Anything But Ordinary

AN: This story takes place 3 years after the ending of Skin Deep. This tends to be a little darker than Skin Deep was, with an entirely darker undertone for the entire story. I will try to keep my warnings going. Please R/R so that I know who is following me through to this story. I highly appreciate all of the great reviews that Skin Deep received and I hope that this one is received as well. Thanks again! *Italics are flashback*

Beginnings and Endings

As Hermione's moans of discomfort changed to exhausted laughter, Draco stopped his pacing. Cries of delight filled the room as Ginny embraced Hermione's hand that she had been clinging so firmly to for the last two hours. Hand shakes and back slaps circled the room as words of adoration followed. But not everyone was so joyful. Over in the corner, Draco stood with his hands supporting his chin watching the dreaded quill that had been set up by law. As everyone cheered behind him, his eyes began to water at the shiver the quill began to make. As the quill began to scratch across the yellowed parchment, all celebrations stopped as suddenly as they had started. Slowly, Draco turned to watch from across the room as a muggle doctor branded the dreaded mark onto his newborn son.

^____^

"I never thought I'd see the day that Draco Malfoy would be disappointed that his child wasn't a squib." Ginny commented as they left the hospital that evening.

"It's a different world we live in now, love. Every father's dream is for his child to have a better life than he did and right now, I don't blame Draco." Harry stuck his hands into his side pockets as he kicked at the loose gravel under their feet.

"Every father dreams of his child being a squib?" Ginny asked as she raced to keep up with Harry's long strides.

"Right now..." he turned suddenly in his tracks and let Ginny's growing bump brush against his fingers, "sadly, it is."

"Where's the paper?" Harry screamed as he flung the door open.

"What was that, Harry? You missed me? Your life wasn't complete until you came home to me?" Ginny asked the back of Harry's head as he slammed his work bag down onto the table. He began flinging through the pile of Daily Prophets that they kept near the stove as if a hot ember had just fallen into the pile. "Harry, what are you doing?"

"Where's the fucking paper, Gin? Today's. I've just heard...everyone's talking about it...can't be true....it just can't be."

Ginny sat up, forgetting the twinge of anger she felt at being spoken to that way in the fear in her new husband's voice. It had been so long since she had heard any emotion from him that now, even when he was just frustrated, she was uneasy. Right now she was sure that the world was going to end. Only a year later, she knew she should have trusted her instincts.

"What did you hear, Harry?" She knelt down next to his frantic form and nearly tumbled over as he pulled the news up with shaking hands so she could read the headline.

"Betrayal in the Ministry: Our world exposed."

"The cat's out of the bag, and a rat is in the office. This morning, around 10:00 a press conference was held by the Prime Minister of Muggles that will forever change the way the wizarding community lives." Harry read aloud. "In his nearly two hour speech, the P.M. announced to the entire muggle community that magic was very real and among them everyday, a fact that until now has been well hidden due to the Wizarding Secrecy Act. The Minister of Magic has been secretly meeting with the P.M. for nearly twenty years now in an effort to keep them informed on situations that might affect the muggle community as well. However, with the new appointment of Harold Birch, apparently the Minister made a bad judgement in character by holding a meeting with him. A powerful public speaker, Birch had the community in an uproar and by 3:00 today, several new laws have been passed by the P.M. in which, according to the Ministry, we have no choice but to obey. While they are still trying to work out the details, holding several meetings to come to a mutual understanding, the following laws are to be in effect by no later than midnight on Friday, the 21st, of this month."

"That's only two days from now." Ginny pushed through her shallow breathing. "What are we supposed to do?" She grabbed onto Harry's arm and found that he was trembling nearly as much as she was.

Harry's eyes quickly scanned the paper and his face paled with every new law they made contact with. "All people of Magical blood or heritage must report to the Ministry to have themselves, their wands and their broomsticks registered in the muggle data base. All property belonging to that of the magical community will be seized until further notice and must be evacuated. For their own safety and the safety of others, anyone with known magical abilities will be moved into a protective encampment and marked as "magical" for the safety of any that come in contact with them."

"Their BRANDING us?!" Ginny yelled, pulling Harry out of his concentration.

"It gets worse." He continued. "Anyone that refuses the new laws or does not show up for registration by midnight of the 21st will be declared a fugitive and will be hunted down as such. They hope to continue life as usual as soon as possible...blah blah blah....they'll hold meetings until both the Ministers can come to terms...." Harry looked up over the paper at his shivering wife.

"What does this all mean, Harry? What are we going to do?" She placed a hand over his and begged him to hold her.

"We're going to the Ministry. They'll have something worked out soon. They won't let this happen....No one wants another war. Not after all that's happened. They'll find a way to come to terms without anyone having to suffer. You'll see. "

^___^

The parking lot was nearly empty with only a few splatters of cars for people that were well wishers of the new lives springing up in the cold stone building behind them. Parents that eagerly watched that "magical contraption" and screamed in joy and relief when all it did was nothing at all, and screamed in pain and heartbreak as it began it's tattle-tale dance. Once only used to alert the Ministry of Magic of a future Witchcraft and Wizardry student, now a quill stood in every delivery room across the country to point its terribly pointed fingers at any child of magical blood. Muggle parents heard of children being born to their friends in which those quills told them more about their heredity then they ever knew. "Taints" as they had come to be known, were all sent to the encampment, with or without their parents who would have to except the role of an outcast for their child. Not surprisingly, the wizard orphanage was nearly brimming with children that neither understood their parent's bloodline or why they had been thrown out of it. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and even Draco had taken to visiting the orphanage as soon as it was established hoping to bring some hope to these poor souls, Harry nearly knowing how they all felt, but every time they couldn't answer "why" began to build a knot in the bottom of their stomach that eventually threatened to overtake them so it had been nearly four months since their last visit. Children didn't understand politics, and the adults couldn't explain politics that orphaned innocent children for something they had no control over. At the beginning, a few groups had resisted. They had not shown up for registration, or they had held protests in front of the Ministry. It became all too clear very quickly that any resistance would not be tolerated. It seemed, at least to those that watched politics, that the Minister had everything under control and would not allow this to go on much longer. It was the only thing that was keeping them all so calm. But for people that doubted the Ministry, or for those that personally spoke with the Minister on an almost daily bases, it was as if he was just as trapped or lost as the rest of them were.

As they made their way across the parking lot to the appropriate apparation terminal, Harry double checking his pockets that he still had both of their licenses, he took a quick glance at the bump that protected his sleeping child and wished that it would never have to come out.

^___^

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" Hermione asked as she stroked the soft cheek of her new love. "He looks just like his daddy." She looked up from one platinum head to the other and smiled, hoping to get one in return. Draco nodded and there was a shimmer of pride in those eyes that couldn't be overshadowed by the grim look on his face. "It will be OK. We'll be a family. He'll always know how special it is to be gifted, not shameful." She fingered the mark on the back of Draco's neck that matched her own and she knew was now red and raw on the pristine skin of her son. The first scars of his mortal life and a tear began to build as she knew there would be many more that she would not be able to protect him from. "Why do they let the muggles do it? It would be so much less painful if a wizard could just use their wand. Why does it have to be burned in?" Hermione asked as she readjusted the baby across her chest, trying to avoid his sore spot.

"They don't trust us. Think they'll let someone get away. And since when do they care if they cause us pain? It's all fucking bullshit."

Hermione covered the babies ears. "Draco, you're going to have to learn to control your mouth. My son's first word is not going to be the f-word."

"How about 'die you fucking muggle commie bastards'?" Draco leaned forward and laughed slightly as he met Hermione's pursed lips. Even though she pretended to be mad, she couldn't hide the smile that seeped through into his lips as she began to kiss him. "I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too, daddy."