Allegiance

The Beginning

The book was shabby and worn around the edges. She turned it over in her hands, running her fingertips over the dark leather of the spine before flipping it open. All of the pages were blank. Her brow furrowed as she flicked through the sheets of pale parchment. Nothing. How Strange.

"Ginny! Dinner!"

She felt her stomach constrict. Harry was going to be at dinner. She would have to concentrate; she was not going to put her elbow in the butter dish again. Her cheeks flamed at the thought.

"Coming!" she called back, tossing the book aside and bounding down the stairs.

For the next week, the mysterious blank book lay on the floor of her room, only half visible under the bed, and she didn't give it a second thought.

"Is Ginny feeling alright?"

Ginny heard Harry's question before she saw them. She froze behind a tree, forgetting the stray cat she has chased out here. It turned its head to give her a superior look, then padded silently away on the fallen autumn leaves.

"Whaddya mean?" Ron replied. She heard the soft splashes of them moving in the pond on the other side of her tree.

"Oh I dunno." She could picture Harry shrugging.

"I think dear hear Harry has noticed that our baby sister get awfully red at dinners," put in Fred.

"And that whenever he's around, she can't seem to string three words together," added George.

Ginny's cheeks flushed.

"Oh, that," Ron said. "She fancies you, mate!" She heard a big splash, probably a teasing one.

"Why would she fancy me?" Harry said awkwardly.

"Ooooh, is that a blush I see?" George goaded. "Maybe ickle Harry likes having an admirer?"

"Maybe he's got a crush on our dear sister, too!" Fred added.

Immediately, the twins launched into song. "Harry and Ginny kissing in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a Puffskein in a Puffskein carriage!"

Ginny felt an embarrassed sort of enjoyment welling up inside her. Just hearing her brothers put her name and Harry's in the same sentence in that way made her blush happily. Then Harry spoke.

"I do not have a crush on her!" he said loudly, giving the twins a big splash. Ginny's stomach dropped.

"You expect us to believe you don't like that Ginny's head over heels in luurve with you?" George teased.

"I don't like it!" Harry insisted earnestly. "I wish she didn't!"

"Are you saying our Ginny isn't good enough for you?" Fred said suddenly.

"I think he is, Fred!" George replied accusingly. "He's saying little Ginny Weasley isn't up to the standards of the great Harry Potter!"

"No!" Harry said frantically, voice rising in panic. "I didn't say that!"

"Oh, come on, Forge!" Ron said, coming to his best friend's defense. "You can't blame him, really. Ginny's right annoying!"

"That's not what I meant!" Harry said quickly, but Ginny didn't want to hear anymore.

Her cheeks were burning, and she was feeling the full force of the teasing and of Harry's rejection in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to stalk right out to the edge of the pond and hex them (her brand new wand was burning a hole in her back pocket), but ever since the enchanted Ford Anglia debacle, her mim had been taking a hard line on discipline. Underage magic of the violent kind she was considering would probably get her a list of chores as long ad her leg. She had to get out of there before she did something rash.