The Potter Chronicles

Chapter 17: Chaos and Confusion

The air within the Weasley mansion had turned heavy with tension. There were visible frowns on everyone's face as they lay there, mourning. Hermione's wails had reduced to sobs, now that her eyes had drained out of tears. No one spoke for a long time. Everyone was clueless as to what to do next.

"Let us call Ginny home" George finally said, breaking the silence.

"Where is she now?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. She was talking about some international press conference she had to cover" George said.

Neville's eyes opened wide in shock when he heard this.

"No she wasn't. Tell me she wasn't" Neville said.

"Why...?" George asked, too tired to be surprised.

"Aberforth is going to announce about Harry's death to the public, today in the international press conference. And if Ginny hears about Harry's death from Aberforth, in front of hundreds of reporters, what kind of an unimaginable shock would she have?" Neville said.

Everyone stared open mouthed at Neville.

"Ab...Aberforth is go...going public abou...about this?" Hermione asked between sobs.

Ron held her hand. Neville nodded.

Hermione took her hand out of Ron's palms and said "But he can't!"

"Umm why?" Neville asked perplexed.

"You don't understand! It will simply create a wrath for the muggles among the magical community!" Hermione said, stopping her sobs with sheer willpower.

"But Hermione, those muggles...those muggles killed Harry" Ron said.

"Not all of them did that Ron. What about those innocent muggles out there? I've been brought up by muggles. I know that most of them are harmless, just minding their own lives and business. Now I don't want a couple of berserk wizards barging in on my muggle parents and doing something to them, because of a conflict they don't even know about. It is our communities' problem, we have to solve it. But revealing it to the mass without any discretion is foolish" Hermione said.

Everyone stared at her without saying anything.

"Err I can't say that you're wrong Hermione" Neville said, scratching his head.

"Maybe it was our shock at the muggles' audacity, and the feeling of revenge that clouded our decisions to some extent" Neville admitted.

"But then, someday or the other, the world is going to know that...that Harry is no more. That is not something that can remain hidden for long. What then? How will the public react when they find out the actual story? And they won't simply sit when they find out that the ministry covered up his death. The wrath would be far greater then..." Neville said.

Hermione put her head in her hands. Her forehead was burning with fever. All this was too much for her head to process.

"Nevertheless, it's too late now. The press conference was scheduled to start some time ago. Aberforth must have given his speech by now. It is over" Neville said, as he took out his wand and flicked ON the magi-TV at the end of the hall.

Everyone looked up at the TV.

"Welcome, Mr Longbottom to the Weasley Manor. Which channel would you like to watch?" a voice said from within the TV.

"Daily Prophet News Channel" Neville said and the magi-TV's screen came to life.

A grim looking reporter in his forties sat at a studio desk.