Weasley Family Fallout

Chapter 14: The Aftermath

Once Arthur left the kitchen, everyone turned their attention to Ginny, concerned about how this might have affected her, but she showed no emotion.

"Gin?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"How could she do this to him?" Ginny asked quietly. "How could you say something so awful?" Her voice and anger rose as she turned to Charlie.

"Ginny, there's a lot more to it than you know. I didn't tell any of you the details." The dragon trainer kept his calm.

"Why don't you enlighten us then?"

"It's not my place. That's up to Mum and – and – him. But I saw what happened, so I have every right to say what I did," Charlie defended himself.

"Well, that doesn't give Ron an excuse! He knows just as much as the rest of us –"

"- Actually, I do have an excuse!" Ron interrupted his sister. "It was probably something similar to what happened out by the shed a few weeks ago."

Ginny turned on her youngest brother now. "You can't just assume that. Besides, you've been a complete ass towards Dad ever since he came back last time. Mum forgave him and so did the rest of us, so why couldn't you?"

"You all made a mistake by doing that, though, because now he has done something else. And this time she didn't kick him out. She left him! That means this has to be worse than last time," Ron countered.

"You know what? Don't talk to me until you stop acting like a prat!" Ginny hollered before turning on her heel and making her way to the back door, stopping when she noticed Harry wasn't following her. She glared at her boyfriend until he took the hint and followed her into the orchard, listening to and agreeing with everything she said as she hit a bludger whenever it came in range.

Ron breathed heavily as he watched his sister and best friend leave the house before making his way to his bedroom with Hermione. She did the same as Harry, sat quietly and listened while her significant other went on a long rant.

With the four youngest ones gone, Charlie and George were the only people left in the kitchen. Charlie was only still there because he wanted to make sure his father was gone before going to retrieve his mum. His younger brother began to leave the kitchen before Charlie spoke again.

"George?" he said, silently wondering where his brother was going.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to talk to him," George said bitterly. "I'm going to my room."

To George's relief, Charlie didn't stop him. It had been extremely hard for him ever since his twin was killed, but he was slowly making progress as the rest of his family helped him. Now though, his family was falling apart. Something else that was helping George was the special bond he thought was forming between him and his father. He felt special that his dad would let his guard down around him and open up when he wouldn't do that with anyone else. Apparently, their late night talks weren't as special to his dad as they were to him. This was a major setback for George.

A little while later, Arthur came downstairs. Not a word was spoken between father and son as Arthur went to the garden gate to disapparate. Charlie watched his father leave before going to gather his mum.

oOoOo

Molly jumped up from the couch when her Aunt Muriel's fireplace roared to life and Charlie stepped out, eager to see how things went. She knew Ginny and figured it would be a fight to get her to leave the Burrow.

"Where's Ginny?" she asked worriedly when she realized no one else was coming through the floo.

"Everything is fine, Mum," her son reassured. "There were some...issues this morning, but then Dad came in and took care of things." Before Molly could speak, he hastened to add, "He didn't cause any trouble. In fact, he made this big speech about how everything was his fault and that we were right and Ginny needed to stay with you. He wouldn't even let George go with him."