This Summer is Different

By Yellownotepaper

Chapter One

"Hey, Ginny," said Harry, sitting down next to her in the kitchen. He was uncomfortable close, however Ginny did not want to move away, for it would seem rude.

"Harry," Ginny greeted him, trying not to look at him.

"So, Ginny," Harry began, fiddling with his shirt. "I was wondering…I got these tickets and – "

"Harry," Ginny interrupted him. "I don't like you that way. I'm sorry."

"Harry looked surprised and a little hurt, but quickly hid it and said, "Oh, yeah, me too! I just wanted to know if you wanted to go as friends!"

Ginny inwardly rolled her eyes at the feeble excuse. "That would be lovely."

Hary grinned, but his eyes were still sad. "Well," he said uncomfortably, getting up. "I should probably be going. I think…I think I hear Mrs. Weasley calling me." With that, he strode away from her and out of sight. Ginny stared sadly at his retreating form, old feelings stirring inside of her, swirling around in her headand fogging her thoughts.

It's Harry, said a voice inside her head. Harry Potter, girl! The boy you've always dreamed about! What are you doing?

'Be quiet,' Ginny thought angrily. 'I don't like him anymore.'

Ginny Weasley stood up and pushed in her chair, rattling the teacup she had placed on the table a few minutes before. She walked up the stairs until she reached the attic, where she slammed the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. She was so confused!

When Ginny had almost asked Harry out in her 5th year, his 6th, she had thought for sure he would say yes. He had no girlfriend (which turned out to be untrue), and he had been hanging out with her recently and getting to know her better. He ended up breaking her innocent, vulnerable heart.

"Hey," said Ginny, falling in step with Harry Potter as they walked to the Great Hall together.

"Hey yourself," Harry teased her.

"Um," Ginny stumbled, her books slipping in her sweaty hands. "You know that there is a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, right?"

"Yeah," said Harry dreamily. "And you'll never guess who I'm going with!"

Ginny's heart filled with joy as she tried to hide her excitement. This is it, her mind screamed. This is when he's going to ask you out! "Um," said Ginny, deciding to play innocent. "Who?"

"Cho," said Harry, his eyes unfocused as he daydreamed about the beautiful 7th year. Ginny stared unbelievably at him.

"Cho?" she squeaked, her voice cracking.

"Yeah, Cho," said Harry. "I thought for sure she would say no, I mean, she's so beautiful! But she said that she had been secretly crushing on me for almost a year!"

Ginny's eyes filled with tears, and she bit her lip to stop it from trembling. I've been fancying you longer, her head screamed.

"Well," Ginny said, her eyes threatening to overflow any moment, "I just remembered, I have to, um…" Not knowing what to say, she ran off down the hall. Harry, who had just noticed Cho leaving the lavatory, did not notice her departure, and instead waltzed up to Cho and took her arm.

"May I escort you to lunch, my fair lady?"

"I would be honored."

Shaking away her horrible past memories, she began looking at the boxes that were lying, dusty and ragged, on the creaky old floor. Picking up the first one she could find, she carefully took the tape off the top and opened it, coughing a bit at the dust that sprung out of the box. Waving a hand to clear away the dust, she came across all of her old notebooks from Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most had "Virginia Potter" and such written inside instead of lessons, which brought back a swarm of memories of long, boring History of Magic classes.

She clutched the book to her chest, taking in the smell of age and, of course, Hogwarts. Holding back her tears, she decided that her mother would be happy to see this.

"Hey, Mum!" She called down the stairs, until she realized that her mother was in the kitchen, and could not possibly have heard her.

"What do you want, Ginny!" Ron shouted angrily from within his old room.

"Never mind, Ron!" Ginny yelled irritably and rolled her eyes.

Instead of Apparating downstairs, she ran down all of the flights of stairs delightedly, enjoying the sheer childishness. Just the thought of running brought back memories from childhood... with her robes billowing behind her, and her hair sloppily plastered against her freckled forehead. As she reached the bottom of the stairwell, Ginny stumbled and tripped on the small, raised platform that marked the doorway into the Weasley kitchen. Flailing her arms wildly did not help, and inevitably fell flat on her face.

"Ginny!" both Harry and Mrs. Weasley gasped. Bill couldn't help sniggering, which ultimately led to a crazed bout of laughter that involved rolling on the floor and struggling for breath. Harry rushed over to help her up, and Ginny's shoulders were soon heaving up and down. At first, he took her to be crying, for tears were streaming down her face. Mrs. Weasley was beside herself with worry.

"Are you okay?" she inquired, intensely concerned.

"I'm – fine," Ginny managed to blurt out, having just conquered a laughing attack to rival Bill's. As she caught her breath, she continued, "It makes me feel young again!"

She then plopped down at the large dinner table, sitting right across from her relieved mother.

"You're young," said Bill, still laughing.

"23?" said Ginny, as if that made some sort of hard-core point.

"What's that, Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley pointed at the notebook Ginny had brought from the attic.

"Oh, it's one of my old notebooks from Hogwarts. I was actually coming downstairs to show it to you... I suppose I kind of forgot about that step..." she added sheepishly.

Bill coughed loudly, masking another snigger. Mrs. Weasley shot him a look, and at once, he acquired his innocent face. Ginny handed the book to her, and observed how much it lit up her old and weathered face. Pushing a tendril of grey hair out of her vibrant hazel eyes, Mrs. Weasley gently leafed through her daughter's memories, genuinely beaming. She smiled, the wrinkles framing her fragile lips pressing together, as she remembered how much younger they had all been when the notebook had been written in. She glanced at her beautiful daughter, tears filling her sparkling eyes, and wrapped her up in a warm embrace.

"I think it was from my 3rd year," Ginny said once her mother had let go, "Because it has stuff about Mad-Eye."

"May I see? I would love a few memories of something other than yesterday's breakfast." Ginny eyed Harry a bit uncomfortably, but then shrugged and surrendered the notebook. As he paged through it unhurriedly, his eyes widened and he began to chuckle.

"Did you really like me this much?" He asked playfully, and pointed to a page that had nothing on it but "Mrs. Harry Potter," and "Virginia Anne Potter." Ginny turned a deep shade of crimson and laughed nervously, not sure if he would understand that she felt differently now.

"If I remember correctly, she couldn't be in the same room with you without turning into a tomato!" Mrs. Weasley cut in, grinning widely.

"Mom," Ginny groaned.

"Exactly the same shade as her hair, too!" Bill contributed amiably.

"Speaking of hair, Bill, I'm so glad you got a haircut." Mrs. Weasley changed the subject.

"Well, what kind of example would I be setting for my children?" He winked charmingly and unleashed his perfect smile. As conversation turned to Bill's lovely children, Ginny was once again transported to Hogwarts. Breathing in the scents from her notebook, she was there, reliving their adventures and remembering the heartbreak she experienced every time Harry stared longingly at Cho. She sighed heavily, wishing she could return to those days, filled with mystery and whirling emotions. Unexpectedly, there was a hand on her shoulder, and Harry was staring down at her with those gorgeous green eyes of his.

"I miss it too." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Makes me want to be a kid again."

"Come to the attic with me!"

A:N/This is yellownotepaper with another new fic! Woohoo! We're on fire! Actually…..this isn't new. This was from Laur's single account, Charles Weatherby, and Erin edited it and added a bit here and there. So it is the NEW AND IMPROVED This Summer Is Different. Review away, darlings!

Erin and Laur