Chapter 2
Wandering and Wondering
Look at all the pretty colours. Ooooh aren't they pwetty…Ginny wandered down the forest trail. The flowers in the forest behind their house were in full bloom and brilliant shades of purple and pink decorated the deep green of the forest.
Grrrrr! Only a few more weeks of this and then we're off to school. And I can see Trista again! She added on a positive note.
Ginny smiled at the thought of her best friend. They had met in Diagon Alley in their first year and been best friends ever since. Trista was a muggle-born, her black curly hair, dark skin, dark chocolate brown eyes and bubbly disposition made her the best friend anyone as insane as Ginny could hope for. There was no one nicer, funnier or sweeter then Tris anywhere in the world. Short and perky, that was Tris.
"Kssssch!" Ginny hurled back to the present to find Kitten, her tiny white owl, hissing at a pair of advancing crows. Ginny watched amused, as Kit puffed up her chest and spat owl curses at the crows. They have to be at least twice as big as her. Ginny giggled.
She had gotten Kitten for her 15 birthday, although the only reason she got her was because Pig had a little tumble with Mrs. Pennyfeather's owl, Angel.
Ah yes, the 15 birthday, it had been her best ever. She had finally gotten an owl from her parents along with a new pair of school robes and to top it all off, new dress robes from Fred and George.
Ginny frowned around her. She had lost track of time and had no idea where she was. She bit her lip and peered into the forest around her. A very large pine tree stood before her. It's branches swooping down to the ground. Near the top a wooden structure sat, nestled between two branches.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Ginny slipped under the bottom branches and looked up. The trees brown arms created a perfect natural ladder. Ginny vaulted onto the lowest branch and began to climb.
Three minutes later her head popped through a hole in the floor of the structure, which turned out to be an old tree house. Ginny stood up and brushed off the pine needles.
The walls of the tree house were made of branches, the floor was a huge slab of plywood and the roof had been constructed with more plywood.
Bent nails stood out at odd angles everywhere; a ratty blue blanket was thrown over a faded yellow armchair. Ginny laughed. This is so perfect! I wanted to have a place where I could be alone and now I have it! She leaned out one of the four windows and peered across the sea of treetops.
The Burrow sat lop-sidedly on the hill beside Eel Lake. Across the aqua waters was the Malfoy Manor. Ginny could see only a dot of black where it was, even if she couldn't see it properly she knew it was there, like a dark storm cloud just over the horizon.
A rustle from below jarred her back to the tree house.
"Well I knew someone would find my tree house someday." Bill's head popped up through the floor. Ginny shrieked and fell back into the armchair.
Bill extracted himself from the hole and sighed happily.
"Way to give me heart-attack." Ginny said angrily.
Bill laughed and stroked Kittens white head. Kitten started vibrating with pleasure. That's weird, even my owl thinks Bill's hot. Well who wouldn't? Black pony tail, treasure hunter, huge biceps, washboard abs...ack! Ginny! He's your brother! Stop it! Stop it!
Ginny banged her head against the wall. A branch fell away. Bill and Ginny watched as it tumbled down the tree. Bill made a face at the distance.
"Oh Merlin this place has grown since I was here last." He said backing away from the hole.
"Ooooooooh what's this? My mocho brother is afraid of heights?" Ginny steepled her finger and did her best plotting face.
"Tell and die." Threatened Bill. "Oh I have something for you." He added pulling a package from his back pocket, waved his wand over it and it began to grow, the once pencil sized object finally stopped at the size of a broom, and oddly enough it looked the part.
"I had to make it smaller so I could get it out of the country." He said sheepishly. Ginny brightened at the thought of forbidden objects and watched with interest.
"Hmmm does it taste good?" She inquired, already guessing what is was. Bill shook his head,
"No but its sparkly!" He said in a perky voice. Bill happily handed her the package.
Ginny looked at it uncertainly. "It doesn't look like something that would be sparkly."
"No you're right. It isn't sparkly...I just like that word." Bill said, receiving a funny look from Ginny.
"Now open the stupid thing!" He exclaimed impatiently. Ginny tore off the paper to find a handle, followed by more handle and finally the straight twigs of the end. The broom was birch and as smooth as glass. The wood was a pearly white colour and it hummed, as if excited to be free.
"Oh Bill! I love it! Where did you get it?" Ginny gasped running a finger along the wood. Bill grinned happily.
"I found it in an old pawn hand shop when I was traveling through France. The shopkeeper told me that it needed a sanding and then it would be as good as new. As soon as I saw the old Moonbeam I knew it would be a perfect gift for my little sis's 15 birthday." He ruffled her hair and grinned.
Ginny threw her arms around Bill. She was speechless. Moonbeams weren't a very old brand; they had come out just before the Firebolt.
"It's sort of old though. So, yeah, um if it starts to fall and breaks it's not my fault if you die. So no haunting me." Bill laughed when Ginny paled and hit him.
"Ok little sis, let's go get me a broom so you can show me your chaser skills." Bill slid through the floor; Ginny followed eager to try it out.
She had been training all summer for the team and was delighted that she had gotten the place of Chaser. Most of the team had left because they finished school so the team now consisted of Ron as keeper, Peakes and Coute as beaters. Ginny didn't actually know their first names. Harry got his seeker position back along with being captain and Ginny was chaser along with Katie and Damelza.
As the two Weasleys headed to the broom shed they barreled into Fred, George, Charlie and Ron. They were all out of breath and had huge grins on their faces.
"We got it!" Gasped George. Ginny frowned, confused.
"What did you get?" She asked suspiciously.
"The shop! The apartment!" Fred scooped her up in a hug and did a happy little dance around the yard.
"Wait, wait, wait! Shop? Apartment? Can you please fill me in?" Bill wined, picking up the white broom from where it had fallen.
"Zonks went out of business! We bought the shop!"
"It's bigger than the one in Diagon Alley. But we're keeping that one as a chain." added George
"There's an apartment upstairs and we will move in there! I'm. So. Happy!" Fred set Ginny down and bounced beside them as they walked towards the Quidditch field.
"Ginny! Trista's here!" Ginny jumped off her bed as her mom yelled up the stairs. She trotted down the stairs and barreled into Tris.
"Ginnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Tris squealed hugging her. Ginny hugged back, exclaiming about how good it was to see her as she was.
The girls grabbed the essentials and stampeded up the stairs, stopping twice for Tris to peer around the door to Ron's room and the twins.
For some reason, unknown to Ginny, girls had started to flock to her once gangly, shy daft brother. And the twins were an even bigger mystery. Still obsessed with humiliating her she found absolutely nothing appealing in them. Although that could be because of the fact that: THEY'RE YOUR BLOODY BOTHERS! She shook her head to dislodge the voice and pulled Tris away from the bathroom door that had been left open by a half naked Charlie.
Ginny sprawled across the bed. A pile of magazines and chips sat in the middle of the floor.
"Pass me the dill-pickle chips." She propped herself up against a pillow.
"Catch!" Tris appeared from the pile and hurled the bag at her. Ginny laughed and snatched it out of the air.
"So girl, are you totally stoked about fifth year?" Tris asked stuffing a handful of pink popcorn into her mouth.
Ginny made a face. "Nah, its school, remember?" Tris nodded in agreement.
"But what about Harry?" She asked slyly. Ginny shuddered remembering her past obsession. Tris raised an eyebrow suggestively.
"Oh forget him." Ginny giggled and added. "Although he has a killer six-pack..." Tris shrieked and whacked her with a pillow.
"I. Did. Not. Need. To. Hear. That!" She shrieked, clawing at her ears and thumping the pillow against the hysterical Ginny.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahh! I'm joking!" Ginny's scream was muffled with pillows. A frantic frenzy of pillow fighting followed. Suddenly Tris stopped. A horrified look flashed onto her face.
"How would you know if he has a six-pack?" She asked suspiciously. Ginny grinned evilly.
"Oh wouldn't you like to know."
Tris shuddered.
"I'm sure you'll come up with something way worse than what it actually was." Ginny said laughing as Tris glared at her.
"Stupid overactive imagination." Tris muttered.