Chapter Twenty Five: Confessions

"I don't understand." Mr. Weasley said, a bewildered expression on his face. "It was you?"

Harry said nothing, his whole body tense in anticipation. He merely nodded, still staring at the man.

Mr. Weasley sat in shock, his eyes fixated on the raven haired teen. He didn't know what to do, the confession was something he couldn't wrap him mind around.

"W-why are you telling us this?"

"Because I owe it to you." Harry said, shamefaced. "You've been so kind to me, inviting me to dinner, accepting me as Ginny's boyfriend, throwing me a birthday party, the first I'd ever had…" Harry trialed off, staring at his shoes. "You deserve to know the truth."

"You're the one who stole from us?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed aghast, eyes flashing to Ginny. "Did you know about this?"

Ginny looked at her parents, standing strongly beside Harry, "Yes, and I forgave him."

Her father opened her mouth to speak but she quickly cut him off.

"I know what your thinking Dad, but just… Listen to him. I was devastated when I found out but then he, well, explained some things to me that made me forgive him."

Mr. Weasley pursed his lips, struggling to remain quiet. He trusted his daughter and if she said to hear him out, then he would at least listen to the boy.

"Well?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair, looking at the table, eyes a bit unfocused as he talked.

"My parents died when I was about one year old." Harry began, a bitter look on his face, "Both sets of my grandparents were gone and my father never had any siblings. So, I got stuck with my aunt and uncle on my mother's side."

His face became hard as he talked, "They hated me. Which is a vast understatement. They barley fed me, never paid attention to me and, well, my uncle had no problem trying to slap some sense into me… literally." At this he heard Mrs. Weasley gasp lightly, and looked up to see her eyes brimming with tears. He looked away however, unable to handle the pity.

"Anyways, I lived with them until I was ten. After a rather nasty fight with my uncle, were I nearly broke my arm, I couldn't live there anymore… wouldn't. They were, are, terrible people and I had had enough of being pushed around. So, I left."

"I hopped onto a bus in the middle of the night with a bag of food, what little I owned, along with some of my uncle's money, and went to London. I really had no idea what I'd do once I got there, but that fact mattered little to me at the time. I was away from my relatives and that's all that mattered."

He wrinkled his forehead in concentration, trying to remember what happened years ago.

"I ended up in some back alley, sleeping outside in the middle of October. I was cold and after a while, hungry. My food source running out." He shook his head, trying to clear the memories that came with many old emotions, ones he wasn't too happy to feel or remember. "To make a long story short. I had stolen some food from a bar in the alley and had kept coming back for more. I was desperate. I didn't want the police to find me, they'd make me go back to my relatives, something I would have rather died then do. Which I nearly did, thinking back on it. So many things could have happened to me." He mused, frowning as he continued on, "One day after about a week of stealing food from the bar, and sleeping in a small cleaning closet in the back, the owner of the place saw me at some point and let me stay. He turned the closet into a very small bedroom, just big enough to hold a mattress and a small nightstand he had put in. But it was good enough for me. I was use to far worse at my relatives."

Harry finally looked up at the couple as they sat listening attentively to his story. "I spent the next five years there, living in the bar. I eventually needed or began to want things. It started with clothes, some treats, something small and fun to occupy my time. Then turned into things I simply wanted, more expensive things. As basic as wanting a nice pair of shoes, to a small radio to listen to. Stealing was the only way I knew how to get money at my age. You could only find so much laying on the street. I didn't go to school, didn't have anyone to help me. It seemed like the only way to go."

"Then a few years later I got emancipated by the government. I had just went to them to try to see if I could get it… I was still fairly young. They hadn't really had a choice. I was a tough kid who had grown up on the streets, wouldn't go into a foster home and didn't have any family that they knew of. So I got it pretty easily. I moved into a small flat, the very same one I have today, and paid with it the only way I knew how. To steal."

"I then met Draco. His parents, well, they didn't really want him and we had met earlier by chance in London. He came looking for a place to stay and just stuck around. It was kind of nice to have someone to hang out with, after being alone for so long. And we kind of, started doing it together."

He shook his head now, "We had been stealing from a rather rich family's house, and the cops came. They chased us down the street and I let them catch me so Draco could get away." He looked down, disgusted with himself. "I spent six months in juvi. I hadn't learned much though, because the second I got out, Draco had his mind set on a house to steal from… Your house."

Harry paused momentarily, heart clenching with guilt. "That night, stealing from your home, changed my life forever. I-well, I was intrigued by your family, the picture in the locket." He said, gesturing to the small item on the table, "You were… happy. Something that I couldn't understand, at all. I grew up in a home with a family so unlike the one in the picture. I just-"

He trailed off, running a shaky hand through his raven hair and sighed heavily. His face, which had previous been hard and bitter, twisted into a small, soft smile. "Then I met Ginny."

He turned to her and smiled; he'd always be grateful for meeting her.

"I just happened to run into her. By pure chance. I knew who she was and where I had seen her from and I just followed her into a bookstore. She later caught me staring and we began talking."

He squeezed her hand before turning back to her parents, "Ginny changed me. I don't know why, but she did. She just, represented something I wanted so badly and had never had. A family, a happy life, to be normal. She had a positive outlook on life and hadn't grow up on the streets. She wasn't like anyone I had met before, she wasn't like the rougher people I had grown up with. I guess she gave me a new perspective on life. That I could be happy. I didn't have to live like this the rest of my life. I didn't have to steal to survive anymore, I didn't have to end up back in juvi, or worse jail. She was just so… carefree."

Harry laughed softly to himself, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't really know how to explain it. She just made me want more with my life. Once she found out, she gave me an ultimatum. Her or the life I'd previously led, which wasn't making me very happy. So I vowed to stop, obviously choosing her."

The teenage boy's face turned to sorrow. "I told you all of this to make you maybe understand. Understand why I did it, where I came from. The way I grew up doesn't excuse what I did, but at first, it was the only way to survive and then, well, it was what I was use to. What I knew, it just became second nature to me, to get the things I wanted."

The room filled with a heavy silence, the two adults staring at the teenage boy. Neither of them knowing what to think.

Mr. Weasley looked at the young man in front of him, seeing his dark emerald eyes filled with sorrow and sincerity. He then turned his gaze to his daughter. She stood beside the young man, a strong and defiant look on her face. Looking a bit more closely, he was sure he saw a hint of worry in her eyes. He supposed she was scared they wouldn't accept him now that they knew.

The man sighed, suddenly looking much older, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Ginny, I'd like to speak with you in the other room please."

Harry glanced nervously at the red haired beauty beside him. She gave him an encouraging smile before following her mother and father into the living room.

--

"Ginny…"

"Dad wait a moment," Ginny said, holding up her hand, "He's sorry, you have no idea how sorry he is-"

"I could see that Ginny but, how well do you really know this boy?" Mr. Weasley replied, sitting down heavily on a nearby chair. His wife sat on the couch across from him, while his daughter stood off to the side, trying to address them both.

"Well enough. I know the important things about him. Things he's just now told you and a bit more. You just kind of got the overall picture, I got a bit of a deeper look." She said, her face sad at the recollection of when Harry had told her all about those people. "I trust him Dad. He means a lot to me."

"How do you know he's really quit?"

"He has. I mean, he's got a job, I've seen him work there. He has no need to steal anymore. I trust him, I wouldn't have taken him back if I didn't. He doesn't want to lie to me, he wants to change, and he has. That's why he came clean about everything."

"After you busted him." Her father added.

"Yes but he could have easily lied. And he came clean about everything. He knew he was going to lose me if he didn't and even though it was incredibly hard to share his past with me, he told me. And some things he told me were unnecessary but he told me anyways. I believe him," She smiled ruefully, shaking her head softly, "Those eyes can't lie. He told me the truth and now you, and I respect and admire that. He's telling the truth, he's really changed, and I trust him wholeheartedly."

"But he stole from us Ginny…"

"And he's trying to make up for it. He gave you over a thousand pounds he actually worked for! That money means a lot to him, knowing he got it the right way. He worked for it. Look, Dad, he's trying to make good. He really wants you to like him. The real him. And that means knowing everything about him."

"But-"

"He could have not told you, and just continued on, without you ever having a clue. It was a brave thing he did, coming clean. Dad, you're a lawyer for Pete's sake. You could easily throw him back into juvi or prison. Despite knowing this he still told you. He wanted to tell you the truth."

Silence reigned in the living room as the two eldest Weasley's thought about everything their daughter had said.

"Did-Did they really treat him so badly?" Mrs. Weasley said, eyes filled with pain.

Ginny grimaced, "He was sugarcoating it for you Mum."

Mrs. Weasley looked away, wiping away a small tear that was trailing down her pale cheek.

Ginny turned to her father, her eyes pleading with him. "Please Dad, just give him a chance. Doesn't it say something about him that he came clean to you? He really is the guy you've seen for the past few weeks, that wasn't fake. Just give him a chance."

--

The Weasley's made their way slowly back into the kitchen, after nearly an hour of discussion between them. Mr. Weasley led the two women, the first to see an anxious Harry sitting at the kitchen table. His fingers were laced together on the tabletop, a serious and worrisome expression on his face.

The teen looked up as they entered and immediately jumped up from his chair, standing stock still awaiting their verdict.

Mr. Weasley sat across from him, while Mrs. Weasley took a seat beside her husband, Ginny doing the same.

Harry gulped staring at the three. He glanced at Ginny but she wasn't looking at him. She kept her head down, face hidden from his view.

His attention then turned to the man in front of him as Mr. Weasley caught his eyes with a stern glance.

"You do know I'm a lawyer. I could have you thrown into prison."

Harry gulped, fear slowly filling up inside him. He had to tell them, it was the right thing to do. But Ginny… she had been so sure they'd forgive him.

He slowly nodded, looking away from the older man. "Yes Sir."

"Yet you told me anyways… why?"

"Because Sir, you just deserved to know. I wanted to pay you back. It wasn't right what I did and I know that now. Have know that actually, ever since I met Ginny. Your family's been so amazing and welcoming… It was just the right thing to do. Besides, I couldn't exactly give you a ton of money out of no where. I wanted to pay you back, and telling the truth was a part of that."

Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the blow. He cringed at the unrelenting silence that seemed to have dragged on for several minutes since the last time he spoke. He didn't want to go back to juvi, or go to jail, but he supposed he would if he must. He wouldn't try to run. He'd made a real mess out of his life, done things he wasn't proud of. If he had to, he would pay for the mistakes he'd made.

He must have zoned out for a moment, lost in his thoughts, because a second later he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, sweeping him into a fierce hug.

"I'm so sorry for what you had to go through." Mrs. Weasley said, hugging the boy tightly.

Harry stood in shock, staring up at Ginny who merely grinned before giving him a thumbs up behind her father's back.

Mrs. Weasley eventually pulled back, both hand's on the teen's shoulders.

"Thank you, for what you did today." She said, letting go fully before picking up the locket on the table, "This means so much to me and I had thought I lost it." She looked up at him, eyes shinning with unshed tears, "Thank you."

Harry stood, dumbfounded at what was happening. Weren't they sending him to jail?

Mr. Weasley now turned to him, standing in front of the boy. "No Harry we're not sending you to jail."

The teen blushed, not realizing he had said his fears aloud.

Mr. Weasley sighed before giving Harry a tired smile, "If Ginny's able to give you a second chance, then the least we can do is the same. We'll put this behind us Harry. I know how sorry you are and you've clearly made up for it." Mr. Weasley said, holding up the cash.

"Oh but that's not it Sir." Harry said, shaking his head, "I-I don't have the money right now but I plan on paying you more. Granted I won't be able to pay you much each check I get, I do have bills, but you'll get it back. I know it can't make up for the valuable things I sold or broke but-"

"Harry." Arthur said, resting a hand on the young man's shoulder. "This is more than enough." At Harry's objection he quiet the teen once more, "It is. You're sorry. We know that. You've apologized, paid us back and you spent six months in juvi. Not for this specific instance but you have before. Even though it wasn't juvi that changed you, you've learned your lesson… I hope."

"Yes, of course Sir. I won't do anything stupid like this again." He said sincerely.

"I hope so Harry, for your sake and my daughter's. She's rather fond of you." He smiled, before turning his expression to one of absolute seriousness. "If you ever pull something like this again, you'll be allowed nowhere near my daughter. Or the rest of the family."

"I understand." Harry said solemnly, his body still a bit numb from the unexpected, but immensely relieving turn of events.

Ginny walked up to him, a warm smile on her face. "I told you it would go over well." She said, a smirk playing at her lips.

"Thankfully." He whispered, grateful he had met such wonderful people. Most would have called the cops straight away.

"Now this can stay between the four of us. There's no need for the others to know."

Harry contemplated this for a moment.

"They should know." Harry decided, looking at her parents. "It affected them as well. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would like it if you told them."

Arthur nodded, "Of course, it's your choice. I'll tell them later tonight."

Harry nodded gratefully.

Ginny reached up and grabbed him, pulling him into a tight hug. He smiled and hugged her back just as tightly. Relief flooded through him as he held her, his heartbeat finally returning to normal. He couldn't believe this went so well. For once, things were going just right and his life was turning around. He had told the people he had hurt and they had forgiven him. He could finally move on and put the past behind him.

--

A/N: A quick update, what a fluke! I know nothing dramatic happened as some of you probably thought would, but this chapter was just about him coming clean, and setting some things up for later on in the story. I figured the Weasley's were a forgiving, loving sort, so it made sense that they'd give him another chance.

Thanks a lot for those of you still sticking with the story. It's taken a long time to get to this point, and there's a stretch to go, but I appreciate all of you reading this. And for the reviews! You have no idea how much those can cheer up a person, or just make them happy lol. So, thanks to all the old and new readers, make sure you review, and I'll update again soon. Happy reading!