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Chapter Twenty One: Astounding Revelations

"Sometimes betrayal arises within the family."

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The fire crackled merrily in front of him as he sat in amusement, observing his loved ones.

His best mate, being the modest guy he was, arranged for a bonfire dinner night in a fancy restaurant and pretending that the arrangement was done by the ministry of France.

Of course no one believed him.

"Oi, Ron!" Ron looked up to meet the eyes of his sister. She was grinning. "Not hungry for the first time in your life?"

Ron glared playfully at her. If he talked out loud, his family would think he's got a nut or two loose in his brain. Ginny's grin grew wider knowing all too well about his predicament.

"Wait, what?"

Ron turned away from the mischievous entity of the sister of his to look at where Angelina was pointing. A red haired woman wearing a dress was walking towards them, a smile on her face. Harry stood up and the kids yelped.

"Hey there!" she said brightly, flashing a perfect smile at everyone before sitting down at Harry's place. Ron observed his best mate looking very contemplative. . . or was it confusion?

"You are. . . " Bill stuttered, trying to find the best words.

"Isabelle Weasley, yes. Judging by the looks on your faces, especially yours Potter, I suppose I must have reminded you of a certain somebody," she replied, casually taking a sausage from Albus's plate and popping it into her mouth. The kid started to cry but she seemed the least affected. Hermione picked Albus up and consoles him, shooting glares at the newly arrived. Harry shook his head and walked past her to retrieve Albus from Hermione.

"Ah – Isabelle. How are you doing?" his mother asked. She snorted.

"How do you think I'd be doing?" she mumbled under her breath but both Ron and Hermione caught her words and exchanged glances. "I am doing quite good, thank you, Molly. How is it going for your family?"

"All good," Fleur replied instead.

"Good."

There was an awkward tension around and Harry shifted uncomfortably. This caught Isabelle's eye.

"Potter!"

He winced.

"Aunt Muriel told me about you guys holidaying here so I thought to pay you a visit but Merlin, how fast do you drive Charlie? It was a hard time catching up with you but here I am."

Ron's eyes went to Ginny before it widened. The car was now right behind Isabelle and Ginny was on the driver's seat, a tight glare evident in her eyes. Everything that proceeded next seemed to go on in a slow motion.

Ron got up dramatically, words on the tip of his tongue but before he could let it come out, Ginny had pressed the horn button and the car honked at its loudest, startling everyone, most of all, Isabelle. She jumped a mile and ran to a bewildered Harry. With the weight of James, Albus, Teddy and Isabelle, he fell down. Hermione gasped as all the kids rushed to their grandmother.

"What on Merlin's soggy left sock was that?!" Charlie exclaimed.

Ron was about to come up with an excuse but his eyes widened when Ginny toppled over and fell down, grazing the fire and letting burning embers fly everywhere. One small ember managed to land on Ginny's hair which instantly started burning or rather turning into small bokeh like particles.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed without thinking. After realizing what he had told, his mind started processing as quickly as possible and he pointed his wand at her and bellowed: "Aguamenti!"

A spurt of water rushed out of the tip and doused the spark as well as the bonfire, allowing a steady mist to raise. Everything went pitch dark and the moon was surrounded with black wispy clouds.

"Ron! Lumos Maxima!" Hermione shrieked. Instantly, the place lit up. Ron winced and closed his eyes, feeling really photo sensitive. A shuffling was heard and he opened his eyes to look at his father kneeling down in front of him.

"Are you fine, son?" he asked, concern seeping into his voice.

Ron looked over his father's shoulder and saw a drenched and panting Ginny, her back turned to him. His eyes widened as he saw that her waist length hair was now just below her shoulder. Looking back at his father's blue eyes, he nodded unconvincingly.

"Hmph! What hostility do you have towards me? I didn't like, not even a percent, of your hospitality and to think that I wanted to pay you a visit because of due respect, hell! I hate myself for that!" Isabelle boomed and turned to look at a distraught Harry. "Remember what I told you, Potter. Forget it and you had it!" With that, she stormed out of the camp.

"Ruddy chicken," Ron swore under his breath.

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Later that night, Ron found Ginny looking really upset in the Angelia. He slowly got in and placed an hand on her shoulder. "Is everything okay?"

Ginny shook her head. "I realized that. . . No. . . I found two really shocking truths. . ."

"And they are?"

"Isabelle wants Harry. . . she's the one who set up the murder. . ."

Ron gasped audibly before anger welled up in him.

"How dare she! I'm going to kill that m–"

Ginny shook her head, stopping him. "She's always wanted to be better than me. . . And by extension, even Hermione. No wonder she and her aunt Muriel hate us so much. . ."

"That doesn't mean she can kill you and get away with it! I'm an auror and so is Harry! We have every rights to arrest her due to the violation of the Murder and Killings Act 1771!"

"Ron!"

Ron took a deep breath and asked again, "How do you know that? I need some witness even if you are not present here. I want to know the details!"

Ginny sobered up more, if that was possible. "She whispered to Harry when she fell on him because of the foolish chaos I caused.

"She revealed her desire of wanting his attention all along and was jealous when we got together so. . . she thought to end our marriage by killing me. She has given him one year's time to get together with her, failing which all my. . . babies will be killed. . . If he were to tell this anyone, the task will be done. . . sooner rather than later. . ."

Ron was horrified. It felt as if cold, icy water had been splattered on his face on a snowy winter morning nonetheless. He took a moment to recollect that the melancholy and sufferings he and his family were going through now was caused by none other than Isabella Weasley, his own cousin who was going out of her limits to cause even more trouble.

When he woke from his stupor, his face turned even redder. "I'm NOT going to spare her now! Not my godson or my nephews, never!" he shouted and got out of the car. Ginny grabbed his hand and dragged him in forcefully.

"Calm down, Ronald! We can't do that and I have a more valid plan!"

"What's that!"

"Trick her into admitting her own mistake."

"How will you do that?" Ron asked slowly.

"A little bit of good, ol' Veritaserum ought to do the job flawlessly," Ginny suggested with a smirk. "And the brat will be into Azkaban where she won't be able to mastermind and channel murder plans aiming to destroy my family."

Ron was left marvelling at the very thought of the outcome of this potential plan. Then he remembered she had learnt another truth. "What's the other truth?" he asked. Ginny's lips turned down and she touched her modified hair.

"The element which poses danger for me is fire."

I'm so sorry for not uploading last week! I was so busy with school and tests that I couldn't find time to write! This chapter itself was written in a rush.

How do you feel, now that Ginny's murderer has been revealed? ;)

Your thoughts on this chapter? Comment!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x