"GINERVA WEASLEY!" Molly's ear-piercing shriek came from downstairs. "COME DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"Ooh, somebody's in trouble," eight-year-old Fred sniggered.
"Shut up," Ginny muttered. "Wet-bed Fred," she added as she passed by the 6-year-old Ron, who tried his best not to scream with laughter.
"Ginny," Molly asked her daughter sternly. "Did you eat the pecan cookies again?"
"Not today," Ginny said honestly. Sure, she ate the cookies without permission sometimes, but she hadn't eaten any since Friday!
"Then why did I find this inside of the jar?" Molly asked, picking up Ginny's floppy-eared stuffed bunny, with candyfloss-colored fur, and placed it on the counter.
"Miss Clover!" Ginny cried, dashing to grab it. Molly used the Levitation charm in the nick of time, causing the rabbit to be barely out of the reach of Ginny's tiny arms. "Give her back!" She snapped at her mother.
"This is only further proof that it was you," Molly replied coolly. "You always bring this into the kitchen. You're grounded until Thursday. And you have to wash the dishes and do the laundry. By hand,"
Ginny glanced at the clock. It was Saturday!
"I can't wait that long!" she shot at her mother. "Until Monday!"
"Go to your room before I make it until next week," Molly snapped sternly, turning away from her daughter.
"It's not fair!" Ginny shrieked and turned to the back door.
"Ginny!" Molly shouted, still angry, though she was aware of what she was going to do.
Ginny ignored her mother and sprinted out of the house, far away from the Burrow. She didn't listen to her mother's faint cries in the distance. She went as far into the forest as she possibly could until her feet hurt. She sat down and stared into the pale blue sky.
If only she could get her Hogwarts letter early and learn to make herself levitate, fly out into the sky, away from anyone's reach. She remembered when she was little, her father would point his wand at her and say something along the lines of "Wing-gah-dum Lev-ee-oh-ah". She didn't remember it well, but she remembered being dangled into the sky, suspended by her arms, and he'd have her do all sorts of flips and turns she would never be able to do when on the ground.
Either way, she could escape. Escape from her mother's rules, away from her control- everyone's control. Being the youngest also meant being bossed around all the timeā¦
Ginny walked further into the forest. She spotted a crooked house, not different from her own, and a blonde girl playing by a nearby river.
Loony Lovegood, her neighbor.
Ginny spotted a blonde woman standing by the house, reading a magazine with an odd cover, wearing a magenta sweater and a white skirt that fell past her feet to the ground. She was barely even looking at her daughter.
The last thing Ginny needed right then was for her paranoid neighbor to lecture her about Wrack-spurs or Nargles or whatever.
But it must've been her lucky day since Luna spotted her and waved at her wildly to come over. Being left with no choice, Ginny crossed the river to join Luna, using the series of small stones placed across the river, leading one side to another. Anywhere was better than home right now. When she had made it to Luna's side, she was frowning.
"Ginny, don't you know you shouldn't cross the river like that? The Freshwater Plimpies love the smell of human footwear. You have to walk with a handstand!"
"Do they really? Nobody can do that, anyway," Ginny said, but Luna was already crouching down, putting her hands on the ground, and kicking her legs up into a handstand, then crossed the river twice using the stones.
"Do you want to go fishing with me?" Luna asked, picking up a wooden stick that was about five feet long. "I have a spare fishing pole. I can ask Mummy to bring it,"
"No, it's fine. I just want to be away from home,"
"Okay. Suit yourself," Luna released the pole into the river again. "Also, why did you come all the way here? Your house is pretty far from ours,"
"Is it?" Ginny asked, looking over past the river. The Burrow could fit on the tip of her thumb. "I came because Mum was going to ground me for stealing the pecan cookies. But I didn't steal any- not today, at least,"
"There are a lot of things in life we don't have control over," Luna said vaguely, reeling in her rod. "Sometimes we have to accept what we earn,"
Ginny sat on the grass next to Luna for another minute before saying, "Maybe you're right,"
Ginny made to cross the river through the stones again, but Luna shook her head. Inny sighed and decided to just jump over it. She waved to Luna as she left to go back home
.)o0o(.
Ginny had gone home and accepted her punishment, but before she could say so, Molly started talking.
"I'm so sorry for accusing you Ginny, I just found out it was actually the twins. The twins. They wanted to accuse you of it. I found loads of pecan cookies under their mattresses and gave them the punishment I gave you. It'll be fine,"
Ginny grinned. "Thanks, Mum,"
Sometimes, maybe even the worst situations had good outcomes.
