a u d i o / a c t i o n (the blue light) | back-dated to mid-afternoon.

[oshutup]

[ There's a pause, a few footsteps that tread lighter than usual despite it being the full moon because someone's apprehensive about today's curse. ]

Lucy, Susan, I think it would be best if you stayed at home today.

All day.

Or if you've already left, then to go back.

[ He sighs, knowing full well how effective that's likely to be but he

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[7thborn]

[She's at work, though she'd much rather be keeping an eye on her brother. Then again, with how today is ... ]

Playing the protective older brother card, aren't you?

<33333 his gift was perfect

[oshutup]

It's my favorite card to play.

Er. Well, my oldest.

[ He says this, voice raised slightly to compensate for the distance between them - safe really - and he thinks to thank her for his gift but decides to wait when they can carry on conversation like normal people not in danger of strange compulsions to kiss. ]

<3333 eee good!

[7thborn]

[They will have a cursed makeout someday. The odds of surviving this long without it are impossible. But this isn't what Ginny's thinking as she looks up from the bar and across the room and grins at him.]

I'm sure Fred'll try the same thing on me before long. But you know how younger sisters are. Have yours listened to you at all?

<33333333333333

[ifyoucanholdon]

I do know. That's precisely why I've put it across the network.

[ He pauses, frowns. ]

Of course I listen to them. Lucy and I've come to something of a compromise, I suppose.

But as your brother, Fred's got every right.

[ Another pause. ]

How is he settling in, by the way?

[7thborn]

I'm old enough to take care of myself, and I expect your sisters'll tell you the same thing, Peter. But, you're right. Brothers have every right, as annoying as it is.

[Said as fondly as possible, of course. And then she pauses, herself, and if Peter's looking at her from across the room, she's suddenly busying herself with pouring water the normal way.]

Fred? Fine, I expect. He made quite an entrance. No surprise there, though, he's always liked being flashy.

[ifyoucanholdon]

Old enough has nothing to do with it. They'll be forty and I'll still say the same thing.

[ His head tilts, watching, but he doesn't remark on it so much as note it. ]

No way to miss him then. But you 'expect'? Isn't he staying with you?

[7thborn]

Older brothers are a very special lot, aren't they?

[She sounds vaguely amused, but she's really taking her time with those glasses.]

I just... I mean, he seems alright. Happy. Smiling. He hadn't been in the City two minutes and he was already working magic to impress people. Have you ever been hugged by a giant, tentacled thing made entirely of water?

[ifyoucanholdon]

We are.

[ No small amount of pride there.

Still, he glances over at her again, brow arched at the next part. ]

...can't say that I have....why do you ask? Have you? Or is that something Fred's involved with?

[7thborn]

[And then Ginny laughs, a break in the tension she'd been feeling in her chest, and she finally looks up again to catch Peter's eye.]

Yes and yes. I told you he made quite an entrance.

[She shakes her head, neatly lifting her tray into the air and weaving between the tables to deposit drinks - and hopefully avoiding celebratory... anythings along the way.]

Two and a half years in this place and I finally know what it's like to get drenched in the fountain. It was bound to happen eventually.

[ifyoucanholdon]

You did, but I hadn't thought it involved...water-tentacles...or anything remotely like that.

[ He's glad to hear her laugh though and grins back at her across the way, leaning slightly against the wall, his arms folded and the device tucked in his hand which rests beneath his elbow. ]

And who better to find yourself inundated with than family?

[7thborn]

You'll learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to the... to Fred.

[She'd almost said twins. But that's not the case right now, is it? Damn this place. Ginny serves the last drink on her tray and looks over at Peter, obviously wondering if it's safe to just talk to him face-to-face. But she doesn't move forward yet.]

And you know me, Peter. I'll always be swamped with family. I'm just glad one of them's finally managed to find me again. It'll be hard to top that birthday, I think.

[ifyoucanholdon]

Easy to believe, considering what you've told me.

[ Peter takes a step forward but otherwise motions for Ginny to keep some modicum of space between them, though a table should suffice - he thinks. ]

I'm glad for you.

I'd been hoping for it.

[ Ever since the last of her friends had seemed to depart, those of her own time. Family too of course but he knows that with Ginny some of her friends are very close to family anyway. ]

[7thborn]

Had you?

[She's touched, really. She's always felt like the Pevensies and the Weasleys viewed family in a very similar way. Ginny steps forward and keeps the table between them, grinning as she rests her hands on it and leans forward to tease,]

I didn't realise I was so hopeless without them.

[ifyoucanholdon]

I had.

[ He returns her smile, a wryness between them that seems to have sort of seeped into both of them from one another, a likeness from all that time spent up in the air together perhaps, or just being around. It's curious but not unexpected. Peter would do anything for his family and friends. That some of these core manners and priorities resonate the same for Ginny has been much the glue of what's made it easy for them to be around each other - perhaps Peter slightly filling a position like a brother but not one and Peter recognizing in Ginny something that reminds him of Susan or Lucy, depending.

It's not the bad judgmental sort of comparison; it's just the reality that between loyal families, similarities will be drawn, should be, even. ]

And you're not. But I...had been thinking you deserved to have them around.

I know how good I have it here. I think I'd only wanted something much the same for you.

[7thborn]

[It's true that Peter had, over the years they've known each other, become like a seventh brother to her and it was a comfort when she'd been left alone by those from her world. There's no denying she's quite fond of him, after all, even if it's in a more subtle, and quiet manner than normally attributed to Weasley affection. (See: Ginny tackling Fred into the fountain.)

Her smile takes on a softer edge, pleasantly surprised - and yet at the same time, not - by his words and in the dim light of the club, she could be blushing.]

You're sweet. [And then she shakes her head, laughing.] Well, he's here now. And probably going to start stalking after any friend I've got who's a bloke, so watch your back, Pevensie. I think he might want to make up for not being here and Merlin knows what'll happen.

[ifyoucanholdon]

[ Ginny's smile pleases him, feels a bit like a curious form of reassurance that there's something right that goes on between them as friends and a support where - in Ginny's case - family hasn't been even if they seldom to never address it. The heavier, more integral things often can't be outright stated, he thinks more and more. He's never been one to go on about how he feels anyway, but even with his family who he makes no secret of loving, of being willing as much to live and die for as anything, it's not the sort that gets translated into grand speeches or dialogues. It's the feeling and it's the commitment behind it, and Ginny has that same sense about it for her own, he's often thought.

He thinks so right now in fact, smiling back at her still, and bowing his head with a chuckle because he'd expect no less from an older brother, any brother really. ]

I don't know about that. [ His reply to 'sweet' as his smile softens too. ] But I do like to see people get what I think they deserve. Especially the good ones