Chapter 2
"She's asleep, Mum," said Ginny, padding downstairs in stocking feet.
"I didn't think it would take long to work, under the circumstances," said her mother. She was sitting in her chair, her knitting in her lap, and her father was buried in a journal article over on the couch. Ginny took the chair across from her, and sighed.
"Do you think she will be okay? She's seriously burnt her bridges."
"I think so," Molly said, setting her knitting aside. "She's quite strong, really. It's going to be tough for her for a bit, but at least she has the summer to get her equilibrium back before she goes back to school....IS she going back? If she left like that her parents..."
"I suppose she is..." Ginny frowned. "She's probably going to be Head Girl next year, she CAN'T not go back."
"There is an answer to this, you know, ladies," said Arthur Weasley. He put down the journal, walked over to the parlor fireplace and lit it with a flick of his wand, then tossed in a pinch of Floo powder. "Albus Dumbledore's offices" he said, and put his head into the fire. "Albus, if you're free, we need a word."
Presently his amiable white-bearded features appeared in the fire. "Yes, Arthur, how's all your family? I trust young Ron and Ginny got home safely?"
"Yes, we're all well. Apparently, however, Hermione Granger has had a parting of the ways with her family. She showed up here about an hour ago with everything she owned in her pockets, white as a sheet. Molly sent her off to bed with some Dreamless Sleep, and thinks she'll be all right in the end. But of course under the circumstances we were concerned about whether or not she would be financially able to finish at Hogwarts."
"Oh, I don't think that shall be a problem, Arthur," said Dumbledore genially. "I think in her case a scholarship could be found to cover room and board and books, and I am sure that she can manage the other necessities of life on her own, perhaps with a little help from her friends. After all, it's only one more year. I daresay this is over Miss Granger's being....not exactly the girl her parents thought, hm?"
"You'd be right, Albus," said Molly. "She...provoked a confrontation on the issue."
"Hm," he said thoughtfully. "Courageous, but I would expect nothing less. By the way, there'll be a letter arriving for her soon that should make her feel a little better." He winked. "But, I will leave you to your family. Do take care, all of you, and enjoy your holiday."
When Dumbledore winked out, Arthur turned to Molly and Ginny, and Ron, who wandered in about then. "Provoked a confrontation?" He raised a brow.
"Ginny went to hug her goodbye at the station, and Hermione laid a kiss on her that was hot enough to make a dead man's wand stiff, " said Ron. He then ducked his head when his mother and sister both hissed, "RON!" at him, grinning as he watched his sister turn as red as her hair.
"Ah," said Arthur, cultivating a careful air of detachment as he noticed his daughter's embarassment. "In front of her parents, I take it."
"Um, yes," said Ginny. "I wasn't expecting it. At all. I asked her why, before she went to sleep, and she said it was so they couldn't ignore it or rationalize it away."
"That's what I thought, " said Molly. "Ginny, I take it that she's never been close to her parents?"
"She calls them Mother and Father," said Ginny. "And from the letters....it's all about be perfect so you can look good for the university, and who are you dating and we'll give you hell if it's not some uppercrust twit."
"They send her money for birthday and Christmas," said Ron. "So she can buy her own presents. Always have, even the first couple years. "
"And she said that they go through her drawers, read her letters, stuff like that, " Ginny added.
"No wonder she chose that method, "said their father, and, unexpectedly, he laughed. "I bet it embarassed the hell out of them, too."
"From the looks of things, yes, " said Molly. "I'll admit, it embarassed me too, it was entirely too intimate for the setting."
"You, Mum, how do you think I felt?!" said Ginny, and flushed bright red again when her brother glanced at her.
"Still, " her father said, squashing them both. "Does she have any...I mean, is she...."
"She's planning to go to university, " said Ginny. "And she said something about having money in trust for her when she turns eighteen. "
"Which is..."
"In November."
"So she'll just have things tight for a bit, then, "said Arthur, nodding. "That will be okay, then."
"She's been doing some tutoring and getting a couple Sickles here and there for that," said Ron. "Of course, I don't know how much, but she was managing nicely even when her parents stopped sending her pocket money."
"When was this?" said Ginny, surprised. This was HER girlfriend, after all!
"I was watching her with her letters," said Ron. "Normally she opens them, tilts them, and the enclosure falls into her other hand to be tucked in her bag, and then she reads her letter. But the "stuff check in bag" step's been missing since...oh, since about Easter. I'm sorry to put it like that, Gin, but I only just added everything up this moment."
" 'S'okay, Ron. That was about when she started seriously tutoring," said Ginny, thoughtfully. "And started worrying a lot more about the whole issue with her parents. She'd been more withdrawn and silent lately...she reassured me it wasn't us, it was the parent issue, and so I didn't pry, but that would explain it."
"That and the Slytherin gits," said Ron.
"Oh?" said Ginny.
Ron looked uncomfortable. "It...well... You were there when Malfoy tried to stir up shit on the train coming home last time, I know, Gin," he began. She nodded. "And...you wouldn't know this cause you don't sit classes with us, most of the time....he and his lot...you know, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery...couple others... they stare at her in class. And they talk about her a lot. And I was noticing that just before break, if they were in Potions and doing a lab class, if she had to go past one of them they made sure she had to push through. I wouldn't be surprised if a few words are going with that, too."
"Because she's gay?" said Ginny, in surprise.
"Well," said Molly, "because she's the best student, and she's one of Harry Potter's best friends and so a bit of a celebrity, also. But that's got something to do with it, yes..."
"From my experience as a male," said Arthur, "and observing the others of my gender, there is a type of male that only wants what he can't have."
"Now I feel bad for not seeing all this, " said Ginny. Her mother came over and gave her a hug.
"Dear, it took all of us sitting here and talking to put the pieces together. Don't feel bad. We've got the summer to help her get strong."
"Thanks, Mum," she said, a hint of tears in her voice. "I...I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed myself."
"An excellent idea. Ron, I suspect you're tired too," said their mother.
"Oh, yes, " said Ron, taking the hint. He kissed his mother, said, "Good night, dad, and went upstairs after Ginny.
"You know, Arthur, she didn't know what to do when I hugged her goodnight," said Molly quietly to her husband. "I wonder how long it's been since her mother did that."
"If she ever did," said Arthur. "Well, it looks like we've got us another daughter over the summer." He sighed, but there was a twinkle in his eye that made the complaint a fond old one. "You always were one to take in strays, Molly."
"You knew it when you married me, dear."
"Yes, I believe I was one...ah, well. Come to bed, Molly," he said, holding his hand out to her. She waved her wand to shut the lights off, and walked upstairs with him, hand in hand.
They paused on the landing. The door was open, and from the light that leaked in from the hall they could see Crookshanks curled on the foot of her bed, protectively. Hermione was curled into a ball, but there was a tension there that even the Dreamless Sleep couldn't remove, evident in hands and shoulders and the nape of her neck.
Molly felt her husband pull her back against him, and kiss the top of her head. "It'll be all right," he whispered, and they turned and went into their room.
"She's asleep, Mum," said Ginny, padding downstairs in stocking feet.
"I didn't think it would take long to work, under the circumstances," said her mother. She was sitting in her chair, her knitting in her lap, and her father was buried in a journal article over on the couch. Ginny took the chair across from her, and sighed.
"Do you think she will be okay? She's seriously burnt her bridges."
"I think so," Molly said, setting her knitting aside. "She's quite strong, really. It's going to be tough for her for a bit, but at least she has the summer to get her equilibrium back before she goes back to school....IS she going back? If she left like that her parents..."
"I suppose she is..." Ginny frowned. "She's probably going to be Head Girl next year, she CAN'T not go back."
"There is an answer to this, you know, ladies," said Arthur Weasley. He put down the journal, walked over to the parlor fireplace and lit it with a flick of his wand, then tossed in a pinch of Floo powder. "Albus Dumbledore's offices" he said, and put his head into the fire. "Albus, if you're free, we need a word."
Presently his amiable white-bearded features appeared in the fire. "Yes, Arthur, how's all your family? I trust young Ron and Ginny got home safely?"
"Yes, we're all well. Apparently, however, Hermione Granger has had a parting of the ways with her family. She showed up here about an hour ago with everything she owned in her pockets, white as a sheet. Molly sent her off to bed with some Dreamless Sleep, and thinks she'll be all right in the end. But of course under the circumstances we were concerned about whether or not she would be financially able to finish at Hogwarts."
"Oh, I don't think that shall be a problem, Arthur," said Dumbledore genially. "I think in her case a scholarship could be found to cover room and board and books, and I am sure that she can manage the other necessities of life on her own, perhaps with a little help from her friends. After all, it's only one more year. I daresay this is over Miss Granger's being....not exactly the girl her parents thought, hm?"
"You'd be right, Albus," said Molly. "She...provoked a confrontation on the issue."
"Hm," he said thoughtfully. "Courageous, but I would expect nothing less. By the way, there'll be a letter arriving for her soon that should make her feel a little better." He winked. "But, I will leave you to your family. Do take care, all of you, and enjoy your holiday."
When Dumbledore winked out, Arthur turned to Molly and Ginny, and Ron, who wandered in about then. "Provoked a confrontation?" He raised a brow.
"Ginny went to hug her goodbye at the station, and Hermione laid a kiss on her that was hot enough to make a dead man's wand stiff, " said Ron. He then ducked his head when his mother and sister both hissed, "RON!" at him, grinning as he watched his sister turn as red as her hair.
"Ah," said Arthur, cultivating a careful air of detachment as he noticed his daughter's embarassment. "In front of her parents, I take it."
"Um, yes," said Ginny. "I wasn't expecting it. At all. I asked her why, before she went to sleep, and she said it was so they couldn't ignore it or rationalize it away."
"That's what I thought, " said Molly. "Ginny, I take it that she's never been close to her parents?"
"She calls them Mother and Father," said Ginny. "And from the letters....it's all about be perfect so you can look good for the university, and who are you dating and we'll give you hell if it's not some uppercrust twit."
"They send her money for birthday and Christmas," said Ron. "So she can buy her own presents. Always have, even the first couple years. "
"And she said that they go through her drawers, read her letters, stuff like that, " Ginny added.
"No wonder she chose that method, "said their father, and, unexpectedly, he laughed. "I bet it embarassed the hell out of them, too."
"From the looks of things, yes, " said Molly. "I'll admit, it embarassed me too, it was entirely too intimate for the setting."
"You, Mum, how do you think I felt?!" said Ginny, and flushed bright red again when her brother glanced at her.
"Still, " her father said, squashing them both. "Does she have any...I mean, is she...."
"She's planning to go to university, " said Ginny. "And she said something about having money in trust for her when she turns eighteen. "
"Which is..."
"In November."
"So she'll just have things tight for a bit, then, "said Arthur, nodding. "That will be okay, then."
"She's been doing some tutoring and getting a couple Sickles here and there for that," said Ron. "Of course, I don't know how much, but she was managing nicely even when her parents stopped sending her pocket money."
"When was this?" said Ginny, surprised. This was HER girlfriend, after all!
"I was watching her with her letters," said Ron. "Normally she opens them, tilts them, and the enclosure falls into her other hand to be tucked in her bag, and then she reads her letter. But the "stuff check in bag" step's been missing since...oh, since about Easter. I'm sorry to put it like that, Gin, but I only just added everything up this moment."
" 'S'okay, Ron. That was about when she started seriously tutoring," said Ginny, thoughtfully. "And started worrying a lot more about the whole issue with her parents. She'd been more withdrawn and silent lately...she reassured me it wasn't us, it was the parent issue, and so I didn't pry, but that would explain it."
"That and the Slytherin gits," said Ron.
"Oh?" said Ginny.
Ron looked uncomfortable. "It...well... You were there when Malfoy tried to stir up shit on the train coming home last time, I know, Gin," he began. She nodded. "And...you wouldn't know this cause you don't sit classes with us, most of the time....he and his lot...you know, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery...couple others... they stare at her in class. And they talk about her a lot. And I was noticing that just before break, if they were in Potions and doing a lab class, if she had to go past one of them they made sure she had to push through. I wouldn't be surprised if a few words are going with that, too."
"Because she's gay?" said Ginny, in surprise.
"Well," said Molly, "because she's the best student, and she's one of Harry Potter's best friends and so a bit of a celebrity, also. But that's got something to do with it, yes..."
"From my experience as a male," said Arthur, "and observing the others of my gender, there is a type of male that only wants what he can't have."
"Now I feel bad for not seeing all this, " said Ginny. Her mother came over and gave her a hug.
"Dear, it took all of us sitting here and talking to put the pieces together. Don't feel bad. We've got the summer to help her get strong."
"Thanks, Mum," she said, a hint of tears in her voice. "I...I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed myself."
"An excellent idea. Ron, I suspect you're tired too," said their mother.
"Oh, yes, " said Ron, taking the hint. He kissed his mother, said, "Good night, dad, and went upstairs after Ginny.
"You know, Arthur, she didn't know what to do when I hugged her goodnight," said Molly quietly to her husband. "I wonder how long it's been since her mother did that."
"If she ever did," said Arthur. "Well, it looks like we've got us another daughter over the summer." He sighed, but there was a twinkle in his eye that made the complaint a fond old one. "You always were one to take in strays, Molly."
"You knew it when you married me, dear."
"Yes, I believe I was one...ah, well. Come to bed, Molly," he said, holding his hand out to her. She waved her wand to shut the lights off, and walked upstairs with him, hand in hand.
They paused on the landing. The door was open, and from the light that leaked in from the hall they could see Crookshanks curled on the foot of her bed, protectively. Hermione was curled into a ball, but there was a tension there that even the Dreamless Sleep couldn't remove, evident in hands and shoulders and the nape of her neck.
Molly felt her husband pull her back against him, and kiss the top of her head. "It'll be all right," he whispered, and they turned and went into their room.