i'm a survivor

Ginny lets out a small laugh. “All this time and you still haven’t read Quidditch Through the Ages? I thought you would have done it the minute Harry joined the Quidditch team.” She sits down on a cot in the girls’ tent and waves the girl over. “Tell me what you do know, and I’ll help you from there.”

“They won 4 games last year! They haven’t won four games in the last 3 seasons. And I was wearing that jumper for each one.” Ron said, looking at his little sister. “Can you help me dig for it?” 

“I’m sure it’s charmed,” Ginny replied with the usual amount of sass. “Fine. Hermione’s absorbed in a book anyway and I don’t know if Luna’s gotten here yet.” She ruffled through his belongings, trying to avoid some of the grosser things. She was used to it, though - growing up with six brothers meant being around unsavory boy’s things a given. “Did you sleep with it again?”

“Someone could have mistaken it for a handkerchief, with a team like that,” Ginny replied teasingly. “But it’s orange and black. If you can’t find something like that, you probably left it at home.”

neville never got over the feeling of spending time in diagon alley, away from his grandmother. there was something so freeing about the experience, about getting to walk the streets alone, watching powerful adults walk by. people who knew his parents would always wave at him as they passed, sad smiles plastered on their faces as they did. pity was an emotion he could spot from miles away.

however, he wasn’t about to let a couple of wary faces ruin his day. he had one destination in mind, the ice cream parlor, and he made his way over there with a sense of purpose, wanting desperately to spend the few sickles burning a hole in his pocket (leftover birthday money, he was saving the rest for toad maintenance and a rainy day) on a cone of apple crumble ice cream.

he waited patiently in line, managed to temporarily overcome fear #49 on his list, ordering food, and paid for the cone, a smile spreading on his face as he walked outside to enjoy it, before immediately stumbling over a loose stone in the road and dropping the cone on the ground. 

a sigh escaped his lips, as his eyes darted around his surroundings to be sure that no one else witnessed the terrible thing that just occurred. and then his eyes stumbled on a familiar face.

“please tell me you did not just see that,” he said, his face growing slightly red in hue due to the embarrassment he felt at the situation.

ginny liked to escape to diagon alley, because it was the place with the highest likelihood of bumping into her friends. in devon, there were plenty of muggles, and it wasn’t as if there was a whole lot to look at on her own. she couldn’t buy anything with her pocket money, either. she understood it more than her parents did, but it wasn’t like she had any way to exchange it.

considering the last time ginny’d made her way to fortescue’s she had bumped into harry, she was giving the ice cream parlor another try. even if she didn’t find any friends, she’d find peace, quiet, and ice cream. it was amazing how loud the burrow could get even when much wasn’t going on. (and this was with only three brothers in her house.)

growing hot on her walk, she pulled her hair up in a bun as she walked. she was used to weaving around people, as her home was a regular moving maze. when she took her attention back to straight ahead, she let out a small laugh, and immediately covered her mouth.

    ❛   I wish I got care packages from Molly Weasley. That woman is a goddess. Please, I’m sure your baking is phenomenal, comparison would be the death of you, trust me.   ❜  

      “I’d like that.” Luna replies with a bright smile on her face. She shifts on her feet, head nodding along as she listens to her. “It should work but if it doesn’t I’ll be sure to have something else you can try. Something that isn’t harmful to the creatures.”

     “Great!” Ginny gives Luna a cheery smile in return. Having Luna around just made Ginny’s day a little bit better, and made her feel a little bit warmer inside. Even discussing something as common as garden gnomes was making a simple day quite extraordinary. “There’s got to be plenty that isn’t harmful, right? I mean a lot of magic does come from the earth.”

     ❛   Well I think you’re lovely, and if anyone gives you trouble, make the twins prank ‘em. Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about Harry, it’s weird to think that he’s technically my cousin now. God-cousin. Whatever you wanna call it.   ❜

     ❛   That literally sounds like a dream come true. I could gorge myself on Molly’s cookies any day. I wish I knew her well enough to ask her to teach me to bake, that woman is a goddess.   ❜