Ginny's thoughts: (intro)

Have you ever felt shadowed by other people? People who you love and care about? Well, I have, and it is one of the worst feelings. To not be noticed, or for everything you try hard at, to be acknowledged as "Oh, good job." Not any "Wow! Sweetie, that is so awesome!" Like today I came home from Hogwarts because it is the end of the year, and I got an 'Outstanding' on my worst subject on my O.W.L., and I was sooo excited to tell everyone. Then I tell everyone, and they're all like "That's great." And then they just continued their conversation on Quidditch, and how well Fred and George were doing with their joke shop. What about me? HELLO!! I need some attention too! Whatever. So I just left the room, and now I'm up in my room now, thinking through this, and how angry I am at all of them. Yeah, well, the hell with them. My life sucks. You probably think, 'nuh uh. You have a great life'. And I will say, 'yes uh. My life is the worst ever.' I am just the little sister, and no one ever notices me. At least not when I am around my family. Hogwarts is my only escape from this nightmare of no identity.

Oh, by the way, my name is Virginia Weasley. Ginny is my nickname. And I have 2 parents (duh), no other sisters, and 6 brothers. And the 6 brothers part sucks. Of course, my friends think differently. I usually have at least one friend that has a crush of one of my brothers, even if they try to deny it. Like for example, Hermione likes Ron. She is always denying it, but I was going through her stuff one time, and I found all of these pictures of Ron and letters written to him that no one ever read. Ron likes Hermione too, I'm more than certain. Look at the way he acted when he was in Year 4, when he found out who Hermione was going with to the dance. Viktor Krum, which of course made him jealous, since he is famous. Those two are truly meant for each other, though. All my other friends that ever liked any of my brothers just had tiny little crushes for a while. Anyway, back to me. I have many friends that are girls, but I only have one friend that is a boy. A real friend anyway. His name is Harry Potter, and I have liked him for a while now. But it was a while after we had actually become friends, and I wasn't just his best friend Ron's little sister anymore who was a nuisance to him. When he realized I wasn't the little girl who had a huge crush on him in his 2nd year and my 1st year at Hogwarts anymore. And after we started talking to each other, we had found that we had been so dumb not to talk to each other earlier, and had laughed together over our silliness so many times. And what great friends we were now. So I was really surprised when I saw him with Cho Chang, and felt a rush of jealousy that he wasn't looking at me like he was looking at Cho. With a weird adoring gaze. And I wanted to run at her, and tear her away from him, and have Harry look at me in that same adoring way. I did almost exactly that. Luckily, I have a little bit more self control than that, and I stopped myself just in time from pushing her away from Harry. So I have liked him ever since, but not the same way like I did in my 1st year. I don't know how or why, but it's just different. I just have this weird feeling whenever I'm around him, like we are meant for each other. And I know when I get married (whenever that is); he will be the person looking back at me, holding my hand, and saying 'I do'. But until that moment, I will be perfectly content with him just being my friend. Oh, I just got out of my 5th year of Hogwarts, in case you were wondering. And this will be the last year I will have my older brother telling me what to do all the time, but also the last year at Hogwarts I will get to spend with Harry, and Hermione. Well, someone is knocking on my door, so I guess I better stop thinking about all this, in case someone tries to ask me what I am thinking about, because I really don't want anyone to know.

A shadow waiting to be found

"Hey Ginny, can I come in?" Harry asked kindly. She had seemed kind of upset when she had flew out of the kitchen around 10 minutes ago.

"Yes, of course you can Harry." Ginny replied to him. He was usually the only person she ever talked to when she was mad at anything, except him of course.

"Um, I was just wondering what was wrong. You seemed upset when you ran out of the kitchen." He looked at her intensely, deeply concerned as always when she was upset.

"I am so mad at my family. They never notice me! It would just be nice if when I do something that took lots of hard work, for someone to notice me, and congratulate me in a meaningful way."

She looked up at Harry, waiting for his reaction to her reply, knowing that he would somehow make her feel better about her situation.

"Oh Ginny! I heard what you said about getting an outstanding in your worst subject, and I'm proud of you. Doesn't what I say matter?!"

"Of course it does, Harry. But it's not the same. I need someone in my family to tell me I'm smart and important, not just one of my best friends."

She looked at him desperately, hoping he understood what she was saying. Harry just looked at her in a funny way, and then started laughing uncontrollably at her being so silly and confused.

"You are a truly confused girl, aren't you? At least you have a family to pay attention to you, and try to get attention from. I never had such an experience."

Ginny looked up at him uneasily, and then from the playful look on his face, started laughing with him.

"You always make me feel better Harry! I only really need one opinion, and it's yours. But it would still be nice to have a family acknowledge me when I do something hard, and accomplish it. But I guess I have you for that."

"Yes, we're meant to be together! The two confused dorks who always mess up and end up laughing hysterically over how stupid we are. We're just so special!"

Then, holding Ginny's bed for support, he started walking around the room, saying things like "Look at me, aren't I just the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?" and acting like he was some kind of rich snob woman who ate caviar and had people wait on him all day. Ginny joined in on the fun, and they argued for a while over who was more gorgeous. Eventually, they got tired of this game, and just decided to make themselves dizzy by holding hands and spinning in circles around the room, faster and faster, until they collapsed on the soft white carpet in Ginny's room. Breathing heavily, they lay there for a while thinking about absolutely nothing.

Finally, Harry said something when they both started to recover from the game.

"Ginny?"

"Yes Harry?"

"I have an idea on how you can get your family to notice you more."

"How? I hope it's not illegal."

"No, this idea isn't."

"What is it then?"

"Well, maybe if we pretended to be going out, like I pretended to be your boyfriend, they would notice you more, and you could get more attention. Since they know me, and I come over all the time, especially during the summer."

"Are you serious?" Ginny whispered to him. Her heart pounded furiously. Why would he have an idea like this? Did Harry like her, and was this his way of asking her out? Or was it just because he wanted to help her? Or was it both?

"Yes, I'm serious Ginny. And if it doesn't work, then we'll think of a different plan. But it's the only idea that I have for now."

"Sure. I'll be your pretend girlfriend" She started giggling uncontrollably. How funny it sounded. Pretend Girlfriend. But she loved the girlfriend part. Not that he would ever know that.

"Okay then. Let's go tell them now. We'll walk downstairs holding hands. I can't wait to see the look on Ron's face especially."

He snorted as if this would be the best part of the whole thing, but Ginny knew the best part would be that she got to be Harry's girlfriend. For pretend.

"I'm ready when you are."She replied to Harry.

So he took her hand in his, and they walked out of her bedroom, and into a whole new world. The world of being Harry Potter's girlfriend.