Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Chapter 3
Bill and Charlie Weasley stand by the door leading to the living room. When everyone is gathered in the room, Bill closes the door and uses a nonverbal spell to lock it. Arthur Weasley looks sharply at his eldest son, but remains silent.
Charlie leans against the locked door with his arms folded across his chest, staring into the fire across the room. Bill stands casually beside his brother, slowly making eye contact with everyone in the room: Ginny curled in the lap of her boyfriend Dean in the chair in the shadowed corner, Dean focused solely on Ginny. George is seated before the window still looking slightly lost without his twin. Percy, sitting beside George offering support as he had since the final battle. Molly and Arthur sitting together on the sofa, Molly knitting and Arthur watching his two oldest sons. Ron sitting in the chair by the fire, glaring at Ginny and Dean. Bill was surprised to see Hermione off in another shadowed corner, not next to Ron.
Bill takes a deep breath, nods once, and begins to speak. “Thank you for being here. Charlie and I have come across some information that we need to deal with as a family.”
Ron interrupts with a vicious snarl, “Then what’s he doing here?” pointing to Dean. “He isn’t family!”
Surprisingly, it was Hermione who softly spoke from her corner, “They’re engaged, Ron. Dean has as much right to be here as I do.”
With a flick of his wrist and a muttered word, Bill silenced Ron before he could do more than open his mouth. “Charlie and I have a lot of information to go through tonight, and if we have to silence everyone in this room, we will.”
For the first time, Charlie speaks up. “No one has asked, but I will mention that Harry is not here because this information concerns him. All of the information we have is supported by documents and we’ve made copies for everyone. Well, everything but one and Harry told us that directly.”
Bill once again takes a deep breath before speaking. “We will be taking you through the information step-by-step, and I sincerely hope that most of you will be as shocked and appalled as Charlie and I were.
With a flick of Bill’s hand everyone was holding their first document. “We all know that Sirius was Harry’s godfather, but what none of us knew was that James’ and Lily’s will had a list of possible guardians; with a specific notation that the Dursleys and Dumbledore were, in no way, to have any control over him. Dumbledore placed Harry with the Dursleys illegally and sealed the will. Only Harry could access it after his seventeenth birthday.
Another flick of Bill’s hand deposited a stack of ten parchments onto everyone’s lap. “These are copies of Harry’s Gringott’s statements from the time his parents died until he started at Hogwarts. At the end is a statement from Ragnok, Head of Gringott’s, testifying that Dumbledore prevented him from giving Harry his heir ring or performing his bloodline test on his eleventh birthday. As the Heir to a Noble House, both should have been automatic. As you can see from the statements, Dumbledore was withdrawing 1000 galleons a year from Harry’s school vault. This was supposedly for the care of Harry, but the Dursleys had no way to spend galleons, and we all know that they never spent any money on Harry.”
With Bill’s hand flick, Charlie explained the next document. “This is a statement from Hagrid that he was the one sent to talk to Harry and take him shopping for his school supplies. As a muggle-raised child, it’s the law that a full professor perform that duty.” At this Charlie looked toward Hermione. She nodded her head and said, “Professor McGonagall came to my home.”
“The Gringott’s statement from Harry’s first year.” Bill said with another hand flick. “If you look you’ll see withdrawals for Hogwarts tuition, the money Harry took out himself, and another 1000 galleons to Dumbledore.”
A short flick of Bill’s hand and everyone receives another parchment. “This is Harry’s statement for his second year. There is a withdrawal for his Hogwarts tuition and the 1000 galleons to Dumbledore, but there is also a transfer of 500 galleons to an account that belongs to Molly Weasley.”
Outcries erupted from all over the room, but none so loud or shrill as Molly’s own “That’s a lie!” With a short wand movement Bill silenced them all. Bill made a gesture with his wand and one again everyone received a stack of parchments. “Gringotts statement for Harry’s third year shows another 500 galleons going to Molly Weasley. Now, the summer before fourth year was the Quidditch World Cup, and Harry admits that he gave his vault key to Mum because she was going to get everyone’s school supplies while they were gone.”
“She did more than that.” Charlie growled.
“Yes,” Bill resumed. “While Harry was at the world cup 10,000 galleons were removed from his vault. The same amount was removed fifth and sixth year, along with his Hogwarts tuition and the yearly 1000 galleons to Dumbledore. She was able to do this because she refused to return Harry’s key to him, even when he asked.”
Here Charlie interrupted, “We have a pensieve and memories to back up the documentation. Does anyone need to see the memory of Mum refusing to give back Harry’s key when he asked for it?”
All in the room shook their heads “No” except Molly, Ron, and Arthur; although, to be fair, Arthur Weasley was staring at his wife with a look of shock and horror.
“Now, if you’ll turn to the last sheet, you’ll see the truly horrific part. During what would have been Harry’s seventh year, the year he and Hermione spent fighting for their lives and doing what had to be done to get rid of Voldemort…”
“Hey!” Ron yelled. “I helped!”
Here Hermione sneered at Ron. “Yes Ron. You helped by whinging and bitching and running off when things got tough. Betraying Harry like you always do whenever being his friend became difficult!”
“As I was saying,” Bill interjected. “While Harry was on the run and doing his best to save the wizarding community, Mum made her final withdrawal of 6500 galleons. It’s a good thing Harry didn’t want to return to Hogwarts to complete his final year; because if you will look at the remaining balance you’ll see she didn’t even leave him enough for tuition.”
Here is where Charlie stepped forward, clearly tense and furious. “And let’s not forget what happened at the end. Harry laid down his life for the wizarding community. He chose to die to get rid of that monster. And after, when he tried to have an honest conversation with his supposed “best mate”, Ron turned on him; betraying him once again because things weren’t going to go as Ron wanted them to. And Hermione, I’m not leaving you out. It’s been over four months and Harry hasn’t heard one word from you!”
Hermione looks at Charlie in confusion. “But Charlie, I…I write to Harry every week.”
They all hear a snort from Ron and turn to see a smug expression on his face. Hermione stands and faces him. “Ronald Weasley!” she screams. “What have you done with my letters?!”
Ron sneers, “Like I was going to let my girlfriend write to some perverted git!”
Arthur flicks his wand to silence Ron at the same time Charlie pulls Hermione away and settles the furious woman back into her chair. Arthur, with a puzzled look, stares at his eldest son, “Bill, all that money, it isn’t in the family vault.”
“I know, Dad. Mum has her own vault, under her maiden name. I was able to get that much information using my connections at Gringotts.” With a tired and gentle look on his face, Bill asks, “Does anyone have anything else to add?”
Dean speaks for the first time. “I do, but I’ll need that pensieve.” Ginny whimpers as Dean draws a phial of memories from his pocket.