Ginny bounced up, face determined. "Yes! I swear, I almost had you that time! If I had broken through that last shield I would have won."
Luna smiled a dreamy smile. "I'm sure you would have, Ginny."
The two lined up again.
Ginny crouched, arms bent out in front of her, fingers spread like the claws of a cat.
Luna spun in a circle, tossed her handkerchief into the air, turned back to her, and brought her hands into the pose that Ginny had started to think of as Luna's 'Good girl' fighting stance, hands held together straight down, shoulders back, legs together. Really, all she needed was a parasol and a bonnet. The handkerchief floated to the ground.
The duel started.
There was a large flash of red light.
Ginny shielded… and blackness took her.
…
Consciousness faded back. Ginny looked up. "Try again, Ginny?"
The bread was in the oven and Ginny was sweeping the kitchen free of flour. She stopped.
She looked around.
She opened herself to magic, felt the air around her, looked at the broom in her hands… and frowned. Now, where exactly would her parents keep it?
The landing beyond her bedroom door was as dark as the night outside her bedroom window. Ginny sneaked up the hallway to the stairs that led to the upper floors, all the while feeling for any wards or magical trip lines her parents might have put up.
She didn't find any all the way up the stairs. Nor did she find any past her parent's bedroom door. Her dad was snoring loudly, a trait that apparently passed in Weasley males, and which made her very glad she had a room to herself.
The stairs up to the attic was similarly unguarded, until she got to the very top. As she opened the trap door to the Burrow's topmost floor, she heard the telltale sound of the ghoul that lived there. It snuffled and snorted in its sleep. Ginny felt her magic respond to her command. A bolt of red light shot towards it and the stillness of the sleeping instantly became the stillness of the stunned.
Ginny looked around and saw a likely trunk in the corner. It was reasonably new and the dust on the floor showed evidence of an occasionally used path leading to and away from it.
She took a step towards it and stilled. Her magic senses tingled.
She felt the magic wash through her like a stream, just like the flow of water Harry had so many times primed her to feel, right in front of her.
Her hands raised and moved across the face of the magical obstacle.
She narrowed her eyes.
This wasn't like a trip line.
This was like a ward.
Not something she was ready to tackle yet. She sighed.
Guess she'd have to keep trying to beat Luna instead then. The moon was full.
Somewhere in a thicket of plum bushes two girls sidestepped and cast, shielded and dove.
A stunner hit Luna's shield. It held.
A stunner hit Ginny's shield. It shattered. Ginny cursed, and fell.
The moon was a sliver off full.
Luna threw a plum into the air.
Ginny aimed with her fingers spread. The tips of her hand glowed white. A stinging hex fired towards the falling plum. It hit. The plum exploded. "Again."
Luna threw another plum.
Ginny aimed again and again the plum exploded. She closed her eyes.
"Now."
She snapped open her eyes. Two plums reached the top of their arc. She flung both hands up. One plum exploded. The other failed to connect with her hex and fell to the ground with a sad little splot noise.
They both stared at it. Ginny grimaced. "Not that good yet, I suppose."
Luna smiled. "I guess not."
The moon was gibbous. Ginny panted as she faced of against her serenely smiling opponent.
She swore she was getting better. Her stunners felt sharper. Her stingers felt crisper. She felt the magic flowing up and down her blood vessels, nerves, and muscles like a tide. Back and forth. Back and forth. Magic under her command. Magic under her mastery. She flung her hand forward and loosed a stunner.
Luna side stepped.
She snap adjusted her aim and loosed a stinger.
Luna shielded.
Ginny narrowed her eyes. She brought both hands up straight in front of her. Luna tilted her head.
Stunner, stinger, stunner, stinger, stunner, stinger, stunner, stinger, her hands flashed red, white, red, white, faster and faster, bolts slamming into Luna's shield like a boxer's fist flurry.
Luna stood her ground.
All too soon, Ginny felt her magic drained from her body, now refilling directly from her core, weaker, less potent, and still Luna's shield held.
Ginny said a bad word.
Luna raised her other hand. Her fingers glowed red.
Ginny didn't even try to dodge.
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