The Story of Ginny

Chapter 2- Summer Before 3rd Year

The routine at the Burrow (the name of our home) was much the same as last year, mum had daily chores for us, I went swimming in our little lake with my brothers Ron, George, and Fred. Percy couldn't be bothered with us, now that he was a Ministry Man. I think Fred and George put it best when they say "prat". Mum continued teaching me to knit, clean my laundry, and she even had me studying some minor, at home healing magic (theoretical, of course, since I can't do magic outside of Hogwarts as a 12 year old). This summer was a little different, though. Luna's house was so close to ours that mum let me have her over during the day to sit and read or play in the grass or study the gnomes. I also got to spend time at her house and learn all of her dad's beliefs, he was a little harder to follow than Luna, but I still enjoyed my time with them, nonetheless. Luna was always incredible to be around.

I was out in the lake, splashing and playing with my brothers, one day, when mum called us in for lunch, it was "urgent" that we eat at that exact moment. So, as we got out, we naturally grumbled at mum's insistence and hurried to the kitchen to find Mum and Dad sitting at the table with Bill (my eldest brother), Charlie, and Percy. They all had quite an energetic buzz and I could quite clearly see the magical energy stirring around them (a skill I had learned from Luna and Neville, all magic is visible if you know how to pay attention) . As I observed them, Mum bustled over to Fred, George, Ron and I with her wand already drying us from halfway across the table, she couldn't have us dripping lake water all over her clean floors.

Fred and George looked quizzically at the extremely unexpected group while Ron blurted, "What are you all doing here in the middle of the day? Don't you have jobs?" to which the twins added "Yea, Ministry Man, won't Mr. Crouch be completely lost without you." I had to work quite hard to hide my snicker from them at this remark. It was, pretty much, Percy's own words reflecting back at him. Dad, always ready to deal with his sons, quickly cleared his throat and announced, "We are all going to the Quidditch World Cup this summer." There was a stunned silence as I saw the magical energy freeze before quickly returning to buzzing about, even faster than before, as my brothers and I all cheered that we'd really get to go to the World Cup! He let us cheer for a minute longer, then, Dad cleared his throat and announced to Ron that he had also secured tickets for Harry and Hermione and him and Mum were planning on writing to their respective guardians to extend the invitation.

The next few days were a haze of anticipation, we had our normal chores but now we were all alight with excitement of the upcoming World Cup. I wrote to Neville, Mona, Midia, and Luna to see which of my other friends were going. I hadn't written Colin or Celina, knowing they are muggle borns and their parents most likely wouldn't know what it was. As expected, Luna and her father were simply uninterested in the fanfare of athletics but she was excited for me anyway, as she knew how much I love quidditch. Neville and Midia wrote back saying they were so excited and would see me at the Cup, too! Together, we'd cheer on Ireland and boo Bulgaria's team. Sadly, Mona said her mum and dad couldn't get tickets and that she couldn't wait to hear our retelling of the match when we got back to school.

When the day came for Hermione to arrive at the Burrow, I was really excited for her to be there. Finally, I'd have a girl to spend time with at the house. Hermione stayed with me in my room at night and we were, of course, frequently accompanied by Ron, who always seemed to be right next to her. I was a little down since Luna and her father took the Cup's arrival in England as their cue to go on holiday in South America, looking for anything magical for Mr. Lovegood's magazine the Quibbler. Nonetheless, Hermione cheered my spirits and we counted down the days (5 to be exact) until Dad, Ron, Fred, and George went to get Harry from his aunt and uncle's house.

.

The day came and Hermione and I were told to "wait until they returned" because there couldn't be "too many people startling the muggles". Anyway, they Floo'd over to their house and returned much later, Fred and George wearing identical, smug smiles; Ron guffawing at what must have been a wonderful prank; and Harry looking quite confused on whether or not to feel embarrassed or amused. When Dad returned, he was clearly quite livid and all in his path seemed to visibly shrink as he grew near. "That was not smart, boys," he started with the twins, "how incredibly irresponsible and careless to use such a charm on a muggle boy." his tone was low and extremely serious. George looked over at Fred, who swallowed noisily and in his most confident voice said, "We didn't mean for him to eat the taffy, it isn't our fault that the boy eats anything that smells decent." George slowly nodded along with Fred's statement as he watched carefully for Dad's reaction. "You know full well you expected him to eat that taffy and he could have been seriously injured. Stop laughing, it is incredibly serious. It took about twenty minutes before they finally allowed me to reverse the effects!" At this point we were all trying to hide our chuckling, we all knew how horrible Harry's relatives were and felt no pity for his selfish cousin. Especially when Dad told us his tongue had only grown about 4 feet. Finally, he gave in with his own laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation and at Harry's insistence that there had been no way to have a good impression as his aunt and uncle wouldn't have allowed that at all. His last words on the subject were a serious warning to the twins about using magic to mess with muggles, as there could be serious legal repercussions on them, seeing as a very specific group of witches and wizards tended to enjoy bullying muggles.