Chapter 4
The rest of Ginny's visit to Egypt could be best summed up by the old adage; what your mother doesn't know, can't hurt her. Molly seemed to take great joy in listing all the things that it wouldn't be 'appropriate' for Ginny to do but which she had no problems with her sons doing. As this included going to the night markets and all of the more interesting tombs Ginny was left to fume in furious silence until she and Bill could catch a moment alone together and plot.
Ginny couldn't suppress the mischievous smile that appeared whenever she thought about the solution that she and Bill had come up with. Bill and Ginny had great fun sneaking out in the dead of night, seeing the midnight rush at the bazaars and revisiting the tombs for a private midnight viewing.
Her favourite moment of the entire holidays, however, would have to have been when Bill took her to a custom wand maker to get her own wand. Her birthday had been celebrated in a rather mechanical manner. Her parents went through the motions, bringing forth the requisite cake and singing happy birthday. The presents themselves, for the most part, left much to be desired. Charlie had sent a doll more appropriate for a six year old, Percy had given her a second-hand quill, Ron mustered a chocolate frog and her parents gave her a dress which looked as though it had been salvaged from the bargain bin at a knut-value store. Forge and Gred had given her a highly suspicious homemade powder with the description; 'for pranking undesirables'. All in all it was not shaping up to be a fantastic birthday (with the possible exception of the twins present)...until that night when Bill and Ginny snuck out as per their custom.
He had that mysterious half-smile on his face which made her knew that whatever he was hiding had to do with suprising her on her birthday. She knew Bill well enough to know that her present from him was not going to solely consistent of socks... Which did not make her any less suprised or any less delighted when he apparated her in front of Mustafa's Wand Crafting Shope 432 BCE.
With a delighted half-laugh, half-shriek she was in his arms being swirled around. Now everytime she lifts or touches her nine inch mahagony and unicorn hair wand she thinks of Bill and can't help but smile.
The last night Ginny and Bill retraced their steps and went back to the oasis. They walked through the desert in companionable silence, lazed in the hammock which hung suspended between the palm trees and talked to the sun rose.
But all good things must come to an end. The next day the Weasley family once again stood in the Cairo International Floo Terminal. Ginny stared at the massive fireplace which housed the green flames that were due to take her back to England. Egypt may have cleansed both her mind and spirit but the knots doing summersaults in her stomach seemed to indicate that a few days in England would be enough to bury her soul once more.
She mentally shook herself out of the morbid direction her thoughts had taken her and rejoined the rest of the family who were participating in somewhat awkward goodbyes. The trip rather than easing strained family relations seemed to have just exacerbated the divisions within the family. Bill deliberately left her to last, sweeping her into a massive bear hug and whispering "remember sis, when mum and dad are making you feel dismal, we've joined the dark side together". Shooting her insufferable elder brother a sardonic look over her shoulder, Ginny grabbed a handful of floo powder, took a deep breath and coolly stated "London International Floo Terminal".
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Blaise had spent the last month acting as an adjudicator whilst two intractably opposed groups feuded via holding Italy's economy hostage. He was due back in Hogwarts in two days and the conflict seemed no closer to resolution than it had a month ago. He had a colossal headache, which wasn't helped by the theatrical yelling that was taking place over his dining room table.
He closed his eyes, seeking to draw on an exhausted reservoir of calmness and patience, only to open his eyes a moment later when the insufferable din was raised by another few notches. The Italian Minister of Magic Gaia Facta had risen from her chair and was screeching at a very smug looking Lugi Pella, who as the leader of the biggest mafia clan had been appointed as lead negotiator.
Screw patience.
He snapped his fingers which instantly led to the villa's head house elf appearing. Smiling thinly he requested a copy of the International Wizardry Financial Review. The front page headlined with 'Italy in Crisis'. He turned the page and immersed himself in an article talking about Estonia's rising economy.
The Minister for Agriculture was the first person to notice Blaise's complete and utter indifference to the negotiations happening in front of him. Instinctively he stopped speaking, rose from his plush leather chair and gazed at the thirteen year old who was for all intents and purposes ignoring the chaos around him. One by one the twenty adults sitting in the leather chairs quietened, whilst the countless aids stood frozen around the room.
The room had been reduced to complete and utter silence long before Blaise finished his article on Estonia's 10% GDP growth. Smirking slightly, he turned a page and started to read about New Zealand's Wizengamot's divisions. The nervous tension in the room kept rising. It was not until he had finished the second article that he deliberately folded the paper up and looked at the adults standing like errant school children in front of him.
"You have successfully wasted a full month of my extremely valuable holiday time with this moronic dispute. Should you force me to delay my return to school I will be extremely displeased. I expect a deal to be on my study desk by this evening. If there isn't not only will there be hell to pay but I can guarantee that the solution I will come up will suit neither the mafia nor the ministry! Have I made myself abundantly clear?"
"But..."
"He..."
Blaise with a raised hand and death glare silenced the uproar.
"I would suggest that as a compromise the Ministry agrees to postpone for 10 years the plan to impose regulatory oversight on prices on legal goods and services, whilst in return the clans agree to a 2% rise in business tax. Given that the tax has been driven down to the absurd level of 5% I do not consider such an increase to be unreasonable. Such a compromise would mean that there would be no strikes, the ministry would still be able to provide essential services to our people, our economy and thus the global economy will continue to prosper. Most importantly of all it would make me happy. The clock is ticking people..."
Blaise swept out of the room leaving a stunned group of adults in his wake.
That night having returned from the opera, he found on his desk a signed agreement to raise the business tax by 2% and the ministry's counter agreement to postpone enforcing regulatory oversight.
He smiled slightly and settled down to reading the postcard Ginny had sent from Egypt.
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The Weasley family had barely managed to walk in their front door after waiting for hours to be processed at London's notoriously slow International floo terminal before Albus Dumbledore's head appeared in their fireplace.
As this was hardly an everyday occurrence Ginny's curiosity was peaked. It was not to be immediately satisfied though, as her mother immediately ordered all her children out into the garden.
It was truly phenomenal how fast the normally unruly garden had been transformed into an impenetrable tangle of out of control plants. The sight of the garden united the siblings in uniform horror as they gazed transfixed at the scene in front of them. It appeared as though the entire population of garden gnomes in the British Isles had taken up residence in the Burrow's garden and had taken advantage of the Weasley's absence by throwing orgy's. The lavender was doing its best to smother the vegetable garden, the creeping vines were strangling willows, algae covered the pond, the gnomes had thrown trash everywhere.
Looking at the magically resistant plants and animals running riot in her backyard Ginny was very thankful that she was due back at school the day after tomorrow and that she had yet to do any school shopping. Getting the garden back into any type of order was going to take weeks.
Sighing Ginny looked at her dumbstruck brothers.
"Since we all know that she will go absolutely spare if she comes out and see's us ignoring what's in front of us, we might as well try to restore some...order"
Which was how Ginny found herself being bitten by garden gnomes, assaulted by Cornish pixies and strangled by creeping vines on the second last day of the summer holidays.
It was thus to her considerable relief when it was announced over dinner that night that the entire family would be going to Diagon Ally first thing tommorrow, would stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the night and catch the Hogwarts express the next day.
It was more a sign of her complete and utter exhaustion than a lack of mental acuity that led to Ginny neglecting to wonder why her parent's would pay the not inconsiderable expense of housing their entire brood at the Cauldron for the night when it could just as easily be spent at home.