A/N: A couple of people expressed doubts about the story, but if you've stuck with me so far, I hope all of your questions will be answered with this chapter. I'm crossing my fingers that this will make sense to everyone. Thank you for all of the reviews! And now, please enjoy.
EDIT: Alright, since some people are unwilling to suspend disbelief until everything gets explained in the story, let me explain a few things. Most of this information would have come out in the story, but I see no harm in posting it ahead of time.
1. So one person can arbitrarily force friends to no longer be friends, and this is not only legal but magic actually makes them follow that? And the fact that said person did not do it of their own will has no bearing on the matter? And there is NOTHING anyone can do about it?
No, that is actually not how it works. You'll find that in the first chapter, I mentioned that Ron has been acting strangely since the Department of Mysteries. What happened to him in there? He was attacked by the brain of someone else. This fact has a HUGE bearing on why exactly one particular student was able to imperio Ron and get him to break the bonds. I assure you that it was not random, it can't be done by just anyone, and this is something that will be covered during the story. Right now, no one is aware of the fact that Ron was under imperius. That will change soon.
2. If it was that easy why didn't Sirius break the ties of the Blacks to rest of the dark families?
What good would that have done? The Blacks are inherently evil, and no amount of breaking bonds is going to change that. All it would have caused is for the other dark families to hate the Blacks and vice versa... and seeing as how Sirius is the only living Black, he already hates those dark families and they hate him.
As an additional note... if you're going to post questions/comments/etc... you want me to respond to, please be signed in when you review. Otherwise I have no way of contacting you.
Amelia Bones, flanked by another witch and wizard, arrived through the fireplace in Madame Pomfrey's office before any of the Weasleys did. Ginny watched silently from her perch atop a hospital bed as Madame Pomfrey cast one final monitoring spell over Harry and moved to intercept the three of them. The group spoke quietly for a minute, and then the unknown witch and wizard followed Pomfrey towards the back of the Hospital Wing, where Ron had been placed. Amelia Bones gave Ginny a kind smile and left the infirmary, presumably to track down Professor Dumbledore. Moments later, Madame Pomfrey returned and inspected the results from her monitoring charms, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
"Is Harry alright?" Ginny asked nervously before Hermione could.
Pomfrey started and turned to face her quickly. "Oh, Miss Weasley, I'd nearly forgotten that you were here," she said. "Yes, I believe that Mr Potter will be fine. He'll be a bit sore tonight, but nothing that will require an overnight stay. At the moment, he's unconscious from the shock of what happened. Once the headmaster arrives, I'll revive him."
She cancelled all but one of the charms on Harry and walked over to attend to Hermione, who had already been given a pain relief potion. Pomfrey began waving her wand in a complicated motion over Hermione's swollen ankle as the door to the wing opened. Professor Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, Mr and Mrs Weasley, the twins, and Bill all entered the room in a swarm. Her parents gave her a perfunctory greeting; Mrs Weasley immediately hurried to the back of the room to check on her son, while Mr Weasley glanced at Harry and then began speaking to the headmaster in a hushed, worried voice. The twins and Bill came to sit in a cluster around Ginny, and she leaned against Bill's shoulder, grateful for the silent comfort.
Once Mrs Weasley and the witch who had arrived with Amelia Bones had emerged from behind the curtain, Dumbledore cleared his throat to gain the attention of everyone. "Since Percy and Charlie will not be joining us, I believe that we should begin. Poppy, could you please awaken Harry?"
"Rennervate!" Pomfrey murmured with a flick of her wand. Harry opened his eyes and blinked, looking around the room slowly. He seemed quite confused to see everyone standing around and was about to ask a question when Madame Pomfrey handed him a couple of potions and directed him to drink from them.
"Welcome back, Harry," Dumbledore said with a faint smile. "Now, I understand that you have brought some help along to explain things to us, Amelia?"
"If you would?" said Amelia with a glance at the witch.
"My name is Kelley Moore," said the unidentified witch, tilting her head in greeting. "I work for the Department of Magical Heritage at the Ministry of Magic. Madam Bones requested that I come along with her today because she was told that you had a case of familial bonds being destroyed. I consulted the Book of Familial Bonds before we left and discovered that you were indeed correct, Headmaster." She removed a piece of parchment from a pocket of her robe and unrolled it. "I figured that you would want proof and copied the page for you. As you can see, it clearly states that all of the bonds between the Potters and the Weasleys have been destroyed."
Professor Dumbledore looked grim as he took the parchment and examined it. "And there is no way to reinstate them?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Kelley said, shaking her head. "You'll notice that the Book has recorded a permanent seal, meaning that this is completely official and cannot be undone." She turned to face the rest of them with an apologetic smile. "Unfortunately, in a case like this, Mr Ronald Weasley has been documented as an heir to his family. That gives him the right to break any bonds, save for disinheriting, if he so wishes."
"But Ron's only sixteen," said Bill, who seemed to be following the conversation with the most ease. "How can he be considered an heir already? You're not an adult in the wizarding world until you're seventeen."
"True," agreed Kelley, folding her arms. "An excellent point. But unfortunately, I'm afraid that the rules work a little differently when it comes to magical heritage itself. You see, it used to be that most witches and wizards would come into a magical inheritance from their family when they turned sixteen. With the dilution of blood, a full magical inheritance has become less common." She smiled sadly at Bill. "However, those that still receive a magical inheritance of any kind have one additional year of schooling to be trained in the use of those powers. The idea was that a witch or wizard would become an adult once he or she is fully trained in the use of whatever magical inheritance they might receive.
"Because the status of an heir is considered to be part of a magical inheritance, Mr Weasley was able to hold sway over the familial bonds of the Weasley family as soon as he turned sixteen years old." Kelley sighed and straightened the blue ribbon that held her dark red hair swept back. "In the past, most pureblood families only had one or two children, and generally only one male child, so the magical inheritance wasn't a big deal. It's a rare – and much more complicated – case when a wizarding family has this many male heirs."
"So, wait, what does that mean?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time since he'd awoken. He sat up and looked directly at Kelley. "What exactly did Ron do?"
"In essence, Mr Weasley destroyed any and all bonds that had formed between your family and his, and put a block in place to prevent any more from forming," Kelley said simply. "Simply put, any positive emotions, be it friendship, love, lust or affection, from here on out are going to be null and void. Within the next week or two, the magic involved will forcibly eradicate those feelings, and there's nothing you can do about it." She paused briefly. "From now on, the best you'll be able to hope for, Mr Potter, is a neutral feeling towards all Weasleys. However, I feel I should warn you that in these kinds of situations, it often evolves into dislike or outright hatred. To give you an idea, in 1607, the Book records a Malfoy breaking all ties with the Weasley family."
Harry's green eyes widened slightly in shock and Ginny gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. The depths of hatred between the Weasleys and the Malfoys were well known within the wizarding world, but she hadn't been aware that it resulted from a severance of familial bonds. A stunned silence fell over the room as everyone within contemplated the gravity of what Ron had done. Bill had clenched one fist loosely; the twins looked too shocked to respond. Mr Weasley was shaking his head and Mrs Weasley appeared to be devastated. Her tear-filled eyes were trained on Harry, the boy she had come to think of as a seventh son. Professor Dumbledore looked very old and tired, and Hermione's eyes had filled with tears.
"There's nothing we can do at all?" Mr Weasley said eventually, giving Kelley an imploring look. "I'm the current head of the family. Can't I reinstate the bonds between our families?"
"Unfortunately, no. You may be the head of the Weasley family, but as Ron is considered to be one of your magical heirs, this is not something that you can undo. When he received his magical inheritance and became an heir, the magic recognized him as having your permission to do as he wanted. There's nothing you can do unless you no longer want to be a part of the Weasley family," Kelley replied, looking sympathetic. "I've often considered it to be a problem that schools do not offer classes in magical heritage. Cases like this, while exceedingly rare, do happen. Boys fight, and sometimes the results can catastrophic." She glanced around. "I would like to let you know that we do offer a counselling service of sorts for those who have any questions or difficulty in adjusting to the situation... I realize that it can be a bit of a shock, and – "
"Harry!" Hermione cried suddenly, cutting off whatever else Kelley had been about to say. "Wait. Come back!" She stretched one arm out in vain after her friend as he jumped off of the bed and fled the room. The movement caused her ankle to twitch, and Hermione flinched, giving a low gasp of pain.
"Don't. I'll go, Hermione," Ginny said, wiggling her way out from between her brothers.
"Ginny, you should wait and hear the rest," said Mr Weasley, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders. Mrs Weasley sagged against her husband. "This is important."
"What else is there to hear?" asked Ginny bitterly, looking at her father. "Ron's ruined everything and there's no way to fix it. I'm going to grow to hate Harry against my will. If there's anything worse than that, thanks but no thanks. I want to comfort Harry while I still can." She turned and walked quickly out of the infirmary before her parents could stop her.
There was no sign of Harry when she was out in the hallway, and she wasn't quite sure where he might have gone. She knew that he would have wanted to be alone, but in a castle the size of Hogwarts, that wasn't really a hard thing to do. Deciding that she'd head for the Quidditch Patch first, she set off down the hallway, trying not to think about the implications of everything that Kelley had just told them. In fact, she would have much rather preferred to pretend that the whole day had never happened, but that in itself was impossible. Clearly word had spread that something was wrong and the rest of the Weasley family had been summoned, because nearly every student she passed stopped and stared at her outright. Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to approach and ask questions, because she wasn't entirely sure she could have kept herself from hexing the first moron brave enough to do so.
Within about five minutes, she made it outside onto the pitch and began walking across the grass. The sun was so bright that she had to shield her eyes as she scanned the grounds. Sure enough, there was a lone rider with dark hair shooting around in the air, going so fast and performing such daring manoeuvres that it could only have been Harry. Ginny climbed up onto the Gryffindor bleachers and sat down in the first row to watch. She winced as he performed a particularly dangerous dive that could have easily killed him if he'd waited even a second longer to pull up. Even though she was too far away to make out his face, she could tell that he was definitely upset, and she didn't blame him.
The lone Gryffindor pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed to herself as she watched Harry fly. Why did things always have to happen to him? First he'd lost Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, then Ron had begun acting like an arse, and now this. Worst of all, there was absolutely nothing that she could do to help him this time, because in a week or so they would likely hate each other, and Harry would be even more alone than before. She dug her nails into her legs, biting her lip hard. Normally she loved her brothers, but she could honestly say that at that moment, she hated Ron.
"Why does it have to be this way?" she whispered out loud, feeling the beginnings of tears pricking at her eyes. As the only girl in a houseful of boys, she'd learned at a young age that crying didn't solve problems (though it did help to get her brothers into trouble). For that reason, Ginny rarely cried. But this time, she couldn't help it. A tear slipped down her cheek and landed on her hand. Predictably, Harry chose that minute to catch sight of her and begin flying in her direction. Once he was over the bleachers, he hopped off of his broom and, surprisingly, sat down beside her, breathing hard. Ginny stared out over the pitch, not daring to look at him in case she chased him away with the fact that she was crying. She couldn't believe that he had actually come to her instead of ignoring her presence entirely.
"Are you okay?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.
"It's just... so unfair," Ginny said, brushing at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry. I feel foolish for sitting here and crying when you're the one who should be upset."
Harry sighed and set his Firebolt down on the seat in front of them. "You have every right to be upset too, Gin. This affects you and your family just as much as it does me." He stared out over the pitch, watching as the Slytherin Quidditch Team began preparing for a practice. At last, he said, "I just can't believe Ron would do something like this."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I really don't," he answered quietly, resting his chin on his hand. "I guess I'll have to go back to the Dursleys this summer, but Dumbledore would have probably sent me back there, anyway. Ron was being such an arse that I've already gotten used to that. It'll cause a bit more tension in the dorms, but it shouldn't be too bad. I just... it really bothers me that magic could force me to hate you all. You were the first family..." His voice caught and he broke off, shaking his head. "I can't believe this is happening. There's something not quite right about this whole situation. I... I can't stand it."
Amazed that he'd shared so much, Ginny was silent for a minute. "You're lucky in a way," she said thoughtfully, attempting to lighten the mood a little. "No need to worry about siblings doing the same to you."
"Yeah," he muttered, shooting her a tiny smile. His expression became more serious. "Is that really how it works, Gin? I'm going to hate you?"
"I don't know very much about familial bonds, Harry. It's not really the sort of thing that girls tend to be taught, since we're not considered heirs as long as there is a son," Ginny replied. "But... there's nothing stopping us from doing research in the library, if you want. There have to be books about magical heritage somewhere. I don't think we should bother Hermione, though," she went on. "She's been really upset about how Ron is acting, and now that he's gone so far, I think she's going to be even more obsessed with finding out what's wrong with him. She won't have any spare time."
"As much as I can't believe I'm volunteering to spend time in the library, I'll do it," said Harry. "I know that witch said nothing could be done, but there must be a way to reverse this." He sounded so desperate that fresh tears rose to Ginny's eyes, and she had to look away.
"Not unless we don't want to be Weasleys anymore," she said softly, more to herself than to Harry. She shivered, suddenly feeling chilled in spite of the warm autumn day.
A shadow fell over the two of them. "Scar-head, Weaselette. I know that it's difficult for you to understand that we're better, but I can't believe that you're lowering yourselves to spying on our team."
"Fuck off, Malfoy," Harry said shortly. "I'm not in the mood."
"In case you hadn't noticed, Potter, you're the one intruding on a private practice," the blond said, looking deeply amused instead of offended. "Unless you're like us to fetch Professor Snape so that more points can be taken..."
With an aggrieved sigh, Harry stood up and slung his leg over his broom. He beckoned to Ginny, who, after a moment's pause, climbed on behind him and steadied herself as the Firebolt rose into the air. Harry glared at Malfoy one last time before the two of them took off, heading back towards the castle. Ginny held on tightly, her eyes pinned onto Harry's back as he concentrated on flying, and wondered what would happen when they had to face the realization that there was nothing they could do about the familial bonds. Would she begin to hate Harry before then? Her hands clenched into fists at the very thought. She would do anything to avoid that future.
NIR
Albus Dumbledore had a headache. No sooner was one thing resolved than his attention was needed elsewhere, and it was beginning to wear on him. The whole situation with the Weasleys and Harry was upsetting enough, but his Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had unexpectedly resigned not two hours ago. He'd returned to his office and found an owl waiting patiently beside Fawkes with a letter of resignation tied to its leg. Professor Thyme hadn't even given a reason for why he was leaving just a few weeks after school had begun. Was the curse of the position kicking in already this year?
Fawkes chirped comfortingly, and Albus offered his familiar a weary smile. If need be, he was willing to cover the classes for a couple of days, but if a suitable replacement couldn't be found – and soon – then the Ministry would have the chance to put someone of their choosing forward. The thought of another Dolores Umbridge in the school was enough to make him shudder. No, he would have to find someone... but who would be able to take the position on such short notice?
As though in answer to his question, the flames in the fireplace turned bright green, and a low, warning whistle that was audible only to Albus and Fawkes sounded. A young man tumbled out of the fireplace and caught himself on a chair before he could fall. He straightened slowly, revealing warm brown eyes just visible beneath somewhat shaggy dark brown hair, and began dusting off his green robes. Albus sighed and leaned back in his chair, feeling the pressure of his headache increase. Of all the wizards who would choose that moment to visit...
"Hello, Headmaster," the man said brightly.
"Good day, Chance. Please, have a seat. Lemon drop?" Albus inquired, taking one of the candies for himself. They were imbued with a mild calming draught which would hopefully help to soothe the pounding in his temples.
"No thank you. I heard that you're in need of a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Well, look no further. Here I am, ready to offer my services," said Chance.
"We've gone over this before. It's not safe for you to be here," said Albus, dropping his genial act and frowning deeply. He gave a quick wave of his hand, ensuring that the wards surrounding the office would go up and prevent anyone from hearing a word of what went on. "Even just coming to Hogwarts for a visit is risky, Sirius."
Chance Astrum – also known as the late Sirius Black – scowled and folded his arms. "Albus, I don't care. I know that you feel things are better this way, and you know that I've agreed to this plan of yours as long as it's going to help keep Harry safe. But I can't just lie around on a beach somewhere and hope that you're taking good care of my godson! I've been absent in his life for far too long. I need to be here so that I can be sure he's okay."
"He can't even know that you're you." Albus sensed he was, for once, fighting a losing battle.
"That's fine. As long as I'm here, that's all that matters. Besides, I can be a professor. Merlin knows we used to listen to Remus lecture us all the bloody time. I'm sure I've picked up a thing or two. How hard can it be?"
"Alright, you can have the job just so long as you remember the need for absolute discretion. But, I am curious, how exactly did you know that we were in need of a new professor?" Albus narrowed his eyes suspiciously, realizing that he need not look any further to find the true perpetrator of the so-called "curse".
Smiling nervously, Chance stood up quickly and moved over to the fireplace. Albus kept a container of Floo Powder on the table beside it, and Chance took a small handful and tossed it into the fire as he spoke. "Word travels fast, you know. Well, Albus, I must be going. I'll be here by the weekend. Keep Harry safe until then! The Atrium!" He vanished into the flames.
Smiling in spite of himself, Albus picked up another candy and popped it into his mouth.
For those who may be curious, Chance Astrum loosely translates to "lucky star".
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