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Fred's Legacies | ||||||
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Category: Post-DH/AB Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley Genres: Drama Warnings: Death, Disturbing Imagery, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 109 Summary: It's the summer after the battle, but victory is not sweet. Old enemies are still causing trouble. Harry and the Weasley's are having trouble moving on. To complicate matters, Fred left something behind. Hitcount: Story Total: 75539; Chapter Total: 3216 |
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That night at dinner Ginny was just pushing her food around on her plate. “Everything ok, dearie?” Molly asked. “Yeah.” Ginny lifted her cold glass and pressed it to her forehead the way she had seem Amanda do earlier. “I’m just a bit wrung out from visiting the grave. That’s all.” The cover worked, but Ginny glanced over to Harry. He was still angry. Her mom couldn’t read his face maybe, but she could. Harry excused himself early from dinner and Ginny desperately wanted to follow him. Instead, she stayed put. She needed to talk to her dad first. Harry would have to wait. Besides, the more she thought about it, the less she knew what to say. What she had said earlier was true. Waiting for the kitchen to clear, however, soon looked like a mute strategy. Percy had been living with them for two weeks by now, but, since Mrs. Weasley had spent most of the time in her room or at George’s shop, they had not seen much of each other. They had chosen this meal to get caught up. Percy was detailing his entire life for the last year. Mr. Weasley was listening to the conversation with as much interest as his wife. Ginny gave up her own agenda and listened in too. Percy had never been good at telling stories, but what he said about workings at the ministry over the last few months was interesting. Mr. Weasley and Ron poked a bit on some snippets of information and seemed to be gleaning things of interest that they would follow up on Monday. George was bored of the conversation quickly. He stood up and stretched, then jerked his head toward the door. Ginny shrugged and shook hers. He nodded and left the room anyway. Ginny listened in on the conversation for a few more minutes before making up her mind. She stood up, cleared her things, and stopped behind Mr. Weasley’s chair. “Hey Dad,” Ginny whispered “Before you go up to bed, there is something George and I wanted to talk to you about. Meet us up in the parlor when you’re done?” “Sure, Gin. What’s up?” “Nothing urgent. I’ll talk to you in a little bit.” She walked up the stairs quietly and debated knocking on Harry’s door. Then again, if her dad came looking for her and found her in Harry’s room… Her parent’s had been really cool about their relationship so far, but there was no need to push it. Instead, she pulled George out of his room and started a game of exploding snap with him in the parlor. They had played through two rounds before their dad came in. George laid his hand down, winning the second round before he looked up. “So, what did you want to talk about, Gin?” Arthur addressed the question to her. “It’s about Fred actually. Well, it’s about something he left behind.” She looked at George uncertainly, then looked back at her dad. “Remember when he used to go down to the village to cast protective charms?” “Turns out those weren’t the only charms he was casting.” George was finally making jokes again. Lame, but at least there was an attempt at something. “You mean Fred was involved with a girl in the village?” Arthur had enough young adults in his family to be quick to the uptake. “Yes.” Ginny said, relieved he had caught on so quickly. “And, well, no one had thought to tell her…. Anyway, George did yesterday.” She looked over at George. Having made his one joke he had suddenly become very interested in shuffling the deck of cards. “We took her to the grave today. She wanted to see it.” Ginny finished out that section of what she had to say and looked to her dad for a reaction. Arthur had sat down in the armchair and was leaning in. He rubbed his face in his hands. “I didn’t know, kids.” He spoke finally. “I should have been with you to tell her, George. I’m sorry.” “It’s ok, Dad.” George kept shuffling the cards as he spoke. “Truth is I forgot about her too. I was being a self-centered pig, I guess. Too busy being sad to think about anything else. She found me in the village yesterday and asked…” Arthur nodded. “What did you tell her?” “Ministry story.” George grunted. Ginny grimaced. It was really so unsatisfactory. “Thanks for taking care of this kids. And thanks for letting me know.” “There’s something else you need to know, Dad.” Ginny looked at George. He had not been nearly as helpful in the conversation as he could have been. She felt a bit wicked and annoyed about this. “George offered to be a dad today.” George jumped. So did Mr. Weasley. Ginny grinned. If she was going to announce that Fred had a kid, she would do it in a way that Fred approved of. "The girl turned him down though, Dad. So no need to worry. She didn’t seem to think that George would make as good a dad as Fred would have. On account of lacking an ear.” Mr. Weasley shook his head. He’d heard a lot from his kids, but this was one he had not heard before. “Ginny, could you be a bit clearer, please?” “Fred had a last joke, dad. A sort of final prank he didn’t even know about. And we found out about it today. Georgie gets to be an uncle.” Mr. Weasley simply sat without saying a word. “Is this a joke?” He asked, finally, forcing George to look him in the eye. “Fred’s last joke,” George responded, “but by the sound of it, there’s a pretty real baby on its way.” Mr. Weasley groaned and leaned back into his chair. George looked nervously at Ginny. “I mean, I never said Fred’s joke was funny. This might be one of his lamer jokes. Although,” George pressed on desperately, “this will mean that you’re a grandpa. The only way I know of that Fred could have made you a grandpa. Dumbledore tried to make Fred a grandpa himself once. Great big white beard. So you’re a grandpa after Fred.” Ginny rolled her eyes. “You were a grandpa, too, George.” “Sure enough was. So, Dad, we can be grandpas together.” Mr. Weasley still said nothing. This, Ginny noted, was not going well. “Er, Dad? She’s actually a pretty decent girl. I know you haven’t met her, but…. She’s really trying to think things through and she has Fred’s sense of humor and a lot of spunk. You’d like her, really. Besides, it means we get a Muggle in the family.” Mr. Weasley nodded. “I’m sure Fred had good taste. It’s the girl I’m worried about. Did she even know he was a wizard? How is she going to raise the child? She can’t be very old.” “About 19.” George supplied. “I can’t remember her birthday, exactly.” “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about actually. Amanda sort of flipped out today, about how she could keep the kid. She’s not sure if it’s a boy or girl. It’s too early. The baby is due in January. Anyway, George was talking the other night, and…” Ginny looked at George carefully to make sure she got this part of the story right without giving too much away, “Fred had set aside some money for investing in the joke shop, but George won’t need it with the compensation from the ministry. We had thought we could set it aside for the baby. Amanda could probably use the lift.” “Babies don’t come cheap, but I am sure it would help. Bill could set it up in a trust fund in Gringotts and have it pay out in Muggle money. How much are we talking about?” Mr. Weasley knew the twins well enough that there was a little bit of suspicion in his voice. “A thousand galleons,” George offered. Mr. Weasley raised his eyebrows. “That’s a chunk of savings! I was under the impression that the business was not doing well.” “It wasn’t.” George looked at Ginny. “Get Harry in here, would you? Dad needs to know about this.” Ginny leapt up from her perch on the arm of the couch. She heard Mr. Weasley’s low whistle behind her as he put together what was going on. She wished as she hurried up to Harry’s room that she had taken the time to make up with him after her remark when she had gotten home. She’d have to apologize in his room before they went back down. This evening was turning out awkwardly enough without her dad finding out that she’d had a row with her boyfriend. She knocked rapidly on Harry’s door. “Come in.” She opened it. Ron was sitting on the bed facing her. “Oh, uh….” Ginny’s brain momentarily froze. “Sorry, Ron. Dad needs Harry. He sent me up to get him.” She frowned. Ron looked as if he’d been crying. “You ok?” “He’s worried about Hermione.” Harry summarized. “I am too, but I don’t know much about her parents. Maybe you and Ron should talk about it. I’ll go see what your dad needs.” “He’s in the parlor.” Ginny hesitated. “Ron, you might actually want to hear this too. And, maybe we could talk about Hermione’s problems together, down there? Harry, wait up.” Ron nodded. “Be right down.” He followed Ginny out of the room, but stopped in the bathroom on the way. Ginny doubted that anyone would blame him for crying. Certainly George couldn’t, not with the amount of blubbering he’d been doing these days. Ginny stopped on the stair above Harry. “Sorry for earlier this evening. My comment, it wasn’t called for. You weren’t around last year, but it’s not your fault. You were being the best boyfriend possible. You took on my greatest enemy and you defeated him. I certainly don’t want to scold you for doing that.” Ginny knew she sounded formal. She hoped he also knew that she meant it. Harry looked down and studied his feet. “That’s fine Ginny. And you were right. I do need to work on trusting people. It hasn’t been my strong point this last year.” Ginny nodded. “Apology accepted. Are we made up now?” He pulled her down and kissed her. “Now I think we are. Are we ready to go down?” “Almost.” Ginny stepped down and took his hand. “What you need to know if, George introduced me to Fred’s girlfriend, who, it turns out is going to have Fred’s baby, and going to get the money that was going to be the Fred memorial account.” “Wait. What?” Harry looked as if he’d been stupefied. “Now we’re ready to go down.” And with that, Ginny tugged Harry along after her down the stairs. Mr. Weasley stood up when he entered the room. “So, I hear you are the reason that our twins dropped out of Hogwarts?” If Mr. Weasley was trying to be stern, he was failing. “Er, I guess so,” Harry managed. Eloquence had never been his thing. “I guess I can forgive you for that.” Mr. Weasley offered. “Though I hear that we are rather in your debt.” “No.” Harry said firmly. “You’re not. The money was a prize that should have gone to Cedric. His family wouldn’t take it. I certainly didn’t want it. I shouldn’t even have been in the tournament. So, I wasn’t lending out my money at all. No one owes me anything. Fred kept me laughing when I didn’t think that laughing was possible. I owe him that. And a couple of things he invented were dead useful last year. If anything, I owe him.” Mr. Weasley nodded and pulled Harry into a hug. Ron walked in behind Harry just then, and Mr. Weasley motioned for everyone to take a seat. “So, how much do they know?” he asked Ginny. “Ron doesn’t know anything and Harry just barely knows anything.” Ginny summed up succinctly. “Well, how about you get them caught up then. Start with how you found this all out. I feel a bit lost about that still.” Ginny launched into a description of George and her rather crazy afternoon, winding back around to the facts on which she had finished out her story for her dad. “So, the baby is due in January and we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl and we have to figure out how to help her take care of it.” “Fred’s having a baby?” Ron summed up. “Yes.” Ginny was amused at how often she was having to repeat this fact. “Blimey!” Ron whistled. “And I thought I had problems.” “If you kids would like to keep talking about it,” Mr. Weasley said as he got up from his chair, “I believe I now have the facts straight enough that I can relay them to your Mum. Unless you prefer to tell her yourself, Gin.” “Oh. No, that’s fine.” Ginny looked at her dad. He was joking, right? She’s rather become permanently invisible than tell her mother that a Weasley was about to have a child out of wedlock! “I thought you had rather a flare for the story,” Arthur noted and ruffled her hair on the way out. “Ginny,” Harry had an odd look on his face, “when Amanda said she wasn’t sure she could keep the baby, did you ask her what she meant?” Ginny frowned. She thought she had gone over this. “She doesn’t have much money and she was scared of raising the baby without a family. What do you mean?” Harry’s face, if anything, had gotten darker. “You said she promised not to make any decisions until next weekend?” He pressed. “Yeah. Harry?” “What decisions do you think she’s making?” “Well, whether to give the baby up for adoption. I mean, she said there wasn’t any hurry. And there couldn’t be, if the baby isn’t going to be born till January.” Harry shook his head. “Harry, what else could it possibly mean?” But Harry didn’t answer. “We need to talk to her soon.” He said instead. “Before the weekend.” “I probably still have her phone number somewhere,” George offered. “Fred used to call her. He was pretty good at the telephone.” “Could have given his brother some lessons,” Ron growled. “You did fine yesterday,” Harry offered, but Ron shrugged disconsolately. Knowing that she wasn’t about to get any more explanations from Harry, Ginny thought it was high time she pry out Ron’s problem. As it turned out, he was happy to talk about it and very little prying was required. The problem, it turned out was twofold. One, Hermione could not understand why Ron wasn’t planning on re-enrolling at Hogwarts. Really, Ginny thought, Hermione should know her brother better than that by now. Two, Hermione’s parents were saying that they would not let her re-enroll in Hogwarts. “But that’s ridiculous!” Ginny interjected. “She’s of age! She can do whatever she wants!” “Not if she can’t pay for it.” George remarked sagely. “Hogwarts isn’t cheap, and from what I hear, Hermione spent all her savings from last year on a long camping trip around England.” Ginny slumped. “But Hermione has to go to Hogwarts. I’m not going if she doesn’t go.” “Tell her parents that. I’m sure that will change their mind.” Ron was still sulky and sarcastic. “Hang on,” George cut in again. “If you aren’t going to Hogwarts, why do you want Hermione there? You won’t be able to get much snogging done with her away. I thought that was what you kept your girlfriends for.” Ron hurled a pillow hard at George’s face. He caught it neatly. “Wow, Ron. Creative.” But Ron had lost steam already. “It’s not just Hogwarts. Her parents don’t want her to have anything to do with the wizard world at all. Her mom keeps telling her it’s manipulative and evil. They keep guilting her for everything and she’s buying it. I don’t know why. She’s bloody genius. She’s faced down Voldemort, and she’s letting them get in her head.” “Well Ron, you’ve faced Voldemort, but I doubt that you’d take mum on directly.” George chuckled at his own joke, but no one else did. Ginny did not know tons about Hermione’s parents. What she did know was that Hermione’s mum had had a distinctly disapproved of Hermione’s involvement in the magical world since the fight in the bookstore during her second year. Hermione avoided home not just because she loved Ron but because being with her parents was a bit painful. Until she’s modified their memory, her parents had been constantly fighting about her. What they were like now was anyone’s guess. The four sat in silence, thinking. Percy walked by and stuck his head in. “Silent meeting then?” He joked. “Most productive kind.” “Actually, Percy, you missed the big announcement.” George’s face radiated mischief. “You’re going to be an uncle!” “What? Ginny! Harry! What on earth!” Percy stormed through the doorway. Ginny jumped up, instantly blocking his access to Harry while drawing her wand. “No, Percy. Honestly, no. Not us, not ours. And George, for goodness sake!” Percy had drawn his wand while charging in and still held it up. “So, whose baby?” He looked at Ron with a blank look of disbelief, but Ron shook his head. “It’s Fred’s” everyone chorused together. The wand came down. Percy came down too. He sat cross legged on the floor right where he’d been standing. “This is your joke right?” He asked George. “Nope,” George grinned. “But you’d better bet it is Fred’s.” Ginny told her story for the third time that evening. Percy’s listened through it all before commenting, “Well, the department for Muggle relations will have to be told. I’m sure they have a guide for these sorts of things. Still, wizards ought to be better about taking precautions.” “This is Fred we’re talking about.” George reminded him. “Not exactly the ‘taking precautions’ sort of person, was he? But I do think we should tell her that she is going to be having a little wizard of her own soon. I mean, Fred was doing magic pretty much as soon as he could crawl.” Ginny’s mind had already gone down a different track. “Percy, what all do Muggle relations handle? I mean,” she clarified realizing how long of an answer Percy was capable of giving to the first question, “if a witch or wizard was having trouble with magical parents, say, about going to Hogwarts–is that the sort of thing they would handle?” “Hogwarts attendance? No. That’s always been handled by the heads of house. More personal for the parents. It builds better trust. You should know that. Harry had some trouble with his family and Hogwarts sent, well, I’m not sure who.” “Hagrid.” Harry supplied. “Hagrid?” Percy looked temporarily astonished. “Well, I’m sure they don’t usually send the gamekeeper.” But Ginny didn’t care for the direction Percy was about to take things. She cut him off. “McGonagall, Ron. We need to write McGonagall and tell her what’s going on. Hermione can’t without using magic.” Ginny had reached the solution to their earlier discussion, but Percy now looked entirely lost. “She can’t do magic anyway. Doesn’t have her wand,” Ron grumbled. “Where’d her wand go?” George was still tracking with the conversation despite its sudden twist. “Her mum has it.” “How’d her mum take it?” George demanded. “Blimey, Bellatrix couldn’t take Hermione down and you are telling me some Muggle woman has her wand?” “She just handed it over, didn’t she? Her mum said, ‘no more magic this summer, I want your wand.’ And Hermione said, ‘here.’ That’s what I’m saying. She’s not herself!” Ginny agreed with Ron, but she couldn’t see what they could do until they had let McGonagall know. She wasn’t allowed to do any magic herself and if her brothers went using magic on a Muggle family–well, there were enough people in Azkaban for that as was. “I’ll write McGonagall tonight. Percy, do you still have your Hermes?” “Sensible girl, Ginny. Let the proper authorities take care of it. Ron should have learned from you years ago. I’ll go get Hermes right away.” Ginny ground her teeth at Percy’s presumptuousness, but she was glad enough to use his owl. Pigwidgeon had been lost in the move. She had never recognized anyone except for Ron as her owner and when he hadn’t taken Pig along, the owl had taken to just wandering around. No one had seen it since their midnight evacuation of the Burrow. Arnold the pygmy puff had been left behind too along with Crookshanks, Ginny remembered regretfully. Hermione might do better with Crookshanks. Ginny finished her letter up, tied the parchment on to Hermes’ leg and sent him off out the window. |
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