Howdy. It took me forever to update this story but I do have a very good excuse. I forgot I was writing a story. Yup, that was it. It's true, what with the Olympic games and my country losing an incredible amount of games, I really forgot it. I even had to re-read what I had written (finding scandalous mistakes) in order to remember what I wanted to do. So, after a long time of absence, here it is, the third chapter.
DISCLAIMER: If I owned Harry Potter and everything related, I'd have a really cool website. I don't even have a DND sign to put on my door.
Chapter 3 – Another Day
The day started like any other. The sun was rising, the birds were singing. And the Weasley twins were invading their brother's bedroom. Not that they did that every single morning, but every once in a while during summer. They crept in very silently, trying to find the best way to wake Ron up without resorting to any method already used (ice thrown inside his clothes, shouts of "earthquake" or, the worse, spiders on his bed). Slowly they approached the bed and then they noticed something.
"Something is up", Fred whispered.
"Yeah... look at his face", George answered also in a whisper. "He has the stupidiest grin possible"
With a strange feeling that he was being watched, Ron started to wake up slowly against his own will, for he wanted to continue the so very nice dream he was having. Noticing what was happening, the twins decided they would give Ron an old-fashioned fright: just be there watching him when he woke up. That usually left him a bit paranoic for a week or so. Finally opening his eyes, Ron saw a couple of freckled faces looking right at his own. He jumped out of bed pulling the covers with him, becoming entagled with them and falling hard on the ground.
"Goodday!", Fred said cheerfully, "had a good night of sleep?".
"I dare say that he did have a very good night of sleep and had very pleseant dreams", George said with a mischievous grin.
Ron was too busy puffing and trying to free himself from the covers but still managed to ask "what do you want?"
"The day is just begining, we've only come to say good morning and he's already in a bad mood. Tut", Fred said while helping Ron to get out of the web formed by the covers. "I don't need your help", Ron muttered, but allowed Fred to help him nonetheless.
"Anyway, dear bro", George said, looking at the mirror and fixing himself. "We've also come to say that, if you are to work with us, you ought to talk to mother about that, we don't know her plans for the summer. But if you are to come, you start next week "
"Think about that. Working at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. How glorifying."
"We ought to go or we'll be late to the meeting with the suppliers"
"Yes, business awaits for us. Farewell little brother" and with a little noise Fred disapparated.
"You can go back to sleep now" and George too disapparated.
Finally completely desentagled but still on the ground, Ron stared at the empty stop where his brothers had stood and snorted loudly. Go back to sleep, he thought to himself, like that's gonna be easy! He threw the covers on the bed and grunted. And I was having such a nice dream, I was with Hermione and... He froze, stiffened, scowled and said aloud "It was NOT that!".
"Already up, dear? Who are you talking to?" Mrs Weasley was freely walking around Ron's room picking up dirty clothes.
"Mom! No one. How are you?"
Molly looked at Ron with a weird expression, as though she thought he was slighted perturbed. "I am... fine. And you, darling, are you OK?" She promptly let go of the basket inside which she had put the clothes to go check Ron's temperature. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Mom! I'm fine!", Ron said, pushing her aside. "I asked because... just... ", he sighed, "good morning" and smiled.
With a slight frown, but smiling back, Mrs Weasley answered. "Good morning to you too. Why are you up so early? Ginny's already up too, dunno what happened to you two. And she's cooking breakfast, says she wants to help." She picked up the basket. "If she doesn't burn anything, it should be ready in about 5 minutes." She opened her mouth as though to say something but decided against it, only smiling again and then she left the room.
After staring for a second or two at the door, Ron decided that this day had started in a very odd way and to make sure that not everything was weird, he thought of going down for breakfast. And then he remembered that Ginny was making the breakfast. She had never complained about helping around the house, but to cook was something she had never tried before. "If you can't beat them, join them", Ron said to himself, thinking that maybe he should de-gnome the garden later.
Having finished his morning hygiene process, Ron started down the stairs and was passing by Ginny's room when he heard a weird noise coming from it. Going inside to check what it was, he saw that an owl was trying to enter the room through the slightly open window but got stock because there were a lot of books preventing the opening to get wider. As soon as he took the books out of the way, the owl pushed open the window and flew inside the room, dropped a small letter and flew away. Curious as to what it was about, Ron bended down and picked it up, only to find Ginny's name written in Hermione's handwriting. Curiosity growing on him even more (I just want to know what they have to talk about, that's all), he practically ran to the kitchen.
"Gin- ow! What's that smell?" he was greeted by a wave of air that smelled much like burnt rubber as soon as he step foot on the landing.
"That's... very well toasted toast!" Ginny replied laughing her head off. He took a seat at the kitchen and looked at her arching an eyebrow. She explained, still laughing. "Well, you see... I burnt the toast, spilt down the milk and the cheese is so well melted that it's liquid."
"You are a great cook."
"Thank you very much."
"But what's with the rubber smell?"
"I dropped a fake wand inside the fire. Stuff happens".
"At least you tried, dear." Mrs Weasley had just entered the kitchen, now holding a basket with clean clothes. "Sit down, you two, I'll take care of the breakfast. You can try again another day, honey".
"Yeah, I think I will"
"Maybe you should try again only at Hogwarts. Speaking of which, this has just arrived to you" Ron handed her the envelope.
"A letter from Hogwarts?", Ginny asked, confused.
"Nope, from Hermione."
"Then why did you- ah, never mind. I wonder what's she writing me for."
"I was wondering the same thing. You talked to her just yesterday."
Ginny shrugged and tore open the envelope, inside of it was a little piece of paper, with a note. After reading, and Ron observed the whole proccess carefully, Ginny had a small smile playing on her lips.
"What does it say?"
"It says that she's leaving Hogwarts to pursue her dream of being an activist for the animal rights."
"WHAT?" Ron tried to take the letter from her but she managed to keep it out of his reach.
"What's the matter with you two? Ron, sit down properly. Here." It was Molly serving them breakfast.
"I just wanted to know what Hermione said in the letter."
"She wrote to you?"
"No, to me."
"Then you don't have to know, Ron, let the girls have their secrets", with this reply Molly sat down to eat breakfast with them and Ron grew grumpy and Ginny's grin grew wider.
"Actually, that's ok. It's just about something we were talking about on the train."
Despite of himself, Ron lifted his head and payed attention to what Ginny was saying. "Here, you can read it". She passed on the note to Ron, who, as a sort of revenge, read it aloud.
"Dear Ginny, remember that we were talking about music once and I told you about this singer whose songs I happen to like and I kept humming one of her songs because I couldn't remember the lyrics? Well, I was reading this magazine and there were some parts of one of my favourite songs and I remembered of you instantly and stopped at the post office (luckily, I was near a wizards community). Here it is. That's it? She wrote to you for that?"
"Yeah. And I think it's good that she wrote me, it shows that she remembers."
"What's the song?" Molly asked. "You read everything, except the lyrics".
Ginny took the note from Ron and read the lyrics aloud.
"What am I to you / Tell me darling true / To me you are the sea / Fast as you can be / And deep the shade of blue . Hermione says that's all there was on the magazine, but she could remember more. When I look in your eyes / I can feel the butterflies / Could you find a love in me / Could you carve me in a tree / Don't fill my heart with lies / I will you love when you're blue / Tell me darlin' true / What am I to you. It's by someone called Norah Jones".
Ron made a funny noise with his throat and then said: "It doesn't even have a meaning".
"Of course it has. You just can't see it". Ginny replied and Ron was about to answer back when they heard their mother sniffing. "Mom, are you ok?" Ginny asked apprehensively, but Molly was already drying her eyes and waving her hands. "It's nothing", she said standing up.
"It's ok, you can tell us" Ron gave an assuring look and so did Ginny, which made Molly look at them with tear in her eyes.
"It's just that... that song reminded me of your brother, Percy", looking at the state of their mother, Ron and Ginny couldn't say a word against Percy now and so they just let her go on. "That song is about love and broken love", she sat down and looked at them with intensity and showed with her look how much she had been hurt. "My love for you... all of you, can never break... I will never stop caring for all of you, no matter how much you grow, I'll always think of you as my babies. But sometimes your actions, your decisions, they hurt me... us, your father and me. And Percy... we love him just the same, but he just won't come back, he won't even admit that he was wrong." She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand again, and Ginny noticed she had tears in her own eyes while Ron felt a lump on his throat. "Your father and me were once talking about having kids. We said that having kids is allowing your heart to walk outside of your body. And right now", she started sobbing, "my heart is- is shattered... it's – missing a piece". Molly couldn't help it anymore and started crying again in the kitchen. With a "ow, mom", Ginny cried together with her and Ron looked upwards in order to contain a trickling sensation he had started feeling in the corner of his eyes.
It took them quite a while to recompose themselves. Molly kept saying she shouldn't have cried in front of them, that they shouldn't be dealing with this kind of things when Ron finally said that they were there for her as much as she was for them. Her eyes had watered again, but she didn't cry, she gave both Ron and Ginny a long hug and then they went on with their normal lives, each of them running different chores. Ginny helped Molly inside the house and Ron, feeling the need for something more physical, maybe to take out on something else what he was feeling towards Percy right now, and having decided he had had too much of emotions to last him a lifetime, he did what he had thought about in the morning: de-gnoming the garden. If Fred and George were there, they'd be impressed at how far Ron could throw the gnomes at that moment.
Soon lunchtime came and went, the day was passing quickly. It was in the middle of the afternoon when Molly called Ron in to have some refreshments.
"You need to drink something. You've been out in the sun too long."
"Yeah", Ginny said, "you're going to dry up, dehydrate and die."
"Glad to see you both worry about my well being."
"It would take an awfully long time to clean the garden and get rid of the evidences, that's all". Surprisingly, it was Molly who said this with a playfull smile on her face. She went inside and beckoned them to join her.
"She's in a much better mood."
"She started looking at some pictures and suddenly... she was happy." Ginny answered Ron's unasked question with a slight frightened look.
"She's not... on something, is she?"
"Ronald! Ginevra! Are you coming?" Came the shout from the kitchen, making them forget their worries and hurry to meet it. Comfortably sitting in the living room, the three Weasleys took a break from their activities and had nice cold pumpkin juice with sundwiches. Starting to feel lazy, Ron remembered of the letters he had thought of writing and said "I think I'm going to clean Pig's cage" when he was actually thinking about taking the opportunity to send Pig to Harry and Hermione.
"Don't bother, I already did that", Ginny said, making Ron stop on the middle of getting up from the couch.
"Why?", he asked suspiciously.
"I used Pig to send a letter and cleaned his cage. I hope you don't mind".
"You should have asked first", Ron replied, throwing himself back on the couch and starting to turn red.
"Now, Ron, don't be so possessive", Molly said with a reconciliating tone of voice.
"It's my owl!"
"And it wouldn't kill you to share some of your possessions with your sister", Molly stood up and collected the empty plates and into the kitchen.
"It's the only thing I have that it's mine and I still have to share it" Ron muttered under his breath.
"Calm down, will you, I won't use Pig anymore, trust me", Ginny said on a much lighter mood. She decided that Ron's attitude wouldn't bother her just then.
A few moments and some calming breaths later, Ron decided that maybe that matter wasn't worth all of this, or at least he wanted to show Ginny that he didn't care so that she wouldn't have any weapons to use against him. She always new how to use things against someone. Trying to sound as friendly as possible, Ron asked
"So, who did you write to?"
"I wrote to two people so I think it'll take some time till Pig's back".
Mentally kicking her, Ron said "that's ok."
"I wrote to Dean and sent an answer to Hermione".
At exactly the moment that she mentioned Hermione, Mrs. Weasley entered the living room, with another plate full of sandwiches and a jar of juice. Both Ron and Ginny looked at her apprehensively, as though the mere mention of their friend's name would trigger some kind of reaction on Molly. In fact, it did, but quite differently than they thought it would.
"Oh, speaking of Hermione, can you read me the song again?" noticing the somber expressions and the frowns that her kids now carried, she said "Oh, I am not going to cry again. I just thought of something else that goes well with the song."
Ginny, with a look that clearly said that it was up to her, Molly, the decision, said that she would get the letter in her room. In the meanwhile, Ron started bitting his nails. Noticing her son's behavious, Molly sat next to him on the couch and patted his leg. "I appreciate your concern, son, but I am much better now". Ginny arrived at that moment and sat on the ground, opening, once again, the envelope. "Let's have it then, can you sing it?", Mrs. Weasley asked cheerfully.
"No, I don't remember the tune. Anyway..." and Ginny read, once again, the lyrics that Hermione had sent her. This time there was no crying, instead Mrs. Weasley had a knowing smile on her lips. After listening the same words a few hours ago, she had cried, and now she was with a happy smile on her face. That was reason enough to make Ron and Ginny think that their mother had finally cracked. Having gone through great emotional distress lately, Molly was very sensitive and would feel any emotion with great intensity. The crying and the support of her kids was what made Molly feel stronger and that she wouldn't need to cry anymore because it would be all right, so she allowed herself to be happy, even for a few minutes. And at that moment, that was how she felt. Good memories flowing through her mind, she simply felt happy.
"Mom?", Ron waved a hand in her face. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, yes, dear, I am fine, just fine."
"Why did you ask me to it read again?" Ginny asked, curiously. This earned a glare from Ron who was sure that if Molly started talking again, they'd start crying again. Not him, mind, only they, the females.
"I was looking at some photographes and... I saw a picture of our wedding. And how we looked happy, Arthur and me. And I remembered what you had read and it reminded me of the night he proposed", Molly answered with a slight excitement in her voice. Ginny also grew excited, she had always liked listening to her mother tell the stories. Ron, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. He was definitely not interested in listening to this kind of conversation, but he lingered there, too lazy to move, and now not really worried about crying.
"Why did you remember? Did he sing you a song?"
She shook her head. "I already told you how he proposed. What made me remember was only because, the night before the proposal, I had asked him exactly 'what am I to you?'", Molly smiled. Ron made himself more comfortable for now he was thinking about taking a nap. "That was all"
"Oh. And that was how he answered, then? By proposing? You told me about the night he proposed already, but you never told me about the night before.", Ginny crossed her legs and rested her head on her hand.
"There's nothing much to tell, really. We had a little fight and I asked him that and he answered that I meant everything to him and that he was preparing a surprise to me for the next day. I begged him to tell me what it was, but he wouldn't. And it was the proposal". Both Ginny and Molly were smiling and Ron turned to the other side only not rolling his eyes because they were closed.
"Mom... how did you know... that daddy was the one you were supposed to marry? Was he the only one you dated?"
Molly giggled (Ron snorted, but couldn't sleep so he opened his eyes and listened, but didn't turn to look at then). "Well, I did have some dates before your father, but with him, it was different".
"Yeah, but how did you know?" Ginny insisted, part out of curiosity, partly because she honestly enjoyed these conversations and also because she was happy to see her mother smiling again.
"I know it might be cheesy to say but... love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. And Ginny, once we started dating, I couldn't imagine myself without him. And that's an advice I give to you" and turning to Ron and poking him on the ribs "and to you too". Ron rolled his eyes but kept them open and looked at his mother. Ginny was eagerly listening. "I say, fall head over hills. Find someone you can love like crazy and who will love you the same way back."
"Yeah, thanks", Ron said sarcastically and closed his eyes again. His mother playfully pinched him.
"Don't mind him, mom. He's deprived of any kind of emotion"
"Thank you, someone who actually knows me".
"Be alone for the rest of your life, then." Molly said, still playing, and turned to Ginny. "But I am serious, Ginny. The truth is, honely, there's no sense living your life without all of that. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love... well... you haven't lived a life at all."
"Well, you can't say she's not trying", Ron sat up, stretching himself. "She's dated that dumb boy from Ravenclaw and now she's seing Dean" he said with a certain disgust.
"Mind your own business!"
"Ronald, respect your sister. She's young, as you are, and she ought to have her own experiences, as you should", Molly and Ginny exchanged a look and then looked back at Ron, who wasn't looking very pleased.
"Why are you looking at me for?"
"Now, honey, you ought to try too. Because if you haven't try, you haven't lived. But don't just do it, you have to mean everytime and there'll be that one time when you'll trully forget your head and you'll listen to your heart."
"I appreaciate your concern", Ron said, tapping his mother's shoulder and standing up. "But if there only was a shorter version to-"
"Stay open, honey." Molly interrupted. "Who knows? Lightning could strike", and with that she glanced quickly at Ginny and then back at Ron, who turned red a little, but quickly composed himself.
"With that I agree. Lightning definitely could strike... Ginny" and he gave her a look full of meaning.
"Hey! I am trying. You don't really think I'll find the love of my life at the age of 14, do you?" she replied, purposely "not catching" the meaning that Ron wanted to give to the lightning.
Ron opened his mouth to reply, but it was Molly who spoke. "If you are or not, we don't know, but you sure are going to help me with dinner. Your father and your brothers are going to be back soon. Come on" and she entered the kitchen to go back to her usual activities and Ginny followed her, after exchanging a little smile with Ron and picking up the plates and glasses they had used.
Looking at the letter Ginny had forgetten, Ron picked it up and read again.
"Lightning could strike" he said and snorted to himself, but carefully traced Hermione's handwritting with his finger. A handwritting that he knew so well, from copying all those homeworks, and a person who he knew so well, from being her friend for such a long time. But one thing he didn't know about her. Had lightning ever struck her? He lingered on the question a bit, contemplating all its meanings. Had she ever liked Harry? What was going on with her and Krum? And that thought made him a little pink behind his eyers. A completely different shade of pink from the one he had at the next thought. Had he ever thought about, well, him?
"Wow, what am I thinking?", Ron shook his head, coming back to himself. Certainly the family was going through difficult times, what with his mother acting weird and him having thoughts that, most certainly, weren't his. Shaking his head again, he left the letter where he had found and picked up a glass that had been left behind and walked towards the kitchen with the intention of helping in something. As he walked, he thought with himself and hoped that the summer wouldn't be as those last two days were, eventfull and filled with contrasting emotions.
"Because if it is, everybody's going to be living at St Mungo's by the end of it".
THE END
A/N: I never thought of going much further than I have. I shamelessly copied parts of the movie Meet Joe Black. The song belongs to Norah Jones, it's called What am I to you and it's in her album Fells Like Home. Please, if you still have some patience left, dis me on the review.