Title: Cum Tacent, Clamant (Although They Are Silent, They Cry Aloud)
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N 1: Thanks to Bella for beta.
A/N 2: Title is a quote from Cicero, (In Catilinam 1, 8).
A/N 3: This fic was inspired by Icarus' fic Hey You, witch is a part of her series Beg Me For It. Go to her site to check it out!
Arthur waited until all of the children had gathered around him. He looked into their eyes, they seemed so young; Ginny, Ron and the twins. Others have already flown out of the nest. Bill, Charlie and Percy. But they are adults now, well, technically twins were also adults, but they still lived at home so…
Arthur shook his head, to clear his thoughts. He must do this, even if it hurts. He wants them to keep their innocence, but the times are tough. One must do what one must do.
He gave them one last look before he begun. "I know you must wonder why I asked all of you here. As you know You-Know-Who has finally made his plans clear to everyone, and open war is about to begin. In fact, I know it will happen soon."
The children looked frightened, although they tried to cover it up. "Dad," Ron started, but Arthur interrupted him. "Ron, questions later." He wanted to start pacing, but he knew he mustn't. For this matter children's attention needed to be solely on him.
"I am worrying for you. The Christmas break is soon over and you, Ginny and Ron, will go back to Hogwarts. I want you to be safe, but I can't provide that, so I want to give you something more powerful to protect yourselves, more powerful than what you've used to."
Arthur felt the sweat starting to dampen his armpits and forehead. "You musn't tell anyone what I've taught you. Not anyone." He fixed his eyes on Ron. "Not even to Harry or Hermione. Do you promise?"
Ron's eyes were round as he nodded his head. Fred and George said yes at the same time and Ginny. Ginny's eyes were distant as she looked at her father, as if she already knew what he was going to say. "All right," she said.
Arthur licked his lips to make them wetter. He wished he could have some water.
"There are certain spells, curses they don't teach you at Hogwarts, because they are," he gulps. This felt so wrong. "Because they're dark. And I'm going to teach you one of these dark curses.
Ron gasped. Others stayed quiet, so Arthur continued determinedly.
"This curse works only for short distances, and it causes heart and lung failure. The thing is, you don't need a wand to cast it, so you can use it if someone captures you." He wasn't looking at Ginny.
"Dad!" Two similar voices yelled. "How can you do this? We're fighting dark and now you want to teach it to us?"
Arthur felt cold, despite the sweat. "I want that you're able to protect yourselves. The light doesn't have any curses that are as… effective as this one." He looked into the shocked eyes of his sons and resigned eyes of his daughter and sighed.
"Molly," he said. The children turned around; they hadn't noticed her standing in the doorway, "bring the mouse cage in, please."
She nodded and went to fetch the cage and brought it where he stood. His Molly was practical woman. She would do anything to protect her children. She placed it on the floor, in front of the children.
The horrified silence followed, as the children understood why the cage with seven mice was there.
"No!" from Ron.
"Yes," said Molly in a calm voice.
He couldn't face their eyes, instead he said, "Please forgive me, forgive us." Then he sat down and took one mouse out of the cage.
"Let's begin…" he started.
Fin.