Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

An Innocent War

The bright morning sun bathed the Burrow's garden in a bright glow. It washed over the gaggle of redheads standing at attention in its midst. The two eldest stood in front of their brothers and sister.

Fifteen year old Charlie was grinning broadly, he had smudged some muddy war paint under his eyes and wore a black cloth like a headband around his head. Bill, at seventeen, looked more calculating, as though assessing his situation, he wore a white cloth and had no war paint.

In front of them, wiggling uncomfortably, were the younger Weasleys. Twelve year old Percy looked weary yet excited, the ten year old twins were nearly bouncing with excitement, each had war paint smudged under one eye, so when they stood next to each other they looked like bookends. Seven year old Ron and six year old Ginny were both nervous, Ginny especially so.

This was Ginny's first time playing her brother's favorite game. It was her first time being asked to play anything really. Usually Mum had to make the boys include her. This time they had done it willingly, and she had to prove she was ready to lay like a big boy.

"So, we have to explain the rules." Bill said to the collected children.

"We've already heard them though!" George said his voice rising into a whine.

Fred nodded vigorously, "Let's start!"

"Ginny doesn't know them yet," Charlie reasoned, "So you two shut up and listen." Reluctantly the twins fell quiet.

"Now we're playing War." Bill started, "There are two sides: the Aurors, that's me, and the Death Eaters, that's Charlie. The goal is to capture the other team's flag without getting caught. If the other team hits you with a spell you have to go to their prison, they can do whatever they want to you there. If you can capture the other team's flag and bring it back to your base, you win."

"Got it?" Charlie asked after Bill had finished. All the children nodded their heads. "Remember, no actual harm can come to each other. If it would make mum mad don't do it."

"But how're we gonna cast spells?" Ginny asked, "I can't do magic and you're not 'sposed to."

"Oh right," Bill said, he glanced around as though looking for something, "Charlie, did you pull out the spells?"

Charlie let out an annoyed huff, "why is it always my job?"

"Because I'm older, and you said you would."

"Alright, hang on." He ran off towards the tool shed and slipped inside. They could hear a multitude of noises coming from the small wooden structure as Charlie pushed things around. With an 'aha!' of triumph Charlie emerged with two large bags dragging behind him.

Once he rejoined the group he thrust his hand into the bag and pulled out a small cushiony ball. "This, Ginevra, is a spell. To get someone out you have to throw it at them. If it hits, you get to keep them as prisoner, if not, they just got a new spell. Aim well."

Ginny stared at the little ball and gulped apprehensively, when she agreed to play her brother's favorite game she wasn't expecting to have things thrown at her.

"So, you ready to pick teams?" Bill asked Charlie. The younger boy nodded and Bill pulled a small bronze knut out of his pocket. "Heads." He claimed as he flipped it into the air.

When it landed Bill moaned to see it had landed firmly on tails. Charlie crowed in triumph and bit his lip as he surveyed his siblings. "Fred."

Fred grinned happily and bounced over to his new team, Charlie dug another black cloth out of his trouser pocket and tied it around Fred's head.

Bill glared at his brother. They both knew the twins were the best advantage, and that if you put the twins on separate teams they were likely to betray you. So he surveyed his other choices, ignoring George. "Percy."

Percy startled with delight and rushed to his eldest brother's side. Bill handed him a white cloth which he set about tying to his head.

"George," Charlie said easily and the second twin joined his ranks.

"Ron." Bill said, Ron looked like he would jump for joy. He wasn't being picked last! So what if only Ginny was left, he wasn't last.

"Flip for her?" Charlie asked Bill as Ginny stood alone in front of them twisting a lock of her hair anxiously.

"Sure," Bill agreed, "Tails this time." He flipped the knut again. This time, it worked in his favor. The little coin landed on tails and Ginny joined his ranks.

"Alright then," Bill nodded at his team satisfactorily as Ginny attempted to tie on her cloth, eventually being aided by Percy, "Since I've got the bigger team you get to pick sides, Charlie."

Charlie wasted no time in his decision, "we'll take the woods."

Bill huffed internally, of course Charlie would tale the best base, "Fine. We've got the field. Five minutes to hide your flag, then start."

Charlie turned towards the twins, "Move out, men!" The two snapped off matching salutes and marched towards the small wooded area at the back of the house Charlie directing from behind.

"We're off too," Bill said to his much less synchronized team. Ginny nodded, grabbing Ron's hand and running in the opposite direction the twins had gone with Ron stumbling behind in her wake.

Percy surveyed the two young children, glancing between them and the other team, "We're going to lose."

Bill cuffed him in the back of the head, "You never know. Have some faith."

Percy gave Bill a look of utter contempt and disdain. "I have faith that we'll lose."

"Such pessimism. C'mon, we've been left behind." Bill set off, ignoring the look Percy was directing at his back. Percy sighed and followed behind.

oOo

The game was about to really begin. The Auror's flag was settled in a clump of wildflowers in the field. Ron had been chosen to guard it, a task he grudgingly accepted. The Death Eater's flag was stuck up a tree, Fred had eagerly shimmied up the trunk to get it wedged in the branches. This flag had no guardian, the twins refusing to split up and Charlie unwilling to stay behind.

Everything was set and both Charlie and Bill were staring at their watches waiting for the time to strike. Fred and George were bouncing with anticipation, both unnecessarily waiting in a runner's stance. Percy's eyes were scanning the tree line that he could see, trying to find a good place to strike first. Ginny was just waiting nervously. Everyone's pockets were filled with "spells," ready to be thrown at a moment's notice.

"Go!" Bill and Charlie, on opposite sides of the house, shouted simultaneously. Everyone took off, sprinting in different directions. All but Ron, who stood sullenly glancing around for intruders to protect the flag from.

After the initial dash the field fell quickly quiet. Bill, Percy and Ginny had disappeared into the trees where Charlie and the twins were awaiting their prey.

Percy was sneaking through between the trees alone. His eyes peeled for any sign of movement or the flag. The trees rustled around him causing several false alarms as Percy whirled around expecting to see a squishy spell coming his way. He twitched his way through the forest, the house eventually disappearing behind him.

Percy cautiously rounded another tree when it happened. One stray spell fell inches from his face from the tree above. He started violently and looked up.

Two fiery balls of energy dropped from the trees. The twins landed catlike on their feet, each holding a spell in each hand and wearing a demonic grin on his face. Percy gawked for a second too long before plunging his hand into his pocket to grab a spell. That second was just enough time for George to let out a feral battle cry and the ambush began.

The spells flew like a real duel. Fast and hard they rocketed through the air. All of them came from the twins. Percy tried to reach his pockets to retaliate but the twins' creepy unerring accuracy kept hitting his hands. In a final show of desperation, Percy brought his hands up to cover his face as he attempted to dodge the unending onslaught from his twin brothers, "Stop! You've hit me! I'm your prisoner. I give up."

The attack stopped abruptly, "Did we? Well you have to make sure." Fred said, grinning broadly as he bent over to pick up the one of the spells littering the ground.

"Gotta be careful with that sort of thing." George agreed gathering his own stash from the ground.

Percy stood fuming while the two collected their spells. Both twins were entirely too pleased with their exploits, thinking themselves hilarious. "Are you done?"

"Yeah," George said, straightening up and dropping a final spell into his pocket. "Fred, you done?"

"Ready," Fred nodded to his twin, then grabbed hold of Percy's arm, eliciting a small 'Hey!' from the captive, "Time to go to jail."

While, Fred and George marched their captive back to their base, Charlie was quietly going in the opposite direction. He had somehow made it from the trees to the house without being noticed by anyone from the opposing team. He was now skirting the building to get a better view of Ron wandering in the field.

Charlie scanned the field searching for the flag. Helpfully, Ron was staying in one area, which, Charlie deduced, was probably where the flag was. Charlie knew there was no way to sneak over, he'd have to run for it. Waiting for the younger boy's back to turn Charlie pulled in a deep breath. As soon as Ron's eyes were looking away from the house Charlie bolted.

He didn't make it ten feet before his foot caught on a stray boot and he went flying into the air. His momentum carried him a meter or so, skidding and sliding through the grass. His arms and legs got all tangled up in each other and he didn't know which way was up and which was down.

The fall was far from graceful and silent. At the first sound of impact Ron whirled around and saw his second eldest brother tumbling into the ground. Without a second thought Ron ran towards his brother. His hand struggled around in his pocket to pull out one of the spells Bill had given him. Charlie had hardly landed with a final, painful, 'oomph!' before Ron sent his spell flying right onto his bruised brother.

"I caught you!" Ron rejoiced as he stood bouncing over the struggling pile of Charlie Weasley.

Charlie painfully assorted his arms and legs back into a semblance of normalcy before he was able to look up at his brother, "Not even going to ask if I'm alright?"

"Are you alright?"

Charlie had enough strength to give the kid a glare, "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Good, and now I've caught you." Ron said repeating his success with a happy grin. "Did you feel that spell after all that falling or should I go again." He reached towards his pocket and held up another spell invitingly.

"No, I felt it just fine." Charlie grumbled as he stood up with a little groan. He dusted at his clothes, attempting the hopeless battle of brushing off dirt and grass. He wasn't too badly hurt. Mostly just his pride. How humiliating, falling and being taken down by Ron. Bill would never let him live this down.

Ron was still grinning, oblivious to Charlie's pain and humiliation. "Now I get to take you to prison."

"Good for you." Charlie grumbled. Nevertheless, he followed behind the bouncing boy as he was led to the white team's "prison."

oOo

In the woods the game was really starting to heat up. The twins didn't seem to care about retrieving the other team's flag, nor did they care about protecting their own. Instead they hunted. They passed behind trees and climbed up them to get a better view of what was around them. Not that it really helped, they could only climb so high. Each of them looked in a different direction, better protection that way.

Their hunt was not entirely unsuccessful, they found both Bill and Ginny at separate times. They had thrown a bunch of spells at Bill who had dodged them all. He had tried to throw a few of his own before accepting defeat and sprinting off. Ginny had screamed as soon as she saw them and dashed off in the opposite direction, not even attempting to throw a spell.

Ginny had only just stopped running from the twins when a new noise sounded behind her. She whipped around and was about to scream again when a harsh shushing noise came out. It was only Bill.

"It's you! Fred and George just tried to get me." Ginny grasped onto Bill with a sigh of relief.

"I heard." Bill said, causing Ginny to blush the color of her hair. "Listen, I've got a plan."

"And you want me?" Ginny was surprised that Bill wasn't asking someone useful, like Percy. After all she had just run screaming from her first confrontation. Not exactly "big boy" material yet.

"Yeah, Percy, got captured already, I heard the twins talking. And Ron's guarding from Charlie so you're up. Will you help?"

Ginny nodded eagerly.

"Good. I'll distract them and you go get the flag."

Ginny's eyes widened in panic, "But I don't know where the flag is."

"I do. The twins talk a lot." Bill grinned.

So, after a few more hurried instruction Bill was headed one way and Ginny another. Ginny pulled nervously at a strand of hair and she picked her way cautiously through the forest. She heard shouting in the distance as Bill attracted the twins' attention. All the trees looked very similar as she looked up into their branches. Lots of green and brown, but had been very specific and she knew how to find her tree.

An easy tip off was Percy, sitting dejectedly beneath a tree playing morosely with his trainers.

"Percy?" She asked and his head jerked up.

"Ginny! Good, go get the flag it's up there." He pointed up to the treetop where a bit of black cloth was tied tightly to a high branch. A very high branch.

"That's a really big tree." She stared up at the monstrosity that she was supposed to scale. The task had not seemed so daunting when Bill had been smiling next to her planning the win.

"It is not that tall. You can do it." Percy encouraged.

"It's super tall."

"It isn't. Look I'll help." Percy said, getting to his feet smoothly. "I'll boost you halfway up."

Ginny looked scandalized, "But you're out. That's cheating!"

"It is not." Percy countered hotly, "I've broken out of prison."

Ginny gave him a look that was far too condescending for one so young, "Nobody can break out of prison."

"Muggles do it all the time. It's in books." Percy replied, "Besides, we're the Aurors so we are supposed to win. We can't let the Death Eaters win, Ginny."

Ginny bit her lip. His reasoning was iron tight. After all Percy was not one to make things up. With only a slight hesitation she agreed and was soon being hoisted onto Percy's shoulders to gain a few feet.

From this height she could reach a high branch just well enough to grab hold. With a tremendous struggle she pulled herself up onto the branch. She clung on tightly and resolutely did not look down. She slowly scooted to the trunk and reached up to grab a higher branch. Up and up she went, all the while hardly breathing with fear of falling. After what seemed like hours of work she grasped onto the flag and tugged. Thankfully the twins were not gifted with knots and it came free easily.

Percy cheered from below, "Now come back and get to our base quick!"

Ginny made the mistake of looking down. She squeaked at the height she had reached. She was used to the world looking a whole lot bigger than this. Right now everything seemed very small and far away. Her fingers clenched more tightly on the branch.

She was taking too long for Percy, "Come on Ginny! Who knows when the twins or Charlie will be back."

She nodded tightly and gently started to climb down. She slowly descended from one branch to the next. Every sway of the branch sending shivers down her spine. Her foot was slowly reaching for another branch when she found nothing. She kicked around but there didn't seem to be anything more to reach for. The kicking caused the whole branch to shake. In a panic Ginny let go in order to attempt to grab the trunk for better support. Her small arms were too short to reach the trunk and soon there was no tree to hold onto at all. Her heart seemed stop seconds before she plummeted down the last few feet to the forest floor.

She landed on what felt like a cushion and bounced up a little bit. She looked down to see only grass. Looking up she saw an ashen Percy staring at her.

"Are you okay?" He rushed over and pulled her up. "Are you hurt?"

"No. it didn't hurt at all."

Percy sighed and a relieved grin came out, "magic. Thank Merlin for accidental magic."

Ginny grinned back, and the two just breathed for a moment to lower their elevated heart rates. Then Percy looked down at what was clasped in her hand, "the flag, the game, run back to base!"

At that moment three more people broke into the clearing. Bill walked dejectedly between the twins as they marched him to prison. Fred and George held satisfied grins on their faces until they saw Ginny. Everyone took a moment to evaluate the situation. Fred and George glanced between Ginny, the tree, the flag and eventually back to Ginny before George let out another battle cry and charged, Fred not a hair behind.

As soon as the sound started Ginny was running. She clasped tightly to the flag and paid little heed to the ruckus behind her. Spells whizzed through the air towards her, each accompanied with a shout form Fred or George. Farther behind them Bill and Percy followed each forgetting they were out and throwing spells at Fred and George in an attempt to slow them down.

The trees passed in a blur of green and brown as Ginny leaped over roots and rocks. Soon enough she saw the break in the trees. A ball hit a tree in front of her and she screamed and her legs began to go even faster.

She hit the yard at a full on sprint four redheads hot on her tail. At this point she hardly knew where she was going and spells were flying in every direction. A shout came from ahead and her eyes focused on Ron waving and cheering from the field Charlie gaping behind him.

A final burst of speed sent her into the taller grass and she landed with a gasp at Ron's feet. She tiredly lifted the flag above her head and waved it around a bit.

Her team cheered in triumph. Bill and Percy soon caught up and they and Ron were soon down on the ground with her hugging and slapping her on the back. Fred, George and Charlie stood off to the side, Fred and George breathing hard but grinning in exhilaration with the chase.

Charlie was still gaping, "Ginny, got the flag? You idiots let Ginny get the flag?"

"You didn't get the flag either. Ron caught you. Ron." Fred threw back quickly.

Ron pulled out of the pile of excitement on the ground, "Hey!"

Bill let out a loud laugh, "Ron caught you? Really, Charlie?"

"Extenuating circumstances." Charlie muttered angrily.

Ron grinned, "yeah, he fell down."

This caused everyone to start laughing in earnest. Even Charlie gave in after a minute of moping.

Ginny laid happily on the ground surrounded by the happy laughter of her brothers. Her hands were still clasped tightly around the flag. She had won. Her first ever invitation to play with the boys and she had won. Turns out she was very much ready to play with the big boys.

"What is all over my yard?" A shrill voice demanded from the burrow. Seven red heads whipped to the doorway to see their mother, hands on her hips, glaring out at the mess of children in the field. "You had better pick all this up before you come in for lunch. And look at you all covered in dirt. Clean up yourselves as well before you set a foot in my kitchen."

Everyone stood up quickly and walked over to the garden, all still breathless with laughter and grinning.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this. I've had the idea for years, and could just never out it down. I love the Weasleys, they are so cute. If you did enjoy this I would love one of those wonderful reviews. They give me strength and joy. Thanks for reading!