"Yes, his teacher's advice certainly seems to work. After all, it's easy enough to understand and his grades are already starting to improve," Arthur had to agree with his wife. "He certainly understood when you gave him his favorite dessert for him applying himself."
Truth to be told, finally having found a way to get Ron to apply himself properly at school was a big weight off their shoulders. Granted, he was not at the top, but somewhere in the upper third was good enough for them. They had started to be a bit at a loss with their youngest son, as he didn't seem interested in schoolwork and also couldn't be reigned in like the twins. Also, that Ron was closest to Bill and Charlie of all his brothers was a bit problematic, as these two were at school for most of the year.
Truth be be told, of the siblings that were still at home, Ron was - surprisingly - closest to Ginny. Percy's love for intellectual challenge and following the rules went contrary to Ron's nature and the twins had always been closer to each other than to their siblings and Ron was actively keeping his distance from them. They had thought that Ginny being a girl would create a barrier in interests, but surprisingly, that was not the case. If anything, ever since starting school, Ron seemed to spend more time with Ginny at home.
"We only have to make sure this becomes permanent without such reward and punishment," Molly added, knowing this would only work for so long.
"You know, Molly, I still wonder which way that son of ours will go. Bill already said he wants to do field work with the electives he selected. Charlie wrote us so much about magical creatures, that I think he'll do something in that regard. I have a feeling that Percy is striving for an administrative desk job. Only with the twins I have no idea what could be in their future," Arthur thought aloud.
"Don't remind me about Fred and George. I don't even want to imagine the official letters we'll get once they attend Hogwarts," Molly sighed, thinking of her two problem children. "If they don't get their act together, they'll be in for a hard future."
The thought was sobering for the Weasley parents.
The Weasley family had fallen onto difficult times due to a combination of the Ministry obstructing the department Arthur was working in for petty reasons, thus his salary never increased while his workload did, and the financial cost of being such a big family. Their finances and big family also had gotten them the ridicule of many pure-blood families.
These families never considered that each of them only having one child - most even no longer having enough juice in their loins for a 'spare' - would mean their extinction in due time, while the Weasleys would go on easily.
It was pure irony that in the long game, the Weasleys in the end were bound to win big.
Up in Ginny's room meanwhile, said five-year old girl was venting to her friend Luna over some cookies and milk.
"It's unfair. I'll always be last to everything. Being the youngest blows," Ginny complained.
"Well, Ron is older than you," Luna said while carefully breaking a cookie in two.
Truth to be told, her not exactly seeing the world like other people helped to weather when Ginny was like that. In her mind, it was pretty obvious Ginny was afraid to drift apart from her brother and her anger actually was worry. On the other hand, she could not exactly show much emotional support for Ginny, always having had trouble to express her emotions.
Ginny rolled her eyes, not being fazed by Luna's calm behavior. "I know that. Not that I can change it."
Luna gave Ginny a thoughtful look while dipping her half of the cookie into the milk. "And what can you change?" she asked.
At first Ginny said nothing, trying to come up with anything. Then she gave Luna a look. "I could work really hard to get into his class..."
Luna gave her a slightly impressed look. "Why don't you?"
"I... I would lose you," she admitted reluctantly, blushing a little.
Luna at first said nothing. She had not expected that she meant so much to Ginny and her pale face reddened a little, that was how moved she felt at this admission. "You... would miss me?" Luna then hugged Ginny, feeling so warm at this admission. "I won't leave you."
"R-really?" She was not used to Luna showing her emotions so openly. It was quite out of character for her.
"Whatever you do, I'll follow you," Luna promised.
Ginny felt moved how loyal Luna was to her. Luna on the other hand normally never felt her emotions this direct. But the fear that Ginny could move up a class without her had shaken her. She did not see the world as everyone else did, but some things were universal and she didn't want to be alone.
...Diagon Alley, January 14th 1987...
It was a slow day in Diagon Alley, the magical shopping district of London. With it being winter and the school year being in session, traffic was lower than normal. Those that did visit the alley enjoyed the relative peace and used the opportunity to take their time for their shopping for once.
One couple doing so were Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood. Their daughter Luna currently was at school, so they did use the opportunity to stock up on several magical supplies they needed. Especially Pandora needed some new ingredients for her potions experiments, while Xenophilius mainly came along to spend time with his wife and have his ear out for what's new on the streets - a must for his job.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to read more?
The next 60+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
📫 polls to shape the story
🎁 Exclusive content for Patreon
🔥 Bonus adult -- themed pictures & scenes you won't find anywhere else(adult only 🤫)
Don't fall behind -- others are already ahead! 👀
👉 Patreon.com/c/Nixerion(please search this link on Google Chrome)