It was a nervous Arthur Weasley who was shown into Amelia's office. His summons was not only totally unexpected, the tone of it was rather alarming and abrupt too. One glance at Amelia's stern face told Arthur this meeting would have to be played exactly by the rule book.
"Good afternoon, Madam Bones. What can I help you with today?"
A well-known voice coming from behind Arthur saw that rule book being tossed out of the office's imitation window. The angry words from his eldest son though were like a serrated dagger ripping through Arthur's gut, with Bill's obvious accusations against him dripping from every syllable.
"You can start by telling me how our Ginny was left in such an appalling mental state, the Italian mind-healer reported the incident to his ministry as a severe case of child abuse."
Arthur whipped around to see his eldest son looking angrier than he'd ever seen him before. Anyone harming Ginny though was always going to face Bill's ire, and it was a gobsmacked Arthur who realised his eldest son's ire was focused on him.
"Bill, what are you doing here? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. What's wrong with Ginny, and why weren't we contacted if she was ill?"
"Ginny is so ill, the Italian Ministry won't let her return to a country where she was allowed to get into such a state. A temporary guardian has been appointed to watch over her, and Ginny won't be allowed back into Britain until this matter has been resolved to everyone's satisfaction - especially Ginny's, her new guardian's and mine."
It was at this point Arthur's knees buckled. "They're taking my daughter away from me? They can't do that - can they? Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on? What's the matter with Ginny, and will she be alright?"
Helping his father into a chair, Bill pulled over another one so he could sit facing the man who had raised him. "Dad, Ginny spent her entire first year term at Hogwarts being possessed by an artefact of Voldemort's. I have recently come into contact with one of these things, and believe me when I say, our Ginny never stood a chance. Harry physically saved Ginny from the danger but, instead of her seeing the proper healers to make her healthy again, someone messed with her memories of the incident. The mind healer Ginny is seeing now says that was absolutely the worst way to deal with something like this. On top of that, someone else had cast compulsions on our Ginny to chase after Harry in a romantic way."
His father was struggling to believe what he was hearing when Amelia interrupted. "Arthur, this cannot be kept as a Weasley family matter. Bill and Harry have put things in place to appease the Italian Ministry for the moment, but soon they will be approaching us and looking for answers. I'm making this an official Ministry investigation, and we really need those answers now. Let's start with why Ginny never saw a mind healer after this incident?"
There were fat tears now running down Arthur's cheeks as he recounted what was easily the worst day of his life. "I have seven children, and love every single one of them. After six sons though, gaining a daughter was simply something special. I was sitting in Dumbledore's office, thinking Ginny was dead - and Ron might end up in the same condition as he and Harry tried to rescue his sister. Harry Potter helping both of them walk into that room was a simply indescribable explosion of emotions. I was laughing, crying while hugging everyone in sight. Trying to imagine my life without my two youngest children in it is worse than any nightmare."
Amelia removed what was left of her bottle of fire whisky and poured three glasses, Arthur drank his down in one swallow. Fortified by the fiery spirit, Arthur was able to continue with his story.
"Albus was dealing with Harry as we took Ron and Ginny to the infirmary. Poppy had Ron's ankle fixed in a jiffy, the castle's elves supplying him with a meal meant everything was right again in Ron's world. Examining Ginny, Poppy claimed she was physically fine but her magical reserves were extremely low. She expected her to make a full recovery within a couple of days though. I'm afraid my mind just shut down after that. Hearing Ginny was going to be fine left me sitting there grinning like a loon. Who has gotten guardianship of Ginny?"
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ᵖʳᵒᵘᵈ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ
Fanfiction☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆ Despite how impossible it seemed, Harry was sure his dad had saved the three of them from the dementors. After Hermione's time turner took them both back three hours, he was desperate to discover if who he'd seen cast...
