Chapter Fifty-Two: Executing the Plan
Their plan to control the damage is enacted.
(i) The characters and world of Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this.
(ii) Thank you to all the readers who have stayed with me through the writing of this tale. Your patience has been truly amazing and your continuing reviews are so appreciated. I promise I will finish this story. I will not abandon it.
(iii) Happy Christmas. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Consider this your slightly late Christmas present :) I'll try to post something soon to celebrate the New Year too.
Ron didn't feel like a happy, carefree young man by any stretch of the imagination. The war years were blissfully easy in comparison to this, much more personal, battle. He was consumed with worry about his siblings, especially Ginny. Had he really been that blind to her Darkness? He couldn't understand how he could have missed her obviously deranged aura. It was so starkly visible now.
Ron could see the toll this was having on Percy, forced again to pretend to be strong when he must have wanted to rant and rave as Ron himself had done when he had first heard and seen what was going on in the Infirmary. George at least had let off steam before calming down to strategise and plan things out so that the people they loved were protected.
Ron sighed and straightened his shoulders as he and his brothers, and wasn't it odd to count Theo as that after such a short association, entered the Great Hall. He could see the startlement their re-arrival caused. He smiled a smile he didn't feel and immediately sought out his so-called girl-friend. He wished now that he had not let Auror Training be the excuse he had used to procrastinate and not break up with her. If he had been with Susan, he knew he could have had someone sensible to lean on. She would have stood beside him, comforted and guided him. She was a lot like Hermione in that respect; smart, take-charge and dependable. Instead, he'd not done anything about the connection they'd made and had let it slide, not wanting the hassle of ending things with Lav-Lav.
Ron knew once things calmed down that he'd have to make some serious changes in his life. But for the moment, his relationship with Lav-Lav was a definite advantage. He hid his grimace of annoyance at all that she represented and reached his hand out to her.
Lavender twined herself around Ron as soon as he came within touching distance. "What's going on, smoochams?" she asked girlishly, her eyes looking at him flirtatiously. "Romilda's been saying all kinds of things."
"I'll just bet she has," said Ron with a snigger. He wanted to punch someone. But none of that showed on his face or in his voice. "You know Romilda's never been any good at DADA. She may not have had any idea what hex Ginny used but you can bet Madam Pomfrey did. She fixed Hermione up in no time."
"She did?" Lavender couldn't quite hide her dismay that things had been sorted out so quickly.
"Of course she did." Ron grinned at her like the gullible fool he was pretending to be. "Mum blew a fuse, of course, at McGonagall's manhandling of Ginny." That too had been seen by the students.
Lavender's eyes were wide as she listened. "So what's going on now?"
"Well," said Ron, trying to appear uncertain, "Mum and Dad are with Ginny. They are in the Headmaster's Office trying to work out how to settle all of this. Hermione as you can imagine is pretty shaken up. And you know those damn Slytherins are not going to allow any harm to come to their precious Hermione. She'll need to rest to get her strength back so Madam Pomfrey's keeping her in the Infirmary over-night. Usual precautions."
Lavender nodded.
The certainty that past and present students had that there was nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix was proving to be a useful tool in their subterfuge.
"Is McGonagall going to be pulled up or dismissed or something?" Lavender failed in trying to keep her hope at some kind of scandal out of her voice.
Ron couldn't understand how he had let himself go out with her again. He had faced his Darkness again and again, but now he realised even his procrastination was a result of that miasma that clouded his thinking.
"Over binding a student to stop further hexing? Are you nuts? After what the Carrows did? Snape would never do anything of the sort. Ginny was displaying irrationality. So it was a needed precaution. McGonagall said that she suspected that it was delayed stress from the war. They were talking about how in a safe environment these kinds of things did on rare occasions manifest. And you can't find a safer place than our Common-Room at Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey seemed to agree and said the Muggles even had a technical name for it. Something like post traumatic stress or whatever."
Never before was Ron glad that he's paid attention to all the lectures they'd been given during the Auror Training programme. He knew Kingsley and his other trainers would be so pleased at the way he was demonstrating his subterfuge skills.
"So it's serious?" Lavender asked.
"I guess," said Ron. "Serious in the sense that it requires Ginny going for counselling or so they were saying. In any case, that's what Mum and Dad are talking to Snape about."
Ginny requiring counselling for war-related stress as the only outcome of the evening's excitement was decidedly a damp squib of a story for the newspapers. Lavender felt rather let down. If only it had been something more. She could have made front page. As it was, she'd be lucky if she could get a few columns in page two or three, even with all the big names she'd be throwing around in her article about the Alumni Ball at Hogwarts. What was bound to make the front page news was the French Magical Ambassador's masque ball that was being held in London. Her boss had gone to cover that.
The blonde screwed her face up in disappointment. What a waste. She could really use a scandal to get her name in print with more prominence. Now that Rita was in Azkaban Lavender wanted desperately to fill the other reporter's shoes. No wonder Rita had been an illegal animagus. It made sense if that was the only way to learn more gossip. If only it had been a major catastrophe. It would have been the making of her career.
But Ron's arms tightened around her then, and she saw Parvati's jealous stare as she cuddled close to one of the Golden Trio. The delight in being so envied pushed Lavender's thoughts about journalistic fame away like so much smoke. She was already someone of renown just for being the girl beside one of the heroes of the war. Granger-Malfoy seemed to not want the limelight at all and Harry was just as uncomfortable in public. At least by being with Ron, Lavender knew she would always be invited or taken to the swankiest and most glitzy of parties. That was something she and Ron shared. They both like glamour and wealth.
Soon, McGonagall's voice was heard inviting everyone to join in the dancing and feasting. Watching the Deputy Headmistress take her seat beside the Minister for Magic as people made their way to their tables as dance floor magically began to spread over the Great Hall floor, reminded Lavender again that Romilda's gossiping had been so much hogwash. She wanted to pout in dismay, but then saw Susan Bones' almost haunted look at Ron, who was still holding her close. It made Lavender realise that there were many women after her Golden Hero. What was a stupid newspaper article when the very position beside Ron was at stake.
Minerva McGonagall could see how the gathered students and alumni watched her take her place at the Head Table beside the Minister for Magic. She and Kingsley had walked towards the other gathered teachers together and she nodded and smiled to the various pureblood matriarchs and patriarchs and as she allowed Kingsley to pull out her chair and help her to sit. It was difficult to occupy the Headmaster's chair, knowing that he was even now watching over his beloved Hermione, but she let the pain and fear that filled her heart at their anguish go. Now, more than ever, she could begin to understand how hard it must have been for Severus to continue, day after day during Voldemort's reign. He'd been forced to pretend to be a Death Eater, the murderer of Dumbledore and a Voldemort adherent when his soul must have been bleeding with the horror of it all.
She could see Pomona, Filius and even Hagrid's puzzlement at Severus' absence. They must have heard all the gossip going about. She was glad she'd been persuaded to attend now. She and Kingsley did their best to smile, to laugh while the house-elves adjusted the seating as discreetly as possible so that the table didn't look as though it were missing two very important people.
Once she'd stood up and announced the commencement of the dancing, she led the way onto the floor with Kingsley. They walked, arm in arm, doing their best to highlight their combined power and strength. This was not the time to allow any weakness of any sort to emerge. The opening waltz was to have been shared by her and Severus, now it was good to have the strong arm of Kingsley to support her. He held her securely and she knew he was not just a friend and fellow head of the triumvirate that lead the Order, but a true comrade in arms. She'd seen it in the way he'd stood beside Severus, in the way he'd worked to ensure the Malfoys were fully entangled in Order business so that peace was more than something the victors announced.
Once their waltz was concluded, Kingsley went to Andromeda. Their courtship was going from strength to strength. A part of Minerva wished she'd done something a little sooner to indicate how much she esteemed her friend. But she'd never truly forgotten her lost love, and she knew in her heart that Kingsley had loved Andy all through her marriage to Ted Tonks. He'd never done anything to make her or them feel uncomfortable, but his affection and willingness to do anything for her had never waned. Perhaps that was what had stayed Minerva' hand too. Once having found one's love, and being everything to someone, taking the place of second best merely to not be alone was anathema.
Minerva shrugged her shoulders and went to talk to Augusta Longbottom. She knew Andy would be told what was going on by Kingsley as they danced. It was imperative that she tell their other supporters too so that the right information was quietly disseminated amongst their allies.
Once she'd spoke to Augusta, Minerva made her way back as casually as possible to the Head Table. There, while ostentatiously enjoying a cup of mulled mead, she told Flitwick and Pomona what had occurred. What Minerva hadn't expected was Flitwick's reaction. The diminutive professor didn't wait too long after she'd narrated everything to stand up. "I need to be there," he said firmly. "Young Bill will need my help. Two heads at times like these are always better."
A/N: Love it or hate it, please let me know what you think.