Chapter 9- The Fall-out
Ruby pulled herself over to the bench at the foot of the memorial wall and sat down on it, sobbing. She looked up at Hogwarts and wished she was a student again, everything had been so much simpler.
The war memorial consisted of a large section of solid wand wall that Ruby's mother had created before she had jumped into the lake. The wall had the names of all the people, and creatures, who had died in the two wars with Voldemort. Although situated on the Hogwarts grounds it had been charmed so that anyone could apparate to it at any time if they wanted to. It had always been an important place to Ruby and it was always where she went to think.
She looked over at the wall and saw the names of Teddy's parents to the left of her. This wall always put things in perspective for her but tonight it wasn't working. She was angry, and humiliated.
She was angry with Henry for embarrassing her like that in front of all those people, without the slightest hint beforehand. She knew that her parents didn't know because she was one-hundred percent sure they would have told her, and dissuaded Henry from such a public proposal, especially with her mother present. She hoped that her mom wasn't being crowded and bombarded with questions, surely her dad would drag her out of there?
She couldn't believe that Henry had thought that she wanted to marry him! And with such a public proposal, clearly he didn't know her at all!
"I thought you might come here." Came a voice to her left. She jumped slightly and then saw that it was her Uncle Charlie, she relaxed and he sat next to her.
"Did you draw the short straw?" She asked, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"Nope, I volunteered. Used the god-father card." He said, almost proudly.
"Well…I'm…I'm fine…" Ruby dissolved into tears and her godfather put his arm around her and held her while she cried.
"Course you are, Rubes!" He said softly, kissing her on the top of her head.
She cried for about ten minutes, completely soaking Uncle Charlie's robes, and then sat forwards and wiped her face.
"I can't believe he did that." She said, looking at the floor.
"I know, your father's livid."
"Is mom okay? People didn't crowd her did they?"
"No, she's fine, Ron took her home and Fred stayed behind to deal with everyone. Gin put on quite a show though. In the end Penny figured out she was fine and played along, pretended to take her to a quiet room to check her out and then told everyone the baby was fine. Gin was always a good actress." He said, smiling slightly.
"I had no idea he was going…"
"I think we all knew that Ruby, your face was beyond horrified, I've never seen you look more like Eliza!"
"Is everyone angry with me? For saying no?"
"Of course not, we were just worried about you."
"What am I going to say to everyone? What am I going to say to Henry?" She asked, feeling like a child caught playing a grown-ups game and not understanding the rules.
"Just be honest Ruby, tell everyone you don't want to marry him, unless you do of course and it was just the shock?"
"Of course I don't, he's just with me because I'm a Weasley, I'm sure of that now!" Ruby said and she had never been surer of anything in her life.
"You don't think he loves you?"
"He loves the idea of me, and the name. Every time we have dinner he books it under my name and we always end up in the paper, I'm sure he's tipping them off."
"Are you certain?"
"I wasn't until tonight, Aunt Ginny was going to look into it for me but now I'm sure. He just wants a Weasley, or a Potter."
"You don't love him?"
"I thought I did but…lately he's just annoyed me, and not it a good way. He talks about money all the time and he got really jealous of Scorpius Malfoy."
"Yes, I heard about that."
"Who told you?" She asked.
"Neville, but then Lily told me a few days letter so it must have got through in the letters."
"What am I going to do, Uncle Charlie? I've got work on Monday, I have to go and face everyone. And the Burrow tomorrow argh!" She said exasperatedly.
"I'm sure if you didn't go tomorrow they'd understand. It might get harder though the longer you leave it. As for work, just hold your head high. You've done nothing wrong."
"Except break Henry's heart in front of about two hundred people."
"If it's only the name he's in love with and not you then you haven't broken his heart, just his ego. And from what Bill's told me it could do with deflating a bit. Don't worry about him, Ruby."
"This is the worst birthday ever." She muttered and Charlie laughed.
"Perhaps, you've still got forty-five minutes left. If I was you I'd go back to your flat and get drunk with Alistair and Alice." Ruby laughed.
"That's not a very responsible thing to say, Uncle Charlie."
"And that is why I am here as your godfather and not your Uncle, go on Rubes get out of here and get hammered."
Ruby smiled weakly and stood up.
"Thanks Uncle Charlie, will you tell mom and dad that I'm alright and I'll talk to them soon?"
"Course I will." She gave him one last forced smile and then disapparated.
THE WEASLEY HEART-BREAKER
Ruby Weasley, 21, turned down her boyfriend Henry Chang's marriage proposal on Saturday night at the annual St. Mungo's fundraising ball in front of many dignitaries and Ministry officials, including most of Weasley's family.
The shocking rejection came after Chang made a beautiful speech that would have melted many an icy heart leaving many to brand Miss Weasley, a final year Healing student, an ice queen and a heart breaker.
Mr Chang presented her with a jaw-dropping 5000 galleon diamond ring, paid for with his recent bonus for making his first million galleons in his job at Gringotts bank but the ring, even combined with the romantic proposal and Mr Chang's dashing good looks were not enough to convince Weasley to marry him.
The awkward situation was ended when Mrs Potter, Weasley's aunt, claimed to feel unwell and then made the surprising announcement that she was pregnant. Mrs Potter, wife of the Boy-Who-Lived, already has three children, two already of age and one still in Hogwarts, so it caused quite a stir. Mrs Potter, and her unborn baby, were later pronounced to be healthy leaving many to speculate that Mrs Potter was merely creating a distraction for her niece, daughter of the Girl-Who-Jumped and the owner of WWW, the opportunity to escape the hall, which she took quickly.
"I felt terrible for the handsome boy, it was such a beautiful proposal and she just shot him down, in front of everyone, so cruel!" One witch, who refused to give her name, said. Weasley and Chang have been dating for over a year and Chang claimed he 'loved her from the very first date', none of the Weasley or Potter family have made any comment and Mr Chang claimed he was too devastated to make an official statement but his mother claimed that he had not eaten or slept since Saturday. I hope Mr Chang can be reassured to know that the entire Wizarding community is thinking of him at this difficult time.
Ruby threw the paper back down on the table and put her head in her hands. It was rare that she read the Daily Prophet that Alice had delivered but she felt that she should at least know what was being said about her before she went into work on Monday.
"Rubes, just remember you've done nothing wrong. They'll be talking about something else next week!" Alice said, passing her a cup of tea. They were both due into the hospital at nine and Ruby was dreading it.
Per her godfather's instructions they, along with Alistair, had drank the rest of her birthday away and then Ruby had stayed in her pyjamas for the entire Sunday, missing out on the Burrow lunch, and cancelled her birthday party. Her friends had been completely supportive and Alistair had insisted that they would have a massive Christmas party to make up for missing her birthday, he had flooed back to Romania that evening.
She had so far had five letters from her family this morning but she had simply detached them from their owls and put the unopened envelopes in her bag to read at work.
"I know, I'm going to go home tonight, see if mom's alright I'm a bit worried about her."
"Because of this?" Alice asked, indicating at the paper which carried a full colour picture of her rejecting Henry and the smile slipping off his perfect face.
"No, well I'm sure it hasn't helped but dad's been a bit worried about her lately."
"Okay, I won't worry if you don't come back then. What if Henry comes round?"
"Just tell him I'm in Wales and that I'll come and see him on Wednesday, I'm on call but I should get some time off."
"What are you going to say to him?" Alice asked as she gathered up her work things and pulled on her black robes with a yellow trim, denoting a trainee in the Potions department.
"The truth, that I don't love him and that I'm really mad at him for proposing in public like that."
"Are you going to accuse him of tipping off the papers?"
"Maybe, it depends how it goes, come on let's get this over and done with." Ruby stood up and pulled her robes on before picking up her bag and disapparating.
Thankfully the apparition point was empty, Alice hugged her goodbye and disappeared to the lifts, and Ruby managed to make it to the office without bumping in to anyone.
Scorpius was sat at his desk reading a textbook and Ruby could see Kyle in his office writing something, neither man noticed her until she had sat at her desk, at which point Scorpius looked up.
"Alright, W…"
"Don't, okay! I do not want to talk about it, understood?" She snapped, he raised his eyebrows before responding.
"Fine, tea?" He asked, standing up. She immediately felt guilty for snapping at him.
"Yes please, sorry…"
"It's fine, I can't imagine you had a great birthday weekend." He replied and she nodded. Hl Kyle came out of his office and looked at her with a patronisingly sympathetic expression on his face.
"Hello, Miss Weasley, how are you dear? You didn't have to come in today, you know, I'd have understood." He asked, tilting his head to the side as if she was a four year old.
"I'm fine sir, I'd really just like to forget about it and focus on work." She said firmly, he nodded slowly and disappeared back into his office. Scorpius placed the tea on her desk and then went to sit down.
She pulled the letters out of her bag and put them on her desk, wondering which one she should open first. Definitely not her grandmother's, or the one from Aunt Hermione. She recognised Teddy's handwriting and opened that one.
Hey Rubes,
Waffles for dinner? I'll pick you up from work.
Teddy
Ruby smiled and nodded to herself. A knock on the door made her look up. Healer Kyle came out of his office before Scorpius had even stood up. Ruby could tell he recognised the visitor and prayed that it wasn't Henry.
"Mr Weasley!" Kyle said. While that discounted Henry it didn't really narrow down the field. In the end it was her father who walked in.
"Good morning Healer Kyle, I was wondering if I could borrow Ruby for a moment, family issues, you know."
"Of course, take all the time you need Ruby. In fact why don't you work a half day, come in after lunch."
"There's really no…" She began but her father cut across her.
"Thank you, Hl Kyle, that would be most appreciated. Come on, Ruby." Ruby reluctantly grabbed her bag and wand and then scooped up the letters and put them in her pocket before following her father out of the office.
"See you tomorrow then, Ruby." Scorpius said but Ruby didn't reply.
They walked to the apparition point in silence and Ruby felt like a child being led to the naughty corner.
"Go home, Rubes, I'll get your mom from work and meet you there, put the kettle on."
"Okay," Ruby said and she felt tears pressing on her eyeballs, her dad must have realised that he had come off a bit harsh so he pulled her into a brief one-armed hug and kissed the top of her head.
"It's alright Poppet, everything will be alright."
"I'm so sorry dad, I didn't know!" She whispered.
"Oh god, Ruby we know, we all knew that. You looked exactly like Eliza when her name came out of the Goblet of Fire! Let's get home before someone finds us and tips off the papers." Ruby nodded and disapparated before her father.
She walked into her childhood home and pointed her wand at the kettle before sitting down on the sofa in the living room; her parents were likely to be at least ten minutes so she tried to pull herself together. She was exhausted, she lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes for a few minutes before she realised that something was poking her in the back, she moved and saw that the was an envelope wedged between the two cushions, she pulled it out and went to throw it on the table before realising what it was.
It was an envelope, a muggle envelope addressed to her mother, the same style as the one her Aunt Petunia had, and it was already open. Ruby froze in complete panic, why was the prison writing to her mother? Surely Uncle Vernon didn't want to see her? Was this why her mother had become foggy? Did her father know?
Ruby was distracted by the sounds of her parent's apparating back to the cottage; Ruby pushed the envelope back between the cushions and stood up quickly, trying to focus on one thing at a time.
The door opened and her father walked in, followed by her mother and Teddy.
"Is this an intervention?" Ruby asked, instantly annoyed by the feeling of people ganging up on her and talking about her behind her back, which obviously the whole of Wizarding Britain was.
"No," her mother said softly, "this is family, Ruby." Ruby looked at her for another moment and then the tears came. Eliza Weasley crossed the room quickly and pulled her daughter into a hug, letting her cry on her shoulder. They sat down on the sofa and Ruby held on to her mother as if her life depended on it.
They broke apart after a few minutes as her father and Teddy entered the room and put mugs of tea on the coffee table, along with a plate of cookies that she suspected her grandmother had donated.
Ruby sat forwards and ran her hands through her, now very messy, hair and then wiped her face on a tissue which her mother had produced with her wand.
"Thanks, mom." She muttered.
There was silence for a few minutes; everyone seemed to be waiting for Ruby to start the conversation. As always Teddy got impatient with waiting and spoke from the armchair to Ruby's right.
"What time do you have to be back at work?" He asked, looking at his practical-sister's tear stained face and swollen eyes.
"After lunch, you?"
"Whenever, Uncle Harry said not to rush. Have you heard from Henry?"
"No," Ruby said, picking up her tea and taking a small sip, "I still can't believe he did it. In front of all those people…"
"Did you have any idea he was thinking of proposing at all?" Her mother asked.
"No, he never mentioned anything. What happened after I left?"
"Well, Gin kicked up quite a scene. Then Henry started to cry…" Her father said and Ruby gaped at him.
"He cried? Seriously?"
"Crocodile tears, Rubes. Definitely." Teddy said and her father nodded.
"Yep for sure, he had a group of women fawning around him, he was lapping it up. I got Ron to bring your mom home and then tried to do some damage control." Ruby looked over at her mother, who was looking very pale.
"Mom, I'm so sorry…"
"It wasn't your fault, Ruby." She said, smiling and giving Ruby a quick squeeze that she found quite reassuring.
"Thought you were going to pass out." Teddy said and Ruby nodded.
"Me too, thanks for staying there." She said, reaching out and holding Teddy's hand.
"What are brothers for if not to catch you when you fall? Although Aunt Hermione gave me a right rollicking for giving you your wand, she was worried you would splinch yourself."
"I was fine, I went to the wall."
"Dammit, Ruby." Her father said quietly, and she looked up at him, worried that he was angry, instead he pulled five galleons out of his pocket and gave them to her mother who gave a wry smile. Ruby laughed slightly.
"Where did you think I'd go, dad?" She asked.
"McGonagall manor, by the lake. Charlie went to find you and sent us a patronus saying you were fine but he didn't say where he'd found you." Ruby smiled.
"Sorry dad, I might have done if Aunt Minnie had been there."
"That's what I said." Her mother said, picking up a biscuit and biting into it.
"What are you going to do, Ruby?" Her father asked, putting down his tea and looking across at her.
"I'm going to talk to Henry, on Wednesday. I'm on call but I should have time."
"Has he written to you? Or anything?" Her mother asked.
"No, I've told Alice that I won't be going back to the flat tonight, thought I'd stay here, is that okay?" She asked, looking around at them all.
"Course it is, I'll make shepherd's pie." Her father said before Teddy added.
"And waffles, of course." Ruby smiled and nodded. Her mother was right; this was family.
She returned to the office after lunch feeling in much better spirits. Hl Kyle greeted her warmly and even made her a cup of tea. There first patient was an elderly witch whose husband had accidently hit her with a frying pan when she startled him. Ruby treated her quickly and then returned to the office to find more than the standard amount of paperwork on her desk.
"Extra forms because it was a domestic violence incident, just fill in what you can and I'll talk you through the rest then we'll send them to MLE."
"It goes to the Aurors?"
"No, just the normal MLE agents, most don't get investigated but if we get continual admissions they look into it."
"Oh, okay, but you don't think there was a problem with the Bakers' do you?" She asked; they had just seemed like a sweet old couple.
"No, I'm sure it was an accident but we still need to file it." Ruby nodded and filled in the paperwork to the best of her ability and the Kyle came to fill in the rest with her, most of it was codes that were used by the Ministry which she wasn't familiar with.
At four o'clock they had another patient and Ruby walked to the room behind Kyle, trying to ignore the whispers that followed her through the waiting room. They arrived in room six to a middle-aged witch whose leg resembled a tree trunk.
"Good afternoon, Madam White. My name is trainee…"
"I know who you are!" She said, looking delighted by the company.
"Well, could you please explain to me what happened?" Ruby asked, calmly.
"Hex gone wrong, probably feel much better that that poor boy. Embarrassing him in front…"
"What kind of hex was it?"
"What? Oh, some transfiguration I got from Witch Weekly to get rid of varicose veins. You should just go and apologise to…"
"Diagnosis, Miss Weasley?"
"Transfigurational mutation of the skin sir."
"Such a romantic proposal too…"
"Treatment and prognosis."
"Standard hex reversal, elevation until colour and normal proportions have returned, Potion E34 to remove unseen damage. Two days bed rest."
"Correct, transfer her to the hex reversal ward."
"Yes sir."
"He's such a good looking boy as well; I doubt you'll do that well again…"
"Fill in the paperwork, I'll do the transfer," Kyle said, surprising her.
"Yes sir." Ruby said and she left the room quickly and nearly ran back to the office and slammed the door.
Four more witches arrived with the same problem causing Kyle to leave the office to go to the press department to circulate a warning in the evening prophet that the hex had been incorrectly printed. He returned to the office and approved the paper work. Ruby was reading through the guidelines on domestic violence cases when there was a knock on the door and a witch who Ruby had no problem recognising walked in.
"Ahh, there you are Miss Weasley, came to work, tut tut. Mr Chang is practically…"
"Can we help you, Miss Skeeter?" Kyle asked, coming out of his office and standing in front of Ruby's desk.
"Just wanted a word with your intern."
"She's busy, get out." He said firmly and Ruby was grateful for it. Rita left with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face that made Ruby incredibly nervous.
"Bloody woman..." Kyle muttered, walking back into his office.
It was just after six and Ruby was just about the leave when the door to the office flew open and Scorpius walked in, looking very relieved to see Ruby there.
"Thank Merlin, you seen the paper yet?" He asked without preamble.
"What, this mornings?" She asked, confused as to why he had returned after his classes.
"No, this…" He held up a copy of the Evening Prophet and Ruby read the title and felt her heart fill with horror, and shame.
ICE QUEEN RETURNS TO WORK AS CHANG'S MOTHER FEARS HE MAY TAKE HIS OWN LIFE! CHANG FEARS WEASLEY HAS BEEN SLEEPING WITH SCORPIUS MALFOY!
A/N So the s**t hits the fan! Sorry for the delay, I've been in hospital for a few days with failed metalwork in my leg. I'll update the next chapter tomorrow so the story will stay on track.
Next chapter; Ruby confronts Henry, and Eliza has a startling announcement.
witchprincess33- Lol, we'll see more from him in the next chapter.
Bowling4real- She confronts him in the next chapter, and there is a bit of Scorpius/Ruby cuteness coming too.
LUG-14- No, Ruby's special place is the wand wall that Eliza created before she jumped, I like to tie my stories together. I wanted Charlie to go to her because he's her god-father and I've concentrated on Aunt Minnie being her god-mother so I wanted to balance it out.
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- There's a hint of Eliza's fogginess in this chapter but you'll find out more tomorrow.