On A Day Without Rain ~ There are only five more chapters plus an epilogue if it's wanted.
Chapter Eight: One By One
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Ginny jerked awake instantly as she heard a loud crash. Her eyes, trying to adjust to the surroundings, briefly caught a flash of red hair flipping to the floor. In that instant she knew, that something was wrong.
Grace.
"What's the matter? Is Grace okay?" Ginny asked frantically as she pulled the sheet over her naked body.
Ron stood up and dusted the back of his pants off. He flinched at the sight of his baby sister in bed with Draco Malfoy. "I think I'm going to be sick. I thought you guys were just supposed to talk!" Ron growled with disgust as he turned his back to them.
Draco, who'd had a more graceful awakening snorted. "A reunion between lovers-what do you think would happen?"
"Conversation during a nice dinner," Ron snapped. "Not the second you see her you jump her like-"
"SHUT-UP, the both of you! What's wrong with Grace? I can feel that something is wrong!" Ginny whispered the last part as she clutched her stomach. "My heart hurts…" tears started streaming down her face. She cried out more frantically towards her brothers turned back. "WHAT is wrong with her? There is definitely something wrong so don't even bother trying to deny it. The second you came in I felt something."
Ron gritted his teeth as he focused his eyes on a small trinket that rested on the mahogany desktop of the hotel room. His sister didn't deserve to go through this and he hated being the one who had to tell her. "She's very sick and she's disappearing. Not exactly sure why either."
"What do you mean disappearing?" Draco snapped.
"I mean vanishing."
Draco's eyes widened with horror, he struggled to breath at the newfound knowledge and turned his eyes towards Ginny. "Why?"
"You look at me like I'm supposed to know?" Ginny cried frantically.
"Mother-bond is a strong thing!"
Ron sighed softly. "Get dressed you guys and be at the Burrow in ten minutes. She keeps saying her 'daddy' always knows how to instantly make her feel better. Grace wants you guys, so don't make her wait too long," he whispered.
"Weasley?" Draco called.
Ron licked his lips and turned to glare. "Don't start bantering me Malfoy! I'm not in the mood."
Draco bowed his head, biting off a vicious retort. "It's hard isn't it? I mean she's like a mirage that came to life from a dream and we instantly had an attachment to her. Bonding with a dream figure that you barely know. I felt it too Weasley. Would you get the hell out of here?" he hollered suddenly.
Ron didn't say anything as he disappeared back to the Burrow.
Ginny stood up and began furiously dressing, panic high at the base of her throat, the sour almost hot taste of bile filling her. She turned sad eyes towards Draco. "You guys felt so close to Grace because she shares blood ties."
Draco lifted himself up cat-like from the bed and calmingly bent to slip on his jeans. The fact that his motions of pulling on his jeans and his shirt were jerky let Ginny know that he felt the fear that had become so evident in Ginny's body.
"I have a blood tie with Lucius and I'm not close to him. I almost hate him sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Ginny snorted.
Draco clenched his teeth at the note of disgust he heard in her voice. "I can't help the fact that he's my father…he's a vicious evil man that holds no remorse over the victims he's killed, but he's still my father."
"You guys loved Grace instantly because of your ties and the fact that your hearts aren't iced over with hatred."
"We better get going love," Draco mumbled, wanting to drop the topic, as he placed his hand on her lower back.
Ginny leaned back comfortably into his hand, allowing his soothing comfort to seep through her, "I'm so scared," she whispered.
"Me too."
****
"Daddy?" Grace weakly whispered.
"I'm here Gracie baby," Draco spoke as he jogged into Ginny's bedroom and to the bed that Grace laid on.
Grace instantly went to Draco, and as he sat on the bed, she placed herself in his lap, curling into a ball. Draco dropped his hand to her head and ran his fingers soothingly through her hair, cringing at the high temperature of her head, all the while feeling slightly awkward at having his child in his lap. He rubbed his other hand over her small back and began rocking.
Ginny stood in the doorway of her room watching emotions flicker across Draco's face as he held Grace.
They looked so beautiful together. Anyone could tell that they were father and daughter, and yet it was so strange that it would appear so, when Draco had barely spent more than an hour with the little one.
"Daddy? Aren't you going to make it go away?" Grace whimpered looking up at Draco expectantly.
Draco gritted his teeth as he glanced down at her weak form. "Gracie, I-"
Grace smiled softly. "Are we still playing that 'I don't remember game'? Okay, I'll play even though I'm sick…sometimes you give me this drink you call Pepper-up, and other times you place your hand on my belly and whisper adversa valetudo."
"Heal bad health?" Draco whispered as he glanced up in shock towards Ginny. "I thought you said she didn't know about-"
"You would always pretend that it would work, but it really did work. You and mummy told me that it was just pscyoligiclly."
"Psychologically?" Ginny offered.
"Yeah, but it always made me feel better, even though you were just being goofy."
Draco smiled, knowing the truth. "Well how 'bout we try that?"
"Please," Grace whimpered and her eyes drooped.
Draco spread his fingers across Grace's stomach and whispered, "Adversa valetudo."
The sweat, and fever instantly disappeared, the relief spread across Graces face and she swiftly sat up, wrapping her chubby little arms around Draco's neck. She pecked him on the cheek and nuzzled her nose against his cheek. "Thank you Daddy!"
Draco took in a shuddering breath. He didn't think he would ever become tired of hearing 'Daddy' aimed towards him. Ginny walked in, sat next to the cuddling pair, and wrapped her arms around them.
"You guys look wonderful together," Molly's voice came from the doorway.
Ginny stiffened instantly and turned a cool gaze towards her mother. "You notice that now? And the fact that we not only look good together, we love to be together-"
Molly whimpered slightly. "I'm sorry Ginny, I'm so sorry," and she began crying. "I'll accept you into our family Draco, if marriage is going to be the case. I'm sorry to you as well for doing this…to both of you."
Ginny shuddered a sigh and pulled herself up from the bed, wrapping her mother in a hug. "It's okay Mum, we forgive you. Um-and Dad?"
Molly pulled back and bit her lip. "He won't be able to make a promise, but he said he'd try."
"That's good enough!" Ginny laughed and wrapped her mother in a tight hug.
"Gin, we have a problem."
Ginny turned towards Draco and watched as Grace held her hand up, flipping back and forth. She gasped as she watched the hand fully disappear, it was almost as if a piece of Harry's cloak was being draped over her hand.
"Oh gosh."
"I think it might be because she was never actually born into this world," Molly whispered. "We have to figure out a way to put her back into your body, I mean if you still want a child."
"Yes, God! Yes, I don't want my baby to disappear!" she cried and ran towards Draco, pulling Grace into her arms, clutching Grace tightly to her chest.
"Then we'll find a way."
****
"I've never seen this sort of thing before Mr. Malfoy, but I'm one hundred percent positive that if both mother and daughter drink this joining potion the daughter will be immersed back into her."
"The Iunctura potion-there are side effects," Lucius stated, mumbling under his breath as he stroked his chin with one hand and held the flask of the bluish silver liquid that shimmered back and forth.
"That's why the potion was banished."
Lucius lifted his silver gray eyes and glared at the old man that was sitting in front of him behind a desk. Lucius, who'd been leaning lazily against the wall, brushed the flaps of his long black trench coat back, and walked forward. He placed his hands on top of the mans' desk and eyed him with a stare that would put fear into the devil himself. "And you know what those side effects are right?"
The man visibly gulped and drops of sweat formed at the top of his forehead. "I don't, sir, but I will do everything in my power to find out."
Lucius leaned back on his heels, his gaze intensified…it was an evil stare that could make amphibians warm blooded with fear. "Can it be physically harming?"
"No, I'm sorry. That's probably not what you wanted to hear," the old mans voice wavered.
Lucius smiled, not a smile that showed happiness, a smile that would scare the life out of someone or make them run screaming in the other direction. "Not most of the time, but in this case-my sons girlfriend got pregnant, her parents didn't approve of her pregnancy or my son, gave her a forgetting potion that backfired causing her to go into a dream like state, when they went to get her out, my granddaughter Grace came with her."
"Oh." The old mans eyes widened with surprise. "Well here's the potion, I'll work quickly on those side effects."
"You do that! By tomorrow," he whispered in a deadly tone and walked out.
To Be Continued…