Chapter 5 - Happy Birthday
Ginny stood there with her hand on her cheek and a smile on her face when she heard, "Don't fall for him, Ginny."
Ginny turned around, "Fall for whom, Hermione?"
"Don't lie to me, Ginevra,” Ginny sighed with disgust. She hated it when Hermione used her real name. “I saw Draco Malfoy here and how he gave you a kiss on your cheek." Ginny just sighed and ignored her. As she walked past Hermione, she grabbed Ginny's arm, "What was he doing here?"
"It's none of your bloody business."
"Draco's been rubbing off on you I see." Ginny's eyes widened. "I thought we were friends, Ginny."
"Yeah, some really great friend you are!" Ginny said shaking Hermione's arm off of her, "You knew I wanted to go to Romania because I haven't seen my brothers in so long, and that I wanted to see Sara and Charlie's baby, but you didn't care. Did you even try to get Harry to talk Ron into letting me come with you guys?" Hermione looked down at her feet. "I didn't think so. So don't lecture to me that I'm not your friend, because I have always been there for you!"
Before either girl could say another word they heard someone call out, "Ginny, we have a surprise for you!" It was Mrs. Weasley.
"Good I could use one, right about now," She said looking at Hermione and then she turned to walk away. As she came closer to the house she could see her brothers. "Charlie? Bill!"
She ran up to them and hugged them both. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's your birthday isn't it?" Bill said.
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's not everyday that our little sister turns 16," Charlie said.
"Is Sara here?" Charlie nodded. "With baby Penny?" Ginny squealed.
"She's already two, Ginny, almost three."
Ginny looked sad, "Are you serious?"
Charlie nodded, "Yeah."
Ginny couldn't believe it had already been that long. She rarely saw her brothers anymore and had only seen Sara and the baby about four times in the past two years. Ginny smiled and said, "Bring me to them; I want to see my little niece." Charlie smiled and led the way.
Ginny walked into the living room and saw Sara, a lovely girl around the age of 24 with long brown hair and soft brown eyes, holding a darling little girl around two and a half. Charlie and Sara were very blessed to have a girl considering that Ginny was one of the very few Weasley girls. Ginny took a seat by Sara and hugged her first.
"So good to see you again, Ginny," Sara said in a small accent.
"Yes, it’s good to see you too."
Penny laid in Sara's arms looking very shy and asked, "Who?"
Ginny looked to Sara, "You remember Aunt Ginny, don't you?" Penny shook her head. "This is Daddy's youngest sister."
"Hi, Penny," Ginny said. Penny gave her a little wave.
"You think you can give Aunt Ginny a hug?"
Penny smiled big, "Hug Gin-Gin," and Penny put her arms out.
Ginny picked the small girl up, put her on her lap, and hugged her. She could feel Penny's little arms go not even half way around her. As Ginny was holding her she could see Hermione in the kitchen talking to Mrs. Weasley, and saw her mother shaking her head. Penny released Ginny, but sat her in her lap for the rest of the evening.
Around nine o'clock Penny fell asleep in Ginny's arms. Sara took her from Ginny's arms and everyone went upstairs to go to bed.
Hermione and Lavender were sharing Ginny's room and soon were in their nightclothes. Hermione was sitting in front of Ginny's mirror brushing out her hair when she said, "So, Lavender, did you know that Draco Malfoy was here today?"
"I thought I saw someone leaving tonight." Ginny gave Hermione an evil stare, which she did not see. Lavender sat on Ginny's bed and said, "So, girl, give us the details."
"I can't get anything out of her. Not even Mrs. Weasley would tell me anything and she made me swear that I wouldn’t tell the boys."
"What annoys you more," Ginny said angrily, "that I won't tell you why he was here or because I was hanging out with your boyfriends' worst enemy!" There was a knock on the door. "What!" Ginny screamed out before thinking.
Sara opened the door, "What is going on here?"
When Ginny saw that it was Sara she calmed right down, "Oh sorry, Sara."
"Ginny, what's with the screaming?" Sara asked.
Lavender stood up and said, "They are acting as though they hate one another."
Both Hermione and Ginny crossed their arms over their chests and said at the same time, "No, we aren't!"
"Lavender, what is the problem?" Sara asked her knowing that she wasn't going to get much out of the other girls.
Hermione answered before Lavender could, “Draco Malfoy, one of our enemies was here tonight," she paused for a second and said, "and he kissed her on the cheek."
Okay, so maybe Sara was wrong, but then it hit her, "Ah yes, Draco Malfoy. Wasn't he the boy you were tutoring all summer long?" Ginny looked to the floor, Sara obviously got her answer. "So he's the reason why you couldn't come this summer."
When Ginny looked up she saw both Hermione and Lavender staring at her. Ginny answered, "Yes, he is the boy," then she added quite quietly, "but no, he isn't the reason why I couldn't come."
"Then what was the reason?" Sara asked.
"It doesn't matter now," Ginny perked up a little. "Besides, I told Mom not to tell anyone, and if she told you, you weren't supposed to say a word."
"Oh, I'm sorry. They didn't know?" Ginny shook her head. "Why not?"
"Because they would tell Harry and Ron. Those two would love to get their hands on information like this. The whole school would know."
Hermione went over to Ginny and said, "Ginny, if you asked us not to tell Harry and Ron, we wouldn't say a word."
"Really?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah. That's what friends are for. Forgive me?" Hermione said.
Ginny smiled, "Yeah." The two friends hugged.
"Hey, what about me?" Lavender called out. The three friends had a group hug.
Ginny looked up and said, "Okay, so who's up for some details?"
"Yes!" the other two girls squealed and jumped up on her bed.
"Come on, Sara, you too," Ginny invited her.
Sara smiled and she too sat on the bed feeling more like part of the family and more like a friend.
Lavender started asking questions, "So, what happened? How did you stand him for the whole summer? Why did he kiss you? Are you two friends? Are you two more then friends?" Ginny laughed and knew this was going to be one long night.
Ginny woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. "It's my birthday!" she screamed out. She could hear moans and groans from all around. Her legs kicked at the sheets and she jumped up on her bed. Her birthday was her favorite day of the year. "Guys, come on! It's my birthday!"
The only response she got was a pillow being thrown at her face and a chorus of 'shut-ups'. Ginny only threw the pillow back at Lavender and jumped off the bed and ran down the hall screaming, "It's my birthday." She ran into her parents' room and screamed, "It's my birthday!" and then started to jump up and down on their bed.
Arthur groaned, "Isn't she getting a little bit too old to be doing this, Molly?"
"Oh, Arthur, let her be." Ginny jumped off the bed. "So what do you want for breakfast this morning?"
"Belgian Waffles?" Ginny asked.
"You got it! Now go wake up your brothers." Ginny went running out of the room. "And make sure you tell Percy that Penelope is coming in an hour to have breakfast with us," her mother called after her.
After breakfast Ginny was allowed to open her presents.
She opened her present from her parents first. She gasped as she slowly slid it out of the box, "Mom, Dad, you shouldn't have." It was a beautiful flowing green dress. She had been eyeing that dress since she was almost 15 years old, but it was expensive. Yet every time that her mother and she would go shopping, she would go into the store and try it on. She fell in love with it. "Mom, Dad, thank you so much." She gave each of them a hug.
Percy handed her her next present. It was a beautiful purple jewelry box. She opened it to examine it further and it played one of her favorite classical music songs, "On the Blue Danube." She gasped again. "This is wonderful." But that wasn't all that she saw in there. She also saw another small package. She opened it up and revealed a choker necklace that had a rather nice size pendant of a fairy on it. Ginny loved fairies. "This is so great! Thank you." She went up to them and gave Percy and Penelope a hug.
"Okay, me next," Bill said. He handed her a big, heavy present. She knew it had to be some kind of book. She opened it up and it was a book of hexes.
"Oooooooo! Let me see!" Hermione ran to sit next to her and leafed through the book, which was still on Ginny's lap.
The whole family laughed, "I think Hermione is going to enjoy this book more than I am." She looked over at Bill, "Thanks. I am sure that this will come in handy, besides, I think this looks quite interesting." She got up and let Hermione have the book as she went to go hug her brother.
Charlie and Sara were next. She opened the small package and took out a pair of dangly earrings. "Oh wow! These are really unique, but I don't have any pierced ears." It was true; other parents let their daughters get their ears pierced when they were younger, but Ginny still had to wait.
"That's where our present comes in," Lavender said with a joyful tone.
"There is no way I am letting you come anywhere near me with a piercing gun!" Ginny said covering her ears with her hands. Everyone laughed.
"No, silly. Tomorrow, Sara, Hermione, and I are taking you to a Muggle Mall."
Ginny's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"
"Yes! And not just any mall, but one of London's biggest malls." Lavender squealed with delight.
"You mean… The Mall of London?"
"Yup!" both Hermione and Lavender both said happily.
"This is wonderful! Thank you!" She turned to her mother, "And you are letting me get my ears pierced?" Her mother nodded. "Woo-hoo!"
Fred and George went next. They gave her a beautiful mirror with roses and fairies all over it. "Wow, guys, this is really beautiful!" Both boys beamed that they actually got her something that she liked. "I'm surprised that it doesn't do something, though."
"Oh, but it does," George told her.
"Yeah," Fred added and took the mirror and said, "If anyone else looks into it," Fred looked into it, and pretended to fix his hair, “it laughs at them, and the longer they look in it, the more the mirror laughs."
"This is truly the best present you guys ever gave me." She stood up and hugged her twin brothers.
Harry and Ron were last. Ron handed her a present and said, "We figured that it's time you had one of these."
Ginny knew what it had to be. She slowly opened it and revealed a beautiful hand made leather diary. "This is great guys."
"Don't worry, we made sure there was nothing wrong with this one. We bought it in Harry's town actually, and then we even did some tests on it to make sure it was okay."
Ginny smiled brightly, "Thank you!" and she gave them both a hug.
Mrs. Weasley stood up and said, "Okay, who's ready for--" she couldn’t say anything else because they heard a rather loud screech from an owl above them. They all looked up; it was a rather big black owl. It never landed; it just dropped a package on Ginny's lap, and continued flying.
"What's this?" she asked as the owl flew out of sight.
Everyone looked stunned. No one knew where it came from.
"Open it up, Ginny," Hermione nudged her.
Ginny did so. She removed the rose from on top of it and smelled it. She loved roses. She looked for a note or something, but found nothing, so she just opened it. When she lifted off the top of the box the item inside of it made her tear up.
"What is it?" she heard Ron ask.
She took it out and showed it to everyone. It was her bracelet, her "Ginevra" bracelet. It was written out in silver and one red stone dotted the "i".
“Ginevra?” Fred asked.
“Who’s Ginevra?” George added.
Charlie hit them both up side the head.
"Who gave that to you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I don't know," Ginny said with a shrug, but she did have a good idea of who it was from. She then found a letter at the bottom of the box. She took it out and read it to herself.
"Dear Ginevra,
I hope this resembles the same bracelet that you lost so long ago. I know it’s not going to be the same one that your great-grandmother got for you, but I did the best I could at giving you the next best thing. I also had something engraved on the back so you can always remember your day. I hope you're having a wonderful birthday and I wish I could give this to you in person, but alas, I cannot. Happy birthday.”
Ginny smiled. Even though there was no name on it, she knew it could only be from the one and only Draco Malfoy.
"So who's it from?" Ron asked.
Ginny was trying not to cry happy tears, "There's no name."
"Ooooo! Ginny's got a secret admirer!" George taunted her.
Ginny blushed slightly, but before anyone could make another comment, her mother stood up and said, "Come on. It's time for some cake and ice-cream," everyone but Hermione and Lavender stood up and ran back into the house.
Ginny wiped the tears away and turned the bracelet over. She read it, "To Ginerva M. Weasley on her 16th birthday. Love, Draco." Ginny didn't read too much into the "love" part for she knew he just meant it in a friendly way. Then she noticed something else written on it, "Miracles can happen in more than one way." She wondered what he meant by that, but decided to ask him that weekend.
"So is it from him?" Hermione asked.
Ginny nodded, not trusting her voice. Tears were still running down her cheeks and she couldn’t remember ever being happier.
Hermione took the bracelet from Ginny's hands and put it on her wrist. It was a little too big, but it magically fit until it felt comfortable.
"I think he likes you, Gin," Lavender said. Ginny laughed.
"She's right. Boys don't usually buy jewelry for girls 'just because'." Hermione added.
“It’s not ‘just because’ it’s my birthday,” Ginny said, stating the obvious, “Besides it's just a study thing. You can rest assured that Draco Malfoy does not like me." Ginny stood up and walked towards the house.
"Yeah, well, what about you?" Hermione called out. Ginny turned around and looked confused, "The real question is, Ginny, do you like him?"
"It doesn't matter," Ginny said and turned again. "It rarely ever does." Ginny said to herself and entered the house with a big grin on her face.
The next morning Ginny was the first one to get up. She showered, changed, and started to get some breakfast ready.
Ginny was in front of the kitchen window sipping at her hot tea, enjoying the sun rising over the tree tops when she heard an owl approaching her. It was the same one from yesterday. She opened the window and the large bird landed on the sill. Ginny took the note off its leg, offered it a rather large piece of her muffin, and then patted its head. The owl screeched lightly and flew off.
She opened the letter and read it quickly.
It was a simple letter from Draco telling her what she would need for next weekend at his place. She sighed and sat down at the table. She could hear everyone running around upstairs and everyone yelling at everyone else to hurry up in the shower to keep the hot water going.
About an hour and a half later all the girls were set and ready to go on their little adventure to the Muggle mall.
Since Ginny's first year at Hogwarts Arthur bought another Muggle automobile, but this time he didn't enchant it...much. Arthur gave the keys to Sara. He showed her how to set the destinations into the car. All she had to do was hit the cruise control button and she didn't have to worry about driving the car.
Hermione lead them first to a place where they could turn their wizard money into Muggle money. When Ginny placed her big bag of money on the desk everyone else's eyes bugged out of their head. Ginny saw this and commented on it.
"What? I've been saving and because I had every weekend free I got a job on the weekends. The pay was pretty good."
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
"I did errands for the elderly ladies who have money, but no families. They all loved me and over paid me a bit."
"I'd say so," Lavender said with a smile.
Ginny got her money back and her eyes bugged out. She had about 5,000 pounds in her hands.
They grabbed their money, got back into the car, and set out to the mall.
They reached the mall about an hour later.
As they got out of the car Ginny gasped. She never saw anything this big before in her life. It was three stories high. She bet it was at least three times bigger then the Malfoy Manor, "It'll take weeks just to shop in here!"
The girls only replied with a laugh.
"So what do you want to do first, Ginny? Shop or get your ears pierced?" Sara asked her.
Ginny didn't have to think at all, "Get my ears pierced!"
"Okay, let's go!" Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her through the mall. Hermione, who grew up in the Muggle side of the world, had been to "The Mall of London" several times before.
By the time they reached the place where Ginny was to get her ears pierced, her legs were already tired. Hermione showed her the earrings that she could pick out to be put into her ears. Ginny didn't know which ones to choose. There were things called 14k gold plated ones with things called "Birthstone" colors on them. And there were ones that were 24k gold plated ones, but then she saw it. They were little green and silver colored flowers.
Ginny pointed them out and Hermione looked at them. She smiled and told Sara which ones Ginny wanted and she told the lady at the counter which ones they wanted. As soon as Ginny sat in the chair, she finally became nervous.
"Is this going to hurt?" she asked, a little scared.
"No," Hermione, Lavender, and Sara said all at the same time.
Ginny laughed, "Wow. Now I'm feeling a lot more scared." She sat still as the lady marked her ears up and sterilized everything that she was going to use.
Lavender finally saw what earrings Ginny picked out, "Oh those look nice, but why silver and green? Why not purple or something?" Then it slowly hit her, "Oohhh!"
Ginny looked at her, "There is no 'ooohhh'. I just thought that they looked the best."
"Hold still," the lady said, and POP the earring went in.
"Hey, that didn't even hurt!"
"See? Told you so," Sara said.
"Sure there's an 'ooohhh'," Lavender said. "You want him to notice you."
"Want whom to notice me?"
"Draco!" Lavender answered her question with a sigh.
"Shhhhh!" POP! "Ow! Okay, that one hurt a little."
"You okay?" the lady asked.
"Yes." She looked at her friends. "Don't say his name!"
"Why? Do you honestly think that someone is going to know him here?" Hermione asked.
"True." Ginny went to the front counter and paid for the earrings and all the girls left. "And besides that, do you really think he'll notice something so small?"
"It depends," Hermione said.
"Depends on what?" Ginny asked.
"How much he likes you," Sara answered.
"Look, you guys can rule that one out right now."
"Oh and why's that?" Lavender asked.
"Because he would never like me," Ginny said looking down at her feet.
"He gave you that kiss on the cheek," Lavender said.
"And you guys almost kissed," Hermione added.
Ginny sighed, "That means nothing. Sara, please tell them!"
"But it does mean something. You'll see. Wait a little while and it'll sink in that you like him and everything will go perfect," Sara answered her.
"I wish I could see it like you guys do, though I really am looking forward to saying, 'I told you so,' when nothing happens."
The others just sighed. "Come on, lets go shopping," Hermione said.
They spent the whole afternoon shopping for clothes and other little things that they needed. They picked out clothes that they could wear at Hogwarts for the weekends and also a few outfits for Ginny to wear to Draco's house for the following weekend.
By the time that they all sat down at a table at the food court with their lunches, they were all exhausted.
"This was really fun. Thanks, you guys."
"No problem, Ginny. We had fun too," Lavender said.
"A little too much fun," Sara said looking at all her bags. "I bought more things for me today then I ever have. Charlie is surely going to be upset."
"Not when he sees what you bought for him," Ginny wiggled her eyebrows.
Sara put her head in her hands. She was slightly embarrassed for buying sexy lingerie in front of them, but she quickly brought her head up and smiled at them.
Ginny was looking around the mall from her seat when she saw a store that she had not seen yet and then asked, "Can we go one more place before we leave?"
"Sure," Hermione said.
They finished eating and followed Ginny to the store where she wanted to go.
"A music store?" Lavender asked.
"Ginny, they sell musical instruments here," Sara told her.
"I know. That's why I wanted to come in here."
She went into the store and a salesman quickly went up to her, "Can I help you find something, miss?"
"Actually, I was just looking for a guitar." The others looked at her with a confused stare. They didn't know anything about Draco's secret about knowing how to play the guitar. Ginny told him that she would not say a word of that to anyone and she intended on keeping her promise. "I just want to have a look at them," she said to answer their unasked question. "They are on the left side of the building, next to the drums. Do you need help picking one out?"
"No, thank you," and she was off. She really had no clue what she was looking for. She was sure that Draco already owned his own guitar and anything she picked out for him would be something less then what he already had, but she wanted to look just the same.
She turned to the others and said, "I'll be right along. Why don't you guys go out in the hallway and wait for me?"
"Okay, sure." Sara said and she took the others and left the building.
Ginny looked around at all the guitars and she couldn’t make head nor tails out of what was different from one guitar to the next. She then looked at all the price tags and saw that they were all 5,000 pounds or more each. She sighed. She was about to turn away when she found it--the one guitar that she knew Draco would love. She ran up to it and put her hands on the glass case that it was bound in. She looked at the tag and wanted to cry--2,000 pounds. Of course. Great. What was she going to do? She wanted that guitar, but wasn't going to pay that much for it.
She heard a voice next to her, "That's a pretty nice guitar, isn't it?"
Ginny looked up and saw a woman standing next to her with a name tag on her. So she assumed that she worked there, "Yeah, it's the best one. I know my friend would like it," she said to the older woman standing next to her.
"Well, he must be more than a friend for you to want to buy that for him."
"I don't know. Besides, I can't afford that."
"Well, I'll tell you a little secret. That guitar right there has been in this store for the past 6 years."
"Really? Why?"
"Because Bryon Adams isn't that much of a big person in London."
Ginny looked back at the white guitar with Bryon Adams autograph on it. "Do you think he really used it?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, he did, but I'll tell you another little secret. This store has wanted to get rid of this for a long time. They are into negotiating the price a little. Are you good at negotiating?"
"I can lessen my punishment with my really evil teacher at school." It was true. Snape had it out for her. He just did not like the girl even though she was really smart in his class. He'd always give her detention and she'd negotiate her punishment with him all the time.
"Then I guess you're all good, darling."
"Thank you, but why would you help me out? Couldn't you lose your job for that?"
"Well, that would be a little hard to do since I own the store."
Ginny gasped, smiled, and said, "I'll give you 500 pounds for it."
The older woman crossed her hands over her chest and gave her a look that looked like she was asking, 'Are you crazy?' "Fifteen hundred pounds."
Ginny put her hands on her hips and said, "600."
"One thousand."
"750."
"SOLD!"
Ginny's eyes bugged out of her head, "Really?"
"Yup, it's all yours," the older woman said. She took out her keys, opened the glass case, and handed her the guitar. "Come on up to the front desk and I'll get you a case to put it in."
"Thank you, but why would you do this for me?"
"I've been in your shoes before, darling," Ginny gave her a confused look, "With liking a boy and wanting to get him something that he would love and something that no one else would ever think of buying it for him."
"It's not like that." Ginny said with a blush.
"Sure it is." The woman went into the back room and got its guitar case.
As she was ringing it up Ginny asked, "So… um, so what happened?"
"We're celebrating our 40th anniversary next year." The older woman smiled and so did Ginny.
Ginny paid for it and thanked her once again before going back into the hall to meet up with the others.
"Ginny! What are you doing buying a guitar?" Sara asked when she saw the guitar case in her hands.
"It's for my friend."
"Your friend?" Hermione asked.
"Yes. She's a big fan of Bryon Adams and has taken up the guitar just because of him. So I had to get it." She paused for a second, "Just don't tell Mum and Dad please?" Of course they agreed not to tell them.
The ride home was really quiet. Hermione and Lavender were asleep in the back seat of the car.
"So, Ginny, tell me, who's that guitar really for?" Sara asked her.
Ginny looked behind her to make sure that the other two were still asleep. "You promise that you won't tell anyone, not even them?" She pointed to the two in the back.
"I promise."
"It's for Draco," she said really quietly. "He plays the guitar, but no one can know. His father hates anything Muggle like."
"I swear that I won't tell a soul."
"Pinky promise?" Ginny held out her pinky.
"Pinky promise," Sara said and they linked their pinkies together.
The next weekend came soon enough. She was in the car on her way to the Malfoy manor. She was nervous about meeting Mr. Malfoy, but she swore that she wouldn't show him how scared she was of him.
Ginny was so wound up into her thoughts that it took her parents a few tries to get her attention.
"What?" she asked when they finally got her attention.
"We're here, honey," Molly told her.
Ginny swallowed and looked at the rather large house.
"Do you need us to go in there with you?" her father asked.
"No! No need to come in with me, Daddy. I'll be fine." She opened the car door and grabbed her bag. "I'll see you both on Sunday night. I'll Floo powder home, so there will be no reason for you to come and pick me up," she said through the window.
"Just be careful, okay?" Her father told her.
Ginny went on his side of the car, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and told him not to worry. She said good-bye to her folks and waited till the car was out of sight before she went up to the door.
She straightened her robes out and took a deep breath. She went to go ring the doorbell, but she found that there was nothing there. She kept on looking around when she heard someone ask, "Can I help you?"
To Be Continued…
Ginny stood there with her hand on her cheek and a smile on her face when she heard, "Don't fall for him, Ginny."
Ginny turned around, "Fall for whom, Hermione?"
"Don't lie to me, Ginevra,” Ginny sighed with disgust. She hated it when Hermione used her real name. “I saw Draco Malfoy here and how he gave you a kiss on your cheek." Ginny just sighed and ignored her. As she walked past Hermione, she grabbed Ginny's arm, "What was he doing here?"
"It's none of your bloody business."
"Draco's been rubbing off on you I see." Ginny's eyes widened. "I thought we were friends, Ginny."
"Yeah, some really great friend you are!" Ginny said shaking Hermione's arm off of her, "You knew I wanted to go to Romania because I haven't seen my brothers in so long, and that I wanted to see Sara and Charlie's baby, but you didn't care. Did you even try to get Harry to talk Ron into letting me come with you guys?" Hermione looked down at her feet. "I didn't think so. So don't lecture to me that I'm not your friend, because I have always been there for you!"
Before either girl could say another word they heard someone call out, "Ginny, we have a surprise for you!" It was Mrs. Weasley.
"Good I could use one, right about now," She said looking at Hermione and then she turned to walk away. As she came closer to the house she could see her brothers. "Charlie? Bill!"
She ran up to them and hugged them both. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's your birthday isn't it?" Bill said.
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's not everyday that our little sister turns 16," Charlie said.
"Is Sara here?" Charlie nodded. "With baby Penny?" Ginny squealed.
"She's already two, Ginny, almost three."
Ginny looked sad, "Are you serious?"
Charlie nodded, "Yeah."
Ginny couldn't believe it had already been that long. She rarely saw her brothers anymore and had only seen Sara and the baby about four times in the past two years. Ginny smiled and said, "Bring me to them; I want to see my little niece." Charlie smiled and led the way.
Ginny walked into the living room and saw Sara, a lovely girl around the age of 24 with long brown hair and soft brown eyes, holding a darling little girl around two and a half. Charlie and Sara were very blessed to have a girl considering that Ginny was one of the very few Weasley girls. Ginny took a seat by Sara and hugged her first.
"So good to see you again, Ginny," Sara said in a small accent.
"Yes, it’s good to see you too."
Penny laid in Sara's arms looking very shy and asked, "Who?"
Ginny looked to Sara, "You remember Aunt Ginny, don't you?" Penny shook her head. "This is Daddy's youngest sister."
"Hi, Penny," Ginny said. Penny gave her a little wave.
"You think you can give Aunt Ginny a hug?"
Penny smiled big, "Hug Gin-Gin," and Penny put her arms out.
Ginny picked the small girl up, put her on her lap, and hugged her. She could feel Penny's little arms go not even half way around her. As Ginny was holding her she could see Hermione in the kitchen talking to Mrs. Weasley, and saw her mother shaking her head. Penny released Ginny, but sat her in her lap for the rest of the evening.
Around nine o'clock Penny fell asleep in Ginny's arms. Sara took her from Ginny's arms and everyone went upstairs to go to bed.
Hermione and Lavender were sharing Ginny's room and soon were in their nightclothes. Hermione was sitting in front of Ginny's mirror brushing out her hair when she said, "So, Lavender, did you know that Draco Malfoy was here today?"
"I thought I saw someone leaving tonight." Ginny gave Hermione an evil stare, which she did not see. Lavender sat on Ginny's bed and said, "So, girl, give us the details."
"I can't get anything out of her. Not even Mrs. Weasley would tell me anything and she made me swear that I wouldn’t tell the boys."
"What annoys you more," Ginny said angrily, "that I won't tell you why he was here or because I was hanging out with your boyfriends' worst enemy!" There was a knock on the door. "What!" Ginny screamed out before thinking.
Sara opened the door, "What is going on here?"
When Ginny saw that it was Sara she calmed right down, "Oh sorry, Sara."
"Ginny, what's with the screaming?" Sara asked.
Lavender stood up and said, "They are acting as though they hate one another."
Both Hermione and Ginny crossed their arms over their chests and said at the same time, "No, we aren't!"
"Lavender, what is the problem?" Sara asked her knowing that she wasn't going to get much out of the other girls.
Hermione answered before Lavender could, “Draco Malfoy, one of our enemies was here tonight," she paused for a second and said, "and he kissed her on the cheek."
Okay, so maybe Sara was wrong, but then it hit her, "Ah yes, Draco Malfoy. Wasn't he the boy you were tutoring all summer long?" Ginny looked to the floor, Sara obviously got her answer. "So he's the reason why you couldn't come this summer."
When Ginny looked up she saw both Hermione and Lavender staring at her. Ginny answered, "Yes, he is the boy," then she added quite quietly, "but no, he isn't the reason why I couldn't come."
"Then what was the reason?" Sara asked.
"It doesn't matter now," Ginny perked up a little. "Besides, I told Mom not to tell anyone, and if she told you, you weren't supposed to say a word."
"Oh, I'm sorry. They didn't know?" Ginny shook her head. "Why not?"
"Because they would tell Harry and Ron. Those two would love to get their hands on information like this. The whole school would know."
Hermione went over to Ginny and said, "Ginny, if you asked us not to tell Harry and Ron, we wouldn't say a word."
"Really?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah. That's what friends are for. Forgive me?" Hermione said.
Ginny smiled, "Yeah." The two friends hugged.
"Hey, what about me?" Lavender called out. The three friends had a group hug.
Ginny looked up and said, "Okay, so who's up for some details?"
"Yes!" the other two girls squealed and jumped up on her bed.
"Come on, Sara, you too," Ginny invited her.
Sara smiled and she too sat on the bed feeling more like part of the family and more like a friend.
Lavender started asking questions, "So, what happened? How did you stand him for the whole summer? Why did he kiss you? Are you two friends? Are you two more then friends?" Ginny laughed and knew this was going to be one long night.
Ginny woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. "It's my birthday!" she screamed out. She could hear moans and groans from all around. Her legs kicked at the sheets and she jumped up on her bed. Her birthday was her favorite day of the year. "Guys, come on! It's my birthday!"
The only response she got was a pillow being thrown at her face and a chorus of 'shut-ups'. Ginny only threw the pillow back at Lavender and jumped off the bed and ran down the hall screaming, "It's my birthday." She ran into her parents' room and screamed, "It's my birthday!" and then started to jump up and down on their bed.
Arthur groaned, "Isn't she getting a little bit too old to be doing this, Molly?"
"Oh, Arthur, let her be." Ginny jumped off the bed. "So what do you want for breakfast this morning?"
"Belgian Waffles?" Ginny asked.
"You got it! Now go wake up your brothers." Ginny went running out of the room. "And make sure you tell Percy that Penelope is coming in an hour to have breakfast with us," her mother called after her.
After breakfast Ginny was allowed to open her presents.
She opened her present from her parents first. She gasped as she slowly slid it out of the box, "Mom, Dad, you shouldn't have." It was a beautiful flowing green dress. She had been eyeing that dress since she was almost 15 years old, but it was expensive. Yet every time that her mother and she would go shopping, she would go into the store and try it on. She fell in love with it. "Mom, Dad, thank you so much." She gave each of them a hug.
Percy handed her her next present. It was a beautiful purple jewelry box. She opened it to examine it further and it played one of her favorite classical music songs, "On the Blue Danube." She gasped again. "This is wonderful." But that wasn't all that she saw in there. She also saw another small package. She opened it up and revealed a choker necklace that had a rather nice size pendant of a fairy on it. Ginny loved fairies. "This is so great! Thank you." She went up to them and gave Percy and Penelope a hug.
"Okay, me next," Bill said. He handed her a big, heavy present. She knew it had to be some kind of book. She opened it up and it was a book of hexes.
"Oooooooo! Let me see!" Hermione ran to sit next to her and leafed through the book, which was still on Ginny's lap.
The whole family laughed, "I think Hermione is going to enjoy this book more than I am." She looked over at Bill, "Thanks. I am sure that this will come in handy, besides, I think this looks quite interesting." She got up and let Hermione have the book as she went to go hug her brother.
Charlie and Sara were next. She opened the small package and took out a pair of dangly earrings. "Oh wow! These are really unique, but I don't have any pierced ears." It was true; other parents let their daughters get their ears pierced when they were younger, but Ginny still had to wait.
"That's where our present comes in," Lavender said with a joyful tone.
"There is no way I am letting you come anywhere near me with a piercing gun!" Ginny said covering her ears with her hands. Everyone laughed.
"No, silly. Tomorrow, Sara, Hermione, and I are taking you to a Muggle Mall."
Ginny's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"
"Yes! And not just any mall, but one of London's biggest malls." Lavender squealed with delight.
"You mean… The Mall of London?"
"Yup!" both Hermione and Lavender both said happily.
"This is wonderful! Thank you!" She turned to her mother, "And you are letting me get my ears pierced?" Her mother nodded. "Woo-hoo!"
Fred and George went next. They gave her a beautiful mirror with roses and fairies all over it. "Wow, guys, this is really beautiful!" Both boys beamed that they actually got her something that she liked. "I'm surprised that it doesn't do something, though."
"Oh, but it does," George told her.
"Yeah," Fred added and took the mirror and said, "If anyone else looks into it," Fred looked into it, and pretended to fix his hair, “it laughs at them, and the longer they look in it, the more the mirror laughs."
"This is truly the best present you guys ever gave me." She stood up and hugged her twin brothers.
Harry and Ron were last. Ron handed her a present and said, "We figured that it's time you had one of these."
Ginny knew what it had to be. She slowly opened it and revealed a beautiful hand made leather diary. "This is great guys."
"Don't worry, we made sure there was nothing wrong with this one. We bought it in Harry's town actually, and then we even did some tests on it to make sure it was okay."
Ginny smiled brightly, "Thank you!" and she gave them both a hug.
Mrs. Weasley stood up and said, "Okay, who's ready for--" she couldn’t say anything else because they heard a rather loud screech from an owl above them. They all looked up; it was a rather big black owl. It never landed; it just dropped a package on Ginny's lap, and continued flying.
"What's this?" she asked as the owl flew out of sight.
Everyone looked stunned. No one knew where it came from.
"Open it up, Ginny," Hermione nudged her.
Ginny did so. She removed the rose from on top of it and smelled it. She loved roses. She looked for a note or something, but found nothing, so she just opened it. When she lifted off the top of the box the item inside of it made her tear up.
"What is it?" she heard Ron ask.
She took it out and showed it to everyone. It was her bracelet, her "Ginevra" bracelet. It was written out in silver and one red stone dotted the "i".
“Ginevra?” Fred asked.
“Who’s Ginevra?” George added.
Charlie hit them both up side the head.
"Who gave that to you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I don't know," Ginny said with a shrug, but she did have a good idea of who it was from. She then found a letter at the bottom of the box. She took it out and read it to herself.
"Dear Ginevra,
I hope this resembles the same bracelet that you lost so long ago. I know it’s not going to be the same one that your great-grandmother got for you, but I did the best I could at giving you the next best thing. I also had something engraved on the back so you can always remember your day. I hope you're having a wonderful birthday and I wish I could give this to you in person, but alas, I cannot. Happy birthday.”
Ginny smiled. Even though there was no name on it, she knew it could only be from the one and only Draco Malfoy.
"So who's it from?" Ron asked.
Ginny was trying not to cry happy tears, "There's no name."
"Ooooo! Ginny's got a secret admirer!" George taunted her.
Ginny blushed slightly, but before anyone could make another comment, her mother stood up and said, "Come on. It's time for some cake and ice-cream," everyone but Hermione and Lavender stood up and ran back into the house.
Ginny wiped the tears away and turned the bracelet over. She read it, "To Ginerva M. Weasley on her 16th birthday. Love, Draco." Ginny didn't read too much into the "love" part for she knew he just meant it in a friendly way. Then she noticed something else written on it, "Miracles can happen in more than one way." She wondered what he meant by that, but decided to ask him that weekend.
"So is it from him?" Hermione asked.
Ginny nodded, not trusting her voice. Tears were still running down her cheeks and she couldn’t remember ever being happier.
Hermione took the bracelet from Ginny's hands and put it on her wrist. It was a little too big, but it magically fit until it felt comfortable.
"I think he likes you, Gin," Lavender said. Ginny laughed.
"She's right. Boys don't usually buy jewelry for girls 'just because'." Hermione added.
“It’s not ‘just because’ it’s my birthday,” Ginny said, stating the obvious, “Besides it's just a study thing. You can rest assured that Draco Malfoy does not like me." Ginny stood up and walked towards the house.
"Yeah, well, what about you?" Hermione called out. Ginny turned around and looked confused, "The real question is, Ginny, do you like him?"
"It doesn't matter," Ginny said and turned again. "It rarely ever does." Ginny said to herself and entered the house with a big grin on her face.
The next morning Ginny was the first one to get up. She showered, changed, and started to get some breakfast ready.
Ginny was in front of the kitchen window sipping at her hot tea, enjoying the sun rising over the tree tops when she heard an owl approaching her. It was the same one from yesterday. She opened the window and the large bird landed on the sill. Ginny took the note off its leg, offered it a rather large piece of her muffin, and then patted its head. The owl screeched lightly and flew off.
She opened the letter and read it quickly.
It was a simple letter from Draco telling her what she would need for next weekend at his place. She sighed and sat down at the table. She could hear everyone running around upstairs and everyone yelling at everyone else to hurry up in the shower to keep the hot water going.
About an hour and a half later all the girls were set and ready to go on their little adventure to the Muggle mall.
Since Ginny's first year at Hogwarts Arthur bought another Muggle automobile, but this time he didn't enchant it...much. Arthur gave the keys to Sara. He showed her how to set the destinations into the car. All she had to do was hit the cruise control button and she didn't have to worry about driving the car.
Hermione lead them first to a place where they could turn their wizard money into Muggle money. When Ginny placed her big bag of money on the desk everyone else's eyes bugged out of their head. Ginny saw this and commented on it.
"What? I've been saving and because I had every weekend free I got a job on the weekends. The pay was pretty good."
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
"I did errands for the elderly ladies who have money, but no families. They all loved me and over paid me a bit."
"I'd say so," Lavender said with a smile.
Ginny got her money back and her eyes bugged out. She had about 5,000 pounds in her hands.
They grabbed their money, got back into the car, and set out to the mall.
They reached the mall about an hour later.
As they got out of the car Ginny gasped. She never saw anything this big before in her life. It was three stories high. She bet it was at least three times bigger then the Malfoy Manor, "It'll take weeks just to shop in here!"
The girls only replied with a laugh.
"So what do you want to do first, Ginny? Shop or get your ears pierced?" Sara asked her.
Ginny didn't have to think at all, "Get my ears pierced!"
"Okay, let's go!" Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her through the mall. Hermione, who grew up in the Muggle side of the world, had been to "The Mall of London" several times before.
By the time they reached the place where Ginny was to get her ears pierced, her legs were already tired. Hermione showed her the earrings that she could pick out to be put into her ears. Ginny didn't know which ones to choose. There were things called 14k gold plated ones with things called "Birthstone" colors on them. And there were ones that were 24k gold plated ones, but then she saw it. They were little green and silver colored flowers.
Ginny pointed them out and Hermione looked at them. She smiled and told Sara which ones Ginny wanted and she told the lady at the counter which ones they wanted. As soon as Ginny sat in the chair, she finally became nervous.
"Is this going to hurt?" she asked, a little scared.
"No," Hermione, Lavender, and Sara said all at the same time.
Ginny laughed, "Wow. Now I'm feeling a lot more scared." She sat still as the lady marked her ears up and sterilized everything that she was going to use.
Lavender finally saw what earrings Ginny picked out, "Oh those look nice, but why silver and green? Why not purple or something?" Then it slowly hit her, "Oohhh!"
Ginny looked at her, "There is no 'ooohhh'. I just thought that they looked the best."
"Hold still," the lady said, and POP the earring went in.
"Hey, that didn't even hurt!"
"See? Told you so," Sara said.
"Sure there's an 'ooohhh'," Lavender said. "You want him to notice you."
"Want whom to notice me?"
"Draco!" Lavender answered her question with a sigh.
"Shhhhh!" POP! "Ow! Okay, that one hurt a little."
"You okay?" the lady asked.
"Yes." She looked at her friends. "Don't say his name!"
"Why? Do you honestly think that someone is going to know him here?" Hermione asked.
"True." Ginny went to the front counter and paid for the earrings and all the girls left. "And besides that, do you really think he'll notice something so small?"
"It depends," Hermione said.
"Depends on what?" Ginny asked.
"How much he likes you," Sara answered.
"Look, you guys can rule that one out right now."
"Oh and why's that?" Lavender asked.
"Because he would never like me," Ginny said looking down at her feet.
"He gave you that kiss on the cheek," Lavender said.
"And you guys almost kissed," Hermione added.
Ginny sighed, "That means nothing. Sara, please tell them!"
"But it does mean something. You'll see. Wait a little while and it'll sink in that you like him and everything will go perfect," Sara answered her.
"I wish I could see it like you guys do, though I really am looking forward to saying, 'I told you so,' when nothing happens."
The others just sighed. "Come on, lets go shopping," Hermione said.
They spent the whole afternoon shopping for clothes and other little things that they needed. They picked out clothes that they could wear at Hogwarts for the weekends and also a few outfits for Ginny to wear to Draco's house for the following weekend.
By the time that they all sat down at a table at the food court with their lunches, they were all exhausted.
"This was really fun. Thanks, you guys."
"No problem, Ginny. We had fun too," Lavender said.
"A little too much fun," Sara said looking at all her bags. "I bought more things for me today then I ever have. Charlie is surely going to be upset."
"Not when he sees what you bought for him," Ginny wiggled her eyebrows.
Sara put her head in her hands. She was slightly embarrassed for buying sexy lingerie in front of them, but she quickly brought her head up and smiled at them.
Ginny was looking around the mall from her seat when she saw a store that she had not seen yet and then asked, "Can we go one more place before we leave?"
"Sure," Hermione said.
They finished eating and followed Ginny to the store where she wanted to go.
"A music store?" Lavender asked.
"Ginny, they sell musical instruments here," Sara told her.
"I know. That's why I wanted to come in here."
She went into the store and a salesman quickly went up to her, "Can I help you find something, miss?"
"Actually, I was just looking for a guitar." The others looked at her with a confused stare. They didn't know anything about Draco's secret about knowing how to play the guitar. Ginny told him that she would not say a word of that to anyone and she intended on keeping her promise. "I just want to have a look at them," she said to answer their unasked question. "They are on the left side of the building, next to the drums. Do you need help picking one out?"
"No, thank you," and she was off. She really had no clue what she was looking for. She was sure that Draco already owned his own guitar and anything she picked out for him would be something less then what he already had, but she wanted to look just the same.
She turned to the others and said, "I'll be right along. Why don't you guys go out in the hallway and wait for me?"
"Okay, sure." Sara said and she took the others and left the building.
Ginny looked around at all the guitars and she couldn’t make head nor tails out of what was different from one guitar to the next. She then looked at all the price tags and saw that they were all 5,000 pounds or more each. She sighed. She was about to turn away when she found it--the one guitar that she knew Draco would love. She ran up to it and put her hands on the glass case that it was bound in. She looked at the tag and wanted to cry--2,000 pounds. Of course. Great. What was she going to do? She wanted that guitar, but wasn't going to pay that much for it.
She heard a voice next to her, "That's a pretty nice guitar, isn't it?"
Ginny looked up and saw a woman standing next to her with a name tag on her. So she assumed that she worked there, "Yeah, it's the best one. I know my friend would like it," she said to the older woman standing next to her.
"Well, he must be more than a friend for you to want to buy that for him."
"I don't know. Besides, I can't afford that."
"Well, I'll tell you a little secret. That guitar right there has been in this store for the past 6 years."
"Really? Why?"
"Because Bryon Adams isn't that much of a big person in London."
Ginny looked back at the white guitar with Bryon Adams autograph on it. "Do you think he really used it?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, he did, but I'll tell you another little secret. This store has wanted to get rid of this for a long time. They are into negotiating the price a little. Are you good at negotiating?"
"I can lessen my punishment with my really evil teacher at school." It was true. Snape had it out for her. He just did not like the girl even though she was really smart in his class. He'd always give her detention and she'd negotiate her punishment with him all the time.
"Then I guess you're all good, darling."
"Thank you, but why would you help me out? Couldn't you lose your job for that?"
"Well, that would be a little hard to do since I own the store."
Ginny gasped, smiled, and said, "I'll give you 500 pounds for it."
The older woman crossed her hands over her chest and gave her a look that looked like she was asking, 'Are you crazy?' "Fifteen hundred pounds."
Ginny put her hands on her hips and said, "600."
"One thousand."
"750."
"SOLD!"
Ginny's eyes bugged out of her head, "Really?"
"Yup, it's all yours," the older woman said. She took out her keys, opened the glass case, and handed her the guitar. "Come on up to the front desk and I'll get you a case to put it in."
"Thank you, but why would you do this for me?"
"I've been in your shoes before, darling," Ginny gave her a confused look, "With liking a boy and wanting to get him something that he would love and something that no one else would ever think of buying it for him."
"It's not like that." Ginny said with a blush.
"Sure it is." The woman went into the back room and got its guitar case.
As she was ringing it up Ginny asked, "So… um, so what happened?"
"We're celebrating our 40th anniversary next year." The older woman smiled and so did Ginny.
Ginny paid for it and thanked her once again before going back into the hall to meet up with the others.
"Ginny! What are you doing buying a guitar?" Sara asked when she saw the guitar case in her hands.
"It's for my friend."
"Your friend?" Hermione asked.
"Yes. She's a big fan of Bryon Adams and has taken up the guitar just because of him. So I had to get it." She paused for a second, "Just don't tell Mum and Dad please?" Of course they agreed not to tell them.
The ride home was really quiet. Hermione and Lavender were asleep in the back seat of the car.
"So, Ginny, tell me, who's that guitar really for?" Sara asked her.
Ginny looked behind her to make sure that the other two were still asleep. "You promise that you won't tell anyone, not even them?" She pointed to the two in the back.
"I promise."
"It's for Draco," she said really quietly. "He plays the guitar, but no one can know. His father hates anything Muggle like."
"I swear that I won't tell a soul."
"Pinky promise?" Ginny held out her pinky.
"Pinky promise," Sara said and they linked their pinkies together.
The next weekend came soon enough. She was in the car on her way to the Malfoy manor. She was nervous about meeting Mr. Malfoy, but she swore that she wouldn't show him how scared she was of him.
Ginny was so wound up into her thoughts that it took her parents a few tries to get her attention.
"What?" she asked when they finally got her attention.
"We're here, honey," Molly told her.
Ginny swallowed and looked at the rather large house.
"Do you need us to go in there with you?" her father asked.
"No! No need to come in with me, Daddy. I'll be fine." She opened the car door and grabbed her bag. "I'll see you both on Sunday night. I'll Floo powder home, so there will be no reason for you to come and pick me up," she said through the window.
"Just be careful, okay?" Her father told her.
Ginny went on his side of the car, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and told him not to worry. She said good-bye to her folks and waited till the car was out of sight before she went up to the door.
She straightened her robes out and took a deep breath. She went to go ring the doorbell, but she found that there was nothing there. She kept on looking around when she heard someone ask, "Can I help you?"
To Be Continued…
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