I Saw My Lady Weep

Chapter 25: In The Flies And Rats...

Dinner wasn't a complete disaster. At least Harry could say that. It wasn't precisely the warm, friendly, hale-fellow-well-met affairs that Weasley family dinners usually were, but then, perhaps he wasn't looking for one of those. Molly had apparently been talking to her sons; except for Ron, who was his usual friendly, goofy self, and George, who was at least not hostile, Harry had received the cold-shoulder from Ginny's other brothers. They weren't actively hostile... no, Molly wouldn't have done that to Harry... but they were far more distant than they had ever been. The Burrow, for the first time in his life, didn't feel like home.

Harry stared into his pumpkin juice and sighed. Intellectually, he knew that things were all going to change now that they were all grown up, but emotionally... even with everything he'd been saying to Ginny all day... it hadn't caught up to him. Not until he gave Bill Weasley a friendly smile and a wave and got a blank, almost indifferent stare in return. Percy had been even more stiffly formal than usual, if that was possible, while Molly herself hadn't said one word to Harry past 'Good Evening' all night. Arthur himself had looked extremely uncomfortable, but was at least congenial.

Most of the rest of the party had moved inside already. He stayed outside, sitting at the empty table, thinking, while Ginny made an attempt at peacemaking by helping her mother with the dishes. It was enough to make me wonder why I came to dinner at all, Harry thought to himself. He leaned as far back in his chair as he could, put his hands behind his head, and stared up at the stars. It took moving away from the electrified world of Muggles to get me to notice the stars again...

"Zey blame you, I theenk." Harry's reverie was ended by Fleur's voice.

He lowered his chair to all four feet and smiled at her. "Evening, Fleur. It's nice to know someone is still talking to me." Earlier Harry was so interested in not making waves he hadn't said two words to anyone, once he caught the mood of the room. Not that anyone had tried talking to him...

"Oui, eet ees not good, being un etranger by ze pipple 'oo yoo taught were votre famile." Fleur put a wineglass in front of Harry. The bottle was placed on the table between them as she sat down. "Try zees... eet ees from ze vineyard of mon pere. 'e sent Beel and me sev'rall. Eet ees good."

"Thank you." He picked the wineglass up and tried a sip. He wasn't really a wine person, but it was certainly an interesting taste. "So... did you find out exactly for what I was being blamed? Or is it just general 'I'm corrupting their daughter' thing?"

Fleur rolled her eyes and smiled. Once upon a time, Fleur's smile would have made Harry feel a bit weak in the knees... it surprised him how little it affected him now.

"You 'ave déshonneur de leur fille, Madame Weezley, she theenk." It took Harry a moment to run that through what little French he knew.

"Dishonored their daughter?"

"Oui! Zat ees what I said," Fleur laughed. "Yoo should not take eet so..." She waved her hands in front of her, searching for the word.

"Seriously?"

"Oui. Arthur, 'e will breeng Molly aroun'."

"One hopes." There was a clink of glass as Ron stepped out of the shadow and put his glass down. He took a seat next to Fleur. "May I?" Without waiting for an answer, Ron half-filled his glass with wine. Ron took a sip. "Fleur, tell your Dad that this is good stuff."

"Sank yoo, Ron," Fleur replied. It was obvious to her... to anyone... that Ron wouldn't know good wine from Bubotuber pus, but the boy was trying.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Inside, keeping Ginny from murdering our mother." Ron took another sip.

Harry stood up. "I'd better..."

"Seet back down." Fleur stood from her own chair and had a hand on each of Harry's shoulders. "Yoo do not wan' to go in zhere."

"She's right... you'd get killed. Stay out here with the rest of us refugees." Ron leaned back in his chair. "Isn't the sky pretty tonight? I love looking at the stars. They're just so... majestic."

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join?" A voice came from the darkness. It was Audrey, Percy's girlfriend. As Harry peered into the shadow, both she and Percy approached the table. Like Ron, they sat down and poured themselves a drink.

"I should 'ave brought more bottles," Fleur grinned.

"So... Harry..." Percy began. "The word around the office is that Minister Shacklebolt has talked you into joining the Aurors. Is it true?" Percy gave Harry a quick smile. It was, in fact, a smile that Harry hadn't seen on Percy's face since Harry's first year, just after he'd been sorted into Gryffindor.

"Yeah... Kingsley said he wanted me to join. He said I'd need to take some training, but that he was waiving my N.E.W.T.S."

"Life experience, I suppose?" Percy took a sip of the wine. "Fleur, this is excellent..."

"That's what Kingsley said. I just hope his faith in me isn't misplaced."

"Doubtful. You did take down the worst Dark Wizard the world has seen since Grindelwald." Percy held a hand out to Harry. "I'm sure you'll do fine. And... I'd like to apologize for the family."

Ron nearly choked on his drink. "Perce... you've been giving him the evil eye all evening."

"And now I'm apologizing. Audrey and I were inside, and we listened to what Ginny was saying to Mum. And the way you are being treated is just wrong." Percy's hand hadn't been withdrawn. "You aren't being treated very well by us right now. It's not right. As a family, we owe you too much. Me especially... I was a real toad to you for the longest time. I wish I could take it back, but all I can do is make up for it."

Harry leaned forward and shook Percy's hand. "Thanks, Percy."

"What does he mean about being a toad?" Audrey asked. Percy got real quiet. Harry looked to Ron, who looked to Fleur, who looked back to Harry.

"It's water under the bridge, Audrey. Percy and I had... a disagreement," Harry explained. "For a couple of years that sort of put us at sixes and sevens. You know the sort... we're each convinced we're right and refuse to see that the other bloke had a point too. But we're past it."

Percy looked up at this, but said nothing. Audrey just nodded.

"This was when he wasn't talking to his family?" She asked.

"Yeah. But it's old news, now," Ron added.

"So, what were Ginny and Molly discussing, as if I had to guess?" Harry asked.

Hermione's voice came out of the darkness. "They are discussing Ginny's future living conditions." She pulled a chair around the table and sat next to Ron when Fleur scooted over.

"How's she holding up?" Harry asked. He hoped he wasn't doing the wrong thing by leaving her in there alone.

"She's actually doing pretty well. Bill, Arthur, and George are all staying out of it. I think Bill wants to say something, but Arthur is keeping him shut. George is just watching right now. I think he's making sure Ginny doesn't get ganged up upon, actually. And I think he was up in her room packing her stuff for her earlier."

Hermione took a sip from Ron's glass. "Est-ce que c'est de la vigne de votre père?" She asked Fleur.

Fleur smiled in response. "Oui! Mon père nou s'envoyé cinq bouteilles. Je souhaite que nous ayons apporté plus au diner."

"C'aurait été une excellente idée." Hermione took another sip, then looked around at the rest of the table. Everyone was grinning at her. "What?"

Harry merely held up his hands. "Nothing at all."

Percy stared up at the sky, as entranced by the stars as the others. "Ginny's really not going back to school, is she?"

Harry shook his head. "No. She's made that abundantly clear, I think. She feels it's too painful for her. I can't say I blame her."

Percy nodded. "Does she... has she ever told you what she wanted to do with her life?"

XxxxxxX

They'd been at it for almost two hours, and it was beginning to get repetitive. Every time Ginny made a point, Molly brought it all back to the same things. "I don't care, Ginny... I'm not letting my only daughter live like some..."

"Mum, I swear to Merlin if you say 'scarlet woman' one more time, I'm going to scream. Do you even know how old-fashioned you sound?" Ginny sat down and crossed her arms across her chest. The frustration she felt was visible on her face.

"But how would it look, Ginny?" Molly asked, trying to at least sound reasonable.

"How would it look to whom, Mother?" Ginny shot back. "Who exactly are these mysterious people waiting to embarrass you over the fact that your daughter and her fiancé are living together? Who?"

"I... Well... It's just not proper! It's... it's... sinful!"

"Mum... did you have this same conversation with Ron? He's been 'sinful' with Hermione for over a year... are you complaining to him, too?" Ginny pushed her hair back away from her face.

"Of course not, Ginny... he's a boy!" Molly replied. "It's not the same thing at all!"

"Mum! Do you know how insulting that is? Do you realize how... how... That's a double-standard! It's okay for your youngest son to live in sin with his 'scarlet woman', but Merlin forefend your daughter move in with her future husband lest some mysterious 'them' take note of it and ruin your good name."

"But... if you only waited until you were married..." Molly said.

"It's funny you should mention that, actually... I told Harry I wanted to elope. I wanted to get married on Monday."

"Monday!" The shock on Molly's face was mirrored on Arthur, Bill, and George's face. "That's too fast, Ginny!"

"Yeah, that's what Harry said."

"Harry..." Molly's face grew sour. "This is all his..."

"Mum, please don't finish that sentence. None of this is his fault. None of this is his idea. If you want to blame anyone for this, blame me." Ginny was adamant, but Molly still scoffed.

"I bet it was all your idea. I'm sure he was innocent in all of this. He did nothing whatsoever to cause you to just jump into a bed with him, under my own roof, even!" Molly wagged a finger at her daughter.

"You're right... he did do something. He passed out drunk while I was walking up the stairs with him. You might remember that night... Percy didn't even make it to the stairs; he slept on a couch that night. And Bill..." Ginny turned her attention to her older brother "... remind us, Bill, of where you slept that night?"

Bill was silent, but at least he had the good grace to look embarrassed.

"Not saying much, Bill? Wasn't it under the kitchen table?" Ginny smirked. "You didn't even make it into the sitting room and a couch. So I was only able to get Harry part-way up the stair. You've had lots of chances to say something about that, and didn't. So you've lost your chance, Mum."

Molly waved it away as if unimportant. "Moving in with a boy you're not married to... not going back to school... and don't think I haven't forgotten about that either, Ginny. What you intend to do with your life without a proper education... you'll never get a good job..."

"Mum, you do realize that if I marry Harry, I'll never really have to work another day in my life, right? You do realize that?" Ginny rolled her eyes. "Neither of us would."

Molly was quiet for a while. When she finally spoke, it was with a suspicious calmness. "I never thought I'd see the day when my daughter became a gold-digger."

That was enough for Ginny. She stood up, furious at long last. "Mum, I'm tired of this. I don't want to do it with a bad feeling from arguing with you all night. I'm trying to actually talk to you about my life, but if all you can do is insult me and say nasty things about me, I'm going home."

Molly's eyes widened. She sat down heavily into a seat, as if all the energy were drawn out of her. "Ginny... what do you mean? You are home..."

"No, Mum, my home is with Harry now. I love you, but I'm going to be with him from now on," Ginny sighed and sat back down next to her mother. "I don't want us to fight, Mum. I want you to be happy for me, and with me. Because I'm happy, don't you see that? Harry makes me happy."

Molly sat down next to Ginny. She had tears welling up in her eyes. "I just... You're my baby, Ginny. I don't know if I can lose you, too. It just seems like all too much. I don't want to lose my family..."

"We're not losing her, Mollywobbles." Arthur stepped behind his wife and put his hands on her shoulders. "She's always going to be our baby... it's just time for us to realize that while she's our baby, she's not a baby any longer."

Ginny leaned over to her mother and gave Molly as big and as strong a hug as she was capable of. "Mum, it's okay. We're not... we're not dying. We're just growing up. It's time you let us do that. For the first time in a very long time, I'm not only happy, I'm content. I've found the man I love more than anything else in the world. I want you to be happy for me."

"But what about... what about becoming a Healer? You've always wanted to..."

"No, Mum... you've always wanted me to become a Healer. I don't think I've wanted to be a Healer since I stopped listening to that soap opera with you on the wireless. That was always your dream for me, not my dream for me." Ginny leaned back and took one of her mother's hands. "We all have to get a chance to do what we want to do, Mum. Bill always wanted to be a curse-breaker; so what does he do for a living? He's a curse-breaker." Ginny gave her mother's hand a squeeze. "Charlie's been nuts for dragons his entire life. Percy wanted to work in government; and what is he, now; Deputy Undersecretary for International Magical Cooperation or something? George and... Fred... wanted to be professional pranksters and they... George... is the next best thing. Even Ron sort of got to be an Auror, if you count everything he did with Harry and Hermione against V-Voldemort. So now it's my turn to do what I want to do."

"And what do you want to do, Ginny? Do you even know?" Molly wiped tears away from her eyes.

"Yeah, I know what I want to do," Ginny nodded. "What I really want to do with the rest of my life is... I want to be with Harry. I think I'd be good at it. I want making him happy to be my job."

Arthur chuckled. At everyone's glance, he just waved it away. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Ginny," Molly began. "That's not a job. I know Harry is as rich as Croesus, but I think it's only right that you have some career..."

Ginny was silent for a while. "Well... yeah... I know what I always wanted to do for a career..."

Molly grinned. "You see! You're going to need your N.E.W.T.S. then." Her grin took on a smug quality.

"Not really, Mum." Ginny smiled back. "Most professional Quidditch teams only look at athletic talent, not academic achievement."

"Quidditch?" Molly was stunned. "You want to play Quidditch? Professionally?"

"Yeah. I think I'm good enough for it." Ginny's smile widened. "I'm as good on a broom as Charlie... maybe better. And he was scouted by the Tornadoes."

Bill interrupted. "And how do you propose to get a try-out?"

Ginny shrugged. "I don't know yet. I'm still working on it."

"Well," Molly sniffed. "I suppose if that's what you want to do for the rest of your life..."

"It's not all I want to do, Mum. It's just what I want to do right now," Ginny smiled.

Molly smiled back. "I don't... I'm sorry, I... Forgive me?"

"Of course, Mum. You're my Mum, after all... the only one I ever get. I have to forgive you." Ginny turned her attention to Bill and her voice took on a metallic edge. "Of course, I'm not the one who has been treated like a leper all evening, have I?"