Ginny was just hanging a blue and silver Christmas ornament on the tree when the front door of the burrow opened, letting in Hermione, Ron, and a rush of cold air.
"Merry Christmas, Ginny!" Exclaimed Hermione the minute they came in. The two girls hugged quickly and Ginny turned to her older brother for a smile and a hug.
"Long time no see." Ron said, smushing her in an embrace.
"Too long. How's work?" she was regarding Hermione and Ron's help to find the remaining horcruxes. Now that Hogwarts was closed for the year, most students were being home schooled or were going to work for the time being. Some were to come back when the school reopened, and some just weren't going to finish school. It was sad. She herself was lucky since her mother could home-school her, but there were many families she knew could not. Mostly ones in which the mother and father both worked and could not afford one of the parents quitting. Due to the closing, the economy of the magic world was about to collapse. Everyone could see it coming, and no one could do much about it. The magic world had been functioning basically the same way for centuries: children went to school at 11, graduated at 17 and started working. The economy was pretty steady, even in war time, and the work force was firm as well. Now, mothers were quitting to teach the children, so the fathers needed to make more money. The ones that could fired workers and worked more jobs, so that there was a larger work force and not enough work. The world seemed even worse than it was during the last time You Know Who was in power. Or so her mother had said once, while they were discussing the issue one night at dinner.
"Well, it's not really work…" Hermione said with a small frown. "And it's hard and dangerous and frustrating."
"But it's the most we can do." Ron said with a small smile.
"Well, I appreciate it. But why would it be frustrating? I would love to be working now."
"Well, it's incredibly hard to find horcruxes. Voldemort hid them so well, as can only be expected. It's terrible. The only real way to find them is guess and check. And the check part of it takes about a month or so. It's really very annoying. But I know it's important. "
"Not to mention we're not being paid."
"Ron!"
"What?" said Ron, shrugging. "We really ought to. We're doing much more than the minister and yet he's getting millions of gallons while we…don't." Hermione didn't look convinced and Ginny cocked an eyebrow at her brother. "Plus," he defended himself, "I still need to pay for food and for my share of the house. It's easy for Harry, what with all his savings, but it's honestly hard for me. I have no time for a job and no money. I have to make due with the ministry's small Hogwarts dropout allowance."
"It's called a student W.A.C."
"Whatever it is, it's running out. The ministry can only waste the money for so long before they realize they need it to fight Voldemort."
"I mostly feel bad for Harry." Said Hermione with a small frown and no attention towards Ron. "He's working himself incredibly hard. He doesn't even let us help at times and gosh knows he needs as much help as he can get."
"Dumbledore's death was hard on him." Ron stated, leading the two girls towards the kitchen so they can sit at the table while they talked.
"It was hard for everyone." Ginny said, still remembering the funeral and the day Harry and she broke up. She wasn't bitter about it. It was just a memory. "Where is he now?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, I don't even know anymore. Last time I saw him he went into the Ministry Library again, trying to get some…clue." Hermione looked worried. "He's been working himself so hard." She said, oblivious to the repeated saying. She shook her head.
"Ginny!" came a slightly pretentious, matured woman's voice that didn't sound like Molly Weasley. "Giiinny!" the woman called again, and Ron sat up straight.
"Gran?" He called to the living room.
"Ronald!" the voice answered in a softer tone than the one which had summoned Ginny. Ron stood up and walked quickly towards the living room, where an old woman and a Christmas tree stood, both alike in their posture.
"Gran!" Ron ran to his grandmother and hugged her. She smiled a proper 'hello dear' grandmother smile and then turned to Hermione, whom she did not know. Ginny hurried to introduce her friend. "Granny, this is Hermione, Ron's and my very good friend. Hermione, this is my grandmother, Doris Weasley."
"I'm very pleased to meet you Mrs. Weasley."
"Call me Granny, dear, or Doris if you'd like. It's simply so confusing with two Mrs. Weasleys in the house, even though I was the original." She laughed lightly and Ginny noticed easily how false her laughter really was. "So, Ginny." Her grandmother's voice became sterner. "I would like you to finish hanging the decorations on the tree by tonight, dear." She smiled at Ron and Hermione and exited the room. Ginny frowned and turned to the Christmas ornaments while Ron and Hermione glanced at each other and turned to help Ginny with the tree.
"Ginny, pass the mashed potatoes." Ron ordered four hours later, during dinner.
"Ask nicely, Ronald." Granny Weasley ordered.
"It's alright." Ginny told her, grabbing the bowl of mashed potatoes, but Granny shook her head and gave Ginny a mean look and Ginny put the bowl down again, tapping her foot.
"Will you please pass the mashed potatoes, Ginny?"
"Yes Ronald." The potatoes were passed.
"How was work, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley asked, attempting to change the subject in favor of the mood.
"The usual." Her husband answered, eating his roast. "The Minister had a conference today so that there wasn't too much going on. A lot more rapid plants this week than we usually get." Mr. Weasley fell quiet suddenly, seeming to contemplate the reason for the many fast-growing plants in muggle homes. Suddenly, a loud slam came from the front door. A cold breeze reached them and they heard the shuffling of exhausted feet on the floor before whoever had come in had collapsed with a 'thunk' on the floor. George was the first one to move, rocketing up from the dinner table and over to the entrance to see who had come.
"Oh, no." They heard his worried voice. Ginny, Hermione and Ron all looked at each other with scared, quick glances before getting up to look as well. Ginny couldn't say she hadn't expected it to be him; He always had such dramatic entrances, but it was terrible to see Harry scratched, exhausted and soaked in her house, where she was used to him being cheerful if not healthy and well cared for.
Harry had been thoroughly cleaned by both Hermione and Mrs. Weasley and put to rest in Ron's old bed, since his friend did not really live in the house anymore. He lay, quietly rejuvenating, under three hand-sewn quilts, his arm, knee, left hand and foot bandaged, and his hand all along clutching something they couldn't see until he came to.
It had taken Harry two days to wake up from his sleep, in which all of the Weasleys continuously visited and cared for him. The most attentive by far was Ginny. She cleaned him (with magic); made him drink (with magic); kept his bed comfortable and visited his room twice a day. The rest of the family helped, too. Arthur had made flu calls to anyone he could think of who could have seen him last for a clue of what had happened to Harry. The most he could get, however, was the Ministry librarian's description of Harry running off from the library after about an hour of calm studying, mumbling something about a cup.
"Unbelievable." Ron said, staring down at Harry, Ginny and Hermione by his side. Ginny made an amused sound, smiling down at Harry's sleeping form.
"Did you really expect him to call you two up by flu? The second Harry figured out where the next horcrux was, he went for it. You knew it would be like that. He'd never put you two in danger." A dreamy look rested on Ginny's face for a second. She looked to her right. Hermione had a tear in her left eye which Ginny could see very clearly and she kept mumbling about going to get a cup of tea ("With two sugars, he likes it. Yes. I'll go get some tea.") But didn't move.
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Ron looked her over.
"I'm going to get some tea." Hermione nodded, walking slowly out of the room.
"Ahh…" came a weak new voice, undeniably from the bed.
"Harry!" Hermione's voice squeaked, running over to him.
"Hello, Hermione. How are you?" Harry smiled slightly, one of his eyes opening.
"Nice dreams?" Ron asked, a big smile spread across his face.
"Something about rice and a bear." Said Harry, smiling the same way, as well. "Hi, Ginny."
"You made us all really worried." She said, her face serious and her eyes filled with tears, one of which escaped to her cheek. It wasn't hard to see she meant he had made her worried. Harry smiled kindly at her and wiped the drop away with his bandaged hand.
"Sorry."
"So, which one is it?" Ron interrupted, staring at Harry's closed hand. "The cup?"
"Yeah." Harry opened his hand to reveal the silver object. It gleamed and Ginny thought she could feel Voldemort's evil soul sort of radiating from it.
"How do we destroy it?"
"A strong curse should be enough. The magic that guarded it is off."
"Where was it, Harry?" Ginny asked quietly.
"In his closet. His orphanage bedroom closet."
"Why there?" Hermione asked, searching for the sense in Voldemort's way of thinking.
"You're going to try to find the common sense in a serial killer's thought process?" Ron asked rhetorically.
"Of course I am. We have to know how he thinks to find the rest couple of horcruxes."
"He's insane, Hermione. There's no sense."
"There is." Hermione persisted.
"He hid it there because that's where he found out about his powers and it was the first place he ever killed anything (a rabbit of a boy he hated). It was where everything started for him."
"What kind of spells where guarding it?" asked Ron, ignoring Hermione's smug look. Harry looked tired suddenly.
"I don't feel like talking about it. You should call the rest of the family, anyhow. They'll be mad that you didn't tell them I woke." Harry said, hiding the cup quickly inside a bedside table drawer, in which stayed only two old extendable ears and a ruined alarm clock. Ron and Hermione hurried downstairs to call any Weasleys that were home. Ginny and Harry were left alone in the room, both of them smiling.
"I'm really proud of you for finding it and everything." She said, her mouth curling into a smile as she heard her mother yell and laugh and rush up the stairs as the news of Harry having woken up reached her.
"Thanks." He said, and Ginny leaned in and kissed his cheek quickly, giving him a soft hug as well. She straightened in time for her mother's entrance.
"HARRY!" She exclaimed in joy, scooping the boy out of the bed in a crushing hug.
"Ahh…oww…Mrs. Weasley…Mrs. Weasley…" Harry mumbled in pain but Molly didn't seem to hear him, hugging him tighter still.
"Mum. Mum. Mum." Ron said, trying to pry his mother off Harry gently. She let go and looked at her son.
"Oh, was I hurting him?" She asked. "I'm so sorry, dear." She told Harry. "How are you feeling?"
"Good, thank you." He said, glancing at Ginny for a second. "I'm sorry I worried you."
"Oh, Harry." Molly smiled adoringly. "Who wants tea?"
"I hear the boy is awake." A stern voice closened, entering along with Doris Weasley. She smiled an odd smile to Harry and then said, "So you are the famous Harry Potter."
"Hello." Harry greeted, trying to guess who she was. Her obviously once-red but currently whitened hair and glasses told him she was probably either Molly's or Arthur's mother, but he had never heard of either one. Her body was pretty short, and just a tad plump. She wore a red, rimmed hat, a black shirt, white A-Line skirt that reached her shin and a somewhat dirty yellow apron.
"I'm Doris Weasley, Arthur's mother. My grandchildren had all told me about you. You all seem to have a good relationship." She surveyed Ginny closely, looking from her to Harry and back.
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs.-"
"Doris." She fixed, smiling tightly and turning to the door. "I'm glad to found you are awake. Ginny, will you give me a hand in the kitchen please?"
"Umm, sure." Ginny answered, walking away with her grandmother.
"Hermione?"
"…"
"Hermione?"
"Hmm?"
"I can't sleep."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"…"
"Hermione?"
"What?"
"Oh, come on."
"Why don't you just go and get a glass of milk? That always helped me when I was little."
"I don't like milk."
"Tea, then."
"Tea? In the middle of the night?"
"Ginny…I'm really tired."
"Okay. Sorry. Go back to sleep."
"Good night." Hemione's voice came out even fuzzier than before and Ginny got up from her bed and tapped her way to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Tap tap. Tap tap. Ginny stopped. Someone else was up as well. She listened more closely. It was coming from Ron's room. But Ron was sleeping in Fred and George's room, which meant that it was...
"Ginny?"
"Harry?
"Yeah." Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she could see his shape pretty clearly now. He seemed a lot healthier than two days ago, when he had just woken up. He was standing straight, not showing any sign of pain, and his voice was stronger.
"I couldn't sleep." She whispered unnecessarily.
"Me neither." He shoved his hands in his pajama pants pockets. "I was just going to get a snack from the kitchen." He whispered back. They walked downstairs side by side and sat down at the table, Ginny bringing them both a glass of water and Harry bringing six squares of chocolate and some butter cookies. Ginny examined them critically.
"What's wrong with cookies?" Harry asked defensively when he noticed, taking a sip of the water.
"Nothing."
"The chocolate's the problem, then?"
"No." There was silence while Ginny took a quiet, long sip. "It's just that…" she took another sip, "it's the middle of the night and I'd prefer not to brush my teeth twice."
"So don't brush them."
"I could, but then it would take me even longer to fall asleep."
"I doubt it, Ginny."
"Doubt whatever you'd like, but it's true." They were quite for a little bit, before Harry broke the chocolate in half, pushing three squares towards Ginny. She smiled a bit but then focused on his face with a different air.
"You're very admirable."
"Thank you."
"Really, you are." She continued. "I don't know anyone quite like you, Harry. And if that's not admirable on its own-"
"You're just as unique." Harry complemented, making Ginny smile and shake her head.
"Not quite."
"You are too." He argued. "Well, I won't get into details," He said, "But you are. You're amazing. You make everything better, and more real. It's amazing."
"Real isn't necessarily better."
"In that case, I definitely meant the best kind of real and only that kind." Harry said smartly.
"How do you stay alive, Harry? Mentally."
"Uhh…I keep my brain working?"
"How are you not in shock or depression or something?"
"I don't know. But is that necessarily good? Doesn't my so called 'liveliness' make me messed up?"
"No!"
"You wouldn't say a person who'd seen people murdered at least three times three years in a row and who hasn't let the fume come out was messed up?"
"No. You just haven't had the right person help you take the fume out." The two stared at each other. Ginny broke a chocolate square and popped it in her mouth. Harry's lips curled into a sort of victorious smile.
"Why couldn't you sleep?" He asked liberally. Ginny shrugged and explained about a headache and terrible thought she was sure were going to turn to a nightmare.
"They won't if you think about them enough. I read it once in some crappy newspaper coloumn. Dreams are supposed to come from unfulfilled thoughts or something. Like, if you saw a chicken in your yard and some thought was sparked up but you didn't really go with it because just then, a bear came into your yard… well, that might not be the best example but if it were, and the article was right, then you would dream of the chicken and not the bear."
"Right. I get it." She finished another chocolate square and Harry took a cookie.
"I think I'll go to bed." Ginny said, getting up. "So I can have some energy for presents tomorrow morning." She smiled. "Merry Christmas." She exited.
"Here's ours, Ginny." George handed her a small, bright, disgustingly colored, neon yellow present. "We thought you'd like the color." Her brother added with a very straight face.
"It's very appropriate, thank you." She answered, wearing a face a bit like her grandmother did when she looked at Molly: not amused and serious. She ripped the wrapping to uncover a small black box which held a note and what seemed like a miniature bronze telescope.
Dear Ginny,
The letter read.
For your Christmas gift this year,
We have made you special gear,
In which you could see 'most all you need
Including Ron, Gran Doris, Uncle Reed.
We would like you just to know
How to use this here ol' Joe,
And so here are the instructions if you please:
Make a map and sign,
With name of place and all,
And make sure that you mark it
With every room and every hall.
Put the map then in the pocket
On the right side (with the fuzz)
Then just put it by your eye
And watch what it undoes.
You should see whichever room you'd like, whoever's in the room, from one or two angles (By the time it's in the market, it'll be from every angle). If you connect earphones, you can even hear, though it might be a bit blurry. We haven't worked out all the bugs concerning hearing quite yet. Hope you liked our poem. It took us a long time to write. We've happily joined some common maps of places we thought would be useful, including but not limited to: Hogwarts (for when it opens again), Hogsmeade, The Trio(Ron, Hermione, Harry)'s house, The ministry (only Dad's office) and the Burrow. Try not to use this on boys too often, alright? Happy Xmas.
Your loving brothers, Gred and Forge.
Ginny turned her eyes away from the paper after reading the poem a second time. She couldn't believe it. She picked up the telescope and fingered it's right side (The twins had written R and L for Right and Left on each side since the tool was round. She could feel a bit of fuzz when the R was marked but all she could see on the bronze was a small scratched patch. She searched the room for Fred and George. They were talking to Harry six meters away. She walked over and hugged them both, but only after folding the note and pushing it safely inside the pocket of the telescope. She knew that if she had gotten the instructions and present quietly, which was so unlike the twins, it meant the tool was a bit of a secret. Fred and George loved to make a deal out of anything. And they hadn't.
"Thank you! Thanks so much!" She repeated to each one of them.
"Enjoy." They said together.
"Ginny, here's your gift!" Hermione called the girl over and they exchanged Hermione's reading book for Ginny's bag that they had gone to buy together. It was much easier to buy presents when it wasn't secret. And you got exactly what you wanted. They said their thanks. Ginny was smiling from cheek to cheek by the time she had gotten most of her presents: Fred and George's telescope, Hermione's bag, Ron's candy, the new sweater and shoes from her parents, Bill and Fleur's crystal necklace and Charlie's dragon-hide gloves, along with his explanation that the hide was taken willingly from a dragon three days before he shed it so that there was not harm done. Only Harry's and Granny's gifts remained. Her grandmother approached her first, a large, flat, light lavender box in her hands which had small, curled black letter printing Romantique.
"It is a fantastic French dress company." She said concerning the name. "I thought this would be an appropriate gift to my only granddaughter. You are, after all, turning seventeen next year." Her grandmother said with a smile. "I hope you like it." She said nicely, handing Ginny the box. She opened it, uncovering white tissue paper. She unleafed it and stared. Inside the box lay a magnificent pearly ivory silk dress. Ginny sat down slowly on the Burrow's worn, almost ripping at the seams red couch and picked the silk up slowly out of the box to look at it. It had a beautiful deep V-neck and a dark green brooch at the Neckline's point that could easily come off if she wanted. The dress seemed to reach to the knees and had a small, hardly noticeable tie at the back and no sleeves. Ginny blinked three times, beaming at her grandmother, who stood at the other side of the living room, talking with Arthur. Ginny folded the dress neatly and put it back into the box. Harry was walking towards her, looking a bit shy just as she realized she hadn't given her grandmother the present she had bought her, a new magical cook book. She noticed, however, that Doris was holding it.
"Ginny?" Harry asked gently, standing in front of her, his eyebrow cocked.
"Harry!" Ginny beamed at him, handing him his present, a long, plain, blue envelope with the words Merry Christmas on it in silver print. "I hope you like it." Harry smiled and took the present, opening it. Three pieces of paper lay inside and Harry grabbed the first one, Ginny's note. It contained exactly three words: Enjoy, Love, Ginny. Harry took out the second and third scraps of parchment. These ones were much different.
"How did you get this?" Harry called enthusiastically, his eyes not leaving the ticket.
"Two months in advance. I got a discount from the ministry since Dad works there and all. The seating isn't all that good…"
"Ginny! These are tickets to a professional, Ireland against India Quiddich game! The seating can be in a cart full of bull crap and I would enjoy it!" He grinned at her. "You're fantastic." He hugged her, still smiling. She was smiling, too, now. He looked down at the gift that was intended for her. "This seems so lousy, now." He said, raising it. Ginny put her palm up for it and Harry handed it over.Her present was also in an envelope only hers was parchment colored with a red stripe along the top. Ginny ripped the envelope open. A card with a book adornment fell out.
"Oh, wait." Harry said, smiling and handing over a large rectangular gift, too. Ginny gave him a sort of odd look and opened this one as well. It was a book. "I thought you'd like it. I just finished it a week ago. It's really great." Harry said, smiling. "And that," he pointed at the card, "Is a card which works at every bookstore…except for muggle stores, of course. You have four books a month for six months on this card but you could also take and return books from the shops, as long as they're not too damaged. And if you return a book, then you can take another on its expanse."
"So that if I keep two books and then take a book but then return it and take another, I still have another book that month that I could take."
"Exactly. Good. So…though this seems like a sort of Hermionish present, I thought you'd like it…so you're not bored when you're here by yourself."
"Thank you so much, Harry." Ginny said honestly. "It's exactly what I needed."
Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were all sitting in Ginny and Hermione's room, talking about almost nothing when the subject of the Quiddich tickets came up.
"Hey, I got the same from Hermione." Ron said when Harry mentioned his own tickets.
"Fantastic." Harry said, feeling weird. So that meant that Ron would be at the game anyhow, most likely sitting next to him, so that his number one choice of a person to invite was already coming and he would have to invite someone else. This, obviously would be very uncomfortable. If Harry had chosen Ron it would be understandable: they were best friends from the moment they had met and were both crazy about the game. It was true that Hermione was also his best friend but it was well known that she hated Quiddich, as absurd as it was, and would never enjoy a game as much as Ron would. So now who would he pick?
"No, Harry. I won't have it any other way." Molly said for about the hundredth time, standing in the kitchen during breakfast, two days after Christmas day.
"but Mrs. Weasley," Harry reasoned again. "I really do have things…to do. It's not easy."
"And what is that thing?"
"I can't tell you." Harry said for the hundredth time.
"Well then," Mrs. Weasley seemed very happy about what she was saying. "you'll just have to stay here, in the burrow for the next two weeks at least, until I'm sure- until I'm positive, that you're strong enough to be on your own again."
"But-"
"I won't have it any other way." Molly said again. "You'll stay." And she left. Harry stayed at the kitchen table, shaking his head with a smile.
"She's awfully stubborn when she wants to be." Ginny, who'd been sitting next to Harry all along but saying nothing, said now. Harry nodded, rolling his eyes. "But I'm kinda glad she is." She said, with a thought. "At least it won't be so boring around here." She explained.
"I guess it won't be that bad." He said, smiling a crooked, cheeky smile.
A/N: end of chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it. Naturally, it seems better than my other stories to my mind, but that's only because I wrote it. I hope you could see all the Italics and fonts and bolds, 'cuz I really liked them.
Expect another couple of chapters or something…I doubt this will develop into a story with more than four chapters.
Please please review. Even just little "Goods" or "fun" or "pretty bad- too realistic, not enough spark"
I dunno. Whatever. I do think it was realistic, but I like that kind of thing and I feel it's important for me to understand what readers like. I value your opinions a lot. Please review. I even asked nicely.
Yours,
CP