On a sunny day of August, the eleventh to be exact, a pack of witches and wizards found themselves at number twelve Grimmauld Place. It was the youngest Weasley's seventeenth birthday. At the current moment only a few of the girl's family and closest friends were huddled around the dining room table, but none seemed to notice her absence. They were all too busy talking about the arrival that was to take place soon. Soon the conversation drifted to the absence of three people that were not in attendance at the house.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were off searching for the Horcruxes. Everyone had rather hoped they would be back by this time, for they had been gone a good two months, but as the tenth of the month had drawn to a close everyone knew they would not be back in time for Ginny's party. Ginny had at least hoped for a letter. The three had taken the habit of writing a letter when a horcrux was destroyed. The letters would be tied to the leg of a pigeon, a lot less conspicuous than an owl, and would be brief. The last letter simply said in Hermione's clean handwriting "We got another". As with most secret missions no one knew where they were and the letters were much revered.

Just as the members of the Order started speculating n the location of the three a sharp knock came at the door. No one moved they all stared at the door waiting for the tell tale rhythm that was expected from the Order. They all let out a breath as they heard a soft tap…tap tap tap...tap. Slowly Arthur Weasley stood from the table and walked to the front door.

"Ah…Dedalus, I see you got Mister Zabini here safely"

Meanwhile the birthday girl was huddled on her hands and knees in the garden. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a bun as the sun beat steadily down on her back. A few drops of sweat were dripping down her back and nestled themselves into the top of her shirt. Ginny was pulling the weeds out one by one. If one paid close enough attention to the girl they would notice her nonsensical mutterings and her aggressiveness with the weeds. One person who did not fail to notice though, was Blaise Zabini, who unbeknownst to her entered the garden after being kicked out of the house by the adults. He had walked out just in time to see her slam a particularly ugly yellow and magenta weed to the ground and say something along the lines of "stupid pricks".

"Well now, I'm pretty sure that weed hadn't done anything to you." Blaise said in his suave voice. Ginny turned around sharply and glanced at the boy in front of her.

"I had forgotten you were coming today, Zabini." She said with a sigh and went back to her gardening.

"Yes, well, I rather wish I had as well. Why, may I ask, are you abusing the weeds?"

She glanced at him then ignoring his question went back to weeding and ignored his presence even as he sat down beside her and started vanishing the weeds away one by one. After about three minutes of silence Ginny turned to him furiously.

"It's my birthday and not even a letter from them. Not one. They sent a letter on my mum's birthday. They sent one on Lupin's and here I am…my seventeenth birthday and nothing. Not one thing." She was panting at the end of her tirade and she was looking at him expectantly.

"So you decided to curse out the weeds?" Blaise said slowly. Ginny looked at him unbelievingly then stood up and vanished the rest of the weeds herself. She gave him one last look then went inside to take a shower.

Blaise just sat there looking at the door Ginny has just walked through and sighed. He decided to go find out if there was anything to eat in the house.

--&

At eight o' clock Grimmauld Place was filled with people. A hundred familiar faces all smiling and having fun. Everyone was enjoying Molly Weasley's cooking. The chinking of forks n the plates or clanking of glasses against one another could be heard resounding all around the house. Not for the first time that day, no one noticed the absence of one girl. No one, that is except for the new comer to the group.

He walked all around the house to find her and finally he found her once more in the garden. This time though she was merely sitting looking at the stars rather than pulling the weeds from the ground. He just stood in the door way looking at her for a bit until she turned and looked at him. She regarded him for a moment nodded him over to her. He pushed himself from the frame and walked over to her and plopped as elegantly as he could to the ground.

"I hate stars." She whispered softly to him. "They're for the people who dream and don't notice what's right in front of them. The reality of life."

Blaise glanced up and realized he really had nothing to say about the subject so he turned to her. "I'm sure they had a reason for not sending a letter. Maybe the owl got lost or something."

Ginny scoffed without looking at him but as soon as she opened her mouth there was uproar from inside the house. The two teenagers glanced at each other before darting inside the house.

In the main entrance there was a group applauding and talking all at once. Ginny pushed her way to the front of the group and what she saw shocked her. Although covered in mud and dirt it was unmistakable who these people were. Harry, Hermione and Ron had returned home.