Repercussions - 6

"These injuries were caused by a magical creature, a dragon, if I had to hazard a guess," Madam Pomfrey said, staring at Ginny intently.

"A dragon?" Fred and George both asked, speaking for the first time. Ginny thought they looked rather impressed.

"Where on earth did you find a dragon?" her mum shrieked, looking slightly deranged. Her hair had pulled from its bun, and her eyes were wild.

"Can you heal him?" Ginny asked, ignoring everyone else in the room. Nothing was as important as getting Harry well. She needed him well so she could give him hell for leaving her here with all of them.

"Of course I can," Madam Pomfrey said indignantly. "He'll need some Blood Replenishing Potions that will have to be taken in intervals over the next two days. He'll probably sleep through most of it, but he'll be fine. There won't even be any scarring."

Two days? Oh, that's just great.

"I'll help with giving him the potions," Ginny said firmly.

"That won't be necessary, Ginny," her mother said. "We'll make certain Harry gets his potions. You have some questions to answer."

"I'm not going anywhere until I know they're all going to be okay," Ginny said, refusing to back down. "And I don't trust any of you with Harry right now."

"Ginevra Molly Weasley," her mother said, scandalized. "We might be upset with all of you at the moment, but we certainly would never do anything to hinder Harry's recovery."

"Bill's already dropped him on the floor, despite the fact he's injured," Ginny fired back mutinously. She glared at her eldest brother, still feeling unforgiving.

"He what?" her mother bellowed, turning towards Bill.

Despite being a fully qualified wizard, not to mention a grown and married man, Bill Weasley blanched. "I would have done the same to Ron, too, if he were the one I was carrying. They had no business dragging Ginny off on their little adventure."

"'Little adventure,'" Ginny shrieked. "You have absolutely no idea what we've done, or what we've been through."

"How about you enlighten us then," Bill snarled. "Tell us why you nearly broke your mother's heart. Do you have any idea how much you upset her? Madam Pomfrey had to be called to give her a Calming Draught that first morning. But you wouldn't know about that since you never bothered to check or even write a note to let us know you were all right, never mind where you were. I knew Harry was up to something, but I never thought he'd drag the rest of you right into danger with him."

"He didn't drag us anywhere," Ginny spat. "In fact, we had to force him to let us come. Professor Dumbledore left him a job to do. Completing his task is the only way Harry can beat Voldemort in the end. That's exactly what he's going to do, and we're going to help him do it."

Again, the others cringed when Ginny said the name, but she didn't care.

"Ginny," Remus began, but she didn't let him finish.

"Look at you. All of you cringe just hearing the name. How can you possibly believe you can handle this better than us?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Professor Dumbledore trusted him; why can't you?"

"You are just children," her mum said stubbornly.

"We're not children. Harry's never even been allowed to be a child, and I haven't been since I was eleven. I've been touched by this war more than any of you, even you, Bill," she said, nodding towards her brother's scars. "How any of you think you can keep us safe is beyond me. You couldn't do it then, you can't do it now."