Disclaimer! I don't own harry potter or any of the charictors! k, Thanks for reading this! you are very smart and wounderful, of course your going to like this! may have review problem or you may not have read it

A WEASLEY SECRET

Fred and George are starting their second year at Hogwarts in two days, Ginny thought bitterly. It was not fair that they made you wait until you were eleven. She was ready now! She told as much to Charlie, one of her other older brothers, and he just smiled, ruffling her hair. A second later his hand stopped and he arched an eyebrow at her. "How old are you, Ginny?"

"Eight and a quarter". She replied, instantly regretting that last bit.

"Really"? He asked, looking over her head and scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"What?" She asked, defensively at first, then intrigued. "What?!?" She repeated, poking him to get his attention.

"Wait here." He whispered, looking around as if someone might be listening in. "I may have just what you are looking for." Without another word to her he ran off calling for their other brother, Bill."

Ginny shifted from foot to foot for what seemed like hours until Charlie returned, bill in tow. Bill held out a bundle wrapped in a pillow case. "You can't tell mom that we gave you this." Bill told her and pulled it away from her reaching hands.

"Promise." Charlie said, crossing his arms.

"I promise." Ginny told him, unable to tear her eyes from the tantalizing bundle. Once again Ginny found that a person would promise almost anything when a good surprise waited on their yes or no.

Bill gave her a smile and handed it over.

Ginny opened the sack like a Christmas present, nearly ripping the pillow case in her hurry.

Inside was an old, leather bound book with several pages sticking out. She frowned down at it, not sure what she had expected. "A manky old book?" She turned the book in her hands, disappointed.

"Manky? Ginny this is a spell book!" Bill tugged it out of her hands as he said it, showing a picture on the inside.

"Real spells?" Ginny's hands tried to reclaim the now magnificent, if still manky, old book.

Charlie rolled his eyes and retrieved the pillow case where she had discarded it. "Of course their real!" He told her, pulling a brittle looking stick from the sack. "And this is what your wand will look like."

"Well, once you make one anyway." Bill added.

Ginny took the "wand" and looked at them frowning, causing Charlie to sigh and shake his head at the clear doubt on her face. "No faith in us at all?"

"Come with us." Bill intervened. He handed her back the spell book and looking towards the house.

The two brothers made quite a show of making sure that they were not spotted as they led her to the little pond behind the house. Ginny had to run fast to keep up with her tall brothers and was breathless with anticipation as they entered the tall grass.

Charlie took a last look over the grass and then hunkered down to address her on her level. "Ok, look at the wand and tell me what you see."

Ginny turned the stick in her hands slowly, inspecting each side carefully. "It's some kind of reed." She told them with impatience plain in her voice. Just give me a new one and let me have a go! She thought, trying hard not to tell them to hurry it up.

Charlie took the twig and showed her the bottom. "Yup, and it's been hollowed out."

Ginny looked at the bottom so closely that she almost poked her self in the eye. "There's something sticking out of it."

"That a girl!" Bill said, patting her arm.

"All real wands have a core." Charlie pulled out the pebble that was plugging the wand and dragged out a long blade of dead grass, coated in some kind of jelly.

"Normally it's a unicorn hair, phoenix feather, or a dragon's heart string."

Ginny had heard little about wands, other than that they were costly and cool. She nodded anyway and resisted screaming what she was thinking. Shut up and give me a wand already!

"That is because spells need a strong magical core to perform them." Bill continued, fully away of his sister's impatience.

"Wait, can't I get into a lot of trouble for using spells? I'm only eight."

"Are you sure you don't favor Percy, just a bit?" Bill asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It's not that." She said, waving a hand. "It's just that I don't want to end up in, you know, Azkaban."

The two brothers smiled at each other. "We wouldn't do that to a sibling!" Charlie said.

"Well maybe Percy." Bill admitted.

"Anyway, we made sure that these spells were tiny and undetectable, so no worries." Charlie continued. "Most wands have a strong core, yours will have glow grass. If the ministry picks up anything it will appear as an under age wizard's unavoidable acts of release."

Ginny peeked over to the garden where the glow grass grew. It had seemed so useless tell now.

"The core of a regular wand helps to focus and resist the magic you release thru it so you won't over do a spell, making it go wrong. Its resistance would prevent some one as young as you from doing more than spark firing." Bill pulled her head down as he explained this, telling her to stay out of sight.

Charlie went on as if she had not tried to stand up. "As for your wand, that's over there." He gestured to the reeds, a few feet from them.

"Compare the reed before breaking it off, then take a stick and poke it into the reed tell its hollow." Charlie produced a twig for just such a use. "Then all you have to do is get the conductive potion and choose a bit of grass big enough to fill the reed."

Bill produced a tiny pot made out of a soup can and an old pill divider full of ingredients. "Don't stir the potion with your wand." Charlie grinned behind his hand as Bill brought out a tiny set of metal measuring spoons. "For water." He poked a thumb over his shoulder at the pond. "Once made, the potion will be sucked into the wand automatically after you put the open tip into the solution. Plug wand with appropriate sized pebble."

Bill stood up then, making sure he wasn't being watched by any parents. "I'm going back to the house before mum gets suspicious. Tell her the rules and get back in side."

Once he was gone, Charlie informed her of the few rules for her new found freedom. "Practice only when you're sure you are alone. The best time is when mom is working and dad is at work."

Now he looked at her directly, holding her gaze. "First, don't use this by the road. Don't go too far from the house and avoid the garden gnomes."

Her eyes were wandering to the reeds now. She was quite desperate to get started and this git was talking rules!

Charlie lifted her chin and brought her back to attention. "Most important of all, never go into the west woods."

That rule got her to listen. "Why? What's wrong with the west woods?"

He looked to the west woods then and rubbed his arms, as if he'd just gotten a chill. "When I was your age, I wandered into those woods. It was a moonless night so I had no defense." He gave a shake and grabbed her arm. "There is a wraith in those woods and you would be no match for it even with your wand, so stay away from there."

Ginny had forgotten about the reeds now. This warranted all her attention. "What's a wraith? What happened? How did you get away? Why does the moon make a difference?" She fired these questions at him so fast that he didn't get a chance to answer one before the next was tumbling out of her mouth.

He held a hand up to stem her questions. "It is a bit like a ghost and I barely got back to the house before it attacked me. Before you ask, mum and dad have spells protecting us here in the house and yard which is why you shouldn't stray too far. It never comes out when there is any kind of moonlight out so you should be safe those nights."

He poked her with a finger. "Stay close to the house! If you just listen to that you will be fine."

She couldn't let him change the subject before she knew one more thing. "Do they, uh, eat people?"

"Nah. Mostly they scream until their prey goes mad. So what are you going to do?"

"Stay away from the woods, stay close to the house, and avoid the road." She told him. Her attention was again wavering between fear of his possibly fake story and the reeds.

"And?" He asked her.

She snapped back to him and tried to remember exactly what he had said. "Oh yeah, avoid the gnomes. I got it."

He patted her shoulder and stood up to leave. "Oh, I almost forgot, you may need to change out the grass and potion. It sometimes gets weak and the wand starts to falter."

"Ok!" She shot over her shoulder as she sprinted towards the reeds, fear and brothers already forgotten in the thrill of her first wand.

Reed in hand, Ginny ran towards the glow grass, unaware that Mrs. Weasly was heading towards the garden as well.

"Coming to help in the garden dear?" Misses Weasily asked her as she slid to a stop. Ginny's mother looked down at the book in her hand and then back to her face.

"I…Uh," Ginny stammered, heart racing.

Her mother only smiled and knelt down to begin weeding. "Writing in your diary, are you?" She smiled at her daughter's expression. "I had one at your age. Don't worry, I won't read it.

Ginny nearly collapsed with relief. "Thanks mum." She promised herself to be more careful in the future and helped her mother for as long as she could stand as punishment for nearly blowing the whole thing. That lasted thirteen minutes before she slipped a blade of grass up her sleeve and made an excuse to get away.

"Get your fun in while you can, Ginny, home schooling will start day after tomorrow."

Ginny waved over her shoulder and tried not to run around the house. If anyone else tried to delay her she would kick there shins tell they went away!

Five minutes later she was putting a pebble into the bottom of her first wand. She had almost stirred her potion with her wand like Bill had. I don't even want to know what that does. With vibrating hands, she opened her book to look for a spell.

The first pages were for how to make a wand and the same warning that her brothers had already told her about. She flipped those so hard that they ripped a bit. The third page held an index and a scale for difficulty. One star for easy and so on.

Better try a single star first. The next page had an easy spell that didn't seam to be noisy or flash so she gave it a try. She waved her wand and softly said: Pollen Arom.

When nothing happened she sniffed the air around her new wand. Either "Pollen scent" was a dud or she did it wrong. After rereading the spell she saw that she had forgotten the swirl at the end of the hand movements.

Ok, armature mistake, I can do this! Ginny pinched her eyes shut and tried again, swirling at the end this time. The smell of lilacs surged out of her wand, a barely visible sparkle, like dust in a sunbeam, came out with the scent.

Ginny hopped up from her hiding spot, spun on her toe, and gave a stifled whoop. I'm not a squib! It wasn't until she had said this in her head that she realized how much that thought had frightened her. She was afraid to admit it to herself, but being a squib was scarier than lord you know who. Well almost.

Soon she had a group of bees, attracted to the multiple flower smells she was hosing the area with, so, afraid of being stung, she moved to a new area and searched for a more challenging spell.

As she turned the pages, she found scribbled spells that must have been done by Bill or Charlie. One was a potion for spying. It required soap shavings, water, beetle eyes, bull bee legs, and gnome drool. Stir in spell warmed water; counter clockwise first four minutes then counter clockwise last minute. Dip wand into potion and cast breeze spell to make two bubbles. Let first bubble go where it will, keep second on wand tip to look through. Second bubble will show where first bubble is near.

In quotations, it said the leviosa spell would work well with the first bubble.

Cool and clever! She thought, moving on to the printed spells.

She found the breeze spell (one star) and was about to give it a try when her mother called her in for supper.

Drat! She gave it a try on the way in, but could not tell if it worked or not. Mildly frustrated, she went in to eat, only to be sent to the wash room to clean her hands. Sorry mom, being a witch is dirty business! That thought made her quite pleased and she smiled broadly as she came to the table.

Eager to get back to work, she wolfed down her dinner and rushed off without desert, ignoring Bill and Charlie's knowing smiles.

By the time she was called in for the night, she had learned the breeze spell and a three star spell called Statum Colub which made a spark of electricity jump from the wand to a target up to twenty feet away.

She stowed her book and wand in the broom closet, before heading in. I should be practicing for quiddich, but this is just too fun!

After putting away her clean clothes, Ginny went to her brother Percy's room to ask for the winding alarm clock their father had charmed to sound like their mother chiding her awake.

"What for?" Percy asked, scribbling in a ledger.

"I just want an early start." She told him. She meant it too; she would just be getting an early start around midnight.

"Good for you." He leaned over to pull a box of odds and ends out from under his bed. "If Fred and George showed as much ambition as you, they might make the ministry one day."

At eleven that night, she was awakened by her mother's voice, muffled by her pillow, telling her she was going to be late.

Ginny rubbed her eyes and was immediately tempted to go back to sleep. Spells, you git, real spells! The fact that she had slept in her clothes sealed the deal and she got out of bed.

Every step in their rickety staircase seamed to have its own voice as she crept down towards the kitchen. She winced as some of the steps gave particularly loud creaks, right outside bedrooms. At one point, she heard a bird chirp outside Bill's window and she was sure he had groaned.

Ginny willed her brother to stay asleep and moved on to the last steps before the kitchen. No one got up, so she went to the windows to sneak out. She knew the doors would be magically sealed.

Much to Ginny's dismay, every window she tried was locked. She sighed with relief when the second to last window slid open.

She was on the sill, ready to hop out, when she noted how cold it had gotten out there. She considered going back for a sweater, but thought better of it. Not up that rickety staircase! With that, she hopped out into the darkness.

Getting her book and wand from the broom shed was much harder in the dark. It was like picking the lock with her eyes closed. Next time I should bring a candle.

Her next obstacle was that she couldn't see her spells very well. The sliver of moon that was out gave very little light. Crud! I could have brought the dragonfly night light Fred and George gave me before their first year! The light was in her dresser so that too was out of reach.

A great idea struck her then. She had seen a light spell on the same page as the breeze spell. A painstakingly slow search turned up the spell and she squinted to read its incantation. Lunar lumus.

Her first try did nothing at all, her second got a tiny glow, but her third got a steady beam to form that was good enough to see by. My second day and I already have two level three spells!

Ginny spun in a circle, her light spinning around her like a tiny light house.

She tried a two star spell next, which combined the breeze spell with a whisper, but she couldn't get it to come to her ears so she wasn't sure it was working

Her last spell of the night was a five star spell. She had no luck with it and realized that she was shivering with a rumbling belly. Tomorrow I'll bring a sweater and some food! As she headed in she added a quill and ink to her list, her night light, and some potion ingredience for a potion.

Ginny gave the five star spell a last try on the way in and flourished too close to the house. Snap! Her wand broke near the bottom, leaking the goo inside onto her hand. Nice one, dummy!

Ginny sighed as she wiped her hand on her jeans. Make a new wand. That would go on top of her list tomorrow. She kissed the broken reed and placed it gently along side the house. You were a great first wand. She told it and headed up to her room, avoiding the creakiest steps as best she could.

I'm so hungry I doubt I could sleep now. She thought, but the covers were warm and heavy, and she was asleep in less than a minute.

"You're up late." Misses Weasly told her as a groggy eyed Ginny stuffed food into her yawning mouth.

"Ah wahs weeding wait wast night." Ginny managed around a mouthful of eggs.

Charlie, who had already finished his breakfast, snorted into his coffee. He winked at Ginny behind their mother's back.

As she ate, Bill came down as well to tuck in.

"Another late riser." Their mom noted as she made him a plate.

"If I knew there was eggs and bacon, stead o worms, I would have been an early bird." Charlie told her, looking slightly less tired than Ginny felt.

After her chores, Ginny went to find the ingredience for her spying potion. The soap, water, and such were easy enough, but the gnome drool required a bit of danger. She doubted that they just handed out their drool, unless they spit on you of course. Its one of the rules. This thought held little weight and she shrugged it off.

While making a new wand, she tried to formulate a plan to trick the little buggers out of their slobber. It wasn't until she was called for lunch that she came up with an idea. She would use the cinnamon scent spell to lure one of them close enough to nab.

She made sure every one was inside before she put her plan into motion. She spied a gnome pulling at a carrot's stem and took aim. Once the scent hit it, the gnome looked right at her and sprinted away.

Seeing how fast they were, she reconsidered her plan. George said they bite and Bill said to keep away from them. Maybe I should try a safer potion.

Ginny realized then, that she was scared of the little buggers and decided that it was dumb to fear such things. Besides, Harry Potter wouldn't run from a gnome so I won't either.

She stood up straighter then, and rushed into a crowd of gnomes, her plan for spells forgotten.

The gnomes scattered and she jumped for the largest one, making them all laugh as she fell to the ground, empty handed. "OOf!" The gnomes called, mimicking her as they hopped out of reach.

Enraged by their laughter, Ginny sped off after another who was dancing and falling comically.

She chased the gnomes for ten minutes until she was out of breath and very dirty. She kicked a rock as she returned to where she started. Harry would have flattened those gnomes. She thought bitterly.

Wait a minute, I'm a witch!

Ginny snatched up her wand from where it had landed and turned back towards the garden, now ringed with grinning gnome. Some of the gnomes waved and one called to her. "Hey clumsy, come catch me!"

"That tears it!" Ginny told the little gnome and raised her wand. "Statum colop!"

A bolt of electricity struck the laughing gnome in the middle. The fat gnome wobbled as it hit him, looking dazed.

The other gnomes watched as he shook himself and bolted away, then they turned back to, a now smiling, Ginny and scattered.

Although the spell was satisfying to use, Ginny had no more luck catching a gnome, they were just too fast.

Think. She told herself and flipped through the spell book for inspiration.

When she came across the breeze/whisper spell, she smiled as a new plan came to her. Fred said they were stupid. With this in mind, she got closer to a spot she had last spied a gnome running to and saw his feet sticking out from under a tomato plant.

Ginny waved her wand in spirals up to her mouth and whispered into it. Once she said her message, she aimed towards the gnome and finished the spell.

Because the spell was invisible, she couldn't see if it worked until the gnome gave a start and looked behind himself.

Ginny bolted towards the gnome and scooped him up before it knew she was there. A cry of victory joined its cry of surprise.

The gnome struggled in her grip as a stream of swear words issued from its mouth. Ginny was so surprised by this that her grip slackened and it managed to sink its teeth into her finger. The pain made her drop the gnome and she aimed a kick at it as he ran off, cackling.

"Laugh all you want," Ginny yelled after it. "I got what I want." Her finger was covered in the little critter's drool.

She spent the rest of the time before dinner searching for a way to heat the water for her potion, but there just wasn't any fire spell in the book. She considered starting a fire the muggle way, but if caught, she would spend the rest of the week unable to sit properly.

The book had a spell for gathering the water by siphoning it up and one for making a tiny rain cloud, just no spells for heating it. Ahh! Warm water, not boiled. She ran to the shed to get her soup can pot and old spoon.

After she warmed the water with her bath water spell, she quickly added the ingredience. In just a few minutes she had her first real potion. I'm going to be head girl at this rate! If it wasn't for the potion, she would have cast the one that made leaves into a water proof hat.

The only thing she got to see with the spying potion was Percy shaking hands with an invisible person while staring into the mirror. This wasn't particularly awesome; it was just something to keep in mind for emergencies.

As she lay down to sleep that night, she realized that she had forgotten to knick food for her midnight spell casting. That was a good enough reason for her to take a night off. She was asleep as soon as she shut off her alarm.

Ginny kept up with her spell work every day and most nights as well. This caused her to have bed dreams of being caught or arrested, but she kept on, dreams or no dreams.

Ginny barely knowtesed when her brothers left for Hogwarts, what with practice and home schooling.

The one brother she did see a lot of was Ron. Her brother was always lurking in the places she wanted to practice in and rarely wanted to do anything with her. This left night time as her only time to practice which she did, even when her brothers came home for Christmas holiday.

It was on the second night of the holidays, that she was out working on a level five spell, when she heard a noise. Someone is out tonight? I have to hide!

The sound came again as she was heading to the tall grass and she realized that it was an animal's cal, not a Weasily.

She stopped in her tracks as she recognized the animal it was coming from. It sounded like a goat, probably one off misses Kittle's from one of the near by farms.

Odd that it would be this far from the yard. She decided to take a look and see if it was just passing by or running away.

Stumbling thru the dark she found the goat, its lead string tangled in a bush.

"Hello little…" Ginny froze as another sound got her attention. It was an eerie crooning and it was coming from the woods. Gasp! The west woods! She had wandered far from her home and, worse than that, close to the wraith's hunting grounds.

The sound from the trees was freezing her legs and a shape was coming out of the woods. Ginny would have screamed if she was able to do anything but stare at it in fright. The wraith's voice was horribly human sounding, but its form was huddled and terrible. It had long arms with wobbly, clawed hands and eyes of red fire; the whole legless body was glowing green in the dark.

The creature was heading in her general direction and if she didn't move quickly it was bound to see her. Ginny gave a massive effort and forced her legs to get moving.

She was managing to walk ok, so it was not holding her in place with any fear powers it might posses. She was about to try a run when a different cry halted her legs.

The goat was baying pitifully, every noise sounded like a plea for her help. I'm sorry, but what can I do? She tried to move again, but the goat's call was making her weak.

Ginny could tell that the monster was closing on the frantic animal, and worse, she could tell that she was the only one close enough to help.

She looked at the pitiful scene, hot tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. I'm only eight. She thought, staying where she was. She turned to look up at the burrow, where many competent wizards were safely sleeping. She would never be able to get them out here in time.

As the goat gave another cry, the wraith nearly on top of it, Ginny moved forward. Blast you Charlie, I should be in there too! She raised her wand and called to the glowing form. "Stop."

The creature didn't seem to knowest her weak sounding voice. If this doesn't work I'll haunt you forever Bill! "I said stop! Statum colop!" This time her voice rang clear and loud, emphasized by the bolt of lightning that flew from her wand.

The wraith did not appear to be injured by the spell, yet it had stopped crooning and turned now to her. Oh crap! I hit it with my most powerful spell! Curse you Bill, I should be in bed!

With horrible patience, the specter slowly raised its arms and began to croon again, advancing now on her.

Ginny tried to think of another spell to cast while she backed up as fast as she could. "Rapeleo crown!" She shouted and a second later something plopped on her head, causing her to scream. Stupid hat of leaves! I need a better spell than that!

She tried again, this time casting Breeze. This spell had a better affect than her previous ones. The wraith was blasted with wind which was slowing its progress. Not slow enough! At this rate, the wraith would have her in seconds.

Ginny gripped the wand even tighter and tried to remember what her brother had told her about the wraith. Suddenly, the wand cracked in her hand, weakening the wind spell. Oh no! Did I just break my wand?! She loosened her grip and the wind continued.

Do something, you idiot! She thought furiously, the wraith was just feet from her!

Amazingly the whole conversation with Charlie came back to her. It fears the moon like…

Ginny dropped her wand arm and marched forward, her fear being replaced by hurt and rage. She went into a run, swatted the wraith aside and kicked the goat right in the rear. "That was a horrible trick Charlie!" She bellowed.

The goats baying turned to a yelp as it flopped forward into the bush. "Hey! I'm just a prop here!" The voice was not a goat or Charlie, it was someone else.

The goat turned its head and Ginny clearly saw the face of Fred, who was wearing some kind of robe that was charmed to look like a goat.

"We're over here Ginny!" That did sound like Charlie, which must mean that Bill was over there as well.

"Ginny Weasily! What were you thinking?" That one sounded terribly like her mother, the voice coming from the woods, where many some ones were emerging.

"Mum? Dad? What…?" All her brothers were there, even Ron, Ginning out of the dark at her.

"Lunar lumous." Charlie said, holding up a lit reed wand. He had emphasized what she had guessed, lunar, or moon, lumous.

She was boiling over with hurt and anger now. They had gotten her in trouble with mom, just for a laugh.

Her father answered her thought. "We were the true ring leaders in this Ginny."

"Why? What was the point of terrifying me half out of my wits?" Her parents were behind this? Now she was lost for how to feel.

Her mother continued. "We do this to show you how dangerous the wizarding world can be." She said this kindly and knelt to hug her. "Why didn't you run for help dear? You could have woken us for this."

"There was no time." Ginny told her feeling stupid. "I thought goat boy, over there, was in trouble." She gestured to Fred who looked like a long legged goat on its hind feet, little arms wiggling as the others laughed at him.

Ginny wiped her cheeks, unaware that she had cried. "So this was all a test?"

"Most of it." Bill told her, scuffing her hair. "You did learn about how to perform spells and make potions. Even these weak spells make good practice."

Something occurred to her then and she turned to her parents. "I can use these spell without hiding?"

"Only if you stick to the rules from now on. Break them again and we will take the wand away." Her mother hugged her again and stood up.

Ginny held up her hand and swore. "I will be as responsible in that as Fred and George."

"Then we should take it away now." Her father said with a big grin.

"Not yet." Ginny told them as she turned towards her brothers. "It still has some work to do."

She shot a spark into the goat's tail, making it hop comically. "Yeow! What was that for?"

"For calling for help so convincingly. And you!" Ginny turned towards Charlie and made a tiny rain cloud form over his head, little rain drops soaking into his hair."

"Muuum! Make her stop!" Charlie whined, pulling his collar up.

She turned back towards Bill and Fred. "Now Ginny," Fred told her, little goat paws held in front of him. "don't be a baaaad girl!"

"Ahhrrrgg." Ginny roared, chasing them into the darkness, their forms lit by occasional bolts of spell electricity.

Mr. Weasly chuckled and put an arm around his wife. "See Molly? Our little girl will be just fine."

Mrs. Weasly sighed. "I know, but you watch, with this lot around her, she won't end up with a quiet boy."