Name: Courtney Kathrys

Title: Acquiescence

E-mail: Faeriedeathhotmail.com

Summery: Ginny fights Ron's protectiveness, and struggles to convince him that her and Sirius have a real, meaningful love.

Notes: Don't ask... I have no idea where I came up with this. It takes place during the summer before Ginny's seventh year. If you're a stickler for detail, you think of a way Sirius came back.... that's not the center of this story.

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are by JK Rowling. I only own the plot.

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Ac-qui-es-cence: noun– the act of accepting, complying, or submitting tacitly
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She is in no mood for this type of conversation with Ron. Truth be told, she could never be in the mood for this type of conversation with her slightly older and infinitely more insufferable brother. He is too overly protective, too caught up in his ideals of what he wants for her, taking in no account of what she wants for herself. She is happy for him and for the happiness he had found in Hermione. She is thrilled beyond comprehension that the girl she's come to view as a sister will finally be one and she won't be alone in her double x chromosomes.

But that doesn't change the fact that Ron will never be happy for her. Not even if she marries Harry bloody Potter.

So she sits demurely on her bed while Ron paces the room angrily, occasionally throwing something breakable and she surreptitiously repairs it while he isn't looking. At last he finally speaks. "Ginny he's at least twenty-five years older than you!"

Rolling her eyes and bracing herself for their battle of words she corrects him. "Twenty-two."

He glares at her, his dark brown eyes looking like burning coals beneath his flaming hair and anger tinted face. He is on fire and that fact just bolsters her confidence more so. Ron is careless when he is driven by his righteousness. "Oh that makes it better."

"No, Ron, what makes it better is that we love each other. I think I deserve some type of happiness, and so does he."

"Oh, so this is for mutual convenience, great basis for a marriage Ginny."

"It's not for convenience you narrow minded self-righteous hypocritical bigoted git, we love each other."

"You know Gin; with that maturity I can understand why no one supports this lunacy. Besides, how can you love him after a few weeks on a Caribbean island?"

"It wasn't a few weeks, Ron, it's been over a year –"

She stops suddenly and curses herself for her slip up as Ron's eyebrows fly up and get caught in his hair. "A year? When did this start?"

Damn, damn, bloody damn. "The summer before my seventh year. While we were banished to the confines of the house. People trapped together come together, you know. So I suppose I have you to thank for finding Sirius. Without you and Harry and Hermione constantly forcing us to stay in this house we opened our eyes and fell in love. I never knew you cared so much, Ron. Thank you."

She smiles sweetly up at her brother who sputters in indignation, clearly quite baffled at the sudden turn in events and how suddenly the whole situation is his fault. She always knows how to make it his fault. It is a terrifying talent she possesses, and uses quite often to his detriment. She isn't going to get away with it this time, he muses. He will change the rules of the game.

So he takes a deep breath and turns to face her, willing his face to pale and his eyes to soften. Her own honey eyes sharpen in justified suspicion. He looks away and then back at her, sighing softly. "Look, Gin, it isn't that I don't want you to be happy. I do, I honestly do. But... are you sure he's not taking advantage of you? I mean, you're younger than he was when you were born. That's a very large gap."

Her eyes remain narrow, guarded. She is suspicious of every kindness, a trait Mad Eye praises and Ron has cursed endlessly, and is making no exception to now. "Ron, I haven't been innocent for many years. Now wait, before you go all indignant and threaten to kill the bastard let me tell you that Harry's already taken on that job with gusto." She smirked inwardly at the confused look on Ron's face before continuing. "Tom, Ron. It was Tom; in my first year, in the Chamber."

Comprehension, tinged with horror and pity etch his features and she immediately feels her guard strengthen and her disgust deepen. She hates pity. "I'm sorry, Ginny... I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm well over it. It took my a few years, and a few guys, but hey – I succeeded."

He starts to commiserate with her when the full force of her words hit him full force in the chest and he looks up at her horrified. "A few guys?! Who?"

She grins now, knowing she has him, knowing that the rest is just a matter of the right words. "Well, not Michael, he was too proper."

Just as she suspects, he takes the bait and jumps head first into her carefully laid waters. "Was it bloody Dean Thomas? I'll kill the bastard!"

She places her most wounded expression on her face like a well worn mask and softens her voice to a near whisper. "I tried to tell you Ron... but you didn't want to hear. I wanted to tell you how much he hurt me, how much he brought memories back to me. I wanted you to know about nights spent on a fucking stone floor. That's how your wonderful princely Dean Thomas treated me, Ron. I told you he broke up with me because I was never good enough for him, and I didn't lie Ronald Weasley, but you wouldn't believe me!"

She counts two seconds before she turns her tears on and sobs into her hands. She knows that Ron is helpless when she cries, and he is putty when he is the cause of her tears. Sure enough, his reliable nature doesn't fail her and he pulls her into an awkward hug. She smirks as her tears soak his robes. "Is that why you dated Malfoy, Ginny? To get back at me for not being there for you?"

She nods and increases the volume of her tears and she knows that he is feeling terrible. Some part of her feels bad for manipulating her own brother like this, but it is quickly replaced by the notion that if she is able to get Ron on her side, she can make everyone be on her side. Time for the coup de grace. "Ron," hiccough, "please understand. Sirius is the first man to ever make me feel loved like I needed. To understand me completely. He has Michael's dedication to me, like Dean he doesn't need to ask if I'm sure, he just knows. He has Draco's unobtainable quality, and like Tom he can possess me and I feel him in every crevice of my mind. He was made for me Ron. Are you really going to deprive me of the one joy in my life when all I've had is misery? You have Hermione, Ron. You two are so undeniably happy. Don't you want that for me?"

Her heart is still for a moment as she awaits his response, praying that he will show that good heart he has in there and give her his blessing. She is not disappointed. She feels him nod and hug her tighter before he holds her an arm's length away and studies her tear streaked face. "I do want that for you Ginny, more than anything in the world, I want you to have what Hermione and I have. And, I suppose, that if you have that in Sirius I can't really ask you to give that up. Merlin knows I could never give up Hermione."

He sees her smile, a large glowing smile which spreads across her face and lights her up from her toes to her glowing hair. He thinks back but can't recall a moment where he has ever seen her smile like that. Her arms are soon thrown around his neck and she is laughing as she suffocates him. "Oh Ron, thank you so much! Do you mean it; do you really give us your blessing?"

How can he say no after watching her smile like that? And he finds himself smiling at her and nodding. Next thing he knows he is agreeing to apologize for hitting Sirius and telling him how happy he is for the two of them and Ron can't care less.

Not even when he sees Harry, Hermione and the twins outside the door with Extendable Ears. But they are all crying and smiling as well, so it doesn't matter to him either way.

-=fin=-

Thanks to:

Umm... all who reviewed the other chapters? Repletion wasn't liked! ::cries::