“What do you think, Ginny? Green or blue?” Alexa asked as she held the two tops and held them over herself for a few seconds to compare.

“Mmm. Show me again.”

Alexa did so.

“I like the blue one more I think,” Ginny said.

“Great,” Alexa said as she hung the green one back on the hanger, “Classic Ravenclaw. Stupid Slytherin, I used to like wearing green and now it just feels weird. Now we got to go with bathing suits! I can’t believe you still only have just the one that my parents gave to you. We’ve got to get you some variety!”

The two of them drifted over to the swimwear and Ginny mostly went for the ride as Alexa babbled and told Ginny which ones would look best. Ginny was used to everyone wearing drab robes all the time with little accents of color in the color of their school houses, so the clothing being so colorful was all very strange for her. Even Harry and the Dursleys had all worn rather drab clothes. Nothing like what was in this shop that Alexa had taken Ginny to. Molly and Mrs. Adams were chatting on the other side of the store as Alexa and Ginny ran around and tried things on in the store.

Even though Ginny didn’t know much about which clothes were best, it was fun to be swept up with Alexa’s excitement and try new things on to show them off to Alexa for her opinion.

By the time they left the store, Ginny had more clothes than she would probably ever need. But it would be exciting to have some more variety of things to wear rather than the same ones she already had over and over.

After they were done shopping, they went over to Alexa’s house. The adults went inside leaving Ginny and Alexa outside with two bicycles that Mr. Adams had taken out of the garage for them.

“We can go ride around! I’ll show you around the neighborhood!” Alexa said excitedly as she slung her leg over the bike to sit.

“Uhm, Alexa…” Ginny said, “I’ve never used a bike before.”

Alexa paused and looked back at Ginny.

“Wait, really? You haven’t?”

“No, I don’t think we even own one. And uh. Harry never learned. Is it hard?”

“Well, it’s… Once you get it it’s not that hard. But I learned it a while ago. Here I’ll try to teach you.”

Alexa got off her own bike and the two of them gathered around the other one. Alexa grabbed the handle bars and her muscles tensed as she took a wider stance to hold it up.

“Okay, just get on,” She said. Ginny carefully lifted her leg and shifted in place until she was sitting on the seat of the bike. She lifted her feet and put them on the pedals carefully and grabbed the handle bars as Alexa held her up and removed the little metal kickstand holding the bike up.

“So to turn you can just lean a bit,” Alexa said, “Or turn the handlebars to the side. These two little levers on the handles are the breaks, just pull those if you’re going too fast…”

Alexa started walking the bike forward on the driveway as Ginny cautiously let the petals move below her feet. She shifted her hands so she was gripping the brake levers on the handlebars with her fingers.

“Okay, try turning!”

Ginny twisted the handlebars to the side and despite Alexa’s arms trembling a bit as they took on the weight, Ginny managed to make a very side turn so they were facing back towards the house before they went into the street.

“Okay, try pedaling yourself! Just keep going and don’t stop, as long as you keep moving the bike won’t fall.”

Ginny started pushing down with her feet and the bike started stuttering forward. Alexa jogged slightly to keep up while still holding the handlebars of the bike to stabilize Ginny as she picked up speed.

Suddenly Alexa let go and Ginny started panicking. Ah! The bike was wobbling side to side!

“Keep pedaling!” Alexa said, “Don’t slow down yet!”

Ginny pressed down with her feet harder and the bike moved a bit faster. The wobbling went down slightly and the bike was moving forward almost on its own! Ginny kept going, but began to panic as she was about to reach the garage. Ah, what should she do? If she slowed down then she’d fall, but she was going to hit the garage door if she didn’t do something!

“Brake, brake!” Alexa said as she jogged after Ginny from behind.

Ginny pulled hard on the brakes and slid to a stop. Then the bike began to tilt over and Ginny fell onto the hard driveway with the bike pinning her leg as it fell completely to the side.

Alexa came over and lifted the bike as Ginny inspected her elbows. They were all scraped up with red streaks where she had hit the ground. Ow.

“Sorry,” Alexa said sheepishly, “I shouldn’t have let go. We should get your mom to heal that, then I’ll see if my dad still has the training wheels he can put on so you can practice.”

“Okay.”

They spent the rest of the day with Alexa teaching Ginny how to bike, the training wheels now making Ginny feel much more secure as they went around the neighborhood and Alexa showed her some cool rocks or streams in a more wooded area of the neighborhood nearby. Ginny promised to do the same when Alexa came over to her house.

After an hour or two, Ginny was feeling good enough the she and Alexa had Mr. Adams take off the training wheels again. Alexa and Ginny went out biking again. Ginny only fell three or four times more before getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Molly healed all of Ginny’s scrapes and bruises from when she’d fallen over the day. Molly and Ginny said goodbye as it began to grow dark, and then returned home.

The next week Alexa and Jack came over to the Burrow for Saturday, and Ginny showed them around outside to the woods and other little spots around the property.

“Oh, what’s this Ginny?” Jack said, “It looks like there’s words carved on this rock.”

Ginny’s brow furrowed for a moment in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, it’s probably nothing! Let’s keep going!” She said quickly only to see that Alexa had drifted over and was inspecting the rock too.

“Wait, is this what I think it is?” Alexa said, “You made this?”

Ginny sighed. It had been so long that she had forgotten that this was the spot was where she had carved it.

“Yeah,” She said as she stepped forward to look at the carved words herself, “It’s Harry’s gravestone. I thought that he would like to have it here. At the house where I have a family that cares about me. Sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the mood…”

“No, it’s fine,” Jack said absently as they all stared at the stone, “Harry Potter. 1980-1989. I Won’t Forget You. Rest in Peace. It’s good. I’m sure he would have liked it.”

“Yeah,” Alexa said softly.

None of them said anything for a while.

“Well, uhm. I have more to show you?” Ginny asked uncertainly, “If you want.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, dragging his eyes away from the grave.

“Show us, Ginny,” Alexa said, much less excited than she had before, “I’m sure it’ll be cool.”

“Oh, uh. Well there’s a bee’s nest over this way hanging up in the tree…” Ginny said as the three of them walked away from Harry’s grave. Jack and Alexa were a little more thoughtful for the rest of the day, although they cheered up a bit after Fred and George roped all of them into a big quidditch game together.

Both Alexa and Jack weren’t great and both went on Fred’s team. Meanwhile it was just Ginny and George on their own against them. Ginny was good on a broom but not nearly as good as either of the twins were. So the three on two actually ended up being pretty even and they were all having fun by the end of it despite the old rickety family brooms that they were all riding.

The five of them landed after the games petered out with Ginny and George just barely eking out a final victory, making them the ultimate winners of the whole thing.

“Alright! High five, sis!” George said, “Beat them two on three!”

Ginny slapped his hand and smiled.

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“What do you think of Quidditch now, Alexa?” Fred asked, “I hear that you’re not a fan.”

“Well, that was pretty fun.” Alexa said, “But you know what we didn’t have? A golden snitch! It makes all that other great gameplay worthless. In the games we’ve gone to, Gryffindor’s always smoked Ravenclaw in the score, just for Cho Chang to catch the snitch and win the whole game anyway. Doesn’t feel very fair.”

Fred grimaced, “Ugh, don’t remind us. Wood was absolutely furious that we couldn’t find a good seeker. Yeah alright fair point there. But the game itself was still pretty fun right?”

“Yeah, it was pretty good,” Alexa said easily, “I think I still like football better, but it was way more fun than I expected it to be.”

“I suppose that’s the best we’re going to get, brother,” George said, “We’ve surpassed Alexa’s low expectations.”

“Hey, I wasn’t saying that! It’s just…”

Fred and George kept talking with Alexa to argue the merits of football versus Quidditch as Jack and Ginny mostly just listened.

“Well, you can’t even say anything!” Alexa finally said, “You haven’t even played a game yet.”

“We can fix that,” Ginny said suddenly and everyone looked at her.

“Bring your ball next time you come back tomorrow, Alexa! We can play a game and compare!” Ginny said.

The next day, they played a game of football with Alexa’s ball and two goals that Dad transfigured into existence with his wand. The adults got some chairs and sat outside and watched as everyone, even Ron, joined in on the football game.

Much to Alexa’s frustration, Fred and George still absolutely dominated the game. Alexa was far more skilled than them, but they were much taller and faster and could reach the ball before she could.

After a while, some of the adults even joined in on the fun. Alexa’s dad and mom were really good and had to be put on the losing team whenever one of them joined in. And even then they still sometimes were still too good so they had to put more people on the opposite to balance it out again.

Jack’s dad was decent, but clearly had trouble handling it when someone tried to steal the ball from him. So he never ended up holding the ball between his feet for very long.

Jack’s mom was pretty bad. She actually missed one of her kicks and fell completely over at one point. Jack’s Dad had teased her a bit and she had left the field blushing slightly after her mistake. Alexa tried to convince her to come back in, but Jack’s mom planted her butt firmly in one of the chairs and declared that she’d have more fun watching everyone else play instead.

Dad was fascinated by the game and kept asking Alexa’s parents questions about all of the rules as the adults watched them play. When he joined he did okay but quickly was huffing and puffing, out of shape.

Ginny reached out her leg and stole the ball from Dad as he was about to kick it towards the goal.

“Ginny!” Dad called out with his face red and breathing heavily, “Ah, I’ll get you!”

Ginny giggled as she kept dribbling the ball away from her huffing and puffing dad who was giving chase. She drew back her leg when Dad was almost on her and kicked as hard as she could at the goal.

George dived to the side, but the ball bounced slightly and slipped through his hands and made it through.

“Ha! Goal!” Ginny said with a smile. She turned around and saw Dad with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily even if he was still smiling slightly.

“Oof. Haven’t run this much… in years,” He puffed, “I’m going to go sit down now.”

“Okay, Dad,” Ginny said before turning to everyone else who was playing, “HEY GUYS! Dad’s taking a break. New teams.”

They kept playing, everyone having fun. Everyone but Molly. She sat there and watched, but looked vaguely uncomfortable at what was happening. Especially when one of the boys was rough with Ginny or Alexa and knocked them down by accident. She had yelled at the boys the first couple times but after Ginny and Alexa calmed her down and told her that it was part of the game, Molly didn’t interrupt any more. At least as much.

Molly was a much more traditional wizarding person than Dad was, so she probably wasn’t used to seeing everyone roughhousing a bit during the game since they had to get so close to steal the ball from each other. People shoved with their elbows, kicked shins by accident while trying to steal the ball, it was all rather intense for all of them.

But it was fun.

Molly was the only one that never joined the football game to play, only watching from the chairs that had been set up the whole time. But she helped heal all their little scrapes and bruises and brought out cold drinks for everyone, which was nice.

— — —

“Yeah, so just lay like that,” Ginny said as Jack lay on the couch uncomfortably on his side, “Stay right there. Go ahead, Fawkes.”

Fawkes lifted his wing and started rubbing it on Jack’s head. Ginny and Alexa sat in nearby chairs and watched as Jack relaxed as Fawkes continued.

“Mmmmhhh. That is nice,” Jack said as Fawkes kept petting him.

“I like it,” Ginny said, “Fawkes has really got it in his head recently that we’ve got to be equal about it. So he’s been insisting on petting me all the time instead of me petting him. I don’t mind that much.”

After a few minutes Alexa stood up and poked Jack in the stomach. *Oof* Jack grunted and curled inwards at Alexa’s surprise attack.

“Greedy! My turn, Jack. I want the phoenix to pet me!” she said.

“You could have just asked,” Jack protested as he shifted slightly on the couch.

“Not fast enough,” Alexa proclaimed after a second of Jack remaining on the couch unmoving, appearing reluctant to give up his spot. She jumped over Jack and with a heavy impact landed behind him. Now she was lying sandwiched between him and the back cushions as Jack rolled back slightly now that Alexa was pressing the couch cushions down. Alexa shoved and prodded Jack with her fingers until he sat up and stood off of the couch and moved to sit in the chair that Alexa had just left. Alexa quickly wriggled so her head was on the arm of the couch and was right next to where Fawkes stood.

“Do me next, Fawkes!” Alexa said.

Fawkes hesitated for a moment before petting Alexa next. Alexa closed her eyes and melted into the couch.

“Ahhh. So warm…” she murmured.

Mrs. Adams came over and peered down curiously at the phoenix brushing his wing down the side of Alexa’s head.

“Oh? Is this Fawkes, the phoenix you won’t stop talking about, Alexa?”

“Yep,” Alexa said, her eyes still closed, “Shush Mom, Ginny will introduce him to everyone later. Right now we’re taking turns letting him pet us.”

Mrs. Adams raised an eyebrow and watched for a moment as Fawkes lifted his wing at the top of Alexa’s head and started brushing it down again.

“Er, uhm. That’s nice, honey,” She said, “I’ll leave you to it then. You’re right, Alexa. That’s quite a handsome bird there.”

Fawkes puffed up proudly and Ginny had to suppress her laughter as Mrs. Adams turned away and wandered back over to the kitchen where all the other adults were talking.

— — —

“Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Mr. and Mrs. Anverts. You haven’t met my phoenix Fawkes yet. He’s very intelligent. He’s a magical beast, so he is as intelligent as a person even if he can’t speak to anyone but me. But he can understand what we say,” Ginny said. She grabbed Fawkes from where he sat in his chair and lifted him so he was standing on the edge of the table so Jack and Alexa’s parents could get a good look at him.

“Does he- I mean, hello Fawkes?” Mr. Anverts said, slightly confused.

Fawkes chirped.

“He says hello.”

Fawkes chirped again. Ginny didn’t say anything.

“What did he say?” Mr. Anverts asked.

“He’s just being silly again,” Ginny asked, “I think he’s doing it on purpose.”

“Well, what was it?”

Ginny sighed.

“He doesn’t understand why any of us are wearing clothes since we could be using heating charms instead and be ‘more in tune with nature’. I’ve tried to explain to him a million times that we can’t go running around naked everywhere, but he just doesn’t get it. He’s been bringing it up everytime he sees someone with different clothing for the last few weeks, like that button up shirt that you’re wearing, Mr. Anverts.”

“Oh,” Mr. Anverts said and an awkward silence fell over the room for a moment as everyone stared at Fawkes.

Fawkes chirped.

“Fawkes, you don’t have to get it. But you don’t have to ask every time you meet a new person!” Ginny said, “I can’t believe you made me say that to them.”

Fawkes let out a long trill.

Ginny folded her arms across her chest and glared at Fawkes,

“Me having you ride on my shoulder that time was not embarrassing. It was very dignified. You don’t even know how hard I had to resist acting like a pirate, but I didn’t because I knew it would upset you. And I didn’t hear you protesting while I was doing it. I would have just put you down if you didn’t like it.”

Chirp.

“Whatever, Fawkes. You could have just told me, no need to be a jerk about it. Sorry, he’s been in a weird mood for the last few weeks,” Ginny apologized to the adults, “But you can talk to him like a person. He knows enough to bob his head up and down for yes or side to side for no, at least if he’s in the mood to talk to somebody.”

“Oh. Okay,” Mrs. Adams said, recovering from the sudden awkwardness around the table.

“So, Fawkes. You’re a phoenix, is it true that you get reborn from ashes? All the old legends about rebirth and all?”

Ginny carefully picked up Fawkes and placed him back in his chair. She’d scold him later for what he’d done, but when they were back in their room, not now.

Fawkes bobbed his head up and down in response to Mrs. Adams' question.

The tension broke and everyone started eating the meatloaf that Molly had made for everybody.

Everybody silently moved past Fawkes’ awkward start to the dinner and started talking with each other and fell into easy conversation. After dinner Alexa, Jack, and their parents left and went home.

When they were back in their room Ginny yelled at Fawkes for how rude he was at dinner. He argued back to defend himself for a minute, but at seeing her anger grudgingly apologized and told her that he wouldn’t do that again.

Ginny lay in bed under the covers. Fawkes jumped on the bed and nuzzled his face against hers.

“Go to your stand, Fawkes,” Ginny said in annoyance without looking at him, “That wasn’t cool at dinner. I was so embarrassed. I had to say it too, or it would be like I wasn’t letting you talk when I said I’d translate for you. You better mean that apology.”

Fawkes chirped sadly and nuzzled her more with his head.

“Fawkes… You know that I always see us as equals, right?” Ginny said while staring at the wall, “Friends? I know you’ve been insecure about it and everything recently. That I’ll treat you like a dumb pet because I pet you and carry you around and things. You know I never meant it like that, even from the very beginning. If you don’t like something then you can just tell me.”

Fawkes chirped in understanding and a little apology.

“Okay. I’m going to sleep now.” She rolled over more and shut her eyes. She felt Fawkes’ warm form press against her back.

“No, go to your stand,” Ginny said, “You’re still in trouble. Maybe tomorrow.”

Fawkes chirped sadly but then in a rustle of wings flapped over to his birdstand standing in the corner of the room. He gripped it in his claws, tucked his head into his wing, and then shut his eyes.

Both of them drifted off to sleep. Ginny had already forgiven Fawkes, but he didn’t know that yet. She’d have to make him feel it for a little bit before giving in and making up with him again.