Ginny and Gabrielle were sitting at a table outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor along with three of Ginny's friends: Colin Creevey, a shy, quiet boy who only ever seemed to talk about Harry Potter; Luna Lovegood, a rather odd and slightly unnerving young witch who sat with wand tucked safely behind her ear, had several strange-looking flowers braided into her hair, and kept going on about Horntailed Skrangdoodles and other such nonsense; and Orla Quirke, an earnest, dark-skinned, intelligent young witch with a tendency of illustrating her speech with expressive gestures.
At first, Mrs. Weasley hadn't wanted to let them go to Diagon Alley, despite the fact that they had gone on their own several times before. In the end, they managed to convince her to let them go, but only if one of Ginny's brothers went with them. Charlie volunteered, saying that there was a book he wanted that had just come out and he wanted to get to Flourish and Blotts before it was sold out. Once they got there, Charlie had told them to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch at 1:00 and went off to Flourish and Blotts.
They had run into Colin, Luna, and Orla inside Gambol & Japes, a joke shop rivaled only by Fred and George's own shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Ginny had introduced Gabrielle as 'Fleur's sister,' which had annoyed Gabrielle. But if Ginny wasn't ready for her friends to know she wasn't just Fleur's little sister, well, Gabrielle would give her time.
When they had each bought all they wanted, the five of them had decided to get some ice cream. Ginny hadn't bought anything, but the others had each found plenty on which to spend their few knuts and sickles on.
Gabrielle was currently trying to follow the other's rapid conversation. She knew enough English to talk to the Weasleys without much of a problem, but listening to four people speaking in quick, slang-filled English about people and things she had hardly heard of before – like Professor Snape, Cornelius Fudge, or muggle trains – left her feeling confused and isolated.
On the other hand, Ginny seemed to be enjoying herself, which was good. She'd been slowly crumbling under the strain of her mother's continued rejection. This was the first time in days that Gabrielle had seen Ginny relax and enjoy herself.
Gabrielle took another spoonful of her raspberry ice cream, watching as Orla gestured wildly as she spoke. Gabrielle couldn't make out more than one or two words in ten, but from everyone's expression, she seemed to be telling a joke – something about a train station? - Gabrielle wasn't sure, but the others laughed when she finished, and Gabrielle smiled in an instinctive response.
By the time they finished their ice cream, it was almost noon.
"I have to meet Charlie for lunch," Ginny told them, standing up.
"You just had ice cream," Colin pointed out.
Ginny shrugged. "Life's uncertain. Eat dessert first."
"In that case, I'm going to get lunch too," Orla said.
After lunch, Charlie took the five of them back to the Burrow. They each took turns talking to their respective families through the fireplace at the Burrow – except for Orla, who used a cell phone since her parents were muggles – and agreed to stay for dinner.
Fred and George had returned to their flat in Diagon Alley that day, leaving the Burrow marginally less crowded.
They ended up playing a game of Wizard Life (modeled on the muggle game and therefore extremely unpopular amongst the Slytherins). None of Ginny's siblings joined in – not that she'd expected them to.
After briefly explaining the rules to Gabrielle, they chose the color of their brooms – long, vaguely broom-shaped pieces of painted wood with four holes along the handle into which the pegs representing the people were placed. Ginny chose red, Orla orange, Luna yellow, Gabrielle blue, and Colin white. Then they each took a peg (small cylinders with cones on top that were probably supposed to be hats). Everyone chose pink, of course, except for Colin, who obviously took a blue one.
After a moment of consideration, Ginny decided to start at Hogwarts instead of starting directly with her career, not that it really mattered. So did everyone else except Luna, who therefore went first. Colin shuffled the career cards, and she took three.
"So, what did you get?" Orla asked, peering over her shoulder.
"An Auror, a Seer, or a Dragon Trainer," Luna replied.
"Hmm... You should be the Auror. That wizard's cute."
Ginny suppressed her reflexive wince at the words 'that wizard's cute.' She may have come out to her family, but she had no idea how her friends would react. She glanced over Luna's shoulder, trying desperately to focus on the male Auror, not the large-bosomed, smiling blonde witch. They were both smiling broadly as they aimed their wands at some unseen evil lurking in the shadows behind them, and the woman kept flashing her leg at Ginny. Of course, the man behaving similarly, but Ginny hardly noticed.
Luna shook her head. "Aurors can't do much." She set the card aside along with the Dragon Trainer. "The Seer's best." The picture on the Seer card was of a young psychic who looked alarmingly like a younger, sexier version of Professor Tralawney. Luna nodded to herself and handed the other cards back to Colin. Her peg sprouted a shawl and a small, clear ball appeared next to it.
Colin put the cards away and held out the salary cards. Luna took one.
"So?" Orla asked impatiently.
Luna showed them: 17,000 galleons; the second highest salary there was. She collected her first payday and spun, her piece moving forwards the two spaces she had spun and landing on 'Get Trampled by Herd of Centaurs: Lose next turn.' A herd of centaurs appeared in front of Luna's piece, running over her and vanishing, leaving a temporarily dented and flattened piece of plastic in their wake. A moment later, it sprung back up, repairing itself.
Now it was Ginny's turn. She spun a three, landing on 'Become a Prefect: Get a Life Card.' A small, gold badge appeared on her peg's chest and Ginny took her Life Card, turning it over to look at.
"I thought you were supposed to wait until the end of the game to look at the Life Cards," Colin protested.
"Probably," Ginny agreed. "I haven't read the rules in ages. But it's much more fun to read them as you get them."
"So what's it say," Orla asked.
"'Win Order of Merlin, First Class: 10,000 galleons.'"
They each took their turns, inching around the board and collecting Life Cards and money. Orla was the first to graduate, and chose to become a Goblin at Gringotts – one of the two jobs actually requiring the NEWTs you gained by starting at Hogwarts. Her piece shrunk, sprouting a long, pointed nose and long-fingered hands on short arms. Orla also got one of the lowest possible salary – 7,000 galleons. Gabrielle graduated next, taking the Mediwizard Career Card and getting a salary of 9,000 galleons. Her peg developed the robes of a Mediwizard. Ginny ended up becoming Minister of Magic (the only other job that required having your NEWTs) with a 13,000 galleon salary and Colin – much to everyone's amusement – became a Dementor at Azkaban. His piece was now apparently shrouded in a tattered piece of cloth, though the creepy effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that it was still light blue. His salary was 15,000 galleons.
"Somehow, I don't think the real dementors get a salary anywhere near that," Ginny commented.
"Guess I'm just special, then," Colin replied.
On her next spin, Luna landed on 'Get Married.' She took a blue peg, fitting it in behind her own pink one.
"So who's that?" Orla asked, nodding at the blue peg. "Kevin Entwhistle? Michael Corner?"
"Maybe," Luna said, unperturbed.
"Stewert Ackerly?" Colin tried.
"Or Owen Couldwell? Or Colin?"
"Hey!" Colin glared at Orla, who smiled back sweetly. Then he glanced at Luna. "I mean, not that I wouldn't but—"
"Colin?"
Yeah?"
Luna smiled. "Shut up."
"Right."
"And it could happen. Or maybe it's Harry Potter."
"Or Draco Malfoy," Colin suggested with an exaggerated shudder.
"Ew," Orla said, making a disgusted face.
Luna ignored them and took a Life Card. "'Discover Law of Conservation of Magic: 4,000 galleons.'"
"What's the Law of Conservation of Magic?" Colin asked curiously.
"No clue," Ginny admitted, looking around at her equally bewildered friends.
"It's a theory that was floating around about 10 years ago," Charlie informed them from the kitchen where he was helping Mum with dinner. He came into the doorway to the living room, continuing. "I think it went something like 'There is only a limited amount of magical energy in the world that gets recycled over and over again.' But no one could figure out what it could actually do or what it really meant in practice and the Ministry had bigger things to focus on so it's more or less been forgotten."
"Is that why it's only worth 4,000 galleons?" Colin wondered.
Charlie shrugged and returned to the kitchen.
A few turns later, Ginny came to the 'Get Married' space. For a moment, she hesitated. Then she took a pink peg and fit it in behind her own, surreptitiously watching her friends to see their reactions. A week ago, she never would have dreamed of doing this, but now the thought of once again taking a blue piece made her want to run screaming in the other direction.
After a moment, Colin looked at her. "That's not Harry Potter, is it?"
Ginny caught Gabrielle's slight, encouraging smile and shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it is." She wasn't quite ready to just tell him 'no.'
"I seriously hope not," Orla said.
"I don't know," Luna said thoughtfully. "Maybe Harry'd make a pretty girl."
"Ugh. I really didn't want that image," Orla replied, making a face.
Luna shrugged. "You never know."
"You never know what?" Harry asked, entering the room and sending Colin scrambling for his camera.
They all burst out laughing and Harry gave them an odd look.
"Trust me," Ginny choked. "You really don't want to know."
"Right," Ron said, entering behind Harry, followed by Hermione. "Upstairs and away from the crazed teenage girls."
"Hey," Hermione and Colin said indignantly.
"Er... Girls and boy," Ron amended as Colin snapped a picture of Harry. "And Hermione, I believe 'crazed' was the key word there. You maybe nuts, but you aren't crazed."
Hermione looked slightly appeased and the three of them vanished upstairs, though not before Colin managed to get two more photos of Harry.
"Where were we?" Orla asked, looking around. "Oh, right. Luna and Ginny were turning Harry into a girl."
"I never said this supposed to be Harry," Ginny protested.
"Then who is it?" Colin asked.
Ginny squirmed nervously under Orla, Luna, and Colin's combined gazed until Gabrielle sighed.
"It is Malfoy, of course," Gabrielle said matter-of-factly. "Who would make a better girl?"
Ginny tried to remember if she'd mentioned Malfoy to Gabrielle; she must have, though she wasn't sure what all she'd actually said.
The others seemed to like the idea – both the concept of Malfoy as a girl and Malfoy dating Ginny – and spent the next several turns speculating on this. At some point, Orla said that Malfoy was probably dating Crabbe and Goyle or something and Ginny pointed out that this would make him straight (since they had also decided he was actually female) and therefore wasn't interested in her. That gave them pause, but then they decided he was bi and continued spinning wild tails of his secret romance with her.
She wasn't sure whether to find the way everyone seemed to ignore what this would also mean about Ginny relieving or not. Everyone seemed able to picture Malfoy pining after an uninterested Crabbe, but the assumption seemed to be that if he liked Ginny, it had to be mutual. Maybe they were just forgetting that this would also make Ginny lesbian (or at least bi) so they could insult Malfoy, but the fact that they didn't even seem to be thinking about Ginny's sexuality was promising. Right?
Maybe … maybe she could even tell them, if the opportunity presented itself. But every time she might have said something, she froze up and couldn't say a thing.
At this point, Colin had pulled ahead of Luna by spinning a streak of 10s – each of which costing him 1,000 galleons because Ginny was Minister of Magic and could therefore charge 1,000 galleons for 'speeding' – and was the first to buy a house.
Orla held out the cards and Colin took three – a Giant's Cave for 9,000 galleons, an Enchanted Castle for 28,000, and a Haunted Shack for 21,000.
"Who'd pay 21,000 galleons to live in a Haunted Shack?" Ginny wondered aloud.
"A dementor might," Orla said with a pointed look at Colin's Career Card.
"Just because I'm a dementor doesn't mean I want to live with ghosts," Colin protested.
"But you wouldn't be," Luna said.
"Huh?" Colin looked confused.
"You'd be living at Azkaban. The dementors don't go home after work. They stay at Azkaban," Luna explained.
"Where do they sleep?" Orla asked.
"With the prisoners, of course," Luna said placidly.
For a moment they all looked her, surprised that she had said something like that and at the same time trying to figure out if she knew how that had sounded and if it had been deliberate. Maybe she had just meant that they slept on the island; it was impossible to tell from her expression. Then Colin laughed.
"Now that's an image I really didn't need," Orla said and everyone joined in laughing.
"Come on Colin, you should really buy the Haunted Shack," Ginny chuckled.
"But if I'm not even going to live there, why should I pay 21,000 galleons for it?" He shook his head. "No, I'm buying the Giant's cave." As he handed back the other two cards, a miniature cave sprang up beside his broom.
"Wait a minute," Orla protested. "If it's a Giant's Cave, isn't there a giant already living there?"
"So we'll be roommates."
"Hmm… wonder if it's a she-giant," Orla mused.
"I'm already married," Colin said, pointing at the pink peg behind his blue one.
"Maybe it's Madame Maxime," Orla suggested. "Don't you have a thing for French women?"
"French veela, not French Giantesses."
"Same diff," Orla said and Colin glared at her.
Luna reached the 'Buy a House' square on her next turn and bought a Shoe-House for 5,000 galleons, which Ginny thought was an oddly appropriate place for her to live. Orla picked the Volcanic Island, which cost 13,000.
"And who would pay 13,000 galleons to live on a Volcanic Island?" Ginny asked. "Wouldn't you die the next time it erupted?"
"But you get a whole island," Orla pointed out, paying as she did so. A small volcano appeared next to her broom, its rim dripping with red lava.
Ginny was unconvinced, but said nothing and Orla took her turn. Gabrielle was the last to buy a house, and ended up with a choice between a Land Far Far Away, an Enchanted Castle, or a Gingerbread House.
"Wait, why's the Gingerbread House more expensive than the Enchanted Castle?" Orla asked, looking at Gabrielle's cards.
"Because the house is dessert, too," Colin replied. "And just think of all the spells they must have used to keep it from collapsing."
"Gingerbread isn't very sturdy," Luna agreed. "Especially when it gets wet."
On her next turn, Ginny landed on 'Have Twins!' She added two pegs to the two already on her broom and it grew a little longer, another hole appearing behind the first four in case Ginny had another child. Her piece promptly fell over the moment she took her hand away and it took her three tries to get it to stay upright. She had never understood why wizards couldn't simply be practical and use cars like muggles did; cars were much more stable than brooms, especially since the sticking charms that were supposed to keep the pieces from falling over had long since worn off. At least the spell that moved them forwards worked and didn't knock them over.
"Wait, if you're both girls, how do you manage to have twins?" Colin asked.
Ginny tensed. How indeed?
But Luna simply said, "The same way everyone else does."
"But … don't you kind of need a guy for that?"
Luna shrugged. "There are spells."
"Ugh, I really don't want to know how," Colin said, making a face.
"Well, in the muggle world, there are sperm donors," Orla said thoughtfully. "Wizards don't do that?"
"Sperm donors?" Colin asked with a mix of curiously and embarrassment.
"Um, the game?" Ginny said quickly. She really didn't want to get into that discussion. Not with her mother in the other room.
"Right," Colin said.
Ginny took her Life Card: 'Defeat a Basilisk: 10,000 galleons.'
"That would have come in handy in your first year, wouldn't it?" Colin said.
Ginny felt her stomach go cold at the memory of Harry standing over her, soaked in blood and holding the diary in his hand. Her first thought had been to wonder why Harry was covered with blood and where they were. Then she had looked behind Harry and seen the lifeless form of the basilisk and it had all come back to her: the diary, coming down there, Tom Riddle….
"Yeah," she said, almost to herself. "Yeah it would have."
Colin, not noticing her expression, grinned – was she really that good at hiding her emotions, or was everyone just really oblivious? "Maybe you should give it to Harry. You know, since he actually did defeat a basilisk."
Ginny stared at him numbly. "I don't think he needs a Life Card to prove it," she said hollowly. Personally, she doubted he even wanted to remember the incident – she certainly didn't. But he'd seen so many things since then, maybe he didn't even mind anymore. And he'd been the one to defeat the basilisk, not the one who practically sold her soul to a diary and betrayed the entire school. So maybe it was easier for him.
"I don't know, maybe he'd like it," Colin said, still oblivious.
"Colin, just take your turn."
He shrugged and complied, landing on 'Have Fortune Told: Pay Seer 2,000 galleons.'
"Blimey Luna, your prices are steep," he muttered, handing over the money.
"Dinner," Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen, cutting off any response Luna might have had.
"Coming," Ginny called, hearing two similar calls from upstairs. She turned back to her friends. "We can finish later, or we can just call it quits."
"I should probably be getting home," Orla said.
Colin and Luna agreed, and they started adding up their money and Life Cards. Luna won and they put the game away, then went into the kitchen for dinner.
A/N: Erk... sorry this chapter took so long.
Anasazi: Mrs. Weasley will, eventually. (key word: eventually) Silver-nex: Finally? What's with this 'finally'? It took him all of about 12 hours, during most of which they were all asleep. :D Cossgirl123: Thanks... Life can be pretty sucky, can't it? Slayerwitch: ...you? Tora88: Sigh... yeah, we can dream. But I promise you that if we ever get over the whole gender thing, there'll be something else for people to grip about. Thanks. :D Kashiaga and Master of the Flames/Outlaw of the West: Thanks
Orange: Thanks for beta-ing and giving suggestions. And to the entire Cete: Thanks a million for that game of Life which kicked my out of my slump in this fic. Love you all!! :-P