A/N: Sorry, sorry,
sorry for the long delay! If you are a
member of the Yahoo! group, you know that I've been getting detained
unexpectedly a lot.
I hope you guys still like this even after the little recess!
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!
You are greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: Not mine!
**************************************************
Ron expected his sixteenth birthday to be special, but he had no idea that his life would change forever that day.
The morning had gone well. It was a Saturday, so naturally, the absence of classes put everyone in a good mood; add to that a breakfast of Belgian waffles and fried eggs and the fact that Hermione had kissed him in the Great Hall in front of everyone and then told Fred and George to shove off when they had begun teasing, and you basically had the perfect morning.
There was a Quidditch practice scheduled between breakfast and lunch to prepare
for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw.
After much coaxing, Ron and Harry had convinced Hermione to skip the
library for one day and join them on the field. She'd finally agreed, but she had insisted on bringing her
homework. The O.W.L.s, as she firmly
pointed out, were only three months away.
She'd seated herself in the stands a good bit away from the group of
girls who always showed up with perfect make-up and perfect hair to watch the
practices.
Alicia seemed to be in a particularly bad mood that day, and the workout she was giving them seemed much closer to one that Oliver Wood would have put them through. Shed been yelling at the twins all morning for goofing off and had threatened to keep them after practice for extra work. She'd told her fellow Chasers that they might as well have been called Sitting Down and Waiting to be Caughters. She informed Ron that he was flying like he was on a Dragonfly 06 instead of a Firebolt. And she had accused Harry of being so out of his game that he wouldn't be able to spot the Snitch if it decided to sit on the tip of his nose. The members of the team were, though, taking her criticism with a grain of salt, as it was no secret that she had an ulterior motive for making sure they swamped Ravenclaw. She'd been dumped by their Keeper, Trent McDougal, after a brief fling a month earlier. Of course, when Fred stupidly (and loudly) whispered to Katie that he was afraid Alicia was going to knock his little brother unconscious hurling Quaffles like that while imagining that he was Trent, Alicia had aimed her Quaffle directly at the aforementioned older brother and had managed quite the perfect shot. She'd added to this by calling him more than a few names adorned with more than a few colorful adjectives, much to the amusement of everyone else, including Fred, who beamed as if she was complimenting him in the highest of ways, despite the rather large bruise that was forming on the side of his jaw.
"If you aren't even going to try to make a smooth pass then get off the field!" Alicia shouted across the field to a very worn-out looking Josh Brenner, who was actually turning out to be quite the Chaser. This was definitely a good thing since both Alicia and Katie would be graduating in June; the team would need at least one experienced Chaser, and Josh was promising to be exceptional. However, today he was a bit off; of course, this was probably due to the fact that they'd been on the field for going on two hours with very little downtime.
Alicia
was on a roll, though. "If the other
team isn't distracted enough, the chances lessen greatly that Harry can get
away with sneaking the Snitch. And you
all know that's the way it's got to happen." She motioned all of them to follow her to the ground, and then
she rounded on Harry. "Cho Chang is a
follower, and you know that. She
watches the other Seeker instead of watching for the Snitch; that's always been
her strategy." Harry did know; she and
Malfoy both used that tactic. He was
used to it.
Alicia turned back to the rest of the team.
"What I want the rest of you to do is distract her in any way possible. Bludgers," she said very pointedly
with a look in Fred and George's direction.
"And Harry," she once again focused her attention on him, "I know Oliver
said this once before, and I thought it was funny then. But now I see what he meant." Harry wondered what in the world she was
talking about. "I don't care what you
have to do to get that Snitch. And if
that means knocking her off her broom, then forget the gentleman act."
Ron snorted, but Harry was thankful that he was apparently the only one who caught the double meaning. He sent a rather murderous glare to his best friend before doing his best to appear focused on Alicia's 'pep talk.'
He'd barely even acknowledged Cho at all this year. He hadn't spoken to her except for the brief conversation they shared in Hogsmeade a couple of months before, and any other socializing they'd done had been hooded half-smiles managed out of cordiality. Or sympathy. Whatever. Either way, he certainly wasn't looking forward to playing her the next week. He'd never done his best in games against Ravenclaw, and it was always due largely in part to the fact that his eyes always seemed to be Seeking out a raven-haired girl with almond-shaped eyes instead of a tiny little golden ball with wings.
He wasn't entirely sure that anything had changed that. Not untimely deaths. Not uncomfortable moments of awkwardness. Not even a certain girl with curly blonde hair and sea-green eyes... It wasn't like he wanted to date Cho or anything; no, he was quite happy with Gia. More than happy. Ecstatic. But he had a feeling that an unrequited crush would always haunt him.
After that uplifting discussion of Quidditch tactics, Alicia finally let them take a break. Everyone let out grateful sighs of relief and took off in various directions. Ron and Harry stopped to get water from the cooler and then jumped over the railing to join Hermione.
She looked up from her book and smiled a thanks as Ron handed her a cup of water. "Sounds like Alicia's not too happy today, huh?"
Both boys groaned as they flopped down into seats on either side of her. Harry rubbed his neck carefully. "I think every bone in my body is on the verge of breaking."
"I actually just read up on how to heal broken bones, so if they do break, you're in luck." Hermione reached over to pat him on the back.
Ron snickered as Harry sent her a fake look of annoyance.
At that moment, the three of them were joined by four girls from the 'Quidditch
Grouples,' as Katie and Alicia always called them. The 'groupies' were made up of girls from all four houses. None of the teams really worried about them
spying, though, because the question of whether or not they knew the difference
between a Bludger and a Snitch was still unanswered. When Gryffindor practiced, most of the girls hung around Fred and
George, but there were always a few who chose to try their hand at the younger
boys on the team.
Bryna Applegate and Rosie Dempen were two sixth years from Hufflepuff. They were joined by Kathy Turner, a fifth year Ravenclaw, and Chelsea McKibbin, one of Ginny's roommates. All four of them were regulars at the Quidditch practices, and Harry and Ron had met them on several previous occasions.
"You guys looked great out there!" Bryna exclaimed. "Ravenclaw hasn't got a chance."
"Yeah," Rosie agreed seriously. "I
don't know what Allison's problem is today."
"Her name is Alicia," Harry said, slightly annoyed. "And she hasn't got a problem. She just wants us to do our best."
"Well, I thought it was fab," said Chelsea. Chelsea looked like one of those girls that would actually use the expression 'double cool with knobs.'
Hermione looked up then, the amusement clearly showing on her face. "Oh, I agree," she said, dead serious. "I thought it was simply marvy!"
She and the boys shared a moment of hysterical laughter while the other girls looked on in confusion.
Finally,
though, Rosie addressed Hermione.
"Doesn't it frighten you to watch them?
I would think you'd be terribly worried."
Hermione shrugged nonchalantly.
"They've dropped me from high places enough times. If they fell, it would be a good bit of
payback."
Ron and Harry let out simultaneous gasps of indignation, and Harry shoved Hermione, causing her to giggle mercilessly. Apparently Kathy Turner chose that moment to make her move on Harry. She slid down on the bench beside him and sent him a warm smile of sparkling white teeth.
"Harry, I know I'm selling my own House out and everything, but I think you're a brilliant Seeker. The best in the school by far."
Ron and Hermione exchanged curious looks at the way Harry's face lit up at the compliment. As much as he hated being the center of attention, he'd always been a sucker for Quidditch praise.
Ron cleared his throat and then said very loudly, "GEE... AH... imagine that."
Hermione, for one, found the implication quite hilarious. Harry's head snapped around at once, and he sent a sharp glare his best friends. The rest of the girls all stared at each other with shared looks of confusion.
After another few minutes of the groupies groveling, and Ron, Harry, and Hermione sharing private laughs about them, Kathy, Chelsea, Bryna, and Rosie got bored and decided to join their friends who were currently being entertained by Fred and George.
"Nice subtlety," Harry said sullenly, obviously referring to Ron's clever little spill before.
"Hey," Ron said innocently, "I was just reminding you before you fell prey to Kathy Turner's whims."
Harry rolled his eyes at the dramatic description. "Like I would forget."
Ron, though, just shrugged. "Hey, sometimes I forget about Hermione, and
I see her every day."
Harry waited for the explosion and looked cautiously in Hermione's
direction. To his surprise, though, she
didn't seem particularly angry- just completely shocked. She was staring at him with widened eyes,
but he just grinned and nudged her with his shoulder. "I'm only kidding!"
Hermione just stared at him for another moment before breathing in slightly and turning to Harry. "I'm just going to pretend for one minute that Ron is not a completely idiotic git and that there really is some sort of brain hidden under all that red hair." Harry grinned and looked past her at Ron who appeared to have taken quite a bit of offense to the insult. "So, I'm just going to pretend that I didn't hear that."
They went on like that for several more minutes. Hermione pretended to ignore everything that Ron said, and Harry watched the two of them with quite a bit of amusement. They really were quite funny, and he finally realized that if you could get past the fact that they were completely total opposites of each other, they really were quite perfect together. Not that he wasn't going to be forced to keep himself from gagging whenever they started to forget that they weren't alone, but he was starting to accept the fact that whatever had been preventing the two of them from murdering each other for the past five years might not just be a fear of detention.
"Harry! Ron!" Alicia's voice pierced through their conversation, and they all looked up to see her staring at them expectantly. "Do you think you could possibly stop chit-chatting long enough to join us for the rest of practice?"
Ron mumbled something under his breath, but he stood up with Harry and the two of them glanced back at Hermione who shrugged. They made their way back down the stands to the railing, which they jumped again. The rest of the team was already on the field with their brooms; apparently the break was over. Ron and Harry joined them and stood silently while Alicia went back into another strategy discussion. She was cut short, though, when the Head of Gryffindor House walked briskly onto the field. Professor McGonagall definitely appeared to have a mission as she walked to her Quidditch team and stopped just outside their circle.
"Miss Spinnet, if I may?"
Alicia nodded without hesitation. "Of course."
McGonagall nodded shortly and then, surprisingly, turned her attention to the
three Weasleys who were standing side by side.
"Your mother is at St. Mungo's."
Ron swallowed slightly and then glanced at the twins, who looked just as confused as he did. The rest of the team stood in complete silence, but thankfully Fred managed to say, "Is she alright?"
"Oh, yes," McGonagall said quickly, and Ron let out
the breath he wasn't aware that he'd been holding in. "Apparently, though, her new baby is ready to be born."
A huge smile made its way across Ron's face, and when he looked sideways at his
brothers, he saw that they were sharing identical looks. The news that the baby was on its way was
quite shocking since the due date wasn't for another three and a half
weeks.
"Can we go to the hospital?" Ron asked hopefully.
The professor nodded. "Yes, someone has
already been sent to inform your sister.
You may take the Floo Network from the Headmaster's office, but I expect
you all at breakfast tomorrow morning, is that understood?"
Three heads nodded together, so Professor McGonagall gave them the password and told them to be off. Harry looked anxiously at her, "Can I go, too?"
She pursed her lips but finally sighed and gave
in. "Fine. But I'm serious about seeing you all at breakfast."
"What's going on?" Hermione had apparently noticed the interruption, and, worried, she joined her friends on the field.
"Mum's having the baby!" George said excitedly.
Hermione's face lit up, too.
"Really? Now?"
"Yeah.
We're going to St. Mungo's now."
Hermione turned expectantly to Professor McGonagall, who didn't even bother to
listen to her request. "Breakfast," she
said pointedly, giving her assent. And
then she turned away and walked quickly back to the castle.
"We can't go like this," Fred said, glancing down at his own dirty Quidditch practice-wear.
"Yeah, because you stink," Hermione said flatly.
Fred looked at her with a slight glare of contempt. "Thank you, oh, wise one. I'm sure you used your whole brain to figure that one out."
Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded awfully close to,
"At least I have a brain."
Ron and Harry glanced at each other and snickered. Then Ron shook his head and said, "She's not going to have it like right now, is she?"
"Probably not," Hermione said knowledgably. "She'll probably be in labor for several
hours still."
"Then let's go get showers and change clothes, and then we'll go."
*********************************************************
An hour later, six teenagers took the Floo Network from Hogwarts to St. Mungo's. Ginny and Hermione were getting very hyper and silly, giggling over the simplest thing. It would have been annoying if it hadn't been for the fact that they were easy teasing targets when they were like that. Luckily, though, they were too excited to even care.
The waiting room of the St. Mungo's delivery ward was quite empty when they arrived, but Mr. Weasley joined them soon after their arrival and told them that everything was fine and that there was still probably quite a bit of time before the baby was born. He disappeared again soon, though, leaving the children to themselves.
"Do you remember any of this?" Ron asked, glancing up at the twins who were occupying themselves by working on some random Quidditch diagrams.
Fred shook his head, but George nodded. "Yeah, I barely remember when Ginny was
born. You wouldn't shut up, and
Grandmum had to walk you all over the hospital to get you to stop crying."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"We should have known then that you were going to
be a whiner."
"I do not whine," Ron said haughtily, crossing his arms and glaring at the twins ruefully.
"Whine? You? Never!"
The voice wasn't one that Harry recognized right away, but apparently four of the six waiting room occupants did. In fact, Ginny squealed right out loud.
"Charlie!" She jumped up and raced across the room, actually jumping into his arms.
Charlie laughed and set her back to the ground. "Happy there, Gin?"
She grinned, looking happier than she had in months actually. "Where's Bill?" she asked anxiously.
"Do I look like his babysitter?" Charlie tugged her hair and shrugged. "He should be around soon."
"Did they find Percy?"
"Hello to you, too, Fred," Charlie said
sourly.
Fred, of course, leapt to his feet and shook his older brother's hand roughly. "Smashing to see you, Charlie! Now, did they find Percy?"
Charlie shook his head. "Nope."
Ginny's face fell slightly, and George rolled his eyes. "Should have known he wouldn't even turn up
for this."
Charlie shrugged again. "Well, I'm
here. Isn't that plenty?"
"More than enough," George said sarcastically.
Charlie slugged him across the shoulder and then turned to Ron. "And how is darling little non-whining Ron?"
"Shut up."
"Now, is that any way to greet your favorite brother?"
"Is Bill here?" Ron feigned innocence. "I didn't see him."
Charlie laughed and tousled Ron's hair, earning himself a hateful glare, which he simply shrugged away. "Harry, mate. How are you?"
Harry smiled and shrugged. "Okay, I guess."
"Wonderful." Then, with a wicked glint in his eye, Charlie turned to Hermione. "And Hermione... I hear you've been snogging my baby brother for the past three months."
Everyone, save Hermione and said 'baby brother,' burst into laughter. Hermione turned bright red and looked straight to the floor. Ron, though, sent death glares in the direction of all his present siblings, especially at Charlie; then he turned to a still snickering Harry beside him and shoved him. "Shut up," he said seriously.
Harry tried, but it was no use. The laughing didn't die down in the least;
in fact, there was no noise but laughter until another voice joined the
mix.
"What the hell is so funny?" Bill Weasley was standing in the doorway of
the waiting room, observing his younger siblings and their friends.
"Oh, we were just discussing little Ronnie's love life." Charlie's eyes were still glinting maliciously.
Ron groaned loudly and stood up, reaching behind him to grab Hermione's hand and pull her to her feet as well. "When you all get over it, please inform us," he said snidely before marching straight out of the waiting room.
After his best friends had disappeared into the hallway, Harry joined the rest of the Weasleys in laughing hysterically. It really was quite amusing.
*************************************************
A little while later, Harry sat alone in the waiting room. Ron and Hermione hadn't yet returned from wherever they'd run off to, and all of the others had gone downstairs to the cafeteria to get lunch. The Weasley grandparents had shown up and almost immediately hustled their grandchildren into eating, but not before Mr. Weasley (the elder) had nearly gone out of his mind at seeing 'Famous Harry Potter.' Harry's hand was still sore from the way the old man had grabbed it and shaken it roughly, congratulating him on saving the world. Harry simply smiled nervously and didn't point out that he really hadn't saved anything at all, seeing as there was still a Dark Wizard on the loose, who now had revenge to add to his list of reasons why the rest of the world should suffer. It was the first time he'd ever met Ron's grandparents, but he saw instantly the resemblance between Ron's father and his father's father. It was strange, really, but it truly was like being with just a slightly older version of the Mr. Weasley he was used to. The grandmother had asked immediately where Ron was, and Harry had told her that he was taking a walk and that Harry would wait for him and send him down when he returned. This had satisfied the woman, and she and her husband had shooed the rest of their grandchildren out of the waiting room and downstairs.
Harry was just about to get up and go look for his friends when they reappeared
in the waiting room.
"Where've you been so long?"
Ron shrugged.
"We were just walking."
There was something on Ron's face that said that they hadn't been 'just
walking,' namely a slight trace of pale pink lipgloss that happened to match
perfectly the shade that Hermione was wearing on her own lips. Harry rolled his eyes and didn't comment on
it right away.
"Well, your grandparents showed up and made everyone go eat lunch."
Ron smiled slightly. "Which ones?"
"Your dad's parents. Are your mum's coming, too?"
Ron shrugged. "I guess so. I don't really know. But why didn't you go with them?"
Harry glowered slightly. "Well, I was waiting on you two for one. And also because your grandfather nearly broke my hand off shaking it."
Ron snickered.
"Yeah. I figured as much. Sorry 'bout that."
Harry shrugged dismissively. "What took
so long, though?"
"Oh," Hermione spoke up for the first time. "There's a Muggle pay telephone down the hall, and I wanted to call my parents since we're not allowed to go to Hogsmeade anymore."
This certainly got Harry's attention. "Really? Where is it?"
Hermione smiled faintly. "Down the hall on the left.
It takes knuts, too."
Harry was glad for this because he certainly didn't have any Muggle money on
him, not that he had much of it at all anyway.
"Well, I'll be back later, okay?
I told your grandmum that you'd go down there when you got back."
Ron nodded.
"Yeah, all right. See you later
then."
Harry nodded again and started to the door in a hurry; he turned around halfway
there, though, and looked straight at his best friend. "Oh, yeah.
That's a nice shade of lipgloss you've chosen there."
Ron's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion before Hermione, red for the second time that day, flipped Harry off and reached up to smear the remnants of gloss away from Ron's face. Harry laughed and left the room.
He found the phone a little way down the hall and was thankful that there was no one waiting to use it. He deposited the proper amount of money and dialed a number he'd long since memorized.
"Hello?" A man's voice answered the line.
"Um, hi," he said nervously. "Is Gia there?"
"Who is this?"
Harry paused for a second, unsure of himself. He'd met Gia's father and step-mother a few times, but he wasn't sure if her dad would know who he was if he gave his name. He didn't have any other choice, though, so he just answered, "This is Harry. May I speak to Gia, please?"
There was no answer to his question. Instead, he heard the man call out quite loudly. "Gianna! Telephone for you!"
It sounded odd to hear her called as Gianna
because, though Harry knew that it was her proper name, she'd told him once
that she despised it. A few moments
later, though, he heard footsteps coming towards the phone.
"Who is it?" she asked away from the receiver.
"I don't know," the man said hastily. "Some boy. Don't talk too long; I'm expecting a call."
"Hello?" Gia's voice, sweet and perfectly accented finally answered the line.
"Hey!"
"Harry!" Gia sounded quite thrilled and surprised. He could hear the smile that mirrored his own. "Hold on a second," she said in a much quieter voice. He heard shuffling about and a door close before she spoke again. "Okay, sorry. I had to take the phone into the closet because Anne is a nosy bitch, and she was listening."
Harry laughed at Gia's outright contempt for her
step-mother. "Your dad didn't seem too
thrilled, either."
She snorted. "I know. I'm surprised he even let me talk. He's in a bad mood because one of his
business deals went under yesterday.
But anyway, I thought you couldn't call anymore."
"Yeah, but I'm at the hospital right now, and there's a phone here."
"The hospital?" Gia sounded worried. "What happened?"
"Oh! Nothing. No." Harry grinned. "Ron's mum is having the baby, so we all got to come over here."
"Really?" Gia's voice sounded much brighter. "Has she had it yet?"
"Not yet. But it should be soon, though. We've been here for a couple of hours already, but I didn't know there was a phone until Hermione told me."
"You don't know how happy I am that you called! God, things are awful here!"
Harry's brow knitted slightly. "Why? What's going on?"
She groaned. "Not really anything. Just the same old shit, but that's bad enough."
Harry found it amusing that Gia seemed to swear even more than Ron did. "Things are actually pretty okay here," he said honestly. "I think I stopped failing all my classes."
She laughed. "Well, that's good."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"Ah! I didn't tell you!" She sighed slightly. "I went to the dentist yesterday, and I have to get my wisdom teeth cut out because they're coming in already. And it is going to hurt so badly!"
He cringed, knowing the process that was taken to get wisdom teeth out. "When do you have to get it done?"
"In three weeks," she said regretfully. "Hermione's mum is doing it."
"She's your dentist?" For some reason, Harry found this funny.
"She's always been my dentist. I'm scared of her dad, though, so I never go to him."
Harry laughed. "I'm scared of him, too."
"Yeah, but for completely different reasons," she said seriously, but she was giggling.
It was so easy to talk to Gia. He never wanted to hang up.
Eventually, though, they were forced to hang up. Gia's father started yelling at her that he was probably missing important phone calls and demanded that she get off the phone. There was also an elderly witch waiting to use the telephone at St. Mungo's, and she kept wagging a long, shriveled finger at Harry and telling him to hurry up. After promising to call her again if the chance arose, he regretfully hung up the phone, managing to give only a slight glare to the old witch.
He returned to the waiting room to see if anyone had returned from lunch but found it completely empty. He wondered briefly if the baby had been born, and he was about to go to the help desk and ask one of the nurses on duty when he caught a glimpse of red hair at the other end of the hall.
"Gin!" He sprinted in her direction, feeling a bit odd at shortening her name; he'd never done that before. He wondered fleetingly if it was alright, but he decided quickly that it was. They were friends, right?
Ginny stopped and spun around, looking a little surprised as he jogged down the hall toward her. She'd pulled her hair up sometime during the last hour, and it now rested against the back of her head in an unruly bun.
He stopped when he reached her and quickly caught his breath. "Your mum didn't have the baby, did she?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, I just checked with a nurse, and she said it could still be awhile."
"Well, good." He grinned. "Longer before we have to go back to school."
She smiled, too, and he realized what a nice smile it was. She'd smiled and laughed a lot earlier in
the year, but that had all changed recently.
"Do you know if Ron and Hermione went downstairs?"
Ginny's smile turned into a rather sickened scowl. "Well, I suppose that's where they were headed off to, but apparently they got sidetracked. They were snogging just outside the restaurant." She rolled her eyes. "I was going to tell them that everyone was finished eating, but they didn't even notice me. So, I just left them there." A grin, a sly grin, now covered her face. "You know, for Fred and George and Bill and Charlie to find. Oh, yeah. And my grandparents."
She giggled and Harry laughed. This was the Ginny he'd grown so fond of during the summer and early months of the school year.
"Serves them right," Harry said. "They're about to make me throw up."
"Join the club," she said sarcastically. "I thought it was sweet at first, but now it's just gross. And it's got to be a million times worse for you because you actually have to be around them all the time."
He laughed and shrugged. "Nah. It's really not so bad. They usually refrain from touching each other when I'm around."
"Well, they certainly weren't refraining down by the restaurant..." She broke off giggling again. "It's a good thing we're in a hospital. Grandmum'll probably have a coronary when she sees her youngest grandson groping the infamous Hermione Granger."
"Infamous?"
"Oh, yes," Ginny said seriously. "My grandmother is an avid reader of Witch Weekly. She knows every detail of Harry Potter's Secret Heartache."
Harry groaned at the memory of the previous year's news articles. "She didn't really believe it, did she?"
"Harry, my mother believed it, and she knows you. And Hermione! Everyone believed it." She rolled her eyes again. "Ron even believed it for a bit."
Harry nearly choked on his own sputterings. "What?!"
Ginny seemed surprised that he didn't know. "Back when the first article came out- when
you two were mad at each other."
Harry frowned, not quite believing that Ron could be that stupid.
"Well, he said he believed it," she went on, "but I don't think he did. Not really anyway. He was just looking for something else to be mad about."
"That's stupid!"
"That's Ron."
Harry vaguely nodded. "True."
"So, anyway," she went on, "I figure it'll be a good laugh if everyone catches them."
"Don't you feel sorry for them?" Harry really didn't; he thought it was quite funny actually.
Ginny shrugged. "Nah, I'll just consider it payback."
"Payback for what?"
Ginny thought for a minute, obviously trying to decide on a reason, and then grinned. "He broke my nose when I was seven." She pointed to it. "That's why it's flat right here."
"He broke your nose?! How?!"
"With his fist."
Harry's eyes widened.
Ginny just shrugged again, as if it were no big deal. "Well, I had just slammed his other hand in our bedroom door."
Harry still couldn't quite believe it.
"He broke your nose because you accidentally shut his hand in the door?"
"Not shut," she corrected. "Slammed. And it wasn't an accident. He walked on my side of the room, so he
deserved it."
Harry couldn't help it; he burst out laughing.
The pictures forming in his mind were quite amusing. "So, then he just turned around and hit
you?"
She shook her head. "No, he cried first." Harry snickered as she finished. "Then he hit me."
"And what did you do?"
"Cried." Her eyes twinkled. "Then I tattled."
Harry chuckled. "What happened?"
She giggled, obviously finding the memory quite
hilarious. "Well, it happened at the
perfect time because it was summer, so Mum and Dad had gone out and left us
with our brothers. And I ran downstairs
screaming with all this blood running down my face." She giggled again. "And
then Ron came racing down the stairs and tried to rip my hair out of my head,
so, naturally, I screamed and ran straight to Bill."
"And?"
"He yelled at Ron and told him off. Then Charlie told him off. Then Percy told him, and Ron kicked him."
Harry broke into laughter again, and Ginny joined him. Several people in the hallway shushed them, so they forced themselves to quiet down and started walking directionlessly through the hall. "So, what happened then?"
"Well, Percy called him an 'incorrigible brat who didn't have the sense given to an earthworm.' And Ron kicked him again and said, 'Yeah? Well, no one likes you, asshole.'"
Harry nearly choked. "Wasn't he eight?!"
She nodded, almost looking proud. "Yep.
It was really funny. Bill almost
dropped me because he and Charlie were laughing so hard."
"What did Percy do?"
"He tried to strangle Ron." Harry couldn't even picture that, it was so hilarious. "I think it was the only time I've ever seen Percy get violent. But he started choking Ron, and Ron kneed him in... you know..." Harry did know, and he couldn't stop laughing now. Ginny had to take another break to snicker. "So, of course, he let go, and Ron kicked him again just for the hell of it." She sighed. "But I started screaming because everyone seemed to forget that I was supposed to be the injured one."
"Well, what about your nose?"
"Oh, Bill fixed it. He'd just graduated. And Ron was like, 'What about me?!' because his fingers were all blue and purple. So, Charlie shoved him down and stomped on his hand." Harry gasped but then decided it was really very funny. "And Ron started crying again, so Charlie hit him and told him he was acting like a little girl."
"Did he stop crying?"
Ginny nodded. "Yeah, I guess being called a little girl was the worst insult imaginable."
Harry remembered being called a little girl by Dudley when he was younger because he always refused to fight back. It wasn't because he was scared, as his cousin always accused; it was simply because Harry wasn't stupid. Dudley had always been twice his size, even when they were very young. He wouldn't have stood a chance even if he'd tried. Harry had always been extremely small for his age, and Dudley had always been extremely large for his; there was just no point to fighting back. Not to mention the fact that Dudley had a whole group of friends who would hold Harry down if he tried to struggle, while Harry had exactly zero friends.
The closest he'd ever come to making friends in primary school had been in the middle of his second grade year. A girl named Tabitha McCrory had come to their school in December. She was quite pretty, with two blonde pigtails and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose, and being new, she didn't know that talking to Harry would spell bad news for her. They'd gotten on quite well for about a week, but then one of Dudley's friends had tripped her in the hallway. After that, she hadn't spoken to Harry anymore. Except for once during the last year Harry had spent in Muggle school. The art teacher had forced her to apologize after she had 'accidentally' dumped a whole jar of red paint on him. If Dudley had let girls into his group, Tabitha McCrory would have been a prime choice. She probably would have held Harry down and laughed while Dudley called him a little girl, waiting for him to cry.
But Harry never cried.
Not in front of Dudley. Not in front of
Dudley's parents. Not in front of
anyone.
There was no point in giving them the satisfaction.
On the very rare occasion growing up that Harry had allowed himself to cry, he'd waited until late at night when the Dursleys had already gone to bed, and he was locked alone in his cupboard. Then he would sob for hours into his ratty pillow, wishing for a new life. It was a standard prayer. He would pray each night to be taken away from his aunt and uncle, pray that his parents were really alive and coming back go get him, pray that he could just be normal. When he was very small, he'd clung desperately to the storybook promise of a fairy godmother that would grant all his wishes.
But he grew up quickly and stopped believing in magic.
Shaking himself back to reality, he realized that Ginny was still talking. He focused his attention back on her. She drummed her fingers along the wall as they walked. "So, then Bill locked Ron in our room for the rest of the night."
"Where were Fred and George?"
Ginny looked thoughtful for a second. "I don't really remember. They were probably up in their room plotting what bug to slip into Percy's oatmeal."
Harry rolled his eyes. "So, after all Ron went through, you still think payback is deserved?"
She giggled. "Nah, but I need an excuse for not telling him that Grandmum and Granddad were about to come out. But anyway, that whole episode got a whole lot worse when Mum and Dad got home." Harry raised his eyebrows. "Dad yelled and yelled, which he didn't normally do. And then Mum yelled, and I guess Ron was being stubborn and got smart with her because she walloped him a couple of times." She shook her head. "And then Percy butted in and informed them that Ron had called him an asshole, except I think Percy said, 'a degrading name involving a part of the body's lower extremity and a vacant incision in the ground'" Harry burst into laughter at that.
"So, what happened then?"
"Well, I remember Dad chuckling, but Mum didn't find it amusing at all. She was livid! She actually washed Ron's mouth out with soap."
"Obviously it didn't work."
Ginny grinned. "Obviously."
"That is so not fair, though," Harry said. "You started it, and he got all the blame."
"I didn't start it! He's the one that walked on my side of the bedroom." She snickered. "Of course, he only came over there to get a chocolate bar I
nicked from him."
"That is so mean..."
"Hey!" Ginny held her hands up. "I can't help it that he's so much more blamable than I am. I guess it pays to the prettiest and most charming member of the family."
Harry snorted. "I guess youngest and only girl have no place in that sentence, huh?"
"It had nothing to do with that," she said
innocently.
"Right."
Ginny stared at him indignantly and then shoved into him with her shoulder. "Keep being sarcastic, and I'll slam your hand in a door."
Harry laughed again. "I used to think you were sweet and innocent," he said honestly. "Guess I was wrong."
"You weren't wrong," she said huffily. "I am sweet and innocent. I just know how to take care of myself."
"Right."
"Sarcasm..." Ginny said warningly, and then she giggled. "I'm just not afraid of boys. And," she continued breezily, "I just happen to know how to get my way. It's a gift, what can I say?"
Harry rolled his eyes, but he was laughing. They walked along some more, just chatting and laughing with each other over silly little things. Ginny was considerably tall for a girl who was just barely fifteen; in fact, she stood only a few inches shorter than Harry. Not that Harry was exceptionally tall or anything, of course, but he wasn't as small as he'd once been. The only other girls he was used to being around were Hermione and Gia, but both of them were rather short, at least much shorter than Ginny was anyway. It was interesting to hold a conversation with a girl and have her at eye-level.
They had just rounded the same corner for about the fiftieth time when Harry ran straight into Ron. They looked at each other in confusion for a moment for some reason, as though they'd never met and then suddenly realized they were best friends.
"Where've you been?" Ron asked, looking from his sister to Harry and back again.
"Discussing Ginny's reasons for letting you be humiliated in front of your grandparents," Harry said, sneaking a sideways glance at Ginny and barely dodging the slap she aimed at his arm.
Ron's eyes widened considerably, and he glared at his younger sister. "Do you have any clue how annoying you are?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and looked back at him unenthusiastically. "Probably about as annoying as you are. If that's even possible."
"Where's Hermione?" Harry glanced around for his other friend but found no sign of her.
"She went to the bathroom. She kept asking me why Grandmum was glaring at her after I introduced them. So, yeah, thanks for that, Gin."
Ginny shrugged lazily. "Don't mention it."
At that moment, Hermione came around the corner, brushing hair away from her face. "Where've you two been?" she asked, looking at Harry and Ginny.
Ron shook his head. "Don't ask. You might kill them."
Hermione looked thoroughly confused, but she didn't have a chance to question any further because Mr. Weasley came hurrying down the hall at full speed. He stopped abruptly when he spotted his children and grinned broadly at them.
"Did Mum have the baby?" Ginny asked eagerly.
Her father smiled widely, and then he nodded. "About twenty minutes ago."
All four of the teenagers grew immediately excited, and they bombarded him with questions.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"What did you name it?"
"How big is it?"
"Can we see it?"
"One at a time," he said, holding up his hands. He seemed to be enjoying prolonging their curiosity, as it took him a second to answer the questions. Finally, though, he continued. "It's a girl."
Ginny and Hermione squealed with delight; Harry glanced at Ron, who didn't seem disappointed in the least at having a new baby sister. In fact, he seemed rather excited about it; he was the first one to inquire further. "What's her name?"
"Her name is Hope." Mr. Weasley smiled again.
"And she's gorgeous."
"Can we see her?" Ginny asked quickly.
Her father nodded. "Yes, but I need to tell everyone else. Where are they?"
"In the waiting room," Ron said briskly. "Now, can we go see Mum and the baby?"
He nodded. "Yes, down the hall in room 206. But don't stay too long because everyone else will want to see her, too, and the room can't be that crowded."
Ginny was down the hall before anyone could even notice, and Ron, Harry, and Hermione followed her quickly. They arrived at the proper room and followed Ginny's disappearing figure through the door. Harry had never been in any of the rooms at St. Mungo, and he was surprised to see that they looked much like Muggle hospital rooms, just without all the tubes and electrical monitors.
Mrs. Weasley was lying on the bed, looking flushed but glowing. She smiled fondly at them as they entered the room. She motioned them over with her head. "Come see her."
Harry and Hermione hung back just a bit while Ron and Ginny hurried to their mother and new sister. They both sat down on the edge of the bed and bent low over the baby. "Oh, Mama, she's gorgeous!" Ginny said honestly, raising a finger and brushing it across the infant's forehead.
Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Sit up now, and
you can hold her."
Ginny did as she was told and held her arms out for the baby. Mrs. Weasley carefully placed Hope into her
elder daughter's arms and smiled at the sight.
"Now, watch her head," she said gently.
Ginny nodded and concentrated carefully on the baby she was
holding. It was clear that she was in
complete awe of the child, and it didn't appear to faze her that she was no
longer the youngest or the only girl in her family.
After several more moments, Ron took his eyes away from his sisters and looked
back at his mother. "Can I hold her
now?"
Mrs. Weasley nodded and watched as Ginny passed Hope to Ron. It was clear that he was nervous, probably never having held a baby in his entire life, but he seemed just as in awe of his baby sister as Ginny had. "She's so little..." he said quietly.
"Sorry about the day," his mother said,
grinning. "I guess you have to share
your birthday from now on." Ron smiled
and shrugged wordlessly. Mrs. Weasley
then looked toward the door where Harry and Hermione were standing and trying
to give the family the own time. "Come
and see," she said with a warm smile.
Harry glanced at Hermione who didn't bother to meet his eye. She apparently had been waiting on an
invitation, and she cleared the room almost as quickly as Ginny had in the
waiting room when Charlie had arrived earlier.
She dropped to a squatting position in front of Ron and pulled the
blanket back from the baby's face. Her
own face seemed to melt at the sight, much the same way Ginny's had. She turned back to Harry and motioned him
over with her head. Harry went over to
the bed and crouched beside her, really looking at Hope for the first time.
Everyone was right. She was gorgeous.
"Wow..." That was really all he could think to say. She was small, but she had chubby little cheeks and pouty lips. Her eyes were closed, and she was sleeping peacefully, a halo of light red curls crowning her head.
And, as they all stared down at the tiny little miracle in front of them, the outside world ceased to exist. For a few precious moments, all that mattered was the slumbering baby they were all crowded around.
Harry forgot all about everything else, and, for a brief time, he felt a strange sense of... Hope?
********************************************
Argh! That took forever to get out! Because it took so long, I'll give you a glimpse of what's in the coming chapters...
Another Weasley sibling (and I don't mean Hope)
shows up and rocks them all.
Easter holidays arrive, and everyone heads to the Burrow.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger show back up, and Gia makes her reappearance.
A special moment between our favorite couple...
Danger lurks during the first return trip to Hogsmeade.
The threat of tragedy nearly rips the trio apart.
And... much, much more!!!!
