QLFC: Season 10, Round 3

Team: Kenmare Kestrels

Position: Beater 2

Prompt: Step-siblings (mods approved my interpretation of Luna joining the Weasleys)

Additional Prompts: Seafoam green, "I know I should care…but I don't."

Word Count: 3000

Warnings: Grief over a parent's death

Notes: I use a text-to-speech friendly line break. If you subtract those from the total word count, the fic is within the permitted range.

Weasley Sisters

Mum said Ginny would be getting a new sister tomorrow. She tried to make it sound like a good thing, but like usual Mum just sounded tired, and halfway through explaining she had to go tell off Fred and George for pranking Ron.

Ginny ambled to her very own room and sat on her very own bed and tried to imagine what it'd be like having her very own sister.

They were the Weasley family, made up of Mum and Dad and six boys and one girl. And tomorrow, they'd be two sisters. Ginny wasn't sure what to think about that.

It might be nice. Mum said Ginny had played with Luna sometimes when they'd been little, but Ginny was eight now and didn't remember. There was even a photo of her sitting next to a very blond-haired girl from when they'd both been babies, but of course Ginny couldn't remember being a baby either.

She wondered if it'd be like having a friend stay for a sleepover, like the girls in her books were always doing. Ginny had never had a friend before, but she thought sleepovers sounded fun. They'd eat popcorn and stay up all night telling each other scary stories.

Well, maybe not scary stories. Luna's mum had just died, so she was probably more in the mood for happy stories about girls who rode ponies and played Quidditch all day.

"Sorry, dear," Mum said, coming into Ginny's room without remembering to knock. She sat down on Ginny's bed next to her, sighing very loudly. "Like I was saying, I want you to take extra special care of Luna for me, alright? Her dad can't be there for her right now, and she'll be very sad about her mum having died."

"Alright. I want a bunk-bed, like the twins have."

With another loud sigh, Mum got up and pointed her wand. Her forehead scrunched up, then Ginny's bedposts grew, sprouting a whole top bunk that was only very slightly lopsided. "I'll sleep up top," Ginny decided, already gathering her sheets.

"You should let Luna choose which she wants, dearie."

Ginny stared at Mum, blanket still clutched to her chest. This was supposed to be her very own room, now that Bill had left to work at Gringotts. Ron had finally been allowed to paint his walls Chudley Cannons orange, and Ginny had decided on a nice lavender, which all her brothers hated.

Mum patted Ginny on the head. "You'll do just fine. We'll ask Luna which bed you can have when she settles in tomorrow."

Ginny spent her last night in her very own room with her feet propped up against the ceiling, wondering what it would be like sharing Mum with one more person, now that Luna was going to be a Weasley too.

.oOo.

"I don't mind," Luna said to her bare feet when Ginny had dutifully asked her to pick a bed.

"You can have the bottom, then. And there's space in my chest of drawers for you until Dad fixes up the spare one from the attic. There's a ghoul there, so we try not to bother him."

"Oh."

"Huh?" Ginny leaned closer.

Luna cleared her throat. Her face looked like Ginny's did when she was about to cry. "I said, okay."

Ginny nodded and fled before Luna accidentally started crying on her. Ginny had six brothers and knew it wasn't good to be a crybaby, but she'd learned nothing about how to comfort someone when they were sad because their mum had just died.

Luna found her later, while Ginny was halfway through planting peas in the vegetable patch. "I like your hat," Luna said. "It's very floppy." The weather was unusually sunny that day, so Ginny had to wear it else her face would be brown with freckles by the time summer arrived.

"Thanks."

They stared at each other. Luna was wringing her hands and pressing her toes into the dirt. After a while, Ginny went back to doing the planting, and when she looked up again Luna was over in the orchard, touching every tree she walked past.

Wincing, Ginny picked up the sack of dried peas she'd accidentally dropped and paid attention to her chores again.

.oOo.

"What's she even doing?" Percy asked, tossing another gnome over the fence. Ginny didn't know why he'd bothered to come back from Hogwarts for Easter if he was just going to boss her around. Out past the orchard, almost by the forest, Luna was sitting on the ground waving her arms about like a lunatic.

"She says she's befriending the Thestrals, apparently they're invisible." Ginny had gone over to ask once, because Mum believed that busy hands made for calm minds, and Luna was supposed to help feed the chickens. "Also, Luna believes she's a fairy, but she's not a fairy. She's just a girl."

"She's also not supposed to be that close to the forest. It's not safe." Percy was standing, hands on his hips.

"You're supposed to be doing chores with me." Ginny's next gnome hit the neighbours' Dirigible Plum tree. Percy was too snobby to play for points, but when she de-gnomed with the twins that would have been worth twenty.

"Ginny, I'm being responsible. Nevermind, you're the smallest, you wouldn't understand." He abandoned Ginny to gnome-tossing while he marched off to fuss over Luna.

Huffing, Ginny assigned herself another ten points when her next gnome hit the fence.

.oOo.

"Luna, do you play Quidditch?" Fred said, poking her in the arm.

Luna looked at him with her wide, slightly glassy eyes. It was her normal expression, like she was confused that they were even talking to her.

Ginny gritted her teeth. Luna shouldn't be confused. Everyone talked to her, all the time, asking how she was doing, and if she needed something, or what her imaginary Thestrals were up to today. Nobody was ever telling her to get a grip and do her chores, because apparently nobody really cared about that.

"I play Quidditch," Ginny said, stepping forward with her jaw set.

"You're just our itty bitty teeny-weeny Gin-Gin." George laughed, even though it wasn't funny.

"Luna's only half a year older."

"I suppose I could try playing Quidditch," Luna said.

Fred's grin was ugly. Ginny wanted to punch him, but No Punching Your Brothers was a rule in Mum's house. "She's also a lot more fun than you, Gin-Gin." George leaned over to ruffle her hair, but Ginny ducked away just in time. She could feel tears welling in her eyes, plus she still wanted to punch him.

Ginny wasn't stupid, though. She'd get into trouble for that. Instead, she went over to the rose hips, cut them open, and rubbed the itching fluff inside them all over Fred and George's beds. Then, she went to what used to be her very own room, but was now her-and-Luna's room, and cried.

.oOo.

As the weeks passed, the bees buzzed about their fruit trees. The children gorged themselves on strawberries, and then summer arrived. Dad got the chest of drawers down from the attic and fixed it up for Luna. Mum learned what Luna's favourite foods were and made those for dinner at least once a week.

Ginny stopped being so angry when she had to do both her own and Luna's chores for the day. By now, Ginny knew that Luna was always too busy walking through the orchard with her arms trailing, humming to herself. Or, when Percy wasn't watching, she'd be over by the forest, pretending to pet her imaginary friends.

It should have been sad. Ginny reminded herself of that every morning when she went to feed the chickens, and every evening when she watered the tomatoes. Luna's mum had died, and Luna's dad had sent her away. She was still a Lovegood, and would always be a Lovegood. Ginny was still the littlest Weasley girl, even if she was now the littlest of eight instead of being the littlest of seven.

Most of the time, it felt like everyone was all Luna-this and Luna-that, as if Ginny didn't really exist anymore. With her brothers home from Hogwarts again, the house was full to bursting. They spent the days outside doing chores and playing in the orchard, but nobody even noticed when Ginny was off by herself because they were all too busy looking after Luna.

Then, one day, after harvesting beans in the pouring rain, Ginny came back from her shower to find Luna with a brush in one hand and a palette in the other, painting the sea onto her beautiful lavender walls.

Ginny saw red. She tackled Luna to the floor. "What did you do?" she screamed, regardless of the rule No Screaming Indoors.

Mum pulled them apart, but not before Ginny yanked out a bushel of fine blonde hair.

Luna was sitting in the middle of spattered blue-green paint. She was holding her head and crying, great shuddering sobs that made her whole body shake. Ginny could feel the tears dripping off her own face, too, but she didn't let go of the hairs in her hand to wipe them away.

"Ginevra Weasley, I didn't bring you up to behave like this." It was even scarier when Mum said it with her voice all calm like that. "Go and wait for me in the kitchen."

Percy followed her there and stood in the corner like a stern ghost.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said when he understood she wasn't going to stop staring at him.

"Well she shouldn't have painted my wall." Ginny felt cold all over, and suddenly needed to sit down on the floor.

It had been all different shades of blue, turquoise, and seafoam green—it had been all wrong. Her walls were supposed to be lavender. She had picked out the colour herself, in the muggle hardware store, on a trip with just her and Dad and Ron. Now, even her hands were stained and sticky from Luna's stupidness.

"Fighting isn't going to solve anything," Percy said, and then they waited for Mum to come down and give Ginny her talking-to.

"Young lady, you're eight now, almost nine. Do you think we should send you to Hogwarts if this is how you'll behave?"

Ginny wanted to remind Mum of how much trouble Ron had gotten into when he'd doodled on the walls, and wanted to argue that it wasn't her fault. Luna had started it, and so she should be getting into trouble. But Ginny couldn't speak. She just shook her head, trying very hard not to be a crybaby.

At least Percy had left. Mum knelt down, picking Ginny up off the floor and sitting her on the kitchen counter. With a damp cloth, she cleaned the paint off Ginny's hands. "What's wrong, dearie?"

Suddenly, Ginny was livid again. Mum was always calling Luna 'Dearie' too. George said it was because she'd forgotten all of their names, which was stupid since Mum had named them in the first place.

Ginny's tears poured out without her wanting them, and when Mum tried to wrestle her into a hug Ginny bit her shoulder.

"Young lady," Mum said again.

Ginny managed to stop crying long enough to speak. "It was my very own room. Mine. Not hers. Lavender, not seafoam green. It's all wrong."

"No, dearie." Mum's voice wasn't even stern or soft, as if she was just talking about the weather. "The room is both of yours now. Maybe you can decide over two walls each. That's the fair way to settle it."

"Life isn't fair." It was what Percy said whenever she or Ron complained about their chores. "If life were fair, I'd have my own room, and Luna would be back in her own house across the river where she belongs."

"Her mother died. Do you know what that means, Ginny?" Mum was wearing her serious face again, with her forehead wrinkled.

"I know what it means. And I know I should care…but I really don't."

"Alright, young lady. That's it." Mum crossed her arms, tapping her wand against her shoulder. Her face was turning very red, redder than when the twins had set Dad's garage on fire. "I am absolutely disgusted. You can sleep up in the attic tonight with the ghoul, and see if you're not feeling more generous in the morning. Go now. No dinner. Now, Ginevra."

Ginny could feel herself crying again. She scampered, clambering up the stairs on her hands and feet. She stopped at the attic hatch, because the ghoul rather scared her.

When she looked over her shoulder Mum was there, with Percy standing right behind her with his arms crossed too. Ginny swallowed, wiped her face on her sleeve, and unlatched the attic door.

.oOo.

"I picked it for you," Luna said, passing Ginny a Dirigible Plum. "Daddy always says they help with things like this."

"Thanks." Ginny took the plum, not quite sure what to do with it, or even how Luna had gotten it this early in the season. She sat down on the bed next to Luna and sighed, staring at the blue-green wall in front of them. "I'm sorry I pulled out your hair."

"I'm sorry I painted the wall without asking. The lavender is very pretty, too."

"It was pretty." Now, it clashed horribly with the seafoam green. She'd have to ask Dad to charm the other walls white or something, because no matter how much she'd loved the lavender, none of her brothers had the ocean painted on their bedroom walls. "I never imagined that waves would look so colourful. The river is always clear or muddy brown."

"Have you never been to the sea?"

Ginny shook her head. "Have you?"

"Mum used to take me all the time. We'd play in the sand together and have a picnic, even if it was cold or raining. My mum always said she loved the sound the most, that it made everything in her head float away." She swallowed. "Mum was brilliant, and now I won't get to see her again for a very long time."

Ginny looked down at the plum in her lap and twisted it between her fingers. "I can't imagine my mum dying," she finally said.

"I don't think you're supposed to. It feels rather horrible, like everything important is gone, and it's very hard to care about what's left. Daddy said he sent me away because he loves me, but it doesn't feel like he loves me, you know?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know." Ginny stared at the wall and imagined she was by the ocean. The sound would be like the river when the snow melted in the spring, but louder. She figured the sea would be so big it would swallow her up completely, lavender walls and all.

Then, it'd be six boys and one girl again. Luna's hair was the wrong colour, but they could fix that with a spell. Everyone liked her better anyway, even if she never did any of her chores.

"You're always working so hard, Ginny Weasley. I admire that about you." Luna reached out and held Ginny's hand, stopping her from picking at her nails. "Back home, Mum and Dad did everything with magic. It's not fair that your mum makes you do it all by hand."

"Life isn't fair."

"That's a terrible thing to believe."

"It's true."

"Daddy says you can believe whatever you want, whether it's true or not. Muggle children believe in a big man who lives at the North Pole and has hundreds of house elves making Christmas presents for them. They send him letters, even though he doesn't exist."

Ginny laughed. "That's silly." She tried to picture it, then giggled again. "And they don't even believe in magic!"

Luna shrugged. Her eyes were still watery and bulging, but her face looked kind. Maybe, now that they'd already been having sleepovers for months, it was time to actually become friends.

"Tomorrow, you could help me sweep out the chicken coop, and then you could take me to see your Thestrals. Alright?" Even if they weren't real, it might be fun to believe in them just long enough for Percy to get all puffed up.

"You can't see Thestrals." Luna smiled, though it looked really sad. "I always wanted to see them before, but now I just wish I had my mum back instead."

"Oh." Ginny looked down. She and Luna were still holding hands, and in her lap sat the plum. She hadn't expected there to be an actual reason that Ginny couldn't see Thestrals when Luna could. "Maybe, even if I can't see them, you can take me with you anyway? That way, you don't have to see them alone."

"I'd like that. You're a good person, Ginny Weasley."

Ginny couldn't help but think that, if she were a good person, Luna wouldn't have a patch of hair missing from her head.

.oOo.

It had been a long, lovely day. Ginny looked up at the ceiling, where Luna had painted stars, and touched her socked feet against them.

On her nightstand, there was a picture of them both splashing around in the river. That had been a normal summer day, but it had been beautiful and worth remembering.

"Happy Birthday, Ginny Weasley," Luna said from the bottom bunk, just like the girls in Ginny's books who had sleepovers did.

"Thank you," Ginny said, instead of reminding her that she'd said that four times that morning already. "It was a wonderful day."

"What did you think of the sea? Was it everything you imagined?"

"Better." Ginny smiled to herself. It had even been the exact green colour Luna had painted. "You didn't tell me it would be so loud."

"Some things, you have to find out for yourself."

"Yeah." Sighing, Ginny rolled onto her side and snuggled under her blanket. "I'm glad you're here, Luna."

"Me, too."