Ginny arrived back home feeling thoroughly exhausted. She’d never seen Harry this emotionally unbalanced since her fifth year after Dumbledore was killed. She stood in the kitchen for a few minutes, trying to compose herself. She wiped the tears from her face and turned to see Bill looking at her thoughtfully from the hallway.

‘You okay?’ he asked quietly.

She nodded and tried to smile. ‘Yeah, fine. You? Have you been to see George?’

He nodded. ‘Fleur and I just got back, she’s sleeping upstairs. We were both feeling a bit exhausted.’

She looked at him blankly and then said quietly, ‘How was he?’

He shook his head. ‘Ginny, where’s Harry?’

She furrowed her brow and said, ‘I asked first.’

He laughed. ‘I’m older, so I win.’

She gave him an irritated look and said, ‘He went back to Grimmauld Place.’

Bill eyed her cautiously and said, ‘He just left?’

‘Yes,’ she replied and nodded. ‘He…he said he didn’t want to be a…burden anymore.’

Bill shook his head and laughed. ‘I don’t know what he’s thinking. Harry’s not a burden, though I do agree with mum that you both shouldn’t have been…‘sleeping’ together.’

Ginny rolled her eyes. ‘We were asleep, Bill. We weren’t ‘doing’ anything!’

She gave him an angry glare and he narrowed his eyes. ‘Hey, I never did that kind of thing when I was your age!’

Ginny continued to glare at him and shot back, ‘You never had a girlfriend at my age either.’

He crossed his arms and replied, ‘Yeah, but even when I got engaged I wouldn’t dare do something like that. Both you and Ron have no control.’

Ginny gave him a defiant look. ‘Excuse me? ‘Ron and I have no control’! How dare you! It isn’t like you were dating while your girlfriend was in mortal peril!’

Bill put his hands up and said, ‘That isn’t any excuse and you bloody well know it.’

He shook his head and said, ‘Ginny, I don’t want to tell you how to live your life. But if you and Harry care about each other, then I think he’s right to not be here.’

Ginny shook her head. ‘I think that is the last thing he needs. He’s upset about everything…’ She looked down, remembering his breakdown and continued softly, ‘If anything, he needs us, all of us, to be there for him.’

Bill sat down at the table and beckoned her to do the same. ‘Ginny, I can’t imagine what Harry’s going through, but it may have escaped your notice, our family isn’t in the best shape either. We can’t be of much use to Harry if our own family is in disarray.’

She gave him a confused and disbelieving look. ‘What? Are you saying we should just leave him be and tell him to find help somewhere else?’

Bill shook his head. ‘Ginny, no, I would never say that. But you can’t be in the best shape either. I know you’re upset about everything, and I think you’re fooling yourself if you think you can hide that from me or anyone else in this house.’

She turned away from him and shut her eyes. ‘Bill, I’m fine.’

He reached a hand across the table and gripped her arm gently. ‘Ginny, I’m your big brother. I’ve known your temperament since you cast your very first Bat-Bogey Hex and I can still remember the look on mum’s face when she had to fix both Fred and George.’

Ginny tried to smile, but felt her head pounding. She said quietly, ‘I don’t want to reminisce, Bill…’

He leaned closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She felt the exhaustion double as he did this and she tried to pull away. He said quietly, ‘Ginny, you need to get some rest. I feel like you’re taking the brunt of this, and you shouldn’t be.’

She sighed and wiped her eyes. ‘I’m fine, Bill.’

He sighed and said, ‘Come on, Ginny, just do me this favour. Go get some rest and don’t worry about George or Harry. They’ll be okay.’

She rubbed her temples; she felt so tired. Tired of arguing with everyone about their feelings and telling her what her feelings should be. She didn’t look at him. She started to get up when the flames from the grate burst to life and her mother came out. She dusted the soot off of her cloak and looked worse for the wear. She set her bag down on the counter and pulled her cloak off. She didn’t meet either Bill’s or Ginny’s inquisitive gaze. Bill stood up, breaking his contact from Ginny and asked, ‘Mum, how is everything?’

She looked up, startled, as if she hadn’t realised they were there and replied, ‘Fine, thank you for coming, Bill.’

She sounded strangely detached and Bill gave her a strange look. ‘Mum, are you okay?’

She nodded. ‘I should probably get supper ready.’

Bill crossed the room and stood next to his mother. ‘Mum?’

She didn’t look at him and Ginny watched, horrified, as her mother began to cry, openly and loudly. Bill had wrapped his mother in a tight embrace and said quietly, ‘He’s going to be fine, mum.’

Ginny found the tears spilling down her face. Watching her mother cry was more painful than anything she’d had to witness for some time. The raw emotion that her mother was exhibiting was a good representation of what the entire Weasley family was feeling. The despair that George had completely succumbed to the Dark Magic; the frustration that they all had the power to do something about it, but hadn’t and the sadness that they could all finally mourn the loss of Fred.

After a few minutes, her mother seemed to gain control of her emotions. She wiped her eyes and took Bill’s face in her hands, her fingers rubbing his scars. ‘He’ll be fine. But he is going to need our help.’

Bill nodded. ‘Fleur and I will stay as long as you need us to.’

She nodded slowly. ‘Do you think you can sit with him? We need…we need to tell him about Fred.’

Ginny sat up. ‘You still haven’t told him?’

Molly turned abruptly at Ginny’s outburst. ‘Ginny, I didn’t know you were here. Where’s Harry? He’s usually attached to your hip.’

She said the last part with some restraint and Ginny felt her teeth clench at the insinuation. ‘He’s at Grimmauld Place.’

Molly turned abruptly. ‘What is he doing there?’

Ginny laughed bitterly. ‘I don’t know, mum, could it be because you ran him out of our house?’

Molly glared at her and said, ‘Do not take that tone of voice with me, Ginevra. If your ‘boyfriend’ is so fearful of me, then perhaps he should have the courage to come talk to me about it or explain himself fully about what he was doing with my only daughter.’

Ginny retorted, ‘We weren’t doing anything! It was nothing, we were asleep!’

Molly shook her head and replied, ‘Ginny, do you know why we’re so concerned?’

‘We?’ she asked. ‘Who’s we?’

Her mother shook her head. ‘Your family. First of all, we have more than enough to worry about without having to be concerned that our only daughter doesn’t see the danger in being too familiar with a boyfriend she’s had for only a few months.’

‘We’ve been dating for longer than that!’ she retorted, her angry boiling over. ‘And what about Ron? You’re acting like he’s above fault! He’s with Hermione now!’

Molly shook her head and Bill stepped forward quietly. ‘Ginny, no one is saying Ron is free of fault. But he’s with Hermione, and I think we can all agree that Hermione isn’t the type to let anything get out of control; including Ron.’

Ginny looked defiantly at her older brother. ‘Are you implying that neither Harry nor I know where to draw the line?’

Molly looked up, a tired expression crossing her face. ‘That is exactly what we are concerned about.’

Ginny started to storm out of the room but Molly called after her, ‘Don’t you storm out of this room, Ginevra Molly Weasley. I am not saying that you and Harry aren’t sweet together, but in my day, I would never be so bold as to fall asleep with your father in your grandparents’ house.’

Ginny rolled her eyes and didn’t say anything. She had a feeling a tiresome flashback was coming and she didn’t want to hear it. Molly continued, ‘Come back in here, Ginny, we’re going to talk about this, I think you need it.’

‘I need it? Thank you for telling me what I need,’ she said the last part under her breath. Thankfully her mother didn’t hear it. Or if she did, she didn’t let on.

Molly gestured to the table and Ginny sat down heavily, not at all wanting any part of this. She wished she had taken Bill’s advice earlier and had gone to her room. Molly set a cup of tea in front of her and sat next to her daughter. Ginny shifted uncomfortably, she was feeling a little more anger towards Harry for leaving her to be hollered at while he sat at home.

Molly took a sip of tea and said, ‘Ginny, when was the last time you slept?’

Ginny sighed. ‘Oh come on, mum, none of us have slept in days.’

‘You were able to rest while Harry was here, weren’t you?’ she asked.

Ginny gave her mother a tired look and said quietly, ‘Yes.’

‘Ginny,’ her mother started slowly. ‘I am really happy that you and Harry are together now. But you’ve been apart for more than a year, or thereabouts,’ she added quickly. ‘I think you and Harry still have a lot to figure out about what happened in that year. What happened to you while he wasn’t there, what happened to Harry when he was on the run. I want you to be happy, like your father and I are, but if you rush now, don’t you wonder what you might miss?’

Ginny gave her mother a confused look. ‘What do you mean miss?’

‘You’re going to be apart during your final year at Hogwarts, aren’t you?’ she asked. ‘You don’t need to rush to get somewhere in your relationship, you have all the time in the world. All the time in the world to remember why you care about each other.’

Ginny furrowed her brow. She didn’t want to be thinking about any of this. She had enough on her mind. Molly put her hand on her daughter’s arm. ‘Ginny. Your father and I love you, we love Harry, we want nothing more than for you both to share the same happiness we’ve both been blessed with, but you need to take it slowly. Doing something you can’t take back might ruin what you could have in the future.’

Bill was standing behind them and said, ‘She’s right, Ginny. You and Harry are complimentary to one another. You balance each other out, but you’re not even seventeen. He’s only just turned eighteen. You’re both more…serious than…maybe you should be.’

He looked at her nervously and she felt the weight of their words fall heavily. Her family thought she was going to shag Harry Potter. She sighed. This was insane. She took a deep breath and said, ‘Bill, mum, Harry and I are…we care about each other, but we’d never…we’d never do anything to jeopardise that.’

Her mother shook her head. ‘Ginny, your father and I trust you, we trust Harry, but when you two are together, I don’t think either of you know where ‘too far’ is.’

Ginny was feeling her anger mounting again and said hotly, ‘We do and we wouldn’t do…that.’

Molly looked her daughter in the eye and said, ‘Doing ‘that’ is something that people who love each other do and those people are married. If you even think about doing ‘that’ before you’re married, you had best not come back to this house, is that clear?’

Ginny looked at her mother sharply and looked her right in the eye. She said in a very small voice, ‘I would never…’

She couldn’t complete the thought and her mother continued on. ‘I don’t want to have ‘that’ talk with you either, Ginny, but it seems like you’re pushing me to it.’

She took a deep breath as if to start the conversation and Ginny got up suddenly. ‘Mum, I really…I get it…’

Bill had been edging towards the door, not wanting to hear the mother-daughter-talk and Ginny gave him a distasteful look for deserting her. Molly put her hand up and pointed at the chair. ‘Sit back, down.’

Ginny shut her eyes and pursed her lips together. ‘Mum…’

‘Don’t ‘mum’ me, young lady,’ she stated. ‘We, clearly, need to have this conversation. You don’t seem convinced of my argument.’

Ginny looked helplessly to where she had last seen Bill, but he was already gone. She clenched her jaw and sat quietly as her mother went into excruciating detail about how inappropriate it would be for anyone her age to even think about having relations with a boy who had yet to even become a man. Ginny had kept her mouth shut, hoping it would be over soon. She never wanted to have this sort of thing laid out, but there was nothing she could do. She distantly felt an annoying warmth growing from somewhere within her.

After the longest hour of her life, her mother finally stopped talking. Molly looked utterly exhausted and her eyes had continued to stray to the clock on the wall. It indicated that George was still at St. Mungo’s and that her father was on his way home.

Molly looked at her daughter and said, ‘Ginny, I didn’t tell you all of this to punish you, but you need to understand the seriousness of your actions, they have repercussions.’

She continued more slowly, ‘Men can be very simple in a lot of ways. They often take things at face-value, and I have no doubt Harry is the same way. If you’re willing to fall asleep with him, what else might he think you’ll do?’

Ginny looked at her mother, seething, and said, ‘Harry would never ‘take advantage’ of me, mum, and I would never let him either. We’re not at that point, at all. He hasn’t even said he…’

She didn’t complete her thought and Molly gave her daughter a no-nonsense look. ‘Ginny, I want you to really listen. You are too young to do anything this serious. And you are both full of so much emotion, I worry that you won’t realise what’s happening until it’s too late.’

Ginny shook her head. She just wanted this conversation to be over. She was exhausted. She was tired of defending herself, defending her relationship with Harry, and his absence now was grating on her last nerve. ‘Mum, I am not ready to do…’ She couldn’t even bring herself to say it. Not in front of her mother, it was too serious. She took a deep breath and started again, ‘Mum, Harry and I are not ready for that. Honestly, you and dad have nothing to worry about.’

Molly didn’t look like she believed her daughter but sighed. ‘All I can do is arm you with the knowledge you need to make an educated decision. I wish Arthur had time to speak with Harry about this.’

Ginny looked mortified. ‘I don’t think that’s necessary.’

Molly shook her head. ‘I really need to get supper ready; go freshen up and help me set the table.’

Ginny sighed. She got up slowly and headed up to her room. She wanted nothing more than to get some rest, but that didn’t seem likely. She heard a knock on her door and said, ‘Come in.’

Bill pushed her door open slowly. ‘Ginny, you okay?’

She nodded, pulling her hair back. He continued slowly. ‘Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll go help mum.’

She raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded. ‘You look totally knackered.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Thanks, Bill.’

He sighed and said, ‘I wonder if Harry knows what he’s getting into.’

Ginny turned sharply, her mind on her hour-long conversation with her mother and said quickly, ‘Nothing!’

Bill laughed. ‘That isn’t what I meant.’ He shut his eyes tightly and said, ‘I just mean you need to lighten up.’

She gave him an angry look and said, ‘I don’t think that’s allowed in this house.’

Bill shook his head. ‘Ginny, don’t be stupid, mum isn’t trying to be difficult, she’s just worried about you. We all are. You…you’re acting like it’s your fault Harry got hurt, and it isn’t. It isn’t your fault and it isn’t your job to make sure he’s okay.’

She ran her hand across her face and said, ‘I need to help mum with dinner.’

She tried to walk past him but he blocked her, putting his hands on her shoulders. ‘Ginny, get some rest. Stop…stop thinking and worrying about things, it’ll be okay.’

‘How can you say that?’ she eked out. ‘Did you see the look on mum’s face when she came through the grate? She was devastated. George doesn’t seem to be getting any better!’

He put his hands up. ‘Stop thinking about it. This isn’t something you need to worry about alone. We’re going to take care of things. You have to worry about school, okay? Mum and Dad are just really worried about George right now, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about all of us equally.’

She didn’t respond. She looked past him blankly and he reached over, hugging her awkwardly. ‘Take it easy. We can go visit George tomorrow, you can come with me.’

He left her alone in her room and Ginny lay down across her bed, exhausted. She didn’t want to have to worry about all these things. Her brother had gone mad, her parents didn’t trust her and her boyfriend was not around to console her. She buried her face in her pillow and hoped she could push all of this out of her mind for a little while longer.