Ginny looked down from her perch above the figure that had made his way onto the pitch from the cover of the trees.
"It's the Quidditch Cup player extraordinaire!" she said to the man that came into the clearing carrying a broomstick over his shoulder. "Charlie, my favorite brother! When did you arrive home?"
"Just a bit ago. Mum was worried about you and thought I could talk you down from there."
"Just because I said you were my favorite brother doesn't allow you to treat me like I'm two. I'll come down when I am perfectly ready," she said defensively, making Charlie chuckle. As a second thought, she included, "Don't tell the other four that you're my favorite. They all think that they're my favorites!" she teased. She scolded herself. Four? She had five brothers. Right - like I can really count Percy as my favorite brother. I can't really count him as a brother at all right now. I would rather kiss a troll than talk to him anytime soon.
Charlie jumped onto his broom and flew up to meet her. As if being able to read her thoughts, he laughed, "And how do I not know that Percy isn't your favorite and that you are just feeding me a line?" It was meant as a joke, but both smiles seemed a little pained at that comment, the laughter a little bit forced.
Ginny switched her thoughts to playful banter, "That is one thing you will have to take on faith. But look … anyone that has a brother that trains dragons … and well … who is as cool as you are would say that you're their favorite." Ginny turned from her brother and looked off into the tree line, sighing deeply. She just really wanted to be alone.
Charlie looked at her. "You know, I have a sister that pulls a face like that when something is weighing on her mind," he said, sweeping closer to her and putting his arm around her.
She looked into his eyes, which were the same bright brown as hers. She may have looked like the twins to most people; but to those that knew Charlie, he could be seen in her eyes. Looking into them, it seemed like she was looking into her own. It was amazing that with so many years separating them, they were still so close.
"Are you going to tell me what is in that head of yours, or do I have to somehow pry it out of you?"
She looked over at him, took a deep dramatic breath, and stated. "Okay, I was the one that put the spider on Ron's pillow causing mum to have to check his bed sheets every night for two years after," she said, laughing merrily.
"That is not what I was talking about, and how dare you let the twins take the fall for that one," he said, surprised.
"Charlie, you would be shocked at all the things the twins laid claim to as we were growing up that they weren't responsible for." They both laughed together, sharing stories of their childhoods, but as they talked, both their gazes were drawn by unseen forces to stare out past the horizon.
"It looks like I'm not the only one with secrets," she commented, looking over at her brother.
"Secrets," he said with a forced chuckle that let her know he was truly hiding something. "But hey, you can't keep secrets from your favorite brother!" he said in a mocking tone. "Seriously, Gingersnap, if you need someone to talk to, you know you can tell me anything, right?" His gaze returned to contemplating the clouds moving lazily in the sky.
She nodded in agreement. It would be nice to talk things out with someone other than Hermione. Plus, she needed someone who wasn't close to the situation, and that ruled out Ron. Charlie had been great with her after the incident during first year; his letters had been full of support. He wouldn't betray her secret to anyone. Turning the tables back on him, she replied, "And you can't keep secrets from your favorite sister. So I am going to make a deal with you. You tell me what is going on in that head of yours, and I'll share with you what you want to know." Charlie agreed to the deal, but she decided if needs be, she could fly away from him and hide. She was already avoiding one person staying at the house; a second wouldn't really be any harder, right?
Charlie began, "You can't tell anyone that I told you this, and Mum would kill me if she knew." He paused as he carefully chose his words. She knew whatever it was he was going to tell her, he couldn't say in any other way. "I am not the only Weasley in Romania."
Ginny almost fell off her broom but tried to remain composed. "If you think that you're not the only Weasley in Romania, then you are not as smart as they all told me you were, Charlie." He looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "You know," she continued just as calmly, "your mother is just going to kill you. Way to steal Bill's thunder!" They both laughed, and she began to ask a million questions at once. "When? Where? Wait; she isn't pregnant, is she? Because then mum would really kill you! Why haven't you told anyone?"
"I'll tell you if you ever let me get a word in." Ginny stopped her rambling, so her brother could continue. "We eloped the night before Hogwarts was attacked. And no, she is not pregnant. We had been together for some time and decided to elope. She has no family, and I felt that the large Weasley family and a wedding mum would think acceptable would be a little overwhelming to her."
Charlie looked at his sister and continued, "We were actually planning on coming home and letting Mum and Dad know about our little secret that next night. Then after all that happened, we didn't feel like we should. After that, I never really found the right time to slip it into a conversation. 'By the way, Mum, let me introduce you to your new daughter-in-law.' She would have had kittens! She has been so stressed with this whole wedding. Why make her more upset?"
He looked at Ginny as she listened, nodding her head in agreement. She knew first hand what their mother had been like the past few months. He began again. "I need your help, though. Hayden will be here tonight. Will you please be kind to her, and maybe help her feel at home? I promise we will let everyone know soon - just not tonight."
"Any wife of yours is a sister of mine, right? Unless she is a snotty uptight girl who doesn't get dirty, can't talk so that others can understand her, and won't let me pick out my own clothes when we throw you the reception that Mum will insist upon, then, of course, I will love her."
Charlie laughed with relief. "You don't ask for too much, do you? With you in my corner, who needs anyone else? Now little sister, are you going to tell me what is weighing on you so deeply?"
Ginny paused. She needed to think of something believable to tell him quickly. How could she tell him what she had planned? Forget Harry stopping her; Charlie would put a stop to her plan right then and there. But then again, she felt this overwhelming need to tell someone, and maybe he would understand.
"Harry is planning on taking on Voldermort, and I'm going to go with him," she said in one breath. Charlie looked at her with a shocked and questioning look.
"I don't know where Harry, and I figure probably Ron and Hermonie, all think they're going, but Harry is not going anywhere. For that matter, neither you, Ron or Hermione are going anywhere either. Are you crazy? With everything that is happening, you think it would be a good time to go out on a Voldermort expedition? This is not a game; this is war." Charlie was becoming very frustrated.
"Forget it. I knew I shouldn't have told you." Ginny started to turn the handle of her broomstick, moving away from her brother, hiding the hurt that she felt from trusting him with this, and being treated like she was incapable in his eyes.
"No, I'm sorry for upsetting you, but what do you think you're doing, though? Did he talk you into this? I swear I'm going to have to talk to that boy."
"Charlie! He has nothing to do with this. He doesn't even want me!" Every emotion came pouring out of her at once, making her shake with anger and cry from loneliness.
Charlie flew closer to Ginny and held her through her tears. "I may regret asking this, but what do you mean he doesn't want you?"
Ginny looked up. "No - nothing like that. Just that Harry Potter thinks he's being all noble."
"OK, that really cleared things up for me," Charlie teased.
"Charlie, you weren't here; you don't know what's been happening. I had everything, everything that I ever wanted, and in one fell swoop the Death Eaters barged into Hogwarts and took it all away in one night. Why did they have to come and screw it all up? Why doesn't he understand I'm in just as much danger here or at Hogwarts as I would be with him?"
Charlie looked at his little sister, who no longer looked like that little girl that he taught to ride her first broom. He understood what Harry had done, and he thought that he would try to make her understand. "Ginny, he needs you to be safe. We need you to be safe. I can't…" His voice caught a little. "I don't know what I would do if something happened to you!"
"You all think that you can keep me safe, but you can't. I am a Weasley. I had a target on me that is a large as great-aunt Muriel and as red as my hair even before I was with Harry. If your memory is limited, I was not safe at Hogwarts. There will come a time I'm not safe here, so why can't I fight, too? You all are involved in the war. You don't think that I'm made of the same Weasley strength? I am so tired of being little Ginny. Have you faced him? No, you haven't! You've been in Romania getting married! I had him in my head for a year! Doesn't that count for something? I know him. How is it that one of the only people that can be of use is being coddled and treated like a five year old wanting to sit at the grownup's table? It's Harry that has to fight this fight, and I know you lot will be right alongside him. But look, if Harry needs anyone by his side, it's going to be me."
Charlie couldn't fight with her reasoning. She was no longer a child and had faced and seen things in her short life that he could never imagine. She had won. He knew that once Ginny put her mind to something, she usually figured out a way to get it. Not wanting to think about his little sister trying to save the world, he flew off towards The Burrow, initiating a race between them. She followed him, knowing their conversation was over and that he understood her decision. Maybe he could be the one to explain it to the rest of the family.
They both landed next to the broom shed and hung their selected brooms onto their hooks. As they turned and walked past the garden, she could see into the kitchen. Ron and Harry were sitting at the table waiting for Mrs. Weasley's to serve lunch. She stood rooted to the spot not knowing where to turn.
She felt a calming arm around her shoulder. "Come on, sis, I'm starving!" She looked up into Charlie's beaming face. "It will be alright, just sit by me. I'll keep your elbows out of the butter dish!"
Ginny blushed at the thought and stood a little taller as she walked into the kitchen, smoothing out her old tee-shirt and shorts. It's not like he hadn't ever seen her in her workout clothes, as well as sweaty with mussed hair. Why then, at that moment, did she feel like she had to look like one of those girls at school that spent all their time in front of the mirror? That was not the girl that she was, and no boy was going to change her. She took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen with her brother.