Disclaimer: Not mine. Never was. No money being made. Characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Song rights belong to Tracy Byrd. You get the picture. So, on with the story.
A/N : I actually hate to hear power tools going. I always wind up with a headache. That's where I got the idea from.
Ginny's Story (a.k.a Harry's Power Tool Fetish)
We hate watching Steel Magnolias.
We like Rambo and Die Hard 4.
Jump up and down like fools when we see the new tools at the Home Depot store.
We don't really want to take you to dinner at some fancy restaurant.
The only reason we do is cause we know it leads to the one thing we all want.
"Well, believe it or not," Ginny said with a flourish, "Harry loves Muggle power tools. I have no idea why, but he does."
"That doesn't seem like it would cause much of a problem." Susan said. "What's so bad about it?"
"Nothing, if it wasn't for the fact that he bewitches them to work without electricity." she said. "They are charmed to work without it, but it doesn't stop them from making all kind of racket and causing dust and shavings to go all over the place."
"Why doesn't Harry put a silencing charm on them?" Hermione asked. Ginny rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"He said he likes the way they sound." she said. "I don't know how. It sounds like there are mass murders going on simultaneously when he gets started with those things. And the worse part of it, is that he doesn't have to use them for anything."
"You mean he just runs them, to hear them?" Hermione asked. Ginny nodded and continued on.
"Yes, he will get up after dinner and go to the little shed he put onto the house and play with those blasted things all evening. The noise is horrid. And when he comes in to go to bed, he tracks in the sawdust that those things created." Ginny said.
"He doesn't think to clean up after himself?" Pansy asked.
"That would make too much sense." Hermione said. "Harry is a guy. The simple things in life are not always that simple, or obvious for that matter, to men."
"I'll agree with you on that one." Padma said with a grin.
"Anyway," Pansy asked. "Is it just the noise that bothers you?"
"No, actually, the sawdust is horrible. And it makes me sneeze like you wouldn't believe. "That's easy enough to remedy." Hermione answered. "They have potions for that kind of stuff."
"I know. I take one." Ginny said. "But the worse thing he does is when we go into the Muggle part of London. There is this one store called Home Depot. It sells power tools and other little things that Muggle builders called carpenters use. Every time we go there, he comes out with a basket full of different little toys. The last time we went, he brought home something called an electric chain-saw. That thing makes the most racket than any of the other ones."
"Well, what do you do to keep him in line?" Susan said. "I'd go nuts if I had to listen to that all night."
"Well, the last time he was playing with the tools, I was trying to go to sleep. He had been at it all day. The sawing and grinding and slicing was getting so bad, I was getting a headache. It was nearly midnight before he finally gave up. By that time, I was so frustrated, I decided to take care of this little problem. The next night, he was in the bed early. I took his wand and went down into the little shed. I used my own wand to levitate some of the tools back into out bedroom."
"What did you do with them?" Pansy asked. "Throw them in the bed with him?"
"Nope." she said. "I put them next to the bed and put a timed charm on them. I climbed back into bed and covered my head with a pillow that I had put a silencing charm on so I wouldn't hear the noise. About two minutes later, the charm kicked in and the power tools came to life." The women laughed and giggled uncontrollably.
"I'll bet he got up when he heard that." Hermione said with a grin.
"Oh, he did." Ginny said. "Let me tell you. He jumped up out of that bed like he had sat on some of Fred and George's Pressure Activated Pyrotechnics. I don't really know what he did, because I couldn't hear anything. Besides, I was supposed to be asleep and completely oblivious to what was going on. Anyway, he took the tools back down stairs and came back to bed."
"That's all." Susan asked. "You didn't do anything else?"
"Well, actually, that went on for the next few days. Finally, he caught on to what I was doing and told me he would only play with the tools during the day. No more night time noise."
"At least not from the power tools." Pansy snickered. Ginny grinned and shrugged her shoulders innocently.
"Hey, I don't mind those noises." she said. "Even he enjoys them. Especially if they are nice and loud."
"Ugh. That's more information than I needed to know." Hermione said with a grimace. "I can't digest the fact that you two are married now. Give me a minute, will you?" Ginny grinned and patted her on the back.
"I'm sorry Herm." she said. "I'll try to refrain from mentioning your best guy friend's love life if it makes you uncomfortable."
"Thanks." she said sarcastically. "I'll remember to clear my mind when your and Harry's love life comes up."
"Well, look on the bright side, Ginny." Susan said. "At least he only tinkers with power tools. Unfortunately, my husband has taken up his father's worst habit....."
The door swung open to admit a very happy looking Ron Weasley. He grinned at the girls and went into the kitchen, coming back with an armload of food.
"Not hungry, are you sweety?" Susan asked eyeing the food.
"It's just a snack." Ron mumbled in between bites of a cake. "The boys and I are hungry."
"How's the game going?" Hermione asked. "Who's ahead right now?" Ron beamed like a child and nodded.
"The Canons are up by forty points. And Puddlemere's Seeker is worse than your husband ever was." he said with a grin, referring to Draco. Hermione frowned and shook her head.
"That was unnecessary, Ron." she said.
"The truth hurts." he said with a shrug. "Well, I got to get back. I hate to say it, but Katie and Oliver are on the wrong team. Puddlemere's good, but the Canons are the best." With that, he left the room and proceeded back to the game room. Susan frowned and shook her head.
"He's so caught up in that game, he didn't realize that 90% of what he was carrying was food that he doesn't like." she said. Padma smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
"There's a type of food that Ronald Weasley doesn't eat?" she asked. "I never heard of such a thing."
"Yeah, well," Susan shrugged. "There are two things that Weasley males love, and that's food and anything and everything that has to do with Muggles."
"You mentioned that he has one of his father's worst habits," Pansy asked, "What is it?"
"Wanting too many kids?" Padma teased lightly, grinning brightly so the other woman would take no offense. Susan blushed and shook her head.
"Very funny, Padma Finch-Fletchly." she said. "No, as a matter of fact, Ron has taken to tinkering with Muggle things. It's horrible. I never know what he will do next. A good example is when he decided to try and charm a Muggle car to fly, just like his father. Oh, man. Now that was a mess........"
A/N - I don't know if there really are Home Depot's anywhere Muggle London. So don't shoot me, I beg of you. I don't think there is, but for this little scenario, please bare with my insolence and ignorance. Much thanks.
Special thanks to : mich(), Morgan, and BlueGirl89. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story, and thanks for the enthusiastic reviews. My apologies to Princess of Darkness. I didn't realize how desperate that sounded until you pointed it out. Many thanks to you. I'll try to be more careful in the future.