(A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but here it is.)
Merely An Option
Weeks had passed since Arthur gave his blessings to Ginny for her choice of a husband. Surprisingly, it took a whole two and half weeks before anyone at Hogwarts noticed the stunning diamond that adorned Ginny’s right hand. It was probably due to the fact that Ginny had religiously worn the diamond toward the inside of her palm while she was in public, but still, this was Hogwarts—one would think that the school would have noticed the second she had first walked into the Great Hall with it on.
The first person to notice had been Hermione.
She had just taken a seat across from Ginny at breakfast, when she noticed something glimmer as Ginny reached for a piece of toast. Hermione immediately snatched up Ginny’s hand and held it palm up. It was terribly fortunate that they had been the first two to show up at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, for if anyone else had been near them, they would have surely noticed Hermione’s odd behaviour. Hermione gasped before looking up to stare over the rosy colour that now tinted Ginny’s cheeks and her downcast eyes. Before Hermione was able to form the words that they both knew she was going to say, the doors to the Hall opened, and Ron and Harry walked in. Hermione, wanting to avoid any form of an argument that early in the morning, had dropped Ginny’s had immediately, and Ginny quickly brought it under the table.
During Ginny’s first class of the day, Professor McGonagall caught the ring’s gleam in the corner of her eye. The Gryffindor head of house had immediately halted and turned to face the youngest Weasley. Ginny had been twirling her quill between her fingers as she stared down at her piece of parchment, thinking about how she should start the essay that McGonagall had assigned for the day. Feeling McGonagall’s stare, Ginny looked up to her professor. They locked eyes for a split second before McGonagall looked pointedly at Ginny’s right hand. Ginny immediately dropped her hand under the desk. McGonagall studied Ginny’s face before nodding to show that she understood what was going on.
Later that day, during Potions, Ginny’s partner for the day, a Hufflepuff, noticed the diamond as Ginny was cutting up the needed ingredients. Ginny’s partner, at first, had said nothing, but once the class was dismissed, the rumours began to wreak havoc—at least among those in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
Everyone seemed hesitant to let the Gryffindors and the Slytherins in on the bit of newfound information. The Slytherins…well, they were Slytherins—the Hufflepuffs were deathly afraid of them—and the Ravenclaws simply chose to ignore them. The Gryffindors, on the other hand, were of a different matter. Everyone knew how protective the older Gryffindors were over Ginny, and the last thing they wanted to do was be the messenger; especially in the case of telling Ron, no one would like to have the misfortune of being on the receiving end of a spontaneous combustion.
The rest of the school found out just as the last class of the day was dismissed. Draco had been fulfilling Prefect duties, while Ginny had been dismissed from class early to deliver a message to another professor. Then, Draco saw her exiting a classroom after delivering the said message and followed her from a safe distance before cornering her. He bent down to kiss her and their fingers laced together; the first thing he noticed was the absence of the ring on her finger.
Draco was upset, to say the least.
During potions, once the ingredients had all been prepared, Ginny’s partner began to look at her with a weird and knowing grin. Ginny had tried to tell herself that it was nothing to worry about, but it unnerved her, nonetheless. When her partner (had) bent over their cauldron to add the eye of newt and Ginny was sure that no one was looking, she slid the ring off of her finger and placed it into her book bag. During lunch, Ginny slipped up to her dormitory and hid the ring in her trunk.
“Where’s your ring?” The angry glint in his eyes had belied the calm tone in his voice.
Ginny had immediately dropped her gaze to the floor. She knew her parents knew and semi-approved of their engagement, but the Gryffindor bravery in her came up short when it came to informing her own housemates, especially Ron, about the engagement.
Of course, Draco didn’t understand this.
“Where is your ring?” he asked, again, only this time you could hear the anger in his voice.
“I took it off during Potions and slipped it back into my trunk during lunch,” Ginny’s voice was very soft and trembled slightly. She kept her eyes downcast.
“And why would you do that?” he asked through gritted teeth, stepping into Ginny’s face, causing her to bump her hand against the cold stone wall behind her. She was forced to stare into his eyes, and she couldn’t help the tingle of fear that made its way up her spine.
“I thought my partner noticed it,” again, her voice trembled slightly.
At the sight of fear within Ginny’s eyes, he immediately soothed out his voice, “And why would that, matter?”
Ginny opened her mouth to speak before immediately shutting it and looking back down to the floor.
Just as Draco slammed his hands onto the stone on either side of Ginny’s head, class had been dismissed. “Dammit, Ginny! Why do you insist on appeasing those housemates of yours? They’re all going to find out sometime, and you know, it’s not as if they’ll never speak to you again once they find out,” he yelled.
Once they heard the commotion, the students began to quicken their pace down the hall.
A wave of anger took over Ginny, and she countered, “Oh please, Draco. It’s not as if you’ve told any of your own housemates, yet.”
“That’s different, Ginny, and you know it.”
“No, Draco, I’m afraid I don’t.” Ginny moved to push past him, but he only planted his hands against the stone more firmly, caging her.
“I might not have yet told them, but I’m by no means trying to hide it.”
“What are you trying to say, Draco?” Ginny whispered, deathly quiet.
“You know perfectly well what I’m implying.”
Ginny responded with angry silence, yet neither of them heard the nearing fleet of footsteps.
“Ginny! We are supposed to be engaged! I thought that you were happy about that! Now I’m not so sure!” Draco yelled.
Ginny felt her heart break at the obvious hurt that Draco tried desperately to hide both in his voice and eyes.
Before Ginny could say anything to fix whatever had been momentarily broken, the fleet of feet came to a thundering halt, as loud gasps of disbelief and surprise escaped the mouths of the Gryffindors and Slytherins in the sea of students.
Luckily, the seventh year Gryffindors had not been among the crowd.
Blaise had stepped forward, a smirk adorning his features. The rest of the Slytherins, surprisingly, weren’t that all upset, with the exception of Pansy of course.
Colin had stepped forward and taken Ginny by the arm, uncharacteristically glaring at Draco the entire time. With Ginny firmly by his side, Colin led her and the rest of the Gryffindors in the corridor up to Gryffindor Tower.
Ron had not taken the news well at all. He had just received a letter from his father informing him of his sister’s engagement when Colin and Ginny had entered the common room. At first he had looked up at his sister’s form in shock. He had asked her if it were true, and he took her silence and avoidance of eye contact as a yes. Ever since the accident after the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match, he had been quite lenient with Ginny about Draco, and even went out of his way to ignore the issue. But this—this could not be ignored, and he immediately went into a rant.
Colin, along with the Gryffindors that had followed him and Ginny into the common room, moved to give the youngest Weasleys some space, for they saw Ginny’s eyes begin to flare with the signature Weasley temper.
At the questioning in Harry’s eyes, Hermione felt obliged to inform Harry of Ginny and Draco’s engagement. Hermione felt her stomach plummet at the disappointment and hurt that momentarily flashed across Harry’s eyes. Then she thought she heard her heart rip at the clearly fake smile that Harry plastered onto his face as he said, “Terrific. I’m sure Ginny’s absolutely ecstatic. She should be, you know. Malfoy might be the king of all gits, but he’ll make sure she’s happy.” That wasn’t what made her heart rip; it was what Harry mumbled after that did it, “He better.”
That had all been weeks ago, and now it was the first day of Winter Holiday.
Molly, Narcissa, and Ginny were currently sitting in the tea parlour of Malfoy Manor. They—though it was more like only Molly and Narcissa—were discussing wedding plans.
In the midst of their now fifteen-minute debate of whether or not there should be hand-woven napkins with a special embroidery symbolising the unification of the Weasley and Malfoy names, Ginny had fallen asleep.
“Molly, I understand that you may feel uncomfortable with making such expensive arrangements, but Draco and I are paying for this wedding, and we will settle for nothing less than the best for what should be the happiest day in Ginevra’s life,” Narcissa said calmly, but exasperatedly at the same time.
“Narcissa, please don’t take this the wrong way. But I understand perfectly well whose pocket this wedding is coming out of. I also feel that with Ginny’s background, having anything too frivolous or extravagant at my daughter’s wedding will only serve to place a blemish on Ginny’s image in the view of the high society that she is marrying into,” Molly said with a mixture of anxiety and annoyance.
Narcissa was taken aback by Molly’s words. “Is that what you’ve been worried about these past weeks?” she asked. Molly and Narcissa were near to nothing done concerning the wedding’s arrangements due to these little differences, of which Narcissa had simply not understood. Now, however, it all made sense.
Narcissa sighed and placed a pale, elegant hand on top of Molly’s. “You are being absolutely ridiculous, Molly. This wedding is going to be a Malfoy wedding, and extravagance comes hand in hand with the Malfoy name. Draco’s guests will be expecting nothing less.”
Narcissa ended by giving Molly an assuring smile. Molly nodded apprehensively, and finally, the two now had a clear path for progress in the extensive planning of the Malfoy-Weasley wedding that lay ahead.
Ginny sighed as she listened to her mother and her future mother-in-law finally agree on having the hand-woven napkins. Molly and Narcissa had been meeting to discuss wedding preparations every weekend for the past few weeks, and they had both claimed to be looking forward to her joining them. The morning of the first day of Winter Holiday, her mother had practically dragged her to the Manor. After an hour into the meeting, however, they had, as of yet, failed to ask her for her opinion on anything, not even once.
Ginny didn’t really see what the whole fuss was about. The wedding wouldn’t happen for another good two years—after she had graduated. Why they insisted on getting such a ridiculously early head start on the preparations was beyond her. Besides, Ginny didn’t want an extravagant wedding. She wanted a wedding that would symbolise the merging of her and Draco’s families completely, not just on napkins. She wanted the Malfoy elegance along with the Weasley simplicity.
Three hours later, Molly and Narcissa began to bring the meeting to a close.
They began talking about Christmas, and before long they agreed on having the year’s holidays spent together. Christmas Eve would be spent at the Manor, while Christmas Day would be spent at the Burrow.
Ginny was absolutely mortified. She knew that her brothers would be damned before they ever agreed to spend Christmas with a Malfoy—even if he would eventually become family. They would try and cherish every single Draco-is-not-related-to-us moment they had before the wedding.
The conversation soon turned toward the topic of future grandchildren.
Both women were absolutely ecstatic with the idea of becoming grandmothers.
“I think I’ll want the children to address me as ‘Nana’,” said Molly smiling as she turned happily toward her daughter.
“‘Grandmother’ would be perfectly fine for me.” Narcissa smiled as well.
Ginny couldn’t help but return the women’s smiles with one of her own. It was nice to know that they not only approved of her and Draco’s engagement, but were also looking forward to seeing the grandchildren she would give them.
“I wonder what you’ll have first,” wondered Molly.
“It’ll be a son,” said Narcissa in a matter of fact tone.
“How can you be so sure of that?” Molly raised a brow.
“The Malfoy eldest is always a son, it’s the way it has always been. In fact, if Draco and Ginny have more than one, I’m sure they’ll all be healthy boys.”
“What makes you so sure I won’t have a daughter?” Ginny asked curiously.
“The Malfoys haven’t given birth to a daughter for so long, it’s ridiculous. But if you do have a girl, then you and Draco will have quite a lot on your hands,” Narcissa spoke with her ever present even tone.
“How so?” asked Ginny.
“The Malfoys, Ginevra, are an illustrious line. Any family who is concerned about purity and power of blood would gladly kill one of their own daughters just to win the honour of having their son marry a female Malfoy,” Narcissa said as if it were obvious. “The same as many families felt about you when you were born.”
“I—,” Ginny immediately turned her eyes toward her mother.
Molly gave Ginny a small smile.
“Did you ever wonder why Draco’s fellow Slytherins were not at all upset about you two being together?” Narcissa asked.
“Well, yes. But I just…” Ginny trailed off, confusion etched into her features.
“Despite any animosity that anyone holds toward your family, it is absolutely impossible and ludicrous to deny how valuable you would be in a continuation of a pure blood line. This new generation is under this absurd false impression that sons are all that matter to pureblooded families. What they fail to see is that pure daughters are becoming scarcer and scarcer as we speak. You can’t maintain a bloodline if there are no women to give birth to heirs. Your family is one of the oldest families in the Wizarding world. Whether or not they’d like to admit it, many of those Slytherins’ fathers would have been happy to have you marry one of their sons.”
Ginny didn’t know what to say to Narcissa’s words. She always wondered why the Slytherins, even Pansy Parkinson, weren’t as vicious to her as they were toward her brother, Harry, and Hermione, and for the rest of her house for that matter.
*****
Her brothers, as expected, threw a fit when the two Weasley women arrived home with the fabulous news of where they were going to spend that year’s Christmas Eve.
“Mum, why do we have to be dragged into this?” asked George.
“Yeah, it’s bad enough that we’re going to be related to that git against our will. Why do we have to eat dinner with him, too?” Ron supported George.
At the sound of Ron’s voice, the twins immediately went red, and turned to glare at their youngest brother. The twins, though unable to vocally admit it, knew that it had been Ron’s fault that Ginny was put into the hospital wing all those weeks back, and they, as of yet, had been unable to forgive him.
In the end, her mother made her brothers promise to at least show up for dinner and be the utmost polite in the presence of Ginny’s future mother-in-law.
*****
Christmas Eve at the Manor had, so far, turned out much better than Ginny had thought it would.
Her brothers had lived up to their promise. They had showed up to dinner, dressed in their best robes—they would have been damned before inflating Malfoy’s ego to a size bigger than it already was by wearing the raggedy clothes that he had, in the past, associated the Weasley name with. Her brothers had been surprised at how Narcissa was very much unlike her husband, and were genuinely polite to her, between their glares at Draco, of course.
After dinner, Narcissa suggested that all the men move into another parlour to discuss wizarding politics or what not. At the idea of having to spend more time with Draco Malfoy than what was necessary, the six Weasley sons immediately made up excuses to leave early.
Arthur and Harry stayed back, and they were now seated somewhere in the Manor with Draco discussing whatever it was that wizards discussed—though Ginny had a nagging feeling that she was the topic of that particular conversation. Ginny, of course, assumed right.
Now, Narcissa, Molly, and Ginny were seated in the same tea parlour that they had spent the past weekends in making preparations for the wedding.
“Damien.”
Narcissa and Ginny turned their heads to look at Molly questioningly.
“That’d be a nice name for a boy, no? There’s also Michael.”
Ginny scrunched up her nose in dislike, “Too generic.”
“Christos?” Molly offered again.
Ginny shook her head, “No. I want something at least semi-British.”
“Well, what about Harry?” Molly asked hopefully.
“No,” Narcissa answered firmly.
“Albus?”
“No,” this time it was Ginny who spoke.
“Marcel,” Narcissa enunciated. “Marcel Malfoy. It’s perfect, don’t you think,” she continued, turning expectedly to her companions.
“Marcel. I like that. What do you think, mum?” Ginny turned her eyes toward her mother.
“Marcel Malfoy. I think I like the sound of that, too,” Molly nodded. “Now for a girl. Mary?”
Ginny shook her head.
“Victoria? Emma? Diana? Bonnie? Hermione?” Each one of Molly’s suggestions was met with a shake of a head. The last, however, was met with a resounding ‘No’.
There was a long pause before Molly’s eyes brightened and she said delicately, “Evelyn.” At that, Narcissa and Ginny took one look at each other and then turned to look at Molly.
“Evelyn Malfoy. That sounds beautiful,” smiled Narcissa.
“Yes, it does,” agreed Ginny.
Time gradually passed by, and soon enough, it was time to leave.
It was agreed that Narcissa and Draco would Apparate to the Burrow at precisely seven in the morning on Christmas Day.
Before they left the Manor, however, while Molly had taken Harry, Draco, and Arthur aside, Narcissa had led Ginny to her own chambers. It was there that Narcissa took out a beautiful white wedding gown. It was strapless and sleek, and an elaborate design of white beads adorned the ends of the floor-length gown. It was simple, yet elegant—just what Ginny wanted.
“I knew you’d like it,” whispered Narcissa.
“I love it,” responded Ginny, softly
“That’s what I told Lucius’ mother when she had offered it to me.”
“This was your wedding gown?” Ginny asked with a mixture of surprise and honour.
“This gown has been passed down among the Malfoy women for centuries. It’s been modified a bit, being made strapless and all, but it is essentially the same as it always has been.”
Ginny simply stared at the gown, in awe of its beauty.
“I know we haven’t even brought of the issue of your wedding gown, yet. But finding the right wedding gown will be of the utmost importance.”
Ginny nodded, still unable to take her eyes off of the gown.
“This gown is merely an option, Ginevra. A fall back plan, if you will. The gown is yours, but whether or not you choose it to be your wedding gown, is a different matter.”
*****
The next morning, Ron walked down stairs to meet with the rather uncomfortable scene of Draco Malfoy standing in his own living room.
“What in the bloody hell are you doing here?” Ron muttered as he sauntered his way across the living room toward the kitchen.
“If you’d recall, I was invited. Or has the pitiful little peanut that you try so desperately to pass as a brain, finally burst?” Draco sneered. Draco had to remind himself every day why he was choosing to gain six brothers who wanted to kill him, were annoying, or were a good combination of both.
Ron opened his mouth to retort, but immediately shut it as Molly and Narcissa entered the room from the kitchen. Instead he smiled and said, “Good morning, mum. Good morning, Mrs. Malfoy,” and walked into the kitchen.
Molly watched her youngest son enter the kitchen before turning to Draco. “Ginny must still be asleep. Why don’t you go up and wake her, Draco?” Molly smiled to Draco.
Draco accepted the offer, and after Mrs. Weasley told him where Ginny’s room was, he left to wake his sleeping beauty—preferably with a nice kiss.
(A/N: Reviews are a beautiful thing.)
Merely An Option
Weeks had passed since Arthur gave his blessings to Ginny for her choice of a husband. Surprisingly, it took a whole two and half weeks before anyone at Hogwarts noticed the stunning diamond that adorned Ginny’s right hand. It was probably due to the fact that Ginny had religiously worn the diamond toward the inside of her palm while she was in public, but still, this was Hogwarts—one would think that the school would have noticed the second she had first walked into the Great Hall with it on.
The first person to notice had been Hermione.
She had just taken a seat across from Ginny at breakfast, when she noticed something glimmer as Ginny reached for a piece of toast. Hermione immediately snatched up Ginny’s hand and held it palm up. It was terribly fortunate that they had been the first two to show up at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, for if anyone else had been near them, they would have surely noticed Hermione’s odd behaviour. Hermione gasped before looking up to stare over the rosy colour that now tinted Ginny’s cheeks and her downcast eyes. Before Hermione was able to form the words that they both knew she was going to say, the doors to the Hall opened, and Ron and Harry walked in. Hermione, wanting to avoid any form of an argument that early in the morning, had dropped Ginny’s had immediately, and Ginny quickly brought it under the table.
During Ginny’s first class of the day, Professor McGonagall caught the ring’s gleam in the corner of her eye. The Gryffindor head of house had immediately halted and turned to face the youngest Weasley. Ginny had been twirling her quill between her fingers as she stared down at her piece of parchment, thinking about how she should start the essay that McGonagall had assigned for the day. Feeling McGonagall’s stare, Ginny looked up to her professor. They locked eyes for a split second before McGonagall looked pointedly at Ginny’s right hand. Ginny immediately dropped her hand under the desk. McGonagall studied Ginny’s face before nodding to show that she understood what was going on.
Later that day, during Potions, Ginny’s partner for the day, a Hufflepuff, noticed the diamond as Ginny was cutting up the needed ingredients. Ginny’s partner, at first, had said nothing, but once the class was dismissed, the rumours began to wreak havoc—at least among those in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
Everyone seemed hesitant to let the Gryffindors and the Slytherins in on the bit of newfound information. The Slytherins…well, they were Slytherins—the Hufflepuffs were deathly afraid of them—and the Ravenclaws simply chose to ignore them. The Gryffindors, on the other hand, were of a different matter. Everyone knew how protective the older Gryffindors were over Ginny, and the last thing they wanted to do was be the messenger; especially in the case of telling Ron, no one would like to have the misfortune of being on the receiving end of a spontaneous combustion.
The rest of the school found out just as the last class of the day was dismissed. Draco had been fulfilling Prefect duties, while Ginny had been dismissed from class early to deliver a message to another professor. Then, Draco saw her exiting a classroom after delivering the said message and followed her from a safe distance before cornering her. He bent down to kiss her and their fingers laced together; the first thing he noticed was the absence of the ring on her finger.
Draco was upset, to say the least.
During potions, once the ingredients had all been prepared, Ginny’s partner began to look at her with a weird and knowing grin. Ginny had tried to tell herself that it was nothing to worry about, but it unnerved her, nonetheless. When her partner (had) bent over their cauldron to add the eye of newt and Ginny was sure that no one was looking, she slid the ring off of her finger and placed it into her book bag. During lunch, Ginny slipped up to her dormitory and hid the ring in her trunk.
“Where’s your ring?” The angry glint in his eyes had belied the calm tone in his voice.
Ginny had immediately dropped her gaze to the floor. She knew her parents knew and semi-approved of their engagement, but the Gryffindor bravery in her came up short when it came to informing her own housemates, especially Ron, about the engagement.
Of course, Draco didn’t understand this.
“Where is your ring?” he asked, again, only this time you could hear the anger in his voice.
“I took it off during Potions and slipped it back into my trunk during lunch,” Ginny’s voice was very soft and trembled slightly. She kept her eyes downcast.
“And why would you do that?” he asked through gritted teeth, stepping into Ginny’s face, causing her to bump her hand against the cold stone wall behind her. She was forced to stare into his eyes, and she couldn’t help the tingle of fear that made its way up her spine.
“I thought my partner noticed it,” again, her voice trembled slightly.
At the sight of fear within Ginny’s eyes, he immediately soothed out his voice, “And why would that, matter?”
Ginny opened her mouth to speak before immediately shutting it and looking back down to the floor.
Just as Draco slammed his hands onto the stone on either side of Ginny’s head, class had been dismissed. “Dammit, Ginny! Why do you insist on appeasing those housemates of yours? They’re all going to find out sometime, and you know, it’s not as if they’ll never speak to you again once they find out,” he yelled.
Once they heard the commotion, the students began to quicken their pace down the hall.
A wave of anger took over Ginny, and she countered, “Oh please, Draco. It’s not as if you’ve told any of your own housemates, yet.”
“That’s different, Ginny, and you know it.”
“No, Draco, I’m afraid I don’t.” Ginny moved to push past him, but he only planted his hands against the stone more firmly, caging her.
“I might not have yet told them, but I’m by no means trying to hide it.”
“What are you trying to say, Draco?” Ginny whispered, deathly quiet.
“You know perfectly well what I’m implying.”
Ginny responded with angry silence, yet neither of them heard the nearing fleet of footsteps.
“Ginny! We are supposed to be engaged! I thought that you were happy about that! Now I’m not so sure!” Draco yelled.
Ginny felt her heart break at the obvious hurt that Draco tried desperately to hide both in his voice and eyes.
Before Ginny could say anything to fix whatever had been momentarily broken, the fleet of feet came to a thundering halt, as loud gasps of disbelief and surprise escaped the mouths of the Gryffindors and Slytherins in the sea of students.
Luckily, the seventh year Gryffindors had not been among the crowd.
Blaise had stepped forward, a smirk adorning his features. The rest of the Slytherins, surprisingly, weren’t that all upset, with the exception of Pansy of course.
Colin had stepped forward and taken Ginny by the arm, uncharacteristically glaring at Draco the entire time. With Ginny firmly by his side, Colin led her and the rest of the Gryffindors in the corridor up to Gryffindor Tower.
Ron had not taken the news well at all. He had just received a letter from his father informing him of his sister’s engagement when Colin and Ginny had entered the common room. At first he had looked up at his sister’s form in shock. He had asked her if it were true, and he took her silence and avoidance of eye contact as a yes. Ever since the accident after the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match, he had been quite lenient with Ginny about Draco, and even went out of his way to ignore the issue. But this—this could not be ignored, and he immediately went into a rant.
Colin, along with the Gryffindors that had followed him and Ginny into the common room, moved to give the youngest Weasleys some space, for they saw Ginny’s eyes begin to flare with the signature Weasley temper.
At the questioning in Harry’s eyes, Hermione felt obliged to inform Harry of Ginny and Draco’s engagement. Hermione felt her stomach plummet at the disappointment and hurt that momentarily flashed across Harry’s eyes. Then she thought she heard her heart rip at the clearly fake smile that Harry plastered onto his face as he said, “Terrific. I’m sure Ginny’s absolutely ecstatic. She should be, you know. Malfoy might be the king of all gits, but he’ll make sure she’s happy.” That wasn’t what made her heart rip; it was what Harry mumbled after that did it, “He better.”
That had all been weeks ago, and now it was the first day of Winter Holiday.
Molly, Narcissa, and Ginny were currently sitting in the tea parlour of Malfoy Manor. They—though it was more like only Molly and Narcissa—were discussing wedding plans.
In the midst of their now fifteen-minute debate of whether or not there should be hand-woven napkins with a special embroidery symbolising the unification of the Weasley and Malfoy names, Ginny had fallen asleep.
“Molly, I understand that you may feel uncomfortable with making such expensive arrangements, but Draco and I are paying for this wedding, and we will settle for nothing less than the best for what should be the happiest day in Ginevra’s life,” Narcissa said calmly, but exasperatedly at the same time.
“Narcissa, please don’t take this the wrong way. But I understand perfectly well whose pocket this wedding is coming out of. I also feel that with Ginny’s background, having anything too frivolous or extravagant at my daughter’s wedding will only serve to place a blemish on Ginny’s image in the view of the high society that she is marrying into,” Molly said with a mixture of anxiety and annoyance.
Narcissa was taken aback by Molly’s words. “Is that what you’ve been worried about these past weeks?” she asked. Molly and Narcissa were near to nothing done concerning the wedding’s arrangements due to these little differences, of which Narcissa had simply not understood. Now, however, it all made sense.
Narcissa sighed and placed a pale, elegant hand on top of Molly’s. “You are being absolutely ridiculous, Molly. This wedding is going to be a Malfoy wedding, and extravagance comes hand in hand with the Malfoy name. Draco’s guests will be expecting nothing less.”
Narcissa ended by giving Molly an assuring smile. Molly nodded apprehensively, and finally, the two now had a clear path for progress in the extensive planning of the Malfoy-Weasley wedding that lay ahead.
Ginny sighed as she listened to her mother and her future mother-in-law finally agree on having the hand-woven napkins. Molly and Narcissa had been meeting to discuss wedding preparations every weekend for the past few weeks, and they had both claimed to be looking forward to her joining them. The morning of the first day of Winter Holiday, her mother had practically dragged her to the Manor. After an hour into the meeting, however, they had, as of yet, failed to ask her for her opinion on anything, not even once.
Ginny didn’t really see what the whole fuss was about. The wedding wouldn’t happen for another good two years—after she had graduated. Why they insisted on getting such a ridiculously early head start on the preparations was beyond her. Besides, Ginny didn’t want an extravagant wedding. She wanted a wedding that would symbolise the merging of her and Draco’s families completely, not just on napkins. She wanted the Malfoy elegance along with the Weasley simplicity.
Three hours later, Molly and Narcissa began to bring the meeting to a close.
They began talking about Christmas, and before long they agreed on having the year’s holidays spent together. Christmas Eve would be spent at the Manor, while Christmas Day would be spent at the Burrow.
Ginny was absolutely mortified. She knew that her brothers would be damned before they ever agreed to spend Christmas with a Malfoy—even if he would eventually become family. They would try and cherish every single Draco-is-not-related-to-us moment they had before the wedding.
The conversation soon turned toward the topic of future grandchildren.
Both women were absolutely ecstatic with the idea of becoming grandmothers.
“I think I’ll want the children to address me as ‘Nana’,” said Molly smiling as she turned happily toward her daughter.
“‘Grandmother’ would be perfectly fine for me.” Narcissa smiled as well.
Ginny couldn’t help but return the women’s smiles with one of her own. It was nice to know that they not only approved of her and Draco’s engagement, but were also looking forward to seeing the grandchildren she would give them.
“I wonder what you’ll have first,” wondered Molly.
“It’ll be a son,” said Narcissa in a matter of fact tone.
“How can you be so sure of that?” Molly raised a brow.
“The Malfoy eldest is always a son, it’s the way it has always been. In fact, if Draco and Ginny have more than one, I’m sure they’ll all be healthy boys.”
“What makes you so sure I won’t have a daughter?” Ginny asked curiously.
“The Malfoys haven’t given birth to a daughter for so long, it’s ridiculous. But if you do have a girl, then you and Draco will have quite a lot on your hands,” Narcissa spoke with her ever present even tone.
“How so?” asked Ginny.
“The Malfoys, Ginevra, are an illustrious line. Any family who is concerned about purity and power of blood would gladly kill one of their own daughters just to win the honour of having their son marry a female Malfoy,” Narcissa said as if it were obvious. “The same as many families felt about you when you were born.”
“I—,” Ginny immediately turned her eyes toward her mother.
Molly gave Ginny a small smile.
“Did you ever wonder why Draco’s fellow Slytherins were not at all upset about you two being together?” Narcissa asked.
“Well, yes. But I just…” Ginny trailed off, confusion etched into her features.
“Despite any animosity that anyone holds toward your family, it is absolutely impossible and ludicrous to deny how valuable you would be in a continuation of a pure blood line. This new generation is under this absurd false impression that sons are all that matter to pureblooded families. What they fail to see is that pure daughters are becoming scarcer and scarcer as we speak. You can’t maintain a bloodline if there are no women to give birth to heirs. Your family is one of the oldest families in the Wizarding world. Whether or not they’d like to admit it, many of those Slytherins’ fathers would have been happy to have you marry one of their sons.”
Ginny didn’t know what to say to Narcissa’s words. She always wondered why the Slytherins, even Pansy Parkinson, weren’t as vicious to her as they were toward her brother, Harry, and Hermione, and for the rest of her house for that matter.
*****
Her brothers, as expected, threw a fit when the two Weasley women arrived home with the fabulous news of where they were going to spend that year’s Christmas Eve.
“Mum, why do we have to be dragged into this?” asked George.
“Yeah, it’s bad enough that we’re going to be related to that git against our will. Why do we have to eat dinner with him, too?” Ron supported George.
At the sound of Ron’s voice, the twins immediately went red, and turned to glare at their youngest brother. The twins, though unable to vocally admit it, knew that it had been Ron’s fault that Ginny was put into the hospital wing all those weeks back, and they, as of yet, had been unable to forgive him.
In the end, her mother made her brothers promise to at least show up for dinner and be the utmost polite in the presence of Ginny’s future mother-in-law.
*****
Christmas Eve at the Manor had, so far, turned out much better than Ginny had thought it would.
Her brothers had lived up to their promise. They had showed up to dinner, dressed in their best robes—they would have been damned before inflating Malfoy’s ego to a size bigger than it already was by wearing the raggedy clothes that he had, in the past, associated the Weasley name with. Her brothers had been surprised at how Narcissa was very much unlike her husband, and were genuinely polite to her, between their glares at Draco, of course.
After dinner, Narcissa suggested that all the men move into another parlour to discuss wizarding politics or what not. At the idea of having to spend more time with Draco Malfoy than what was necessary, the six Weasley sons immediately made up excuses to leave early.
Arthur and Harry stayed back, and they were now seated somewhere in the Manor with Draco discussing whatever it was that wizards discussed—though Ginny had a nagging feeling that she was the topic of that particular conversation. Ginny, of course, assumed right.
Now, Narcissa, Molly, and Ginny were seated in the same tea parlour that they had spent the past weekends in making preparations for the wedding.
“Damien.”
Narcissa and Ginny turned their heads to look at Molly questioningly.
“That’d be a nice name for a boy, no? There’s also Michael.”
Ginny scrunched up her nose in dislike, “Too generic.”
“Christos?” Molly offered again.
Ginny shook her head, “No. I want something at least semi-British.”
“Well, what about Harry?” Molly asked hopefully.
“No,” Narcissa answered firmly.
“Albus?”
“No,” this time it was Ginny who spoke.
“Marcel,” Narcissa enunciated. “Marcel Malfoy. It’s perfect, don’t you think,” she continued, turning expectedly to her companions.
“Marcel. I like that. What do you think, mum?” Ginny turned her eyes toward her mother.
“Marcel Malfoy. I think I like the sound of that, too,” Molly nodded. “Now for a girl. Mary?”
Ginny shook her head.
“Victoria? Emma? Diana? Bonnie? Hermione?” Each one of Molly’s suggestions was met with a shake of a head. The last, however, was met with a resounding ‘No’.
There was a long pause before Molly’s eyes brightened and she said delicately, “Evelyn.” At that, Narcissa and Ginny took one look at each other and then turned to look at Molly.
“Evelyn Malfoy. That sounds beautiful,” smiled Narcissa.
“Yes, it does,” agreed Ginny.
Time gradually passed by, and soon enough, it was time to leave.
It was agreed that Narcissa and Draco would Apparate to the Burrow at precisely seven in the morning on Christmas Day.
Before they left the Manor, however, while Molly had taken Harry, Draco, and Arthur aside, Narcissa had led Ginny to her own chambers. It was there that Narcissa took out a beautiful white wedding gown. It was strapless and sleek, and an elaborate design of white beads adorned the ends of the floor-length gown. It was simple, yet elegant—just what Ginny wanted.
“I knew you’d like it,” whispered Narcissa.
“I love it,” responded Ginny, softly
“That’s what I told Lucius’ mother when she had offered it to me.”
“This was your wedding gown?” Ginny asked with a mixture of surprise and honour.
“This gown has been passed down among the Malfoy women for centuries. It’s been modified a bit, being made strapless and all, but it is essentially the same as it always has been.”
Ginny simply stared at the gown, in awe of its beauty.
“I know we haven’t even brought of the issue of your wedding gown, yet. But finding the right wedding gown will be of the utmost importance.”
Ginny nodded, still unable to take her eyes off of the gown.
“This gown is merely an option, Ginevra. A fall back plan, if you will. The gown is yours, but whether or not you choose it to be your wedding gown, is a different matter.”
*****
The next morning, Ron walked down stairs to meet with the rather uncomfortable scene of Draco Malfoy standing in his own living room.
“What in the bloody hell are you doing here?” Ron muttered as he sauntered his way across the living room toward the kitchen.
“If you’d recall, I was invited. Or has the pitiful little peanut that you try so desperately to pass as a brain, finally burst?” Draco sneered. Draco had to remind himself every day why he was choosing to gain six brothers who wanted to kill him, were annoying, or were a good combination of both.
Ron opened his mouth to retort, but immediately shut it as Molly and Narcissa entered the room from the kitchen. Instead he smiled and said, “Good morning, mum. Good morning, Mrs. Malfoy,” and walked into the kitchen.
Molly watched her youngest son enter the kitchen before turning to Draco. “Ginny must still be asleep. Why don’t you go up and wake her, Draco?” Molly smiled to Draco.
Draco accepted the offer, and after Mrs. Weasley told him where Ginny’s room was, he left to wake his sleeping beauty—preferably with a nice kiss.
(A/N: Reviews are a beautiful thing.)
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