Chapter Sixty: What is Love?
Theo is forced to do even more thinking. He has to really consider his commitment to standing by Ginny.
(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.
(iii) Once again, a thousand apologies for the delay. But as always, I promise that this story will not be abandoned, however long it takes me to finish it.
(iv) Happy Yule and brightest blessings for the coming year.
Theo was in deep, quiet shock. He'd really thought he was making progress in helping Ginny to overcome her Darkness. He knew she was taking an interest in Magical Gardening and Herbology. She had even said that she was thinking of doing it as one of her NEWTs because it would work well with her other subjects of Divination, Transfiguration and Charms. Severus and Lucius had seemed so sure that elemental magic would help in healing the Dark Residue within her.
Ginny had seemed to truly enjoy the afternoon they'd spent in the winter gardens of Nott Castle in Inverness just after Boxing Day. His bitch step-mother had gone to visit distant cousins in Kiev and he'd used her absence as the perfect opportunity to bring Ginny to his father's main home. They made love in the orangery and she'd had such plans to replant the magical roses his mother had once tendered with so much care.
This unprovoked attack on Hermione, this talk about a taint of Voldemort hidden within Ginny like a shadow or ghost, it really worried him because he'd not noticed anything in the time they'd spent together. Perhaps Theo mused, it was because he'd grown so accustomed to his own father's Dark Mark, and perhaps, the taint of Voldemort had not seen anything to take issue with in the Nott name and residence. The Dark Lord after all had always seen Odin Nott as his trusted financial advisor, and Theo himself had been long promised to one day take his father's place if all had gone to the Dark Lord's plans.
But even with the shock of the Darkness, Theo was also undoubtedly grateful for the way in which the Weasley men had included him as part of the family in their time of trouble. He had opted to stand by Ginny, as Slytherin honour and practicality dictated, and he'd been rewarded by seeing the inner workings of what was one of the most amazing pieces of magic ever cast. He'd also truly understood what he could have if he managed to save Ginny from herself. The soul-binding of Severus and Hermione, of Cissy and Lucius, that was a binding of power and he wanted that for himself. He wanted to pass on that kind of family love and commitment to his offspring and heirs.
That even his Yule gift of a conservatory and greenhouse had not done enough to aid the recovery of Ginny and Molly was troublesome. It meant that they, and he had discussed his gift with Draco and Lucius, and thus it had also been approved by Kingsley and Severus, had under-estimated the strength of the Darkness. When he'd started making his plans, everyone he'd spoken to had thought the greenhouse was the best way to get the Weasley women to work with elemental magic. Theo could only hope that this was the very worst that was to happen. Hermione had been saved. Now they needed to find even more potent ways to save Ginny.
After leaving the joyous, celebratory lunch, Theo had opted to go home to his grandfather. Old man Selwyn needed to be consulted. Theo could not suggest what he wanted without his grandfather's approval. Even though he had control of his inheritance since the death of his father, his grandfather was still a joint-executor of Odin Nott's will. His father for all his know-towing to the Dark Lord had been a shrewd manager of money. He'd not given Theo full, outright control until his twenty-fifth birthday. Part of it was that his father had not believed that a very young man knew what was what but part of it was tradition.
Augustus Selwyn was an old man, silver haired, yet upright and dignified. He had been heart-broken at his only child's death in childbirth, but he'd rallied and played a significant part in raising his only grandson. Now, he listened attentively as Theo laid out all that had taken place since he had departed in his dress-robes for the ball.
"Do you think it will work?" was all that Augustus Selwyn asked, when he had heard the full account of proceedings.
"I don't know," admitted Theo. "But she can't stay on at Hogwarts, and it makes sense to not have her return to the Burrow. I think that's part of the problem. Molly does most of the work there, and she's probably doing most of the gardening and elemental work needed. Ginny needs to feel like she is the Queen of the Castle, the most important person around whom everything revolves. If she were, let's say allowed to recuperate at Nott Castle, it would give us the appropriate leverage against Clarissa, because Ginny would be in residence as the future Baroness to be, and Clarissa would not want to be anywhere near someone recovering from a prolonged illness. Moreover, I'm sure my bitch step-mother has already got her claws into Olaf Romanov. She's been visiting his sister in Kiev frequently since autumn and I think he's almost at the point of proposing."
Theo's grandfather nodded. "Yes, Clarissa has already come to me to discuss what would happen to the settlement Odin made in her name if she were to remarry. That Odin knew her well enough to only leave her unentailed jewellery and monetary investments and not property says a lot for your father, no matter his blindness when it came to his political leanings."
"Shall I go ahead then, Grandfather?" Theo asked. "If Ginny is placed under house arrest at Nott Castle, it is us as Purebloods stepping into do our duty by the Order, but it also strengths my claim to formalising our association once the taint of Darkness is dispelled."
"Are you sure you want her?" Selwyn asked frankly. "I know you take your promise to continue both the Nott and Selwyn names seriously, but surely, if we looked for a suitable match, we could find you someone from the Americas, or even from Asia if you won't consider European wizardry.
Theo shook his head. "I've begun with Ginny. The connections work for our political and economic benefit. And, I do like her. I enjoy her spirit. And there's loyalty and family bonds that go a long way to making her suitable. We've not had the strongest of familial ties, I think we need someone who has seen love first hand."
His grandfather nodded. "Be careful, Theo. Don't just use your head."
Theo smiled. "I'm not, Grandfather."
The old man smirked.
"Nor just my loins either," admonished his grinning grandson. "She's not stupid, not like Clarissa. She's sporty and fun, and the daredevil quality in her makes for an enticing and entertaining companion. And I do like her."
Selwyn sighed. "I'm proud of you, my boy. You know that. I'm proud you are the man you are in spite of all that your father tried to do. Your mother would have been as well."
"The problem," said Arthur Weasley, taking a sip of the tea Severus had poured him, while trying not to grab on to Theodore Nott's suggestion purely because it was something that possibly offered a solution, "is that although your plan is sound, we don't have the right person to stay with Ginny at Nott Castle."
Lucius nodded in agreement. "Ginny would be safe at Nott Castle. The castle, like Hogwarts, would protect her. We can control who she comes into contact with. Severus and I are happy to provide both House and Garden Elves to take care of her, and they would delight in taking care of one so much in need, and yet, she needs what amounts to a teacher, healer and goaler."
The Headmaster's Sitting-Room was playing host to everyone concerned in the Ginny Affair as Hermione was coming to think of it in her mind. The Malfoys Senior were there, Harry was there, so were Augusta Longbottom, the two senior Weasleys, Bill and Percy. Theo was there, and so was Kingsley. Severus has also asked Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey to attend.
Hermione looked around the gathering. Unobtrusively, she'd taken a seat on one of the long window-seats, half hidden by the drapery, part of the conversation, but more as an observer, not really a participant. She was too tired, too somehow distant to feel like she had Ginny's best interests at heart.
Now in her background location, Hermione watched Tansy and Winky popping in and out with tea, cakes, drinks and whatever else they thought their guests would want, and thought, if only all of these people had been together when the war raged, talking as openly. So many lives would have been saved, so much tragedy averted.
The taint of the Dark Lord, she still frowned in her mind that she'd started calling him that in her thoughts, even if Mouldyshorts was a much more appropriate moniker, was that he divided and caused mistrust. The legacy of his defeat was not victory and peace, but trust and communication.
Hermione sighed quietly. It wasn't just Lord-Thingy, another appropriate name as The Toad Fudge would say's fault, Dumbledore had bred lies, silence and mistrust, too.
The only reason the current group of people was this small, and truly, it wasn't small at all, was that everyone else like Ron, Draco, Neville, Luna and Professor Flitwick had been promised a debriefing the next day.
"Gaoler, teacher, healer," mused Bill. "And I suppose someone utterly trustworthy, unconnected to the politics here, and able to be accepted unquestioningly into the Castle's defences?"
Theo sighed. "I know. It does sound as though that person is going to be impossible to be found. But we can't leave Ginny here. The Ministry cells aren't the right place for her, nor Azkaban, nor St Mungo's. So what other option have we got? We can't just allow Molly to take her home, however much you might want to," Theo said pointedly, looking at the Weasley matriarch.
Molly, of course, had insisted that her poor Ginny needed to be home. Although Molly had been utterly shaken by what she's heard and learned, she still didn't fully understand how seriously her youngest was tainted by the Dark.
"No," Arthur said. "Ginny can't come home." He looked at his wife. "We can't provide her with the care she needs. We have to put her healing first."
Molly bit her lip but kept her peace. Theo knew this is probably because of the calming solution Madam Pomfrey had made the redhead drink after her first outburst of shouting and tears.
"We could ask my belle-mère," said Bill, after long moments of silence had passed. "The Veelas need to be strong magically, especially when they live as they do so far apart from most of wizarding-kind. Gabrielle is still at school, and papa would be heartbroken to learn that we'd not reached out to him and belle-mère in our time of need."
"Would they both really come?" asked Molly, hesitantly. She'd found it hard to warm to her daughter-in-law, and she often wondered if Fleur had complained of the Weasleys' lack of welcome and wealth to Apolline Delacour. In truth, Molly was slightly afraid of Apolline with her blonde good looks, perfect dress sense and chic sense of manner.
"I think so," said Bill reaching out to take his mother's cold fingers in his.
"The Delacour are family. That's one of the strongest things that Fleur and I agree on. I know when you look at us together that there are many differences between us, but they are only on the surface. In terms of our upbringing Fleur and I were both brought up to put family first. We both know we are from families that love us and will always stand by us."
"It is that kind of love that Ginny needs," said Cissy gravely. "She needs healing and guidance, tough love, but real love, as she negotiates and fights this taint on her soul. For only she can free herself from the Dark Lord's influence. It is a battle one has to fight, to win on one's own."
Severus nodded sharply, once. "Claudia has told me much the same when it comes to Veela power. As a species, the Veela have battled darkness their whole lives. The advantage of Apolline, is that she's not a full Veela, and so has more knowledge of the wizarding world. Also, she is connected to the Weasleys, and so all that occurs will stay within the family. And if Monsieur Delacour is willing to come too, it gives Ginny the illusion that she is being looked after by surrogate parents. I think given what we heard her say is that she feels like she missed out on time with both her parents because as the youngest, she had the least amount of time at home. The last year before she entered Hogwarts, everything was taken up with Harry, and that robbed her of what should have been a time of being pampered before being sent away."
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