And Baby Makes Three - The Tell-Tale Duck
Draco stood over his son’s baby cot watching him sleep fitfully. Liam had spent the previous night feverish and quite fussy. Ginny had stayed up with him through the night doing what she could to make him comfortable. She’d sent him to catch a few hours about two in the morning only to be awoken an hour later by a loud crying jag. The baby finally gave into sleep after a cool lavender bath in the wee hours of the morning. He had volunteered to watch over him while she tried to get a little sleep.
Then he saw him. The bane of his existence – a little stuffed yellow duck – staring back at him from the safety of Liam’s chubby little hand. Gustav. How he hated those beady little black eyes staring, always staring at him.
He’d done everything in his power to replace the duck with another stuffed animal, but Liam was having none of it. Who knew a fourteen-month-old baby could be so adamant about having his way? Draco had to smile about that though; Liam was a Malfoy through and through after all.
But it was gone if he could just figure out a way to distract his son long enough. He’d deal with Ginny somehow…
Liam’s little eyes fluttered open just before he let loose a long low wail. Draco scooped his son up, shushing him gently and rubbing his back. “Shh, little Monster, your Mummy is trying to get some rest. You’ve had us both up all night.”
He felt the baby’s forehead for any signs of lingering fever only to find that he was cooler than he’d been in the previous thirty-six hours. Hopefully whatever was bothering him was finally starting to break.
Liam settled down a bit after a bath and nappy change, a dose of medicine and a bottle of apple juice. He was still a bit clingy and easily irritable when they retired to the study.
They were playing on the floor in front of the fireplace when Ginny found them a couple hours later. Her son was in the process of showering his Da’s face with kisses.
“I think someone is feeling better,” she said to announce her presence.
Liam’s eyes lit up at the sound of his Mum’s voice. He quickly abandoned his father, stopping to pop his bottle in his mouth and gather up Gustav before toddling over to her.
“His fever has been down for the last couple of hours.” Draco leaned over to kiss his wife’s cheek when she joined him on the rug. “Did you get any rest?”
“A wee bit,” she said as she carefully smoothed down the few blond hairs on her baby’s head. He bounced in her lap, holding Gustav out towards his father and looking expectantly at him.
“All right, all right,” Draco sighed, sounding rather put out. He tapped his wand on Gustav’s head, causing the stuffed animal to perk up, flap his wings and waddle about, quacking all the while. His son squealed in delight, clapping his hands to make the little yellow duck dance.
“I think you’ve created a monster,” Ginny giggled, gathering her son up in her arms and smothering him in kisses.
The afternoon was spent watching Liam play happily with Gustav and munch on chocolate rice cakes while showing no ill affects from whatever malady he’d suffered with for the past two days. It was almost like he’d never been sick.
After a light supper taken in the study, the Malfoy family curled up together on the sofa, wrapped in a warm green plaid throw blanket, as Liam started to wind down for the evening. Ginny was nestled back against Draco, his chin resting atop her head and his arms wound around her waist. Liam was snuggled against her chest, fighting sleep as she soothingly rubbed his back.
Draco returned to the study to catch up some work he’d been neglecting the past few days after putting his son down for the night and sending his exhausted wife off to bed. He was beyond tired himself, but sleep would not come for a while yet. It was better to let Ginny get some rest without him disturbing her with his tossing and turning.
The tall grandfather clock on the other side of the room chimed half past eleven. He dropped the elegant black raven feather quill to scrub his hands over his face. He sat there pondering whether or not he could sleep if went up to bed when the slow creaking of an opening door caught his attention.
The study door was ajar.
He knew he’d shut it to keep the cat out when he’d returned after seeing Ginny to bed.
She didn’t slip in the room to lure him to bed. Liam was too young to have figured out how escape his cot, besides he would have announced his presence. Hecate was no-where to be seen. No one seemed to be in the dark hallway. Maybe the latch didn’t catch…
He was finding it a bit difficult tamping down that little finger of fear that was stabbing at his chest. All the candles in the room blazed bright with a wave of his hand. “Good gods Malfoy, get a hold of yourself,” he whispered, getting up to push the door closed again.
Draco peered down the hallway leading to the atrium. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he put his hand on the door to push it closed.
It was then that a loud “quack” reverberated in the darkness causing his heart to skip a few beats.
He looked down, panting to catch his breath, only to find Gustav staring at him with those beady little black eyes of his, head cocked to the side as if he was pondering something.
Squelching his first instinct to grind the offending little bastard - err duck - beneath the heel of his Italian leather boots, Draco snatched the offending stuffed animal off the floor by the neck. If Liam knew his beloved stuffed animal was not in bed with him, he’d have a duck fit, literally.
The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that Liam must have dropped him when they’d taken him up to bed and just not noticed. He couldn’t recall seeing the duck in the bed, but then again he really wasn’t paying that much attention since he was busy admiring his wife’s assets.
He wasn’t even going to think about the quack when he knew damn well the animation spell should have worn off long ago. He was just tired. Yes, that was it. He was very, very tired.
The duck was carefully tucked under Liam’s arm before Draco checked to make sure his fever had not returned. The baby was sleeping soundly, lying on his stomach with his stuffed Golden Snitch clutched in his hand. He pulled a lightweight gray and green blanket up over him just to make sure he didn’t get cold before he whispered good night and kissed his fingers before brushing them lightly over his son’s blond fuzz.
Draco kicked his boots off before he made himself comfortable on the overstuffed deep red sofa in the sitting room adjacent to the master suite. He poured himself a brandy before kicking his feet up on the ottoman and staring into the low fire burning in the fireplace.
The past couple of days had been very stressful for him. Liam had always been the picture of health so when he was struck by a mysterious fever two days ago, it was cause for much concern. His mother-in-law had been summoned immediately, only to smile at their panicked state. She brewed an old family potion for reducing fevers and gave them explicit instructions on how to care for a sick child before she returned home a few hours later. Ginny refused to rest until she knew her child was feeling better. She’d stayed up with him, giving him what comfort she could while he suffered through the worst of it. Draco stayed up with her because he was beyond worried himself, although he’d rather die than have to admit that to anyone.
He awoke with a start, not even realizing he’d even been asleep. Something wasn’t right. The room was almost dark, the eerie orange glow of the fire casting the only light. He yawned, stretching his arms back over his head and arched his back. That was when a shadow caught his eye.
There on the arm rest of the overstuffed sofa stood a little yellow duck, watching him through narrowed eyes. He quacked.
Draco scrambled off the sofa, trying to get as far away from Gustav as possible; nearly tripping over the ottoman and sending himself head first into the glass fireplace screen in the process. The duck quacked again.
“All right, Fred? George? Show yourselves! This isn’t funny any more!” he demanded of the empty room. He knew it couldn’t have been his prankster brothers-in-law anyway. He would have known if the wards on the house had been broken. “So help me Potter, if this is your idea of a prank I will kill you nine different ways!”
Gustav’s black bead eyes followed him wherever he moved in the room.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his frayed nerves. He was coming unhinged. He was being stalked by a duck.
It was a trick. That was what this had to be. There was no way that duck could move freely about the house. Gustav had to have help. And who would want to make him think he was going completely around the bend?
Pansy!
She was the only one evil enough to do something this diabolical. She had the means, the motive and she was just that cruel. She had inside help, too. There was no way that she could have gotten through the wards on the house without it.
Ginny!
His beautiful wife. She set him up. Pansy told her about his nearly offing the duck a few months back and they cooked up this little scheme as payback! Yes, that was it. They’d been thick as thieves the past few months. He should have known that they were up to something.
He snatched the quacking duck up and returned him to Liam’s bed, performing a sticking charm to keep him where he belonged. That would fix those two witches. Play tricks on him like that. Well, they weren’t going to get the best of him. He was on to them now.
Draco quietly slipped into the master bedroom, careful not to disturb his sleeping wife. She was draped over several pillows on her side of the bed. He quickly dressed for bed and crawled between the covers, sliding up behind her and gathering her in his arms. He pressed soft open-mouthed kisses along her bare shoulder and neck until she began to stir.
“Gin,” he whispered in her ear.
She snuggled back against him, melding her body to his contours and purring at his continued attention.
“Ginny,” he repeated, shaking her gently.
“Sleep,” she mumbled.
“It’s Liam.”
“Did his fever return,” she asked, coming awake immediately and moving to get out of bed.
Draco held her tight. “No, he’s fine. I just wanted you to wake up.”
“Then why did you want me awake.” She didn’t bother to hide her irritation.
“I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work.”
She struggled to break his grip on her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do. You and Pansy are conspiring to drive me around the bend by making me think that Gustav is stalking me.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“That stupid duck in doorway of the study quacking at me and again in the sitting room.”
“Gustav is in bed with Liam where he belongs. Go have a look.”
“Of course, he is now,” he said haughtily. “I put him back.”
“Draco, Gustav has been in bed all night. I gave him to Liam when I put him down for the night.”
“That’s what you want me to believe.”
“What are you going on about?”
“Pansy told you and now you want me to incriminate myself.”
“Pans told me what?”
“If you think I’m stupid enough to tell you now that I know you’re trying to coerce a confession out me then you have another thing coming.”
Ginny struggled to break his grip on her. “I don’t even want to know what you’re going on about.”
“I’m on to you now so it doesn’t matter,” he said smugly.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep,” she huffed, managing to loosen his grip enough to wiggle back over to her side. She made a great show of getting comfortable and using as much of the covers as she possibly could. She shrugged him off when he tried to wrap himself around her.
Draco rolled over on his back to stare into the dark canopy that covered their massive bed, contemplating the events of the evening. Ginny was rather miffed. Her anger was definitely genuine that much he did know because she was not that good of an actress. The Sorting Hat had put her in Gryffindor for a reason.
So Ginny was definitely out of the evil scheme however, Pansy was still a prime suspect. But how? That was the question that was gnawing at his brain. How? How did she get in the house without detection? He and Greg had worked together creating the most elaborate set of wards known to wizardom to protect his family. Surely Greg wouldn’t have given Pansy the means to break the wards because that would mean he would have to reset even more strict ones.
All he could think about where those shiny black eyes staring at him. It was like the duck was watching him, thinking and waiting. Waiting for something he wasn’t quite sure what, but something.
And the quacking. He didn’t even want to think about the quacking. It was a stuffed animal for Merlin’s sake – it wasn’t supposed to be quacking! Sure he animated it for Liam’s amusement hours ago, but that spell should have worn off long before now. It wasn’t natural…
Oh how he hated that duck the moment Pansy brought it into the house. He hated the gleam in his son’s eyes when he first laid eyes on that duck. How his little hands reached out for the fuzzy yellow stuffed animal. How he cuddled it. How he couldn’t sleep without it.
Damn Pansy for making his life a living ducky hell.
Draco yawned and stretched, before turning over on his side in an attempt to find Ginny under the pile of covers. She was doing a fair imitation of a mummy.
That was when he felt it.
Something scurried across his legs.
His eyes snapped open, quickly adjusting to the weak moonlight filtering in the window filled alcove that illuminated the room. He didn’t even realize that he had drifted off.
By the time his heart had stopped pounding in his chest, he had convinced himself that what he had felt was the cat. Hecate had made no secret of her penchant for wanting to sleep in the middle of their bed despite them being in it. He moved his legs in an effort to dislodge her, but he only ended up kicking Ginny.
He sat up on one elbow to take a look around, a small, dark shape sitting atop the mound he knew to be his wife caught his eye. Then it quacked.
It all happened so fast.
He lunged for the duck, colliding with Ginny’s sleeping form in his zeal for tangible proof and dumped her unceremoniously on the cold floor with a hard thump.
“Draco,” she seethed, slowly untangling herself from the top sheet. “You had better have a good explanation for this.” She rubbed her hip ruefully as she stood up.
“Gustav. Here. Quacked at me!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that Gustav is in bed with Liam?”
“He’s here!” he insisted, wildly going through the pile of bedclothes and nearly toppling his wife when he pulled on the duvet. “I saw him! He was standing on top of you!”
“Draco,” Ginny screeched. “What has gotten into you?”
“Duck! Out to get me!”
She sighed in frustration, yanking on her dressing gown as she made her way to the nursery. “Gustav is in bed with Liam, I assure you.”
He trailed behind her. “He’s not in there. He’s out to get me. Him and the cat!”
Ginny marched into Liam’s room, softly illuminating the room with a quick wave of her hand. She gently lifted the sleeping baby from his cot, making sure he was wrapped up in his favorite blanket. Gustav, the little yellow duck, was dangling by a wing from his hand. Hecate stretched and meowed before jumping out of the cot. “See, duck.”
Draco was at a loss for words. He could have sworn he returned that dastardly duck to his son’s bed, twice. He would have sworn on his mother’s grave that Gustav was in his bed, sitting on top of his wife not five minutes ago. Yet, here he was safe in the death grip of his son. He had no explanation whatsoever. “I uh-”
“That is what I thought.”
“I swear Gustav is stalking me in the study and again in the sitting room. He was standing on you and quacking!”
“You do know that Gustav is a stuffed animal and is unable to ‘stalk’ you?”
“Ginny, you have to believe me. It’s payback. He wants me to think I’ve gone nutters.”
“Well, I think you are nutters,” she hissed just as something in the cot caught her eye. “What in bloody hell is the candelabrum from my sitting room doing in Liam’s bed? And the doorstop from your study? He could have hurt himself!”
His mouth fell open in disbelief as what was happening became more than crystal clear. The doorstop from his study? The candelabrum from her sitting room? “Don’t you see, Gin? He set me up! It’s retribution!”
“Retribution? For what?”
“When I tried to kill him!”
“Tried to kill him?” she asked in utter disbelief.
“Yes, yes, when Pans first gave my baby boy that duck,” Draco explained rationally. “I stole him, blamed the cat and tried to burn him in the fireplace at work. Only you showed up just as I was about toss him in. I knew then there were no bounds to the evilness of that duck!”
Ginny just stared at him for the longest time, opening her mouth several times like she was about to say something only to close it again before she finally said, “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re jealous of a stuffed animal?”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not jealous of him. He’s jealous of me!”
“So Gustav is jealous of you…”
“Yes! He wants you and Liam all to himself!” Draco nodded, so proud that she was finally starting to see things his way. Gustav’s days certainly were numbered now! “That’s why the duck has to go!”
“Okay,” she said, treading very carefully. “I realize that you’ve been awake for the past two days and you’ve been very worried about Liam.” He started to interrupt her, but she quickly silenced him with a tongue cluck. “This is what we’re going to do – I’m going to take him and go back to bed. You are going to find someplace else to get some uninterrupted rest. Then in the morning we’re going to sit down and discuss this like the rational adults that we are. Is this acceptable to you?”
“But-”
“No buts! I’m going to bed. Good night and sleep well.” She started for the door.
“Gin, don’t I get a good night kiss?” he asked pitifully.
“Under the circumstances? No.”
He wanted to stay close to his wife and child just in case the duck tried something unspeakably devious during the night. She might not ever believe him because she had been easily snookered by an adorable little face and soft fuzzy yellow material, but that just meant he’d have to remain extra vigilant. He hadn’t seen anything this evil since before the Dark Lord had fallen. And the scariest part was it lived in his house and slept in his son’s bed. Damn Pansy.
Draco tossed and turned on the overstuffed sofa in Ginny’s sitting room before finally succumbing to exhaustion an hour later.
With first rays of morning light, he slipped into his bedroom to find Liam sprawled on his stomach on his side of the bed, a fist stuffed in his mouth. Ginny was lying on her side, her short ivory silk nightgown had ridden up enough he could see a peek of her lacy knickers. Her hand was resting on the baby’s back and Hecate was sleeping curled in the crook of her knees. The bedclothes were a tangled mess, half off the bed and waves of heat radiated up from the mild warming charm she’d cast.
He couldn’t believe that he was missing out on being with them.
His wife was right – he was totally out of his mind the night before. Things were much clearer after getting some sleep. He had allowed his hatred for the duck to take over his reason. He’d been waging a battle against a stuffed animal. A stuffed animal? Stuffed animals were not capable of what he’d imagined Gustav doing – they didn’t just mysteriously appear places and quack. Whatever happened to the Slytherin in him?
He had gone completely nutters.
All of this was just in his head brought on by sleep deprivation and worry over Liam. They would talk in the morning, get things straightened out. He would learn to deal with the fact that his precious baby boy - his heir - was fond of a duck. Sure he would have preferred his son to have attached himself to a dragon or a Golden Snitch, but he seemed to really love that duck so how could he begrudge his baby that?
He allowed his dark green dressing robe to slide into the floor once he reached his side of the bed. He caught a flash of fuzzy yellow material out of the corner of his eye just as he scooted Liam over so he could slip into bed.
Gustav was standing on his pillow like he was king of the hill, his head cocked to one side as if he were regarding him thoughtfully. Draco reached to grab the duck to give him to Liam.
“Quack!”
A/N: Thanks to Dragonsangel68 for the quick beta!
~*~
Draco stood over his son’s baby cot watching him sleep fitfully. Liam had spent the previous night feverish and quite fussy. Ginny had stayed up with him through the night doing what she could to make him comfortable. She’d sent him to catch a few hours about two in the morning only to be awoken an hour later by a loud crying jag. The baby finally gave into sleep after a cool lavender bath in the wee hours of the morning. He had volunteered to watch over him while she tried to get a little sleep.
Then he saw him. The bane of his existence – a little stuffed yellow duck – staring back at him from the safety of Liam’s chubby little hand. Gustav. How he hated those beady little black eyes staring, always staring at him.
He’d done everything in his power to replace the duck with another stuffed animal, but Liam was having none of it. Who knew a fourteen-month-old baby could be so adamant about having his way? Draco had to smile about that though; Liam was a Malfoy through and through after all.
But it was gone if he could just figure out a way to distract his son long enough. He’d deal with Ginny somehow…
Liam’s little eyes fluttered open just before he let loose a long low wail. Draco scooped his son up, shushing him gently and rubbing his back. “Shh, little Monster, your Mummy is trying to get some rest. You’ve had us both up all night.”
He felt the baby’s forehead for any signs of lingering fever only to find that he was cooler than he’d been in the previous thirty-six hours. Hopefully whatever was bothering him was finally starting to break.
Liam settled down a bit after a bath and nappy change, a dose of medicine and a bottle of apple juice. He was still a bit clingy and easily irritable when they retired to the study.
They were playing on the floor in front of the fireplace when Ginny found them a couple hours later. Her son was in the process of showering his Da’s face with kisses.
“I think someone is feeling better,” she said to announce her presence.
Liam’s eyes lit up at the sound of his Mum’s voice. He quickly abandoned his father, stopping to pop his bottle in his mouth and gather up Gustav before toddling over to her.
“His fever has been down for the last couple of hours.” Draco leaned over to kiss his wife’s cheek when she joined him on the rug. “Did you get any rest?”
“A wee bit,” she said as she carefully smoothed down the few blond hairs on her baby’s head. He bounced in her lap, holding Gustav out towards his father and looking expectantly at him.
“All right, all right,” Draco sighed, sounding rather put out. He tapped his wand on Gustav’s head, causing the stuffed animal to perk up, flap his wings and waddle about, quacking all the while. His son squealed in delight, clapping his hands to make the little yellow duck dance.
“I think you’ve created a monster,” Ginny giggled, gathering her son up in her arms and smothering him in kisses.
The afternoon was spent watching Liam play happily with Gustav and munch on chocolate rice cakes while showing no ill affects from whatever malady he’d suffered with for the past two days. It was almost like he’d never been sick.
After a light supper taken in the study, the Malfoy family curled up together on the sofa, wrapped in a warm green plaid throw blanket, as Liam started to wind down for the evening. Ginny was nestled back against Draco, his chin resting atop her head and his arms wound around her waist. Liam was snuggled against her chest, fighting sleep as she soothingly rubbed his back.
Draco returned to the study to catch up some work he’d been neglecting the past few days after putting his son down for the night and sending his exhausted wife off to bed. He was beyond tired himself, but sleep would not come for a while yet. It was better to let Ginny get some rest without him disturbing her with his tossing and turning.
The tall grandfather clock on the other side of the room chimed half past eleven. He dropped the elegant black raven feather quill to scrub his hands over his face. He sat there pondering whether or not he could sleep if went up to bed when the slow creaking of an opening door caught his attention.
The study door was ajar.
He knew he’d shut it to keep the cat out when he’d returned after seeing Ginny to bed.
She didn’t slip in the room to lure him to bed. Liam was too young to have figured out how escape his cot, besides he would have announced his presence. Hecate was no-where to be seen. No one seemed to be in the dark hallway. Maybe the latch didn’t catch…
He was finding it a bit difficult tamping down that little finger of fear that was stabbing at his chest. All the candles in the room blazed bright with a wave of his hand. “Good gods Malfoy, get a hold of yourself,” he whispered, getting up to push the door closed again.
Draco peered down the hallway leading to the atrium. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he put his hand on the door to push it closed.
It was then that a loud “quack” reverberated in the darkness causing his heart to skip a few beats.
He looked down, panting to catch his breath, only to find Gustav staring at him with those beady little black eyes of his, head cocked to the side as if he was pondering something.
Squelching his first instinct to grind the offending little bastard - err duck - beneath the heel of his Italian leather boots, Draco snatched the offending stuffed animal off the floor by the neck. If Liam knew his beloved stuffed animal was not in bed with him, he’d have a duck fit, literally.
The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that Liam must have dropped him when they’d taken him up to bed and just not noticed. He couldn’t recall seeing the duck in the bed, but then again he really wasn’t paying that much attention since he was busy admiring his wife’s assets.
He wasn’t even going to think about the quack when he knew damn well the animation spell should have worn off long ago. He was just tired. Yes, that was it. He was very, very tired.
The duck was carefully tucked under Liam’s arm before Draco checked to make sure his fever had not returned. The baby was sleeping soundly, lying on his stomach with his stuffed Golden Snitch clutched in his hand. He pulled a lightweight gray and green blanket up over him just to make sure he didn’t get cold before he whispered good night and kissed his fingers before brushing them lightly over his son’s blond fuzz.
Draco kicked his boots off before he made himself comfortable on the overstuffed deep red sofa in the sitting room adjacent to the master suite. He poured himself a brandy before kicking his feet up on the ottoman and staring into the low fire burning in the fireplace.
The past couple of days had been very stressful for him. Liam had always been the picture of health so when he was struck by a mysterious fever two days ago, it was cause for much concern. His mother-in-law had been summoned immediately, only to smile at their panicked state. She brewed an old family potion for reducing fevers and gave them explicit instructions on how to care for a sick child before she returned home a few hours later. Ginny refused to rest until she knew her child was feeling better. She’d stayed up with him, giving him what comfort she could while he suffered through the worst of it. Draco stayed up with her because he was beyond worried himself, although he’d rather die than have to admit that to anyone.
He awoke with a start, not even realizing he’d even been asleep. Something wasn’t right. The room was almost dark, the eerie orange glow of the fire casting the only light. He yawned, stretching his arms back over his head and arched his back. That was when a shadow caught his eye.
There on the arm rest of the overstuffed sofa stood a little yellow duck, watching him through narrowed eyes. He quacked.
Draco scrambled off the sofa, trying to get as far away from Gustav as possible; nearly tripping over the ottoman and sending himself head first into the glass fireplace screen in the process. The duck quacked again.
“All right, Fred? George? Show yourselves! This isn’t funny any more!” he demanded of the empty room. He knew it couldn’t have been his prankster brothers-in-law anyway. He would have known if the wards on the house had been broken. “So help me Potter, if this is your idea of a prank I will kill you nine different ways!”
Gustav’s black bead eyes followed him wherever he moved in the room.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his frayed nerves. He was coming unhinged. He was being stalked by a duck.
It was a trick. That was what this had to be. There was no way that duck could move freely about the house. Gustav had to have help. And who would want to make him think he was going completely around the bend?
Pansy!
She was the only one evil enough to do something this diabolical. She had the means, the motive and she was just that cruel. She had inside help, too. There was no way that she could have gotten through the wards on the house without it.
Ginny!
His beautiful wife. She set him up. Pansy told her about his nearly offing the duck a few months back and they cooked up this little scheme as payback! Yes, that was it. They’d been thick as thieves the past few months. He should have known that they were up to something.
He snatched the quacking duck up and returned him to Liam’s bed, performing a sticking charm to keep him where he belonged. That would fix those two witches. Play tricks on him like that. Well, they weren’t going to get the best of him. He was on to them now.
Draco quietly slipped into the master bedroom, careful not to disturb his sleeping wife. She was draped over several pillows on her side of the bed. He quickly dressed for bed and crawled between the covers, sliding up behind her and gathering her in his arms. He pressed soft open-mouthed kisses along her bare shoulder and neck until she began to stir.
“Gin,” he whispered in her ear.
She snuggled back against him, melding her body to his contours and purring at his continued attention.
“Ginny,” he repeated, shaking her gently.
“Sleep,” she mumbled.
“It’s Liam.”
“Did his fever return,” she asked, coming awake immediately and moving to get out of bed.
Draco held her tight. “No, he’s fine. I just wanted you to wake up.”
“Then why did you want me awake.” She didn’t bother to hide her irritation.
“I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work.”
She struggled to break his grip on her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do. You and Pansy are conspiring to drive me around the bend by making me think that Gustav is stalking me.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“That stupid duck in doorway of the study quacking at me and again in the sitting room.”
“Gustav is in bed with Liam where he belongs. Go have a look.”
“Of course, he is now,” he said haughtily. “I put him back.”
“Draco, Gustav has been in bed all night. I gave him to Liam when I put him down for the night.”
“That’s what you want me to believe.”
“What are you going on about?”
“Pansy told you and now you want me to incriminate myself.”
“Pans told me what?”
“If you think I’m stupid enough to tell you now that I know you’re trying to coerce a confession out me then you have another thing coming.”
Ginny struggled to break his grip on her. “I don’t even want to know what you’re going on about.”
“I’m on to you now so it doesn’t matter,” he said smugly.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep,” she huffed, managing to loosen his grip enough to wiggle back over to her side. She made a great show of getting comfortable and using as much of the covers as she possibly could. She shrugged him off when he tried to wrap himself around her.
Draco rolled over on his back to stare into the dark canopy that covered their massive bed, contemplating the events of the evening. Ginny was rather miffed. Her anger was definitely genuine that much he did know because she was not that good of an actress. The Sorting Hat had put her in Gryffindor for a reason.
So Ginny was definitely out of the evil scheme however, Pansy was still a prime suspect. But how? That was the question that was gnawing at his brain. How? How did she get in the house without detection? He and Greg had worked together creating the most elaborate set of wards known to wizardom to protect his family. Surely Greg wouldn’t have given Pansy the means to break the wards because that would mean he would have to reset even more strict ones.
All he could think about where those shiny black eyes staring at him. It was like the duck was watching him, thinking and waiting. Waiting for something he wasn’t quite sure what, but something.
And the quacking. He didn’t even want to think about the quacking. It was a stuffed animal for Merlin’s sake – it wasn’t supposed to be quacking! Sure he animated it for Liam’s amusement hours ago, but that spell should have worn off long before now. It wasn’t natural…
Oh how he hated that duck the moment Pansy brought it into the house. He hated the gleam in his son’s eyes when he first laid eyes on that duck. How his little hands reached out for the fuzzy yellow stuffed animal. How he cuddled it. How he couldn’t sleep without it.
Damn Pansy for making his life a living ducky hell.
Draco yawned and stretched, before turning over on his side in an attempt to find Ginny under the pile of covers. She was doing a fair imitation of a mummy.
That was when he felt it.
Something scurried across his legs.
His eyes snapped open, quickly adjusting to the weak moonlight filtering in the window filled alcove that illuminated the room. He didn’t even realize that he had drifted off.
By the time his heart had stopped pounding in his chest, he had convinced himself that what he had felt was the cat. Hecate had made no secret of her penchant for wanting to sleep in the middle of their bed despite them being in it. He moved his legs in an effort to dislodge her, but he only ended up kicking Ginny.
He sat up on one elbow to take a look around, a small, dark shape sitting atop the mound he knew to be his wife caught his eye. Then it quacked.
It all happened so fast.
He lunged for the duck, colliding with Ginny’s sleeping form in his zeal for tangible proof and dumped her unceremoniously on the cold floor with a hard thump.
“Draco,” she seethed, slowly untangling herself from the top sheet. “You had better have a good explanation for this.” She rubbed her hip ruefully as she stood up.
“Gustav. Here. Quacked at me!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that Gustav is in bed with Liam?”
“He’s here!” he insisted, wildly going through the pile of bedclothes and nearly toppling his wife when he pulled on the duvet. “I saw him! He was standing on top of you!”
“Draco,” Ginny screeched. “What has gotten into you?”
“Duck! Out to get me!”
She sighed in frustration, yanking on her dressing gown as she made her way to the nursery. “Gustav is in bed with Liam, I assure you.”
He trailed behind her. “He’s not in there. He’s out to get me. Him and the cat!”
Ginny marched into Liam’s room, softly illuminating the room with a quick wave of her hand. She gently lifted the sleeping baby from his cot, making sure he was wrapped up in his favorite blanket. Gustav, the little yellow duck, was dangling by a wing from his hand. Hecate stretched and meowed before jumping out of the cot. “See, duck.”
Draco was at a loss for words. He could have sworn he returned that dastardly duck to his son’s bed, twice. He would have sworn on his mother’s grave that Gustav was in his bed, sitting on top of his wife not five minutes ago. Yet, here he was safe in the death grip of his son. He had no explanation whatsoever. “I uh-”
“That is what I thought.”
“I swear Gustav is stalking me in the study and again in the sitting room. He was standing on you and quacking!”
“You do know that Gustav is a stuffed animal and is unable to ‘stalk’ you?”
“Ginny, you have to believe me. It’s payback. He wants me to think I’ve gone nutters.”
“Well, I think you are nutters,” she hissed just as something in the cot caught her eye. “What in bloody hell is the candelabrum from my sitting room doing in Liam’s bed? And the doorstop from your study? He could have hurt himself!”
His mouth fell open in disbelief as what was happening became more than crystal clear. The doorstop from his study? The candelabrum from her sitting room? “Don’t you see, Gin? He set me up! It’s retribution!”
“Retribution? For what?”
“When I tried to kill him!”
“Tried to kill him?” she asked in utter disbelief.
“Yes, yes, when Pans first gave my baby boy that duck,” Draco explained rationally. “I stole him, blamed the cat and tried to burn him in the fireplace at work. Only you showed up just as I was about toss him in. I knew then there were no bounds to the evilness of that duck!”
Ginny just stared at him for the longest time, opening her mouth several times like she was about to say something only to close it again before she finally said, “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re jealous of a stuffed animal?”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not jealous of him. He’s jealous of me!”
“So Gustav is jealous of you…”
“Yes! He wants you and Liam all to himself!” Draco nodded, so proud that she was finally starting to see things his way. Gustav’s days certainly were numbered now! “That’s why the duck has to go!”
“Okay,” she said, treading very carefully. “I realize that you’ve been awake for the past two days and you’ve been very worried about Liam.” He started to interrupt her, but she quickly silenced him with a tongue cluck. “This is what we’re going to do – I’m going to take him and go back to bed. You are going to find someplace else to get some uninterrupted rest. Then in the morning we’re going to sit down and discuss this like the rational adults that we are. Is this acceptable to you?”
“But-”
“No buts! I’m going to bed. Good night and sleep well.” She started for the door.
“Gin, don’t I get a good night kiss?” he asked pitifully.
“Under the circumstances? No.”
He wanted to stay close to his wife and child just in case the duck tried something unspeakably devious during the night. She might not ever believe him because she had been easily snookered by an adorable little face and soft fuzzy yellow material, but that just meant he’d have to remain extra vigilant. He hadn’t seen anything this evil since before the Dark Lord had fallen. And the scariest part was it lived in his house and slept in his son’s bed. Damn Pansy.
Draco tossed and turned on the overstuffed sofa in Ginny’s sitting room before finally succumbing to exhaustion an hour later.
With first rays of morning light, he slipped into his bedroom to find Liam sprawled on his stomach on his side of the bed, a fist stuffed in his mouth. Ginny was lying on her side, her short ivory silk nightgown had ridden up enough he could see a peek of her lacy knickers. Her hand was resting on the baby’s back and Hecate was sleeping curled in the crook of her knees. The bedclothes were a tangled mess, half off the bed and waves of heat radiated up from the mild warming charm she’d cast.
He couldn’t believe that he was missing out on being with them.
His wife was right – he was totally out of his mind the night before. Things were much clearer after getting some sleep. He had allowed his hatred for the duck to take over his reason. He’d been waging a battle against a stuffed animal. A stuffed animal? Stuffed animals were not capable of what he’d imagined Gustav doing – they didn’t just mysteriously appear places and quack. Whatever happened to the Slytherin in him?
He had gone completely nutters.
All of this was just in his head brought on by sleep deprivation and worry over Liam. They would talk in the morning, get things straightened out. He would learn to deal with the fact that his precious baby boy - his heir - was fond of a duck. Sure he would have preferred his son to have attached himself to a dragon or a Golden Snitch, but he seemed to really love that duck so how could he begrudge his baby that?
He allowed his dark green dressing robe to slide into the floor once he reached his side of the bed. He caught a flash of fuzzy yellow material out of the corner of his eye just as he scooted Liam over so he could slip into bed.
Gustav was standing on his pillow like he was king of the hill, his head cocked to one side as if he were regarding him thoughtfully. Draco reached to grab the duck to give him to Liam.
“Quack!”
A/N: Thanks to Dragonsangel68 for the quick beta!
~*~
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