It was morning, and in the burrow, my family was having breakfast as we continued talking about our year at Hogwarts, mainly my year at Hogwarts.
"And how did you do all that...? And why can only girls enter?" asked my father after I recounted the creation of 'the Lair' and 'the Nest'.
They were surprised by that; it was my first year and I had built something like that. Although what they knew was the little I explained to them and what my siblings told them, as I didn't go into depth, they were not aware of everything I had.
"That's because you didn't know your son is the heartthrob of Hogwarts," said George.
"Or a pervert...," added Fred.
"Yes, one or the other," (George)
"We bet he'll be the first to give you grandchildren" (Fred)
"Probably, next school year it will be in the news," (George)
"Front page: Historic record, the youngest father at Hogwarts," joked Fred making gestures with his hands.
"Shut up, you two! It's not funny to joke about it and make fun of your brother. What if you end up undoing all the progress he has made so far?" my mother yelled at them while the twins just laughed, she actually feared that I would revert to my old state shortly after being able to have her mentally healthy son.
"Come on, mom, we can't take recognition away from our brother," said Fred.
"Yes, we believe he's the Weasley who achieved the most in his first year in Weasley history," commented George.
"I can't deny that, he surprised us all," commented Percy, who certainly felt some envy towards his younger brother. He also wanted to have done things like I did at Hogwarts to gain recognition and make connections that would pave the way for future success.
"Well, I must admit that if everything they say about him is true, then I can feel very proud. I might even be able to rub it in Diggory's face, who keeps talking about his son," said my father with some excitement.
At that moment, Ginny descended the stairs. Apart from Ron, who was still asleep, she was the last one to get up and took her time getting ready before coming down. She sat beside me, and my mother handed her breakfast before continuing with her tasks while they chatted with me once again.
"It'll be more impressive when you meet his girlfriend," said George.
"Yes, she's the most impressive witch in her year, academically speaking," added Fred.
"Girlfriend?!" asked my mother.
"GIRLFRIEND?" asked my father.
"GIRLFRIEND?!!!" exclaimed Ginny.
There was a chorus of three voices, each louder than the last. We all looked towards Ginny, who had shouted the loudest and, if you looked closely, you could see she had stabbed her fork into the table. The gazes on Ginny quickly shifted to me, looks of intense disbelief. Well, only the ones who had shouted looked at me like that; Fred and George were just laughing at causing such chaos, while Percy and Ron, who had just gotten up and come down, mostly looked indifferent.
"Is that true, Red?! Do you have a girlfriend?!" asked my incredulous mother, while my father and sister stared at me with almost the same expression.
I looked at their expressions with a certain weariness, but after a breath, I replied, "Yes..."
The expression on my parents' faces was priceless, but understandable. Going from being emotionally a stone to having a girlfriend after a year at Hogwarts was too much for them to comprehend. On the other hand, Ginny seemed to have a look of disbelief and anger, which was very confusing to me.
"But how?" asked my father, not understanding, thinking that the term 'girlfriend' was too much and it would simply be a simple relationship between children, but he had no idea.
"You're lying, Red, and I don't like it," Ginny almost shouted authoritatively. "Tell the truth, you don't have a girlfriend," she said, almost demanding. My mother looked at her, then at me, trying to unravel this mystery. Her daughter's behavior might be secondary to her son's sudden love life complexities.
"Well... she's a girl... who is my girlfriend," I replied, not really sure how to continue, partly because of not knowing how to respond to my parents' reaction and Ginny's strange attitude.
"For all we know, Red has been tongue-raping his girlfriend's mouth," George chimed in, smiling to add to the chaos.
"More than once," Fred added, with the same expression.
I shot my brothers a murderous look, who couldn't stop laughing at my misfortunes. They should be thankful that I control my auras better, because otherwise, they would be overwhelmed by them right now. I didn't know how they found out, but I roughly guessed; Hogwarts is a hotbed of rumors and they are experts in getting into all sorts of things.
I turned to look at my mother, who was observing me with surprise. It seemed that my glance at the twins confirmed the truth of their words... and perhaps Percy's nodding also helped. I shrunk a little in front of my parents before attempting to excuse myself.
"They were... just a few... kisses..." I replied, but that didn't help calm the situation. However, something else caught my parents' attention... and mine too.
"It's not true! NO, NO, NO, NO...! DAMN IT!" shouted my sister, forcefully throwing the fork she had been holding in her hand so tightly that her hands were white.
Ginny didn't even pay attention to the incredulous looks she received from everyone, she just exploded. Without even looking at me for a few seconds, with tearful and hateful eyes, she ran towards the stairs and back to her room.
We were in shock. Of all present, no one expected Ginny to react that way. My mother couldn't ignore her little one anymore and went to see what was wrong with her.
"Ginny!" she yelled as she climbed the stairs.
We watched her go, and I also wanted to see what had happened, but my father stopped me, telling me to let my mother handle it. We were all curious, especially me, but we had to stay here.
"So...," my father looked at me, and I felt like I was back in this infernal interrogation.
Despite Ginny's outburst, I couldn't escape, and my father asked me about my relationship, starting with when it began. I explained with the help of my brothers, who kept interjecting into the conversation.
I told him it was just before going after the Philosopher's Stone, and that, fortunately or unfortunately, changed the course of the conversation. We had to explain to my father about the incident of the dark wizard infiltrating Hogwarts and how a group of four kids went to confront him.
It wasn't the best conversation, because I knew there were more issues, especially when my mother found out that Ron and I were involved in something so dangerous, but it was better than the topic of my relationship. At least I knew how to respond.
We explained some of the intricacies of the matter, which they didn't know because my brothers' letters weren't so clear. It seems none of them wanted to worry our parents, but now no one could escape. Our parents had an idea of what happened thanks to the letters, but they didn't know the severity of the situation.
We reveal how Harry, Ron, Hermione and I went to look for the stone, how we passed the tests, how Ron stayed in the chess room, Hermione in the potions, and Harry and I in the last room. I just said everything there was very confusing. My father had many expression changes during the story. Percy and the twins, who had enjoyed my misfortune, now faced my father's wrath for leaving Ron and I alone in such a situation, and would suffer even more when my mother found out.
I had to answer many questions that wouldn't make my life easier, but they were something I had to face. Luckily, our mother arrived, and we all gave her an inquiring look.
"It's okay, it's just a problem... Red, you should go talk to her," she said with a kind of surrender, to which I stood up and started walking, happy to be done with this. But as I passed by my mother, she stopped me with her hand and looked at me, saying, "But then we need to talk about your... girlfriend."
I saw the seriousness in her eyes and could only nod before slowly moving forward while my mother whispered to my father what was happening to Ginny.
While I walked, I couldn't help but massage my neck as I repeated to myself how difficult this is. It's horrible, being so tense and worrying so much about what I say and do... it's horrible. The worst part is that I know this is because I care about my parents' opinion. I never even felt this powerless speaking to Dumbledore. My parents were the only ones who could make me feel like this, because I cared about them and felt guilty towards them.
I considered stopping repressing my evil alignment to avoid feeling these emotions, but I quickly dismissed it. It was too risky to lose control with my family. I just had to endure a little longer; at least with the clones, I would have my escapes. However, I would have to stay on the sidelines on some things. I don't think my parents would take well to things like what happened with the cloak and the stone.
I managed to reach Ginny's room and knocked on the door, but got no response. So, I reaffirmed my authority as a brother and entered her room anyway.
I saw her there, lying face down, covering her head with the pillow. I approached her, sat on her bed beside her, and began to stroke her back.
"Ginny... what's wrong?" I asked in the softest voice I had. "Who do I have to kill?"
"You..." she murmured angrily under the pillow.
"Hmm... another." (Red)
"Your GIRLFRIEND..." (Ginny)
"Is that why you're angry? You know my love for you won't change even if I have a girlfriend," I tried to console her, considering that could be the issue.
She was my little sister, whom I deeply cared for, and we had a special connection. However, it didn't seem very reasonable to me that that would be the cause of her anger; Ginny was stronger than that.
I continued to stroke her but didn't do anything like using [Calm] or something, I cared too much about her to manipulate her emotions unnecessarily.
"Ggghhh," she let out a muffled scream into the bed.
I didn't understand what she said, but I was almost certain that something else was bothering her and she wasn't sharing it, so I tried to mediate once again.
"I don't know why you're angry, but..." (Red)
"Because you have a girlfriend!" she interrupted with a shout. "It shouldn't be like this! You shouldn't have a girlfriend!..." She sighed, lowering her tone to one barely audible for herself. "Yet..."
"Why not? What bothers you so much? Someday I would have a girlfriend, it was inevitable, and I hoped my dearest sister would support me... would accept her."
"I will never accept her! She could go to hell or be eaten by a troll!" she continued shouting angrily.
"Hey, hey, calm down a bit, you're too aggressive," I tried to reassure her.
"I can be as aggressive as I want, I will never be happy with her being your girlfriend," she looked at me trying to intimidate me.
"And what do you want me to do, break up with her?" I asked sarcastically, about to add "and stay single forever?", but before I could, Ginny grabbed me tightly.
"Yes! Break up with her," she expressed with excitement and joy at those words.
"..." I stared at Ginny surprised. What had happened to my little sister? This was so out of character that I could hardly recognize her. "Ginny, what's going on? Why are you acting like this? You're scaring me," I said as I held her to make her look at me.
"...it's..." She averted her gaze, tears starting to form in her eyes. "...It's because she... will ruin everything."
"Ruining what?!" I asked again without lowering the intensity, starting to worry.
"Everything..." She sobbed a little, but then her temper returned and, despite the tears, she said vehemently: "She will ruin everything! Everything was planned."
"What plan? What are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"Luna was supposed to be your girlfriend, then you would marry her, and we would all live together... or well, be neighbors," she said the last part hesitantly, as if unsure of mentioning it. "You would have children and we would all be happy. But then that bitch came along... and she wants to ruin everything. AND YOU LET HER!" she shouted, almost spitting out the words.
"..." (Red)
"..." (Ginny)
"WHAT?!" It was my most genuine reaction.
"Are you deaf?" she complained at my bewilderment.
"Wait, wait, wait... I think there are several issues with what you just mentioned." (Red)
"There aren't, it's as clear as day," she said, wiping her tears.
"Alright, let's start. First, I don't know where you got that plan from, but I think you oversimplified it or you're missing details because going out with Luna, marrying her, and having kids is very rushed; there are many things to consider at each stage. Second, how can that be a plan?"
"That's how things should be, we would all be together forever and..." Her voice faded with each word, showing insecurity.
"Ginny... I don't know how we got to this, but you can't plan people's lives like this... and I might be the worst example of that, but this isn't... I mean, first of all, you can't just pair me up with your friend like that, you also have to consider Luna's opinions and all that..." Even though I didn't believe some of my words, I tried to reason with her to get her out of this hysterical state she was in.
"She'll agree, she won't refuse," she held my hands with hers.
"Now I'm curious about the kind of conversations you have between you, because you seem very sure about everything." (Red)
"You just have to break up with the bitch and we'll go back to the original plan, we can be happy... I'll be happy," she looked at me with a pitiful expression, with puppy eyes that almost broke my heart.
"Ginny... no," I pulled my hands away from hers. "Look, Hermione is not a bitch, and I'm sure you would get along with her. Second, I don't like being controlled, and although I don't think Luna wouldn't be a spectacular girlfriend, I wouldn't like to think that all of this is out of obligation and..."
"But I know you like her! She knows you more than anyone, besides me, and you know her. You love each other and it's normal for you to fall in love and get married," she said excitedly, as if trying to convince me it was for the best. "Don't you want to be happy? Don't you want us to be happy? Didn't you promise we would be together?" She started to cry slightly.
"Ginny! I... Don't try to manipulate me!" I said, sensing my sister's intent. I was manipulative enough to know what she was doing. "I'm leaving because you know I care enough to listen to you and break up with any girl if you want me to, and I don't want things to be like this between us, manipulation is for outsiders. When you calm down a bit, we'll talk," I said, turning without looking back and heading towards the door trying to escape the situation.
"But... but... Ugh!" she pleaded before yelling angrily, "What if I went to Hogwarts to get a boyfriend?!"
I stopped right in the doorway upon hearing her and turned to look at her. She was kneeling on her bed, with red eyes from crying, clenched fists, and a defiant look.
"Then I'd grab the idiot who wants to pervert my sister and make him suffer the worst death of all," I said seriously, but then I added, "But I have the right, so don't learn this from me. If anyone has to be bad, it should be me..."
After saying that, I left, hoping everything would calm down. I didn't expect such a reaction from Ginny, it was so different from how she usually acted; this really affected her.
Did I really know my sister? And did she really want me to be with Luna and then all live together? Damn, it even sounds like she wants to use my marriage to Luna to secretly cover up a lesbian relationship with her, or worseeee... Stop it! Bad thoughts! Not the time!