A is For Arachnid

"Uncle George, you have to tell us!"

He laughed at the expressions on his little niece's faces.  They were already as much trouble as he and Fred had been.  "Uncle Ron would not be happy."

"But it would be funny."

"Oh, Mols, you are trouble."

"We promise we won't do anything.  We're just curious."

Dominique had not been blessed with the degree of ethereal beauty that her mother and sister possessed, but she had more than enough make it completely impossible to deny her what she really wanted.  George grinned.  It seemed as if his little brother would be mercilessly teased by the next generation of Weasleys as well.  That girly shriek was just too hard to resist.

"Swear on Merlin's wand?"

"We swear."

"All right.  Spiders."

The girls looked disappointed.  "Spiders?"

"Spiders."

Molly snickered.  "Uncle Ron is afraid of spiders?"

"Terrified.  Big, hairy ones and even tiny, leggy ones.  "Now, I have to go open the shop.  You ladies want to come?"

They exchanged a quick glance.  "No, thank you, Uncle George.  We're going to tease the ghoul instead."

He stood up and prepared to Dissapparate.  "Stay out of mischief, girls."

"We will."

Trying to conceal his grin until he was gone, George Dissapparated to his shop.  Maybe he was too old to terrorize his brother, but his nieces were not.

The moment their uncle was gone, Molly turned to her cousin.  "Okay, here's what I'm thinking."

xXxXxXx

"Dom, hurry!" Molly hissed.

Dominique ignored her, focusing on popping open the jar and not letting any of the creatures touch her.  She wasn't afraid of spiders, but she didn't like them.  And she wasn't sure if this particular variety would bite.  She vaguely reflected that they probably shouldn't be putting possibly dangerous bugs in Uncle Ron's shoes.  ("They're not bugs," Lucy would say.)

She shook the jar a little harder and three fat, black spiders fell out.  One dead one followed.  They disappeared under the laces and into the crevices of Uncle Ron's right shoe and she darted towards the door, quick as a cat.

"You forgot the jar!"

Dom skidded to a stop and turned to retrieve the evidence, and the pair hurried out the door and down the stairs, Trying not to wake up Rose, who was napping in Aunt Ginny's old bedroom.  They put on their best innocent faces as they pushed the kitchen door open.
"Uncle Ron, will you play Quidditch with us?"

He nodded and slurped the last of his milk from his cereal bowl.  "Get your cloaks, girls.  I'll get the brooms and find Lucy."

"She won't want to go.  She wants to read."

Aunt Hermione, busy supervising the dishes as they washed themselves, smiled.  "Reading is fun.  An Ron, when you go upstairs, could you wake Rose up and bring her down?  It's time for her morning snack."  

Uncle Ron shared a disgusted grimace with his nieces and the three snickered.  

"Your cloaks are on the rack by the back door, girls," Aunt Hermione said as their uncle left the kitchen.  

The girls did not speak as they sifted through the mass of Muggle jackets and cloaks, straining their ears, hoping that it would work.  If all the spiders had left the shoe and retreated to corners of the room, Uncle Ron might never find them and they'd have to devise a new—

"AIIIIEEEEEE!"

"Oh, what is it this time?" Aunt Hermione said, lowering the dishes into the sink.

Uncle Ron ran into the room, white-faced and spluttering, "sp-sp-spider!"

"Where, Ronald?"

He just pointed at the ceiling.

"Your room?"

He practically fell onto a kitchen chair and nodded, and Aunt Hermione left with a sigh.  A few moments later, her exasperated voice floated down the stairs.  "Ronald, it's just a harmless daddy longlegs."

Dom and Molly exchanged confused glances.  None of the spiders they had hidden had been a daddy longlegs.  

Aunt Hermione reappeared, carrying Uncle Ron's shoes and a yawning Rose.  "It's dead.  Put your shoes on, Ronald."

The cousins watched his shoes closely, but no fat, black body appeared.  As they left, following Uncle Ron to the Quidditch field, Dom felt Molly nudging her.

"Next time," she whispered, "We'll find a tarantula.  We can't lose a tarantula."