Word Count: 397
Prompt: Broken
Phobia
-x-
"You broke it!" The accusation rang out as Ginny glared at her brother. Her bottom lip thrust out into the adorable pout of a slighted five year old and Ron looked back at her defiantly.
"Did not!"
"You did, too!" she said loudly, clutching the two halves of her favourite toy. Tears threatened to fall and when Ginny sniffled, Ron grew wary.
"Don't cry, Gin-Gin. I can fix it, promise."
"No, you can't!" Ginny wailed, ending on a high note. The sound brought the twins into the room and Fred and George immediately rallied 'round their baby sister.
"Ginny, what's wrong?" George asked.
"We thought we heard your dulcet tones," Fred commented.
Ginny was sobbing now. She pointed at Ron and hiccoughed before answering.
"He broke my toy!" She crossed her arms and looked up at her brothers with a glance that was pleading and watery and, truth be told, quite pitiful.
"It's alright, Gin. C'mon, we'll get it fixed in no time," George said, ushering her out of the room.
"And we'll teach Ron a lesson about breaking toys," Fred added in a whisper to her as they left.
The toy was brought to Mum, who shook her head and waved her wand, murmuring that it was a good thing they could use magic, or else this family would never have survived. She gathered the sniffling Ginny onto her apron-covered lap and set about drying her tears, keeping a close eye on the self-peeling potatoes.
The toy had in fact been passed down from Charlie – a miniature dragon that flew and roared and breathed fire when you tickled its tummy just right. But these days it did little more than hover a few scant centimetres above the ground; the roar was more like a squeak and it rather sneezed smoke than breathed fire. This wasn't the first time it had been broken and it likely wouldn't be the last.
Fred and George put their plan into action right after Ginny got a cookie. They nicked Mum's wand and stole into Ron's room, where Fred Charmed Ron's teddy bear to turn into a spider. Even at eight years, Fred was already a mischievous little imp, and the business of his life was inventing new tricks. Its solace was tormenting Ron.
Hours later, the charm kicked into action and Fred, George and Ginny laughed when Ron shrieked "MUM!"