Growing Up Weasley

Chapter 2. The Invasion

Upstairs in her small, strangely angled room, Ginny sat on the end of her bed. Well, threw herself on the end of her bed was probably more correct. Sometimes...sometimes, she hated being a Weasley. The other girls in her class thought she had it made, having six great, handsome, successful big brothers. Ginny rolled her eyes. Right. Like she ever thought of them like that. Ew! The idea was enough to turn her stomach. Her brothers, successful? She supposed...yes, it was possible. Handsome? Please! Irritating was more like. Great? In what way? Great big oafs? That was true. But great as in wonderful, entertaining, the kind of older brothers who took their baby sister out to new and exotic places and let her stretch her wings a bit? Not on your life. It wasn't fair. And now, for yet another summer, everyone else was going to have someplace to go and someone to go there with, except her.

Bill and Charlie were only home for a few days - just enough time to protect her virtue from unseen foes, she supposed. Percy was too full of himself and his Very Important Work on cauldron bottoms and wand widths and whatever other busywork the Ministry could think up to keep him occupied. The twins...well, they were awfully secretive about their new inventions. And besides, they were going to London in the morning to meet with their realtor in Diagon Alley. Weasley Wizard Wheezes was on its way. That just left Ron and Harry and Hermione. Hermione was always nice and always invited Ginny to join them, but the younger girl always felt like a bit of a hanger-on. And everyone knowing about her childhood crush on Harry didn't make things any easier.

Nope, it looked like two more long boring weeks on her own.

She sighed again and wished that the students in her year were even half as interesting as Ron's friends. She was sure she could handle any adventure at least as well as Ron did, if not better. Why was it, then, that all the exciting things happened to Ron?

Before she could dwell further on her petulant thoughts, Ginny heard a great racket outside, and then shouts. Her mother, saying something about the garden, Ron and Fred and George hailing - Harry. Must be the Knight bus, she thought. "Let the good times roll," she muttered, standing and straightening her clothes.

She stepped lightly down the stairs and went out into the surprisingly bright British sun. Standing on the front stoop, she shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted in Harry's direction. She rolled her eyes as she felt her heart flutter in remembrance of old feelings. Taking a deep breath she stepped off the porch and went to greet her brother's friend. "Hi, Harry," she said with a smile.

For a second it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything. The way he just stood there, ignoring Ron's questions and the twins' offers of doctored pumpkin juice and a dozen other pranks, Ginny felt a bit self-conscious. Did she have something gross hanging from her nose? Was her hair sticking up? Then, thankfully, he shook it off. "Hey, Gin. Long time, no see." He sort of half-grinned, before looking away and helping her brothers with his trunk.

Ginny shook her head and went back inside. Boys. Nonetheless, she stopped and checked her appearance in the mirror in the front hall.

"You could use some sun, dearie."

Lord, how Ginny hated enchanted mirrors. If she wanted an evaluation, she'd ask for one. She grimaced at the mirror, which in turn made a rude noise at her, and she stomped away. If this was a preview of how the rest of her summer was going to be, she'd stay up in her room, thank you very much.

Halfway up the stairs, though, she heard her mother calling. "Ginny! Come down here, please. I need your help." So she turned around and went back down, through the living room and into the kitchen.

In the front room, Harry was already the center of everyone's attention. He appeared to be telling Ron and the twins about his summer with the Muggles. Ginny stopped and listened for a moment. "She makes Pansy Parkinson look like Miss Universe," he said, bloating his cheeks and holding his arms out to signify the size of this mysterious she. "And my aunt and uncle thought she was wonderful. 'Our Dudley's first girlfriend.'" He snorted. "They're probably just relieved that some girl will have him, great foul whale that he is." Ginny grinned. From what she'd heard, Harry's cousin was just as Harry had described him: a great foul whale. She must have giggled at his impersonation, though, because suddenly he looked up, and right at her. "Oh. Er...hi, Ginny. How's your summer been?"

Ginny raised her eyebrows in patent disbelief. The Great Harry Potter, nervous? Because he sounded nervous. Like she was Fleur Delacour instead of Ron's kid sister. Still, it was a bit of a heady feeling, being able to make Harry sound a little nervous. Better than her turning red and running away every time she saw him.

Nothing like the memory of past childish behavior to bring a girl's soaring ego back to earth, Ginny thought to herself with a bit of annoyance. Still, Harry was still looking at her. And her brothers seemed not to know where to look, as their glances shot back and forth between their precious baby sister and the Boy Who Lived. She bit her lip. "Well, you know," she said airily, as if her brothers weren't in the room, "it's been brilliant, except for Ron's constant pining for Hermione. And Fred and George's pathetic excuses for pranks - you didn't take any of their pumpkin juice, did you Harry?" she asked innocently, ignoring the building mortification in her brothers' faces. A bright smile and then, "Excuse me. I have to go help Mum with dinner. Ron, aren't you meant to set the tables?" Before they could say anything, she disappeared through the door into the kitchen.

Pleased to have paid at least three of her brothers back for their earlier ambush, Ginny happily helped her mother with the evening meal until Hermione appeared in the fireplace. Then her mother sent her out to help Hermione with her trunks. She wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and headed back to the living room, which was unusually quiet since Hermione's loud, "Hello, everyone!"

Now Ginny understood why. Hermione had changed. Ginny grinned at the dumbstruck look on Ron's face, and almost laughed out loud when she saw it mirrored by Fred and George. Even Bill and Charlie, who had come in from the garden where they'd been helping their father put the garden back to rights after the Knight bus destruction, seemed a bit...out of sorts...at Hermione's glowing appearance as she stepped from the green flames and into the room.

She hadn't changed a lot, but she'd changed enough. Hermione was just coming back from spending a month on the French Riviera with her cousins, and she had that certain sun-kissed, fresh-air-and-salt-sea clean, footloose and fancy free, just back from exotic locale aura to her. Good British girls just didn't look like that, Ginny mused with only the slightest hint of envy. Hermione's bushy hair was streaked from the sun (and good British girls never even saw enough sun to streak their hair) and pulled back in a jaunty ponytail. She was wearing muggle clothes (since her whole family was muggle, that was no surprise) - but not the usual Hermione clothes. Ginny could tell that Hermione'd chosen that tiny sundress because it showed off her tanned and toned legs the best. Ginny figured her brothers would kill her if she ever tried to wear something like that, even though they were all practically drooling over Hermione in it. Ginny thought she detected a touch of makeup on Hermione's eyes and wondered if maybe Hermione would let her borrow it this summer. Just to try it out.

Well, she thought with a touch of amusement, if the boys weren't going to say anything... "Hi, Hermione. How was your summer?" She crossed the room and gave the older girl a welcoming hug. "Mum said you're staying in my room again. I hope you don't mind." At that, she shot a rather obvious look at Ron and tried not to smile as Hermione turned a soft shade of pink under her newly acquired tan. Behind her, Harry coughed to cover a laugh, and Ginny threw him a wink. "Mum's almost finished cooking, so we can take your trunk upstairs, and you can unpack if you want."

Hermione nodded. "Okay." The two girls bent to lift Hermione's book-filled trunk.

In an instant, Ron and Harry shot up from their seats. "We'll get that for you, 'Mione," Ron said, while Harry was offering, "Here, Gin, let me," and taking her side of the trunk. Ginny took a step back , wondering at this unexpected chivalrous action by Harry. Not that his helping Hermione with her overloaded trunk was so unusual, but Ginny hadn't missed the fact that he'd only offered to help her, not Hermione, and not even for Hermione. This was new, and Ginny decided she'd think more about it later.

She and Hermione followed the boys upstairs and spent a few minutes getting them to leave. Ron kept asking if he could help unpack, or get Hermione something to drink. Harry just sort of looked around, as if memorizing the room. Hermione finally told them she was tired and wanted to take a quick nap, and she'd see them at dinner. Harry, at least, got the hint and dragged his besotted friend out of the room.

Hermione kicked off her brightly colored sandals and flopped down on the second bed in Ginny's room, replicated for guests. She smiled at Ginny and sighed happily. "Ginny, I had such a splendid time at the Riviera! You should have been there. I'm sure we would have made the boys drool!" She giggled, very un-Hermione-like, and stretched out. Then she rolled over on her stomach and peered at her red-headed hostess. "But it looks like you've managed a bit of a conquest here on your own, haven't you?" When Ginny didn't say anything, Hermione laughed (when, Ginny wondered, had Hermione ever been so full of...joie de vivre?). "It's okay, Gin. You needn't try to hide it from me. I saw how Harry was practically tripping over himself to help you. And he's been staring at you since I got here." She looked the younger girl over. "I can see why, though. And I think it's about time Harry was interested in someone besides Cho Chang. She's horrid."

Ginny laughed. If this free-speaking girl was the new Hermione, Ginny thought she could be a fun roommate for the next two weeks. Except, "Cho is not horrid, Hermione. You just don't like her because she chose Cedric Diggory over Harry. And that was more than two years ago." Hermione shrugged. Ginny just rolled her eyes. "And I don't know what you mean about my conquests. Just this afternoon all six of those idiots I have the good fortune to call brothers dragged me out to the woods and demanded to know if I had been so audacious as to invite friends of my own to the Burrow this summer." Hermione's eyes widened. And not, Ginny noted, wholly in Ginny's favor. "I know, I know. Horrible thought. But it's a little unfair, don't you think, that Ron's friends are welcome while mine are not?"

"Oh, I don't think they really meant that, Ginny," Hermione defended. "They just - that is, well..." She shook her head. "Fine. I cannot imagine why Ron feels it necessary to keep you under lock and key. I wonder what he'll think, now it's Harry he has to fend off."

Now that was something Ginny had never though about. Of course, she never expected Harry to show her one ounce of interest that wasn't purely brotherly...but he had been a bit strange around her today...

Time for confidences.

"Hermione, do you really think...?" She couldn't finish the sentence. Deep breath, then try again. Ginny gulped. "Well, Harry. Do you think he, y'know, fancies me?" It had been a bit of a daydream, Ginny thought, but she had a realistic streak in her and had given up on that particular daydream two years ago. Harry had always acted like a seventh brother, and her childish crush on him had been as embarrassing for him as it had been for her. She didn't think she'd ever totally live down that horrid singing Valentine she'd sent him during her first year at Hogwarts. Eyes as green as a fresh-pickled toad indeed. She shuddered at the memory.

But Hermione was nodding. "Haven't you noticed the way he watches you, Gin? It's positively sweet. And besides, look at yourself! Red hair is coming back into vogue, at least among the muggles, and I have friends who would die for hair like yours. And for your figure. For that matter, I would die for a figure like yours." She glanced pointedly at her small chest.

Ginny shook her head. Why was it that girls with perfectly normal breasts always wished they'd been "blessed" with the Highsmith bosom Ginny had inherited from her mother's side of the family? "No you wouldn't, Hermione. Imagine boys like Malfoy talking to you in the halls just to get a glimpse down your robes. I swear, not one boy at Hogwarts looks at my face when we're talking anymore. And I've outgrown all my robes, and Mum and Dad can't really afford to order all new ones for me." She sighed. "Oh well. At least Harry's different. He looks me in the eye. That's how I know he thinks of me like a sister."

"If you say so." Hermione, clearly, didn't believe a word Ginny was saying. "But I still say he's mad for you."

Enough of this. "Speaking of mad for you, when are you going to put my brother out of his misery and promise to run away with him and bear his children?" Ginny's grin grew and grew as she watched Hermione's shock turn to embarrassment to utter mortification and back to...what? That secret little look suggested Hermione had given this idea much thought over her holiday along the Mediterranean.

Before either of them could speak further on the subject, the bell for dinner rang, and the girls headed downstairs and out to the enormous, heavy-laden table in the yard.