Chapter 3
Draco made it to Grimmauld Place early on the day of the meeting and made his way reluctantly up towards the designated boy's dormitory at number 12 Grimmauld Place. He had to pass the children's room on his way up to the dormitory and stopped outside to watch as the children played and colored. The children were so all so innocent and unaware. They spanned the ages from just a few months old to about eight or nine and many of them had been at the Order since the war begun. They went day by day happy and without a care in the world. Sighing, he wished that he could go back to days when he was as blissfully unaware as the children he saw before him.
He knew that the children were almost all half-bloods. The majority of them had been either left at the Order or rescued by different members of the Order. He knew that if certain members of the Death Eaters had been there in his place that they would have taken great joy in ending each and every one of their lives.
A little girl with brown hair done up in pigtails ran past the door shrieking in laughter as she was chased by Luna who was doing the "I'm going to get you and tickle you" game with her. As Draco looked at the innocent faces that were all around the room he felt reassured with his choice of what side to be on in the war. No child chooses what parent that they are born to. Blood status didn't define anyone as a person…it is their actions that define who they are.
Finally he made his way back towards the dormitory and he noticed that the grim and run down house that used to be the home of his muggle hating ancestors was now much more cheery; from the actual changes to rooms, to the people living in the home. Even with all of the tragedy the Order had endured, so much tragedy already, but still there was always someone who could find the silver lining in even the worse of times.
The many rooms in the house had been turned into makeshift barracks with bunk beds lining every wall and other rooms had been changed into private rooms for the many married, and even the unmarried, couples to have some privacy. With over eighty people living and fighting for the same cause in one house it was always a little cramped. Thankfully, many of the members of the Order also found other safe houses to stay at when it got really crowded.
Draco had overheard that the children were going to be moved in the next couple of months to a larger safe house that the Order members had been building up for a while now. According to what he had heard the children's hideaway was almost as secure as Hogwarts used to be. It was actually Luna's idea to move them and she and a few other members would move with the children and lay low.
Luna, for all of her eccentricities, was amazing with children. They trusted her because in many ways she was a lot like them; she still believed with childlike wonder. After she had recovered from the miscarriage it was rare to find her outside of the children's room unless she was on assignment. Out of the many Order members Draco was surprised that the girl who he and many others had once been called 'Loony' would end up being someone he looked up to.
The children and the Order members would be protected by their secret keeper and it would be both a safe house plus a primary school. The few teachers that had been in the area and had flocked to the Order for safety were thrilled at the idea of being able to teach, in a safe environment, again. For all of their safeties no one knew who the secret keeper was going to be except the secret keeper. Many assumed that it was going to be Ron as he was staying behind while his wife went into hiding but then again, some assumed that he stayed behind without her so he could hunt down Rodolphus and take him out himself.
As he entered the dormitory he went to the bunk that he used to share with Percy. When he reached his bunk he noticed that the bottom bunk that had been Percy's had an unexpected person on it.
Upon moving closer to the bed he could hear the sniffles of someone who was obviously crying. Draco had assumed that it
was Penelope grieving so he turned to walk away to give her some privacy but before Draco knew what was happening he
was nearly tackled in a flash of red. Draco now found himself with Ginny's head buried in his chest as sobs racked
her slender body. He did the only thing he could think of as he moved them to sit on the bed as he just held on to
Ginny as she cried.
Draco just sat and rubbed her back reassuringly like his mother used to do when he was little; to soothe him when he was ill. His heart went out to his friend. She, like the rest of her family was still raw over not only the death of Ron and Luna's child but of losing Percy as well.
After a little while her tears subsided but not before she sniffled out in between sobs, "h-e was g-going t-to be t-twenty t-two t-today."
She sat there long after the tears had subsided clutching on to him. After a few moments in silence Ginny raised her head to look at her friend and her lifeline and smiled lightly as her thanks as she stayed snuggled in his arms.
Draco was fighting conflicting emotions. He wanted so badly to make her pain go away but he knew that in the coming days and weeks that he would have to become his old self again and be stone cold in his indifference to her. He could feel himself growing more and more attached to the fiery redhead and he knew that his feelings could very easily spell out trouble for the both of them.
He couldn't help but think about how much Ginny had changed his life and that she had no idea how much she really meant to him; she was warm, trusting and forgiving, like no one he had ever met. She was strong and resilient; even after the love of her young life had made his decision to be with another woman; she stayed strong and supported her friends on to happiness. Even though Draco still disliked Harry he was grateful to him. He was grateful that Harry only saw Ginny as a sister and nothing more.
He lost track of how long they just sat there with her in his arms but before long the commotion downstairs signaled that the meeting was going to be getting underway in a little less than an hour. The two parted from their embrace, sat and looked at each other for a little while. Ginny wiped her eyes with the back of her hand until Draco offered her his handkerchief and, being the way that he had come to expect her, she wiped her eyes and then, quite loudly and unladylike blew her nose into the hanky.
Torn between disgust and laughter Draco chose the latter and chuckled lightly at the unique young woman sitting across from him.
When she attempted to hand the hanky back and with a chuckle he said, "Its ok you can keep that one."
She smiled slightly at him and he felt his heart leap in a very un-Malfoyish way.
"I'm sorry I broke down like that. I should be stronger. It just came over all of a sudden after I realized that it was his birthday today."
He looked her straight in the eye and told her, "It's natural that you are upset. You and your family have been through hell, it's ok to mourn for the ones you've lost. Never feel guilty for mourning someone you loved."
Her eyes became teary again as she confessed, "He was my least favorite of my brothers but I still loved him so much."
She went back into the safety of her best friend's arms as she began to cry again.
"What hurts most is the knowledge that he'll never get to know his child…" She looked up at him again with tears streaming down her face, her voice all shaky.
Draco looked at her in confusion for a moment before he had put two and two together. Penelope was pregnant with Percy's child.
Sniffling she said, "She just found out. She thought it was just her nerves and her depression that was making her weak and unable to keep anything down…"
Ginny stopped to dry her eyes again.
"When will this God forsaken war end?" She whispered, barely audible.
Draco looked seriously at her and answered truthfully, "I don't know, Gin. I just really don't know."
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Please again I urge you to vote and let me know what you think but I love this story too much to not post the chapters as I get them done so I'm not going to make demands on how many reviews I want to see. But anyway, if you like the story please review...it helps my creative style to know that people appreciate my work.
Just a side note: I made Percy's birthday on the day of the Order meeting for two reasons: one because it just fit well there and two June 28th is my brother's birthday…but, unlike Ginny, my brother who shares Percy's birthday isn't my least favorite brother.