In the small, quaint village of Ottery St. Catchpole, in a rickety country house, a girl with flaming red hair was sitting up in her room staring at the rain which was beating down in thick sheets outside her window. It was early July and yet the weather seemed to be as volatile and confused as the girl watching it. Ginny Weasley turned away from the dismal grey skies and as she moved towards her bed to continue with a particularly tricky transfiguration essay that she had been half heartedly working on over the past two rainy days, she was stopped by a soft thud against her door. It sounded as if someone had thrown a very small tennis ball at her door or, Ginny thought with annoyance, a dungbomb. She opened the door ready to shout at a laughing Fred or George, wand held out so that she might get some provoked practice at a good jellylegs jinx - Ginny smiled to herself at the thought - but instead of Fred or George, or even Ron, a bewildered looking Pig, who also looked slightly wobbly from his collision, zoomed into the room. He hooted shrilly as if at the indignity of having encountered such an awkward obstacle. Ginny smiled affectionately at the tiny owl and as he flew closer to her, she clasped hold of his small, podgy body so that she could take the letter tied to his short, little leg. The minute owl must have been zipping around the house for some time because as he sat merrily in Ginny's hand she could feel only a couple of drops of water lingering on his velvety feathers.

She took the letter back to her bed and carefully opened it. She began to read as Pig flew up onto a shelf and sat, contentedly hooting to himself. The letter was from Hermione,

Hi Ginny,

I hope your summer is alright so far, the weather has been dreadful but at least it has given me time to finish all of my homework. I had an essay from Professor Snape that was simply awful but I think I have done it well enough for now, only four rolls of parchment but I have plenty of time to add to it when I can.

Ginny looked guiltily at her own work strewn across her bed and shifted slightly at the thought of the five essays she had left to do. She continued reading,

I had a letter from Ron a few days ago and he said that your parents have said you are going somewhere with them soon, but I must say he was being most secretive, I am guessing that it has something to do with what happened to Harry. As I promised I will still be coming to stay with you all and I should arrive the day after tomorrow, around 6 O'clock. I have asked your parents and they said that it is fine for me to come with you all to the new location.

I received a letter from Harry yesterday and he doesn't seem to know about The Prophet, I'm not quite sure whether or not to tell him.

I will speak to you in a couple of days when I arrive.

I can't wait to see you Ginny.

All my love,

Hermione

Ginny reread the letter once or twice and carefully placed it on her beside table. She felt somehow comforted, and she felt herself smiling broadly, although she had not noticed it until now. Her stomach seemed to be leaping at the thought of seeing Hermione again. It had only been a few weeks since they had left Hogwarts but Ginny had already missed her desperately. She was just sinking into happy thoughts of seeing Hermione when there was another thud on her bedroom door.

Ron burst in looking abashed,

"Seen Pig?" He garbled hurriedly, looking slightly bemused and not unlike Pig had done after his disagreement with Ginny's door.

"Up there" muttered Ginny, pointing at Pig, feeling slightly annoyed with her brother for interrupting her. "What's wrong Ron?" asked Ginny more attentively having noticed Ron's look of concern and agitation and his punctuated breathing, making him sound as though he had been rushing around for some time.

"Mum's said we're leaving on Friday and I still haven't got a reply from Hermione about when she's getting here. Oh, and Fred's been apparating behind me every few minutes trying to feed me some of their Ton Tongue Toffees, or else throwing dungbombs at my back. I've had to take three showers already today. If I ever find the wizard who passed Fred in his apparition test I'm going to feed him every dungbomb I can find…bloody maniac!" Ron sounded exhausted and Ginny suppressed the urge to laugh, although she didn't quite feel sorry enough for Ron to tell him that Fred had just poked his head around the doorway, obviously hiding there, waiting to ambush Ron. As a Ton Tongue Toffee careered its way towards Ron's head, directed by Fred's wand from the hallway, Ginny smiled but closed the door and told Ron that he could hide out with her for a while.

"I just got an owl from Hermione; she'll be here on Wednesday, about 6." Ginny said as Ron settled himself in the old, squashy armchair beside Ginny's bookshelf. "What are the added difficulties in transfiguring animals as opposed to inanimate objects?" She said, glancing down at her essay, with a puzzled look on her face. "I only have 1 foot 2 inches on the transfiguration of mice and larger vertebrates. I still need ten more inches and I can't think of anything."

Ron shrugged aimlessly, "Ask Hermione when she gets here, when I transfigured my teapot into a tortoise it still had a spout. And it whistled. Took a week to get the tune it kept singing out of my head" he mumbled.

Ginny giggled as she imagined a fat, teapot shaped tortoise, whistling a tune and chasing Ron around in his exam, whilst Ron ran stupidly in circles with his fingers in his ears. Although she had to admit, this was probably not exactly how the situation had occurred.