Chapter 1
Ginny was sitting in the living room with Lily, both of them reading quietly. She knew Harry, James and Albus would be back soon from their father-sons, male-bonding camping weekend. Even as she heard the car pull up in the driveway, she wasn't prepared for what was coming when the guys came in.
“You've been a pain in my neck ever since the day you were born!”
“Stiff, uptight, repressed-”
“I should have smothered you with your baby blanket back when I had the chance!”
Ginny & Lily both looked at the boys who were fuming at each other, at Harry who just had a defeated look about him, and finally back at each other with bemused looks on their faces until Ginny finally spoke up.
“So, how'd the weekend go, boys?”
Albus just looked at her & laughed incredulously.
“She wants to know how the weekend went, I'll tell you how the weekend went, mum, it was an ungodly nightmare!”
James chose this moment to chime in.
“Well, it wouldn't have been half the nightmare if you hadn't forgotten to close the tent the first night & let that bear in who destroyed everything!”
“Oh, please, he didn't do that much damage and besides, you're the one who dropped all the fishing supplies in the river the next day, so we wound up having to fish with tree branches & our shoelaces!”
“Oh, yeah and who was it that got poison oak from those bushes even though I was yelling at him to run around them?”
“I was just really happy to see the campground again after someone got us lost for three hours after insisting he be in charge of the map & that he knew where we were going!”
“You're an arrogant little snot, you know that, Albus?”
“That's it!”
Albus snapped and tackled his brother to the ground both of them trying to get in a good punch on each other leading Harry to finally step in and break them up.
“All right, knock it off, both of you! This weekend has been very stressful for all involved, I won't deny that! But, I'm sick of you two snapping at each other! Now, go upstairs to your rooms and don't come down until you've both calmed down!”
James and Albus both reluctantly followed what he said and when Harry heard two doors slamming shut upstairs he threw himself down on the couch, trying to relax, both Lily & Ginny unsure of what to say, until Harry spoke up once more.
“Next summer...separate weekend bonding trips.”
