A/N: As always, thanks to SometimeSelkie, my beta.

Thanks so much for the awesome response last chapter. It made my birthday extra special to get so many reviews. Sorry for the delay.

The Safe House

Chapter Forty

After Ginny returned to her seat, the next order of business was for Pansy Parkinson to comment on Draco's assertion that he had risked his position as a spy in order to help her escape her life within Voldemort's followers. She entered the circle of the courtroom floor. She looked stunning in her bright blue robes with her perfectly done hair and face. She levelled her cool gaze at Harry as she crossed to the seat next to Draco, and then she winked at George, who was sitting just behind the Dream Team.

"Miss Parkinson, it is well-known that you have been a part of the Order of the Phoenix for several years. Could you please tell us about your life before joining the Order and what led you to leave Voldemort's side?"

"My father was a Death Eater and my mother was a supporter of Voldemort. I had been raised to believe in his cause and to support the supremacy of purebloods. Once I left Hogwarts, I became less sheltered from the reality of what my father was participating in. I started questioning our side after witnessing some particularly gruesome torture sessions in my own home. Of course, no one knew about my secret thoughts of escape except for a very few close friends. It soon became evident that my duty would be to marry and produce more pureblood witches and wizards. I would have been married to Draco, but he had outright refused to be betrothed to anyone. My father was determined to have me married and encouraged me to start dating Theodore Nott, which I did. Theo was … he was very violent, and I finally decided that I wanted out."

"And did you contact Draco Malfoy to help you leave?"

Pansy looked back over at Harry and flashed him a fake smile. He had cornered her the day before just outside of the courtroom. She had been surprised to see him approach her with a small grin on his face.

~.~

"What do you want, Harry?" She looked past Harry and saw George watching her closely. She gave him a small smile and then turned back to her former lover and sighed.

"How have you been, Pans? It's been a long time …"

"Yes, it has. And I was hoping that it would be longer."

"Come on. I really am sorry I blew up at you that day –"

"You scared Teddy." She placed her hands on her hips. "He thought you were going to hurt me."

"I would never have hurt you, and I've seen Teddy several times since then. He's fine."

"Harry, you have hurt me." She huffed loudly and squared her shoulders. "And you may have convinced a seven-year-old child that everything is okay, but I'm not so easily won over." She paused and took a deep, calming breath. "What exactly do you want from me, Harry?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that … I'm just sorry." He stepped closer to her and held her cold gaze.

"Whatever."

"Pans," he pleaded. He took another step towards her, and she crossed her arms. "I need to release you."

She shook her head and gave a low laugh. "Oh, I think we're well past that."

"No," he said calmly, "I need to release you from the Silencing Charm."

"Don't want it to be brought up tomorrow? Of course, can't have anyone questioning your choices, can we?"

"Listen, if you want me to do it tomorrow in court, I will. But I just wanted you to know that I understand why you left me, why you helped him. You have been protecting an old friend. Someone who you felt indebted to."

She finally looked back into his eyes. "Harry, I wish you really did understand. He's not who you think he is."

"I'm not here to argue about Malfoy. Can we do this or not?"

"Fine."

They shared a quick look, both angry at each other, and then he lifted the spell.

"Goodbye, Harry." She quickly stalked past him and allowed George to lead her away.

~.~

The Chief Warlock repeated, "Miss Parkinson? Did you contact Draco Malfoy to help you leave?"

"Yes. And he helped me as quickly as he could."

"Please tell us how you came to be in the Order."

"I had seen Draco meet with Harry once. And it was a total fluke. I had been hiding from Theo and had gone to a Muggle pub for a few hours. I was surprised when I saw Draco entering the pub, but I was stunned when I saw him walk over to Harry, who I had not noticed before. They sat talking very quietly for a few minutes. Draco looked very frustrated and gestured to the room. I thought that he saw me for a moment, but he hadn't. He left just as quickly as he had come, and I knew that I would be able to go to him for help. It was only a few weeks later that I was able to leave, with his help, and join the Order."

"Why join the Order? Why not just go into hiding?"

"I wish I could have. I wanted to get my mother out as well. She would never have agreed to live as a Muggle, which was about the only way I knew of getting out. My father controlled all of our money. I had absolutely nothing that I could live on if I walked away. And I was terrified of Theo. I was convinced that he was going to kill me, but he," she paused and closed her eyes for a moment. "He followed me. I was so stupid; I said too much to Draco in public, and Theo found out that I was running. He killed my mother that night, and the next night, Draco took me directly to Harry."

"Thank you."

Blaise stood up and, after checking with the Chief Warlock, he turned to Pansy and asked, "Why have you not spoken about this before, Miss Parkinson?"

"Draco was Harry's spy. At that point, I was the only one who knew that for sure, and Harry could not really trust me yet so he bound me to silence. We had no idea that Draco was never going to be seen again. I had no connections to the Death Eaters after I left, so I didn't even know that Draco had been accused of helping me. I thought Theo killed my mother because he was angry, not because he had figured out that I was leaving. It wasn't until much later that we discovered what had happened to Draco, or at least that he had also disappeared."

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson."

The Chief Warlock addressed Harry. "Mr. Potter, can you verify her statement?"

Harry stood up and looked straight ahead at Blaise Zabini. Blaise tilted his head, indicating that he would not let this go if he denied it. Finally, Harry gritted his teeth and spoke evenly, "Yes. I bound Miss Parkinson to silence in order to protect the identity of my spy. At that point, I believed Malfoy to be working for the Order."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. We will be hearing the rest of your testimony tomorrow morning." And with that, the Chief Warlock stood up, signalling the end of the session. The guards escorted Draco away from the room, and then everyone began filing out of the courtroom.

Harry sat back down in his seat, reliving the moment that Ginny had proudly showed the court her pregnant belly. He watched her and Pansy smiling at one another, and he couldn't understand how the two of them had become friends. Narcissa joined the other two witches and kissed Ginny's cheek, placing her hand on Ginny's baby bump. Harry frowned as he watched them leaving the court, following the exit out which Malfoy had been led. He knew that the court would allow a few minutes for them to be together, and he felt his anger beginning to boil as he replayed the Wizengamot's decision to acknowledge their marriage.

Hermione and Ron had stayed next to Harry. They could see him watching Ginny across the room. The two of them had already planned on speaking with Harry later that evening, but after hearing Pansy's statement, Hermione was ready to confront her friend right away. She had always suspected that Malfoy had helped Pansy. It was what the Death Eaters believed to be true, and it is what many of the Order members had been told by the captured Death Eaters. Knowing that Draco had been Harry's spy had only confirmed this in her mind. As she watched the other witch interact with Malfoy and she remembered Pansy's grief over his death, she couldn't help but wonder why he would send his friend to the Order immediately after he had betrayed them.

Hermione gently placed her hand on Harry's shoulder before saying, "Harry? We need to talk with you. Can we go somewhere private? We can go back to Grimmauld Place if you like."

He shot her an angry look at disrupting his thoughts and quickly stood up. "See you there in a minute." He stormed out of the room and left his two friends behind.

ooo

Ginny rushed into the holding room where Draco was waiting. The Auror guards had yet to bind him to the seat. "Please, can you just let him hold me for a minute?" she begged the two men.

They shared a look, and the older one nodded quickly.

Draco practically jumped from their grip and took Ginny into his arms. Because of the trial, he had not been able to have his normal visitation with his family for the last several days.

He smiled proudly at his wife and placed his hand on her belly. "You were brilliant today."

"I was so nervous."

"When you opened your robes, I almost lost it."

"Thanks. Pansy and Blaise came up with that. She even put a Concealing Charm on my outer robes just to make sure it wasn't obvious. Wanted to go for the big reveal and everything."

"I wondered about that. You look so beautiful."

"I love you." She started to cry, and he held her close to his chest.

He kissed her sweetly. "I love you. Forever, Ginevra."

The older guard coughed quietly and indicated that Draco should take his seat.

Draco quickly kissed Ginny one more time and then dropped down and kissed her belly before walking over to the chair. The younger guard quickly performed the Binding Spell on Draco and then stood at the door with his partner. After a few minutes, Andromeda Tonks appeared behind them, carrying Thuban.

"Excuse me, I have Draco's son again today." She smiled warmly at the men she had met the day before. They stepped aside, and she placed Thuban down so that he could amble over to his parents.

"Hi, Snitch!" Ginny held her arms out to the happy toddler and picked him up. She carried him over to Draco and started to place him on his daddy's lap.

"No!" Thuban squirmed away from Ginny, and she sat him back down on the floor.

"Thuban, come to Daddy. I want to see you." Draco's voice was commanding, but he smiled down at his son.

Thuban eyed his father cautiously and then grinned after a moment. He climbed up on Draco's lap and gave him a hug and kiss. "Hi, Daddeeee!"

"Hi, Thuban. Have you been a good boy today?"

Thuban nodded his head and hugged Draco again.

Ginny sat back down and sighed. "He's been wearing me out. He's so fast, Draco. And he's so stubborn, insisting on doing everything himself. I don't know what happened to my little baby."

"I can't imagine where he would get his stubbornness from," Draco drawled as he carefully balanced his son with his bound arms.

"To what are you referring, dearest?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that his mother locked herself in her room for three days because she thought we were in a fight. Or how about when she nearly blew herself up trying to make a new potion? Or maybe I'm thinking about that time we were on the broom and she – "

"Draco Malfoy! Don't you dare finish that sentence! Thuban can understand you. And we are not alone, in case you forgot." She blushed as she glanced discreetly to the guards.

"Love, I will never forget that night." He chuckled as he heard one of the guards snicker. Her pink cheeks darkened and she tried to glare at him, but she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face as she, too, remembered that night.

They only had a few more minutes to be together, and they both knew that the next day would almost certainly be the end of the trial. Ginny didn't want to think about what that could mean. If Draco were found guilty, he would be sent to Azkaban. She wasn't sure when she would see him again if that were to happen. The guards informed them that it was time, and Ginny called for Andromeda. Thuban happily kissed his father goodbye and joined his great-aunt in the hall. Ginny felt her eyes tearing up as she stood in front of Draco.

"It's going to be okay. We will get through this, Ginevra. Look how well today went. We're officially married again. That's good. I didn't coerce you into doing anything. That's also good. Just one more decision to get through."

"Yes, but that decision affects everything else. If they don't believe you were the Order's spy, then they will try you for everything you did as a Death Eater." She dropped her head and tried to fight her tears.

"Ginevra, look at me." He gave her a tight smile. "Sit, I need to feel you once more." She carefully sat on his lap, and he leaned his head into her chest. "No matter what happens tomorrow, I wouldn't change anything because it led me to you. I need you to think like that, okay? For our children. No matter what happens to me, they need to never feel like they were a mistake. Promise me that."

She wrapped her arms around him. "I promise. I love you." She wiped her tears. "No matter what they say, I love you."

ooo

By the time Ron and Hermione entered the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, Harry was drinking his second glass of Scotch. He looked up at them and shrugged before downing the last of his drink. "Let's have it out. I can tell you want to lecture me about something, Hermione."

Ron sat down with a thud. "Back off, Harry. We have some questions for you, and we have something to tell you."

Hermione joined her husband and reached into her pocket, pulling out the Blood Stone. "Molly found this stone in the kitchen after Ron broke Ginny's wedding vial."

"So? You said the vial breaking didn't mean anything, that it was just old pureblood lore. Not like it matters anyway. Weren't you listening today? The bloody Wizengamot has declared their marriage legal. Oh, and let's not forget that she is carrying his child again!"

"Oh, Harry. I told you to expect their marriage to be upheld."

"Listen, mate, we just wanted you to know the truth." Ron gave him a pointed look. "I'm willing to tell you the truth even though it might hurt because you deserve to know it."

Harry poured himself another glass and lazily looked across the table. "What are you yammering about now?"

Hermione took the glass from his hand and gave him the stone. "This stone was created within the vial. It was made from their blood, Harry. It means that not only are they bound to each other forever, but that they actually love each other. He truly loves her, and if we can trust what the Healer said today, Ginny, our Ginny, really did fall in love with him."

Harry stared at the sparkling red stone in his hand for a moment. "I don't care what anyone says!" He stood up and threw the stone against the wall and then pointed his wand at it, firing several curses at the stone. Nothing happened. He stood over the red gem, his wand arm limp at his side, and fell to his knees. "I don't care. I love her and she loves me. She loves me. I know she does. He's changed her. He had to. He had to have. She loves … She loves…" He started sobbing into his hands.

Hermione and Ron quickly ran to their broken friend and pulled him into their arms. She whispered into his ear, "I know you love her, Harry. Ginny knows that you love her. But you have to let her go. You need to let her go. We love you so much, but we cannot let you continue like this."

Ron gripped the weeping man tightly. "Harry, I know you're hurting right now, but we have to ask you something. We need to know the truth. What really happened with Malfoy?"

Author notes:

Thanks so much for reading. I know this chapter is short, but it is where it needed to end. Only one more to go!

What did you think about Pansy's testimony? And what about Harry's breakdown? And what about that Draco and Ginny scene? I hate to say it, but that was the last real scene with the two of them.