Chapter twenty-two: a family Christmas

Ginny had to admit that she wasn't looking forward to Christmas with the family. Not because she was the youngest and not because she was the only girl and certainly not because she didn't want to spend time with them, but mostly because with the family came Harry Potter - the Boy Who'd Decided to Love her Brother Instead of Her.

Ginny was mature enough to admit that it was a blow to her ego that Harry had chosen her awkward, gawky brother over her and her slim figure, graceful movements and pretty face. He had chosen someone who wouldn't appreciate the finer things in life over someone who not only shared Harry's interests, but could enhance them with her own. She may not be a master chess player, but there was more to life than board games and she just knew that if he'd spent a little more time getting to know her she'd have won his heart easily. He'd only chosen Ron because they were stuck here together anyway.

She was to be the last family member to arrive at Grimmauld Place. Bill and Charlie had arrived a week ago, and the twins pretty much popped in whenever they liked. Her parents had been splitting their time between living at the Burrow and Headquarters for the sake of the boys, and Ginny sort of resented the fact that she was being excluded from all this family life by having to go to school. The fact that Ron had stayed with Harry instead of returning to school once the ward was eliminated had also rankled. Why should her brother get to stay with the Boy Who Lived and not her?

Bill picked her up from the train, slung and arm around her shoulders in his usual fashion and asked a thousand and one questions about her year so far. They were catching the tube and then walking to the house, a Muggle approach that the Death Eaters were likely not to cotton onto. Bill had cast a subtle spell to divert attention and change their appearances, so the likelihood of being recognised was slim.

On the tube, Ginny somehow got onto the topic of Ron stealing Harry, and Bill listened to her list of complaints with a very serious face. She wound down as they emerged at their destination and he steered her over to a Muggle café for a cup of tea.

"Look, Ginny, if you don't mind a word of advice," Bill began and stopped when she huffed at him in annoyance. How typical that they would take her brothers side over hers. Bill frowned at her, an unusual expression for her normally good-natured brother.

"I guess you do mind, then," his tone was short, "Drink up. We should get going."

Ginny bit her lip and looked down at the table miserably. It wasn't often that Bill got mad with her - they'd always managed to get along really well - but when he did he was slow to come around again. A small part of her was demanding that she apologise and just listen to what he had to say, and Ginny swallowed her pride.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "It's just that everyone thinks that those two are such a good match, but I know he'd be happier with me!"

"That's just it Ginny, he wouldn't," Bill had apparently decided to say this anyway, and continued on with a firm tone that demanded she listen, "He wants someone who sees beyond the public history, someone who is willing to accept him as he is. Everything you've said to me has related only to the public person, not the private one. You don't know him Ginny, not the way he needs his lover to know him, and I'm not talking about something as unimportant as sex. Look, all you have to do is spend a few days watching the two of them together and you'll see what I mean. Your brother knows Harry better than any of us do, and not because they've been spending time together of late. It's an innate knowledge, and I think Harry needs that. You don't love him, you never did. You loved the idea of him, and that only hurts him, Ginny, in ways you can't begin to understand."

Ginny gaped at her eldest brother and he sat back, draining his tea. He dropped a few coins on the table and ushered her back out into the cold street. Ginny didn't protest; she had too much on her mind.

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Ron looked up as the door to the conservatory clicked shut. Harry was upstairs with Sirius for their Saturday afternoon chat-come-nap and Remus was in the library with his parents. Ron had remembered that several of their plants would need to be fed just before Christmas and had come in to tend to them while his lover was resting.

Ginny came to stand nearby, examining a Venus flytrap curiously. She'd been in the house a week and tomorrow was Christmas. She'd spent the week watching him and Harry closely. The brunette had confessed to Ron that he was uncomfortable with the scrutiny, and Ron had thought about telling his sister to knock it off with the stalker behaviour. He'd decided not to in the end, there was no pointing starting another argument with her so soon after the last one, and he knew his mother was hoping for a happy Christmas. If she didn't knock it off by Boxing Day they were going to have words. Harry didn't need to be stared at in his own home, and by someone who was technically his sister in law to boot.

"Ron?" Ginny abandoned the carnivorous plant and came to peer at the mice he was dicing for several of their more lethal specimens. He put the knife aside so he wouldn't chop off a finger if things got heated and grabbed a portion of mouse to toss to the nearest eagerly quivering plant. They knew when it was dinnertime and got excited by the thought of fresh mouse.

"Yeah?" not the most welcoming reply, but Ginny had never expected him to be flowery.

"I've been watching you and Harry," nothing like stating the obvious, but his sister was visibly nervous and Ron bit back his smart arse retort, "And I think I understand now."

"Understand what?" Ron asked cautiously. If she was going to come up with some bollocks about Harry choosing Ron because they'd been thrown together so much or that Harry was obviously with Ron for his family he would probably feed his sister to the nearest plant. Not a court in the land would convict him for the justifiable act committed in a fit of rage that he was now remorseful for. Fortunately for her continued existence, Ginny's next words were not what he was expecting.

"About you and Harry," she sighed, "Look, I admit that I was against it, you know that, but after seeing you two together… you talk to each other without even using words, and you understand him a lot better than I ever could. I mean… look I'm sorry what I said about you two before, and I hope you can forgive me. You are meant to be together - even a confounded Slytherin could see it."

"Thanks Ginny," Ron smiled in relief and they had an awkward hug to seal the moment. It was a weight off his mind that his sister at least understood them.

"I don't suppose you'd work on Hermione," Ron muttered as he pulled back and Ginny gave a wry grin. The bushy haired girl was very vocal in her opinion of their relationship - at least vocal on paper and sent via school owls. She didn't like to be wrong, and she had mistaken both the boys' feelings for each other and herself. In a way it had been a blow to her ego that Ron preferred Harry to her.

"I can try," she offered, "If the reward is good enough…"

He swatted at his sister indignantly, but they were both laughing and the awkward moment was over. Ron was pretty sure that her staring days were over as well, and with a bit of luck Harry would be able to relax once more. His green-eyed lover hated attention, unless it was from Ron, or very rarely sought after. Ron couldn't say he understood that, but he at least helped Harry hide from it when he needed. It was a relief that he wouldn't have to help his lover hide from his family this Christmas.

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