Title: Once Upon an Alternate Reality
Author: Wyld Rose
E-Mail: wildflowerxv@aol.com
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I only claim the plot. JK Rowling owns the rest. Denethor & Tatheryn were created by Sarah Sei No Ai. This story is the sequel to To Live Forever, so it might be good to at least skim that story to get a jist of who the made-up characters are before reading this. Although I tried to give enough information that it might not be necessary. I hope you enjoy! ^_^
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Chapter 1: Gathering at the Malfoy Manor
Narcissa stared down at the elegant marble gravestone before her. A chilling autumn breeze caught the hood of her emerald cloak and pulled it away from her head, leaving her vacant expression exposed to the young man standing nearby. She shifted her gaze to him and tucked a tendril of flaxen hair behind her ear.
Draco wasn’t watching his mother, or staring at his father’s grave. Instead, he focused unreadable gray eyes at the array of pinks and purples that dappled the sunset sky.
"Go ahead and say goodbye to your father, Draco. We should get going." Narcissa offered Lucius’ grave one last pained glance then pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.
Without fully facing the expensive slab of marble, Draco focused his eyes on the phrase below Lucius Malfoy’s name.
‘All that is mine I carry with me...’
Nothing. Draco thought idly. You had nothing...
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Ginny smiled down to the sleeping patient as she hovered her palm over his forehead. A soft blue glow dripped from her fingertips and seeped into his skin, causing him to feel at ease. She stood and moved to the foot of his bed where his records were kept, and quickly jotted down some information on a piece of parchment.
"You look about ready to deliver!" a matronly witch crooned as she entered the room. Ginny smirked slightly and rubbed her extremely pregnant belly.
"I’ll be happy to get this thing out of me. I can barely walk without waddling," said Ginny, laughing slightly. She adjusted her Mediwizard robes comfortably over her swollen abdomen and left the room.
A young boy passed her by in the hallway, probably on his way to see his father who was a patient in this wing of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He wore the traditional uniform robes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a gold and red badge shimmered over the left side of his chest. Ginny offered the boy a warm smile as she was reminded of her days at Hogwarts...
It wasn’t too long ago that she graduated from Hogwarts. Five years had passed, to be exact, and now she was a head Mediwitch at St. Mungo’s Hospital. Ever since Lord Voldemort was killed and the Death Eaters were depleted of all their power, life had taken a rather unexpected, yet peaceful, turn.
Rubbing her belly absently as she went to check on another patient, she wondered idly what her baby would look like. Would it be a boy or a girl? Would it have her bright red waves...or the father’s silvery blond strands? She smiled wistfully as her thoughts turned to Draco. She barely concentrated on casting a quick vitals-scan charm on the injured patient as she thought about what kind of father Draco would be.
That was when she noticed the tell tale constricting pain in her abdomen.
Cursing softly, she pressed her hands against her belly and took in a deep breath. Waddling out of the room and into the hallway, she ran into the same matronly Mediwitch as before.
"You jinxed me, Madam O’Riley...I think I’m in labor!" Offering the older witch a half laugh, half-exasperated sigh of dread at the thought of how much pain she would be in soon, she applied pressure to her tummy.
"Oh, blimey...you had better apparate now before it’s too late! I’ll inform the nurses at the Manor..." Madam O’Riley’s wrinkled face was etched with concern as she supported Ginny.
Ginny nodded and did as she was told.
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Raking fingers through his pale blond hair, Draco took a few steps away from his father’s grave. Lucius left all of his fortune and legacy to Draco in his will, including the Malfoy Manor, a few businesses he owned in Knockturn Alley, and a vast array of Dark Arts artifacts. Glancing at his mother, Draco felt somewhat guilty that she was left with nothing but the rights to a small coffee shop slash bookstore in Diagon Alley. She continued to live in the manor, keeping to herself most of the time in the west wing.
Draco had married Ginny Weasley little over a year ago, much to the dismay of Ginny’s family. Narcissa seemed indifferent about the entire situation. Knowing that his parents’ marriage was arranged, Draco assumed that Narcissa was never happy with Lucius.
At that moment, he began to wonder whether Ginny was happy with him or not... She seemed to be happy. He could picture her perfectly in his mind, chiding him mercilessly for one of his typical scathing remarks about her brother. Oh, they had their fair share of arguments, no doubt about that...however they usually brought about a rather passionate session of lovemaking...you know, to relieve the pent-up tension. Draco smirked slightly, thinking it had been a while since they had one of those sessions, ever since her tummy started to get in the way.
The maniacal twittering of a small, tawny owl as it landed on Draco’s shoulder pulled him violently from his thoughts.
"Damn you. You little flying rodent," Draco snarled, snatching the note from Pigwidgeon’s leg. Narcissa walked over and pulled an owl treat from a pouch at her hip, offering it to Pig.
"Here you go...Don’t mind him, he’s just angry I dragged him out here to pay respects to someone he...no longer respects," Narcissa purred with a slight smirk as Pig gobbled up the treat.
"We should get back to the Manor. Now." Draco disapparated immediately after reading the note, causing Pigwidgeon to hover in midair momentarily before falling like a rock to the ground. He caught himself just in time, fluttering his small wings wildly, and took off into the air, circling once around Narcissa’s head then off to the east.
Narcissa bent down to pick up the note as it drifted to the ground in the wake of Draco’s disappearance. She unrolled the small parchment gingerly and gasped, wide eyed, before disapparating herself to the Malfoy Manor.
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Ginny paced the main hallway that stretched from one wing of the Malfoy Manor to the other. The time between contractions was growing noticeably shorter once her water broke not too long ago. The nurse stood nearby, watching, as maids and butlers prepared a nearby room for delivery.
The familiar ‘pop’ of someone apparating startled Ginny, and she relaxed as she saw Draco approaching her, a slight clinch in his jaw evident of his concern.
"What are you doing walking around, shouldn’t you be laying down?" Draco asked, eyeing her concertedly.
"Walking around helps speed things up. It also supposedly reduces pain," Ginny said just as a powerful contraction caused her to double over in pain. Draco blinked, unsure of what to do. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, arching a slender eyebrow.
"I have the house elves brewing a pain reliever potion, along with other elixirs I will need during the delivery. The owls are out notifying family and friends, Master Malfoy." The nurse explained, as another ‘pop’ signified the arrival of Narcissa Malfoy.
"Dear child, don’t bleed all over my freshly polished mahogany floor. Nurse, take her to where the delivery will take place at once!" Narcissa ordered.
"The Mistress is walking to speed up the process, Madam Malfoy, everything is under control," the nurse dared to retort, giving Ginny a slight nudge as if to say ‘keep walking.’
Narcissa sighed and went to the sitting room, pacing before the large fireplace. Before she could settle into her thoughts, a chorus of arguing and other mindless chatter spilled out of the fireplace. Bloody hell...it’s the Weasleys...
One after the other, every member of Ginny’s immediate family came barreling out of the fireplace, followed warily by Harry and Hermione. Narcissa stared, aghast, as they trailed soot and dust all over the floor, rushing around to find Ginny.
A nearby butler guided the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione up to the main hallway, where Draco stood leaning against the wall watching his wife pace. The moment Draco saw them, he rolled his eyes and folded his arms, tilting his chin up so that he could peer down his nose at them.
"I should have known you two would come along," drawled Draco, sneering at Harry and Hermione. Harry ignored him and Hermione offered a glare of disgust. Ron stepped out from the gaggle of redheads and went straight up to Draco.
"Shove it, you prat. We came to see Ginny, not you, so you’ll do good to keep your comments to yourself," Ron huffed with anger that had apparently been building since he discovered he would have to pay the Malfoy Manor a visit.
"Temper, Weasley. If you’re not careful, your face will turn as red as your hair." Draco responded smoothly.
"Don’t think that because you married my sister that I won’t punch your nose right off your face!" Ron bellowed, reaching to grab Draco’s collar. They were soon separated by what seemed to be an enraged banshee.
"Will you two please act like grown men in each other’s presence...JUST THIS ONCE?!?!" The intensity of another contraction helped to fuel Ginny’s fire as she pushed them away from one another. Fred and George sniggered heartily as Bill smirked and Charlie grinned broadly. Molly and Arthur stood next to one another, glancing around at the huge Mansion and receiving several scoffs and glares from the various portraits of Malfoy ancestors on the walls. Percy scoffed right back at a portrait of a young woman with pale blond ringlets, turning his nose to the air. Harry adjusted his glasses and exchanged glances with Hermione.
"Ginny...it’s time for you to go to the bed now." The nurse’s voice invaded the scene as she nudged Ginny gently in the direction of the delivery room. Ginny nodded and moved in the direction of the gentle push, grabbing Draco’s wrist along the way.
"Don’t think you’re getting out of this one. I want you to sit right next to me." Ginny said with finality, pulling Draco with her to the delivery room. House elves scampered here and there, reading the potions and other necessities. Draco felt apprehension overtake him as Ginny cried out with another painful contraction. This situation was rather...alien to him, and he honestly had no idea how to react. Always calm and under control, Draco was able to hide his apprehension from everyone...except Ginny.
Two ‘pops’ sounded behind them just as they were about to enter the room, and Ginny turned to see Denethor and Tatheryn, two of Draco’s friends from Hogwarts, standing amidst the sea of Weasleys. Draco glanced over his shoulder.
"Your um...owl sent us a message that Ginny’s about to have the baby. We came as soon as we could." Denethor explained, brushing a stray sable spike from his face.
The nurse prodded Ginny into the room and helped her lay down as Draco remained at the threshold to talk to his friends.
"How could you look so calm?" Denethor asked, quickly moving away from the Weasleys who began to huddle and talk about Ginny when she was a little girl. Tatheryn followed close behind, looking around at the intricate architecture of the Malfoy Manor.
"Something tells me it won’t last long..." Draco replied, and turned to go into the room just as Ginny cried out to him in the throes of labor.
To be continued!
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Draco and Ginny belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Warner Bros and various other corporations. They are being used here without permission and/or affiliation with the above. None of the authors listed here make any profit from these stories.