Chapter 24
Confrontation'You know, Rita Skeeter is my dad's boss,' Ron said as he was flipping through the pages of Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived – and Died. He had borrowed it as soon as John had finished reading it, and was presently in the process of devouring it. He was sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, along with John and Lizzie – John was toasting crumpets and Lizzie was eight inches into a Potions essay.
'She is?' John said, looking over at him with interest. For a short moment, he wished he could tell his friends who his father really was. 'So, does she ever ... you know... talk about the old days? She must have known Harry Potter pretty well to write his biography.'
Lizzie snorted. 'I doubt it.'
The two boys looked at her in surprise. 'What do you mean?'
'Well,' said Lizzie, lowering her voice slightly, 'last Christmas when we all went to see Granny at The Burrow, I overheard Dad, Uncle Fred and Uncle Colin talking about her.'
'Really?' said Ron. 'Managed to get hold of some Extendable Ears, did you?'
'Oh, Dad has an ample supply at home – he doesn't know I know, of course ... anyway, since we were going to The Burrow I thought a pair might come in handy.'
'You might have told me about it,' Ron said, sounding slightly hurt.
'I tried!' Lizzie said exasperatedly, 'but when I came to your room that night you were sleeping like a baby, and as babies need their sleep I didn't want to wake you, ickle Ronnie.'
'Oh, shut up,' Ron muttered.
'So what did you hear?' John asked.
'Well, most of it was rather boring. They kept talking about Uncle Colin's job, and how he doesn't get to choose which photos to put in the paper, and bla bla bla, you know.' Lizzie rolled her eyes. 'But then, Dad said that Rita sure has changed since the old days.'
'Well, that wasn't very interesting,' said Ron dismissively. 'What could he have meant though?'
'Oh, I know exactly what he meant,' Lizzie said, lowering her voice even further. She turned to John and went on. 'You see, John, Rita Skeeter's the best editor-in-chief the Daily Prophet's had for decades; at least that's what our parents think,' she gave Ron a meaningful glance, 'but she didn't use to be that way. Apparently – according to what I heard at Christmas – she used to be quite a gossip-monger. And Harry Potter was one of her prime targets for a while there.'
'Oh, right ...' Ron said, 'I remember Mum mentioning something about that once. But I didn't know it had anything to do with Rita Skeeter! Something about Harry Potter having been harrassed, even.' He turned to John. 'My parents were at school with him, you know. They knew him rather well. Mum even went out with him for a while, before she fell in love with Dad. I don't think it was very serious, though.'
Lizzie snorted again. 'That's not what I've heard.'
John and Ron stared at her, Ron of course having no idea that this statement was just as upsetting for John as it was for him.
'What's that supposed to mean?' John snapped.
Lizzie looked at him puzzledly.
'Yes, what?' Ron echoed.
'Well,' Lizzie said smugly, 'also at Christmas, as a matter of fact, I happened to overhear a conversation between Mum and Aunt Angelina. And Aunt Angelina said that it was a relief that Aunt Ginny was so happy these days, and who would have thought that she'd ever be happily married fifteen years ago. And Mum said that it was well deserved after all she'd gone through – after all, she'd lost the love of her life!'
John dropped his latest crumpet into the fire and swore. Both he and Ron stared at Lizzie in disbelief.
'They can't have meant Harry Potter,' John said agitatedly.
'Oh but they did,' said Lizzie. 'Because Aunt Angelina mentioned his name specifically – she said they were made for each other.'
'But ...' John cleared his throat. 'But I'd heard somewhere that Harry Potter's girlfriend died ...?'
'No way – ' Lizzie smiled triumphantly, 'I'd have heard that too if it were true. No, no – it was Aunt Ginny who was the love of his life. And then he died.'
'What do you mean – are you saying that my mum doesn't love my dad?' said Ron.
Lizzie's smile faltered. 'Oh – I – I didn't mean – '
'You didn't mean what?' Ron went on. 'All of what you just said?'
'Well, I mean ... I'm sure he wasn't the only one – you can have more than one boyfriend, you know ... I mean – she was the love of his life, but that doesn't mean he was the love of hers!
'But that's precisely what you just said! You said "she'd lost the love of her life."'
'Er ... well, I meant it the opposite way! You can't expect me to remember everything correctly!' Lizzie looked flustered.
'Whatever, Lizzie,' Ron sneered. 'You can keep those Extendable Ears to yourself by the way.' He stalked away angrily.
Lizzie looked at John, who seemed strangely subdued. 'I didn't think about it,' she said helplessly, 'I totally forgot that Auntie Ginny is Ron's mother ...'
John only nodded for an answer.
o o o
Harry paced his study impatiently, feeling almost as nervous as Pansy had been when she'd come to see him this morning. Ginny ... Ginny was going to come; he was going to see her again, so soon. His Ginny. Harry couldn't resist a smile, but then chided himself for it inwardly. She was married, he reminded himself; she wasn't his Ginny at all – she was married to Colin Creevey.
What could she possibly want though? Did she want to talk? Well, yes, obviously she did, but what about? Thoughts kept circling his brain aimlessly until he was thouroughly confused. One thing was for certain; it had to be something really important, since she'd decided to see him again so soon after they had decided never to meet again.
Finally, there was a knock on the door, and Harry's voice shook slightly as he said 'Enter!' Ginny walked into the room followed by none other than Colin Creevey. Harry started. He had taken for granted that she would be on her own – he had certainly not expected her to bring her husband. How could she have brought Colin with her? Didn't she realise how much it hurt to see her together with another man?
'Hello, Harry' Colin said quietly, holding out his hand for Harry to shake. 'It's good to see you again.'
Harry stared at the hand, but could not bring himself to take it. Colin Creevey. How well he remembered Colin's arrival at Hogwarts so many years ago, the way Colin had admired, almost worshipped Harry when he first came there. So Ginny had told him everything … He turned to Ginny, a sinking feeling inside him. He had taken it for granted that she'd never tell anyone, but – obviously – she had.
'So, I see he knows about me,' he said coldly. 'I thought it was understood that we should keep this between the two of us. Who else have you told?'
'No one!' Ginny said hotly. 'Not even Mum, although she of all people deserves to know. You were like a son to her.'
Harry blushed slightly. He knew that Ginny was right, but he had no intention of admitting it. He realised that, for a brief moment at least, he had thought that the reason Ginny wanted to talk to him was that she wanted them to get back together, perhaps even ... elope – deep down he had thought so, in spite of all his reasonings; in spite of the certainty that this was not so. But of course he had been wrong; Ginny wasn't like that. She would never do to her children what Cordelia had done to Lily and John. Harry sat down behind his desk, and indicated that Ginny and Colin should sit too.
'Well,' he said, trying to sound careless – 'what brings you here?' He directed his gaze at Ginny, trying to avoid looking at Colin. 'Only four days ago we decided that we should never meet again.'
'I know. But I have to talk to you about something, Harry. It's important.'
'It had better be, considering what I'm putting myself through right now…' Harry mumbled.
'What you're putting yourself through? You think this is easy for me? You think I want to be here? You think I haven't spent every minute since you left my office thinking about you, about what might have been if things had been different?'
'Oh, I don't know …' Harry said condescendingly, 'you seem to have moved on with your life.'
'No more than you have! I spent three years mourning you, Harry. Then I faced the fact that you were gone forever and got married. That's exactly what you did!'
'There's a difference,' Harry said, his teeth clenched.
'What?' Ginny was staring at the desk, avoiding Harry's gaze.
'I married a Muggle, someone who'd never met you, never heard your name. Someone who didn't know anything about the Magical World, who didn't even know who I was.' Harry paused, casting an angry glance in Colin's direction. 'I didn't go and marry bloody Colin Creevey!'
Ginny got up. She was shivering slightly, still not looking at Harry. 'Let's go, Colin! We don't need to listen to this.'
Colin, however, grabbed her arm, and gently pulled her down again. Then he leant forward over the desk. 'Look, I know this is difficult for you, Harry. It's difficult for everyone –'
'Everyone?' Hary snorted. 'Can't be too difficult for you, Colin, considering you took the first chance you got to marry my girlfriend!
'How – how can you!' Ginny's voice was shaking with rage. 'Don't you dare talk to him like that! He was there for me when you weren't – when you were off hiding in the Muggle World! Colin never ran away, and he lost people too, you know!' Ginny's face was white and her eyes blazing. 'And here I've been, first mourning you, then meeting you again and unable to stop thinking of you, and you – you're precisely the bastard I thought you were! Don't you dare say a single word against Colin, because he's worth ten of you!'
Colin had his arm around Ginny by now and made a soft hushing noise, while Ginny was still shaking. She looked away, panting, Colin giving Harry a resentful glance. Then, slowly, Ginny turned back to face him.
Harry's face hardened. 'You know I left because –'
'Oh, I know why you left, there's no need for you to wallow – to rub it in, to ...' she stopped mid-sentence, her face suddenly loosening up, the features softening. 'Look, Harry, I know you had your reasons for doing it … and I'm not blaming you for that.' She looked at him pleadingly. She went on, softly, 'But you have no right to blame Colin either. He was there for me at a time when no one else was … when almost everyone – including my own family – thought that I was crazy. And he never did anything inappropriate. He never … well, it wasn't …' she gave Colin a quick look, a tender look – 'I was the one who suggested that we get married, not Colin. So stop acting as if Colin stole me away from you, Harry, because he didn't. You left me … like it or not, those are the facts.' She averted her eyes again, as if looking at Harry were painful.
They were all quiet for a moment, Harry and Ginny avoiding to look at each other, Colin looking at the two of them, something akin to pity in his expression.
'I can't imagine what this must feel like for you, Harry,' he said quietly, 'but I have a pretty good idea what it feels like for Ginny. I was there when she dealt with your … death. I know at what cost she managed to come to terms with it. And you may not believe this is difficult for me, Harry, but when I married Ginny my hopes for the future didn't exactly involve her childhood love – the love of her life, if you will – turning up alive and well twelve years later. Let's just say that neither Ginny nor I would have come here today if we didn't have a good reason.'
'Very well. What is your reason?' Harry's voice was cold.
'Forget it, Colin. I can't talk to him when he's like this!' Ginny made for the door, determinedly, her hand already on the doorknob when Colin stopped her.
'Ginny … He might be able to help. You've been waiting for an opportunity like this for fifteen years. You can't throw it away.'
'No – no Colin, we shouldn't have come in the first place. It was a bad idea, like I said – a rotten idea. See, I thought something like this would happen.' She paused. 'Come on, let's get out of here.'
'Ginny, will you stop it!' Colin gave Harry a look so full of anger it made Harry start, and he came to life and went over to Ginny too. They were right, of course – what was he doing? Slowly he began to come to his senses as if he'd been having a nightmare. This was Ginny, his – love – and Colin, a person who had never done him any harm. Harry took a deep breath and was about to speak –
'Look, Harry, just listen to what Ginny – what we have to say, all right?' Colin said before Harry could utter a word. He then looked back at Ginny and said, gently, 'Go on, Ginny, tell him. You have to – you know you do, or else you'll –'
'Oh, I know, Colin,' Ginny said irritably, 'if it weren't for his behaviour,' she cast an angry glance in Harry's direction, 'I'd ...'
Harry looked at Ginny, blushing. She didn't return his gaze. What a fool he was. All this time, and he hadn't learnt a thing; he was still as immature as he had been at seventeen – or worse, even. Ginny was right, of course. But somehow, he couldn't bring himself to say anything, but simply stared ahead of him stonily.
'Oh, all right.' Ginny took a deep breath, looked over at Colin who gave her an encouraging look, and said, 'We're here because of Professor Snape.'
Harry stared incredulously at her, his mouth wide open. What on earth was going on here? Every way he turned, someone wanted to discuss Snape. Pansy was one thing, but Ginny? It seemed as if, since he had returned to the Magical World, everything was somehow connected to Snape. How could a man who had been locked away from the world for so long, a man who had been subject to the Dementors for fifteen years and who must surely be mad by now, still have such an impact on so many people in the wizarding world? A man who hadn't talked to a single sould for all that time? A man who had caused so much irretrievable harm to so many people – someone who had caused so many deaths? What could Ginny possibly have to say about this man? Slowly, Harry closed his mouth, and swallowed.
'What about him?' he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realised that he already knew what the answer was going to be.
Ginny looked him straight in the eyes, and then said it.
'Severus Snape is innocent.'
o o o
Author's Note: As you can see, things are getting ... interesting. A few of you were asking about Pansy and her puzzling behaviour, but as you may have guessed I cannot tell you anything about that as yet.
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