Chapter 3 – Catching the Culprit
'Ginny, it's tea time,' Ron said, knocking on the door of her room, 'Is Harry there?' he added, trying to keep his voice calm.
No, he told himself, he can't be. Harry left the living room, over 20 minutes ago, and Ginny's room was directly above it, he would defiantly have heard them talking, or shouting as it would be. Harry must have gone outside for a walk. Alone. He could hear rustling coming from inside the door: Ginny was definately there.
With that thought in mind, he confidently pushed the door open.
In front of him was two people lying on a bed. Except that it didn't look like two people, for they were very much intwined. Lips glued. Tongues twisted. Hair touselled.
As Ron just stood there, framed in shock, Harry's hand slid up Ginny's top.
It was that which brought Ron back to his senses.
'OI!' he yelled.
Harry and Ginny jumped apart. 'WHAT, Ronald?' she spat, while Harry stood beside her, looking rather sheepish.
But Ron was too busy glaring at Harry to listen. 'What are you doing to my sister?'
'Ugh,' was Ginny's only reply. She moved her hand towards Harry's and slipped into his.
'You send her a letter,' he begin advancing on Harry, but was cut of by Ginny.
'How do you know about my letter?' she asked, breaking away from Harry
'Uh . . . I, uh'
'It was you wasn't it?' Harry said so quietly it was barely audiable. He reached back to grab his wand which was sat on Ginny's bedside table and he noticed hers wasn't there anymore either. He didn't take his gaze off Ron and the look in his eyes was murderous.
As one, both Harry and Ginny brought forward their wands from behind their backs, and shot hexes at Ron. Harry's hand roughly grabbed Ginny's as he lead her over Ron out of the room, a low snarl emmitting from his chest.
'Are you sure Ron's Okay?' asked Mrs Weasley, glancing up towards the stairs, 'It's been over 10 minutes.'
'I'm sure he's fine,' said Harry roughly, stabbing on a potato on his plate with more force than was neccesary.
'At least he is at the moment,' Ginny muttered under her breath so that only Harry could hear.
The meal continued in silence. Glances were shot a regular intervals to Harry and Ginny who were glaring at their plates. No-one but them understood a thing. No-one but them knew about the letters. No-one knew why Ginny and Harry had split up. No-one even knew if they were back together now. All they knew was that Harry had gone upstairs, where Ginny was, and by the time they came downstairs, without Ron who was sent up to get them, they were holding hands and absolutely fuming.
'Uh . . . Ginny . . . Harry . . . ' began Hermione, breaking the silence, 'Did Ron . . . uh . . . do something?'
'Yes Hermione, he bloody well did.'
'Um, do I want to know what it was?'
'I don't think you do.'
'Right,' whipserd Hermione, returning her gaze to the plate in front of her.
Silence enveloped the room again, only to be broken by the sound of heavy footfalls on the ceiling above. Every head whipped to face the staircase, including Harry's and Ginny's who had not left their plates all mealtime.
Ron appeared at that moment, looking very much the worse for wear. His eyebrows were singed, along with his shirt and he was dragging with him huge, swollen and very blistered feet. Bat-bogeys surrounded him as he trudged his way down the stairs.
Each head then turned to look at Harry and Ginny, who were glaring at him with looks that should have been able to commit murder on their own.
'R-ron-n-ald, what did you do?' stuttered Mr Weasley, glancing back to Ron.
'Nothing . . . I mean I-' he began, shrugging.
'TELL THEM RONALD' yelled Ginny, whipping her wand out and pointing it at Ron,'THE WHOLE STORY!'
'Tell them what? Yeah, I walked in on you doing something you shouldn't have even been doing in the first place-' that earned Harry a few quick glares-'but apart from th-'
'THE TRUTH' Harry shouted, whipping out his own wand, 'THEY DERSERVE TO KNOW!'
He stopped where he was, halfway across the kitchen towards the table. He faltered under the point of the two wands, and looked down, guilt showing plainly on his face for the first time since he had been discovered. He didn't say a thing, and still the two wands were not lowered.
'Ron, somethings going on,' Bill said very calmly, given the situation, 'Harry's right, we deserve to know.'
So Ron told them. He wouldn't have if he'd been given the choice, but every time he missed out a part, or steered the story away from himself, he saw the arms of Harry and Ginny, who still held their wands up strong, twitch or stiffen, as in preparation to cast.