“We can’t leave him like this”

Draco turned to look at the girl beside him like she was crazy but Ginny didn’t care, she knew what she had to do.

“Why?” he asked, still trying to process the tragedy they were now a part of “You know how it goes, they will just send Potter to his muggle family, we would do better to just get out before they think we have something do with this”

“You have no idea” she responded now looking into his eyes “His aunt and uncle are awful, they can’t be trusted with him, I won’t let them near him”

He tried to argue but she turned to him, fire in her eyes “We couldn’t save his family, we can’t let him go to the Dursleys to be mistreated,” she raised her wand to his face “The question is, what side will you be on, Malfoy? What is your choice?”

Draco groaned, choices, choices, choices, he was sick of them, he was free after a year of hell and with at least thirteen years of freedom in sight, and he was still required to make choices for things he didn’t ask for. Dumbledore had offered him choices and had died by a man he thought he could trust, the Dark Lord had given him none and still promised death if he made the wrong one, and to him, those were all the ones that didn’t benefit him, so not a lot of margin for error.

Now she asked him to make another choice.

“There is nothing for me out there” he finally said.

“Then run if you think that will keep you safe!” she screamed at him, and yet, she lowered her wand “But if you stay, I need to be able to trust you”

She moved to the crib and picked the baby Harry, soothing him the best that she could.

He had no need to stay and follow her, he could leave, never see her again, never have to be part of the Dark Lord senseless war again, he had no reason to choose her, to choose them. All he needed to do was leave.

With Harry in her arms now calm, she turned to Malfoy and saw him taking off his uniform sweater. Her confusion must’ve been apparent cause he answered with a shrug “It’s going to be cold” before using the cloth as a makeshift blanket.

She looked at him surprised, Ginny truly expected to turn around and find herself alone, expected even less to be helped.

Draco rolled his eyes at the way she looked at him “I’m not that cruel that I would just let a child freeze”

Ginny smiled despite all, they could figure themselves out later, now it was about Harry.

“If you truly want to avoid sending Potter to his muggle family, we will need to go now, others will be here soon, and not just your side”

She nodded and they disappeared into the night.

The sun appeared in the sky, marking the dawn with bright yellow and light pink hues, they had been walking for hours, putting as much distance from Godric’s Hollow as they could, glad that Harry had decided to sleep making their journey thankfully silent.

Draco decided to break that silence and ask the girl next to him, “You know the muggles better than I, any idea of what to do next?” all while looking around at the beginning of muggles morning routines. They didn’t really know where to go, but soon the wizarding world would flood the street of even the muggle communities and they couldn’t be found with the boy who lived.

“Hermione once told me that there is, uh, help for families in need but I’m not sure where that would be, she went on a tangent about the muggle government and lost me halfway through” Ginny couldn’t help blushing at that admission, it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t have known at the time that she would be one day trying to hide in the muggle world with a toddler.

“Brilliant” she could hear the sarcasm in his voice and glared at him.

They continued to walk, ignoring their bodies pleas for rest when Draco seemed to spot something in the early morning commuters and decided to push her into the alley, she was about to protest but he quickly pointed to the street, where a group of wizards were celebrating and only when they were out of sight did Draco and Ginny breathe again.

“We need to find some place to stay” Draco stated firmly, hand in his dishevelled hair, so far from the carefully maintained style in Hogwarts Ginny had to hold back a laugh, oh how the mighty had fallen, she was so tempted to tell him so.

“We don’t have money” she decided to tell him instead, their fragile alliance more important.

The blond reached the into his pocket and took out a silver bracelet “My mother gave me this for my sixteenth birthday, silver since I wasn’t of age yet, I’m not sure what it’s worth but it’s pure silver, weighty, I just need to know how muggle money works”

“Oh, that I know,” she said brightening “It’s actually not very difficult once you get the basics”

They smiled at each other, a tired smile, their complicated partnership allowing a moment of levity.

Harry chose that moment to wake up.

Ginny turned to the child in her arms, she had a big family, she thought she’d be able to figure this out, she was supposed to rock him back and forth, maybe, possibly, hopefully. Draco just stared at the two unsure, he was an only child, one of Hagrid monsters seemed preferable to the screaming baby.

And screaming babies gather attention.

“Are you okay?”

The woman that approached them looked quite older, perhaps mid-fifties, dressed in muggle clothing which was a relief to them, her face a mix of curiosity and concern.

“We can handle --” Draco dismissed but Ginny stopped him.

She smiled at the woman and in her fakest pitiful tone asked “Could you help us? We don’t have any money and nowhere to go”

“What are you doing?” he whispered but Ginny only glared at him.

Draco rolled his eyes, they would have to ask someone eventually anyway. Really, it was having to mix with the muggles that he couldn’t handle, but they couldn’t go to the wizarding world, every wizard and witch would be looking for Potter very soon and if they found them, the question of why he and Ginny were at Godric’s Hollow would come up and the mark on his arm made him very much persona non grata, so muggles it was.

He wanted to groan.

The woman meanwhile looked from one to the other, taking in their ragged appearance, the screaming child in a makeshift blanket, to Ginny surprise, she... cried?

“Oh, you poor dears, thrown out of your house?” she asked gently, a hand on Ginny shoulder meant to be comforting “There are terrible parents like this, throwing young couples out just like you”

The woman commiserated the cruelty of those situations while Ginny and Draco looked at her in a mix of hilarity and pure terror. Not sure what was more troubling, the idea of her thinking they had an unplanned pregnancy or that they were in love.

Choosing to focus on the disgust and take the opportunity, Draco then said “Yeah, something like that”

That did the trick, taking the older woman out of her rant she turned to look with commiseration at them “We can go to the nearby grocery for food and then you two can sleep in my hotel room, you don’t seem to have slept in a while”

“We can’t pay you back” he wanted to make sure the woman understood their circumstance, it would do no good to have an angry muggle demanding compensation later.

“No need for that boy, what kind of person would I be if I just left you two alone here” she explained and although Draco continued to eye her with suspicion, that seemed to just make her beam at him “Oh, how adorable, a young man so protective of his family”

Once she turned her back, Ginny and Draco shared a look of exasperation, might as well follow in her delusions.

The grocery was the first time Draco ever saw a muggle store, everything so strange to him, the prices he couldn’t understand, the strange packets the woman put in the metal basket at her side, and what appeared to be disgusting goo, supposedly for children. At least he didn’t have to eat that.

After his first glimpse at paying with muggle money and exiting the store, the woman led them to one of those muggle vehicles, Ginny being far more comfortable than him when they got in. He kept track of where they were going, he had no doubt that they could overpower any muggle but he rather not have to and attract attention to them. The woman however seemed to be every bit the helpful strange she claimed to be and they followed her two stairs up into a small but comfortable room.

The attention reverted to the baby, first it started with a convoluted story about car accidents to explain the scar, the red-head had a way with words and he had to admit it was even amusing, but then Ginny and the woman started talking about changing diapers and he decided to run.

“I will take a shower!”

The woman smiled and gave him one of the packets from before, apparently these had male clothing inside, he thanked her and ignoring Ginny glare, he went to the only other room, finally able to wash away the grime of that terrible day.

The clothes were egregious but they would do for now, he went out and the woman smiled at him, is she always smiling? Draco thought, turning then to Ginny, she first glared at him before faking a saccharine smile that scared him more than the glare.

“Good then, now that you are here, love,” she said emphasizing the word with distaste “I can go take a bath”

Of course, you damn harpy, he cursed as she handed him a much calmer, and sporting a new onesie, Potter. They stared at each other, unsure of how to act with the other.

“He has already been changed and fed, thankfully he was hungry and made no fuss, you were there for a while” the woman offered sympathetically.

Yeah, because I wanted to avoid this, but he couldn’t say that, opting to instead observe the baby, not only was he calmer, he looked to be about to fall asleep again.

“You don’t hold him very often, do you?” she asked him, amused with a slight reproach.

“No, usually W-well she is the one to... do this,” he said lamely, having to change the frase mid-sentence. The woman shook her head but didn’t lose her smile, instead she came closer and showed him how to hold the sleepy Potter.

At once, the new comfortable position lulled the child back to sleep, his hand holding on to Draco’s clothing and it hit him then.

They were about to take care of that child, they would have to be the ones responsible for him now, it scared Draco, made him want to run away, but it also held a sense of familiarity, out of that room, away from there was a world he had no part in, one he’d have to face alone, but to stay, that was a mystery he could live with them, with Potter, with Weasley.

He knew then that he’d choose them again.

The older woman, for all her early eccentricity, seemed to pick up his feelings perfectly this time.

“How-” he started but she only shook her head.

“You don’t owe me nothing darling”

It was different, receiving without pressure to pay back, far from what he had learned from his father.

Draco realized then that he didn’t know her name “Thank you, uh, miss...?”

“I sure am many years away from miss, but that was nice to hear,” she laughed “I’m Maeve Rees, darling”

“Thank you, Mrs. Rees” he said truthfully.

“Everything alright?”

The reappearance of Ginny thankfully distracted the woman from asking his name, once they were alone he’d have to talk to Ginny about new names, he would have to give up the name Malfoy, as much as he didn’t want to.

“How little faith” he rolled his eyes, she raised her eyebrow at him, she wasn’t wrong after all but he chose to ignore that detail.

Mrs. Rees let a small laugh and instead of picking a side, chose to direct them to sleep.

Just like Harry had done before, as soon as they were comfortably on the bed they fell asleep. Finally resting in their new world.