InsaneJournal

Who: Ginny Weasley & Fabian Prewett
What: Uncle-niece bonding time
When: The week of spring break
Where: A flying field near Ottery St Catchpole
Warnings: A teeny bit of language for which Molly may get out the soap.



It was a good thing that Fabian's most recent flying experience had been with Gwen or he'd have been lost flying with Ginny. As it was, age and treachery was only mostly outclassed by youth and skill. Even with his broom repaired, courtesy of Gwen, and a little practice under his belt, Fabian was working to keep up with his niece. He wondered whether Ginny had what it took to fly professionally, and whether he should talk to Gwen and MG about her.

Probably he should have scheduled the self-defence lesson before the flying. On the other hand, if you were going to duel, you might not have the option of waiting until after you took a nap. For the moment, he was just following Ginny's flight lead and throwing the quaffle back and forth with her, waiting for her to decide they were finished and move on to lunch and other activities.

If there was one thing in the world that Ginny loved the most it was flying. It was the sense of being free that was appealing to her and she loved how the wind brushed against her cheeks. Quidditch was the second thing in the world that Ginny loved the most. It was the challenge, the speed, the rush that came with it. She dived for the Quaffle before doing a little trick with her broom that caused her to do a sharp 180 turn and tossed it back. She smirked watching her Uncle before slowing down and circling around him again.

“Are you okay, Uncle? I'm not going too fast for you?” She joked as she pulled a head slightly. “Want another go and then get lunch? Or get lunch and have another go?”

"Have pity on an old man!" Fabian called, getting his broom back under control after he'd made a mostly-unnecessary swerve to catch the quaffle. This was good for him too, he reminded himself. "A little more of this, and a break for lunch, and then we'll do something that you won't beat the pants off me at. How's that?" To punctuate the question, he tossed the quaffle across and ahead, as he'd figured out he was supposed to toss it a bit ahead of where Ginny was so she'd be in the right place when the quaffle arrived.

(Gwen would be laughing her arse off at him, he was sure. But only in a good natured way.)

“I guess I’ll have to get you a walker? I wonder if they come in broom sizes.” Ginny laughed before watching as the quaffle flew ahead of her. She leaned forward as she put her broom in race mode and caught the quaffle with ease. “It sounds like a plan.” She threw it back, also throwing it a little ahead of him. She wasn’t going to go easy on him just because he was her uncle - that would be cheating.

Fabian wouldn't have wanted or expected anything less. He zoomed ahead as best he could on his older model, and faster than it could have gone this time a month ago, and caught the quaffle with a long reach. He couldn't really catch with his left hand and fly with his right as well as he would have liked: a weakness he'd have to deal with in case he ever got into a flying duel.

"They don't sell brooms for granthers. You'll have to get me a Wee Wizard model, I reckon. Show me how to do a back-toss, Ginny." He threw the quaffle back to her, targeting where he expected her to be, so she could catch it easily.

“I have two brothers who can pretty much invent anything. I’ll see what I can pull.” Once again Ginny zoomed ahead and caught the quaffle. “A back-toss you say?” She flew over to her Uncle and tossed it over to him from behind. “It is all about timing. Toss it too soon, it falls or the other team catches it. Toss it too late and you might actually hit your team member or it falls or another team catches it.”

Fabian almost missed the quaffle because he was so interested in how Ginny was keeping an eye out toward where he was while flying the broom. At the last second, he zoomed to where he needed to be and grabbed it with the bare edges of his fingertips, bobbling slightly before he got it in his grasp. This was something he needed to work with MG on. "I think I get the idea," he huffed, sounding possibly a little more out of breath than he was.

"As for your brothers, they're probably busy with their birthday gift from me. Which was a giant box full of Muggle toys for them to enchant." Now Fabian zoomed ahead and tried the reverse throw Ginny had just showed him, with a lot less coordination and success than hers had demonstrated.

She smiled at her uncle as he grabbed the quaffle. “Muggle toys? I don’t know who would be more fascinated by that. Them or dad.” She laughed as Fabian tossed it back and nodded, “Not bad. Not bad at all. Just remember to grip with the fingertips.” She lifted her gloves. “Might help with the gloves aren’t as sticky as before.” Having a quaffle slipping from her hands and falling is no fun at all. She tossed it back the same way as before. “Hungry?”

Fabian dropped back, or really didn't hustle to stay ahead, until Ginny was flying alongside him again. "Yeah, some food sounds great. I brought a picnic for us to nosh on, and then we can work on a bit of dueling skills if you like. What it's like in real life, not just for show in the Great Hall." He angled the front of his broom downward and started a slow spiral toward where he'd left the hamper with their lunch on the field beneath them.

Ginny came to flying beside him and nodded. “Sounds like a plan. And I could always brush up on my dueling skills.” She was still learning how to use magic without words; it was still difficult and tricky but she was able to do the easy magic that way. The younger red-head followed him down below before hopping off and carefully putting down her broomstick. Her stomach gave out a low growl, “Perfect timing.”

Once the hamper was unpacked, there was a substantial ploughman's lunch for the pair of them: cheese and bread and a little charcuterie to ensure there was enough for a still-growing girl, plus grapes and apple slices. And to drink, since it was Ginny and Molly would have had a fit if she caught Fabian feeding Ginny wine (though Fabian had certainly enjoyed a glass or two with a meal by Ginny's age and thought Ginny was quite old enough to handle it), Italian sparkling water. All of this was distributed on plates that had clearly been bespelled to withstand breakage as they sat on a comfortable blanket charmed with an insect-repellent charm. Fabian let Ginny choose the topic of conversation since he was busy preparing the meal for them.

"This all looks delicious." Ginny felt like her mouth was watering from the site of the food. She took a seat and watched her uncle prepare the food behind her. "Thanks for playing quidditch with me. Are you still going to teach me some good dueling techniques? "

"I'm always happy to fly with you, even if I'm probably embarrassingly awful compared to your teammates. As for duelling: what do you want to learn, specifically? I hear there are extra duelling lessons at school. Are you taking those, because I don't want to double back over ground you've already covered with Rem--Professor Lupin." Fabian was, technically, school staff and thus a peer or near-peer to the teachers, but he rarely took advantage of that fact and tried to keep his discussion of the professors, old friends or otherwise, respectful in the hearing of their students.

He finished filling Ginny's plate with half the contents of the hamper and offered it to her.

“You fly better than some of the other teams out there. Both at Hogwarts and professionally.” Ginny nodded when he mentioned about having the extra duelling lessons at school. “Professor Lupin has taught us some of the advance stuff that is outside of our teachings. Some of them are really advanced, like beyond seventh year stuff. I am going to pass NEWTS next year with ease.” She took the plate that was offered to her. “I am still trying to perfect the wordless spells. That is hard.”

Between bites of his own lunch, Fabian nodded. "Wordless is hard, and it's worse in a fight. A face-off Dueling Club style is bad enough, but in a real fight, you have to be very fast, and wordless is often slow. The advantage is obviously that the other party doesn't know what you're doing. You have to decide whether you want that more than you want to, for instance, shield yourself. My jacket has a lot of shielding spells on it, and sometimes I'll just take a hit in exchange for having the power to throw something harder, or for going wordless, but it's a trade-off every time."

“You charmed your jacket with a Shield Charm? Isn’t that complicated? And doesn’t that wear off after awhile?” She remember reading somewhere that charms could be worn down after use, but she wasn’t sure. Not that she was going into a profession that would require her to have Shield Charms, it was against Quidditch Regulations. “Do you like your line of work?”

"Yeah, that was a long time ago. I have to redo it and repair the jacket when it gets beat down--not that that happens very often," Fabian added hastily and not entirely truthfully, since he'd had to do repairs after the rumble with Lady Noir and the Death Eaters last month. "I know the twins are working on similar things, though you didn't hear that from me, and don't tell anyone else, because it's probably a trade secret.

"And," he thought about the other question for a moment, "I like my job all right. But why do--oh. No, Gin, that's not why I have my jacket shielded. I learned to do that when I was a vigilante in the Order, back in the seventies. Before I went to Azkaban. And I still do it out of habit, and because I've been threatened and even though I don't expect anything to come of it, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Ginny gave him the look of, I-Don’t-Believe-You. “Old habits die hard? I am not saying that we are living in the most peaceful of times. With Lady Noir out and about. I am going to assume that the good guys are still intact trying to find this lady before she or he can do any more damage.” She looked at her food and took a bit.

"I'm sure the Aurors are very busy trying to track Lady Noir down. And if anybody else is, they've learnt the lesson of people like your Uncle Gideon and me, and are doing it very quietly." Which was all Fabian had to say on that point for the moment. "It's a bit frightening to be targeted, to have your name in the paper on a list or to get a dead flower in your owl post. I know that happened to some of your friends. How are they taking it? Or is that all forgotten about in the run-up to exams?" Ginny wasn't taking NEWTs this year, so he reckoned she'd have a clearer perspective on what the other students were thinking or doing, even if she had less direct knowledge.

Ginny smirked at her Uncle at the very quietly part but it soon was lost when it was turned serious. “I think they are trying to busy themselves in their exams. I know there have been some tension with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, I suppose it can’t be helped. I have an insider of the Slytherin common room, it isn’t pretty from what I hear.” She picked up her sparkling water and took a sip, “I sometimes hear whispers about how some are worried once they are out of the protection of Hogwarts.”

"I can understand that." Fabian took a bite of cheese, thought about the right answer to that, and swallowed. "Do you know what any of them are doing about it? To protect themselves?"

This was the question Fabian should have been asking months ago to solve Edgar's problem. Old age had made him slow.

Ginny shook her head, “No. I think they have a plan. I have a plan.” She finished off her apple slices. “Was it like this with the War before? Or was it worse? I have studied about it in History class but I am not sure if it is the same.”

"It was a bit like this, I think." Fabian closed his eyes and tried to recall what things had been like when he was Ginny's age, though that had been before things had really started changing for the worse. Like so much of the time before his prison term, his memories were patchy: less with the good, which had been eaten away by the Dementors, and more with the dark and depressing. "There were rumblings in the dungeons even before I took NEWTs, but I don't think I understood. Rodolphus--he's dead now--thought I shouldn't join the Aurors, and I didn't understand why for a long time. Then after I got out, and was training, the Dark Mark started going up, and the threats, and ... all the things you've probably read and heard about. The names and lists in the paper, the dead roses? They do bring it all back for me.

"That was the first few years. Things were a lot worse before it was over. I know that people behind me had it a lot worse in school. Sir-Professor Black can probably tell you about that better than I can. I think the atmosphere is ratcheting up faster precisely because so many of us in our thirties and forties remember what the last war was like, and Lady Noir, whoever she is, deliberately evokes that.

"But there's also a difference, because with the last war, we always knew that if we got Voldemort, it was mostly the end. The Death Eaters would fall apart without him. And I missed it, of course, but they did. A lot of them--not all--were rooted out and came to Azkaban after Dumbledore killed Voldemort." There was a slight smile on Fabian's face, less satisfied than sad. "If Lady Noir is captured and jailed, or killed, I reckon there are still people 'inspired by her' who won't go away. She's as much an idea as a person, and that can be dangerous."

“So you think the Death Eaters have rallied behind this Lady Noir?” Ginny asked casually. Yes, she was fishing for any information that she could get. “If I have learned anything from History it is that it does repeat. There will always be dark wizards and witches, some worse than others. It seems prejudice will never truly die out.”

Over the top of his bottle of sparkling water, Fabian eyed Ginny with some avuncular suspicion. "If you've learnt anything from Professor Binns other than how to sleep in class with your eyes open, you're doing a sight better than most of the students."

He'd long since decided that he had to treat his nephews and Ginny as young adults whose thoughts and ideas deserved serious consideration, no less than he'd give any other of-age wizard, and that meant answering her question straight, even if it was uncomfortable. "I'm not an expert, and I don't know that much about Lady Noir, so I'm probably not the right person to ask, exactly." He thought back to the business in March where the Death Eaters had attacked the Order after James had arranged the meeting with her. "My guess is that they share some ideals, like hating Muggleborns and the like, but that the Death Eaters--the ones I knew when I was young before I went to Azkaban, and the ones who were in prison with me--are either loyal to the memory of Voldemort or in it for themselves. So maybe an alliance of convenience.

"But I don't assume that the people who are acting now are either Death Eaters or followers of Lady Noir. They might just be people who were raised to hate Muggleborns and not to value human life, and the atmosphere of violence lets them conceal their own crimes under the cover of terrorism, like the attack on the Harvest Festival last fall or the attack on the Wizengamot when Walden Macnair was convicted again."

“Who else am I going to ask? Some people think I am too young, not yet an adult.” She was turning seventeen in the summer but still hated to be treated like she was still a little girl. Ginny felt like she could handle the truth. “I just don’t understand why people would cling to the past. Without Muggleborns we would be a dying breed. I may not understand Muggles at times but they can be pretty cool. Like the village not far from us, weird but interesting.”

The idea that Ginny trusted Fabian to tell her the truth, even the unpalatable truth, brought a smile to Fabian's face. "Some people are afraid of change, and it looks to me like Muggles change very quickly compared to wizards. And some people hate what they're afraid of. But I think the truth is that there are wizards and witches who do very well in the world we live in, who have a lot of money and power--influence in the Wizengamot, in the Ministry, or like the bloke who owns the Prophet--and they're the ones who don't want things to be different or change. And since Muggles are a source of change, and they do change our world--the Hogwarts Express was patterned after Muggle trains, you know, and the Knight Bus and the Ministry's cars are based on Muggle things--then those people don't like Muggles and Muggleborns who bring those ideas into our world.

"And, honestly," Fabian concluded, "if they can make people hate Muggleborns and Muggles, they can also keep our attention away from the problems in our society, which it has quite a few of, in my opinion."

Ginny scoffed at the idea of keeping Muggles and Muggleborn ideas out of the Wizarding World. It couldn't be helped; they all lived in the same planet. “You can’t make people hate other people. I mean you can, by force or threatening, but you have to be desperate.” She paused for a moment to have another sip of her sparkling water. “Do you think this election coming up for Minister will change that?”


"No." Fabian shook his head regretfully. "I don't think so. The field of candidates is weak. Black has been popular and he apparently came in with a lot of good ideas, but this Lady Noir thing has shaken people's confidence in him. There are a lot of young candidates who don't have experience; all but three of them are younger than I am, and of those three one's only a bit older. And of those three, one of them has the executive experience of running a tiny bookshop, and as much as I like old Merrick, that's not any good for Minister." Another shake of the head accompanied that thought. "And a lot of the candidates give lip service to helping Muggleborns adjust to our society, but that implies that the rest of us don't have any adjustment to do to meet them. So I don't see the election changing anything for Muggleborns."

Ginny was quiet for another moment as she processes what was being said to her. “What about the Wizarding World as a whole? I mean I read their articles in the paper and I am still a couple months shy of being about to vote. I felt that a few may have something to make the Wizarding World a stronger place. I’ve only known of Black in office, I thought he did okay. And I don’t know why people are up in arms about him not being a good Minister because of Lady Noir. I thought it was a collection of the Ministry to try and find her or him.”

Most of the lunch had disappeared into Fabian and Ginny while they were talking; he chased a loose grape around his plate and popped it into his mouth while Ginny was talking. "Black's in charge, so he takes ultimate responsibility for setting policy. His speeches--the way he lays out policy--have been weak up until the election.

"Also, some people think the Ministry is going about finding Lady Noir the wrong way, or that he's hired people who aren't doing a very good job of it. For instance, he's brought back Rufus Scrimgeour, who was head of the Aurors in the war. Some people, and I'm one of them, think that's a sign of poor judgement. What's happening now is different in some important ways to when Voldemort and the Death Eaters were trying to take over the government. Apart from my concerns about Scrimgeour's policies, I don't believe he's equipped to understand those differences, so I expect him to make poor decisions."

Fabian frowned thoughtfully and considered this next bit carefully. There was still a lot he couldn't say to Ginny about the war, mostly because he wasn't comfortable talking about it with anyone who wasn't in the Order, or hadn't been back in the day, really. "Black hasn't been a terrible peacetime Minister, but I don't think he's the right man for the sort of environment we have now. My sense of him is complicated because I was aware of things he did in the war. To me he's not a war hero, and that changes how I view his Ministry, particularly in a time when Death Eaters are rising again."

“I guess there are different views. I didn’t grow up when Lord Voldemort was around. All I have are stories or history books telling me. I guess it is different when you actually lived it. You start seeing people in a different light.” She pushed away her plate after finishing the last of her apple slices. “I am kind of glad I don’t want to get into the Ministry when I graduate. It seems too complicated.”

"I can't be sorry that you don't want to be at the Ministry either. There are a lot of jobs there that need doing, but there are things about it that I'll never trust." Fabian took up the plates and wrapped them up to go back into the hamper along with the rest of the remains of their lunch: napkins and water bottles and the like. "I know you won't really be scouted until next year, but have you settled on what team you're hoping for?"

“I refuse to become boring.” Ginny said in a matter-in-fact voice. She waited for a moment before responding. “Holyhead Harpies. I am aiming for that team.” The team only happened to be Ginny’s favorite quidditch team and she may or may not have posters all over her room of the all girl Quidditch team flying in and out of the posters. “You never know, Uncle Fabian. I may have already been scouted when they come to our games at Hogwarts.”

Fabian nodded at the name, and grinned when Ginny pointed out that they might already be scouting her. Lack of confidence would never be Ginny's problem, and Fabian adored that about her. "Holyhead's a good team. The Prewetts are ancestrally Welsh, you know, so it's sort of a family tradition. When I was a solicitor, back before I was arrested, I had season tickets." He thought about that a bit more. "Have you talked to Gwen? The flying teacher, Professor Jones? She might have some useful things to tell you."

“He asks if I have talked to Professor Jones…” Ginny laughed to herself. “Of course. She gave me tickets. Plus she says my flying skills are superb.” It might not have been those exact words but close enough. Ginny loved Gwen, she was one of her favorite Quidditch Players along with other players like Angelina. “I think I have a chance when Gwen Jones says something like that.”

"If she says you're superb and she thinks you can make it professionally, you've got what it takes. She should know." Fabian hadn't stopped grinning, and he leaned forward conspiratorially to add, "Gwen's kind of amazing, isn't she?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow before a grin appeared on her own face, “And pretty, right?” Did her uncle like-like Gwen? It wouldn’t really surprise her as Gwen was a professional Quidditch player and popular as well. “Uncle Fabian, do you like my professor? You don’t have to be embarrassed.”

"Coooould be." Fabian stretched out the vowel sound to several times its normal length. "She and I have gone out a few times. Dancing, the Muggle cinema, flying--in this very field, as it happens--that kind of thing. The ickle twins' birthday party." His grin faded to a fond smile. "I enjoy her company a very great deal. And yeah, she's gorgeous."

The surprise in Ginny’s face could not be missed. “Like dating? You are dating Gwen Jones? You? Merlin balls.” Ginny couldn’t help but feel happy about this news. It was too early to talk about the possibility of Gwen becoming an Aunt - that was awkward. “Are you keeping it a secret? Or am I just the last one to know?”

There was a thoughtful frown as Fabian considered who knew what when. "I don't know if I've mentioned it to Ron, but everybody who was at the twins' birthday knows we came to the party together. I didn't think we were a big secret, but George and Fred certainly were surprised. Gwen asked me to join her on her birthday outing last month--a big thing with a bunch of other people--and then I asked her out after that because I'd had a good time. It's casual, though.

"You don't think I'm too old for her?" The question was half a joke, but only half.

“So I am the last to know.” Ginny teased. She couldn’t get over the fact that there was nothing in the paper about it. They were doing a very good job at keeping it quiet. “Pssh. No. I am fairly certain Professor Jones has a mind of her own and can certainly date whoever she pleases. Age is only a number. Beside I date...nevermind.” She stood up and stretched. “It is such a lovely day.”

"Oh no no." Fabian pointed at her. "I told, now you have to tell. Who's the lucky fellow?" He was grinning again. "I'll leave it to you to talk to your brothers and your parents, but who is it?" It had occurred to Fabian in mid-sentence that it might not be a bloke. "And it doesn't have to be just one, either. You can date as many as you like. You're in sixth year; it's not like you're about to get married."

“It was awhile ago. I am not dating anyone, not that I am not interested in guys at the moment. He was older than I but he was still in school, and by like three years. Just don’t tell mum.” Ginny laughed at the multiple dating of people. “Dating more than one person is a hassle. Never again. Boys get crazy jealous. And yes, not going to marry for awhile. Graduate first, and play Quidditch. I don’t think any guy can keep up.”

"Good for you." Fabian pushed himself to his own feet and stretched his arms with his fingers laced, cracking his fingers in a way that sounded like a muffled squad of vigilantes apparating away from the scene of a crime. "I never married because I never found the right woman. Came pretty close a couple of times, but the truth is neither of them and I suited and I'd probably have been divorced in five years from either one of them. And if the blokes have problems with you dating more than one, especially right off the bat, they're not good enough for you--or fast enough to keep up."

“You’ll find the right one and soon I’ll have little cousins running around so I can teach them the ways of Quidditch and how to perform the perfect Bat-Bogey Hex.” She smiled at him. “We will go with fast enough. I am my own person and really don’t like when someone tells me what to do. Save my family or elders.”

"I'll try not to tell you what to do unless I'm teaching you or it's otherwise important. I hated being bossed around when I was your age, too. Still do! Speaking of which--" Fabian drew his wand, slowly "--shall we get down to practising dueling?"

Every time Fabian did this, it got a little easier. But he was never going to like pointing a wand at his family and friends, even knowing it was practice and that he was under control. And it was always worst with Ginny, who was now the right age to bring back all his memories of the girl Fabian had accidentally killed all those years ago.

“I guess it comes with the territory of being a youngun.” Ginny also pulled out her wand from where she was keeping in. “Lets.” Her tummy was full and she was ready to focus. She wondered what was in store for this little practising. “Do you want me to mimic you? Or defend as you cast the spells until I get it right?”

"For the wordless, I want you to show me your technique and I'll see what I can do to improve it. For the rest, you and I are going to play tag for a bit. Baby stinging hexes are the order of the day for that, and shield yourself as best you can. I have no doubt you're good and fast, but trying to shield and attack while running is a little more realistic. Really realistic is doing it at night in the rain and mud." Fabian made a face at that. "On my mark, we'll go."