The Boy Who Granted Wishes
Five years old Ginny Weasley ran through the kitchen door pulling her only one year older brother. He was her favourite brother in the whole world, (and boy, did she have a wide range of selection). It was actually her who cut his name from Ronald to just Ron some years ago, when she was learning her first words. Her petit figure hoped up and down as her spring white dress bounced around her. Her short red hair tied into small pigtails that resembled the light of dying candles and her freckled face turning into the widest smile as she saw the people gathered there.
It was the first day of summer vacations, not that it matter a lot to her, as she still wasn't in school yet. Wizard's Elementary didn't allow children younger than eight, which meant that Ron and herself were the only Weasley kids who still spent the whole year at the Burrow. The twins, Fred and George, and Percy attended the occidental school of magic Clow Elementary, however, Charlie and Bill where old enough to go to Hogwarts, and they had all came home about fifteen minutes ago.
Ginny, being the only girl in the family, besides her mom, Molly, and the younger one, was kind of everyone's pet. Bill would always pick her up and spin around with her until they were both giggling so hard and the world was going round and round so fast that if he kept going she'd throw up. Charlie loved to make stories for her; it was his fault that she became an early dreamer and would remain so for the rest of her life. Percy showed her the importance doing things on her own, independence was his legacy. Fred and George always taught her something incredibly dangerous, but were of course, always watching after her so she wouldn't get hurt. And Ron, well, she just liked him for being himself. They would play together, fight over toys (and it was Ginny who usually won), blaming each other for the broken vase or covering the other's mischief so mum wouldn't tell them off.
"Percy!" The little red haired girl cried as she flung her arms around him, being the closer one to the entrance, and bit his shoulder playfully as a demonstration of love, she always did that and no one knew where she had picked it up from. After repeating the gesture with all her brothers, although Percy would always complain of the small round wet mark that her teeth left on his shirt, she sat down on Bill's lap. Ron wasn't as effusive as she was, but enjoyed being all together with them nonetheless.
"How was the trip, boys?" Asked Arthur, who had just gotten home, as the Weasley Clock showed. He was wearing the patched suit he always wore for work and ruffled Ron's hair while kissing his wife lightly on the cheek.
"It was all right, the train didn't seem so terrifying as last time, no snow storm or anything." Charlie answered as he thought of the time they had come home for Christmas.
"Charlie kept making up stories about dragons and princesses and the boy who granted wishes," said Bill trying to annoy his younger brother. "No one would sit with us"
"Alisa was there"
"Yeah, probably because no one would sit with her either"
"She's a good listener" Charlie added defensively.
"She's a bit off, actually" Bill continued. It was so easy to annoy Charlie, and it was as fun too "Lovegood's a bit weird"
"Now, now boys, don't fight" interrupted Molly. "better go and unpack kids, and leave that alone Fred" her eyes looked accusatively at him and whatever he was holding under the table.
"Charlie?" Ginny called as they were climbing up the stairs.
"Hmm?"
"Who's the boy who granted wishes?"
The place the Ministry of Magic had lent the Weasleys for summer resembled Ginny of a castle, or at least how she imagined them to be from Charlie's stories. Tall stone walls, long corridors, spacey rooms all lit with candles and torches and beautiful decorations everywhere. Some other families who also worked at the Ministry were also staying there so there were plenty of other kids to befriend with.
Upon arriving a meeting a lot of people, grown ups mostly, Ginny set herself to do what she was best at, what she liked the most and that no other of her brothers had. She was a natural explorer, always wanting to know everything about everything and getting to know every single corner of the world around her. Her curiosity was insatiable.
She was wearing what she liked to call her explorer's suit, which consisted of black trainers, beige pants, dark green shirt and a muggle fisher's hat her dad had given her for her birthday.
In the first two days she had already seen all the inside of the castle and met all of its ghosts and all of its portraits, getting along particularly good with Lizzie Knott, the ghost of an eight year old girl. There weren't any real children her age, so she would wander off on her own around the castle (foreseeing her mom's paranoia) or play with the other kids who had already become friends of her brothers.
One day they all decided to play hide and seek, a game apparently as popular in the wizarding world as in the muggle one. Having explored the whole castle already, she found everyone rather quickly when it was her turn and it all prove useful again when nobody could find her and had to send the game over sign everywhere so she'd reveal herself. It was some Longbottom boy's turn when she accidentally discovered a secret passage hidden behind the stairs in the first floor. Her curiosity once again getting the best of her, made her follow the passage until she ended up underground, or at least that's what she thought cause it kept going downwards and had no windows or light at all. Ginny gave a small jump and felt a little frightened when the secret door slammed behind her. Curiosity killed the cat, had said Percy once, when she was trying to figure out what was inside a box he wouldn't let anyone see. Well, I'm not a cat, replied Ginny stubbornly. That's right, I'm not a cat, just go on Ginny, there must be an exit at the other end she told herself.
It is said that kids often think the worst when they're frightened, but Ginny was way too optimistic for that, so she followed the path blindly until it led to a small circular room, a very small one. She could almost touch the walls opposite each other by outstretching her tiny arms. She had partially crawled to get here as the tunnel she was following got smaller and smaller and all her robes where muddy and wet. Wet? And looking at her feet she realized they were covered up to her knees in water and then looking upwards she discovered that the wall stretched up a long way and then there was only the sky. How on earth was she supposed to climb up there?
A lot of time passed before she remembered that George had bewitched one of the hooks that hung from her muggle fisher's hat so that it would support her weight. He had done that to help her climb trees, but this would also work. Thank goodness she loved that hat so much that she wore it almost every day.
Carefully, Ginny took the hook out of the hat, a thin string coming out of it, and threw it as hard as she could upwards. It took about five tries for it to finally get stuck on the high of the wall. She tied the other end of the string around her waist and began climbing the stones. One by one and looking for cracks or opening between them to put her fingers there and then her trainers, and the job made hundreds of times easier thanks to the bewitched hook, her tiny hand finally reached the up most stone and climbed out of the hole, realizing now that in fact it was not a circular room or a hole but a well.
Her pretty blue eyes scanned the new area she was in. It was pretty much deserted, some scattered trees here and there and somewhere in the background, the castle they were staying at, along with some three or four more adjacent buildings. Very slowly, Ginny made her way back, hoping she could get to their room before her mom saw her cause she was a complete mess.
That night, Ginny pondered awake for quite a while. A well… just like in Charlie's stories… She would definitely have to go back to investigate.
Some days later, having had a bit of a trouble getting away from everyone, she made her way to the clear between the trees, where the well awaited as an island in the middle of the ocean. She had of course remembered to put on her hat in case she decided she needed to climb down again. What she didn't know, however, was that she'd be using it for something else, or rather, someone else.
It was around sunset, she had planned to be there at that precise moment. One last check at herself, a deep breathe and she looked down. For a split second, her heart stopped. There was actually someone down there! 'The boy who grants wishes!' She thought.
"Hi there" Ginny called. The boy looked up. "Are you the boy who grants wishes?"
"Huh?"
"You know, the one stuck in the well that's supposed to make a wish come true if you catch him at sunset" she was smiling sweetly, the boy looked half annoyed, half confused.
"Did you hit your head or something?"
"Oh c'mon, you have to be him, everything points to it, the sunset, the well, you stuck down there. I mean, you're even as pretty as Charlie said you would be"
"I'm not pretty. Boys are not pretty" he stated, ignoring the whole wish issue.
"Oh but you are, your hair's all light and shinny and your eyes are like pewter, and you are inside the well" at this, he seemed to decide maybe he didn't hate all that much to be called pretty.
"Ok, ok, but I don't know what you're talking about, I just got stuck here, I fell earlier"
"That's what Charlie told me you would say, but now is almost sunset, would you please make my wish come true?"
"Look kid," he said as he weren't around her same age. "I don't know what got into you. I don't grant wishes. Now get me out of here"
"Ok," maybe if she made a bargain with him… "I'll get you out if you grant me a wish"
"I'll grant your wish if you get me out first." boy, was he stubborn…
"Charlie said you would try to trick me into it and then leave and that I must keep insisting on my wish"
"Whatever wish is so important" he said more as a statement than a question.
"I want all my brothers to be happy forever"
"My fath- err- They say there's a price for everything given to us"
"I know, but if they're always happy, how bad can the price be?"
"Oh I don't know, get me out already!"
"But my wish…" the Sun was gone now… it was already too late…
"Done, now get me out"
"Aren't you supposed to disappear with the Sun?"
"Yes, once you get me out"
"So it's really done? They'll always be happy for real?"
"You want it that much huh?" his tone and his eyes seemed to be making fun of her, but she did notice, she was already pulling the hook free and letting the string drop to the bottom of the well, where the boy was trapped.
"Tie it around your waist and climb, it's bewitched so it'll pull you up" the boy did as told and once he had climbed out of the well, he put both his hands on Ginny's shoulder and pushed her hard onto the floor.
"You're so dumb," he said laughing at her. "There's no instant happiness. I only pretended to grant you a wish so you will get me out. There's no such boy who makes wishes come true" his hair was dancing with the wind and his eyes seemed to reflect the already rising Moon. He wasn't much taller than her either, but Ginny felt like crying as she lay there on the mud. "and crying won't get you anywhere, that's for the weak. Remember that and maybe you won't be fooled so easy the next time" and then he strode towards the leftmost building in sight.
That was the first time Ginny Weasley faced Draco Malfoy, but she would forget about him when Charlie told her she had imagined all of that, that he had made up that story. She would forget about him for some years, but destiny had planned another encounter in the future, and then… then she will remember… and so will he.