"Oh I didn't think I was doing any such thing at the time. But hindsight shows I was," Ron admitted. "He wanted to get my least favorite teacher once we confirmed where the entrance to the chamber was. I didn't want him to so when the sink opened the tunnel, I picked up a chunk of broken off rock and hit him in the center of his back near his neck knocking him off balance. He fell head first into the tunnel neither of us knew the first thing about. That's attempted murder Da. No matter how you slice it." Arthur gulped but nodded. Even Augusta was nodding. She too had a seat on the Wizengamot and knew it was an Azkaban worthy admission of guilt. If she was sitting on a jury panel and heard someone confess to doing that, she'd have voted for a conviction herself.
"Because we all committed fraud against him. And that's illegal. He never approved the money Dumbledore gave us, Da. Not one single knut of it. Because even though Dumbledore offered it to us, it wasn't Dumbledore's money to give. It was Harry's and all us knew that. Including Mum. Actually, he's had that on either me or Mione dead to rights for attempted murder for each of his years here, I think. Because we were the ones setting up Dumbledore's little scenarios he told us were training missions for Harry. Well, maybe not last year. We really didn't have anything to do with the danger he was facing last year."
"Mione and Gin both owe him a life debt they were denying and you know you aren't supposed to do things to endanger the person who saved your life at risk of their own. Nor does the Wizengamot look kindly on those who come before them who've done such a thing. So you see? It really could have been Azkaban for me at least. Someone told Mione they might actually have just tossed her through the veil to appease Harry if he'd taken us to court an' all."
Quietly Augusta who had listened to every word the two children said, nodded and said, "The children are right, Arthur. If Mr. Potter had brought this before the Wizengamot and I was sitting on the panel, I'd have voted for a conviction. He would have gone to Azkaban and because of her blood status, Ms. Granger would most likely have been fed to the Veil. Your daughter would be given to a house of ill-repute under a contract of bound servitude and ordered to have no contact in any form with Mr. Potter or his family. They are very lucky Mr. Potter chose to handle things himself here at the school instead."
Arthur was wide-eyed by the time his son finished speaking. He'd known things would be bad. But he hadn't expected it to be this bad. He barely heard Lady Longbottom telling him what could have happened to his children. Now he muttered just barely louder than a whisper, "Oh Dear. Oh dear." He took a calming breath and closed his eyes briefly trying to regain his composure.
Finally he opened them again, gave a nod to Lady Augusta and turned back to his children. "I knew Albus had us sign a betrothal agreement for Harry and Ginny. At least I thought the contract was for Harry and Ginny. The money was a part of that so you could play closer to his future station in life. He said you needed to look, act and dress the part of a future wife to a future Lord of the Realm so the money was to help us meet that obligation." He paused as he seemed to catch what he just said. "Oh my. He was playing us the whole time. Why didn't I see this before? Oh Ginny. I'm sorry. It was my job to protect you and I let you down. I am so sorry, Sweetheart." He reached for her and pulled her into a tight hug.
The teens looked confused so he explained further. "When Albus came to us with that contract, he said Harry had noticed Ginny and thought she was pretty but not dressed well enough for his future station. Albus flattered us. Told us what we wanted to hear and we listened to him. In that one statement he relieved us of a lot of our worries. Your letters, Ron had left us wondering if Harry actually knew his place in our world. And we were worried about how we'd manage to find a suitable match for Ginny when she grew up as we just didn't have the money to set aside a good dowry for her. And here was Albus telling us Harry Potter not only liked what he saw when he caught a look at our Ginny but that he did know of his place in our world and wanted to help us make it so Ginny was a suitable bride for him when the time came."
"But I should have known better. I mean you were ten at the time. The only time Harry could've seen you was when we took your brothers to the train to go to school and I seriously doubt he was paying any particular attention to any specific person that day. But I wanted to believe Albus. So I shut my eyes and played the blind monkey."
"Albus kept saying you'd be playing a role and needed to dress the part with enough money to act the role of the future wife of a future Lord. He kept using the words 'play' 'role' and 'act', and I never caught on. After saying Harry thought you were pretty, he never again said anything about you becoming Harry's wife. He never used Harry's name again and didn't once mention Harry's hero status but instead kept referring to you as the future Lady wife. At the time I didn't catch it."