Forgotten One: Love

Chapter 10: Headlines

The date progressed relatively calmly. Draco and I held hands and talked about anything and everything we could think of, partially in order to forget the war and it's horrors, partially to catch up on everything since I had left for the States.

I told him about America and my first job there, working in Muggle retail. He found this fascinating, which was actually quite hilarious.

He told me about his new house since he had moved from the Manor and about Scorpius. It was adorable how much he loves his son. I had never imagined him as the caring father type, but now it seemed to fit him perfectly.

After we finished our coffees, I drove the two of us back to my house and Draco left me to finish my day in peace with a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye.

If I'm being completely honest, the rest of my afternoon and evening was spent in the shower, the water practically boiling in an attempt to boil the memories out of my head. Of course, it never worked.

I ate a simple dinner of some leftover pizza from the previous night. I ate in silence and did my nightly routine, deciding to go to bed early.

I woke, once again from another nightmare. This time it was of my unborn child. This particular nightmare loves to taunt me with images of everything my child could have been. A little red-headed child running through the fields by the Burrow. A teenager causing loads of mischief at Hogwarts. Yet, every time, the dream ended in blood red. The same blood that signified the death of my baby years ago.

Only minutes after waking, there was a tapping at my window. I opened it and let in the Prophet’s owl. I fed it a treat and paid for the paper.

When I unrolled the paper, I nearly dropped it when I saw the front page:

POTTER AND MALFOY!

THE SISTER OF THE GOLDEN BOY RETURNS TO ENGLAND AFTER EIGHTEEN YEARS AND WAS SEEN SPEAKING TO DRACO MALFOY ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS

The headlines seemed to be screaming of my return. And plastered on the front page was a picture of Draco and I talking at King’s Cross. Other smaller ones showed Draco and I in my car and another outside the cafe as we got off the motorcycle.  

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I went to my bedroom and grabbed my phone, calling Draco. It went to voicemail the first try.

The second try, he picked up after the fourth ring. “Have you seen the paper yet?”

“No. You just woke me up. Do you realize what time it is?”

“Sorry, not sorry. It's not going to kill you to wake up early for once. Now go get your paper and read the headline.”

“Merlin, woman. Impatient much? Besides, what could be so important that you have to wake me at four in the morning?” He mumbled under his breath, but I could hear the sheets ruffling as he got up.

After a few minutes, I heard him curse under his breath. “Okay, now I see why you woke me. What do we do?”

“Can we do anything at this point?”

He sighed. “No. I'll owl who I can, see what damage control we can do.”

“Alright. I'll owl the author of the story and the management of the Prophet”

There was a few minutes of silence. “Is this really such a bad thing?”

I frowned and started to speak but then stopped myself. “I guess not. But we haven't read the actual article yet. Oh. And look at that. It's by a Skeeter. Didn't know Rita had a son.”

Draco growled lightly. “Of course. After his ‘exposé’ on Weasley’s affairs that was all a lie, he’s gotten a lot of hate. He’s probably trying to rebuild his reputation.”

“Oh? I didn't hear about that one?”

“Yeah. It was a scathing report, accusing Ron of all sorts of awful affairs. Needless to say, Granger- er, Hermione- was pretty pissed. He's been trying desperately to rebuild his reputation ever since. No one's been taking him seriously or really even publishing him. This story is probably the best thing that ever happened to him.”

I frowned a bit to myself, thinking. “Hey, Dray?” I interrupted him describing Skeeter’s troubles.

“Yeah?”

“You might hate me for this idea, but why don't we let the kid keep his story. Most of it's true, and, from what you're saying, he needs this story more than we need it gone.”

There was a silence that almost made me retract my idea. Almost. After a minute or so, Draco sighed a bit. “You're sure you're okay with this?”

I nodded before remembering he couldn't see me. “Yeah. As long as you are.”

“Alright. We'll leave this one be. But I'm still going to owl him and tell him to watch himself.”

“Alright.” I agreed. “Just don't be too harsh on him.”

“I make no promises.” I could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Dray…” I sighed.

He just chuckled. “I'll see you later, Viv.”

“Yep.”

“I have a Skeeter to harass, so I should go…” he hesitated and didn't hang up.

“Okay.” I agreed but didn't hang up either.

“I think I love you!” I don't know who blurted it first, but after that, we both hung up immediately, not taking time to process what had happened.

After I hung up, I stared at my phone for nearly five minutes before everything sunk in and I screamed like a middle school girl.