[on hold] 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓&𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

i . the burrow

chapter one
THE BURROW

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    BLONDE HAIR, blue eyes, big glasses — stereotype. With even her name sounding like a Mary Sue, nobody ever dared to wonder why Ruby Rose Perks and Frederick Gideon Weasley didn't even come close to something as getting along. Not even their own families, though in fact it hadn't always been like that.

   Only weeks after Ruby's mother had left them, a barely three year old Ruby's destination started when Benjamin Perks, her father, had chosen to move to the dreamy little village Orrery St Catchpole, unbeknownst that this decision was saving his clueless muggle arse.

   When Ruby was four years old, Benjamin had to learn the hard way that being a single dad was, in fact, nothing compared to being the single dad of a toddler with some, let's say ... special effects. Cute little Ruby was able to get the cookie jar from the highest kitchen shelf, and it had nothing to do with an unexplainable talent for climbing, or being extraordinarily huge for her age, but her frightening ability to stretch out her hands and let the sweets float straight into her arms. Fair to say that the muggle Benjamin Perks was close to losing his mind.

   Strange things happened whenever Benjamin left his daughter in a babysitter's custody, and none of them ever returned to this soon to become an infamous haunted house. A haunted house that especially two identical looking fiery haired devils were very interested in whenever they visited the village with their mother.

   But none of the Weasleys ever had an incounter with the two Perks, until Ruby vanished out of Benjamin's kitchen at the age of five, just to be found by none other than Arthur Weasley in his coop full of flustered chickens.

   Benjamin didn't have to tell the red headed family that he was in trouble. Deep shadows underneath his eyes and a bunch of blonde hair with way too many grey strains for his young age of twenty six gave away non-ignorable hints that he needed more help than he would ever admit. To pay the rent and raise his daughter right, Benjamin would have needed at least two jobs, but due to Ruby's special effects, he couldn't get employed for even one. Not until Mrs. Weasley offered to take care of Ruby at the best place in the world: the Burrow.

   Suddenly having what felt like seven siblings was one hell of a fun for the young girl that didn't even know a single other child to this point, and though young Ruby wished to see her dad more often, she had the happiest childhood growing up with the Weasleys, spending summers running through wide meadows full of flowers, and winters sitting by a warm fire in the Burrows living room or having snowball wars with her new ginger family. The happiest, though, Ruby always felt on Christmas Eve, celebrating with her father and the Weasleys together at the Burrow, which meant three overwhelmingly blessing things: delicious meals, cozy knitted jumpers and unconditional love.

   And oh, how Ruby loved the Weasleys! Ginny seemed to literally worshipp her like a goddess - well, like a big sister indeed. Bill and Charlie grew so protective of her, and oh, those tears she cried when they both moved to foreign countries. Percy might be a bit special, but behind his great ambition was beating a good heart. Ron had always been her favorite; as the youngest brother, he didn't have it the easy way. Ron never owned new stuff, wearing his brothers' worn down robes, having the smallest room in the house, and when it came to dinner times and everyone was talking about the events of the day, it was Ron being overheard so many times. But Ron never complained, he was a cheery young boy, a funny guy, and no matter what, he was able to make Ruby smile.

   Then there were Fred and George. Both her age, you could think they would have been like best friends — and in fact, George was. But Fred ... Fred was a different kind of story. He was a strange guy, and he grew stranger the older he got. One day he was acting all normal, treating Ruby like a part of the family, the next day he would be icy and moody, sometimes not talking to her for days.

   So when they started to go to Hogwarts and Ruby had been sorted into Hufflepuff, things between the two of them went out of control. Everyone knew that Fred and George were the greatest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen; but in time the jokes Fred pulled on Ruby got really mean, starting with cutting her ponytail off during Charms class, escalating with a gigantic living snake in Ruby's bed. Unfortunately, Fred knew a lot of her fears, and he never missed a chance to use this knowledge against her.

   Fair to say Ruby really didn't like Fred. Every given room automatically filled with an unbearable tension when the both of them were in there at the same time. At some point they stopped talking to one another, giving a damn about George's attempts to somehow save the day. It was pointless. Some people just weren't made for each other. She accepted it and Fred did as well.

   Like that, they lived in a weird coexistence, just pretermitting each other the best they could, and it was going well for a long, long time.

   Until that one night, that one fateful night, when Ruby chose that stereotype was no longer her type and against all the inner alarm bells screaming bloody murder, Ruby Rose Perks for the first time in her life agreed to join a party with her best friends Leilani and Cedric. Taking a huge step out of her own comfort zone, on the terms last night, Ruby Rose Perks found herself on top of the Astronomy Tower, watching a dancing crowd spending their last night with their friends before the summer break would separate them for so many weeks.

   And her discomfort was beyond measure.

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you're so down to earth,
and I'm up in the stars ...