Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to Harry Potter, except a little bit of merchandise. The characters, world, ideas, etc. belong to that wonderful J.K. Rowling and the WB movie people.
Notes: Okay, so I was going through my review page for Antithesis, replying to reviews from chapter 8, and I came to a realization…I have been working on this story for four freaking years! Oh. My. Gosh! What is the matter with me? I am soooooooo sorry guys. Somewhere between graduating from college and job searching and starting life really, I managed to get distracted enough that I've hardly been writing. For those of you who have followed this all that time (if there are any of you still left…) you are amazing. I fall to my knees before you and beg for forgiveness.
That being said, I think I should add that however long it takes me to finish this (hopefully not too long!) I will finish it. I know people say that and then don't…but believe me, I'm not one of them. The fact that I am, in fact, still working on this four years later should be testament to that…right? Anyway, my dear patient (and not so patient) readers, this chapter is for you. I had so much fun writing it, it might actually be my new favorite! So here it is…
And after only one week too!
Chapter Nine: Burdensome Brothers,
Ginny bent over with her hands on her knees and gasped for breath. Her legs and lungs were burning and she could feel sweat pouring down her temples and sticking the fabric of her shirt to the skin of her back.
"Walk it off or you'll only get stiff," Bill commanded mercilessly from the porch chair he'd dragged out to relax in while he watched her work. Ginny mustered up the energy to glare at him, then forced her legs into compliance. She felt a little shaky but her breathing was already easing. She pulled the front of her tank top away from her skin, fanning herself with one hand and tiredly marveling at how hot she felt, even in tank top and shorts with her hair pulled up in a ponytail to keep it off her neck. She hated running.
"Tell me again why I'm doing this?" she demanded when she could speak again.
"You wanted to learn defensive magic, and you were out of shape."
"Yeah, but I thought this exercise thing was only supposed to last until I was up to speed on my dodging, feinting, and stance. Remember that? And I've been doing great on all that!"
"There's always room for improvement. Your stance is excellent, I'll admit, but you could be faster in the 'dodge and feint' department."
"I am fast!"
"I said you could be faster."
She huffed at him.
"Besides," he added, "we're focusing on endurance now, remember? That's what the running is for."
Ginny sighed. "I know. I just hate running. I've always hated running. Even when I'm doing it for Quidditch."
"Lazy," Bill teased.
"It runs in the family." She gave a pointed look to where he lay sprawled in his stolen porch chair. He just grinned up at her.
"Feeling better yet?"
"Yes," she sighed.
"Good! Dueling drills!"
Ginny bit back a groan and obeyed. She might not be so fond of the exercise portion of learning defensive magic, but she couldn't deny it was producing results. She was much better at this than she had been when they'd started, and had been picking up on some of the charms Bill had been teaching her much faster because of it too.
Much as she might whine and complain, Ginny knew that if she had to make the choice again, even knowing how much exercise she would be forced into, she would still ask Bill to teach her this stuff. She'd meant what she'd said to Bill that day: a field medic's position wasn't a safe one, and she wanted to be able to defend herself. What good was a medic if they wound up needing one themselves?
So she got up at six every morning and ran three miles and practiced dueling drills regardless of whether or not they were having a training session that day. Days like today were a bit more challenging though, both because Bill had decided against running with her this morning (and was instead sitting in that stupid chair and mocking her with his inactivity) and because there was still an entire training session to get through after all this exercise.
When she had finally finished her drills (interspersed with frequent comments and corrections from her older brother), they finally got down to the business of spell-work. Charlie had received word the previous evening that Ginny was to be allowed to accompany Charlie for a day when he went back to work at the reserve, so Bill began their session by reviewing the Extinguishing spell and the Flame-Freezing charm.
"Really, Bill?" she asked, when Bill requested a repeat performance of the latter. "Isn't it rather obvious this isn't necessary?" It should have been, since she was safely standing in the middle of the bonfire he'd conjured, feeling nothing worse than a slight tickle from the warm breeze the fire generated after her charm-work.
"You attract trouble, Gin," Bill told her, snickering when the flames surrounding her warped the glare she shot him. "Better safe than sorry. I'd hate to see you charred to death when I could have helped prevent it."
"I'm not going to get burned by a dragon, Bill. You're being overly dramatic. Besides these charms are easy," she told him, rolling her eyes.
Surprisingly, Bill acquiesced and they moved on to reviewing other spells: the Repelling spell, the Imperturbable charm, and several other Defensive charms Bill had dug up and taught to her during past sessions. When he was satisfied that she could perform each adequately, they went back over shield charms, which she was just starting to get the hang of, and the Messenger charm, which the Order used to communicate via Patronus messages. (The moment Bill realized she could produce a corporeal Patronus he had started her learning that one. Ginny had been excited, both because it gave her a chance to practice her Patronus and because it was an extremely useful spell, something she would use not only in the Order—when she joined it—but also in the field.)
Finally, when he felt she'd made significant headway on both of those, Bill called a halt to their session. "Next time we'll start on the Homorphus charm," he told her. "I think you're advanced enough to tackle that one."
"Really?"
"Yeah. We'll begin with pronunciation and wand movements (Ginny groaned) and then we'll start work on casting the session after that. In the meantime," he added, producing a sheaf of papers from the ground beneath his chair, "I want you to read up on werewolves, their behavior, and the purpose, effects, and side effects of the Homorphus charm."
Ginny groaned even louder at this, but she didn't really mind. The background information he gave her to study before she learned each spell was actually really interesting, and sometimes it even contained obscure uses and techniques that she thought might be helpful in an actual battle or duel. Plus, they really did help her understand better how each spell worked when she actually began learning to cast it. She just wished she didn't have so much regular summer school work on top of all this extra-curricular studying she was doing. It made for a whole lot less time to be lazy than she liked.
"It's not that bad," Bill told her, tugging on a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. "Come on, let's head back up to the house. I bet it's getting close to breakfast, there might be bacon we can steal," he tempted, lifting the chair he'd borrowed and preceding her up the walk.
Ginny rolled the packet up and smacked his retreating hand with it lightly, grinning as she fell into step beside him. "Good idea. I am so hungry!"
Bill laughed. "You always say that."
"That's because it's always true! This stuff really works up an appetite! But I really want a shower first," she added, "so we'll have to snack fast or I won't have time to take one and be done getting ready before Mum serves breakfast."
"I'm glad you mentioned the shower," Bill told her solemnly, wrinkling his nose and opening the back gate for her, "because I didn't want to have to…"
"Prat!" she gasped, hitting him in the arm with the papers (and not bothering to hold back on the swing this time).
"Ouch! Ginny!"
"Baby! You deserve it!" She whacked him again. "I can't believe you said that. As if you weren't the one who ordered me to get all sweaty and stinky!" She hit him a third time.
"Stop hitting me, you abusive little pest!" Bill protested, laughing and ducking away from her swinging arm.
"Hey, what's going on out here?"
Ginny and Bill, distracted by the voice, left off their arguing and turned as one towards the open back door. Charlie wrinkled his nose as he examined his siblings, eyes lingering on Ginny's mussed hair and sweaty workout clothes. "Gin, what have you been up to? Do you know you're out in public where anyone could see you?" The wicked gleam in his eye and the way he stressed the word "anyone" told her he really meant one person in particular, one black-haired bespectacled person named Harry, and it made her clench her jaw in irritation.
"And what's wrong with how I look?" Ginny asked, a dangerous glint in her eye.
"Nothing," Charlie answered, expression innocent. "Now hurry up and go take a shower before anyone gets up and sees you like that."
Bill flinched when their baby sister growled, and minced up the steps toward his brother. "Just shut up and back away slowly," he muttered from the side of his mouth. "She's feeling particularly violent today."
"Already?" Charlie murmured back. "What'd you do to her out there? And did you know you'd kept her out this late? Usually you have her back up to the house with enough time that no one has to see her like this…or smell her."
"Gaaaah!" Ginny let out an inarticulate screech and stalked up the porch steps, swinging her paper roll back and forth to clear the way and hopefully punish a brother or two. Unfortunately, the laughing pair jumped back out of her path and maneuvered around to the opposite end of the kitchen before she could land a blow. Snarling, Ginny marched after them, smacked each on the back of the head with the papers, and stubbornly whirled away to grab one of the small breakfast pastries her mother had already set out on the counter.
Mrs. Weasley, well-used to scenes such as this, ignored the noise in favor of stirring a pan of gravy. But when her daughter turned away from the pastries, danish in hand and noisily chewing the first bite, she did edge the bacon plate closer so that she could also pretend not to notice Ginny stealing a piece. (Ginny was gratified to see her mother scowl in warning when Bill and Charlie started forward as if to copy her. Apparently Mrs. Weasley had overheard their less than complimentary comments outside.)
Thus fortified (at least until it was really breakfast time), Ginny made her way towards the door, intent on getting clean and making herself presentable before anyone (and that meant anyone, Charlie, not anyone specific!) saw her like that.
Which was when Ron came into the kitchen, followed closely by Fred and George (fortunately without anyone else following after them).
"Pew, Gin!" Ron said, making a face and waving one hand in front of his nose as though to ward off the smell. "Don't you think you should go shower or something? You're stinking up the kitchen!"
"Ooo! Before you go, can you come over here?" Fred asked eagerly. Then, to George, "Are you carrying any of those collection vials on you? This is perfect!"
"Yeah, that's just the scent we've been looking for for those stink pellets we've been working on," George replied, searching his pockets. "They have been missing something…"
Ginny whimpered and let her head hang dejectedly. "I hate having brothers," she muttered. "Not a single one of them is worth this." She turned to her mother. "Why wasn't I born an only child?" she lamented.
"Well, we tried, dear," Molly told her placidly, "but it took us six attempts before we came up with you. I've always blamed your father."
Ginny was sweaty, dirty, and covered in grass stains, still dressed in her workout clothes and altogether gross. But as she stood there in that kitchen, sharing a wicked smile with her mum amidst the loudly disbelieving protests of her brothers, Ginny felt exceedingly, inexplicably precious. Loved.
Molly's smile turned sweet. "Hermione's in the shower at the moment, I believe," she told her daughter, "but your father's already left for work, so you can use the one in my bedroom if you'd like. My extra bathrobe is hanging in the armoire on the far left side."
Ginny grinned in relief. "Thanks, Mum," she said, offering a brief kiss to her mother's rounded cheek.
"Of course, dear," Molly replied, cupping her daughter's face with one hand. "We girls have to stick together."
SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS
Unsurprisingly (considering how unusually warm she'd been during that morning's workout), it turned out to be a particularly hot day. Ginny had managed to sneak in and out of the shower without further mishap, and after breakfast opted to spend her morning studying the information Bill had passed on to her in her room upstairs. By the time she was finished it was after lunch and the temperatures were still climbing. Outside, that is. Inside, the house was cool and dry—cool enough that Ginny was comfortably dressed in a light jumper over an old Weird Sisters t-shirt that had once belonged to Fred or George (she couldn't remember which) when they were younger. It had been a well-loved shirt even before she'd inherited it, and was now so worn that the dark blue had faded to a sort of bluish-gray and the fabric was soft and fraying at the edges.
Lunch that day had been an informal thing, and Ginny had decided to eat hers (a small sandwich with a side of apple) on a plate in her room so that she could finish studying. When she was both finished eating and reading, she took her empty plate down to the kitchen where she found her mother finishing up the other lunch dishes. Ginny quickly washed and dried her own plate, then offered to help he mother finish cleaning up. About the time she was putting the last glass away in its cupboard, she noticed how quiet the house was.
"Where is everybody?"
"Down by the pond, dearest. Didn't they tell you?"
"I think so." Now that she mentioned it, Ginny could vaguely recall Hermione coming up and saying something about going out, but Ginny had been so focused she hadn't really heard her. "Hmm. I think I'll head down there too."
"Here, take this with you." Molly quickly put together a tray filled with glasses and a pitcher of iced lemonade. "Ron was up asking after some earlier; I was just getting ready to take it down myself, but since you're going…"
"No problem, Mum. Thanks." Ginny lifted the tray and, after letting Molly open the mudroom and back doors for her, carefully carried her burden down to the pond shore. She was almost trampled in the rush for lemonade when she got there, the arrival of the cool sweet drink even managing to pull Harry, Ron and the twins out of the pond where they'd been swimming to escape the heat.
Ginny snagged a couple of glasses and filled them before the boys managed to inhale it all, then joined Hermione on a shaded rock that jutted out into the pond, raised above the water's surface by several feet. The Weasleys sometimes used it as a diving board but today it had become Hermione's haven, a place she could dangle her feet in the water and read but where she could still participate in conversations with her best friends if she wanted to without actually getting in the water herself.
"How come you're not swimming too?" Ginny asked the older girl, handing her the second glass of lemonade.
Hermione kicked her feet a little, sending tiny droplets of water shimmering through the air. "Are you kidding? Any good that water might do my temperature would be completely undone when I got out and had to deal with the frustration of untangling my hair."
"Couldn't you just braid it?"
"Even then it's not worth the effort," Hermione replied, shaking her head. "This rock is cool enough."
"Aren't you worried they'll splash you or something?"
"They wouldn't dare," Hermione said darkly. Then, more speculatively, "Although now that you're here…"
"Just for that I'm staying here," Ginny sniffed, settling down beside the older girl and making Hermione snicker a little before going back to her book.
Minutes later a heavy hand fell on Ginny's head, ruffling her hair with great affection. "Hey there, baby sister."
Ginny froze. "Oh no."
"'Oh no' what?" said a second, identical voice. "All he did was say hello."
"Oh no," she said again, louder, warding her brothers off with both hands waving. "No, no, no, no. No."
A larger hand snagged one of hers, yanking her swiftly to her feet. "What are you saying 'no' for?" Fred asked, frowning. Ginny wasn't fooled. She could see through that falsely innocent look.
"No! Don't you dare! Hermione!" she screeched as George, grinning wildly, wrapped both arms around her waist and helped his brother drag Ginny up to the rock's nearest edge. "Hermione! You jinxed me! The least you could do—no!" she pushed at both men ineffectually, reaching desperately for Hermione, "—the least you could do is help!"
But Hermione was edging carefully out of the way with only an apologetic look at her captured friend.
"Traitor!" Ginny hollered, just as the twins leapt off the ledge and plunged into the deepest part of the pond with her in tow. Hands pushed her down deeper, dunking her far enough that she ended up sitting on the bottom of the pond for a moment, giving the twins time to swim out of range. By the time she surfaced, coughing and shrieking threats at their swiftly retreating backs, Ron and Harry were crouching over the ledge next to Hermione (who looked slightly worried when Ginny turned glaring eyes her way). Harry leaned out over the edge of the rock, laughing even as he offered her a hand out.
"Think this is funny do you?" she growled at him, swimming closer until she could touch the bottom and struggling to keep her feet on the uneven surface of the pond floor as she reached for him.
"Well, you did sort of bring it on yourself," he sniggered. "Even I could have told you sitting on that rock was a bad idea with the twins around."
"Well, that wasn't the right thing to say," Ron muttered in an aside to Hermione.
Ginny agreed wholeheartedly with her brother. No matter what she'd done, she never deserved to be embarrassed like this (especially in front of Harry, a tiny voice sulked in the back of her mind). So she ignored the flutters in her stomach when her palm connected with his and his strong fingers curled firmly around her hand. She refused to think about the sheer strength it would take for him to pull her out of there, nor the way she'd get a front row view of it (and, consequently, she didn't think about why she'd want a front row view). Instead, she took advantage of the moment it took him to shift into a better position to help her out of the pond, braced herself, and pulled backwards. Hard.
Harry hit the surface of the pond face first with a tremendous splash. Miraculously, Ginny managed to keep her footing and had pulled herself out of the water before Harry even resurfaced. She promptly snatched the book from Hermione's hand, tossing it to one side so it wouldn't get wet, and shoved the screaming brunette into the water after her best friend as punishment for abandoning her to her brothers' merciless care. She was unable to hide her grin when she heard Harry and then Hermione come up spluttering curses behind her.
Ron looked at her with round eyes. "Blimey, Gin," he said, awed, "what'd you throw Hermione in for?"
"She left me to Fred and George; she deserves it!" Ginny told him vehemently (and loudly, for Hermione's benefit). Hermione only spluttered some more, losing her balance and falling beneath the surface of the water again despite Harry's help.
Ginny laughed (a little maniacally) and clapped her hands together. "Let that be a lesson to you all!" she cried, throwing her arms wide to encompass the entire gathering (and focusing sharply on where the twins were treading water at the center of the pond).
Then Ginny looked down at herself, miffed. She was still fully clothed and the weight of the water was so heavy she felt as though she could barely move. Irritated, she yanked her jumper off over her head, leaving her in the t-shirt she'd worn underneath it, and started for the house.
"Good job, Gin," said a voice when she'd taken only handful of steps.
Ginny paused to grin at Charlie, sprawled under a tree next to Bill a few feet from the shoreline. Her grin faded at the mischievous smirk he was giving her. "What?" she asked, wary.
Charlie's smirk widened. "It's a great comfort to an older brother to know that a little attraction doesn't get in the way of his baby sister's wreaking vengeance." He grinned slyly.
Ginny's eyes narrowed. Hefting her discarded jumper in both hands, she crossed the space between them in three short steps and held the sopping fabric high above Charlie's head. His eyes widened in sudden comprehension, but there was no time for more than half a protest before she swiftly wrung the garment out above his head, thoroughly drenching his hair and most of his t-shirt to boot.
"Hey!" Charlie spluttered.
She promptly dropped the jumper on his head, muffling any further protests, and stalked toward the house to the uproarious sound of Bill's laughter.
SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS
"So, when are you all leaving?" It was evening, and the Weasley siblings (minus Ron, who was off with Harry and Hermione somewhere) were gathered around a card table in the Burrow's living room, playing a vicious game of poker for dares, favors and chores. Ginny was mostly winning.
"Anxious to be rid of us?" Bill dropped a couple of slips of paper in the pot with a murmured "raise" and gave her a searching look.
"No." And it was true. Now that they would all be leaving, she was sad; reluctant to see them go.
"You don't have to worry about us, Ginny-bean," declared George, motioning to Fred and himself as he lay his cards down on the table, folding.
Sadness dissipated. That just didn't sound good.
Fred frowned over his cards (deceptive as always, a distant part of Ginny's mind observed. He probably has a really good hand), hesitantly dropped a few slips in the pot ("call"), and mildly agreed, "Yeah, we're staying right here."
Ginny felt dread curl inside her. The cards in her hand bent a little from the force of her grip. "You-you are?"
"Oh, yes."
"Here…as in here at the Burrow?" Ginny had the sneaking suspicion she was not imagining that shrill tone to her voice.
"That's right," answered Fred. "We've got…some unfinished business to attend to."
"Is that so?" murmured Charlie, looking at them sharply over the edge of his splayed cards.
"Yes!" cried George, obstinate.
Charlie's glare sharpened.
"In our own house!" Fred protested, glaring right back.
Bill sputtered a laugh.
For her part, Ginny was feeling very stressed. The twins were staying. For the rest of the summer. In the Burrow. Where she would be staying.
This did not bode well. She thought she might be hyperventilating.
Still, she caught the confusing conversation flying between her brothers and was irritated that she couldn't understand it. "What's in our house?" she asked, frowning.
Bill laughed out-right at that, and Charlie looked very amused, but the twins just looked shifty. "Never you mind, Gin-love," George told her. That sort of dismissal was never a good thing. Curious now, she was about to pursue the topic anyway when Fred leapt in.
"What about you, Charlie?" he asked. "Aren't you sticking around for awhile too?"
Charlie gave him a knowing look with a bit of a warning thrown in, but, with a quick glance at his cards, folded and answered anyway. "I'll be in and out a lot for the rest of the summer. The season's slow at the reserve, so I'll be on Order business a lot, and I'll be home more often than not." The Burrow had become unofficial headquarters since Sirius's death. There were no plans at the moment as to how long that might last, as it was really too small for meetings, but no one wanted to make Harry face Grimauld Place when Sirius wouldn't be there. This meant the Weasleys were dedicated to staying home, and where the Weasleys were, the Order seemed to follow.
"You'll be staying here then?" Ginny asked excitedly. The prospect of her second favorite brother's continued presence was something of a balm to her poor mind after the idea of the twins' extended visit.
"When I'm in the country, yeah."
Ginny fretted for a moment over how much that might be. Between work and the Order, how much could she depend on Charlie to protect her from Fred and George's evil, conniving intentions? And even if he was in the house, would he really be much of a protection? When the twins were determined, there wasn't a whole lot anyone could do to stand against them… And besides, Charlie had caused a bit of trouble himself whenever he was around lately, not to mention all the teasing he'd done. She had been looking forward to the house emptying for a reason, she remembered suddenly. She loved her brothers, and if it were just Charlie…but the twins!
"Bill?" her voice was hesitant, and she privately wondered which answer she was hoping for.
"Well." Bill shifted. "Actually, I'm going to be staying in London for awhile."
"London? That's so close!" Ginny exclaimed. Then she paused. "Why?"
"Not sure," Fred mused before their eldest brother could answer for himself.
"I'm guessing it's got blond hair," George continued in a similar tone.
"Big blue eyes…"
"A French accent…"
Bill glared at the twins. They sniggered behind their hands but didn't say anything more. Then Bill surprised them all. "It is partly because of Fleur," he admitted. "She's living in London too and I thought it'd be nice if we lived in the same country for awhile. But I have some business to do for the Order too, as well as…other obligations." The meaningful look he sent Ginny's way was enough to let her know he meant her training. They were still hiding that particular development from the twins, who would pitch a sizeable fit at the thought of Ginny doing anything remotely dangerous, which would also serve to alert their mother to their activities, whom they were also keeping in the dark.
Well, Ginny thought, London was far better than the Burrow. Close enough to see often, without crowding the house up further. Although with the Order business…She mentally groaned. The house was going to be ridiculously, unmercifully full all summer. There was no break or end in sight!
Then she experienced a sudden inspiration.
"Are you getting a flat?" she asked her eldest brother.
"Yeah." He gave her a look of mild curiosity
"Can I go shopping with you?"
"Shopping?"
"To find a flat," she clarified.
Bill tipped his head to one side, sending the fang earring swinging. "You'd want to?"
"Sure. I'm going to visit, aren't I?"
"Well, I had planned on having you over a bit this summer, if I found one quickly enough," Bill agreed.
"So?"
"If you want, you can come with me."
"Yes!" Ginny grinned. "I don't want you buying some ugly, rickety old place I can't stand the sight of just because it's cheap or something." And it would get her out of the house. And give her a place to go when she ran away from the twins.
If she could get Bill to agree to let her use his flat as a refuge, that is. She wasn't sure about that. She wasn't as close to Bill as she was Charlie (whom she knew would never object), and besides, she wasn't sure how this "visit the grown brother" thing worked. The twins hadn't lived away from home long enough yet for her to have a chance to want to visit them—they'd been back home almost as long as she'd been out of Hogwarts this summer. Which was odd (didn't they have a shop to run?). And her other two brothers had lived out of the country as long as they had lived outside of the house (not to mention she'd been too young to go visiting on her own anyway).
But if she could get Bill to agree, and she thought she had a good chance of it, his flat could be a wonderful, twin-free haven.
She was so excited making plans in her head for various ways to get Bill to help her escape from the horror her house was about to become that she hardly noticed it when Fred, gloating terribly, won the hand and gathered the piled slips of paper from the center of the table with a greedy, sly laugh.
SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS
"Remember Girls' Day, when we were shopping for Harry's present and you told me you were leaving?" Ginny demanded sometime the next morning. "Remember when I protested because the house is full of testosterone, and I can't handle it by myself for two whole weeks? Remember how you said 'the house will clear up after Harry's birthday?'"
Hermione, looking puzzled, nodded slowly.
Ginny waved a hand to indicate the commotion going on in the entryway as her brothers moved various odds and ends up the stairs to make their extended stay more comfortable. In Bill's case (because he was currently between homes) this meant that all of his belongings were currently floating up the stairs in various stages of un-shrinking, occasionally banging into dubiously marked boxes clearly belonging to Fred and George (because they were shaking, making noises, or trying to explode whenever something jarred them too badly) and a few trunks and crates Charlie was floating in so he could get some of the paperwork that had been piling up at the reserve finished while he was home on Order business.
Ginny allowed Hermione a long moment to take in this chaos (made worse by the accompanying shouts of the boxes' various owners) before she turned to face her friend. "This is not clearing up, Hermione. This is the opposite of clearing up. This is torturously un-cleared up!"
Silence. Then, "Maybe your mum will let you invite Luna over to help balance things out."
"She better," said Ginny ominously, "because if I lose my mind this summer, it will be your fault. I will blame you for leaving me with this. And I will have my revenge."
Hermione shuddered at the dark promise in Ginny's voice and made a mental note to talk to Mrs. Weasley about Luna's visit just as soon as the woman was done cleaning up the kitchen.
SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSS
It's been a really good week for me everyone! I finished this chapter in record time, got a whole bunch of things organized that I've been meaning to get to but have been putting off, AND got into my first choice grad school. Reviews would be like the super-fudgey frosting on top! (Hint! Hint!) ^_~
