Disclaimer – I do not own anything that relates to Harry Potter. I wish. I would probably screw it up anyway.

Ginny arrived early, bowing out of the report at its conclusion, instead of staying around to mingle. Voldemort shot her a look that reported exactly how he felt about this action, hissing, "Politics, politics," in her ear.

"I feel ill, Tom." She had finally snapped, and he looked taken aback, glancing around to see if anyone had witnessed the display. She leaned forward to kiss him dutifully and he gathered her in his arms for a moment. She relaxed into the grip, knowing that Bitsy's magic prevented him from feeling or seeing her swollen midsection, surprised by this show.

"I need you here, to give me strength. This siege has so wearied me and I must cast the spell at three 'o clock this morning." He whined and she smiled at him.

"Maybe I'll return if I'm feeling better. But right now, I need a little sleep. I've been going over the figures you gave me for three nights in a row. We're both working."

He groaned and looked to where people were gathered in various groups, talking quietly about the report they had just heard. Ginny had turned in positive figures, and carefully burned the negative ones, so people were buzzing about all the good the siege was doing.

Ginny shifted awkwardly in her dress and took the invisibility cloak off so she had somewhere to sit. The entire castle, as far as she could tell, was completely devoid of furniture. She wondered if all the common rooms were like the Slytherin common room, and even the beds were done away with. She wondered also, why the furniture was gone.

"Hey Gin." Draco crouched down beside her, brushing a lock of hair from her face. He touched her stomach and then searched her eyes puzzled.

"Bitsy's magic. I had to attend a report today talking about how the siege was so wonderful and forget what you've seen, this really is the best thing in the world. He actually had me burn all the negative reports, which were most of them. I found out that he's lying about contacting Fudge, too. Six months and no ransom yet." She said bitterly. "It makes sense, I guess. He wants them to be completely desperate before he makes his demands." Ginny shrugged. Draco grunted.

Blaise came quietly and swept with boneless grace to the floor. "Hello."

"Blaise, where is all the furniture?" Ginny asked.

"Remember the first day of Transfiguration, when McGonagall turned a desk into a pig? We're starving and we didn't make the necessary cuts at the beginning. We were using a classroom of furniture every meal. You have no idea how much food it takes to keep the castle fed. Too much. We're out of everything. We've finally moved onto beds, Slytherin is almost out, and the other kids are going to have to give up their beds soon. And then the chairs in the Great Hall, and then the tables…" She shrugged.

"The living conditions have diminished a lot outside the castle, as well." Draco reported. "The Dark Lord is furious about having to remain at the camps, and people are being tortured at least once a day. Our rations are being cut, and we could be hit with a curse at any time. Ginny just told me he hasn't made a ransom demand at the Ministry yet either, and he'll be in some temper when -."

"Hush, Draco." Blaise snapped and glanced suspiciously at Ginny, who couldn't breathe for a moment. Blaise, her dearest friend, not trusting her? "We won't talk about that for some months."

"Blaise…" Ginny said softly.

"No. Don't you dare speak to me. It's your fault I'm here and my child is suffering." Blaise said with venom.

"That's going a little far." Draco murmured.

"No, it's not. Queen Virginia, do you remember when I told you about the nastier aspects of our life?" She asked, climbing to her feet. Ginny nodded meekly, mirroring her gesture. "The bloodlust and the loss of familiarity, when everyone looks the same as they kill blindly?" Ginny nodded again. "This is worse. Because I'm on the receiving end. Every face on either side has a story that is as valid as any other. But one side never intended to hurt the other. These kids have done nothing wrong, and they starve and mourn for lives that they have every right to live."

"I've heard there's a lot more sex." Ginny said cynically.

"Affirming their life and staving off hunger." Blaise said without humor, whereas months before they would have laughed heartily, barely able to meet each other's eyes before breaking into hysterics. They were unconsciously moving closer and closer to one another. Their eyes burning and bodies tensing. "I would like to think that you wouldn't have asked me to stay in the castle had you known the consequences and weren't under the Dark Lord's influence. But that's hard for me now. Not once did you give me permission, as queen, to bow out of the situation in Hogwarts."

"So go, run away." Ginny said. "But if you do, you make me ill. You would be found and killed in a moment, because my orders are still below the Dark Lord and I could never persuade him to set you free, even for this mission. Would you leave your child motherless and the students that you're so eager to protect without a leader? I would like to think you wouldn't do that, but it's sort of hard for me now."

"Don't argue, please." Draco stood between the two of them. "It won't help anything." They ignored him, side-stepping so they were chest to chest.

"I won't leave now, I'm in too deep. But unless you're willing the overthrow the power that binds us both and still seduces you, I don't need to speak a word to you." She spat on the floor.

"Treason." Ginny said with bated breath. "I'll squash you, you Muggle-loving bitch. And I'll throw Haley to the dogs."

Blaise's face was white with rage and blood dripped from between clenched fists from her nails. "As you wish, my queen." She bowed low but her eyes never left Ginny's. The redhead shivered and stepped back into Draco's crossed arms. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

"I'm tired of being tortured." He said softly. "Our queen is denied the privilege of witnessing this aspect of servitude, so of course it does not exist as long as she remains blind." He removed his broom from where it lay and looked at her finally. Her eyes felt swollen as though she had been crying for hours, but she only began when she saw the deep, sad gaze that moved to her abdomen. "I already had a name, Gin, for her."

"Her?" She asked thickly.

"Our little girl with blonde ringlets. Vida Marie." He disappeared into the night, as silently as he had appeared. She turned her streaming eyes to Blaise, who looked at her with a hard, distant expression.

"Blaise, I'm so sorry. I would never-" She sobbed, but stopped abruptly, barely able to swallow a hiccup as Blaise slapped her full across the face.

"I never taught you anything." She said softly. "I'm the enemy, you never cry or apologize in front of me. Never reveal your weaknesses to the enemy."

"You're not." Ginny sputtered.

"Oh yes, I am. I will bring you and your lord down if it's the last thing I do." She laid her hand gently against Ginny's face. She flinched, she could feel the woman's pulse beneath the thin skin of her palm. "I'll leave you until you have your child. I will always accept your help if you choose to give it. You deserve to be a queen. And I know someone who would always treat you as such." Blaise kissed her on the forehead and stepped back. "Poor Ginny. You're in over your head." The astronomy tower rang with her humorless laugh. "Remember, we're the political power team, the two of us, dynamic duo, we can do anything. Help me rebuild our fragile world." She turned around and walked down the stairs. A shadow detached from the wall and followed her. Eric had been there the whole time.

"Happy Valentines Day." Two warm hands were laid on her stomach and she smiled silently, keeping her eyes closed tight.

"Do you still hate me?' Ginny asked.

"Sort of." Draco slid in bed with her, and she groaned as she felt his shoes slide in with him. "Enough to piss you off with what you're about to get hormonal about."

"It's not that abnormal to hate shoes in the bed." She whined, finally opening her eyes to look at gray eyes surrounded by a dozen long-stemmed roses. "You can't woo me with flowers." She grinned anyway. "Take your shoes off." He complied and she climbed out of bed long enough to call Bitsy into the room.

"Ginny must know how early it is." Bitsy said grumpily, taking the flowers and walking to the kitchen to put them in a vase. "Wood floors is cold on February mornings." Were her parting words.

"I could learn to love that elf," Draco said softly. Ginny snuggled next to him, inhaling deeply. "Let's talk about why I hate you."

"I like Vida Marie. I'm going to put her up for adoption." She put her chin on his chest and searched his eyes. "With a Muggle agency." Draco's lip curled, a careful, practiced gesture that concealed his true emotions.

"Why?" He voice, too, revealed nothing.

"Because I don't want her to be born in the wizarding world. I'm also recognizable in the wizarding world, but that's not the really important part. I want her to have a happy childhood away from the war."

"That's what everybody wants for their children right now." Draco said remaining impassive. "And she'll end up in the wizarding world, anyway, unless she's a squib, which as likely as she being ugly." Ginny smiled a little at that.

"But maybe this turmoil will have quieted down by then." She said casually. Draco's face showed surprise for the first time.

"Are you saying-?"

"I'm not saying anything, Draco." She said defensively. "I'm not sure what's up or down at this point. My ankles are swollen, my face and ass are starting to look about the same in general size, and I feel ugly. But I've never wanted to have you here as much as before. I finally understand why women are supposed to be married. Because obligatory sex is the only thing that could keep a pregnant woman from going insane and men from over-populating the world." She finally started laughing, and Draco matched her tone, the rest of the world forgotten in light of Valentine's Day and the accompanying romance.

Chance found her in her hometown, looking up the road that led to her house and snorting with disgust, turning down a road that was less familiar, but felt more comfortable under her feet. She knocked at a flat door, and shifted uncomfortably under her bulk. She finally had some relief from the April winds that threatened to toss her to the ground, where she imagined she would resemble a roly-poly in every attempt to get up. The woman who answered the door, wearing a paint-stained man's shirt, put out her cigarette quickly as soon as she saw Ginny's stomach.

"A man used to live here that I was looking for." Ginny said uncomfortably.

"Rick?" She asked, her fingers twitching nervously, as if she desperately needed another cigarette. "My husband. He still lives here." She was rail-thin and blonde, hopelessly nervous. She danced from foot to foot. "Here, come in." She backed away from the door and continued to sway gently, closing the door behind Ginny. Her eyes glanced to a pack of cigarettes and her hand twitched again.

"I really don't mind." Ginny gestured gently, and the woman, sighing gratefully, twirled a cigarette between her fingers, before placing it and lighting it. She blew smoke guiltily away from Ginny. "So, is he here?"

"Who? Rick?" She asked innocently, her blue eyes wide.

"No, the pope." Ginny snapped.

"No, I don't know the pope." She said seriously. There was a pregnant pause while Ginny thought of something to say, but the woman burst out laughing.

"Jen?" Cried a voice from what Ginny remembered as Rick's studio. "What're you snickering at?"

"I'm just torturing a girl. She's looking for you." She blew out smoke and grinned, still hopping from foot to foot a little. Rick appeared hesitantly, and then walked out, shirt off, paint stained pants hanging at his hips, jaw hanging to the floor.

"Virginia?" He asked. "You're…"

"Pregnant. I'd realized." Ginny said uncomfortably. "And you're…"

"Married. I know." They looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to do. And then he picked her up gently, spinning her in a hug. "My god, you're fat." He said breathlessly.

"If you two combined, you'd actually be wearing an outfit." She giggled. He glanced at his wife, who watched them with wide eyes.

"Oh my goodness, Jenny, I'm sorry. This is my friend, Virginia, Virginia, my beautiful wife, Jenny. Will you grab me a shirt, while you put on some clothes." He asked her, laying his lips gently on her forehead.

"Yes." She said simply and disappeared into the bedroom upstairs.

"Wow, married." Ginny said when she heard the door close. "How did that happen?"

"Um, we met at one of her shows. She's a professional ballet dancer." Rick nodded and then shrugged. "Hey, do you want to sit down?"

"Do I ever." She flopped into a chair in the living room. "My ankles have reached roughly the circumference of my thighs." Rick chuckled at that.

"So, how did you end up pregnant?"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…" She giggled. "It's not yours or anything."

"I didn't think for a moment it was." Rick said dryly. "Are you still sketching and painting?" He wanted to know.

"Are you kidding me? That's all I do nowadays."

"Did your parents freak?" He asked.

"They don't know. I've been hiding it." Rick raised his eyebrows. "I moved out of the house, so avoiding anyone and everyone."

"It's kind of risky, coming so close to home, don't you think?" She stuck out her tongue at him, and he grinned slyly. Jenny chose that moment to reappear, wearing a tiny little tank and tight exercise pants. She had, yet another, cigarette dangling from between her lips. Leg warmers poked out the top of her gym bag and she surveyed the scene with wide eyes, finally coming to plop next to Rick on the couch.

"That isn't why I came here though. I was wondering whether you could put me in touch with any adoption agencies. I just wouldn't know how to go about it."

"Your doctor should have given you some names." Jenny said.

"Doctor?" Ginny stared blankly and then gasped. "Those Muggle nutters with knives and other highly invasive methods?"

"Muggle?" Jenny looked helplessly at her husband, who was grinning at Ginny.

"Our Virginia is extremely racist." He said, tongue-in-cheek.

"Well, has anyway else looked at you?" Jenny asked.

"No, I've been hiding it." Ginny explained again. "Hiding out, rather."

"Well, first we have to get you a doctor, and then the doctor would have to help you out with finding an adoption agency, because I don't really know the credibility of many of them." She disappeared for a moment and came back with a huge yellow book that flopped around in her hands.

"Now you've done it. You've really gone and done it." Rick said. "She'll be at it for hours."

Ginny just grinned.

An appointment at closing time and they had the whole afternoon to kill. Jenny took her out to lunch and then she went to work out at the single dance studio in the village. Ginny sketched Jenny as she went through repetitions. Rick sat beside her. "You're getting better." He commented.

"Yeah. I sit on my butt and hope that my ankles regain some shape while I put them up on a mountain of pillows. Sketching is about the only thing I can handle at this point. That and All My Children."

"Wow, that's possibly the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"You're telling me." She winced. "This thing uses my spleen as a punching bag. I swear she's malicious."

"She?"

"The father swears he knows."
"Where is he at?" Rick wanted to know.

"Around." She bit the skin around her nail and continued her sketch as Jenny grabbed her foot and held it high above her head.

"Is he a wizard?" Rick asked innocently. Ginny nodded.

"Good-looking too. Are you two going to have kids?"

"We can't. Jenny got a freak case of cervical cancer that spread to her uterus and ovaries when she was 15. She had to have the whole lot out." Ginny watched Jenny, her tics turning into subtle grace as she danced.

"And she still smokes like she does?"

"Hormones she takes give her killer nerves. She barely sleeps and she can hardly pull off eating. She'd be a great mother, though."

"I bet." Ginny said softly. Jenny smiled at them and then flicked her eyes up to study herself in the mirror, her face molding into a mask of concentration. "Two artists, how do you guys get by?"

"Teaching pays more than my painting does, but the numbers are actually starting to even out a little. And Jenny goes on tour with a dance troupe in the summer. Which lasts her and me for most of the year with a little something for extras and retirement. Being a ballerina pays bank." He shook his head and looked with bright eyes at his wife as she cursed loudly and attempted something that looked perfect over and over again.

"Is she a principal?" Ginny wanted to know, glancing over at the door as a severe looking woman, middle-aged, studied Jenny from the door, a large group of ten-year-olds peering from behind.

"Yeah, she's amazing. Jen!" Jenny looked up and then over towards the class hovering in the hallway.

"Sorry, Ms. P." She said, diminishing somehow, until the same twitchy woman that had entered the studio shouldered her bag and muttered another apology, her hands dancing around as she fumbled for her car keys. The woman quickly assured her it was quite alright, and strolled into the classroom as Rick helped Ginny to her feet, with much difficulty, a flood of young girls in her wake.

Jenny went into the bathroom to change into street clothes. Ginny watched the class begin, the girls, their leotards stretched over child-like bellies and flat chests, as they pushed their feet awkwardly away from each other, their arms fluttering in a mockery of their teacher's grace as she adjusted their stretching with her droning voice. There was one girl in particular whose chunky arms and legs refused to move the way she wanted them to, no matter how she glared at her teacher's reflection, tongue nipped between her teeth.

"Erica." The teacher called the girl out and she stepped forward tentatively, her fingertips still resting on the bar. "There are markings on your leotard, go clean yourself." The girl looked around enough to see that someone had scribbled 'wide load' on the back of her leotard. She burst into tears and a shiver of giggles ran through the group. She ran past Rick and Ginny, straight into Jenny, who was just emerging. Jenny was almost bowled over and looked down with shock at the wailing girl who had just sat flat on the floor, defeated.

"What's your name?" She asked, her fingers playing out a rhythm over shoulders shaking with sobs, just darting back from touching.

"Erica." said a small voice, thick with tears.

"Ms. P's a pretty tough character, but it's a new record for her to have someone leave in tears five minutes in. We'll have to give her a whopping high-five, won't we?"

"It's not Ms. P. The other girls they hate me because… because I'm f-fat!" Erica broke into a fresh wave of sobbing. "They've vandalized me!" She rolled half over to show Jenny who clucked her tongue.

"First let's deal with this fat nonsense once and for all. You are not fat. Ms. P has a fat bum, but she's still a pretty decent dancer. Do you know who Mama Cass is?" Erica shook her head. "Ask your Mum. The woman died choking on a ham sandwich, and she was fat as a cow. But she still had some amazing talents and no one cared that she was big and fat."

"Really?" Erica looked somewhat impressed.

"Really. And all those skinny little twits in there… they'll all end up fat with five kids and a silly looking husband. Do you want to know why?" Erica nodded seriously and Jenny leaned over, half covering her hand with her mouth. "Because they're bitches." She and Erica gasped in unison and Rick snorted delicately. Erica turned her eyes onto him.

"That's my husband, what d'you think?" Jenny asked.

"He's alright." Erica whispered.

"Well, your husband will be better looking." Jenny said seriously.

"He will?" Erica asked, stealing another glance at Rick, who turned red and asked to be excused.

"Yes, he will. Because everyone wants to marry the prima ballerina." Jenny pointed a shaking finger at Erica, who looked down at herself, as if sure there was someone sitting on her.

"I'm not even very good." Erica

"Oh yes you are. I can see it in your eyes. This is my number at my flat, have your mum call me and we'll see about you coming in to practice with me early. Us professionals ought to practice together, don't you think?"

"I suppose." She said, wiping her eyes with her hand, before standing with Jenny, who looked at her backside carefully.

"And you've wiped off the words with the floor, it was only chalk. Clever girl, you knew how to do it without even getting your leotard wet. I hope you can teach me some of this when we work out together." Erica's chest expanded and she looked proud.

"I'll try." She said casually, tucking the piece of paper Jenny had handed her into her leotard, practically swaggering into the classroom. Jenny grinned at Ginny and they met Rick at the car, where he was still giggling to himself.

"Poor girl, She was a little fat, wasn't she?" Jenny said, climbing into the car and lighting up a cigarette, as Ginny and Rick finally broke down into peals of laughter. "More to turn into muscle I suppose."

After they squirted some warm goo onto her stomach from what looked to be a mustard bottle, a technician ran some soft of thing across her swollen belly, and the TV screen that was facing them started to flutter around. "Ew." Ginny complained. The chubby nurse in scrubs covered in salamanders fiddled around with a tray of buttons with letters on them under the screen. She messed around with something and suddenly the room was filled with a faint pulse of sound.

"That's your heartbeat." She announced and then cocked her head moving the dial again. An even fainter, rapid sound was added to the mix. "And that little heartbeat belongs to your baby." Ginny's hand went to her stomach automatically, she quickly pulled her hand away and wiped the goo on Rick's pants. Grinning at him all the while, her head cocked to catch the sound.

"Can you hear?" She whispered, biting her lip happily.

"Yeah, wow." He reached for Jenny's hand, and she looked into Ginny's eyes, her own sparkling.

"That's amazing. Can I?" Her hands reached for Ginny's exposed stomach.

"Wait till I get cleaned up, then it's all yours." Ginny said softly, and closed her eyes, just listening to the combined heartbeats, their rhythms completely disoriented from each other. The wand changed pressure on her abdomen then there was more fiddling with buttons.

"There's your baby." The technician said. Ginny's eyes snapped open and she looked at the screen. "Do you want to know what it is?"

"I know what it is. It's a sea monkey. Gross." She snorted and continued to chuckle to herself. She looked to Rick and Jenny to see if they shared in the joke, but they both looked on with awe, Jenny had silent tears running down her face. She touched her own stomach and her chin wobbled a bit.

"That's your baby, Ginny." She said, grabbing onto Ginny's hand. "She's beautiful."

"Yeah, I reckon she looks like her dad after all…" Ginny joked and this time Jenny looked down and let out a little laugh, wiping her tears away.

"She's right. It's a girl." The technician said.

"Draco will be impossible to live with after this," Ginny mused, glancing up at the couple that still stared, transfixed, at her baby, floating on the screen, her heartbeat still echoing around the room.

"Yeah, so I'm due June 3rd and our baby looks like a pod person. Would you stir this?" Ginny kissed Draco as he took the spoon from her hand and continued to deep fry the vegetables in a Chinese dish that Ginny had been craving and no restaurants made correctly. She poured more lime juice in the Thai soup simmering on the stove.

"Our little girl." He smiled.

"Don't burn those." Ginny said sternly, tipping a package of the little baby octopuses into her soup, practically drooling. "I love kalamari." Draco crinkled his nose.

"Aren't you supposed to be sick? I know I'm about to be."

"I'm not really sick anymore, except when Junior gets me a good one in the gut. Anyway, this is yummy, you must be crazy." She told him.

"I think our marriage just shriveled." Draco said dryly, making Ginny laugh.

"Do you still like Vida Marie?" She wanted to know.

"Yeah. I've had it picked out since before her conception. Her conception."

"Yes, thank you, I know that you're right. I wouldn't want a son of yours anyway, they would just be obnoxious and-"

"You don't mean that." He kissed. "You know that numero dos is going to be a boy anyway."

"How are things at headquarters?" Ginny asked quietly.

"About the same." Draco turned down the heat on the vegetables turning them in circles around the pan as they fizzled and popped.

"Have you?" She reached out for a burn on his shoulder, inflicted by the Dark Lord in a fit of anger.

"Not in about a week." He stared down at his hands. "Ginny, I didn't want to talk about this with you, but…"

"Wait until after the baby's born." She patted his arm. "And then we can talk about whatever you want. Until then, we wait."

"Okay, okay." He bent down, and kissed her stomach. "Hello, Vida Marie, you better come pretty soon, or else Mommy will live in despairing denial for all of our days." He pressed his ear against the barrier between he and his child. Ginny grabbed onto his head and rubbed his hair gently. "Or until Daddy gets murdered."

"Don't talk like that." She chewed on her lip and pulled away from him, stirring the soup. He pretended not to see her cry, which she appreciated, even if she couldn't say it. He simply ran a hand over her hair and tipped the vegetables onto a plate.

"I'm just scared, Gin, okay? And Blaise is really getting to me." Ginny stared at the soup and turned the heat down.

"I can't imagine how she would do that." She said dryly, and then began to cry in earnest. For Vida Marie, who she had to give away, and her dreams, which seemed to be changing even as she achieved them. And for Draco, who held her gently as she sobbed on the kitchen floor, smiling warmly at Bitsy and she manned the damned soup.

"I think I found parents." She said quietly, after what seemed like an eternity.

"That's great." Draco whispered, not looking at her.

"I think… when do you want to meet them?" He looked down at her, starting at him with wide, brown eyes.

"The night is young yet. They're Muggles, right?"

"Yes." She said, "but you'll like them, I promise."

Jenny and Rick had welcomed them into the apartment, laughing at the proffered Tupperware full of Ginny's favorite Thai food. They were all sitting down to dinner, and Jenny wasn't even smoking. It was a grand affair indeed.

"So, what do you do for a living, Draco?" Rick asked.

"Uh… military." He said glancing over at Ginny, who shrugged.

"A wizarding military. How about that?" Jenny laughed. "Rick told me all about everything once you had left, Ginny. I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon."

"Two hours away from you left agony in my heart." Ginny said.

"Glad to hear it. This is really good, I love kalamari." Jenny said.

"Not you, too. Ginny can't stop going on about it." Draco kissed her on the temple and she smiled at him. Rick and Jenny exchanged looks.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Rick wanted to know. Draco shrugged. "What makes you two think that you can't raise a child together? I thought that maybe you weren't together or something…" Ginny and Draco glanced at each other.

"Well, the truth is that money is a factor. As well as, well…" Draco shifted in his seat. "Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?"

Rick looked puzzled for a moment. "Sure."

"You've read Romeo and Juliet?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Yes, I have." Draco said with dignity. "Regardless, the Weasley and Malfoy family relationship rather strongly resembles that of the Montague and Capulet families."

"I get along very well with your Mum." Ginny said stiffly. "But then again I can't imagine my parents inviting you to Christmas dinner."

"Unless of course it was poisoned." Draco snorted. "It also comes down to the war. We're fighting on opposite sides, well, we aren't but our families are. And sometimes I think we picked the wrong side, and a child shouldn't have to grow up in that environment."

"The wrong side?" Jenny looked confused.

"Draco, that's treason." Ginny was annoyed. Rick and Jenny exchanged another significant look.

Ginny looked at the two men whom she had loved most deeply of anyone, and their differences were very distinct, but it became clear to her even more so than before, that if she didn't have Draco to raise her child, she wanted Rick. Draco glanced at her and seemed to realize that this was the time to reveal themselves.

"Actually, we came by for a reason." He said. "I wanted to meet you of course, Ginny's been positively revolting about you two. But also…"

"I was just wondering if you two were ever going to have children." Ginny asked. "Not have them, I know you can't Jenny, and I'm awfully sorry. But do you want them?"

"Yes." Jenny touched Rick's arm. "Deeply. But with me on the road in the summers and everything it's been hard to find time to put it all together."

"I think I know where this is going." Rick said, softly.

"When I came to the door this morning, I might have been a little jealous. Rick was mine, all mine for so long that it was hard to see him with another woman. But you two, you're perfect for each other and you seem as though you'll be the perfect parents. What I mean to say is, would you two like to raise our baby girl?" She grabbed onto Draco's hand and they looked at the couple across from them.

"You don't have to make a decision now," Draco said hurriedly. "We just wanted to throw the idea out there. I wasn't sure that Ginny was right when she told me about you two, but I see it, too. After just an hour in your company, I believe I could completely trust you with my child."

Tears glittered around Jenny's eyes and she stood up hurriedly, a plate crashed to the floor and broke, Ginny looked startled for a moment, and then found herself and Draco swept into Jenny's slender arms. "Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes." She blubbered. "I know we haven't known each other long, but I just feel like this is the most right thing in the world."

"I think there will have to be a little more concern about logistics, but I'm all for it." Rick looked grave and happy, as though already anticipating the weight of being a father on his shoulders.

"That's wonderful." Ginny cried. "Just wonderful."

"Push!" The nurse said encouragingly.

"I'm pushing!" Ginny growled between gritted teeth.

"Well, why isn't anything happening, then?" Draco stood up by her head, looking slightly bored. "Maybe you should try pushing harder."

"If I push any harder, my head is going to explode and I'll make sure to aim my brains so they splatter all over your pristine hair." Ginny said with malice.

"See, now you're not even pushing at all." Draco didn't seem to be at all offended, though he raised a careful hand to his hair. "Can you get up and show me how to work those… wending washers?"

"What?" She shook her head at him. "Can't you see I'm a little busy?"

"It wouldn't hurt for you to walk around a little." The nurse, looking harassed, admitted. "20 years and never had anyone as bad…" She muttered. "It'll be a little while for the doctor to arrive anyway." She helped Ginny up. Draco grabbed onto her arm.

"I think I can take it from here." He told the nurse imperiously, she gaped and walked away shaking her head.

"Miserable little Muggle. She'll probably want to do something with a knife. So what's it feel like?" Draco was taking Ginny towards something with a purpose, he wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and made for the stairs.

"Like my little sea monkey took a wrong turn somewhere and it trying to exit via my spinal cord. Mind you, I'm not surprised, considering that it happens to be your sea monkey as well." She panted. After a particularly disquieting experience with the lift last time she had had an exam and only Draco for company, they had been avoiding the little metal box. The staff had thought it rather funny, but Draco had been reduced almost to hysterics and his suede cloak was now resembled a rubber ducky and resided between the 1st and 2nd floors of the building. Draco still refused to talk about it.

"Wending washers." Draco said proudly as they emerged, pointing at a row of florescent boxes they had seen coming in. Ginny rubbed at a spot in her back and Draco surreptitiously waved his wand at her.

"Much better, love, thanks." She grinned at him. "So, what do these wending washers do?"

"Well, they give you food." He bent to examine them. There were three with large cans on the front and one with different types of Muggle junk food in rows.

"I saw some bloke doing it, and I want something."

"I wouldn't say no to one of those cans. Rick always had those at his house. They have this lovely bubbly stuff in it."

"What like champagne? You're pregnant." Draco said indignantly.

"No. No alcohol." She wrinkled her nose at him. "We've not got anything like it in our world."

"Well, I wouldn't mind having a go. Not if it's like pizza, which was probably invented by wizards, anyway." Draco pulled out a galleon and tried, unsuccessfully to put it into the machine.

"Well, you know what the relations between the Italian Ministry and ours are like at the best of times." Ginny took the galleon and gave it another go at the machine.

"No, I don't." Draco shrugged.

"Well, them introducing pizza to the wizarding world would be similar to the Italian minister leaning over a chair and asking Fudge for a firm spanking." Ginny studied the machine.

"It'll be coming out any time then." Draco grinned shamelessly. "You know what Italian men are like."

"Draco…" Ginny rolled her eyes. "Have you any Muggle money? The instructions don't mention our money as a currency it accepts."

"What do you take me for?" Draco looked affronted.

"A very manly minion of the Dark Lord." Ginny patted him on the chest.

"Damn straight. Maybe you have to talk to it." Draco said. "We used to have an ice box that worked like that."

"Worth a try." Ginny shrugged. "One diet Pepsi, please." She said to the machine, which buzzed at her peacefully.

"Hey!" Draco shook the machine. "The mother of my child wants a diet Pepsi!"

"You're not supposed to do that." Ginny pointed at the side, chuckling merrily. "Look, it fell over on the man." Draco looked at the picture and back at the face.

"Sorry, mate." Draco laid a pacifying hand on the 'P' in Pepsi.

"Well, look, we can just open the lock." She said.

"Isn't that illegal?" Draco asked innocently.

"Isn't it a little late in your career for moral scruples?" She asked. "We'll just close them back up again. Have you got your knapsack? Good, we can fill it up, this whole birthing thing is taking longer than I expected."

Rick and Jenny entered the hospital and were directed from the front desk to the 2nd floor. They were almost at a run, but stopped short at the sight that greeted them in front of the lifts. Ginny was barefoot in a hospital gown and a cloak, with a pile of Milky Ways on the chair next to her. "Hey!" She greeted them eagerly. Draco's head appeared from behind the open door of one of the Pepsi machines. There was a loud clanking and then he stood back and the door swept shut and locked with an audible 'click'. He was wearing what looked like a very masculine dress.

"We were just stealing from the wending washers." He informed them, indicating a very bulky knapsack with his foot. Ginny took a noisy slurp of diet Pepsi.

"Vending machines." Rick said vaguely.

"Oh thank God!" A very frantic nurse appeared from the lift. "You weren't supposed to actually leave the floor!"

"Oh. You never said anything about that." Ginny rolled her eyes at Draco. "You haven't got anything sharp have you?" She suddenly asked suspiciously.

"No!" The nurse looked at the couple in disbelief. Jenny finally found her voice.

"Let's just go upstairs and forget this whole business." She said softly.

"Quite." Draco tried to pick up the bag.

"It's too heavy, would you be a love?" He batted his eyes at Ginny, who shouldered the knapsack with a lot of huffing and wheeling around. The nurse, who looked to the point of tearing out hair, although not maybe her own, rushed forward.

"Don't…!" The force of the look she received from Ginny sent her staggering back a few feet.

"Why don't you take the stairs?" Ginny said frostily.

"But… but… the wheelchair." She said weakly.

"Just let her get in bloody elevator, Gin, and we can end this escapade." Rick motioned them all inside. Draco hopped foot to foot for a moment and then followed. Ginny set the knapsack down with a sound like an explosion and then kicked back in the wheelchair, looking extremely satisfied. Rick hit the button for the second floor, and the feeling of relief was palpable as the lift started upwards. Ginny took another loud sip of Pepsi. The lights flickered for a moment and the lift shuddered gently to a stop.

Ginny was the first to react, which she did by bursting into hysterical laughter, the nurse shortly followed this line of action. "Do you think anything else could go right tonight?" She snorted.

"I hate these fucking things." Draco moaned.

"Can't you do something? You're a wizard." Rick looked at the control panel. "How come there's no alarm bell?"

"Old lift. We're actually getting a new one next week. It's a fire hazard." The nurse managed, wiping her eyes as her laughter calmed slightly. Ginny hiccupped beside her.

"Draco? What can you do?" Rick asked.

"I'm sorry. Lift repair wasn't part of the curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He glanced at the nurse. "What's your name?"

"Shirley." She said simply.

"Well, Shirley, are you prepared to have your world perception drastically altered?" He smiled politely.

"You've done a creditable job of it so far this evening and we've only known each other a half hour, so yes, I imagine I am." She looked penseive. "Mind you, I think I know what's coming. Witchcraft and wizardry is more than just burning incense and chanting with face paint?"

"It depends on what the face paint is chanting." Ginny giggled.

"Rather." Draco said.

"I need a cigarette." Jenny slid down to the floor.

"Draco, do you remember that chimney spell that we use in the meetings?" Ginny asked, pulling her wand out of her cloak. "I can do it, but I think your spell is wearing off, it feels like someone is poking me in the butt repeatedly."

"Sorry." Rick said.

"Right." Draco glared at Rick for a moment and then climbed onto the wheelchair arms. Shirley protested feebly and then fell silent. Draco cut a section of the ceiling out and then stuck his torso out of the hole. The elevator suddenly fell about a foot and then stopped abruptly. "Right," He said again, jumping down.

"Um…" Rick caught one look from Draco and decided to let him explain in his own time.

"Alright, so when I put this spell on you, your smoke will hit a barrier about two feet in front of you, and then go upwards and go out the hole in the top. It shouldn't come back in. Shirley, can I have your thingy?" Draco looked at Shirley merrily. She looked down and then handed her stethoscope over in disbelief, Draco tapped it and handed Jenny an ornate ashtray, looking rather cheeky.

"Ooh, Bella will be jealous. You made a pretty ashtray for a pretty Muggle." Ginny teased as Draco waved his wand. Jenny lit a cigarette and remained silent watching the smoke bounce in midair and travel towards the messy cut in the ceiling.

"Well, I don't know what that thing was, but it makes for a tasteful ashtray." Draco said simply. There was a keening sound from the corner where Shirley was sitting.

"Can one of you do that disappearing thing that your brothers did?" Rick asked suddenly.

"I don't have my license. In fact, I've been banned from taking the test." Draco said stiffly. "Apparently they do that after your 36th attempt." He sniffed.

"Are your bubbles completely confusing as well? I know I failed at my written twice." Rick said sympathetically. "It didn't stop me from driving, though."

"I don't know what you mean, however, the fact that my left leg doesn't seem to particularly like to follow when I 'disappear', has put me off the practice a bit."

"You are in a hospital." Shirley said helpfully.

"Thank you." Draco hissed acidly. "I still won't take my chances if it's all the same to you."

"As long as it's not your mouth left behind, I don't really care." Shirley snapped.

"Well, you're after people with knives all the time, aren't you?" This seemed to settle the matter for Ginny. "Even if I could Apparate, it's not generally recommended for pregnant women to do." She said with a sigh. "Draco, did you see what the problem is?"

"Um, yeah." Draco scratched his head uncomfortably. "We were stuck on something, it looks like the lift has been hitting it and it repositioned enough to get catch the elevator when it was going up."

"What are we stuck on?" Jenny stubbed out her cigarette.

"Well, a very large bath toy." Draco said. Ginny groaned.

"Pardon?" Jenny spluttered, lighting another cigarette.

"Well, okay, last time we were in the lift, I had a bit of an incident with the elevator and I sort of got stuck on top, regardless, Ginny turned my cloak into a big metal rubber ducky or, I guess it's not really a rubber ducky…"

"A rubber ducky?" Rick looked incredulous.

"It was the only thing I could think of at the time." She shrugged.

"Anyway, I summoned it, and it turned out to be a razor-sharp ducky because it cut through the cable, so I put it back with a permanent sticking charm." Draco scratched his chin, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"A razor-sharp…?" Shirley said.

"It's the only kind I can make! I mean, I am really, really evil." Ginny pursed her lips. "OI!" She bellowed.

"What is it?" Draco knelt in front of her.

"Your spell just wore off." She said through gritted teeth. Shirley got to her feet and knelt in front of the wheelchair. She adjusted the legs until they were horizontal, and then disappeared under Ginny's hospital gown with a flashlight. There was the sound of snapping gloves.

"You've gone back to about five centimeters, that's strange." She commented.

"It's probably the spell, that was Dark magic, wasn't it?" Ginny asked. Draco nodded. "Yep, that would be it."

"Okay, well, it's going to take a while to go back. This is your first?"

"Mmhmm." Ginny studied her nails as Draco poked her with the wand again.

"We're going to be here awhile, than." Shirley leaned back on her heels.

"Congratulations on that observation." Rick said acidly.

"I spy, with my little eye, something white and black with the number four on it." Rick turned to look at his wife, who was nearing the end of her pack.

"The floor button for the 4th floor." He said dryly.

"Damn, I was going to use that next." Ginny said. Shirley emerged from her 4th inspection.

"Are you sure that isn't the same spell?" She asked plaintively. "You're still at five."

"Yes, this one just makes me go numb from the waist down." Ginny grinned. "I love it, it was actually invented for this exact purpose."

"Like an epidural!" Shirley said enthusiastically.

"A what?" Ginny looked blank.

"It's a needle that goes directly into the spinal column and… and…" She didn't finish this thought as she saw the dark look that Draco and Ginny exchanged. "This Dark spell couldn't have done any damage to the child could it?"

"No!" Both teenagers said emphatically.

"Damaged babies don't make for ideal henchmen." Draco said with confidence.

"Not to mention you piss off the hench-people you already have." Ginny said with grim certainty.

"Right." Shirley. "Well, okay."

"It's your turn." Rick said.

"Oh, I spy with my little eye, something green and- "

"The carpet." Four voices intoned.

"-TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NO MORE BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL!" There was a raucous cheer following the end of the song, and the clinking of five Pepsi cans.

"I hate that song." Shirley said.

"Well, you're wearing penguin pajamas." Draco stated in a tone that clearly indicated this sort of dress invalidated any music reviews.

"They're scrubs. They're very merry." Shirley's tone spoke volumes about the sort of people that judged merry scrubs. There was an intense glare.

"They don't even move." He said thoughtfully. "My pajamas dance and sing."

"It's true. They're bumblebees." Ginny asserted.

"How do you sleep with dancing and singing bumblebees on your pajamas?" Shirley seemed to be truly mystified.

"With the knowledge that I have proper clothing." Draco said with dignity.

"I have to pee." Jenny said suddenly.

"As do I." Rick admitted. The rest of the passengers indicated that they too had felt the call of nature. After everyone had relieved themselves off the edge of the lift, after climbing through the hole, Ginny being controlled by Draco's wand, there was a comfortable lull. Draco had been transporting a carton of cigarettes to Bellatrix when Ginny had gone into labor, so Jenny was thankfully not in any danger of running out. Shirley had finally taken one and gone into the chimney spell with Jenny, taking deep drags, and admitting she needed at least one after her crash course in magic.

Ginny looked at Rick and Draco, who were talking quietly in a corner. It sounded like the topic was wizarding vs. Muggle conventions of behavior.

"And when they mix, especially in aristocracy, like Harry Potter for instance-"

"Who?" Rick asked.

"You've met Harry, Rick. The soppy one." She said with a smile. Rick looked up at her and grinned.

"Ah, I think I understand, then. Adolescence seems to carry more gravity with the pureblood families." He said.

"Exactly, but you wouldn't be talking about the Weasleys." Draco indicated Ginny with his chin.

"Biggest bunch of blood traitors you'll ever meet." She acknowledged. "I can honestly say I'm the only one in my family with any proper knowledge that lack of money doesn't have to mean lack of blood pride."

"Too right." Draco said.

"So, does that mean you hate Muggles and Muggleborn?" Rick asked, apparently confused.

"Hell, no!" Draco snapped. "I don't know a Death Eater except for the oldest of us who really does. We just don't want them in the wizarding world."

"No one actually believes the propaganda that the Dark Lord spits out." Ginny snorted. "I mean, there's only so far you can carry the witch trials. Plus he's a half-blood himself. He had a Muggle father."

"Which is probably why he hates Muggles so much, I mean, his father did abandon him." Draco said. "Then again, I suppose it could go either way, all things considered, his mother was a love struck doormat, who let herself die rather than raise the child of her ex-husband. That might turn me off magic at the same time."

"Poor kid, sounds like he had it rough." Rick said. Ginny and Draco exchanged glances and then burst out laughing.

"No kidding. I think someone should have recommended therapy over a pass to the restricted section, though, aye?" Draco gasped.

"Where would we be then?" Ginny asked quietly.

"There's always someone waiting to step into place." She and Draco shared a look again.

"Finally." Ginny jumped, she hadn't even noticed Shirley coming back for an examination. "You've gained two centimeters." She said.

"Hey Shirley?" Jenny said. "Won't someone notice if this lift isn't working?"

"Sure." She said, and didn't bother to elaborate.

"Well, now that that's been cleared up." Draco smirked.

"It's just that, this elevator is always bungled, but if there are people inside they get out the basement." She shrugged. "The elevator drifts down to the final level and a sensor on the bottom opens the doors. And then the repairmen come by the next morning and put it in working order." There was a long silence following this statement.

"Seriously?" Rick finally said. "You actually…"

"Look, the emergency room is on the first floor, and we have a new set of elevators that we use for in-patients." She glared reproachfully at Ginny. "Nobody in any sort of medical trouble touches these lifts."

"How reassuring." Ginny said, gritting her teeth. "Draco, didn't you use a permanent sticking charm?" Draco looked for a moment extremely guilty.

"Hey, Shirley, don't you need to listen for the baby's heart or something?" He asked, turning round on her. She glared daggers at him.

"I can't. My stethoscope is currently a tasteful ashtray." Shirley said.

"Well, I haven't the faintest how to turn it back." Draco shrugged. "I can turn almost anything into an ashtray, but I don't know how to make anything into a stealthscoop."

"Lovely. Isn't there a spell to turn things back into their original form?" Shirley asked.

"Not for ashtrays." Draco said. "I mean, who wants something back after they've got an ashtray?" He conveyed this thought seriously. There was a careful consideration, followed by general consensus that, no, no one could want anything back once they've got an ashtray. Everyone except Shirley, that is.

"First-born children come to mind." She said.

"Well, what business do you have turning first-born children into ashtrays?" Jenny said wisely. "Second-born and third-born for that matter. Fourth-born would be at personal discretion, I say." Everyone agreed with this train of thought. Even Shirley.

"I never knew my father and both my children died in a car accident that I survived when I was the driver." Shirley aimed a stream of smoke at the hole in ceiling.

"I knew my father, which was just as bad, I used to pray for an accident like that. A salvation." Jenny said softly.

"I had an unbearably happy childhood and I still turned out fucked up." Ginny whispered. The three women watched the two men, who were asleep at the other end of the lift and had, in their slumber, ended up assuming the position of spooning. It could be the most adorable thing Ginny had ever seen, and the other two were quick to agree. Ginny had also, in the last four hours, remained at seven centimeters.

They were quiet again for a long time.

"I suppose it would be in poor taste to try and summon the baby out." Ginny said, chewing thoughtfully her lip.

"Whatever the hell that means, I suppose so." Shirley stubbed out her cigarette and crawled over to the wheelchair, rubbing her eyes tiredly, before hitting her penlight and going in for yet another examination.

"I feel like you're spelunking." Ginny said with a giggle.

"You're at nine." Shirley said with a smile. "You know, spelunking is actually a hobby of mine."

"Got Freud?" Jenny snorted indelicately. They all giggled somewhat helplessly.

"One of these days, I'm going to work too long of a shift and just completely lose it while some poor woman is in labor." Shirley snorted.

"Start commenting on stalactites and stalagmites you've discovered."

"Trying to tell them that you've managed fissures smaller than that before to enter cavernous depths."

"Chatting up the baby with really technical terms, and then lecturing it for not using proper equipment."

"To boldly go where at least one man has gone at least once before!"

Ginny looked at the nurse, whose strong arms and thickset jaw belied the bouncy gray curls and laugh lines. There was an impression of dimples when she laughed, but lines that pulled down from those that gave the impression of misery deep enough to sink into the skin. It surprised her that she didn't care. This indifference sent a shiver up her spine. She reached up to the dog tags at her neck and held them until the metal warmed against her skin. She remembered the guard struggling towards the fireplace, her cool indifference as she had killed him even as her heart had seemed to be burning a hole in her chest, until all of a sudden it seemed to be absent in her chest. Smitty, who accepted death to give his daughter a better life, she was not sorry for his death. And she didn't know why.

"I slept with three men the night before my wedding." Shirley lit another cigarette.

"I only dated women before I met Rick and he doesn't know about it." Jenny glanced sharply at Ginny, who shrugged.

"I'm a mass murderer." Ginny got up and walked around the lift on stiff legs, she squatted a few times experimentally.

"How'd you manage that?" Shirley asked.

"Oh, Rick explained to me. She's a really important person in this war in the wizarding world."

"Really?"

"Oof!" Ginny leaned her head against the doors. "The spell just broke again. Oh, sweet Merlin." The men slept peacefully on. Shirley and Jenny were by her side in a second. They helped her back into the wheelchair, putting her legs up in the horizontal position.

"She's at ten… and…" Shirley laid her hands thoughtfully against Ginny's stomach. "Yep, you're hitting hard labor, Ginny. Do you remember your breathing?"

"Uh, we never got around to that." Jenny admitted. "Lamaze was on my to-do list but,"

"DRACO FUCKING MALFOY!" Ginny exploded. The said person rolled over and kicked at the wall gently. Rick rolled over and wrapped his arm around Draco's waist. "He put on a sound-proofing charm, that son of a bitch." She hissed.

"He-he-hoo." Shirley intoned. "It might help to walk around a bit."

"I'm going to give birth on his head. He-he…"

"Oh my god!" Jenny fluttered about. "That's disgusting! It's like something undercooked… it's French!"

"He-he, not extremely helpful, Jenny!" Ginny gritted her teeth and gave another push. "Hoo... does he think he is?"

"Is that…?" Jenny asked weakly.

"I can see the head, Ginny." Shirley wiped sweat away from her face, leaving a steak of blood in its wake. She smiled encouragingly. "Do you want to touch her?"

"No!" Ginny barked. "Just get it out! I'll touch her later."

"You'll have to give me a hand..." She gestured to Jenny. "Do you want to catch the baby?"

"No." She said vehemently.

"You're a very strange bunch." Shirley said softly.

"You act like this is news." Ginny stared up at the source of the voice.

"Draco." Her tone was sweet and light for a moment. "You utter bastard."

"Sorry, love, if you forgive me this, I'll give you the fair trade of not being mad at you for letting me cuddle with a man for so long."

"Deal." She grinned at him.

"I'd like to catch her." He knelt on the floor next to Shirley.

"So would I…" Rick said grinning at Draco.

"Oh, what the hell." Jenny positioned herself as well. Shirley went up to Ginny's head and smoothed her sweat-damp hair back.

"I need two good pushes." She told Ginny, who obliged, sure that she had ground her teeth to powder from those two earth-shakers alone. There was a long moment, and then six hands supported the slick infant who entered the world without a sound.

"Oh…" Jenny said, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry."