Tenterhooks

Tenterhooks

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July following Goblet of Fire

'I'm not going mad, am I?' asked Arthur Weasley. 'Ron is going to be sixteen next March, isn't he?' He had to raise his voice, since the breakfast plates were washing themselves up in the sink.

'Of course he is,' replied Molly. 'Why ask? Why do you think you're going mad?'

'I'm sure that Hogwarts still sends pupils home with permission forms for contraceptive potions when they're about to turn sixteen.' He looked out of the kitchen window, to where Ron was messing about with the twins in the field behind the house, 'Ron hasn't said anything about it. Maybe I should mention it to him.'

'Wouldn't you have been embarrassed if your father had brought it up?'

Arthur frowned, remembering. 'Maybe I'd have got mine signed properly, instead of forging his signature.'

Molly waved her wand, putting away the plates, brought two cups of tea over to the kitchen table, and sat down next to her husband. 'There you are, then. If you think that would be what happened, instead of just being embarrassed, why not talk to him?'

'I wonder if he's already forged my signature. Or maybe he just decided he won't need the potion. Has he ever mentioned any girl to you?'

'Only Hermione -- and I think she's more likely to fall for Harry. I think she would be good for Ron though. But no, he's never mentioned any girl and romance; he and Hermione just seem to be friends.'

Both were quiet for a moment, thinking about this, then Molly spoke again. 'You know, this is the first time we've talked about those permission slips since we were the students getting them signed?'

Arthur laughed. 'It is, isn't it?'

'What happened when the older boys brought theirs home?'

Arthur considered his sons. 'Bill was quite straightforward about it -- he just handed it to me while he took his trunk upstairs, and then came back down to tell me the name of the girl he was going to want to get the potion for. I can't remember her name now. I signed it, of course. I think I was more embarrassed about it than he was.'

'They didn't stay together, anyway,' sighed Molly.

'Charlie talked to me about his Quidditch training and the House games, in great detail, and he finally said that he had other interests than Quidditch, blushed, told me her name, and handed me the form. I'd been half-expecting it anyway, so I wasn't so embarrassed as with Bill.'

'OK, so you signed it. You've forgotten her name, too, haven't you? Anyway, they didn't last either.'

'Percy never did ask me. I eventually asked him, a year later, if he had been given the permission slip, and he went all red and muttered something about the school encouraging "entirely inappropriate behaviour". He's probably too shy to ever mention the subject to Penelope. Or maybe he's waiting for the Ministry to produce a form in triplicate requesting the potions.'

Molly laughed, then said more thoughtfully, 'I'm still hoping he and Penelope are going to stay engaged for more than a month, and maybe even marry. We've got three sons who've left school now and got jobs, and we're no nearer having grandchildren. You don't think we've put them off the idea by having such a big family?'

Arthur reached over and hugged her. 'No, they must realise it's not compulsory!'

'I suppose they do. Well, what happened with the twins?'

'They never asked me either. I always suspected they forged my signature on their forms, knowing them. I didn't want to ask them and find out it was true.' He grinned wryly. 'It's not as though I could take the moral high ground, after forging my father's signature.'

'I can imagine they'd do that. Well, and now Ron hasn't asked you yet.' She sighed. 'Next year, Ginny will have one of these forms too. But will she actually ask us to sign it, forge a signature, or decide not to bother, like Percy?'

'Does she still have her crush on Harry?'

'I think so. It's hard to get over a crush on someone who rescues you from You-Know-Who and a Basilisk. Especially if you get to know him as a real person when he stays with Ron in the summer, and you spend all your free time in the Gryffindor common room together.'

Arthur laughed. 'I suppose it is.' He drank a bit more of his tea. 'How do you really feel about Ginny having one of these forms? It's not quite the same for girls as it is for boys.'

Molly sighed. 'No, it's not. But I hope she would take a dose of potion if she was going to sleep with any boys. I can't really say to her, "Wait until you're married!", can I? I didn't. We haven't said it to any of the boys, either.'

'Naughty Molly,' teased Arthur. 'I remember what you were like at school.'

She laughed at him. 'Good! I'd hate to think you'd forgotten what we got up to!' She sighed. 'And now our youngest child is almost as old as we were then.' Both were quiet for a few minutes.

Arthur broke the silence. 'I like Harry, and I know you do too; but he's a year older than Ginny, and that's quite a lot at that age. I also don't want to see her hurt.'

'A year older? Have you ever looked at the calendar?'

'What?' he asked, bemused.

'Ron is a bit more than five months younger than Hermione, and we wouldn't mind if they got together. Harry's birthday is at the end of July -- Ginny's is in the middle of January. He's less than six months older than her.'

'Oh. I don't think I knew when Hermione's birthday was. I should have remembered Harry's in July though. All right, so it's just that they're in different school years, so it feels as if he's a year older than her, and Ron and Hermione feel as though they're the same age.' He drank some more of his tea. 'But I still don't want to see her hurt.'

'Of course not. I don't think Harry would deliberately do anything to hurt her. Though he might hurt her, if he falls for another girl -- like Hermione. I know he told me she wasn't his girlfriend, during the Tournament, but they do spend so much time together. Maybe he just hasn't really noticed her yet.'

'I didn't mean anything deliberate. I don't think he'd ever want to hurt her, either,' said Arthur.

'Then what did you mean?'

'Well, he's Harry Potter. And now You-Know-Who is back. Even before he was back, he tried to kill Harry twice, and he's tried once more since. It's like those calendar lists we get from Hogwarts every year.'

Molly looked blank. Arthur clarified. 'You know, the lists that tell us when all the terms for the year start and end, and list the school events -- the Quidditch matches, the award of the Quidditch and House Cups, and last year the Tournament tasks.'

'Yes, I do read them. But what's that got to do with Harry?'

Arthur sighed. 'I keep expecting them to add a new annual event -- "June 16th: You-Know-Who attempts to kill Harry Potter".'

Molly glared at him. 'That's not funny!'

'No, it's just true. I know Ron doesn't tell us much detail, to protect us I suppose, but if you listen carefully and ask the twins as well, you realise that Harry's life has been threatened at least once, every single year since he started at Hogwarts.'

'I know,' said Molly quietly, 'the poor boy has had a lot to cope with in his life.'

'That's what I meant about not wanting to see Ginny hurt. I'm sure Harry wouldn't hurt her on purpose, but how would she react if he died? We have to face that -- it could happen. I hope it doesn't, of course. Even if he's OK, if You-Know-Who thinks Ginny's his girlfriend, mightn't he attack her?'

'Dumbledore will see that they're protected,' said Molly, sounding less certain than she'd intended.

'What happens when they leave school? For that matter, was it coincidence that Hermione was one of the four pupils that were Petrified when the Chamber of Secrets was opened? Dumbledore was right there in the school when that happened.'

'We said we'd never bring that up again.'

'Ginny's not in the room. You can't ignore this. Hermione's only alive because she knew what the monster was, and used a mirror to check where she was going. She could have died, and so could Harry. We thought Ginny had died.'

Molly nodded. 'We thought the worst was over when Harry and Ron brought Ginny back into McGonagall's office. Maybe it's only just beginning.'

The following February

Arthur opened the morning's owl post at the kitchen table, and suddenly laughed at one of the letters.

'What's funny?' asked Molly.

'Do you remember last summer, when I was wondering whether Ron had one of those Nonpater permission slips?'

'Yes. You weren't sure if he'd forged your signature or decided he wasn't interested enough in any girl to get it signed, right?'

'That's right,' confirmed Arthur. 'Well, he didn't forge a signature on it. He just thought he wouldn't need it.'

'How do you know?'

Arthur passed her the small slip of parchment enclosed in the letter he was looking at.

'Oh! What does he say in the letter then? Does he want it signed now?'

'Yes, he does. I wonder what happened on Valentine's Day.'

Molly laughed. 'Oh, yes! Two days after that, he suddenly wants to be able to get Nonpater potion next month.' She smiled at Arthur. 'Does he say anything about who he's interested in?'

'No hint at all. "Dear Dad, I got this last year but didn't think I would need it, so I didn't tell you",' he read. '"Since I'm going to be sixteen in two weeks, I thought maybe I should get it signed -- just in case. Love, Ron." -- no mention of what might have happened on Valentine's Day, and nothing about any girl.'

'What do you think though? Is he really just getting it signed in case, and because he's nearly old enough?' asked Molly.

'I suppose it's possible. I think it probably does have something to do with Valentine's Day, and with one particular girl, though. Do you think it might be Hermione?'

'I like Hermione. I'd like to think she might like Ron, too. But, even though he's my own child, I don't think he can compete with Harry. It's a shame for Ginny though.'

Arthur nodded. 'Well, pass it back and I'll sign it. It wouldn't be fair to stop him having any sort of love-life, just because he was too honest to forge my signature.'

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