Chapter 34 – Loyalty

Molly was preparing to cups of tea with a worried facial expression. Arthur's silence was unsettling. The man had arrived home oddly quietly and with an unusual serious look. Arthur was always jovial, joyful and carefree. That seriousness along with the only four words he had pronounced until the moment, "we need to talk", were a bad omen.

She brought the tea to the kitchen table and sat in front of her husband, who was waiting for her in silence.

'Could you tell me what's going on, Arthur?'

The man stared at her, still looking serious and careful. Molly had the feeling he was contemplating what he should or not tell her.

'Molly, I'll begin with the same question I've been asked today. And I ask you to think well your answer.'

The toughness his Arthur's voice gave her chills. Whatever had happened in that day had brought to the surface Arthur's darkest side, not that she was intimidated.

'Why don't we go straight to the point? Tell what this is about.'

'If one day your loyalty had to be tested with whom would it fall for? With your family? With the ministry? With Albus Dumbledore? With who?'

'What kind of question is that, Arthur? Our family has never done anything wrong. Why would we be against the ministry or Albus Dumbledore?'

'What if you had to challenge the ministry or even Dumbledore to protect your family, would you do it?'

Molly still wasn't understating Arthur's idea, but something woke up deep in her mind… Ginny, all this was because of Ginny. She remembered how she found her poor daughter in the Hospital Wing the month before after being under the Cruciatus Curse for hours. She remembered how her daughter cried in pain, how she trembled in an uncontrollable way, how she cried inconsolably when she discovered Harry was dying. All of that happened under Albus Dumbledore's nose.

'I'd be against Merlin himself to protect my family. I thought you knew it.' Molly said.

'I know. I just needed to hear it again.'

'This is about Ginny, isn't it? What happened?'

'Yes, it's about Ginny, but it can affect all of us as well.'

'Then say it at once, Arthur!'

'Ginny's legally married to Harry Potter.'

'What? I don't think I heard well.'

'You heard perfectly well.'

'Ginny isn't even eleven years old! She can't be married! We never allowed it!'

'She didn't need our permission. According to our laws, a soul-bond means an irrevocable matrimonial union. Their marriage was registered at the twenty-eighth of June.'

'The day they woke up… How can that be?'

'Magic is unpredictable.' Arthur commented. 'I'm not saying I'm thrilled about finding out my girl is married at ten years old. But it's getting harder and harder to doubt the bond they say they share.'

'I get it… I see the way they behave with each other. I believe they love each other, even if they don't understand it yet, but they are children. Married or not, that doesn't change anything.'

'It's changes everything! Now they're emancipated.'

'That's impossible!' She almost shouted.

'Sit down and calm down, Molly.'

She hadn't realised she had gotten up.

'It is possible. And today, Sirius and I made sure it can't be disputed.'

'Disputed?'

'We ratified their emancipation letter. Without official approval, no one has a chance to reverse the marriage nor the emancipation. All was done within the law.'

'So was that what Sirius wanted to discuss with you today? Why did you do it?'

'It wasn't only this Sirius wanted to work on. He wanted to sign a reparation contract in favour of the House of Weasley and wanted to open my eyes about some things… I'd say he was the most successful…'

'Reparation contract? Those are still done? And what do you mean, open your eyes?'

'The Noble Houses still partake with the traditions and Sirius is showing he isn't rusty at all.'

'What's the supposed offense that requires a reparation contract?'

'A marriage without a contract between a Lord and young pureblood daughter and a life debt. Ginny saved Harry's life when they bonded.'

'I'm not happy about this marriage, but a reparation contract isn't needed. You didn't accept, right?'

'I thought the same, but Sirius convinced me otherwise. The reparation contract is a proof of respect to our lineage and refusing it would be as dishonourable, it would be saying our daughter isn't a worthy witch and Lord Potter's life isn't important.'

'I always thought the Noble Houses' traditions didn't make any sense, Auntie Muriel is the only in the family would still bothers with that gibberish.'

'Liking or not, you've to start to value those traditions, Molly. Now you're the mother of Lady Ginevra Molly Potter and our family must behave according to her title so we don't dishonour our daughter.'

'Please, Arthur, as if we care what those people think about us. They're all like the Malfoys or even worse!'

'We don't care, but we've got to pretend that we do. We aren't immune to the plots and intrigues of those people and believe our odds against them will be better if we're playing the same game.'

'Is it someone threatening our family?'

'At the moment, no one is threatening us openly, but we need to keep our eyes open. Sirius and Harry are doing the best they can to protect our family and I want to return the favour. Harry's one of us now and any threat towards him will affect us too.'

'Are you talking about You-Know-Who?'

'You-Know-Who, Albus Dumbledore and others big figures that may wish to harm Harry.'

'But Harry's only a child…'

'Molly, listen carefully. When I'm done telling my story, I'm certain you'll agree with me.'

Molly heard everything in an anguished silence. Arthur told her about an old prophecy, about the betrayal the Potters had suffered and their deaths. Molly admired Lily's sacrifice to protect her son and she almost envied the power that witch possessed that it was capable of creating such protection.

Arthur also told her about the Order of the Phoenix, about Sirius' imprisonment, about all the years Harry suffered through all kinds of mistreatment at the hands of his relatives. And it the end, he told her everything he learnt about the finale of the previous term.

'Dumbledore knew about all of that this whole time? That Sirius could be innocent, that Harry was suffering with those Muggles and that You-Know-Who was in the school all that time?'

'Yes, as far as we know.'

Molly wanted to scream, to write a Howler for the blasted old man, to punch a little bit of common sense into his centenary head, but she couldn't do any of that. She couldn't openly defy Albus Dumbledore, that wouldn't do any good.

'What're we going to do, Arthur?'

'For now, nothing. We'll keep this marriage secret. McGonagall will help hide Ginny's married name from the Hogwarts' records. Quietly we'll start teaching Harry and Ginny all they need to know about our society and magic.'

'About magic?'

'They no longer have the trace. They can do magic freely as long as they don't break the Statute of Secrecy.'

'Just because they no longer have the trace doesn't mean we should allow them to do magic as much as they want.'

'They don't need our permission. They're emancipated.'

'We don't have to tell them that. They don't need to know.'

Arthur laughed, but Molly didn't understand what was so funny.

'My dear, they already know all we're discussing here. And Sirius only told us because they said he could it. They're independent now, honey. More than ever, we need to show them they can trust is or we'll be risking not taking part in their decisions.'

Molly took a big gulp of her tea, almost choking on it. Why had the world turn upside down so suddenly?

'What're you thinking of teaching them?'

'Sirius is particularly concerned with the threat You-Know-Who represents. For now, he wants to begin with basic defensive magic with focus on their duelling skills. He wants to teach valuable skills as Arithmancy, Runes, Occlumency and some healing instruction.'

'Occlumency?'

'It's a skill that stops from the mind from being violated through magic. You-Know-Who is a Legilimens and so are Severus Snape and Dumbledore.'

'Dumbledore can read people's minds?'

'Yes, we need to be careful. Maybe even learn a bit too.'

'Who would teach them all of that?'

'So far, Sirius has recruited to help him Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, who are Aurors, Andromeda, McGonagall, Remus Lupin, who's very educated in Defence, and Bill, who's coming back to the country...'

'Bill's coming back home?'

'He wants to help protecting Ginny. You know how fond he is of her. I know the Goblings have given him a fantastic job offer.'

'This has Sirius written all over it, doesn't it?'

'Probably.'

'Do you have more news that give me white hairs?'

'Yes…'

Molly raised her eyebrows, staring at him. What more could it be?

'They'd like our permission to teach Ron as well… If he wants, of course.'

'Ron? Why?'

'Ron is Harry's best friend. And if things go badly I don't see Ron hiding his head in the sand to protect himself. He'll want to fight!'

'No, no way! Ron still has to obey me and I won't allow him fighting anything.'

'That's supposing you're there to stop him… Listen to the voice of reason, Molly. Do you think Lily Potter would let Harry fight if she had a choice? Harry's only eleven and see how many challenges he has already faced.'

'I don't like this!'

'Me neither, but we've got to be rational.'

'I don't like being rational…'

Arthur chortled. 'I know… By the wat, we're one hundred and fifty galleons richer now.'

'What? How?'

'It's from the reparation contract I signed.'

'ARTHUR SEPTIMUS WEASLEY! YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU PLUNDERED ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY GALLEONS FROM THAT POOR BOY? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SHAME? HOW COULD YOU ACCEPT SUCH RIDICULE AMOUNT? AFTER ALL WE DISCUSSED, YOU TELL ME –'

Molly kept shouting for many minutes. She couldn't shout about really afflicted her, but at least she had a good reason to scold her husband.

A/N: Next chapter's title: The Lake