Chapter seven
Chapter seven
‘So, you and Hagrid?’
‘You know it was Hagrid that came to tell me I was a wizard when I was eleven, right?’
‘I knew Hagrid took you shopping for your things, but I didn’t know he told you that. So you had no idea what you were before Hagrid went to get you?’
‘No, nothing. Strange things used to happen and I had no idea why. Those people wouldn’t tell me anything, they were trying to stop me finding out. So anyway, he explained what I was then took me shopping. When I saw the way everyone acted around me I had to ask Hagrid why. The look on Hagrid’s face made me a bit scared. He was angry at the Dursley’s because they kept me in the dark about everything.’ Harry sighed, ‘He felt sorry for me. So we sat down to have some lunch when he explained about Voldemort and my parents. As he said, he couldn’t tell me everything, but more than I ever knew. He bought me Hedwig as a birthday present, even made me a cake. I’d never had a cake before or a gift and the way Hagrid looked at me and talked to me, I don’t know, I just took to him straight away. He was the first magical person I met. He showed me I wasn’t a freak and I was someone worth knowing. He treated me like he wanted to be my friend and he liked me. I never had that before, not once, so Hagrid will always be special to me.’
‘So you didn’t have any close friends as a kid?’
‘I had no one Charlie. They made sure I wasn’t liked or I was someone no one would want to know. The things they said, the way they treated me, I really believed I wasn’t a person people would like. I was strange and I was a freak. That was my life so I just went with it.’
‘How wrong they were Harry. Now look at how many friends you have and it’s nothing to do with the chosen one and all that. Your friends really like you for you and since I’ve gotten to know you more I’ve realised why, you’re such a nice person, caring and a little overprotective. But what you said about Hagrid telling you about your parents, did you know anything about them?’
‘Nothing, not even their names, they refused to tell me. All I did get out of them was they died in a car crash, which was my fault, they were drunks and no hopers, that’s how I supposedly got the scar.’
‘I can’t believe those people. Fine they didn’t like magical people but to keep the truth from you and lied to you was just wrong. I suppose when you got to Hogwarts you read about what happened?’
‘No, Hermione did, I didn’t want to. It’s not something a kid wants to read, how his parents were murdered. So unless I needed to know something, I never touched those books. It’s like with me, I stopped reading any newspapers or magazines because I was in them all the time and so much that was written about me was lies. Hermione would read them and if I needed to know something, she would tell me, otherwise I didn’t want to know. Why are you asking about all this Charlie? Not that I don’t mind telling you, I’ll tell you anything, I’m just curious as to why now?’
‘Mum, she thought we might be rushing into this bonding ceremony. But I explained to her how it’s like we’ve been together all our lives. But it made me realise that there’s a lot about you I don’t know. We might love each other, sense things about each other and we can’t be away from each other, but we don’t really know each other, not that much. So I figured while I’m stuck on this sofa we might as well talk. I can tell you more about my life in Romania and growing up at the Burrow and you can tell me all about your life as a kid, before I go as my stag and make those people pay for hurting you.’
Harry smiled, ‘I love you Charlie,’ he chuckled, kissed Charlie, then put his head back against his chest before they sat there talking about their lives as children and how different they were. They spoke about how much Charlie was loved and cared for and how Harry got no affection at all. Their lives were so different but those differences seemed to make their relationship perfect in every way.
Over the next week, Harry was home with Charlie he was never more than a few feet from him. Hermione and Ron dropped in a lot, sometimes the aurors did after work. All the Weasley’s apart from Ginny dropped in to see how Charlie was feeling. Hermione explained that she showed the book to Ginny but it seemed she didn’t believe it, she even accused Hermione of lying, of adding those pages to the book.
Molly stepped into the house to see Harry and Charlie kissing, but it was a very heated kiss that told her those two men wanted to go further but until Charlie was healed fully they had to restrain themselves.
‘Sorry to interrupt.’
Harry and Charlie pulled apart, ‘Hi mum, we weren’t expecting you.’
‘I dropped in on my way after seeing Ginny. Your father and I have been talking about what to do about her during the ceremony.’
‘It seems nothing will make her see sense. I know she’s hurt and I’m sorry about that but Charlie and I belong together. She has to understand that nothing can change that.’
‘We know Harry, but I need to tell you both this and even though I don’t want this for one of my children, she has brought it on herself,’ Molly sat down in the armchair facing Charlie and Harry, ‘At first your father was going to bind her, petrify her and seal her in the bedroom so she couldn’t disrupt the wedding.’
‘Okay, that could work than dad could reverse the spells after we’ve left. But there’s more, so just tell us.’ Charlie said.
‘One of the healers overheard her say that she was going to get Harry back if it was the last thing she did, she even said she would…’’ Molly sighed.
‘That she’d kill me,’ Charlie said.
‘Yes, now the healer had no choice but to report what he heard to the aurors. I know you should have been told Harry but Kingsley thought he’d give you a few more days before having to deal with this.’
‘Anyone proven to make threats, especially against someone’s life will do a minimum of three years in Azkaban. Now if Charlie’s attack is added to that then she’ll get longer, I would say at least ten years.’
‘Yes, Kingsley explained how it works and even if you two didn’t press charges, she still will go before the Wizengamot.’
‘Has she been told yet?’ Charlie asked.
‘No, he was going to but thought if Harry explained it might make her realise. Harry’s the object of her obsession, if she hears this from him, she might finally realise that Harry wants her gone even if we know it’s not true, in that sense Harry. We know you don’t want any of this and we know you would not have hurt her if you knew.’
‘No, I don’t, even though I’m still angry at what she did to Charlie, I don’t want her hurt. So did Kingsley say when he wanted me to tell her?’
‘When you go back to work. He told the healers to tell Ginny she has to stay longer. You will go with a couple of other aurors, tell her what she’s being arrested and what she’s being charged with. She will be questioned then taken to the holding cells until her trial,’ Molly sighed.
Charlie and Molly could see Harry was concentrating on something, ‘Could you do it Harry?’
‘Do what?’ Molly asked looking between her son and the young man she had thought of a son for years. She could tell that Charlie knew what Harry had been thinking about and it made her curious but it also showed her part of this connection Charlie and Harry had since they became Morphixen’s. Now she just had to wait until they told her what was going on.
‘Yes, I could, the only problem is, would it be enough to keep her from being sent to Azkaban. I would need to talk it over with Kingsley.’
‘Can you explain what you two are talking about?’
‘Sorry Mrs. Weasley,’ Harry sighed, ‘Even though there’s a chance she could still use muggle methods, this might be enough. Okay, what this is about is her magic, I can remove it, strip the magic from her core. If Kingsley agrees then instead of being sent away I strip her of her magic for the length of time the Wizengamot gives her. Think about it, she did want to play quidditch, no magic means she can’t get a broom to fly. It also means she can’t use the floo or apparate, she will be like a muggle. But there is one more thing that would help Charlie and me. I was going over some old spells that the aurors used to use, this was going back five hundred years ago, before Azkaban was built.’
‘Explain,’ Molly said.
‘Okay, apart from no magic, she could be bound to a place, like the Burrow. It’s still in use today but it is mainly used for people that committed non-violence crimes or accidental deaths. But maybe we could use it for Ginny. Strip her of her magic and bind her to the Burrow. Apart from Kingsley, it would need to be passed by the Wizengamot. I’m sure if I explain more about how Ginny and I dated until the Morphixen emerged and how she’s just a young girl who’s hurt, they might go with this.’
‘Alright, I can see you don’t want to cause problems Harry, you don’t want Ginny hurt, which I am pleased about. But tell me the truth; if it wasn’t for our family, would you even consider this?’
‘Normally, no, but I like Ginny, she’s a nice girl, she’s just hurt. Emotional pain can be the worst someone will feel and it’s hard to live with that pain. I know, after Sirius died,’ Harry sighed, ‘I considered killing myself.’
Charlie took Harry’s hand in his, ‘Does Ron and Hermione know that?’
Harry shook his head, ‘I didn’t tell anyone, but Luna guessed. I felt under so much pressure because I just heard the prophecy. I was hurting so much that I just didn’t think I could go on. The world was looking at me to save them and I had no idea if I could. Anyway, the pain I felt because of Sirius made me believe I couldn’t go on. Ginny is feeling so much pain right now, sort of like I’ve died in a way. She thinks Charlie’s taken me from her, she’s not thinking straight, she can’t. I was like that, I stayed away from Ron and Hermione. I spent so much time alone and a lot of time in the forbidden forest. That’s where Luna found me and why she was able to help me when my best friends couldn’t. Her mother died when she was nine and she saw it happen, I saw Sirius die. At the time Ron and Hermione had never lost anyone they were close to before, they couldn’t understand how I was feeling even if they liked Sirius. Luna could understand how I was feeling. So even though it was about death for me, Ginny is still in a lot of emotional pain right now.’
‘Yes, she is because to her, losing you is like you have died,’ Molly took Harry’s other hand, ‘I told her the story of the-boy-who-lived when she was five years old. She said to me that she wanted to find you, bring you home and have you live with us, that she wanted to save you from the muggles. Every night she wanted me to tell her you’re story. So you see, she has been obsessed with you since she was a little girl. See what you can do Harry, for her, for you, for Charlie and for her family.’
Harry nodded, but saw Charlie nod as well. Now they had to hope Kingsley and the Wizengamot would approve this. Harry and Charlie were happy, but to have Ginny taken away could cause problems, not for them, but for the rest of the family.
Even though Charlie still wasn’t completely well, he was able to move around without too much pain. It meant Harry wasn’t as anxious about returning to work as he had been the week before.
‘So are you going to speak with Kingsley about Ginny?’
‘As soon as I get in there. Do you still agree with this Charlie?’
‘Yes, I know she’s hurt and she is young. I don’t believe she realised how much trouble she could be in when she did this. She’s lashing out, first using that spell on me then with what she said.’
‘Yeah, she is,’ Harry sighed, ‘Okay, promise me you are not leaving this house today?’
Charlie smiled, ‘I promise, I might be feeling better Harry, but my arse still hurts if I move around too much. I am going to stay here, work on our bonding ceremony, write some letters to my friends in Romania to let them know about it. Then I will concentrate on the shop and everything it will need. It’s lucky that I can do a lot of the work myself. I’ve always been good with my hands, so any modifications the shop might need, I can do that without having to get someone else.’
‘I can tell you’re good with your hands,’ Harry smirked, ‘I better go. If you need me though, make sure I see your patronus, okay?’
‘You will, but you won’t because I’m fine. Now go to work Harry.’
Harry smiled, ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too Potter, go, get out of here.’
Harry kissed Charlie then left the house, apparating straight to the employee’s entrance. He didn’t go straight to the auror offices but to the minister’s office. Harry only had to wait five minutes before he saw Kingsley and explained his idea. Kingsley thought it was worth taking to the Wizengamot, so he was going to organise a meeting for some time that day.
Harry stepped into the auror offices, ‘How’s Charlie?’ Seamus asked.
‘Healing, slowly,’ Harry lent against the door, ‘I went to see the minister before coming here, about an idea, Ginny.’
Ron stood from behind his desk, ‘About going to Azkaban?’
‘If it pans out, she won’t be.’
‘Explain then.’
‘There’s two ideas I had but they will need to be passed by the Wizengamot. First is I remove her magic for the amount of time they decide to sentence her. The second is that her sentence is not done in Azkaban, but I bind her to a place, like the Burrow. If they give her ten years for what she said and her attack on Charlie then, for ten years she will have no magic and can’t leave the Burrow.’
‘I’ve never heard of either spell,’ Parvati said.
‘I was going over some old spells the aurors used back before Azkaban was built. But binding can still be used today for non-violent crimes or accidental crimes. They used to bind people to a place for those types of crimes and it’s still in effect so we can use it. Removing the magic was something I came up with. I realised that there were people that didn’t belong in Azkaban, due to their circumstances. Some were young, manipulated, accidents, all types of reasons. Right now Ginny is emotionally hurt, that type of pain can be worse than physical pain. She’s not thinking straight because of it and she is only seventeen. Think about this as well, she’s been in the middle of a war, hearing stuff she was too young for. She heard that the DA and order of the phoenix were going against rules set out by the ministry. We all know the reasons for this, but for someone young like Ginny all she is thinking about is we all broke the law and got away with it. Blimey, I used unforgivables, three times and never got into trouble. We had a rebel group inside Hogwarts, learning stuff we were too young for, going against the rules set out for students and the magical world. I taught all of you to fight off the imperius curse, which meant all of us used an unforgivable, something that normally gets you a life sentence in Azkaban. I believe that Ginny is just doing what she’s been involved in for years and she believed she would get away with it. She’s not thinking straight right now because when you’re hurt like she is, that’s all you think about, not the consequences of your actions.’
‘You are right,’ Jessy said, ‘If it wasn’t a war, then yes, all of you could have been in a lot of trouble. I don’t know Ginny, but you said she’s a year younger than all you. I’ve been reading up on the DA, the order of the phoenix, how you had meetings even at your home, Ron. Ginny was right in the middle of all that and for a girl of fourteen, fifteen, that’s a lot for an impressionable young mind to take in, to understand.’
‘We were all too young, but we had no choice, not if we wanted to survive,’ Terry said.
‘When Hermione first thought up the idea of Harry teaching us, it really hit home how much danger we were in. If Harry didn’t teach us all those spells, most of us would have died that night. Now only of age students were permitted to stay, Ginny snuck out to join the fight,’ Ernie said.
‘She said her whole family was out there, she couldn’t hide, which I get. I hated the fact that she did sneak out when I needed to change the room, but I do understand why she did it. Blimey, look at what I was doing for years, sneaking down into that room that the teachers had used their strongest enchantments on. Then Ron and I forced a teacher down into the chamber of secrets to rescue Ginny. Facing a hundred dementors at thirteen then breaking Sirius out and letting him escape. We knew he was innocent but as far as the ministry were concerned, he was one of Voldemort’s strongest supporters and wanted to kill me, yet we helped him escape. Then we broke into the ministry, destroying so many departments. Ginny destroyed the hall of prophecy, then Ron, Hermione and I destroyed Gringotts, all that was before I turned seventeen apart from Gringotts. Ginny might have known why I did all that, or why Hermione, Ron and I did all that and never got in trouble, but she was young, too young. She also knew I was the chosen one, or like everyone believed, they thought I was. She saw us doing things that would normally have us lock up, she’s still thinking like that because of how much pain she’s in.’
‘Did you tell Charlie about this?’ Ron asked.
‘And you’re mum. She knows I don’t want Ginny punished, neither does Charlie, but if we don’t do something she might go through with her threat of killing Charlie, or me even if I would die if Charlie did. If that happens, nothing would stop her being sent to Azkaban and it would be for life. But if she killed Charlie and I lived long enough I might end up burning her. So the Minister is working on talking to the Wizengamot, see if it’s possible.’
‘So Charlie agreed with this idea?’ Ron asked.
‘Yep, he might be pissed at her but he knows she’s hurt and he knows part of it is his fault, just like it’s my fault. But Charlie’s main problem is the fact that she aimed at his arse and his frustrated, and she planned that. It’s only thanks to the healer that Charlie will be alright, hopefully soon.’
‘So because you two can’t shag that’s made him angry at Ginny, not the fact that she wants to kill him?’ Seamus asked but everyone heard the amusement in his voice and they all knew he was right which naturally made everyone laugh, even Harry ended up laughing.