Title: Between Siblings
Author: chromatic.daydream
Chapter: One of one

Authors Note: Set after the Sixth book. This is a little sibling exchange inspired by a conversation I had with my ex-boyfriend's sister tonight. I adore her to bits, and I guess deep down I hope she does what Ginny does for Ron here. That's all.

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'RONALD WEASLEY!"

He couldn't help but cringe slightly at her voice resonating up the stairway, echoing into his ears. It may not have been his mother's voice in pitch, but it certainly was just as loud. Ron knew he had messed up this time. Oh, how he knew he had messed up. It wasn't as if Hermione's sobs as she fled his room hadn't been enough to alert him to this fact, no, now he had Ginny storming up the stairs.

Truthfully, Ron was afraid of Ginny. He quaked slightly from his seat on the edge of his bed, orange reverberating around him. His eyes stared just above the worn wooden floor, the edge of Harry's quilt gracefully scraping the bottom. Oh, sod, had he messed it up this time.

"RONALD!"
"Come on in, Gin.'

He doubted she could hear him as her fist pounded against the wood, nearly shaking the walls with her force. Part of Ron let himself wonder why his Mum hadn't shouted up yet to tell Ginny to knock off the racket, but the other half of him certainly know. His dear sweet Mum was probably just as angry with Ron as Ginny was, but chose instead (for once) to let the youngest Weasley take care of it herself. It was at the moment his door swung open to reveal Ginny in all her spit-fired glory that Ron wished his mother had chosen to fight this battle.

"RON!"
"Hey Ginny?"
"Don't you DARE'Hey Ginny' me, Ron! Do you have ANY idea-"
"YES!"
"Don't interrupt me! I said, do you have- What?"

She was standing in front of him, her red hair shaking with the furry of her anger, blue eyes sparking. Ron could understand her confusion; it wasn't often that he backed down from a fight. Yet today was somehow different, and the youngest Weasley male just continued to sit on his bed, hands clasped on his lap.

"Ron?"
"Yes, Ginny, I know what I did."
"And?" She implored further.
"And what?"
"Ron, are you that daft?"

He did not appreciate Ginny's demeanour towards him, but Ron would admit that he liked it better than all the yelling. His baby sister sat down on Harry's bed across from him, pulling her legs up towards her chest, blue eyes furiously staring at him. They were the same eyes that he shared; yet somehow Ron always found that Ginny's held more depth and meaning than his. It was almost as if her emotions were in her eyes, every inch of anger and pain and laughter and joy somehow conveyed.

It was a strange thing to never have truly looked at his sister in this way before, flinching slightly as her anger bore out more than anything else. There was so much more though, and Ron took notice of each flicker of frustration and anger and sadness and hurt as he searched through, what seemed like, his own soul.

"We fought, Ginny."
"Everyone gathered as much," her lips parted in a smile, "She ran out crying."
'I didn't mean what I said, Gin! I swear. I never meant to make her cry. It's just sometimes she can be so…obstinate!"

Ron let his hands fall desperately down to his lap again; eyebrows puzzling as Ginny's face shifted into a fuller smile, a light giggle escaping her lips.

"Do you even know what obstinate means, Ron?"
"Well, no. But… I mucked up Ginny! And you're not helping!"
"I'm sorry Ron. It's just funny! It is!" She added, as he glared, "You sound like you've been reading Hermione's muggle dictiary, or whatever it is."
"Maybe I have been! Would there be a problem with that?"

So, he had been caught. Quite honestly, Ron found Hermione's muggle books fascinating. She had brought so many to the Burrow this summer, children's stories and fables and so much. She claimed they helped her to keep in touch with her other life. Whatever the reason, Ron had been sneaking them away from her one at a time over the days, returning them in the middle of the night when he was finished.

He had never read books quite like the muggle ones, with their superheroes and magicians and mysteries. Ron could almost (almost) understand why Hermione liked her books so much after all the reading he had done. Sometimes all he wanted to do was sit down and have a decent conversation with her about the books, get her to sort out a few of the things he didn't quite understand. Like aeriplanes and the fellytone and why in heaven's name would someone drive across a country when it was so much easier to take a portkey?

"Ron, have you been the one mussing up Hermione's muggle books?"
"Maybe…" He mumbled, "I didn't mean to. Just sometimes when I went to take them back one of you would roll over and I'd chuck it and run."
"There are a lot of things you don't mean to do, but still seem to do when it comes to Hermione…"
"She makes me bloody nervous, Ginny! I can't do a thing right for her! I try, but it's never good enough! Maybe I'm not good enough?"

There was the familiar clicking of the tongue, and Ron looked up to see Ginny standing once more, her hands on her hips. She truly did embody their mother sometimes, her lips set in a determined line.

"I will hear none of that, Ron. You may be a prat sometimes, and I don't understand what Hermione sees in you, but she does see something in you. See likes you for who you are, muck up and all. Now stop your snivelling and go find Hermione and make things right!"
"Gin-"
"No! Ron, you've hurt her enough. This has got to stop, for everyone involved." She sighed, "Please Ron, trust me when I say that you're good enough for her. Hermione's a smart girl, she wouldn't have waited if you weren't."

With that Ginny awkwardly sent a smile his way, taking her leave from the orange painted room as Ron sat there mulling his thoughts over. Slowly, he took to his feet and took the stairs downstairs two at a time, coming into the kitchen. Ron was well aware of Ginny's eyes following him as he stepped out of the Burrow into the mid-afternoon sun, yet he could not bring himself to meet them.

It may have been his sudden determination to do as Ginny had said and make things right, but in his heart Ron knew that wasn't true. His legs shortened the distance towards the pond, where he knew Hermione would be, but Ron's thoughts were not towards the bushy haired know-it-all, but back towards the Burrow. He rounded a grove of trees, Hermione coming into his sight in all her beautiful sun-kissed glory, and his heart stopped for a moment.

But as Hermione turned around and Ron stared into the brown opals of chocolate, he still couldn't quite shake the look his baby sister had given him as she had left his room.

Like he was about to receive everything in life she had just been denied.