[A/N:
i am SO SO SO SORRY for how delayed this is! here are my reasons:
1) i am in my final year of university, and everything is exhausting all the time
2) chronic health problems... never fun. it's been a tough few weeks.
i hope you enjoy this (slightly shorter) chapter. thank you so much to all of the people who've left feedback. genuinely wouldn't have been motivated to write this without all of you. as always, let me know what you think, and i hope you enjoy, and sorry for the delay! i honestly have no idea when the next chapter will be up- hopefully within the next couple weeks. come speak to me on tumblr (lazyweekendmornings) if you want 3 ]
vii.
When the Minister for Magic cleared his throat, everyone in Courtroom Seven fell silent. Which was saying something, Ginny thought, because the room was absolutely packed. Witnesses, the Wizengamot jury, the press, Hogwarts professors, and witches and wizards who looked vaguely familiar though Ginny couldn't place their name were packed into the room and had been chattering none-too-quietly to themselves while the jury deliberated.
She hadn't said a word in the last half an hour, ever since she had finished testifying on the witness stand. She hadn't looked the Carrows in the eye even once as she calmly, to the best of her knowledge, recounted every single thing the Carrows had done to her and to the others at Hogwarts, everything she knew. She didn't look at her mother's tearful face or her father's pale one, either. Instead, she had kept her gaze focused on Kingsley's grave face as she spoke. When she had turned away, it had only been to glance at Harry, who was sitting down toward the front of the courtroom, jaw set and gaze hard. He had met her eyes and nodded once, and that had worked to steady her. Then again, that was the effect that Harry tended to have on her.
He squeezed her hand now, but neither of them said anything. She sat up straighter in her seat, shoulders pushed back and looked, for the first time all day, to the Carrows. Alecto was smirking at her but Amycus… she looked absolutely wild. Her eyes glinted with a familiar anger that made Ginny want to flinch. She didn't, though. She refused to cow down, not now, not ever.
"The Wizengamot has finished deliberating," Kingsley said. He spoke slowly but held the attention of every single person in the room. Ginny couldn't hear anyone so much as inhale. "Alecto and Amycus Carrow have been found guilty of multiple counts of the Unforgiveable curses. This includes—" and now, finally, was when Kingsley didn't sound as composed as usual; Ginny could detect a distinct note of anger in his voice – "the torture of students of Hogwarts, underage students, not to mention the suspected murder of countless Muggles. For this, they will serve a lifetime in Azkaban, with no chance of early release."
Kingsley paused. Ginny wondered why. The courtroom seemed as silent to her as ever. Silent enough that she could hear an odd buzzing sound in her ears. He seemed to be awaiting something.
A second later, she realised what it was he had been anticipating. The courtroom erupted into sound, cheering, some snarling at the Carrow fuckers, some clapping. Ginny, for her part, couldn't move. She felt oddly numb, and the buzzing in her ears wouldn't die down.
"It's over," a quiet voice breathed in her ear. A familiar voice.
She looked up. Harry was looking at her and, unlike the others, didn't seem on the verge of breaking into applause. He looked determined, and serious.
"It's over," she repeated, very slowly. There didn't seem to be much else to say.
He squeezed her hand, and then: "they won't fucking touch you again," he said, even quieter than before. "Or the others. They won't touch anyone again."
She paused for a moment, and then another, and then a smile slowly broke across her face. She leaned up and threw her arms around Harry's neck and clung on tightly. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, and she could feel his arms around her, one on her waist and slowly, clumsily, moving its way up her back, under her hair.
They won't touch anyone again.
His words seemed to echo in her brain, again and again, synching up with her heart to form a reassuring promise.
Her family had been wary with her all day. Ginny supposed she couldn't blame them, not after everything she'd had to recount. It made her angry, though, irrational though it was. She was nearly seventeen, had proven she was capable of dealing with a hell of a lot more than they gave her credit for, and didn't fucking need to be coddled.
She reached a breaking point after dinner.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Bill and Fleur, who had attended the trial, had dropped in, and so had George, and Percy. It was a crowded room, but an unWeasleyish silence persisted, apart from Bill and Hermione making conversation about – of all things, honestly – the reforms Gringotts was putting through to the banking system. Apart from their conversation, and Percy contributing every now and then, the only sound was the scraping of forks against plates.
Harry was by her side. Of course he was. He hadn't left her side all day. If it hadn't been for the quiet way he was doing it, Ginny would have accused him of hovering. As such, it seemed almost like he was the only thing keeping her from exploding.
Ginny had been aware of the looks her family had been giving her all day when they thought she wasn't looking but did her best to ignore it. She really didn't want to draw more attention to it. After they finished their meal, they slowly filed into the living room, as if by a silent consensus. Mum waved her wand, sending the dishes to the sink, and the others walked into the living room.
Ginny sat down on the sofa, and turned to Hermione. She was just about to ask her whether she wanted to play a round of Exploding Snap – not that she felt like cards, but at least then there would be something to distract all of them, and no one would have time to worry about her if she accidentally on purpose caused a burnt eyebrow or two during the game – when Bill came up to her. He picked up the blanket draped across the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"I'm not cold, Bill," she said.
"Are you warm?" Percy asked. Where had he even come from? Honestly. "It's because you're sitting by the fireplace. You need to move," he added.
"I'm not—" before she could say that she wasn't warm, either, it was Dad's turn to speak up.
"Are you sure you're up to this? It's been a long day, Ginny, maybe you should go to bed."
Ginny made a show of picking up Harry's hand to look at the time on his watch. He looked distinctly uncomfortable as she did. "It's not even nine o'clock yet, Dad," she said.
"Yes, but you have had a bit of a long day," Hermione said.
Ginny felt betrayed by even Hermione turning on her.
"Look, I'm sure it'll be fine," Bill said, with the air of someone soothing over troubled waters. "Gin, Dad's right, maybe you should go lie down, maybe cool off, you've been through enough."
"I don't think going to bed early is going to make up for a year spent tortured, thanks, Bill," Ginny snapped. Bill winced back at that, looking shocked.
"Gin, Bill just meant—" George started, but Ginny cut him off.
"I don't fucking need to be coddled!" she shouted. She got to her feet and threw the blanket back onto the sofa.
"Ginevra Weasley," Mum, who had just come to the living room, said, sounding nearly as angry as she was. "There's no need for that kind of language, absolutely no need!"
"There is absolutely a need!" Ginny shouted.
"No, there is not!" Mum said.
Ginny couldn't look at anyone. She felt a ball of anger in her chest, threatening to burst forth at any moment. "Yes, there is. I need you all to—to—"
To stop acting like a cup of tea will make me forget about everything and go back to being the baby of the family. To somehow know exactly what it is that I want to hear and say it to me.
"Merlin's sake. Fuck this," she muttered and walked upstairs. She slammed the door shut in her bedroom, making sure to lock the door behind her.
She didn't speak to anyone until the next morning. She thought she heard footsteps outside her door in the night, but no one ventured in. She couldn't lock her door in with magic – the fucking Trace apparently still mattered, even after everything – so any of the others would have been able to unlock her door and walk right. Luckily, none of them did. She didn't think she could handle talking to any of them right now.
She snuck out early the next morning, before any of the others were awake. She couldn't be in her bedroom anymore. She hadn't slept very well and, staring at the ceiling above her in the dim pre-sunrise light of the dawn, felt rather as if the walls were closing in on her, making it impossible to think.
She made her way down the stairs, in her pyjamas and a jumper she thought may have belonged to Bill ten or so years ago. The kitchen was empty, as was the living room, but she didn't stay there. Instead, she went outside, treading the familiar path to the shed to grab her broom. She never felt as suffocated when she was up in the air, when she didn't have to think about anything.
She shouldn't have been surprised when she walked to the orchard and she found Harry there, but she was, which in itself was proof of how thrown off she was.
"Oh. Hi," she said, making her way over to him.
Harry blinked up at her, clearly half asleep. He seemed to have brought out the blanket from the bed with him and spread it out on the grass, and as he squinted up at her from behind his glasses, Ginny felt some of the residual anger in her chest melt away.
"Hi yourself," he told her as she set her broom down and sat down next to him.
Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, but when Harry leaned down and took Ginny's hand, she didn't stop him.
"They're just worried about you," he said, very quietly.
If it had been anyone else, she would have snapped at them, lashed out instinctively. But this wasn't just anyone, so she forced herself to take a deep breath, and then another, before answering.
"Doesn't mean they're allowed to act like I'm a child."
For the second time in the morning, Ginny was surprised by Harry: he nodded in agreement, which had been the last thing she was expecting. "Yeah. You can take care of yourself."
"I can," Ginny agreed. She squeezed Harry's hand.
"But they're allowed to worry. They're family. It's what family does," Harry said. The way he said those words had Ginny convinced he was repeating something Hermione had told him.
Ginny let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah? Remember Grimmauld Place? Or all of your fifth year? Or, come to think of it, last summer before Bill's wedding? Don't remember you been too keen on people worrying about you then," she said.
Harry chuckled, just as dry as Ginny's snort had been. "That was different."
"Hypocrite," Ginny said, but she smiled when Harry looked at her.
"It's just hard," he said, bringing a hand up to touch her shoulder, right on the scar only he knew about. "Knowing how much you've had to go through. It's hard to hear. I thought you were… I thought you were safe. Reckon the others did, too."
"Now you know," Ginny said, "how we felt about you, all these years."
"Yeah, I'm starting to understand that now," he whispered, and then, suddenly, he was kissing her, slow and gently, he was laying down on the blanket and pulling her down on top of him.
Everything was gentle, everything was blissful, all she had to think about was Harry, his callused hands caressing her waist, slipping under her shirt, roaming up her back.
"I love you," he whispered, suddenly.
She looked down at him, her long hair falling like a curtain over his face. He brought his other hand up then, cupping her cheek and stroking his hand over her cheekbone.
"I know," she whispered, and leaned down to kiss him again. She closed her eyes, tried to ignore the tears that slipped out from beneath her closed eyelids. She felt a rough thumb at her cheek, wiping them away.
Only one day of trials so far, and it was already so difficult. Ginny knew the next few days, the next few weeks, would only get more difficult for all of them. There would be more fights, more of her family babying her, more she'd have to hear about the things all of them had been through the past year.
Right now, though, she didn't have to face any of that.
And she didn't have to. Right now, she could let her boyfriend lay her down on the blanket in the light of the sunrise and kiss her all of her and let herself believe that everything would be okay. It wasn't okay now. It wouldn't be okay for a while. But it would be, eventually.
"I love you," she said, lifting up her arms as Harry slowly, carefully, tugged her jumper off her.
She looked up at him, smiling at the way his green eyes twinkled with amusement. "I know," he said, parroting her own words back to her, and she laughed, pulling him closer to her once she'd managed to get his t-shirt off, too.
It was a new day, and they would get through it together.