keeptheotherone gave me the idea for this story! :) Thank you, my dear! I am in full agreement with her that this particular summer was a pivotal one for the Weasleys. N'aww. Poor Ginny.


6 July 1993 – Pain

"Molly?"

"Shh, Arthur, I'm here. Have you just got home?"

Arthur frowned through the darkness of Ginny's tiny bedroom at his wife, who was sitting on Ginny's bed, holding their sleeping daughter wrapped in a blanket in her lap. He smiled gently. "She's getting a little big for that, isn't she?"

Molly kissed the top of Ginny's head, hugging her close. "Never."

"Did she have another nightmare?" he asked, reaching out and touching Ginny's hair.

"I think so," Molly replied. She paused for a moment. "She wouldn't say." Then she gave a sigh. "I suppose she ought to go back to bed. Help me?"

Arthur nodded and scooped Ginny awkwardly out of Molly's arms—she was still quite light, which he knew Molly was trying to remedy with six square meals a day—but she was getting taller by the second, it seemed. He settled her on the bed again as Molly moved away, and she rolled onto her side, curling up in a ball beneath her quilt. Arthur kissed her head, and she sighed softly.

Then he turned to Molly, who was stretching. She gave him a half-smile, took his hand, and followed him out of the room, leaving Ginny's door open just a crack.

"Here," Arthur whispered. He flicked his wand and turned on the hall lights, so that if she wanted to, Ginny could come and find them.

Molly smiled and kissed his cheek. "Listen to that rain," she murmured as they climbed the stairs. It pattered loudly on the roof of the Burrow, as a distant roll of thunder sounded overhead, and lightning flickered in the windows. "Will you check the chicken coop in the morning?"

"All right," Arthur replied, holding open their bedroom door for her. He yawned hugely; it was after three in the morning. "It's late, Molly—I thought you'd be in bed already."

"I was, after I got your owl about staying at the office," Molly replied. She removed her dressing gown and climbed under the covers, turning to face Arthur's side of the bed. "Then I heard her crying."

"You haven't slept much," Arthur said, quickly changing into his pajamas and sliding in next to her. He reached out, rubbing her arm gently as they lay close together in the grayish light from the rain-drenched window.

Molly was quiet for a moment. "I don't know that I can."

"What, sleep?" Arthur asked.

"I'm not just being silly," Molly told him quickly, "I—I've always—whenever one of them—if they're in pain, I just…I can't sleep. Do you remember the first time Bill got sick?"

Arthur smiled gently and took her hand. "I know. But Ginny is—"

"Don't tell me she's safe, Arthur," Molly cut him off, sounding very tired. "Please don't. Not again."

"Well," he said, trying to be gently reassuring, "she is."

Molly sat up at once, and the lights in the bedroom blazed on. Arthur pushed himself up, blinking spots out of his eyes.

"Is she?" Molly demanded. "She barely sleeps or eats, she's convinced that we're angry at her, probably because she spends more time alone with her thoughts than with her family, and when she's not tiptoeing around the house because she refuses to go outside, she's hiding in her bedroom, crying her eyes out over what he did to her! He's supposed to be gone, Arthur," she added furiously. "He wasn't supposed to ever come back! Ginny's never had to imagine a world where he existed, and now, I just—what if he's still with her? What if he's still in her head? I don't know—"

"He is gone, Molly," Arthur said, sounding a bit firmer than he truly felt. He too had been shaken by this unexpected Dark resurgence, and to think that just a few weeks ago, he could have lost his daughter for good to You-Know-Who… Arthur shook his head. "Whatever this magic was, it wasn't really him. It can't have been him…"

Molly folded her arms, shaking her head as she looked away from him. She was silent for a moment. "I'm not so sure of that, Arthur." He felt a shiver run down his spine. Another peal of thunder echoed out, and lightning flashed through the curtains. "But that's not the point, at the moment," she continued. "The point is—" she sniffled, "—our girl is hurt, and—and I don't know how to make it easier for her." She leaned back against the headboard and sniffed again. "I don't know how to make her stop hurting. What on earth are you smirking at, Arthur Weasley?" she demanded suddenly, whipping out a hand to smack his shoulder.

"Ouch! Nothing," he cried, jumping out of bed and away from her as he sobered his expression at once. "I was just thinking—"

"You're giggling as I tell you my worries about Ginny, you—come back over here!"

"Now, I'm not laughing at that," Arthur said seriously. He reached a hand into his briefcase. "You know I wouldn't do that—but you just gave me a rather curious idea, Molly." He pulled up the very heavy leather bag that he had packed safely into the depths of his briefcase.

Molly stared at it. "What—?"

He took the bag and dropped it on the bed, and the coins inside made a series of pleasant clinks. Molly leapt up, staring at the bag as though it were a snake. She pressed her back against the door.

"Do you remember a certain Fred Weasley who told me, this past Christmas, that I ought to enter a certain annual Daily Prophet contest?" Arthur asked nonchalantly. "Well, Molly, I may be taking some more gambling tips from our fifteen-year-old, in the future."

"Arthur!" Molly cried. "Do you mean to tell me you won—you won—?"

"One thousand Galleons," he said happily, settling himself on the bed and picking up the bag, jostling it around in his hands. He grinned at Molly, who was positively white. "And I want to take us on a holiday, maybe to see Bill, or Charlie. And we can have some time alone, just our family. I think it'd be good for Ginny to see Bill, don't you?"

"Arthur!" Molly clasped her hands over her mouth. "I just—I just can't believe—one thousand Galleons?"

Arthur beamed. "They did the drawing today, in Diagon Alley. I went just to see, and then they called my name. We're going to have our names in the paper and everything!"

Molly had seated herself on the bed, but was still looking at the bag of money as though it might bite her. "Sh-shouldn't we—save it?"

Arthur nodded. "Well, we certainly won't use it all on the trip—but I think that what we all really need right now is some time for the family. Don't you think Ginny would feel better if she got a change of scenery and saw Bill and Charlie?"

Molly bit her lip. "I…I do," she said slowly, and he could see in her eyes how badly she wanted to make the trip.

"Well, then," Arthur said, "It's settled. We can get the kids up early and surprise them at breakfast!" He grinned hugely; there were few things he loved more than playing a joke on Fred and George, and waking them at the crack of dawn during their summer holidays was too delicious an opportunity to pass up…

"Dad?"

He looked around; Ginny had just poked her head in the bedroom door as another crack of thunder sounded.

"Ginny, dear—did we wake you?" Molly asked, hurrying over to let her in.

Ginny shook her head, but smiled at Arthur. "You're home late."

"We had eleven raids today," Arthur told her, holding his arms open. She climbed on the bed and sat beside him. He kissed her hair, hugging her tightly. "How was your day?"

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the sack of money that still sat on the bed.

Molly and Arthur shared a glance. "Well," Arthur said slowly, "I think you might want to wait until tomorrow morning and find out with your brothers."

Ginny scoffed. "Not likely," she said, sounding much more like her usual self. "Come on, what is it?"

Arthur laughed. "Well, maybe it's…a little something that we might be able to use for a special sort of trip."

Ginny frowned confusedly at him, and then looked around at Molly. "Has Dad emptied out the vault again?"

"I should think not," Molly chuckled. She glanced at Arthur, who nodded. "Open it."

Still frowning, Ginny reached forward and pulled the sack open. "Whoa," she murmured, looking around at Arthur. "Where did this come from?"

"The Daily Prophet Galleon Draw," he replied. Ginny's eyes went wide.

"But—but that's—"

"That is a family holiday—to Egypt, maybe, or to Romania," Arthur told her. "Would you like to go and see your brothers? We just went to Romania…maybe Egypt?"

"Are you serious?" she cried, looking between her parents. "Really?"

"Really," Molly laughed, looking amazed. Arthur felt rather stunned, himself; this was the liveliest he had seen Ginny in days.

"And—and I can go?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Arthur laughed, rubbing her back. "Why wouldn't we let you go?"

Ginny blinked, seemingly paused on the edge of speech—and then shook her head, as though clearing away an unpleasant thought. "This is going to be great," she said happily. "I'm so excited!" And she threw her arms around Arthur's neck. "Good job, Dad!"

"Tell that to Fred, he told me to enter my name." He met Molly's eyes over Ginny's shoulder; she looked very upset. Then, a thought occurred to him. He pulled Ginny off of his neck. "I have an idea," he said. "After we tell the boys tomorrow morning, why don't you and I go to Diagon Alley and do a little early school shopping?"

Ginny stared at him and turned a little pink. "No, no, Dad, I don't need anything," she insisted. "You've got work."

"Oh, I can take the morning off, I think. Mum says you could do with some new robes for school," Arthur said, catching Molly's eye. "Just you and I—we'll go together, and you can have a brand-new set. And maybe we'll stop at Florean Fortescue's. What do you think?"

"Well, I—I," Ginny stammered, looking around at Molly, who made a gesture that said plainly, It's up to you. Ginny looked back to her father. "I'd…like that, Dad. Thanks."

"Sure, sweet pea," he replied gently, smoothing her hair back.

Then, directly over the house, a clap of thunder sounded yet again, and Ginny closed her eyes, stiffening suddenly. A lump rose in Arthur's throat. He reached forward and pulled Ginny into his arms. Automatically, she curled against his side, huddling down into a little ball. He bent awkwardly to kiss the top of her head. Molly shook her head, rubbing her eyes, and climbed onto the bed. She put the sack of Galleons on the bedside table. Then she raised her wand and flicked out the lights before lying down, hugging Ginny gently against Arthur and pulling the quilt up over all three of them. Ginny gave a faint sniffle in the darkness, and Molly clutched Arthur's hand.