The Howler

~~~~~

Ginny and Draco sat outside, leaning against one of the trees close to the lake. Across the water, they could see the rich colors of the setting sun. It was nearly time to go inside; the teachers had decided Ginny shouldn’t be out after dark for her own safety. Yet they continued to sit in silence for several minutes.

“I told Ron last night,” Ginny said, breaking the peaceful moment.

After the second or so it took for Draco to understand what she was saying, he asked, “How’d he take it?”

“Um, let’s see, his baby sister has been impregnated when he thinks she’s too young to even kiss. I think he was pretty mad.”

“You didn’t tell him WHO impregnated you, did you?” he said with a hint of panic. Even Draco was scared of Ron when it came to his older-brother-overprotection syndrome.

“Of course not. You’d have been dead twelve hours ago. But he couldn’t handle not knowing who to take it out on.. He. . .” she paused, her voice breaking slightly, “he said he wouldn’t support me. I mean, he’s my big brother! He should be there for me no matter what! He made it sound as though I’ve done something awful. Maybe it was a mistake to keep this child in the first place. We are very young, and...”

Draco cut off her rant with, “Shh, it’s okay.” He put his arms around her and they went back to just sitting and watching the sky. This time there were a few small tears running down Ginny’s face.

~~~~~

“Hermione?” Ginny said as she walked up to the other witch. Hermione put down her quill and looked up from the five books she had spread out in front of her.

“Yeah, Gin?”

“Have you talked to Ron since last night?”

“I haven’t had a chance to, I’ve been really busy. Why?”

“I told him about the baby.”

“Oh! What did he say?”

“He said he can’t accept the pregnancy unless he knows who the father is.” She sighed.

Hermione’s previous look of concentration on her studying turned into a frown. “Honestly, he can be so stupid sometimes,” she scoffed.

“Yeah, but I need him. If he stops being so thick-headed, he could be a big help. And I want my baby to have it’s Uncle Ron....Do you think you could talk to him?”

“I’ll try. I know of a few ways to persuade him. . .” she got a goofy grin on her face.

“Okay, ewe. I didn’t need to know that.”

“Sorry.” she said, the smile turning to a serious look. “At least it will be easy to tell your parents compared to him.”

“Yeah. I’m going to write them today. I don’t really want to tell them in a letter, but they need to know. Could you help me write it? You’re much better at that sort of stuff.”

“I hope you’re referring to the writing part, not the telling-my-parents-I’m-pregnant part.”

“Well, you never know,” Ginny said playfully. “With seven kids in the family, we Weasleys are very fertile.” She grinned.

“Don’t say that,” Hermione replied. “If you jinx the reliability of my Contraceptive Charm, I shall be forced to hex you. Now let’s get started on that letter.”

“Do you think we should tell them who the father is?”

“They deserve to know, I guess. But we should ask them not to tell anyone.”

~~~~~

Ginny sat at breakfast several days later, playing with her food. She was having issues with eating in the morning, but she didn’t want anyone to point it out and try to take care of her. Though they meant well, she wished people would stop asking her if she was feeling okay all the time.

Ron still wasn’t talking to her; he would just look down at his food every time she tried to say something. She sighed, feeling very depressed. When she looked up a few seconds later, she saw Draco smiling at her from the Slytherin table. That one look completely turned her mood around; she was having difficulty remembering what was troubling her. But upon switching her gaze to Ron’s cold face, she nearly started crying. Damn hormones.

A rustle of wings sounded throughout the Great Hall as several hundred owls flew in, carrying the mail. Ginny spotted a red envelope, feeling a slight dread as to what it was. A howler. Every time one showed up, she was afraid it was for her regardless of what she had done recently. And this time what she had done was sort of a big thing. She followed its path, watching it drop in front of Draco. This could not be good.

A loud, shrill voice filled the Hall. When Ginny recognized it, she groaned. It was her mother.

“DRACO MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU! WE’VE BEEN TOLD THAT YOU HAVE BECOME A GOOD PERSON, EVEN DECIDING TO GO AGAINST HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED FOR MY DAUGHTER. BUT IF YOU HAVE REALLY CHANGED LIKE GINNY SAYS YOU HAVE, YOU HAD BETTER MAKE IT MORE EVIDENT! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE RESPONSIBLE, AND THEN YOU GO AND GET MY SWEET LITTLE GIRL PREGNANT!”

‘NO!’ Ginny thought. ‘She was supposed to keep it a secret!’ She looked over at Ron, whose face was turning white with shock and gradually growing red with anger.

“YOU KNOW, YOU’RE LUCKY THAT I DON’T HAVE ARTHUR AND MY SONS COME SHOW YOU A THING OR TWO! BUT IF YOU ABANDON MY DAUGHTER AND GRANDCHILD, YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY!

“Oh, and Ginny dear,” she added in a much softer tone, “How are you feeling? Please owl back.”

The letter crumpled itself up and burned into flames. But the yelling wasn’t over yet.

“MALFOY! THE FATHER OF YOUR CHILD IS MALFOY? I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!” Ron bellowed as he ran over towards the Slytherin table.

“Ron! Stop it!” Ginny screamed as she ran to stop him. She reached him just before he got to Draco, and by putting herself in between the two, got him to stop running. He just stood and glared, his eyes glinting furiously.

“Ron, you are not going to kill Draco or I swear, I will personally make sure that you will NEVER see your niece or nephew! And I will hurt you in such a way that you will never be able to have children of your own!”

At this, Ron decided to back off. “Fine. I’ll let him live. For now.” He walked out of the Great Hall, his fists clenched.

~~~~~

“Oh, shit!” Draco said later, when he and Ginny were alone. “Everyone knows! You aren’t going to be safe. The other Slytherins will tell their parents, and it’s only a matter of time before my father finds out. And now that he’s escaped from Azkaban, he’ll certainly do something about it.”

“This is just...argh! I specifically told my parents not to tell anyone. How could they betray me like that!”

“That doesn’t matter now. It’s too late to take it back. The important thing is keeping you safe...” he said, switching into protective-Draco mode. And he’d complained that Ron did it...it was really very funny how alike the two were when they were looking out for her. Ginny broke out of her thoughts to listen to what he was saying, “...To do that, I’ll have to try to convince the other Death Eaters that I still am on their side. I’ll have to say I...um...brainwashed you. Yes, that’ll work,” he mumbled to himself, pacing back and forth through the room. It was almost as though he was simply planning to himself out loud. She wasn’t even sure he was aware that she was listening. “...And I’ll have to tell them that I want to keep the baby to raise myself and do away with you.”

At the sudden hurt look on her face, he quickly added, “I won’t mean any of it. It’s the only way to keep the Dark Lord from killing me, and you. If he thinks that I want to raise this baby as a Death Eater, he won’t hurt you while you’re carrying it. That’s the only thing that I can think of for now. Of course, we’ll have to figure something else out for when the baby is born. But please know that no matter what you hear me say to protect us, I love you and I will always stand by you.” He stopped his pacing to walk towards her and put his arms around her waist protectively.

She returned the gesture and looked up at him. “I love you too. I just hope that this will work...it’s a bit of a stretch.”

“I know, but we’ll figure something out.”

“I know.”

~~~~~

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