He closed the distance between them and kissed her.

---

“Hey Lily”, greeted Elora, as she opened the door to let Lily in.

“Hi” said Lily in a low tone as she entered the Malfoy household.

“Are you alright?” asked Elora, lines marring her forehead, “You look sort of ill.”

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it. Really, what was she supposed to tell Elora? That Rose had dated her ex-boyfriend, and then gotten pregnant with his kid, who was in fact known as the first ever female Malfoy to be born till now. 

Obviously she couldn't tell her.

It wasn’t her secret to tell, anyway.

“No. I’m fine. Just didn’t get enough sleep. That’s why I am late. You called for me? I’m sorry I read your letter so late.”

Elora flapped her arms, “It is all right. I am just glad that you are here! I just received a floo call from Gringotts. Apparently the goblins decided to have a little fun and mess with accounts of those over the age of hundred and fifty. So I can’t really take care of Amelia right now. Rose has already left for Mungo’s. She left just about half an hour after…” She trailed off, her face falling.

“Are you okay?” asked Lily concernedly.

Elora breathed deeply and blinked furiously before muttering, “Get a grip. He’ll be back soon.”

Lily coughed to indicate her presence. Elora snapped to look at her.

“Right. So I checked with Silk Route and found out that you weren’t there. I thought maybe you were taking a day off. Can you please take care of Amelia?”

Lily just shrugged.

“THANK YOU!!” squealed Elora before she picked up her hand bag, and walked off to apparate outside.

“LILEEEEE”

Lily turned around, startled by the noisy squeak. She saw Amelia hiding under one of the coffee tables, grinning wildly, flexing her fingers at her.

“Hey Amy,” grinned Lily. She was one person who could make anyone smile. Even someone who is destined to depressed for the rest of their life, “What are you doing under the table?”

“Hiding from daddee..ssshhh!”

“Where is your daddy then?”

Amelia frowned and then gave a little shrug.

“All right you better come out from underneath that table. As much I don’t doubt your mum’s cleanliness habits, I don’t think she’d prefer it if you are covered in dust.”

Lily stretched her arms under the table and pulled out Amelia gently.

“Look at you all dusty and-.”

Lily stopped suddenly as she realized that Amelia was holding lacy black knickers. Rose’s knickers. Her face colouring, she tired to tug it out of Amy’s hand, but the little girl was equally persistent.

“Give it here Amy.”

“NO.”

“Amy?”

“No.”

“Come on Amy, give it to Aunt Lily and she will give you a chocowate”

Amelia’s eyes started gleaming and she immediately let go of the knickers, giggling.

Lily flushed even more when she saw that the knickers were torn from the side. Trying to shut out the images coming to her mind giving her possible reasons to as why the knickers looked the way they did, she threw it in the waste bin. Rose would need to buy a fresh pair any way.

A burst of loud noise startled her. She turned to see Amelia giggling as she watched mobile creatures on television. A small smile broke on her face, as she saw joy light up Amelia’s face. Her lips were upturned in a smirk very much like Scorpius’ and her pale blue eyes sparkled with fascination as she watched animated humans talk to each other.

Suddenly she felt as if a dementor had swooped in and taken away all her happiness as she realized that was looking at Ryan’s daughter playing with her soft toy while her eyes were glued to the TV.

Amelia was Ryan’s daughter. Not Scorpius’ daughter.

It was just so hard to fathom. Anyone would be absurdly blind if they say that Scorpius doesn’t treat Amelia like his own blood. Rose had complained countless number of times that Amelia would grow up into a female version of Scorpius. They even looked a lot alike. But then, she reasoned, Ryan did indeed look a lot similar to Scorpius. And children always picked up the mannerisms of their parents, rather thn inheriting them..

Lily went and sat next to the little girl. The little girl was so happy and carefree, blissful in her world that consisted of her loving family, cartoons, sleeping and her toys. Not at all aware of the things worsening around her.

Ryan’s anguished face came to her mind and she shuddered. He had spoken with a passion that looked entirely foreign on him. His demeanor was quite heart-breaking for her. She couldn’t believe that a man, who could perhaps define the word arrogance, had been reduced to a whimpering mass. She shuddered again as his words ran in her mind.

Malfoy stole my woman and my daughter. So it is rather obvious that I am going to get them back.

Whatever has to happen, will happen, she thought as she ran a hand over the little girl’s head.

Unless if she can do something about it.

---

His pulse had soared like it used to before. His senses had been heightened. He was feeling light-headed after feeling those bloody lips against his after such a long time. Just like it used to before.

There was one major difference though.

There was no response from the person he was kissing.

In fact, she was still as a stone.

He pulled back and opened his eyes to see shocked eyes looking back at him.

“I cannot believe this”, came Rose’s cold voice, as she pushed him away from her, “After all that I told you about me being in love with someone else, I CANNOT believe that you kissed me!!!!!!!!!”

Ryan’s eyes became wide as he saw Rose unearthing a wand form her robes and pointing it at his throat.

“When I was dating you back then, I was under the belief that you had changed”, she said, her entire body shaking with rage, “I believed you weren’t the selfish cad you were made out to be. But you proved me wrong then by breaking up with me to concentrate on Quidditch. Then when you came back and asked me to marry me, then again I had wondered if something had changed in you. But again you proved me wrong. You’re still selfish, still self-centered, still gullible enough to believe that the entire world would do as you please. But you know what, you need to WAKE UP!! Get up and realize that you blew away whatever you had with me. You broke my heart and my trust. And now I am happily settled with my husband and my child. If you were even a little sincere about how you felt about me, perhaps you would allow me to live happily. But if you intend to try and interfere, let me tell you that Scorpius and I will not hesitate in fighting against you. And we won’t let you win.”

Ryan felt a severe chill run down his spine as he observed Rose’s erect posture and darkened expression, as if ready to duel with him or even kill him.

But then miraculously, she lowered her wand and looked at him sadly.

“Please”, she whispered desperately, “I really don’t want to hurt you. As much as you broke me when you left, I still cherish those moments we spent together. I got to know a wonderful man, or rather a man who could be wonderful, only if he wanted. Even though whatever you did was downright lowly, but I respected you, and I still respect you for the human being you are. So please don’t prove me wrong again. Please promise me that you won’t meddle in my life again. Please?”

Ryan felt his heart shattering as he watched Rose plead in front him, asking him to give what she wanted. A dull pain throbbed inside him as he realized that he was responsible for those tears, the pain visible in those eyes he dearly loved. Oh how he wanted to be the one to wipe her tears away. But then that involved a major sacrifice on his behalf. Did he love Rose enough to be able to let her go? Was he strong enough to see and feel his heart shatter and yet be able to see Rose and his daughter be happy with some other man? Did his feelings towards Rose matter to him more than Rose’s feelings towards him?

“Okay.” Came the reply from his mouth, that surprised both himself and Rose.

“What?” came Rose’s shocked voice.

“I won’t interrupt”, he said, meeting her eyes that now glimmered with hope.

“Really?”

“Yeah”, sighed Ryan heavily. He himself couldn’t believe that he was doing it, but then if it made Rose happy….

There was a thick silence that penetrated the air

“All right. I know I am asking-.”

“Please”, pleaded Ryan hoarsely, turning away as he felt his bottom disappear. He was going to let her go. Something stung inside and he wanted to crawl in a hole and cry, “Don’t make it harder for me. If you are done, then please leave.”

“Okay.”

He heard Rose moving towards the door, and sighed heavily. He knew he was going to regret doing what he was doing. He hoped he would be able to forgive himself with time.

“Rose?” he called turning around to see her halfway out the door.

“Hmm?” she looked back at him with slightly raised eyebrows.

“Amelia is beautiful.”

Rose’s lips showed signs of a small smile. “She is, isn’t she?” she said softly.

“Just like her mother.”

"Ryan..."

"And do you think we could ever be friends?" asked Ryan hopefully, "What we had was really special. You very well know that we connected emotionally as well. I really dont want to lose you. Could we possibly still stay in touch? Please?"

Rose sighed heavily, "I don't know. I am sorry. I wi-."

"No hard feelings", interrupted Ryan, his face falling. "Bye."

“Take care”, she said, her expression now neutral, but her tender voice gave her away, that even though she didn’t love him, she did care about him.

“You too.”

And then she left.

Ryan sank to the floor, and for the first time ever since he was born, he buried his head in his arms and cried.

---

Ryan groaned as he felt as if someboy had rammed an iron rod onto his forehead. Lysander was right about firewhisky. It did make him want to want chop his head in two. But then after what he did today in the afternoon, he believed he actually wouldn’t mind doing that.

He had let her go. And it fucking hurt.

He breathed heavily as memories of his first night with Rose flooded his mind. He had been rather reluctant to go to a muggle pub that night, but his mates had kidnapped him anyway. He had been moving around in the crowd, trying to avoid various half-drunk bimbos throwing themselves at him, when he saw her. She was sitting alone at the bar, looking rather depressed but extremely gorgeous. He had stifled a groan as his eyes roamed over her soft locks pulled up, exposing her delicate neck and the short blue dress that accentuated her cleavage. Her dress had ridden high and was pretty much exposing her thighs, but she hadn’t noticed since she was busy staring angrily at her drink.

He remembered how he had approached her and how she had been rather cold towards him in the beginning. He had accused her of judging people by their past, which she had denied vehemently. With each passing drink, her defenses had become lower, and soon she was talking openly to him. She had told him that she was pretty upset for Malfoy was supposed to meet her at the pub, but he cancelled his plans with her at the last moment so that he could shag a random bimbo he had met at the Ministry.

He remembered how she had whined that she would skin Malfoy's arse for blowing her off, his best friend, so suddenly, and again went into depression. Wanting to see a livelier and a happier Rose, he had given her an invitation to dance with him, which she had accepted with a shrug. Soon she started laughing and dancing with him and he watched her, mesmerized with her movement on the dance floor and how breathtaking she looked when she was in her own world. And all of a sudden he had gotten an urge to kiss her, which he did. Instead of killing him on the spot, she deepened the kiss, blowing him away.

She had then pulled back from the intense snog and whispered seductively in his ears.

“My place or yours?”

And life as he had known it, had changed.

And the next few hours, days, weeks, months were a blur. It was one large roller coaster ride. A ride he enjoyed thoroughly, but was stupid enough to stop it and get off it, not realizing that he won’t get to ride again.

He picked himself up from the sofa and called for his house-elf.

“Silky. Some hangover potion please!” he croaked, rubbing his palm against his forehead.

“Master should not drink firewhisky”, said his elf sadly as she handed him a goblet of smoking potion, “It is not good for you.”

“I’ll try”, he said gruffly, before downing the entire thing at one-go.

Just then someone knocked on the door and Silky tottered away to see who it was.

Ryan sighed. He figured it would be Lysander or one of his teammates since he was sure that it couldn’t be Rose. He checked the clock. It was five in the evening, which surprised him. The showdown with Rose had seemed to have taken place in another time dimension, and not three hours ago.

“Master Ryan? Miss Rose Weasley is here”, squeaked the house-elf.

Ryan started for a second, before he realized that Rose would never come back to him. So it was most likely to be Lily Potter. Getting up from his seat, he walked towards the door, ready to tell Potter that he wasn’t in the mood to gossip.

However, he froze as his eyes landed on the doorway.

It was Lily Potter all right. But she was holding something in her arms. Or rather someone.

He felt air escape his lungs as he saw his own daughter look back at him.

“Good evening, Ryan”, said Lily smoothly, “Amelia and I were quite bored at home, so we thought we should go outside from some fresh air.”

Ryan couldn’t help but not respond. He was too busy looking at the little girl in Lily’s arms. He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but no sound came out. He was just too stumped.

Am I dreaming?

Amelia fidgeted in her aunt’s arms before she was put down. She walked into the manor, looking around, curiosity etched on her face. Before he knew it, she was right in front of him and looking up at him.

Ryan instinctively took a step backwards, too much in disbelief. Grief must have driven him mad. Amelia couldn’t possibly be here!?

“Amelia doesn’t like it if people ignore her. At least say hi”, came Lily’s voice, startling Ryan.

“Wha-wha-what”, started Ryan nervously, as he watched Amelia walk away from him towards the sofa, “What shall I say to her?”

“Master?” came his elf’s squeaky voice, “Shall Silky make something for guests?”

Ryan’s head snapped to look at his elf, “Oh yes! Absolutely. Maybe some tea. And what would Am-Amelia like?”

“I think she would like some warm chocolate. I had promised her that I would give her some….”

Lily felt a smile break on her face as she watched Ryan observing his daughter’s mannerisms, who had now managed to climb the sofa and now was walking on it. The curious expression on his face he observed his daughter, made him look adorable.

Lily shook herself, wondering just why that thought came to her mind. She watched as Ryan tried to go closer to Amelia, looking extremely unsure so as to how to talk to her.

Amelia started jumping on the sofa and clapped her hands, giggling loudly. Lily gasped inaudibly as she saw a true, genuine smile break on Ryan’s face. His gaze was extremely soft as he looked at the little girl squealing with happiness.

But then Amelia lost her balance and shrieked loudly as she went down. Lily had rushed from her place to try and undo some damage, but thankfully Ryan caught her. She snorted loudly as she saw Ryan holding Amelia away from his body.

“What?!” hissed Ryan at Lily, while continuing to hold Amelia away from him.

“You’re holding her wrong”, giggled Lily, “Hold her like you’d hold a quaffle.”

“This is how I hold a quaffle.”

“Really? I thought you were a Professional Keeper!”

Ryan struggled as Amelia fidgeted in his arms, wondering if he might actually end up dropping her. She made odd noises if she felt uncomfortable giving him the cue to change his position. And then all of a sudden, she fit.

Amelia had now quieted down and was smiling up at him, giving him a glimpse of neat set of baby teeth. He looked down at her, amazed at how beautiful an infant could look. Now that he looked at Amelia closely, he saw that she resembled Rose greatly. She had the same heart-shaped face, tiny freckles on the bridge of her nose, and big eyes. His heart have a jolt when he saw that she had inherited his eyes, and even though her features were pretty similar to Rose’s, her features were sharp but not too sharp that it sticks out. Just like his.

“Am I holding her right?” asked Ryan softly, offering Amelia his finger to play with. Amelia instead took it in her mouth and bit it, making him smile and her giggle.

“It’s perfect”, said Lily, smiling widely now as she watched the pair of father and daughter interacting with each other for the first time. When she was at Rose’s, all alone with Amelia, she had wondered if it was fair that Rose and Scorpius wanted to keep Ryan away from Amelia when it was pretty clear that Ryan sincerely wanted to be a part of Amelia’s life. Ryan really hadn’t done anything wrong. If Rose would have told him that she was pregnant then he perhaps wouldn't have broken up with her. He needed to see his own flesh, his own blood. Would it be immoral if he is allowed to see his own daughter?

Contentment crept in her heart as she saw Ryan looking at Amelia with certain softness in his eyes that convinced her that he loved his daughter, irrespective of the fact that he had truly just met her. It made her realize that her decision to Ryan to his daughter wasn't stupid. Silky soon appeared with the tray of tea and chocolate and the three of them settled down. Lily watched quietly as Ryan talked to Amelia and the little girl replied very enthusiastically while having her bottle of chocolate milk. Delight shone on his face as he fed Amelia a cookie, making him look rather handsome. Suddenly, he turned to look at her about to say something. As a reflex, she lowered her eyes, without really knowing why she reacted the way she did.

Her watch started beeping loudly, alerting her. She jumped up immediately surprising Ryan.

“I am sorry. But we have to leave”, said Lily hurriedly, moving towards Ryan, “Rose’s shift is going to over within an hour. And we have travel back home the muggle way.”

“Oh”, said Ryan, disappointment flooding him as he reluctantly handed over his daughter to Lily, “All right.”

“I wish I could stay longer but….”

“It is understandable.”

Lily nodded.

“And hey, thanks a lot”, said Ryan, running a hand through his hair and smiling genuinely at her, “This was amazing. I mean-.” He looked at Amelia, who was now fiddling with Lily’s ear, “She’s amazing. It meant a lot to me.”

“You are welc-.”

“Can you bring her again? Sometime later perhaps?”

The words had come out before he could realize what he had said. By asking Lily to bring Amelia over, wouldn’t he be breaking the promise he made to Rose? But then Rose had told him to not interfere in her life, right? As long as Rose never knows about him meeting his daughter, it wouldn’t be called interference and hence he won’t be breaking his promise.

Lily looked uncertain, “I really don’t know. I am quite busy…”

“Please”, he begged softly, “Just bring her over any time you are free. I want to know everything about her. Please do try and come.”

He gently held her hand, making Lily flush furiously.

“I’ll try”, said Lily, grinning shyly at him. She could see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. And knowing that she could bring him some sort of happiness made her feel powerful. One of the rare moments when she could actually make Ryan happy, something Rose was incapable of now.

Ryan nodded, grinning at her, making Lily blush again.

“I better get going”, she said awkwardly, not at all pleased with the drastic effect the guy was having on her.

“All right. Feel free to drop by any time. Bye Amy”, he said, feeling happier than he had been in the past few days.

“Bysie Bye!” chirped Amelia, waving her chubby hands at him.

Ryan watched Lily and Amelia walk down the pebbled path, his eyes more fixated on the little bundle in Lily’s arms. The little one was very good at making him smile and laugh, especially since today was about to be crowned the worst day of his life. Her laughter was infectious, she was beautiful and he couldn’t believe how much he already loved her. And he had just met her. Merlin! He couldn’t believe that he was missing her already.

"The most amazing feeling wells up in you when you hold your own child for the first time in your arms. The way they look at you or smile at you, or reach out for you for the first time; the emotion that you can feel then shakes you immensely."

Ryan painfully recollected what Rose had said to him years ago. At that time, he had found her description rather funny. But now, he understood why she had said those words. It was really an amazing feeling to hold Amelia in his arms, seeing her smile at him, making him feel that yes, he had finally done something right in his life.

Seeing his baby woke something in him. He needed that little girl in his life. He had to fight for her.

And he would.

Rose and Malfoy weren’t the only ones ready to fight.

Now, he was ready as well.

---

AN:

So Little Amy’s finally met her father!!! And you thought I would make Ryan disappear after Rose told him to buzz off! Sincere apologies to ‘prongsie4ever’ if you found this chapter too short for your liking. I tried to make it long. But the place at which I finished seemed perfect for the ending of a chapter.

Title/chapter doesn’t have to do anything with the Twilight series. Just thought it described Ryan’s day. Well yeah, I am crazy. 

Anyway, please review! It would be very discouraging if you don’t.
PS: I’ve put up a newer version of my first one-shot, Hugo Weasley Is….. It is slightly racier than the previous version with minute additions here and there. But basic plotline’s the same.

PPS: This is for the readers who applied for beta-ing. Please read the reply to your reviews and get back to me ASAP! :)