Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to Harry Potter, except a little bit of merchandise. The characters, world, ideas, etc. belong to that wonderful J.K. Rowling and the WB movie people.
Notes: Well, I realize this is much later (by a couple of months) than I intended it to be, but it was unavoidable. That real-life thing took over again. However, I have been doing a lot of writing and outlining in that time (although nothing I could complete an post; I know, I should have, I'm sorry!) and have come to realize that this is going to be a looooooong story. I have five more chapters at least partly written, and one-line descriptions done for another six possible chapters (although some of those may be combined into one; sometimes I do that)! So I'm going to guesstimate an ending length of 20 chapters for this thing, including the epilogue. But we'll see. Ginny often runs away with me and adds things…or changes them…or takes them out again…
This chapter was supposed to be another two-thirds this length, but after finishing this section, I realized it stood better alone. I figure I've made you all wait long enough for an update anyway so…here it is. Seven or so pages of fun! Enjoy!
Chapter Eight: Duty Deflection
It was two days after Harry's birthday party and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were missing again.
Ginny wasn't particularly surprised. They hadn't run off together in a couple of days, so she was sure they had been missing their "just us" time. That and they'd been shooting covert glances back and forth all day yesterday. They were clearly overdue for a "let's talk about serious stuff" meeting.
The problem was that Mrs. Weasley was in one of her "let's clean the house" moods (the post-Harry's-birthday-party cleanup they'd done yesterday having apparently sparked her interest in a sparkling clean house), and Ginny really didn't want to clean. Or trim the hedges. Or weed the flowerbeds. Or, or, or. So when Mrs. Weasley got to wondering where the future savior of the wizarding world (and company) had got off to, Ginny promptly volunteered to go find them. This was a task often assigned to Ginny anyway, since she was more familiar with the trio's favorite haunts than anyone else in the family, so Mrs. Weasley didn't think twice about agreeing and sent her daughter off on her new errand with a brief message for the missing party.
Which meant, Ginny happily concluded, that she was pretty much free from chores for the morning. Mrs. Weasley tended to let the trio escape from her chore assignments whenever they slipped off to have what she termed their "friend time." Harry, the poor dear, had been through so much in the last year or so, and he'd been so quiet this summer, that Mrs. Weasley figured he needed cheering up. Time spent with Ron and Hermione was just the pleasant distraction he needed, and so she stubbornly persisted in believing that that's all there was to the trio's frequent disappearances. (How everyone in the house managed to miss the fact that the three were still conducting "important meetings" amongst all their "friend time," Ginny just didn't know.) The advantage of all this for Ginny was that as long as she could stick with Harry, Ron, and Hermione this morning, the longer she would avoid doing chores herself.
Normally that might make her feel a little guilty (although not guilty enough that she wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity), but there were still so many people in the house (who hadn't been doing regular household chores the last few weeks like she had, since most of them didn't technically live at the Burrow anymore) that she didn't feel bad at all. Let her brothers do some of the work for once.
This plan only worked, however, if she could find the objects of her search. And she was having significant trouble doing so. Which was unusual. And frankly making her nervous…the longer it took her to find them, the more obscure the places she was forced to look. And the more obscure the place, the more likely it was she would find them mid-serious discussion. Which she wouldn't be able to interrupt. Which would foil her plan. And also make her feel really awkward and uncomfortable. She always wanted to know what the trio was planning when they got down to serious anti-Voldemort action (so that she could offer—and then force them to accept—her help), but she knew the discussions this summer were all speculative—no serious planning was taking place, no battle strategy was in the works, no recent threats to their lives to be avoided—which meant that her presence for such discussions was not only unwanted but also unnecessary. She really didn't want to intrude.
She found them eventually, out by the pond. In retrospect, she wasn't sure why that hadn't been the first place she'd looked. It seemed to be their favorite place to retreat. But they hadn't been in their usual spot under a tree on the near side, which was visible from the kitchen window, so she had dismissed the pond and searched the house and yard thoroughly before giving up and leaving the yard by the back gate to check the far shore of the pond and the surrounding woods. If they were having one of their serious discussions, they may have opted to go further from the house than usual…
But, she was surprised to find, they weren't having a serious discussion at all. In fact, they looked relaxed, all tangled together at the base of a huge maple tree right near the water's edge. Harry was leaning back against the tree trunk, Hermione slumped against his shoulder with Ron's head in her lap, her fingers tangled up in the thick strands of his hair. Hermione looked to be asleep between her two best friends and if Ron and Harry were awake, they weren't talking, or else they were doing it so softly that the sound of it didn't carry across the relatively short distance between where Ginny stood and where they sprawled beneath the tree. Ginny paused when she spotted them, tilting her head at the rare sight. She was probably the only person who was close to all three members of the "Golden Trio" and she was pretty sure she'd never seen them quite so relaxed before.
She felt a pang in her heart at the thought, and at that moment she wasn't sure if it was because they only relaxed like that when the three of them were alone, or if it was because they just never really got a chance to relax like that period.
Ginny shuffled forward a few steps. She didn't want to disturb them when they all looked so peaceful but she had a message to deliver…and if Ron was asleep, he ought to be made to move soon—the sun was creeping across the ground toward him, and he burned easily. Still, she was reluctant to interrupt what she was sure was a rare, and therefore treasured, morning of solitary relaxation and had almost decided to turn around and go back to the house when Harry called her name softly.
Ginny froze, only now noticing that both Harry and Ron were looking at her, watching her approach. "Um, hi," she answered, wondering what had alerted them to her presence and if they were angry at the intrusion. Harry smiled, a lazy sort of smile, and motioned her closer with the arm that wasn't supporting Hermione's head. Ginny approached slowly, feeling horribly out of place, and silently berated herself for not heading back to the house the moment she saw them all laying there.
"Did you need something?" Harry asked quietly when she was close enough to hear him easily. Trying not to wake Hermione, she realized.
Ginny shook her head. "Mum was wondering where you three had gotten off to with lunch so soon and she was handing out chores like they were candy, so I volunteered to come find you…" she trailed off. It was on the tip of her tongue to apologize for disturbing them when Harry grinned at her, effectively freezing her in place. Well, maybe not quite frozen; her heart and lungs seemed to be rather over-active at the moment actually, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth at the very least so…
"Well, then," Harry was saying, "you'll just have to stay here with us."
"What?" she finally managed to get out.
Ron grinned up at her too. The expression looked odd because he was looking at her upside down, tilting his head back in Hermione's lap in order to see her without dislodging Hermione's lax fingers from his hair. "Why do you think we're out here?" he asked, following Harry's example and keeping his voice to just above a whisper.
"Uhhh…" Ginny felt disconcerted and was having a little trouble following. This was not how she had expected them to behave. Curious, maybe; irritated, obviously; but easy acceptance? That was unexpected.
"We're hiding out, of course," Harry answered for her.
"That's unlike you, Harry," she told him, because he usually volunteered to help out with household chores. Forgetting her trepidation for a moment, she gave him a shrewd look and caught the quick glance he exchanged with her brother. Yep, they'd definitely been having one of their serious discussions at some point this morning. She sighed. "Never mind. Listen, lunch is in an hour; if you're late, Mum will skin all of you. Or feed your share to the twins, either one." She turned to leave. "Try not to fall asleep out here, Ron," she threw back over her shoulder. "You really are going to burn."
"Hey, where are you going?" Harry asked, raising his voice just a little to get her attention.
"Back to the house?"
"With Mum assigning chores?" Ron questioned.
"Well I didn't want to interrupt…"
Harry and Ron both gave her confused looks. "Interrupt what?" Harry asked.
Ginny shook her head. "Your relaxation time," she told them hesitantly. "You don't get to do this sort of thing very often so…" she trailed off at the thoroughly uncomprehending looks on their faces.
"I don't get it," said Ron.
"Did you come out here to give us chores?" asked Harry.
"No."
"Then why would you be interrupting?"
"I don't know!" Ginny only just remembered to keep her voice down. She was blushing, although she really didn't know why, and was feeling really confused. Why didn't they think she was interrupting? Because she was…wasn't she?
"The only thing interrupting my relaxation time is this conversation," said Ron. "It's stressing me out." Her brother blinked up at her, upside down, head still pillowed in Hermione's lap. "Come sit down, Gin," he told her, patting the empty space beside him.
Still feeling awkward, Ginny hesitated. "Are you sure?"
Harry stared at her, obviously trying to come up with something suitably reassuring to say. Ron, on the other hand, gave her an exasperated look (which lost some of its effectiveness due to the comic position he was in). "Is this one of those stupid girly insecure moments?" he asked shrewdly.
"What?" she hissed, furious and embarrassed all at once. Of all the times for Ron to be observant…
Her brother continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Hermione's like that too. 'Are you boys sure I'm not interrupting? I mean, don't you need boy time or something?' It's ridiculous."
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, shocked. "But…but she's your best friend! You're all so close!"
"Well, and what are you?"
"What?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "You're Hermione's best girl friend," he told her. "And my sister, Gin."
"And I don't have very many close friends," Harry added, " but I wouldn't spend near so much time with you if you weren't one of them."
Ginny gaped.
"Oh, come on!" Ron muttered and scowled at her. "This can't be news to you."
She just stared at them. Ron made a frustrated noise and threw a helpless glance at Harry. Harry just blinked and motioned with his head to the space Ron had indicated earlier.
"Come sit down, Ginny," he told her. "Relax with us for awhile."
"…Okay."
She sat in the space between her brother and the tree and awkwardly plucked a few pieces of grass from the ground, twirling them between her fingers. After several minutes of uncomfortable shifting while the boys picked up their conversation (apparently where they'd left off when she'd approached), Ginny mentally rolled her eyes at herself and threw the handful of grass back to the ground. Dusting her hands off, she twisted around where she sat so that her back was to Ron and the pond and let herself fall backwards.
The boys paused in their conversation while she got situated, resting her head on her brother's shoulder and snagging the book Hermione had apparently discarded (or accidentally dropped) when she'd fallen asleep earlier. There was some quiet snickering while Ginny examined the novel in her hands, but she ignored it. Realizing this was Hermione's copy of the book she'd bought for Ginny on their trip to Diagon Alley, Ginny flipped through the pages until she found where she'd left off, and began to read. Some more snickering followed her actions, and a few pointed comments about over-zealous students who studied during the summer ("It's a novel, Ron," she muttered distractedly), and then the boys went back to their previous conversation.
Ginny relaxed to the sound of their voices and lost herself in the story's plotline.
"Well, you all look cozy," said Charlie cheerfully when he came upon them sometime later. He gave Ginny a knowing look, which she didn't understand because it was Ron she was laying on, and there was no way any of this could be taken as compromising or embarrassing in the least.
"Bugger off," muttered Ron, blushing. That made Ginny grin. Ron scowled at her when he noticed it, and she leaned over to kiss his cheek sweetly before shifting off his shoulder and sitting up.
"What are you doing out here, Charlie?" she asked him, looking up at her second oldest brother. She grinned impishly. "Are trying to get out of doing chores too?"
"No," he told her, his tone reprimanding but his expression amused. "It's time for lunch. Mum sent me out to find you when none of you showed up."
Ginny blinked. "Ooops."
"Uh-huh." He grinned at her. "Did you even remember you had a message to deliver?"
"I delivered it!" she said, indignant. "But after that I just…"
"Got distracted?" Charlie wore an innocent expression, but his eyes were wicked and laughing.
She glared at him, narrowing her eyes even further when she felt her face heat up at the insinuation. "By a book and a quiet morning off chores, yes," she growled in reply, climbing stiffly to her feet. I was not distracted by Harry! Don't think I don't know what you're implying, you git of a brother…
"We were all distracted. That's why we're still here," Harry said then, thankfully too distracted by his attempts to wake Hermione to notice the silent battle occurring just a few feet away (or the furious blush coloring Ginny's face). Ron, however, was sitting up now and looking back and forth between them, confused. When he opened his mouth (to ask about it, Ginny guessed), his sister jumped in quickly to fill the silence and distract him.
"Well, Hermione's waking up now," she declared, because the older girl was stirring under Harry's prodding and blinking open sleepy eyes, "and I'm starving! Let's go eat."
"Yeah," Ron agreed, mind switching gears at the mention of food, "let's go before Mum really does give all our food to the twins. Prats would probably eat it all too," he added under his breath.
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief at so narrowly averting a surefire disaster and held out a hand to help Ron up. He took it but nearly pulled her over instead when he climbed to his feet. "Oof!" she said, when the force of their movements caused her stomach to collide with his elbow. Well, at least he was on his feet. She rubbed her abdomen and mock glared at him. "When did you get so heavy?"
"It's probably all that food he shovels away at meals," Charlie speculated. "It's amazing he's not heavier than he is."
"I'm a growing boy," Ron told them with a sniff, dusting his pants off. Ginny reached out to pick the grass off his back. "I can't help that I need to eat."
Ginny snickered, finished with his shirt, and stepped back to look him over. "Ron" she snickered, "your hair's a mess."
"What?"
"It's sticking up all over the place. What did you do, get in a fight with Crookshanks?" she teased, as if she didn't know it was because he'd let Hermione fall asleep playing with his hair. Ron just muttered to himself as he tried to flatten it. She made an impatient sound with her tongue against the roof of her mouth and waved his hands away. "Here let me."
Ron heaved a long-suffering sigh, but held still while his sister reached up to fix his hair. "You gonna help Harry too?" he asked, irritated, when she was almost finished. "His hair looks pretty messy."
Ginny looked over at Harry, who had been snickering with Hermione at the siblings' antics but was now looking at her intently. She felt rather warm under his stare but stuffed the feeling down under a guise of playful confidence. She tilted her head and eyed Harry's messy hair critically. Then she sighed regretfully and shook her head.
"I'm afraid not," she said, remorseful. "Even I can't do anything with this mess." She tugged on a lock of thick black hair playfully and Harry batted her hand away with feigned indignance. Ginny laughed, delighted to have the upper hand for once. "Do you even own a comb?" she asked, teasing.
Harry scowled. "Yes, I do," he sniffed. "My hair just has a strong sense of…independence and a style all its own."
"You're calling that a style now?" Hermione asked, arching a brow.
"Are you sure you own a comb?" Ron asked thoughtfully. "I can't remember the last time I saw you with one…"
"I hate you all," said Harry darkly. "I'm going to go eat lunch now, and when I get there, I'm going to eat all of your shares."
Ginny snickered. "Oh, Harry come on, don't be like that," she coaxed, trotting after him. "We all love your hair! It's…unique!"
Harry growled a response, and Ginny laughed, linking her arm thoughtlessly through his, completely unaware of the satisfaction on Hermione's face, the confusion growing once again on Ron's, or the warring sadness and acceptance on Charlie's as the three trailed after the youngest Weasley and her dark haired companion.
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