Chapter Four-Ginny

Rose didn't immediately go to the Potter home. Rather, she apparated to a park that she knew of a few blocks away from it. As it was about dinner time, the park was deserted. When Rose took a brief moment to think about it, she realized how lucky she was, and just by chance, too. She was in enough trouble as it was; never mind her already-angry father, she shuddered to think of what her mother would do if Rose broke the Statute of Secrecy.

Rose made her way slowly from the park to her aunt and uncle's house, attempting to clear her head as she went. She hadn't meant to blow up at her father but, considering the things he had said, she reasoned that her reaction was quite justifiable.

However, this thought process did nothing to calm Rose down. If anything, it worked her up even more, so that by the time she was knocking on the front door of the Potter home she was just about ready to burst into tears over how unfair her father was being. And she did just that when her Aunt Ginny opened the door a moment later, no longer able to hold it all in.

"Rose!" Ginny exclaimed, the happy expression that had been on her face turning to one of shock at seeing her niece standing on her doorstep in tears, and then to concern for said crying girl. "Rose, what are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Aunt Ginny, you have a terrible brother!" Rose cried, practically collapsing into her aunt's offered embrace.

Needless to say, Ginny was nothing short of confused.

"Come into the kitchen, dear," Ginny said, pulling back so that she only had one arm around her niece, still offering her support. "Lily and the boys are all upstairs; I was just cleaning up from dinner. We'll have a nice cup of tea and then you can explain what this is all about."

Rose could do nothing but nod and allow herself to be led to the back of the house. Ginny settled Rose into a seat at the empty table, still half-covered in the remains from an early dinner. She shot a quick heating charm at the kettle and in no time at all there was a steaming cup of tea in Rose's hands.

"Now," Ginny said, sitting in the chair across from Rose, her gaze lingering on the girl's tear-stained cheeks. "What, exactly, has that dear older brother of mine done now?"

Rose sighed deeply and took a sip of her tea to calm herself.

"Aunt Ginny," She began slowly, "I'm pretty sure dad hates me now…and you might too, once I explain. Although," her expression turned thoughtful here, "Mum didn't so maybe you won't either…"

"If I ask for an explanation," Ginny began when Rose didn't elaborate further, "Am I going to get a straight answer from you?"

Rose sighed again before speaking, "I have a boyfriend—"

"Oh!" Ginny interrupted suddenly. "Is this about you dating Scorpius Malfoy? And all of that nonsense your cousins put the two of you through?"

"How did you know about that?" Rose asked, momentarily confused; she hadn't even mentioned that to her own mother yet.

"Dear, I'm James' mother," Ginny informed the girl. "He might think he's the sneakiest person in the world, but he can't hide anything from me. Or keep his mouth shut."

"So he admitted that he was the one to lock the two of us in the library?" Rose questioned, frowning as all thoughts of her father's anger were temporarily driven from her mind. "I knew it! He's going to regret it the next time I see him…"

Ginny gave a small smile at her niece's reaction, before bringing the conversation back to its original topic. "I take it your father didn't take well to the news of you dating Scorpius?"

"Ah…no," Rose said shortly. "He went rather insane and started going on about what terrible people the Malfoys are. Honestly, Aunt Ginny, what's his problem?"

"You might be the oldest, but you are his only daughter," Ginny replied. "Even with six older brothers, my dad went a bit berserk when I told my parents that I was dating my first boyfriend, Michael Corner. They lightened up a bit by the time I began dating Dean, though."

"Dean?" Rose questioned.

"Dean Thomas," Ginny answered. "We dated throughout most of my sixth year," She smiled a bit reminiscently here, "Before your Uncle Harry finally came to his senses, of course."

"Dean Thomas…" Rose repeated slowly, getting a bit sidetracked. "But…he's a muggle, isn't he? Mum's dad, Granddad Granger, he's a huge football fan. I reckon it was the worst day of his life when Dean Thomas announced he was retiring from playing professionally."

"No, Dean's a wizard," Ginny replied. Her expression was a bit vacant now, her gaze faraway. "He was in your dad and Harry's year at Hogwarts; they all shared a dorm. He had…bad experiences during the war. He still uses magic, but he prefers the muggle lifestyle; it's simpler. He said he's had all the adventure he needs in a lifetime, after everything all of us went through back then."

Rose sighed after a moment of silence, "I suppose dad went through a lot with Mr. Malfoy."

"Draco Malfoy," Ginny began slowly, "Was raised according to pureblood ideals his entire life. When Voldemort took power…" She paused, before sighing deeply. "Malfoy joined the Death Eaters as a teenager, but even before that he was never the kindest person in the world." She smiled suddenly, "My first year—your parent's and Harry's second—your dad tried to curse Malfoy after he'd insulted your mum and it had rather disastrous consequences."

"Do I want to know what happened?" Rose asked when Ginny didn't continue.

Ginny smiled brightly, "Of course you do. You know me, Rosie; I'd never pass up on an opportunity to tease any of my brothers, whether or not they're actually present. For long and complicated reasons that I won't get into now, but you may or may not already know about, your dad's wand was broken, literally in half. He told Malfoy to eat slugs and, well…things didn't go quite as planned. Ron ended up doing the opposite for the rest of the day."

"Doing the opposite?" Rose repeated, unsure.

"Let's just pretend he had already eaten the slugs," Ginny said. "Well, Ron got reacquainted with them in a rather unpleasant manner. You have no idea how glad I am, even to this day, to have not had to witness that."

Rose laughed lightly, before her expression became somber once more. "Aunt Ginny, can I stay here forever and live with you? I can't see mum minding too much; she could always visit."

"I'm sure that sounds positively lovely," Ginny said diplomatically, "But you'll have to sort things out with your dad sooner or later."

"Do I really have to?" Rose questioned. "Wouldn't you love having another daughter?"

Ginny smiled as she stood up and brought the rest of the dishes to the sink. "You can stay until Hugo remembers that he doesn't live here either; after that the two of you need to go home. It wouldn't do any good for the aurors to come knocking on the door of the Head Auror's house demanding to know why he's kidnapped his brother-in-law's children."

"Speaking of the Head Auror," Rose began, standing to help her aunt with the clean-up, "Where is Uncle Harry? I know dad had to work late, but as might have been gathered previously, he got home ages ago."

"He's trying to get ahead on work before he takes time off for the wedding," Ginny replied, "I'm sure he'll be home soon, though."

Just at that moment, the sound of the front door opening and then closing could be heard from the opposite end of the house.

"In fact," Ginny brightened up a bit, "That's probably him now; what perfect timing. Here's an idea," Her full attention was suddenly redirected at Rose again, "Why don't you tell him about Scorpius, since you're here already. I'm sure he'd appreciate hearing it from you firsthand."

Rose made a face at her aunt. "I'm pretty sure Uncle Harry might hate Scorpius' family even more than dad does."

"Who cares about his family?" Ginny demanded. "You aren't dating his family tree; you're dating Scorpius, whom, I might add, Harry happens to wholly approve of as a friend for Al, even before we actually got to know the boy for ourselves."

Rose sighed yet again, but did not even bother to protest this latest stage in her impending doom, as she knew all arguments against her aunt were futile. The best that Rose could hope for was that with a bit of luck Uncle Harry liked Scorpius as much as Aunt Ginny claimed he did…