Author's Note: Previously posted in the Super Drabble Tag game, but this was so fun that I thought I'd post it here too. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: NA
Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping War; Hogwarts
Bonus challenge(s): Hola, Jambo, Bonjour; Gryffindor MC; Seeds; Times to Come; Old Shoes; Brush; Summer Vacation; Tiny Terror; Unaccompanied Minors; Themes and Things A (Love); Themes and Things B (Innocence); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Representation(s): NA
Bonus challenge(s): NA
Tertiary bonus challenge: NA
Word count: 708
Hogwarts Submitting Info
House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Assignment #2, Health & Fitness Task #3, Write about a group of people working as a team.
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley (Golden Lion)
List (Prompt): Summer Micro 1 (Running/Jogging)
Small Packages
He burst out of the Burrow, on the kids' heels, and joined them outside as quickly as possible.
"Hey!" Harry said. "Hey, Teddy—Victo—come here… come here, I've got something for you..."
"That's a trick!" Victoire squealed, clutching the little black box against her chest. "We've got to stick together!"
"Sometimes he has candy in his pockets when he comes back from work," Teddy whispered to her.
"It's true," Molly confirmed, nodding. "He gave me a chocolate frog once."
"A chocolate frog? We should go," Roxanne said skipping forwards.
"Thanks guys," Harry said, kneeling to the ground, relieved that the four tiny terrors were all in cooperative moods—either out of the goodness of their own hearts or because something positive was going on in the hive mind they seemed to share. They gathered around him.
"Do you have candy, Uncle Harry?" Molly asked, looking far too innocent with her curls pulled back in a half-ponytail and bows holding up the straps of her dress.
"Yeah, Uncle Harry," Victoire said. "What kind?"
Harry opened his mouth and closed it, hoping the kids couldn't smell fear. Of course, they did. So he opened his mouth and admitted: "No."
"Wow," Victoire said, looking to Teddy accusingly. "Quick, run!"
They squealed in glee and Harry's heart dropped again.
"Wait, wait, wait—I can get you candy, tons of candy," Harry promised. "Chocolate frogs, even!"
"Chocolate frogs," Molly said, grabbing her cousins as she stalled.
"Yes," Harry said. "So many chocolate frogs. You just have to give me back what you took from my bag…"
"No," Roxanne said, ripping it away from Victoire and clutching it to her chest. "It's our treasure."
"Cool," Harry said, trying not to panic. "Cool, cool, cool. But it was my treasure first. I would really like it back."
"It's not treasure, it's a ring. And you don't wear rings," Teddy said.
"It's a treasure I'm going to give to someone," Harry said carefully. He felt as if he was in a hostage negotiation with the Auror Department. He'd be less stressed if that piece of jewelry had been a Horcrux. Why, oh why, did the Weasleys keep producing these small precocious children? Granted, Teddy was his particular addition to the pack, but why had everyone else given him partners in crime? What were they doing to raise them all to be so good at conspiring together and talking each other into mischief?
"Ewe," Victoire said. "That's not what pirates do with treasure."
"I know, but I'm not a pirate," Harry sighed. "That ring is important for other reasons."
"We're gonna ask Aunt Ginny if that's true," Molly decided.
"No!" Harry said, grabbing Teddy and Roxanne by the arms. "No, please don't do that, it's a secret. Ginny… Aunt Ginny's a pirate. If she knows about this ring, she's going to steal it, and we'll never see it again."
"I knew it," Victoire whispered. "That's why she's so cool."
"Exactly," Harry said. "So you've got to give me back the ring that you guys took, alright? That way I can keep it safe."
"That won't work," Molly said. "Aunt Ginny is always with you."
"You two even do kissing," Roxanne said.
"Yeah, it's gross," Teddy said.
"She's gonna find it," Roxanne said.
Harry sighed.
"Don't worry," Victoire said. "We know all about pirates. We can keep this safe for you."
"We can?" Teddy asked.
"Duh," Victoire said. "We can bury it."
"Yeah!" Roxanne said. "Near grandma's potatoes."
"That's good!" Molly said. "Because the garden gnomes don't go there so it'll be super safe."
"Perfect!" Teddy said. "Don't worry, Harry. We got this."
Harry paused for a second and weighed his options.
There were a lot of possible outcomes here.
In about 16 of them, Ginny saw the ring before he wanted her to and before the proposal that they'd discussed and that he'd gotten her all excited for.
In about 24, the entire Burrow saw that thing in the next 30 minutes.
In 53, he never saw that ring again.
In one, he discreetly cast a tracking charm on the ring box, let the kids bury the ring, and quietly enlisted Ron's help to dig it back up later.
"That sounds great," he finally said. "Thank you so much, guys."