Work Text:
When he was really little, Graeme loved the stories his mother read him of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But what he loved the most about the stories was Lady Guinevere. Lady Guinevere was interesting and brave and caring and so many other things. And Graeme wanted to be like her.
But it was more than just that. Graeme was jealous of Guinevere. Jealous of her ability to be both loved and hated, to fall in love with the knight, and to be her own hero.
It took a long time for Graeme to realize that what he was jealous of was that Guinevere was a girl. He was jealous of the fancy dresses and the long flowing hair and shiny jewelry. He was jealous of her femininity
But he hid it. Boys didn’t get to wear dresses or jewelry. While some boys had long hair, it certainly wasn’t normal. Graeme found that out when he asked Percy to spell his hair longer. Percy had told him “Only girls get long hair like that."
But that’s when he realized he didn’t want to be a boy. As time went on, Graeme wanted more and more to be a girl. And it ate at him.
The Burrow was a house willed to the brim with testosterone, and each of the brothers seemed to want to prove their masculinity. They were constantly wrestling and pulling parks on each other. But the true test of manliness was Quiddich.
All of Graeme’s brothers were good at the sport- and Graeme was too. In fact, he was much better than Ron and Percy (but Percy wasn’t exactly the best in the first place). But that didn’t really help his mental states. Yes, there were female Quiddich players, but the sport as a whole was extremely manly thing. Did it even make sense to secretly want to be female but want to play Quiddich? Wasn’t that contradictory?
So he did nothing. Graeme still played Quiddich and he tried not to think how that contradicted his secret wish to be a girl. He lived his life as a boy. And it destroyed him inside. Until one day he broke.
Graeme found himself staying outside more and more, away from the room he shared and from the rest of his family. And it was one of those days, when Graeme found himself sitting on the ground and writing names in the dirt with a stick. First he wrote the names of his family. Then he wrote names of characters from stories he liked. Then he wrote the name of his favorite character of all. Guinevere. He wrote it over and over. He wrote variations- Gwenevere, Guenever, Gueniveer, Genevieve, Ginevera.
The last name gave Graeme pause. He wrote it a few more times, looking at how each letter curled and crated this word- this name- that seemed to resonate so deeply within.
At that was where he sat, carving the same name over and over again in the dirt until Ron came to get him for dinner. At dinner, Graeme sat at the table quietly. During the summer, the Weasley family dinner table was always a loud and social affair. But during the other times of the year, it was much quieter. With so many children at Hogwarts or off working, the daily dinner table often was just Graeme, his parents, and Ron. So when Graeme was barely touching his potatoes and not speaking, the entire family knew something wasn’t quite right.
Ron rambled for a bit, talking about the Quiddich game on the radio and his excitement about his upcoming birthday.
“Then conversation turned to Graeme.
“What did you do today Graeme?"
He didn’t speak and just stared at his plate.
HIs mom put her hand on his. “Graeme, are you alright?"
He kept his eyes focused on his plate.
“Graeme, dear...
He spoke softly “Please don’t call me that."
“Can you explain why dear?"
“I-“Graeme met his mother’s eyes and look away again. “I don’t want to be a boy anymore. It doesn’t describe me. I’m not a boy. I’m a girl."
There a pause – an awkward silence hanging in the air as everyone processed what was said.
Molly Weasley took her son-no, daughter's hands into her own with a soft smile on her face, “What would you like to be called instead?"
“Ginevra."
“Ginevra. Hmm. I think I had a great aunt named Ginevra. It’s a very beautiful name. It’s a very good name to have."
Ginevra smiled, feeling like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.
“How long have you been holding this in?"
She shrugged. “A year or so."
Her mother stood up and hugger her tightly. “I’m so sorry we didn’t ask sooner. I know in must have just been eating you up on the inside."
“Tomorrow, I’ll go get your name legally changed if you’d like.” She turned as her father spoke up “I have a friend in the department of wizarding affairs- you remember Mr. Harley- and he’ll likely put everything through for me for free."
Ginevra nodded excitedly. This was going much better than she thought it would. There was nothing but love and support coming from her parents.
She glanced over at Ron. He was just sitting with his arms crossed. She sent her brother a confused look.
“I’m to calling you that."
“Ronald Weasley!"
“It’s not like that mom! It’s just that’s such a weird name to say. Can I just can you Ginny or something?"
Ginevra- now Ginny smiled widely with tears now falling down her face. “That would be perfect."
And it was. The next day, Ginny’s mom sent out owls telling all the family the news. They also went to St. Mungo’s where the healers did some stuff that would supposedly allow her to grow up as a girl instead of a boy (Ginny didn’t pay too much attention there. All she knew is after a few spells and a potion, she now had a girl’s body.) And after visiting St. Mungo’s, Ginny and her mother went get Ginny a whole new wardrobe. The items were from a secondhand store, but the were female and they were hers.
But the best of all was where gather came home that night and said her name had been legally changed.
Ginevra Molly Weasley.