Chapter 4: New Friends and New Home
Harry pulled the wagon slowly up to the large wooden cabin. Ginny looked round beaming. Her new home, her own home. There was a massive barn next to it, and farmyard animals ran free around the house.
Harry jumped down from the wagon and helped Ginny down. As she took another look around she spotted an untidy looking man. Her head tilted to the side as she tried to place him, he had dishevelled blonde hair and green eyes.
"This is my friend Blaise Zabini," Harry said pointing at the unkempt man. "How are you Blaise?" Ginny said friendly. "My Wife, Ginny," Harry informed him.
"Wife?" Blaise repeated. "Well, I'll be a monkeys uncle. Gred, Forge, he done it! He got married!" Two other men ran over. They were red headed twins who Ginny recognised instantly.
"Fred? George?" She looked at them bewildered. It had been years since she had last seen.
"Ginny? Our little Ginny?" George questioned.
Fred looks her over. "Couldn't be. Our Ginny's only yay high."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Could you two stop being idiots for a second."
They grin at each other and hug Ginny at the same time. It had to be her; no one else could sound that much like Mrs Weasley.
Fred said, "What's this we hear…"
"…about you marrying Harry?" George finished.
Before she could answer Harry was introducing her to the next person who had shown up.
"Ginny!" Ginny whirls round to see a lanky read head running at her. He picks her up and hugs her. "Ron!" Ginny shouts in disbelief.
He puts her down and asks, "What are you doing here?" Blaise smiles, "Meet the new Mrs Potter." Ron looks at Harry and Ginny, anger evident in his eyes.
"Two sickles says Ron pummels Harry," Fred and George whisper, they knew their brother, especially his temper. Blaise shakes his head, "Two says he'll be happy for them." Harry places an arm around Ginny who leans into his side and smiles. Ron's face softens, "I'm so happy for you." And he embraced them both. Blaise smirked.
"Pay up," Blaise said holding his hand out, Fred and George regretfully hand over a sickle each.
"You didn't tell me so many people lived up here," Ginny told Harry. Harry looked flustered, "Must have been the wedding, threw it out of my mind."
Ginny nods, seeming to accept that. "Do you live around here?"
Blaise shakes his head, "Not around. Here," He gestures towards the lone house. Ginny looks at them all, suddenly shy, despite most of them were family. "I guess I should have picked more sorrel." Harry grabs her bag from the back of the wagon and takes her hand.
As they enter the house, Ginny's face scrunches up in disgust. The place was a pigsty. Chairs and tables were thrown haphazardly around the room, there were half eaten plates of food and even a few chickens running loose. In one corner sat a sleeping man.
"It might need tiding up a bit, but now that you're here," Harry said. He nudged the sleeping man with his foot, waking him. "Meet Ginny, my wife. This is Neville Longbottom."
And finally a bright blond, grey-eyed man emerged from the kitchen carrying a spoon. "This is Draco Malfoy." Harry took the spoon off him and threw it on the table; "We're going to have some human-cooking now that she's here."
"Are there any more?"
"No. Just the seven of us," Harry said. Ginny looks at them, "I didn't know there were so many of you. And why do they keep calling you Ron?"
Ron looks at her, pleading with his eyes. The twins and Harry wear identical grins. And the rest look confused.
"It's his name, isn't it?" Draco asks.
"Actually…"
"His name is…"
"Ron…" Ron cuts them off by hitting George with the spoon and kicking Fred in the shins. A fight breaks out. Harry points towards the stairs, "Up here's the bedroom." Ginny looks round at the boys, "Can't you stop them?"
"You'll get use to that," Harry shouted over the mini brawl. Ginny looks confused, "Was it something I said?"
"No. Ron's just touchy about his name," Harry clarifies. "You know he hated the name your Ma gave him. He prefers Ron to Ronald." Blaise couldn't contain his laughter, "Ronald!" Ron's ears tinted red with anger at his birth name. He punched Blaise who joined the fight to.
"The boy's bunk down there. Follow me, I'll show you the rest," Harry calls. Ginny manoeuvres around the squabbling boys. The others follow her and Harry into the kitchen.
"That there's the washroom. Me and the boys are hard on clothes, so there'll be a lot of washing and mending. But now that…"
"That I'm here," Ginny finishes. "This is the kitchen," Harry tells her.
The four boys who had been fighting push past into the kitchen, disrupting the cutlery and the pots. Harry shouts, "Get out of here! All of you get! How's she suppose to get supper?" He pushes all of them out of the door.
"Water's outside the front door," Harry says. "The dinner bell's right there. So ring it loud when suppers ready."
Ginny looks round dejected. She puts her bonnet and the sorrel down on an empty bench. She sighs, then rolls up her sleeves and starts gathering pots and pans, cleaning the table so she can make supper.
A little while later, Ginny rings the dinner bell loudly. The boys come running in, climbing over each and the table to get a seat. When they've sat down they start grabbing at the food, piling their plates high with the first good hot meal they've had in ages.
Ginny storms over. She hits Ron on the hand with her ladle. "Ow!" He stands up.
"What'd you do that for Ginny?"
She puts her hands on her hips and gives a look that causes him to shrink back into his seat. "All of you falling on the food that way!" She shouts, "Haven't you any decency to wait for grace?" Several of the boys look up perplexed. "You don't even know what I'm talking about!"
Harry enters, "Trouble?" She gestures at the boys. "Must be good!" Harry comments. He too starts piling his plate high.
"All right. If you're going to act like hogs you can eat like hogs!" Ginny screeches as she forces the table to tip. The food slides down the wooden surface and into the laps of Ron, Blaise and Neville.
Ginny runs to the bedroom, the boys laughter echoing through the house. She slams the door shut and pulls the bolt across. As she leans against it she sighs and wonders how she ended up in this situation.