(A/N- this is my first fan-fic so don't expect too much!)

Disclaimer- I wish this belonged to me, unfortunately i only own the plot and tweak the strings of the charactors

Chapter 1- Prologue, 'The Beginning"

Ginny sat in an almost empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, her only company being 2 cats, 2 owls and a toad. She gave a small sigh before addressing Crookshanks, the cat in her arms, 'I wish I was in a relationship, everyone else has someone else, and I have… no-one'

She was referring to Hermione and Ron's steady relationship, last summer he finally admitted his feeling to Hermione, to find, to his greatest surprise they were reciprocated; since then they were 'together'. Then there was Luna and Neville, they too has been going out for the past two years, ever since the ministry disaster where Sirius had died; leaving Ginny, in her opinion, all alone.

She looked wistfully at Hedwig, as she realised that the only person that she wanted to be with and the only person she ever really had ever wanted to be with, didn't regard her as anything more than a little sister- treating her the same way as her 6 brothers. Yes, she was still truly, madly, deeply in love with Harry Potter- the trouble was he had become so damn hot!

During Luna and Ginny's fifth year and Hermione's sixth, the three friends had started a school paper, the Hogwarts Tattle, containing advice, outrageous stories and school politics. In a recent poll they were surprised to find that the hottest boys in school were considered to be Harry, Ron and Draco Malfoy. Due to extensive Quidditch training the boys had acquired very toned bodies that made most girls in the school swoon at their feet; making Ginny more depressed; Harry could have his pick of any girl that he wanted, she had no chance whosoever of being with him, she was going to have to, reluctantly, move on.

"Ginny!" a pretty girl called out giggling as she entered the compartment, her clothes showing of her perfect figure the envy of most Hogwart debonairness. "You have to come see this; Draco has challenged Ron to a game of wizard chess!" she added with a small smile playing on her face.

Ginny followed Hermione down the train to the Head boy and Girls compartment, the door of which Hermione flung open unceremoniously to reveal two boys intent on the chequered board in front of them. The blonde haired was flanked by his two friends, who looked more like heavyset boxers or at the very least bodyguards, Crabb and Goyle, while Harry sat beside Ron, all the spectators watching eagerly.

As Ginny shimmied onto the seat beside Harry she looked puzzled at the rapt expression on his face. 'Sure,' she thought 'it's Ron and Malfoy, but why is it so important?'

'Whoever wins gets to be deemed best head boy' Harry whispered in Ginny's ear as he brushed a strand of hair away from her face, marvelling at the way the slightest was able to make her heart beat so quickly, and her brain forget to function properly; her eyes were unable to move from Harry's face, her lips were unable to reply and her body had almost forgotten how to breathe.

A small groan from Malfoy snapped her out of this reverie and made her look up to see her brother direct his queen two spaces to the right. As he did so Ron smirked at his opponent and said in a triumphant voice 'Checkmate'.

Draco groaned once again in frustration and angrily looked at his arch-nemesis as he quickly said "okay Weasel-be you were the better head boy- happy?'

"Very!" Ron replied stretching out his long limbs, and patting his leg once to indicate for his girlfriend to sit on his lap; as Malfoy and his cronies left, muttering among themselves.

Strange though it may seem there had been two head boys in Hogwarts that year. Much to their dismay Ron and Malfoy were disgusted to find that not only did they have to share the honour and title of Head-boy with each other; but they also has to share a common room and bathroom with the head girl- who predictably was none other than Hermione. The rivalry between the boys, although diminished since the death of Lucius Malfoy, was still quite strong and although they had stopped hexing each other at every given moment that they could they still insulted each other and couldn't stay in the same room for very long.

As Hermione leant over and kissed her boyfriend firmly on the lips Harry whispered to Ginny sotto voche "I need to talk to you, alone!"before adding in a louder tone- "You two disgust me! Go get a room or something!"

Hermione grinned and looked at her best friends as Ron teased good naturedly "Oh… is little Harry jealous that he hasn't got a girlfriend?" As Hermione punched his arm and Harry scowled at him Ron added "Or is it that he wants to spend time with my baby sister?" with a wink.

"C'mon Ron" Hermione said to her boyfriend, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet as Harry silently begged her to control his best-friend. "It's obvious we're not wanted here!" she said in mock devastation, before adding seductively, "But there's something in the toilet that I think you do want!"

Ginny laughed as Ron followed his girlfriend with a huge grin on his face down the train, "And they are suppose to be setting an example for the rest of the school!" she giggled

Harry suddenly felt shy, here he was left alone in the compartment with Ginny and he found that he couldn't look at her straight in the eye, and his throat felt so dry he felt it would be impossible for him to talk.
"Ah hem" he coughed as his eyes met hers, all rehearsed speeches fleeting from his mind, "Ah hem" he repeated. Taking a deep breathe he said "Ginny… I've known you for the past seven years now-" before breaking off "Merlin!" he exclaimed running his fingers through his hair "I am so bad at this!"

"Harry?" Ginny tentatively interrupted after a moments silence "What is it you're trying to say?"

Harry looked directly into her eyes and, finding the confidence he needed in her reassuring eyes he blinked once and said with all the Gryffindor courage he could muster

"I have known you for the past seven years, and loved you for the past two; I want you to wait for me, wait until this war is over and then I can give you everything you want"

Ginny sat in silence trying to digest this information, he told her all this just as she had resolved to get over him and move on from her crush, she looked at him with determination in her face and said resolutely

"No…"