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Ginny hopped down from the sail, landing with a thump on the deck. Pain shot up her ankles, but she ignored it.
“Mom, the tear’s fixed!” she yelled, hoping her mother could somehow hear her over the constant commotion on board. Because they had just outrun the British Navy, it was even louder on deck, everyone rushing to fix what had been damaged by their cannonballs.
“Good!” she heard her mother yell back. Molly Weasley was one of the scourges of the seas, along with her husband and Ginny’s father Arthur. They were co-captains of the ship, a rare and deadly combination.
“How’s the mending, Ginny?” Ron asked, punching her in the arm and grinning as he walked past her.
“That Granger girl’s never going to like you, you know,” she shot back. “Why do you even bother with flirting with her?”
“Oh, piss off.”
She smirked. When you grew up with six mischievous pirate older brothers (with the exception of Percy, who was not mischievous or a pirate) you learned to give as good as you got.
Still, she wouldn’t give up her family or their ship/home ( The Burrow ) for the world.
“Oh Ginny, Charlie needs help plugging up a hole in the brig,” Bill said. “I would help, but I already promised Fred and George to go through the loot they stole from the Brits.”
“Got it.”
Ginny hurried down the stairs, passing their shared bedroom and the captain’s cabin before she made it to the brig. Sure enough, her brother Charlie was covering up a hole with a plank of wood. It was already mostly covered, only a slice of sunlight and sea bleeding onto the ship.
“I can take over,” she offered, holding out her hand for the hammer. Charlie smiled gratefully at her and handed it over.
“Thanks. Mom wants me to collect all the cannonballs we can find, for some reason,” he said.
“Thrifty.”
“More like time-consuming. Most of them are probably in Davy Jones’ locker by now.”
Charlie bounded up the stairs, and all of a sudden, Ginny was alone.
She breathed in deep, savoring the feeling. It was rare for her to ever be alone on this ship, so the moments where she was were precious.
She sighed, raising her hammer and starting to finish fixing the hole. That was when she spotted it.
Well, not it. Her.
She was hard to spot, but by then Ginny was quite experienced at it. A shimmer in the water, a flash of platinum blonde, what might be a face in the water. All signs that she had come to visit.
Ginny grinned wide. “Hey Luna.”
Luna’s head popped up above the waves, and she smiled whimsically at her. “Hello, Ginny. It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too. How are things down there?”
“Oh, you know. Wet.”
Ginny laughed, making Luna giggle. She thought it was the prettiest sound she had ever heard.
Luna was a mermaid. They normally didn’t come above the waves, instead staying in their kingdoms at the ocean floor, but Luna was different. Ginny was glad. If she wasn’t different, the two would never have met.
She still remembered it like it was yesterday. Some other pirate ship (the Death Eater , she was pretty sure) had attacked them out of the blue, boarding and dueling them at night. It was unexpected, and Ginny had fought hard, but she had still been thrown overboard.
It wasn’t like she had been in fatal danger. She lived on a boat, she knew how to swim. But she had felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her above water.
“Are you alright?” a melodious voice had asked, and that was when she had met Luna. They had been meeting in secret ever since, because Ginny wasn’t sure how her mother would feel about her meeting with a mermaid. They weren’t hated, just not liked very much. Too many siren stories.
Still, she planned on telling her mom. Soon. She just had to ask Luna if it was okay with her too. Humans weren’t too popular with mermaids, according to her girlfriend.
“I saw the attack,” Luna said. “What happened?”
“Just the Brits again,” Ginny replied, prying the other plank off so she could see her properly. “Not a big deal. We thoroughly thrashed them.”
“Oh, good! Tell me more.”
Luna reached up, and Ginny grabbed her hand. They tried to hold hands whenever they met up. Even though her hand was wet, it was soft and smooth, pale and unscarred against her tanned and marked skin.
“They tried to board, but we kicked most of them off and cut their ropes,” she continued. Luna nodded, her blue-gray eyes wide and enraptured with her story. That was another thing she loved about the mermaid, even though she seemed like she was in her own world most of the time, she was great at paying attention. “I dueled with one of them and knocked him off the boat. They got us with their cannonballs, but Fred and George managed to sneak on their ship and steal some of their loot though. They said it isn’t stealing, since the Brits definitely stole all of that stuff. Mom disapproved, but she definitely agreed with them.”
“Fascinating,” Luna whispered. “I saw some of them fall off the ship, they all got to safety. And your brothers are right, the British do seem to have a case of kleptomania.”
“They totally do,” she said. She swallowed. “Listen, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?” She sounded worried, and Ginny hated it.
“I want to tell my parents about us. Our relationship. I’m tired of hiding.” The words came easily, even though she had spent days agonizing over them, and she closely studied Luna’s face for a reaction.
Luckily, it was a good one. She smiled, wide and happy, and her whole face lit up like a candle in the dark.
“Oh, Ginny!” she said, delighted. “Yes, I would love to tell them about us. And meet your family. It sounds fun!”
Ginny almost sagged over in relief. She considered herself a brave person, but she wasn’t very experienced in the relationship area. “Sounds good. How about tomorrow, at noon?”
“I’ll be there,” Luna promised, squeezing her hand.
“Ginny!!!” she heard someone yell, probably Ron. “What did you do to my hammock?!”
She giggled, turning back to Luna. “I have to go. See you tomorrow?”
She nodded.
Ginny quickly glanced around her, and seeing that no one was there, she leaned down and pressed her lips to Luna’s. She tasted like she always did, salty and somehow fruity, and her lips were so soft.
She dove back under the waves just as Ron bounded down the stairs, yelling and complaining. Ginny ignored him, picking up the hammer and wood again.
Tomorrow, she would tell her parents about their relationship.
Tomorrow, she could kiss Luna again.