Growing Up Weasley

Chapter 7. Quality Quidditch Supply

Dumbledore had used all the connections he still had within Cornelius Fudge's Ministry of Magic to take extra care of Harry over the summer. Apparently, this included the car sent to take him and Hermione and the Weasleys to London and Diagon Alley for school supplies. Since there were only the four students now, one car fit them all - with only a little magical expansion.

They took three rooms at the Leaky Cauldron two days before the four were due to meet the Hogwarts Express. Hermione and Ginny shared a room across the hall from the boys and down three doors from Molly and Arthur. Ginny thought this an excellent set-up and almost immediately began plotting ways to throw her brother and Hermione together.

As for Harry - well, he was on his own, as far as Ginny was concerned. Between his apparent uncertainty and her brothers' attempts to protect her feminine virtue, Ginny had had enough love and romance to last her until Christmas.

As soon as they arrived and unpacked, Ginny wanted to go into Diagon Alley. Her parents weren't quite so eager. "Mum, I am fifteen years old. I think I can manage to walk around Diagon Alley by myself." Her mother looked a bit uncertain, so Ginny appealed to her father. One good thing about being the only girl in a family of six boys - she had her father wrapped around her little finger. "Dad?" she pleaded.

"Well...why don't you wait for Hermione, or Harry and Ron, Ginny," he suggested.

"Dad, please. Ron is completely besotted by Hermione, and I don't want to tag along after them like a poor lost puppy. And Harry's got better things to do than chaperone me about. I'll be fine. And besides, Fred and George are out there."

"Up to all kinds of bedevilment no doubt," Molly muttered darkly. Ginny and her father shared a grin. Even though Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was destined for success, Molly Weasley still thought her sons should have done something better, more worthwhile, than open a joke shop.

"No doubt," Ginny agreed. "Please, may I go?" she asked again. And this time she was rewarded by a sigh from her father that indicated he was going to give in. She smiled and thanked her parents before either of them could say another word, then disappeared out the door.

In a minute, she was back. "Sorry. May I have some money? I'll buy my books and things, too."

Arthur cleared his throat. "Ahem. Er...you can just put your books on our account at Flourish & Blotts, Ginny. We'll be along later to take care of it."

Ginny flushed slightly, embarrassed in her own way about the state of the Weasley finances. Mumbling some excuse or other, she made her exit. She headed down the hall, intent on getting out into the Alley. She passed right by the room she shared with Hermione, not looking in to invite the older girl along. Ginny wanted some time to herself.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ron," Hermione was saying. "I never said a thing to Malfoy about anything. I haven't seen him since we left the Hogwarts Express at the start of the summer!"

That slowed Ginny down. She peered at the closed door, as if expecting it to clarify Hermione's statement. Malfoy? What had he to do with anything? Hateful git that he was, why was Ron asking Hermione about him? Draco Malfoy - hater of Muggle-borns. It was just nonsense. Ginny shook her head and turned away.

"Malfoy was downstairs this morning," Harry explained, causing Ginny to spin around again. He was sitting on the end of one the twin beds in the room he shared with Ron. The door was open, and he was listening to the argument going on behind closed doors across the hall. She furrowed her brows, trying to understand. Harry smiled. "C'mon. I'll try to explain." He gestured for her to come into the room.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Impossible. I don't think anyone could explain those two." Still... It was a bit hard to leave Harry here, listening to his two best friends arguing, with nothing to do but wait for them to quit. And that, Ginny thought, would never happen. She leaned against the doorjamb. "I'm going out into Diagon Alley," she told him. "Want to come?"

He seemed to be weighing his options, Ginny thought, watching Harry glance between her and the closed door across the hall. "Don't worry, Harry," she said with an exhasperated sigh. "I'm not going to attack you or anything. If you'd rather wait here and listen to them," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the door across the hall, "please be my guest. I was only being polite." She turned on her heel and headed for the stairs.

"Ginny, wait!"

She paused. That hadn't taken long. Perhaps there was hope for Harry after all. A few steps, and he'd caught up with her. Companionably, he put his arm under hers, and together they walked through the Leaky Cauldron to the alley out back. Harry tapped on the appropriate bricks, and they passed through the Muggle world into the bright and colorful magical world of Diagon Alley. Both of them heaved an unconscious sigh of relief at being completely among magical folk again. "Well," Harry asked, smiling down at her, "where shall we go first?"

Before Ginny could answer, though, there came a well-known and well-hated voice from her other side. "Well well, what have we here?" Draco Malfoy asked in what Ginny was sure he thought to be a frightening tone. She just rolled her eyes. "Another poor, penniless Weasley, Potter? What, not satisfied with your stupid sidekick and that ugly mudblood?"

Oh, please, Ginny thought. Was this pathetic attempt to frighten them really supposed to work? Was she supposed to be hurt? Afraid? Worried? What was it with boys that made them act tough...when they so clearly were not?

It seemed to work, though. Ginny looked up at Harry and was only slightly surprised to see him begin to turn red with anger. She sighed heavily, and decided to head this fight off before it started. She glared at the white-faced boy and his two hulking bodyguards. "Oh, sod off, Malfoy," she answered coolly, causing all four boys to stare at her with shock in their eyes. "Did you suppose we would run screaming from you the moment you opened your mouth? That we might cower at the sight of you? Pathetic. You really ought to think up new threats and insults, you know. These ones are getting a bit tired." She shrugged and turned her pixie-ish face up at Harry. "Shall we?" she asked, tucking her arm in his again and heading down the Alley.

The pair walked a little way in silence, and Ginny bit back a grin. She could tell Harry was a bit flabbergasted, but really. If she was supposed to wait like a damsel in distress for Harry to avenge her honor, she was only going to get bored. Damsels in distress were a bit dull, and she could handle Malfoy as well as anyone. Finally, she broke the silence. "Are you going to buy your books, too, Harry?"

He shrugged as though he hadn't given it a thought. "I dunno. I guess I should. D'you mind stopping at Gringott's, Gin? I have to get something from my vault."

She shook her head. "Fine, I don't mind. And after we buy our books, what say we go to Quality Quidditch Supply? Haven't they got a new broom series in?"

So that was what they did. Ginny rode with Harry on a whirlwind ride through the darkness to his vault far under Gringott's, and then they went to Flourish & Blotts. Ginny felt a bit ashamed as she looked for her textbooks in the secondhand section, but Harry was quite good-natured about it, even helping her poke through the mess of books to find the best copy of her latest Muggle Studies text. "Pity Ron didn't take Muggle studies," he said as he tossed aside a much-worn copy of An Ordinary History of Non-Magical Britain. "Might go a long way to mending things with my aunt and uncle if Ron hadn't yelled over the phone that time."

Ginny giggled. She well remembered Ron's one use of a Muggle telephone. "Maybe Hermione'll help him out," she suggested. "If they ever stop yelling long enough to listen to each other."

"Not likely, is it?"

"Not a bit," she agreed. She let Harry carry her books to the counter and was relieved when he stepped away to collect his own books. So he didn't hear her as for credit. Thankfully the witch behind the counter was a sympathetic type, and finished the transaction with wonderful aplomb. In a few minutes, both Harry and Ginny were back on the pavement, books bought.

"Harry! Ginny!"

It was Ron. Ginny looked, and saw Hermione was with him. Her shoulders fell imperceptibly. Not that she'd admit it to anyone, but she'd been having a good time with Harry, just the two of them. He'd been nice, and funny, and completely relaxed. Now, with Ron along...she wondered.

"Gin," Harry whispered, urgently. She looked up at him. "Ginny, I -" She raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Well, y'see, I -"

"Go on, Harry," she urged. Whatever he wanted to say, it seemed pretty obvious that he didn't want Ron or Hermione to hear it. She watched him steal a glance at his friends - who were fast gaining on them - and then look back down at her.

She could practically see what he was thinking. Harry had never been able to keep his true feelings hidden very well. So she was a little surprised when all he did was say, "Let's go to Quality Quidditch Supply."

She blinked. Twice. Tried to figure out what he had just said. It certainly hadn't been what she'd been expecting. "Quidditch. Em...right. Shall we?"

It was distinctly uncomfortable again between the two of them as they walked a bit further down the street. Ginny pretended not to notice, and in a moment, she'd forgotten all about it in the presence of the newest, fastest, and most spectacular brooms the galleon could buy.

"Look at that, Harry!" Ron enthused as he and Hermione caught up. "Hammond Evers! Isn't he the American Seeker on the Italian national team?"

"He's actually on the Cyprus National team, Ron," Ginny corrected before Harry could. "He played for Italy at university. He's supposed to be signing his biography here next week." She sighed dreamily at the winking, larger than life photo of the American quidditch hero. That was why she didn't notice the strange looks everyone was giving her. "What?" she demanded when she finally looked around. "Can't a girl love quidditch? Hmm, Harry?"

"Eh, well...yes, I -"

"Oh please, Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Just out with it, will you?" She took Ginny's side. "Of course a girl can love quidditch, Ginny. Only promise me you won't start talking about nothing else. I don't think I could tolerate another best friend besotted by the sport." She grinned, and together they faced Ginny's brother. "And don't you say one word about unladylike, Ron, or before God I will hex you every Friday, so that you can't go to Hogsmeade all year."

Ginny smiled as her brother's ears turned bright red. "What?" she asked. "You don't think a sweet delicate flower such as myself can know anything about such a manly sport? Careful, Ron, or I'll take your spot as keeper." And with that, she and Hermione marched off on a tour of the shop. There was a Viktor Krum display in one corner, and both girls knew that nothing could upset Ron as much as Hermione showing an interest in her onetime suitor. Ginny hoped it would have a similar effect on Harry, and perhaps shock him out of this irritating silence in which he'd cocooned himself ever since Ron and Hermione arrived.