When we get home, I put the chocolate frog card on the desk in room and look down at it. It’s an Albus Dumbledore one. I have a million of him. But this card is special, because the person who gave it to me knows where my Daddy is. I think so, at least, even though she told me she didn’t. I leave it on my desk and go lie down in my bed to ponder. Then I get tired and change into my pyjamas and brush my teeth and go and don't even bother tucking myself in, I just lie on my bed. Mummy comes in at one point.
"Do you want to be tucked in, love?" she says with a laugh.
"No thank you, Mummy."
"Well, goodnight, Narcissa."
"Goodnight, Mummy."
I try really hard to think about how I can get to Pansy again, maybe this time I can convince her to help me find Daddy. But it's already late and I quickly fall asleep.
But you can't go to sleep in just your pyjamas and without being tucked in 'cause you're bound to get cold! And sure enough, I wake up in the middle of the night 'cause I'm cold. I tuck myself in and reach for my stuffed Kneazle but I can't seem to find it, and then I realise that I must've left it downstairs this morning or something. So I slide myself out of bed and walk out of my room and reach blindly in front of me for the railing to help me walk down the stairs, 'cause I can't see anything. Just as I reach the stairs, I hear Mummy's voice.
"Close... so close.."
"Mummy?" I whisper, turning around to look behind me at Mummy's door.
"Almost there... I'm missing something..."
I creep into her room. She's fast asleep, I can see that, which means she must be talking in her sleep! "Mummy?" I should probably wake her up.
"I'm getting closer... so close. Closer, closer..."
"Mummy, wake up," I say, no longer whispering.
"I can't... I can't... reach you, I can't reach you. Missing... something..."
I walk over and shake her, saying, "Mummy, wake up! Wake up, Mummy, you're just dreaming!"
She wakes up, and looks at me a little confused. "Honey, what are you doing?"
"You were talking, but you were sleeping."
"Oh."
"You were getting closer to something, but something was missing. In case you wanted to know. Have you seen my dolly?"
Mummy nods, getting out of bed and taking my hand. Together, we get my dolly and put me back to bed.
The next morning, my thoughts were clear. I suddenly realised something, something big I should have figured out before. How was I supposed to find Daddy on my own? I don't know how to get anywhere, ever, I can't go by myself, anyway. I need someone's help. Someone who knows what they're doing. I think about this as I get dressed. I need somebody who won't think I'm crazy, trying to find Daddy all by myself, who won't tell me to mind my own business. I eat breakfast by myself that morning cause Mummy is talking to someone who's in the fireplace, I don't really see who until I'm about to go back upstairs. It's my Grandpa.
"So you'll come?"
"Fine, fine, I'll come. Bloody hell, I move out and you're in my hair more than you've ever been."
"That's because you're a single mother. That's even worse than being a teenager. Oh, Rose! Hello!"
I wave at Grandpa and hurry up the stairs, to think some more. But I get distracted easily and start playing with my toys instead. That happens to little girls, you know. Anyway, by the time I was done playing it was lunch so I went downstairs to make a sandwich, or have Mummy make me a sandwich, 'cause I really don't know how to make one myself. They never turn out right.
"Mummy?" I call as I walk down the stairs. "Can you help me make a sandwich?"
"Of course," Mummy says as I come into the kitchen. "Luna's coming over for dinner tonight, would you like to help me cook?"
And suddenly I have an idea. Luna! Of course, she would help me! "Sure, Mummy!"
So we -- well, it was her, mostly -- make a sandwich and I eat it, and Mummy makes one for herself, too. Then we read a book, about a Hippogriff who escapes being killed. And then Mummy and I make all kinds of food for our dinner with Luna tonight. But I don't really know how to cook so Mummy sends me into the dining room to set up the table, because that way I can't make the food wrong, and you can't make a mistake when setting up the table, right? Anyway, soon Luna is here, and Mummy and I go to greet her.
"Come in, Luna, take a seat. I've got to go take something out of the oven, give me just a minute," says Mummy, leading her to the couch and disappearing back into the kitchen.
I sit down beside Luna, and she smiles at me, "Hello, Narcissa Rose."
I smile back. "Luna... I need your help."
Dinner flies by. Knowing that someone is going to help me makes me much happier and I eat very happily. Dinner ends, though, and I hear Mummy and Luna talk as we all clear the table.
"I'm so sorry to put this on you last minute, Luna," says Mummy. "Dad Floo'd me this morning to ask me to drop by at the Ministry."
"You know I'll watch over Rose any day, Ginny," says Luna with a small smile.
"Thank you, so much."
"You're going to the Ministry?" I ask Mummy.
"Yes, dear."
"Can I come?"
Mummy sighs, and stops what she was doing to look at me. I look up at her, making the cutest puppy-dog face I can muster and she laughs at me, nodding. "Fine, you can come."
"I knew that was coming," says Luna brightly as she clears the last of the food off of the table.
"Would you like to come, too, Luna? I have a hunch of what's going to happen, I reckon you'd like to be there," Mummy says with a faint smile.
"Of course! Family reunions are my favourite. That's when the Twiddilettes show up."
Mummy and I laugh, and before I know it, we're at the Ministry.
We get there. Grandma and Grandpa are there, and my Uncle Ron and his wife Hermione and Harry Potter are there.
"Ginny!" exclaims Grandma, pulling her into a tight embrace.
After about five minutes of everybody greeting each other, conversation begins.
"It's so nice to see you, Ginny," says Grandpa. "We don't see you enough."
"We heard from Bill and Fleur, they're in Paris, you know," Grandma says.
"Fred and George's store was rated higher than Zonko's in the Prophet," Ron told us.
"I read that," beamed Mummy. "I always knew they'd do well."
"And Charlie? Have you heard from him?" asks Mummy.
"We haven't," says Grandma.
Conversation continues but I'm distracted 'cause Grandpa taps my shoulder. "Rose, could we talk for a minute?"
I look up at Mummy, who nods. I nod at Grandpa. He takes my hand and pulls me to the side, going down to his knees so he's my height.
"If you know anything you think I should know... you know you can tell me, right?" he says, a warm smile on his face.
I get a little angry. I know exactly what he wants to know.
"Is there something, Rose? Something I should know?"
"You're balding," I say, touching my index finger to the tip of his head.
He laughs, "Yes, you're right. Anything else?"
"Twiddilettes," I say, nodding seriously.
"Excuse me?"
"Twiddilettes always show up at family reunions," I say solemnly.
He laughs again. "Quite the sense of humour you have!"
I'm distracted, though, because over at the conversation I'm not a part of I hear my name.
"--Rose's father--"
"Once again, Ron, I'm not going to tell you!" says Mummy.
"Oh, Ginny, be reasonable," says Grandpa, standing up and walking over.
I follow. Mummy is talking to her parents and Harry, Hermione, and Ron are just listening, but then Harry turns to Ron. I take a step closer so I can hear.
“You know, Muggles do this thing called blood testing,” says Harry slowly to Ron, “I didn’t want to have to stoop to this, hoping that Ginny would just tell us.”
“Blood testing?” Ron makes a face, “Sounds painful.”
“Not really. It’s something about DNA… I don’t know, really, but I’m sure they could find out.”
Ron nods slowly, and then glances at me.
Harry turns to me as well, “Or you could just tell us, and save us the trouble--”
But Mummy had slapped Harry Potter straight across the face. I didn't even know she was paying attention to this conversation. Uncle Ron looked startled. He took a few steps back. Harry’s eyes widened and he put his hand on his cheek, looking horrified at Mummy.
“And you wonder why I don’t return your owls!” Mummy hisses.
“Ginny, I--”
“You know, defeating Voldemort did a lot to your ego, you self-centered jerk!”
“Self centered!” he bellows, fury filling his eyes, “I don’t care who the father is for me, I want to know for you! To protect you! He left you with a baby--”
“No, you just want to go murder him so there will be no competition for me! Harry, when you broke up with me in your sixth year, you lost a lot. I’ve moved on. I moved on when I was 16. You regret your mistake, and you want to make everything better. So you think killing the father of my daughter will fix things?”
I’ve never seen Mummy like this before. I stare at her, horrified. I didn’t even notice that Hermione had come up behind me and placed her hand maternally on my shoulders, holding me away from the yelling.
"Of course not," mutters Harry.
“And you can’t even tell us who he is!” Ron pointed out, “So you must know he’s a rotten prat, and that we hate him. We’ve guessed and guessed, and you just won’t tell us. Gin, we’re going to find out sooner or later, you know that you could just spare us the effort.”
Mummy is fuming. She can’t even talk.
“Ron, hush,” says Hermione from behind me, “It’s none of your business.”
“You know who it is, this doesn’t matter to you,” Ron mumbles.
I can't stand it here. The yelling goes on. Hermione lets me go, she smiles and nods, seeing I don't want to be there. I go to a place that's not much happier but maybe can answer some of my questions. I go back to the WANTED wall. I read the names over that I already recognize.
“Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort” “FOUND”
“Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Narcissa Malfoy, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Gregory Goyle, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Vincent Crabbe, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, Death Eater” “FOUND”
And then I look at some other Death Eaters that were found.
"Rodolphus Lestrange, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Quirinus Quirrell, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Alecto Carrow, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Phyllis Reidel, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Nigel Wilkens, Death Eater" "FOUND"
Just as many FOUND names are ones that haven't been found yet at all. A lot of them have pictures, like "Peter Pettigrew", "Amycus Carrow", "Beth Buffler", and "Severus Snape". But some of them don't. I read some of their information instead.
"Giondello Gibbs, born April 8, 1969
Wanted for the murder of Tim and Rhonda Blyke and two Muggles."
In total, that's four people Giondello Gibbs killed. I don't know who he is, and I don't even know what he looks like 'cause he doesn't have a picture, but I hope they find him.
I get bored easily, though, and I just started reading the names instead. These guys haven't been found, but they did lots wrong, and that makes me upset. "Steven Stiles", "Conor Branxton", "Lydia Timmons", "Marc Russell" -- they're all awful people who I hope the Ministry can find and put in Azkaban.
One of these guys is at blame. I saw in Hermione and Ron's Pensieve that Mummy said that some guy is blaming everything on Daddy. I just gotsta figure out who. I don't even have the slightest hunch of who it could be.
Well, all this is doing is making me angrier than the fight so I leave the WANTED board and go back.
"Ginny, we just care about you!" Ron is saying.
"Why do you think that the more times you ask me the more likely you are to get an answer?" snaps Mummy.
Ron opens his mouth to respond, but doesn't. "I don't know. I really don't know. You know what? Fine, I don't even care."
For some reason this seems to really bother Mummy. She knows he does care, so why is she so upset?
"Go, sleep around, have all the babies you want with all the hooligans you want," snaps Ron. "I don't care."
I don't really get it, so I just look at Hermione with confusion, but she's too busy staring in shock at Ron, her hands over her mouth. "Ron!" she hisses.
"You want to know? Fine," she says, looking around the Ministry (I suddenly realise it is empty and make a mental note to ask someone later). "Fine, I'll tell you. You're right. You'll be upset, that's why I didn't want to tell you. Your reactions will be that you want to kill him, right now, more so than you did before."
"Bloody hell, Ginny, just tell us already," groans Ron.
"I would appreciate it if you watched your language around my daughter," snaps Mummy.
"Sorry."
It's silent for a minute.
"She's not going to tell us. I can't believe it, she got us all worked up and she's not even going to tell us," says Ron suddenly, and everyone starts to talk again.
"Draco Malfoy," says Mummy, and everyone stops talking.
"What?" says Harry, stunned.
"Rose's father is Draco Malfoy."
It is so quiet that you can probably hear a pin drop if someone dropped one. I never got that saying, anyway. No one's going to drop a pin, who cares if you can hear it? But even though it's quiet, as in no one is talking, I know that everyone's minds are racing, kind of like mine was when I found out. But their minds were probably even more so because they actually know who he is.
The silence is deadly. I look around at each of the people, as they stay silent in their own thoughts. It is quiet for what seems to be forever, but it might have just been seconds.
"I'm having a baby," says Hermione suddenly. "I'm pregnant. Ron and I are going to have a baby!"
I know that everyone is probably still thinking about Draco being my daddy but suddenly everyone's smiling and congratulating each other and Hermione and Ron. Mummy pulls Harry aside. I scoot over, kind of out of the way, but enough in the way that it looks like I'm part of the congratulating crowd, so I can hear Mummy and Harry talk.
"I'm sorry, Harry, for hitting you before. And for not telling you sooner," says Mummy.
"And for doing -- well, you know! -- with Draco Malfoy?" says Harry, but he smiles slightly. They hug. "Hey, Gin... have you been thinking?"
"I have," Mummy says quietly.
"And?"
"I don't know."
"Oh."
"A little longer, okay?"
"...I guess."
"Thank you."
Harry turns to go back to the crowd.
"Harry? One more thing," Mummy says, and he turns back around.
"Yes?"
"I... well... I really need your help."
"My help."
"Yes, your help. I found somebody! Somebody who thinks they can find Draco. But... he's made a condition."
"Oh, bloody hell."
"If you pardon him, completely and totally, he'll help."
"What did he do? Who is it?"
"For me, Harry. For me and Rose, will you do this? Listen to what he has to say, and consider it?"
Harry is quiet for a minute. "Fine, I'll talk to him. Floo me when you need me, okay?"
"Thank you, Harry. You really are the hero of the Wizarding World."
They hug again. And I walk over and join in on the hug.
"Do you want to be tucked in, love?" she says with a laugh.
"No thank you, Mummy."
"Well, goodnight, Narcissa."
"Goodnight, Mummy."
I try really hard to think about how I can get to Pansy again, maybe this time I can convince her to help me find Daddy. But it's already late and I quickly fall asleep.
But you can't go to sleep in just your pyjamas and without being tucked in 'cause you're bound to get cold! And sure enough, I wake up in the middle of the night 'cause I'm cold. I tuck myself in and reach for my stuffed Kneazle but I can't seem to find it, and then I realise that I must've left it downstairs this morning or something. So I slide myself out of bed and walk out of my room and reach blindly in front of me for the railing to help me walk down the stairs, 'cause I can't see anything. Just as I reach the stairs, I hear Mummy's voice.
"Close... so close.."
"Mummy?" I whisper, turning around to look behind me at Mummy's door.
"Almost there... I'm missing something..."
I creep into her room. She's fast asleep, I can see that, which means she must be talking in her sleep! "Mummy?" I should probably wake her up.
"I'm getting closer... so close. Closer, closer..."
"Mummy, wake up," I say, no longer whispering.
"I can't... I can't... reach you, I can't reach you. Missing... something..."
I walk over and shake her, saying, "Mummy, wake up! Wake up, Mummy, you're just dreaming!"
She wakes up, and looks at me a little confused. "Honey, what are you doing?"
"You were talking, but you were sleeping."
"Oh."
"You were getting closer to something, but something was missing. In case you wanted to know. Have you seen my dolly?"
Mummy nods, getting out of bed and taking my hand. Together, we get my dolly and put me back to bed.
The next morning, my thoughts were clear. I suddenly realised something, something big I should have figured out before. How was I supposed to find Daddy on my own? I don't know how to get anywhere, ever, I can't go by myself, anyway. I need someone's help. Someone who knows what they're doing. I think about this as I get dressed. I need somebody who won't think I'm crazy, trying to find Daddy all by myself, who won't tell me to mind my own business. I eat breakfast by myself that morning cause Mummy is talking to someone who's in the fireplace, I don't really see who until I'm about to go back upstairs. It's my Grandpa.
"So you'll come?"
"Fine, fine, I'll come. Bloody hell, I move out and you're in my hair more than you've ever been."
"That's because you're a single mother. That's even worse than being a teenager. Oh, Rose! Hello!"
I wave at Grandpa and hurry up the stairs, to think some more. But I get distracted easily and start playing with my toys instead. That happens to little girls, you know. Anyway, by the time I was done playing it was lunch so I went downstairs to make a sandwich, or have Mummy make me a sandwich, 'cause I really don't know how to make one myself. They never turn out right.
"Mummy?" I call as I walk down the stairs. "Can you help me make a sandwich?"
"Of course," Mummy says as I come into the kitchen. "Luna's coming over for dinner tonight, would you like to help me cook?"
And suddenly I have an idea. Luna! Of course, she would help me! "Sure, Mummy!"
So we -- well, it was her, mostly -- make a sandwich and I eat it, and Mummy makes one for herself, too. Then we read a book, about a Hippogriff who escapes being killed. And then Mummy and I make all kinds of food for our dinner with Luna tonight. But I don't really know how to cook so Mummy sends me into the dining room to set up the table, because that way I can't make the food wrong, and you can't make a mistake when setting up the table, right? Anyway, soon Luna is here, and Mummy and I go to greet her.
"Come in, Luna, take a seat. I've got to go take something out of the oven, give me just a minute," says Mummy, leading her to the couch and disappearing back into the kitchen.
I sit down beside Luna, and she smiles at me, "Hello, Narcissa Rose."
I smile back. "Luna... I need your help."
Dinner flies by. Knowing that someone is going to help me makes me much happier and I eat very happily. Dinner ends, though, and I hear Mummy and Luna talk as we all clear the table.
"I'm so sorry to put this on you last minute, Luna," says Mummy. "Dad Floo'd me this morning to ask me to drop by at the Ministry."
"You know I'll watch over Rose any day, Ginny," says Luna with a small smile.
"Thank you, so much."
"You're going to the Ministry?" I ask Mummy.
"Yes, dear."
"Can I come?"
Mummy sighs, and stops what she was doing to look at me. I look up at her, making the cutest puppy-dog face I can muster and she laughs at me, nodding. "Fine, you can come."
"I knew that was coming," says Luna brightly as she clears the last of the food off of the table.
"Would you like to come, too, Luna? I have a hunch of what's going to happen, I reckon you'd like to be there," Mummy says with a faint smile.
"Of course! Family reunions are my favourite. That's when the Twiddilettes show up."
Mummy and I laugh, and before I know it, we're at the Ministry.
We get there. Grandma and Grandpa are there, and my Uncle Ron and his wife Hermione and Harry Potter are there.
"Ginny!" exclaims Grandma, pulling her into a tight embrace.
After about five minutes of everybody greeting each other, conversation begins.
"It's so nice to see you, Ginny," says Grandpa. "We don't see you enough."
"We heard from Bill and Fleur, they're in Paris, you know," Grandma says.
"Fred and George's store was rated higher than Zonko's in the Prophet," Ron told us.
"I read that," beamed Mummy. "I always knew they'd do well."
"And Charlie? Have you heard from him?" asks Mummy.
"We haven't," says Grandma.
Conversation continues but I'm distracted 'cause Grandpa taps my shoulder. "Rose, could we talk for a minute?"
I look up at Mummy, who nods. I nod at Grandpa. He takes my hand and pulls me to the side, going down to his knees so he's my height.
"If you know anything you think I should know... you know you can tell me, right?" he says, a warm smile on his face.
I get a little angry. I know exactly what he wants to know.
"Is there something, Rose? Something I should know?"
"You're balding," I say, touching my index finger to the tip of his head.
He laughs, "Yes, you're right. Anything else?"
"Twiddilettes," I say, nodding seriously.
"Excuse me?"
"Twiddilettes always show up at family reunions," I say solemnly.
He laughs again. "Quite the sense of humour you have!"
I'm distracted, though, because over at the conversation I'm not a part of I hear my name.
"--Rose's father--"
"Once again, Ron, I'm not going to tell you!" says Mummy.
"Oh, Ginny, be reasonable," says Grandpa, standing up and walking over.
I follow. Mummy is talking to her parents and Harry, Hermione, and Ron are just listening, but then Harry turns to Ron. I take a step closer so I can hear.
“You know, Muggles do this thing called blood testing,” says Harry slowly to Ron, “I didn’t want to have to stoop to this, hoping that Ginny would just tell us.”
“Blood testing?” Ron makes a face, “Sounds painful.”
“Not really. It’s something about DNA… I don’t know, really, but I’m sure they could find out.”
Ron nods slowly, and then glances at me.
Harry turns to me as well, “Or you could just tell us, and save us the trouble--”
But Mummy had slapped Harry Potter straight across the face. I didn't even know she was paying attention to this conversation. Uncle Ron looked startled. He took a few steps back. Harry’s eyes widened and he put his hand on his cheek, looking horrified at Mummy.
“And you wonder why I don’t return your owls!” Mummy hisses.
“Ginny, I--”
“You know, defeating Voldemort did a lot to your ego, you self-centered jerk!”
“Self centered!” he bellows, fury filling his eyes, “I don’t care who the father is for me, I want to know for you! To protect you! He left you with a baby--”
“No, you just want to go murder him so there will be no competition for me! Harry, when you broke up with me in your sixth year, you lost a lot. I’ve moved on. I moved on when I was 16. You regret your mistake, and you want to make everything better. So you think killing the father of my daughter will fix things?”
I’ve never seen Mummy like this before. I stare at her, horrified. I didn’t even notice that Hermione had come up behind me and placed her hand maternally on my shoulders, holding me away from the yelling.
"Of course not," mutters Harry.
“And you can’t even tell us who he is!” Ron pointed out, “So you must know he’s a rotten prat, and that we hate him. We’ve guessed and guessed, and you just won’t tell us. Gin, we’re going to find out sooner or later, you know that you could just spare us the effort.”
Mummy is fuming. She can’t even talk.
“Ron, hush,” says Hermione from behind me, “It’s none of your business.”
“You know who it is, this doesn’t matter to you,” Ron mumbles.
I can't stand it here. The yelling goes on. Hermione lets me go, she smiles and nods, seeing I don't want to be there. I go to a place that's not much happier but maybe can answer some of my questions. I go back to the WANTED wall. I read the names over that I already recognize.
“Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort” “FOUND”
“Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Narcissa Malfoy, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Gregory Goyle, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Vincent Crabbe, Death Eater” “FOUND”
“Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, Death Eater” “FOUND”
And then I look at some other Death Eaters that were found.
"Rodolphus Lestrange, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Quirinus Quirrell, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Alecto Carrow, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Phyllis Reidel, Death Eater" "FOUND"
"Nigel Wilkens, Death Eater" "FOUND"
Just as many FOUND names are ones that haven't been found yet at all. A lot of them have pictures, like "Peter Pettigrew", "Amycus Carrow", "Beth Buffler", and "Severus Snape". But some of them don't. I read some of their information instead.
"Giondello Gibbs, born April 8, 1969
Wanted for the murder of Tim and Rhonda Blyke and two Muggles."
In total, that's four people Giondello Gibbs killed. I don't know who he is, and I don't even know what he looks like 'cause he doesn't have a picture, but I hope they find him.
I get bored easily, though, and I just started reading the names instead. These guys haven't been found, but they did lots wrong, and that makes me upset. "Steven Stiles", "Conor Branxton", "Lydia Timmons", "Marc Russell" -- they're all awful people who I hope the Ministry can find and put in Azkaban.
One of these guys is at blame. I saw in Hermione and Ron's Pensieve that Mummy said that some guy is blaming everything on Daddy. I just gotsta figure out who. I don't even have the slightest hunch of who it could be.
Well, all this is doing is making me angrier than the fight so I leave the WANTED board and go back.
"Ginny, we just care about you!" Ron is saying.
"Why do you think that the more times you ask me the more likely you are to get an answer?" snaps Mummy.
Ron opens his mouth to respond, but doesn't. "I don't know. I really don't know. You know what? Fine, I don't even care."
For some reason this seems to really bother Mummy. She knows he does care, so why is she so upset?
"Go, sleep around, have all the babies you want with all the hooligans you want," snaps Ron. "I don't care."
I don't really get it, so I just look at Hermione with confusion, but she's too busy staring in shock at Ron, her hands over her mouth. "Ron!" she hisses.
"You want to know? Fine," she says, looking around the Ministry (I suddenly realise it is empty and make a mental note to ask someone later). "Fine, I'll tell you. You're right. You'll be upset, that's why I didn't want to tell you. Your reactions will be that you want to kill him, right now, more so than you did before."
"Bloody hell, Ginny, just tell us already," groans Ron.
"I would appreciate it if you watched your language around my daughter," snaps Mummy.
"Sorry."
It's silent for a minute.
"She's not going to tell us. I can't believe it, she got us all worked up and she's not even going to tell us," says Ron suddenly, and everyone starts to talk again.
"Draco Malfoy," says Mummy, and everyone stops talking.
"What?" says Harry, stunned.
"Rose's father is Draco Malfoy."
It is so quiet that you can probably hear a pin drop if someone dropped one. I never got that saying, anyway. No one's going to drop a pin, who cares if you can hear it? But even though it's quiet, as in no one is talking, I know that everyone's minds are racing, kind of like mine was when I found out. But their minds were probably even more so because they actually know who he is.
The silence is deadly. I look around at each of the people, as they stay silent in their own thoughts. It is quiet for what seems to be forever, but it might have just been seconds.
"I'm having a baby," says Hermione suddenly. "I'm pregnant. Ron and I are going to have a baby!"
I know that everyone is probably still thinking about Draco being my daddy but suddenly everyone's smiling and congratulating each other and Hermione and Ron. Mummy pulls Harry aside. I scoot over, kind of out of the way, but enough in the way that it looks like I'm part of the congratulating crowd, so I can hear Mummy and Harry talk.
"I'm sorry, Harry, for hitting you before. And for not telling you sooner," says Mummy.
"And for doing -- well, you know! -- with Draco Malfoy?" says Harry, but he smiles slightly. They hug. "Hey, Gin... have you been thinking?"
"I have," Mummy says quietly.
"And?"
"I don't know."
"Oh."
"A little longer, okay?"
"...I guess."
"Thank you."
Harry turns to go back to the crowd.
"Harry? One more thing," Mummy says, and he turns back around.
"Yes?"
"I... well... I really need your help."
"My help."
"Yes, your help. I found somebody! Somebody who thinks they can find Draco. But... he's made a condition."
"Oh, bloody hell."
"If you pardon him, completely and totally, he'll help."
"What did he do? Who is it?"
"For me, Harry. For me and Rose, will you do this? Listen to what he has to say, and consider it?"
Harry is quiet for a minute. "Fine, I'll talk to him. Floo me when you need me, okay?"
"Thank you, Harry. You really are the hero of the Wizarding World."
They hug again. And I walk over and join in on the hug.
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