"Lets see...one, two, three..." Ginny Weasley bit her lip, thought for a moment, and retrieved another jumper from her closet, stopping on the way to grab several pairs of thick, woolen socks from the chest of drawers. Arranging the additions inside the trunk, Ginny silently thanked her mother for the years of knitted gifts.

Deciding now that a trunkful of clothes simply had to be plenty, she crossed the room to the desk, which was neatly arranged, a well-worn journal and quill lying open in its center. Ginny picked up the journal, its pages creased and wrinkled from years of writing and rereading so that its purple green-flowered cover no longer lay flat. Grabbing a quill, she placed them carefully in the trunk between two of the jumpers. In next went her briefcase containing all of the best design catalogues, her toiletries and favorite pillow.

Ginny heaved the heavy lid over and clamored on top, clasping the latch with some effort.

"Too many jumpers," Ginny thought idly.

She sat on the edge of her bed and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. She looked into the fire blankly, supressing a shiver. It was only mid-November, but the brunt of a winter freeze had gripped the country. Ginny wrapped herself tighter and leaned into the fire. She asked herself, not for the first time, "What am I doing?"

She thought back to the week before when her brother, Ron, had come over for a visit.

She had just finished making a breakfast of tea and toast, when her doorbell rang. She lived in a muggle neighborhood, so muggle ways were necessary. She set her plate and cup down on the table and walked to the door. Even though she was not expecting anyone, and especially not her brother, she couldn't help but smile as she let him in.

"Ron!" She hugged him to her, noticing not for the first time how tall he was. She only came to his chest now. "What are you doing here? Come in and sit. Want some tea? I could make you some breakfast, have you eaten?"

"Yeah, sure, Gin, breakfast is good. I've already eaten, but I'm still hungry", laughed Ron at his bottomless pit of a stomach.

"I have tea and toast. I could heat some ham or bacon up if you'd like."

"Ham sounds great."

As Ginny busied herself at the stove, she couldn't help notice how Ron seemed different. His usual carefree way about things was replaced with an attitude that could only be described as nervous, anxious, and maybe a little conniving. She set the steaming ham on a plate and brought it to the table with her.

"So, big brother, what's on your mind?"

Ron stared at her a moment. He opened his mouth a couple times, like he was going to say something, but couldn't. He decided to just think a minute before answering, so he took a large bite of ham. "Nothings on my mind. I just wanted to come see my favorite sister."

Ginny glared at him with a look very reminiscent of Molly Weasley. "Ron, how long have we known each other? Seriously, how could you sit there and tell me you just came over for tea and toast?"

"Don't forget this ham. It's great, Ginny."

She just sat there and stared at him, till at last he finished his breakfast. Leaning back against the chair, pushing it on two legs, he let out a sigh of contentment. He ran his hands through his red hair and took a deep breath. "Ok, I did want to talk to you about something. I did something this week. Something spontaneously. I still can't believe I did it, and now I need your help."

Ginny immediately lost her frustration at her brother and asked, "What's wrong, Ron? What did you do?"

He fiddled with his teacup looking deep into it like it was going to hold an answer, and replied, "I bought something. A big something."

"What? What did you buy?" Ginny exasperatedly asked.

"A cabin. On Mount Brighton."

"A cabin? On Mount Brighton?" Ginny was trying to see a reason in this purchase. Mount Brighton was to the north about two hundred miles. It was virtually inhabited except for ten or twelve cabins. It was a beautiful place, but so many obstacles on it made people stray away from it. You couldn't apparate up the mountain, for fear of avalanches. There was no ski slope or major traffic on this mountain. It was safe enough for the people who lived there, but only because it was protected by magic. No muggles were in that area. "You do know it snows there? A lot. And you do know that it is a two-day trek just up to the living area? Also-" Ginny cut off when Ron opened his mouth to speak.

"Yeah, of course. I bought the old Garwood place. It's been empty for four years, and it wasn't selling. I wanted to get a place I could get out of here by myself sometimes. It's furnished and all, but not real homey."

Ginny had a feeling she knew where this was going. She understood Ron's need to get out sometimes, his life these past five years were very taxing. She put her hand on her brothers and looked at it. The tops of his hands were covered in small scars. One scar ran from the bottom of his thumb, up past his wrist, finally coming to a stop just below his elbow.

"So," Ginny said, trying not to think about that time, "what exactly are you needing from me?"

Ron smirked. After Hogwarts, Ginny went to study interior designing with Colin Creevey. Everyone in the family was surprised, to say the least, since Ginny was not exactly a passive person. She wasn't happy unless she was in the middle of everything and all its chaos. When Harry and Ginny broke up right before she left school, she did a complete turnabout. She became unsure of herself and quite depressed. Colin, her best friend and confidant, convinced her to come study with him. Surprisingly, she enjoyed it. She became more and more confident and eventually came back to be the Ginny they all knew and loved and missed. Ron was the only one that understood that even though she had drastically changed, designing still gave her a sense of control and she needed that, after her life had been tipped over.

"Well, Ginny, like I said, no one has lived there for four years. We all know how old man Garwood was. If his place has any cheer whatsoever in it, I'll give up the Cannons."

Ginny giggled. Even after a fifty year losing streak, Ron's loyalty to the Cannons was something he'd take to the grave.

He continued, "I want to decorate it. Well, I want you to decorate it. It needs some color and comfort. I look forward to being able to get away and relax, but the way the place looks now, I'll be more comfortable in the dungeons at Hogwarts. Please come with me for a week and do your magic."

Ginny thought about the next month. It was the middle of November, and it was a slow time of the year for her. She didn't have a client lined up till the week before Christmas. She could take some time off and spend with her brother. After her disaster with Harry, and Ron and Hermione's, well, awkward falling out, her and Ron became very close. They understood each other better now than in school, and a very nice friendship bloomed out of adolescent sibling rivalry.

Ron moved to scratch his hand absentmindedly, and it brought a shock to Ginny. "Wait, what about your, uh, I mean, what if something happens? What are we supposed to do?"

He stopped scratching his hand and looked at Ginny exasperatedly. "Gin, I'm fine, I haven't had an episode in five months now."

Ron thought back to the night that the raid went bad. Two years after school, Harry and Ron had been called in to do a raid at the Dolohov's. After easily catching the death eater off guard, Dolohov and two of his cronies were apprehended and prepared to be transferred to the Ministry. Harry took one death eater, and Seamus Finnigan took the other. They apparated out and just as Ron and Dolohov were about to leave, a large crash was heard behind them. Dolohov's house elf was shocked to see her master arrested and bound. She dropped her plate of food she was brining the evil minions, and the noise caused quite a distraction. Ron jerked his head around with his wand a half second later. This second of distraction was not lost on Dolohov. He kicked out at Ron, knocking him off balance. Dolohov rolled over and was able to reach Ron's wand. He undid the ropes binding him and shot a spell at Ron. The blue light was aimed for his chest, but years of school Quidditch games made Ron faster than her looked. He jumped out of the way, reaching for his wand at the same time. The curse went in his hand and burned so bad he grabbed his wrist. He watched in horror as a blue light started creeping slowly up his arm. At that time, something that even Ron wasn't expecting happened. Dolohov's elf, snapped her fingers and took the wand from her enraged master. She thrust it in Ron's hand. As soon as he had a hold of it, the curse stopped and shot out of his skin, near his elbow. The last thing he remembered was looking into the elf's eyes and thinking that Hermione might have been right about them, after all. Then everything went black. He woke up in a white room. It smelled clean and he knew immediately it was a hospital.

"Uh, my head", Ron said as he opened his eyes.

"Oh, Ron, you're awake! I was so worried! Let me go get the healer!"

Ron barely registered that it was his sister who was there before she was back. Two days later, he was released to go home, and put on leave from the Ministry for a month. He moved in with Harry and after a month at home, went back to work. However, for over a year and a half after the attack, every month on the night he was attacked, he had an episode, for lack of a better word. He would get lightheaded and have nightmares while awake. He would get violently ill and very angry. The episodes would only last an hour or so before a pain would travel up his arm and exit out the scar on his arm. For a day or so after, Ron would be unable to use his arm and his pride would be tested as he needed help with simple things.

He understood Ginny's worry, but he but on a brave smile and tried to placate his sister. "Gin, do you think I'd really go up there not prepared? I'm bringing someone who has helped me before, and could easily help me if something happened while we were up there."

Ginny felt some relief pour through her, healing was never her strong point. Neither was potions, both of which were required to help her brother through his episodes. Then as she realized Ron's ears were turning a brilliant shade of red, fear coursed through her body like fire. "Who? Who are you bringing? Ron, you can't be serious. I won't go."

"Ginny," Ron whined, "you said you'd come. I need you there. Please please please."

Before she could answer he continued on, "Besides, have you seen this place. It's got three floors, and rooms at every end of it. You probably won't even see him if you don't mean to run into him!"

Ginny looked around her kitchen. The buttercup yellow walls were accented with a stenciled border of suns in terracotta. The walnut cabinets and table brought a calming, feminine, yet gender neutral comfort to the kitchen. It was true, she'd seen pictures of the cabin. It truly did need her help.

"Ron, I will go on one condition."

"Done. Anything you want."

Ginny grinned. She knew her brother would wish he could take back his words when she told him what she wanted.

She said, "I have a friend I want to bring. A good friend who needs a break from the real world. This friend is helping me with my business some, and it would be good practice for her, ok?"

"Sure," said Ron, wondering why an evil smile was forming on Ginny's face. "What's her name? Is she cute?"

Ginny smiled at Ron. He was so easy. "Yeah, she's adorable. She's been a good friend to me for several years now and I know she'll help me so much up there."

"Her name, Ginny," said Ron, feeling like he was about to be hit with the same brick he threw at his sister.

"Hermione."

"No. No way. I can't believe you would even consider that. Don't you remember what happened?"

"Yes, I do, Ron. The real question, is do you remember?"

Ron glared at her. He knew what she was doing. In that moment, the Weasley temper hit both of them, and when that happened, things got ugly. Ron realized he could do the exact same thing to Ginny as she was doing to him. "Of course, Harry's coming. Hermione's coming. You're coming. I'm coming. This could be fun," he said, trying not to show how much he didn't want Hermione to be there and how much he did, at the same time.

Ginny, confused for a minute on this change in attitude in Ron, said, "Yeah, ok, fun. We can do this. We're all grownups here, Ron. I'll talk to Hermione tonight and we can be ready on—wait, when do you want to go?"

"I want to leave on Thursday. We can be up there Friday night, and then next Friday leave. We'll all be back home by Sunday."

"Sounds good to me."

Ron left soon after, and left Ginny with the dishes. She washed them without really thinking about them. She was worrying about what to bring to wear. 'What am I thinking? Like he'll give a damn what I'm wearing. I just have to get through this week without letting anyone know that I still love him.', she thought. 'Of course, if Hermione doesn't go along with it, I'm going to have to find an excuse not to go.'

With that, she walked out of the kitchen, and into her room. Hermione only lived a few doors down, but the temperature was beginning to drop quite rapidly. She got dressed in wool slacks and a tank top. Over that she pulled on a button up, with a pale green jumper over that. Her chocolate brown coat was new, one of her favorite things to wear. It set off her read hair brilliantly, and matched her eyes just perfect. Pushing her feet into solid boots, she made her way down the steps of her flat, toward Hermione's and what was probably going to be the first time she ever begged for anything in her life.