The Harry Potter universe and its characters are the sole property of J. K. Rowling. By using them below, I am in no way claiming them as my own.
Ginny glanced wistfully out of the window, basking in the silence the library had provided. She was completely, thoroughly, totally sick of Hogwarts, or more accurately, its noise. The students had been abuzz for the past week, circulating the rumour mill, and things were starting to get ridiculous. There were unsubstantiated tales of mutant china kittens attacking Slytherins in the dungeon. Hearsay that Professor Flitwick had been enchanted to lose the effect of gravity, with his tiny form bobbing up against the roof of the divination tower. Gossip that a gigantic octopus had been trapped within Professor Umbridge's u-bend, giving her quite the fright after dinner. Rightly or wrongly, people had begun to idolise her brothers, Fred and George, following their "gallant" and "heroic" escape from the school. Fred and George could eat a Cornish pasty and have people writing poems about the adventure, it seemed.
Ginny rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the task in hand. Someone had placed a copy of Basic Spellbinding next to Quidditch Through the Ages. Amateurs. She quickly extracted the sports tome, and tried to keep the shelves' contents in position as she fumbled through a pile of returned books, hunting for the copy of Beginners Transfiguration.
Hermione had been happy to indulge her new misanthropic tendencies, roping her into helping out at the school library. There had been a huge pile of books on the 'RETURNS' trolley waiting for them when they'd arrived... a good two hours ago. The solitude of the library had been nice, but carting heavy stacks of books around was tiring work. Some had even been booby-trapped - Hermione's magic had been called upon three times so far, as Ginny tried to return books to the shelves only to find the covers temporarily glued to her hands. It might have been a remnant of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product tests or some cocky first-year trying out their Zonko merchandise. Either way, Ginny was not impressed and Hermione had been horrified by the careless disregard for library property.
'Did you see Umbridge's face?' A male voice asked, making Ginny jump. The Quidditch book slipped from her fingers, falling to the floor with a dull thud. The voice seemed to have come from the adjacent aisle. She pushed the books slightly apart, leaning down to peer across the shelves and identify the speaker. It was a small Hufflepuff, probably a first-year, judging from his baby-face. Two other girls, equally young-looking, listened with admiration. 'It was just like... blam!' He clapped his hands together for further emphasis, making the two girls shriek and burst into giggles.
With another roll of her eyes, Ginny bent back down to retrieve the book, adding Quidditch Through the Ages to her pile. Another seven books and she'd be done. She could practically taste freedom.
'They were so dashing!' One of the girls shrieked through the stacks. Unable to help herself, Ginny leant back down and glared through the shelf. The girl in question, another Hufflepuff with ginger hair tied back in bunches, was clinging to the boy's arm. He was revelling in the attention and grinned at them, before dramatically looking off into the distance.
'I wish Fred and George were my brothers...' he proclaimed, moving a hand over his heart. The girls practically swooned at his devotion to the Weasley twins.
Ginny's hands clenched, gripping the edge of the shelf. Was there nowhere she could escape Fred and George's influence?
Don't get things wrong; she loved her brothers, even adored them at times, but they were not the perfect Prankster Kings, or whatever people were calling them now. Ginny sighed and moved away from the bookcase, bending down to pick up her pile of books. She deliberately moved away from the first-years, heading over to the opposite side of the library to continue her task.
Sometimes Ginny felt invisible, doomed to be forever eclipsed by the large gaggle of Weasley boys.
First there came beloved Bill, with his high-flying banking job that had him jetting across the globe on important goblin business. He had been head boy at Hogwarts and was regularly called upon for freelance wizard-goblin communication, mediating meetings with the Ministry of Magic. Bill was the first nail in her coffin.
Then there came Charlie, the original rebel, working out in Romania with dragons. He had broken many hearts in his full leather get-up. Even some of the teachers had found themselves swooning when he'd brought his pets across for the Triwizard tournament - Ginny had never seen McGonagall blush so much in her life, fixated as she was on the tight leather trousers.
Percy... well, Percy was a bit of a sore-point at the moment. Prefect, Head-Boy, Assistant to the Minister of Magic - the poster-child for the Weasley family. Despite his firm denial over the resurgence of You-Know-Who and his scorning of the family, her parents were still ever-so-proud of ickle Percy. Ginny, frankly, couldn't bear to look at him and made sure that any photos of the prat in the Daily Prophet got a thorough soaking at breakfast. Dousing the photographic replica of her brother with orange juice was one of life's little pleasures.
'They're just so... so... cool!' Ginny's face fell. In moving away from the group of Hufflepuffs, she had placed herself in proximity of the library entrance, in full hearing of the corridor chatter. It seemed there was nowhere for her to escape within the school grounds. Fine. Without a second thought she shoved her remaining books at random onto the shelf, then began to search the stacks for Hermione. She was done.
Fred and George had been playing tricks on Umbridge continuously, an endeavour she had found admirable but fool-hardy. They had made their grand exit the week prior, interrupting the fifth years' OWLs with an explosion of fireworks. It was true, Umbridge's face had been a picture, that horrible pink tweed skirt-suit singed at the edges. Ginny fought back a smirk. Initially, her mother had been horrified at their dropping out of school, but Molly Weasley had a barely-hidden pride at their entrepreneurship. A pride that stung Ginny and increased her pace.
Upon finding Hermione re-organising a shelf of history books on the seventh aisle, her thoughts shifted to her youngest brother, Ronald. Ron, perhaps, was the brother she envied the most. He was a third of the golden trio, aiding Harry in his battles against You-Know-Who and helping initiate the D.A. He worried their mother the most and she seemed to practically fawn over him when he returned home unscathed at the end of term.
Could she really blame her parents for disregarding her, considering her brothers? How could Ginny compete? Her only claim to recognition was being foolish enough to use the Riddle diary. That foolishness had opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed the basilisk, putting the safety of all muggle-born students in jeopardy. She thanked her lucky stars that no-one had been permanently injured, or worse, killed by the short-lived 'friendship' with Tom Riddle. She was lucky it hadn't killed her, too.
'All done?' Hermione asked, cheerful. Ginny shot her back an awkward smile, embarrassed by how she had haphazardly dispatched the last few returns. 'You can have half of mine.' She extracted several books from her pile and handed them across, then wiped her brow with the back of her sleeve. 'There are a lot of returns this week, with exams finishing. I'm sorry you'll have missed the trip.'
'It's fine,' Ginny shrugged, grimacing as she accepted the small pile. 'I didn't have any shopping to do.' Most of the older students, including Ron and Harry, were roaming around Hogsmeade at that very moment. She had briefly considered accepting Neville's offer of lunch at Madam Puddifoot's, but didn't want to deal with the gossip of the other patrons. Neville hadn't been keen on her suggestion of the remote Shrieking Shack, so...
'I love the library when it's quiet like this,' Hermione smiled to herself, then returned her focus back to the books. Not knowing how to answer, Ginny moved away to the fifth aisle, where it seemed the majority of her assigned books belonged.
She had tried to discuss her feelings with Hermione and Neville, but they were both only children. Neither knew how it felt to be eclipsed by your siblings, seemingly forgotten by your parents. Sometimes, at home in the burrow, she felt so lonely despite being surrounded by people.
Her last book, the Monster Book of Monsters, required a bit more effort to slide onto the bottom shelf, with its furry feelers locking onto the adjacent books in protest. Ginny scowled and ripped its grip free, then removed the surrounding books, thinking it would be easier to put them back once the Monster was in position. Her hands lingered on the final book to be returned to the shelf, intrigued.
The book was thin and slightly tattered, its pages yellowed from sun exposure, the spine covered with a thick layer of dust. Its title stretched across the cover in silver calligraphy:
The Marauder's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem
the unprecedented works of Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Ginny was intrigued, cradling the book between both hands. She shifted her position, moving to sit cross-legged on the floor and opened the book to its first page.
Have you ever desired to be the master of childish shenanigans, perfecting the immature art of pranking?
Let the Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs guide you in your quest for tom-foolery!
Enclosed are all the tips and spells necessary to wreak total and amusing mayhem on your teachers and fellow students,
with the Padfoot and Prongs seal of approval.
What are you waiting for?
The idea popped into Ginny's head. Could she, the mere Ginny Weasley, overcome her brothers' reputation? Was it time for her to make herself noticed, and force the attention of her parents and teachers? Would people finally refer to her by name, instead of just so-and-so Weasley's sister?
The discovery of the book had certainly been fortuitous. It suggested all sorts of possibilities.
A large grin began to spread across Ginny's face. With the disappearance of her twin brothers, there was a vacancy in the student body. It was the perfect opportunity for Ginny to make a name for herself and perhaps, eclipse Fred and George's success. She closed the book, her fingers trailing across the cover in anticipation. Who knows? She might have a natural skill for, what was it... tom-foolery. Years from now, teachers might tremble in fear at the mention of her escapades. She could carve her own niche in school history, create a reason for the name 'Ginny Weasley' to be remembered forever.
'Ginny?' Hermione called, searching through the stacks for her companion. The grin faded into a determined smile and she moved her robes aside, hiding the book underneath her jumper.
'Over here,' she called, pushing herself up from the floor.
Author's note: I left this for a quite a while as was busy updating another fic, The Reluctant Engagement, and life got in the way. I've kind of lost my groove with this story but I do intend to return at some point and continue it, although I can't say when.