AN: This chapter is still a lot of back story but there is more of a one on one connection between Draco and Ginny plus some dialogue as well.
Chapter 2
The next thing Draco knew it was the day of the next meeting. Every month the meetings would continue to get grimmer as some members of the Order had started to get caught in the crossfire and had sadly either lost their lives…or ended up where they wished that they had. Out of the Weasley family alone there had been a massive loss, apart from the loss of their beloved home, the Weasley family was now one less in their numbers. Four months ago, Percy and Charlie Apparated right in the middle of a battle between the golden trio and a group of Death Eaters.
Percy blocked Ron from the Killing Curse at the very last minute and died in Ron's arms. Charlie on the other hand arrived only seconds before Percy and had managed to block Harry, who was being distracted trying to help Hermione, from the Imperious Curse and, while under the influence of the spell, was the one who shot the Killing Curse at Ron that was blocked last minute by Percy.
The Weasley family had always been close but after the loss of Percy their ties became closer than they had ever been. They all pulled together, the twins even went so far as to abandon their shop and move back in with their family, to comfort each other and Charlie who, after he found out what he had been forced to do, nearly went insane with grief.
Percy had just recently left the corrupted and ineffective ministry to rejoin his family. His old flame Penelope Clearwater had found refuge with the Order after the murder of her Wizard father and muggle mother during a raid on their home. When Percy rejoined his family and joined the Order they started up where they had left off and before his untimely death they had made plans to be married after, if there was an after, the war was over.
Things had never been easy for the Weasley's but with the death in the family plus all of the men in the family losing their job, things were definitely looking grim. Diagon Alley was completely overrun with Death Eaters as Knockturn Alley invaded the whole shopping district and Hogsmeade was reduced to nothing more but rubble, so even though the twins had made it seem like it was their choice to leave their shop...they would have died if they had attempted to stay away from the safety of the Order.
Other families of the Order had lost loved ones as well. Six months ago, Luna's father was tortured to death for nothing more than the enjoyment of the Death Eaters who ransacked his home. Luna -who was there for a visit at the time- was forced to watch as her father was tortured to death.
But the worst blow for Luna and for Ron as well, was the death of their unborn child due to her torture at the hand of Rodolphus Lestrange, the same man who had tortured her father to death only minutes earlier. Luna was barely rescued in time, thankfully Ron had gotten there just in time to fight off and even kill some of the men that had invaded the house. Rodolphus managed to Disapparate just as Ron's curse made it to where he was standing. To add insult to injury after Luna had healed and they buried the remains of their child; the Healers told Luna and Ron that they were still unsure if Luna would ever be able to conceive again.
Ron and Luna had started dating straight out of their fifth and final year at Hogwarts. Ron grew to love his eccentric friend and she returned his love, so three years later they were married. The next week they realized that Luna was pregnant. Molly was a little shocked to see his youngest son with such a unique young woman but she accepted her with open arms into the family. All of the family mourned for the loss of the baby and vowed that if they ever found the slippery bastard Lestrange that they would avenge the loss. The baby, who was to be named Luron Arthur Weasley, was only three months shy of being greeted into the world by a huge and loving family that was anxious to meet him. Percy was buried next to him at the Burrow.
Other members of the Order and friends of the Order had also died. Some of them included: Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hannah Abbott, and the Creevey brothers just to name a few. Neville's Gran, so far, was the only family member of an Order member to die of natural causes after the second rise of Voldemort.
With tragedy there was also some joy. Bill and Fleur married four years ago and, almost exactly nine months later, welcomed the first Weasley grandchild, Jacqueline Isabelle Weasley. After they had discovered that Fleur was pregnant again, only four months after Jacqueline's birth, they went into hiding for their own safety and the safety of their unborn and newborn children. They haven't been seen in two years but the news was that they are healthy and fine hiding in a small, naturally undisclosed, French town. Their second child was another girl named after Fleur's murdered sister and mother, Gabrielle Appoline Weasley. Bill mentioned in one letter that his wife was starting to get a little annoyed with the curse of fertility that the Weasley's seemed to have as she was pregnant yet again…only this time with twins.
Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin also tied the knot last spring. They had met once right before Sirius' death. Andromeda Tonks stopped by Gimmuld Place after hearing about her cousin's escape from Azkaban. Nymphadora followed along in order to see her cousin from the first time since she was a small child. After the second rising of Voldemort and the death of Sirius they found comfort in each other and despite the age gap they are a loving and compatible couple.
Number 12 Grimmauld Place was expecting another arrival as Hermione announced last month that she and Harry were expecting their first child in the next five or six months. For both of their safety and the safety of their child, Hermione and Harry had agreed to keep low profiles until the baby was born and after the birth they would have a small secret wedding. It was decided that after the wedding Hermione and the baby would go into hiding with her parents for their safety. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had been sent away to the States under new names for their protection by Hermione and were waiting anxiously to see her and their new grandchild safe with them again.
Draco felt blessed everyday that he was still fortunate to have not lost any family. He still mourned with the rest of the group for their losses but it still felt like he was only an outsider looking in. The only person who ever let him in or just sit and talk with him was Ginny. She felt too like a bit of an outsider.
She had been kept out of any fighting and had been kept safe inside of the Order since she was fourteen. She once confessed to him that she felt like a captive in the Order. She was frustrated that she couldn't help and that she was always being left out. She didn't know what fighting was like other than her experience at the Ministry four years ago.
Their solidarity in their feelings of loneliness sparked their friendship just a few months after Draco became involved with the Order. Draco would hide out at the Order sometimes and say that he was spying just to spend some more time with Ginny, who very many times was left alone or left out of what the others were working on. After their first year of friendship Draco was confident to say that the girl that he had once considered to be lesser to him was now the best friend he ever had.
It wasn't until their third year of friendship they finally stopped referring to each other by last names only. Draco could remember vividly the first time he had ever heard her call him by his first name. It was August 11, a little less than a year ago and instead of the cake and presents that usually made up a certain fiery redhead's birthday there was a raid planned by the group to infiltrate Diagon Alley to pick up supplies.
This left the redhead alone again without even a "happy birthday" from anyone. The majority of the Order members had their assignments; from being members of the actual raid to going to other places and distracting Death Eaters from their regular posts. Draco knew about the raid and reluctantly had to tell the Dark Lord about the plan…he just happened to leave out the detail of when the raid was going to be exactly.
On the day of the raid, Ginny was left to watch the children of the Order members and the refugees. Another thing that Draco had come to love about Ginny was her love of children. She would spend much of her time in the children's room; reading to them, coloring with them and even tucking them in when it was time for bed. Sadly, many of the children had been left at the Order for safety and then subsequently orphaned. Draco came during the designated "lights out" for the children in order to surprise her.
He found her out cold on a chair in the children's room with a book resting on lap. He remembered smiling at her as she snored lightly. He moved the book onto a nearby end table before he moved to gently shake her awake. Her eyes popped open as she saw him next to her with his finger next to his lips to tell her that she needed to be quiet.
"Come with me," came out in a whisper as he gave her his hand to take to get out of the chair.
Smiling she stood and followed him as he led her towards the kitchen. "Why are we going to the kitchen, Malfoy? I'm not cooking for you again you are the most finicky…" Her words died out as she entered the kitchen and saw a single cupcake with a lit candle in it. Draco just smiled at her and led her to the table with the cupcake on it.
"If it just took a cupcake with a candle in it to shut you up I would have done this ages ago." He remembered teasing her.
He remembered how she swatted his arm playfully with teary eyes. He also remembered how she laughed at how off pitch he was when he sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
After the flame on the candle was blown out they had split the cupcake and sat next to each other at the dining room table as she confessed that he was the only one that remembered her birthday.
"I know we're at war but a little "Happy Birthday" from my family would have been appreciated. Thanks for this, Draco. It meant so much to me."
Smiling he had said, "It's no problem, Ginny. What are friends for?"
That year was the first year that the two friends had decided to celebrate their birthdays. Draco's was earlier in that year in March but since he was stranded at a ball his parent's threw for him and stuck on the Death Eater's side for a while they didn't end up celebrating for his birthday until nearly a month later. They finished their halves of the cupcake and Ginny looked up at the clock, it was 10:43p.m; the exact time that Ginny was born. When Ginny looked back at the table there was a long green velvet box on the table in front of her. He remembered how she looked between him and the box and gaped at him.
"Come on fish girl open your present already."
Ginny snapped her mouth closed as she turned to the box and opened it. She couldn't help herself as a little gasp of shock came out. It was a simple but lovely silver necklace with a small emerald in the center of it.
"I know it's not as great as that homemade card or the sweater you knitted for me for my birthday but I did the best that I could. It's not even new…been in the family for centuries but I knew green was your favorite color so I figured I'd give it a shot. I think the muggles call what I did 'regifting.' If you don't like it I could always take it back to the Malfoy family vault."
He remembered how his joking around with her was just a cover of his nervousness. He wanted desperately for her to like the necklace and to not be overwhelmed by the gift. He had always given lavish gifts to his friends but Ginny wasn't like the spoilt brats that he had grown up with. It was true that he was falling for her but he didn't want to scare her off. He needed her too badly as his friend to lose her.
Ginny finally looked at him and with a smile and a teasing glint in her eye said,
"Well I guess it'll do. I mean I put real time and effort into making that card and you just went through a dusty old vault and grabbed the first thing you could find. As your best friend and confidant, next year I expect something with a little more effort behind it, Draco."
It was probably then at her witty comeback that Draco realized that he really was in love with the redheaded firecracker.
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Ok sorry that this chapter did a bit of a 180 but I needed to end on a happy note because I literally cried when I was writing the first part of the chapter. I really hated to kill off people and be morbid but death happens in war. Again I urge you all to review. I really want to know what you guys think of it. Thanks again to my beta MiajanE who is wonderful. Moogle, I hope you can suffer through for a little while longer the chapters are going to get better as they go along.