Choices

Meanwhile 2

"Oh, Ginbug you are going to love it," Arthur told the child.

He was very happy to be showing his daughter around that day, having decided after her birthday to follow a muggle tradition of "bringing your child to work", maybe hoping to inspire her curiosity toward muggles, it would be nice to, in the future, work with one of his children.

He showed her around his office, although that wasn't a lot as it was very small, for a small child, she fit there just right, all the clutter and curious objects around were a particular delightful distraction and more than once Arthur had to prevent the child from knocking over a pile of papers onto herself. Nonetheless, he was convinced the muggles had the right idea, hearing Ginny babble as he did his work was incredibly fulfilling, he truly loved being a father and he'd like to bring the others as well one of those days.

If he could get the twins to behave that is.

"Ah! Good morning Arthur!"

Arthur Weasley smiled at his colleague "Good morning!" and nodded with his head as both his hands were occupied.

The man had just entered the lift and had only given him a brief acknowledgment before he looked again, at first the man was surprised then he smiled.

"This your youngest?" he asked, watching the little child on Arthur's hip.

"Yeah, this is Ginny, want to say hi Ginny?" the child's eyes went from one to the other, looking unsure of what they expected as recent one-year-olds often looked like.

"Apparently not" the man joked and they laughed.

Looking around, Arthur noticed the man holding the Daily Prophet, he hadn't seen it yet as Ginny had kept him distracted and he was quite curious about the news on Harry Potter, he was, as many were, fascinated with the boy who disappeared, putting down his briefcase, he politely asked if he could see it.

The man agreed and handed him the papers, the image that greeted him on the front was that of three people smiling to the camera, a woman and a man, so much younger than he liked to think about, and a baby, no knowledge of the events about to unfold.

"It's been almost a year huh?" he said, still looking at The Prophet and the picture of the Potters, one of the lasts he imagined. It always angered him, the reminder of how terrible You-know-who had been and his lack of heart for the people that he hurt, for the families he destroyed, he truly hated him.

"So they really have given up the search?" Arthur asked dispassionately, unfortunately, he knew it was coming, still, he had been hoping for more.

"The search? I'm surprised they didn't declare him dead!" the man said incredulous.

"So you believe he died?" he asked again.

"Why? You don't?" the man raised his eyebrow at him "Anyway, what would you expect to happen? A one-year-old against the death curse, of course I believe he was blown to smithereens and that's why there is no body"

Arthur adjusted Ginny on his lap, that talk of dead children making him uncomfortable.

"Dumbledore believes that the boy is alive somewhere and I believe Dumbledore" he explained calmly, handing the papers back.

From the moment it spread that the Potters had died, Dumbledore had been the first to insist on leaving Harry Potter with his remaining family despite the protest that such an important child should instead be raised by wizards, and when it was revealed the disappearance of the boy, he had been one of the fiercest in the search, and the fiercest believer in his survival. Albus Dumbledore was a highly respected warlock and many believed his claims, but as the man was of the secretive type, others had been skeptical, insisting he proves what he said.