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#22 - cradle
Talk the Talk
- in which we learn a lot more than we wanted to. Or Ron does, at least. -
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"You both slept in this when you were babies," Mrs Weasly said, gesturing towards the dusty cradle. "So did all of your brothers."
Ron and Ginny both nodded miserably. Their brothers had warned them about this, in hushed voices and with odd, hunted looks on their faces.
"I'm showing it to you now to remind the both of you that I don't want either one of you to be in a situation where we might need to dust it off and carry it downstairs just yet," Mrs Weasly continued, giving both of her children stern looks as she said this.
"Mum! We know!" Ginny gave her mother a pleading look. "I know you're feeling paranoid because you caught Ron kissing Parkinson the other day, but you really don't have to tell us about the birds and the bees or the importance of protection. We know. We grew up in a family with seven children, for Merlin's sake."
"Yes, but I really think you need to be reminded. You're both at that age and all..."
"We have been for a long time," Ginny interrupted. "We've known for a long time."
"Besides," Ron continued. "What's this really about? You were never like this when I was dating Hermione..."
Mrs Weasley sighed and turned towards her youngest son. "Oh, but that's different. Hermione's a sensible girl. But this one... Ron, she's a Slytherin. Do be careful, you never know about them..."
Ginny snorted at that. "What, you think Slytherins are decadent sex-maniacs that have orgies in the dungeons and that she's trying to seduce Ron?"
"Ginny, you know that's not what I meant-" Mrs Weasley began, but she was cut off as Ginny continued.
"Please. I mean, this is the house that has Snape for its head! And the house that's famous for fine examples of humanity like Crabbe and Goyle for students. Really, I don't think Parkinson could do seduction if she tried. She's way too plain and straight-forward and unimaginative for that."
Mrs Weasley gave her daughter another very stern look. "Be that as it may, you are still at that age, and you never know... Now, shut up and listen."
She went on to tell her two oldest children a tale that froze their blood, and they finally understood why it was that all their older brothers been so uncharacteristically grim when warning them of this. The Talk was every bit as traumatizing as they had said, and more so.
It was the small details that were especially memorable, and it was a long time before they stopped waking up occasionally from nightmares haunted by said details. And it took months before the sight of a cradle stopped giving them a serious urge to run away screaming.
And so, some months later, when they were face to face with the Dark Lord Voldemort and his followers and things were at their darkest, they found courage in the fact that once, they had faced worse, and lived to tell the tale.