I'm so sorry everyone! I know I promised to keep updating often but this last week was incredibly crazy.
Here's new chapter. I hope you'll like it. I'm thinking about skipping few days in the next chapter and start writing about real vacation – can't wait for the boys to be home from Hogwarts…or maybe not…let me know what you think. Read and Review!
Jade woke up and found a cup of apple tea, steaming on her bed-side table.
Molly came up to check on her every two hours and always changed the tea. There was no need to do it as magic was keeping the mug hot and tea fresh, but Molly was a mother to 8 children now and she couldn't resist taking care of her little ones.
Jade pulled on the cut-off jean shorts, but her t-shirt was gone, so she had to take another one from the drawer.
She carefully folded the nightshirt she was wearing before and put it under her pillow.
She didn't bother with sneakers or socks. It was already hot and when she opened her window, hot summer air hit her face.
She could hear Ron and Ginny arguing over something in the garden.
After taking a sip of the tea and finger-combing through her hair, Jade went downstairs to meet Mrs. Weasley busy, setting plates on the kitchen table.
When Molly saw her newest daughter come down with empty cup in hand standing on the last stair smiling shyly, she set down the pile of plates and rushed over to her.
"Oh hello darling, how do you feel? What about your hand?" she reached down for Jade's hand and quickly checked her palm. It was completely healed now, and the only reminder about the accident was a thin pink line, which will fade soon.
"Good, I'm sorry for being such trouble yesterday, I didn't mean to fall asleep and all, I was just really scared and it made me quite sick." Jade was rambling. "Can I help you with something now?"
"No, it's ok dear, the lunch will be ready soon, I just wanted to finish fruit salad for desert, so if you could go out and help kids pick some more strawberries, it would be great." Molly smiled and watched as Jade pulled a pair of old wellies on her bare feet.
Jade skipped the two stairs leading from the back door to the kitchen and when she turned around the corner to join her friends in the strawberry patch, she was greeted by a bear hug from Ginny and huge smile from Ron who was sitting on the ground with a bowl full of big red strawberries and one half eaten in his hand.
"I was so worried about you!" exclaimed Ginny, still holding her sister around the neck. "But mom said you will be fine so I believed her. Thank you for catching me when I …" tears started to glitter in Ginny's eyes as she remembered that scary day of the accident.
Jade, seeing how upset Ginny was, changed the subject quickly. "Your mom sent me to help you with the strawberries and tell you lunch will be ready soon." She said and slid down on the ground next to Ron, crossing legs in front of her.
Ginny happily joined them and they spent next five minutes picking strawberries within their reach, while Ron stuffed every second one to his mouth.
Girls just giggled at them and after a while Ginny persuaded Jade that mom wouldn't be angry if she tasted some before lunch. Jade who didn't eat anything for almost two days gave up and picked one little red berry for herself.
They were delicious, sweet and juicy, and there were miles of strawberry plants growing everywhere you could see, mixing with pumpkin at the edges and some carrots and celery planted in neat rows under the windows.
Molly called them from the window letting them know the lunch was ready.
When they came in, Ron running – to be there first and Jade carrying the bowl – heavy with all the fruit in it, there were already plates with roasted potatoes and sautéed zucchini on the table. Everyone got half of fresh avocado which little Luna Lovegood brought over yesterday. Molly couldn't understand the strange choices of the exotic trees that family was growing around their house, but she was a good friend with Luna's parents and little Luna was the only girl around to play with so Ginny grew up with her being best friends.
While kids started to eat, Molly cleaned the strawberries and added them to the bowl with small pieces of apples and peaches, mixing all together, so that the juice from all the fruit would combine.
It was nice summer lunch, full of good things and Molly always tried to make her kids eat healthy.
After finishing their meal and drinking at least two glasses of cooled pumpkin juice each, Jade took all the plates to the sink. Ron and Ginny thanked her (after a meaningful stare from their mother) and Molly added her thanks too, telling Jade that she didn't have to do that, because today it was Ron's turn to do the dishes.
Ron still had some extra chores added to his usual ones – as a punishment for being so careless while flying.
Ginny cuddled on the loveseat which was standing by the wall between kitchen and living-room. It was simple piece of furniture, with red covers and one big fluffy pillow with paisley violet and yellow pillow-case.
It was still too hot outside to get back there and maybe explore the surroundings, so Jade stopped on her way from the table, not really knowing what she was going to do.
"Maybe you could relax for a while and catch up with your reading?" suggested Molly, and Jade agreed. She enjoyed the small book about magical creatures, and she already lost two days worth of reading.
She came to her room and quickly changed her tee, putting on a white tank top because it was getting even hotter, and grabbed the little book which was laying on her desk.
When she entered the kitchen Molly silently turned to her with a finger on her lips, looking over to sleeping Ginny who curled around the pillow in the corner of red loveseat.
Jade smiled and quietly walked over to Ginny and sat down to the opposite corner, opening the book where she stopped reading before. There were only few chapters left and Jade was almost disappointed with that fact. She loved the book too much for it to end this soon.
…
Jade put the book down next to her, after reading the last page. What would she do now? She looked around herself, trying to find something to do.
The wall behind the loveseat was painted black with some sort of black-board paint and there were chalk finger-prints and some little crosswords written in wobbly hand-writing – obviously Ron and Ginny amused themselves by scribbling all over the wall.
Molly looked up from the kitchen counter – where she was cleaning the rest of strawberries, getting them ready for jam – because they almost ran out of the last year ones.
"You want to do something else than reading?" asked Molly.
"I've already finished the book" whispered Jade, not wanting to wake Ginny up.
"You don't have to be quiet anymore" smiled Molly "once Ginny falls asleep it's almost impossible to wake her up."
Jade smiled, she wished she could sleep that well. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No, not right now, but if you want to , you could clean the black-board wall, it's really messy and I have always too many things to clean and so I forget to wash it."
"Sure! That will be fun!" agreed Jade. She always liked washing black-boards at school. IT was quiet little job, which provided her with some time to think, plus no one bothered her, because all the kids usually ran out for the recess.
She grabbed the yellow sponge from the box full of white chalk, standing on the floor.
It was satisfying to see how the dusty wall turned into nice clean black space.
Molly came to check on her after five minutes and stared in awe at the clean wall in front of her. Ron and Ginny, usually erased it all without rinsing the sponge and it always had smudges all over it, but now it was as good as new.
"Why don't you get a chalk and write something nice there?" suggested Molly.
"Really?" Jade couldn't believe she could do that. "What should I write?" she asked in disbelief.
"Anything you want honey. You can draw a picture, or write something if you want. Just have fun with it." Said smiling Molly and went back to cleaning strawberries.
Jade picked one little sharp piece of chalk and stared at the wall, deciding what should be written on it.
She felt proud of herself, that Molly trusted her enough to let her write over her kitchen wall. She wanted to pick something nice, to decorate the kitchen and maybe earn her some more praise from Molly.
After another minute of thinking, she stepped on the loveseat and started to write.
When Molly finished preparing the fruit and the red sweetness was now slowly cooking in one big pot, she turned around to see what Jade decided to write on the wall.
There wasn't much, just one simple quote, written in white chalk, big enough to be readable from across the room, but not too big to look humble. Jade's handwriting was beautiful, she made sure to shape every letter carefully, and she wrote:
"There is no surprise more magical, than the surprise of being loved."
Charles Morgan