Disclaimer-If you like it, assume I don't own it. The Potterverse belongs to JKR, Steve Klowes, Scholastic and WB. Fanon belongs to the multitude. . .I'm simply paying homage. Most of this scene is from GoF by JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made. Progress has been a lot slower in this work, but I hope you'll all stick with me anyway. As you all know, I may not own it, but I work hard, and I love it, so if you read it and enjoy it, please review it! Please don't print or post this elsewhere without my knowledge. And—oh, yeah—I know there are a couple little things in previous stories I should adjust to be in canon, but I kind of like some of the discrepancies, and as far as the rest go, it's either revision or new posts...slow though they may be…
General Readers—Major apologies for the very long delay. I've really missed you all. I hope you find this chapter, let alone enjoy it…I'll TRY to have another chapter out again soon, but no promises…my muse is very capricious!
EEODOE—Sorry for posting this before you could beta! I was so happy to finally have time to write a chapter that I got carried away! Hope you have fun on vacay, and fun reading this and future chapters when you get back!hugs
realfanficts—I totally agree…but it's always hard for any woman to come to that conclusion when it's her heart on the line…the more so as a young teenager! Hope you enjoy this chapter, too…late as it is!
Arachnasloom—Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Thanks for the advice about the twins dialogue...I've tweaked it a bit...I hope that makes it less confusing:-)
moony's number 1—Thanks…I really enjoy writing those parts, too, I think its some of my best work! J
Raiining—I know…I really think they should have invited us just so we could see Madam Maxime playing charades…I wouldn't mind be invited to participate in the events of this chapter, either. ;-)
The next morning, surfeited on coffee and sausage biscuits, Ginny pounced on Bion and Luna as they passed the Gryffindor table on their way out of the room. Leaving Hermione to deal with Ron and Harry, Ginny accompanied her Ravenclaw friends into the atrium where Professor Flitwick was stringing colored bubbles from his wand along the banister of the main stair, a process that riveted Luna's attention. With her own special knack, Luna somehow convinced Professor Flitwick to teach them the trick, even before Ginny, Bion, or the Professor himself had fully realized she was even going to ask him.
It took a while to master the nuances of the technique, but the attempts were more funny than frustrating, and they had a good time practicing until they were sufficiently skilled to decorate what seemed like thousands of staircases with various applications. Bion liked the stair twined with large midnight blue and tiny bronze bubbles like night stars just peeking through the clouds, while Luna's enthusiasm seemed most focused when they did a stair wreathed in rose and green like fairy lights, but Ginny's favorite stair was draped in a delicate froth of silver bubbles like wisps of frozen dew dripping, rising, and pooling in a whimsical dance about the banister. They were all agreed, however, in thinking it was time for lunch.
The Ravenclaws made room at their table for Ginny to eat lunch there with Luna and Bion. This afforded a prime opportunity for Bion and to discuss Quidditch with Roger Davies, and hear his commentary on all the latest score results reported by The Daily Prophet. Unfortunately, it also left them—or left Ginny at least —little choice but to notice Cho Chang and Marianna Edgecomb whispering to each other and giggling wildly. Ginny did her best to ignore them, not to mention avoid speculating on what they were talking about, but it was nearly enough to put her off her food all the same.
All-in-all she was grateful to escape to the shed at the edge of the Quidditch Pitch. She, Luna, and Bion found the two Creevys already there, rummaging sleds they all put to excellent use on a snowy slope running between the castle and Hagrid's hut. This kept them happily occupied until it was nearly too dark to see where the sled was actually going, and they might simply have cast lumos or conjured up some bluebell flames and kept going, but Professor Sprout happened to come out to the greenhouses in search of something and catch sight of them, forcing them to give up and go inside to dinner instead.
Ginny had eaten lunch with the Ravenclaws, so Bion and Luna ate dinner with the Gryffindors, an event which inspired Fred and George to dazzling new duos that kept everyone else so helplessly fixed in laughter that the twins got the lionshare of their dinner.
"Always leave 'em laughing," Fred advised Ginny in a mock-whisper as George finished off the last of the slightly illicit spoils, seized Ginny, swinging her up onto his back. Laughing, she waved to Bion and Luna, who waved back as George carried her away on piggyback.
In Gryffindor House everyone sat around the fire, toasting marshmallows, drinking hot chocolate, and having quite a heated discussion about Quidditch, which culminated in Fred and George confiscating every figurine of the major world cup players they could find and enchanting them—rather like chess pieces— in order to reenact the game. They had just finished reenacting Krum's magnificent dive to thunderous applause when Professor McGonagall appeared in her tartan dressing robe and nightcap and demanded that they all go to bed immediately before she made them all serve detention instead of attending the Yule Ball. Ginny thought she saw a gleam of consideration in Ron's eye, but Fred and George, usually the first to encourage the purveyance of mischief were already bundling him up the stairs before she could be sure. Grinning at this uncharacteristic moment of sobriety, Ginny allowed an equally determined Tempest to herd her off to bed in much the same manner.
Still dreaming of soaring high above the Quidditch Cup stadium, Ginny rolled over and nestled deeper beneath the heavy red coverlet. Or attempted to do so, at any rate. She awoke with a start, her heart thumping heavily in chest, her eyes darting around in search of the reason she couldn't move…in search of Tom.
Bit by bit, her surroundings emerged, taking shape from the shadows. The familiar red draperies, the similar but unique hunched forms of each girl's trunk at the foot of each bed, pitchers of cool water on the low beside tables beckoning with a soothing, dewy gleam. Her panic subsided, but her feet remained firmly trapped. Craning her neck around and lifting herself a little off the bed, Ginny realized something large and lumpy had been laid across her feet, weighing them down. Confused, she stretched her fingers out toward her toes, and felt them bump against the object. It was thick and warm as velvet…and, with a jolt, she realized it was velvet…a velvet sack full of gifts.
Laughing in a slightly breathless way that owed something to left-over nerves, she wriggled and contorted her way free of the bag, and, crawling to the end of the bed, wrestled the bag off of her bed. "Oo-oh—oops," she gasped as several grunting sighs from the direction of Patricia's bed reproached her with her roommates' presence. Listing sideways in every attempt to redistribute its weight as well as in every attempt to make sure its odd edges didn't bump anything, Ginny crept slowly out of her dorm.
She managed—not without great effort—to muscle the recalcitrant sack up the stair to the 6th year boys' dormitory, at which point she abandoned it in happy relief. Her eyes had already adjusted to the dark, but she probably would have been able to make out the candle-orange glow of her brothers' twin heads lighting the two beds at the far end of the room. And, scrunching her nose to narrow her eyes—the ability of which expression to boost observational acuity still remained a mystery…but a useful fact, nonetheless—she easily identified the straggly starburst of Lee's dreadlocks arrayed over his pillow, a sight that made her beam unaccountably.
Casting caution to the wind, Ginny leapt. And, just as she'd trusted him to, Lee caught her. Much to his own surprise and chagrin.
She landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Jolted awake, Lee's arms instinctively came up and wrapped around the unexpected object that had hit him. Split seconds later, his eyes opened, and then blinked several times in quick succession. "Wha—ho—I—that is—wha—Gin—"
Somehow, those words—not even words, really, only fragments—made her feel better than hours of talking ever could. That, and the look—of both sleepy confusion and happily amused horror—on Lee's face.
Ginny laughed…a clear, bubbly stream of temporarily rediscovered youth and mischief and delight…and uncomplicated fraternal love. Lee, being Lee, stopped sputtering and grinned, a deep, broad, true grin, as warm and as steady and as reassuring as the sun. Ginny laughed harder…for once, she didn't even imagine how Tom would wither in the light of that grin...Tom, a pale white creature of darkness, had never really liked the sun. Ginny did. Lee's grin almost immediately simmered into a laugh accompanying her own.
And almost as immediately paused when Fred muttered something under his breath and turned over, his splayed arms hitting his mattress with a heavy thump. "Gin…what…are you…doing…" Lee gasped out between stifled snickers. "You aren't…supposed to…" he paused and titled his head, temporarily distracted by his interest in accomplishing the unexpected, "come to think of it, how, did you—"
George made a sound composed of equal parts, snort snore, and dragon's roar. Lee jumped, and looked guiltily around, which made Ginny start laughing all over again. "Shh…" Lee implored, laying his fingers lightly over her lips, and widening his eyes to a most impressive extent. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
Still laughing, Ginny shook her head helpless, and made a half-hearted attempt to smother the sound, and only succeeded in sounding as though she were being choked.
Lee groaned.
"Jor'an!" George ordered, obviously still more asleep than awake. "Quiet!"
"Tryin' t'leep," Fred added in a mumble that somehow managed to sound emphatic.
Lee lowered his head and tried to talk through his teeth, as if that would help. "Do you have any idea what your brothers are goi—"
"Lee—Wha—Gin—Jordan! Hands off my sister!"
Lee jumped again, turning to look in the twins' direction, "Fred, it's not—ooomph!!" The pillow Fred had sat up to launch in protest of the noise, and immediately forgotten as he'd become conscious of the scene in front of him, hit Lee squarely in the face, knocking him—and Ginny—back into bed.
"Oh, honestly," Ginny said dryly, looking up at the faces that suddenly framed her—and Lee—"Lee was asleep. He didn't do anything. I snuck into the dorm—"
"And why," George asked dangerously, "might you want to do that, little sister?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Because," she said, trying to sit up, only to discover that her hair had somehow gotten tangled around Lee's arm when he'd fallen, "Oooww! I wanted to wish you Happy Christmas, you ridiculous, gnome-headed, pixie-brained, dragon-hearted, loveable dolts." She pointed—a somewhat difficult prospect when forced to lie down—at the sack in the doorway.
Fred and George just barely flicked a glance in its direction, but Ginny could tell they were suddenly trying very hard not to laugh. Their dormmates looked at one another, gave a sort of collective shrug and a sigh, probably thankful it wasn't anything worse, and began to drift off in their own various directions. "If you wanted to talk to us—"
"Then what in Merlin's dankest depths were you doing in bed with Lee?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Ginny retorted as Lee, having finally managed to sort out the tangle of his limbs, her limbs, and the bedclothes enough to move, sat up and reached over to help her up.
Quick as a lightning strike, Fred reached out and grabbed her before Lee could, shooting him a look that, only being cold enough to flash freeze a salamander where it stood, was considerably friendlier than might have been expected. Ginny felt Lee relax slightly next to her, and knew he'd noticed too. And Fred hadn't snatched her out of the bed, only helped her sit up, which was an even better sign.
"Isn't what obvious?" George asked, almost conversationally, as he inspected his wand.
"That Lee is one of us." Ginny said. Fred and George exchanged a look.
"Oh," said George. "That," said Fred. They grinned.
"We've always thought so," George admitted.
"But we didn't know you did," added Fred. "After all, you two—"
"Barely know each other," George finished.
Lee's coffee-coloured eyes matched Ginny's tea-coloured ones as naturally as Fred's sea-colored eyes had met George's identical blue-grey-green eyes. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Isn't what obvious?" Fred asked impatiently, even as Ginny nodded. "As obvious as a shoe full of dungbombs, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh, I would," Lee agreed fervently, but with a very broad grin. "I would say."
"Then say!" George said, clearly confused.
"A…shoe…full of dungbombs," Fred repeated very slowly. "Hang on a mo…are you saying Ginny helped you—"
George poked him in the ribs with his elbow, "You were there—"
Fred poked back. "Not Malfoy. Our shoes. Fourth year."
George blinked. "Are you saying Ginny helped you?"
"No," Lee said, rumpling Ginny's hair with affectionate pride.
"Oh, no, she didn't," George murmured. But he and Fred were both shaking their heads with a pride very similar to Lee's, if quite a bit more rueful.
"You little….Gingersnap," Fred breathed.
"But if you didn't help her—" began George. "Then how did you know she did it?" finished Fred.
"I figured it out," Lee said dryly.
"Within a few days," Ginny confirmed cheerfully. "And he's been teaching me to make mischief ever since."
"When she wasn't teaching me, that is," Lee amended, and winked at her.
"Well, I'll be…we've been had," Fred said, sounding stunned.
"By a chip off the old Weasley," George agreed, shaking his head.
"And a Jordan," Lee reminded him, and ducked as another pillow hurtled itself off of George's bed and at his head. "Not good at charms, my blooming arse! You lie, Weasley, you lie!"
"I don't know if this is better or worse than what it looked like," Fred grumbled.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked George.
Instead of answering directly, Lee looked at Ginny and sighed. "You know," he said conversationally, "it's going to be harder than pulling hen's teeth to put one over on them now…I'm really going to miss seeing them get a dose of their own medicine."
"We needed a challenge," Ginny informed him.
"You know—" George mused.
"This could mean war," Fred warned. "Or…it could mean we'll just have to keep you busy helping us—"
"—so you don't have time to hurt us," George concluded. They gave a simultaneous adamant nod.
"Enough business for the present" George allowed.
"We have presents—" observed Fred.
"—that must be opened, wouldn't you say?" continued George.
"Oh, I would. I would say." Fred agreed with a smirk.
"After you," George bowed.
"Oh, no…after you," bowed Fred…narrowly avoiding being bowled over by the sack of presents Ginny had left in the doorway as it whizzed by, and landed neatly at her feet. Ginny raised her eyebrows in droll reply to their twin gaping expressions, and calmly tucked her wand back into her pajama top pocket.
"Maybe pulling hen's teeth isn't as hard as I thought, ey?" Lee crowed.
Ginny looked over at him and winked. "Shut up and open your presents," she advised.