THE OTHER SIDE OF TRUTH
Ginny Weasley was in a rather good mood as she left Gringotts bank. Her salary had just been paid and a bonus had been included, without her knowledge. The sparky 21 year old walked along Diagon Alley looking carefree and absolutely relaxed. As it was a Sunday, she would be getting together with the rest of her family for the Weasley's weekly lunch.
Mrs. Weasley had somehow gotten it into her head, that her children were starving individuals since they had flown the nest and must therefore be fed up to the brim in order to last the night. Not even Mr. Weasley was able to deter his wife from the weekly food- a- thon. Ginny laughed to herself when she thought of her brothers and the fun they shared.
The war had taken so much happiness out of their lives yet they persevered and in the end, Voldemort was overcome. Harry managed to send out the killing curse and survived, but he got another scar for his trouble, this time in the shape of a star. He complained that by the time he was killing Voldemort off again, he would soon have the whole sky imprinted on his pale skin. The war had demanded lives from both sides.
Thankfully none of Ginny's family or close friends had been taken, but Lavender Brown and the Patil's had gone as well as various other students. Pansy Parkinson, the slut of Hogwarts, was now permanently blind and crippled. Ginny would have preferred death to the agony that girl went through every day.
As she neared The Burrow an hour early, she noticed that her parents were on the step waiting for her. They had owled her saying that they needed to meet her for "a chat." Frantically searching through her memories she tried to find if she had said anything that would make them have such a chat, yet she found nothing.
"Morning Mum, Dad. Um, Mum, why am I needed so early?" Mrs. Weasley's response to that was to burst into tears and run into the house. Ginny was now seriously worried.
"Dad? What's going on?" she queried.
"Come in, pumpkin, and we'll explain it as best we can."
She stepped over the threshold and into the kitchen. She sat quietly at the table whilst her mother tried to calm herself down. Finally both her parents sat in front of her and sipped their tea quietly. Her mum glanced up first and said, "Ginny darling. Have you ever heard of the Verona curse?"
Ginny shook her head in the negative, "No Mum."
"Well, this curse came into being in the 1600's. Two families were constantly at war with one another and this resulted in blood shed. Yet in the midst of the bloodshed were a pair of lovers, just like Romeo and Juliet. Yet the problem starts that when the two lovers got married secretly, their siblings, disgusted at those two's act, killed the girl before training the sword on the male. He was so distraught he performed a curse on both families that the next daughter and son of both families must be married for a year and a half otherwise the other siblings would be at risk of death."
Ginny was now seriously scared at where the story would end up. She was the only female born into the Weasley clan for generations and had an idea that this might be equating into a forced marriage.
Mrs. Weasley carried on. "Well Ginny, you are the first born female into the clan since the 1600's. We were so proud to have you and yet we realised what would happen to you as you grew older. Unfortunately, you must marry by your 22nd birthday to the son of the opposing family otherwise our fourth son will be dead and his mother as well." A quick calculation showed Ginny that they were Fred and George.
"But Mum, that's Fred and George."
"No dear. It's just Fred as he was born first." Ginny couldn't believe that she had to marry in order to save a brother! Shakily she gathered her thoughts together. In the space of half an hour, her whole life had been turned upside down and she couldn't make head or tail of it. Sighing she looked back at her nervous parents.
"Why couldn't you have told me this before?" she asked softly.
"Because sweetheart," her father answered, "We wanted you to have a full life before you had to encounter this problem."
Sighing again she asked, "Who is it that I have to marry?"
Her parents' eyes darted nervously around the room. "Mum?" she asked, her tone a little sharper. "Who is it?" each word enunciated clearly.
Her mum gave a little head shake. "I'm sorry dear. It's" a brief pause left Ginny on tenterhooks. "It's Draco Malfoy."
