Promises & Reunions

The next several days didn’t pass quickly enough for Harry and Ginny, or for their closest friends. The announcement in the Quibbler caused such a stir that the Burrow had to be triple-warded, and Fred and George’s shop was packed wall to wall from open to close. Word from Bill and Charlie was that Molly Weasley was, if possible, even angrier.

Hermione was assigned to the back room of Flourish & Blotts for the foreseeable future; Luna’s father was forced to put up wards so people wouldn’t trespass and harass Luna. Fortunately for Neville, he worked mostly in the back at his job and didn’t interact much with customers. Harry, in order to placate a furious Rita Skeeter, sent her a confirmation of the marriage to be printed in the Prophet (since a great many wizards and witches didn’t trust information in the Quibbler) with a few minor details so Rita could have her ‘exclusive’.

In the meantime, Dean wrote back to Seamus, asking Seamus to meet him in Quality Quidditch Supplies that Sunday, and got an affirmative reply. Neville heard from Hannah Abbott; she’d already secured a Portkey back to London on September 1, the day after her birthday. She still intended to join the Ministry in fighting Voldemort the moment she was of age. Harry agreed with Neville that they would invite her back into the Army, which made Susan Bones ecstatic, since Hannah was her best friend.

Luna and Hermione’s work on the book went slowly, but there was definite progress; Luna actually began creating a lexicon that they constantly updated once they clearly identified a word. Hermione remarked to Harry that she’d never seen anyone so naturally talented at anything, except possibly Harry at Quidditch.

As they’d decided, Luna and Hermione focused on the chapters detailing curses that affected memory. But although they made incredible strides with translation, the information wasn’t specific enough to figure out how to help Ron.

“The problem is, we don’t know what curse Ron was hit with,” Ginny summarized as they gathered in the conference room that Sunday. “We’ve learned a ton about various curses, but until we know which one Lucius Malfoy used, we can’t figure out how to fix it.”

“But we can’t possibly find out,” Hermione pointed out sadly. “No one saw or heard the curse!”

“One person did,” Harry countered, drumming his fingers on the table nervously. “Snape. He was right there, he must have at least heard something.”

Luna looked from Harry to Ginny to Hermione and back to Harry. “Well, can’t you ask him?” she asked.

Harry smiled bitterly. “He won’t tell us, Luna.”

“Can you use that truth potion?”

“Veritaserum,” Hermione said. “And no, we can’t. He’s immune to it.”

“Oh.” Luna looked distant for a moment. “Maybe if you ask him nicely, he’ll tell you.”

Harry, Ginny and Hermione stared incredulously at Luna. “Ask him nicely.” Harry repeated.

“Somehow I think being polite to Snape isn’t going to help,” Hermione declared with a wry twist of her lips.

“Harry, you got information from Snape before,” Ginny said. “Try again.”

“Ginny, I practically had to torture him!”

“So what?” Hermione demanded. “We’re talking about bringing Ron back!”

Harry shifted uncomfortably. “I can’t do that again, Hermione. I’ll ask him, but if he won’t talk…” He swallowed. “It’s horrible enough knowing I can do it, that I’m capable.”

Hermione bit her lip and nodded. “S-sorry, Harry,” she whispered. “I should never have said that. I just-”

“I know, ‘mione,” Harry murmured as Ginny reached out and squeezed Hermione’s hand. “Forget it, it’s not like I didn’t think of it myself.” He sighed hugely. “I can’t think of anything else to get us further along, so I’ll ask Snape what he heard. But don’t get your hopes up.”

Harry stood, surprising everyone. “You mean now?” Ginny asked.

“Er, yeah. Why not?”

“It’s all right,” Hermione said, also standing. “But you’ll have to be quick, Harry; Seamus will be here in two hours and you wanted to be there to ask the questions.”

Harry nodded and led the way out of the room and down the stairs. He left the others in the kitchen having lunch, and headed down to the basement. When he got there Pansy was placing ingredients on the counter. “Potter,” she said, inclining her head in acknowledgment.

“Hi, Pansy. Are you in the middle of something?”

“Haven’t started yet. Why?”

“I need the basement for a bit. Could you wait for maybe half an hour?”

Pansy’s eyes flickered to the tiny room where Snape was locked and Stupefied. “Of course. I’ll just have some lunch.”

“Thanks,” Harry said as Pansy walked up the stairs. He shut the door behind her and placed a Silencing Charm on it; then he removed to Spells sealing the room Snape was in, and Levitated Snape out. “Enervate,” he muttered after collecting his thoughts, and Snape’s eyes fluttered open.

Snape took one look at Harry and said “So it was not a nightmare, then. I truly have been captured by fools.”

Harry flushed, but decided not to respond to Snape’s barb. “I need some information,” he said.

“Of course you do,” Snape replied laconically.

“What Curse did Lucius Malfoy cast at Ron?”

“Oh, dear, Weasley is still incapacitated?” Snape asked with false concern. “And it’s been- how long has it been, Potter? I’ve lost track of days, being unconscious so often.”

“A week and a half,” Harry said shortly. “Now answer the question.”

“And I suppose I’m to believe that you’ll release me once you’ve learned all you need, Potter?”

“Of course not,” Harry snapped. “You think I’m going to let you run right back to Voldemort with all you know? Your best hope is that after Voldemort’s defeated the Ministry decides to be merciful.” Harry smiled coldly when Snape’s eyebrow rose slightly. He’d thought about what to say, and his comment had definitely caught Snape’s attention. “Right, you don’t know. Well, seems like yours and Malfoy’s visit here was the last straw for the Ministry. Arthur Weasley’s a respected member of the Ministry after all, and when his son was attacked by Death Eaters…well, the Minister decided to get tough. Scrimgeour’s given permission for all confirmed Death Eaters to be given the Dementor’s Kiss.”

Snape sneered. “And I am supposed to beg for your good word?”

Harry let slip a barking laugh. “No. Right now, if I turn you over to the Ministry you’re Kissed, and my word wouldn’t stop it. But if you give me what I need, maybe I’ll keep you captive here until after Voldemort’s dead, and things have lightened up; that way you might just get life in Azkaban.”

Snape peered at Harry for a moment; then all at once his expression darkened. “Very, very well done, Potter,” he snarled. “That was a performance worthy of a Slytherin. I actually almost believed you.”

Harry’s jaw clenched, but he gave no other indication that Snape had figured him out. “You think I’m lying; well, if you want to commit suicide that’s your choice. If you’re not going to be cooperative then you can take your chances with the Ministry-”

“Give up your attempt at misdirection, Potter,” Snape interrupted. “If Amelia Bones’ death was not enough to goad the Minister into such action, neither would Ronald Weasley’s.”

“Ron isn’t dead!” Harry shouted, his voice cracking slightly. “He’s unconscious from the Curse Malfoy hit him with and we can’t bring him back without knowing what it was!”

Harry realized he’d lost control, both of the interrogation and of himself; he snapped his jaw shut and turned his back so Snape wouldn’t see his face crumple. Harry had barely been holding up better than Hermione, and to feel so close to an answer was almost too much to bear. Harry didn’t know how much longer he could stay strong without his best friend.

“I did not see the curse.”

Harry spun around and stared at Snape. “What?”

“I did not see what curse Lucius used,” Snape repeated. “Thanks to you and Miss Weasley deflecting my own curse back at me, I was distracted. However, when I turned back to him, Lucius did refer to what he’d done as ‘an interesting use of the Memorius Charm’.”

Harry’s heart leapt. The Memorius Charm was one of the Curses specifically mentioned in Sawol Immortalis! “You’re certain that’s what he said?”

“I do have a fine memory for events which occurred less than two weeks ago,” Snape retorted sarcastically.

“Did he say anything else?”

“No,” Snape answered as though he didn’t care. “Although he seemed quite pleased he’d gotten to curse one of Arthur Weasley’s get.”

Harry subjected Snape to the same scrutiny he’d received a moment before. “If you’re lying,” he said finally, “and Ron gets worse because of it, I won’t even bother to hand you over to the Ministry. I’m going to kill you myself.”

“I am not stupid, Potter,” Snape said coldly, which Harry translated as I figured that out already- and I know you’re serious this time.

“I know you’re not,” Harry said, stepping back. “You got Dumbledore to trust you. But you’ll never get that far with me.”

“Potter!” Snape snapped when Harry began to raise his wand.

“What?”

“The longer you keep me here, the more likely it becomes that the Dark Lord will assume I betrayed Lucius and turned to the side of the Light.”

Harry waited, but Snape didn’t say anything else. “So what?” he asked eventually.

Snape’s expression grew furious. “You’re a fool, Potter,” he hissed. “You believe only what you see with your eyes.”

Harry scowled. “My eyes were working fine when you murdered Dumbledore.” He pointed his wand. “Stupefy.”

After sealing Snape back in the warded room, Harry walked back up to the kitchen. When he got to the top of the stairs he hesitated, and stared in surprise. Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Pansy were all sitting around the table sipping tea and having what seemed like a friendly conversation. Not about D.A. business; in fact, they seemed to be talking about Harry and Ginny’s marriage. “I can’t believe he didn’t even let you pick your ring,” Pansy was saying indignantly.

“Well, the circumstances didn’t exactly allow for it,” Ginny replied with a wry grin. “But he picked nice rings,” she continued a bit wistfully, looking at her left hand where the gold band glittered. “Harry offered to let me pick a different ring, but…this is the ring I was married with. It’s my ring, anything else would be- well, fake.”

Pansy grimaced, but didn’t respond. Instead she turned her eye on Luna. “So Lovegood, are you going to be sporting gold anytime soon?” she asked in a voice so full of teasing mischief Harry was sure someone had Polyjuiced into Pansy. “You and that Fred Weasley seem joined at the hip. Or somewhere.”

“You mean George,” Ginny corrected.

“Whichever.” Pansy raised her eyebrows at Luna. “Well?”

“Oh, George and I have only been seeing each other for two weeks,” Luna said pleasantly, smiling. “Although the Weasleys are very traditional in some senses. Perhaps he wants to. Do you think I should ask him about it?”

“Oh, yes,” Pansy said with a smirk at the same time Hermione and Ginny both cried “No!”

Just then Luna noticed Harry. “Hello, Harry,” she said, causing the others to turn to him. “Do you think I should ask George about marriage?”

“Luna, speaking as a guy, and with all the best intentions for both you and George… no way,” Harry said. Pansy covered her mouth with her hand, and her shoulders shook slightly. “Er…I don’t want to interrupt, but I’d like to go back to the conference room and talk some more…”

“It’s all right,” Pansy said calmly, standing up. “If you’re finished downstairs I should really get started on that potion; it’ll take eight hours, and I really don’t want to be here until midnight.” She walked to the basement stairs, and Harry moved aside for her, but Pansy turned back and gave a surprisingly warm smile to the three girls still seated. “Thanks for the conversation,” she told them, and disappeared down the stairs.

Harry raised his eyebrows at Ginny. “Where did that come from?”

Ginny shrugged. “Dunno. She came up, and we were all having breakfast, and it just…happened naturally.”

“It can only be a good thing if we’re getting along better,” Hermione pointed out. “Well, Harry? Did Snape-?”

Harry cut her off with a gesture. “I’ll tell you all about it upstairs.”

Back in the conference room, Harry filled in the three girls on what he’d learned from Snape. “That’s perfect!” Hermione exclaimed ecstatically. “Now we know what to focus on!” She threw her arms around Harry’s neck and gave him a big hug.

“Do you think Snape’s information is reliable?” Ginny asked nervously.

“I think so,” Harry said. “Snape understands what Ron means to us. He knows if anything went wrong his life would basically be over.” Ginny grimly nodded both her understanding and her agreement. “Hermione, are there any other books you could research that Charm in?”

“I think we found a reference to another book,” Hermione told him. She glanced at Luna, who was absently studying Sawol Immortalis. “Luna?”

Luna looked up. “Hmm?” When the question was repeated, she smiled. “Oh, yes. It’s right…here,” she said, producing a page of notes. “We weren’t sure of the exact title… it was Curses of the Old Ones, I think. Or Ancients, maybe.”

“I’ll try to find it through work,” Hermione offered. “And if we can order it.”

“No, Hermione,” Harry said, shaking his head. “We don’t want anyone knowing what we’re looking for!”

“Oh…yes,” Hermione said, frowning. Then her face lit up. “I can just create an ‘order’ for it! There are plenty of order forms lying around at work; that will get it to the store, and while it’s waiting to be picked up by a nonexistent customer I’ll be able to see if it’s useful.”

Harry nodded. “That’s great. As long as you can figure out how to make sure no one notices, do whatever you can.”

There was a knock on the door; Sally-Ann Perks was standing outside, holding a package. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said when they let her in, “but this package arrived for Ginny and Fred and George sent me over to give it to you. They said to tell you ‘The git’s got some nerve’, and they said you’d know what they meant.”

Harry glanced at Ginny and raised his eyebrows, but she just shrugged. “No idea,” she said, but when she inspected the address on the package, her face went blank. “Oh,” she said shortly.

“What is it?” Hermione asked.

“This is Percy’s handwriting,” Ginny said with an edge in her voice.

“Percy? What the hell?” Harry exclaimed. “I would’ve thought after Christmas he would’ve avoided all of you!”

“If he knew what was good for him, he would’ve,” Ginny growled. “And look- he’s addressed it to ‘Mrs. Ginny Potter’.” She drew her wand. “Help me check it for curses. I don’t trust this thing at all; for all we know it wasn’t even Percy who sent it.”

Everyone spent some time casting every curse and hex detection spell they could think of. Sally-Ann even came up with a few no one had ever heard of before, but eventually they concluded the package didn’t have any curses on it. “What the hell does that prat want?” Ginny muttered, snatching up the card and tearing open the envelope a bit more viciously than necessary.

“Er…we’ll just leave you alone,” Sally-Ann said, backing out. “We need to keep an eye out for Seamus anyway.”

“I’ll go with you,” Luna said, joining Sally-Ann. “I’d like to see George for a bit.”

Hermione made to follow Luna and Sally-Ann, but Harry caught her arm. “Hermione, where are you going?”

“Well- well, I was going to leave you two alone!”

“Hermione, Ginny is your family. I think she’d rather you stayed.” Harry looked up for confirmation. “What do you say, Ginn?”

“Yeah, stay,” Ginny said absently, so Harry shut the door. Ginny’s eyes were traveling down the letter, but rather than angry she simply looked perplexed. “I don’t get it,” she said in confusion when she’d finished. “Here, listen to this and see if you can make any more sense out of it.” Ginny read the letter aloud:

Dear Ginny,

I’ve now heard of your marriage to Harry, as I suspect the entire world has by now. Of course, I knew of your crush on him all along, but I never expected to hear of you marrying so young. Such early marriages almost always fail, but of course I wish you all the best of luck with yours. Marriage is a sacred thing; I certainly hope you are aware of it.

Please accept this gift as a belated wedding gift; I would have had it to you for your wedding but I understand with Harry’s celebrity status the ceremony had to be done in secret. Perhaps soon the hubbub will die down and you’ll be able to make up for it.

Congratulations, and good luck dealing with Mother, who I hear is in quite a state.

Yours,
Percy

Ginny looked up at Harry. “He’s either blatantly condescending to us, or he has no idea how insulting he’s being.”

The package proved to contain an enchanted tea set with a teapot and cups that kept the tea hot indefinitely. “Why now?” Hermione pondered over the gift. “Why would Percy suddenly choose to approach you, Ginny?”

“Probably because he’s angling to get back in the family without having to apologize,” Ginny replied cynically. “Our marriage probably looks like a golden opportunity for him; he probably even thinks if I welcome him back I’ll help him bring Fred and George around.”

“That does sound like Percy,” Harry agreed. “What do you want to do, Ginny? Write back?”

“Hell no!” Ginny snarled. “I say we hex this teapot and send it back!”

“Ginny,” Hermione said hesitantly, “do you think that maybe there’s…a different ulterior motive?”

“Like what?”

“Well, you and Harry did just get married, and everyone knows…what if he’s digging for information?”

Harry frowned. “Why would Percy be digging for information about us?”

“Voldemort,” Ginny said furiously. “She means for Voldemort.”

Harry gaped at Hermione. “And I thought Moody was paranoid!”

“You have to admit it’s a possibility!” Hermione exclaimed.

“No,” Ginny said shortly. “Not Percy. He may be a prat, but he’s not a Death Eater! I can’t believe you’d even suggest it, Hermione!”

“There is such a thing as Imperious,” Hermione pointed out stubbornly.

Ginny glared at Hermione. “All right, it’s possible,” she admitted finally. “But I doubt it. Percy’s just being the git he always is.”

“Probably,” Hermione agreed. “I didn’t mean anything, Ginny; I just had to at least voice the possibility.”

“I know,” Ginny muttered. “Either way, I’d rather just send it back.” She looked at Harry. “Do you care?”

Harry stared thoughtfully at Ginny for a moment. “It’s your choice, Ginny. He’s your brother.”

“He’s yours now too!” Ginny snapped. “Damnit, Harry, I want your opinion!”

“Er…well don’t hex me or anything, but…would you really be so worked up if Percy didn’t matter at all to you anymore?” When Ginny remained silent, Harry continued. “Just send him back a note saying you got his gift and not revealing anything. That way you haven’t committed to anything but you haven’t closed any doors either.”

Ginny ground her teeth as her eyes traveled over the tea set. Eventually she nodded. “All right, I can live with that. But if he says one more bad thing about my parents I’m going to have to kill him.”

“Why don’t you just tell Bill that you saw Percy ogling Fleur at the Ministry?” Harry asked with an innocent expression.

Ginny grinned. “Because I don’t want Bill to kill Percy; I want to do it myself!”