Chapter 1 - Graduation
"Freedom!" Ginny Weasley shouted at the top of her lungs. "Ahhhh!" She was now dancing around the common room where students were hustling to get ready, and the ones not preoccupied with that were giving her strange looks.
"Shhh, keep it down Gin," hissed an embarrassed Colin.
"But do you know what this means?"
"Yeah, we have to actually do something with ourselves."
"No," Ginny stated exasperated, "it means the world is our oyster! We could do anything we want!"
"Well, maybe you can, but I'm still trying to get my foot in the door at the ministry. I might end up being stuck working at Flourish and Blotts or something."
"Why do you only include yourself in that?" Ginny hinted resentment in Colin's tone.
"Well, isn't it obvious? You already have a family member working in any occupation in the wizarding world. Percy and you dad work at the Ministry, Bill works for the Gringotts international, Charlie just got a promotion overlooking all magical creatures in the European region, and Ron writes editorials for the Daily Prophet." Colin gave her a look of jealousy. They had been best friends this last year, since Ginny had no one to hang out with, and Dennis Creevy (Colin's brother, younger, none the less) had found himself a girlfriend.
"That doesn't mean anything," Ginny stated trying to brush off the suggestion.
"Sure it does. First of all, you could get into any wizarding- training program with scholarship. Not to mention any time you apply for a job you'll be more likely to get it because you're a Weasley. I, on the other hand, will have difficulty even getting into the Auror program, like I really want." Colin looked for some sort of reaction that wouldn't backfire on him. It wasn't that he didn't think that Ginny would be a good candidate for any job she tried to get, but it did make it easier, being a pureblood.
As much as Colin didn't want to admit that being born in to a muggle family made things harder, he had to at least be honest with himself. Needless to say, after this conversation with Ginny, they didn't talk during the trip home.
***
Ginny had spent the train ride to London considering what Colin had just accused... no he hadn't accused her of anything, but was what he said true? Would she spend the rest of her life hanging on the coat tails of her brothers? It always used to bother her that she didn't really have her own identity. It was always 'Weasley? Are you (insert protective older brother's name here)'s little sister'. And it was always LITTLE sister.
True Ginny was the youngest, but hated being labeled the 'baby'. She had grown up quite a bit through her years at Hogwarts. She really had become a woman. The boys had noticed too.
Ginny had had a few boyfriends. She took these relationships seriously, but only as far as her 'significant other' did. Her first relationship had been with Michael Corner, and then she decided she might be better off with a fellow Gryffindor. Ginny liked Dean Thomas, but found that she only really wanted him as a friend. He took this well, and had been dating Parvati Patil since. As a matter of fact Parvati and Dean were engaged.
As for Ginny, she had moved onto a relationship with a seventh year Hufflepuff, who also happened to be head boy. Safe choice right? Well, he tried getting closer to Ginny than she wanted. She had always been taught to save that part of herself for one person, and she wasn't sure he was that someone, so that was another end to a complicated situation.
Currently she was single and not looking for anything. There was too much fun to be had to be tied down to anyone. So here she was, back at home, planning a new start for herself, a new life in which she would be Ginny Weasley. Just Ginny.
***
At the Burrow, Molly and Fluer were preparing a number of Ginny's favorite dishes. Parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes with a thin herb gravy, green bean casserole, homemade Red Current juice, and Pecan pie to finish off the meal. The whole family was home for the celebration. The final member of the Weasleys had graduated and they were all proud of their sister.
Bill and Charlie had helped with the decoration, Bill stopping every now and then to give a small kiss to his pregnant wife. Fluer had been in such a condition for three months now. Bill was excited finding this whole kid thing as some sort of an adventure. He was almost as excited as Ginny, in fact. Bill had been working at the Gringotts in Diagon Alley for the past year. He hadn't had many trips to exotic places to treasure hunt, but found that he was even more content to be home, and realized just how much he had missed his family.
Charlie, to Molly's great dismay, swore that he wouldn't fall subject to such a 'distasteful state' also known as marriage. He was content caring for Dragons in Romania, and currently had charge of a certain dragon that was being trained for human contact. Charlie, having been promoted, also had the responsibility of supervising progress made with colonies of many different magical creatures, which at times took him away from his beloved dragon, but he did enjoy studying other animals.
Fred and George took some time off and left their store for Lee Jordan to take care of for a few days. They had been quite successful since they had left Hogwarts, and probably could have retired early, with the money they had made. Right now, they looked completely undignified pouting because Mrs. Weasley had stopped them from playing a trick on Ginny as a 'welcome home' joke.
"She would have loved it though, Mum," whined George in their defense.
"I most certainly think she would be offended by having fireworks going off in her bedroom. Besides, do you think that Crookshanks or Hermione would have appreciated it?"
"Sure, who can't use a good shock to their system every now and again?" Fred said
"I said no!" That usually meant that Molly couldn't think up anymore arguments that would detour the twins from whatever course of action that they are planning, but if they do, they will have to deal with her wrath.
Hermione had arrived early that morning, and, as Molly had expected, was grateful for the lack of explosives in the room she was sharing with Ginny. She had been working for the Department of Records at the Ministry since she was so good at organizing and research. She had gotten out of work along with Ron and Harry so they could all catch up.
"So, how's the Auror program Harry?" Hermione inquired.
"Not bad, I learned a lot of the spells we use at Hogwart, so at least I'm ahead there." Harry had not only learned the charms he would definitely use, but he knew charms, hexes, jinxes and spells that almost no other wizard would ever find use for. He had faced Voldermort several times during the duration of his schooling, and one final time only months after his own graduation. Harry had barely begun to get back to the life he would call 'normal'. "I do with the professors would stop using me as an example all the time though," Harry confessed.
"Ah, it can't be that bad," Ron stated between bites of Honeydukes chocolate. "At least they aren't antagonizing you, like Snape did."
"Antagonizing?" Hermione asked, shocked that Ron knew such a big word.
"Yes, Hermione, antagonizing. You know, to incur or provoke hostility," Ron rolled his eyes. He had become much more of an intellect since he had been working for the Prophet. Ron had been part of the reason some witches and wizards were starting to trust the Daily Prophet's opinion again. Ron, in fact, had taken the place of Rita Skeeter, at the Prophet, and his parents were very proud of this change.
Hermione, however much she loved her boyfriend, still had a hard time getting past the fact that he used such flourished adjectives and verbs such as 'antagonized'. On top of which, she couldn't believe he actually understood what he said.
"So when is Ginny going to get here?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"In an hour or so," Ron replied. "Dad, Percy, and Penelope went to get her.
"Great, so does that mean you'll stop eating," Hermione said grabbing the chocolate from Ron.
"Freedom!" Ginny Weasley shouted at the top of her lungs. "Ahhhh!" She was now dancing around the common room where students were hustling to get ready, and the ones not preoccupied with that were giving her strange looks.
"Shhh, keep it down Gin," hissed an embarrassed Colin.
"But do you know what this means?"
"Yeah, we have to actually do something with ourselves."
"No," Ginny stated exasperated, "it means the world is our oyster! We could do anything we want!"
"Well, maybe you can, but I'm still trying to get my foot in the door at the ministry. I might end up being stuck working at Flourish and Blotts or something."
"Why do you only include yourself in that?" Ginny hinted resentment in Colin's tone.
"Well, isn't it obvious? You already have a family member working in any occupation in the wizarding world. Percy and you dad work at the Ministry, Bill works for the Gringotts international, Charlie just got a promotion overlooking all magical creatures in the European region, and Ron writes editorials for the Daily Prophet." Colin gave her a look of jealousy. They had been best friends this last year, since Ginny had no one to hang out with, and Dennis Creevy (Colin's brother, younger, none the less) had found himself a girlfriend.
"That doesn't mean anything," Ginny stated trying to brush off the suggestion.
"Sure it does. First of all, you could get into any wizarding- training program with scholarship. Not to mention any time you apply for a job you'll be more likely to get it because you're a Weasley. I, on the other hand, will have difficulty even getting into the Auror program, like I really want." Colin looked for some sort of reaction that wouldn't backfire on him. It wasn't that he didn't think that Ginny would be a good candidate for any job she tried to get, but it did make it easier, being a pureblood.
As much as Colin didn't want to admit that being born in to a muggle family made things harder, he had to at least be honest with himself. Needless to say, after this conversation with Ginny, they didn't talk during the trip home.
***
Ginny had spent the train ride to London considering what Colin had just accused... no he hadn't accused her of anything, but was what he said true? Would she spend the rest of her life hanging on the coat tails of her brothers? It always used to bother her that she didn't really have her own identity. It was always 'Weasley? Are you (insert protective older brother's name here)'s little sister'. And it was always LITTLE sister.
True Ginny was the youngest, but hated being labeled the 'baby'. She had grown up quite a bit through her years at Hogwarts. She really had become a woman. The boys had noticed too.
Ginny had had a few boyfriends. She took these relationships seriously, but only as far as her 'significant other' did. Her first relationship had been with Michael Corner, and then she decided she might be better off with a fellow Gryffindor. Ginny liked Dean Thomas, but found that she only really wanted him as a friend. He took this well, and had been dating Parvati Patil since. As a matter of fact Parvati and Dean were engaged.
As for Ginny, she had moved onto a relationship with a seventh year Hufflepuff, who also happened to be head boy. Safe choice right? Well, he tried getting closer to Ginny than she wanted. She had always been taught to save that part of herself for one person, and she wasn't sure he was that someone, so that was another end to a complicated situation.
Currently she was single and not looking for anything. There was too much fun to be had to be tied down to anyone. So here she was, back at home, planning a new start for herself, a new life in which she would be Ginny Weasley. Just Ginny.
***
At the Burrow, Molly and Fluer were preparing a number of Ginny's favorite dishes. Parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes with a thin herb gravy, green bean casserole, homemade Red Current juice, and Pecan pie to finish off the meal. The whole family was home for the celebration. The final member of the Weasleys had graduated and they were all proud of their sister.
Bill and Charlie had helped with the decoration, Bill stopping every now and then to give a small kiss to his pregnant wife. Fluer had been in such a condition for three months now. Bill was excited finding this whole kid thing as some sort of an adventure. He was almost as excited as Ginny, in fact. Bill had been working at the Gringotts in Diagon Alley for the past year. He hadn't had many trips to exotic places to treasure hunt, but found that he was even more content to be home, and realized just how much he had missed his family.
Charlie, to Molly's great dismay, swore that he wouldn't fall subject to such a 'distasteful state' also known as marriage. He was content caring for Dragons in Romania, and currently had charge of a certain dragon that was being trained for human contact. Charlie, having been promoted, also had the responsibility of supervising progress made with colonies of many different magical creatures, which at times took him away from his beloved dragon, but he did enjoy studying other animals.
Fred and George took some time off and left their store for Lee Jordan to take care of for a few days. They had been quite successful since they had left Hogwarts, and probably could have retired early, with the money they had made. Right now, they looked completely undignified pouting because Mrs. Weasley had stopped them from playing a trick on Ginny as a 'welcome home' joke.
"She would have loved it though, Mum," whined George in their defense.
"I most certainly think she would be offended by having fireworks going off in her bedroom. Besides, do you think that Crookshanks or Hermione would have appreciated it?"
"Sure, who can't use a good shock to their system every now and again?" Fred said
"I said no!" That usually meant that Molly couldn't think up anymore arguments that would detour the twins from whatever course of action that they are planning, but if they do, they will have to deal with her wrath.
Hermione had arrived early that morning, and, as Molly had expected, was grateful for the lack of explosives in the room she was sharing with Ginny. She had been working for the Department of Records at the Ministry since she was so good at organizing and research. She had gotten out of work along with Ron and Harry so they could all catch up.
"So, how's the Auror program Harry?" Hermione inquired.
"Not bad, I learned a lot of the spells we use at Hogwart, so at least I'm ahead there." Harry had not only learned the charms he would definitely use, but he knew charms, hexes, jinxes and spells that almost no other wizard would ever find use for. He had faced Voldermort several times during the duration of his schooling, and one final time only months after his own graduation. Harry had barely begun to get back to the life he would call 'normal'. "I do with the professors would stop using me as an example all the time though," Harry confessed.
"Ah, it can't be that bad," Ron stated between bites of Honeydukes chocolate. "At least they aren't antagonizing you, like Snape did."
"Antagonizing?" Hermione asked, shocked that Ron knew such a big word.
"Yes, Hermione, antagonizing. You know, to incur or provoke hostility," Ron rolled his eyes. He had become much more of an intellect since he had been working for the Prophet. Ron had been part of the reason some witches and wizards were starting to trust the Daily Prophet's opinion again. Ron, in fact, had taken the place of Rita Skeeter, at the Prophet, and his parents were very proud of this change.
Hermione, however much she loved her boyfriend, still had a hard time getting past the fact that he used such flourished adjectives and verbs such as 'antagonized'. On top of which, she couldn't believe he actually understood what he said.
"So when is Ginny going to get here?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"In an hour or so," Ron replied. "Dad, Percy, and Penelope went to get her.
"Great, so does that mean you'll stop eating," Hermione said grabbing the chocolate from Ron.