The Houses Competition: Round 3

House: Gryffindor

Class: DADA

Category: Standard

Prompts chosen: The Burrow, PTSD

Word Count: 2518

Summary: Ginny is suffering from PTSD after the events with Tom Riddle diary, luckily her father is there to help.

Title: Warmth and Connection

Arthur let out a low groan as he got out of bed and into the bathroom for the third time that night, but instead of going back to bed once he was finished, he headed down the steps to get a glass of warm milk. It was a never-ending cycle for Arthur; he couldn't go to sleep without a glass of warm milk, but that made him have to get up to pee in the next couple of hours, and then he went back to get another glass of warm milk, and so on and so on. He knew it drove his wife crazy, but getting up a few times every night to pee was better than not sleeping at all. He had a big day tomorrow, having to categorize dozens of Muggle artifacts before the end of the day, and he needed as much rest as he could get. Arthur made his way down the creaky steps of the Burrow, being careful of the fifth step down which he had been meaning to fix for the past couple of weeks.

Once his feet hit the last step, he saw a warm glow coming from the kitchen. Arthur stopped for a moment as he tried to guess which one of the kids was up at three in the morning. He ran his hands through his messy hair, knowing that he wasn't going to be going back to bed anytime soon. He let out a deep sigh before making his way into the kitchen just to find his daughter sitting at the table.

The crack on the floorboard startled Ginny as she turned her head towards the doorway to see a dark figure standing there. She let out a gasp, knocking the glass of water she had been drinking onto the floor, before realizing that it was her dad. The glass shattered upon impact. Water along with glass spread across the kitchen floor, getting stuck in many of the little cracks in the tile. Ginny nearly leapt out of her skin at the cacophony of noise.

"I'm sorry," Ginny cried as she felt her eyes start to water.

She never used to be so emotional, but these days it felt like anything could set her off.

"It's alright, sweetie." Arthur walked around the mess and grabbed one of the hand towels from the counter. "I'm the one that should be sorry; I didn't mean to startle you."

Arthur bent down and started to pick up the pieces of broken glass. Normally he would wave his wand and make the pieces clean themselves up, but his wand was currently sitting on his nightstand. "There's nothing to worry about. It's just water, and we have lots of glasses," Arthur continued to reassure, noticing how upset his daughter seemed to be lately, not like he could blame her.

The Mind Healer had explained to them that Ginny may experience uncontrollable, sudden, and intense emotions along with destructive behavior, trouble sleeping and concentrating and angry outbursts. These all came with having PTSD, which is what Ginny was diagnosed with after the events with Tom Riddle diary.

Arthur already had to witness his daughter have a complete meltdown over George taking the last piece of bacon at breakfast a couple of days ago, and trying to calm her down only seemed to fuel her rage. "No! He always does this! He always takes the last piece of bacon without asking," Ginny had screamed, her face turning red with how much anger she was experiencing.

Arthur was surprised that his daughter could have such a reaction to such a minor thing.

He, along with his wife Molly, had managed to calm Ginny down enough that she was able to talk to them and communicate what she was feeling. Molly had made her a couple extra pieces of bacon, setting them down in front of her before planting a kiss on her daughter's head.

"All you have to do is ask, sweetie; there's no need to allow your brothers to upset you so much," Molly had explained, with her and Arthur knowing that it was mostly the PTSD that was causing her emotional outburst. It wasn't like his daughter to sit there and scream; his daughter would have usually fought for the last piece of bacon and won.

"...I'm still sorry that I made a mess," Ginny spoke softly as she averted her eyes before she started to run her finger along the grains on the table in an effort to distract herself.

Arthur let out a slight groan as he straightened himself up and tossed the bits of glass into the trash before picking up another hand towel and tossing it over the water, leaving it there to let it soak up the water in its own time.

"Messes can be cleaned up," Arthur explained. After having seven children, he was used to those; a little spilled water was nothing at this point. "May I ask what you are doing up at this hour?"

Arthur left Ginny the option to say no if she didn't want to tell him. The Mind Healer advised them to let Ginny talk on her own terms, so Arthur wasn't about to push his daughter. If Ginny wanted to sit in silence, then he would be more than happy to do so.

Ginny gave a slight shrug as she continued to run her finger across the grooves in the table.

"I just couldn't sleep, is all," she answered before quickly flicking her eyes upwards to see her father's reaction, but all he did was give a nod before turning the stove on.

"I have the perfect cure for that…hot cocoa," Arthur explained, grabbing one of the smaller pots from the cabinet and filling it with milk along with a little bit of cream before placing it over the flame. "It's just gonna take a couple of minutes to heat up," Arthur informed as he took out the cocoa powder, added it to the mix, before he started to stir it around.

"Do we have any tiny marshmallows?" Ginny asked as she perked her head up a little.

Reaching up, Arthur opened the cabinet above his head and pulled out a half-empty bag of tiny marshmallows. "Looks like it's your lucky day. Tiny marshmallows," Arthur said as he tossed them on the table. "Leave some for the hot cocoa," Arthur reminded her, knowing his daughter would snack on them as she waited for her drink.

Five minutes later, Arthur was pouring the hot cocoa into two mugs and handing one to Ginny as he sat down next to her. "Be careful; it's hot," Arthur warned.

Ginny nodded as she took a handful of marshmallows and placed them in her mug, before taking another handful and placing them in her father's mug. She then folded the bag back up and pushed it aside. Arthur gave her a quick thanks as he brought the mug up to his lips and lightly blew on the liquid.

A moment of silence passed between the two before Arthur spoke, "Did the twins ever tell you about the prank that they pulled on Ron when he was three?" Arthur asked as he leaned back in his chair, causing it to squeak a little.

"Ya…they turned his teddy bear into a great spider," Ginny answered with a slight snicker despite herself.

The twins told her the story many times about how, when Ron was three, he broke Fred's toy broomstick, and their accidental magic turned Ron's favorite teddy bear into a great spider as payback. It was one of the twins' favorite stories to tell, and it was a bonus with how pissed off Ron got every time they told it, claiming that it was just a toy, that it wasn't a big deal, and that he shouldn't take things so seriously.

Arthur nodded as he remembered back to that time and how he wanted to strangle the twins, even if it was accidental magic. It still traumatized Ron to the point that he was still afraid of spiders to this day. "Fred and George have a special way of twisting a story to make it sound funny, but it's a much different story when Ron tells it," Arthur explained.

"Ron doesn't really say anything about what happened," Ginny responded.

"I'm not surprised. What happened really scared him. He woke up nearly every night for a month with nightmares about it. Your mother and I took turns calming him down. He wet the bed for months after, and was terrified of his teddy bear, convinced it would turn back into a spider. It got to the point where Ron would scream anytime he saw it. Your mother and I had to toss it since Ron became too afraid to even have it in the house."

"Really?" Ginny asked, having never heard any of this before. The twins always made it sound like it was a big joke. They never mentioned how scared Ron was over the whole thing.

Arthur nodded as he took a sip of his drink, licking his lips as he let out a small hum.

"You've seen the way your brother is around spiders. It all goes back to that moment. He still has nightmares about it, granted not as bad, but he still has them. He's still afraid," Arthur explained, allowing the silence to take over for a bit before he spoke again. "Do you ever feel afraid?" Arthur asked, not sure if he was overstepping.

He was still giving Ginny the choice to step away if she chose, but he hoped that she would open up to him, if only just a little.

Ginny didn't speak at first as she lowered her head, watching as the marshmallows slowly melted in the hot cocoa "...Maybe sometimes…maybe all the time," she admitted as she used her fingers to push down a marshmallow, watching as it bobbed back up as if it were doing a little dance. "I feel scared all the time, I can't sleep, I get upset easily…or I get angry…very angry. My stomach always feels like it's in knots, and I can't help but to feel stupid."

Arthur had to take a moment to process everything his daughter had just told him. It was a lot to take in all at once, "Why do you feel stupid?" Arthur asked.

"...Because I wrote in that dairy and allowed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to take over my mind. I allowed him to do those awful things. People got hurt because of me." Ginny's voice cracked a little, and her eyes started to water.

"Really? So, if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named showed up right now and asked you if he could take over your mind, would you say yes? What if he told you that he wanted to use you to hurt people, would you still say yes to him?" Arthur asked with a slight smirk, but he made sure to hide it by taking a sip of his drink.

"Of course not," Ginny answered quickly. "I don't want to hurt anyone, I didn't want him to make me do those things. I didn't want to do any of it! I tried to fight him, I really did, but he was too strong, and after…he wouldn't let me tell anyone. I tried, but…he was still in my head. I didn't have any control."

"Then how did you allow it? Because you wrote in a diary? I hardly see why that is your fault."

"I shouldn't have written in it…it was a mistake," Ginny said as a single tear slipped from her eye and traveled down her cheek.

"We all make mistakes, sweetie. Even your mum and I make mistakes, but it doesn't do anyone any good to blame yourself for them… During the first wizarding world, a Death Eater named Corban Yaxley cast the Imperius Curse on me. He made me do some terrible things and I used to blame myself for them until I realized that there wasn't anything I could have done to stop him," Arthur explained, hoping his own experiences could help his daughter.

"Were you scared?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I was scared," Arthur answered. "What scared me the most though was the thought of him hurting your mother. Your mother and I were newly married at the time and I was scared I wouldn't be able to protect her. I was scared of lots of things back then."

"Did…did you have nightmares?"

"Yes, I had nightmares, and even to this day, I still have nightmares, but you've got to remember that they are just nightmares—they aren't real and they can't harm you."

"How do I stop being scared?" Ginny asked after a moment of silence between the two of them.

Arthur let out a deep sigh as he ran his hand along his morning stubble. "That's a complicated question. I don't think there's a way to stop being scared. That kind of thing takes time," Arthur explained, realizing that it wasn't the answer his daughter was looking for.

"How did you stop being scared?"

"I had your mother," Arthur replied. "Your mother was always there for me when I needed to talk just like we are here for you if you ever want to talk."

"What if what I have to say sounds stupid?"

Arthur couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "I can assure you that your mother and I will never think of what you have to say as stupid. You can tell us anything and we will listen, no matter what it is."

Ginny didn't say anything for a while, only lightly sipping on her hot cocoa until she found the courage to speak again. "I'm afraid that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to enter my mind again and make me do things…I'm afraid he'll make me hurt you or mum…"

"We can help with that. How about tomorrow, when I come home from work, I'll take you to the Apothecary? They may have some herbs that will help keep He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named out of your head. We can also pick up a Sneakoscope; that way we'll know if someone untrustworthy is around," Arthur offered. He already knew that the Apothecary wouldn't have anything on mind control. If they did, then everyone would have been using it, but if having a charm made Ginny feel better, then Arthur would get her charm along with anything else she wanted. He just wanted his daughter to feel safe again.

"Really?" Ginny asked.

"Really," Arthur confirmed, "and afterwards, we can go for some ice cream—just don't tell your brothers."

"I won't," Ginny agreed as she let out a slight chuckle, always enjoying the secret daddy and daughter dates that they had together.

"It's a done deal then," Arthur said, giving his daughter a wide smile. "Now, finish your hot cocoa before it gets cold and I'll walk you back to bed." The two of them sat in silence as they finished their drinks before Arthur took his daughter back to her room before heading back to his own for the night.