May 2, 1981
Molly Weasley was dancing. She spun around the guest bedroom with Celestina Warbeck blasting from the radio and she sang along loudly and off key. Her belly stuck out neatly from her dress and its roundness made her smile- she couldn't remember being this big at six months along except for with the twins, and that hardly counted. With only three months to go until her seventh child was born, Molly was in the process of converting the guest room into a proper nursery. Fred was dancing around the room, too, although at three years old, he seemed to have already developed a distaste for Molly's favorite singer. He was making up his own lyrics for each song, changing the words to something only he would find funny, but in her good mood, Molly was amused as well.
As the song ended and a radio announcer went on to talk, Fred looked around at the room, and turned to his mother with something like inquisitive disgust in his voice. "Mum, why is everything pink?!"
"Because, you'll soon have a little sister!"
"How do you know the baby in your belly is a girl?"
Molly wasn't sure how to answer that; it was just a feeling, really. She was carrying differently than before, her cravings different, her mood lighter. It seemed that her body screamed at her from the inside out that this one was the girl she's always wanted. "Because I'm a mum, and mummies know everything," she decided on, tousling Fred's strawberry blond hair and picking him up to give him a kiss.
After she set him down again, he said, "I guess so. But Mum, what if it is a boy?I think I'm going to have a little brother and he is going to hate this room and want a room that's green like my room. Or blue like Bill's. Even orange like Ron's room would be better."
"If it is a boy, then I can change the color with a wave of my wand, okay?"
Fred paused and looked down, his face scrunched in concentration. "Okay. I guess that will work. If it's a boy, can we name it Shamgar?"
"Shamgar? Really? What made you choose that name?"
"It's what George named his favourite gnome. It's a very good name."
"Perhaps. What is your second choice?"
"Maybe Anthony."
"Anthony is a good name, too. Did you have an idea for a girl name?" Molly was always amazed with the ideas and theories her twins came up with, and appreciated their creativity, even if she would never let her child be named by its mischievous three-year-old twin brothers.
"No, me and George said we didn't want a sister, so we aren't going to name it. If we don't name a sister, maybe you'll have to take it back."
"George and I," she corrected absentmindedly. "And if you don't decide on a name, it's okay, because Daddy and I already have one picked out."
"Will you tell it to me? I promise to keep it a secret from almost everyone!"
"No, I think we'll just let you know when she's born."
He sighed and looked around the room in defeat. "Cleaning is boring. I'm gonna go play with George, okay?"
"That's fine, dear. Just don't get into anything." Molly sighed, not sure why she even bothered- certainly by the time she finished painting this wall they would have made a mess out of something. Those twins had given her more practice than she would've liked at basic household spells and she could repair a vase two rooms away if she heard it crashing. But some things felt better done by hand, without magic, and it was by hand that she painted her daughter's room a pale pink.
"Oh Ginevra, I've waited so long for you." Finished with painting, she decided that mostly by hand was good enough. She took out her wand to fix any sloppy work and, once satisfied with the quality of the paint job, allowed herself to survey the room. As a guest room, it had been finished with a simple double bed with a floral duvet, a small armoire, and a few of the better drawings by Bill, Charlie, and Percy had been framed on the walls. Now, a small bassinet sat in a corner by the window, a pink blanket inside of it, pink ribbons decorating the simple white wicker. For a moment, Molly absentmindedly wondered if she'd overdone the pink, but decided there was no way; her daughter deserved more than just Ron's hand-me-down bassinet in orange. Ginevra would have the pink room Molly had always wanted.
The front door closed and her children erupted in a chorus of "Dad!" Molly smiled as she waited for Arthur to make her way upstairs. He heard his greetings and loud kisses to the boys, followed by the thumping on the staircase. Arthur came into the new nursery and wrapped his arms around his pregnant wife the best he could. "Hello, Molly. How are you today?"
Instead of answering right away, she kissed him- a loud smack on the lips with a smile pressing against her cheeks. "I'm wonderful, love." She flicked her wand at the radio to turn it off and turned back to her husband. "What do you think of the baby's room?"
"Well... it's very pink."
"Of course- only a pink room will do for our daughter."
Arthur had yet to correct her this pregnancy; Molly was sure he felt it too. "I suppose so. By the way, I brought something home from the office today."
"Oh did you?" Molly said, keeping her tone even only from years of practice.
"Yes! From what I understand, it's one of the most useful Muggle objects so far- and I think I could make it work for us, too. Incidentally, it's also pink. Come downstairs and I'll show it to you!"
Nothing else lit up Arthur's eyes like Muggle inventions, and her curiosity won out over anything disapproving. With a shake of her head, she followed him out of the nursery. The object Arthur placed on the kitchen counter was small, and sure enough, it was a muted pink that nearly matched the color of the nursery.
"Well? What is it?"
"It's a felly-tone! Muggles use it to talk to one another, even when they're far away from each other! Muggles are absolute geniuses, really."
"But- why is it here?"
"I think I can make it work!"
"Granted, I know almost nothing about Muggle objects, but doesn't it need electricity or whatever you call it? And even if it did work, don't we need someone to talk to?"
"Ecceltricity and, well, yes. But maybe by the time I get it working Bill will make a Muggle-born friend at Hogwarts. From what I understand, Muggles love to talk on their felly-tones. Our kids could talk to each other even if their fireplace isn't hooked up to the Floo network! It's brilliant!"
"It's certainly one of the more interesting things you've brought home, love. I'm sure you'll have load of fun trying to make it work and who knows? Maybe one day we'll actually need it."