Hi again! Thank you thank you THANKYOU for all the reviews! My squeals of happiness deafened all within a 10kilometre radius. By the by, don't kill me, yes, I realize that this chapter doesn't really get into the plot a lot at first, but it's getting there, I promise!
Dedicated to Pif for listening to me rant, giving me ideas and brain waves, and making Mildred come to life.
"RON!" Ginny screeched. "I hope I don't kill you before I get a chance to yell at you!" She stampeded through the kitchen and out the back door to where Hermione was lazing in a beach chair reading "1000 Ways to Go About Alchemy" by Flamilda Goldstein, and Harry and Ron were flying through the sky on their broomsticks.
Hermione's head snapped up and she looked startled as Ginny came stomping up beside her. She put down her book, but had no idea what to expect because she had no idea what Ginny was fuming about. Hermione supposed that she would have noticed what was going on around her a bit more if she hadn't been reading this book so intently, but it was just so informative and interesting, she just couldn't resist…
"Where is he Hermione? You can't hide him from me forever…" Ginny narrowed her eyes and looked to the sky, where she spotted Harry flying in circles on his Firebolt and trying hard to keep hold on his broomstick. She looked closer and noticed that Harry was laughing too hard to keep both hands on the handle. Ginny then noticed Ron, on his broomstick, hovering behind a cluster of tall trees. She began to stomp over to Ron's hiding spot and whipped out her wand.
"Ginny!" Hermione called after her, alarmed. "Ginny, we can't use magic over the holidays! You know that!" She stood from the chair she had been sitting in and dropped her book to the ground.
Ginny stopped and turned back to Hermione. "Who says I'm using this thing for magic? If you failed to notice, wands are also very pointy at the ends…perfect for gouging things…" Ginny, not to be distracted from her task, turned and began to stalk angrily toward Ron.
Harry, still laughing, looked over to Ron, who was cowering behind a large tree. "I think you better see why Ginny looks so angry Ron. She might need your help in obliterating the source of her annoyance."
"Harry, are you bloody mad? Why do you think I'm hiding? I'M the source of her annoyance!" He peeked through the branches and saw Ginny stalking toward him, wand drawn.
"She looks pretty angry. Wonder what she's going to do with her wand?"
"Bloody hell…" Ron flew higher up and deeper into the safety of the tree's branches. "Harry, keep her busy until I can get away! Go…go distract her, or something. That used to work before…"
"What the hell did you do, Ron?" Harry asked half amused by his friend's predicament, half worried for his safety. Harry looked down and saw that Ginny had arrived at the foot of the tree, and looked no less angry than she had looked when Ron had spotted her across the field by Hermione's chair.
"RON! You dolt, I could see your hiding place from across the field!" She shrilled. "Now get your arse down here this instant!" Ginny's hair flew wildly around her face, like a halo of angry fire. Harry landed on the ground beside her, ready to restrain her if she did actually try to attack with her wand. This really was just a precaution, because he didn't think Ginny was angry enough to attack. But…she sure looked like it.
"Good lord, Ron," Harry called up to him. "What did you do?" Ginny rounded on Harry and Harry automatically stepped back. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Ginny Weasley's wrath.
"I'll tell you what he did!" She shrieked in reply. "That…that bludger of a human being," She paused for effect. "…Stole my CHOCOLATE FROGS!"
Ron finally came down from his hiding place and landed a fair distance away from Ginny. Apparently it wasn't far enough. She stormed over to Ron and began to screech at him. Harry picked out bits and pieces, but most of it was incomprehensible. He heard 'thief' and 'You WILL repay me for each and every chocolate frog' and 'those were MY chocolate frogs, you KNOW what I did to Fred when he stole my chocolate frogs last time'.
Harry chanced going a bit closer to the quarreling siblings. He really wanted to see the look on Ron's face.
Ron's face looked, in Harry's opinion, like the face of a seven-year-old who was being severely punished for eating all the cookies in the cookie jar just before suppertime. His ears were also bright red.
Hermione came up behind Harry and they both watched the scene play out before them. Ron spotted them, and the look on his face clearly spelled "HELP ME!" but Harry and Hermione decided that Ron deserved whatever punishment Ginny was screaming at him.
"What did he do?" Hermione asked slightly interested in the situation at hand, but more so, Harry noticed, in the large book she was still reading.
"Apparently, Ron stole Ginny's chocolate frogs…" Harry watched Ron get smaller and smaller and Ginny grow more and more threatening. "I do believe he's dug himself a deep grave this time."
"Ginny, I swear, I'm really, really sorry! I was just looking to see if you had Mildred LeGray…she's the only one I don't have, and I was just going to see if you had the card. I had every intention of giving back most of the chocolate. And really, you have a million chocolate frogs…it's not as if they do anything for your figure…"
An angry shriek resonated through the air. Ginny grabbed Ron's broomstick hopped on it and flew for the Burrow.
Hermione, finally watching everything with her full attention, asked Harry and Ron, who had just weakly walked up beside the two, "Has she always had this much of a temper?"
"I…really don't know. It's just sort of appeared from nowhere in the last year." Ron ran a hand through his fiery red hair. "And I really had every intention of bringing back the chocolate I hadn't eaten…" Here, he sighed. "I don't see why she's so obsessed with chocolate frogs. I swear, she has enough unopened chocolate frogs to feed all of England for a year, so I figured she wouldn't miss a couple dozen…"
"Oh, Ron…don't you know you should never steal a woman's chocolate?" Hermione shook her head. "I suggest we go back to the Burrow, before Ginny breaks something, like your broom, for example."
The colour drained from Ron's face, and he took off running for the Burrow.
xxxxxxx
Ginny sighed and stared out her window. She nonchalantly opened a chocolate frog box and popped the frog into her mouth, then took out the card like she usually did. Staring back at her from the card was the freckled face of a young woman, with her stormy dark eyes and long curled locks of auburn hair. Ginny turned over the card and read the back.
'Mildred LeGray, 1876-1899. A muggle born witch, she was rejected and left for dead as a child. After arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she became the youngest student to make a house quidditch team, playing the position of chaser. In her first year, LeGray won the quidditch cup for Gryffindor house, as well as all the years she attended Hogwarts. Best known for being the first professional female quidditch player, LeGray had a short-lived career, and died at the age of twenty-three quite suddenly from unknown causes. It is said that LeGray had abilities in the area of divination, but little is know about this. Many believe that her sudden death had something to do with these divinatory abilities.'
"Huh. Isn't that interesting." Ginny looked up out the window again, and noticed the rain was once again pouring down from the sky in silver sheets. Lightning flashed in the distance, and Ginny counted in her head until the crash of thunder could be heard. This was going to be a long summer.
Ginny stood from her perch by her bedroom window and looked at the card in her hand. The auburn haired witch blinked enigmatically at her and gave a small smile. Even in the picture, her eyes seemed to be able to see through people…
"OWWWW!"
The yell from downstairs told Ginny that her brother was still in the Burrow, and that he had clumsily walked into something again. It also reminded her that she was still angry with him for stealing her chocolate frogs. Really, the nerve of him! He apparently didn't understand that Ginny would die if she didn't have a chocolate frog every day.
She looked at the card in her hand again before saying, "Sorry Mildred. Revenge is a bit more important, in this case." Ginny tore the card into two pieces, and then held one half to a burning candle. The card was soon no more than a small pile of ashes, and a torn half that proudly said "Mildred LeGray". She would be sure to leave the defaced card where Ron could conveniently find it.
Ginny sat in the kitchen stirring a cup of tea, smiling to herself as she listened to Ron's moans of remorse.
"Ginny…how could you? No…How could you?" He sat in the den clutching the remaining piece of Mildred LeGray to his chest as Hermione and Harry sat on either side of the couch trying to console him.
"Oh Ron, its okay. It was just a pointless little chocolate frog card." Hermione patted him kindly on the back.
"But it was THE card! Mildred LeGray was the only card I needed to complete the collection and she DESTROYED IT!" Ron buried his face into his hands.
"Well, if you hadn't taken my chocolate frogs and EATEN them, I wouldn't be inclined to act so impulsively!" Ginny yelled from the kitchen.
"I do wish that you two would stop all this nonsense yelling and give me some peace and quiet!" Mrs. Weasley shrilled from upstairs.
"Really, do you think we like coming home to yelling?"
"Grates on one's nerves, it does."
Fred and George Weasley stepped out of the fireplace in a whirl of green fire and soot. Ginny got up and greeted each of them with a kiss on the cheek.
"How're you guys? I haven't seen you in absolute ages, it seems!" Ginny hit George's back with her hand and a cloud of soot rose from his midnight blue robes.
"Business is just booming, darling! Never been better!" Fred dusted soot from his own turtle shell green robes.
Mrs. Weasley walked down the stairs wiping her hands on her apron. "George! Fred! Come in, come in…Let me get you something to eat."
"Ahh…" George sighed happily. "We know we're home when we have food forcibly fed to us."
"Pure bliss, isn't it dear brother?" Fred said.
"Always, dear brother." George replied.
Harry had never seen Ron act so miserable over a chocolate frog card. He hadn't moved from the den all day, despite his own and Hermione's efforts to get him to play wizards chess or exploding snap or do something other than mope.
"Ron, come on, there are other Mildred LeGrays out there. We just need to find her! Now let's go do something. You know, I bet dinner will be ready soon…" Hermione looked up at Harry helplessly, and he shrugged his shoulders.
"The very last one I needed…" Ron moaned.
Ginny looked up from her novel to Ron sitting on the couch across the room. "I do wish that you would stop acting so depressed. It's getting really annoying. You make a grieving widow look brilliantly happy."
"Well if you hadn't incinerated this bloody card then I wouldn't be so sad, now would I?"
"How did you think I would feel about you going through my room and taking my chocolate frogs! I'm not happy, that's for sure!" Ginny threw down her book, leaving it on the ground long forgotten.
"I didn't think you'd be so touchy about a couple damn frogs, Ginny!"
"A couple? You took TWENTY-FOUR of them!"
"What does she do with so many chocolate frogs?" Harry asked Hermione quietly.
"Well, she eats them, of course. Not all at once, mind you. She knows how to eat chocolate with moderation. It's a talent, really. Not many females are able to do that with chocolate…"
They were disturbed from their quiet conversation when Fred and George walked into the den.
"What on Merlin's beard is going on in here?" Fred asked incredulously.
"Something, apparently," George replied, surveying Ron and Ginny railing at each other from opposite ends of the room, and Harry and Hermione sitting on the couch witnessing the events playing out before them.
"She ripped up Mildred LeGray and set fire to her! Do you have any idea how rare Mildred LeGray is?" Ron moaned, while brandishing the remaining half of Mildred LeGray at them.
"Oh dear," Fred said to George. He turned back to Ron. "What the devil did you do to deserve that?"
"He STOLE my chocolate frogs, that's what he did!" Ginny shrieked from the other side of the room.
"Well, Ron," Hermione said from the couch beside him. "You could at least just apologize to her…"
"Not until she apologizes for destroying the card!"
"Not in this lifetime." Ginny narrowed her eyes venomously at Ron.
Fred and George went to stand in front of Ginny. George spoke first. "Apologize now, little brother, and we'll be kind."
"Hey! Wait, wait, wait! What are you doing?" Ron asked, confused.
"I do believe they are taking Ginny's side over yours," Harry said quietly.
"Yes, Harry there has the right picture," said Fred. "Now, apologize kindly to our baby sister and pay her for the frogs…"
"Wait, wait, wait! What are you doing!" Ginny asked them incredulously.
"I thought we just went over this? We're taking sides with you." George said exasperatedly.
"I can fight my own fights much better than you!"
"Well, I think we should be able to stick up for our baby sister if we—"
"Stop with the baby sister crap!" Ginny shrieked. "I'm perfectly capable of fighting my own fights and making my own decisions, and my room is not just some little girl's play space that you can go through when you feel like it! I wish that you would all just stop treating me like a bloody child!"
With that Ginny ran through the den, through the kitchen and out the door. They could hear the door slam shut as a clap of thunder resonated through the house.
Ohslkfj;af…I'm finished xx Ok, I'm going to say this now. If you seem to notice a lack of Voldemort, a lack of the Order, and a lack of certain characters throughout this story, it's because this author has a notorious habit of not planning things out and making horrid mistakes and forgetting things, so, bear with me okay? REVIEW!