Author's Note: Who thought I had disappeared? *raises hand* Well I'm back again, with a new plot-bunny scampering around in my head. So, here you go. I'm trying to write more, but I'm not promising anything with my other stories. Maybe, one day, I'll get around to writing more for them, but for now, enjoy what this story has to offer. I'm really excited, I've been obsessed with the Victorian Era for some time now, and I'm just getting around to writing about the life of courts and all its intrigues.

This story is AU, and because of which some characters might be portrayed a little out of character. I'll try to keep them as close to character as possible, but understand that some things must be portrayed differently in this universe than the universe lovely J.K. Rowling created.

While on that subject, I give you a disclaimer. Nothing I write is for profit, I am but a poor soul that wishes these characters I play with were mine and actually real. All belongs to J.K. Rowling. I bow to her copyright laws.

. ... .

Ginevra Weasley was always a rather strange girl. Having been the first girl born out of the Weasley line in generations, one could hardly blame her. As a young toddler, she rarely cried. Instead, Molly Weasley found that unlike her sons, who were all attached to her hip throughout their infancy, Ginevra was a wanderer. Many days were spent by Molly, running around like a chicken without a head, trying to find where her only daughter had disappeared to.

As Ginevra grew older, she realized that living in a house with her six siblings meant it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. Not only that, but since she was the youngest and also the only girl, she was easy prey to her older brothers. However, it wasn't long until Ginerva began to realize the potential opportunities she had as the youngest, weakest child.

At the tender age of four, Ginevra held herself with an air of intelligence that would surprise most people, if any had bothered to pay attention. However neither her mother nor father had time to notice the exceptional nature of their daughter. Her father was a gentilhomme, a younger son of a noble house, and spent his time dealing and selling in various rare muggle items from foreign countries. He was often abroad, and so most of the child rearing was left to Molly. Her mother, despite her downtrodden appearance nowadays, was the youngest daughter of the Prewett line, which had once been one of the most influential lines in all of magical Britain. Ginerva's grandfather had been an earl, and had been most displeased when his youngest daughter went against his wishes and married below her station.

One day, Ginevra found herself at the mercy of her older twin brothers. Frederic and George often found amusement in coming up with different ways to harass Ginevra. She whined less than Ronald and was also less likely to tattletale; a much preferable target. This time around, they convinced Ginevra to climb trees with them. Ginevra was terrified of heights, the twins convinced her that they would be right behind her to catch her if she were to fall.

"Okay..." Ginevra trailed off nervously. "Give me a boost."

"Well certainly, sister dear," replied George, as he lifted her to the lowest branch. Ginevra climbed easily.

"Now, don't look down! Just keep climbing!" said Frederic. Ginevra obeyed her brother's command, climbing until she reached a branch that could properly support her weight.

"Fred! George! I did it!" She called down to them. She was surprised when she heard them start to laugh.

"Good job, Gin! Good luck-"

"-getting down!" and with that, they ran back to the house, leaving Ginevra sitting in the tree with no one the wiser about it.

Fear encompassed Ginevra's small chest and she looked down at the ground which suddenly seemed so far away. Climbing up the tree was one matter; climbing down was another entirely. She quickly realized that she couldn't make herself move. To put it simply, she was stuck.

Hours passed with Ginevra still in the tree. Twilight approached, and young Ginevra thought about the unfairness of her situation. Stuck in the lowly position as the youngest child of a large brood, a girl nonetheless, she realized that she would be in this predicament or others like it quite often in the future. And in that moment, she cursed the future that fate seemed to have put her in. She was more than that, more than this, and she would prove it. Somehow.

. ... .

At five, her magic began to blossom.

One day while attempting to escape the pranks of her older brothers, her anger and resentment triggered something inside of her. She had been running through the tall grasses on the Weasley land, her brothers in hot pursuit behind her, when suddenly she felt a vein of power run through her body. The sensation was alien; she often felt weak and helpless, but this had been different. She stopped fleeing, turning to face her brothers, who were not far behind.

Frederic and George, thinking she had given up, sped towards her with looks of mischievous glee on their faces. Ginevra leveled her chin at them and let loose the power of her glare, holding onto the string of power she felt inside her. With all the resentment she could muster, she flung it towards them.

Her power, unseen to the eye, hit Frederic and George with a physical blow. Both were knocked off their feet and flown back. On their backs, stunned by the unexpected turn of events, both noticed with horror that the boogers in their noses seemed to grow in size, form wings and begin attacking them before even a thought could string together.

Ginevra watched with satisfaction and awe at the result of her power. Frederic and George both managed to their feet, and hightailed it back to the Burrow, screaming for their mother the whole way.

Molly was shocked at the early display of strong magic from her daughter; Ronald, who was two years older than Ginevra, hadn't even come into his magic yet. Frederic and George only had recently as well. It was perhaps the first time Molly noticed her daughter's peculiarity. But once again, it was brushed off in importance as the tasks of raising her children weighed heavily on her once again.

. ... .

Over the years, Ginevra immersed herself in what made her unique to her family; her magic. All of her brothers, with the exception of Charles and William, had very weak and depleted magic. One night when discussing it with Charles, who was by far her favorite brother, they hypothesized it came from the dominance of Weasley blood; blood which notoriously produced Squibs. On the other side of the coin, her and Charles decided that it was the Prewett blood, ancient and noble, which encouraged her, Charles and William's magic to grow, like the gentle heat of the sun to a flower.

When Charles left for an apprenticeship with a dragon tamer, and then William for knighthood, Ginevra took it the worst. Now trapped with Percy, Frederic, George, and Ronald, Ginevra tried her best to make herself disappear. And anything Ginevra put her mind to, she found her way to succeed in it.

Over the next two years, she managed to become almost invisible; sliding in and out of rooms with feline grace, and becoming skillful and cunning in her revenge plots against her brothers. Long gone was the Ginevra who openly displayed her frustration with bat-boogey hexes. Instead, she found more passive-aggressive ways to seek retribution. A few tears when Molly passed her door at night, a few words in a letter to a girl Frederic had his eye on signed in his name, the quick turn of a hand with hot sauce over her brother's eggs...really, it was becoming too easy.

Though she missed her two eldest brothers with an ache in her chest, Ginevra found that without the two shining stars of Molly's eye around, she quickly gained status in Molly's life. The way Ginevra looked at it, whether consciously or subconsciously, Molly had realized that Ginevra was the last of her children that would go to make something of themselves. There was something different in Ginevra's eyes, something that physically burned, which her other brothers lacked.

The years flew by for Ginevra. Her brothers acquired local apprenticeships, and eventually Percy moved out to start his own life and family. As a girl, she stayed home with Molly and learned how to run a household, and the social etiquette of a girl with her station. She kept in close contact with her two eldest brothers through letters. Charles, now a professional dragon trainer in his own right, was making a sizeable living and name for himself. The king had even personally requested his expertise with dragons, offering a place at the palace for him. Ginevra felt very proud of her brother's accomplishment, although she thought of him living at court with envy. With her as sheltered as she was, she yearned for the excitement of court life.

Throughout the years, Ginevra had always possessed the eerie ability to get what she wanted. By trickery and manipulation, or simply the smiling face of fortune, whatever she desired would somehow come to pass.

That's why when Charles appeared a week before her sixteenth birthday, she really shouldn't have been surprised. But she was.

"Brother!" she exclaimed, when a loud CRACK! alerted her to his appearance. She had been outside at the time of his arrival, reading a book on Ancient Runes under the very tree Frederic and George had tricked her up all those years ago.

"Ginevra, dearest!" Charles greeted her, opening his arms in invitation. Happily, Ginevra entered his arms for embrace. Before long, Charles pulled her away from him, his hands on either side of her arms. "Look at how you have grown! You've turned into quite a gem, my dear Ginny." Ginevra felt her face flush at the praise of her older brother, along with the endearing nickname he saved for special occasions.

"Come, come inside with me. I must greet mother," he said, and she happily trailed behind him, glad to be sharing oxygen with someone who she could actually stand, for once.

Molly was, needless to say, overjoyed by the surprise arrival of her oldest son. After greeting him at length, she began to mutter about how she must prepare a grand dinner to welcome him home.

"Now, now mother. That is actually what I came to speak with you about. While I would love some of your homemade cooking, I must implore you to save your cooking miracles for one week hence," Charles said, grinning and casting a sideways glance at Ginevra.

Charles' request sent Molly for a loop. "Whatever do you mean, Charles?" she asked.

Ginevra, who had been paying close attention, felt butterflies in her stomach as she awaited his reply. She had figured out what her older brother was planning before he managed to surprise her.

"Well, if my memory serves me correct, a week from today is someone's very special day. Ginevra's sixteenth birthday, the day she comes of age as a woman. I plan to hold a large party for her, my expense. Please mother, I can think of no one better suited to cook than you."

Ginevra let loose a most unladylike squeal of delight, throwing herself at Charles. Molly was similarly excited, while she had wanted to throw a party for Ginny as well, she knew that it was beyond her means to do so.

"Oh, Charles! How wonderful, I can think of no better way to celebrate your sister's birthday. What a loving brother you are!" and with that, she exited the room in a flurry of muttering, already planning what was to be the finest party the Weasley family had seen in decades.

"Just wait, Gin. The best is yet to come!"

. ... .

Though try as she might, Ginevra could not force the meaning behind those words out of her eldest brother. Every time she attempted to, she was silenced with a "You seek to ruin my surprise!" or "Keep asking, and you'll never know." These threats from Charles didn't come often, and so Ginevra heeded them. With her curiosity burning her alive inside, the next week passed slowly. She was fitted for a gown made of soft, reasonably priced material. It was gold in color, highlighting the copper colors in her flaming hair, and bringing out the natural caramel color of her eyes.

The night of her party, she stood in front of the only full-length mirror in the house, surprised to say that the reflection looking back at her was not someone she recognized. How had she not noticed how much she had grown in the last few months? Her mental image of herself still consisted of a young girl with firey hair and who had skinny legs with knobbly knees.

But before her was a woman of beauty. Her skin was soft and pale, glowing slightly in the candlelight of her room. Her cheekbones were high, and her eyebrows arched gracefully over her eyes, which were lined with makeup Charlie had bought her for this special occasion. A small, button nose gave way to lips that were full and pale pink. She declined to put any of her lipstain on them. She wore her hair up in a braided bun, which her mother had arranged, letting a few ringlets of hair fall down around her shoulders.

Almost unbelieving of the girl in the mirror, Ginevra turned away from her reflection. She took a deep breath, wincing at the effort of it. Her bodice was tied unnaturally tight, at her mother's insistence. Steeling herself for the night ahead, she exited her room and prepared to make her grand entrance.

The rest of the night passed pleasantly for Ginevra. Many of the kids from town appeared, ones that Ginevra hadn't talked to in ages. Ginevra spent the night dancing, gossiping, and observing the people around her in a way that would make any other sixteen year old girl proud.

The end of the night was approaching, and Ginevra found herself dreading tomorrow. Tonight had seemed like a faerietale; tomorrow was a painful truth. Before she had too long to wallow in her sudden depression, Charles' voice boomed out, calling for everyone's attention.

"I wish to propose a toast, in honor of my dear sister's birthday!"

There was a polite round of applause, and everyone rose their goblets to her.

"And I wish to make an announcement!" Charles continued. He paused, for dramatic effect or to make sure he had everyone's attention, Ginevra was not sure. She waited for what seemed like forever for him to continue, "I have been so fortunate as to receive the favor of our most gracious King. In recognition of my service abroad, he has awarded me with a suite of rooms in the palace, and has given me permission to bring my sister Ginevra to court when the Season starts in the autumn. Ginevra, you shall have a proper season after all."

. ... .

Cliffhanger! Stay tuned, and please review!