(Untitled)

[ashotofgin]

Ginny had been seventeen for days. Part of her had been hoping that something significant would happen. A bolt from the blue would come and strike her now that she as of age. That she would have awoken on Thursday morning and somehow felt different, that would she would have known exactly why. Instead that day had come and gone and the only thing

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[notaparker]

There's a tumbling, laughing redhead on the playground. I'm a little envious, actually, of the facility of movement. I'm still moving gingerly, still not breathing as easily as I should, and leaping about like that would probably be a good way to land myself back in the hospital bed I only escaped from a week ago.

I'd also have to avoid rolls like that as revealing a greater facility with tumbling than I should have, but I still miss it, seeing someone else do it.

"Whoa," I say, "sweet youth roll." I'm not entirely sure where I picked up the phrase 'youth roll' for, well, a roll executed by a youth, who I heard it from, but I like the phrasing, it's fun.

[ashotofgin]

That was not a phrase that Ginny had ever heard before. It was probably some sort of strange Muggle slang. Muggles were always doing that, using words in strange ways. Her father would have been over the moon had he been here, probably touching everything in the Compound. Ginny might miss him, but she felt it was probably for the best that he wasn't there.

Twisting slightly to see who it was that had complemented her Ginny smiled and shrugged. Pulling another leaf from her hair, she got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Thanks, I suppose. I couldn't help it," she shrugged again. "There was just something about being on the swing that called for me to just jump off."

[notaparker]

And there's a familiar face. You know, kind of. Not that it's not a nice face, it is a pleasant, attractive face, I like it. But it's still disconcerting to see it on someone else, someone not Olive. Moving in different ways, adopting slightly different expressions, mannerisms. Being something that looks like a clone without being a clone at all. Just a doppelganger.

"The siren call of gamboling," I say, smile losing its slight fixedness as I adapt. Besides, how can I not smile around the word gamboling, it's so fun. "Just watch out, there's a girl around who has very strong feelings on age-appropriate playground use. Now, me, I'm completely in favor of age-inappropriate playground use."

[ashotofgin]

There's that look. One that Ginny has seen briefly on multiple people. It was a look that she was quickly growing familiar with. It was different from the Oh, another Weasley look, but there was still some common ground. This just went to show you, that if it wasn't one thing it was another. In the end all it did was cause her to wonder if this was something that Fred and George had spend their lives dealing with.

"I have never been one to miss an opportunity for a proper caper. Just a hint of cavorting can go for ages," Ginny picked up the thread and started to run with it. Nodding as if she had just been handed sage wisdom, she planted her feet on the ground as if preparing for an imaginary battle. "I shall have my eye out for her. But it's good to know that I am not alone in it. There's something grand about age inappropriate usage of a playset."

[polly_okeefe]

I was just setting up some outside toys from the Children's Office when I heard the shout and saw Ginny emerge from the slide, looking quite happy. I couldn't help but grin. "Would you mind doing that again when the kids arrive? Some of them need a little coaxing before they brave that slide."

[ashotofgin]

It was that girl again. The one from her first day there. The very first person that she had met. Ginny wasn't entirely keen on her, which wasn't the girl's fault (not entirely). It was a product of bad timing and the fact that Ginny was a Weasley which meant sometimes her bad feelings stuck long after they should have gone away.

Brushing a bit of dirt off herself she offered up a cautious smile. "Sure, why not." There really wasn't any harm in it. And it was for kids. She couldn't be rude about kids.

[polly_okeefe]

I met that smile with one of my own. It was hard being the bearer of bad news -- though not as hard being the receiver of it. "How have you been doing? Settling in?"

[ashotofgin]

Ginny had no idea what this girl was playing at, but if she wasn't going to pick a fight then Ginny wasn't going to either. At least not at the moment when she could still hear her mum's shouting reaching across time and space to scold her about playing nice.

"Been all right," she answered with a slight shrug. It was the truth. That was exactly what she'd been. "It's quiet. You know."

[red_ponytail]

Bill could spot his sister from far away, with her distinctive Weasley hair, and his grin was unstoppable at the sight of her. It was just the three of them, of their family, and though the others were still sorely missed, Bill was incredibly sodding glad to have his two youngest siblings there on the island with him.

He headed over to the playground, unsurprised when Ginny jumped from the swing, all of them Gryffindors through and through. "That's my baby sister," he praised, walking up with a grin, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his cargo shorts.

[ashotofgin]

Having a little family was better than having no family at all. Even during that year when she had been ten, all alone cooped up in the Burrow with just her parents had been better than it could have been. Being completely alone was unfathomable. Ginny was certain she wouldn't have actually known what to do.

Getting to her feet, she sketched a bow still grinning from ear to ear. At least someone was there to appreciate it even if she hadn't known about it until just now.

"Thank you, thank you," she said to an imagined adoring ground as she dusted herself off. "I saw it, I had to give it a whirl."

[red_ponytail]

"I would expect nothing less of you," Bill said, applauding as Ginny took a bow. She'd had six older brothers to keep up with growing up, after all. "Have you tried the Ferris wheel yet?"

[ashotofgin]

"Not yet, but I think I might give it a later." There might have been an awful lot to live up to given the sheer number of brothers that she had, but Ginny had never been particularly worried. There was always something that they might have done that she could give a go and put her own mark on.

As for the Ferris wheel, she had seen the thing but hadn't yet gotten around to doing much else beyond looking at it. Time seemed to be the one thing she had in excess so she wasn't terribly worried. "There's also a bouncy castle apparently. Whatever that is."

[curiously_cora]

"What Bill doesn't know won't hurt him. I mean, it's only the second island right so I don't have to tell him. He's going to ground me again, I hate being grounded. I'd rather have a howler than-" Coraline said muttering to herself as she wandered past the girl as she flung herself off the swing. Coraline stopped and turned around sighing in aggravation. "Okay, look it's really simple there are grown up places and kid places and this is a kid places. So, you're not allowed to play here or we're playing in all your cool No Kids Allowed places. Alright?"

[ashotofgin]

Ginny might be an adult as far as the world she had come from was concerned, but she was still a youngest child. Being the youngest meant that no matter how old she was in reality, she couldn't shake some of the less flattering attributes.

The smile that had been on her face a moment before faded slightly, being replaced by a confused and irritated expression. "Aren't you a little old to be so eggy over this?"

[curiously_cora]

"What does eggy mean?" Coraline asked, scrunching up her face as she looked at her confused. "And no seeing as Bill and Danny and everyone keeps telling me I'm a kid and a child and can't have a life or go exploring without getting grounded then nope, I'm not a little old to be eggy whatever that means."

[ashotofgin]

There were certain things that should probably not be explained to children. This might or might not have been one of them, but Ginny was frankly past caring. "Means you've got your knickers in a twist," she said tersely, keeping it somewhat appropriate for schoolchildren. If only just. Rolling her eyes again, she stared at this girl. "People are going to do a lot of things and tell you a lot of things, but its up to you to decide. My brothers still think I'm a kid if you asked any of them."

[of_badfaith]

He was walking past the playground when she rolled through the dirt just a few feet away. She landed, a grin on her face and twigs in her hair, and he slowed to a stop, his face expressionless save for an arch of his brow.

"I'm quite certain those are for the children," he said, and perhaps there was a bit less of that usual sneer in his voice he saved for all interactions with Weasleys, but there was a very good chance she wouldn't notice.

In his hands, he carried a small sack of freshly baked cookies, from the bakery. They were one of Luna's favorites, though he would insist he'd picked that particular variety by simple coincidence alone.

[ashotofgin]

Ginny was well aware of the fact that they were meant for children. But knowing that they were and caring were entirely different things. Her smile got a bit brighter in reaction to the irritation that Malfoy was expressing. She couldn't help it. There was something fun about ticking him off.

Getting to her feet, she shrugged. "I know," she said with the exact tone of voice that indicated that she frankly couldn't give a damn. "Oh lovely, did you bring me a treat? You shouldn't have."

[of_badfaith]

"Oh yes, I've been wandering the island, searching for you," he drawled, "All damn day, and yet, here you are, on a Muggle swingset. I should have guessed."

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "You have a rather large beetle in your hair." He knew, however, that she wouldn't be the type to have a flailing, shrieking meltdown over a little bug.

[ashotofgin]

"But you didn't. Pity." Her tone of voice said exactly how much of a pity she thought it was which was to say none at all. He could drawl at her all he liked, it wasn't going to make her back down an inch.

Reaching up to her hair, she frowned for a brief moment before pulling the beetle in question out of her hair. Looking at it in her hand she opened her mouth to thank him before remembering that this was Malfoy. Instead she dropped the bug onto the ground. "Ah yes, so that's where I put it."