The sun shone blisteringly hot, searing the patch of skin at the back of her head, making her freckles violently bloom. Ginny dabbed at the little drops flourishing at the base of her red hair, rubbing the bridge of her palm over them, and bent to grip the handle of Bill's old trunk - her Hogwarts trunk.
'Hands off,' Fred said, and he towered over her, blocking the summer sun.
'Yeah, we'll take care of that,' George supplied, pointing at her trunk. She scowled back at both of them, her retort brusquely cut off by the heavy wheels of the train pulling into Hogsmeade station.
'All aboard,' Fred grinned and, together with his twin, marched the battered trunk up the stairs.
Ginny watched them through the compartment window, feet still planted onto the platform, sun so bright it made her squint. She saw Fred and George lift, then push, reaching up as far as they could to secure it on a shelf. Her brothers had been irritatingly nice, had paid a vexing amount of attention to her since she left the Chamber; Ginny felt watched again, but it was rather different this time - the eyes that watched her now were loving, they belonged to people that cared for her.
'Ron,' Percy's voice rang behind her on the platform and Ginny instantly turned around to see. 'You've got the edge of your robe under your trunk, you'll rip it.'
He lifted Ron's trunk with a flourish of his wand, then trotted importantly towards Ginny, Ron rolling his eyes behind Percy's back. Hermione and Harry were next to him, the three of them walking together, laughing. There was the old pang in Ginny's chest again…
She assured Percy five times that she was alright, that Fred and George had taken care of her trunk, that she'd be okay on the train before she could get rid of him.
'Off to the Prefects' carriage, I expect,' Ron drawled. He had stopped next to her, frowning under the sunlight, Hermione and Harry struggling with the weight of their trunks up the train stairs. Then, Fred and George lowered their hands and the trunks were pulled inside, Hermione wiping the sweat off her forehead, Harry nearly missing the last step, glasses bouncing on his nose in his haste.
'Let's go,' Ron said, his hand between her shoulder blades. Up in the train, Fred was vigorously waving them in.
'Don't push me,' she said under her breath, but started walking nonetheless.
It was odd being mothered by her younger brothers, odd being included in their jokes, their chats, this very train ride home. Years from that sunlit moment, when Ginny would look back, she'd recognise that it was guilt that drove her brothers to behave as they did, but right then, she only felt a little thrill. She was there, she would be there, with them, included. She was finally part of something.
Ron offered her a hand as she pushed up on her tippy toes to reach the first step and, although reluctantly, Ginny took it. She couldn't find it in her heart to disappoint any of them.
The door slid to the side, and she stepped in with Ron, claiming the seat by the window, next to George. Opposite her, Harry sat down with the sun in his dark hair, his green eyes catching its brightness and ricocheting it to her. Ginny's cheeks lit up, and she turned to George instead.
'Where's Lee?' she asked quickly, not really interested in the answer.
'Oh, he's busy,' Fred grinned from Harry's right. Ginny noticed he looked curiously at Fred, but didn't ask anything.
'Said we'd have a little family party here instead, very nice and cosy,' George gestured round vaguely. 'Should spend more time with our brother and sister, Fred and I reckoned. Before you know it, we're out of Hogwarts and we only see each other round Sundays.'
'Cheers,' Ron groaned, sliding the door shut with his foot. It kept opening as the Hogwarts Express caught speed, rolling down the bumpy mountain paths, quickly towards the tunnels.
'Harry and Hermione appreciate our thoughtfulness, don't you, Harry, Hermione?' Fred grinned again.
'They won't say no if you bully them,' Ron huffed, plopping back into the cushioned seat. 'And, anyway, it's not all of us here - Percy's with the Prefects, isn't he?'
Fred and George looked at each other and grimaced.
'Yeah, well,' George started, 'his head's too big for this crowded thing anyway.'
'Make sure yours doesn't do the same,' Fred leaned towards Ron, the tip of his wand dangerously close to Ron's temple, 'or we'll have to deflate it, won't we, George?'
Harry and Hermione shot apprehensive looks at Ron, deep into their nonverbal communication. Ginny caught herself trying to understand what they were saying, a cold hand gripping at her heart, scornful, jealous…
'Ooh, what's that in your pocket?' she said to break the tension, pointing at the tip of a Filibuster Firework showing from the folds of George's robes.
Her brothers' eyes lit up and, soon, the compartment groaned with the colourful explosions, clouds of pink and red and gold dust flying everywhere, tickling Ginny's nostrils, reflecting in Harry's hair. They watched them zoom around and laughed, everyone joining in the sunny, joyous moment; Ron kicking one with the tip of his shoe, Hermione shaking glitter from her bushy brown hair, Fred and George lighting another, and another, and another.
To Ginny, it was a moment that stretched beyond time, beyond that summer after the Chamber - it stretched throughout her entire life, one of those memories, simple in their unadulterated happiness, that carry you in the bleak hours and gloomy days. A moment she would focus on when she would call out 'Expecto Patronum.'
There would always be a ray of light warming her cheek when she'd look back on it, and glitter peppered in between her freckles. Harry's eye would always catch hers as they'd jump to touch the fireworks, and her heart would skip, and nothing bad would have ever happened. Just for a moment - for that one blissful, sunlit moment on the train ride home.