Using the prompt 'you took the words right out of my mouth'
Chapter Thirty-Three
"Ron! Ron, get up. Wake up!"
There was a grunt as Ron finally stirred. He lifted his head groggily, blinking a few times to regain his vision as he tried to see what Hermione had woken him for, and then dived for his wand under his own pillow. He swore loudly, pointing his wand at the figure in front of him. Hermione already had hers out, he realised, and it was pointing at the intruder standing on Hermione's side of the bed. Her wand was lit with the Lumos charm; it was illuminating the face of the woman that had caused them so much grief over the last year.
"Get out!" Ron's voice was louder, fiercer, than it had ever been before. It was mixed with fury and fear. He jabbed his wand in her direction, but she didn't react. She simply continued to watch them with an expressionless face, unmoving, uncaring.
"You're not welcome here," Ron continued. His voice shook. He was scared. He got out of bed, his wand still pointed firmly at the woman in front of him. "Don't make me force you out," he said. "I will kill you if I have to."
Fury burned in the woman's eyes. "You mean like you killed my son?" she spat.
"That was an accident! You know it was!" Tears threatened to fall from Hermione's eyes now, and she also got out of her bed, her own wand unwavering. "Your son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's as simple as that. My husband did nothing wrong." There was a noise of distress that came from Ron as she edged closer to the woman.
"Stay," he said weakly, indicating to the bed.
She shook her head. There was no way she was going to sit back and watch this woman threaten them.
"My son was innocent!" the woman cried.
"And so is my husband!" Hermione cried back. Her wand was dangerously close to the woman's chest. Surely, she couldn't do it. Surely….
"No person who murders a child is innocent!"
Hermione's breath became shallower as the woman lifted her own wand. The light vanished from it.
"RUN!" Ron shouted, just as a jet of green light left the tip. It came dangerously close to his head, but he managed to duck just at the right moment. He aimed a spell at the woman, but missed in his haste. Next thing he knew, his own wand was flying from his hand. He pulled Hermione's arm to get her away from there, and they ran from the room, the woman in tow.
"You must know what it's like to suffer like I have!" she cried, destroying bits of furniture or parts of walls as she chased them. "He was my life, he was all I had, and you took him away from me."
Ron shot a Stunning Spell at her, but she dodged it. "I have suffered!" he said. "I've suffered for eighteen months, knowing that it was my wand that did it. It destroyed me, but it was an accident! It was a total accident!" He gripped Hermione's arm tightly, trying to force her out of the way, but she wouldn't budge.
"You still have not suffered until you know what it's like to watch somebody who means the world to you suffer. My son has suffered. Even in death, he has suffered. He couldn't move on because he needed me. Now, I must see his ghost every single day of my life and have him ask me why he can't hug me. Do you know what that's like?" The woman lifted her wand again, and realisation seemed to dawn on Ron. It wasn't him she was after, it was Hermione. She wanted him to suffer by killing the person he loved more than anything else in the world. She wanted him to feel her pain.
"No!" he said, just as another jet of green light came towards them. He tried to grab Hermione, but she stood her ground, determined to not let this woman scare her. But as she also saw the light, she cried out as well, her body moving in front of his to… to protect him.
"Hermione, don't!" he said urgently, trying to force her to the ground. "No, Hermione! No!" But he was too late. Hermione had been too stubborn to listen to him; she had refused to leave his side, even though he had begged her to.
And it had cost her, her life.
"She didn't do anything!" he said. "She did nothing to you!" He swallowed the lump in his throat, trying not to show the pain she had caused. But he still had to look at his wife's crumpled, unmoving body at his feet. She'd done nothing. She didn't deserve to die.
"She got in the way, you fool!" the woman spat. "I wanted you! Die in comfort, knowing that she gave her life for you."
Ron returned his glare to his wife's murderer. "How is killing me going to make me suffer?" he asked coldly.
"Your children are going to be orphans, now," the woman answered calmly. "No parents to look after them… doesn't that thought hurt you? Or are you too cold-hearted to care?"
Ron didn't answer. He continued to stare at her.
"I never wanted your children," she said. "I never once wanted to hurt them. What did they ever do to me? They are as innocent as my son was. It's not their fault their father is a murderer… no, it was always you, Weasley. I wanted you to suffer, even in death, for what you did."
"I can't suffer in death!" Ron said. He looked back at Hermione, fighting the urge to hold her. "She did nothing."
"You can suffer if you know what your deaths will do to your children. You've left them, now. They'll blame you for leaving them, they'll hate you. Do you want your children to hate you?"
For a moment, it looked as if Ron had taken her words to heart. He didn't say anything, and his eyes softened. But his expression hardened. "My children are loved by more than just me and my wife. They have family who will care for them. Yes, it may hurt them to begin with, but they are strong, they'll get through anything that comes their way. They are safe, and that is all that matters to me."
The woman seemed frustrated by Ron's easy acceptance of his own fate. It appeared she had not anticipated this.
"Do you not understand what love is?" he asked her. "It's not about revenge… it's about a willingness to give anything to those you love. Just like how my wife died tonight. I would have done the same thing for her in a heartbeat… and I would do the same thing for my children in less. Killing me is not going to make me suffer. It's only going to make me happier, because I now know that they are safe. You can't hurt them. Just like your son meant everything to you, our children meant the world to us. Their safety was all we cared about through all of this. My wife's safety was what I cared about, but as much as I wanted to protect her, I knew she could look after herself better than I ever could. I'm not afraid to die. I've faced death many times before. You've underestimated the strength of our kids – they'll get through this. They're two of the strongest people I know, and with or without us, they will deal with it. My only regret is that I never got the chance to say goodbye to them properly."
The woman didn't have any response other than, "Avarda Kedavra!" She watched as her son's murderer fell to the floor beside his wife, their faces more content than she had anticipated. It appeared to anger her, but she had done her job. She had gotten her revenge. People close to that man would suffer now, and that was all that truly mattered.
Her son would now be at peace; and it was for her son that she would do anything.
There was silence throughout the room as everybody digested what they had just seen – or in Rose's case, heard. Chancing a glance in the direction of Scorpius' dad, she noticed that even he appeared slightly unnerved by this information, and he had probably seen something like that more than once in his time.
Or maybe not, she reminded herself. The memory projection was only new magic.
Her body was shaking violently at the fear she had experienced during those moments. Not once had she dared look up at the projection, but there had been no stopping what she had heard. Her dad talking, telling Begonia Webb that he didn't care if she killed him. His pained cry as he was forced to watch her mother die in front of him.
The raw emotion she only heard. She was glad she didn't have to see that emotion, too. Very glad….
Ginny's arms tightened around her as she sobbed into her aunt. She didn't even look up when Kingsley's voice once again filled the room.
"We will take a break from this trial," he said, his voice calmer than it should have been if he had just watched two of his friends die. "We will return in three hours' time."
Feet shuffled all around Rose as people dispersed from the room. She didn't move, though, and nor did Ginny. Not until her aunt coaxed her from her seat.
"Come on, Rosie," she said gently. "Let's go for a walk, get a drink… take a breath."
That was when Rose finally decided to lift her head. The room was empty, save for herself, Ginny, and Hugo. She could feel the wetness on her cheeks, and her eyes felt swollen. The effort she had gone to that morning to look good had gone out the window.
And frankly, she didn't care.
"Wh-where is everyone?" she choked as Ginny helped her to her feet.
"Outside," Ginny said. "We can meet them in a moment." She placed an arm across her shoulders, the other around Hugo's, and together, they left the courtroom.
Ginny hadn't been kidding when she said everyone else was outside the room. They literally were. Her grandmother was being comforted by her grandfather, both in tears. Her other aunts and uncles were standing by silently, Draco Malfoy was deep in conversation with somebody she didn't know, and standing in the corner was Harry speaking furiously with Kingsley. Against Ginny's wishes, Rose stopped to listen in. She had to know what they said; she had to know why Kingsley had done what he did.
"I did what was best," she heard Kingsley say.
"For you! For the trial!" Harry answered, his tone icy. "You didn't think about those kids, did you? How do you think they felt, having you introduce that into the courtroom without warning? It was a shock to all of us, but they're just kids. Would you like to sit there and watch your parents be murdered by somebody who was sitting in the same room as you?"
"I told you to warn them what might happen!" Kingsley's tone was defensive, as if he didn't realise he was in the wrong.
"Warning would have been nice," Harry argued back. "A warning that you were bringing that out. Then, we might have been able to get them out of there, or they would at least have been somewhat prepared for what was to come."
For the first time, a mild amount of regret washed over Kingsley. "I just wanted the truth to come out," he said quietly.
"And it still could have, but it didn't have to happen with them in the room. Do you think Ron and Hermione would have wanted them witnessing that?"
Rose must have made a noise without realising it, because both men turned to face her. Seeing her face, Kingsley made towards her, but she backed away. Harry had just said everything she had wanted to say to him.
"Stay away!" she cried. "Stay away from me!"
"Rose," Ginny said. Rose shook out of her hold.
"That was awful in there!" she sobbed. "It was awful."
"Rosie, we know…" Harry said. "It was awful for all of us –"
"Come on, let's go for a walk," Ginny said, trying to lead Rose and Hugo away. "Get some fresh air."
Rose didn't need telling twice. Without a second glance at everyone else, she followed Ginny from the chamber of the courtrooms, and was more than thankful to see sunlight – even if it was unnatural.
OOO
"They were there."
"What?" Rose looked at her brother, confused by what he meant. They were sitting at one of the tables in the café at the Ministry. It was bustling with Ministry workers, all blissfully unaware about what was occurring a few levels below them.
They didn't even seem phased that two school-aged children were there. Perhaps it occurred a lot in summer.
She glanced over to the front, where Ginny was lining up to order them food. She then turned back to Hugo.
"What are you talking about?" she questioned.
"Mum and Dad, they were there," Hugo explained.
Rose bit her lip. "Hugo…."
"Call me crazy," Hugo said. "I know it sounds weird, but when they showed that memory, something was stopping me from looking at it."
"It was Aunt Ginny," Rose answered confidently. "She stopped me from watching it as well."
Hugo shook his head. "No, she was with you," he said. "She wasn't with me. It was something else, some invisible force that would not let me turn my head to what was happening."
Rose believed him; she just didn't believe that it was their parents. Dominique had been sitting behind him, perhaps it had been her and he hadn't realised.
Hugo seemed to notice her expression.
"I know it sounds weird," he said, "I know that. But, please let me believe it? I want to believe it."
Rose's heart gave a jolt at her brother's words. He sounded so desperate to hold onto that one little thing, and who was she to stop him? She nodded. "Okay," she said.
Hugo smiled weakly just as Ginny returned, carrying a tray of food and drinks. She set it down in front of them, and then slid into a vacant seat, seemingly oblivious to what they two of them had just been discussing moments ago. Rose guessed it was pure coincidence that she started on the topic again.
"Hugo," she began, "I'm very sorry that I wasn't there for you during that. I –" She paused, seeming lost for excuses.
Hugo shrugged. "It's okay," he said. "Mum and Dad were there."
Ginny gave him a pained smile. It was obvious she didn't believe him either. "That's great," she said.
They ate in silence after that. Rose couldn't get her dad's words out of her head. He hadn't cared; he hadn't cared about himself in that moment. All he had cared about was that his children were safe. Rose and Hugo. He hadn't cared about what happened to him.
And then her mum. Her mum had died trying to stop her dad from dying. Once, she had thought they didn't love each other anymore. Now, she knew that wasn't true.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, and felt Ginny's hand rest over hers.
"She'll go to Azkaban now, won't she?" Rose asked quietly.
Ginny nodded. "I don't know much about law, except for what Harry and your parents brought home with them, but I'd say that that is overwhelming evidence to convict her. And with Kingsley as Minister –"
Rose scowled.
"– he meant well, Rose," Ginny continued.
"He shouldn't have showed it," Rose answered coldly.
Ginny nodded. "I know that," she said. "It was hard for everyone."
"Did you watch it?"
Rose and Ginny turned their attention to Hugo, who hadn't said a word since he had started on the sandwich Ginny had bought him. It appeared he had only taken a few bites from it, though. Rose didn't blame him – she wasn't hungry either.
Biting her lip, Ginny gave a short nod. "I did," she said.
"Did they look frightened?"
"Rosie, I'm not sure if I should be telling you this," Ginny said. Rose guessed part of her reasoning was because she didn't want to have to relive that traumatic experience herself. After all, it had been her brother there.
"Please?" Rose said. "Just tell us that much. Were they frightened?"
"Who wouldn't be in that situation?" Ginny asked. "Even the bravest person would probably be frightened if death faced them."
Rose nodded, understanding. "I never saw them as two people to get scared," she confessed. "I never worried what I did, because… because I didn't think it'd scare them. But that memory… what Dad said… they were scared for us, weren't they?"
Ginny nodded. "Only in the way all parents worry for their kids," she said. "They trusted both of you, though. They knew you were both very capable of looking after yourselves."
Despite herself, Rose smiled, remembering all the things her dad had said to her over the years. No kissing boys; have some fun, Rosie; don't do anything dangerous. It didn't sound like he trusted her.
Ginny seemed to know what she was thinking, and she also smiled. "They trusted you," she promised. "Sometimes, they just didn't want to."
Harry joined them after that, taking a seat from another table to join them. "How is everyone?" he asked.
They all nodded.
"I'm sorry about what happened in there, guys," he continued. "I assure you that the only people who knew about that memory was Minister Shacklebolt, and those who extracted the memory."
"It's okay," Rose answered softly. "If it means she'll go to Azkaban, then I guess it's okay that it was shown."
"Not with you in the room, though," Harry said. He looked to Ginny. "Your mum's a mess," he said.
Ginny nodded. "I'll talk to her later," she said. "Rose and Hugo are what's important right now."
Rose swallowed. "Thanks," she weakly.
Ginny's only response was to rub her hands affectionately.
Harry glanced down at his watch. "We still have two more hours before Kingsley wants to resume the trial…." He hesitated. "If you two don't want to be in there, everyone would understand."
"No way!" Hugo answered. "We want to see what happens."
Rose nodded in agreement. "As long as they show no more memories of… that, then I'll be there."
Harry sighed. "Fair enough," he said. "You guys are so strong. I mean that, you know. Dealing with all this at such a young age…. It's incredible."
"I think you went through a lot more than we have," Rose said. "Mum and Dad taught us to be strong."
Harry smiled, nodding. "They were honestly two of the strongest and bravest people I have ever met in my life. The things they went through…."
"The things everyone goes through in life," Ginny added.
Hugo smiled at them all, but it wasn't one of joy. "We're all strong," he said. "We're all strong because we're Weasleys."
Rose nodded. Her brother was right, and in that moment, she had never been more proud to consider herself a Weasley.
Yes, I'm still updating this! My beta was away for two months and then when she got back she decided to take a break from fanfiction, so I had to find another beta. And I have found the lovely Sunny Lighter who will be beta-ing the remainder of this fic for me! I hope you liked this chapter (as much as you could, considering the beginning) and your reviews would be much appreciated!