Chapter 14

The first light of dawn was just seeping over the horizon when Harry opened his eyes. He was staring at his invisibility cloak, folded neatly next to his head. A thin blanket covered him and he sat up, pushing it back. Trixie lay just feet away, cradled in the thick coils of her snake. The gnomes were out of sight, but he could see the slight indentations where they'd slept next to her. Three tiny dragons were arrayed on her belly and winked out of sight when he approached.

"Oh, Trixie," he whispered as he bent down and lifted her into his arms.

He carried her into the house, where Arthur was already up and making coffee. He smiled at Harry, who said, "She said she'd come back in."

Arthur nodded. "And she did."

"She did?"

He nodded again. "To get you a blanket." Harry cursed tenderly at the girl in his arms. "Go get her to bed. She needs what sleep she can get."

With a quick nod, Harry carried her to the twins' room. His heart clenched when he laid eyes on her bed. It looked like it had been made by a distracted child; sloppy, uneven, and only half-finished. He laid her gently on the rumpled sheets and tucked her in. he could feel a funny little possessive kick in his chest and knew that he'd felt something like it for Ginny. But where he hadn't wanted to let Ginny go, he knew that he wouldn't let Trixie go. He couldn't. She would be his. She just didn't know it yet.

Trixie woke feeling warm and safe. She kept her eyes closed to better savor the sensation. Someone had tucked her in. Funny. She'd never been tucked in before. It felt good. Her eyes still closed, she slowly became aware of somebody crying their heart out. She knew who it was and knew that it was up to her to put the broken heart at ease.

With a sigh for her loss, Trixie wrenched herself from the warm cocoon of her bedding and pulled on a faded pair of jeans and a shirt with two slits in the back. She cast a longing look down the stairs, where breakfast would be served, and then moved on, stopping in front of Ginny's door. She rapped her knuckles lightly against the wood.

"Can I come in?"

"No!"

Trixie ignored the choked command and walked in anyways. Ginny looked at her with red-rimmed eyes that narrowed immediately. Trixie closed the girl's door and leaned against it.

"How about we start over?" she suggested. "I'm Trixie O'Malley."

"Ginny Weasley."

They didn't shake hands.

"Good. It's about time we were properly introduced. Now we can get down to the why of it. Why have you refused to speak to me – to even meet me?" Ginny remained stubbornly silent and Trixie's eyes softened. "I see. You're jealous, aren't you? Do you honestly think Harry could be interested in me?" Her tone was incredulous and made Ginny take notice. "He wouldn't, so you mustn't worry."

"Why not?"

Trixie smiled, a cool, detached smile. "Because I am not quite human."

At Ginny's look of heartfelt disbelief, she dropped all pretense of humanity. Her madly striped wings formed a striking background for her slim frame and her wide eyes were mirror-dark in pain.

"I am here because my father sold me to a research facility and your kind-hearted brothers dumped me in your mother's lap." She met the eyes of her would-be rival. "So you see, I am no threat to you. Harry would not want me. Now you know why."

Without another word she opened the door and walked down the hall, completely human once more. Ginny watched her walk down the stairs and her soft heart would not let her stay put. She rushed after her.

"Trixie, wait!"

At the bottom of the stairs she turned around just in time to catch the body that hurtled into hers. Ginny wrapped her arms around her and, after a long moment, felt Trixie's arms slip around her and squeeze back. They stood there for several minutes, just holding each other. Neither cried or said a word. Somehow they were beyond both forms of expression. They pulled back simultaneously and it was Trixie who found her voice first.

"Let's go eat. Bouts of emotion make me hungry."

Ginny laughed gratefully. "Me, too."

Molly watched the girls carefully after they'd come to breakfast together. They had clearly leaped some sort of hurdle but weren't quite friends. But it was progress, at least.

Trixie called in the dragons and was rewarded by Ginny's delighted squeal. She introduced the red one as Cortez, and said she hadn't yet named the other two.

"Why Cortez?" Ginny asked as the little yellow one rubber her head against her knuckle. She tentatively rubbed the tiny head and grinned when she leaned into the touch.

"Because Cortez was a Spanish explorer who was also very bossy, rude, and very outspoken." She smiled at the little yellow dragon. "Will Ginny be your mistress now?"

"Yes. Unless you choose to keep me," the little female answered with great dignity.

"I keep no one. The three of you choose your own masters, or the lack of them. I would not stand in the way of any of your decisions."

Whirling green eyes turned to Ginny. "I choose you."

"Really?" she breathed. Then she turned to Trixie. "Thank you."

"What for? I didn't do anything."

Ginny smiled down at the dragonet that was now fast asleep in the crook of her elbow. "You gave them their freedom."

"No I didn't. You can't give away something you've never owned."

The orange one looked at her friends and then up at Trixie. "Will you be my mistress?" she asked cautiously.

"If you'd like, little one." Trixie waited until she nodded. "Then I will call you Isabella, after the Spanish queen. She ruled beautifully and kindly, and even bossed Cortez." The dragonet preened and, at some unseen cue, they all left by way of open window.

Ginny stared after them. "Now that they're gone, I was wondering if you could tell me what they are and why they can talk."

Trixie grinned and said, "Snapdragons. And they talk because they choose to do so." At the younger girl's quizzical expression, she launched into a lengthier discussion. To her amusement, Ginny asked nearly the same questions as her mother. "And they're about half their full size now," Trixie concluded.

"Okay." Ginny took a few moments to mull over the information. "So do your wings work?"

Unable to follow the girl's logic, Trixie nodded. "They work."

"Good. Come on into the living room and you can tell me about your life," she said, scooting her chair back from the table and waiting for Trixie to do likewise.

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"There's really nothing interesting to tell."

"But you'll tell me anyways." The words were a clear command.

Trixie laughed. "Yes."

Ginny nodded in satisfaction. "So there's really no problem, is there?"

Shaking with laughter at her autocratic manner, Trixie followed her to the living room, preparing to tell the story of her life to yet another Weasley.