Chapter 1

Ms. Ginevra Molly Weasley Potter

Ginny's Age: 10

By this point, the books on the floor outnumbered the books on the bookshelf, but Ginny Weasely was looking for something. The piles on the hardwood continued to multiply before Ginny let out a triumphant squeal.

She flung both the heavy book and herself onto her bed. The Boy Who Lived: the Downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been collecting dust for some while—Ginny had already memorized anything she cared about—but she wanted to make certain her memory was correct. The eager red-headed girl flipped to Chapter One: Harry Potter's Birth. The passage she was looking for appeared right at the beginning.

Harry Potter is the son of James Alexander Potter, of the pureblood Potter family, and Lillian (Lily) Maybelline Evans, a muggle-born witch. Both parents were prominent members of the resistance against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Lily gave birth to Harry James Potter on July 31, 1980 in Godric's Hollow, the historic home of Godric Gryffindor and the Potter family line.

Ginny grinned in satisfaction at the verification of her musings. Harry Potter had turned eleven-years-old exactly one month ago. Unless his years in hiding had turned him into a squib, which was unlikely for the wizard who defeated You-Know-Who at such a young age, he would be on the Hogwart's Express tomorrow to begin his magical education. Ginny became indignant when she realized that he would be in the same year as Ron, the most boring of her brothers in her opinion.

The cloud on her mood passed over quickly, and the youngest Weasley raced to her twin brothers' room. Ginny had six brothers and no sisters, creating quite the feisty little girl. With Bill and Charlie gone, Percy being an insufferable prat, and Ron being insufferably dull, Ginny had taken to spending a lot of time with the twins, Fred and George.

George was shoving school robes into his trunk when Ginny walked in, and Fred was tossing firecrackers down from a closet shelf. They were packing for their third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"You'll be going to school with Harry Potter," their sister announced as the made herself comfortable on George's bed.

"Is that right?" Fred replied, suddenly rather interested.

"Wicked!" George exclaimed.

"Yup," Ginny agreed. Most definitely wicked. "I wonder where he is. Dumbledore hid him away somewhere right after, well, you know."

"And you would remember, of course," George said. "Since you had already reached the wise old age of—

"Three months, was it?" Fred finished.

"Oh, be quiet. I do read, you know," Ginny informed them.

"You read?" Fred gasped.

"By yourself?" George questioned.

"Yes, it's rather entertaining. You should try it sometime," Ginny snapped. Her thoughts soon drifted back to Harry Potter. "I wonder what house he'll be in."

"Ron?" George asked. "He'd better be in Gryffindor! We'll have to beat him with a Quidditch bat if he isn't."

"He'll probably be in Slytherin," Fred sniggered. The Weasley family had been in Gryffindor House for generations.

"My money's on Hufflepuff," Ginny chimed in. "But I was talking about Harry Potter."

"His parents were in Gryffindor, weren't they?" offered Fred.

"I think so," said George. "Wasn't his dad Quidditch captain? Hope he's good." Fred and George had become beaters on the house team last year.

The boys then began to discuss the prospect of Harry Potter and their "dear little Ronikins" both being sorted into Gryffindor. Ginny's face soured at the idea and she sniffed in dissatisfaction. Her brothers noticed, conferring on the subject silently for a moment before pursuing the bait.

"Just curious," Fred started.

"Why you are so interested in the young Mister Potter?" George continued.

They boys glared at her as she felt a blush that rivaled her hair color her cheeks. After a moment, the girl announced, "If you must know, I am planning on becoming Ms. Ginevra Weasley, wife if the renowned Harry Potter."

George choked back a laugh but Fred continued the grilling, "Wouldn't that make Ginny Potter?"

"I am an empowered woman!" Ginny huffed. "If he wants us to have the same last name, he can become Harry Weasley! I am going to keep my name just the way it is once we're married, thank you very much! Besides, Ginny Weasley sounds much better than Ginny Potter."

"Harry Weasely doesn't sound so good either," George said.

"Reminds one entirely too much of a rodent," Fred agreed.

"Lovely name for a ferret, though."

"Or a weasel."

"A hairy weasel."

"Indubitably."

"Who names their kid Harry, anyway?"

"Maybe Harry's hairy."

"That would be incredibly sensible."

"And incredibly unoriginal."

"What is the world coming too?"

"I just don't know anymore, George. I just don't know."

"Neither do I, Fred. Neither do I."

Ginny sighed in frustration at the senseless banter. She wanted to draw the conversation back to Harry Potter, but was finding that difficult to do. She leapt at the chance when Ron wandered into the room, holding his rat and looking very lost.

"Harry Potter is going to be in your year," Ginny nearly yelled.

"Awesome!" Ron exclaimed, but in the back of his head he cursed the world for sending another person to show him up in everything. Ron always fell into the shadows.

Ginny then launched into a lengthy explanation of how she discovered this interesting fact and the likelihood of his being sorted into Gryffindor and every other tidbit about his life she possibly knew. She then proceeded to have an out loud discussion with herself about why he hadn't grown up in a prominent place in the wizarding world and where he could possibly be and whether or not he liked it and how much he knew about who he was and she wondered where he was right now and whether or not he was thrilled about Hogwarts.

She broke of from her speech practically panting and began a silent discussion about whether he'd ever be interested in poor little Ginny Weasley. She refused to think about the prospect of not ever even meeting him.

"Gin," Ron said. "I think you're a bit obsessed."

"Ginny's in love," cooed the twins in chorus. Even Ron colored, who had no reason to be embarrassed, colored at the idea of Ginny fancying a boy. Scabbers, his rat, began to squirm in his hand and Ron struggled to keep hold.

"Pathetic little thing, isn't it," Fred noticed.

"Pathetic fat thing," George corrected.

Ron frowned miserably at the hand-me-down pet.

"I believe we've got something to make him a bit more interesting," Fred grinned.

"A spell," George said.

"It'll turn him yellow," Fred told him.

"Show me!" Ron begged.

"We can't show you," George said.

"We can't do magic at home. But you can, since you haven't started school yet," Fred explained.

"We can tell you the spell, and you can show the kids on the train tomorrow," George said. Ron nodded eagerly, showing his willingness to learn magic.

Fred made a motion like holding a wand and said, "Just point your wand and say: Sunshine, daisies."

"Butter mellow," George added. Ginny could see that they were making this up off the top of their head, but she made no motion to inform Ron, the enthralled thickhead he was.

"Turn this—

"Stupid—

"Fat—

"Rat—

"Yellow!" they shouted the last word together, obviously pleased with their prank. Ron was bound to make a fool of himself to whoever he tried to show magic to.

"Thanks!" Ron said.

"Well, what are brothers for?" Fred said.

"If they don't make you look good." George grinned. Ron left the room to find his wand in a much more pleasant humor than before, and Fred and George continued their packing of questionable items along with their school things.

Ginny pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, orange hair falling around her thin frame. She set her imagination free on Harry Potter. What did he look like? What was he like? Would she ever see his forehead with its lightening bolt scar?

Disclaimer: I completely respect JKR and her rights to HP. Therefore any copyright infringement is completely unintended.