I've been talking to my friend Animagus and I was going to finish off the old story... but I read through it to see where I left off and I found that my writing skills were so... great. :D So I decided that I was going to start over and write it all over again. I hope that it meets everyone's expectations. Don't forget to review if you liked it, and even if you didn't. It's probably AU, because I wrote the original story before book four I believe.

The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains as the large, black bird flew over them. Having traveled for many hours to reach its destination, the owl flew faster to reach the ragged house that was just ahead. The bird flew around the house several times, before finding the right window and landing smoothly on the sill. Silently, it waited for the girl inside to come, but she was fast asleep. Fiery, red hair was spread out around her head, and her body was awkwardly positioned. The bird stared into the room, quietly willing her to wake, and after a few moments it began to impatiently tap on the glass.

Ginny sighed and rolled over, staring at the owl that was just outside her window. After stretching and rolling off the bed, she crept over to let the messenger in. The owl flew in as the window crept open and landed on the small bedside table. The bird was magnificent, with long, sleek, feathers, and a huge beak, which made it look a lot like her potions teacher, Professor Snape. She giggled at the thought as she removed the parchment from the bird's left leg and tore at the envelope to get to the letter inside. After rereading it several times, she ran to the door in excitement to share the news with anyone in earshot. As she entered the hallway she collided with something very solid and fell to the floor with a thud.

"Oh, sorry, Gin." Ginny reached up and rubbed her head as glared at her older brother.

"Yeah, sure you are." She picked herself up off the floor and turned to walk away from him, but he stopped her before she could make it very far.

"Wait, Ginny I really am sorry." He grabbed her arm and plastered a grin on his face, but his eyes were still very uncertain as he awaited her reaction. "Hey, uh...Was that Hermione's owl that I saw fly out your window?" Pulling her arm from his grip, she turned back to face him. Her brother was obviously in love with Hermione, he just hadn't gotten around to admitting it yet. The thought of the book-worm and her brother made her smile, and she decided that she was going to give him a little push in the right direction.

"Even if it was, why would you care?" As Ron's face turned bright red, Ginny knew she had hit the nail right on the head.

"I… wouldn't… She's one of my best mates, okay? Don't I have the right to be worried about my mates?" He said, using the guise of rubbing his nose to look away from her and cover his face. Silence filled the air between them, and Ginny turned to leave again. "What did she say?" The desperate plea stopped her once again, and she pulled the very important news from memory.

"Hermione's plans have changed a bit, and she's coming to visit us sooner than we all expected. That's all." Ginny prided herself on sounding very nonchalant, and she could tell she had succeeded in making Ron irritated and flustered

"How early?" He was trying to hide nervousness, but as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, she knew he was losing his battle.

"Umm, let me think." Ginny hesitated, enjoying watching him squirm. "I believe that she wrote this afternoon; around four o'clock." The look of sheer horror on his face delighted Ginny, and she almost gave in to a fit of laughter.

"Why that's only... Five hours? Are you sure?" The shocking moan echoed through the house, as Ginny left Ron in the middle of the hall way.

Walking up to one of her favorite places, Hermione studied the sturdy, little house and sighed, relief spreading through her veins. The extra classes she had taken over the summer were starting to catch up with her, and she needed a break. There was no guarantee of that here, but she felt better when Ron and Harry were around.
Before she could raise her hand to knock on the door, it shot open, and Hermione was engulfed with brightly colored Weasleys.

"Welcome Back!" Screamed the twins, as they set off a fire cracker just outside the door, behind Ginny, and fled the scene. Mr. Weasley sent a threatening look in their direction and set off in after them to right the situation.

"Don't mind them. It's so good to see you, dear." Always cheerful, Mrs. Weasley pulled Hermione into a big bear hug, and held her tight, as if to make sure everything was still in the right place. "All in one piece, and looking absolutely wonderful." Her bountiful hair was pushed into her skull, as Mrs. Weasley patted her head.

"It feels great to be back." Her reply was barely audible, forcing Mrs. Weasley pull away. Ron watched from the edge of the door and smiled at the interaction between the two; it wasn't long ago that his mom didn't even like Hermione. As if she could read his thoughts, Hermione glanced his way and blushed a pale pink.

"Hello, Ron." She turned away from the rest of his family and walked to him.

"Hey, 'Mione." Ron said, blushing. Their eyes met and the friction between them only lasted a few seconds before they both looked away. Ginny watched from the staircase and rubber her hands together in a rather evil way and congratulated herself. This was going to be the easiest match she ever made.

"Hermione!" She yelled to catch the couple off-guard, and they both jumped a good four inches off the ground. Ginny's target glanced up just in time to see the blaring siren coming at her before she was tackled to the ground.

"Ugh... Hello, Ginny" Tangled arms and legs were pulled and pushed until the two girls were finally separated. Hermione laid on the floor to catch her breath and smiled when her best friend appeared over her.

"Glad I missed that one, it looks like it hurt." He extended his hand to help her up, and Hermione gladly accepted it. As Ron pulled her towards her, her breath caught in her throat and she collided with the other red-head. As soon as she touched him, she withdrew from him like he was boiling water. Hermione turned away from Ron to Ginny and smiled.

"You scared me to death." Holding her hand up to her chest, she watched Ginny push herself up off the floor. Dusting the imaginary dirt from her shirt, Hermione found that she was able to hide her flaming face from Ron with ease. "So, am I staying in your room again?" The thought had crossed Hermione's mind several times since she had decided to come early. There was a chance that she would have to stay in Percy's room, which was conveniently located right across from Ron's room and nice to have a room to herself, but she liked the late-night talks she had with the littlest Weasley when they shared a room.

"Yes, if you want to. The only problem is that Ron took the spare bed from the closet to his room already for Harry. I was going to bring the one from the attic down for you, but we don't have much time today. I was really planning on doing it tomorrow…" The words raced out of her mouth, and she glared at Ron one moment and then gave him her best wounded puppy look the next. His eyes rolled, and he gave an exasperated sigh; his shoulders sagging with defeat.

"Okay, okay. Don't give me that look, you know I can't stand that sad little face. I'll move it down from my room, but only if you bring the other one down for Harry tomorrow. Deal?" He held out his rather large hand and Ginny's shot out and back like lightning.

"Deal. And you can't change your mind." Grabbing one of Hermione's bags, she sped off before Ron could reply and began her excursion up the stairs with Hermione on her heels. The climb to Ginny's room was not a long one, but she entered the room feeling a little winded. The room seemed much smaller to her than it was the last time she was there, and she looked at the red head in amazement.

"You've redecorated." She dropped her bags to the floor, where they were momentarily forgotten. Ginny smiled and turned around in the middle of the room, studying the changes that she had made at the beginning of the summer.

"Actually, all I did was move my bed and dresser around, painted the wall, and added a few plants here and there." Hermione walked into the middle of the room and circled next to Ginny. She was blown away. There were flowers in full bloom, painted on the wall and real ones, everywhere and plants scattered around the room. "It's amazing. How did you manage it?" She questioned Ginny with her bushy eyebrows still raised in shock.

The other girl laughed and gave her friend a little push and launched into her explanation. "Well, mom helped me a bit with the plants, but she told me that if I wanted to do it I had to do it myself. So I coerced dad to get me some paint, and everything just fell together from there." They talked about the changes Ginny had made, including the hand-painted flowers, the refurbished furniture, and the hand-sewn accessories, until Ron finally managed the rolling bed through the doorway and across the room. After pushing the bed into the corner of the room, he rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"I just can't get used to it being so dark in here, it's just weird." He sighed and walked over to touch the walls. He looked back over and stared at Ginny. "I'll always remember your room being bright pink with elephants across the top of the walls," he chided, and as he exited the room, Ginny gave him a sound punch to the arm.

"I absolutely love it, Gin." She walked over to the fold-out bed and began to pull it out. Ginny meandered over to help her, but the bed was already unfolded, the sheets fixed, and the blanket spread out on top of the mattress by the time she got there. "In fact," Hermione popped down on top of the spare bed and folded her hands on her lap. "I would choose this over pink elephants any day." Ginny picked up one of Hermione's bags and tried to chuck it at her, making sure that she didn't do too much damage.

"Good grief. What do you have in there? It weighs a ton." Hermione laughed and moved out of the bags path and let it land on top of the bed.

"The usual stuff. Clothes, books, mostly homework," she unzipped the bag and began to pull the contents out and place them on the bed next to her, "I'm so glad that my classes are over, but I still have all of my other homework from Snape, McGonnagal, and everyone else that still has to be done. It's just a pain, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." There was a silence as the Ginny moved across the room and sat down at the head of the bed and leaned back against the wall. The quiet got to Hermione, and she turned away from the piles of clothes she had just been folding to look at her friend.

Before she could think twice about it, Hermione let the problem that had been stuck in her head for months flood out of her. "Viktor asked me to marry him. After I've graduated, of course." Caught of guard by the announcement, Ginny's jaw dropped, and her mind went blank. There was more than just a moment's pause before she could find her voice. She hadn't expected anything like this to happen. Knowing Hermione, she might just be stupid enough to tell Krum yes.

"He what?"

"Viktor asked me to marry him after I graduate." Hermione repeated, her patience beginning to wear thin.

"You don't graduate… oh my god. You graduate this year." The realization hit Ginny like a load of bricks and the bushy haired girl nodded solemnly. "What did you tell him?"

Hermione sat very still, deliberating how to break the news to Ginny. She had spent months thinking about it, but her final decision just felt right.

"I told him no." Ginny let out a sigh of relief and jumped across the bed to hug her friend, knocking several piles of stuff off the bed.

"Oh. Hermione, you don't know how happy I am to hear that." The bear-grip she had on Hermione loosened and she pushed away, realizing what she had just done. "Why did you tell him no?" Trying to fish around for the answer wasn't very hard for Ginny, but she felt bad trying to weasel more from her friend.

"Well, I'm only seventeen, and I can't make that kind of life decision yet. I just," Hermione was up on her feet and arguing with herself, just as Ginny had seen her do so many times before. "I don't want to be tied down, you know? There are places to go and people to see, like the world! I want to see every part of the world! Viktor doesn't want to go anywhere. He wants to stay in Bulgaria." Hermione stopped pacing for a minute, blew the hair out of her face and gave the girl on the bed a rather exasperated look. "Bulgaria, Ginny." Realizing that she had her hands clenched in fists and was shaking, Hermione took a deep breath and muttered something that sounded like "Bulgaria".

"What else is there? Besides Bulgaria." Ginny stayed still on the bed and asked her question with a great deal of ease, almost like she had done this a million times before.

"What do you mean?" Hermione's brows burrowed together and the frown on her face deepened.

"I thought you really liked Viktor. He isn't that bad; he would travel the world with you, if you wanted him to. And he adores you; you know that. What else is there besides Bulgaria?" Ginny's eyes softened as she watched her friend search for an answer. With her hands once again fisted at her sides, she shrugged her shoulders.

"I do like Viktor. I guess I could marry him, but there's just one thing that's holding me back." Sitting back down on the bed, Hermione turned her back to the would-be psychiatrist.

"And what would that be?" Ginny jumped up off the bed and walked around to face her rather depressed friend. She put her hands on her knees, as she knelt in front of Hermione and awaited an answer.

"It's Ron." The reply was almost inaudible, but Ginny caught it with every ounce of strength she had. The only thing she could do was smile at her dear friend. She knew that this was going to work out perfectly.