Chapter fourteen

'Yes, I could, the only problem is would it be enough to keep her from being sent to Azkaban. I would need to talk it over with Kingsley.'

'Can you explain what you two are talking about?'

'Sorry Mrs. Weasley,' Harry sighed, 'Even though there's a chance she could still use muggle methods, this might be enough. Okay, what this is about is her magic, I can remove it, strip the magic from her core. If Kingsley agrees then instead of being sent away I strip her of her magic for the length of time the Wizengamot gives her. Think about it, she did want to play quidditch, no magic means she can't get a broom to fly. It also means she can't use the floo or apparate, she will be like a muggle. But there is one more thing that would help Charlie and me. I was going over some old spells that the aurors used to use, this was going back five hundred years ago, before Azkaban was built.'

'Explain,' Molly said.

'Okay, apart from no magic, she could be bound to a place, like the Burrow. It's still in use today but it is mainly used for people that committed non-violence crimes or accidental deaths. But maybe we could use it for Ginny. Strip her of her magic and bind her to the Burrow. Apart from Kingsley, it would need to be passed by the Wizengamot. I'm sure if I explain more about how Ginny and I dated until the Morphixen emerged and how she's just a young girl who's hurt, they might go with this.'

'Alright, I can see you don't want to cause problems Harry, you don't want Ginny hurt, which I am pleased about. But tell me the truth; if it wasn't for our family would you even consider this?'

'Normally, no, but I like Ginny, she's a nice girl, she's just hurt. Emotional pain can be the worst someone will feel and it's hard to live with that pain. I know, after Sirius died,' Harry sighed, 'I considered killing myself.'

Charlie took Harry's hand in his, 'Does Ron and Hermione know that?'

Harry shook his head, 'I didn't tell anyone, but Luna guessed. I felt under so much pressure because I just heard the prophecy, I was hurting so much that I just didn't think I could go on. The world was looking at me to save them and I had no idea if I could. Anyway, the pain I felt because of Sirius made me believe I couldn't go on. Ginny is feeling so much pain right now, sort of like I've died in a way, she thinks Charlie's taken me from her, she's not thinking straight, she can't. I was like that, I stayed away from Ron and Hermione, and I spent so much time alone, a lot of time in the forbidden forest, that's where Luna found me and why she was able to help me when my best friends couldn't. Her mother died when she was nine and she saw it happen, I saw Sirius die. At the time Ron and Hermione had never lost anyone they were close to before, they couldn't understand how I was feeling even if they liked Sirius, Luna could understand how I was feeling. So even though it was about death for me, Ginny is still in a lot of emotional pain right now.'

'Yes, she is because to her, losing you is like you have died,' Molly took Harry's other hand, 'I told her the story of the-boy-who-lived when she was five years old. She said to me that she wanted to find you, bring you home and have you live with us, that she wanted to save you from the muggles. Every night she wanted me to tell her you're story. So you see, she has been obsessed with you since she was a little girl. See what you can do Harry, for her, for you, for Charlie and for her family.'

Harry nodded, but saw Charlie nod as well, now they had to hope Kingsley and the Wizengamot would approve this. Harry and Charlie were happy, but to have Ginny taken away could cause problems, not for them, but for the rest of the family.

Even though Charlie still wasn't completely well, he was able to move around without too much pain so Harry wasn't as anxious about returning to work as he had been the week before.

'So are you going to speak with Kingsley about Ginny?'

'As soon as I get in there, do you still agree with this Charlie?'

'Yes, I know she's hurt and she is young. I don't believe she realised how much trouble she could be in when she did this. She's lashing out, first using that spell on me then with what she said.'

'Yeah, she is,' Harry sighed, 'Okay, promise me you are not leaving this house today?'

Charlie smiled, 'I promise, I might be feeling better Harry, but my arse still hurts if I move around too much. I am going to stay here, work on our bonding ceremony, write some letters to my friends in Romania to let them know about it. Then I will concentrate on the shop and everything it will need. It's lucky that I can do a lot of the work myself, I've always been good with my hands, so any modifications the shop might need, I can do that without having to get someone else.'

'I can tell you're good with your hands,' Harry smirked, 'I better go. If you need me though, make sure I see your patronus, okay?'

'You will, but you won't because I'm fine. Now go to work Harry.'

Harry smiled, 'I love you.'

'I love you too Potter, go, get out of here.'

Harry kissed Charlie then left the house, apparating straight to the employee's entrance. He didn't go straight to the auror offices but to the minister's office. Harry only had to wait five minutes before he saw Kingsley and explained his idea. Kingsley thought it was worth taking to the Wizengamot, so he was going to organise a meeting for some time that day.

Harry stepped into the auror offices, 'How's Charlie?' Seamus asked.

'Healing, slowly,' Harry leant against the door, 'I went to see the minister before coming here, about an idea, Ginny.'

Ron stood from behind his desk, 'About going to Azkaban?'

'If it pans out, she won't be.'

'Explain then.'

'There's two ideas I had but they will need to be passed by the Wizengamot. First is I remove her magic for the amount of time they decide to sentence her, the second is that her sentence is not done in Azkaban, but I bind her to a place, like the Burrow. If they give her ten years for what she said and her attack on Charlie then for ten years she will have no magic and can't leave the Burrow.'

'I've never heard of either spell,' Parvati said.

'I was going over some old spells the aurors used back before Azkaban was built. But binding can still be used today for non-violent crimes or accidental crimes. They used to bind people to a place for those types of crimes and it's still in effect so we can use it. Removing the magic was something I came up with. I realised that there were people that didn't belong in Azkaban, due to their circumstances, some were young, manipulated, accidents, all types of reasons.

Right now Ginny is emotionally hurt, that type of pain can be worse than physical pain. She's not thinking straight because of it and she is only seventeen. Think about this as well, she's been in the middle of a war, hearing stuff she was too young for, hearing that the DA and order of the phoenix were going against rules set out by the ministry. We all know the reasons for this, but for someone young like Ginny all she is thinking about is we all broke the law and got away with it. Blimey, I used unforgivables, three times and never got into trouble. We had a rebel group inside Hogwarts, learning stuff we were too young for, going against the rules set out for students and the magical world.

I taught all of you to fight off the imperius curse, which meant all of us used an unforgivable, something that normally gets you a life sentence in Azkaban. I believe that Ginny is just doing what she's been involved in for years and she believed she would get away with it. She's not thinking straight right now because when you're hurt like she is, that's all you think about, not the consequences of your actions.'

'You are right,' Jessy said, 'If it wasn't a war, then yes, all of you could have been in a lot of trouble. I don't know Ginny, but you said she's a year younger than all you. I've been reading up on the DA, the order of the phoenix, how you had meetings even at your home, Ron. Ginny was right in the middle of all that and for a girl of fourteen, fifteen, that's a lot for an impressionable young mind to take in, to understand.'

'We were all too young, but we had no choice, not if we wanted to survive,' Terry said.

'When Hermione first thought up the idea of Harry teaching us, it really hit home how much danger we were in. If Harry didn't teach us all those spells, most of us would have died that night. Now only of age students were permitted to stay, Ginny snuck out to join the fight,' Ernie said.

'She said her whole family was out there, she couldn't hide, which I get. I hated the fact that she did sneak out when I needed to change the room, but I do understand why she did it. Blimey, look at what I was doing for years, sneaking down into that room that the teachers had used their strongest enchantments on. Then Ron and I forced a teacher down into the chamber of secrets to rescue Ginny. Facing a hundred dementors at thirteen then breaking Sirius out and letting him escape. We knew he was innocent but as far as the ministry were concerned, he was one of Voldemort's strongest supporters and wanted to kill me, yet we helped him escape.

Then there were werewolves, breaking into the ministry, destroying so many departments, Ginny destroyed the hall of prophecy, then Ron, Hermione and I destroyed Gringotts, all that was before I turned seventeen apart from Gringotts. Ginny might have known why I did all that, or why Hermione, Ron and I did all that and never got in trouble, but she was young, too young. She also knew I was the chosen one, or like everyone believed, they thought I was. She saw us doing things that would normally have us lock up, she's still thinking like that because of how much pain she's in.'

'Did you tell Charlie about this?' Ron asked.

'And you're mum. She knows I don't want Ginny punished, neither does Charlie, but if we don't do something she might go through with her threat of killing Charlie, or even me even if I would die if Charlie did. If that happens, nothing would stop her being sent to Azkaban and it would be for life. But if she killed Charlie and I lived long enough I might end up burning her. So the Minister is working on talking to the Wizengamot, see if it's possible.'

'So Charlie agreed with this idea?' Ron asked.

'Yep, he might be pissed at her but he knows she's hurt and he knows part of it is his fault, just like it's my fault. But Charlie's main problem is the fact that she aimed at his arse and his frustrated, and she planned that. It's only thanks to the healer that Charlie will be alright, hopefully soon.'

'So because you two can't shag that's made him angry at Ginny, not the fact that she wants to kill him?' Seamus asked but everyone heard the amusement in his voice and they all knew he was right which naturally made everyone laugh, even Harry ended up laughing.