A Serpent Among Lions Part 2

Prologue--Looking back

After two anxious hours, Harry let her family into her hospital room, one by one starting with her parents. He knew that Meghan wanted very badly to see her, but she wanted her parents to see her first in case she had any questions.

Ginny's body was badly beaten and she had a concussion. She had indeed had a miscarriage, but it turned out that she had been carrying twins, so the other baby was still safely within her womb.

One by one her brothers and their families visited her, giving her gentle hugs and giving Harry their support. Percy was especially hit hard by the attack, since he and Ginny had always been very close. He was very close to tears when he saw the state his sister was in.

"I swear to you and Harry, Gin, that I won't rest until this person is caught."

"But Dudley was already caught, Percy. Your dad sent him to Azkaban," But Percy's words sent a chill through his body. Surely Dudley couldn't have done this by himself, he couldn't have...

At last, Meghan came in to see her mother. The poor girl was in such a state that Harry felt terrible for her.

"Mum, Dad, this is all my fault! Druhilda found out about the baby from the diary and she..."

Going over to his daughter, Harry gave her a hug, "Meghan, no one blames you. This is not your fault."

Weakly, Ginny picked up her hand and waved Meghan over, "Sweetheart, don't you worry about me, okay? You did nothing wrong. The baby's fine and so am I," She and Harry had decided not to tell her about the baby that had been lost, because she would have been devastated and would have blamed herself even more.

They kept Ginny at St. Mungo's for three days for observation and to make sure the other baby wasn't in any danger and then released her with strict orders to take it easy for the next two weeks.

Several weeks later they had the trial of Dudley Dursley, and no one would ever forget his testimony:

"I found my Hogwarts letter in my mum's bedside table one night when I was there for a visit. When I confronted her with it, she told me that she kept it from my dad because she didn't want him to find out. All that time she knew that I could have been a wizard like my perfect cousin Harry and she kept me from it! She CLAIMED that she had planned to tell me about it, and that is why she kept the letter."

At this point, Dudley spat on the floor in anger, then continued, "A couple of weeks later I met this guy in a pub who told me that he could teach me some magic and that I would be able to kill my filthy muggle parents, making it look like wonder boy Potter did it. So of course I jumped at the chance. I hated my cousin, he had everything. A beautiful wife, a child that is going to Hogwarts, where I should have gone, and another baby on the way."

When asked who helped him, he shook his head, refusing to speak. By his own admission, Dudley Dursley was charged with murder in the first degree and sentenced to life in Azkaban.

Harry and Ginny decided not to go into hiding but to set up passwords for all their friends and family who would visit them. They returned to their house and set up extra protection spells on the residence and grounds, taking no chances with the safety of them or their unborn child.