Title: Motherless Daughters: Ginny

Author: ixchelmala

Genre: Action, Angst, ?

Pairing: none

Rating: G

Disclaimer: Ginny and the rest of the WeasleyÕs belongs to JKR &WB

Summary: Ginny is shooed from the house to go play with her brothers. What she really wants, is her mother's attention.

AN: Many thanks go out to ivyblossom for encouraging me to write, maybethemoon for the wonderful weekend that helped me clear my head, and finally, maruchina who was willing and ready to read this through, on the fly, via IM.

Enjoy.

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Ginny was never anything special to her mother. Yes, she was the only girl and she was the youngest. However, the attention was always monopolized by one or more of her 6 brothers.

Now she never lacked the attention of any of her brothers, nor of her father. Actually, they were more motherly, she thought, than her own mother was. This was even more painful to stomach.

But to have the love of her mother, that was what sweet dreams in the early morning were made of, that is what the cat sleeping on the window sill in the warm sunlight was about, it was this feeling of love that would compare to being in the warm and comforting womb where her Mom kept her close and safe, where she started, where it all began, where she had been all the time, since her own mother was born.

This always made Ginny a little sad. She thought she was alone in this for many years. She looked and looked and found that apparently she was. Being alone was the worst, so she found herself looking for other ways to fill this void.

Ginny found herself pondering why her parents even bother to continue having kids after Ron,. They were not the most affluent family. Everyone in the wizarding world knew this. The struggle to keep everyone fed and clothed was always impressed upon them. The fact that Ron and she developed Poverty Consciousness Syndrome in their later years was a sign of how bad their family was during their most lean years. It just happened to be during Ginny's most impressionable years.

To be a girl in the Weasley family had it's advantages though. Ginny learned how to play with the boys. It was more like roughhousing, really. She could hold her own. She learned how to be brave and daring. This always gave her a rush of feeling more alive than the hours she spent in he house waiting for whatever scraps of attention her Mom had for her. She was always game for any stunts her brothers thought up. Many times she just thought herself as another brother in the Weasley clan.

Sometimes she thought perhaps she was the butt of many of their jokes. Until one day she knew they saw her as an equal. Molly had shooed her out of the house to go and "play" with her brothers. She had wanted to stay in the house and be with her Mom, but her Mom made it clear that she didn't want her. Not in the house anyways.

So Ginny trudged up the hill, knowing that she'd at least have her spot where she always sat at, to watch her brothers play at whatever new diversion they came up with. The twins, Ron and Charlie were in the back orchard taking turns weaving through the trees on their shared broom. The course they established was rather involved. It was not just weaving on level trajectory, but they had to go over and under many of the branches as well.

This was fascinating to watch, as Ginny loved to fly. She was quite good at it, but was a bit intimidated by her brothers. It wasn't only that she thought they were better flyers than she, the joking and banter that went on between them always bordered on being off color and a bit on the intimidating side. They knew it. So did Ginny. However, her Mom always frowned upon anything that wasn't "lady like". Flying and being off-color was definitely *not* "lady like". So, even though her brothers were always being off color in Ginny's presence, and that was accepted by her, they never knew of her love of flying.

Not till that day at least.

It started with Fred and George, as it always does, challenging each other about who would go first. Ron had bowed out knowing that it would be at least another half hour before "he'd" get a turn at the course.

Ginny had seen the course on her way up her hill. It was Charlie's turn to set it. It had some steep dives, and many sharp turns. It felt familiar to Ginny. She could easily run the course and have the advantage of her small size to zip though the sharper turns. The dive was a bit more risky though. Overall, she didn't think it too difficult.

Then again, Ginny's first flight on a broom was with Charlie. She was but 3 years old. Her older brother held fast and hard during the quick and windy flight. The most vivid memory of that day was her Mom's anger with Charlie and her fright over Ginny's safety. Ginny didn't quite understand what the fuss was about, but she relished in the attention it got her.

After that, Ginny was hooked.

She figured Fred and George always went though this exercise of "who goes first". She watched Charlie get back on the broom and run through the course again, this time marking it so that when it came to be Ron's turn he wouldn't have to show him again. The twins always like to change it so as to challenge Ron, much to his own chagrin.

The course was simple enough. Charlie, kickoffed the ground. He tightly weaved through 12 saplings, then slowly navigated through and up the tree branches, being careful not to touch anything on the way up. He stopped just short of the orchard's ceiling. There, he shot over to the place where he and the twins had made a habit of pruning the branches away for a quick descent. The surrounding branches grew back to make this part of the orchard seem more like a tunnel than a path through the trees. Charlie leaned in and dove hard. She watched the leaves rustle as she imagined him passing through the tunnel quickly.

He burst through the end with a whoosh and kept diving for the ground. This is a difficult thing to do, because if you don't time things right, you can just crash into the ground, which is not a problem unless you snap your broom. The most harm that comes to your person is some scrapes and bruises and the ridicule from siblings.

Charlie finally pulled up, slowed his broom with the inertia of his turn and swung his leg behind him and landed on both feet, facing the direction he just came from, pulling the broom upright to stand next to him, with a satisfied look on his face. The he heard the twins bickering still. And he sighed.

"I bet I can do it with my eyes closed!" said George

"Yeah, and you'll fly through the tunnel's branches like you did last time." chided Fred

"Yeah, well at least I won't miss any of the sapling turns." counted George

Something sparked in Ginny at that moment. She decided to be bold and try the course. Not unusual for her around her brothers, but unusual when it came to their flying games.

"I bet I can do it." Ginny said.

Ron and Charlie quickly turned to look at Ginny.

"What did you say?" asked a surprised Ron

Ginny stood up and dusted off her skirt and repeated calmly even though her heart was racing, "I said, I bet I can do it."

At this the twins stopped their bickering and Ginny smirked.

Ginny walked towards Charlie and much to her surprise, he handed her the broom stick with a smile and a quick nod as if to say, "You show'em Gin."

She walked over to where the course began. Ron ran to catch up to her.

He asked, "Are you *sure* you want to do this Ginny? It's dangerous. And the twins will never let you live it down, if you crash or fall."

Ginny was resolved. She nodded. Ron backed away, wonder filling his eyes.

Ginny gulped. Her shaking hands gripped the broom as she mounted it. She smoothed her skirt underneath her and kicked off. She was in the air and her heart was racing. She sped through the saplings with perfect agility. Her small size lended itself to the quick turns. She then found herself navigating the branches towards the top and forgot all that was below her. She found the top and went to the tree tunnel opening.

She took a deep breath.

She had thought of so many things at that moment.

Her first flight with Charlie.

The time the twins put a leg locking hex on her and watched her struggle to stay standing. (They thought it was funny, she thought it was really an endurance test, as they had fibbingly told her.)

When Ron showed her how to fly his toy broom.

The disapproval of her Mom would have if she knew she was hovering up near the top of the orchard.

She wiped her sweaty hands on her skirt one by one and re-gripped the broom. She leaned forward and dove down the tunnel.

Time seemed to slow down. It was quiet here. The leaves stopped moving as if a small breeze that was making them dance had paused to allow Ginny passage. She felt her shirt whipping the sides of her thighs as she sped down further to the ground. She heard nothing though. She knew she was gaining speed as the moisture was tearing from her eyes towards her hairline. Her heart raced and thumped harder than ever she had felt it as she neared the ground.

Then the doubt that she had kept at bay somehow broke through and flooded her head.

What if she crashed? What would her Mom say? What if she hurt herself, or broke the broom? How long would the twins ridicule her for?

Ginny hesitated as she emerged from the tunnel.

Suddenly all that was quiet from the tunnel was replaced with random sounds of nature and her brothers hooting and hollering.

She lost her focus in a split second. A split second too much.

The ground came up slower than Ginny had accounted for. She also slowed too soon for the turn and didn't have the proper inertia to dismount properly. As if this wasn't disconcerting enough, she had lost her concentration to the thoughts of worry and approval. Her grip on the broom had loosed. She dismounted, in mid turn. The broom kept moving as her legs tangled themselves in the turn. Her hands slipped, she fell to her right, and the broom dragged her by her legs the length of a few paces before it stopped from Ginny's weight.

Time stood still.

Ginny's body was in pain. She was certain she was bleeding. Her pride hurt much more. She felt as if the world was coming back into focus. Hot and cold waves of reality washed over her, pulling the painful truth to her attention.

She stood up, limping slightly on the right, and tried to walk. Nothing was broken, except maybe her pride. She took another step. She avoided looking at the twins. Instead caught sight of Charlie and Ron. She smiled through her tear stained face at them. A lopsided smile that was trying to mask the pain and embarrassment.

Tears that had skidded across her face from the wind were now heating up in her eyes as she walked closer to her eldest brother. She started to laugh out loud from deep inside her belly. Her vision was clouded from the moisture. The pain in her scrapped legs was searing, but not as much as the humiliation of having taken such a hard fall from such a low speed and height.

She had walked halfway across the orchard when Charlie came up to her and looked perplexed at her uncharacteristic laughter. He said nothing, but instead offered her his hand. She waved it away and continued to laugh loudly. She chanced a look at the twins. She was shocked to see her Mom sitting in her watching spot, just next to where the twins stood.

Ginny's breathing hitched. She straighten her posture and froze all emotion. The last thing she wanted was to get a lecture from her Mom. She already knew how it would go...

"Ginny.." Molly would say, " Please learn to be a proper lady."

There wasn't much to the words as there was to the tone and body language she fueled those statements with.

But to Ginny's surprise, Molly said nothing. Nothing at all, save for a look of what Ginny would later recognize as pride.

Molly asked her with less fuss than Charlie or even Ron as if she was ok.

Ginny nodded, holding back tears of humiliation and fear. She had hesitated. Never again would she hesitate.

The following year, when Molly asked Ginny what she wanted for her birthday, she asked for a broom. Ginny never got what she wanted for her birthday, either because of poverty or because of her Mom's own whims.

That year, Ginny got a used broom. It flew. That's all that mattered.