Augury & Ardor

,b>Author's Notes: Once again, I'd like to thank those readers who take the time to review after reading. Your comments are a treat and your thoughts are a pleasure to read. Thank you, one and all.

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“I want to see her.” Harry’s tone was mutinous.


“Don’t you think I want to, too?” Ron asked, kicking a discarded Fanged Frisbee half hidden under the bed. He paced to the wall and turned to pace back. “We all do.”


Harry continued to glare at the ceiling from his position on the bed. “Aren’t you angry? How could they have kept all of this from us? Dumbledore alive. Knowing where Hermione was the whole time and leaving her to…with that repulsive…” he broke off with a growl of disgust.


“’Course I’m angry,” Ron yelled, throwing up his hands. “Wasn’t your parents who kept it from you, was it?”


“Shh,” Ginny admonished. Her arms were crossed and her brow furrowed. “Try to remember there’s a baby in the house.”


“How could I forget?” Harry returned, his face twisted with revulsion.


Ginny sighed and turned from the rain-spattered window. “Ron, Mum and Dad didn’t know about Professor Dumbledore themselves until just recently, you know.”


“Yeah, but they knew about Hermione, didn’t they,” Ron said, his face blotched with angry red patches.


“Well, yes,” she agreed reluctantly. She, too, was angry at being left in the dark, but not as furious as Harry and Ron.


“They act as if we’re still children,” Ron fumed to Harry.


“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m of age, too,” Ginny said in sharp reminder, “and, yet I’m the only one acting it.”


“What do you mean?” Harry asked in affront as he sat up.


“You two have been acting like cranky toddlers since we got the news,” Ginny replied. “It’s frustrating we weren’t told, but fuming about it is a waste of time.”


“Easy for you to say,” Harry rounded. “Ron and I are old enough to risk our necks searching for the remaining Horcruxes, but too young to know about Hermione and Dumbledore?”


“Not too young,” Ginny replied, her tone prim, “too immature.” While Harry gaped at her reply, she turned to Ron. “What good would it have done if we’d known?” Without waiting for either of them to reply, she continued, “I’ll tell you - none. It would’ve distracted you and Harry when you needed to focus the most. With the other side out there rallying an army of Death Eaters, werewolves, Dementors and perhaps worse, it’s everyone’s job to do what’s most helpful to the cause.”


“But -”


Holding a hand up to quiet her brother, Ginny continued, “If you two had known what was going on with Hermione, you’d have abandoned your search and never found that last Horcrux. With Slytherin’s locket and, now, Hufflepuff’s cup restored to their original states, that leaves only three. Each time one is found, we have a better chance of destroying Voldemort once and for all.”


“Ginny!” Ron squeaked.


“For pity’s sake, Ron,” Ginny exclaimed in exasperation, “isn’t it time we were able to say his name without trembling like first years? That bastard is trying to kill my boyfriend; the least I can do is find the courage to say his name.”


“I’m not your -” Harry began, only to be cut off by Ginny’s angry glare.


“You are no matter what you say,” she snapped. “I haven’t so much as danced with a boy this year and everyone knows why even if you want to pretend differently.”


Harry sighed and shook his head, but couldn’t hide the pleased expression that crossed his face.


Ginny turned back to Ron. Lowering her voice, she stated in a matter of fact tone, “Besides, it had to happen, so trying to interfere would have been disastrous.” At the looks of confusion on the boys’ faces, she explained, “I’m not saying how I found out, but I happen to know all this with Hermione was prophesied.”


“By whom?” Ron asked suspiciously.


“Trelawney.” Ginny’s fierce gaze shut Ron’s mouth before he could reply. “No, not one of her knobheaded predictions - a real one. Like the one about Harry and Vol- You Know Who,” she finished, rolling her eyes at Ron’s sharp expression. “From what I heard Dad tell Mum, the prophecy said Hermione would marry and lose her virginity to a Death Eater -”


“They’re married?” Ron exploded, his face going deathly pale.


“If you’re going to pitch a wobbly,” Ginny bit off, her voice low but steely, “you can forget me telling you anything else.”


“You – you’re kidding, right?” Harry asked, sounding nauseated. “They’re not really married…”


“Yes,” Ginny hissed, “according to Dad, who had it from Professor McGonagall, who had it directly from Professor Snape.”


“She married him?” Ron repeated, the pale cast to his face turning slightly green.


“She wouldn’t have had a choice, would she?” Ginny hissed. “Look, that’s neither here nor there. The point is, according to the prophecy, she’d have a child who would defeat Harry and bring You Know Who to power.”


“And that’s supposed to make us feel better because we didn’t save her?” Harry snapped, shooting to his feet. He ran a hand through his hair as he walked to the door, hesitated, and then walked back. “Now it’s too late! They let it happen just like the prophecy said!”


“No, Harry,” Ginny replied, walking over to him, “instead of letting her go to a Death Eater, Professor Snape stepped in.”


“He is a Death Eater, and one of the worst. He’s a back-stabbing, murdering bastard, that one!” Harry spit out.


“Harry!” Ginny said, grasping his arm to break through his haze of anger. “You’re forgetting! Professor Dumbledore isn’t dead. Professor Snape did cast the Killing Curse on him, true, but only because he’d been bound by his vow.”


“Yeah!” Harry bit out. “If he’s such a good guy, why would he have made an Unbreakable Vow with a Malfoy?”


“You heard what Professor Dumbledore said. Professor Snape had to appear loyal to that side.” When Harry snorted, Ginny clicked her tongue and continued stubbornly, “But that’s not the vow I was talking about. Professor Snape made a vow to Dumbledore, too.”


“What, to Ki>kill him?” Ron scoffed.


“Precisely,” Ginny replied, smiling as both boys gaped at her. “When Professor Snape went to Professor Dumbledore and told him about the Unbreakable Vow, Professor Dumbledore made him promise to follow through, should he need to.”


“It’s an Unbreakable Vow,” Ron sneered, “he couldn’t have gone against it.”


“Hermione is right; you are hopeless!” Ginny sighed. Crossing her arms across her chest, she recited, “‘The Unbreakable Vow is a voluntary agreement made between two or more wizards or witches, performed with a third party Bonder. Holding his or her wand on the agreeing persons' linked hands, the Bonder binds them with a tongue of flame. The vow-taker appears to retain free will to break the vow, but to do so would result in his or her death.” Ginny glanced between Ron and Harry. When they merely stood there silently, she exclaimed in exasperation, “Professor Snape could have broken his vow to Draco’s mum, but he would have died.”


“I’m sure it was so hard to choose his own life over Professor Dumbledore’s,” Harry sneered.


“Professor Dumbledore is not dead,” Ginny said through gritted teeth.


“Yeah, but I’ll bet he didn’t know that,” Harry replied.


Ginny threw up her hands in defeat. “You’re bound and determined to think the worst of him!”


“What - I’m supposed to think he’s a real peach after he’s forced himself on Hermione?” Harry whispered angrily.


“Harry, he had to,” Ginny replied as patiently as possible. “Don’t you see? If he hadn’t agreed to do it, she’d have gone to a real Death Eater.”


“I suppose that Dark Mark he’s got was painted on, then.” Ron’s voice was low and scathing, his eyes narrowed in anger at the reminder of Hermione’s rape.


“Of course he was a Death Eater, but he’s been spying for the Order for years. He’s on our side.” Ginny sighed when neither her brother nor her boyfriend listened to her reasoning. “Look, the fact of the matter is - under the circumstances, Professor Snape made the best of a bad situation. He -”


“Oh, yeah,” Ron spat, his face going nearly as red as his hair. “He made the best of it, didn’t he? Poor bloke!”


“Look, Ron, I’m sorry. I know you’ve fancied Hermione a bit these past couple of years,” Ginny began, “but you can’t let that color your perception of what’s happened.”


“I can’t believe you, Ginny,” Ron said, swallowing hard against his anger. “It’s like you’re on his side.”


“I’m not on anyone’s side, Ronald,” Ginny whispered heatedly. “I just happen to see this objectively while the both of you are determined to think the worst. If he hadn’t married and…been the one to get Hermione pregnant, that horrible prophecy would’ve come true.”


“Who’s to say it won’t?” Harry asked, his voice as rigid as his posture. “Even if Snape were on our side, he still has the Dark Mark. He’s still a Death Eater. You don’t leave that group unless you’ve died.”


“Look - I didn’t hear the prophecy. Neither did Mum and Dad, come to think of it. It’s all third hand. Until we know exactly what it said, we’re not going to know if it mattered that Professor Snape was once a Death Eater.”


“Who did hear it?” Ron asked, ignoring the rest.


“It was Professor McGonagall,” Ginny replied. “Apparently, she found Professor Trelawney wandering about the Astronomy tower late one night. Nearly pitched over the edge before Professor McGonagall caught her, so I hear.”


“How did you hear all this?” Ron asked in amazement.


“Maybe it’s because I’m the last or maybe they still haven’t grasped the fact they have a girl, but Mum and Dad often talk about things around me as if I’m not there. I knew something was wrong yesterday, when they came to pick me up from school and wouldn’t say why. Last night they were whispering in the kitchen and, well, Fred and George left a pair of Extendable Ears behind that I use now and then…” Ginny trailed off, with a grin.


“Why didn’t you tell us?” Harry asked.


“You’ve chosen not to be in contact with me, remember?” Ginny replied, her voice cool.


Harry flushed, but Ron gave her a poke. “Oi! What about me?”


“I had no idea where either of you were. Just because you’re all grown up and left Hogwarts to go adventuring with The Chosen One, doesn’t mean you can’t keep in touch with your sister.” Her voice had, if anything, grown cooler. “It might occur to you that I worry about you both and wouldn’t mind a word now and then.”


“Yeah, well…” Ron stammered, shooting a panicked look at Harry.


Harry looked at a loss and finally wandered back to the bed. He flopped down onto it to stare at the ceiling. “So, we’re all here, now. Why aren’t we allowed to see her?”


“It’s not that we’re not allowed,” Ginny said, sinking down to sit at Harry’s feet. “She’s not ready to see us yet.”


“What?” Harry asked, quickly sitting back up. “Why?”


“Well, I can’t be sure, but I’d guess it’s because she’s afraid of our reaction to all this.”


“As if we’d blame or judge her!” Ron gasped.


“It’s not that…” Ginny pulled at a loose thread at the hem of her blouse, formulating her thoughts into words. “It’s…well, everything’s changed, hasn’t it? Hermione isn’t the same. She’s a mother now.” Neither Ron nor Harry spoke. After a bit more rumination and thread pulling, Ginny sighed. “I’m sure she’ll see us soon. She’s probably just working herself up to it is all.”