A/N: Hey everyone, I'd like to apologise for the formatting in the last chapter. For some reason, none of the spaces I left between the letters, or the symbols I put there, came up when I posted. So, I understand that it was probably pretty hard to read and I'm sorry. I have taken measures to prevent it from happening again (that sounds so ridiculous, but anyway...) so fingers crossed. Enjoy the chapter, and as always, thanks to all who reviewed!
Chapter Six
Kings Cross Station was crowded with people as Ginny waited with her parents and the Potters for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. The past four months had been long and lonely for Ginny, though Tom, at least, made it bearable. Even so, Ginny was impatient to see her friends again; she couldn't remember a time when she'd ever gone so long without seeing them, though she was used to her older brothers being at Hogwarts for just as long. With Ron, Harry and Hermione to keep her company though, the time without her older brothers seemed to fly by each year. With them gone as well, every day had seemed to drag on, and it felt like years since she'd last seen them. Ginny was just about bouncing with excitement when the scarlet steam engine did finally pull into the station, expelling a mass of students in black robes.
And there they were, looking not much different then they'd been on September 1st, although Ron seemed to have grown an inch or two. Spotting the family, the three began heading towards them, and were soon joined by Percy, Fred and George. The twins had sent a few letters to Ginny during the term, all of them detailing various exploits and pranks, but Percy generally just addressed a few lines to her in the weekly letter he sent their parents. Ginny found herself almost as happy to see them as she was to see Ron and her two best friends.
Grinning, with delight, she threw her arms around all three of them as soon as they appeared in front of her.
"Ginny!" Hermione squealed, pulling her into a tight hug. "I've missed you so much. I can't wait to tell you all about the castle, and the lessons, and the teachers, and my dorm mates, and all of it!"
Ginny laughed at her friend, glad to see that Hermione hadn't changed.
"Slow down, 'Mione, we'll have loads of time to talk," She said. "We're all coming to your place for dinner tonight."
The three Hogwarts students looked surprised at this, as they generally had dinner at The Burrow the night everyone returned, but Ginny supposed that as the Potter twins were now attending Hogwarts as well, it was only natural.
Shrugging off his confusion, Ron turned to Harry.
"In that case, we'll bring the brooms and fly around a bit, yeah?"
Harry grinned, but before he had a chance to answer, Molly was hustling them all through to the platform's fireplace, and they were being pushed through one by one. He only had the chance to throw a quick smile over his shoulder to Ginny before he was pushed into the green flames as Lily shouted "Potter Place".
*~*
Harry relaxed back into the couch after dinner, idly watching as Ron versed Hermione in a game of chess. They were rather evenly matched, although it had taken many years of practice and quite a few strategy books on the subject before Hermione presented any challenge to Ron. Thinking back to his sister's efforts then, he smirked. Hermione had never had the same natural talent for the game as Ron, and it had irked her to no end. Determined not to lose to someone who "doesn't even have the sense God gave a Hippogriff" as she had rather scathingly put it after a particularly devastating loss, Hermione had studied long and hard to master the finer points of the game. It seemed her perseverance had payed off, though Ron was still marginally the better of the two. However much she studied, Hermione just couldn't conceive some of the more creative ploys Ron used.
A small giggle turned Harry's attention to Ginny, who was sitting on the floor next to Ron and Hermione, scribbling in a little black book. Harry had been happy to see Ginny again, and the four of them had spent a good few hours catching up on everything that had happened since they had last seen each other. Ginny had had a few funny stories to tell of her time at The Burrow, and while she was obviously happy to have her brothers and friends back, Harry couldn't help noticing that she was rather a lot paler than the last time he'd seen her. He had originally shrugged it off as due to them spending so much time apart, or even the fact that it was winter, but watching her now, Harry noticed the slight shadows under her eyes as well.
As he watched, Ginny wrote something down in one of the bright quills he recognised as part of her birthday present. She waited a moment before letting out another small giggle, and jotting something down again. Deciding he wanted to know what was keeping her so amused, Harry lightly tossed the cream couch cushion at her, causing her to glance up and raise an eyebrow at him.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"It's nothing, just an old diary Ron gave me." He was amused to note that she blushed slightly as she answered, and he almost laughed. The idea of feisty Ginny Weasley doing anything as girly as keeping a diary was rather funny. Her blush deepened at his grin, and he knew she knew what he was thinking, and was slightly embarrassed at herself for the same reason.
"So, is this the reason we've been getting less letters from you recently?" he asked "You're saving all your good stories for your diary, instead."
He was laughing, but he stopped when Ginny, instead of sharing the joke as she usually would have, looked rather uneasy.
Somewhat concerned, he sat up straighter and stared intently at her as he asked, "Are you alright, Gin?"
With a giggle that sounded a tad too forced for Harry's liking, she waved him off.
"Of course I am Harry. I'm fine." When he still didn't looked convinced, Ginny looked away slightly and said "I'm probably just tired, is all," and Harry decided to let the subject drop.
"So, are you going to come to any of our Quidditch matches this year?" He asked instead, and was glad to see her eyes brighten.
"Mum said she's too busy to take me just yet, but I can come watch the last few games at the end of the year," she said.
Quidditchhad always been one of Ginny's favourite things to do and he knew she was planning to try out for a reserve chaser position as soon as she was able.
"We have a fairly good chance of winning the cup too, so you have to come for that. I know it won't be quite the same as when we watched Fred and George last year, but it'll still be fun. You might even be able to sit with those two," he said, with a jerk of his head in Ron and Hermione's direction.
"Mmm" Ginny agreed "Maybe I'll even get to meet some of your friends. 'Mione's dying for me to meet Parvati and Lavender, but I'm not sure if it's because she thinks I'll like them, or because she wants someone to commiserate with her."
Harry laughed. "Knowing those two, it'll be the second one. They're alright, I guess, but they're very...giggly." He shuddered slightly as he said this, and Ginny giggled, herself, at his actions.
"I'm not sure if I should be offended, Harry, after all I tend to do my fair share of 'giggling' too." Ginny tried to look stern but the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth rather ruined the effect.
"Yes, but you don't giggle at me," he grimaced, and Ginny's smile grew wider.
"Is poor little Harry having trouble fighting off the hoards of girls?" she asked with a grin.
"Shove off," he groaned "It's just taking people a while to get used to the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' thing. You know what they're like."
Ginny's smile turned sympathetic as she absently patted his knee.
"Don't worry Harry, they'll get over it once they realise you're just a normal kid. Besides," she smirked at him, "You'll always be 'The-Boy-Who-Fell-Out-Of-The-Tree-House' to me."
*~*
Harry was in the middle of a pleasant dream about flying for Puddlemere United, when he was rudely awakened by something heavy landing on his chest. His eyes flew open to see two blurs, one surrounded by a halo of red, and the other, brown. He fumbled on his nightstand for his glasses with one hand, as he covered his eyes with the other. It was far too early for this.
"What do you two want?" He groaned, slamming the glasses on his head as they bounced excitedly on his bed.
"Presents!" Ginny grinned, at the same time as Hermione cried "Christmas!"
Harry looked across the room he was sharing with Ron to see his other best mate with the covers pulled to the end of his bed and his arm over his eyes.
"Come on, lazy-bones, out of bed now so we can all go down and open our presents." Ginny was bouncing excitedly on his bed as Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled.
"Alright, alright, I'm up!" he said, even as he felt a reluctant grin work its way onto his face. After all, it was Christmas.
"Just be glad it was us who woke you, and not the twins," Ginny said as she jumped off his bed. "They were all set to throw water on us and all sorts of things, but 'Mione and I managed to barricade their door after they went to sleep."
"In fact, we should probably let them out if we want to open our presents anytime soon." Hermione said as she moved towards the door.
Ron was still grumbling as he followed her out of the room, but Harry knew it was just for show. Christmas was the one day of the year Ron didn't mind waking up early. When the four of them reached the bedroom that the twins were sharing, Harry was amused to find that the girls hadn't been joking when they said they had 'barricaded' the door. Piled in front of the bedroom door were no less than the two heavy, solid wood hall tables, the bookshelf – complete with heavy tomes – from the study opposite, and two big arm chairs.
"How did you guys manage to move all this yourselves?" Harry asked, looking at his sister and best friend with a new respect. Ron seemed to have lost the power of speech.
"It wasn't too hard; we just did it bit by bit. We had to make it heavy so they couldn't open the door, but also hard to get past in case they took it off its hinges." Hermione replied, grinning proudly along with Ginny.
"The weight was the easy part; we just pushed the heavier things onto this rug and slid them across. The hard part was doing it silently, so that they wouldn't wake up and investigate." As she spoke, Ginny moved into position at one end of a hall table, which was in last, and began sliding it back to its original position. Still rather shocked, Harry and Ron moved to help her while Hermione grabbed an armchair.
Even with all four of them helping, it still took a good twenty-five minutes to move everything back into place. The hotel they were staying at for the duration of their time in Romania was high class and all of the furniture were not only valuable antiques, but also heavy. It didn't help that Hermione insisted on putting every book back exactly as they had found them, after removing them to move the case.
When they were finally done, Ron asked "How long did it take you two to do that on your own?"
Hermione looked thoughtful. "A good hour and a half, I think, but mostly because we were trying to be quiet."
"You could have asked us to help, you know," Harry reminded them.
"We told you, Harry, we wanted to be quiet. We decided it was best to just do it on our own. Besides, it was kind of fun, in a weird way." So saying, Ginny walked over and swung open the door to Fred and George's bedroom.
The twins were in the middle of a game of exploding snap, but as soon as they realised they were free, they jumped to their feet, ignoring the cards smouldering on the bed.
"About bloody time!" Fred complained "We've been in here for ages."
Ginny and Hermione grinned to each other before turning to face the irate twins. "That's what you get for planning a prank for us on Christmas!" they said together, before linking arms and walking out of the room and down the stairs. The four boys stared after them for a moment, perplexed.
"How did they did they do that so... synchronised?" Ron asked. The others just shrugged their shoulders, and together, they followed them down to join the festivities.
*~*
The Potters, Weasleys, Sirius and Remus had spent Christmas together every year for 14 years, ever since Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus had joined the Order and Molly Weasley had invited the four then young people over for Christmas dinner. James and Lily had both recently lost their parents to Death Eater attacks, and when Molly had learnt that they had been planning on spending Christmas alone, she had insisted that they join her family. After all, she reasoned, she had grown up thinking of James as a younger brother or cousin, so it was only natural that they all spend the holidays together. And so the tradition had continued. Often times, they were joined by Lily's best friend, Katie Allison when she visited, and all seven Weasley children, as well as the Potter twins, thought of her as an aunt.
Katie had dark hair that fell to her shoulders, with sparkling blue eyes. She was tall, standing at 5'8, and a chaser for the Melbourne Kestrels Quidditch team in Australia. She was also godmother to both Harry and Hermione, something Sirius was known to complain about, as Remus was Hermione's godfather and Sirius, Harry's. He felt it unfair that they should have to share god-fatherly duties when she didn't. Lily's response to this was always that she could have chosen her sister, Petunia, for one of the twins, but wouldn't wish that on anyone.
With everyone present for Christmas that year, as well as the news of the relationship between Sirius and Katie and the subsequent teasing, Christmas morning was a very loud and boisterous affair, as Holidays often were with the Weasleys and Potters. Ginny found herself engrossed in a conversation about Quidditch with both Katie and Sirius, arguing the finer points of the game.
"But deliberately aiming a bludger at the keeper can't be a foul!" Sirius was saying. "After all, that's what Beaters are for!"
"Yes, but the International QuidditchBoard has decreed that any deliberate hits aimed above the shoulders warrant suspensions," Katie argued "It's all well and good to break ribs, but even Healer's can't always treat hits to the head."
Ginny nodded her head fervently. "I agree that injuries are as much a part of Quidditch as anything, but that doesn't mean players should have to fear for their lives at every game."
Katie beamed at her for her support, and Ginny couldn't help grinning in return. Katie, as an international Quidditchplayer and one of the coolest people Ginny knew, had always been a bit of a hero to her. It was Katie who had first encouraged Ginny in her goal to be a chaser, and she always gave her tips when they played.
Before Sirius could retort, her mother was calling them all to the large table that had been set up in the hotel's dining room for breakfast. The table was loaded with bacon, eggs, pancakes, and to Ginny's delight, jugs of hot chocolate were placed along the centre. She loved coming to visit Charlie, but Romania was cold. Sitting in between Hermione and Bill, Ginny quickly filled her plate, hungrier than she had been in a long time.
Molly noticed her full plate and smiled to herself. Ginny hadn't been looking at all well recently, and hadn't been eating much. Watching her laugh at something Hermione said, Molly decided that this holiday would definitely be good for her.
*~*
Harry looked up at the knock on his bedroom door. He had just been reading the book Ron had given him for Christmas that morning, Quidditch Through the Ages, taking advantage of the rare moment of peace while Ron and Ginny played chess downstairs.
"Come in," he called, and Hermione poked her head around the door.
"Do you have a moment, Harry?" she asked.
Harry nodded and made room for her on the bed next to him. "What's up?"
Hermione sighed and leaned her head against the wall. Fidgeting slightly, she closed her eyes before answering.
"I'm worried about Ginny," she said.
Harry frowned and closed his book, turning his full attention to Hermione. "What about Ginny?" he asked, although he thought he might know the answer.
Hermione opened her eyes and turned to him, sitting up straighter. "Haven't you noticed how tired she looks?" At Harry's reluctant nod, she continued. "I overheard Molly talking to Mum and Katie; and Harry, I'm really getting worried! Molly says she hasn't been acting herself. She's barely eating, hardly comes out of her room, and twiceMolly and Arthur have caught her trying to sneak out of the house, claiming she needed to go to Diagon Alley!"
Harry looked up at this, alarmed. That wasn't like Ginny. Sure, she liked to sneak off for a fly on her brothers' brooms, but she would never attempt to leave the property just for some shopping.
"Did she say why she was going?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head. "No, and that's the weird thing. She was acting so weird, that Molly decided she must have been sleep walking, and next morning she had no memory of it."
Hermione looked close to tears, so Harry wrapped an arm around his sister. "What did Mum and Katie say?"
"They reckon she's just missing having all of us around. They want Molly and Arthur to try and bring her up for the Quidditch matches and things, so she won't feel so alone." Hermione answered.
"I don't think there's much we can do, 'Mione," Harry whispered, frowning. He hated feeling helpless. Ginny was one of his best friends, but he didn't know how to help her. They would be all returning to Hogwarts next week, and Ginny would be left at The Burrow, alone once more. "We'll just have to keep writing her loads of letters. Hopefully, she'll start to feel better soon."
Hermione nodded. "And we'll just have to make sure to have lots of fun whilst we're still here," she said.
Not overly comforted by this thought, Harry nonetheless decided he would make sure the next week was one of the best of Ginny's life.