“Mr. Weasley?”
Ron stood on shaky legs. The moment he had been dreading was upon him. He looked at Hermione, but the glare she gave him made Professor McGonagall’s look friendly. He swallowed hard, knowing he could not get out of it. “Y..yes P..p..Professor?”
“It is no secret that you have frequented Professor Latham’s private chambers. While she told me on several occasions that it was nothing to be concerned about, in light of the circumstances, I think you should explain yourself.”
“Umm, what do you want me to say? We are just friends, she was helping me with - ” he glanced towards Hermione again then back, “some stuff.”
“Mr. Weasley, that is not going to help you out of this. I know that you were in her room last week when Madam Pomfrey informed her she was six weeks pregnant.”
Hermione jumped to her feet next to Ron, and he flinched at the unexpected movement.
Without noticing the interruption Professor McGonagall continued on, “I was informed that not only was she not upset about this news but that you too seemed happy about —“
SMACK! Hermione slapped Ron so hard that every male flinched. Ron reeled backwards then grabbed Hermione’s hand when she tried to flee. Ignoring everyone around him he struggled to hold onto her. “Hermione, it’s not mine. I swear to you it’s not mine.”
Hermione swiped hard at the hated tears trickling down her cheek, “Then why were you even in her room? You were always with her.”
Ron took her by the arms, ignoring the stinging handprint on his face. “I saw her coming down the hall that day. She was headed to the hospital wing when she suddenly passed out. I took her to her room, and the lady in the portrait went for help. As soon as I laid her down, she woke up, told me she was scared. She was so excited about the baby and so I was happy for her too.”
Professor McGonagall’s pinched face seemed to relax, momentarily. “That still does not explain why you were in her rooms so often.”
“Well, she was like an older sister to me. You see, she dated Charlie for a while back when they were in school. I had a huge crush on her when I was a little kid. I remember she came over, a lot. She wanted to know about my family. We talked about that, and she was helping me get up the nerve to ask Hermione to mar-”
The doors to the great hall banged against the walls and Alastar Moody stormed in. His magical eye swivelling around until it locked on Ron. “Grab that Weasley. He killed Emaline!”
“What…no…I didn’t…it wasn’t me…I wouldn’t! Where’s Harry?”
Ginny stood behind her brother and took hold of his arm. Hermione kept glancing at him, not sure if she should believe him, but loyalty won out, and she took his hand.
Alastar stormed over to the three, “We found evidence on Emaline. Hairs, Weasley red hairs, to be more specific. They were on her robes. You, boy, are coming with me, straight to Azkaban.” His good eye turned to Ginny, “Your sister is good at writing letters. She can notify your parents.”
Ron’s confused look was nothing compared to Ginny’s expression of fright, her face blanching at Moody’s words.
“Ginny what did you do?” Ron managed to croak out while Moody was leading him out.
Another person came running into the Great Hall. He was panting and had smudges of dirt on his hands and face. “It wasn’t Ron.”
“What?” Alastar, Professor McGonagall, and Hermione all said in unison. Ron slumped in relief; help had arrived at last.
“It wasn’t Ron. It was Charlie. Ginny wrote a letter to her mum telling her that Ron might have gotten himself involved with Emma; he came to see what was going on. They got in a huge row over their break-up and Mrs. Weasley’s interference in their lives. They were talking and Emma backed into the mirror, it was an accident, a horrible accident.” A choked sound came from him but he continued, “Charlie is waiting in Professor McGonagall’s office.”
Harry made his way through the crowd and was now standing beside Ron. He put his hand on his shoulder to reassure him that all would be okay.
“And just how do you know all this?” Professor McGonagall braced herself for his next words.
“I was there. I came to check on her. She wasn’t in the room when I woke up.”
A startled gasp went up from the hall. Here was the proof they had all wanted. She was with one of her students - just not the one they had expected.
“I heard the argument and rushed into her office just in time to see the mirror fall. I was so mad I — I sort of attacked him. He took off to get away from me and I went after him.”
“How did you get involved with her?” Draco spat the question at him, not even trying to hide his jealousy.
“Well, it was this summer. I didn’t really want to go home. They are all Muggles and don’t understand what is going on here.” He paused to look around. He had not really realised that the whole school was waiting to hear the story.
He raised his voice a little so that everyone could hear. He loved Emma and he wanted everyone to know. “I was at the Vampire Room when you two came in. I saw the confrontation, and when she came back inside, she just happened to sit down next to me. I bought her a drink, and four drinks later I was helping her back to her apartment. She invited me in.”
Looking a little sheepish he continued, “I’m a seventeen-year-old guy about to get pulled into a war; of course I stayed. Within two weeks she had told me all about her life and knew all about mine. I wasn’t going to return to school, but she asked me to.” He grew quiet and his voice dropped, “We were going to get married at Christmas. I turn eighteen soon so it would not have mattered. She figured she could hide her pregnancy for a while longer.”
“You know I can expel you for this. It is quite inappropriate.” Professor McGonagall sounded pained to say the words.
“It doesn’t matter. Now that she is gone, I’ll be leaving. I just don’t think I can stay.”
He turned to Ron first, “I’m sorry you were accused, I wanted to tell everyone but I just couldn’t. I had to listen to the rumors and bite my tongue.”
He then turned to the one other person he wanted to say something to. “Thank you for letting me be in the DA and when the war starts, I’ll be there to help you.”
Harry looked down at the hand extended to him and shook it; “I’ll hold you to that Justin.”
