A/N: Candy dish filled. :)

The Safe House

Chapter Thirty

Draco sat in the tiny room that was his cell. The room was furnished with a small bed, a bedside cabinet, a set of shelves (presumably for personal items), and a desk and chair. There was a loo with a shower, but the door would only open when he called for an elf, who would then monitor him in the loo. He had been surprised when they had taken him to what had been the Parkinsons' house. He surmised that Pansy had donated the house to the Ministry once her father had been killed. He briefly thought about why Pansy would ever give away her home, but then he remembered Ginny speaking about Potter being in some kind of relationship with the witch. Bastard probably made her feel like it was her duty to the Order.

Thinking about Potter reminded Draco of his morning, as he had spent most of the time in the Ministry with the famous wizard. Harry and Ron had taken Draco into custody, which was easy enough to do considering the Dark Mark shaped scar on his arm and the fact that it had been assumed by many in the Order that he had been a Death Eater since he was sixteen. Acting as a double agent had kept his reputation somewhat clean in the eyes of the general public, but Draco had not been completely free of his duties to the Dark Lord, and he knew that the Ministry could have a case against him. Everything would come down to him proving that he had indeed been working for the Order, which really meant that his fate depended on Potter. After arriving at the Ministry, he was able to more fully appreciate how much Ron Weasley hated him. His brother-in-law had said some terrible things about his sister and his nephew. Even Draco had been shocked to hear his ranting. He was able to surmise that Weasley's hatred was very personal, but Draco had not even seen the man since they had been in Hogwarts together. The only thing he did know was that Potter did not want his friend involved in the case.

~.~

Harry sat across the table from Draco, eyeing him with suspicion. "We will be giving you Veritaserum during the trial, but I will give you the opportunity to explain yourself now. I advise you to be honest now as it will help you when being sentenced by the Wizengamot."

Draco leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs at the ankles underneath the table. He looked calm and unaffected by the two men glowering at him. "I have nothing to conceal, as you well know, Potter. I have been in hiding since the last time I saw you. Whatever I may have been involved in during the war was during my time working with the Order, which began in August of 2001."

At this, Ron stepped away from the wall and leaned over the table, putting his angry red face as close as he could to the reclined Slytherin. "You betrayed the Order! You were working for him all along! It was because of you – "

Harry yanked Ron back from the table and yelled in his face, "You need to calm down, Ron! We can't afford to do anything wrong." He gripped the redhead by his shoulders and levelled his gaze at him. "I am asking you to trust me."

The two stood for a moment, but Ron was not calming down so Harry walked him out of the room. Draco could hear more yelling in the hall and was able to make out that Ron had been taken off the case. He smirked to himself and waited for the so-called interrogation to continue.

Harry returned and waved his wand quickly across the room. He leaned over the table, taking the place of his friend. "I will prove that you have been working against us, and when I do, Ginny will want nothing to do with you. You say that you're married? Whatever you have told her to believe that, won't even matter. The Ministry doesn't acknowledge contracts made under magical influence. And that's exactly what I'm going to prove. You think she will even want to be with you once we let her know what you have been doing?"

Draco had sat up at this point, trying desperately to not let any emotions break through his cool mask. "This is about her, isn't it? And you have actually convinced her family and the Ministry that I was working against them. Is that why you can't have Weasley too close to the case? He might reveal your hand, right? It doesn't matter, Potter. Even you know that once I'm under Veritaserum, your whole case is blown." He slowly smirked at him, enjoying the fire burning in his rival's eyes. "Have you been waiting all this time for her to come running back to you? It's because of you that she was captured that night. It's because of you that she ended up with me. I know how it was between the two of you, how she had ended everything with you months before she came to me."

Harry practically spat in Draco's face. "You don't know anything about me and Ginny. And you have no idea what I would be willing to do to protect her. I was ready to be with her after Voldemort had taken her, been used by him, and had his child. I love her, and I'm going to save her from you. I will be raising your son. He won't even know who you are." He stood up and stormed from the room, waving his wand once again on his way out.

~.~

Draco sighed and leaned his head against the wall of his new room. He was worried about Ginny and Thuban. He wasn't surprised that he hadn't seen them; he didn't think Potter would let her anywhere near him. He hadn't missed how the man had stepped between them and prevented him from saying goodbye to his wife that morning, and Potter had made it perfectly clear at the Ministry that he would be doing everything he could to come between them.

ooo

Ginny had spent a very uncomfortable night at the Burrow. Harry had stopped by and wanted to ask her about her time at the Safe House. She refused to answer any of his questions until he took her to see her husband. She enjoyed watching him flinch each time she referred to Draco as such. He eventually gave up and left her alone the rest of the evening. Her mother continually made efforts to hold the baby, but Ginny had quickly taken Thuban from her father when they had joined the others, and she had refused to let anyone else hold him the rest of the night. Ron and Hermione stayed to eat, but neither one would speak to Ginny. She had caught Hermione glancing at the baby several times throughout the quiet meal, and it made Ginny sad for her sister-in-law. She wanted to talk with her about it, but she knew that they blamed Draco and any kind of discussion involving him would end badly.

When she went to bed, she lay awake for a long time, listening to Thuban's soft breathing. She was having a very difficult time falling to sleep, and in the middle of the night, she decided to go through some of their things that had not been shrunk. She pulled out some of her wedding items. It gave her comfort to look at the bowls, the flower petals, the wreath, and the vial. To her, this was all the proof she would ever need. She rested her head on her knees and remembered how perfect her wedding day had been.

Slowly, Ginny opened her eyes to the bright sun. She felt something poking in her back, and for the briefest moment, Ginny thought Draco was trying to wake her up. Then she realized that she was lying on the floor of her old bedroom. She rolled over and picked up the vial from her wedding that had been lying beneath her. She must have fallen asleep whilst going through their things. Her body ached, and she slowly pulled herself up. She stood facing the window, wondering how early it was, and rubbed her sore back. After stretching her stiff muscles and yawning, she turned to the cot to check on Thuban.

Her heart nearly stopped beating when she saw the empty baby's bed. She began hyperventilating and immediately ran to the door. For a split second, she expected it to be locked, but surprisingly, it wasn't. She started to run down the back stairs towards the sound of voices in the kitchen, but something told her to not let them hear her coming, so she changed direction and went towards the front stairs at the other end of the hall. She stood against the wall at the landing for a moment, trying to calm herself down. Finally, after a few deep breaths, she crept down the stairs and listened to the conversation and for Thuban. She could hear her mother, Hermione, and Ron.

Ron stood the closest to the kitchen door. "How can we even be sure that he is hers? If Malfoy has been playing with her mind, she could believe anything. He sure doesn't look like her at all."

Hermione spoke quickly. "Molly, I promise we won't hurt him. He is completely innocent in this, even if he is a Malfoy."

Molly was holding the baby, and she ignored her daughter-in-law, speaking to the baby. "Thuban, I wish you looked like Ginny. Sweet boy, I don't want to scare you… Ron, what did you find out about the marriage?"

"It's listed. Took some time to find it, since she wouldn't give us a date. But Harry says that once we prove he had her under a spell, it won't count."

Hermione added, "This just proves that he's been lying to her. There's no way they were trapped anywhere, alone, if they have been legally married. Besides, the specialist will be coming here tomorrow to work with Ginny. She says it may take a few sessions to uncover what has happened to her. Until then, proving that he is not her child will at least force her to admit that Malfoy has lied to her."

Molly tilted her head and looked down at the baby. She stared into his big, grey eyes. She remembered Arthur commenting on his mouth looking like Ginny's, thus looking like her very own. She smiled and then tickled Thuban, causing him to giggle softly. When he smiled, she could see it, too. Her heart sped up as she started to think that this truly was her daughter's son. "There are some old ceremonies, Hermione."

"What ceremonies?"

"Pureblood rituals, things that they don't teach in school."

Ron butted in. "Mum, no one knows those rituals anymore. This was the perfect alibi for him, and that's all that it is. Now, let us test the baby so we can move forward in the case."

Ginny stood in the hall, clutching the wedding vial in her hands. She knew that the test they would perform would require a small amount of blood from Thuban, but she also knew this may be her only opportunity to use the Floo. Her instincts were screaming at her to run into the kitchen and take her child, but another part of her mind, the survival part, was thinking that she needed to find a way out of the Burrow, especially before some stranger came in to feed her more lies about Draco. Before she could give in to her emotions, she ran to the sitting room and threw the powder into the fireplace, softly calling, "Weasleys' Wizards Flat".

She stepped through the fire and looked around the familiar flat. "George! George!" She ran to each room and realized that he was not there. Worried about being caught, she quickly grabbed a piece of parchment from the desk and scribbled a quick note explaining what was happening. After leaving it propped on the table, she Floo'd back to her son.

Once back in the Burrow, Ginny could hear Thuban's cries and her mother's voice trying to soothe him. Suddenly, the kitchen went completely quiet, and she knew that someone had performed a Silencing Charm. Her instinct to protect her child completely took over, and she bolted across the sitting room and burst into the kitchen.

"What are you doing to my son?" she screamed at the three adults. Thuban lunged towards his mother, tears running down his face, and Molly almost dropped him. Ginny ran to him and scooped him into her arms. "I will never forgive you! Never!"

Hermione held up a small vial of blood. "Ginny, we didn't hurt him. I promise. We just needed to make sure he really is your son."

"Go ahead then! Do the damned spell!" She held her arm out. "Do it! He's mine!" Thuban was clutching his mother's shirt and crying into her neck. She started to rock him back and forth, all the while keeping her one arm extended to the others.

Ron took the vial from Hermione, crossed the room and held his wand to Ginny's arm, grabbing her roughly. He traced a thin line along his sister's arm, drawing blood and letting it drip into the vial. He threw her arm back at her without healing the cut.

Molly quickly took Ginny's arm and healed it, frowning at her son. All of them watched as Hermione performed the spell on the vial. It only took a few minutes, but the blood turned clear, signifying the positive match.

Hermione slanted her eyes at Ginny, and her face became slightly red. "He's her son."

"I told you that I know what has been happening!"

Ron turned to her. "You couldn't keep your legs together, could you? You actually enjoyed being his little whore!"

Hermione stepped between the two siblings. "Ron, he had already brainwashed her by then. The baby is just a year old. She was with him for months before she was pregnant. It doesn't change anything; the marriage will be annulled, and he will go to prison." She turned to Ginny. "There's a condition called Stockholm syndrome, where a prisoner starts to become attached to their captor. We believe that is partly what has happened to you. Considering the amount of time you have spent with Malfoy and his ability to use Dark magic against you, it makes perfect sense for you to feel the way you do. Thuban is your child, but you are not bound to Malfoy. You can break free from him, Ginny."

Ginny started laughing. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Hermione. I know you think you're always right, but you actually don't have a clue." She pulled the wedding vial from her pocket. "We love each other. We are married, and this is the vial from our ceremony. We did the Pureblood Binding Ritual. Do you even know what that is? Of course, you don't. Well, it's real and it's forever."

Ron grabbed the vial from her hand and smashed it to the floor. "I don't care what load of rubbish he sold you. We know what he really is, Ginny. And soon you will, too."

Ginny had instinctively jumped away from the shattering glass, sheltering Thuban from any more harm. She stared at what had been one of the few keepsakes from her wedding. Her heart was racing, and she wanted to drop to her knees and cry. She started shaking her head no, staring at the pieces of the broken vial, when her mother spoke the exact thought that she was trying desperately to suppress.

"Ginny, dear, that vial shouldn't have broken if the ceremony had worked."

Ginny felt her heart breaking, and before she began to cry in front of them, she fled back up to her room.

ooo

George walked down the long hall at the Ministry of Magic that led to Ron and Harry's office in the Auror department. They had rarely used the office during the war, but Ron had informed him that they would be returning to their "normal" jobs that week. George had not been back to visit Narcissa since he retrieved his Pensieve. After the shocking discovery on Sunday, he decided to give the family some time to enjoy Draco's return. He still couldn't believe that his little sister had married the former Slytherin and had a child with him. But he had seen the love between them, and he was happy for her. Even more, he was overjoyed that she had not suffered the terrible fate they had all feared.

Deciding that a couple of days should be enough time for the two men to calm down, George had left his shop after the lunch rush and headed straight to visit his little brother and his honorary brother. He knocked on the door and entered after hearing Ron's voice bark out, "Come in."

George walked into the office with a smile on his face, mentally prepared to be attacked by the brother he had stunned. "Hey, Ron. I thought we could talk for a few. Is Harry here?"

Ron just stared at George, deep in thought, and then he smirked. "You just missed him. I had a lead on a case that he needed to follow up on."

"Oh, well, I wanted to talk to you mostly anyway. Although, I promised Teddy that I'd bring Harry to him. You think you could remind him that he hasn't seen Teddy since the war ended? He really misses his Uncle Harry."

"You've got quite cosy with them, haven't you?" he asked innocently.

"I did live with Narcissa and Pansy for almost two months. And I've seen Teddy a lot more lately."

"Really?" Ron replied simply as he sat up and cursed himself for not thinking about George's connection to Malfoy's family.

"Listen, I just wanted to apologize for Stunning you the other day."

"It's fine. I probably would've made things a lot worse." Ron gestured for George to sit. "Have you seen them since Sunday?"

"Who? Ginny? No, I figured Narcissa would want some time with her son. And since I promised Teddy the next time I would come, I'd have Harry with me... Well, you can see how that might not go over so well."

"Yeah, he's probably not going to want to go over there any time soon… George," he paused and surveyed his older brother. "We think that Malfoy was still working for Voldemort from within the house they were living in."

"What? But Ginny said they couldn't leave."

Ron smiled wryly. "She couldn't leave, but we're not so sure that he couldn't." He leaned over his desk, resting on his folded arms. He looked George straight in the eyes as he said, "We think that Malfoy being with her was part of Voldemort's plan, that having his baby was part of the plan."

George let out a low breath and then shook his head subtly. "Why wouldn't Voldemort do it himself? He had a body. And I don't think Draco would ever consent to letting his child be experimented on by anyone, especially Voldemort."

Ron frowned and leaned back into his chair. "Draco? Really, George, I know we're all so happy to think that nothing bad happened to Ginny, but we can't ignore the fact that she has been alone with a Death Eater for over two years. He cannot be trusted."

"But he was our spy, right? Harry trusted him."

"Harry was wrong."

The two brothers sat in silence for a moment, each thinking over the implications of what had been said.

George tilted his head to the side to catch Ron's attention. "Is this about something else? I know you hated him in school, but you act like he did something to you."

"You mean besides almost killing me in sixth year? Just stay out of this, George. Please. There are things you don't know about, and you're going to have to trust that I want what's best for our family."

"So do I." He stood and watched as his brother held his gaze, jaw locked. "Okay, Ron. I trust you. I will see you soon."

Author notes: So much love to all the amazing reviewers after last chapter. I was rather terrified of getting no response considering how terrible the storyline is right now. Please keep the love coming my way! I promise there will be some good to come soon.

SometimeSelkie, thanks so much as usual. I added a bit to this last scene. I hope you approve. I thought it needed a little more detail.

So now what do you think of George? A lot of you are holding out for him to save the day. And what about the broken vial?