"Because no one can know we are together."

"So he really is our cover," he said, crossing his arms.

"I don't want to do this to him, I feel terrible, but I can't help but feel this attraction to you. You are too complex to ever just be a fling, I realize that now. And, what I felt that night, was what I felt last night, and it had very little to do with the sex, or the kissing and groping, and everything to do with looking into your eyes," she confessed. Draco, happy to hear that he was not a fling, happy to hear that she felt for him like he did her, and happy to know that his eyes enchanted her so deeply like hers did him, smiled softly at her.

This wasn't a fling.

"I would still much rather do things properly."

"You are stuck between what you want, and what you think is best for your children…I don't know what to tell you," she sighed, seeing Draco's conflict. She had her own to worry about. She was dating two men now, not just having a fling on the side, but Draco was quickly becoming her primary relationship, and Réamann was just becoming a public façade. That wasn't fair, and it made her feel dirty. She and Draco had only been "dating" for a few days! How could this have happened? Was it his eyes? The honesty and truth and vulnerability she saw in them? They had made a connection so long ago, but it had never broken, never even faded. They seemed to pick up, right where they left off, making things progress so much further, and faster, than they would have with any other man.

She was a little scared by it, but, at the same time, she got a rush.

"I will do what's best for them," Draco said without hesitation, despite how sad that made a part of him and how it hurt on the inside. "I'm too selfish to let you go, which would be the best for everyone, so I will do the best I can while holding on to you. I will be your dirty little secret," he said, wrapping his arms around her to hold her tight.

Ginny hugged him back, realizing how much this hurt him, but promising herself, promising him, that she would make it up to him…somehow.

There was a loud hoot and Draco twisted his head to look over his shoulder.

"Not you too, Frank," he said, apparently even his Barn Owl having an opinion on his relationship and voicing it loudly as it screeched again and swiveled its head.

"Frank?" Ginny asked, looking around Draco's shoulder to the little ghost-faced owl and then up at Draco.

"My children named him," he explained, able to know what Ginny was thinking, her wondering how and why he, Draco, had an owl with such a common and ordinary name. "When I brought Frank home, so young and new, my children said he smelled sweet, and thus how he had come to respond to Frankincense and nothing else," he said before looking over at his little owl.

"I was hoping to have your support in this at least, you little wanker," he said, the owl hooting at him as he held Ginny to his chest still.

"Dad?"

Speaking of his children, Clarissa was standing just inside the living room, having come from her bedroom.

Draco and Ginny pulled apart to look at her and Draco's eyes became soft and loving. Ginny was moved by it.

"Yes, sweet pea?" he asked.

"Are you and Nana done fighting?" she asked timidly.

"I'm sorry," he said, stepping around Ginny to hug his daughter to his stomach. "I can't help but feel that I have ruined your Christmas," he said, right hand on top of her head.

"You didn't ruin it," she said, looking under her father's loving arm to peek a glance at Ginny. Ginny got the impression that that was an accusatory glare.

"Where is your brother?" Draco asked.

"Here," Michelangelo said, emerging from the hallway slowly where he had been hidden from sight.

"Sit down with me. Come, sit down. We need to talk," he said, pulling Clarissa along with him, Michelangelo remaining where he was. Draco, Ginny, and Clarissa sat and Michelangelo lingered.

"Well then," Draco said, looking around at each of them, not sure where to even begin.

"Michael, you could sit," Ginny offered, making to stand from his chair but Michelangelo just crossed his arms and shifted his weight to stand more comfortably. He was not sitting.

"Awright, I think we all started off on the wrong foot here. While your Nana is away, we can talk about this; see if we cannot come to some kind of understanding."

"Is she replacing mum?" Clarissa asked in a way that was none-too-naive or innocent and Draco looked down at her. Clarissa wasn't asking "is she our new mummy?" but asking if Draco did not love their mother as much as he did Ginny now. That was a very serious and accusatory question.

"No," he said, holding her chin for a moment.

"Nana already did that," Michelangelo said, not looking friendly as he glared at Ginny. They already had a mother, Narcissa, and Michelangelo wanted Ginny to know that apparently.

"Michael," Draco sighed. Michelangelo rolled his eyes away to glare elsewhere. Draco knew his mother was basically a mother to the children, and introducing another woman was a little conflicting. It was almost like he was married and bringing in a second wife. None of the first party was happy about that it seemed.

Ginny looked to Draco and he gave her a reassuring but weak smile.

"Now," he said, patting Clarissa's knee. "This is Ginny Weasley," he said, holding his hand out and Ginny waving with a close lipped smile.

"You were married to Harry Potter," Michelangelo said.

"Michael," Draco warned softly, knowing where this was going and attempting to preempt another remark from his son.

"Dad, are you barmy?" he demanded and Draco sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Harry Potter? Dad, he is a bad man."

"Yes, I know but, Michael-"

"No," he said, looking mad. "She is part of the reason you were in Azkaban for most of my life, she is the reason I couldn't have you around," he said, pointing at Ginny but looking at his father, looking angry. Ginny was left feeling terribly uncomfortable and unsure of what to say. Harry, a "bad man"? That seemed a little extreme and harsh. Was that how Draco felt though?

"If I had never gone there in the first place, you never would have been born," Draco said, trying to be reasonable with his upset son but looking very tired, Clarissa sitting quietly at his side as though afraid to join the conversation.

"You're saying, if you could go back in time and set things right so those sods couldn't do that to you, you wouldn't?"

"If it meant giving up you…or you," he said, looking down at Clarissa, "then no," he said simply while making very strong eye-contact with Michelangelo. Ginny looked over at him with burning eyes. He was going to make her cry if he truly meant that.

"I don't understand that," Michelangelo exclaimed, too stubborn to cry himself.

"Believe it or not, I actually like having you around, even when you're being a troll to my girlfriend," Draco said, holding out his hand to Michelangelo, palm down. The boy glared, and Draco wiggled his fingers playfully, and he sighed. Michelangelo shuffled over to his father to sit beside him on the couch so Draco could snake his extended right arm around him, Draco in the middle and Clarissa on his left, closest to Ginny.

"Awright," he said, putting an arm around Clarissa then too. "I know this started off rocky, but let's look at it as only being able to go up from here," he said, forgoing the mention of all the things that could go wrong and make the situation much, much worse should anyone else find out about their little love affair.

"How did you and Daddy meet?" Clarissa asked Ginny, talking in her baby voice that made her seem so much younger than she really was.

"Well," Ginny said, taking a deep breath, "your father and I went to school, to Hogwarts, together," she said, nodding slowly and looking at the little girl that looked so much like her father…but for the curls. She had so many curls.

"What house were you in?" she asked innocently.

"Please, don't you know anything?" Michelangelo barked. "She's a Weasley. A Pureblood sure, but a Gryffindor, the whole lot of `em," he said, glaring at Ginny again.

Ginny was not sure Draco would appreciate her glaring at his son, but she was offended by his tone and attitude. He certainly was a spitting image of a twelve-year-old Draco Malfoy. If Narcissa was the one that had raised Draco, and the children for a majority of their lives, she now knew where such an attitude came from, even without the evidence of having met the woman moments before.

"Michael," Draco warned again, using just his name again. "Ginny is my girlfriend, and you two are to treat her with the same amount of respect as you do me…which is a little more than none," he said, giving them a squeeze into his sides.

"Nana is not happy about this?" Clarissa asked.

"I should think not," Michelangelo answered.

"She will grow accustomed to the idea," Draco assured them, and Ginny, and seemingly himself at the same time.

"I was wondering," Ginny said, leaning in to talk just to the children. "If I could borrow your dad for a few hours this evening," she said.

"No," the children said in unison.

"Come now," Draco said, holding their shoulders still.

"You were gone last night," Clarissa whined.

"And we all know what became of that," Michelangelo said almost under his breath.

Draco sighed. His son was not making this easy.

"Michelangelo Lucius Malfoy, I will not warn you again," he said firmly.

"I could make it up to you two, somehow," Ginny offered.

"How?" Clarissa asked, more easily swayed than Michelangelo it seemed.

"Well, I could take you out, do whatever you two want…my treat," she said, looking over to Michelangelo then. "I could take you out, before you head back to Hogwarts, maybe get you something for your birthday that I missed, and Christmas…"

"What about me?" Clarissa whined, near hysterics at the prospect of being left out of of getting gifts.

"You too," Ginny smiled.

"That sounds nice," Draco said encouragingly to the two.

"I don't need your bribes," Michelangelo spat and Draco sighed, giving Ginny an apologetic look. She was undeterred and pressed on.

"I could take you to Diagon Alley and you could pick out any one thing you like and I'll get it for you," she offered. Michelangelo, despite himself, looked over at her very slowly, tempted by the offer.

"Diagon Alley? Wow! I have never been there!" Clarissa said, suddenly excited, warming up to Ginny and scooting away from her father to sit closer to Ginny, to lean on the arm and enquire further. "You would really take us there? We would get to see all the magic?" she asked.

"If that's alright with your father," she said, looking over to Draco and Clarissa and Michelangelo both snapping their attention to him, to hear his reply.

Draco furrowed his brow. He had avoided taking his children to Diagon Alley so as not to chance someone recognizing them. Michelangelo had only gone the one day to pick out his wand.

"Well, I suppose, if you two were well behaved and allowed me to go out tonight I could…" he didn't get to finish what he was saying because Clarissa was squealing in excitement and hugging him around the shoulders, kneeling on the couch and pounding the tops of her feet on the cushions in a kicking motion behind her.

"You would let us go? But what about…" Michelangelo started to ask.

"Ginny is a clever witch, she would be able to keep you two out of trouble, and from attracting unwanted attention," he said, looking over at her.

"Of course," she said with a smile.

Clarissa looked bought, but Michelangelo obviously still had his reservations over the situation. Ginny could not really blame the boy, but that didn't make the situation any easier.

"Thank you, Ginny," Draco said a few moments later as she stood by the front door. Michelangelo and Clarissa were on the couch still, pretending to not be eavesdropping.

"So, you are coming?" she asked, still hopeful.

"You really think it would not end disastrously?"

"It's Christmas, they are required to be civil, even if they don't want to be. I can't imagine a better time for you to try and make peace." He gave her a look. "Make nice," she amended and he still looked cynical. "It's the only time you will be given a chance to explain yourself, and not at wand-point," she said with a smile. Draco seemed to exhale and deflate slightly.

"I will probably be late," he said and she grinned.

"Dinner always starts later than planned at the Burrow. Come when you get the chance," she said, pressing something into his hand. It was a hairbrush.

"What's…?"

"It's a Portkey. It's set to activate at eight and it will take you to the front of the Burrow property. It will remain active, it doesn't have a short life and only expires after using, so you can use it at any time after eight," she said, and he smiled.

"Such a clever witch," he said, leaning in to kiss her with just a little pucker of lips and a little kissy sound.

"Don't forget `thoughtful'," she added, giving him a little kissy in return.

"Of course," he said, giving her a second kissy. There was a giggle from the couch, complements of Clarissa, and Draco and Ginny smiled and pulled apart, knowing they had an audience.

"I'll see you later," she said.

"Later," he answered, holding the door for her like the gentleman he had been raised to be.

Closing the door, Draco was greeted when he turned around with a flustered glare from Michelangelo, and a giggle barely snuffed by Clarissa's hands over her mouth.

His mother would be home soon, and a whole lot of fun would be had at that point, and he still had dinner at the Burrow to look forward to.

He was such a glutton for punishment.

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Author's Note:

It seems none of what happend in this chapted "went down" how Draco wanted. How Ginny found out about the children, how Narcissa found out about Ginny spending the night, how he introduced the children to Ginny....the poor boy. *is evil* Well, the beginning went how he wanted at least. ;D

Naricissa, oh how I love her. Anyone ever see The Devil Wears Prada? I kind'a think of Narcissa acting like Miranda (the boss), just her voice and how smooth it is even when she is being really harsh and stuff. No shouting, just that tone and sardonic mocking. Yeah, that's how I picture Narcissa, seriously styled silver hair and all. (she is over 50 in this fic, so, yeah, silver hair)

Ginny and Narcissa certainly butt-heads in this chapter. That much is to be expected, right? Or is it too cliche? I don't know, but I seriously feel they are both too dominent female personalities to get along easily.

Michelangelo is a little sassy isn't he? A little mini-Draco and he is a favorite character of mine in this fic. His parts just get better and better. :)

I hope you all, um...enjoyed...the opening of this chapter. Draco found himself a bed…I'm SO bad at such things. I guess we know where Draco gets his prudeness from. :P

I'm also sorry this chapter update took SO long. Life happens to the best of us. I'm also nearing the chapters I haven't yet finished, and without MS Word on my computer at the moment I can't write, so I'm worried that updates will be coming a little slower now. Not terribly slow, but there are about 10 chapters to go and I only have 7 of them written and with the ending still up in the air, I have to be able to go back and adapt things. >_<

I will do my best.

Now go off and review, I'm dying to know what y'all think.

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