Ginny sat on her bed staring at the papers in her hands. Easter break was over and she would be leaving to return to Hogwarts tomorrow. She still hadn’t told her parents or anyone about these papers.
It was what she had always wanted, a contract to play Quidditch professionally. She had dreamed of being offered this chance since she was small. She smiled at the memory of stealing either Fred or George’s broomstick and sneaking off to the meadow to fly.
“You always took my broom more than his,” came a voice from the shadows.
Ginny looked up. Her smile remained in place. “It’s about time you came to see me. I was beginning to wonder if you ever would,” she said softly.
Fred walked out of the shadows and over to his sister. He smiled at her and opened his arms. Standing quickly, Ginny rushed into his open arms without a moment’s hesitation.
Shivering slightly, she looked up at him. “It’s like touching Nearly Headless Nick,” she said but she tightened her grip on him nonetheless. After a moment, she realised her grip on him and sat down on the bed. Fred sat next to her and looked down at the papers she had thrown aside to hug him.
“Holyhead Harpies, big time,” he said. “I’m impressed.”
“You should be. I worked hard to get this chance,” she said.
“So, why haven’t you told anyone? Why haven’t you signed these and sent them back?” he asked.
“I…I don’t know,” she confessed.
“It is what you always wanted, even I knew that. What is really keeping you from signing them? Worried Harry won’t approve?”
“No, he’ll be happy for me. I know he will be,” she answered.
“Worried Mum and Dad will object?” he asked.
“No, I know Mum will at first, but Dad will be happy and he’ll talk to Mum and she’ll understand,” she said.
“Worried Charlie will be jealous?” Fred tried again.
“No, Charlie didn’t want to sign. He always wanted his dragons.”
“Then what?” he asked gently.
“You were happy, weren’t you? Before, I mean,” she asked.
“Yeah, I was happy. How could I not be? George and I, we had it all, the shop, doing what we were meant to do, what we were happy doing. We had all of you, Harry and Hermione supporting us, happy for us. We had everything,” he answered.
“What if…what if I sign this, take the chance and get what I want and something goes wrong?” she asked him.
“Ginny, you can’t live your life worrying that by making yourself happy something bad will happen. Life is meant to be lived, not hidden from,” he told her.
“My fifth year, I was happy when Harry and I finally started dating. And what happened? Professor Dumbledore died, and Harry broke up with me. Then, even though deep down, I knew he was going to leave, I hoped during Bill and Fleur’s wedding, we could be happy. We could find a way,” she said and looked at Fred.
“And all hell broke loose,” Fred said finishing her thoughts.
“You could say that,” she said and chuckled. “Every time there seems to be a light of happiness, it all crashes down. Remus and Tonks had Teddy, and then just a couple months later, they are both dead.” She stopped as the tears began to flow freely down her face.
“He is going to be a year old in a couple weeks, and he won’t ever know his parents,” she said.
Fred reached out and put his arm around her, after a small shudder, she leaned into him. “Ginny, bad things happen, but if you think about it, more good happens than bad.”
“Maybe if you take all the bad things against the good, but in this family…” Ginny’s voice trailed off.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Fred asked pulling back to look into Ginny’s face. He could see in her eyes, she did. Sighing, he hugged her closer.
“And it’s not just us, look at Harry. He finally found Sirius and was going to live with him, and Sirius is killed. Dobby saves him, Ron and Hermione and he dies. For what? Why can’t he be happy?” she asked. When Fred didn’t immediately answer, she went on.
“I’ll tell you why. Because of…of…me,” she said.
Fred pulled back once again and looked at Ginny. He was shocked to see she really believed she was to blame for everything bad that had happened to this family.
“Ginny, you don’t really believe any of this was your fault? Do you?” he asked. When she nodded her head, he sighed. He wasn’t sure how to handle this. With Harry, it was expected to have him taking the blame for everything that had happened. But, with Ginny, he never expected it.
“If I had just stayed home, like I should have maybe my bad luck wouldn’t have gotten you killed,” she said, the certainty of her statement clear in her voice.
“You had no part in what happened to me or any part of the bad things that have happened to Harry.”
“But, every time I-”
“You ARE not to blame,” Fred said sternly.
“I’m the only girl in a family of males. That makes me un-”
“That makes you special,” he said.
“Stop doing that, I’m not George. I don’t need you to finish my sentences or thoughts for me,” she said fiercely. “I can think for myself.”
“Now, that is better. That is my sister talking,” Fred said and he smiled broadly at her confusion. “My sister is not a person who wallows in self-pity. She is not someone who plays the ‘oh poor me’ card. She fights, she stands up for what she believes in and those she loves. My sister is someone I am very proud of,” Fred told her.
Ginny looked at him, wonder crossing her face. “My sister,” he continued, “would have told anyone talking the way you just were to grow up and face reality. Stuff happens, good and bad, that is just life, she would have said.”
Ginny didn’t speak for a few minutes looking everywhere but at Fred. Finally, she picked up the papers lying on the bed. After looking down at them for a few seconds, she stood and went to her desk in front of the window. Taking the quill from the bottle of ink, she signed her name to the last page and then turned to look at Fred.
“I…I am going to play for the Holyhead Harpies and I am going to be damn good at it,” she said and then laughing rushed over to throw herself into his arms again. The force of her jump had them tumbling backwards onto the bed.
Laughing hysterically, Fred was glad he found the words to bring his sister back. When they stopped laughing, it took a few minutes for Ginny to get her breath back.
“I haven’t laughed like that in over ten months, since…” she said, unwilling to say the words she was thinking.
“Since I died,” Fred finished for her and chuckled when she growled at him. “Hey, I have a question for you,” he said.
“Sure, what do you want to know?” she asked.
“You said it was about time I got here, how did you know I was going to visit?” he asked.
“Harry let it slip he had seen you when I was over at Grimmauld Place last week for dinner. Ron admitted he had, too. So, I knew it was only a matter of time before you came to see me.”
“Does Mum know about my visits?” he asked worriedly.
“No, I don’t think so. I know Harry and Ron agreed not to tell her. I don’t think anyone else has either. Why?” she asked.
“Because each time I visit, I expect to see Mum. I want to see Mum, but it never is her,” he said sadly. “Maybe…maybe I’m not going to be able to see her.”
Ginny sat up and quickly got to her feet. “I’ll go get her now, and you can talk to her,” she said as she rushed to the door.
“Ginny, wait!” he called to her.
Ginny turned the knob on her door without even looking back at him. He watched as she pulled on the door. It wouldn’t open. She kept trying until Fred walked over and drew her away from the door.
“Fred,” she said.
“No, Ginny. It isn’t time,” he said to her as he led her back to the bed. “When I came to see Ron, I tried to go upstairs to Mum. I could hear her crying over her fight with Ron and I wanted so bad to see her. I couldn’t even get to the bottom of the stairs. It was like a wall was there,” he told her.
“So, I can’t go get her because it isn’t time for you to see her?” she asked.
“Right. When it is time, I’ll see her. I have to believe that,” he said.
She put her arms around him and hugged him. “You will see her. It wouldn’t be fair for you to see everyone but her.”
Fred smiled. “I came here because you needed me and it seems, I needed you just as much,” he said and stood.
“You have to leave now, don’t you?” she asked, sadness lacing her voice, tears forming in her eyes as she looked up at him.
“Yes, but even though I am not here anymore, I’m always close by,” he said. He walked over to the desk and looked down at the papers she left sitting there. “I will be at every game, so don’t let me down.”
Smiling, she walked over to him. “I won’t,” she said. “Every time I take to the sky, I’ll think about you. Every game will be for you.”
Fred bent down and kissed the tip of her nose, and then ruffled her hair like he did when she was a toddler. He turned and walked towards the shadows.
“Be happy, sis. This family is in for a whole lot of happy times. This is only the beginning,” he said as he faded away.
Ginny stood still for only a moment before scooping up the signed contract and racing out of her bedroom, yelling for her mother and father as she ran down the stairs.
Visits From Fred by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: Ginny has been offered her dream on a silver platter. But she is too scared to take it.
Can her brother make her see life is worth living and not for being afraid?
I wish to thank my lovely beta, Alyssa, (harry4lif). I do not own anything you recognise in this story. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am just thankful to be able to play in her world for a little while.