Disclaimer: Characters, settings, etc. not mine, story is, yeah…You know the drill

Chapter 3

Two days later, Ginny was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and looking out one of the pane-glass windows. She was wearing a fluffy pale blue sweater, somewhat frayed at the edges, gray sweatpants, blue slippers, and clutching a cup of hot tea in her hands. It was four o'clock in the morning, but she was wide awake and waiting impatiently for the arrival of her favorite brothers.

Having Fred and George around would certainly take a load off, in more ways than one. They adored Sirius, and their boundless energy made them perfect playmates for Ginny's tempest of a son. And they were always up to something risky or mischievous, whether for business or pleasure, which would take Molly's attention away from Ginny for the duration of their visit.

Besides that, Ginny was more like her prankster twin brothers than any of the others. Like them, she was stubborn, capricious (though nowhere near as much as they), and a little foolhardy in many of her decisions. She also looked more like them, being slightly short and broad-shouldered, with a square jaw and dustings of freckles across her rounded cheeks.

Ginny jumped slightly as two people materialized in the front yard. Though she had been expecting this, she was tired enough for it to startle her. She smiled broadly as the door burst open, and Fred and George, burdened with trunks and many brightly-colored packages, tumbled in. Despite the early hour, they, like Ginny were bright-eyed and ready to go. Their twinkling brown eyes scanned the room, and fell on Ginny, who was beaming from the counter.

"Ginny!" They exclaimed, dropping their packages on the table and striding over to envelope her in their wide arms.

"Hi!" She chirped from somewhere in the folds on their voluminous robes. They laughed and released her.

"What are you doing up so early?" George asked.

"Just waiting for you to get here. Tea?" She gestured them to the table.

"Coffee, please," Fred said, sitting, "Apparition takes it's toll on you, especially at this hour."

Ginny turned and began brewing a hot pot of coffee with her wand. She felt George's eyes on her as she busied herself at the counter.

"So you're the single mother of a three-year-old, who I don't doubt was being a regular fanged frisbee last night, what with the excitement of his favorite uncles coming to visit, and you get up at four in the morning just to greet us?"

"Yeah," Ginny said with unconvincing innocence, pouring them both steaming mugs of coffee and setting them on the table, before sitting down next to George.

"Thanks," Fred said appreciatively, a keen eye on his little sister, "But we're not buying it. You never greet us and make us coffee when we come to visit."

Ginny laughed lightly. True, she was usually curled up in the warmth of her comforter at this time in the morning, and favored throwing hexes to giving hugs when someone woke her up early. She blew a little on her tea, though it was now only lukewarm.

"Mum bugging you?" George asked.

"She's always bugging me. She won't let up for even a second. I feel like she's watching me wherever I go, even when she's not here! Drives me up the bloody wall…"

"So what do you want us to do?"

Ginny scowled at her brother, though she was somewhat pleased that he had seen through her cover so quickly. Ginny had discovered that being the sort of person who doesn't hide their emotions made lots of things difficult, and a few things easy. Ginny's inability to be subtle made it easy to ask for things, because there was no point in pretending when people could read your fibs like a book, and being blunt was just so much more her style.

"Well, she and dad have an anniversary coming up, and I told them they should go on a holiday for it. I mean, they've never done that before, because when they were first married it just wasn't safe, and after that they always had seven kids to look after. And of course, they've never had the money. But Mum's still on a guilt trip about…Well, you know, and she doesn't want to leave me here alone with Sirius."

"Oh, bugger," George snorted, "You survived on your own just fine, and...,"

Ginny's face tightened, only the slightest bit, but George noticed it. His face flushed and his voice trailed off.

"You'd be fine on your own," Fred picked up, "So you want us to convince Mum to go?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, her voice flat. Then, setting down her cup, she stood, "I think I am going to go back upstairs and get a little more rest before Sirius wakes up. I'll see you later."

"All right, sleep well," Fred, knowing it was pointless to try and stop her, simply tried to keep his voice light, as though nothing had happened.

As Ginny left the room, Fred glared at his twin, who still looked abashed.

"Bloody fucking brilliant, you are," Fred hissed.

"Oh, sod off, it's four in the morning, I'm tired," George retorted, though his blush deepened considerably, "I'm going to bed."

Ginny did go back up to her room, but she didn't go to sleep. After kicking away her slippers, peeling off her sweater and her sweatpants, she climbed into bed with every intention of sleeping, but despite the warm cocoon of her comforter and the serene darkness of the pre-dawn hour, sleep would not come.

Her heart was clanging violently inside of her. Ginny fought against the wave of emotion that was plunging ferociously against her throat. She squeezed her comforter to her as hard as she could. Ginny hated crying, even alone, and she wasn't about to break down over something her idiot brother had said. She clenched her jaw as hard as she could, but was unable to resist any longer, and the wave broke through with a gasping sob and a torrent of hot, bitter tears.

Ginny buried her face in her pillow, so that her brothers wouldn't hear her, and to keep Sirius from waking up. At that moment, she hated George with every ounce of her being. There she was, waiting pleasantly with hugs and coffee for him at FOUR IN THE BLOODY MORNING, and he, being the enormous, ungrateful git that he is, had to go and ruin everything.

Thinking such horrible thoughts about her brother made Ginny cry even harder. George was immediately forgiven, though not without resentment. Ginny wept into her pillow a bit more, until her body stopped shaking, and her heart slowed down. Her sobs diminished into sniffles, and a headache erupted in between her eyes.

Groaning, Ginny slowly rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. Her room was just beginning to flush with the light of dawn. Sirius would be up in less than an hour. Ginny flung her arm to the side, grabbed hold of a pillow, and smothered her face with it, willing the darkness of night to return so that she could gain just a few more hours of sleep.