1999

Ginny's brown eyes were open before she could stop them. The same nightmare that had plagued her resting hours for weeks after the final battle of Hogwarts had disturbed her again. She hadn't had it it for 2 months now and she thought it had stopped. In the dream she saw Hagrid carrying Harry's limp, lifeless form out of the the Forbidden forest. She always woke up when her dream-self screamed.

She glanced at her clock, the red light told her it was September 1st. She couldn't remember what was important about that date but she knew it was of great significance. Then she remembered. September 1st! Her final year at Hogwarts started today! Normally this would be a cause of great excitement but today she felt hollow.

As her eyes swept round the room, they lingered on a photo. It was of her and Harry. It was one of the nicest photos of the two of them. Harry was smiling lovingly at her and she was laughing so hard she couldn't breath. It definitely wasn't one of the most attractive photos of her. In fact it was one of the worst. Harry didn't look too bad (but then again, Ginny had quite a biased opinion), but despite all this she still liked it. It made her forget about all the time she had spent longing to be with Harry, it made it all worthwhile to see them so happy together.

Then it hit her, a dementor's kiss. She felt all the happiness drain out of her. Harry wasn't going to be at Hogwarts this year. He was a trained Auror now, he had his own house and lead a grown up life. She was still a school girl. Ginny worried that Harry would forget about her in the months they would be apart.

Ron was an Auror too, and although he still lived at home he had left for work before she had woken up. He hadn't even said goodbye. Maybe he had forgotten. Maybe everyone had forgotten.

Hermione and Neville wouldn't be there either. Hermione had got a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Apparently she was very high up.

Neville was also an Auror, she and Hermione had spent many hours teasing Ron and Neville about how, if it wasn't for Voldemort, neither of them would have been able to be Aurors, as neither of them would have got the grades.

At least Luna would be there. She was a nice person, although very weird. She and Ginny were complete opposites as Ginny was possibly the most down to earth person on the planet.

She allowed herself 5 more minutes of moping before she dragged herself downstairs.

'Morning dear', said Mrs Weasley brightly.

'Morning', Ginny mumbled in response.

She was on the verge of tears but determined not to show it.

It was a strange sensation, the eerie quiet that filled the Burrow was almost as loud as when the whole family, plus a couple more, pelted through the house looking for last minute things they had decided they needed.

Now only herself, her parents and George remained. At one point, the twins had accounted for about 80% of the noise, but now, after Fred's death, George barely left the house, often lying in bed for weeks on end without getting up unless to use the toilet.

On her birthday, two months previously, the whole family had come back home, but Ginny had to admit, it wasn't the best birthday she'd ever had. It should have been a celebration, she was of age at last! But it had been quite a sober event, with her mother bursting into tears on at least two occasions. That was the last time she had seen what was left of her family all together.

Mrs Weasley gave her a gentle squeeze, bringing her back to the present.

'You'll have a great time', she said, 'just think, you're captain of the quidditch team, you're top of the school and you've got no protective brothers watching your every move.'

Ginny thought about this and then managed to splutter, 'but no Harry!'

'Come on love, just think how many boyfriends you can have! He'll never know!'

'Mum!' Ginny yelped, laughing.

'Seriously thought love, it will be good for you two to have a break, you've seen each other practically everyday for the last 6 years.'

'I didn't see him ALL last year!'

'You can wait till christmas, dear.'

'I can't mum!'

With that, she buried her flaming head into her mothers rather large chest.

They stayed like that, Ginny's heaving shoulders gradually subsiding, until Mrs Weasley glanced at the clock and exclaimed, 'Goodness, look at the time, get some food down your neck, we'll be late!', which startled Ginny half to death.

They arrived at the train station ½ an hour before the train was due to leave, so Ginny had plenty of time to compose herself before facing her fellow students. To her great joy, Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared through the barrier 10 minutes later. She could feel the tears prickling the back of her eyelids again as the three of them sat together, her head resting on Harry's shoulder, listening to Ron witter about nothing in particular, a couple of silent tears trickling down her flawless face.

The station gradually began to fill up and first years were excited to see the three most famous people of the moment. They whispered amongst themselves, nervously pointing the trio out to their friends.

As people began to board the train, Hermione and Mrs Weasley tactfully moved away from Harry and Ginny. Ron, after some fierce glares from Hermione, did the same.

Ginny smiled nervously into Harry's bright emerald eyes, the tears already beginning to reform.

'I've never cried so much in my life', she smiled weakly as Harry tenderly brushed away her tears before giving in and kissing her passionately. Mrs Weasley looked away awkwardly.

When they finally broke apart she opened her eyes and laughed. Everybody was staring at them. Ginny realised that there were many, many girls that would give anything to be in her place. She caught Harry's eye and they both laughed.

Harry kissed her forehead before pushing her towards her mother and turning away to hide his tears.

She said goodbye to her family before rushing back to Harry and throwing her arms around him, 'see you at christmas, Potter', she chuckled before darting onto the train, seconds before the doors slammed shut. She didn't have time to look back before the platform had disappeared into a puff of smoke.

A/N

Hi!

This is my first story, I hope you enjoy it. Please review with any comments/criticisms.

There will be 19 chapters, all set on September 1st, from 1999-2017.

Kat x