Author: Lash_Larue
Title: "Consequences"
Pairing: Ginny/Hermione
Rating: Adult
Summary: For every action…
Warnings: Character death
Word Count:1344
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling
The Hunters Part 16
"Consequences"
"Someone wants admittance at the wards," Fleur announced.
"Who?" Hermione asked her. Hermione was occupied in encouraging Victoire to eat her carrots, and the matter required concentration.
"Harry," Fleur replied after listening a moment longer.
"Well?"
"Right," Fleur replied, and she waved her wand to admit the visitor. In a few moments there was a knock at the kitchen door.
"Come on in, Harry," called Hermione as she struggled to get a bite of carrot past Victoire's tightly pursed lips.
"Hullo," said Harry as he walked into the kitchen. "Carrots! My very favorite!" Harry exclaimed.
Whether Victoire could possibly know who Harry was, or whether she simply responded to his green eyes and friendly manner, will never be known for sure. But the fact that she opened her mouth and accepted the carrots at that point is a matter of record.
"What a pleasant surprise, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "What brings you here?"
"I thought I'd bring you an advanced copy of the 'Prophet'," Harry answered her. He flopped the paper down on the table and Fleur and Hermione put their heads together and read the headline…
"Wizengamot approves same-sex marriage!"
And the sub-head…
"Arthur Weasley's impassioned and well-reasoned speech regarded as key to the passage."
By Rita Skeeter
"Really?" asked Hermione numbly.
"Really," confirmed Harry. "Arthur was brilliant, and he had sense enough to ask for help. All of the details are correct for a change, but Rita missed one thing, and so did most everyone else."
"Oh?" asked Fleur.
"Take the time to read the roll call. Some of the most vicious gay-bashers on the Wizengamot voted for passage," Harry told them.
"Was Ginny's Dad that good?" asked Hermione.
"Arthur doubtless convinced a lot of those that were undecided," Harry answered, "and he really did make it plain what the issues were. But it was Pansy that got those swine to vote for passage."
"Pansy? How?" Fleur asked.
"I can't say, and you can't ask," Harry replied. "I can't promise that Pansy isn't just after the three of you for your charms, but I can say that if I had a daughter, that I would feel very good indeed about Pansy Parkinson caring for her."
"That is good enough for me, Harry my friend," Fleur told him. "And how are things with you?"
"Not bad, thanks. Sorry though Hermione, if England meets the Harpies, we'll have to beat them. Just business you know," Harry told her.
"You wish," Hermione replied. Harry shrugged.
"Ginny is as good a chaser as there is in the game," Harry admitted. "But their keeper is weak and their seeker is worse. There's always next year though. Will you still invite me to the wedding after we beat them?"
"Wedding?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Did you read the headline, Hermione?" Harry asked her.
"We have something marvelous to tell Ginny when she returns home!" Fleur said joyfully.
xxxx
The Elder of the Wizengamot sat as his desk and stared into the mirror.
"When did I become a fool?" he asked himself.
"No matter, it is enough that I am one." He opened the piece of parchment that he had received years ago, and read his doom in the ink thereon.
"I am Pansy Parkinson, and according to the laws of inheritance of my family I am now in control of all of the things that my father held before his death. To you receiving this message that means specifically that I am in sole control of all of the evidence that my father gathered as the Dark Lord's scribe, and the keys to the spells and potions that he designed that have enabled you to avoid the prosecution that you deserve for your complicity in the crimes committed by and in the name of Voldemort."
He shuddered at the sight of the name.
"My father demanded payment from you to keep these secrets. I am communicating with you to tell you that I will require no payments from you at all, ever. You may keep your lives and your positions, your families may keep their place in society, and you need not pay a knut."
"What I require of you for my forbearance is to be left alone. I do not want your money; I want nothing from you at all but for you to stay away from me and mine. Do not threaten, do not interfere. Stay clear of me and those I love and you are safe from me and what my father has left to me. Do not seek to influence me; do not interfere with my businesses in any manner other than that of fair competition. Do not interfere in my life, in short. My life, or the lives of those important to me."
"That is all that I require. Nothing, in point of fact. Leave me alone, and I will leave you alone. Violate these requirements and justice will find you swiftly, and your families will suffer. Upon my death, for any cause whatsoever, or my silence for more than 24 hours in certain quarters, the evidence will reach the proper authorities, and the media, and all of the members of the relevant ministry bodies. Also the families of those you have wronged. I accept your wishes for a long and happy life."
"Should any of you seem likely to violate my terms unknowingly, I will inform you of such in a timely manner. Once. I make this promise to you, should you be in jeopardy of violating my terms, you will know it. And should you in fact violate these terms only your swift death will spare your family dishonor and deprivation."
"I would not advise you to test me on this. I am, in some respects, my father's daughter."
Pansy Parkinson
The man reached into his private safe and removed a vial of black liquid, then he placed the letter back inside it, and vanished the safe, contents and all.
"Unnatural bitch!" he spat, and he drank the potion. The vial vanished before he hit the floor.
xxxx
"Thanks, Dad," Ginny said to her father.
"No need for you to thank me sweetheart, I only did what I should do. A bit late perhaps. Any road, I should thank you and Hermione for opening my eyes, and healing a very old wound. And I do. Thank you, Ginny; thank you, Hermione. It's a poor man who cannot learn from his children."
Ginny and Hermione embraced him together, and it was impossible to say who cried more, or who was happier.
"Hermione darling, come with me," Molly said excitedly, "we have a dress to try on!"
"Grandpapa!" yelled Victoire as she reached for Arthur.
"Indeed he is, my darling," Fleur said, "indeed he is. Ginny, do you know that I think my wedding gown will fit you rather well? If you are interested, that is." Ginny stared. Fleur's gown was generations old, and very beautiful indeed.
"I thought that no one but your family, I mean your Veela family, was ever supposed to wear that," Ginny said in a bit of a daze.
"That is true. So will you wear it?"
"Mama Ginny," Victoire told Arthur as she pointed.
"Splendid!" Arthur agreed as he bounced his grandchild on his knee.
"H'lo," greeted a red-faced Ron as he entered by the kitchen door, "you all know Oliver Wood here, don't you?"
xxxx
The funeral was lavish, and fully befitting the memorial service of an Elder of the Wizengamot.
Long lines of mourners filed past the coffin to pay their final respects. Or to make sure that he was truly dead.
Of the multitude of those attending, few noticed the single small purple flower with the smiling face tucked in amongst the profusion of showier blossoms. Of those that did notice, many thought that it was the touching farewell of a child, and they smiled at the sight of it.
But there were those few who saw it and knew full well the meaning of it…
"Don't fuck with Pansy Parkinson."