Ron carefully put his brand new robes in his trunk. It was the first time he had ever had robes of his own. He also had a brand new wand, one that had chosen him. His trunk was still the same old one that had once belonged to his Uncle Billius, but it was sturdy, and with a fresh coat of varnish applied just a couple weeks ago looked like it was freshly refurbished, not to mention studier than any available in Diagon Alley, being made by hand by a master craftsman decades before.
The trunk was unique in the fact that it had a special wand compartment in the front, that Ron carefully placed his fourteen and a thirteenth inch willow wand with a unicorn hair core in. He’d be able to remove it when he got on the express, but putting the wand that was bonded to him in overnight meant that only that wand and him would be able to unlock it. Bill had set it up, before he’d returned to Egypt. With the twins, this was a big benefit. He wasn’t exactly worried about his dorm mates
Ron stood up, and looked out his window. What was known now as Percy’s cottage, on the other side of the garden was visible from his window, and for the first time since it had been placed, the shed turned cottage was empty. Percy, Penny, and their twins had left for Penny’s parents, who happened to live four stops away on the Piccadilly Line from King’s Cross. Ron had no idea what the Piccadilly Line was save that he’d seen it on some sort of a map that Mister Clearwater had. He decided that he’d keep both the window and his door open overnight. It would create a rather nice breeze up the stairs and out his window, as long as the kitchen windows were also left open.
His trunk packed, and remembering the issues getting it down the pervious year, Ron picked it up and began to carry it down the stars, the back end gently bouncing on the stairs. One floor from the ground, he was blocked from going down further, as it seemed that he wasn’t the only one to have the idea.
“Don’t run into my trunk,” Ginny ordered, from a few steps below it. “I don’t want anyone to mess with it.”
“I heard last night,” Ron said. “Tell me, did you get Bill or Percy to put the charms on yours?” Last night Fred and George had run with bats coming out of their noses from Ginny’s room while Ginny had been in the kitchen cooking with their mother.
“Both,” Ginny smiled. “Bill did it when I got it, and I had Percy add his twist just before he left.”
“Percy, twisted?” Ron said, as Ginny reached the last step.
“Yes, they’ll forget what they were trying to get from my trunk and have an urge to study their worst subject,” Ginny said. “I almost wish they were able to try to get to the girl’s dorms to mess with my new clothes at Hogwarts.”
Then as Ron stepped onto the ground floor as well, Ginny turned to face Ron. “Ron, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you’ve done, and I want to thank you. I know you said that it was my hard work on the letters to Harry that made the book, that if I wasn’t true to myself, and wrote that way, it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. But Ron …”
There was a catch in his sister’s voice, emotion that he’d never quite heard from his sassy smaller sibling. “I wouldn’t have even gotten the first letter back if you hadn’t asked Harry first. I would have started this year as a Harry Potter fan girl, probably a bit angry at Hermione for having Harry’s baby. I’d probably be wearing your old robes, and being teased for wearing a boy’s shirt instead of a girl’s blouse, not even knowing the difference until it was pointed out. I’d be the shy little girl who was probably putting her elbow in the butter dish, instead of being me.”
“You know, I never really thought about getting new clothes, a new wand, because of Harry,” Ron said. “It kind of just came about. Harry just wanted his story to be told, and for him to have something he did that would allow him to help take care of Hermione and Jimmy one day. I didn’t think about your part at all. I certainly didn’t think I’d get any part of it. Not that I’m against having new robes and a new wand this year.”
“Yes,” Ginny said, before hugging her youngest older brother. “Don’t say you don’t deserve it, Ron.”
Ron placed his arms around his sister. “Only because you said so.”