A/N: Hello, lovelies! This is just a short little thing that I was inspired to write. I recently ordered a set of all seven of the books – my old set has slowly disappeared through time; I suspect nargles are behind it – and I've been rereading them which has inspired a lot of little things like this. This was just the first one I got around to writing; it's set in Harry's third year, after the match against Hufflepuff when the dementors show up and Harry falls off his broom and is stuck in the Hospital Wing all weekend.
Enjoy! :)
Ginny was shaking with nervousness on her way up to the castle. Of course, she wasn't as shaky as she had been when Harry had fallen off his broom because of the dementors. The only thing worse than thinking Harry had died was feeling like she'd never being happy again.
When Professor Dumbledore had forced the dementors away, Ginny was happy, but when she discovered that Harry would make a full recovery, she was ecstatic. She knew people would be crowding the Hospital Wing making sure he was okay, so she decided to wait in the common room until the Quidditch team had returned; she knew it would be a while. With this loss, Hufflepuff would have to lose to Ravenclaw by at least two hundred points, and even then Gryffindor would still need to beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin. It all came down to points…
Finally, the Quidditch team came barreling through the portrait hole. Ginny rushed over to her older brothers, Fred and George, and pulled them aside. She needed their help.
"What's wrong, Gin?" Fred asked.
"Who do we need to beat up?" George looked around the common room menacingly. Ginny blushed; her brothers were all very protective, but Fred and George were always willing to punch someone in the nose for her.
"No one. I just… Well, erm… You see, Harry…" Ginny stammered. The twins caught on quickly and gave her knowing smiles.
"You want something that'll make Harry feel better?" George asked. "I dunno if we have anything for that. What do you think, Fred? Can we whip something up for our dear little sister?"
"I suppose so, Georgie. But what would the little darling like?" Fred asked, smiling mischievously down at her. She shrugged.
"A card, perhaps?" she suggested meekly. Now that she was asking, it seemed like a childish thing to do, giving Harry a gift.
"Alright. Give us fifteen minutes." And with that, they were gone. Ginny wondered what her brothers were going to do and hoped it wouldn't end in disaster.
True to their word, fifteen minutes later the twins came bounding down the stairs, grins on their faces. Ginny stood from her spot by the window and walked hesitantly toward them.
"Here it is, darling sister. A get-well card for Mr. Potter, from the lovely Miss Weasley," Fred said, dramatically presenting the card to Ginny. She looked at it apprehensively, then pulled them out of the portrait hole so as not to attract attention from the other Gryffindors.
"What does it do?" she asked. George smiled broadly.
"Why, it sings! Just a little song," he answered. Fred, who was still holding the card, opened it.
Ginny was glad she had pulled them out of the common room. The card began to sing:
Get well, Harry!
It was scary
When you fell to the ground.
Get well, Harry
Or there will be nary
A smile around!
Ginny was surprised. It was actually a decent song, and the card looked rather nice, too.
"Thanks, guys. This is wonderful!" Ginny said, throwing her arms around her brothers. She knew she could always count on their genius to help her in times of need.
"No problem, love," George said.
"Just make sure Harry knows you're our only little sister," Fred warned.
"And we're not afraid to punch celebrities," George finished. Ginny turned red and walked away from her brothers. She heard them laughing from down the corridor.
Luckily she didn't have a far walk to the Hospital Wing because her knees were weak with anticipation. She wasn't sure how Harry was going react. She knew he didn't think of her as anything more than "Ron's little sister" but she couldn't help who she liked. She looked down at the card again, but immediately wished she hadn't. She had bumped into someone and bounced back onto the floor.
"Watch where you're going, Weasley," she heard a cold voice sneered. She looked up to see none other than Draco Malfoy, surrounded by his two bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. Great, she thought, picking herself up. Just what I needed.
"What's that you've got there, Weasley?" Malfoy said, glaring at the card. Crabbe and Goyle had also spotted it.
She quickly put it behind her back. "Nothing. Excuse me," she said, pushing past them. As she did, she felt him snatch the card from her hand. "Give it back, Malfoy!" She jumped for it, but was grabbed by Crabbe and Goyle, who held her back so Malfoy could inspect it.
"A get-well card? For Potter?" he laughed. When he opened it, he laughed even harder, even going so far as to lean on Goyle for support. Ginny felt Crabbe and Goyle shake with laughter, too. "Oh, this is rich," he said. "Let's see if I can't fix this up a bit." He touched his wand to the card and mumbled something Ginny couldn't hear. But nothing happened. Malfoy gave the card a look of hatred, then threw it back at her. "Enjoy."
Ginny glared at him as they walked away. She mentally shook herself as she walked down the rest of the corridor to the Hospital Wing. It didn't matter what Malfoy thought, she was going to walk in there with confidence and give Harry this card.
At least, that's what she thought she was going to do. Then Hagrid walked out.
"Alrigh', Ginny?" he asked. Then he saw the card. "Oh, I see. Yeh've got a little present fer Harry? Tha's righ' nice of yeh," he said, winking at her, causing her cheeks to heat up.
"Yes, well, I think I'll go and give it to him. Goodbye, Hagrid," she said, ducking into the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, but Ron and Hermione were both sitting at Harry's bedside. This was a disaster. She couldn't give Harry the card with Ron and Hermione right there; what would they say? As she approached, they all looked over at her. Hermione narrowed her eyes in confusion until she saw the card, and then her face lit up with realization.
"Come along, Ron. I want to go and fetch some books from the common room," she said, standing and giving Ginny a look. Ron groaned.
"Why do I need to go?" he complained but stood anyway.
"I'll need help carrying them, won't I?" Hermione stated, dragging a reluctant Ron out of the Hospital Wing. Thank Merlin Hermione was a girl and understood these things.
"Hullo, Harry," Ginny said cheerfully. She knew she was blushing furiously, which only made her blush more. "I- I've made you a card." Well, Fred and George made it, but he didn't need to know that.
"Oh, wow. Thanks, Ginny. It's wonderful," he said. He read the front ("Get Well, Harry!") and then opened it. But instead of the song Fred and George had written, a shrill wail came from the card. Ginny's eyes widened and she grabbed it from Harry and shoved it under the nearest thing she could find, which was a bowl of fruit.
"That was erm… That was lovely, Ginny. Thank you," Harry stammered. Ginny's eyes welled up with tears. She would get Malfoy for whatever it was he did to the card. Before the tears could fall, Ginny muttered a goodbye to Harry and ran from the Hospital Wing, past Ron and Hermione, who were on their way back, past Fred and George, who were lounging on a sofa in the common room, and straight up to her dormitory.
She lay in her bed crying until Hermione came up to get her for dinner.
"Ginny? Ginny, aren't you coming downstairs?" Hermione asked from the doorway.
"No, I don't think so," Ginny said, wiping her face on her pillow.
"Now, Ginny, you're being silly," Hermione said, sitting beside Ginny on the bed. "Harry told Ron and me what happened, and I thought it was cute. Then I came up here to make sure you were alright, and Fred and George wondered what was wrong with you so I explained what happened to them. They told me what the card was supposed to do." Ginny cut in to tell her what happened with Malfoy.
"So you see, I can't go down there. He'll laugh at me," Ginny said sadly.
"Do you really think Fred and George would let him get away with that?" Hermione said. "We'll tell them what really happened and they'll come up with some plan that I'm sure I won't approve of, but it will make you feel better and that's all that matters right now. Plus, Harry won't be at dinner. Madame Pomfrey's keeping him over the weekend so you won't have to worry about being embarrassed. Come on, let's go get back at Malfoy," Hermione said. Ginny smiled and followed Hermione down to the common room and over to Fred and George.
Grinning at the aspect of getting Malfoy back, Ginny forgot all about the embarrassment she felt and let her mischievous side – which she surely got from the twins – get the best of her. Dinner was going to be great.