Adamantine: Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion

February 24, 1989

"I'm coming!"

"No you're not."

Ginny planted her hands on her hips and set her jaw, looking fiercely at her older brothers. "You're letting Ron go," she pointed out.

"But I'm older than you," Ron reminded her, tugging his boots on.

"Only by a year. You're eight and I'm seven. If you can go, so can I."

"I'll be nine in a week," Ron said hastily as the twins exchanged a look. He shot a glower at Ginny standing in the doorway.

"Look Gin, this is for boys," Fred tried to persuade. "You wouldn't like it anyway. It's just a bunch of loud noises and bright lights."

Ginny rolled her eyes in a very un-seven-ish way. "It's fireworks. That's not a boy thing, that's an everybody thing. And it's Mr. Lovegood's fireworks. You know they're going to be good."

"You can see them from your window," George tried to placate. "You don't need to come tramping through the snow with us."

"Then why are you going?" she shot.

There was a creak over their heads and all four children froze, staring at the ceiling.

"If Mum catches us, we're dead," Fred hissed.

Ron scrambled to his feet and George jumped down from the counter.

"If you're not a snitch, you can come next year," Fred told Ginny.

"You'll be at Hogwarts next year," she reminded him, hurrying across the kitchen as her three brothers opened the back door.

"You can't come, Ginny. You're not old enough," Ron hissed, pushing her back as she made to slip out with them.

Ginny's eyes grew stormy. She shoved Ron out of the way and marched out into the yard. The night was icy beneath a velvet, star-strewn sky. Off in the distance, towards the hills, a spark flew skyward.

"Come on, Gin, Mum'll have a fit if she finds out this late!" George said almost pleadingly.

Ginny ignored him. She climbed up on the slippery rungs of the gate and slid down the other side.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" she asked, looking back through the gate at the boys clustered on the porch, gaping at her.

The twins exchanged a look. Then, with equally bemused grins, hurried across the yard and vaulted the gate.

"Haven't got all night, Ronniekinz!" one of them called over their shoulder.

"But –" Ron said indignantly, stumbling as he ran to catch up. "But you didn't let me come last year!"

"You took 'no' for an answer," Fred shrugged, leading the way down the moonlit road towards a clump of trees where they could get the best view of the Lovegood's annual fireworks display. Of course, the sneaking out in the middle of the night part was really the most fun, but it was always worth watching the fireworks.

Ron shot his sister one more resentful look as the four of them hurried along in the darkness. She merely smiled at him. If there was one thing having six brothers had taught her, it was never yield.

A/N: Meh. Not my favorite, this one. I love Ginny and her brothers, but I think I didn't do it justice here. Ah well. What did you think? :)

To Essalinn: I can't PM you, but I'll answer your reviews here. Yes, Pachyderm does mean elephant, but it also means someone who isn't sensitive to insults or criticism, which is the definition gave me for the word of the day, and so the one I used to write the story. I'd love to PM you and talk more about your review, but you've got it disabled, so I hope you read this! And also, could you give me an example of an 'overly lengthy' description? It's just I'm not sure I understand which parts you think I should cut back on, since these little bits aren't all that long and not exactly all stories. Thanks :)