Family and Friends

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Ginny hummed softly to herself as she wandered down the stairs, flicking a duster halfheartedly over the dark banisters. The house was no longer as gloomy as it had once been, of course; the years of habitation had put an end to that ages ago, but there were certain fixtures and fittings which simply refused to go away. The screeching portrait, for example; she was there to stay, so they had compromised and put a silencing charm on her instead. And there was very little to be done about the generally dark nature of the house's construction. The wood was all more or less black and Ginny flatly refused to tear out the stairs and replace them with something lighter, so they were there to stay. The redhead had done her best with lamps and candles and the space was brighter than it had been- certainly cleaner, at any rate, because while Ginny might not have been quite as houseproud as her mother, there was no way that any self respecting Weasley would tolerate a house in the state that Grimmauld Place had been in the first time that she had seen it.



She rather liked it, in fact. It had character, and it held memories. Not all of them good, of course- certainly not for Harry, who remembered having Death Eaters at the door- but some of them were wonderful. Personally, Ginny remembered a rather wonderful afternoon that she and Harry had spent behind the curtains in one of the dining rooms. It had, she reflected, been rather a good thing that she seldom wore lipstick even back then. Even as it was, her mother had subjected her to an unusually penetrating look when she'd emerged in time for dinner. Not that Ginny remembered what dinner had been...

lucy weasley

[lucy weasley]

Lucy had never seen Grimauld place herself. She'd never set foot in the place but she had heard the stories about it being the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. It was a legendary place in her mind. Grimauld place may not have been the battlefield but in some ways Voldemort was defeated here. Her uncle Harry's safety was assured by people conspiring in this place more than once, her aunt and her Weasley uncles had spent holidays here, surrounded by those who fought for good, even when they themselves probably didn't need to. Albus Dumbledore, Alester Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, and Sirius Black had all inhabited this place, and so it held a special sort of interest to Lucy... Even if realistically she knew it wasn''t going to be some mind blowing building.

Lucy hadn't inherited her grandmother's house pride either. She didn't freely volunteer her help because, at the end of the day she was still a teenager. She was more interested in exploring this place. She found herself staring at the black family tree with its many burn marks, the places where those who were 'undeserving of pure blood' had had their names burned away. Lucy was disgusted as, in her head she filled in the blanks. Andromeda Black. Her mind created a more objective version, where the burned name was returned to it's visibility and connected to Ted Tonk. Remus Lupin was soon there too, and Teddy below his parents.

Lucy drew her wand. She was going to repair the burned-away names but then she considered what she was doing and gave a laugh. No. The heroic people, she was sure, wouldn't want their names on this particular family tree. She had half a mind then to destroy the thing... But she wouldn't. She sat crossing her legs, just contemplating the nature of family. She wondered what a Weasley family tree would look like. Would her dad's name have been burned away by one of her uncles, only to be repaired by her grandmother when he came back? Would the family have kept his name there, and loved him despite his poor decisions? Lucy liked to assume the latter.

She was deep in thought contemplating how small the pure blood world was. The Black family were related to the Weasleys after all. Distant though they were. It was strange to know how small the world was and how strangely wizarding society treated some of its relatives.

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Grimmauld Place was quite a step up from the Burrow. The former had always been crowded, falling down in places, only held up by various pieces of shoddy spellcraft which were always applied 'just for now' and ended up staying for twenty years or more, or until they simply gave up the fight against the laws of physics and allowed whatever piece of wayward architecture they were supposed to be holding up to tumble to the ground, which could actually be quite dangerous if you happened to be standing on it at the time. Grimmauld Place, on the other hand, was a huge, rambling old pile of a building, but actually in quite good repair considering its age, and while there were occasions when it was difficult to find space to move in the Burrow, Grimmauld Place went to the opposite extreme. It was enormous, and even with the Potter family to inhabit it, there were still whole rooms which were scarcely ever entered. The place was left over from a bygone age when it was considered acceptable to have three different rooms for every occasion, as well as parlours, breakfast rooms, dining rooms, drawing rooms, ten times as many bedrooms as actual inhabitants and a different staircase for each day of the week. Even so, Ginny rather liked the Burrow. It had a warm, familial atmosphere which she had striven to transplant to Grimmauld Place, with, she thought, at least some success. And part of that, of course, was inviting friends and family to drop in whenever they fancied.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she gave a perfunctory tap on the door to the drawing room- it was, after all, her drawing room- before breezing in, a smile adorning her face. "Hi, Lucy!" she greeted her niece with a hug. "How are you doing, love?" Ginny did like to keep in touch with her extended family- and, this being the Weasleys, her extended family extended for quite a long way. She saw quite a bit more of some of her brothers than she did of other, but that was only to be expected. Ginny had never really got on well with Percy, which was why she was, in the depths of her heart, so glad that her niece did not take after him. Lucy was most definitely her own person and sometimes, Ginny was afraid that the Hufflepuff was just a little too much like her.

[lucy weasley]

Lucy heard the tap at the drawing room door and it broke her concentration on the family tree - just as she was realising how strange it was to be staring at someone else's family tree. How odd it was that that particular artefact was still here. Lucy assumed her aunt either hadn't removed it for some personal reason, or had just never gotten around to it. As Ginny entered, Lucy put her wand back into her pocket, grinning brightly to her aunt. She got to her feet and hugged the older redhead. "I'm pretty good. Honestly, I was just kind of exploring... It's not every day I get to visit Order Headquarters." she said. "It's a really interesting place - though the portrait down stairs kind of freaks me out." She confessed. "It's kind of weird to see her screaming and screaming without making a sound." It was a little macabre to the young woman, but she had also heard stories of Walburga Black's portrait howling madly. "All in all, it's really interesting to be here... Thanks for having me." She said warmly.

"Honestly, it's nice to be away from home a bit. I love my dad but honestly I didn't make Prefect, and I think he expected it of me. Whenever school comes up he gets dower. I don't want to deal with that." Lucy understood why her father expected excellence, three of her uncles, her father, and her cousin had all achieved the role and yet Lucy hadn't. She wasn't exactly ashamed she had never really considered it important. Indeed she warmly remembered her uncle Fred being playfully proud of her when she didn't have a badge to show off. His obviously mocking suggestion that Percy write to the school about it. It felt good to know that many of her family members didn't expect her to be perfect. She knew her father didn't either, but sometimes he acted like he did.

"Do you need any help around the house?" She offered gently. "Or maybe someone to keep an eye on Lily?" The youngest child was ten now and she probably didn't need too much watching, but then again Grimauld place was an odd home. Not as horrendous as it once was but Lucy doubted that even her grandmother could have made this place entirely kid safe.

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Ginny held Lucy close for a moment or two before releasing her and looking the girl up and down. Oh, yes, the Hufflepuff had definitely changed since she had first seen her, but then considering that Lucy had been around two weeks old at the time, perhaps that was not to be wondered at. And good grief, did that make her feel old, although she did try to assuage the symptoms by pointing out to herself that she had only been twenty one at the time. Still, things changed all the time, and she supposed that one had to change with them, or else be left in the past. Although the redhead was not at all sure that she wanted to adapt to the Umbridge regime. She still remembered the woman threatening them with the Cruciatus Curse in that hideously pink office.

"You should have heard her before we put the charm on." the woman remarked with a smile. "Trust me, this way is better. Anyway, how are things on the boy front- or the girl front?" She did remember the conversation that she and her niece had had during the term, and honestly she wasn't sure what Lucy was worried about. So far as she was concerned, the girl was one of the most beautiful in the school, and anyone who thought otherwise was crazy, but she did accept that she was not qualified as a neutral judge.

"Don't be silly, Lucy; it's lovely to have you, and you know you're welcome any time." Ginny said warmly. "Just ignore your father, he'll get over it. The man's obsessed with grades and badges. You're doing just fine." The redhead was a family woman, and she was never happier than when she had all her relatives around her, and particularly her children, her nieces and her nephews. There were times when she worried that she was at danger of turning into her mother, but honestly, there were worst things to become. "No, no, that's quite all right." she assured the younger girl. "I'm sure Lily would love to see you, but she's not in just at the moment."

[lucy weasley]

A blush came across Lucy's cheeks as Ginny asked about her love life. She had definately been thinking about that a lot lately herself. She did owe her aunt a lot though. Even if Ginny had never been interested in a girl or wasn't particularly inclined toward such things she had still given the young woman the confidence she needed to make a move. Lucy smiled up at her aunt and nodded slowly. "Things are good. I went to the ball with Lulu Sandoval. I've been seeing a couple of other people since," She said gently thinking warm thoughts about the girl she had crushed on. She did wonder what her aunt thought of Lulu, come to think of it she wasn't even certain that Lulu was taking history of magic. Did the two even really know one-another?

"This place is so interesting." She said thinking back to the portrait. "I'm sure that she was awful... Have you thought about taking out the wall she's stuck to and remodelling the place? If she's stuck there, it might be a good excuse." She suggested. Of course she knew the place was special to her uncle and that Harry would likely not consent to to changing his god father's house too much. "Or is Harry against the idea?" She asked her aunt for confirmation. She didn't want to suggest her uncle's attachment to the place didn't matter, even if Lucy had found the grizzly portrait too unpleasant to see an argument for keeping her there as terribly convincing. At any rate she had no real idea how difficult remodelling a house to that extent was.

"Where's she gotten off to?" Lucy asked about her young cousin. They had such a big family that it was unsurprising for her to hear that Lily was out and about.

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Ginny smiled to herself as the girl's cheeks flamed scarlet. Oh, Lucy had inherited her aunt's blush all right, and Ginny was pleased to think that she had at least passed on something of herself to the girl, even if her Hufflepuff niece might not thank her for it. But that blush was one which she herself had always suffered from- in fact, she had blushed in exactly that way when her brothers had started to tease her about her crush on Harry Potter, and she had blushed in just the same way five or so years later, when they had teased her about their relationship. It was something that she had suffered from for quite some time, but she had managed to get a handle on it in time, and now she liked to think that she had a reasonable degree of control over her own expression.

"Oh, you have, have you?" she enquired teasingly, grinning as she pulled the younger redhead into another hug. "Well, well done you. That's great! I'm proud." And she was. Ginny knew very well just how difficult it was to go against what society expected of you, but Lucy had done it, and she hoped that the rewards which her niece got out of it were worth the trouble. More than anything, she wanted Lucy to be happy- and she knew that that was what Percy wanted too, of course, but perhaps she ought to send him an owl and remind him of that...

The redhead shrugged a little helplessly. "I keep meaning to do something about her, but honestly, things keep happening, and I don't have time, and then I do have time but I just need to sit down... You know? I'm not sure how far we could go with remodelling, anyway- we do have Muggle neighbours." And Merlin, did she know it. She was sure that they suspected something- they kept giving her odd looks. But then this was London; perhaps it was because she was smiling. "Lily is out with some... friends... and they went... to one of their houses." she hazarded, brushing a lock of hair off her face with an expression of helplessness. She had known where her daughter was going when the girl had gone, but that had been half an hour ago now, and Ginny's mind was frazzled. Anyway, Lily would come to no harm.

[lucy weasley]

Lucy felt warm, accepted, loved. She knew that this was true everywhere she went. Her large family would always be there for her, even if she wasn't exactly conforming with society. The potters and Weasleys had always had a number of oddballs. Lucy knew she could trust them, her aunt possibly most of all to have her back if she needed them. This same trust did extend to her father, even if at times, Lucy wasn't confident that her dad would understand things. She still trusted Percy with her life. After all he was her father.

"Thanks. That really means a lot to me." Lucy beamed simply up at her aunt, savouring the hug. "It's been really good... Thanks for encouraging me. It all started with the ball and I don't think I'd have had the courage to ask her if you hadn't been there for me." She admitted, so happy to have her aunt in her life, and so glad to know that she could count on this sort of support. Ginny just had a way of making her niece feel better. though Ginny herself looked as though things might have been starting to creep up on her. Lucy wasn't going to begin to pretend she understood the rigours of parenting, or teaching, or being responsible for maintaining a place as large as this one. Lucy barely kept her room to an acceptable standard.

"I think you need to sit down a little more often." She said firmly to her aunt. "And maybe let me help a little, since i'm here eating your food, sleeping under your roof, and making some of the mess you're cleaning." she grinned. "Even your mother asks for help around the house you know." Lucy loved her grandmother, Molly, but even Molly had set long term guests chores. Still, even now in her old age, Lucy's grandmother seldom slowed down, or left work undone, even when it could stand to be that way. Molly was a full time mother, grandmother and homemaker though.She wasn't juggling teaching. "What can I do to help?" Lucy pressed.

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The Weasleys, Ginny reflected idly, were an odd bunch. They had never been the kind of people to conform to societal norms, as was plain by the fact that they were proud to be known as blood traitors by those who used such words, although maintaining firmly that the real blood traitors were those who lacked the class and the intelligence to see that it didn't matter. It could, she thought, be traced down to a basic inability to care about what anyone else thought unless said person really mattered. Percy had been something of a blip- he had cared, very much, and he had cared about the opinions of the wrong people; the opinions of a useless Minister and a corrupt society. He had, fortuitously, come around- which was a good job really, because otherwise she was worried that her mother might have murdered him at some point. One did not anger Molly Weasley and survive. Bellatrix Lestrange had learned that the hard way.

"It's what I'm here for, Lucy." the redhead told her niece with a grin. Merlin knew that someone had to support the poor girl with what she was going through, and while she knew that her brother did his best, he was not singularly fitted for such a task. Ginny well remembered being fifteen, and it was a whole lot tougher than most people believed. Her brother had been fifteen once too, of course, but he had never really been a teenager. He had come into the world with a middle-aged mind. In Ginny's view, he had always had far too much respect for authority. Had he not once called Dolores Umbridge a 'charming woman'? Lunacy; sheer lunacy. The woman had about as much charm as a dead frog. And she looked like one too.

"I'll have plenty of time to sit down when I'm retired and senile." Ginny announced firmly. "It may have escaped your notice, Lucy, but I am not my mother." Although the redhead did know that she and Molly were very similar in some ways, they were totally different in others. "You're here as a guest, not a cleaner." She sighed. "I suppose if you're really that desperate, you can give me a hand with lunch."

[lucy weasley]

"You work so hard, all the time, and yet I'm the Hufflepuff." Lucy said with a smile. She was hoping to defuse any upset she had caused Ginny. She loved her aunt dearly and she hated how hard she seemed to work herself these days. Teacher, homemaker, mother, aunt. Ginny wore so many hats, and beingin her OWL year had taught Lucy to appreciate free time and realise how little of it a lot of the people she loved had. She wanted to help. After all considering everything that Ginny Weasley had done for her over the years, and was continuing to do, she felt it was more than reasonable to for her to pitch in and do something around the house. "I'm sorry. I just don't think you should have to work yourself so hard while I sit around."

"I'd love to help with lunch. What's the plan?" She asked sweetly to her aunt eager to help her, and give Ginny a chance to take a break. "Is it just us or are the other's going to be around some time soon?" She asked referring to the older redhead's children and husband - or any number of their vast extended family's other members. Lucy got up, moving to her aunt's side and smiled down to the other girl, before sitting on the arm of her chair. "I'm sorry to push. I guess I'm just starting to realise how busy you must be all the time... You know what exam year is like." She reminded her aunt Perhaps it was a little hypocritical to want to ease her aunt's burden, while struggling with her OWL preparation herself.

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"Gryffindors can work hard too!" the redhead protested with a grin. "You should have seen me the night before my Potions NEWT!" Admittedly, that had been because she'd got confused and thought that she had another week before the exam, so that that night had been all the revision that she'd actually done, but she had managed an Acceptable anyway, and, not having any plans to pursue the subject further, she had been quite content with that. She had spent three months in revising for her History of Magic exam though, to be fair, so it just went to show that Ginny could apply herself, if only when she chose. Well, she was certainly making up for it now, with marking and grading and reporting and all kinds of weird and wonderful pieces of paper which the school's bureaucracy demanded. She would never say that it was an easy job, but it was very much worth it.
"I thought..." Ginny's words trailed off for a moment as she tried to remember what she thought, or indeed if she had ever done such a thing. "Oh, yes. I thought some soup and bread, and maybe some salad. And then I've got some cheese..." Boxes and boxes of the damn stuff; ordered for Christmas but not actually arriving until two days previously... "which needs eating, and I might stretch to a couple of baked potatoes if I can actually find them." Ginny was incredibly organised... in matters of marking and paperwork. As for her kitchen, it was in chaos, and she was uncomfortably aware that her mother would have a heart attack, which was why Molly Weasley was forbidden to set foot in that particular area of her daughter's house. "If that all sounds all right to you?"

[lucy weasley]

Lucy sighed as it all went back to exams. Her OWLs were approaching at a break-neck pace and the young Hufflepuff was uncertain as to what she should be doing about it. Frankly the whole thing was just daunting to her. There was always end of year exams but the OWLs were life defining. If she didn't get good enough marks then they would gate her out of potential future careers, and while Ginny had wanted to do something she was stunned none of her uncles, or for that matter her very talented aunt never did and pursue a quidditch career, she knew that such things weren't always realistic. She would need a fall back and she had been working herself hard to accomplish that. Right now though she just needed to do something else to immerse herself in something different.

Lucy listened to her aunt plotting a formidable lunch. For all Ginny didn't want to compare herself to her mother, Lucy saw plenty of Molly Weasley in this and it amused her. She didn't voice it but she shot her aunt a playful grin. "It all sounds great to me. I'll go track down the potatoes and get to pealing them?" She asked gently, looking for her aunt's approval for a moment. She knew that Ginny wasn't so keen on Lucy doing any of the work herself but the reality of the matter was that she was going to, regardless. Lucy knew her aunt had quite enough happening trying to keep Grimmauld Place respectable, a job even a house-elf had previously struggled with.

Deciding she was beast off just getting to it, and letting Ginny worry about a little less, Lucy got up, kissed her aunt gently on the cheek, and made for the stairs eager to get to work.

[Deleted]

Ginny had never actually found exams themselves to be particularly stressful. It was all the work which one had to do leading up to them which had caused her the problems; once one was actually sitting behind the desk with the quill in one hand and watching the professor turn over the hourglass, one had done all that one could do to prepare. At that point, it was just down to chance as to which questions came up and how forgiving the examiner was. But she did recognise that both OWL and NEWT years were terribly taxing for the students, especially in her own subject since, with so little practical work involved, the reams of names and dates which had to be memorised were certainly intimidating. Personally, Ginny was of the opinion that memorisation was not a particularly important skill for life in general, but the curriculum was not in agreement with her and so she did the best that she could to impart some of her own fascination with History of Magic to her students. Sometimes, she was successful.
The redhead returned her niece's smile. It relieved her beyond measure to find that, despite her being one of Lucy's teachers and responsible for what was probably one of the more boring subjects in the opinion of the student body in general, it put no significant strain on their relationship. Ginny loved her niece, as she loved all her nieces and nephews and second, third, fourth and fifth cousins in their various degrees of removal, but she would confess under extreme pressure that there was a distinct possibility that Lucy might be ever so slightly her favourite. The girl reminded her of herself when she was younger.
"That would be great." she confirmed with a smile, flexing her own neck.