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…
Lee didn't have to be ordered twice. He'd dived into the sack at the foot of his bed almost before she'd finished speaking. Ginny shook her head, crossed her arms, and said "Boys!" in such near-perfect imitation of Hermione that the twins both stopped--hands frozen in the process of reaching for their own sacks--and gaped.
"Whoa, Gin, that's a bit creepy," Fred said, sounding impressed.
Ginny poked Lee in the ribs, producing a sound somewhere between a squeal and a giggle. "Open mine first," she demanded.
" 'sbit harb 'o 'ell wha's from 'ou in 'ere," Lee protested.
"Your point being?" Ginny inquired coolly, shooting looks at Fred and George, each of whom hastily discarded the packages they were holding and reached back into their sacks.
When Lee emerged from his sack clutching the appropriate package and tore away the red and green paper to reveal a particularly handsome bottle of Sneezing Sand, draped with a long chain of Fizzing Whizzbees and Belching Bites, they stopped wasting time and tore into their gifts with enthusiasm.
Fred set aside the package of Filibuster's Fabulous Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks with the briefest of appreciative glances, and poked a skeptical forefinger at the the long lavendar filament coil encased in bright red glass with a disk that affixed to the wall at one end and a flaring shape like Lee's Quidditch megaphone at the other. "An anti-burglar buzzer? What...am I supposed to put this on my trunk so you can't steal my socks?"
"What are you nattering on about?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.
"See here, Missy, George and I invented that look--" Fred broke off suddenly, catching sight of what was nestled in the paper beneath the box of dungbombs George was holding. "Is that--"
Following his gaze, George wrenched it free, nearly hitting himself on the nose in the process, and held it at arm's length for them all to see. Lee whistled softly.
Minutes ticked by.
"I know you don't have a shop yet, but...I thought...Don't...don't you...like it?" She asked finally.
The twins looked at her with identical expressions of shock in their suddenly shiny eyes. "Do we like it? Pfft. Oh, go on with you," George said.
Fred reached out very hesitantly, as if afraid the black wrought-iron might bite him, and traced a finger down the three stacked Ws that formed the shingle's inside edge.
Without warning, Ginny--and Lee for good measure--were engulfed in the most bone-crushing hug the twins had ever performed, and very nearly deafened by their shouted chant of "WEASELY'S WIZARDING WHEEZES!"
Ginny had hoped the twins would be happy, but she had never expected them to react like this. If the rest of her family and friends were only the merest fraction as pleased with her gifts to them, Ginny would be more than satisfied.
"Your turn, Gin," Lee said when the twins finally let them up for air.
George Summoned her sack from the doorway, pulled out a gift and presented it to her with a bow. Ginny rolled her eyes and snatched the gift, which turned out to be an extra large box of Sugar Quills from Bion. And then they were caught up in a flurry of wrapping paper. Ginny had added an amulet made from what appeared to be a gilt green onion (Luna's note mentioned it was supposed to be an effective protection against Gulping Plimpies, though it didn't explain what those were, or why Ginny might, in fact, want to ward them off), copy of the Monster Book of Monsters from Hagrid, a box filled with ton-tongue toffees and canary creams from Fred and George, and a huge bar of Honeyduke's chocolate from Ron to her growing stack of goodies, when she happened to pause and look up. George wearing a blue sweater emblazoned with a large F while Fred was wearing an identical sweater emblazoned with a large G. She began to laugh.
Lee looked up, too, and grinned. "They know they're called Gred and Forge," he informed her conversationally. "But it sure is nice of your Mum to remind the rest of us."
Ginny laughed harder, at which Fred caught her eye and winked. "Go on, then," George ordered. "Open yours and put it on like a good Weasley."
Pretending to cower away from the twins, Ginny reached for the large package that could only have coming bearing gifts from Burrow. This year's sweater was a soft and fluffy snow white v-neck that made Ginny sigh with pleasure. Fred and George goggled. Ginny made a motion that might have been a shrug in their direction and pulled it on over her threadbare gold-and-pink paisley pajama top. Mum had also included another bottle of lavendar water and a large tin of particularly gooey brownies studded with amber pecans. Ginny closed her eyes and floated in a sea of contentment...until Lee accidentally tickled her nose with the tip of the new Peacock Feather Quill his Aunt Eunice had sent.
Still sneezing a bit, Ginny resumed sorting through the contents of the package. Dad, surprisingly, had given Muggle gifts a miss and sent her a lovely new telescope instead. Well, perhaps not completely new, but also perhaps more beautiful for the idea that a love of the stars was the polish that had been rubbed into it by the hands of past generations. The wood did have such a nice, warm glow, and the focus was much sharper than any telescope previously owned by their family, not to mention adjustable to a most extraordinary degree. Ginny clutched it to her chest in a way that Fred, George, and even Lee immediately imitated. She stuck her tongue out at them, gave the telescope one last ecstatic carress, and set it carefully aside.
She'd gotten, predictably enough, a cauldron-bottom gauge from Percy. Catching sight of her staring at it in disbelief, the twins raised theirs to her in mock salute. Ginny rolled her eyes...but she raised hers too. The twins whooped.
It looked as though Bill might have sent a blanket. Ginny picked it up to admire the color--a pale but mellow, glowing old gold, exactly the shade of Egyptian sands--and gasped at the feel of it sliding through her fingers. It very, very soft and impossibly fine; the very airiest of cottons. A rather unlikely blanket. The length of golden-sand cotton unfurled like a rose opening in the sun, flowing from top to bottom with only the slightest hints of draping to create ripples. It dipped slightly along the top edge, in a way reminiscent of the neckline in a pair of robes, particularly robes like those Ginny had recently seen illustrated in the chapters of A History of Magic that discussed the very ancient witches Aphrodite, Athene, and Diana. Ginny gulped.
Standing up, she held the length of fabric out in front of her and surveyed it. It didn't just look like a pair of dress robes...it was a pair of dress robes. And not just any pair of passable second-hand dress robes, either, but a brand-new and quite gorgeous set of dress robes. The long, flowing sheath with the draped neckline ended in a filagreed silver medallion at the top of each shoulder. The robes had long, floaty sleeves, but there were narrow, fluttery slits extending from the medallions and along the top length of each. A narrow silver chain--so fine it was almost silky--wrapped around the torso, crossed itself in a kind of x at the waist, and wrapped around the torso again just above where her hips would be, the ends spilling spilling the skirt like streams of silky rain. Ginny felt faint.
"Look," Fred said helpfully, "he's attached a note." He tugged the scrap of parchment loose and cleared his throat.
George began to read in an important-sounding tone of voice.
"Ginny,
I'm sure your charmed school robes look great, but I thought you might like to wear these instead and save yourself some time.
Christmas comes but once a year after all...be sure you hit both the twins with a snowball from me--HEY!"
Fred and George crossed their arms, doing their best to look mortally offended, and failing miserably. Lee, leaning so that he was all but falling off the bed, continued where George had left off reading.
"Don't worry about freezing, either, the robes have a basic temperature charm that should keep you cozy.
Love, Bill.
P. S. Charlie's sent shoes. Cheers! "
Charlie had indeed sent shoes, a simple set of narrow silver slippers with pale golden beading in a pattern that matched the medallions on the gown.
"I...I...I have to go and show Hermione!" Ginny gabbled wildly. The three boys regarded her with a mix of indulgent affection and amused incomprehension.
"Snowball fight after breakfast!," Lee reminded her.
Ginny, having swept unwrapped and wrapped gifts alike back into her velvet sack, fluttered a vague hand back over her shoulder in reply, and kept going.