Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Y'all should know I started working on this one the very same day.
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George counted to three and they all rose into the air. Fred started with possession of their makeshift Quaffle, which in the absence of apples due to the time of year, was a hand-knitted beanbag he had brought along for the purpose.
The twins worked well together, which was not at all surprising. Even though chasing wasn't their usual position, their familiarity with flying together definitely provided them with an advantage. Or it would have, if Harry and Ginny hadn't been flying together for even longer. They had agreed not to coordinate their moves too much to start; it would be difficult to explain how they managed it, after all. And they had to make sure to include Ron, of course.
Still, it was child's play to find an opening in Fred and George's pattern and exploit it.
'Hey!' Fred yelped as Ginny flew up at him from underneath and snatched the beanbag George had just tried to pass to him. She quickly tossed it to Ron on her left side, who nearly dropped it but managed to hang on.
'Don't hold back on my account!' Ginny called to Fred as she flew away. Looking more than a little stunned, Fred shook his head and tore off after Ron, who was making his way down the pitch also pursued by George.
'Oy!' Harry called. Ron looked over his shoulder and saw the twins bearing down on him. He lobbed the beanbag toward Harry, who had to swerve sharply to his left to catch it. The twins split up, one to come after him, and the other moving to between Ron and Ginny, ready to cover whichever one Harry looked ready to pass to.
Harry swerved to the right, heading for the end of the paddock which was supposed to be his team's scoring area. Halfway there he feinted a pass to Ron, and Fred fell for it, moving to intercept. He switched targets and passed to Ginny, who zoomed underneath her brothers with the beanbag. She now had a clear shot on the tree that substituted for a goal hoop. One perfectly aimed throw later and they were ten points up.
'Nice moves!' George said, flying over to pick up the beanbag. 'Don't think we'll fall for it again, though.' He tore off down the pitch with the makeshift Quaffle. Ron charged forward, but Ginny turned away to cover Fred.
'How'd you get so good at this?' Fred asked her as she marked him.
'Not telling,' she said smugly.
'George, we've got another natural on our hands!'
'Not fair!' cried George, who had made it around Ron and was now contending with Harry, who wasn't letting him go anywhere. 'What, can everyone just hop on a broom and start flying now?'
Harry made a grab for the bag. He wasn't actually trying to take it, but rather force George to pass, which he did. Ginny swooped in and snatched it away effortlessly, tearing off back down toward the goal tree.
'What is happening?' yelled Fred in bewilderment, racing after her, George hot on their tails. Ginny passed the bag forward to Ron, who was still down on that end of the paddock, and he almost didn't catch it; he clearly hadn't been expecting the pass, but he recovered quickly and spun back toward the goal tree. He had a big enough lead on the twins that he was able to takes his time and line up a good shot, and Harry's team scored again. Ron let out a great cheer, and Fred and George suddenly got very determined looks on their faces.
Harry could tell they were playing their hardest now, not pulling any punches at all. However, they never made it more than two thirds down the pitch toward their goal tree before Harry or Ginny managed to get the beanbag away from them. They were following their plan of not coordinating their maneuvers, but instead merely reacted to what the other did after the fact. They also made sure to pass to Ron as often as to each other, and though these were the only times Fred and George managed to regain possession, Ron was holding his own well enough so as to not get frustrated. Though even he could see that his two teammates clearly outmatched him.
'Blimey,' he said as their team gathered together after their seventh goal. Fred and George had called time out to take a breather. 'What are the odds there'd be two of you?' he said to Harry and Ginny. 'How are you both so good at this?'
'Well I can't speak for Harry, since I know you told me he'd never flown before going to Hogwarts,' Ginny said. 'But I've been borrowing each of your brooms to practice since I was six.' It was a true statement, even if not the full explanation for her skill.
Ron spluttered, but before he had a chance to say anything, Fred and George had flown over and landed next to them.
'You've been holding out on us, little sis,' Fred said.
'Where did you learn to fly like that?' George demanded. She opened her mouth to tell them what she'd told Ron, but he beat her to it. Fred and George stared for a moment, blinking owlishly, then burst out laughing.
'Oh, that's brilliant,' said George. 'I love it. You're our sister, all right.'
'How come you never told us?' asked Fred.
'Maybe I would have, if you lot had ever invited me to play,' Ginny replied, looking at him through narrowed eyes. He feigned a wince.
'Ouch, all right, we get it,' he said. 'Anyway, we were thinking maybe the teams are a little unbalanced. Why don't one of you come on over to our side, make things a little more even?'
'It should be you, I think, Ron,' said George. Ron looked surprised. So, for that matter, did Harry and Ginny. 'No offense, little bro; you're not bad, but if we took Harry or Ginny the teams would be too unbalanced the other way.' Ron looked dejected for a moment, then seemed to accept the truth of these words and nodded.
'Yeah, all right,' he grumbled. 'That makes sense.'
'Why don't you take the Nimbus, Ron?' Harry offered on a sudden whim. 'We said we were going to take turns, after all.'
'Oh, getting a bit overconfident, are we, Harry?' said Fred. 'You think you two can take all three of us and the best broom?'
'Only one way to find out,' he said, pushing his broomstick into Ron's hands. Had it just been the twins, his reply would have been much cheekier, but he didn't want to risk upsetting Ron, who was still visibly uncomfortable with both his best friend and little sister being so much better at Quidditch than he was. Perhaps, Harry thought, he and Ginny hadn't entirely thought this through.
Fortunately, whatever disappointment Ron felt at being the least skilled Quidditch player was placated by getting to ride on Harry's broom. He was having so much fun zooming around that Fred had to yell at him to remind him that they were supposed to be playing a game.
Now that the teams were three on two the other way, the twins and Ron were starting to hold their own a bit more. Plus, Harry had to admit, not having a great broomstick did make a difference. He and Ginny had to put in a little more effort now, but while they scored fewer goals, they still were able to to prevent the others from scoring on them.
'This is insane,' gasped an out of breath George after Harry had intercepted one of his passes for what had to be the twentieth time. 'I mean, I know we don't normally play chaser, but neither does Harry. And where does Ginny come off flying so well, sneaky practice sessions or nor?'
'They're getting used to playing together, too,' Fred observed; he had just missed stealing the makeshift Quaffle from Harry, who had sensed him coming and dropped it to Ginny, who was flying under him. 'I'm thinking letting them stay on the same team might not have been the best idea after all.'
It was true that Harry and Ginny were hiding their well-practiced coordination less and less as the day wore on. They hadn't discussed this, but Harry's secret desire was to get Ginny onto the Gryffindor team as quickly as possible, so showing off not just how good she was but how well she could adapt was key. He was sure she was thinking something similar. The twins were bound to rave to Wood and whomever else would listen about how unnaturally brilliant their sister was at Quidditch.
By the time they stopped for lunch, they were all sweaty and breathing hard. They'd stayed out longer because Fred and George were determined to score at least one goal, but eventually even they had to give it up as a bad job and obey their growling stomachs.
They trooped back toward the house, Ron once again a little grumpy, and the twins in a state of barely restrained shock.
'I knew Harry was good, but I never expected this,' said Fred as they left the paddock. George nodded silently in agreement.
'What? That your little sister could play Quidditch?'
'Like a pro! You two are flying like bloody pros!' Fred yelled, his frustration finally coming out. 'When Harry played at school, I'd never seen anything like it. First time on a broom and flying better than anyone in the school. It was unreal.'
'Thought we were looking at a one in a million prodigy, we did,' said George.
'Never expected to see another one, and in our own house! Right under our noses this whole time!'
'And don't give us any of that "sneaking off to practice with our brooms" bit,' George added. 'No amount of secret solo practice sessions is going to let you fly like that. You're a bloody natural, just like this one.' He jerked his thumb at Harry. 'And it's downright infuriating, I tell you.'
'Wood's going to go mental,' Fred said. 'He'll try to get her on the team, same as Harry, you know he will.'
'McGonagall would never have it,' said George, shaking his head. 'Harry was a special case. We needed a seeker; we've already got three chasers and they're not bad.'
'I don't mind waiting a year,' Ginny put in. 'I wouldn't want to force someone out of their spot anyway.' Harry knew only the second half of this statement was true, but he grinned at her anyway.
'Well, your second year, you're a shoo in,' said Fred. 'One of the others can still play reserve; we should have one anyway and it'd be a shame to lose any of them.'
'Great,' Ron mumbled from behind them. 'Then I can be the only member of the family who's not on the team.'
'No you won't; Percy doesn't play,' said Fred. Ron scowled at him, and Harry, Ginny, and even George gave him stunned looks. He winced. 'Okay, maybe that was a bad example. Sorry, Ron. But if you want to play, practice more and try out. You could be a reserve chaser too, and there's always Keeper once Oliver leaves. You've done all right when we've had you keep for us around here.'
'Not great, but all right,' clarified George. 'If you practice, you should be able to make the team. I don't know of anyone else in Gryffindor who's any great shakes at keeping.'
'Well no one's bothered to try with Oliver on the team, have they?' said Fred. 'But he's got a point, Ron. If you want to be on the team, work for it.'
'Now who's Percy?' Ginny teased.
Fred and George both grabbed their faces melodramatically and yelled in horror. Harry and Ron laughed.
'Forget everything we just said,' George demanded in frantically. 'Ron, you're rubbish. Auntie Muriel has a better chance of making the team.'
'And we'd only want you playing keeper if it's for one of the other houses!' Fred added.
'Too late,' said Ron, still smiling. Fred and George cursed under their breath. Ginny looked very pleased with herself.
By the time they got back to the house, they were all in high spirits again and talking excitedly about the day when they could all play Quidditch together. With a start, Harry realized they never had. He and the twins had been banned from playing by Umbridge before Ginny joined, and by the time the ban was lifted the twins had left Hogwarts.
A quick glance at Ginny told him she had just realized the same thing. As troubling and inconvenient as their situation was, it did provide the occasional thing to look forward to.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
They ate a quick lunch of sandwiches and pumpkin juice before heading back out to the paddock. Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd just played Quidditch all day for fun. It very well may have been his very first visit to the Burrow the last time.
Fred and George still hadn't gotten over Ginny's innate Quidditch abilities by that evening, and she was the talk of the table at dinner. Mr Weasley was surprised but clearly proud of her, and Mrs Weasley, though pleased they were including her, didn't show the same enthusiasm. Harry knew she didn't exactly approve of Ginny playing Quidditch. It was one of the few areas in which he and his future mother-in-law heartily disagreed.
Mrs Weasley always said there were more respectable things a young woman should be doing, and Ginny always complained that her mother was just too old-fashioned, an opinion Harry shared, though he was less comfortable than she was when it came to voicing it. Even when Ginny had been chosen to play professionally for the Holyhead Harpies, and then again for the English national side, Mrs Weasley was unable to completely mask her disappointment that her daughter wasn't engaged in a more "appropriate" career path, however outwardly encouraging and supportive she managed to be.
It clearly wasn't a fight Ginny wanted to start on again, because while she definitely noticed her mother's attitude, she paid it absolutely no mind. And then the thought came that it was good they were talking about it now. Last time, Ginny hadn't started to play until she was fourteen. Maybe, Harry thought, if Molly had more time to get used to the idea…
It was something worth considering, but he was distracted when the woman in question chose that moment to serve them all treacle tart. Briefly he wondered how she'd known to do this, never having met him in this timeline before today, then he realized it must have been Ginny. She'd requested his favorite pudding for him. He felt a tightness in his chest and a stinging behind his eyes, and wanted nothing more than to embrace her, family members be damned.
After the food and dishes were cleared away, Ron challenged Harry to a game of chess in the sitting room. The twins ran off to their own room (to work on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products, perhaps?) but Ginny came in to watch. She curled up on the floor at the foot of Harry's chair as they set up the board.
'Ginny, are you really going to just hang around with us all week?' Ron asked, sounding mildly put out.
'What?' Ginny shot back defiantly. 'Harry doesn't mind, do you, Harry?' She smiled sweetly and looked him in the eye, and gave him the ghost of a wink. He almost choked with laughter.
'No, I don't mind,' he answered in a straight tone, for which he was very proud of himself. 'Maybe she'll bring me some luck and I'll be able to beat you for a change.' Playing Ron at chess was one thing that had not become easier as an adult in a child's body; he was just as dominant as ever.
The game dragged on a little longer than usual. Not because Harry was playing particularly well, but because Ginny was casually leaning against Harry's legs as she watched and Ron kept giving her sidelong looks, though he didn't say anything. And while there was a part of Harry that thought she maybe was pushing their luck about as far as it would go, he never for an instant entertained the idea of telling her to stop.
That night, as they were changing into pyjamas, Ron did bring it up, though it was clear to Harry that he was trying his best to be delicate about it.
'So Ginny obviously likes you,' he said in his best casual voice while he did up his buttons.
'Well that's good,' replied Harry, playing dumb. 'It'd be a bit awkward if she didn't, what with me being here all week and all.'
'No, I don't mean…I think she might fancy you,' Ron said.
'You reckon?'
Ron looked nonplussed. 'Are you serious? She barely left your side all day, and she keeps smiling at you. It's creepy; I don't think I've ever seen her smile like that before.'
Harry knew his younger self would have been blushing, but he couldn't fake that, so he continued playing things cool.
'Well, you said she's always talked about me ever since she was little,' he said. 'It must be exciting to meet someone you've heard stories about your whole life. I don't have anyone like that, but I can imagine.'
'And it doesn't bother you?' Ron asked. 'I know you don't generally like people talking about your fame.'
'If she'd been fawning all over me asking for autographs, that'd be different,' Harry said, inwardly chuckling at the thought of Ginny ever doing such a thing, even when he'd first known her. 'But she's basically just been really friendly so far. I never had a lot of friends; it' s nice.'
Ron gave Harry something of a pitying look, as though he couldn't believe anyone could be so naive, but he did not press the matter, for which Harry was grateful.
That night, Harry and Ginny met out behind the pond again. Harry related to her Ron's concerns, which she found very amusing. They attempted once more a diagnosis of whatever might have brought them back in time, but except for that strange resonance – which was so faint he could not be entirely certain he wasn't imagining it – he detected nothing.
They turned their attention instead onto their more immediate plans. The next big obstacle for them to overcome would be Riddle's diary and the Chamber of Secrets. They had bounced ideas off each other before, but this was the first time they'd really sat down to hash out some of the details. September was only a few months away; they would need to have their entire plan worked out by then.
The week long holiday continued on in much the same manner. They would play quidditch during the day, play chess or gobstones or exploding snap in the evenings, and then Harry and Ginny would meet outside to discuss their plans, and to be together without having to pretend they were children who'd just met.
On the third morning, Harry "innocently" asked why they didn't just play quidditch in the backyard instead of traipsing all the way up to the paddock. Apparently they'd just always done it that way, all the way back to when Bill and Charlie were children. There was more room to fly around and so it felt more like a real quidditch pitch.
Ginny then pointed out that they didn't really need all that room, and that if they played closer to the house they'd be able to use a real quaffle and fly as high as they wanted (within reason, of course). This seemed to be enough to sell Fred and George on the idea. Mrs Weasley was less keen on this new arrangement until she realized that she could holler out at them any time she wished.
'Have to take the good with the bad,' said Fred, tucking the quaffle back under his arm after his mother had interrupted their game for the third time that morning to remind them they needed to de-gnome the garden in the afternoon.
'I bet you've never seen a de-gnoming, have you, Harry?' Ginny asked when they stopped for lunch. They had agreed to tackle the garden before picking back up again, so as to keep Mrs Weasley off their backs, and not disrupt the flow of their game (Harry and Ginny were winning again).
'Not many gnomes in the Muggle neighborhoods, eh?' Fred asked.
'They have garden gnomes, but that's something different,' Harry answered.
'Oh right, I've seen those down in the village,' said George. 'Fat little Father Christmases?'
'With pointed hats!' Ron put in, laughing.
'That's them,' said Harry, joining the laughter. 'Never really understood the point of them.'
'Why does everything have to have a point?' Ginny asked. 'Maybe the muggles just think they look nice.'
The boys all looked at each other and shrugged.
'Fair enough,' said Fred. 'Merlin knows wizards have got plenty of our own barmy ideas when it comes to decorations.'
Fred, George, and Ron were all impressed by how quickly Harry got the hang of de-gnoming, and how far he could hurl them over the hedge. Harry would never forget his first experience with the lumpy little creatures. He'd been too soft on them and paid the price. He reckoned he still had the teeth marks in his finger.
No. He remembered the moment his eyes were instinctively drawn by the memory to the (perfectly unmarred) digit in question. Not this finger.
His good mood unexpectedly evaporated at this latest reminder that even the littlest of things were gone, possibly forever. Ginny noticed almost at once, and though she was surely puzzled at what might have brought on this wave of melancholy, she certainly wouldn't have any trouble guessing its cause.
'What do you say to just some good old flying practice later instead of Quiddich?' she suggested out of the blue.
'What?' gasped Fred. 'Practice? What do you want practice for? You're bloody flying circles around us already!'
'Then maybe it's you who needs the practice, isn't it?' she replied, arching an eyebrow. 'But seriously, I'm just making things up as I go,' she lied easily. 'You lot actually know some real maneuvers that I'd like to work on. If it's okay.'
'I don't mind,' said Harry, understanding her plan at once. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, and it would be easier to have a conversation this way. 'There are a couple of things I'd like to work on myself that I don't have time for during practice,' he invented wildly. 'What with Wood breathing down our necks and everything.'
'Ah, Wood,' said George, affecting an exaggerated sigh. 'He means well. At least I'm pretty sure he does. Hard to tell, really. He might just be mad. Anyway, I don't think I'll mind taking a break from losing to a first year and my little sister.'
It was thus agreed, and after the last gnome was tossed over the hedge, they took up their brooms once more and took to the air to practice various maneuvers. About ten minutes on when Fred and George were occupied talking Ron through the finer points of a proper sloth-grip roll, Harry flew down and landed by the tree behind the pond. Ginny joined him shortly thereafter.
'What's wrong?' she asked without preamble.
'It's nothing,' Harry said reflexively, forgetting for a moment that she hated that. 'Stupid, really. I was thinking about the very first time I came here; a gnome bit my finger. I glanced at my finger to see if there was still a scar, but there wasn't. Of course there wasn't.'
'It's so easy to forget, isn't it?' Ginny said. 'Like being in a dream, and remembering something from real life. I once dreamt I was in detention back at school, and couldn't stop worrying about what Gwenog would say when I didn't show up for practice.'
'So it happens to you, too?'
'Of course it does,' she said. 'And the most insignificant things can set it off, like looking for my hairbrush, or seeing Fred at the breakfast table, or looking for a scar that won't be there.' She reached out as if to take his hand, but forcefully held herself back in case her brothers were looking. It looked like it caused her physical pain; Harry could relate.
'I wonder sometimes if it'll ever go away, but then I'm afraid that it might,' Harry confessed.
'Because that would mean we've forgotten,' Ginny finished for him. 'I know.' It was a bleak thing to discuss, but all the same he felt a weight had lifted that he hadn't even known was there at having his anxieties validated. He truly would be lost without Ginny.
'What are you two doing down there?' Fred called. Harry nearly jumped, but Ginny barely reacted at all.
'Just talking about some moves I want to try,' she yelled back. 'Maybe we can use them against you tomorrow!' Fred groaned loudly. To Harry, Ginny said, 'We'd better get back up there. We can talk more about this tonight if you need to.'
'Yeah, all right,' Harry agreed. He mounted his broom.
'Have you been sleeping all right?' Ginny asked before he pushed off.
'No major nightmares yet, but more than a few little ones. You?'
'Same. I feel like I'm due for a big one, but it hasn't been as bad with you around, even if we're not in the same room.'
'I noticed that, too,' said Harry. 'Wasn't sure if I was imagining it.' Ginny smiled warmly at him and launched herself back into the air. Harry followed her, his heard significantly lighter than it had been minutes before.
The following day brought rain, so they couldn't go outside. They spent the morning helping Mrs Weasley around the house (though Ron and the twins made no secret of the fact that they were only doing so under coercion), and in the afternoon played game after game of exploding snap, gobstones, and chess. An hour or so before supper Fred and George retreated to their room, but Ron managed to coax them back into the sitting room after they'd eaten. They were playing another round of exploding snap while Harry and Ginny watched from a safe distance, sipping hot chocolate on the sofa.
'This is what I wanted it to be like before,' murmured Ginny quietly, so that Harry wondered if even he'd been meant to hear.
'What do you mean?' he asked, casting a surreptitious Muffliato just in case.
'This,' she repeated, gesturing with her eyes toward her brothers, who were all laughing uproariously at a near miss that had almost taken George's eyebrows off. She raised her mug of hot chocolate for extra emphasis. 'When Ron brought you home when we were kids, this is what I'd dreamt it would be like. All of us, just having fun together, and you and I becoming best friends. I was so sure it would happen just like I wanted, but then you showed up without warning and caught me off guard in my pyjamas, and there was no coming back from that.'
'That's a little melodramatic, wouldn't you say?' Harry asked.
'I was ten years old with a crush, Harry. My entire life was melodramatic.' She heaved a great sigh. 'I was so embarrassed, and everything I tried to do from there on out just seemed to make it worse. It was years before I felt brave enough to talk to you normally. Why couldn't it have been like this?'
Harry didn't know what to say. He sat in silence for a few moments, the whoops from Ron and the twins interspersed with the odd bang echoing from across the room. Then something occurred to him.
'That's what you meant the other night, isn't it?' he said suddenly. 'When you said "wish fulfillment".'
She threw him a side eye. 'Sometimes I think you pay too close attention,' she said. 'But yes, that's what I meant.' She took a sip of her hot chocolate, then gasped.
'What?' Harry said quickly. 'Did you burn yourself?'
'What? No, of course not. Harry, what if that's it? What if I did this to us?'
'You mean sending us back in time?'
'Yes! What if I...I don't know, wished things had been different, and then got my wish? Oh, it's all my fault!'
'Ginny, calm down,' said Harry. He (rather wisely, he felt) resisted the urge to laugh. He wanted to reach out and put his arm around her, or at least lay hand on her arm, but engrossed as they were in their game, her brothers would surely notice, and then where would they be.
'No, I can't!' she said, starting to hyperventilate. 'If this really is my fault...'
'Love, if wishing to go back in time and change something were enough to make it happen, I expect it would be a common enough occurrence that we'd have heard of it before.'
She froze in mid gasp, then visibly regained control of herself. 'You're right,' she said. 'Of course you're right. I can't be the first person in the world who wishes something in her past had gone differently. But suppose...if there is a way, and we just haven't heard of it...'
'Do you really think this is the sort of thing Hermione wouldn't have come across?' Harry asked. 'And that she wouldn't immediately come tell us all about it?' He looked past her, out the window, not quite sure what he was seeing. 'We all have things we'd like to change.'
'You're right; you're right,' said Ginny, fully relaxing now. 'Merlin, I've got myself all worked up.' She took another swig of hot chocolate. 'How stupid. I'd never have forgiven myself. One chance to go back and change anything from the past – I could have stopped Voldemort or saved Sirius or Dumbledore – and I waste it on getting the boy I like to notice me a few years early. Pathetic.'
'We're still going to do those other things,' Harry assured her, bringing his full attention back to the present moment. 'Where's the harm in doing a few other minor touch ups while we're at it?' He grinned and she returned it, then abruptly said, 'Game's over.'
Harry quickly undid the Muffliato and turned to see Ron coming toward them while Fred and George cleaned up the cards.
'What have you two been talking about?' he asked curiously.
'None of your business, Ron,' Ginny said in her best petulant little sister voice. Harry very nearly snorted hot chocolate up his nose.
'Fred and George were thinking of heading into the village tomorrow,' Ron said to Harry, opting to ignore his sister's attitude. 'If you're interested.'
'Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun,' replied Harry. Truth be told, he was getting a little stir crazy.
'Mum'll have to come with us, of course,' Ron reminded him, 'but that basically just means she'll be in the village while we are. We'll still be able to go off on our own and do what we want.'
'Not like there's much to do in the village, outside of the corner shop with all the muggle snacks,' Ginny chimed in. 'But a change of scenery will be nice, I guess.'
Ron did a double-take, but did not say anything to Ginny's assumption that she was coming with them. Had he honestly thought she wouldn't? Harry thought it was rather more likely that he simply hadn't thought about it at all, and it hadn't occurred to him that she would want to come. Oh, well. He'd learn soon enough once Ginny finally made it to Hogwarts.
'Well, I'd best be off to bed, then,' she said, standing up. 'I don't expect Mum will want to stay in the village through lunch, which means we'll be leaving early. Good night.'
'G'night,' they both chorused after her. The twins followed her out moments later.
'Thick as thieves you two are,' Ron said. There was an element of teasing in his voice, but Harry sensed the question, too. He decided playing dumb was his best option. It usually worked, after all.
'For what, sitting on the couch and talking? I've had enough Exploding Snap today to last me the rest of the month, thanks.'
'Not just that,' said Ron. 'You just seem to get along really well, is all. I kind of wasn't expecting it.'
'Worried she's going to replace you as my best friend?' Harry asked, unable to resist taking the mickey just a little.
'What? Of course not!' Ron denied hotly. 'It's just...I don't know. I didn't think I'd have to share my best mate with my sister, that's all.'
'You already share me with Hermione,' Harry pointed out.
'Yeah, I suppose,' Ron agreed. 'But it's a bit more even, isn't it? I mean, I'm sharing her with you at the same time.'
'That's a fair point,' Harry said. Inwardly, he was marveling at how much easier things would have been for Hermione if Ron had been able to be this open about his feelings the last time. Had he really changed so much already? It hadn't even been a year.
'Well, I don't know what to tell you,' Harry went on. 'We're best mates, but we can have other friends too. I like Ginny. She's cool. Pretend she isn't your sister if that helps.' He shrugged. It won't, though, he thought, thinking back to his dreadfully stressful sixth year.
'Well, I mean, obviously I'm not going to tell you not to be friends with her. I'm not that big of a git. It was just...surprising, I guess.'
'The world is full of surprises, Ron. Sometimes, if you're lucky, they're the nice kind that aren't trying to kill you.'
Ron laughed, but winced when he was interrupted by his mother, yelling at him to come help her clean the kitchen.
'I can come help,' offered Harry.
'Nah, she'd just tell you you're a guest and boot you. Go on upstairs; I'll be up in a bit.'
Knowing Ron was right, Harry didn't put up a fight and started up the stairs. Ginny came out of the bathroom as he passed.
'Did I hear Mum yelling?' she asked.
'Just needed help cleaning the kitchen,' said Harry. 'Which is odd, now I think about it. Can't she just clean up with her wand?'
'She can; she likes to make us pitch in sometimes though, to keep us on our toes. Doesn't want us thinking we can just do whatever we want with no responsibility.'
'Smart,' said Harry, filing that away. It was one of a long list of mental notes he'd made over the years regarding the Weasleys' parenting style. Given that his only other example was the Dursleys, he wanted to make sure that if he and Ginny ever had children – a much more distant prospect than it had been a year ago – that he didn't completely bollocks it up.
'Well, yes, I think so now,' said Ginny. 'When I was little, I hated it.'
'You are little,' Harry said, a teasing grin coming to his face of its own accord.
'Watch it, Potter,' she parried. 'I'm not so little I can't handle the likes of you.'
'I don't doubt it for a second,' said Harry. 'But it'll have to wait, I think. Usual time?'
'Of course. Good night for now.' She leaned up to him on her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, much closer to his mouth than childhood innocence would generally call for.
'WHAT THE HELL?'
Harry's heart overinflated and exploded, sending splashing waves of panic all throughout his body. He and Ginny both spun to face down the stairs, where Ron was standing dumbstruck at what he had just witnessed.
'Shit,' Ginny cursed under her breath. Harry was grasping for something, anything to say to explain this away. His fight or flight response was in full power, and flight wasn't an option.
'Ron, I'm sorry,' he said, pulling out his wand. 'I'm really, really sorry.' He clenched his eyes shut, unable to watch himself. 'Obliviate.'
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
I know it's been a long time. Sorry about that. As an excuse, I submit the following list of the various demands on my time and energy over the last few months, in ascending order from least to most:
- Work
- Christmas
- Applying to graduate school
- Freaking out and having legit, full-on panic attacks about applying to graduate school
- Playing new video games (and getting sucked back into old ones)
- Star Wars
- NaNoWriMo
- Six weeks of rehearsals, then four more with six shows a week for It's a Wonderful Life
- And, of course, the last few weeks have been a little crazy for everyone
I did enjoy myself a great deal, save for the panic attacks, and I finished NaNoWriMo for the first time since 2015, so I felt pretty good about that. I'm glad to be back working on this once again; I've been having a lot of fun with it and I can't wait to finish this year and move on to the next phase.
Please leave a review if you can. I appreciate them all. Thanks for reading!