Chapter 16
Catching up on Lost Time
Ginny was sitting next to her mother on the couch; her father had pushed off to a nearby chair. "Mum I've missed you so much."
"Oh baby I've missed you too. Oh look how you've grown. You're a woman now, not my little girl."
"Oh Mum I'll always be your little girl."
The two women sat huddled on the sofa crying and talking for a few moments before the wind changed.
"I can't for the life of me understand why you left like that but I'm glad you finally let someone know you are okay."
"Mum?"
"Honestly Ginevra how could you think we would have turned him away? Surely I raised you better than that?"
"Mum you can't be serious. It was a bloody war for Merlin's sake. You're gonna sit here and tell me that the other members of the Order would have just accepted him in with open arms. They wouldn't have and you know it, not after what Severus did even if he did it at the Headmaster's personal request."
"I'm not trying to say everyone would have, I'm saying your father and I would have."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh that's rich. Any time the Malfoy name came up as kids it was always you that got hot under the collar no matter what the topic was. If anyone should have acted that way it would have been Dad, he had a right. Lucius never did anything but tear Dad down at every turn but Dad never once ranted on the way you used to. So you want to spin that one again for me."
Ginny moved from her seat simply unable to remain so close to her mother. "You want to be all self-righteous about me leaving? Fine but I know better. Sure you might have taken him in and nursed him back to health. No doubt in a far quicker fashion than I did. But you would have always been looking over your shoulder. You would never have trusted him. That lack of trust would have extended to me for wanting to help him, for loving him."
"You are assuming far too much young lady."
"No Mother, I'm not. You may have forgotten the summer after my first year but I haven't. I saw every little sideways glance you gave me. You always wondered if your precious baby girl was going to go off and do something else stupid to get people killed. Mum, face it, once your faith is shaken in someone it never fully rebuilds for you, even with me."
"Ginevra Molly Weasley how dare you accuse me of such madness!"
Arthur and Draco sat quietly to the side, both knowing better than to dare putting their two cents into the dispute between their wives. Draco having taken the chair directly next to Arthur leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Have they always been like this?"
Arthur grinned. "I think Gin was about four the first time she really let it show that she had Mol's temper. They screamed back and forth for hours. I learned a very long time ago to just let them get it out and be done with it. They'll be better off in the end if they do."
Draco nodded. More than once Ginny and one or even both of the girls had gotten into it and had screamed loud enough and long enough to leave them with sore throats the next day. "How long do you think they'll be at this?"
Arthur rubbed his chin with his hand. "Well they've got seventeen years of missed fights to make up for. I would think till at least lunch, maybe even dinner if they get really riled up."
"This isn't really riled up?"
"Oh heavens no. They haven't started throwing breakables yet."
Draco laughed under his breath. "Here I was thinking I was the only person Ginny tossed the glassware at."
"There are six Weasley men back home that probably wish you were, but sadly no you're not. Charlie still has a scar on his back where she tossed a broken vase at him when she was nine or so."
"Do I even want to know why she did that?"
"I don't know myself. I was at work. One minute I'm filing a report on exploding toilets and the next I'm getting a floo call from St. Mungo's telling me Charlie was there getting healed. Molly never did tell me what caused the argument in the first place. I'm sure Charlie did something to deserve it knowing him."
The sounds from the two irate women continued to escalate. "Would you care to join me elsewhere? They are starting to give me a headache. For the life of me I can't see the reason in sitting here watching this play out like a bad soap opera."
Arthur rose from his seat. "I would love to. But what's a soap opera?"
Draco explained while showing him out of the living room and down the hall towards the library. "It's a program a bit like an extended play of sorts that is shown on muggle televisions. It's considered a form of entertainment but for the life of me I don't know why."
When the two entered the library they found Isaac sitting at his father's desk, nose buried in a thick book, pen poised over paper. Isaac looked up from his book. "Dad, Sir."
"Sorry to invade your studying Isaac, but we both felt the ladies needed some time to themselves."
"No doubt, Mom sounds madder than she did the day Sere tried jumping off the third floor landing."
"Oh I don't know about that. I think she was scared. You know how she gets. Scared comes out as anger with her. They'll be fine once they both say what they need to."
Arthur nodded in agreement while taking a seat on the plush sofa that sat perpendicular to the desk "So young man just what are you reading so intently?"
"A text on human transfiguration sir."
"Fine subject, that one. Never was much good at it myself. Had a friend though that was fairly apt at it; Alastair loved turning others into rodents. Didn't much care if you were friend or foe he just got an odd pleasure out of it. I'll never forget the day he thought it would be funny to turn me into a real weasel. Not nearly as funny as it sounds either."
Draco paled at the memory of the fake Moody turning him into a ferret during his fourth year.
"Anyhow. I must say studying is one habit you didn't get from Ginny my boy. That girl hated to study. Though lack of studying or not, she kept her grades up after her first year. Can't really say any of my brood, save for maybe Percy studied during the summer. It's very refreshing to see another generation that can put some interest into their studies when school isn't in session. Now what school do you attend young man?"
Isaac looked up at the man that clearly was his mum's father. "I attend a muggle boarding school just outside of Rome."
"A muggle school. Surely not? Did you not receive a first year letter from a nearby school?"
Draco looked at his father-in-law. "He did. He attended two years at the Milan school for Magical Learning but he rather hated it. After a considerable amount of time spent disagreeing with him, Ginny and I agreed to allow him to attend a muggle secondary school if he continued his magical studies on his own. He sat his OWLS and did extremely well for having learned most of it on his own. He's doubled his efforts in preparation for his Newts."
"That's a fine achievement young man. Most aren't so apt at teaching themselves magic, much less while carrying on a muggle education at the same time."
Isaac smiled. "Thank you sir. I work very hard. But if I don't Mum will kick my bum from here to Rome and back a few times before she's done with me."
"Of that I have no doubt young man. She's a bit like her own mother. When she says something you best stick to it or be prepared for the fallout. Is there a particular human transformation you are focusing on? I seem to recall extra points on NEWTS for particular studies."
"The animagus theory."
"Very ambitious young man. Have you tried casting the spells or have you just begun your study?"
"I've cast the spell to discover my form, but I've not tried to transform into it yet. I've still got a lot of studying to do before I try that."
"Did you find out what your form would be?"
"No, but I'm not discouraged. Discovering your form is supposed to be the hardest part of the entire ordeal. I'm sure I'll get it sooner or later."
"I never tried it myself but I know a handful of gentlemen that started learning while they were far too young to be doing so. I'm sure if that bunch can you can as well."
"Thank you sir."
Arthur turned his attention back to Draco. "Speaking of school, did either of you ever finish? I am assuming you missed your seventh year and I know Ginny would have missed both her sixth and her seventh."
"We did. The same school that Isaac attended allowed us to sit our Newts after we sat some very long boring tests to insure we had learned the appropriate subject matter when Isaac was about a year old. Personally I had no desire to bother with sitting for them. I had already decided that running this vineyard was going to be my life. No offense to you or the magical world in general, but our customers don't look for magical degrees when they are picking out a wine. However your daughter understands the fine art of nagging. I finally sat the bloody thing just so I wouldn't have to hear it anymore."
Arthur roared with sudden laughter. "Having lived with her mother for well on sixty years I can fully understand that sentiment. My wife is good at a great number of things bless her, but nagging is by far what she is best at."
Draco had worried that when Ginny's father got here he would hex him into oblivion, so he was pleasantly surprised to find that the man was as kind hearted as he had come to assume from Ginny's stories of her childhood. "Sir my godfather was kind enough to inform us you had become Minister of Magic at the first of the year. Congratulations."
"Thank you. I tell you, it's more work than I want that's for sure. It can be rewarding when someone doesn't want something out of you though. Oh it's like all jobs I suspect with their ups and their downs. Why anyone would seek out the job for themselves befuddles me. I wouldn't have dared run had I not felt like I should. So many people I respect had been pushing it well since my children were still tykes. I finally said sod it and ran. Damn near took me by surprise when I swept the election. I hadn't realized that many people had wanted me to run." He stopped and smiled. "The hours are better than working in the misuse of muggle artifacts office though so it's not all that bad."
"Sounds like you're warming up to it. Severus seemed rather pleased with the concept." Draco noted with a grimace that he had just heard the sound of glass shattering against the adjoining wall between the sitting room and the library. That would leave a mark for sure.
"Did he? You must be the only person outside of Albus, peace rest his soul, who could ever get an honest opinion out of that man. Locks himself up far too tight, but if I had gone through all he had I suspect I would do the same. I have always hoped he might find a nice woman to draw him out a bit, but I guess that's not likely to happen after Molly tried setting him up on a blind date a few years back."
Draco burst out laughing. "She did what?"
"Oh you don't really know about that do you? Molly tends to meddle in the lives of the people she cares about, specifically in people's love lives. God forbid someone not experience the happiness of marriage. She met some fetching lady in Gladrags or some such one day when she was out shopping for one of the grandkid's birthday presents and Molly decided she would be the perfect match for Severus. Forced the man to go out on a blind date, only he didn't have a clue it was a date till he got there. She flat lied to the poor man. Told him this nice young lady was in need of a potions master to brew wolfsbane for her. So she set up a supposed meeting so Elizabeth, I believe her name was, could meet Severus and `inquire' about him brewing for her. Of course Severus gets there to find out not only does this nice woman not need wolfsbane but she's expecting him to escort her to dinner. Severus is an honorable man, so he escorts the lady to dinner then sees her home before he shows up on our doorstep fit to kill. I tell you I have never seen Severus Snape so livid in all my days and that is quite a feat considering the situations I've seen him walk away from over the years. Has it stopped Molly from trying to find him Mrs. Right? Merlin no. That woman won't learn until the day she dies that not everyone wants to be happily married."
Draco was gasping for breath he was laughing so hard. "Oh my god I would have given anything to see Uncle's face when he realized he had not only been set up but had been set up by a woman for a date."
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that. The look he gave Molly would have made Lord Voldemort back down in fear. But Molly just stood her ground insisting that if he were a little more open minded he would have seen what a `companionable woman the dear was.'"
Draco just laughed harder trying for the life of him to get himself under control to no effect. Oh that little nugget of information could serve as real blackmail material if he ever needed it. It took several long quiet minuets for Draco to finally get the image of Molly Weasley standing her ground for setting his godfather up out of his head. More than once the mere thought caused his to lose his reign on his mirth. "If you think it will help, I have it on good authority that Severus is seeing someone quietly. He has been for a fairly long time as far as I know."
"Well I'll be. Leave it to him to have a secret tryst and the rest of us not have a clue. It gives him even more reason for to be so mad at Molly. Well you know what, he deserves a bit of happiness. Who am I to begrudge him that after all these years?"
Draco nodded understanding the hardships his godfather had willingly undertaken to try and repay his mistakes. "He seemed very happy with the situation they have worked out."
After a while of quietly chatting about countless things from quidditch to the vineyard Draco noticed the arguing in the next room had quieted. "Well they seem to have yelled themselves out finally."
"It does sound that way. Amazing it only took two and half hours; that may be a new record for shortest argument between those two."
Draco glanced at the grandfather clock that stood against one wall. It was already nearing eleven am. He was fairly certain that Clara would have informed the cook of their guests, but he should probably make sure and check on the girls. "If you'll excuse me I need to go check on the girls and make sure the cook knows to fix extra for lunch. Arthur, please make your self at home. I'll try to be back as soon as possible."
His father-in-law smiled. "Take your time."
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