A/N: My entry for the Fudge Flies: "Flies are little and annoying and constantly at your side. Just like sometimes friends. So this challenge is to write about family members or friends-no romance!" category in owluvr's Honeydukes Competition. Enjoy! (And it isn't incest or anything like that. Bill is being an amazing older brother. So yeah. Take that. ;)
Brothers
A brother is a friend given by Nature. -Jean Baptiste Legouve
The young girl sat beneath the old apple tree, playing with her doll and humming quietly to herself. The hot summer sun cast bright streams of light through the branches, making shimmery, dappled patterns on the fresh green grass. Ginny looked up as she heard the loud talking of her older twin brothers, who seemed to be planning a prank on Charlie, the second oldest brother in the family. Charlie had just gotten back from his sixth year of schooling at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry two days prior, along with Percy, who was returning from his fourth year. Bill, the oldest of the family, was not home because he was searching for a job with Gringotts, the wizard bank.
Ginny scampered up the tall tree (expertly, considering she was only seven years old), but it was too late.
"Hey Gin-Gin."
"What's up Ginnybear?"
"Well, obviously she is, Gred. She's in a tree."
"Why yes she is, Forge. "
The younger red-head frowned. If only they would leave her alone! They had been especially annoying ever since their eleventh birthday the past April. They had been talking non-stop about Hogwarts and all the pranks they would pull when they got there.
"So, Virginia, what were you playing with your doll today?" Fred asked, grinning as she flushed angrily.
"Don't call me Virginia!"
Ginny glared angrily at the twins. Just because other people called her Virginia when they heard her nickname didn't mean that they should. They knew full well that her real name was Ginevra. Though she didn't like that very much either.
"Fine then Ginevra. What were you playing with your lovely doll? Was it Hogwarts again?"
"Probably. She's only a little bit obsessed. Every since Charlie left, she's been asking when she can go."
"Except she never will, because of course she can't do magic. Pity, really." George smirked, then set his face into a fake expression of sadness and mimed wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
"I can do magic," Ginny yelled, face burning an even deeper shade of red. "Mum said so!"
"Tsk, tsk." George said, shaking his head 'sympathetically'. "She still thinks she's a witch, Fred."
Fred sighed knowingly. "And to think that she's still wishing to be at Hogwarts, despite her lack of ability."
Ginny did wish she could go to Hogwarts instead of being home for most of the year. True, gardening and sewing and baking with her mom were fun, but she had heard so much from Bill and Charlie and Percy about how amazing it was, with its moving staircases and ghosts and the Giant Squid in the lake. It had to be more exciting than staying home like she had done for most of her life. And who were they to tell her that she had no magic? She had been told by her mum that their first accidental magic didn't happen until they were eight, and she was still only seven.
"Fred! George!"
A yell from Ron, the youngest brother of the family (and a year older than Ginny) disturbed her thoughts.
"Mum says we can play a game of Quidditch because Bill's back! Apparently he got the job right away and he wanted to celebrate! She also says she's baking a cake for after dinner, so don't spoil your appetites!"
He stopped at the base of the tree, gasped for breath, then raced back toward the family's makeshift Quidditch Pitch.
"Excellent!" Fred exclaimed, grinning broadly. "Let us go and partake in that wonderful sport of flying my dear twin!"
"Yes let's." George agreed, and they raced each other to the broomshed to grab their matching Cleensweep fives.
Ginny's brown eyes followed the two red-headed boys as they pushed and shoved to get into the small shed, grabbed their brooms, and set off in the same direction as Ron. Then she slid down easily and took up her previous position underneath the tree's limbs.
She tried to resume her game with her doll, but it had lost its fun. Then she tried to think of something else to play, but her mind kept returning to the Quidditch game she knew her brothers would be playing.
Like any other wizarding child she knew how to fly a broomstick, but her brothers and mother didn't know about it and her father pretended not to (only because once he had caught her flying one weekend), because she had been self-taught. Whereas each of her brothers had learned to fly on their father's Shooting Star (which now belonged to Ron) at the age of six, her mother had forbidden her to learn until she was at least nine, deeming it 'unladylike' and 'dangerous'. So, the night after her sixth birthday, after everyone had fallen asleep, she had crept downstairs and out to the broomshed, taking out the Shooting Star and mounting it as she had seen her brothers do countless times.
As she had kicked off into the air, she remembered the joyful feeling in her heart and the wide smile that had appeared on her face. This was something she knew how to do and she knew that, like everyone else in the family (excepting Percy of course), she was born to fly.
And if only her mother and brothers would just realize that, life would be so much easier!
Sighing, Ginny pulled herself up from the ground and walked back to the Burrow, away from the laughs and whoops echoing from the clearing where her brothers were playing.
An hour or so later, once she had given up trying to find something to interest herself, Ginny lay on her bed, staring sadly over at the moving poster of Gwenog Jones, captain of the all-girls Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies. Her dark green robes blew around her as she flew across the poster, a Quaffle tucked under her arm. Ginny wished that someday she would be able to play on the team, seventh in the league as they were, and that someday her brothers would see her as something special, that people would see her as more than "the only girl Weasley in five generations".
At a knock on the door, Ginny quickly sat up and tried to clean up a bit hurriedly. Her room had gotten a bit messy as she had thrown away things she wasn't interested in doing. She didn't feel like getting a scolding from her mother about 'a tornado coming through her room'.
"Come in!" she said, gathering up a few books in her arms to look busy.
"Oh, it's just you Bill."
She dropped the books on the ground, unconcerned as a few slid under the bed, and flopped back onto her bed.
Her oldest brother's long hair hung down in front of his brown eyes the way that their mother so disapproved of and his brow was furrowed at her behavior.
"Now what kind of a greeting is that? Especially to your favorite brother?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at her playfully.
Ginny suppressed a smile and, looking interestedly at the ceiling, said "I don't know, I might have switched my favorite brother to Percy. After all, he is the 'perfect role model' for a little girl like me. He follows the rules and everything!"
Bill fluttered his eyelashes and stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. "And I'm not a good role model? Prefect and Head Boy and all?"
"Mum says your hair's too long." Ginny bit her lip in an attempt to keep a neutral expression.
"Just for that, I think you deserve a tickle attack!" Bill lunged at the bed, digging his fingers expertly into his sister's ribs and the crook of her neck. Ginny squealed and wriggled, but it was no use.
"Stop! Stop! I take it back!" she nearly screamed between giggles.
"Take what back?" Bill asked, an evil grin creeping across his face.
"You're my favorite brother! You're my favorite brother!"
"Ok. Fine," Bill said, releasing her from his assault. "I relent."
Ginny gasped for breath for a moment and, grinning, tackled her brother, knocking him back onto the pillows. "Gotcha'!" She sat up, smiling proudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest in a satisfied manner.
"Yes you did Gin. You got me good." Bill laughed and ruffled her hair. She scowled and flopped back on her bed, her bad mood returning full-force.
"What's wrong, Gin-bear? First you didn't even say hello once I got home, as I had to seek you out myself, then I find you in your room, sulking-"
"I wasn't sulking." Ginny mumbled, turning onto her side so she couldn't see her brother's obvious disappointment.
"Mmmm…" Bill mused, nonplussed. "And then I do what I've always done and you go back to being moody. What's wrong?"
Ginny shook her head, burying it in her pillow so that Bill wouldn't be able to see the tears leaking from her eyes. It was just too much. The twins teasing her about wanting to go to Hogwarts, not being able to play Quidditch with the rest of the family, and just brothers in general – why did they all have to be so irritating, so mean, so… so… there all the time?
Surprised when he saw his little sister quaking with sobs, he pulled her up next to him, gently untangling her fingers from the pillowcase and hugging her close.
"Come on Gin, I know something's wrong. Pretty please tell me? I could even go beat up whoever hurt you. That's what big brothers are supposed to do, right?"
Ginny giggled in spite of herself and, sniffling, used her sleeve to wipe away the tears that had fallen from her eyes.
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, neither wanting to speak first.
"Fine," Ginny huffed, finally relaxing into her eldest brother's embrace. "Fred and George were teasing me about my magic again."
Bill sighed. His twin brothers just didn't know when to stop. He knew for a fact that his mother had already disciplined them a few times for telling their sister that she would never go to Hogwarts. He knew they were just joking around, but he also knew about Ginny's insecurities and wished that Fred and George would simply see how their actions were actually affecting their sister.
"I'll mention it to mum." He said wearily. "Was that all that is bothering you or is there something else?"
Ginny shifted on the bed, wondering if she should tell him her secret wish. Deciding he was probably not going to tell anyone else if she told him, she leaned close to his ear and whispered "I wish I could play with you and everyone else when you have a Quidditch game."
Bill looked at her, a strange look on his face. "But you don't even know how to fly. Why do you want to play with us if you haven't even been on a broom yet?"
Biting her lip self-consciously, Ginny looked away from him and tried to make it seem as though she found her pillow very interesting.
"Don't tell me you have flown before?" He asked, shocked that his baby sister would ever go against the rules. "Mum would be furious if she knew-"
"Don't tell her! Please!" Ginny begged, looking imploringly up at him. "If she knew she would probably never ever let me fly again! Please don't tell her!"
Nearly laughing at the look of sheer desperation on her face, he adopted a stern tone, slipping in a small smile so she knew he wasn't being too serious with her. "I just want you to know young lady that broom flying is very dangerous and if I ever see you on a broom without permission I will have no choice but to report you to our mother!"
Relieved, Ginny relaxed fully again and hugged her brother around the waist.
"You seriously aren't mad?" Her big brown eyes looked up at him.
"Of course not!" he laughed, ruffling her hair again. "Actually, if it would be acceptable, I think I would like to see you fly at least once, even if you're not supposed to yet. If you already love it so much, you must be pretty good!"
"Oh don't worry, I am!" She announced, smiling proudly. She tightened her hug. Bill always knew how to make her feel better and forget what everyone else always said to her.
They sat in silence for another minute before Ginny spoke up again.
"Bill, I'm glad you're my brother."
"And I'm glad you're my sister, Gin."