A slender red-head stepped off the plane, hoisting the strap of her messenger bag higher onto her shoulder. She shook her waist-length hair out of the way as she slung her bag behind her and transferred her khaki jacket from one arm to the other. She was wearing a white t-shirt with red lettering that said "by reading this you've given me temporary control of your mind" and a comfortably tight pair of blue jeans with quite a few frayed holes in them.
Ginevra Weasley was spending the summer with her American pen-pal. This wasn't the first time they would meet; Sarah Jones had visited England a year before and spent a week at the Burrow. It was, however, the first time Ginny would be meeting any of the rest of the Jones'.
After draping her jacket over the bag, Ginny began to make her way toward the baggage claim area which was where she was supposed to meet Sarah. She was barely through customs, however, when Sarah ran up to her and nearly knocked her over with a hug.
"I'm soooo glad you here!" Sarah was jumping up and down. She was barely shorter than Ginny and had brown hair to her shoulders. "We're going to have so much fun!"
"Yeah, I'm sure we will." Ginny tried to sound convinced. It wasn't that she didn't expect to have fun; it was just that she would rather have stayed home this particular summer.
Sarah sighed, knowing what was on her friends mind. "I'm sure everything will be all right."
"Yeah, I know. It's just, well, I don't know." Ginny shrugged and started walking toward the baggage claim.
"Sure you do. We've been following your news over here, you know, and between that and your letters... It sounds like it's getting serious, not really the time I'd want to leave home either." Sarah really did understand.
"Not me." A tall young man with dark hair and eyes approached them with a cart for when they collected the rest of Ginny's bags. "It's precisely the time I'd want to high tail it out of there." His tone was light and playful.
"It is not!" Sarah declared, "You would be beggin' Dad to let you join whatever resistance was mounting, chomping at the bit to do something!"
He rolled his eyes, "Well, probably, but on the way over here I asked you whether you were going to try to cheer her up or help her bitch. You said you were going to help her bitch but I should try to cheer her up."
"Oh, well, I just didn't want her to think you were a coward." Sarah pushed past him to watch the luggage carousel. "What color bags do you have?"
"Green with yellow bandanas tied to the handles." Ginny answered, also moving so she could see the finally appearing suitcases. "So you are one of her brothers then?" She tossed the question back over her shoulder to the young man.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm Micah and it's nice to finally meet you." He was leaning against the cart behind the girls.
"Micah, eh? Not sure your earlier statement would have any bearing at all on whether or not I think you're a coward. OH! There's the big one." She pointed to a very slowly advancing bag.
"I'm not sure what that means." Micah went to meet the bag before it could reach the girls and carried it back to the cart.
"And I think I'd prefer it if Sarah cheer me up and Micah helps me bitch." Ginny continued like he hadn't said anything.
"Okay! I'm not sure how, but I think I've just been insulted twice," Micah chuckled.
"Not at all. Hey!" Ginny turned and grabbed after her smaller bag that had been hidden underneath someone else's and had already passed them. After struggling with it for a moment, and finally pulling it off with Micah's help, she put it on the cart with the other one. "That's it."
"You're here for six weeks and that's all you brought?" Sarah surveyed the suitcases on the cart.
"Yep."
"Well, then let's head out of here." Micah began to swing the cart around.
"Hey, I gotta run to the girl's room before we go." Sarah dashed off without waiting to make sure she was heard.
"We'll be on the benches by the door!" Micah called after her, hoping she heard him over the din of the busy airport. "So, what did you mean, then?" He asked Ginny after they had sat down.
"Oh," she laughed nervously. "It's just that you're the one that reads all of my letters to Sarah, before she does if possible, so you can't be too cowardly."
He laughed, "She's not too dangerous, if you know where to tickle her."
Ginny smiled and continued, "but you refuse to write me yourself or even slip a note in one of her letters so..." she let her words trail off.
"Hey now! I just didn't know how your brothers would react to you picking up a correspondence with some guy you've never even met, and if I put anything in Sarah's letters she'd read it." He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs.
"So it's okay for you to read her letters, but she can't read yours?"
"Exactly!"
Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes.
"And the other comment?" he prompted her.
"Sarah is hopelessly optimistic and therefore not very good at bitching. When something does get to her, at least as seen in her letters, she just pouts, and maybe whines a little. I'm not much for whining, criticizing, on the other hand, is entirely different." She laughed at herself.
"Ah, your observation holds true to life as well as letters, as to Sarah, I mean. And I entirely see your point about criticizing, as well, there's some satisfaction involved when discovering and illuminating the faults of whatever or whoever is plaguing your life at the moment. Whining is just whining." He smiled at her.
She smiled back, "Exactly."
"Okay! Let's go!" Sarah had returned from the bathroom and led the way to Micah's car.
"Wake UP!" Sarah's voice finally broke through Ginny's slumber and brought her to consciousness.
"Ugh," Ginny groaned and rolled over, "morning people should be shot!"
"Come on! It's your first day in America, let's go shopping!" Sarah plopped down heavily on the bed.
"Shopping? For what?" Ginny groggily sat up.
"Clothes of course. How many muggle outfits do you have?"
"Uh, counting the one I wore on the plane?" Sarah nodded to Ginny's question. "One." Ginny grabbed for the brush on the nightstand and began brushing her hair.
"Well, you'll need more than that. The nearest wizarding town, or even district, is so far by floo it'll give you a headache for a week. We spend most of our time hanging out in the muggle city and you'll need to fit in."
"Yeah, you told me all of that, remember? I brought enough money for a couple outfits, I think." Ginny finally got up and walked over toward her suitcase.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Micah called from the door.
"Don't you ever knock!" Sarah screamed at her brother.
"No. Anyway, you're here on our invitation and it is our plans for you that require new clothing so we will provide it. You will get two pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, one skirt, seven shirts, and two outfits for clubbing. Beyond that you can share with Sarah here, she's got enough clothes to go a year without repeating an outfit." He ducked as Sarah threw a pillow at his head.
Ginny stood up and looked back and forth between them. "You...you don't have to do that..."
"We know!" Sarah hugged her friend quickly, "but it's fun!"
Micah tossed the pillow back to Ginny with a laugh, "See you at breakfast."
"So I take it he'll be hanging out with us?" Ginny asked after he had gone. She didn't mind; she was just surprised.
"Yeah, well, he's got a car and I don't. Besides, he's got nothing better to do. The place he used to work at during the summers closed and since this is his last summer before college, Dad told him to just take it off and not worry about finding another one." Sarah was rummaging through her closet as she spoke and tossed a shirt and pair of shorts at Ginny.
Ginny looked at the clothes that landed in her lap. It was a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt Rainbow Brite on it. She held up the shirt questioningly.
"It's a cartoon from when we were kids. Muggle thing."
Ginny nodded without any real understanding.
"We have so got to teach you about TV while you're here." Sarah began getting dressed herself and Ginny followed suit.
When they were dressed, they head downstairs, and Ginny was in the middle of pulling her hair up into a messy bun when they entered the kitchen.
"Mom's already out this morning and Dad's on a business trip again. You won't really see much of them while you're here. You might meet Mom Sunday, and maybe Dad next Tuesday when he gets back in town." Micah was sitting at the table reading the paper and eating a bowl of cereal. When he finished talking, or reading the column he was on, he looked up and his spoon stopped halfway to his mouth as he smiled. "You look nice."
"Um, thanks." Ginny moved to sit down. "I really won't meet your mum until Sunday? It's only Tuesday today."
"Yeah," Sarah was making toast behind her, so Ginny turned to look at her as she spoke, "she leaves early, we'll get back late, not unusual. Here."
Ginny took the offered plate of toast and turned back to the table. She didn't know what to say so she just reached for a bowl, spoon, and the cereal and started her breakfast.
Ginny was perusing a rack of shirts while Micah examined a display of jewelry. She looked up when he asked her, "So, what do you think so far?"
"I'm not really sure what to think. I've never been anywhere like this. It's called a Mall, right?" Micah nodded. "Why?"
"I have no idea. Here, try these." He handed a pair of hoop earrings.
She held them up by her ears. "What do you think?"
"Very nice." He smiled again. He suddenly turned around and sighed, "What is taking her so long?" Looking toward the dressing rooms, he called, "Hey Sarah! You almost done?"
Ginny laughed when Micah grumbled at his sister's mumbled response.
"I thought we came shopping for you." He sighed. "This is what we get for letting her anywhere near a store. She'll get as much as you, today, just you watch, probably more."
Sure enough, when Sarah came out she was carrying a pile of clothes she intended to purchase and placed them on top of the small stack they had found to Ginny's taste at the store.
After they had paid for the clothes and the hoop earrings, they decided it was time for a lunch break. It had been their fourth store at the mall and they were all a bit hungry.
On their way out of the food court, Ginny stopped dead, causing Sarah to run into her. "Hey, what's up?" Sarah asked.
"Just a second." Ginny said hurriedly and began practically running toward the main hall. Before she could get out of the food court, however, a large group of people entered and she was almost knocked down as she pushed her way through.
When Micah and Sarah caught up with her she was standing in the center of the walkway looking toward the center of the mall. "Hey, what's up?" Micah laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing, I just though...I just thought I saw someone familiar, that's all. But that's impossible. Forget it." Ginny tried to laugh it off as she turned around to face her friends.
"If you say so." Micah looked concerned, but Sarah just laughed and grabbed her arm, pulling off toward the next store.
