“It looks awful.”

Ginny ran her hands over the bed, smoothing out the wrinkles in the crimson duvet, and ignored the comment. She straightened up, turning on the spot to admire the fully furnished bedroom.

“Honestly, Ginny, it looks like Godric threw up in here,” Scorpius sniggered.

She threw him a dirty look over her shoulder. “I forgot how lovely it was to have you around. You are so like your father.”

The boy smiled cheekily. “But really, was all of this necessary?” he asked, petting the lion statue on one of the nightstands.

“Out, you! I don’t need any more of your comments,” Ginny exclaimed laughingly, pushing Scorpius through the door.

“When are the Potters arriving, anyway?” He ducked under her arm and ran back into the room, launching himself onto the nearest bed.

Ginny blew out a frustrated sigh, tucking her hair behind her ears before letting her hands fall to her hips. “Thursday, you little Slytherin monster. Now get out!”

He shot her a pout reminiscent of his father’s and strutted out of the room. “Well you just tell them I can’t bloody wait,” he called as he left. “It’s been far too long since we left Hogwarts.”

“Three sodding weeks,” Ginny muttered under her breath. “Far too long.” She turned back to remake the bed her stepson had ruined.

“Oh, dear Merlin.” Ginny sighed and looked up to see Draco standing in the doorway, a wicked grin on his face. “When’s Gryffindor arriving, then?”

Ginny threw a pillow at him. “You and your son!”

He chuckled, tossing the pillow back on the bed. “The room looks good, Gin.”

“Well, thank you,” she replied with mock stiffness. “I only hope the boys-”

“The boys will like it just fine,” he spoke over her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her shoulder. “I love you.”

She turned, taking in his face, lit up with happiness. His gray eyes were bright and crinkled at the corners from his smile. She pushed his hair, which had fallen across his forehead, to the side and smiled back at him. “I love you, too.”

“That’s a lot of red, Mum,” Lily declared from the doorway, cradling her kitten against her chest.

Ginny sighed heavily. “So I’ve heard.”

“How’s Argencio?” Draco asked, bending down to examine the kitten.

“Brilliant,” Lily replied, beaming at him. “Although I don’t think he likes Scorpius much.”

“Well good, because I don’t like him either!” came the reply from down the corridor.

“Only your daughter would give her kitten a name because of a Latin root,” Ginny remarked playfully, swatting at Draco.

Lily smirked up at her parents. “Are we going to pick the boys up on Thursday?”

“Oh, no,” Ginny replied, twisting her hands anxiously. “No, they’re arriving by Floo. I just hope they don’t get lost…”

“They won’t get lost,” Draco told her.

“They might!” Scorpius called from his room. “You don’t know Albus Potter like I do.”

“Scorpius Hyperion!” Draco roared, storming from the room.

Ginny gave a nervous titter, sinking down to the bed. Lily sighed, rising from the floor, and plopped the kitten into her mother’s lap.

“Don’t worry, Mum. No matter how many lions you stuff into this room, the boys will probably be buggers. So there’s really no use worrying about it.”

Ginny furrowed her brow at this, turning to her daughter. “And you’re all right with that?”

Lily shrugged. “I have to be. And anyway, they’ve always been buggers.”

Ginny sighed, tossing another pair of heels back into the heap at the bottom of her closet. Did she really have nothing besides her boots that went with her blue dress? No flats, no heels, no respectable shoes?

“I’ll just find another dress,” she muttered, shimmying out of the first one and letting it fall to the floor.

A replacement proved hard to find, considering she had already tried on half her closet before settling on her blue dress. Ginny had spent twenty minutes pacing her and Draco’s room in her knickers, cursing her irrational behavior and nervous stomach cramps, when the bedroom door creaked open.

Ginny looked up, startled, and sunk to the floor as Draco’s eyes widened at the sight of her. He stood frozen by the door for a moment, and she burst into tears.

“Shh,” he soothed, crouching down beside her on the floor. “Shh. What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” Ginny whispered, trying to swallow her tears. “I don’t really know what’s wrong. I just feel so upset. The boys are coming and what if…?”

“Hey,” he said softly, pulling her into a hug. “It will be fine. The boys will not care what color you painted the room or what outfit you wear. You are their mother, and they love you. And so do I.”

She sniffed, dragging the back of her hand across her face to wipe away tears. Draco tucked a fallen strand of hair behind her ear and brushed his lips against hers.

She leaned in closer, suddenly dizzy by how near he was, and kissed him back. She pressed into him, wrapped up in him, needing to be as close as possible.

“Ginny,” he moaned against her skin, and she tilted her neck as he trailed his lips downward. He slid his hands beneath her and lifted her up in one fluid moment.

Her back was suddenly flat against the bed, and he was over her, kissing her like his life depended on it. His kisses consumed her, crashing against her like waves, and she threw her head back in response.

For a solid half hour, she forgot all about the upcoming visit.

She always enjoyed the sound of her heels slapping on hard floors. Now, as she paced the parlor, the three other Malfoys watching her from the sofa, it made her feel just a little bit empowered.

“Mum?” Lily prompted, sinking farther back into the couch.

“Right. Sorry,” Ginny said, smoothing her hands over her skirt. Her knees were shaking beneath her. “Before the boys get here, I just want to say to you all…”

She paused, turning to look at them. Scorpius looked so much like his dad, sitting upright on the couch with his blond hair smoothed to one side and his hands on the knees of his neatly pressed trousers. Lily smiled encouragingly at her, resting her head on the arm of the couch, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her brother.

And Draco…well, Draco looked absolutely beautiful, staring at her as he had in Paris, a little half smile playing at his lips. He winked at her, his eyes twinkling, and she cleared her throat.

“…that I love you. I know I’ve been crazy this week, and I know I’m nervous, but you’ve all done wonderfully putting up with it.”

Scorpius was smirking teasingly at her, as if he knew exactly what was coming next. She turned back into her pace.

“But my boys are coming today. And I haven’t spent any real time with them in about a year. At least, not where we’ve got on well. So they’re going to be here for a month, and if you could all just please try your hardest to behave, and get along, I would really appreciate it.”

She stopped pacing, halting the tapping shoes to look at them again. They were all smiling at her.

“Of course we’ll do our best, Gin,” Draco replied, rising from the couch to pull her into a hug.

“Yeah, as long as they don’t pull out their wands, I won’t either,” Scorpius drawled, lounging back into the couch alongside Lily.

“Me too!” she peeped.

Draco cleared his throat, looking at his children sternly. They both simply shrugged.

“They’ll be here in half an hour then?” Draco whispered in Ginny’s ear.

She nodded, sinking gratefully into his hug. She heard the children get off the couch behind her and scurry back upstairs. She broke away as Draco stroked her hair, smiling at him weakly.

“I just was going to…”

“…go check on the room,” he finished, smirking at her. “Go ahead.”

She nodded appreciatively and took the stairs two at a time in her heels.

The room was ready. There was really nothing she could do to make it more perfect for the boys. But she circled it anyway, taking in the red walls and bedspreads, a tall bookcase groaning under the weight of literature for Albus and a stack of Quidditch magazines for James. Their names were painted in gold on the headboards, and they each had their own dresser so they wouldn’t have to share.

Ginny sighed, lowering herself into the armchair. She hugged herself tightly, trying to slow her breathing. She hated being so irrational all the time, but…

“Don’t you love us anymore?” Albus’ voice rang loudly in her ears.

She bit her lip, forcing herself not to cry. James was thirteen now. He was a teenager, destined to hate his parents anyway. But how would he treat her now? Now that he had a real reason to hate her.

Ginny sighed again, glancing up at the clock on the wall, and rose from the chair to head back downstairs. Only ten minutes left.

“…what if they’re horrible again?”

Ginny paused at the sound of Lily’s voice, so small and sad. She peeked into the doorway, expecting to see Lily voicing her concerns to Argencio, but it was Scorpius sitting across the room from her daughter.

“I’ll make sure they don’t,” he replied menacingly.

Lily laughed. “You can’t stop them. And you promised Mum you’d behave.”

“And I will. Unless the idiot Potters mess with you. Only I can do that.”

“But Mum…”

“What Ginny doesn’t know won’t hurt her, Lily,” Scorpius said consolingly. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

Ginny hurried down the stairs, her heart aching for her daughter. The thought of Scorpius in a fight with her sons made her stomach clench, but at least she knew he was looking out for Lily.

“You ready?” Draco asked, turning from the fireplace as she marched into the room.

She nodded stiffly, clasping her hands together behind her back. Scorpius and Lily were fast behind her.

“Ready, buggers?” Draco called.

They both smiled at him, falling in line beside Ginny. For five minutes, the four of them stared blankly at the fireplace, waiting for something to appear within the flames.

Ginny heard a harsh knocking on the door in the adjacent foyer and looked curiously at Draco. He shrugged.

“Could you get it?” she asked, a pleading tone in her voice.

He nodded, and she returned her gaze to the fireplace. Vaguely, she heard the front door open and silence follow.

“Draco?” she called. Silence followed. “Draco, who is it?”

When he didn’t answer, she gave the fireplace a last fleeting look before striding to the parlor.

“Draco, who-”

She stopped short, her mouth open at the sight of her sons standing on the doorstep, a white-knuckled hand clapped on each of their shoulders.

“Hello, Potter,” Draco growled finally.

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