On Easter morning, a few hours after breakfast, Harry, Collin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny were supposed to meet in the living room around 10 A.M. to find the Easter baskets that Hugh and Tina had left out for them. Hugh and Tina had told them the night before that they would put out the Easter baskets between the end of breakfast and 10 A.M.
As they had some time to kill between breakfast and 10 A.M. Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny all went up to Colin's room and watched Colin's VHS tape of Terminator 2 Judgement Day to kill the time. (A/N: regarding the VHS etc. Remember that the Creevey household is a muggle household, also remember that this is set in 1994 so that's why VHS instead of DVD, Blu Ray, or a DVR.)
When Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny went to living room to find their Easter baskets, they saw that each of them had a name tag on it to signify whose it was, and they all contained Easter candy.
"Help yourselves to your Easter baskets, " said Tina when the kids had entered the living room, "Let's not eat too much candy all at once, but you can see what you've got."
Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny all took the plastic wrappers off their Easter baskets and saw that their halls included Lindt's chocolate Easter bunnies, peeps, Cadbury cream eggs, Hershey's kisses, and Jelly Belly jellybeans.
"Cadbury Cream Eggs!" piped up Colin and Dennis joyfully, "Our favorites."
"Lindt's makes great chocolate, " beamed Ginny, "These bunnies will be yummy yummy yummy!"
"Why don't you all pick one candy to eat right now and save the rest for later, " suggested Tina.
Colin and Dennis went for their Cadbury Cream Eggs while Harry, Ginny, and Hermione went for their Lindt's chocolate bunnies. There were various mutterings of "yummy" and "delicious" as Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny each ate their chosen candy. This was an enjoyable start to their Easter day activates.
Around 11 A.M. they all went out back for the 1994 Creevey Easter Egg hunt.
The Creeveys backyard had lush green grass that was slightly above average in height.
"Okay, " said Hugh, addressing Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny, "Tina and I have hidden fifty Easter eggs in the lawn. Whoever finds the most eggs will be the winner. These are plastic eggs in the classic Easter pastel colors of yellow, sky blue, pink, pale orange and light green. I will be watching the event unfold and will say "ONE!" when only the final egg is left.
And so, they went off.
It was clear from the get-go that Colin and Ginny were the two best Easter egg hunters. Each of them found his or her first egg only a few seconds into the hunt whereas Harry, Dennis, and Hermione each took over two minutes to find his or her first egg.
The kids were all furiously trying to collect as many Easter eggs as they could. When any of the kids found an egg, he or she scooped it up quickly without much thought. They were all having a blast trying to find the eggs and within thirty minutes, Hugh had screamed "ONE!"
There was a quite a battle for the very last egg, a yellow one. Colin and Ginny could both tell that they were carrying a similar amount of eggs and they knew this last egg might matter. It looked like Ginny would get the last egg when she and Colin saw it at the same time and Ginny had a few steps lead on Colin. But just as Ginny was reaching down for the last egg, Colin dived for it. Lying on the ground, Colin snatched the last egg just before Ginny could get it.
"Time to reveal the results of the 1994 Creevey Easter egg hunt, " said Hugh dramatically, "In fifth place with five eggs recovered, Hermione Granger. In fourth place with seven eggs recovered, Dennis Creevey. In third place with nine eggs recovered, Harry Potter. In second place with fourteen eggs recovered, Ginny Weasley. And the winner of the 1994 Creevey Easter egg hunt with fifteen eggs recovered is Colin Creevey!"
"YES!" yelled Colin ecstatically, "I'm the Easter egg hunt champion AND I won my bets with Ginny!"
"So that means, " remembered Harry, who couldn't help enjoying a smile at Ginny's expense, "That Ginny has to go into Hogsmeade naked on her first visit next October!"
"That's right!" smirked Colin, grinning at Ginny, "I look forward to seeing Ginny go into Hogsmeade naked in October and being one of the many people to give her some good natured ribbing and razing about it. As I'm sure Harry and Dennis will as well."
"Fred and George will give me some ribbing and razing about that too, that's for sure, " said Ginny with a wry smile.
"But Colin cheated to get that last egg, " protested Hermione.
"No, he didn't, " said Ginny sharply, throwing Hermione a warning look, " He won fair and square. Colin simply used a clever and cunning, but still fair, trick to win. Colin just showed us all he has a Slytherin side to him. Colin, I want to shake your hand. The way you won our Easter egg hunt was ingenious and I'm really proud of you. "
Colin and Ginny exchanged a very sincere handshake and Ginny said "Congratulations, Colin, you're a very worthy champion "
"I knew I was going against the best Easter egg hunter I'd ever competed against, " explained Colin, "So I tried to think in advance of some tactics I could go to without being a dirty player."
"That further proves you deserve the win, " said Ginny proudly, "It never even occurred to me that I was competing against stiffer competition than normal and that I should have a strategy. Your preparation and execution of your plan were fantastic."
"Thanks, Ginny, " smiled Colin.
As Harry watched this scene unfold, he felt his respect for Ginny rise. He didn't think he'd have handled being on the losing end of such a juicy and high stakes bet in such a gracious and classy manner.
"Ginny, " said Harry proudly, " I want you to know that I admire the way you're handling the situation of being on the losing end here. If I were in your position-"
"I knew what I signed up for when I agreed to participate in the bets I made with Colin." said Ginny clearly, "Thanks for the acknowledgement though."
"I've heard the word bets, as in plural, a couple of times now, " observed Dennis, "Colin and Ginny must have also made other bets in addition to the main bet."
"Yes!" confirmed an elated sounding Colin, "We both went all in the Easter egg hunt and we did multiple bets in addition to the one I previously announced. I get to embarrass Ginny a bit today too. "
Next nanosecond, Colin dug a small whipped cream pie out of his right hand pocket and walked straight up to Ginny and threw the whipped cream pie in her face.
Everyone burst into laughter at seeing Ginny have a face full of whipped cream. What little of Ginny's face wasn't covered in whipped cream had gone very red and her embarrassment seemed to show. Ginny did feel embarrassed at being pied in the face and having everyone laugh at her having her face full of whipped cream. But she was a good sport about it and said, "You got me good, Colin, " as she let out a small giggle of her own.
"Giving Ginny a whipped cream pie in the face isn't the only way I get to embarrass her, "beamed Colin, "As part of our bet, Ginny has to sing a children's song in front of all of us."
Ginny, however, didn't seem the slightest bit embarrassed by this part of things. As everyone else formed a circle around Ginny, she burst into song confidently and sang:
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Our came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
When Ginny had finished singing, Hugh, Tina, Dennis, Colin, Harry, and Hermione all burst into applause. Ginny's singing voice turned out to be so good that they couldn't help but to admire it. Ginny didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed about singing in front of the others and when she'd finished, she actually felt proud of herself.
"You have a great singing voice Ginny, " complimented Colin, "it turns out that I didn't embarrass you by winning that part of the bet. Instead, I showcased you. If Hogwarts ever starts a choir, I'll recommend you for it."
"So, will I, " added Harry, " Listening to you sing was a treat."
"Thanks a lot, Colin and Harry, " said Ginny cheerfully, "it's nice to know my talent is appreciated."
"There was one last part of the bet between and myself, " said Colin, "Last summer, on our twelfth birthdays, both Ginny and I were on vacation with our families. Ginny was in Egypt and I was in Aruba. It turns out both of our birthdays are on August 11th. We both really wanted a birthday party at our house for our thirteen birthdays on August 11th. As our birthday is on the same date, we couldn't both have that. So, this bet was that the winner would get to have a thirteenth birthday party at his or her own house on August 11th. Since I won the bet, I get to have a thirteen birthday party here on August 11th."
For the first time since learning she was the loser, Ginny's head slumped a bit. Eventually it lowered into her hands. When it came back up, Ginny's face clearly had tears streaming down it.
"This hurts, " admitted Ginny, "I've enjoyed my stay here and this isn't a bad place. But it does sting my heart to know that, not only do I not get a birthday party, but I'll spending my birthday at someone else's birthday celebration with there being no acknowledgement of it being my birthday."
As the rate of Ginny's tears increased. Harry said thoughtfully, "I sympathize with Ginny here, but Colin would've been in the same boat if he had lost. The circumstance of Colin and Ginny sharing a birthday meant only one of them could have this thirteen birthday party. A bet was a fair way to solve the issue but no matter what it was inevitable someone was going to be stung."
They gave Ginny a few minutes to compose herself. and then, Tina announced, "We always go on an outing in the afternoon on Easter, there's never any real rhyme or reason to why, but this year we're going to the water park.
Ginny's expression quickly turned to delight.
"YES!" screamed Ginny, jumping up and down, "I LOVE water parks!"
Everyone was really glad that the day's outing was one that Ginny was excited about it. They all felt bad about her missing out on the opportunity to have a thirteenth birthday party even though they all knew it had to happen to someone. Everyone smiled at Ginny's reaction at the prospect of going to the water park.
At the water park, Hugh and Tina mostly stuck to swimming. But Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione and Ginny had a good old time splashing each other, having water balloon fights, going on the water slide, and playing in the slip n slide. Everyone had their favorites. Colin and Dennis loved the water slide, Hermione and Ginny loved the slip n slide, and Harry couldn't get enough water balloon fights. But they all really enjoyed the whole outing.
At dinnertime, Hugh, Tina, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny all gathered themselves in the dining room at a long black table with several brown chairs to sit down in.
Hugh explained, "Tina always makes a big feast at dinner on Easter with a big juicy ham being the heart of the meal. This year, Tina has also provided mashed potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and Sprite."
Truth be told, the ham was so good that no one noticed much else. They all polished off their plates, but they were so taken in by how delicious the ham was that everything else was just secondary.
"Hugh, Tina, " said Harry happily, "This ham is the best Easter food I've ever tasted and amongst the best food I've ever tasted period."
"My mom is a great cook herself and she always makes great Easter hams when I'm home for Easter, " said Ginny matter of factly, "But Tina's cooking is right up there with mom's"
"I always enjoyed Molly's cooking when I stayed at the Burrow, " acknowledged Harry, "But I do think Tina's cooking is just as good. Not better. But just as good."
"Easter has always been amongst my favorite holidays because of the yummy ham dinners mom always makes, " said Dennis warmly.
"I couldn't agree more, baby bro, " smiled Colin, "Mom could teach a cooking class if she wanted to."
As she did every year, Tina made enough for everyone to have third helpings. Easter was a day Hugh and Tina didn't mind the kids splurging a bit and they both immensely enjoyed Easter dinner themselves.
The morning after Easter, just before Harry, Colin, Hermione, and Ginny were to return to Hogwarts, Ginny looked Hugh and Tina straight in the eye and said, "Hugh, Tina, I really wanted to take this moment to thank you for allowing Harry, Hermione, and me to stay over for Easter. It was really jolly decent of you to have us over."
Harry and Hermione both nodded in agreement.
"It was our pleasure dears, " said Tina warmly, "As a mom, it was nice being able to meet some of my son's friends, including his bestie."
"And I feel the same way as a dad, " agreed Hugh brightly.