Princess Sunburst

When Apollonia woke the following morning, the reminder of what Kingsley told her yesterday came flooding back. She avoided thinking about it after returning from the Ministry, but now she had no choice. There was something that needed to be done today, something of the utmost importance. Since the war ended last month, there were only three instances that Apollonia had been in the presence of Narcissa and Draco Malfoy; her father’s funeral; the day of their trial; and the Tonks/Lupin funeral. In fact, it was the least amount of time that Apollonia had ever spent in the presence of that particular family. Under usual circumstances, she was around them whenever she wasn’t in school. But, the war prevented her from going anywhere near them.

This was the first time that Apollonia would be returning to Malfoy Manor in the last two years. Her visit would serve a purpose this time, one that she herself came up with and suggested to Kingsley. So, upon getting ready for the day, Apollonia said goodbye to Bill and Fleur before apparating straight over to Wiltshire and headed off towards the house she last visited twenty-two months ago, the house that she spent her summers at. When she arrived at Malfoy Manor, the Slytherin found the place, for the most part, deserted. Weird, she thought. It’s never this quiet. Not in all the times that I’ve ever been here.

Careful inspection of the entire house led Apollonia to the assumption that they were not home, which was weird; how could they have gotten up this early and disappeared? Nothing like that could have happened, not as far as Apollonia was concerned. She knew the Malfoys better than anyone. And the one thing she knew all too well was that neither Narcissa nor Draco was ever up before her; Narcissa was up a half-hour later, followed by Draco an hour later. They should have been still asleep, or at least, Narcissa just getting up. But, they weren’t there; not in the kitchen, the parlor, or either of their bedrooms. No, it was as if both Narcissa and Draco disappeared without a trace.

Apollonia headed down to the lowest floor to see if either of them were down there. It was the only place in the house that had yet to be searched, and that was only because there had never been an instance in which the young Slytherin needed to visit the cellar. What were the chances of both of them being down there however, in the one place that Apollonia never set foot in. Come on, she thought. Please be in here. This needs to be done right now.

She entered to the darkest part of the house and pulled out her wand. “Lumos!” A ball of light emerged at the tip of her wand. With even a single light source, Apollonia was able to see everything in front of her. However, there was no sign of either Malfoy; Draco and Narcissa weren’t here. She was about to leave when she spotted a figure in the corner.

Wand at the ready, Apollonia pointed the light in the direction of the figure and gasped at the sight of who was there. She knew all too well who it was. “You shouldn’t be here. You can’t be here! And where are Draco and Narcissa?” Apollonia stared at the dark-haired man in the corner of the room, trying to understand what he was doing here. No one, save Draco and Narcissa, should have been in the manor, with the occasional visit from Apollonia or one of the Aurors. But, not this man; he shouldn’t be here, no matter what.

A wand was pointed at her. “Stupefy!”

***

It was extremely easy for Harry to convince Ron and Neville to leave the Minister’s office. Neville immediately guessed what was going on and kept his mouth shut, knowing Ron’s hatred of the situation. The Longbottom heir understood why Harry was doing this and helped hide the almost-encounter from Ron. It was thanks to Neville that Harry did not have to hear his best friend complain about Apollonia being anywhere in sight.

After a day without Ron’s complaints, Harry hoped that the following day would bring much of the same; that Ron’s temper would have subsided for good. Ron’s attitude towards Apollonia had gone on for the last month and it showed no sign of stopping. No matter how many times the situation was explained to the youngest Weasley son – and even after the Malfoy trial where it was proved once and for all that Apollonia was not the liar he expected her to be; that she truly was the half-sister of the boy-who-lived, as well as the last remaining family he had – Ron refused to accept that Apollonia was to be a part of Harry’s life; Ron refused to let Apollonia anywhere near Harry, despite them being family.

Despite the hope that Ron would let go of his hatred of Apollonia and learn to get along with his best friend’s sister, Harry came down the following morning to find that yet another argument had broken out between Ron and George; it had been happening a lot during the last month. It was a usual occurrence; one that Harry hoped would die down. But, if George and Ron were still quarrelling about Apollonia, it could only mean that Ron was not yet willing to let go of his hatred. Damn it! Harry thought. Why won’t he accept it?

After seven years of Ron being his best friend—and the Weasleys acting as Harry’s surrogate family—he finally found a surviving piece of his family, one that he might not have ever known it existed if not for running into Apollonia during the year; specifically after it was announced that her father was taking over Defense against the Dark Arts in sixth year. If not for that, Harry would never have realized that Apollonia existed at all. And now that he did find her, there were parts of his surrogate family that did not completely accept her as a part of Harry’s life; the young hero could see how each member of the Weasleys trusted her. There was Ron, who completely despised her and then there was Charlie, who was distrustful of her because of a past experience. Though, at least he wasn’t completely perturbed by her presence; Charlie was only wary of what might happen while she was around.

When it came to Percy and Ginny, it seemed obvious that there was some acceptance of her, but not complete faith in Apollonia; Harry couldn’t put his finger on it as to why Ginny was like that, though he would admit that Percy definitely seemed to have more faith in Apollonia than Ginny did. And that was odd in and of itself; for years, Percy distanced himself from his family, opting to show loyalty towards the Ministry over his family. Percy’s reasoning for trusting Apollonia didn’t seem to make such sense, especially since he seemed to trust her more than Ginny did. There was something going on with Ginny though. What that was however, Harry had no clue. But, he was determined to find out. There was a slight distrust between Ginny and Apollonia; and Harry wanted to know why.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bill and George trusted her without fail, each having their own reasons for doing so. Not only did Bill have an encounter with Apollonia during his school years—the same as Charlie’s, though Bill’s was much more pleasant—but he owed her his life. If not for Apollonia’s intervention in Greyback’s attack on Bill, the oldest Weasley’s life might have been snuffed out. As far as Harry understood, it was the baby-sitting detention that saved his life; for that was how Apollonia met the eldest Weasley. It was an accidental encounter from when she was five and the subsequent meeting in which she saved his life that help fuel Bill’s reason for trusting her to such a degree.

In George’s case, things were much more complicated; it was more complicated that any of the Weasleys at all. The way Harry understood it, George’s trust in her had to do with the encounter she had with Bill and Charlie. It influenced the twins and led them to trust her thanks in part to the stunt she pulled on Charlie; the same stunt that cost Charlie’s trust. After Fred’s death, George was getting ready to fall into a deep depression when Apollonia stepped in and assured him that Fred died with the knowledge that Harry had a sister. No one quite understood how that made any sense, but that one act seemed to cheer George up. And it caused George to trust Apollonia more than any other Weasley.

Arthur and Molly seemed to love Apollonia almost like a daughter; they treated her with the same respect that they did Hermione. Harry had a lot to do with that, for he was like a surrogate son to them. Therefore, Apollonia was treated as a surrogate daughter as thanks for giving Harry a family; it was something they told Harry one night, after yet another argument erupted between Ron and George. They—well, technically it was Molly—informed Harry that Apollonia was welcome at the Burrow anytime, despite all that Ron spouted. Even Fleur was fond of Apollonia, and she wasn’t fond of many people.

Harry slipped over to Hermione’s side. “This argument has got to stop,” Harry said, shaking his head. “Ron needs to understand that Apollonia is not about to disappear from my life. I don’t care that she’s a Slytherin; I never really did. She was the one Slytherin I felt I could trust.”

“What about the last year?” Hermione reminded him.

“I have no idea what I was thinking,” Harry shrugged.

“See, you should have listened to me,” Hermione said, knowingly. “How many times have you picked Ron’s advice over mine and later regretted it? There was Sirius and now this. When will you ever learn that I’m always right, and that Ron doesn’t know what he’s talking about?”

“The second I realized that Apollonia was my sister,” Harry admitted. “I’ve already suffered so much because I listened to everything Ron said.” First there was the issue of Ron’s prejudice; Harry had himself sorted into Gryffindor because of that. Then there was the vision Voldemort sent him and the loss of Sirius because he listened to Ron’s advice; Sirius had to come save him and it cost him his life. Apollonia was the third strike; the discovery that she was his sister made it very clear that listening to Ron’s advice caused him to suffer. Never again. He would never again listen to anything that Ron had to say; not after everything that happened as a result. “I’m sorry for not listening to you, Hermione. I made that mistake far too many times. And I won’t do again. When something happens that will adversely affect my life, I’ll come straight to you for advice.”

“Glad you finally see reason,” Hermione said.

“Took me long enough, I know,” he muttered.

“How many times do I have to say it?” Ron asked. “There is no way I’m about to let her anywhere near this house. She’s a Slytherin and a dark influence on anyone she goes near. I won’t allow it!”

“Are you really that dense, little brother?” George yelled. “Even Harry says that she’s done nothing to hurt him. How can you be so narrow-minded that you would deny your best friend the opportunity to know his sister simply because of her house? It’s cruel and you know it.”

“Stop defending her!” Ron screamed.

“You have no idea what you’re doing!” George warned.

“No, you don’t know what you’re doing!” Ron argued. “There will eventually come a time in which all of you will see that I’m right; Snape will eventually betray you all, just like her father.”

“Except for the fact that her father turned out to be the good guy in all of this,” George reminded his brother. “The only thing Snape did was curse off my ear. Everything else he did for his daughter.”

Sick of the argument continuing any further, Harry stepped in. He was sick and tired of listening to this argument; it was time to end this thing once and for all. “And even George’s ear was an accident. He was trying to hit one of the Death Eaters and accidentally got George instead. If he can accept the daughter of the man who chopped his ear off—accident or not—as a part of my life and not blame her for what happened, then you should be able to accept that Apollonia is a part of my life. I won’t stand for this anymore.”

“I don’t want to hear it either,” Molly warned.

“Mum!” Ron whined. “Don’t you see? Her presence in our lives is only going to cost us everything. She only wants to destroy Harry for what happened to her master. She doesn’t care about him at all!”

“Ronald Weasley!” Molly yelled. “She’s your best friend’s sister.”

“She doesn’t care!” he repeated.

Harry was completely sick of all that Ron was trying to do, trying to turn everyone against Apollonia by lying like this; it was defamation of her character. All of it was lies. “Ron, she made it very clear that she supported me; spent the last year defending Hogwarts while we were gone. And she’s not marked either. She made sure I knew that when we first ran into her after the encounter at Malfoy Manor. So, stop trying to turn her into a bad guy, not when everyone else in this house knows that she’s been on my side from the beginning.”

If Ron would continue with this unnecessary defamation of Apollonia’s character, trying to garner support for his side, then Harry was getting out of here. He had no intention of going to the Ministry today, but Ron was getting serious about trying to turn the Weasleys against Apollonia. Maybe it would be best for Harry got out of the Burrow for the day. Whether it was at Ministry or anywhere else in Diagon Alley, it didn’t matter; Harry just needed to get away from Ron’s mouth for awhile. It was for the best. Giving the few people who mattered to him a quick nod goodbye, Harry apparated away from the Burrow for a day of silence.

***

St. Mungo’s was abuzz with activity. Even after the war officially ended a month ago, there were still war injuries that needed to be tended to. They had more patients then ever as a result of the last year. Overcrowding seemed to be an issue, so the news there would be some extra hands around caused some excitement. It meant that there would be less stress on some of the healers. Only one person’s stress level skyrocketed upon making the discovery that there would be an extra pair of hands around to help out. This person knew exactly what was happening.

The news came about a week ago from the Ministry that there might be some extra hands coming in. An idea was formed that healing at St. Mungo’s would be a good form of punishment for those involved in Death Eater activities that had a possibility to reform. One such person was set to come in this morning, which caused undue stress for this particular employee. There was no telling as to what might happen while this person was around, especially considering that no one in St. Mungo’s quite knew who it was; that information was confidential.

As the disgruntled employee lie in wait for the imminent arrival of this extra set of hands—as well as their keeper—it occurred to them that there were a lot more important things to be done. In fact, there was one thing in particular that they wanted to do; and it was far more important than waiting around for the visitors that were expected. Waiting here for the witch or wizard that was to be the extra set of hands St. Mungo’s was waiting for was nothing but a bore, especially seeing as they were already five minutes late. What kind of impression were they trying to give if they were going to be late for their first day of work?

After waiting twenty minutes, only to realize that they weren’t coming, the employee went back about their business. It appeared as if they were a no-show and St. Mungo’s should not even have considered allowing this to happen. While it might have been able to rehabilitate the less dangerous Death Eaters, it simply would not work if they didn’t show up. And, it was up to the disgruntled employee to tell them so. Upon wasting valuable time that could be used to treat patients, it was decided that a complaint filed with the Ministry would be the best thing to do. It might be the only way for them to see how much of a mistake they were making.

***

Even after Harry disappeared from the Burrow, it seemed apparent that Ron and George were not able to cease their argument; it continued at even greater strength after the young hero left for the day. Sadly, the only thing Harry’s statement did was put their opinions of Apollonia in the forefront of their minds. Opinions varied as to how Apollonia should be treated and it was causing arguments to break out, with George and Ron taking the lead on each opposing side. On Ron’s side were Ginny and Charlie, who believed that there might be an issue with Apollonia coming into their lives, each for very different reasons. Meanwhile, Percy and Hermione were in support of George, each one believing that she could bring a new view to the world; especially seeing as her father was Severus Snape.

Arthur and Molly chose to abstain themselves from the argument, which turned out to be a good thing; Ron would have blown a gasket if he knew that they would take George’s side. Already he was livid that Hermione would support a Slytherin, but Ron didn’t seem to understand her reasoning behind the choice; he only chose to see the house lines, rather than what was inside. He refused to admit that he might be wrong; he was too proud to admit that he might have made a mistake. Ron hated being wrong and this was one of the worst possible things for him to admit to; that he was wrong about Slytherins in general.

While Ron and George were busy trading insults, Hermione was trying to figure out why specific people reacted the way they had. A lot of it didn’t seem to make much sense, specifically the way Ginny reacted. From the stories they heard about the disastrous seventh year, all three—Neville, Luna, and Ginny—seemed to respect Apollonia; maybe some slight tension given her association with several Death Eaters, but they respected one another. However, upon making the discovery that Apollonia was Harry’s sister, there seemed to be a slight shift in Ginny’s attitude; for reasons that no one could explain.

The only other person that Hermione could think of – that their reaction made no sense – was Percy. No one could explain what happened; he just appeared at the final battle begging for forgiveness and, only hours later, started trusting Apollonia. It was to varying degrees though; he trusted her less that George and Bill, but more than Ginny, Charlie, and Ron. But, there was just something about how Percy came to trust Apollonia that Hermione was worried about him. Percy spent the last four years drifting away from his family and then, so soon after reconciling with his family, he lost his younger brother. It might have affected the way Percy was acting these days, just as it had with a lot of the Weasleys.

“This is just getting way out of hand,” Hermione declared.

“Like it’s going to change though,” Percy reminded her.

It was true. The one constant since the war ended was that Apollonia was at the center of the biggest debate to pass through the Burrow. And neither side was willing to give up the fight; Ron because he was so sure that he was right, so sure in his belief that Apollonia would betray them after all she did to help them win the war; George because of his faith in the Slytherin, and due to the fact that she seemed capable of helping him through his own grief. As much as Hermione supported George in this, the muggleborn witch thought he was going about it the wrong way. While he was doing the right thing, trying to support Apollonia against his own brother, Hermione believed that the best way for this argument to finally be put to rest was to prove Ron wrong; it was the only way he’d ever believe.

The basis of how this situation should play out came from the Malfoy trial. It occurred to Hermione that Ron was ultimately proven wrong about Apollonia being Harry’s sister during a Veritaserum-laced questioning. Perhaps doing something along those lines would be the only way that anyone would ever be able to put this to rest. Each side was so sure they were right and intent in proving that the other side was wrong. And while Hermione could understand where they were coming from – for she had done the same with SPEW – the argument seemed like it was never going to end. If Harry was ever going to get any peace and quiet, then Hermione needed to do something about the raging argument.

Hermione looked over pleadingly to Molly. She might be the only one that could knock some sense into her sons, though Hermione suspected that only George would listen. While George was willing to defend Apollonia as if his life depended on it, he only ever made his opinions known when Ron started cutting into the young Snape; George never started it, Ron did. So, he would be more willing to listen to any advice Molly had regarding this never-ending argument, even if he wasn’t allowed to defend Apollonia any longer.

None of the Weasleys quite understood why George was so willing to defend Apollonia in such a way. In fact, even Hermione was unclear of it as well. There was just something about Harry’s sister that George seemed willing to protect, whether Ron liked it or not. In fact, now that Hermione thought about it, the last time that the young witch had seen George like this—so willing to protect someone—it was with Fred. Whatever the reason was, Hermione suspected it had to do with his deceased twin, especially seeing as it was the only thing he was this passionate about these days. Why that might be however, was unclear.

Only one thing was truly clear when in came to George Weasley these days; he was affected by what was going on more than anyone. Fred’s death caused a chain reaction in the entire Weasley family, and it was especially evident in the deceased’s twin. For one thing, he barely spoke to anyone. In fact, in the last month, Hermione had only ever seen George talk to Apollonia on a regular basis. Otherwise, George was silent; well, that was unless Ron decided to insult Harry’s sister. It was the only time that George was ever willing to speak with anyone in the family. And it was bothering every one of the Weasleys, Ron especially. This was affecting the family and Hermione didn’t want to see that happen.

***

The day was supposed to be one of peace. It was the one day that Kingsley Shacklebolt did not have anything going on. No meetings. No initiatives to pass. There was nothing going on. At least, that was what the Minister thought. Kingsley was in his home relaxing when an elf popped in on the overworked newly-appointed Minister. It was no ordinary elf however; it was the Ministry-appointed elf, bound to serve each of the Ministers. “What is it, Blinky?” Kingsley queried of the wizened old elf, wondering why he was being disturbed like this.

“Someone – a woman – is wishing to speaks with the Minister, sir,” the elf informed the Minister. “She was muttering something about Ministry edicts and lateness.”

“Can’t this wait?” Kingsley asked.

“No sir,” Blinky replied. “She is in your office.”

The Minister huffed. His break was being cut short because a disgruntled employee couldn’t wait until the following day to complain. Kingsley stood from his seat and flooed out to his office at the Ministry. When he arrived, Kingsley was met with the face of someone he did not expect to see standing in front of him. For reasons unbeknownst to him, Andromeda Tonks was standing in his office, a scowl on her face. “Andromeda! I did not expect you here today,” Kingsley admitted. “What brings you here?”

“What brings me here?” she sneered. “Let me tell you…”