071.

[7thborn]

Comments

[action]

[7thborn]

[She's gone too far again. Merlin's beard, she never thinks about her words and this time is no exception-in fact, this time is worse because her thoughts are scattered in about thirty different places when they need to focus on the here and now. But Ginny never meant to give him a hard time about something so long in the past, not when she can see he's doing a fine job of it himself. She studies her brother for another long moment and then the words begin to find their way out on their own, pouring from her heart and tumbling from her lips in a very soft rush of breath. Only one escapes for now, but the rest are on its heels.]

... Perce?

[Faint, tentative. No-careful, something she doesn't practice often enough because delicacy is not Ginny Weasley's strong suit, but she knows the fault lies with her here, this time. And the nickname is a gentle utterance, a memory of a past before the war blotted out warmth and family. She isn't looking at him, not really, because she doesn't know how to say this but to just say it and it's not as easy as her bold and brassy words in the face of a Cruciatus. This takes care.]

I'm- [Breathe, Weasley. He could be gone tomorrow, they all could; make it count.] -sorry. For how I've been since you got here, I mean. Fred told me you came back months ago, and I... I don't know, it's not that I didn't believe him, I just-

[She swallows, shrugging again and keeping her gaze on a spot on the floor as her eyes burn again.]

I wish I could've been there myself, is all. Been waiting ages for it.

[action]

[aperfectthird]

[He glances over, sharply, at the use of the nickname. It's not one he's heard from Ginny in ages, not even now (then? well, back in England, at any rate) - though that might be because he tries not to spend too much time at the Burrow than any lack of desire on her part to use his nickname. It's certainly not one he's heard from her here, where she always seems just on this side of furious with him.

Understandably, of course.

Her apology is like a kick to the stomach. Here she is, grieving, she's just lost her brother and her boyfriend, and she's apologizing to him. What the hell is wrong with him? Why is he doing this to her?

He'll ignore that he's lost a brother too, for the second time in less than a month, that he blames himself for this loss, too (should have been nicer shouldn't have doubted should have been more open), and that no, Potter will never be his favorite person but it's still a shock to lose a familiar face. If he lets himself think about that then all the perfectly pressed shirts and straightened ties won't be able to put him back together again, and he cannot afford that, not now, not ever.]

Don't worry about me, Ginny. It's fine. I'm fine. But - thank you.

[He knows it must have been difficult for her, and though she's not looking, he offers her a brief, faint smile.]

[action]

[7thborn]

You can't say that.

[The words come quickly on the heels of his response, but their speed has little to do with the tone; fury or irritation might be expected, but neither lace her voice. It's something wearier, almost exasperated, and out of the corner of her eye she sees his smile but she doesn't risk looking up because she doesn't know how long she can keep her emotions at bay. And Merlin be damned if she cracks here and now in front of her oldest brother in the City.]

I'm supposed to say that. [There's something that echoes a laugh there, but it's too tight to be one.] I'm supposed to tell you not to worry and say that I'm fine. I'm only trying to put things right, you prat, I've got to, because-

[No. No, no, no, her voice is not cracking here, it can't do this to her now.]

Because Merlin knows when one of you lot'll go next and I can't leave things like this with me cross for stupid reasons, not when it'll be three bloody years again without any of you, and I... [Ginny scrubs furiously at her eyes, but she has to finish her sentence and she grits out the last bit.] I can't do that again, I bloody well can't. Alright, Percy?

[action]

[aperfectthird]

All right.

[He hesitates a moment. Normally this would be where he reaches out to her, but he already tried that, and she shrugged him off. It wasn't exactly an angry shrugging off, admittedly, but he's still not sure if it's all right to touch her again or not.]

Apology accepted, then. Thank you.

[action]

[7thborn]

You're welcome.

[Her breath hitches and she squeezes her eyes shut, jaw tight against the way she feels like she's crumpling into herself. All she wants is to go home, too. She wishes they could all just go home and get out of here. She'd tried to walk through the portal home with Harry, even though a good bit of her knew it wouldn't work like that; but still, she'd let herself hope a little, and that was enough to set off the crushing disappointment when she appeared on the other side of the doorframe without Harry's hand in hers.

She misses him already. She misses all of them.

Ginny drops her forehead to her knees and sucks in a silent, shaking breath, trying and rather failing at holding herself together for this. And then she blurts out in a voice wavering between tears and laughter,]

So are you going to hug me or not, Perce?

[action]

[aperfectthird]

I thought you'd never ask.

[And without hesitating this time, he crosses the room and sits next to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.]

[action]

[7thborn]

[She doesn't uncurl from the ball she's pulled herself into but tips into Percy's arms and tightens her own around herself. Ginny Weasley may try her hardest to be the best Gryffindor has to offer, but there are times-like now-where something as simple as a hug from an older brother is exactly what she wants and needs to maybe, maybe, feel a little bit better. She drags in another breath then raises her head so that her chin rests on her knees again, gaze and expression a little lost as a rogue tear or two slips free.

And there's nothing else that can be said now, is there? She doesn't trust herself to speak and she's said her piece. Nothing about Harry or Fred or Claire or Peter, nothing she can properly manage yet, but she's taken the first steps in rebuilding this bridge between her and Percy. Ginny swipes at her eyes a bit uselessly, then shifts a bit to rest her temple against her brother's shoulder. That's good enough for now, isn't it?]

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[aperfectthird]

[Honestly, it's more than he could have ever asked for, more than he ever expected ... if only he'd managed to achieve it under better circumstances. Bloodied and a wreck at home, emptied after the loss of Fred and Potter here. It doesn't seem that his reconciliation with Ginny is ever going to be a peaceful one, no matter what world they're in.

But he'll tighten his arms around her, and be with her as long as she lets him. It's the least he can do.]

[action]

[7thborn]

[Ever since the diary, it seems, the youngest (not-so-youngest) Weasley needs extenuating circumstances to push her to admit vulnerability, even with family. But no matter what world they're in, there will always be a reconciliation. That certainly means something, doesn't it? Ginny closes her eyes and releases a trembling breath, never quite giving in to the sobs threatening to choke her out, but some of the tension drains out of her shoulders and this is all more than she's allowed herself in a long time.

Her voice hitches a little as she murmurs,]

At least you're still here.

[She means all of them, George and Hermione and Lily and the rest, but in this moment, yes, she does mean Percy.]

Glad you didn't bugger off when I said so. Stubborn as the rest of us.

[action]

[aperfectthird]

I wouldn't leave. Not again.

[And despite the quiet self-assurance in his tone, there's something else there, too, something just below the surface, that's almost bleak. Even reconciled with his family - in England and, slowly but surely, here - he still feels that wall between them, one that only time can erode, and one that's still inches thick and miles high.

But things like this help, pebbles falling off the top, the bricks beginning to give way.]

The stubbornness comes with the hair, as I understand it.

[action]

[7thborn]

[She nods a little against him, believing the words but knowing that there's no way to promise it in the City. With a pang, Ginny remembers what Harry had said all those short months ago about staying through her anniversary, being here for December-and he was, wasn't he? They all were. And wall through there may be, held up on one side by her own uncertainties and secrets, it truly takes a moment like this to give it a bit of a nudge. Maybe it isn't Percy who's got to loosen up this time but her.

As she smiles a little at his words, she can't help but marvel at those turned tables.]

It comes with being a Weasley.

[action]

[aperfectthird]

So it does. It runs in the family just as freckles do.

[It aches, almost, to talk about concepts like family and Weasley like this, so easily, without a a sneer being implicit. But it's a sweet ache, and one that he'll embrace if it means he gets his family back.]

[action]

[7thborn]

[And while they may not be able to have them all here, probably never, even the littlest knot of Weasleys is better than being a single thread alone-as she has done for a while. It feels better to speak of family, to know it's here and that it would take a force stronger than the magic they know to take them away from each other. True, their time together is left to the City, but they won't choose to leave, here. Percy's made the promise to stay, just as Harry did. Just as Fred...

Ginny shifts for a bit and holds her right arm out slightly to show her brother the bracelet. It's all scarlet and gold bands of leather woven together with a single silver charm: one side bears her initials, the other their family crest. Quietly, she speaks.]

Fred gave this to me for my nineteenth birthday. He arrived the day of and a bit after that, he came up with a gift. It's charmed. [A pause as her breath gives the slightest stutter.] A modified Unbreakable Vow, he said. A promise that-that no matter what, we'd try to stick together.

[A smile flickers across her face for an instant.]

Looks like we've not broken the enchantment if I'm still unhexed.

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[aperfectthird]

[He reaches out, gently brushes the charm with his fingers, marveling a little at the craftsmanship of it. Of course he knows their family has a crest - Merlin knows he'd been pleased as punch to be part of a family with one - but it's been a while since he's seen it.]

It's beautiful. He's - rather clever with charm work when he's not putting it towards imitating bodily functions, isn't he?

[It's a conscious choice, this use of the present tense when it comes to Fred. He's still working on it.]

[action]

[7thborn]

[She'd been happy to see it too, something only ever present in the most official of documents because they're not like the Malfoys or the Blacks. They don't display their crest on the wall for all to see. But somehow, it being a private and special thing makes it all the more personal, something to be proud of in their own Weasley way. She notices, of course, his use of the present tense; she does it, too. Mostly because Fred is still alive for her, whenever she goes home, if ever. His heart still beats in her reality. A lot of hearts still do.]

Just because we don't like exams nearly as much as you did doesn't mean we're rubbish at them. [Ginny fingers the charm gently, brows knit.] Some of us are better at the practical stuff. Like me, here, I had to keep on teaching myself.

[action]

[aperfectthird]

[It's a conscious choice, this use of the present tense. At home, it hurts to use the past tense; like rubbing salt into a still-fresh wound. But he never got to make it up to Fred here for calling him a hallucination, so he uses the present tense to make an attempt at it.]

What did you teach yourself?