A New Life

Author's Note: Thanks again to PJ who wonderfully edited this and talked to me about a few things I should begin to change. Thank-You!

Chapter six

“Hermione! Have you seen my tie?” Harry called throughout the hotel room, while he was searching it. He was in black slacks and a white dress shirt. By his feet, were his shoes and Hermione's purse. He stood in front of the mirror and tried to comb his hair.

“Harry, don't yell I'm right behind you. You're tie is in the second drawer on the right.” Hermione calmly replied, walking into their hotel bedroom in a towel with another one holding her hair.

“You're not even dressed yet, honey?” Harry asked alarmed.

“Don't even go there, Harry! I had to dress the kids, feed them, and everything! I'm not even unpacked completely yet AND I still have to iron my dress! So don't even start with me!” Hermione's temper rose with frustration at her lack of organization.

“I was just saying, Hermione.” Harry said softly, “I'm sorry. You know I love you.” Harry went up behind Hermione who was drying her hair with a towel in front of the other mirror.

“I shouldn't have yelled, but I just feel so stressed.” Hermione apologized. Harry kissed her bare shoulder.

“You're forgetting to say something…” he teased.

“What?” she responded worriedly.

“You love me too, don't you?”

Hermione chuckled.

“Of course Harry, I love you too. Happy?”

She turned her neck as he leaned down to kiss her. The kiss went on, until Hermione's towel was almost taken off. Harry planned it that way and he would've succeeded if it weren't for those darn kids…

“Mommy! Daddy!” Haylie barged in. Hermione quickly redid her towel and Harry stepped back.

“What is it honey? How are you feeling?”

Haylie sighed. “I'm fine daddy, but Jamie needs help!”

“What's the problem?”

“His tie is.” She rolled her eyes and giggled.

Harry grinned. “Alright. Lead the way.”

Haylie took her father's hand and dragged him out of her parents' bedroom. She took him across the little hall into the room she was sharing with her brother. James was also in black dress pants. He already had his shiny black shoes on and his blue dress shirt was button up all the way. He currently was wrapping the tie around in every possible way, attempting to magically find the way to tie it.

“Careful or you'll strangle yourself.” Harry joked.

“Funny, Dad. Haylie was lying; I don't need any help!” He claimed feverishly.

“Looks like you do” Harry reasoned. Haylie ran out of the room to cause more trouble probably.

“I don't! I can do this and I don't need you!” James yelled defensively.

“Whoa calm down, buddy! I was just offering…what's wrong?”

“Nothing” James muttered.

“Liar. Tell me what's bothering you.”

James was silent for a minute.

“I want to do it by myself. You had to do it by yourself at Hogwarts and I can do it now.” He said with determination while still attempting to work on tying his own tie.

“James, everybody needs help every now and then. Your mother is the person who taught me to tie a tie. And now I'm going to teach you.” Harry went to his son and stood behind him. He wrapped the tie around James' flipped collar and began to tie it.

“First you cross it and wrap it around. Then you pull it through. And you use both hands to tighten it. Don't do it too tight” Harry explained patiently as James watched the reflection in his mirror.

“Thanks dad.” James murmured apologetically.

“It's okay to not know how to do something James. And you can always come to your mother and me for help, got it?”

James nodded reverently and smiled at his father.

“We've got about ten minutes and your sister still needs to finish getting ready. Why don't you play in here for a bit?” suggested Harry. He left the room and looked around for Haylie. Hoping that she was already dressed and they could actually leave on time for once.

***

At the Burrow, things were ten times as hectic for the Weasley's. Every Weasley, with the exception of Percy, had cleared their calendars for this big night. Every child and adult was dressed in either a nice suit or a pretty sundress. The boys even had bowties and shiny shoes on; something they didn't attempt often.

Fred and George watched the havoc in the house from afar. A lot had changed since Harry and Hermione had left.

“So, Gred, you ready for Ron duty?”

“You bet, Forge. I just wish it wasn't necessary. I'd rather spend the evening with junior than keeping an eye on Ickle Ronniekins.”

George took a sip of his drink before replying, “I still think mum should've warned him. It'll only make our job harder.”

“Just remember, grab, drag, dress, and spy. When he starts off, we grab him and drag him up stairs to get dressed and then we watch him for misbehavior. Sweet and simple.”

“We could have some fun with him while we're doing it…” Fred suggested evilly. George grinned.

“The hair stuff, perhaps?” His twin responded with a wicked grin on his face, while rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“Read my mind, brother. Let me go ask Angelina if we can borrow Freddy's innocent messiness.” The twins ran off gleefully as the house rocked with insanity. Instead of helping, they were working on a plan to throw Ron off-guard and force him to accept Harry and Hermione as a couple.

Ginny wasn't having such a good time in the pre-party phase. She was in her room, dressed for the dinner in a nice fitting sun dress. Her nails were done and her hair was newly cut and styled for this special night. Not only were Harry and Hermione to be properly welcomed back with their family, but she had her own news to share and she was scared as hell.

Ginny sighed and began to pace. In her hand was the letter. Merlin, she hated this letter but it changed her life. It was too late to change everything. She'd already informed the necessary people, excluding anyone in her family and tonight was the perfect night. She could only imagine the reactions from her brothers; they'd kill her and then they'd kill him. They'd already wanted to kill him for years anyway. Her mother would be crushed. Already, Molly had Fred and George; unmarried with one child each. They refused marriage saying that they couldn't do it until they knew they wouldn't hesitate. It was an extremely wise excuse from the twins and an extremely emotional time for the family. Just recently had everything turned back to normal…and now here was Ginny ready to shake it up again.

She was ready to be someone's wife. She knew she could do it. She had been following and watching her mother since she could remember. She knew how to act, what to do, and what to say and how to run a family smoothly. She wasn't the problem…it was him. He didn't want to get married so young. He was only twenty-six. He wasn't ready to settle down and raise a family, but now he had no choice.

Ginny only had two wishes; to have a happy, healthy family and to bare Malfoy's last name, as her own. Things were so complicated. She threw herself on her bed and began to sob. The letter with her pregnancy results stung like a wasp and she let the paper fall from her hand. A baby. She wasn't ready for one of those. She was still a baby herself in retrospect. She was so scared. She had to tell someone…but so far only Luna knew. And when she'd told Luna she was pregnant with Malfoy, then the other girl had returned by telling her secret. Luna and Ron had broken up for a good reason and Luna was better off without her brother screwing up like he did all those years ago. Ginny promised herself she wouldn't try to interfere with Luna and Charles any longer. The airy blonde could make her own decisions and Ginny would just make sure she was there for support.

Ginny slowly stopped crying and wiped her face. She had ruined the majority of her makeup, but simply rubbed it off. She wasn't in the mood to feel glamorous. She just wanted this night to be over. Ginny was rudely interrupted from her self-pitying thoughts when a knock on the door reached her ears.

“Auntie Gin-Gin, Auntie Gin-Gin!” it was one of Bill and Fleur's girls. They had twins. Sometimes, Ginny could tell them apart but not usually.

“Hold on, girls, wait a second!” Ginny made sure she looked presentable and then opened her bedroom door.

“Aunt Ginny wait until you hear this!”

“Yeah guess what?”

“What is it, girls?”

“Uncle Remus is coming!”

“Really?” Ginny smiled at their exuberance. With Bill's accident rendering him a slightly different man with a different taste in meat, He and his wife had been clear to the girls about that night. They had explained the entire story down to the very last scary and unfortunate detail. Lukas had thought his dad was amazing for it, while the twin girls had been scared at first. Remus had been a constant in Bill and Fleur's life considering that Bill also worked in the Werewolf Division of the Department of Equal Representation of Magical Creatures in the Ministry of Magic, as well as an additional seasonal job as a curse breaker for Gringotts.

“He said he got us all presents!” Nicolette, Ginny guessed, said excitedly.

“Uncle Ron got us presents from Aruba, too!” Antoinette mentioned happily. Ginny's looked darkened at this.

“If he did, I'll be surprised. Your Uncle Ron is a selfish guy.”

“What's selfish?” Nicolette questioned innocently.

“Your Uncle Ron.” Ginny conceded, she took hold of, in each hand, one girl and walked downstairs to the party. Ginny decided she would fret or worry. She concluded that either everything would eventually work out or her family wouldn't accept it. Either way, she was having this baby and she would be together with that stupid Slytherin whom she loved very much.

***

From the other side of the room, Ginny smiled as she watched her brothers whispering mischievously. Ron was asleep in his room and Ginny could only imagine how they planned to torture him. She hoped it hurt badly. She put her drink back on the table near her and went to see if her mother needed any help.

In the kitchen, Molly Weasley was Queen. She made the rules, set the standards and punished those unfortunate enough to stand in her way. Quivering in the corner was Jessie Belle Weasley, George and Katie's two year old daughter. She looked genuinely scared of her grandmother as she flittered about the kitchen.

“Hey Jess, what're you doing?” Ginny asked kindly. She had a feeling that George was supposed to be watching his kid, but was distracted by his plot with Fred.

“Gamma mad!” replied a wide eyed and shaking toddler.

“Why's grandma mad?” Ginny was curious because the house had not started to shake with her mother's booming angry voice yet. But soon, she smiled and was elevated from her curiosity when the walls began to quake.

“UGGHH! I CANT BELIEVE THAT RONALD HAS THE INDECENCY TO COMPLETELY STUFF HIMSELF WITH EVERY BISCUIT IN THIS HOUSE! NOW WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FOR THE GUESTS! DAMN HIM!” Molly burst out angrily; even Ginny cowered by the end of it. She took Jessie Belle in her arms and carried her over to the table where she sat her on her lap.

“You think grandma's mad?”

“Yep!” Ginny could not help grinning because at least this time her mother was not mad about her.

“Wait till Harry and Hermione get here. Mad won't even reach what Ron's going to be. He has no clue yet. Grandma thought it would be better to surprise him. I only agreed because when Ron's surprised, his aim and agility are bloody awful. Well…when he's not surprised they're about the same, but this way there's no chance of him cursing anybody. Dueling the muggle way isn't beneath him though and you should be a little proud, I guess, that your youngest Uncle Ron has buffed up and can kick some serious a—”

“Ginerva Molly Weasley, if you say that word to that child I will refuse to feed you, understand?” Molly threatened brandishing a dirty spatula, in Ginny's direction.

“I'm not Ron, mum. I can go without a few meals and survive.” Ginny replied annoyed.

“Not with your figure now, dear. You're just skin and bones! We'll put some meat on there. Men don't like women who can offer nothing substantial” Molly assured her daughter.

“Mum please, I don't need to hear this!” Ginny whined, imagining how she would look in a few months' time.

The toddler clapped her hands and blew bubbles in her mouth.

“I sure hope that Harry and Hermione are hungry! I've made enough for an army!” Molly said excitedly.

“And with Ron attending, you'll need double.” Ginny giggled.

Molly responded sternly. “Ginny, behave. Your brother is going through a rough time. Is it too much to be sensitive to his feelings?”

Ginny pretended to think about it for a moment, and then said “Yes. It's way too much.”

Molly shook her head and repressed a chuckle. She continued preparing dinner while Ginny played hand games with Jessie Belle.

“Auntie Gin-Gin! Auntie Gin-Gin!” someone called from the doorway. Looking over her shoulder, Ginny saw that Nicolette and Antoinette were trying to get her attention. Even without their veela traits inherited from Fleur, they were impossible to resist. Ginny carried Jessie Belle in her arms as she walked over to the door.

“You need me, girls?”

“Yes! Auntie Gin-Gin, the boys keep taking our stuff!” Nicolette exclaimed.

“And hiding it!” Antoinette added.

“Which boys?” Ginny inquired calmly.

“Luke and”

“Bryan!”

“Okay, what have they nicked?”

“Luke took my doll and”

“Bryan took our crayons!”

“Do me a favor, okay girls? Stop finishing each others sentences! I'm going to give you some advice; the boys nicked your stuff, right?”

“Yes.” Both answered.

“First, use Matt to find out where it's hidden and then you wait and hide next to the spot. When Luke and Bryan go to check on the stuff, you jump out and scare them. That'll teach them to stop bothering you.” Ginny advised.

“But Uncle Charlie just put Matt in time-out for throwing a ball in the house and it hit Freddy! He started crying…”

“…but Aunt Cheryl got him to stop. She can make any crying baby shut it!”

“What did I say about the sentences? Your stuff is probably hidden near the pond. Why don't you go look for it?”

The doorbell rang at that exact moment. Ginny stopped and looked up. She was still holding the fidgety toddler, Jessie Belle, in her arms.

“On second thought, our guests are here so you should probably worry about it later?” Ginny suggested softly. The entire house had frozen. Nobody talked or moved. Everyone stared at the door like it was keeping them safe from some sort of monster behind it. Ginny walked out of the kitchen purposely, Molly hadn't even noticed the distraction, and made her way to the door. It was either the Potter family or Malfoy. Either way, trouble was going to start. She imagined that the loud doorbell woke Ron up. “The twins better have control over him.” Ginny silently hoped to herself.

She stood in front of the door and carefully extended a hand, she pulled it open. The pale, arrogant, pointy face of Draco Malfoy was revealed. He caused an instant uproar.

“Malfoy what are you doing here!” Charlie shouted, this caught the attention of her other brothers except for Ron who was thankfully still asleep and Percy who was still too busy to join his family for this huge event.

“Did I just hear someone say Malfoy?” Fred asked dangerously. He walked over to the scene with Malfoy looking puzzled. He shared a look with Ginny and then realization seemed to hit him. She had lied to him. Ginny told her boyfriend that her family knew and was alright with it. Then she had invited him over, leading him under the impression, it was to be with just her parents for a little get together. Now he felt like a roast about to feed her entire lineage.

“Ginny…” Malfoy sighed disappointedly.

“Don't talk to my sister!” George yelled. “Talk to us instead! What the bloody hell are you doing here?”

“Ginny invited me.” Malfoy calmly replied.

“You expect us to believe that our sister would even talk to you a ferret like you?” Bill laughed. He wasn't one for prejudice, but he knew the Malfoy family very well. And he knew that Draco was more like his father than he cared to admit.

“I expect she'd do a bit more. Ginny, would you like to tell them or should I?” Malfoy replied coolly, not even looking in his girlfriend's direction.

“Err…maybe I should. It's my family. Um...Everyone could I have your attention!” It was completely unnecessary for Ginny to call their attention, for everyone had been staring for a long time now.

“Um…I did this on purpose. I lied to Draco to get him here tonight, which by the way I am really sorry for having to do to you Draco but you wouldn't have come here otherwise. We'll talk about that later though, it had to be done.” She paused to look at Draco to get some courage. He gave her a slight smile and nodded so she would continue. She took a slow deep breath as she looked at her brothers scowling and the rest of her family watching in interest. “We have to share some important news. Draco and I…well…we're dating. We have been for about a year now.” This elicited growls from the boys, gasps from the women and squeaks from the children that were excited by the reaction of the adults.

Ginny rolled her eyes and moaned in frustration. She had expected this sort of reaction. It would have been foolish of her not to. She just wanted to get the worst over with and hoped for the best, if only her dratted brothers would shut up! She held up her hands and continued a bit louder to try and make herself heard over the angry mutterings of her brothers. “Would you all please just listen to me? Let me explain will you?” She growled at the protests and suggestions to just chuck Malfoy out on his arse. “Shut it you lot! Let me talk! We are not chucking Draco out! I did invite him! If he leaves, I leave!” This got the families attention. They let her continue. “Now look, I remember him from school, as most of you do, but I know that he's changed. I'm sure you all remember the final battle? Well, Harry Potter could not have gotten close to Voldemort without Draco's help. He put his life on the line and betrayed Voldemort to help us.”

“He could just as easy betray us, now, Ginny. Don't you understand? Death Eaters are still a threat and he could be spying for their sake!” George said angrily, Fred, Charlie, and Bill nodded in agreement.

“If he was still a Death Eater, why would he be dating me?”

“He secretly hates every minute of it, Ginny. It's all a scheme!”

“You don't know that! Draco and I love each other!”

“You've been tricked, Gin, no Malfoy has ever loved anyone. He'll just use you for what he wants and then drop you. We don't want to see you get hurt!”

Ginny finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed, “I'M PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!”

Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Cheryl, Fred, Alicia, George, Katie, and even Ron stared at her dumbstruck. Ron was on the stairs looking like a real idiot, opening and closing his mouth dumbly like a fish. Apparently, he'd just woken up.

“What was that?” Molly asked quietly.

“I'm pregnant. Draco is the father.”

“Please…no!” Molly cried hopelessly. Arthur took his wife in arms and looked scornfully at Ginny.

“How could you do this? You sneak around with a true enemy of everything this family believes and not only that, but he's got you carrying his child? Ginny, we raised you better than this!” Mr. Weasley said in a disappointed voice while Molly cried in his chest.

“Ginny, I don't believe this…” Fred began stunned.

“What happened to you?” George finished. They both morosely shook their heads and walked away.

“Hello?! Have you all gone nuts?” Ron yelled from the stairs. His face was bright red, as well as his ears and he looked madder than ever. Ginny shivered and stepped closer to Draco. “Malfoy, you're a dead man!” Ron jumped the rest of the stairs and stormed up to his arch nemesis.

“I'm really scared of you, Weasel. I'm quivering” Malfoy cockily replied, ignoring his girlfriend's elbow in his side.

Ron reared back his fist and punched Malfoy in the nose; Malfoy teetered, but didn't fall.

“Weasel, you'll regret that.” Malfoy muttered with vengeance, holding his nose with two fingers.

“What are you gonna do, Ferret? Run to daddy?” Ron had provoked Malfoy too far and Malfoy jumped on him. Both men landed on the floor, Malfoy on top of Ron, punching with everything he had. Ron was struggling badly, but still swinging and taking everything hit for hit. When blood began to drip mostly from Ron's nose and lip, Fred and George jumped in.

“Ronald! Stop this right now!” Ginny screamed. She was shocked that nobody was doing anything to stop this fighting. Everyone seemed to be just standing around, watching with interest. Ginny went over and tried to pull her boyfriend off of her brother, but on accident, Draco slapped her across the face with all his strength.

“Oh!” Ginny fell and slammed her forehead into the wooden floor. Ron and Draco stopped fighting; Fred and George immediately went to Ginny.

“Gin? Gin, are you okay?” Fred patted her cheek and tried to wake her. He looked to George who looked to Ron who was staring daggers at Malfoy.

“Now look what you've done!” accused Ron. He was seething angrily with blood running down his nose and from his lip all the way over his chin.

“It was an accident! I would never hurt Ginny!” Malfoy defended himself. He went over to his girlfriend and used his fingers to gently brush a strand of fiery red hair out of her face.

“I think you should leave.” Arthur said flatly, staring at his unconscious daughter.

“Mr. Weasley, all I need is five minutes, that's all. Please let me have five minutes?” Malfoy pleaded. As satisfying as it was to see his rival's son begging for his time, Arthur nodded and prepared to listen to the boy who had just bruised his only daughter.

“I was at a bar about a year ago drinking a little bit after work. I looked over and saw this gorgeous red head having a martini in a booth not to far away. I ordered another drink for her and then went over and introduced myself. It was Ginny. I hadn't recognized her as the Weasley I used to mock and tease. She had grown to be so pretty. When she saw me, instead of insulting me or being disgusted, she laughed and commented on how small a world it was. I knew then that Ginny and I would last and that we would be together. We understand each other, sir. Mr. Weasley if your daughter were awake right now, I would propose. I have the ring in my pocket, sir. I love Ginny and I always will. Even more so, since she's carrying our child. We've already made a vow with each other, sir, either with or without your permission, we'll get married and raise our family, but I'd rather have your approval and your blessing. Sir.” Draco added quickly. He winced as Mr. Weasley and all the adult Weasley family members stared at him from top to bottom. It seemed as if they were evaluating him. He became nervous quickly, but tried to keep his cool. He knew that his nerves made his words tumble out of his mouth in a hap hazard way but they were said with feeling and he hoped that Mr. Weasley could tell he meant them honestly.

“Go home, Malfoy, and Ginny will stay here. I'll make sure she owls you when she wakes up.” Arthur finally said. He didn't say it nicely, but at least he was polite. Draco knelt down and kissed Ginny's forehead before shaking Mr. Weasley's hand and waving goodbye to everyone. Not surprisingly, no one waved back except for the children who had never seen so much excitement and tension in their whole lives.

“Charlie,” Arthur called. “take Ginny to her room and lay her down. We'll need to check on her every now and then. It wasn't that bad of a hit. I expect she'll be up soon enough.”

Charlie did as ordered and the general atmosphere of the party returned somewhat to normal. Ron was awake now and filtering about in his pajamas.

“Ron, get your suit on.” Fred said, snacking on a vanilla wafer biscuit.

“Where'd you get that?” Ron's greedy eyes homed in on the object being eaten by his brother. He licked his lips unconsciously as his brother munched on.

“Suit. Or. No. Biscuit.” George repeated slowly as if Ron couldn't understand him.

“Fine, but this better not be some sort of prank. I've been fucked with enough recently.”

“It only gets worse, Ron, it only gets worse.” The twins laughed as he walked up the stairs and to his room.

The guests of honor were yet to be here and the entire house was abuzz. After that kind of revelation, one could only imagine how much worse it would be when Harry, Hermione, James, and Haylie arrived. Maybe someone should've told Ron ahead of time?

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