Knights in Billowing Robes

By Siriusly Amused

Author's Note: I was three chapters into this fic before Rupert got sick and lost all of my files. Now I have a whole new plot to this story, unfortunately the first chapter is pretty much the same, therefore I have to write it over. Hopefully I can write it better.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that the fabulous JK Rowling has copyrighted.

Chapter One

Fairy Tale Stories

The sun had just dipped below the horizon, streaking the evening sky in varying shades of pinks and violets. The warm, summer breeze carried the intoxicating scent of honeysuckle and wrapped around nine-year-old Ginevra Weasley like a comfort blanket, causing her nightgown to blow about her knees and her long, freshly washed hair about her softly freckled face. She stood amongst the tall grass and flowers, her warm, brown eyes alert for any movement. After several minutes of patient waiting, Ginny caught sight of a soft blue light: a fairy.

She opened the large jar in her hand and, with reflexes that even her brothers could admire, snatched the fairy in the glass jail and sealed the lid on. She raised the jar in front of her face, and screwed up her eyes in inspection. Ten balls of light in varying pastel colors floated lazily around the inside. Ginny figured that ten ought to be enough and that she'd better return to her room before Ron got restless and wandered off to find something to do with the twins.

Ginny skipped through her yard, clutching the jar in her hands tightly. She littered grass through out the house as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Slowly she pushed her bedroom door open on it's squeaky hinges and entered as quietly as she could. In the middle of her room, basked in the bluish evening light, was a makeshift tent that consisted of a large sheet draped over assorted furniture. To some people, it would look like a mess, but to Ginny, it was a castle, and castles were the home of knights in shining armor.

A dull ball of light appeared in the middle of the tent, illuminating the frame of a small boy. Knights in shining armor...

"Lumos! Lumos! Come on you damn wand, lumos!"

Unfortunately for Ginny, this particular castle contained her eleven-year-old brother, Ron.

"You shouldn't swear, Ron," Ginny scolded, coming into the tent.

Ron tossed aside his newly acquired wand and placed his chin moodily in his hand. "I'm getting too old for this, you know; sitting in a tent full of fairies!"

He said it just as Ginny had opened the jar, the balls of light jetted out of it like shooting stars and zapped around them at an incredible speed before slowing down to float lazily about in the air. Ginny watched them glide around her for awhile, content with just being in her favorite place with her favorite brother. She loved fairies. She loved how they were different colors. She loved how they emanated grace and beauty. She didn't love, however, their vindictive nature. They loved to seduce men and trick women. That was why Ginny was glad that she and Ron were still children...or so she thought.

A pink fairy had just landed on Ron's bare knee. She cocked her head to one side and squinted at him for a moment before a devilish grin broke across her face and she began to dance in a seductive manner right there on his knee.

Ginny sighed. They saw it. It wasn't prominent yet, but they knew it was coming. Ron was on the brink of puberty. It was just earlier that week when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat Ron down and explained that the reason he was feeling tired, achy, and moody was that he was 'becoming a man' and that he would start growing at a 'rapid pace' very soon. By this time next year, he wouldn't fit in the tent anymore, much less want to be in it with his baby sister.

"What's the matter, Gin?" Ron asked, noticing her distraught state.

"Nothing," Ginny replied at once, swatting away the dancing fairy from Ron's knee and trying to smile.

Ron gazed at her oddly for a few moments before shrugging and bringing the plate of homemade cookies closer to him. "So what story do you want to hear tonight?" he asked through a mouthful of cookie. "I, myself, wouldn't mind a vampire one."

Ginny blushed. "Well, how about He Who Must Not Be Named and the Boy Who Lived?"

Ron rolled his eyes and picked up another cookie. "I've told you that one a hundred times, Gin!"

"I know, but...you're going to Hogwarts in two weeks and I won't get to see you for months and when you come home, you'll be too big for the tent and too big for telling me stories! I want this to be the last story you tell me!"

Ron sighed, his small shoulders visibly relaxing as he swallowed his last mouthful of cookie while looking pensive. "He's probably not even handsome, you know," he said at last in a matter of fact way.

Ginny knitted her brow. "Who?" she asked.

"Harry Potter," Ron replied as he leaned back upon his elbows and stretched out his legs in front of him. "I mean, according to Mum, he's my age."

"So?"

"So, that means he's a scrawny little thing!" Ron reasoned. "No facial hair, no deep voice, no muscles to rescue you from dragons and what not! I just don't see why you think of him as some," Ron paused as he thought of what word to use, "prince."

"He is a hero," Ginny stated, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest.

Ron sighed again. "Yes, he is, Ginny, I'm not saying he's not. I'm just saying that he's not a prince. Britain already has princes, or haven't you noticed?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I know he's not a prince, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a hero, or the fact that he's powerful, or the fact that he lives in a castle!"

For a moment, they both were silent, then Ron snorted as a smirk crept across his face. "He lives in a what?"

"A...a castle," Ginny repeated. She felt her confidence slip a notch.

Ron chuckled, shook his head, and rubbed his eyes at the same time. "I hate to tell you this, Gin, but I heard that he stays with his Muggle relatives...in a house."

Ginny opened her mouth to retaliate but was cut off as her bedroom lights flickered on and the sheet that cloaked her and Ron was yanked away from them. The fairies shot out of her open window.

"What's this I hear about Muggles?" asked George as he closed Ginny's window.

"Harry Potter lives in one," stated Ron. He tried to pry the cookies away from Fred, but was having a hard time with it since Fred was two years older and had already hit puberty. Fred looked confused as he easily held onto the plate as Ron tugged at it.

"Harry Potter lives in a Muggle?" he asked.

"A Muggle house!" Ron clarified, giving up with the cookies and stomping across the room. "What are you two doing up here anyway?"

"Putting you two bed," explained George. "Mum's orders."

"Yeah, so what about the Muggle house?" continued Fred, ignoring his current brother duty that his mother had enlisted him with. "Everyone knows he lives somewhere with Muggle relatives."

"He does not!" Ginny cried out which startled all three of her brothers. "He lives in a castle!"

"He lives in a house!" Ron exclaimed.

"Castle!"

"House!"

"Castle!"

"House!"

"Ron, brush your teeth!"

Everyone paused and looked at Fred who held the plate of cookies in one hand and pointed to Ginny's door with the other. Ron just stared at his older brother for a minute before cursing under his breath and stomping out of the room with Fred fast on his heels.

"Good night, Gin," George said, ruffling his younger sister's hair as he too made his way to the door. Ginny got into her bed and pulled the covers over her. George waited until she was settled and turned off the light. He had the door half way closed when Ginny called out his name.

"Yeah?" he asked, leaning slightly into her room, one hand on the door knob.

"Harry Potter lives in a castle, right?"

Angry yells floated down the stairs to their ears. It seemed as though Fred was having a tough time getting Ron to go to bed. George paused before giving Ginny a slight smile.

"Yeah, Gin, he does." And with that, he shut her door. Ginny smiled and drifted off to sleep, not knowing that across the country, Harry Potter was being locked in a cupboard.

End Author's Note: I have a cold and my brain is all delusional. This is more of a prologue than a chapter, but I wanted it to be a chapter, and it's my story therefore it is a chapter! Muahahaha!