Her Six Brothers
Bill
"One at a time, boys, we don't want to wake her up," Arthur said as he ushered his eldest into the master bedroom-turned-nursery.
"Her?" Bill said.
"That's right." Arthur led him over to the empty rocking chair next to Molly and the sleeping bundle in her arms. "Bill, meet your little sister, Ginevra Molly."
Molly handed him the newborn baby. Bill took her cautiously, as if a stranger handed her to him. "Hello...sister. Aren't you a surprise? I thought the Weasleys would have a blonde before we had a girl."
"That's what I thought, too," Molly said. "When did the Weasleys last have a girl, Arthur?"
"Shoot. I forgot to look it up in the family albums last night. It had to be well over a century ago."
"So now we have six boys and one girl," Bill said, still dumbfounded. "So weird."
Molly smiled. "It'll be nice to get a bit more estrogen in this house."
"You always wanted a girl, right Mum?" Bill stroked his sister's cheek.
"I have. Now, you know I love each and every one of you boys, but I think every woman dreams of having a little girl of her own."
"So you can go shopping with her and all that girly stuff?"
"Those things are nice, but there's more to it. There are certain things that a mother shares with her children, and there are other, more special things a mother can share with her daughter. A mother's bond with her daughter is one that cannot be matched with her son."
"I don't think I understand."
"You don't have to, dear. You're my eldest. And that in itself is a bond that cannot be matched with any of your other siblings."
Charlie
"This is your new sister, Ginevra Molly." Arthur took the baby from Molly's arms and placed her in Charlie's. His face immediately lit up.
"Why hello, Ginevra! Aren't you adorable? You're the cutest little sister ever!" He stroked her downy hair, froze, and turned, horrified, to Molly. "Is her hair brown?"
"No, I just gave her a bath. It's definitely red when it's dry."
"Oh, good. Got scared a minute." Charlie pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket. "Look, little sister, I made this for you."
"What is that?"
"A picture I drew while Bill was holding her." He handed it to his mother. "You can hang it in her crib so she has something to look at."
He drew her a bubblegum pink dragon with magenta wings and heart-shaped eyes. Occasionally it breathed a plume of hot pink flames.
"Finally got to use those pink crayons, huh?" Arthur said. He took the parchment over to Ginevra's crib and stuck it along the inside railings.
"Yep! I made it as girly and pink as possible. And I've still got loads of pink left!"
Molly laughed as she took her daughter back into her arms. "At the rate you draw, you could wallpaper her crib within a day."
Molly could not mistake the look that suddenly came over Charlie's face. His artistic gears were suddenly spinning at top speed. "What else do girls like other than pink?"
"Well, it honestly depends on the girl. Some are more girlish than others, and some like the same things boys do."
Somewhat panicked, Charlie turned to his father for help. "I don't know, son. I was wondering the same thing myself last night. Unicorns? Lace dresses? Puffskeins? Those things are cute."
Charlie leapt out of the rocking chair. "Got it! Thanks, Dad. One pink puffskein coming right up!" he bolted down the hallway and into his bedroom, slamming the door so hard the windows shook.
Percy
"This is your new sister, Ginevra Molly—you can come closer. She won't bite."
Percy was still standing in the doorway. "Bill told me girls have cooties. I don't want cooties. What are cooties?"
Molly giggled. "Sisters don't count. And I'm a girl. Do you think I have cooties?"
"No..." He cautiously sat in the rocking chair.
"Do you want to hold her?" Arthur asked.
Percy mumbled something.
"What was that?"
"I don't want to drop her."
"You won't drop her, I promise. I know you'll be careful like you always are."
"Okay." Percy opened his arms onto his lap and Arthur slowly lowered the baby into them.
"She's heavy," Percy said. "But she's really cute." He slipped his finger into his sister's tiny hand, intrigued by the impossibly small fingers, nails, and knuckles. "Was I ever this little?"
"Of course you were," Molly said. "Everyone starts out that little. You were actually the smallest out of your brothers—only six pounds. Even the twins were a bit heavier than you."
"You were never that little, were you, Mummy?"
"Of course I was! Both me and Daddy and every other wizard and Muggle in the world starts out as a baby in their Mum's tummy."
"But how do the babies get inside Mum's tummy?"
When Fred and George were born, Bill and Charlie asked. Yet Molly never seemed to be prepared for the question.
"I'll answer that one," Arthur said.
Fred and George
"Slow down, boys, you're gonna wake her up!"
Fred and George sped into the room, jammed themselves into the chair, and started rocking wildly.
"What's his name?" George asked.
"Freddicus Gideonicus." Fred answered. They laughed in their identical cackle.
"Shhhh." Arthur raised a finger to his lip. "It's not a boy. It's a girl. This is your new sister, Ginevra Molly."
"A girl? Nuh-uh!"
"Quick, check its ears!"
"Boys, please—"
Fred crouched down next to the baby's head and squinted into her ear. "Looks like a girl to me."
George nudged his brother out of the way. "But she doesn't have earrings! Girls have earrings."
"Hello! Baby!" Fred was still talking into his sister's ear. "Where's your earrings?"
"They're on the outside, Fred."
Ginevra squirmed, yawned hugely, and opened her eyes to her looming identical brothers.
"It's alive! AHHH!" They ran out of the nursery before Arthur could catch them. Ginevra started to cry as Arthur chased them down the hall.
"There, there, it's okay," Molly soothed. "They're just a bit silly, that's all. I promise Fred and George love you as much as the rest of us do. They may have a funny way of showing it, like putting rubber snakes in your bed or tying your dresser drawers shut. So don't let their antics bother you. But if they do, remember, you are their sister. You can give it right back to 'em!"
Ron
Arthur carried his youngest son into the nursery. A stuffed bunny rabbit was dangling by the ear out of Ron's mouth. Ginevra had calmed down, but was now wide awake. Arthur sat in the rocking chair and turned Ron towards his little sister.
"Daaa wa na mngb ee?" Ron asked through a mouthful of bunny ear.
"No, it's not a little boy. It's a little girl! Her name is Ginevra Molly."
"Say hi, Ronnie!" Molly chirped.
Ron was speechless. Arthur waved his tiny hand for him.
"Can you say Gin-ev-ra?"
"Ja ja ja."
"Gin-ny?"
"Gi-GEE!" he squealed. He reached out towards his baby sister. "Gi-gee. Gi-gee!"
"Let me get the camera. Ron'll want to remember this." He placed Ron in Molly's other arm and got the camera from the top shelf of the bedroom closet. "Ronnie, look here and smile!"
Molly smiled for the camera, but Ron was too focused on his baby sister to look away. He curiously ran his hand down her tiny, smooth arm. He laid his hand next to hers and she grabbed his thumb. The chewed-up bunny had now fallen out of Ron's lap, but he didn't seem to notice. He was far more interested in "Gi-gee. Gi-gee."
"Big brother Ronnie and little sister Ginny," Molly said. "Best friends from the very start."
"Aww, too cute. Maybe we should have more kids!" Arthur joked.
The glare Molly sent him was the reaction he knew he'd get. "Don't you think seven is plenty?"
"More than plenty for some, but just the right number for us. Can you imagine the family reunions when they all grow up and have kids? They won't all fit in the house!"
Molly smiled and sighed. "Somehow, they will. And it will all be wonderful."
"Wonderful? Seven children, six daughters- and one son-in-law, and probably two or three grandchildren between them all? That's close to 50 people, including ourselves! Do you know how many pumpkin hors d'oeuvres that is?"
"I don't care," Molly said, cradling her linked-at-the-thumb son and daughter. "I wouldn't have it any other way."