That night, Gabrielle lay on Ginny's bed, holding her girlfriend in her arms. Now that Hermione knew about them, she saw no reason not to stay with Ginny. And she was afraid that Mrs. Weasley's reaction had left Ginny more shaken than the girl was willing to admit. For all that Ginny had feared rejection, Gabrielle was fairly sure that she had subconsciously expected instant acceptance. Gabrielle knew she had. For all that her head knew not to expect instant acceptance, her heart felt differently.

"Gabby," Ginny said softly.

"Mmm?"

"Do you think… do you think Mum hates me now?"

Gabrielle shook her head. "No. No parent could hate their child." At least, she really didn't want to think about one who could – especially for something this stupid.

Ginny smiled, closing her eyes again and resting her head against Gabrielle's shoulder. And it felt good – amazingly good – just to be able to hold Ginny without fearing discovery.




Breakfast the next morning wasn't nearly as strained as dinner had been. Mrs. Weasley bustled about the kitchen, serving everyone in a tight silence. But everyone else seemed to be ignoring her presence, talking and joking easily.

"So Ginny," Bill said through a mouthful of eggs. "I'm going to go completely out on a limb here and guess that you're dating Gabrielle."

Ginny blushed a little and nodded. Gabrielle just smiled at her plate.

Charlie laughed. "Hey Fred – you and George didn't have anything to do with this, right?"

Both twins gave falsely guilty smiles. "Well… now that you mention it–"

"–afraid not. Lovely idea–"

"–but we didn't think of it."

Charlie laughed. "Just checking. Well, what do you expect coming from a family of all guys?" They all laughed and no one seemed to notice Mrs. Weasley's slight wince.

Suddenly Ron looked up, as though something had just occurred to him. "But Ginny… what about all those boys you've dated? And what about your crush on Harry?"

Ginny sighed, staring at her plate. "Well… I guess Harry was mostly just hero worship. I never actually had a crush on him. And I didn't really like any of the guys I dated as more than friends."

Ron shrugged, not really understanding but accepting her explanation. When Ginny got up to leave the table, Harry followed her out of the room.

"Ginny?"

She turned to face him, tensing as she remembered his initial reaction to her sexuality. "What?" she asked, a little more sharply than she had intended.

He winced slightly. "I just… I'm sorry. About what I said yesterday. I shouldn't have said it – it was rude, uncalled for, cruel, and I'm sorry."

Ginny knew that Hermione had spent hours last night yelling at him and that she had probably forced him into apologizing. But an apology was an apology, and it was all she was going to get. "Okay. Apology accepted."

He gave her a hesitant smile, which she returned. "So, how about we all play some Quidditch before it gets too hot out?"



When everyone else had gone outside to play or watch Quidditch, Molly set about cleaning up the kitchen. She was the only one in the house and most of the time she didn't really resent her work as a housewife. In a house with this many people, it gave her some time to herself – time which she desperately needed right now. She set about doing the dishes, the familiar, if usually tedious, task soothing her.

Charlie's words still echoed through her mind. "What do you expect coming from a family of all guys?" Molly supposed she had always been too busy with housework and raising seven children to be the mentor she should have been for Ginny. The boys had had not only their father, but all their brothers to show them how to act. Ginny had only had her mother. And Molly had failed her.

She had failed her in every way possible. She had failed as a role model and now her only daughter was lesbian. She had failed as a mother and hadn't even noticed that anything was wrong until Ginny all but shoved it down her throat. And much though she might wish otherwise, she feared that this wasn't "just a phase." No, now that she thought about it, the signs had been there far to long for this to be "just a phase."

She wasn't sure when or what the first sign that perhaps something was wrong with Ginny had been, but it had been ages ago. When she was four, Ginny said that when she grew up she wanted to marry her best friend – a girl named Casey. That was when Molly should have known – or at least guessed. But they had simply thought it was cute at the time and gently explained to her that that was impossible. Ginny was a girl and she was going to grow up and marry a boy. After that, Ginny had developed her obsession with Harry Potter everyone had forgotten all about it.

But now… God, how could she have been so blind? How could she have let this happen?

The thought of her daughter, her beloved Ginny, having to live as a lesbian was terrible. She could never live a normal life. She'd have to live with everyone's prejudices for the rest of her life, she'd never be able to get married or have children, never have a real relationship… And it was Molly's fault.

By the time she was finished with the dishes and the laundry, it was time for lunch. She made sandwiches and brought them outside. They had finished their Quidditch game, and not everyone was scattered over the yard, playing and relaxing. Something about the scene made her grit her teeth in suppressed anger. Everyone was so content and having so much fun – after she'd worked the entire morning, trying to keep the house in order and to sort out her feelings about Ginny. How could everyone else be in such a good mood when she was feeling so confused? It wasn't fair!

But she held her tongue, holding her irritation and anger firmly in check as everyone took the sandwiches without even so much as a 'thank-you' and returned to what they had been doing.



Ginny watched mutely as her mother returned to the house with the now-empty tray – but not before casting a firmly disapproving look in Ginny and Gabrielle's direction.

She glanced down at the sandwich her mother had made, suddenly no longer hungry. Why couldn't her mother just accept her the way everyone else had?

"Ginny?" Gabrielle asked in concern. "Are you alright?"

Ginny stared at her for a moment, then forced a smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She took a bite of her sandwich, chewing and swallowing mechanically.

Gabrielle didn't look convinced, but she didn't say anything. Somehow, Ginny managed to finish the sandwich, though it seemed to turn to lead in her stomach. A part of her wanted to cry, but she didn't, not where everyone could see her. Maybe tonight, once everyone else was asleep. But not now.

When Hermione and Gabrielle came into Ron's room, Ron and Harry were still in their pajamas. They looked up at Hermione's knock.

"Hey Hermione," Harry greeted her brightly. Then they noticed Gabrielle. "Ah... what's she doing here?"

"Ginny's still sleeping..."

Harry shrugged and made room for Hermione on his mattress. Hermione motioned for Gabrielle to sit down next to her.

"Well, Hermione, you'll be very happy to know that Harry and me got a start on our homework last night," Ron announced sarcastically.

"Harry and I," Hermione corrected absently. Ron rolled his eyes. "And it's about time. You've only got a week left."

"A whole week? Must be a record."

Hermione glared at Ron and he laughed. She shook her head, muttering, "Some people just don't understand the importance of academics."

Gabrielle listened in silence as they joked about school and homework, until Ron complained that he still hadn't eaten and they went down to breakfast.

Ginny still wasn't up yet, so Gabrielle decided to go check on her before joining them in the kitchen. Ginny was usually even more of an early-bird than Hermione, and it was almost 10:30.

Gabrielle found her still in bed, her face buried in her pillow and her shoulders shaking with muffled sobs. Gabrielle walked over to her, carefully sitting down on the edge of the bed and laying a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny looked up, hurriedly wiping her eyes.

"You okay?"

Ginny nodded, sniffing. "I'm fine."

"What were you crying about?"

"...nothing... I'm fine." Gabrielle gave her a skeptical look and after a moment, she sighed. "Mum and Dad were yelling at each other… about me. It's no big deal, okay?"

"So, how about breakfast."

Ginny smiled. "Just gimme a minute to get dressed and I'll be right down."

Gabrielle leaned forwards, giving her a quick kiss. "I'll meet you downstairs."

When Gabrielle entered the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley didn't even look at her, though even from behind she radiated a furious hostility. Harry, Ron and her Hermione were eating their pancakes in silence. Mr. Weasley was sitting across from them, eating slowly and casting occasional helpless glances at his wife. It seemed that they had fought. Gabrielle nervously found a plate and sat down next to Hermione, carefully keeping a safe distance from Mrs. Weasley.

A few minutes later, Ginny entered the kitchen. She no longer looked like she'd been crying, though she seemed to be on the verge of tears again. She glanced briefly at Mrs. Weasley before looking back down at the floor. Eyes down, she took a plate and sat down next to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle wished she could do something to comfort Ginny, but she had the feeling that if anyone said or did anything but eat, Mrs. Weasley would explode again. So they all ate in silence as Mrs. Weasley furiously cleaned last night's dishes. Gabrielle was somewhat amazed that she hadn't broken anything yet, especially with the way she was slamming the dishes into the cupboard one she'd finished scrubbing every last crumb of dirt – and probably some of the paint – off them.

"Mum…" Ginny said hesitantly. Mrs. Weasley spun around.

"What?" she snapped.

Ginny looked at her for a long moment, fear and uncertainty flickering in her eyes.

""Well?" Mrs. Weasley prompted impatiently.

Ginny looked back down at her plate. "Nothing," she muttered.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head in irritation and turned back to the dishes. Ginny stared at her plate, not eating anything. She left the table as soon as she could, returning to her room instead of going outside like she usually did. Gabrielle followed her and found her lying facedown on her bed. She looked up when she heard the door shut behind Gabrielle.

"Are you okay?" she asked, sitting down next to her.

Ginny laughed. "I'm such an idiot. I shouldn't have even said anything." She glanced up at the ceiling, a brief flash of emotion passing over her face. "I just… I'm just so tired of her being so mad at me. But I don't know what to do – to make it all right. I don't know what to say to her…"

Suppressing the urge to run downstairs and start screaming at Mrs. Weasley – why couldn't she see what she was doing to her daughter? – Gabrielle reached out, lightly touching her hand. "It's not your fault."

"I know…" Ginny closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was smiling again. "Wanna go to Diagon Alley today?"

"Sure."

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long... I got a little stuck and had to completely rewrite it about six times and I'm still not happy with it. So constructive critism of this chapter would be really helpful, because I'm not sure how to fix it...

Tora88: Thanks... I wanted to make this a little more realistic than having everyone be okay with it. I wish that was the way it was in real life, but I know it isn't. Silver-nex: Thanks. I'm glad you liked Ron's reaction. Anasazi: Thanks... That's pretty what I was going for... Crossgirl134: hmmm... I think it would make sense for the parent of the same gender to take it harder. Thanks. Orange and Kashiaga: Thanks :P