Dumbledore slumped into a chair in the living room of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. After Harry had left the Minister's office, it hadn't been long before Mockridge had lost his patience with him and practically thrown the ancient wizard out. Dumbledore suddenly felt every one of his hundred-sixty-plus years as he thought back at how quickly things had changed and how quickly his well-laid plans had been shattered. He ignored the chatter of people around him as the members of the Order arrived to the meeting he had called for the previous day, after rumours of Harry's innocence had once more begun to circulate in the wizarding world, courtesy of Voldemort's foiled attack.
It was only when two people arrived and the rest of the room quieted that Dumbledore looked up to see Severus Snape and Mad-Eye Moody stepping into the room. Every eye was riveted on the two who'd so loudly proclaimed Potter's innocence, and Dumbledore had a feeling that a number of people were bound to be feeling rather vindicated right now. However, there were no snide remarks, no sneers - not beyond usual for Severus, anyway - and no muttered "I told you so's." Instead, the two quietly took their place at the large table and peered at Dumbledore intently.
The ancient wizard cleared his throat and looked around the room at the variety of expressions on the faces of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. There was some fear, mixed with disbelief. Relief shone on some faces, while others showed reservation, some were angry, and some unreadable. But the most prevalent emotion that permeated the room was hope. Hope that now that their savior had returned and begun fighting back, that this bloody war would end soon, and Dumbledore couldn't help but sigh. He had helped take this hope away from the people, but the larger part of his guilt stemmed from the thought that he was the one who'd helped place this hope on the shoulders of an eleven-year old boy years ago, that he'd burdened a child with something a man would be hard-pressed to carry.
Shaking these morose thoughts from his head, Dumbledore stood as the last members of the Order finally trickled in. Silence surrounded him for a few moments before he began to speak.
"I am sure that most of you by now have heard of Voldemort's failed raid on Southhallerton," he began, and murmurs began to fill the room. He clapped his hands loudly, silencing the people. "I am here to tell you now that it is true. Voldemort has indeed been stopped. And it was by Harry Potter."
He had everyone's attention with that statement. Dumbledore cleared his throat again, and continued his announcement. "I have just come from a meeting with him and the Minister of Magic. The Minister has reviewed the evidence used to convict Mr. Potter, and has decided that, due to lack of sufficient evidence, and especially in light of recent events, the warrant for Mr. Potter's arrest is withdrawn. The Minister is convinced now that Mr. Potter is on our side in this war, and so am I."
He wasn't quite prepared for the outburst that followed, but when Molly Weasley's voice rang through the din of the excited chatter that had cropped up, everyone once again fell silent.
"He's messed with the new Minister's mind, hasn't he?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "He has, in fact, not met the Minister before today." The headmaster wisely chose to withhold the fact that Harry and Mockridge had had previous dealings with each other. He would have enough trouble convincing Harry's die-hard enemies of the boy's intentions without having rumours spring up about him manipulating the wizarding world's politics.
"Bollocks!" Ron Weasley shouted from the back of the room. "I bet you Potter's only fighting Voldemort so he can take his place! He's already got an army to follow him - I say we let them kill each other, then wipe out whoever is left!"
"Are you out of your mind, Weasley?" Snape spat as he turned around to glare at Harry's former best friend. "If you had bothered to pay attention to anything besides your over-inflated ego these last few days, then you would have realized that this war is going badly for us, and that the victory of Potter's forces over the Dark Lord yesterday was the first major victory we've had in months . Even if the boy was turning dark - which he is not - we couldn't win this war without his support at this point."
Molly opened her mouth to shoot an acidic reply towards the potions master, but Dumbledore drew their attention once more. "This is not a time to argue," he told them clearly. "Severus is right. At this point, Harry is the best hope we have for winning this war, and he has made it clear that while we may need him, he doesn't necessarily need us ."
"Headmaster!" Molly screeched, scandalized. "You can't possibly think of-"
"Molly," Dumbledore replied softly, "I have realized that I - no, that we all may have been too hasty to condemn young Harry when we found out what happened. The Minister brought up a number of valid points about the evidence, and there is, of course, the fact that we never gave Harry the legally required Veritaserum when questioning him."
"We didn't need the serum," the Weasley matriarch replied haughtily. "He was guilty, everyone could see it. I mean, who wouldn't turn dark with a childhood like his? He's been abandoned, left to live with muggles who despise him, and then there's the fact that every year he's escalated in trying to get my children killed! Of course he's not sane."
"And whose fault is that?" Snape snapped, glaring alternately at Dumbledore and Molly.
"Well, it certainly isn't mine," Molly snapped back. "Why, I should have known after what Ron told me after his first year that that boy wasn't normal!"
"If you'd actually bothered to help the boy out and given him a home-"
"A home? A dragon will have a place in my home before that monster does!" Molly exploded angrily.
Moody replied before Snape could continue the yelling match, the old Auror's voice quiet but firm. "If you knew that he was living with people who despised him so much, why didn't you take him in?" Moody turned to glare at Dumbledore then. "If you'd known, why send him back every year? If you'd known, why not try to give him a normal childhood? Eh?"
Dumbledore could only hang his head in shame, but Molly was adamant. "That wouldn't have changed anything, I tell you! That boy's the next dark lord, and if you trust him then we're all doomed. We're-"
"Mother, shut up." Everyone quieted instantly at the softly spoken words that seemed to carry so much more malice than should've been possible. Everyone turned, looking for the source when the most unexpected person stepped forward to stand in front of Molly.
"Shut up," Ginny repeated, leaving everyone in shocked silence. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Tears were running down her face as she yelled with increasing volume. "You are just like the rest of the world, so quick to think the worst of Harry! Because of you-"
"Ginevra Weasley!" Molly thundered her face red with anger. "You will apologize right now! I will not be spoken to in that tone, especially not by my own daughter!"
"Shut up!" Ginny roared in return, causing everyone around the two to back away slightly. Snape was the only one in the crowd watching with anything other than horror, a small smirk playing around his lips as he waited for an explosion that he figured had been a long time in coming.
"You filled my head with lies, you filled me with all of these lies and doubts about Harry," Ginny whispered angrily, "you told me he was evil, you told me he was crazy, that there was no way that he wasn't . You told me that he was a bad person, twisting everything he'd ever done and said. You told us private things about him, about the way he lived with his aunt and uncle, just because you wanted us to believe the worst of him. You made me forget everything he's ever done for us. You made me betray Harry, and I'll never forgive you for that."
"Ginevra Weasley-"
"But worst of all," Ginny continued, ignoring her mother, "I will never forgive myself, for believing you over Harry. For believing all the lies you told me when I should have known better. For choosing to betray Harry. He saved my life," she hissed angrily. "He saved my life, and he saved Ron's life. He gave Fred and George the money to realize their dream, and this is how we repay him. All of us here owe him our lives, not once, not twice, but five times over! I hope you're proud of what you've done, mother," she spat, turning on her heel and stalking out of the room.
The people in the room were speechless for a long moment, before murmuring broke out. Molly stared after her daughter, and unreadable look in her eyes. "Why, I've never-"
"Molly, I do believe your daughter was right in this instance," Moody commented. "It'd be best if you remained silent."
Ginny stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, but she didn't make it much further than that. Her legs gave out from under her, and she slumped against the wall outside, burying her face in her knees as she sobbed. She had known Harry was innocent from the moment Hermione had returned, and even when Dumbledore said her memory had been tampered with, she had known . Known without a doubt; it was something that transcended just logical understanding; it was a feeling deep in her heart, across a connection that had formed in the Chamber of Secrets. She had known, but now it was real . So real that Dumbledore and the rest of the world were forced to admit it, and the weight of what she'd done had come crashing down on her.
She didn't even think about what the rest of her family had done; the only thing she could see before her inner eye was the last time she'd seen Harry, when she'd told him that Azkaban was a fitting place for him to rot in. She should've known better, she thought despairingly. She should've believed her own instincts before believing what her family had been drilling into them. She had known Harry for years, had been his friend, and yet she'd believed baseless accusations and the rumours spread by her family before she'd believed him. She had turned a blind eye when everyone had pushed through for a hasty trial, going so far as not even giving the boy time to speak to defend himself, and all the while she'd not even felt a scrap of guilt. Because her family had said he was guilty. Because it was so easy to believe them, so easy to believe that he had done it, that he had gone over the edge. So much easier than having to stand up to them, having to stand up to the rest of the wizarding world and do what was right.
She only just now began to understand the kind of pressure Harry had been under while he had been in school. She had seen what the public made him out to be, how fickle they were, proclaiming him their hero one day and their scapegoat the next. And throughout it all, he had managed to always stay his course and do what was right. She had thought him an inspiration for all of his friends, and felt that when it came down to it, she would do the right thing, because that was what he would have done. But when push came to shove, she had failed. All of them had failed, because they'd all taken the easy way out instead of telling the wizarding world to go to hell and doing what was right.
And because of them, because of all of them, Harry had landed in Azkaban. Ginny knew full well what the Dementors did to Harry, and she could only imagine the terror that had gone through him on that island, and he'd gone in the knowledge that everyone, even his most trusted friends, had turned their backs on him and that for the first time since he had arrived at Hogwarts, he was well and truly alone. What was even worse that despite their initial betrayal, Harry had repeatedly tried to reach out to them, tried to talk to them, but they hadn't listened. They had just condemned him, thinking themselves secure in their decision, because it was the easy thing to do. In the end, Harry had been left all to himself. The only good thing Ginny could see coming out of it was that Harry now was no longer alone - he was the Earl of the North, the heir of the House of Polairix, and from what it seemed like, he was liked, respected, and loved by his people. She was glad for that, because she honestly didn't know whether Harry would have survived being on his own throughout this war, haunted by their recriminations and the wizarding world's baseless accusations. He would have done his duty and destroyed Voldemort, she was sure of that, but once that was done, he would have lacked any further goal in life, lacked any will to live on. He now had that will, that goal, thanks to his inheritance. He was going to live his life, and live it happily, and it wouldn't involve them.
"Oh God, Harry," she sobbed, burying her face into her hands when she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her shoulders.
"Hey sister dear-"
"We would say-"
"We told you so-"
"But that'd be just-"
"Bad sportsmanship." Fred finished as the twins settled down next to her. Ginny merely looked up in confusion at the grinning faces of her brothers.
"What're you talking about?"
"Why, dear sister, we just wanted to let you know that not everyone shares Mom's point of view in our family," George smirked at the shocked look on her face, and Fred picked it up.
"Come on, you didn't really think that Snape and Moody were the only ones who believed in him, were you?"
"Nope, not at all," George chimed in.
"
Now, what's with the long face?" Fred asked as he leaned over to wipe the tears from Ginny's face, causing the girl to duck her head in embarrassment.
"Fred, George," she whispered, new tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh Harry, I said - God, I said such horrible things to him." Her earlier conversation with Hermione came back to her, and she broke down again, sobbing as her brothers held her. George looked over her head at Fred.
"She needs to see him."
"And talk to him."
"Preferably soon," George agreed.
"We should get her in contact with the PL," Fred added.
"Maybe we can throw in a visit to Nair'i'caix."
"Wha-?" Ginny barely heard her brothers talking, but the mention of visiting Harry caught her attention.
"Shh." George shushed her with a gentle smile. "Don't worry about a thing. We'll take care of it. You just make sure you're presentable for Harry."
"But-"
"No argument, sister dearest," Fred added. "You need to talk to him."
Ginny nodded and they fell silent for a moment, before she glanced back up. "Will he even want to see me? After all we did to him? After all that I did? The last time I saw him I told him off something awful, and I - I let Mom and Dad talk me into believing all of this nonsense they've been saying about him. I believed he was evil!" she cried.
Fred and George shared a worried look. They knew their sister was taking it hard; Ginny was the most idealistic of them, and, apart from Ron, had known Harry the best. She also owed him her life, and the guilt of ignoring all of that in favor of listening to the public's opinion was crushing her now. Both of them had been angry at Ginny for siding with their mother against Harry, but they'd realized that Ginny was also the youngest and most impressionable, and Molly Weasley could be really persuasive when she was being belligerent.
"Now, Ginny, don't you worry," Fred began calmingly.
"Right, you know how Harry is," George continued.
"He'll probably just wave it all off."
"And forgive you." Although there are some he really shouldn't, George added silently, though he couldn't really bring himself to add his sister to that list. His youngest brother, on the other hand, was a different matter.
"It'll be all right, you'll see. You know how big Harry's heart is."
Ginny managed a weak smile at that. "I do, and that's what worries me. If I were him I wouldn't be forgiving any of us, much less even look at us anymore. He doesn't need us any longer, Professor Dumbledore said as much. Harry finally found people who trust him, look up to him… he doesn't need our support to fight V-v-voldemort anymore. Why bother with me, when all I've done is caused him pain?"
George sighed, and looked at his sister seriously. "Because, Ginny, that's not what Harry's like. We all know that he's too nice for his own good. Lord knows some people don't deserve it-" he mentally smacked himself as he watched her flinch at his words, and continued quickly, "but you do. Ginny, you didn't know any better. You trusted what Mom and Dad and everyone else told you about Harry."
"But I shouldn't have! I know Harry, I've known him for years, lived in the same dorm-"
"That's right, you know Harry," George continued. "Do you seriously doubt he wouldn't forgive you?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, he will. I know he will, that's how he is," she choked back a sob. "And then he'll bottle up all of his bitterness inside and shut everyone out because he doesn't want us to see how much it's hurting him inside. He doesn't deserve this, how can I make him hurt any more after what I've already done?"
"Because you need it, Ginny. Both of you," Fred joined in, both of the twins uncharacteristically serious. "Lord knows, the kid is too good for this world, but that's the way he is. He needs closure, Ginny. From what we know, he's already begun to find it with Hermione, and if he can forgive her and work through things with her after what she did, then the two of you can, too."
"He has?" Ginny's eyes widened in surprise, and George nodded in confirmation.
"She's the one who provided the information for Harry to stop the raid yesterday. She's with him right now. Last Neville said, they're at least back on speaking terms, and it only took them a day and a half. Well, from what I hear, she had to really push to let him help, but she wouldn't take a no for an answer."
George nodded. "True, that. I think that was her guilt making her want to do something to make it up to him. I wouldn't be taking a no for an answer in her place, either, but that's Harry for you. Fighting you tooth and nail and insisting he can do everything by himself."
Ginny shrank back into herself as she let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "We really don't deserve him, do we?"
"Not really, no," Fred mused.
"But we're glad he's here nonetheless," George added.
"And hey, he can always claim that he's God's gift to women!"
That managed to draw a weak smile from Ginny. "That wasn't really funny," she told the twins weakly.
"Well, blame it on the mood." Fred shrugged. "Now, on a more important note, we need to get you to meet some people, and we need to set up a meeting with his majesty Lord Polairix."
"You - you've really been in touch with Harry?" Ginny asked in awe.
"Yep. You should've seen us-"
"Real cloak and dagger stuff-"
"Like that muggle Dad's so obsessed with, what's his name?"
"James Blond?"
"Something like that."
"Anyway-"
"We're certified Harry Potter flunkies," George whispered conspiratorially, winking at her briefly. At her disbelieving stare, both twins theatrically placed their hands over their hearts.
"We tell the truth-"
"And nothing but the truth-"
"Cross your heart-"
"And hope to die."
"And now, dear sister, I think it's time you met some friends of Harry's," Fred noted as he stood, pulling her to her feet.
"Where are we going?"
"Why, dear sister, we're going to meet-"
"Potter's Legion," George finished with a grin.
Ginny's eyes widened in surprise when she heard the name. She stood between her brothers, a new determination spreading through her. Hermione seemed to have found her place at Harry's side once more, helping him in his quest to destroy Voldemort. Ginny didn't know if it was Hermione's conscience making her help, or whether she considered it some sort of penance, but the youngest Weasley suddenly realized what she had to do. She straightened, furiously wiping away at the tear-tracks on her face. There was nothing she could do to change the past - what she had done to Harry was already done, and nothing she did would change it.
She couldn't change it, but she could make up for it. Until now, all she had done was spend her energy on condemning Harry and feeling sorry for herself, it was time she turned it on something useful. She remembered telling Hermione that if she found out Harry was innocent, she had vowed to crawl to him and beg him to kill her. She amended that vow silently. She knew that she felt bad enough that she wanted to die, she wanted Harry to be able to punish her as she deserved, but that would be taking the easy way out. It would be too easy on her; she wouldn't have to live with the consequences of her actions, wouldn't have to live with having to make up for them.
And she knew that Harry would never willingly hurt her. No, she would face him, head held high, and offer him her life as penance. No, she would tell him, in no uncertain terms, that she was helping, and that there wasn't anything he could do about it. She would do whatever she could to help him bring an end to this war, and she would do everything in her power to fix the wrongs she'd done to him. It wouldn't be easy, and it'd be a long and painful time before she would have managed to complete her task, but she would do it. She owed him this much, at least.
No longer would she be taking the easy way out.