Chapter One: Pots and Fireballs By: Cactuskitty
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Harry Potter book series, they belong to J. K. Rowling, so please don't sue.
Harry, Ron, and Ginny rolled over with laughter as they watched Molly Weasely stormed out of the house after her two disruptive, but ingenious, sons, Fred and George. She had just accidentally discovered some of their more "creative" new candies in her stew she was preparing for their dull Uncle Walter, who was coming down to visit later that evening. Walter was one of the more successful members of the Weasely kin and Molly wanted to make a good first impression, she had warned all of them to be on their best behavior.
The twins didn't mean to put their new candies in the stew; that was just the place that their mother was least likely, or so they thought, to find them. Due to the fact that they barely ever ate stew, so they thought that it would be safe to put their super-hot, new, and improved fireballs in that pot with and invisibility charm. So, when Molly put the water in there to boil she didn't know that it would cause the fireballs to get hot making the 40 galleon pot to melt. This all left Molly furious and with out a clue for what to make for their special guest, since stew was his favorite meal.
"Mum, would you like me to help you fix something else for dinner?" Ginny asked while gathering herself off the floor.
"Actually, the three of you can help me by walking over to the deli and buying me a roast. If you are all done laughing?" Molly said while trying to calm herself down.
"Of course Mum, we'll be back before you can say Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans." Ron replied with a huge grin as he grabbed the money from his mother and the three of them ran out of the house, still laughing hysterically.
As Ron said they would, they arrived at the store in no time at all, but it would take the butcher a few minutes to prepare the roast, so in the mean time Ginny decided to make conversation.
"Leave it to the twins to lighten the moment." She proclaimed once she had finally stopped laughing.
"I know it has been so long since I have laughed that hard." Ron said clenching his chest.
"It feels so good to laugh again. It's been so long since we have laughed, let alone this hard." Harry said with his huge grin fading quickly.
"Much too long, if I say so myself." Ron declared with a ponderous smile.
"I never thought that I would ever laugh that hard ever again. Well not after what happened to Cedric's..." Harry's grin faded away totally, and so did everyone else's.
Suddenly, all three of them stopped and then Harry said in a stern and depressed voice, "If only I went…"
"Harry, it wasn't your fault. Don't dwell on the past any more; you have got to move on. You can't spend your whole life focusing on the what ifs, Harry, you have to keep on living." Ginny said in a sudden outburst.
Her sudden straightforward ness took both Harry and Ron back. Causing both of them to be speechless. Harry expected that sort of speech from Hermione, but Gin, never.
Harry final gathered himself and said her, "Ginny, I now accept that there was nothing I could do, but I still fell that it is somehow my fault."
Ginny, didn't know what came over her found that she just had to ask, "Harry, do you believe in fate?"
Ron suddenly came to reality, "What?!?" he coughed out suddenly.
"You know fate, destiny, serendipity, there is many other words for it. It means that something is destined to happen, and if it doesn't happen one way, it happens another just because it is suppose to." Virginia said in an almost dreamy voice. The type of voice many girls use when describing something romantic that happened.
"Yes Gin, I know what destiny means, but how is it relevant?" answered a still astounded, but cynical Ronald Weasely.
"Ron, I wasn't asking you, but it is relevant. Just hear me out." Ginny said, and added hastily, "Well, Harry do you?"
"Gin, are you trying to say that, if he didn't die then, he might have died another way? That it was just his time? Is that what you are getting at?" Harry asked with a ponderous look on his face. "Because I never look at it that way."
Ginny nodded and her whole face turned red.
"Ginny, you have a point." Ron said in a surprised voice, "I never looked at it that way either."
"It's sort of like this muggle theory I learned about before I went to Hogwarts." Harry said with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What was it called Harry?" Ron asked with a look of interest.
"I just can't put my finger on it, I know it had something to do with this Jewish guy named something that starts with the letter E. It's been so long since I have thought of it." Harry replied warily.
"Einstein?" They all turned around and saw a very pretty looking girl who looked around their age sitting behind them. She wore a short-sleeved peasant shirt with worn looking jeans and cowboy boots, and her messy chin length brown hair with blond highlights gave her almost a cowgirl look.
"Excuse me?" Ron said in a shocked tone.
"It was Einstein's Theory of Relativity. That your friend was talking about. The theory is sort of about how everything is connected and how not only one thing is happening at one time. Kind of like, we aren't the only people on the Earth waiting for their food right now, and things like that. That's what he was referring to earlier, I think." Harry nodded, and she said, as she pushed up her eye glasses that were falling down her nose back up, and hastily added, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but hearing the last part of your conversation. The part about fate, it's always seem interested me, everything being lined together. I really didn't mean to be rude."
They were all sort of shocked because this unusual girl who entered their private conversation.
But finally, Harry said, "That's okay I suppose, we probably were talking pretty loud, and you did answer my question. If you don't mind me asking, how did you know about Einstein anyway?"
"Well," She said with a blush, " I have always been interested in that area of science. It first started when I read a report about a related subject and it intrigued me, and I found myself wanting to know everything about it, and one of the first things I learned about was Einstein's Theory of Relativity."
Ginny couldn't believe that he was forgiving her that easily, she would have, but she was surprised that Harry did. This girl seemed nice enough but they knew so little about her…
"Well, now that that's settled, we haven't been formally introduced yet. My name is Ronald Weasely, this is my sister Virginia, but we all call her Ginny, and this is my best friend Harry Potter." Ron said with the tops of his ears starting to turn pink. He was waiting for the usual "You're Harry Potter? I've hear/read so much about you." bit, but it never came.
Instead she said, "Well, it's very nice to meet you Ron, Harry, and Ginny or would you prefer Virginia?"
"Either one would be fine, but I prefer Virginia." Ginny said with a blush, liking this girl even more every minute. No one had ever asked her which she would prefer.
" Number Thirty-five, your order is ready." Called the witch by the counter.
"Okay then, Virginia it will be." She said with a smile. "Well, I have to go, that's my number. Maybe we'll see each other again some time." With that she grabbed her order and jumped in the fireplace, whispered her destination and disappeared. And this seemed to leave them all aghast.
"Number Thirty-three, your roast is ready." Called the witch again.
They got up, paid their roast, and left the little deli in a speechless manner. Until Harry finally realized something, "Ginny, I didn't know that you preferred to called Virginia."
"Well, Harry, you never asked." Virginia said flatly.
"I can still call you Ginny, right?" Ron asked with a puzzled look.
Ginny replied after a few minutes, "Of course, everyone can call me Ginny still, all I said was that I truly prefer Virginia. Not that I wanted everyone to start calling me that."
"Speaking of names, she never told us hers, did she?" Harry said, triumphantly.
They discussed this for a few more minutes and found out that they knew nothing about this strange girl at all except that she knew a lot about muggle science. They also found out that if they didn't get home soon Mrs. Weaseley was going to be angrier with them than she was at Fred and George.
A/N: This was my first Harry Potter fic, please Review and tell me what I need to improve on, or you could just review. *Hint* *Hint*