And Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce

GINNY ( @fiercestredhead​ )

Grinning, Neville gratefully took the pumpkin juice. “Yeah, Slughorn’s loads better than Snape ever was. But the bar was really low…” Anyone who wasn’t a great big bully would be an improvement over Snape. “Honestly, if McGonagall hadn’t said I should go for it, I wouldn’t even bother. I still doubt I can pass.”

He pored over the pages again, thinking. “Alright, I remember that one, we nicked it from Slughorn’s stores last year to make some antidotes.” The Carrows had been testing some new dark spells on the first years, leaving it up to Luna and a few others to Frankly, Neville was still convinced that Slughorn had left his stores so poorly locked up on purpose for them, precisely so they could steal it.

“Of course you can pass” Ginny assured him, taking a sip form her pumpkin juice. “If you didn’t actually think you could do it, you wouldn’t have taken it on” she continued, convinced of that fact. 

‘ want me to stay? ’

‘ we’re almost home. ’

‘ you should be in bed. ’

‘ we can share it.’

‘ stay there. i’m coming to get you. ’

‘ shh, shh. you were dreaming. ’ 

‘ grab my hand. ’

‘ i’m just going to pick you up. ’

‘ everything okay? ’

‘ i won’t leave you behind. ’

‘ don’t worry. better out than in. ’

‘ who did that to you? ’ 

‘ sit down and rest. ’

‘ sweetie, i would never think that. ’

‘ come lay down in my lap. ’

‘ i know you think you’re all alone out there, but you’re not. ’

‘ call me when you get home. ’

‘ we should change those bandages. ’

‘ you’re safe here. ’

‘ honey… ’

‘ of course we love you. ’

‘ wait here. i’ll go run a bath for you. ’

‘ take my bed for tonight. ’

‘ i promise. ’ 

‘ you’re always welcome here. ’

‘ don’t talk like that. ’

‘ bad dream? ’

‘ talk to me. ’  

‘ it’s okay to cry. ’

‘ you need to be more careful.’

‘ we should hug this out. ’

‘ i worry about you. ’

‘ can i hold your hand? ’ 

‘ because i care about you. ’

‘ it made me think of you. ’ 

‘ take care of yourself. ’

‘ put your seatbelt on. ’ 

‘ where did you go? ’ 

‘ i didn’t mean to worry you. ’

‘ i made breakfast. ’

‘ sing something for me? ’

‘ open it and find out. ’

‘ how long have you been like this? ’

‘ you look nice. ’

‘ here, take my jacket. ’

‘ close your eyes and try to get some rest. ’

‘ focus on my voice. ’ 

‘ i meant every word. ’

‘ i was here all night. ’

‘ look both ways before you cross. ’

‘ you don’t have to talk. ’ 

‘ this is your favorite, right? ’

‘ you’ll feel better in the morning. ’

‘ you have a nice laugh. ’

‘ here, take my jacket. ’

‘ you could stay here. with me. ’

He chuckled softly. “You mean, all of Potions? Cause that’s still my worst subject. I wouldn’t even bother with the NEWT but they said I should try for it if at all possible.”

Flipping to a chapter, he handed the textbook over to Ginny. “There. This whole list of antidotes – I don’t know what half of them are.”

Ginny smiled, pulling her hair back in a ponytail before taking the textbook from him. She didn’t enjoy potions, but she was okay at it. Probably all that cooking her mum had her do growing up. That was all it was, really. Mixing ingredients at the right time, in the right order.  “It’s better now that Snape isn’t teaching anymore though, isn’t it?” she asked, in response to him saying that potions was still his worst subject. It had become easier for her as well, once Slughorn started teaching. 

“I don’t know what you are on about, you have always been my favorite-” Charlie simply grinned putting his little sister in a playful headlock and rubbed her head messing up her hair. He rarely visited home but with times as they were it felt like it would be now or never. He wouldn’t ask her about the torture she endured, wouldn’t mention how she looked like the pain would never leave and could see how hard she was putting on a brave face. 

“I need your help”

It felt good having Charlie home, though obviously the circumstances were...well, she didn’t want want to think about the circumstances. “I bet you say that to everyone” Ginny chuckled when Charlie said she had always been his favorite, though being the only girl definitely had its upsides. 

“Hey, they know that you can’t win all of them. N-not that I think you won’t win!” he added hastily. “The Gryffindor team is fantastic. And you’re, um, fantastic, so you’ll… definitely… win…”

Now that he’d gone and made such a wonderful mess of that, he picked up the textbook again and frowned at it. “So… where should we start?”

Ginny laughed at that, nudging Neville with her shoulder. “Don’t worry Nev, I know what you mean” she said with a chuckle.  When he picked up his book, she had to suppress a sigh. Of course this care-free enjoyment of the weather and catching up couldn’t last forever, but she just really didn’t feel like studying. 

Arthur is the Head of an ancient House and also a Ministry department where he is pretty much unquestioned. (Bc the purists are ignoring him. Likely because they cannot actually, politically, magically, nor physically remove him if he does not wish to go.) He is a damn genius for enchantments and charms, constantly undoing the spellwork of others as his day job. And his hobbies involve placing incredibly complex magic on incredibly complex muggle contraptions. He learned to charm the Ford Angela without the help of muggles. I think he may have been on the verge of an epiphany with his collection of batteries. Storing energy? To make up for the lack of an ability to conduct magic at a whim? Genius. The man meets a kid raised as a muggle and immediately asks him to clarify the purpose of an item he didn’t understand. He never dismisses children as not smart. And that’s just the father, who has served in two domestic wars and survived.

Molly is an unsung war hero herself. Which is buried by the fandom. She herself wields charms and enchantments like a proper story time witch. Disney’s version of Merlin had less skill, honestly. She survived two wars and seven pregnancies. She has, seemingly, lost her entire family. Only her brothers are mentioned and that’s because they themselves died taking out death eaters. She is, to our knowledge, the only surviving Prewitt. Molly has fed an underground resistance movement. She has clothed and cared for them and provided a solid sense of stability. And that’s just the second war, where she was constantly reminded of all she lost in the first one. God only knows how much she fought and helped in the first war. Judging by how fucking deadly she was in the last battle and how capable she is before and how capable her children were, I’m willing to be she wrecked shop every time she entered the scene.

Bill is a prodigy of ward magic, which I logically assume is connected to charms and enchantments. He’s so good that goblins, who have been shown to be reclusive and secretive at best, trust him to go into ancient tombs and bust them open without dying. Then he survives a werewolf attack with only a few side effects and scars. He’s probably also immune to veela charms? I’d believe it.

Charlie literally raises and cares after dragons. _DRAGONS_ The big ancient bitey fucks that fairy tales and table top games are made of. What little he’s shown, he’s incredibly competent and confident and that’s all the shit I expect of a man that became a dragon veterinarian.

Percy is a book smart tactical genius. He’s got some character flaws that are enhanced by Harry’s perspective, but he’s every bit his parents’ son and it shows in the end.

The twins are fucking lethal. Like, had they not been raised by Molly and Arthur, they would have been off the charts in terms of sheer damage. They are, individually, more Slytherin than Harry ever could have been. They were making weapons and tools for the resistance while they were still in school. You can’t tell me that the boys named after their heroic uncles didn’t have that in the back of their minds. “If everything goes to shit like it did back then, we’ll be ready.” Ready with tools for escape, magic to entangle and distract, spy gear the likes of which James Bond would die for.

Ron. Brave, intelligent, stalwart, headstrong Ronald. The first friend Harry ever had and it wasn’t because of timing or being in the right place or even Harry. Ron saw a kid worse off than him, lost and scrawny, and was like “Someone needs to help him.” And he fucking did. He, like every brother before him, found his calling. Fourth year showed us exactly what he could have been doing instead of risking his life all the time. He could have been a bro with Seamus and Dean and just been a background character. He was not required to risk his life time after time. He has a family that he was loyal to, even when they made him feel like he wasn’t enough. But he actively chose to be loyal to Harry, again and again. No matter the cost. And every time he left, he came back further convinced that being beside Harry was the right and good thing. But even outside of Harry, he’s so fucking smart. Unmotivated sometimes. Frank to the point of offense other times. But intelligent. It wasn’t just chess or playing Keeper. He made damn good grades and became a prefect and it wasn’t just for shits and giggles. He was damn good.

And Ginny. The best of the fucking best. Cream of the crop. The Phoenix herself. Sneakier than the twins, sharper than Percy, bold face braver than Charlie or Ron, more magically gifted than Bill, and confident in herself in all that she did. A resistance fighter before she even left school. A friend to the lost just like Ron, but even less of an occasional asshole. We didn’t deserve her, but no one (except maybe Luna) ever could.

GINNY ( @fiercestredhead​ )

Ginny rolled her eyes when Neville said Harry and Ron were heroes now. “It’s not like you didn’t do anything” she said, though it was true that Harry’s heroics were…slightly more well known. “Don’t call him that by the way, he hates it” she added with a small smile. 

She grinned at his question, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “What, you can’t afford Quidditch tickets on an Auror salary?” Ginny chuckled. “Honestly though, I need to see how it turns out. I should focus on winning the cup here first. Maybe you can make it to one of the matches here?”

“Oh, I know I helped. But they can keep all the fame. That’s fine by me.” And he couldn’t blame Harry for not liking the hero title. The few times someone had called him that, it had been a bit uncomfortable as well.

“I’d love to come!” Neville grinned. “When’s the next match? Is it against Slytherin? I’d love to see you pummel Slytherin.”

Ginny smiled at that. She knew exactly how he felt, though it was hard for her to stay away from it, what with Ron being her brother, Hermione being one of her best friends, and Harry being...well, she wasn’t quite sure what he was at this point. “People will move on with their lives soon enough. I hope” 

“I mean, they are important,” Neville remarked. “Even if you just want to play Quidditch. Which you’ll be bloody brilliant at, by the way.” He grinned. “And of course they let Harry be an Auror. He’s Harry Potter. What are they gonna do, tell him no? Same as Ron. They’re heroes now.”

Giving Ginny a playful nudge, he added, “When you’re a famous Quidditch player, will I get free tickets to your matches?”

Ginny rolled her eyes when Neville said Harry and Ron were heroes now. “It’s not like you didn’t do anything” she said, though it was true that Harry’s heroics were...slightly more well known. “Don’t call him that by the way, he hates it” she added with a small smile. 

“Well, I have to get some NEWTs first.” Neville chuckled nervously. “McGonagall says they won’t take anyone with less than five. They need people, so they might make an exception for four, but… that still means I have to pass four.” He held up one of the textbooks brought with them before letting it thud back down to the grass. “How about you? You have any plans after you leave Hogwarts?”

Ginny frowned at that, shaking her head. “Well, that’s bullshit. Harry doesn’t have any NEWTS, does he? Neither does Ron, and they got accepted into auror training” she said. “I mean, I get wanting to get your NEWTS, but you don’t absolutely need them” Ginny continued, not quite understanding why McGonagall had said that, when it clearly wasn’t true. 

“I do. I mean… I do,” Neville confirmed. “But the more I think about it, the Ministry needs all the help it can get with all the Death Eaters still out there. You-Know-Who might be gone, but his followers aren’t.” He shrugged. “I could do it. I might even be good at it. Isn’t that a funny thought? Me, a good auror.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not entirely true,” Jo snapped back, making a face at the back of the woman’s head as she turned around. Something here definitely wasn’t right, but she had bigger things to worry about than whoever this weird woman was.

“I’m aware it’s not safe, that’s the whole reason I’m here,” she growled, her eyes moving toward the noise they had both heard. “I’ve got work to do.” Tucking the knife back into its sheath, she stepped around the woman to head towards the noise.

‘I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,’ said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.

GINNY ( @fiercestredhead​ )

Apparently they weren’t ready to study just yet. Which was fine by Neville – it was a beautiful day, who wanted to bury their nose in a book already? “Not much. Parts of the castle still need rebuilt and repaired. I like to pop in when I can. Met with someone in the Law Enforcement office to talk about becoming an auror.” He added that last part casually, as though it hadn’t been weighing on him heavily.