Bill took the diary off his sister and turned the page.
6th June 1988
Results came in today. I passed everything but Potions and who cares about that! I wrote to Mia straight away and then to my mum. I'm very pleased with myself but exaughsted by the stress of the exams. Just a few more days until the summer holidays and I can't wait, mostly because it's my birthday in august but also because I'm happy to have finished my first year at school.
"It ees a good feeling." Fleur said reminiscently. The twins nodded.
"I found that as well. It's like you're on your way towards the important stuff now." Arthur agreed.
I trudged up to the dormitory to find my roommate Oliver sitting on his bed frowning at his exam results.
"How did you do?"
He sighed "Ok I guess."
"Then what's wrong?"
He looked at me speculatively then rolled his eyes and told me about his dad who wanted him to go into the ministry but he wanted to play Quidditch professionally.
"Why don't you talk to him about it?" I asked.
"I've tried but he won't listen, the most he'll do is let me join the school team."
"So do that and then when the time comes you'll be an adult and capable of making your own choices."
He smiled wryly and thanked me for listening anyway and then left to go meet his friends.
"Poor Oliver." Charlie said.
I stayed in the dorm lying on my bed and thought about that conversation. Would my own parents force me into something I didn't want to do? I didn't think they would but this type of thinking always drifted off into the same direction. What was I going to do when I grew up? I could think of nothing and my typically and depressingly average grades were no help.
"It's harder to be average at everything than really good at one thing?" said Ginny "You blend into the background all the time."
I knew one thing for sure, even if I hated every single day of my job I wouldn't let any family of mine suffer and have to scrape by. I wasn't going to be selfish; I'll do what I need to do to make sure they never have a childhood like mine. The thing is I've done it, be poor I mean and it sucks. I've always resented my father a little for staying in the job he loves, I know that's awful but sometimes you have to sacrifice things for those you love.
The younger Weasley's all averted their eyes at this but beside that no one made any sign that they'd heard what had been said.
Even if I end up working for something menial like the ministry.
"He hates the ministry?" Bill interrupted himself to say.
Everyone else looked pretty stunned as well.
8th June 1988
So that's it, first year finally over. Back home shut in my room, conceivably for a few weeks at least until Mia's school finishes on the 23rd. I'm avoiding my family at the moment, Bill and Charlie's grades were obviously better than mine. Geeks.
The two mentioned found that amusing.
Of course mum made me tell everyone what I got, and in an attempt to be nice they told me it didn't matter that I didn't do as well, there was always next year. "I KNOW!" I wanted to scream by the end. To be honest I was quite pleased with my grades, until they started to point it out. There goes my happy buzz. Real nice way to start the summer.
Molly sighed.
Oh well focus on the positives. It's only a just over two months till my birthday. Twelve at last.
Arthur winced remembering something the others didn't.
Uncle Bilius came to visit yesterday. I liked him a lot. He loved telling stories. Funny, scary anything he could come up with. Towards the end he told us of the omen of death. The Grim, a big black red eyed demon dog. I snorted too quiet for anyone to hear. I'm a realist at heart. Then his voice got lower and we all had to lean in to listen.
"You never know when the Grim is going to appear. But today as I was leaving the house, I saw a dog. It was humongous, black as night and it fixed me in its sights from across the road, with its glowing scarlet eyes."
The atmosphere had grown still and we all jumped as he clapped his hands and roared with laughter. He made his excuses about being a superstitious old man and said his goodbyes.
Several people looked at their feet and tried to hide a flash of grief.
But I saw he was more upset than he was letting on. Today I wished I'd paid more attention to his story, and not dismissed it as nonsense. Dad sat us down this morning and told us Uncle Bilius had died of a heart attack in the night.
The house was silent for the rest of the day.
Bill paused and then put the book down. No one spoke for a few minutes, honouring the dead man. Then George picked up the book and turned the page.
"Wait" Ginny said. They all looked at her.
"Are we sure we want to continue, I mean this is his private thoughts and...well they can be brutally honest."
They knew she was referring to the comments about their situation involving money.
"We knew that when we started Gin." Charlie said softly "It's a bit late too stop now."
She nodded appeased for the moment and George began a new page.