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[scarlet_lioness]

Who: Ginny and Charlie
Where: Kitchen, Order HQ
When: 11 August, 2001; early morning
Status: Ongoing

The morning of Ginny's birthday found her up with the sun and in the kitchen, working on making pancake batter from scratch. She'd unconsciously sublimated her mother's habit of cooking as a distraction for stress, it seemed.

And she had been agitated

Comments

[red_apostate]

The path from the tool shed to the kitchen was longer than he'd remembered, more overgrown and twistier too. He stumbled once or twice in his big brown boots, stopped off at a tree to empty his bladder... the sun rose large in the Eastern sky behind him, throwing his shadow long and thin against the house wherein the Order all still slept, and in the back of his mind he made a note to talk to Hermione about security the next time he saw her

[scarlet_lioness]

"Charlie!" Ginny's visage immediately brightened with this surprise, but she couldn't keep the shock out of her voice, no matter how hard she tried

[red_apostate]

In only a way a brother could, he utterly ignored her reproach and butted in next to her at the stove. "Wrong. What you're going to do is go sit over there," He gestured at the kitchen table with his chin as he took hold of a frying pan she'd set on the range, "and let me cook you breakfast. Heaven knows I'm a better cook." He gave her a whithering, loving glare before turning his attention back to the stove.

He jiggled the pan, picked up a spatula and set it down again, looked in a cupboard, looked in another cupboard and found the salt and pepper, attempted to wash his hands at the basin... and gave up, throwing a dishtowel in frustration. "Darling, there's nothing here. Were you planning on serving poached nothing with a rasher of lightly salted air?" He glared at her, unkempt hair clinging to the side of his neck in clumps, beard flecked with old food. "And why are you still standing there? Sit down, sister, love, before I break your knees."

[scarlet_lioness]

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"The batter's on the table, which you'd of seen if you'd just looked," came her retort, "And you're not going anywhere NEAR that stove, Charles Gideon."

She caught the dishtowel he'd thrown up in frustration, twisted it and then used it to rap his knuckles.

"I love you, O second oldest brother of mine, and I appreciate the gesture, but until you no longer look like you could pass for Hagrid's redheaded lovechild or a Neanderthal, I'm not letting you anywhere the Order's breakfast. It's unsanitary and downright disgusting. You've still got bits of the spaghetti sauce from THREE DAYS ago crusted in your beard.

"You will go and have a shower and shave, or I'll break your knees and use my wand to drench you with water and soap right here in this kitchen and shave you myself. And I'll call Ron to take pictures. I'm sure he won't mind being woken early for that.

"One way or another, I will have you looking like my brother and a halfway decent human being again for my birthday, even if I have to make it

[red_apostate]

"I'll have you know that I've been doing very important work, Ginevra Molly," He retorted, grabbing the dishtowel back from her with ease, "and whatever I've given up in vanity, I have been given in return via results beyond your imagining." He smirked, flicking it at her lightly

[scarlet_lioness]

Ginny snorted at the idea of results beyond her imaginings and at the use of her full name, then again when he argued with her.

"Neville's much smarter than you lot in that regard," she informed him. Then, with another sweet smile: "But if you feel that strongly about it, you can advise him against marrying me, should he ever express a desire to do so. Or you could do what Ron will probably do in that case and thank him for taking me off your hands."

Let him mull over what that meant.

"Go on, then," she shooed him, as she retrieved the coffee maker and the kettle from their respective cupboards.

[red_apostate]

"Scratch that," He grimaced as his kid sister took his offhand comment about marriage to the next level, "Heaven help the man who marries you, as he may find a cake of soap shoved so far up his arsehole he'll be farting bubbles for years afterward. Unless, of course, he's anything but a perfect gentleman." He smiled a small dark smile at Ginny's back as she gathered the coffee-making sundry together.

"I'll let you tell Neville," He let the pause hang, "Or whoever. They ought to know just how crazy their sweetie pumpkin schnookum-pie's older brother is."

He grinned, putting his arms behind his head, rolling his eyes like a crazed man. "Speaking of, watch out for the 'horses of death' or sommat like that. Not in a bad way... had a good aura about it, I think. But you never know. Anyhow. Be right back." He fell backward a bit through the low doorway, then disappeared around the corner, whistling.

[scarlet_lioness]

Ginny snickered at her brother's grimace. Didn't he realize that was part of the reason she'd said what she had, to rile him up?

Charlie's protectiveness really was endearing, if completely crass.

"He knows you're off your fucking rocker, don't worry about that. And he also knows that if he ever calls me his," Ginny couldn't help but grimace herself at the nickname, "sweetie pumpkin schnookum-pie, I'll hex his bollocks off. I should hex yours off, come to think."

She twirled her wand around and made it look like she was considering it, but it was an empty threat.

"Horses of death? What, like Thestrals?" Ginny laughed, and her laughter carried after him.

Her brother really was off his rocker.