Age 9:
"mum please let me go to the park with the twins!" Ginny begged "I'll hold their hands when I cross the street, I promise!"
"you may promise dear, but they are too young and far too immature to look after you, they're only in their second year at Hogwarts" Mrs Weasley declared, adding the immature bit as she glared over the room at the twins, who were sitting on kitchen worktops waiting to be allowed to leave. Their exasperated faces wore exactly the same expression as one another's.
"what about Charlie or Bill? They're old enough to look after me!"
"I don't think your nineteen and twenty-one year old brothers would be too interested in taking you to a child's park Ginny, dear, anyway they're both busy applying for new openings in the ministry of magic staffing"
"what if I asked them?" Ginny pleaded, Mrs Weasley sighed,
"okay you may go ask your brothers." Mrs Weasley reluctantly gave in. Ginny grinned and darted around the kitchen table, through the door to the living room and within seconds could be heard dashing up the staircase. "you two go, now. You both know Charlie and Bill wont want to take Ginny and I can't put up with her complaining much longer, I have to tidy this kitchen, it's out of control. With you gone at least she'll have to argue for something else instead." Mrs Weasley told the twins roughly.
"we could just take her mum" Fred offered
"don't be silly," Mrs Weasley told him, herding the twins through the back door using her tea towel. "last time I let you two take her to the park she banged her head on the slide, fell off of the monkey bars, and you used a spell to cushion her coat near muggle children! You could have gotten me arrested and your father could have lost his job! Now please hurry before Ginny causes a stir again"
The twins decided to this time do as they were told and rushed down the path towards the muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole. Mrs Weasley closed the door silently and had reached the sink, as Ginny came back into the kitchen.
"Where have the twins gone mum?" Ginny asked.
"They left for the park dear, I'm sorry." Mrs Weasley said, casting a spell on the nearest pan to begin a stir of water inside itself.
"well I can catch up" Ginny said, Mrs Weasley turned around to tell her she couldn't go alone but as she did so spotted a taller ginger boy beside her.
"Are you sure you want to take her, Charlie?" she asked seriously.
"I've been looking through those ministry of magic openings all morning mum, I can't take it any more. I want to work with dragons so I'm not applying for those stupid jobs. That means I have another three weeks to apply for the one I found in Romania; plenty of time for Ginny to spend at the park"
"we'll discuss it with your father after tea. If you're sure you can look after Ginny then feel free but be responsible, oh and make sure the twins don't use any magic when they're there too please" Mrs Weasley asked
"Mum, I'm nineteen, I'm not superman" Charlie said, steering Ginny out of the door using her shoulders.
"Bye mum" Ginny yelled
"be back for supper at 6!" was her reply.
As Charlie and Ginny reached the park in the muggle village Ginny noticed that Charlie had stopped, just before the street.
"Come on Charlie!" Ginny pleaded, pulling on his sleeve, she looked up at him and noticed he was watching somebody on the opposite side of the park. Suddenly Charlie looked back to Ginny and walked her across the road to the park entrance. He steered her inside by her shoulders again.
"Have fun, I'll just be over here for a second, no jumping off of the top of the monkey bars this time, the twins got told off last time you did that" As Ginny agreed, Charlie circled the fence around the park and went to talk to a young blonde girl from the village. Ginny, headed for the climbing frame, as she reached the climbing frame Ginny scrambled up the ladder and onto the tallest part. There were two other kids on the climbing frame and about ten overall in the park. The little boy on the climbing frame started chanting at Ginny
"I see London, I see France, I see a freak and her underpants!"
his older friend joined in with his mockery
"couldn't afford a skirt that fit Weasley? Or do you just like showing off your knickers?" Ginny was about to yell a comeback and possibly start a fight when she heard a scream from the swings. She looked over and there was a young girl, with flame red hair and a bruise on her cheek who had been pushed over the swing backwards, leaving her sprayed over the floor. The older girl who had pushed the ginger one over the swing sat down on the swing herself and started swinging above the girl's head, who began to try to roll away from beneath the older girl's feet. Ginny jumped up from her position as queen of her castle and her playground and climbed down the climbing frame again. She ignored the boys who started jeering at her lack of comeback and ran over to the girls near the swing set.
Even at this age Ginny had been taught by the twins that she would never be respected for authority while having ginger hair and messy clothes so she formulated another plan to get the ginger hair kid on the floor to safety. She ran at the swings and dodging around the supporting bar pushed the older girl sidewards, so that her swing swung rapidly sidewards and out of control. As she managed this the girl who had been on the floor managed to roll completely out of the way of the swinging feet and stood up, beside Ginny, straightening up her clothes. Both girls noticed the swing slowing down and moved away from it quickly.
"thanks" the ginger girl who had been pushed from the swing said, "I'm Amelia Pond"
"Ginny Weasley, and it was no problem" Suddenly there was a shriek of pain from the swings. The older girl had tried to get off of the swing and as she did so noticed her hair had tangled itself around the swing chain. Ginny and Amelia started laughing and people from all over the playground began to gather around. The Weasley twins led the pack;
"wow Gin, you've got good at that!" George praised her. Ginny suddenly realised that Charlie was looking from outside of the park fence and turned to look at him. He looked shocked as did the girl he was standing with who vaulted over the fence to the aid of the girl on the swing.
"calm down Meg" she said to the girl on the swing. "let me untangle you, or it'll get worse. Mum would kill me if I had to cut your hair to get you out" Charlie vaulted over the fence also and watched from a little farther than Ginny was. Suddenly the girl called Meg broke free of her sister's grip and darted at Ginny. Within milliseconds they had bowled each other and were kicking biting and punching each other on the floor. Fred and George began to cheer, so many others followed, not out of respect but out of thinking it was a good idea.
Amelia Pond grabbed the top of Ginny's arm as it flung upwards as if going for another hit, she tried to pull Ginny back unsuccessfully while Charlie and Meg's sister both leapt on the fighting girls, pulling them away from each other. Charlie took Ginny by the top of the arm and pushed her towards the climbing frame. While Meg's sister took Meg towards the slide, Amelia tagged along following Ginny and Charlie, Ginny was protesting loudly, Charlie was one step away from going crazy at her and the twins, behind them were still cheering along with the crowd. Charlie span around as he reached the climbing frame.
"FRED, GEORGE! GET OVER HERE NOW!" he bellowed, they decided to do as he wished this once.
"THIS is why mum wont let you take her out anymore! What do you think you're doing encouraging her behaviour? And Ginny I don't know what you were thinking getting into fights like that! You are acting SO immature right now. And who the hell are you to be listening into this conversation?" Charlie added furiously to Amelia.
"I'm Amelia Pond and Ginny was saving me from being beaten up back there!" she said proudly "I don't know who you are to talk to her like that! Meg stood on my head and Ginny was helping me!" The news caused Charlie and the twins to fall silent, only Ginny knew how to break the tension.
"Amelia, these are my brothers: Charlie, Fred and George." she said, pointing to each of them "guys this is my friend, her name is Amelia Pond"
"no wonder you're being bullied" George said, Charlie scolded him and told them he was going to see how Meg was doing after the fight and to tell them that Ginny was sorry for causing it.
"I'M NOT SORRY!" Ginny shouted after Charlie as he walked away. Fred and George nodded to Ginny,
"good fight Gin, gotta run before moody returns" and they darted to the zip wire, in the farthest corner of the park.
"thanks for standing up for me" Ginny said,
"thanks for saving me, I thought she was going to break my nose, or worse" Amelia said
"why does she bully you?"
"can't you guess?" Suddenly Ginny realised how different Amelia's accent was, it was Scottish.
"are you the only one around here with your accent?" Ginny asked. Amelia nodded,
"I'm an only child and live with my aunt, my parents died when I was a baby and I'm ginger. Basically, I'm the freak show of the town"
"I thought that was me" Ginny said, "I have six brothers and everything I own is second hand, worn out and faded and we're all ginger"
"you weren't the one getting bullied"
"I was, just by different people" Ginny reassured her "I better go, Charlie's coming back, I think he's going to force me to go home now"
"when will you be back?"
"oh not before Friday. If I'm allowed then. If not I'll be allowed back by next week."
Age 11:
"Giiiinnyyyyyyy!" Ginny looked up to see a girl with flame red hair running towards her. With misty eyes she would seem to be her twin. She was the only other girl who understood Ginny, she was bullied too, she was ginger too, she had one thing that Ginny wanted, Ginny had one thing that she wanted and they both had their secrets.
Amelia reached Ginny's side and threw herself onto the grass next to her best friend.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, shocked
"Absolutely nothing" Amelia said enthusiastically, "I met someone last night. He was amazing. He made an eye appear in my wall and it talked to us. He crashed in my back garden!"
"Crashed?" Ginny asked
"A big blue box" Ginny was confused, confounded and amazed. She didn't know what to think but soon Amelia was telling her the whole story of the night she met 'the raggedy doctor' and she soon fell sad,
"he said he'd be five minutes" she told Ginny, "I'm still waiting."
"maybe he arrived, and you fell asleep without realising it so he didn't wake you" Ginny suggested
"I remember looking into the house and seeing the clock tick to five minutes later" Amelia told her, "though I woke up in my bed, and I'd think my Aunt moved me, but she was still out in the morning"
"she was out all night again?" Ginny asked concerned, Amelia nodded but missed the worry in Ginny's voice.
"Ginny, do you want to come around later for some fish fingers?" Amelia asked, "and custard?"