"Ginny, wait up," a tired Hermione panted after a swiftly moving Ginny. "Hurry up, Hermione, or we'll be the last to arrive!" Ginny said over her shoulder, her pace never wavering.
Ginny and Hermione were on their way to The Burrow, the Weasleys' abode. The two girls were rushing to the house as everyone was already there. It was Ginny's final Christmas break at Hogwarts. It will be the first time she will see Harry after three long months. It will be the first time she will see Harry after so many long periods of waiting in between owls. It will be the first time she will see Harry—
Ginny's steps became faster in a sudden burst of energy.
"Ginny, wait up," Hermione shrieked.
"Ginny! Hermione! Welcome home! Merry Christmas dears! Come here Ginny dear…Hermione, you look lovely today," Mrs. Weasley said to both girls as she, with the rest of the Weasleys and Harry Potter, gave both women big bear hugs.
"I'm fine Mum, school's the same as it was last year…Ron! How's playing with the Chudley Cannons," an excited Ginny blurted to the Weasleys as Hermione tried her best to answer simultaneous questions of "How's working at the Ministry?" from the rest of the Weasleys with "Working at the Ministry has been a wonderful experience so far…I am immensely enjoying it."
After what seemed like a long time of hugs and greetings, Ginny found herself facing Harry…and staring at him as if she has not seen him in years instead of only three months.
Ginny found herself unable to speak. All she could do was drink in the details that were Harry James Potter. So many imagined scenes were playing simultaneously in her mind: Harry running towards her to give her a big embrace; Harry telling her how much he misses her; Harry finally going down on his knees to proclaim his undying love for her; Harry asking for her hand in marriage with the entire Weasley family and Hermione giving their whole-hearted consent and support…
"Hallo Ginny, Merry Christmas," Harry said softly to Ginny.
"Hi Harry," Ginny shyly replied after seconds of awkward silence on her part. Damn! She thought, what have I been thinking? He is just a friend, nothing more, so I better act the part. "So," she continued on a more confident and haughty note, "what has the Ministry's biggest prat been up to these days? Too busy to send even a short owl to his friends?"
A wide grin spread across Harry's face. "And how is the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain dealing with the pressure of delivering another Quidditch Cup to McGonagall? Don't tell me a promise of Bat-Bogey Hexes to your team-mates heightened their desire to do things your own way?"
Ginny glared at Harry, "Just for that I challenge you to a match later at paddock. Whoever loses will have to pay the other with a consequence."
"Deal!" Harry said. "Hey Ron," he called out, "What do you say we teach your sister a lesson or two about a great Quidditch game later?"
"Ginny, are you sure this is a good idea," an anxious Hermione asked the young redheaded woman as they, along with the other Weasley children and Harry Potter, make their way to the patch behind The Burrow.
"Why the anxiety, Hermione? I thought Gryffindors are noted for their daring…" a bemused Fred answered.
"Besides, with us on your team, where else can we go wrong?" George piped in.
"And we do believe you have faith in our sister's ability as a Quidditch player…"
Hermione snorted, "You never even bothered to let her practice with you until you saw her play during your seventh year!"
To which George sheepishly replied, "Ah yes, a great oversight--"
"But we are making up for such a big mistake, right dear sister?" Fred brightly asked Ginny.
"Don't even mention it," Ginny muttered.
Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione agreed to join Harry and Ginny play out a little bet. When the rest of the Weasley children heard about the "bet" from Hermione, even Mr. Weasley expressed his interest to join, he was, however, stopped just in time by his indignant wife.
"You better have the sense to leave them alone Arthur Weasley!"
The bet was simple, first team to reach 150 points wins. Like before, they were to use apples to prevent Muggles from seeing them flying with their broomsticks. What drove the others to join was the consequence for the losing team: a small box of Ton-Tongue Toffees awaits the unfortunate party with the winning party determining when the anti-dote can be administered; and for her part, Ginny prefers not to be victimized by her twin brothers' nasty toffees.
As there were nine of them, they all agreed that one has to become the referee. Since Percy showed no inclination of mounting his broomstick as a player and that neither team wanted him, he volunteered to be one. He then let Harry and Ginny take turns in choosing members of their teams—with the twins given the liberty of choosing which side they will join.
The selection was relatively quick. Ron and Hermione went to Harry's team—they were his best mates, after all. Charlie and Bill were on Ginny's side…and as for the twins, a violent fight almost ensued among everyone as Fred and George adamantly refused to be split up.
"Are you nuts!" Ron yelled, "Why can't the two of you split up? Just because it's your toffee that gets to be the prize…"
"Temper, temper little bro' or we might choose to feed you the toffees instead," Fred threatened with a leer. Ron replied with the usual rude hand gesture that made Hermione reproach him.
"How sweet, these two…don't they look good together? I wonder how their children will look like," George cooed with a snicker. "Oh that will be easy," Fred supplied, "They'll definitely have red hair, but none of Ron's penchant for clumsiness, oh, and they'll probably have bushy hair, too." Except for Ron and Hermione who both turned an angry shade of red, everyone snorted and sniggered.
"Cut it, you two. We're here to play Quidditch and see who will win the bet," Hermione chided.
"Oh pipe down, Hermione, we're just enjoying the regal presence and wit of the twins," Bill smiled.
"But not at our expense!" Ron spat back.
In the end, the twins were finally persuaded by the rest to split up to ensure a semblance of fairness. Fred ended up in Ginny's team while George joined Harry's. Percy gave each team ten minutes to hatch a game plan.
"We might as well be prepared to play dirty," Ginny told her brothers. "I will not be surprised at all if those gits decide to do so. I have no plans whatsoever to eat those toffees of yours, Fred."
"I agree," Charlie said. "There is no way that I'll be submitting myself to the embarrassing outcome of your products, Fred Weasley, I'd rather be the spectator in this little bet."
"Since you three are the real players in the team, any ideas on how we can nail them?" Bill asked hopefully. The three other Weasleys looked at each other and grinned evilly. They have a plan.
"What kind of call was that!" Harry bellowed at Percy after Fred viciously threw the apple toward Ron. Unluckily, Ron failed to miss the apple, which hit him in the head, producing a very ugly and painful bump.
"A legal one," Percy calmly declared. "We only agreed on the condition that will determine the winning win. We never agreed on the kind of rules we'll be applying. "Dirty Play Quidditch" has always been the norm with my brothers even when Ginny joined them after her fourth year. Since we are no longer at Hogwarts, school rules don't apply here."
Ginny smirked. She, Ginerva Molly Weasley, together with her brothers, knew their moves will be considered legal by Percy. Since she joined the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, her brothers let her join them whenever they played Quidditch at The Burrow; and their rules had always been the "Dirty Play Quidditch" they're doing now with Harry's team. Why her other brothers never seemed to tell Harry of it, she never knows. However, when Harry turned on her with flashing eyes, she knew their dirty tactics are about to get dirtier.
"Ginny Weasley, I'll make you pay for what your brother did to my Keeper!" Harry shouted. "Ooh, I'm scared, Potter!" Ginny rolled her eyes, "For your information, I, unlike you, have no intention of letting my team subject itself to the toffees my twin brothers have so generously offered as bounty. If you are willing to take the embarrassment in exchange for your team's well-being, feel free to do so." She spat.
Harry stared at her, surprised. Then, with a determined set to his jaw, Harry declared, "Let's see who'll have the last laugh later on, Weasley," and flew towards Ron's end of the goal. Ginny, on the other hand, stuck her tongue out at Harry's retreating back and flew back to her team with an evil grin, her team-mates grinning evilly as well.
Hermione watched this exchange raptly. She knew something was up between the tension they all witnessed between Harry and Ginny, but she can't pinpoint it out yet. She was mulling on whatever she saw when she was jolted by Ron's shout, "Hermione! What are you doing out there staring? We're having a time-out!"
"Oh, I'm coming!" as she hastily flew towards her team.
A/N: Yes, this chapter is quite too short in terms of development. I have the fifth chapter's beginning in mind already, don't worry. What I have to worry about is typing it down. Kidding. Let me know what you think. I am craving for reviews. Criticisms are welcome, as well.
I'm really sorry about keeping you people waiting for more than a year before I got to update this story. What with writer's block and the arrival of HBP, I practically lost interest in continuing the story. However, I never stopped reading other fanfics. Seeing that the authors never wavered despite the developments between Harry and Ginny, I decided to chuck all worries and see where my fingers will lead me on the keyboard. Thank you for believing that I will resurrect from the dead. Vikinglords