Ginny
Bright light streamed in through the window overlooking the snowy garden, illuminating Charlie’s small bedroom. Hermione rubbed her bleary eyes, opening them to see the many posters lining his walls. Most of the posters moved—they had been enchanted in some way and now their illustrations shifted and danced like many television screens. It gave the impression of the room being full of life, despite the fact that Hermione was alone in the room.
‘Wow,’ Hermione breathed. It was like a dream came to life.
Hermione got up out of the bed she had spent the night in and looked around. On a map of Europe, inky lines of the ocean flowed, and a sea monster in the Atlantic surfaced and resubmerged. The countries were ridiculously inaccurate, partially outdated, and some of the borders and names just looked like nonsense. A flag hung over the window with an illustration of a lion on it, which hadn’t been enchanted and remained still. Under the lion was the word “Gryffindor.” A few other posters showed scientific-seeming illustrations of dragons, one which included their taxonomy, and another with anatomic diagrams. On all of the posters the dragons moved, lazily stretching their wings or sneezing fire. Another poster showed a magical tree of life, with dragons just one branch of a tree that included unicorns and phoenixes and goblins and werewolves and lots of words Hermione had never heard of before. Hermione traced her fingers along the poster, searching for “Gryffindor,” but not finding it.
Hermione looked over the bookshelves. They were pretty bare, Charlie must have taken most of them with him when he went… wherever he went. Mrs. Weasley never said. The few titles that remained sounded fascinating, though. She wondered if there was anything about memory magic there. It would be good to start learning about magic as soon as possible.
Hermione knew she could do magic, but she had a lot to learn about it. Whenever she tried to do magic she had no idea if it would work, and it usually didn't. She could pretty consistently make a spark of fire, but that was it. Healing Lucky was the biggest thing she had ever done with magic, and it was a stroke of luck she had healed him so well. But she didn't know anything about magic yet, she hadn't had the opportunity to study or practise, of course she was bad at magic. Maybe Mrs. Weasley had a book, ‘Magic for Beginners’ or something. She supposed she should ask Mrs. Weasley for permission to read Charlie’s books. She could get started on those today. They probably were mostly about dragons, not memory magic, but it would be good to learn as much as possible.
Hermione headed downstairs. She saw some dishes doing themselves in the sink, but no Mrs. Weasley in sight. Magic was everywhere in this household, it amazed her.
In the next room she saw Lucky laying in a sunbeam on the floor, purring loudly. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was safe. Mrs. Weasley’s daughter, Ginny, was kneeling on the ground and stroking his fur gently.
She watched Ginny for a moment before she spoke. ‘Lucky is a good judge of character. Er, that’s his name, by the way. Lucky. So you know.’
The red headed girl looked up and smiled. Her hair looked fiery in the sunlight. ‘That makes sense, Hagrid says they’re like living sneakoscopes.’ she said.
Hermione nodded, even though she had no clue what a sneakoscope was, she wasn’t going to let that show.
Ginny looked back down at Lucky and scratched behind his ears. ‘It’s nice to meet you, I’m Ginny.’ After a moment of silence Ginny said, ‘My mum never mentioned your name?’
Hermione flushed. For some reason she thought Ginny was introducing herself to Lucky. ‘I’m Hermione Granger,’ she said, and mentally kicked herself for acting like an idiot.
‘So er, my mum told me your parents are muggles, but she didn’t say much else. I think she wanted to give us a chance to meet.’ Ginny said. ‘She’s out foraging herbs or something right now.’
‘Oh. Yeah, they are muggles.’ Hermione began, not sure what to say. ‘But.’ Hermione hesitated. What was Ginny even asking? ‘I can’t live with them right now because they were, er, hurt by death eaters. So, at the moment it’s not within their capabilities to take care of me.’ Hermione itched, not the best description of what happened, and she was aware that what she said sounded like a lie. Obviously she would have to tell Ginny what actually happened sooner or later. And Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t feel comfortable keeping a secret from her own daughter.
‘I’m so sorry, Hermione.’ Ginny said earnestly, looking Hermione in the eye.
Hermione felt uncomfortably close to tears, and she looked away. ‘Yes, well, I’m very grateful to stay at your home, I hope I’m not imposing too much.’
‘No, of course not! Mum made it sound like we were adopting you, or something. Which would be fine, if she did, but my mum has no problem with you living here at all! She misses everyone so much and she’s glad she’s got another person to take care of, I think. I’m used to a house full of my brothers, and now it’s all empty. A girl joining us here is good!’
Lucky sat up and stretched in the sun before padding over to Hermione and rubbing up against her legs.
‘Hello, Lucky.’ Hermione scooped up her cat and sat down, plopping him in her lap where he curled up and resumed his adorable purring. ‘Forgiven me for the motorbike ride?’ She asked him unnecessarily. She looked up at Ginny. ‘I was so worried last night, I thought he might have frozen in the snow! Looks like he’s fine though.’
‘You must care about him a lot.’
‘I do. I healed him, you know. When I found him he was badly injured.’ She wished her parents could have gotten to know Lucky, they would have liked him.
‘You healed him with your accidental magic? That’s so cool!’ Ginny said excitedly.
‘It wasn’t accidental.’ Hermione corrected. ‘I did it on purpose.’
‘Oh, so you have a wand, then?’
‘Oh no, well yes. I have a wand now, but I didn’t at the time. I still don’t really know how to use a wand yet, to be honest.’
Ginny looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’
Oh no, she shouldn’t have said she didn’t know how to use a wand, Ginny might look down on her for it. Hermione mentally flailed for something to say.
‘Well, I haven’t really had a chance to practise yet! That’s all I mean. I can do magic without a wand, of course! Haha!’ Hermione laughed awkwardly, wondering how obvious it was that she was overstating her abilities. How quickly would she be able to use the wand properly, if she had books about it?
‘No, wait, what? That’s not what I meant-’ Ginny began, but right then the clock behind Ginny made a whirring noise, and she spun around to look at it. Hermione saw a hand on the clock with Mrs. Weasley’s face on it, which spun around to point towards ‘Home’ and the next moment the front door opened, and Molly Weasley stepped inside. Interesting.
‘Oh it’s freezing out there! Hello girls. Hermione, did you sleep well?’ Molly asked while she pulled out a bag and carefully unloaded plants and fungi onto the table.
‘Yes, Mrs. Weasley, thank you.’ Hermione had slept better than she had in months, in fact.
‘Good, dear. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you to make you feel more at home. I’m going to get started on lunch right after I’m done with these.’ Molly was gathering bundles of moss and putting them into jars which she neatly labelled.
‘Oh, I can help!’ Hermione said, stepping forward.
Molly held up a hand, ‘Ginny can help me, don’t worry’ Molly raised her eyebrows and Ginny rolled her eyes and sat down at the table.
‘I’ll show you how to forage later, Hermione, if you’re curious. Ginny, it’s just the nettle left, if you can do that while I make breakfast.’
Molly stood up and waved her wand and pots and pans and potatoes flew around the kitchen. Hermione watched closely, awestruck by how casually Mrs. Weasley wielded magic.
While Molly cooked, Hermione examined the clock she noticed earlier. It had eight golden hands, each with a face on it. In place of hours on the clock's face were a series of possible locations, including ‘home,’ ‘school’, ‘work’, ‘travelling’, ‘lost’, ‘hospital’, ‘prison’, and ‘mortal peril’. As she was watching it, one of the hands for one of Ginny’s many brothers went from ‘work’ to ‘travelling’ and then to ‘home’ in a matter of seconds. He didn’t show up outside the door, so Hermione assumed he must live somewhere else. Most of the hands were pointed towards ‘school.’
Ginny walked up beside Hermione. ‘My dad made that,’ she said proudly. ‘No other wizarding families have anything like it, if you were wondering.’
‘It’s incredible,’ Hermione said honestly, and Ginny beamed.
Soon after that they sat down and began eating. Breakfast was eggs, from their chickens, Molly told her, and homemade toast and jam.
‘My boys in school were all here yesterday, it’s a shame you didn’t get to meet them, Hermione,’ said Molly, ‘Although, perhaps the twins would have been a bit much on top of everything else you’re dealing with. Percy is a darling, though of course.’
‘He could stand to pause his reading once and a while and hang out with us, though,’ said Ginny, pouting. ‘He doesn’t need to be such a bookworm.’
‘Is there something wrong with being a bookworm?’ Asked Hermione defensively. ‘I love reading.’
‘No, no sorry, nothing wrong with reading.’ Ginny said.
‘Speaking of reading,’ Hermione segued. ‘I was wondering if I could read the books in Charlie’s room.’
‘Of course! You are welcome to read any books we have in the household, Hermione.’ Said Molly. ‘Although,’ she paused awkwardly, ‘I’m sure you’re very intelligent, but those books are quite advanced. You might not be able to understand them. Also, Charlie took most of his novels with him to Romania.’
‘That’s alright, I prefer nonfiction anyway,’ said Hermione, a bit offended that Molly thought she couldn’t handle the books on the shelves.
‘Even if you’re a very good reader, Charlie’s books are quite advanced. He’s a master Dragonologist. I wouldn’t understand most of what’s in there, and those books were written for people who already took years of Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts,’ Molly said kindly.
Hermione frowned. ‘Hogwarts?’
‘Oh, I suppose I haven’t told you about Hogwarts yet. It’s the school my children all go to. It’s the only magical school in Britain. Ginny will be attending next year.’
‘Really!?’ Hermione said excitedly, ‘Do you think I could go? I need to learn as much about magic as I can!’
‘You don’t want to go to Hogwarts,’ said Ginny bitterly. ‘The teachers are death eaters. The headmaster is You-Know-Who himself.’ Ginny looked her in the eyes. ‘I have to go, and so did all my brothers. Attendance is mandatory.’
‘Oh.’ Said Hermione, seeing clearly now that attending Hogwarts was not an option for her.
‘You can borrow some of my books, if you want,’ said Ginny. ‘They’re all novels, but you know, if you want.’
‘Thank you, Ginny.’ Hermione said with a smile.
‘That’s very kind of you, Ginny,’ Molly said warmly. She turned back to Hermione. ‘I’ll give you a bit more of an introduction to magic later today, but I’ll need to deal with some gnomes first. They get bitey in the winter.’ She sighed. ‘Also, I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to teach you magic without getting you a wand, but we’ll figure something out, I’m sure.’
‘Oh, I forgot to tell you! I already have a wand!’ Hermione said, ‘Wait, let me go fetch it.’ She ran up the stairs to Charlie’s room, where she left the wand on the bedside table, and rushed back to the kitchen, where she presented the wand to Molly and Ginny.
Molly took the wand out of her hands and examined it. She gave it a flick and yellow sparks flew out. With furrowed brows she handed it back. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘I took it from one of the death eaters the night they attacked me. Uh, the first night they attacked me. I didn’t really know what it was, to be honest with you.’
‘That’s very dangerous, Hermione,’ said Molly, sternly. ‘Don’t go around stealing from death eaters!’
Hermione’s face fell. She thought it had been a rather clever thing for her to do.
‘Regardless, it’s good that you have this. I don’t have any of the Hogwarts books here, so honestly, I wasn’t sure how we would even get started without a wand or books,’ said Molly. ‘I’ll clean up down here, Ginny, why don’t you show Hermione your books in your room?’
Hermione followed Ginny upstairs. Ginny’s room was even higher up in the house than Charlie’s, and also more cramped. It was in the attic of the house, and the ceilings dipped to the floors at the edge of the room. Ginny showed Hermione the books on her shelf, and they chatted as Hermione flipped through them and examined the covers. They looked mostly like novels.
‘What’s this?’ Hermione asked, holding up a book she thought might be nonfiction. The title read Questions on Quidditch: Your curiosity quenched and confusion quelled.
‘Oh, it’s a manual on Quidditch. Charlie owned it when he was on the team, and gave it to me when he graduated.’
‘The… Quidditch team?’ Hermione asked.
‘Oh right, you probably don’t know about Quidditch. It’s a game you play on brooms. The book explains all about it, you should read it. Quidditch is quite interesting.’ Ginny leaned in conspiratorially, ‘and flying a broom is quite fun. Don’t tell my mum I said that though.’
Hermione just nodded, bemused. Hagrid hadn’t been joking about flying brooms then. Obviously. She had seen brooms in the death eaters hands, and it's not like flying brooms were much stranger than magic. Of course magical people did something as ridiculous as riding flying brooms, why wouldn’t they?
She idly flipped through the Quidditch manual. It would be good to learn how to fly a broom. Probably even quite fun, if her limited experience with flying motorbikes was anything to go by. But mostly it would be practical. She remembered running away from the death eaters on brooms in the forest, they were so much faster than her. The only reason she had been able to stay ahead of them for so long was because they were in the woods. Even then, with such limited mobility, the brooms were a huge advantage to the death eaters.
‘Hermione,’ Ginny asked, in a shy voice.
‘Yes?’
‘Can I ask you a question?’
Hermione smiled, answering with what her father always said when she asked that. ‘You can ask me two.’
Ginny laughed. ‘Oh good, I guess I just used one of them up then. Alright. What I wanted to ask was, can you control your accidental magic?’
‘What does that mean?’ Hermione asked.
‘Well, every young witch or wizard does accidental magic, I don’t know if you know that. But when they start using a wand and regularly channelling magic that way, the accidental magic stops, unless they go a long time without using a wand again. But usually accidental magic is completely out of their control, and can be really chaotic,’ Ginny explained. ‘So basically, when you healed Lucky, you did that without a wand? On purpose?’
‘I guess I did, yeah.’ Hermione answered.
‘Did you do magic on purpose often, then?’ Ginny asked.
‘I don’t know. I was getting a little better at it. I mostly did it to heal myself, one time I healed my father. Sometimes I could make things move, a little bit.’
‘Wow, Hermione. That’s really impressive. And uncommon. I’ve never had any control over my accidental magic. Most people don’t have any control over their magic before getting a wand.’
‘Oh,’ Hermione didn’t know what to say. This was good though, obviously Ginny wasn’t looking down on her like Hermione thought she was.
‘I’ve done accidental magic seven times.’ Ginny continued, her face bright red. ‘Mum says that having that many accidents is a sign of being a pretty powerful witch.’ Ginny hesitated. ‘I was hoping to do accidental magic at least once more before going to Hogwarts. I know Ron did accidental magic ten times before getting his wand. Fred claims he turned Ron’s stuffed bear into a spider on purpose, though. But who knows if he’s telling the truth.’ Ginny rolled her eyes and laughed.
‘Wow,’ Hermione said. ‘You have a lot of brothers. I’m sure it’s a lot to deal with.’
Ginny smirked. ‘You have no idea.’
Hermione laughed.
‘Hermione, is there any way I could hold your wand? I mean, the wand that you stole? I’ve never held a wand before.’
‘You haven’t? Really?’ Hermione asked as she passed it over. How was that possible? Ginny grew up in the magical world.
‘Mum is really strict about us not breaking the law.’ Ginny said, turning the wand over in her hand. ‘It’s pretty normal to let kids handle your wands sometimes, but it’s technically illegal.’
‘Well, that's responsible of her.’ Hermione said pragmatically.
‘I guess. George did steal her wand one time, but Mum got pretty angry, I don’t think even he thought that was worth the consequences.’
Hermione laughed and turned back to her book. They both read for a few hours, for a lack of anything better to do. Hermione flipped through Ginny’s books, but none of them really drew her in, and reading fiction seemed like a waste of time. What she should be doing is buckling down and devouring everything she could related to magic.
‘Are there any other nonfiction books in the house? All I saw were Charlie’s,’ Hermione asked.
‘There might be some other ones. We can ask my mum or we can track them down ourselves. Sorry that there’s so few. All the ones we have are at Hogwarts with my brothers. Mum can’t afford to buy more. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re not exactly well-off,’ Ginny stated casually.
‘Oh, er.’ Hermione said awkwardly. ‘It’s okay. I mean, I’m very glad that you’re letting me stay here, when you’re er-of limited means. And, of course, I mean this doesn’t even need to be said but, obviously you don’t owe me any-’
Ginny cut her off, laughing. ‘Merlin, Hermione, relax. It’s no big deal. I don’t know what it’s like in the muggle world, but magic makes things a lot easier. Trust me, Mum is glad you’re here.’ Ginny chuckled again. ‘Of limited means! Please. You’re so dramatic. Don’t talk like that around Ron, if you ever meet him. He’s horribly embarrassed about it.’
‘Oh, well. Sorry if I was overreacting. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.’ Hermione hesitated, ‘If you don’t mind me asking, how did your Mum get the books your brothers need for school?’
‘Well, you don’t actually need as much as the booklist says you need, because you can just check out books from the Hogwarts library. It has every book ever written.’
‘Really?’
‘Well, practically. If you include the restricted section. At least that’s what my brothers tell me.’
‘Wow.’ Said Hermione.
Long after Hermione and Ginny had stopped flipping through their books, and even after they had all eaten dinner, Hermione was still thinking about the Hogwarts library. What she could do if she had access to every book. And every book on magic too! Probably most of the books in the Hogwarts library she had never heard of. That night, Hermione fell asleep imagining finding the long-lost cure to Obliviate spell in the Hogwarts library, in some hidden book Dumbledore hadn’t thought to check.