A/N Okay I feel the need to explain a few things from the last chapter. One: The only time Bill has been around Harry and Ginny was when she lost it at the bank, which sent him into protective big brother mode. He wasn't around to see how happy she had been every other time. Two: Arthur's comment about Harry leaving shouldn't have been there. It was in the original draft of the story, which had Harry still remembering nothing at this point and didn't have all of the fluffy family moments. It may not make as much sense in the second version, but he is just trying to make sure his only daughter is okay. Three: At the end of my last story when people kept reviewing about Ginny having a baby I said there is no baby, not that there never was.
When Harry walked into the kitchen he was surprised to see Hermione sitting at the table with Arthur and Bill. "Hermione, what are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep last night after talking with you. I just kept playing it all over again in my head. The puzzle just doesn't add up. I went in to the ministry to talk to Arthur about it, and he thought it would be better if we talked somewhere more private," Hermione explained.
"I must say I'm surprised we didn't pick up on this sooner," Arthur added. "But I suppose that's what happens when you put a case like this on the back burner."
Harry shrugged. "Honestly I was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on I didn't bother to think about it myself."
"Maybe we should talk to Ginny and Colin again to see if they remember anything else," Hermione suggested.
Harry shook his head. "Nothing that Ginny remembers would be of any help. We talked about it last night." He turned his attention to Hermione. "About that night, well I was right."
Completely confused, Arthur interrupted. "Well what about Colin?"
"He's out of the country still. Besides, I think if he knew anything he wanted to share he would have by now," Hermione informed him.
"He left right after seeing me without ever really talking to Ginny."
"It could have been a coincidence," Hermione said gently.
"Honestly Harry, I see where you're going with this but the boy worshiped you. You were his idol. That was how he got to be so close to Ginny. They both were desperate to be a part of your life. What would he gain from hurting you?" Arthur asked.
"Me," Ginny whispered, frozen in her place on the stair well. She turned around and ran back to her room before anyone noticed she was there.
"I don't know Arthur," Harry continued, never realizing Ginny had overhead their conversation. "Something about him rubs me the wrong way. How well do any of you really know him?"
"Not that well," Molly said, finally joining the conversation.
Hermione sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it right now. We don't have any proof, only suspicions. Besides, if we start formally looking for him he'll go into hiding and we'll never find him."
"What scares me is how close he is to Ginny now, what if he tries to hurt her?" Molly worried.
"We shouldn't let her know about this. I know her; she'll just want to confront him. If he was willing to be involved in a plot to kill Harry, I don't want to imagine what he's capable of," Bill spoke up, his voice full of concern.
"We have to tell her," Harry said quietly.
"He's right," Arthur said. "Molly, will you go check on her and bring her down?"
Ginny paced the floor of her childhood bedroom, unsure of what to think. "Could Colin really have been responsible for everything? Could he really be the reason I lost Harry and my baby?" Ginny groaned and threw her hands up in frustration. She sat down at her desk and began to think about that last year. "Colin was hurt when I stopped spending as much time with him. I felt guilty, but could that really have driven him to this? That Halloween he looked like he wanted to kill Harry, but he was only trying to protect me. But what about that day he started with all of those what if questions? He told me he loved me, and was talking about if there was no Harry." Ginny gasped and pulled her hand to her mouth. "I defended him," she whispered to no one, as if she were afraid of her own words. "I took up for him. I let him in my life. All this time it was him! He hand delivered me to Voldemort. He took Harry away from me," Ginny paused, her voice trembling and tears cascading down her cheeks. "He killed my baby." Ginny stood up from her seat. "I have to go home and think about this." With a pop, Ginny left the Burrow.
"What do you mean he left?" Colin screamed, pinning Bella against the wall.
Bella struggled to get free of his grasp. "It wasn't like I let him leave! He just did, he is a wizard."
Colin loosened his grip on Bella. "But still, you had him here and you couldn't manage to keep him occupied until I got here?"
"Excuse me for not being perfect like your precious Ginny. It was by mere chance that I got him here in the first place."
Colin walked away from her in frustration. "I should have taken care of him myself the first time."
"But you didn't love. Now what do you plan to do? I still think your best plan of action is to just move away and start over with me."
"I can't do that. Ginny stole my heart; I can't live without her." Colin sighed in frustration and punched the wall. "She sent me this letter." He pulled a crumpled up letter out of his pocket and thrust it in Bella's hands.
"Colin this doesn't look good. She wants to be with him, why don't you just let her? If you really loved her you'd let her go."
"You don't understand, she doesn't know what she's feeling. She's just entranced by his celebrity."
"So what's your plan? I didn't really get to talk to Harry because he was too drunk to have a coherent thought, but I didn't get the impression he was planning on going away anytime soon."
"So I'll just have to make Ginny want me instead of him."
"What are you talking about, a love potion or something?" Bella asked laughing. She stopped when she noticed Colin hadn't joined in her laughter. "Oh Colin that's really pathetic. Do you really want to be with her that badly you're willing to sink to a love potion?"
Colin sighed. "It's just so hard loving her, knowing that she foolishly gave her heart to the wrong person. She can't see what's best for her. It'd only have to be once, just enough to wake up the feelings I know are there. Once she realizes it, I'm sure she'll give in to her physical needs, and then she'll feel too guilty to even consider staying with Harry." Colin spat out his name as if it were venomous. Before he could say anything else a small owl flew in the window. Bella took the parchment it offered her and gave the bird a Knut. She looked at the paper and laughed.
"Colin I think someone up there loves you. I think this is even better than if he had still been here when you got here!" She handed Colin her copy of the Daily Prophet. "Did you do this?"
Colin looked at the cover story and grinned at her. "No, but I told one of the young photographers that if he wanted to get on the fast track he should follow Potter around. Let's see just exactly what they have to say."
England's Most Eligible Wizard Taking Full Advantage of Title
A Daily Prophet Exclusive from Marietta Edgecombe
Harry Potter definitely hasn't wasted any time. Since returning to the wizarding world mere weeks ago, he's been spotted with at least four different witches in compromising positions. He's been spotted out with old school flame and the Minister of Magic's only daughter Ginny Weasley. Eye witnesses claim that the two looked very cozy during a trip to Hogsmeade. Were they simply reminiscing over old times or were they trying to reignite old flames? Which brings forward the question on many people's minds: where has Harry Potter been? Sources close to Mr. Potter informed the Daily Prophet that he and Miss Weasley were very much in love during his final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, yet question is: what happened to make him stay away for so long? Maybe it was behavior like he's displayed since being back.
Mr. Potter was also spotted with a very attractive blonde woman that could not be identified. Witnesses say that they couple was gazing at one another adoringly while visiting Diagon Alley, although they did appear to have a lover's spat when Mr. Potter was approached by other women who can only be assumed to be lovers as well based on their intimate behavior towards him. Mr. Potter has not been spotted with the blonde woman again.
The most interesting piece of evidence against Mr. Potter's current indecent behavior is his appearance last night at a local pub with another woman, this time brunette. They were all over one another and practically ran out of the pub embraced intimately. It doesn't take a Legilimens to figure out where they were going.
Mr. Potter has always been known for his loyalty to his friends, but can the same be said about his girlfriends? Is this years of special treatment from professors and politicians making him believe he can do no wrong? One thing is for sure, Mr. Potter has a lot of questions to answer, and it's just a matter of time until the truth comes out.
The article was enough to make Colin glow with joy, but what accompanied the article was better. There were three pictures: the first had an attractive witch whispering something seductively in Harry's ear, the second had Harry embraced in a tight hug with the blonde woman mentioned in the article, and the third had Harry draped all over Bella, walking out of the pub.
"You are the most brilliant witch I've ever known!" Colin exclaimed happily. "With their row last night and this article today, I should be easily able to slip her the potion and make my move!"
Bella wrapped her arms around Colin's waist. "You're right; this is the best time to act. She'll probably need a friend to talk to right now, and he'll probably still be passed out."
Colin smiled and placed a kiss on Bella's forehead. "Thanks a million. I knew there was a reason you were brought into my life. It's like the gods are pushing me and Ginny together, it was meant to be, I know it!" Bella rolled her eyes, but Colin didn't see. "I'm just going to run down the block to her flat, I'm so excited now I might splinch myself if I tried to apparate!"
Bella watched as the man she loved ran out of her flat. "Why can't you do the easy thing for once and just move on? Maybe I should go over there too, make sure you don't do anything stupid..." Bella grabbed her invisibility cloak and left her home, following Colin's trail to Ginny's flat. "I guess there are some good things that come from having Death Eaters for parents," she mused as she quickly walked down the street. "They leave you valuable family heirlooms and you inherit the genes to be sneaky."
Ginny sat down on her couch holding her head in her hands. She had a throbbing headache from crying and trying to figure everything out at the same time. She couldn't imagine someone she considered to be her best friend doing anything so evil, yet it was the only thing that made sense. "Maybe he was under the Imperius," she muttered. "But then how did you survive and Malfoy die?" She knew in her heart that Colin had betrayed her; she just couldn't put a good motive behind it. "How could he do his to me?" she cried as her sobs overtook her again.
"So you've seen the Prophet then?" she heard a male voice call sympathetically from her entryway. She looked up and saw Colin looking at her with a sad smile. She assumed he had just walked in because the door was still open.
"How much did you hear?" she asked him, her voice cold.
"Only that last thing you said," Colin replied as he walked over towards her. He sat down on the couch next to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "How could you know Harry was seeing all of those women behind your back?" Ginny looked at him for a moment, completely confused as to what he was talking about. She quickly stood up to rid herself from his touch as if it burned her skin. "Let me make you a cup of tea and we'll talk." But before Colin could stand Ginny pulled out her wand and had it aimed at his heart. "Ginny, love, what are you doing?" Colin asked nervously.
"I want answers. I want answers now."
Harry, Hermione, Arthur, and Bill all sat anxiously around the kitchen table, waiting for Molly to bring Ginny down to talk to them.
"You're sure we should tell her what we think?" Bill asked his father nervously.
"Yes," Harry answered, not caring that the question wasn't meant for him. "I know what it's like to have important things kept from you. It only makes it worse when you find out later, and trust me, you always find out."
"Arthur," Molly called from the stairwell, her voice sounding heavy with worry. "She's not here."
"WHAT!" Bill, Arthur, and Harry exclaimed at once, jumping up from the table.
"She must have heard us," Hermione said quietly. "She must have heard us and decided to leave."
"I'm going back to her flat," Harry said running towards the fireplace.
"We'll meet you there," Bill said quickly. "Please let her be okay," he begged quietly as he prepared to apparate.
"Gin, I think you're confused. You're getting angry with the wrong guy! Here just look at this," Colin said as he pulled Bella's copy of the Daily Prophet out from his robes and offered it to Ginny.
Ginny knocked the paper out of his hand and let it fall to the floor, never dropping her wand. "No I think I'm finally seeing things clearly."
"What do you mean?" Colin asked nervously. He was having problems breathing and he felt like the perfect world he had created was collapsing all around him.
"It was you all this time, wasn't it?" Ginny's voice was as cold as ice.
"What was me?" Colin refused to turn himself in without knowing for sure she had figured everything out.
"Lies, it's always about lies with you isn't it?"
"Ginny, love, I think you're confused," Colin said, his voice shaking.
"STOP LYING TO ME!" Ginny screamed at the top of her lungs. "One more lie and I'll kill you right here. Don't test me, I'll do it."
Colin could tell from her tone that she was serious. "Love, you're scaring me. Why don't you just put your wand away and sit down and we'll talk."
Ginny didn't budge. "Don't you dare love me! Just answer my questions!"
Colin nervously wringed his hands in his lap. "You haven't actually asked me a question yet."
"You set it all up. You were the one who poisoned Harry. You were the one who slipped it in his drink. You tried to take him away from me, so you could have me for yourself, didn't you?"
Colin's expressed froze and he knew that he had been caught. He knew that his lies had finally caught up with him. It was just a matter of keeping her talking long enough to figure out how to get out of it. "I did."
"Why?" Ginny screamed, closing the distance between her wand and his chest.
"Because I love you! I always have, I always will!"
"You call that love? Watching me suffer and tear myself up inside?"
The wheels in Colin's head were turning as fast as they could. There had to be a way out of this. "You have no idea what its like; loving someone so much it hurts and knowing they're not yours." Ginny let out a cold laugh but let him continue. "You have no idea what it's like watching someone waste their time on a person you knew wasn't worthy of their attention."
"You obviously don't know me at all." Ginny's stare was harsh; she looked like she had been possessed. "You should know better than anyone that I loved Harry for years without him even acknowledging my existence. You comforted me when he started to date Cho. You've been so wrapped up in your own sick thoughts that you didn't even realize that I knew exactly how you felt."
"You're right, please forgive me," Colin pleaded.
"I might not have gotten the best marks in Divination, but I can tell you right now that's never going to happen. What happened that last night? Don't bother lying now; it's not going to change anything."
A glazed look covered Colin's eyes, making him look truly evil. "All I did was deliver Potter to Malfoy, I knew I was putting you at risk, but it was for your own good. You had to see that he was all wrong for you."
Ginny let out another cold laugh. "Well don't stop now; the story is just getting interesting."
"I didn't lie about the blinding lights, there were two. But the second one only destroyed Potter's scar, not Potter himself. I took care of you, while Malfoy had his fun with Potter."
"So it was Malfoy who did the memory charms," Ginny interrupted.
"As well as everything else. I didn't do anything to Potter; well other than throw what I thought was his dead body into the ocean. I did kill Malfoy though, I knew you hated him and that your life would be better without him."
"Plus, you couldn't risk having him leak all your secrets. You never once thought of anyone but yourself. If you couldn't have what you wanted you didn't want anyone else to have what they wanted either."
"I didn't want to risk you, but if you were willing to give your life for Potter then that was your own stupid decision. I kept trying to talk to you, I kept trying to beg you to leave him, but you wouldn't listen. You always were a bit stubborn."
"You insufferable bastard!" Ginny was so caught up in her rage she didn't notice the people arriving behind her. "You almost killed me! You almost killed Harry!" She paused, as if she was summoning up the last bit of her strength. "YOU KILLED MY BABY!" There were three loud gasps behind her. She turned around and found herself face to face with her father. She dropped her wand to the floor and collapsed sobbing into her father's arms. She wasn't aware of Bill using a binding charm on Colin. She wasn't aware of Harry crying quietly on Hermione's shoulder. All she knew was that she had finally let go of the secret that had been tearing her apart for four years.
A/N I've had this chapter finished for a little bit, but I wanted to sit on it for a while to make sure it was just like I wanted since it was a critical point in the story. Again, your reviews overwhelm me! I have a busy weekend (My Mom's flying into town to see me) but then next week I'm going on fall break (I'm flying back with my Mom). I've started working on the next chapter, but again, it's a critical plot moment, so I want to make sure everything is perfect. Hopefully though I'll have it ready to go by sometime Monday, if not a little sooner.