Ginny and Hermione, who had arrived days after Ginny's thirteenth birthday, were sitting in the garden awaiting the boys' return. Ginny had suggested a game of Quidditch before they left. Hermione didn't seem all too fond of the idea, but the boys were game, of course. Ginny still had a feeling they expected her to cheer them on from the ground. Ginny pulled some grass out of the ground. "Don't your parents miss you?"

Hermione looked up from her book, the corner of her lips curling into a frown. "What do you mean?"

Ginny twirled one of the torn blades of grass around her finger before shredding it into smaller pieces. "Well, it isn't like Ron or I, or even Harry for that matter, have tried to come to your house. You always come to us. You're at school all year, then you go home for a few weeks before you come here, and then you're back at school. It's like they hardly see you. Don't they miss you?"

"Yes, of course they do," Hermione replied, but her voice shook.

"I'm surprised they still let you come here for the rest of the summer. Mum wouldn't even let me sleep at Luna's house, and she lives just over the hill."

Both were silent for a moment as Hermione seemed to be deep in thought. Ginny wondered if she had upset her; she hadn't meant to. She had mostly just been wondering out loud. Worried about the tense look on Hermione's face, Ginny bit her lip and thought of something to say, except Hermione was the first to speak. "I think, possibly, it's because... Well, I belong here, don't I? I'm a witch. I think they want me to be around other witches. It's not like I had many friends before. They're busy right now, too, with work."

Ginny nodded, happy for the company. Before Hermione arrived, Ginny had cleaned her room three times over. Not that she needed to, of course. It wasn't like Harry would be sleeping in her room.

It wasn't all her fault. She was bored to death. Percy had locked himself in his room all summer, Ron had also been too excited about Harry visiting, and Fred and George were being... Well, very mysterious. Even on her birthday, they acted strangely when she wanted them to entertain her. "Honestly, Ginny, it's not that we don't want to play with you," George said.

"Except we don't," Fred interrupted.

George shot him a look and continued, "it's just that we're busy with... With school work. And a few extra projects. Plus we don't want you getting involved in these things because you're too young."

"But I can help!" Ginny tried to convince them. "Give me a job."

"Fine, Ginny," George said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just keep mum away from here. Or warn us whenever she's close. Alright?" She didn't even have time to answer. He shut the door in her face. Ginny sighed.

That had been over a week before. She knew now that they were probably trying to remake everything their mother had destroyed. Now, Ginny lay in the garden, enjoying a nice breeze and the way the grass tickled her legs. Harry and Hermione were going to be coming to her house today. Her father had gotten the tickets to the Quidditch World Cup. Despite her loneliness, everything was going right. Now, she and Hermione sat in the garden watching Crookshanks hunt gnomes. "Did you hear something?" Hermione asked, pulling Ginny out of her daydream of what she would say when she saw Harry, which would of course be something cool and flirty.

She sat up and realized that there were a lot more people in the kitchen than before. Hermione stood, and Ginny followed. Walking through the door, Ginny knew something was wrong. The air was very tense. "Tell me what, Arthur?" she heard her mother say. Hermione and Ginny stepped in right behind her very curiously. Ginny saw Harry and smiled. She felt her face burn when he smiled back and just hoped her face didn't look like a Christmas ornament. Mrs. Weasley repeated herself and Ginny knew there would be trouble for everyone if she didn't get an answer soon.

Her father mumbled something about Fred and George. Ginny could almost feel hell breaking loose. Her mother started. Hermione looked to Ron imploringly and said, "Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping?"

He didn't get the hint, of course. "He knows where he's sleeping. In my room, he slept there last-"

"We can all go," Hermione said with more finality.

"Oh, right," said Ron. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"We'll come, too!" George tried, but their mother was not going to let this slip.

Ron and Ginny led Harry and Hermione up the stairs. Harry was the first of them to say anything. "What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Ginny could not help but laugh while Ron explained Fred and George's joke items.

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages," she added, "but we never thought they were making things. We just thought they just liked the noise."

Ron continued on, explaining how their parents made them destroy it all because it was too dangerous and how their mother thought Fred and George were wasting their intelligence.

"Then there was a big row," Ginny took over, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop." Ginny, in fact, thought this idea was brilliant. Fred and George were some of the most creative people she knew. Their talents would be wasted on the Ministry.

Percy suddenly stuck out his head and looked around vexedly. Ginny immediately zoned out. She had trained herself to ignore Percy since he got his Ministry job because he never talked about anything interesting anymore. She heard Ron say something about cauldrons and the front page of the Prophet

to which she snickered, but she was glad when Ron shut Percy up and walked away.

Pigwidgeon started hopping in his cage as soon as the four entered. "Shut up , Pig. Fred and George are in here with us," Ron told Harry, "because Bill and Charlie are in their room. Percy gets to keep his room because he's got to work." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Er- why are you calling that owl Pig?" wondered Harry.

"Because," said Ginny in an irritated voice, "he's being stupid. Its proper name is Pigwidgeon."

"Yeah and that's not stupid at all," Ron said to which Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ginny named him. She reckons it sweet. I tried to change it but it was too late. He won't respond to anything else. So now he's Pig. He's up here cause he annoys Errol and Hermes. Annoys me too, come to think of it."

Each of them sat on a bed and made small talk until Ron stopped himself from saying something. Ginny caught this and perked up, looking from one boy to the other. Hermione tried to cover up the moment by suggesting they go down for dinner, but Ginny still wondered what they were thinking.

They passed Mrs. Weasley angrily talking to herself and preparing dinner in the kitchen. Ginny heard loud noises coming from the garden and decided to go straight towards it. Bill and Charlie had tables floating in the air and were battling. Ginny laughed as their tables collided and the leg of Charlie's broke off. They settled down after Percy, of course, told them they were making too much noise, and set the tables up for supper. Ginny sat beside Bill as their Mum told him off for his appearance. After commenting on his hair, Ginny finally had to intercede. "It's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's," she said. Which was true. Ginny sometimes wondered how Dumbledore managed to walk with such long hair. "Would it help if Bill grew out a beard?" Bill laughed as her mother went off on a whole new tangent.

Ginny noticed Ron, Harry, and Hermione talking quietly with their heads close together at the end of the table. He felt a pang of jealousy in her stomach, though her head was struck with curiosity. The curiosity she could quell by interrogating Hermione later tonight. The jealousy… Well, why couldn't they include her a bit more? Why couldn't she be their friend, too, and not just Ron's little sister? It wasn't even about her crush on Harry anymore. She wanted to be part of the famous Golden Trio, as Luna had put it in a letter. She reminded herself that there was no such thing as a trio with four people, and the Golden Quartet just didn't have a ring to it.

Her mum dragged her out of her thoughts by saying, "Well, look at the time. You really should be in bed, the lot of you." They all stood as she addressed Harry about his school supplies and Fred and George teased Percy.

Since Hermione was a guest, Ginny let her get ready for bed first. This also gave her some time to sneak out and have flying practice while everyone was distracted. While Ginny was brushing her teeth, Harry walked in. "Oh, sorry! I was just, er-" He held up his own toothbrush as if to explain himself.

Ginny shrugged, unwilling to speak with her mouth full of toothpaste. She was glad her wet hair was cooling the back of her neck, which along with her face felt very hot. She found it hard to move in front of him, without Ron or Hermione there as a buffer, and groaned internally when she realised she had to spit. She did so quickly and rinsed her mouth out. Ginny had a hard time getting out of the small toilet without touching Harry. "See you in the morning," she said as she slipped passed him, proud of herself for sounding quite normal.

As soon as Ginny was in her bedroom she shut the door and leaned against it for a moment to calm herself. "Really?" She looked up to see Hermione looking up from

with a tired but amused look on her face.

"I was completely unprepared!" Ginny said defensively. "And no one else was around!

I'm in my dressing gown! His pajamas are far too big for him," she added as a second thought.

"Everything he has are his cousin's hand-me-downs. I heard your mum say he'll be wearing some of your brothers' old things for this trip, so they'll fit better," said Hermione as she continued to read. "How are you ever going to expect to date him if you can't even be alone with him?"

"I'm trying," whined Ginny as she climbed into her own bed. "What are you all being so secretive about anyway?"

"Ginny, it's not my place to tell you," Hermione sighed.

"Is this about whatever happened last year?" This got Hermione's attention. She looked up at Ginny with wide eyes. "I'm not stupid. It's you three, it's Harry. Something had to have happened. Ron didn't go into detail, but he did say a little. Told me Scabbers wasn't what we thought he was, and that he was bad so someone gave him Pigwidgeon to make up for it. I know Professor Lupin was a werewolf, cause the whole damn school knows that. Did that have something to do with it? Are you all the reason everyone found out?"

"Ginny, stop, stop. I can only say so much. Yes, Harry and I met Professor Lupin as a werewolf. We also encountered Dementors and… Well, some other things happened and Ron got his leg broken and lost Scabbers and Harry lost some things, too, but I can't say anymore. Not tonight. Maybe…"

"Okay," Ginny sighed. "It's not my business. It's fine. It's…" She didn't know what it was. She knew she was pushing her limit but her curiosity was hard to contain.

"So back to Harry," Hermione started.

Ginny slid under her covers and turned out her bedside light as if Hermione hadn't spoken.. "Goodnight."