The Weight of Betrayal

Hermione Granger was crying in another room as her father tore into her. He loved her very much but his personal honor was offended by her actions. From his time in the military, he knew what it meant to owe someone your life and to betray that kind of thing was something he could not accept.

He also knew that the two kids had been through a lot together and over time, a deep connection had formed. Every time Hermione mentioned Harry to him, he couldn't help but picture the two of them marrying and him eventually chasing after little wild haired children. How things had come to this was beyond his comprehension as he thought he knew the kind of person hi daughter was.

Hermione sat sobbing as her mother approached her.

In a quiet voice, she said "I don't understand how you could do that to your first true friend. If that wasn't enough, I saw the signs last summer, you were in love with him and from what I saw, it was something worth fighting for. You could have built a true loving relationship with Harry that would have stood the test of time. Honey, I know you are only fifteen but both of you are more mature than your peers so it was easy for me to accept. You have never bowed to peer pressure in your life so what made you start now?"

Hermione sobbed out "I don't know. I was scared."

"Scared of what? You once said that as long as you had Harry, nothing else mattered."

"I don't know mum, I was stupid and now I've lost my best friend."

Charlie Weasley knocked on the door and when they opened it, he said "I'm sorry to interrupt but Dad asked me to come get you. It seemed important enough to disturb you."

****

While all these other family dramas were going on, the Weasleys were in one of their own. The four youngest knew that if their parents and three older brothers had shown up, it was indeed a very serious matter. It was a rare occasion that Arthur Weasley would convene a family conference and when he did, it meant that he was taking things very seriously.

For the longest time, he just sat there and looked at his four youngest children. They all knew him as a loving father but the expression on his face was anything but. It was a rare occasion for him to get angry but he was in such a state that even their mother knew to keep her mouth shut.

In a very low voice, he finally said "I want to know what has happened for my family to fall so low as to treat someone we considered one of our own in a manner like this."

Percy spoke up and said "I warned you about getting involved with Potter. I told you he was nothing but trouble."

Before Arthur could react, Bill was up and in Percy's face. "Shut the hell up Percy. Your actions lately haven't been any better than these four idiots. If you can't offer anything to help with the situation, then remain silent. Charlie and I had to leave our jobs and come all the way here because of their stupidity."

Arthur started again "I told you before Christmas that you needed to do whatever you must to fix the problem. Harry has been good to this family and if it wasn't for him, we would have lost Ginny. For us to treat him like this is inconceivable."

Ron whined "Dad, I tried to apologize to him after the first task but he just threw it back in my face."

Ginny snorted "Yeah some apology. Hermione told me all about it. He might have even accepted it if you had been even a little bit sincere or if it hadn't been you who started all this in the first place."

Charlie turned to the twins and asked "Where were you when all this started?"

"We were there."

Bill asked "You didn't stop the little idiot?"

George said "We didn't think it was any different than any other argument they've had. We thought it would blow over but then Ronald kept fanning the flames until everyone in the house was against Harry."

Percy asked "And what did you three do while Ronald was instigating his revolt?" He was about to add 'of the great Harry Potter' but remembered Bill's threat and if there was one thing he knew, it was to not cross his oldest brother.

Ginny looked down and they could see tears running down her face. "We didn't do anything. We sat there and watched as Harry was turned into an outcast."

Ron said "I only did what the headmaster told me to. I don't understand why we're the ones in trouble over this."

Before Molly could say anything, Arthur was all over his last comment. "What do you mean?"

Ron said "The headmaster told me and Hermione in first year that we needed to watch after Harry and tell him what Harry was doing. Most of the time, we just gave him information but sometimes he gave us jobs to do."

Bill asked "What kind of jobs?"

Before he could answer, Arthur cut in and said "Wait a minute. Charlie, go next door and bring the Grangers here. This just got even more complicated."

Charlie did as asked and brought three upset Grangers with him. As they took seats, Arthur turned to Hermione and said "Forgive me Martin but there is something going on here far beyond what we knew. Ron was just explaining to us how the both of you have been spying on Harry since first year and reporting back to the Headmaster. Is this true?"

Hermione's eyes shot to the floor as she nodded her head. Ginny shot up and said "He was your best friend. In fact, he was the both of yours only friend. How could you?"

Hermione was openly crying now that her secret was out and the shame was there for everyone to see. George stood and started pacing. "I know we didn't do right but this explains a lot. Harry must have found out and thanks to you two; he's acting as if everyone is doing the same thing to him. Ron, Bill asked you a question. I want the answer now. What kind of jobs did he have you doing?"

Ron said "Well, my main job was to make sure nobody got to close to Harry so that he wouldn't make friends with people who could tell Harry things. I had a hard time keeping Neville and Susan away that year and after the troll thing, it became impossible to keep Hermione away so the Headmaster just included her in his plans."

"Second year, I was told to help spread the rumors of him being the Heir of Slytherin while Hermione got closer to him. Last year, we were told to watch him closely and look out for Sirius. If we saw them together, we were to get the Headmaster immediately. This year it was to get everyone to turn against him. It was going perfectly until last year when Hermione didn't want to do it anymore. The Headmaster had a talk with her and she did as she was told again. The same thing happened at this year until he talked with her again."

Fred was up pacing along with George when he finally stopped and said "Dobby"

A minute later, Dobby popped into the room and when he saw who was there, he gave a hard glare to everyone in the room. Ginny ran over and dropped to her knees in front of him and asked "Dobby, did you tell Harry that people were spying on him?"

"What Dobby does for Harry Potter Sir is only business of Harry Potter Sir. Dobby does not have to answer Wheezys. Dobby knows Wheezys only want what they can get from Harry Potter Sir. Dobby tells Harry Potter Sir that Wheezys is bad wizards just like old whiskers and Grangy girl who pretended to love Harry Potter Sir."

Ginny cried out "But I didn't do that to him."

"Dobby sorry Miss Ginny but even lowly house elves know not to trust a family when one of that family betrays a friend."

'POP'

Arthur sat there for a few minutes in stunned silence. It was finally Martin Granger who said "I know I'm only a muggle but from the books Hermione left at home I learned something important that you need to consider. The good news is that debts and bonds won't fully take affect until you come of age even though they will draw you towards the holder of the debt. The bad news is that if the debt remains unfulfilled, it will begin to eat away at you and your magic until you either satisfy the debt or lose your magic."

Bill nodded in agreement.

....

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