#ler!ginny

The yearbook pages crinkled as Harry flipped through them, showing Ron the club photos. He had stolen it from Dudley’s room, and, unsurprisingly, its pages were free of any signatures or notations. The spoiled boy had cast it aside the moment his mother had bought it. Harry knew his cousin wouldn’t miss it.

The scarred teen shrugged, running a hand through his hair as he pointed to the wrestling club photo. “I’m just saying, Ron. I could take you.”

“Uh-huh, sure you could. You weigh, what, 50 kilos soaking wet?” Ron teased, giving his friend’s shoulder a little punch. He was smiling in slight disbelief, knowing Harry was dead wrong.

The two were in The Burrow, talking in Ron’s room. School was on break, and Ron had invited him over to hang out and yap to one another. They had gotten to the topic of the Muggle world, then to things Harry had observed in his schools, and had somehow made it to wrestling. He had obviously never joined the wrestling team—he would have been killed—but he felt that he could probably beat his friend in a match. That, and it was funny to rile Ron, see how far he could push before his friend retaliated.

“Hey, I’m more that that!” he huffed, poking Ron’s side. That was bound to get a reaction itself, but he figured he could add to it with a quip. “I’ve gained weight since I got to Hogwarts, you sod.”

Ron gasped at that little jab, clutching his imaginary pearls. He knew Harry meant no true harm by the words, but he felt like getting into a silly, pointless fight with his friend. “Sod? Oh, you’re done, Potter!”

With a playful roar, the redhead lunged at his friend, using what he’d observed between Fred and George to try and get the upper hand.

Harry was a bit stronger than he expected, but the scarred boy was always better with his wand than his fists. He still gave it his best, laughing as he tumbled with Ron. The small attic room didn’t give them much space, but they managed not to knock their heads off of anything.

It was over within two minutes. Ron had Harry pinned to the floor beneath him, straddling his waist as he grinned down at the boy. “Now, how should I celebrate my victory?”

“Shush! And that hardly counts as a victory,” Harry huffed, squirming in Ron’s hold. He was unfortunately nice and stuck in the other teen’s grip. “You cheated!”

Ron scoffed at that, shaking his head. Seriously? Cheating? It was a no-wands wrestling match, and he had gotten Harry pinned down fair and square. “I— how, Harry? How did I cheat?”

“It’s your room,” Harry reasoned. He didn’t have much of a plan going into the argument; he was simply trying to delay his inevitable consequences for provoking the redhead. “You have an advantage!”

Seriously? How did that even begin to make sense? “I do not!” Ron glared playfully, knowing the argument was ridiculous. Still, he was enjoying the back and forth. “You’re just mad that I’m stronger.”

That wasn’t going to slide. Harry refused to admit that Ron was stronger, even if it was a simple and objective truth. He would rather argue, push a few more of his friend’s buttons while he could. “No you’re not!”

“You—” taking a breath, Ron cut himself off. “Whatever, Potter. Any last words?”

He had distracted Ron from his revenge longer than he thought he would’ve been able to. Might as well dig his hole a bit deeper while he was at it, try to get the last laugh. “B-bite me, you— GYAHAHAHA! R-ROHOHON, NOHOhohot thahat!”

Harry couldn’t even finish his sentence before his shirt was yanked up, Ron’s evil lips descending on his stomach. The raspberries were all sorts of flustering and embarrassing: audibly ridiculous and devilishly ticklish.

The two continued to tumble about. Every time Ron would let the boy go, Harry would foolishly try to jump back at him, and they would begin their dance all over again. And, every single time, Ron would win, pin him back down, and blow raspberries. One would think Harry would learn, but no: he was bored, in a playful mood, and really wanted to see if he could beat Ron.

Eventually, though, he did need a breather. And, with that breather, came a rather bad idea on Harry’s end.

“Sorry, you say something? Couldn’t hear it over me winning,” Ron chuckled, yanking Harry’s arms above his head with one hand. He leaned down once again, blowing another raspberry on the poor boy’s stomach.

“WAHAHAhahahait! Wahait!”

Ron popped his head up, smiling down at his friend. He was calling it quits already? Ron really was good.

“I-Ihihit…” he paused, wondering if the snarky remark would be worth it. Meeting Ron’s gaze, seeing that cocky smirk, he knew what he had to do. “Ihihit’s becahause youhu’re a ginger. Gingers are made for being lihittle shits.”

A gasp from the door made both their heads whip towards the hallway. Ginny had her arms crossed over her chest, a playful scowl on her face. She was originally going to say hi to Harry while he was visiting, but she walked in at the worst possible time for Harry.

The girl knew Harry meant nothing by his playfully statement, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with him. By the looks of it, Ron had found a decently entertaining and effective way of doing so.

“Oh, hey, Ginny,” Ron grinned, waving her over. He took great joy in the way Harry’s eyes immediately widened. “Want to help me with him?”

Ginny nodded, walking in and taking the teen’s wrists in her hands. “I can take his arms.”

“Nohoho!” Harry whined, kicking in their hold. He knew he had messed up, knew he should’ve shut the door when he’d decided to be a nuisance to Ron. The looks on both their faces were absolutely terrifying. He knew his fate, though he still attempted to change it. “I-Ihi dihihidn’t mehehean ihit!”

“Too little, too late,” Ginny sighed, nodding at her brother. She would have her turn bullying him in a moment, but right then, she’d rather tease Harry with her words. Plus, it was kind of fun to watch him smile like that.

Ron chuckled before taking an exaggerated breath, slowly leaning down, and blowing a rather obnoxious raspberry on his friend’s stomach. He was having fun knocking the Boy Who Lived down a peg while also making him laugh. With all the traumas and troubles of the Wizarding World, it was nice to have some silly fun with each other every now and then.

“Such a cute smile,” Ginny grinned, giving his underarms a couple of lazy pokes. The way his ears quickly pinkened let her know the teasing was working. “Everything alright down there, Harry? You’re looking a bit flushed.”

The girl wasn’t wrong. Harry’s face was slowly growing more and more red as the tickling carried on, his ears quickly following suit from the compliments and teases. “Shuhuhut uhup! Ihi— PFAHAHA! Rohohon!”

Harry could hardly get a word in edgewise with Ginny. Every time he would try, Ron would simply blow another raspberry and completely wreck his train of thought. They were being down-right evil, and yet…

Well, it was kind of fun, in a chaotic way. It was nice to have a true laugh with his friends, even if he couldn’t hear himself think over his own boisterous laughter.

After a minute or two of listening to Harry laugh his head off, Ginny tapped her brother’s arm. She had observed Ron’s tactics long enough; it was time for her to have an active hand in all the fun. “Hey, can I have a go?”

“Oh, definitely. Swap you,” Ron nodded, carefully switching places with his sister in a way that wouldn’t let Harry get away. The two boys had placed their wands on Ron’s desk, too, so there was no way he could use any magic to aid in his escape.

“G-guhuhuys! Lehet’s tahalk abouhut thihis!”

“Hmm…no, I’m alright,” Ginny shrugged. She barely gave Harry a moment to process his own doom before she leaned down, blowing yet another raspberry onto the teen’s quivering stomach.

Harry had not expected their change up. Ginny was a bully, too; she skittered her nails up and down his sides before she blew her raspberries, keeping him in a near-constant state of giggly, brainless hysteria.

“Wow, Ginny. You’re cruel,” Ron laughed, shaking his head at his sister’s evil tactics. It was fun to watch Harry loose his marbles from them, though he wanted to make things a bit more entertaining. He gently traced his fingers along the side of Harry’s neck, watching his shoulders scrunch up as far as they could in his position.

Again, a few minutes passed, and Ron tapped Ginny’s arm this time. He saw a way to make things extra enjoyable for the both of them. “Trade?”

“Oh…oh, you little sneak. Absolutely,” Ginny grinned, switching places with her brother once again. They could continue trading back and forth, have fun with their friend until he inevitably tapped out.

“Ohoho my gohohod!” Harry huffed out, shaking his head as he felt the siblings switch again and again and again. At some point, he simply lost track of who was doing what at any given moment. Ron’s nicer touches were lost to Ginny’s teases, their voices blending together in his head. He simply screwed his eyes shut, tossed his head back, and laughed away all his cares.

Despite the absolutely maddening experience, the tickling was fun. He could barely think straight, meaning he couldn’t worry about tomorrow, couldn’t think about their lost friends, couldn’t think about all the hardships that laid ahead of him. All he could do was laugh under his friends, letting the troubles of his difficult life drift off into the background. They would be waiting for him when his redheaded friends stopped, but right then, he was able to simply exist.

“I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t tapped out yet,” mused Ron, who was on his arms for the moment. They had been tickling the hell out of him for around ten, maybe fifteen minutes, yet Harry was still giggling and laughing below them without a single tap to the arm or spoken “stop” in sight. It was almost impressive, in an stupidly dorky way.

“I think he’s having too much fun. Isn’t that right, Harry?” Ginny ribbed, blowing a few smaller raspberries across his stomach. She knew they would need to stop soon, so she was getting in her last few teases while she could. “That’s why he hasn’t told us to stop yet.”

“N-nohoho! *hic* Ihi’m nohohot!” Harry shook his head, little hiccups slipping into his giggly laughter. The scarred boy looked absolutely wrecked beneath them: his face was a bright red, hair a mussed-up, frizzy mess, and his stomach tinted with a lovely pink hue from all the raspberries. His smile was one of pure glee.

Ron clicked his tongue, sucking in a breath. His expression was one of faux-sympathy as he shook his head at Harry. “You don’t wanna lie to Ginny, mate. Just made everything worse for yourself again.”

“Yes, yes he did. Ready for a grand finale, Ron?” Ginny hinted, flicking her eyes to Harry’s exposed underarms. The two were quite good at reading each other’s thoughts, and she knew her brother would knew what to do.

“You bet.”

With one last nod, the siblings struck. Ron gathered Harry’s wrists into one hand, the other snaking down to poke and prod at the scarred teen’s armpits. At the same time, Ginny took a deep breath and pressed her lips to Harry’s stomach, blowing some rather cruel, rather loud raspberries on the boy’s sensitive skin.

To put it simply, Harry lost his mind.

“N-NOHOHOHO!” Harry squealed, kicking weakly at the floor behind Ron. He had lost all semblance of coherent thought, reduced to a giddy, tickle-drunk mess of endorphins beneath his best friend and the boy’s sister, and he couldn’t be happier. It was a bit of a wild thought to digest, but he had it, and it was definitely the right one.

Eventually, Harry simply couldn’t take it any longer. He flapped his hands in Ron’s hold, tapping the redheaded boy’s wrist in surrender. “OHOHOKAHAHAY, OHOKAHAY! NOHO MOHOHORE!”

That was their signal: both siblings immediately stopped their ticklish assaults. Ron released Harry’s arms while Ginny climbed off the boy’s waist, letting him curl up and giggle off the leftover endorphins.

“You alright down there, Harry?” asked Ron. He placed a hand on his friend’s back, rubbing little circles into the bony knots. “Did we go too far?”

“N-nohoho…” Harry huffed, raising his head from his hands. His cheeks were still flushed a bright pink, though he was starting to come back around, catch his breath. “Thohough you twoho are evil.”

Ginny simply grinned at that, plopping down beside Harry on the floor. Her hand threaded through his hair, giving his scalp little scratches. “Why thank you.”

“Bloody hellions,” the boy mumbled, leaning into the touch. They were annoyingly kind after all that cruelty, warming his heart. He unfortunately loved that about them. “Could you at least grab me a blanket and some tea?”

“Fine, you needy git,” Ron huffed, feigning annoyance. He chucked a blanket from his bed at the boy, heading down the stairs to grab some tea for the three of them.

Noticing Harry’s moping, Ginny clicked her tongue. “Oh, don’t be so bitter, Harry. You know you had fun.” A small grin tugged at her lips for a moment, and she added, “Especially when you have such a cute laugh.”

The girl placed a little kiss to the side of his head before getting up, following her brother down the narrow staircase. Harry was left alone with his thoughts, burning cheeks, and a rather pleasant warmth in his chest.