Prophecy 472

6- Cornered

Ginny thought she had seen the burrow in chaos before. She was wrong. The shouting going on right now was deafening. Fortunately, they all had moved inside, as even the muggles four miles north in Ottery St. Catchpole could have heard the screaming going on at the moment.

Mrs Weasley was shouting at each of her sons in turns, screaming about infidelity and wedlock and other such nonsense. Mr Weasley was trying to shout over Mum, begging her to calm down. George screamed back at Mum that he had nothing to do with it, taking moments to turn and yell at Angelina who was whopping him over the head with a rolled up newspaper. Audrey and Percy were having a heated argument next to them, Percy waving his arms and shouting out words like "Preposterous!" and "Absurd!" Both Bill and Lavender were shouting at Ron, slumped in a corner, both of them convinced he had something to do with it. Fleur was pulling on Bill's arm and pleading with him to stop for the sake of the children.

The only people not making a commotion, it occurred to Ginny, were herself, Harry and Hermione. Harry was pensive, deep in thought, and Hermione stood quietly as far away from the rest of them, gently rocking Rose in her arms.

"I don't know why you lot are biting my head off!" Ron finally shouted, jumping up from his seat. "We already did the charm, we know it wasn't me!"

"Well it was somebody!" Mum shouted back. "And we are going to find out who took advantage of sweet Hermione when she was just a girl!"

"Yes, poor sweet Hermione, who never did anything wrong!" Ron replied, suddenly set off. "Are we forgetting SHE TURNED HER WAND ON ME? And, she's standing right here! Why not make her give us an explanation?"

Ron collapsed back in his seat, the energy leaving him after everything he had dealt with the last few days. Ginny took a tentative step forward to look at Hermione, whose face was a blank canvas, revealing nothing.

"Hermione, I do think it's time you tell us who Rose's father is."

Hermione continued to rock Rose, bouncing the child up and down in a frantic rhythm, shaking her head back and forth at the same time in a motion that matched the rocking. Ginny had never seen Hermione act so strangely, her friend looked… cornered. Ginny was torn between anger, frustration and sympathy for her long lost best friend.

Hermione blinked quickly then turned to where Harry stood next to her, pleading with her eyes for him to help her.

"Don't look to Harry, Hermione," Ginny said boldly, some of the rising anger coming out. "This doesn't concern him. Now, we're all glad you're back, but it's time you were honest with us. We're family, aren't we?"

Hermione stared back at Ginny, tears welling up in her eyes. Ginny watched as a few tears escaped and fell down Hermione's cheeks, and Hermione struggled to catch her breath.

"Oh, this is no use," Lavender said, throwing her hands up in the air. "I say we do the paternity charm on all of them, one by one. People are going to want to know who this child's father is!"

"People?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yes, of course," Lavender said, exasperated. "People are already talking about it in Diagon Alley and the Ministry. I was just speaking to Parvati about it this afternoon, and she couldn't believe…"

"NO!" Hermione's gasp was forced out of her, and her shout stalled all conversation around her. Ginny looked at her friend, who was slowly backing farther away from the group, shaking her head more vehemently now. Hermione clutched at Rose as if her life depended on it.

"You didn't, you haven't told people about her?"

"Obviously," Lavender said, rolling her eyes. "This is very good gossip you know."