Our Fathers

Chapter Twelve - Absolution

Somehow, the crowded, sterile hospital room was every bit as cheerful as the carefully decorated living room of the Burrow. All of the unopened presents had been carted in and Charlie, though still bald and beardless, shared the joy with everyone else - though Sirius, of course, wasn't allowed to join them. Mrs. Weasley sneaked in enough butterbeer and homemade shortbread to feed a small army - which it was - and even Harry managed to put on a cheerful face.

When all the packages had been opened, all the butterbeer imbibed, and all the other Weasleys had their chances to hug Charlie and talk to him privately, it was finally Ron's turn. He perched on the edge of the bed and gave his brother a hug. "You look like a freak without your hair," he joked. "Even Dad has more than you."

"And your feet have gotten so big, you look ready to fall flat on your face," Charlie countered, a grin crinkling the unnaturally pale patch of new skin on his face. "How are things, Ron? Why's Remus Lupin here? Why does Harry look like hell frozen over? Mum won't let anyone tell me anything - she thinks I'm frail!"

"No one tells me anything either," Ron grinned back. The grin faded into the most serious expression he could muster. "How are things? Well, shite, really. Lupin's here for Harry, to start to try and answer. You've been told that Lupin was friends with Harry's dad, right? Well, he's a werewolf, so he couldn't take Harry when his mum and dad died. Now, though... Harry's not well. At all. And I guess Professor Lupin is the closest thing to a loving relative that Harry has." The pieces were falling into place for Ron even as he spoke. The expensive gift meant to protect Harry... Lupin popping up at the school every so often to take Harry down to Hogsmeade... Lupin being the one to hold Harry while he cried the night they stayed at his flat in London... Percy's gift to Lupin and the mysterious last page... "Percy's been beating himself silly with this Werewolf Reclassification Bill he's writing," Ron mused aloud. "A few council members are pushing to reclassify as beings... I wonder if it'll pass..."

Charlie glanced over at the pair, who were looking out the window and talking. Harry was grinning and Lupin was gesturing animatedly, his face lit up in a happiness and youth that belied the gray in his hair. "Remus is like an uncle, then?" Charlie asked.

"No," Ron said, "I don't think so..." He frowned to hismself in thought and glanced quickly to the other side of the room. His own father was sitting there, grinning like a maniac and telling some sort of story to Ginny and the twins. The parallels were too perfect for even Ron to overlook. "No," he repeated. "I think... If the bill gets passed, I think Profe- Remus wants to adopt him. I think Percy gave him the papers for it this morning."

Charlie gaped softly and looked ready to put in a reply, but Mrs. Weasley suddenly broke in. "I'm going back to start cooking for dinner," she announced. "Hermione's family is going to be to the Burrow in two hours, and it's a mess! I want everyone home and cleaning up right now!" She grabbed Fred's arm and started berrating him for leaving his and George's candies lying in the kitchen where Hermione's Muggle parents might find them. She stopped only long enough to give Charlie a hug and Ron a warning. "I expect you to follow in just a minute! Finish talking to your brother!" And she herded as many helpers as she could grab from the room, leaving Lupin and Harry sitting by the window.

Ron's brother kept watching the pair. "Adopt, huh? And you said Percy brought the papers...? Well, if anyone can pass a bill, it's Percy. They won't possibly turn down his work. But what about that aunt and uncle of Harry's? Does he want to leave them?"

Ron gave a snort. "Of course he will. Didn't I tell you how the Muggles treat him? Me and Fred and George had to go rescue him a few years ago, in the old Anglia. The windows were actually barred shut! No... he'll be glad to live with Lup- Remus. I just hope the bill actually passes. Harry really needs a dad right now. He's really sick."

"He looks it," Charlie murmured. He turned his attention to Ron and gave a frown, eyes narrowing a bit. "Dads are fairly important... wouldn't you agree...?"

Thinking back on the fight he'd had outside the hospital room, Ron couldn't help but blush. "Yeah... Sort of. But sometimes they make really horrid decisions. Ones that can really hurt people."

Charlie's frown deepened. "Sometimes we all make pretty horrid mistakes. I made a pretty dumb one - I dove between two fighting mother dragons. There's not many stupider things a man can do. And look where it got me? I hurt all of you."

"But you had a really good reason for doing that!" Ron protested. "You were trying to save people's lives!"

He sighed softly and shook his head. "Ron... did you ever think that maybe Dad has a reason for what he does? Percy told me what happened between the two of you and Dad the other day. Yes, Dad's turned down a few promotions... but he has a reason for it. And it's a pretty good one, I think... or it was, then. The first time, I mean."

"What? What reason? What could possibly be worth poverty?" Ron demanded. He pulled his feet up onto the bed, tucking his knees under his chin. "There isn't a good reason. There can't be."

"Maybe you should him about it," Charlie murmured. "I think it's high time the story was told to you. I was there in '75, when everything happened... I was 9, mind you, and didn't have much of a say in what was happening. Mum was pregnant with Percy, and You-Know-Who was... he was very, very powerful, then. Dad was still talking to his sister, and his brother was alive."

"Uncle Ron, right? The one I was named after?" Ron ran the information through his head and came up with absolutely nothing more than he already knew. "How does that have anything to do with not taking Internal Affairs in 1975?"

"Talk to him," Charlie repeated. "Ask him why. I promise, Ron... once he answers, you'll understand why he did it."

Ron started as a hand clamped onto his shoulder. "Ready to head back to the Burrow?" Lupin asked. Remus, Ron corrected himself. "Your mum's certain to flay us alive if the house is still a mess when Hermione shows up."

"Plus, Hermione will give me an earful if I don't wrap her gift," Harry added. "Coming home tomorrow, Charlie?"

Charlie grinned and Ron couldn't help but add his smile as well. Harry had called the Burrow home! "Tomorrow," Charlie said. "And by the end of the week, I should be up for some flying... Seeker's game, Friday? Just you, me, and one Snitch... I want to see just how good you are," Charlie winked.

Harry froze, smile fading slightly. "I'd... I'd like that, Charlie, but you see, I've not been well and my hands shake sometimes..."

"I bet you'll be up to it Friday," Lupi- Remus butted in. "I bet I could get Severus to pop in with a dose of your potion, Harry. We could risk one, right?"

Risk one? Ron pursed his lips. There was something about the potion that Harry wasn't telling him. "That sounds great," Harry was saying - and he was very visibly avoiding Ron's gaze. Harry was hiding something, and Hermione was certainly going to hear all about it.

"Right, Friday then," Charlie said. "Now off you go, don't want to make Mum angry - she'll make you degnome the garden no matter how bloody cold it is out there! Merry Christmas!"

Ron stood slowly, hesitant to go back to face his father. Whatever reason he had for turning down all the promotions, it must be something grave indeed for it to be so important to Charlie. In fact, Charlie grabbed Ron's arm as he turned to leave, forcing him to listen once more. "Promise me you'll talk to him, Ron," Charlie demanded. "Tonight. It's important."

"I promise," Ron muttered. "After dinner, when Hermione's parents leave." He followed Harry and Remus to the door.

Dinner had been marvelous and a toast had been made to Charlie's health. Mrs. Granger had pumped Remus for information about how Hermione was doing in school, Mr. Weasley stole Mr. Granger's car keys and spent the time after dinner that was usually reserved for conversation shivering out in the cold while making the doors of Mr. Granger's brand new car lock and unlock with the tiny keychain remote, which he decided was "Just bloody amazing!" Sirius had gone off to talk with the twins about 'business' - Harry still refused to look him in the eye - while Ginny retreated to her room to fuss over the socks from Harry. Bill, of course, followed her and could be heard teasing her mercilessly through the open door. Despite missing the annual retelling of the Story of Charlie's Beard, Ron was forced to relive the most embarrassing moments of his childhood in front of his two best friends and their parents, complete with moving wizarding photos. For once, he envied Muggles... He hoped to never again hear Hermione cooing, "Oh... he was such a cute baby..." over a picture of himself and Ginny splashing (nude of course) in the bath. Perhaps he should burn the picture.

While the grownups and Bill settled down for tea and coffee, Ron, Harry, and Hermione finally snuck away to talk up in Ron's room. "You'll never guess what Professor Lupin sent me for Christmas!" Hermione exclaimed, hopping to sit on the edge of Harry's bed.

Ron and Harry sat on Ron's bed and exchanged grins. "A book?" they chorused.

"Not just any book!" Hermione retorted, giving an indignant sniff and turning up her nose at both of them. She didn't make sense, Ron decided. Why get angry over it when it was the truth? Of course she got a book. She always got a book. "It's the diary of Rowena Ravenclaw! Well, not the diary, but a copy of the recovered diaries found after the fires that destroyed Salazar Slytherin's rooms and most of the old greenhouses in 15-"

Ron cut in as quickly as he could without being too rude. Well, alright, he was being rude, he admitted to himself, but at least he wouldn't have to listen to a history lecture on his holiday. "Right, diary. So?"

Hermione sniffed again, glaring. Ron thought it made her look rather like Pansy Parkinson, with her nose turned up and peering down at him like some sort of pug-faced aristocrat... but, as he valued his life, he wasn't about to say anything about it. "You remember what I was saying about the key to the stolen poetry being in a verse, right Harry? I told you at the beginning of the year, while you were stuck in the Hospital Wing with Malfoy?"

"I've spent most of the sodding year being stuck in the bloody Hospital Wing with Malfoy," Harry scowled. "And he's just as spiteful as ever, so please don't start telling me I should be nicer to him, again! Well, did you figure it out? The poetry, I mean?"

Harry was sounding a great deal snarkier than usual, Ron mused. It was around the time the potion should be wearing off... but then he caught sight of Sirius Black lingering outside the door with a mournful frown on his face. Hermione kept talking, oblivious to the tension. "Well, not quite yet. I think this will do it, though! I think this is the original text that all the others were based on. I'll read it tonight, I think! I'm sure Ginny will be busy with her presents."

"Especially her socks," Ron grinned, winking at Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall. "I was just being polite. I got everyone else a gift... how was I supposed to know she'd set up some sort of sock shrine? She's bloody worse than Creevey!"

"Hermione, come say goodnight to your parents! They're heading home!" Mrs. Weasley's voice carried up the stairs. Hermione was going to go to King's Cross with them at the end of the week, which would give Ron plenty of time to talk to her alone about Harry and the Hipnis Potion. Or Hippie Potion. Or whatever it was called.

However, Hermione's parents leaving meant that Mr. Weasley would no longer be busy - and Ron had promised Charlie... As they trooped downstairs, Ron leaned over and murmured, "Hey, Harry? Could you keep Hermione busy for a bit? Show her the sock shrine or something? I need to talk to my dad."

"Sure. Take as long as you need." They folllowed Hermione into the entryway, where Mr. and Mrs. Granger were waiting to give hugs all around and Mrs. Weasley was smiling and inviting them back soon. "It's about time," Harry sniped, whispering in his ear as the goodbyes went on. "You fought with him days ago, and it's just money."

Ron could do no more than scowl, as his mother's eyes locked on him, warning silently against trouble. But, finally, Mr. and Mrs. Granger swept out the front door into the snow and Mrs. Weasley slipped back into the living room. "Hey, Hermione? Want to go see the sock shrine? It's rather silly. I want to know if you think Ginny's stalking me or not..." It was sick, really. Harry was practically her big brother, after all, Ron frowned.

But, instead of going along to add his opinions of the whole matter, he dutifully peeked around the corner into the living room. His mum and dad were sitting on the sofa, showing off baby pictures to Remus - probably Bill's, as Ron's eldest brother was sitting nearby with his cheeks (and ears) flaming red in embarrassment. "It's too bad the house at Godric's Hollow was destroyed," Remus was saying. "I wish I still had the picture Lily took of Harry - in the buff, of course - lying on this horrid, furry rug. It would be perfect to whip out and show to his first girlfriend."

"Um, Dad?" he said softly, grabbing everyone's attention - and probably saving Harry from more humiliation in the process. "I was talking to Charlie this afternoon about what happened the other day... and he said there was something that you needed to tell me..."

His parents exchaned pointed glances - Mr. Weasley's face turned a pale white while Mrs. Weasley looked both resigned and near tears. "It's past time he knew, Arthur," she murmured. Remus looked on in some sort of comprehension, while Bill was as white as a ghost - worse, even, than his father. "It's time they all knew..."

"Right," he replied softly. "I'll tell them... you shouldn't have to go through it again, Molls... but let me do it my way?" Mrs. Weasley nodded and turned back to Bill and Remus while Mr. Weasley climbed to his feet. "C'mon Ron, let's go talk in the kitchen? I think everyone else is upstairs."

Surprisingly, Mr. Weasley was right. Usually, the kitchen was the center of the Weasley household, filled with someone cooking up an afternoon snack or doing work on the kitchen table. Empty, however, it made the whole conversation to come seem even more serious. Mr. Weasley sat and gestured for Ron to join him. "This is about the job, of course? What did Charlie tell you?"

"He said you had a good reason for not taking it. I couldn't imagine one," Ron blurted out. He knew he wasn't very good at handling his emotions, but the sudden wince on his father's face was enough to tell him that he'd gone a little too far with being up front about things. Ron blushed and took his seat, lapsing into silence.

"This is a very difficult story to tell," Mr. Weasley began, loosely clasping his hands together on the table before him. "It's not been told since the months after it happened, in October of 1975. Bill was off in his first year at Hogwarts, already being tutored by Remus, I think. Charlie was only nine years old. Your mum was six months pregnant with Percy. I had been Head of the Department of Misususe of Muggle Artifacts for three years. And You-Know-Who was reaching the very height of his power and influence."

"I know," Ron butted in impatiently. He was never one to listen to stories - he liked to tell them, and usually star in them, as he'd gotten to after being a hostage in the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. "Charlie told me all that. Why is it so important when it happened?"

Ron grew silent under his father's frown of disapproval. "Please, Ronald. This will be hard enough to relive without you snapping at me, alright? Now..." Mr. Weasley went back to staring at his hands. "Firstly, you need to learn a bit more about my family, and about someone else's family, too. I don't like to talk about them, mostly because of this event, but... I was the youngest of three. The eldest was Ronald, your namesake. He never married. The middle child was Morgainne."

"She married a Dark Wizard, right?" That was one of Ron's favourite tidbits of family lore - the dark secret of the Weasley clan.

"Oh, yes, a Dark Wizard... a very Dark Wizard, as Dark as they come. An early follower of You-Know-Who, I've been told. After all that happened to your sister her first year, I went to the Archives and did a bit of research about the man that the Dark Lord used to be, and the Dark Wizard your Aunt Morgainne married was a good friend of Riddle in school. They were in Slytherin together, a few years apart. And this Dark Wizard was the forgotten branch of the family tree of a family we know very well. His name was Julius Potter."

At that, Ron couldn't help but gape. "Harry's grandad, then? That would make him a cousin! Right? Why isn't he living with us?"

Mr. Weasley chuckled. "No, not exactly a cousin... though we did offer to take him in, in 1981. Julius wasn't Harry's grandfather. Henry Potter was; a very respected Light Wizard who just happened to be the last son of a line of Dark Wizards stretching back into the eighteenth century. Henry married twice - the first marriage occurred after an.. indiscresion at Hogwarts that left him a married father at eighteen. His wife was a Nott, and the child was Julius, born in... it must have been 1932. He was a year ahead of Ronald at Hogwarts. Henry Potter's first wife was most definitely a Dark Witch, and she died in a rather mysterious accident. Most think that the Aurors got her, as she was practicing an Unforgivable, but I think her family killed her to rectify the disgrace of her having married a Light and Muggle-loving Gryffindor. Henry remarried Mercy Ross, a very nice woman who wasn't much older than Julius, and they had two sons together while Henry worked as an Unspeakable. Quite a remarkable man, Henry was..."

"You should be telling this to Harry," Ron murmured. "He knows nothing about his dad's family... they were all Dark Wizards?"

Mr. Weasley nodded slowly. "All but Henry and James. A Potter was at Grindelwald's side... a Potter rode by the Dark Lord Nero LeFay when he tried to take London in 1899... only Henry and James ended up on the side of Light. It's likely why Harry was never told. It's certainly why everyone seemed so eager to believe that Harry could be the Heir of Slytherin or that he'd murdered Cedric Diggory... because his family had a reputation for the Darkest of deeds. Julius, Morgainne, and James' elder brother, Henry, Jr., all died in the service of the Death Eaters."

"Wow." Ron sat back in his chair, sparing a glance at the door. Harry's family was Dark? Maybe he shouldn't know. It was enough that he was connected with Lord Voldemort against his will.

"Yes, well," Mr. Weasley went on, "interesting family lore aside, my father approved of Morgainne's match - though the Potters were Dark, they were also respected and rich - while my marrying into the poor Irish family your mother was borne of, no matter how great they'd once been, was looked down upon. My da and I had a quarrell, my brother got involved, and it ended in Ronald and myself being struck from the inheritance. I married your mum anyways, of course. Bill and Charlie were born in 1964 and 1966... and in 1970, your mum got pregnant again, rather unexpectedly. We hadn't planned to have another child."

Ron did the math, and it came out wrong. "Wait... Percy was born in 1976..."

"In April of 1971," Mr. Weasley continued, staring blankly out the window over the frozen ground, "our first daughter was born. Deborah Morgainne, we called her. Deborah, in order to continue on your mum's silly wish for alphabetical order... and Morgainne both to make your aunt notice our need and for my love of the stories of King Arthur. Bill, Charles, Edmund Percival (for my da, but we liked Percy better), Frederick, George... then Ronald for my brother and Guinevere Elaine to finish the lot. Did you ever wonder why, until you were born, the others were in alphabetical order? It's very silly... your mum saw this Muggle movie with her Squib cousin, the one in -"

"Dad, the point?" Ron butted in. "We have silly names... so what about Deborah?"

Mr. Weasley nodded. 'Yes, the point, sorry... Debbie was born in 1971. Percy was next. But in 1975, things started to happen to us. We'd managed to catch your Aunt Morgainne's fancy by naming Debbie for her. She'd inherited when Da died in 1969, and was content to give a bit of money now and again when Ronald and I begged hard enough."

Ron frowned. "I'm glad I never met her. She sounds like a Malfoy."

His dad gave a snort. "Worse. She was married to Julius Potter, the original right hand of You-Know-Who! I should've known better than to remain connected to her... I should've known not to be indebted to a Dark Wizard..." He sighed. "Should've. But then, in 1975, after the Head of the Department of Internal Affairs died very mysteriously and very painfully, it was offered to me - me, the head of one of the most junior departments - on a silver platter."

"But you didn't take it?"

"The silver platter had a very big and very important string attatched. You see, Julius Potter himself murdered the Head of Internal Affairs to open the position for whomever the Dark Lord saw fit to appoint. The Ministry, in those days, was in the very hands of You-Know-Who; a fact they try very hard to ignore now. The morning I was offered the appointment, Julius appeared in my office and told me that I could be the Head of Internal Affairs... so long as I did exactly as I was told. That meant keeping silent about whatever Julius and Morgainne chose to do... but it also meant that I'd have to be loyal first to the Dark Lord." He sighed again. "Of course I refused. Me? A Death Eater? Ridiculous. I had no intention of going Dark. Morgainne was a fool to give in to it. However, refusing the command of the Dark Lord used to have very dire consequences. Gene Guffery, the former Head of Internal Affairs, had done just that - and he ended up dead."

Mr. Weasley lapsed into silence and Ron waited with bated breath for the continuation of the tale. It was amazing - his own father, lured toward the Dark! His aunt married to a Potter - and a Death Eating Potter at that! Why hadn't he told everyone this before? It was exciting! What could possibly be so terrible about his dad coming out ahead of the Dark Lord himself?

But then Ron realized that his father was crying silently. "Molly had gone out to get Charlie new shoes with some of the money Morgainne gave us. My brother came to our home - it wasn't the Burrow, then, it was a little house in Chipping Sodbury - to watch over Debbie. Molly didn't want to drag a four-year-old shopping when there was nothing to be bought for Debbie. So that day - it was October 17^th. I'll never forget it... Ronald was watching Deborah. And I told Julius straight to his face that I'd never take the damned job, and I'd never serve that bastard - and he was livid, he told me that I'd regret my choice... he Apparated out of the office... I should've known..."

"Known what?" Ron whispered. He was almost afraid to hear, but he was thoroughly caught in the web of the tale.

He was crying harder. Sometimes it was hard to understand him. "Julius left. I went back to work... but an Auror showed up in my office, just a little later - he said it was an emergency - I Apparated home, and it was THERE, over MY HOUSE." And Mr. Weasley choked on his worse, buried his face in his hands, and wept.

Ron was at a loss for a moment before everything finally took shape in his mind. The Dark Mark above his home, just like the one hovering over the forest at the World Cup. Green, sinister, the skull and snake above Chipping Sodbury... "And Uncle Ron and Deborah were both dead when you got home," Ron murmured.

"My fault..." Mr. Weasley choked through his sobs. "If I'd said yes... They were... he tortured them! Gods, she was only four years old!"

"Dad," Ron whispered, "You don't have to keep talking." He scooted closer and hugged his father the same way he'd held Harry as he cried the night before.

He shook his head and kept talking. "You need to know. In the post, the next morning, there was a letter from HIM... it said if I fought back, he'd take Charlie next! If I made a single move against him... if I did anything at all... Charlie first, and then Bill..."

The story suddenly seemed a great deal less exciting, when living brothers were involved. But a few more things started to click into place. "So you didn't know what was meant by fighting back?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head mournfully. "I promised never... never to put my family in danger again. Never fought, never took a more important job... he might think anything was a threat! Even after 1981... we thought he was gone, but I was still so frightened..." He wiped his face with his sleeve. "You understand which him, right? HIM. You-Know-Who himself said it. And in the next June, Julius and Morgainne did something to make him angry. And Julius died for it, and Morgainne died for it, and their son, Thomas, died for it... and I realized just how lucky we had been. We were so lucky, Ron... I should've died for what I said, and your mum, and Charlie, and Bill, and Percy... We were so lucky to only lose two... and I'll stay poor and insignificant in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts until I die, because it means that we're not a threat! Only those who are a threat end up dead with the Mark over their house!"

"Harry's a threat," Ron whispered, suddenly very much more aware of what it actually meant to be the best friend of the Boy Who Lived. "And if Harry's a threat... I might be one, too."

"And I'll do nothing to brighten the spotlight on any of you," his dad whispered back. Ron was crushed into a hug. "I am so proud of you. You've been a friend to a very dangerous person. You've faced danger and proved how brave you are. But Lord help me... I won't bury another child..."

And Ron's dad trailed off, planting a kiss on his forehead. Normally, Ron would've pulled away in embarrassment - but that day, he hugged back. He understood, even if only temporarily, just what his father had given up to make sure of his family's security. It might've looked like an act made in fear, but he'd talked back to the right hand of You-Know-Who and sacrificed everything. He gave up his very dreams. And it was Ron's dad who had done it, no one else.

That day, Ron was very proud to be a Weasley.