Bryt liked Ginny's bedroom. It was small, but bright, reminding Bryt a lot of her bedroom of her first home when she lived in Charleston. Though, unlike Bryt's old room, the walls were decorated with posters of the wizard band, the Weird Sisters, as well as of a woman that Bryt knew to be the captain of the all-female Quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies.
Bryt was currently sitting on one of the two cots that had been set up in the room, enjoying the sunlight coming from the window next to her as she used one of her schoolbooks to press down on while writing her letter to Terry.
"Who are you writing to?"
Bryt jerked, spilling orange ink over her parchment. Cursing under her breath, she pulled out her wand to clean it up and looked up to see Ginny had come in.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Ginny said, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it," Bryt answered as she cleaned the last bit of ink, then put the quill to paper again, "And I'm writing Terry. I'm sure he's read The Daily Prophet by now and I want to get word to him as fast as possible to let him know I'm okay."
There was a short silence before Ginny spoke up again.
"Can I ask you something, Bryt?"
Bryt looked up at the red-head, blinking when she noticed Ginny was blushing and looking uncomfortable.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Well...How did you manage it? You and Terry. What did it take?"
Bryt blinked, trying to figure out what Ginny was trying to ask. When Ginny began to look even more uncomfortable, it suddenly dawned on Bryt what was going on.
"Oh!" she said suddenly, "There's a guy you like, isn't there?"
Ginny tensed, but nodded. Bryt grinned, remembering how a year ago Ginny had a crush on Harry. Bryt wondered who it was Ginny liked now, but she figured it wasn't her place to ask.
"I really dunno how to help you..." Bryt finally said, "What happened with me and Ter just...happened. We talked, got to know each other, just were ourselves. It just fell together."
"So...I should just be myself around him?" Ginny asked. Bryt nodded, grinning at her.
"That should be enough," she said, "Any guy who expects you to change for him ain't a guy worth havin'."
Ginny sat there in silence, obviously thinking over what Bryt had said. Bryt went back to her letter, trying to occupy herself during the awkward silence that had fallen over the two girls. As Bryt wrote, she couldn't help but realize this was probably the first real conversation that she had had with any of Ron's siblings. She never spent much time around any of them, after all.
'Still says somethin' that Ginny asked me for advice,' Bryt thought, 'Maybe I should try to get to know her better...'
"Oh, the boys are playing Quidditch in the orchard," Ginny suddenly said.
Bryt looked up, then followed Ginny's gaze out the window to where she could see Harry, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George all on their brooms.
"Yeah, I wanted to go out there, but my ankle has me grounded," Bryt said, "Er...No pun intended there..."
Ginny let out a laugh and Bryt couldn't help but laugh herself.
"I wouldn't mind playing with them," Ginny said, "But I doubt they'd let me."
"Boys Club," Bryt said, remembering the many forts done up by her childhood classmates at the elementary school she had attended, "No Girls Allowed."
"That's a very good explanation of it," Ginny said.
"I know," Bryt replied, "I had a lot of first-hand experience of it when I was younger. I was always the 'odd-girl-out' at school. I acted too much like a boy for the girls to want to play with me. After all, I hated dolls and dress up and playing 'house'. But I was a girl, so the boys wanted nothin' to do with me, either."
"Try being the youngest of seven, and the only girl at that," Ginny said, "I was often left out of the games they played when we were younger. Hasn't changed that much now."
Bryt nodded, still working on her letter.
"I can sort-of imagine what it's like to have older siblings," Bryt said, "After all, I practically grew up with Sofí and Julio, and I consider them siblings. I get plenty of teasin' and carryin' on from Sofí, that's for sure. I can't imagine her multiplied by seven...It'd be a nightmare..."
Ginny laughed again. "If she's anything like Fred and George, I can understand that fear."
"Oh, Fred and George often remind me a lot of Sofí," Bryt said, "...Only Sofí is a lot crazier."
"Is that even possible?" Ginny asked.
"Don't you remember what Sofí did in the middle of that dinner last year at the Leaky Cauldron?" Bryt pointed out, looking up at Ginny.
"You mean her calling Percy a 'tattle-tell' as loudly as she could?" Ginny asked.
"That's tame for Sofí, trust me."
Ginny laughed again. Bryt grinned, starting to wonder why she never tried to get to know Ginny before. So far, the girl was a lot of fun to talk with and Bryt had a feeling the two girls had a lot more in common than she had first thought.
This became even more apparent over the next week as Bryt slowly got to know Ginny more. As Bryt was 'banned from anything active' by Mrs. Weasley, Bryt spent most of her time in the living room with Ginny and Hermione, the three sharing stories and getting to know each other better while Ron and Harry spent most of their time playing Quidditch outside.
To Bryt's relief, Percy had been gone every day, not returning until late, mostly a good deal after Bryt had decided to stay up in Ginny's room. This had meant that Bryt didn't have to deal much with her most-disliked Weasley sibling. Bryt was also both relieved and disappointed that Mr. Weasley was gone every day. Disappointed because she liked Mr. Weasley and knew he had to be overworked with all that was coming in after what had happened at the World Cup, but relieved because it meant Mr. Weasley wouldn't be around to ask Bryt, Hermione, or Harry endless questions about the Muggle world.
The last day of the holidays, Bryt had to put up with Percy's presence, though, as he had arrived home while Bryt had still been downstairs, working on putting together a scrapbook from pictures she had taken throughout the summer.
"It's been an absolute uproar," Percy said in the 'I'm-so-important' tone that always made Bryt want to hit the boy in the face, "I've been putting out fires all week. People keep sending Howlers, and of course, if you don't open a Howler straight away, it explodes. Scorch marks all over my desk and my best quill reduced to cinders."
"Pity," Bryt muttered sarcastically, gaining a laugh from Ginny next to her(though she covered it with a cough) and a glare from Hermione on her other side. Percy didn't seem to notice the exchange, luckily.
"Why are they sending Howlers?" Ginny asked, finishing up her mending of her battered copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
"Complaining about security of the World Cup," Percy answered, "They want compensation for their ruined property. Mundugus Fletcher's put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi, but I've got his number. I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped up on sticks."
"Your father hasn't had to go into work on weekends since the days of You-Know-Who," Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh. Bryt looked up and noticed the woman looking at the odd clock set over the mantel. There were several hands on the clock, each one labeled with the name of one of the Weasley family and, instead of numbers, had things like "Home", "Work", "Travel", "Prison", "Mortal Peril", "Lost", and "Hospital". Currently all the hands but Mr. Weasley's were on "Home", with Mr. Weasley's currently pointing to "Work".
"They're working him far too hard," Mrs. Weasley continued, "His dinner's going to be ruined if he doesn't come home soon."
"Well, Father feels he's got to make up for his mistake at the match, doesn't he?" Percy asked and Bryt glared at him, "If truth be told, he was a tad unwise, making a public statement without clearing it with his Head of Department first—"
"Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched Skeeter woman wrote!" Mrs. Weasley said harshly. Bryt had learned over the past week that, despite how gentle and caring the woman appeared to be, Mrs. Weasley was definitely not a woman to cross.
"If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would have just said it was disgraceful that nobody from the Ministry had commented," Bill spoke up from his chess game with Ron, "Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember, she interviewed all the Gringotts's Curse Breakers once, and called me 'a long-haired pillock'?"
"Well it is a bit long, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "If you'd just let me—"
"No, Mum."
Bryt giggled, turning back to the conversation she had been having with Ginny about how the youngest Weasley would be starting Care of Magical Creatures this year and what type of creatures she'd like to see Hagrid bring in. Hermione had her full attention on her copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four while Harry was polishing his Firebolt and Fred and George were unusually quiet in one corner of the room.
"What are you two up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked and Bryt and Ginny looked up to see Mrs. Weasley looking over at the twins.
"Homework," Fred said simply.
"Don't be ridiculous, you're still on holiday," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Yeah, we've left it a bit late," George replied.
"You're not by any chance writing out a new order form, are you? You wouldn't be thinking of restarting Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, by any chance?"
"Now, Mum," Fred looked up with an expression of mock-hurt, "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"
Bryt couldn't help but laugh, as did everyone else in the room, including Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley said, looking at the odd 'locator clock'(as Bryt secretly called it), Your father's coming!"
Bryt looked up at the clock herself, seeing that Mr. Weasley's hand on the clock had moved from "Work" to "Traveling" and then to "Home" a second later. Right after, Mr. Weasley called out an "I'm home" from the kitchen.
"Coming, Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley called back, heading off.
A few moments later, the two came into the room, Mr. Weasley carrying his dinner on a tray and looking exhausted as he sat down in the empty armchair close to the fire.
"Well, the fat's really in the fire now," Mr. Weasley said, "Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out about poor old Bertha going missing, so that'll be the headline in the Prophet tomorrow. I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her ages ago."
"Mr. Crouch has been saying it for weeks and weeks," Percy said quickly, as if wanting to make sure everyone knew the man he admired had nothing to do with the delay in searching for a missing person. Bryt just wish he'd shut up.
"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky," Mr. Weasley said, "There'd be a week's worth of headlines in his house elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark."
"But Winky wasn't guilty!" Bryt pointed out.
"And Mr. Crouch is very lucky no one at the Daily Prophet knows how mean he is to elves!" Hermione spoke up angrily.
"Now look here, Hermione!" Percy said sharply, "A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr. Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants—"
"His slaves!" Bryt and Hermione chorused loudly.
"I think you'd all better go upstairs and check that you've packed properly!" Mrs. Weasley cut in, stopping the argument from going any further, "Come now, all of you..."
Bryt was glad for an excuse to get away from Percy. Closing the scrapbook she had been rearranging, Bryt stood up and limped her way up to Ginny's room with Ginny and Hermione, heading inside. Rain was pounding hard on the window, which Bryt was glad about. She always slept better during rainy nights.
Bryt went to her trunk, repacking the few things that had gotten scattered during the past week. She caught sight of the dark blue velvet-and-silk fabric at the bottom of her trunk and sighed, wishing she could just get rid of the thing, as if it were a disgrace for her to have the dress robes among her things.
"I still wonder what we need dress robes for," Hermione spoke up and Bryt looked over to see she was refolding her own dress robes, which had been pulled out in the process of her repacking.
"Whatever it is, it won't involve third years," Ginny said, "Dress robes weren't on my list."
That ended the conversation, as Bryt and Hermione both seemed to think it was unfair to continue to speculate on what the robes were for when Ginny would be left out. The three girls continued to repack in silence before all deciding it would be better to go to bed, as they would have to get up early the next morning for their trip to King's Cross to board The Hogwarts Express.
A/N: As you've noticed, I've been updating quite frequently this week. It'll only be for this week, though. I felt bad about my long hiatus and had several lazy do-nothing days where I simply worked on this story. I have the next chapter completed as well, which I plan to put up either tomorrow or Friday, depending on if I finish chapter fifteen in time to go up this week as well.