Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter series except a copy of each of the movies because my husband insisted that we have the entire series. (I borrowed the books.) I'm not blond, I'm not British, and I'm not rich. So, not mine, especially if you recognize it as copyrighted and published works belonging to others.

Author's Note: Here is a little plot bunny that has been winding itself around my ankles more than a cat after a treat. So in order to stop it from tripping me up, I'm playing with it. I have no idea if I'll do more with this than what I have...I haven't plotted this story out at all so I'm winging it as I write when I do write it. I have no idea if I'm going to take this particular story any farther than this...it will probably depend on the response I get! For those who are following Secrets...see my profile for an update on it.

Many things are not always as they seem, are more than they seem actually. It is an interesting phenomenon that happens repeatedly. People see what they expect to see and nothing more or less all too often. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are two who are looked at and over looked in such a manner. Each unique yet both similar, these two had facets uncovered by others and cherished by themselves. Their story is shadowed with secrets of light, dark, and gray. Who would care to find the facets that could prove irresistible?

Growing up, Harry Potter knew very well that his family—his beanpole aunt Petunia, his moon shaped uncle Vernon, and their whale sized son Dudley—didn't like him one bit. He was always being yelled at for one thing or another, even if it wasn't his fault. One time he'd been at school when the thing he was blamed for happened. No, they didn't like him at all. Along with Vernon's high decibel yelling, Petunia would almost twist his ears and arms off and Dudley really liked to use him as a punching bag.

From a very young age, Harry knew he had to hide just how much better he was than his family or they'd make his miserable life even worse. For example, he intentionally did poorly on his schoolwork, even though learning came easily for him. He'd also learned how to lie effectively. He'd lie about little things and make it obvious but the larger and more important lies were done smoothly without anyone knowing he'd lied. It was a handy skill to have, at home and in public.

When he turned eleven he discovered that he was a wizard—a person who possessed magical abilities, just like his parents. All his life he'd been told that his father was a drunk and had gotten himself and Harry's mother killed in a car accident that gave Harry the lightning bolt shaped scar above his eye.

That year he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was no dunderhead but he'd spent so long working to have people underestimate him that he continued to do lower quality work even here. He also figured that Snape, and possibly Dumbledore, were peeking into his mind when there were a few too many coincident relating to something he had been thinking. It's wonderful what late night reading will help you discover. Thanks to this hobby he was able to determine that Snape was using Legilimency on him and he started to learn Occlumency to counter it. He was sneaky about it though-he made sure Snape saw what he thought were Harry's real thoughts. It took some work but Harry kept at it and over the course of his first and second years he made significant progress in protecting his mind.

A couple of nights after the events in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry was feeling restless so he made his way down to the common room where he bumped into Ginny Weasley; the girl he'd rescued. She looked completely hashed out and before he registered it, he'd vowed to try to become her friend. So, he started talking to her.

Ginny Weasley was the youngest and only girl of her parents' seven children and as such had learned the art of covering her tracks at a very young age. She could, for example, lie to her mother while looking her smack in the eyes-something none of her brothers could manage. She was adept at sneaking around and hiding things, a major part of the reason Tom Riddle had had such an easy time keeping his possession of her hidden. He'd merely utilized her existing abilities. Thanks to Ginny's abilities to hide things, to cover her tracks, to move around unseen, she'd always managed to get people to underestimate her-greatly in some cases.

It was a few nights after Harry Potter had rescued her from Tom when she was sitting in the common room, unable to sleep. To her surprise, Harry himself stepped into the room and after a split second pause to study her he made his way over.

Thus started a great friendship. The two were very much alike in their abilities to hide and cover their tracks; the Occlumency they were both learning only increased those particular abilities. Multiple times Harry would sneak away from Ron and Hermione to meet with Ginny in an isolated location as they both desired to keep their friendship from scrutiny by others. They didn't want the pressure of others' expectations on what their friendship was "supposed to be." It allowed them more freedom to be who they were when away from others' eyes, ironically enough.

During the time when it seemed as if Sirius was out for his blood Ginny was there to talk to and when the truth of the matter came out she was able to get him to see the humor of it. She was the one who kept him grounded during the chaos of the TriWizard Tournament. They both found it hilarious that Dumbledore had placed Ron and not her at the bottom of the lake for the second task. It wasn't that Ron wasn't important to Harry. It was that he was much closer to Ginny than he was Ron and Hermione combined. He always had to watch what he said around those two and he didn't with Ginny. She knew everything about him, including his childhood. He knew her just as well. They had apparently fooled even the great and seemingly omnipotent Dumbledore on his own turf.

Harry's fifth year was without equal the hardest year for both of them. Between Umbridge, Harry's guilt over Cedric's death, and everything else it was a miracle that they were able to keep their closeness hidden. Typically they resorted to communicating in public using subtle facial expressions and body language as well as a type of sign language they had developed over the previous few years. They didn't dare use the actual sign language deaf muggles used in case there was someone in the school who understood it.

The Occlumency "lessons" Harry was subjected to by Snape were a trial but they did serve a purpose in that they proved without question that Harry had indeed learned to protect his mind from intrusions. Snape never got past his defenses even if he thought he had none. During Harry's History of Magic exam he felt a short tickle at his surface protections that told him Voldemort was attempting something. A quick examination of his defenses and the surface thoughts revealed that the nasty bastard had planted a "vision" he intended Harry to find.

Once out of his exam, Harry hurried to his dorm room and contacted Sirius with the mirror he had gifted him. Thanks to Ginny, Harry had made sure to open the gift and had kept in regular contact with his godfather. He was the only person other than the two of them that knew of their friendship and often helped them during the times when they were at the Order's headquarters. He also knew of their mental protections and so Harry didn't hesitate to inform him that Voldemort had tried to lay a trap for him using Sirius as bait.

The year ended quietly for Harry and Ginny but not so quietly for the Ministry as the Death Eaters who had been lying in wait for the green eyed fifth year were stumbled across by a few aurors. The battle was apparently heavily damaging to the building and resulted in Fudge being ousted as Minister when his under handed dealings were uncovered during the resulting investigation. Madam Amelia Bones was declared Minister and she firmly took the reins of power to get the Ministry back into shape.

Thus it was Harry's fifth year ended and the summer began as he and his friends boarded the train back to London.

A/N: So there you have it. The start of the plot bunny. Like I said above, I have no idea when or if I'll update this one. I suspect it will depend heavily on the responses (if any) I get and what is happening around here. Two little ones don't always leave much for time.