Chapter 17
G4 - The Counsel of Weasleys (cont.)
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"Well, looks like the castle's still standing."
Arthur gave his wife a bemused look. Depending on when you saw her, Molly was the person with either the most trust or the least faith in Fred and George. Now apparently was the latter; for the last week, the letters from their two youngest children were seeming quite a bit off and making the parents fret a bit about them. And, after finding out that Fred and George had paid Hogwarts a visit just beforehand, Molly had immediately insisted they take a visit up to the castle to "fix whatever they did this time."
"You want to check the commons?" Molly suggested. "I'll go check the quidditch pitch - Ron will probably be out there if he's not in the commons."
Arthur agreed, and made his way up the main staircase towards the Gryffindor tower. As soon as he stepped through the Fat Lady's portrait, he saw his daughter all by herself in the commons, sitting on the couch fuming.
"Hello, Ginny," he said gently.
"Dad!" she said, confused. "What are you doing here?"
Arthur didn't answer her, and sat down on the couch next to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," Ginny said. "Just... just had a bad day in Transfiguration."
Arthur smiled, seeing right through it. He put a fatherly arm around her, even though he fully expected her to angrily shoo him away and explain that she was not a six-year old girl anymore. Instead, he was surprised by Ginny turning into him, scooting onto his lap and burying her face into his chest. Arthur gently hugged her, letting his daughter nestle against him and cry onto his robes like they had turned back time a decade.
It had been a long time and Arthur realized how much he missed this. Whether it was because she was the youngest child or had all brothers, Ginny seemed to have grown up faster than any of the boys. Even though he was here to comfort his daughter, he gladly took the moment to once again have his baby girl back in his arms, sheltering her.
Finally, he softly asked, "What happened, dear?"
Ginny didn't say anything for several seconds, until finally she sobbed, "Harry."
Arthur smiled a bit knowingly, glad that his daughter couldn't see his face and misunderstand. "What about Harry?" he gently prodded.
"I... last year he told me we shouldn't see each other... that I wouldn't be safe."
Arthur already knew this much. "And?"
"He... I... I wanted to know if he meant it, so... so... so I... t-tempted him."
This certainly surprised Arthur. The moments before she said those words had held a timeless innocence; it was quite a shock to have that jarred by the earthliness of her words.
"What happened?"
"He... he didn't... didn't g-give in."
"Did you want him to?"
Ginny was visibly shocked by the question. "Of course I didn't!" she said into his robes with a bit of heat. "If he had... r-responded, I would've known he doesn't really care about me!"
"Ginny," Arthur gently chided. "You've known Harry for seven years, and you know that he cares about you. If he had... if he had 'responded', that wouldn't have changed anything - he still would've cared about you. And... he still would've loved you."
Ginny began sobbing anew, and Arthur made soft hushing noises. "I... I ruined it," Ginny despaired. "Why would he want to be with me now, after what I did?"
Arthur managed to resist asking exactly what she had done, partly because he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. "You haven't ruined anything, Ginny. You haven't ruined anything at all. Just be the best friend you can be for him... and just be patient."
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Sorry about the burst posting (Chapter 16-19) – Thanksgiving and moving make it hard to post regularly. Anyway, please review, and if you have the time, do it more than just once for four chapters. Thanks!