Chapter 1

The Beginning

Ginny Weasley was an average teenage witch. She was starting her fourth year at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was very excited about it. She couldn't wait to meet up with her friends. She hadn't had any owls from her friend over the summer, as almost all of them had gone for a holiday to some exotic place or another with their families. But she and her family weren't as well-to-do as the few other wizarding families out there, and therefore could not afford a fancy trip to Venice or Paris. But sweet little Ginny was not one to complaint.

She never cribbed about not being able to go shopping to Diagon Alley with her mother to buy beautiful dresses from Velvet, the Designer Boutique that had opened not too long ago, who had the Rich and Famous as their clients. Molly Weasley would have had to sell one of her children in order to get a sufficient amount to pay for one of Velvet's famous Cocktail dresses. She was happy with the jumpers her mother knitted and the second-hand dresses she bought for her. Ginny would alter those dresses and add her own final touches - a pretty bow, a little lace here and there, and the dresses would be "As good as new" - she would say, while happily twirling around in the dress for her parents to see. She never wanted to go out for dinners with the rest of her family like many of her friends did, for birthdays and anniversaries. She was always content with the delicious home cooked meals her mother prepared, and sometimes she would lend a hand too, happily peeling the potatoes or stirring the stew.

Ginny was a self-satisfied girl. She was happy with the little things life gave, whose beauty one would not be able to appreciate, having seen grander things. Ginny was a Gryffindor, and proud to be one. Her whole family was in Gryffindor- her mother, father and six brothers. She had her own reputation to keep up though. She was a straight 'A' student. She studied really well and got pretty good marks in all the subjects, except for, well…. Potions. But, Potions was an exception, taking into consideration the Potions Master – Severus Snape – Head of the Slytherin House. He was never fair to the Gryffindors, Everyone knew that. Ginny hated him as much as The Trio – Harry, Ron and Hermione did.

Ginny Weasley was also a hopeless romantic. She read love stories and novels and spent a lot of time in Ginnyland thinking about her Prince Charming. She had once thought Harry Potter was her Prince Charming but she soon got over her childish infatuation for him and started seeing him as a friend for he never saw in her anything more than his best friend's baby sister. But Ginny was still infamous among a few about the cupid she had sent to Harry for Valentine's Day in her first year.

"His eyes, as Green as Fresh pickled Toad,

His hair, as Black as Blackboard,

I wish He Was Mine,

For he is so Divine,

The Hero Who Conquered The Dark Lord."

- It sounded so ridiculous now.

But Ginny had grown over the summer. She stood proudly at a height of 5'4'' now. Her red hair had darkened and taken a beautiful coppery shine to them. And last but not the least, she had developed some curves in just the right areas. She was excited to see how people would see her in the light of these new developments. Especially the reactions of the male population of Hogwarts. She was excited to get back to Hogwarts to see how her crushes were doing. Boys she liked, but was too shy to speak to. She missed her crushes. She had a fair share of them, like any other girl. But there was no one about whom she was pretty serious.

Ginny longed for someone, someone special, who would change her life – turn it Upside Down. The person who would make her smile all the time. The person who would make her feel loved. The person who would call her Beautiful, not Hot. She had a feeling that the person was going to come... It was some kind of a gut feeling, or heart feeling, or maybe Sixth Sense... Very soon ... He was just around the corner… Her Knight in Shining Armor…

The morning of September 1st finally dawned. This was the day everyone had to leave for Hogwarts. The morning went by in a blur. She woke up to her mother's yells,

"Ginny! GINNY! Hurry up or you are going to miss the Hogwarts Express! Get dressed and come down right now Ginny Weasley! Arthur dear, please go see if she's up yet. Get her out of bed and her trunk downstairs"

Ginny heard her father's footsteps climbing up the stairs and realized how late she was, and quickly jumped out of bed. She grabbed the first things she could find and met her dad (almost crashed into) on the way to the bathroom and quickly got dressed. She rushed down for a little breakfast of porridge. Looking around she realized she was the one holding them up..and Ron, who was stuffing his third bowl of porridge into his mouth.

"Oh! Hurry up Ron, you have eaten enough to last you for two days! We have a train to catch!" , said Hermione while pulling him from the table and outside towards the car. Luckily, her father had managed to borrow a car from the Ministry of Magic, where he worked, so the ride was quite comfortable. Everyone was in such a hurry - first to reach Kings Cross and then to get on the other side of the barrier between platform 9 and 10 to platform 9 3/4 and aboard the Hogwarts Express. The sight of the bright red train, Billowing Steam looked very inviting to Ginny.

After waving goodbye to her mother and father, she, Harry, Ron and Hermione went in search for an empty compartment. Hermione and Ron were Prefects this year and had to go Patrolling after their Prefects Meeting with the Head Boy and the Head Girl. Ginny wanted to go look for her friends and sit with them, but she thought it would be rude to leave Harry. Soon enough Ron and Hermione came back from their Patrolling duties. Ginny sat with them for the journey, but didn't regret her decision to stay as they all spent a part of the journey searching for Neville's toad - Trevor, who got lost again – They were looking for it under the seats and bumping into each other. For the other half of the journey, they all just played Exploding Snap, which was a lot of fun and Harry and Ron emerged with singed eyebrows.

They soon changed into their uniforms as Hogsmeade Station drew closer. Ginny felt at peace listening to the chatter of the students, trudging their way up to the castle. After reaching Hogwarts, they headed straight to the Great Hall for the feast. Ginny met her bestfriends Colin Creevey and Anne Smith at the front steps and they quickly hugged and exchanged pleasantries.

"I sure hope the sorting doesn't take too long" ,started Ron. "I am…"

"…. Starving" chorused the others and broke into laughter.

Ron turned crimson but smiled sheepishly. It was common knowledge to all about how hungry Ronald Bilius Weasley was at all times. The sorting began and finally, the food appeared – but after a lot of grumblings of a few stomachs.

While glancing around at the tables of the different houses, Ginny noticed a new boy at the Slytherin table who she guessed to be in about 5th year. The guy was what Ginny would term 'HOT & SEXY'- even in his uniform. She kept stealing glances at the guy until dinner was over and everyone's plates were cleared. Everyone had tucked in the delicious meal hungrily. After the usual announcements from Dumbledore, the tired lot made their way to their Dorms. Ginny was still lost in the thoughts of the new guy,wondering who he was.

Ginny fell asleep on her very comfortable bed as soon as she laid down on it. She

was very surprised that instead of her usual visitor in dreams (who was Harry),

came the new guy she had seen at the Slytherin Table.

She was thinking about this guy even while going to Great Hall for breakfast next morning and when Professor McGonagall was handing out timetables (Ginny had to be shaken out of her reverie) and while heading to the classes, during classes (History of Magic with Binns didn't even depress her this morning), during lunch – everywhere! She was just thinking about him!

"Merlin! Am going to go crazy if this continues" Ginny thought as she went to the Great Hall for dinner. "This is Mad! I don't even know his Name! Hey! I don't know his name! I need to know his name!" Ginny was talking to herself now, while Colin and Anne were busy discussing theirs summers beside her. Just then she noticed Harry, Hermione and Ron heading over to her and decided to ask Hermione about it.

"Hey mione, didja notice that new guy at the Slytherin Table?" asked Ginny, trying to sound casual as possible. And overdoing it.

"You mean the Blonde? Yeah! His name is Draco Malfoy. He's in our Year." Replied Hermione. "What about him?"

"Do you by any chance know where he came from and all?" enquired Ginny, trying not to display her eagerness. And again overdoing it.

"Ooooh, so, you are talking about the new hot property on campus, eh Ginny?" said Lavender Brown while Parvati Patil giggled.

"Well, he's got a decent bum" said Anne after speculating said parts of the hot property's anatomy. "He is reeeeaaal cute" she added with an evil grin, reading Ginny's mind.

"I don't know much about him..I just know that he's from Durmstrang and seems to be quite rich and has the 'Bad Boy' qualities" finished Hermione.

All the girls broke into fits of laughter and started giggling uncontrollably. The Guys – Harry, Ron, Neville and Colin gave them very odd looks – this made the Girls giggle even more.

"Girls!" said Ron, exasperatedly.

"Yeah," nodded Harry in agreement.

They looked at the pair of giggling girls again, shook their heads in unison and continued on hogging their food.