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When Gilbert Weasley is two years old, he begins sneaking Percy’s shirts out of the laundry. When his mother asks him why he insists on wearing his brother’s shirts, he looks at her and says “Dess!” as if it should be obvious.
It isn’t obvious at all, until Fred figures it out. “He’s saying ‘dress,’ Mum.”
Arthur cocks his head and regards his youngest child. Yes, Percy’s shirt fits him like a particularly long, tent-like dress – like one of those Muggle mo-mos. He stoops down and smiles at Gilbert. “You don’t have to steal Percy’s shirts, little bug. You can have dresses if you want them.”
Gilbert immediately pulls the shirt off and drops it on the floor, causing Percy’s right eye to twitch. “Dess peez now.”
“We don’t have any yet!” Molly protests, but her baby looks so happy that she can’t help a little smile. She picks Gilbert up. “Come upstairs, darling. We can remake something of mine for now.”
“That’s not fair!” George protests. “Does this mean the Bug doesn’t have to wear hand-me-downs like the rest of us?”
Charlie rumples George’s hair. “Smart kid, ain’t he?”
*****
When Gilbert Weasley is three years old, he stops letting Molly cut his hair. “No!” he says stubbornly, ducking the charmed scissors and sliding off the chair. “Bug want long hair. Long like Mummy.”
Molly shrugs and puts the scissors away. “One less job for Mummy,” she says brightly, kissing his forehead. “Run along and play, and keep your new dress clean. The Lovegoods are coming for dinner tonight.”
“Bug love Luna,” Gilbert says solemnly. “Bug and Luna get married when we grown up. Maybe when we twelve!”
Arthur, who’s been trying to get a Muggle coffee maker to work in their kitchen, pokes his head out. “Just make sure Luna wants to marry you.”
*****
When Gilbert Weasley is four years old, he takes his mother’s hand and leads her to the sofa in the sitting room. “Mummy, I have a ‘portant ‘nouncement. I want to tell you first.”
He holds her hands in his and looks at her gravely. “I don’t think I’m a boy,” he says, voice hushed and eyes wide. “I think I’m a girl.”
Molly thinks about this for a moment. “Well, then, you have a big job to do.” She cups Gilbert’s face in her hands and kisses her nose. “You have to pick a new name.”
*****
Molly loves all her children just as they are, mischievous or prim or interested only in dragons. But that night in bed, in the dark, she says, “I feel guilty for being happy to finally have a daughter, Arthur. What if it means I didn’t love him – I mean, her – before?”
“Oh, Moll-my-doll, of course you loved him.” He rolls onto his side and strokes her cheek. “And now you love her.”
*****
Choosing a new name is serious business. Every day at dinnertime, the boys offer suggestions, some more serious than others. Fred and George, back from a day exploring muggle London with Arthur, suggest “Nutella,” and it meets with Gilbert’s approval until Arthur explains what Nutella is.
Gilbert flings mashed potatoes at her brothers - then demands Arthur bring home some Nutella.
The Great Name Hunt, as Bill calls it, lasts for nearly half a year until a rainy fall evening when Percy nudges his sister. “What do you think of ‘Ginevra’?”
Gilbert ponders for a moment as she chews, then swallows and nods. “I want to be Ginevra.”
The Weasleys have a party to mark the occasion of Gilbert becoming Ginevra. Luna sleeps over, and she and Ginny stay up half the night giggling and whispering in the bedroom Ginny has had to herself since the “‘portant ‘nouncement.”
*****
When Ginny Weasley is eleven years old, she and Luna troop off to Hogwarts together. Being sorted into different houses is disappointing, but they manage to stay as close as ever. Ginny has developed a crush on Harry Potter, which only intensifies after she watches him play Quidditch for the first time.
“I can’t believe he was raised by Muggles,” she gushes. “It’s like he was born on a broom with a Snitch in his hand.”
“Wrackspurts are afraid of heights,” Luna muses. She finishes the flower crown she’s been making and sets it on Ginny’s head. “Maybe that’s why he likes to fly so much.”
Ginny suddenly feels vaguely guilty and isn’t sure why. “I’m sorry I talk about him so much.”
Luna pats Ginny’s hand. “We can still get married,” she says comfortingly. “Harry’s nice. I don’t think he’ll mind.”
*****
When Ginny Weasley is fifteen years old, Harry kisses her in the Gryffindor common room, and at first, Ginny is giddy with what she thinks is love. It lasts for about two weeks, until the night she’s lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and planning her wedding to Harry. Luna is there, of course, helping her work out every last detail, and it all proceeds exactly as expected...until it’s time for the vows and she realizes that she’s standing across, not from Harry, but Luna.
Ginny sits up in bed, stunned. “Merlin’s saggy ball sack. I really do want to marry Luna.”
*****
When Ginny Weasley is nineteen years old, she marries her best friend in a cozy ceremony at the Burrow. She passes under an arch made up of brooms held aloft by her teammates from the Harpies, and Harry is her best man. Luna’s waiting for her, radiant in a concoction of cornflower blue silk and silver tulle that only she could carry off, and Ginny falls in love all over again.
The wedding night is a bit…unconventional. “I don’t mind doing sex if you want, but it’s not something I find interesting,” Luna had told Ginny earnestly when they’d gotten engaged. “I know you’re very sexy,” she’d hastened to add. “Everybody says so. It’s just that sexiness isn’t important to me.”
Ginny had suspected something along those lines for a while, and she’d assured Luna that this was just fine with her. Thus, they spend their wedding night in a Muggle hotel, snuggled together in a sinfully comfortable bed, watching period dramas on the television and drinking far more champagne than is good for them. Luna, having never seen a television before, is enthralled, and Ginny is reminded again of how very lucky she is that this adorable, ethereal creature has chosen her to spend a lifetime with.
They finally settle down to sleep after giggling and whispering for half the night, just as those two little girls did so long ago. As Ginny drifts off to sleep, big spoon to Luna’s little spoon, it occurs to her that the question of sex may come up again in the future.
She’s not worried. They’ll deal with it if it happens, and they’ll do it together.
In the end, that’s all that matters.