Taking a deep breath to recover from what he'd just heard, focusing on the 'Ginny will be fine' part helped immensely, Arthur continued with his tale. "When Albus entered, he'd also brought Harry along for Poppy to check over. Your mother was immediately fussing all over the lad - she treats Harry as one of her boys - and then Albus had a quiet word with me. He said that, since Ginny had been injured within Hogwarts, he would take care of everything. No mention was made of any possession, or the need for a mind-healer, and certainly you-know-who being involved was never brought into the conversation. Poppy told me Ginny would eventually be fine, and Albus Dumbledore just promised to take care of everything. Why wouldn't I agree to that?"
Bill needed a sip of his own firewhisky to stop him shouting at his father for being so trusting. They had never seriously considered Arthur to be willingly involved in any of this but could easily imagine Dumbledore pulling something like that off. Arthur just continued with his story.
"Ginny was a bit quieter when she came home that summer, we put it down to recovering from her experience. She never actually talked about what happened, and Ron was trapped before reaching her so never saw anything either. Harry is a modest lad who you would never hear boasting about anything he did. Your mum and I nearly had a fit when we saw those pictures of the basilisk in the papers."
Suppressing a shudder of dread that passed through him even thinking about that, Arthur switched to a happier memory. "That was also the summer we won the prize draw, and used that money to take the family out to visit you in Egypt. It's never been a secret who Ginny's favourite brother is, and we thought this special treat would help our little girl recover from her experience. She returned to Hogwarts on the first of September and then left from Platform nine and three quarters straight to holiday with Harry. None of her letters home indicated any sign of trouble. We got our daughter back but are going to lose her anyway…"
Watching as his father fell to pieces in front of him, Bill moved over and put a reassuring hand on Arthur's shoulder. "When I had the discussion with Ginny about choosing Poppy as a temporary guardian, I made it plain to her I would always be her brother - no matter what. That same rule will apply to you - you are her father. I have to say though, until we get all the facts of this, Harry won't let anyone who could possibly have harmed our Ginny anywhere near her. That boy is scarily protective of his family and friends. He certainly counts a few Weasleys as being part of that exclusive group."
They had been fairly certain who had cast those memory charms on Ginny, Amelia now asked the question that would determine if Arthur got anywhere near his daughter again. "All the mind-healer could tell us was that the compulsion charm was cast by a different person than the one who messed with her memories. Have you any idea who could have done this to Ginny?"
The moral boost Arthur had received from Bill's comments was instantly washed away by that question. He has his suspicions, but that was all they were - until he spoke with his wife.
"Ginny has been obsessed with Harry Potter, long before she met him. We figured it was harmless, reckoning that at least half the witches around Ginny's age would be the same. Ron becoming Harry's best friend had her in a tizzy, then coming down to breakfast and finding Harry sitting at the table last summer had Ginny racing straight back to her room. She spent most of last August unable to talk to the boy who was staying with us. That she was going on holiday with Harry, well I could see Molly casting something on Ginny to give her a bit more confidence. I have no knowledge that she actually did, I'm only guessing here. I'm also wondering if such a spell, normally pretty harmless, could manifest itself differently due to what had already been done to Ginny?"
Seeing that as a distinct possibility, though she would enquire of the mind-healer for more information to be certain, Amelia decided to put most of her cards on the table. Arthur was, after all, a Ministerial Head of Department.
"The only way to discover the truth would be to ask Molly, and I really don't want to do that at the moment. Everyone sitting here knows Molly Weasley can be difficult, if not downright bloody minded. Molly would go absolutely crazy, whether she cast that spell or not, and I just can't see her believing the word of some Johnny Foreigner over that of Albus Dumbledore. I'm building a strong case against the Headmaster but Fudge is protecting him - since our Minister of Magic seems to have lost all of his other supporters."
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