*Author's Note: If there are too many Americanisms, please alert me to the problem…. For example, what do I put in place of pancakes? Or the chicken dance? Obviously, I do not own any of this.*

Part 1: Memories of the Seashore

*Ron's P. O. V.*

I sink back onto my pillows, alone in my room at the Burrow. Everyone else is downstairs, leaving me alone with my thoughts. As usual of late, they are circling around a certain bushy-haired girl- Hermione. I really don't know what's been wrong with me lately. Whenever I'm left alone for more than two minutes, my thoughts turn to her. You'd think that, by now, my heart would have gotten the message that I'm not good enough for her. Yet, as I lie here, a memory surfaces… one that has nothing to do with Hermione….

*Girl's P. O. V.*

A memory is drawn to the front of my mind as I stow my wand… sitting gently on the end of my bed, I lose myself in the past.

*Ron's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

"Boys, Ginny, come down to breakfast!" Mum's voice breaks through my haze of dreams - dreams of purple eyes. Pushing the recurring dreams from mind, I rush down to the smell - and enormous stack of - pancakes.

We've been at the cottage by the sea for a few weeks. Dad had been sent here to observe Muggles for a paper. I failed to see why research was needed; Dad knew so much about them already. However, I enjoyed the shore, and therefore did not question it.

As we all eat, Dad asks, "How do you all like the shore?" We all respond enthusiastically, Ginny the most of all, letting out a near-deafening squeal.

Once the cheers subside, Dad poses another question: "Who's up for a bit of swimming today?" At this point, Ginny's squeal becomes a shriek, semi-deafening the lot of us. We gobble down our breakfast, hoping to get out onto the shore quickly.

Unfortunately, by the time that our hour of waiting is up, the weather has turned cold. At Mum's instruction, we put on our jumpers and warm trousers.

We didn't get to go swimming that day, but Mum had Fred and George take me out on a walk to the rock pier. They quickly got rid of me, saying that since I was "a big boy of six, after all," I could walk myself.

Once down there, I jumped from rock to rock, singing tunelessly. It was then that I noticed a girl down at the end of the pier. She looked to be about my age, but smaller and thinner than me.

*Girl's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

Hearing footsteps on the rock behind me, I spun around, wiping my eyes as I did so. Mean Alyssa, Clare, and Veronica- why'd they have to pick on my lisp, anyway? Once my eyes were dry, they found a flame-haired boy, around my age, but taller.

"Er- hi?" His voice sounded uncertain as he shivered. I blinked, wondering why he was shivering. He must be cold, but he's wearing a jumper, while I was fine in my swimsuit.

"Thalutationth!" I called, quoting Charlotte, a spider in one of my favorite books.

"What?" He had come up to me at this point, and appeared to be wondering if he should sit down, next to me. I scooted over to make room for him, so he plopped down on the rock, getting his pants wet from the spray.

"Thal-u-ta-tionth," I annunciated slowly, "ith another word for hi."

"Oh," he paused, then asked, "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Helen. It'th not my acthual name, but my lithp makes it hard for me to pronouthe." As a thought occurred to me, I added, "Are yoth going to make fun of me?"

He shakes his head. "No way. I hate it when my brothers make fun of me. I have five older brothers and one little sister. She's only five." He then added proudly, "I'm six."

I grinned, "I'm thix, too- er, what'th your name?"

"I-I'm Red," he said, his ears matching his hair and his name, "that-that is, you can call me that."

I grinned at him again, then decided to go out on a limb, "Do yoth want to be friends?"

He blinked at me once or twice, then said, "Er- sure!" I smiled more broadly than ever, hopping to my feet. As I swing my soaked hair over my shoulder, he said suddenly, "You're really pretty."

*Ron's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

Did I really just say that? I mean, it's true - she's got stars in her eyes - but it's not the type of thing that I say! Fred and George will never let me live this down, if they heard me… However, none of the stuff running through my head seemed to have occurred to her, since she was glowing.

"Thankth, Red! No one my age hath ever told me thath before! You look nithe, too!" Why was I noticing how her eyes were literally shining when she said that? Her eyes… her purple eyes - purple eyes?

"Er…" I blinked. "Why are your eyes purple?"

"I don'th really know why; they justh do thath sometimeth." She looked at me for a moment, then asked, "Do yoth want to go look for theaglass?"

"Sure!" And we dashed off along the beach together.

"Hey, Red!" The next day, Helen's voice jarred me awake at the early hour of six A.M.

"Argh- c'mon, who's that, and why is she here so pancakin' early?" The sleepy voice of my brother George floated after me as I rushed into my clothes and out of the door.

The moment that Helen caught sight of me, she exclaimed, "Leth go to the plathground todath, Red - I saw a turtle there yetherday! Hurrith!" And with that, she dashed off.

It took me a moment, but I started running, too, trying to wake up. "Wait for me!" I called after her.

She obeyed, waiting until I was about a foot away, and then smiled evilly.

*Helen's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

Three… two… one… now! "Tag!" I shouted, smacking him across the arm and darting off.

"Helen!" He hollered after me, "That's no fair! I didn't even get to catch my breath!" Nonetheless, he soon caught up and tagged me back; this continued until two of his older brothers showed up. They introduced themselves as Gred and Feorge, and immediately began teasing Red.

"So this must be the girl-" started one.

"-who we've heard so much-" continued the other.

"-or so little-" said the first.

"-about." they finished together. I was slightly in awe of how they spoke, having never heard twins speak before; this flew from my mind when I saw that Red's ears matched his nickname once more.

"Shut up," he hissed, gritting his teeth.

"Ooh, touchy, touchy," they chorused, "about your girlfriend."

At this point Red hollered, "She's not my girlfriend!" and pushed me into a nearby mud puddle.

Hot tears of fury and humiliation stung my eyes as I picked myself up, slapped Red across the face, and ran back to the cottage. First Alyssa, Clare, and Veronica; now Red. Why do I have such a difficult time keeping friends? Why does it always come to this? Why do I always end up crying into Bill, my stuffed owl?

…Why me?

*Ron's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

"'Red'? Why'd she call you 'Red'? C'mon, Ron, it's time for breakfast." George (Gred? Really?) said.

"Yeah, it's blueberry pancake day! Your favorite!" Fred (Feorge? Really?) added as they dragged me along.

As we ate, Mum noticed that I wasn't eating much. After inquiring if I was ill, she began fussing about until I managed to put the fork in my mouth. I then proceeded to eat most of the pancakes and a great deal of the kippers. After breakfast, I slipped off to find Helen. I had sea glass and a plan.

I found her on the rock pier, as I had the first time. I rushed up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, I forced the sea glass into her hand and mumbled a fast (and most likely inaudible) apology. Before the events had a chance to register in her mind, I spun on my heel and ran away.

*Helen's P. O. V.*

~Memory~

I sat there, stunned, trying and failing to process what had just happened. As far as I could tell, Red had forced something into my hand, mumbled something, and ran off. I looked down at the object, realizing that it was a giant piece of purple sea glass as I did so. Etched clearly on one side was the word Friends. I grinned at it and chased after him, catching up relatively quickly. After a brief and slightly awkward conversation, we ran off to the playground together.

I guessed that I didn't lose a friend, after all.

Yes, so I've decided to break this up into parts… let me know what you think of each! Please Review!