A/N AU Harry never went to Hogwarts and has never met the Weasleys. But what happens when he meets the youngest one? Even if the circumstances aren't exactly ideal. Follow Ginny as she discovers a few things about herself, the person she is meant to be and the person she is meant to be with. Because I think, in whatever universe, Harry is meant for Ginny.
Ok so this idea is sort of confusing I know, but you'll get you're head around it, I promise! This is just an introductory chapter so bear with me.

I've spent my whole life dreaming about Mr. Right, but have only ever managed to find Mr. Right Now. I knew that the perfect guy would find me one day, I just wasn't expecting it where I found him, and I was getting tired of waiting.

That's me; Ginny Weasley. I've always been one for action, and will never willingly just sit back and watch things play out. But I tend to be hasty, and have been all my life. It's always gotten me into trouble in my family.

The Weasleys, where do I start? We are quite possibly the largest wizarding family around. First there's my dad, Arthur, who pretends to be the head of the family when we all really know that it's mum. He works at the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office. (Yawn) Boring I know, but dad is obsessed with Muggles, mum doesn't get it.

My mum Molly. Possibly Britain's most scary women when she's angry, although I could give her a run for her money! Merlin that women can glower, but I love her really, we all do. Mum is the glue that holds our large and dysfunctional family together. But enough about my parents. I'd better get started on my brothers, or I'll run out of room.

Brothers, I have 6 of them, and they come in all the varieties. They're all older, and all of them can be a pain in the backside when the want to be, especially Ron. But I love them all equally, or almost equally, even if they do rub me up the wrong way sometimes.

First, and he's always first because he's the oldest, is Bill. Now Bill is 9 years older than me, but I still think he's the coolest. However, he did choose to marry the most annoyingly perfect princess in all of France, so I have my doubts about his sanity. No, Fleur's ok really, she's just everything I'm not; girly. Bill works at Gringotts now, but he used to be a curse breaker in Egypt.

Second comes Charlie, who's always fun. I can't remember a time when he wasn't smiling. He loves the outdoors. He taught me how to fly because none of my other brothers believed that a girl could possibly be good at Quidditch. I showed them! But Charlie's special. He loves dragon, and is currently working with wild ones in Romania.

Next is Percy. There's really only one word to describe Percy, pompous. He can be a real git, but his heart is in the right place; most of the time. He's very ambitious, Percy. Always trying to push boundaries. He works at the Ministry of Magic like dad, but I have no idea what he does there, and I don't intend to find out. Not unless I feel the urge to have my socks bored off.

Then come Fred and George. I'll put them in the same paragraph because they're never apart. Why would they be, they're twins. They're also always trying to push boundaries, but different ones. Fred and George were always the trouble makers at school, and that's carried on into their adult life. If there was a prank at Hogwarts you kind of knew who was behind it, but no one could ever prove it. They are masters at covering their own tracks. Luckily they taught me a few tricks. They own a joke shop in Diagon Alley, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. (Clever don't you think?)

Lastly there's Ron. Well, technically I'm last, but I'm not one of my brothers. Ron is actually my favourite brother, but if you tell him I said that, I will shove this quill where the sun doesn't shine. But enough about my aggressive tendencies, and back to ickle Ronnikins.

I've always felt sorry for Ron. He's the youngest of 6 brothers, yes I know I'm the youngest, but it's all different for me because I'm a girl. You see, poor Ron has so much to live up to. Before him, we've had 2 head boys, a Quidditch captain, and Hogwarts' most notorious mischief makers. Ron has had to compete with that for his whole life, and still find time to be himself. He's not the most gifted wizard, but he has always looked after me, even when I didn't need it. He finished school last year, and is now in Auror training. That's something no one in the family has done before.

Then there's me. 7th daughter of a 7th daughter, and a 7th son of a 7th son which is supposed to make me a powerful witch. Ron likes to tell me that he doesn't see it, but he hasn't been on the other end of one of my Bat Bogey Hexes yet. I'll get him. I'm the first female Weasley for several generations, if you can believe that. It's kind of strange, but perfectly true. There are so many men in my extended family.

Now being a Weasley gives you a few certain traits. Firstly, we are all quite tall; my brothers are more than myself. Second, we all have an annoying skin condition which most people call freckles. I hate them. Lastly, we all have flaming red hair. You could pick a Weasley out of a crowd of wizards in no time. It's just so distinctive. I'm not complaining, it's just annoying that I can't pretend from time to time that I'm no related to my brothers. Some of the things they do!

I would like to say that I think I'm fairly attractive, but I don't want to sound conceited. If there's one thing I hate, it's people who are up themselves. I have brown eyes, and long wavy hair. Let's just say that I'm quite content with the way I look, and leave it at that.

Red heads have always been described as feisty, and I'm no exception. I will always express my opinion, and never like to admit that I'm wrong. If someone gets on my nerves I'll just tell them, and boy will they regret it. Some people fear me. That makes me laugh because I'm not a scary person, only when I'm angry. I'm really just a softy. I'm a sucker for romance, and I'm always looking for a good time. I don't like to take things too seriously because I like to have fun. Life's boring if you get too hung up on homework and exams. I've always wanted to make the most of my life, and I try not to waste a moment. I guess that's why I'm so impatient, and incompetent at just sitting back and watching things unfold. But I've always been the innocent one in the family. I've never crossed the line, and I always intended to remain the 'good girl'. I'm not uptight though, and I know how to break the rules, but I've never intended to become the girl that everyone talks about. That's just not me.

I'm a very strong person. I don't like other people doing things for me, and I like to handle my own problems. I wouldn't say no to some help, but I'm rather independent. I'm a very proud person and I rarely ever cry.

I've had a few boyfriends. I'm 17 and I go to a co-ed school, what do you expect? I'm normally the one to end it though. None of them have ever lasted very long. I've never really had serious feelings for a guy. Even if though I liked a couple of the guys a lot, they always turned out to be really clingy or overprotective. That's just not what I needed, another brother.

I suppose the story begins at the start of my final year. It was the year that everything changed. I'd done a lot of growing up over the summer. I wasn't a little girl anymore, I was finally an adult, and along with that came responsibilities.

The most serious of these responsibilities was my Head Girl's badge. I was as shocked as you are, but the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, must have had his reasons. When the badge fell out of my letter, my mum cried. She gets like that when one of her children does something to be proud of. Dad was pleased too, along with all of my brothers, except for Fred and George. They acted all ashamed, and told me that they thought they'd raised me right. I just laughed. As much as I admired their mischief making skills I never envisaged myself going in a similar direction to them. Not that there's anything wrong with making truckloads of money from their whacky inventions. It's not my thing, that's all.

So being Head Girl promised to have its ups and downs. On the up I could put anyone who annoyed me in detention, and dock points from people I didn't like. Percy told me that that's abusing my power, but I just ignored him. The down side of the power was having to patrol the corridors a few times a week, organizing things like prefect meetings, and basically being on good behavior for the entire year. I wasn't allowed to break rules of any kind.

I headed to Hogwarts that year expecting it to be the best year of my life. I was Head Girl, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a seventh year, studying the subjects I was actually good at, one year away from finishing school forever, the only Weasley at Hogwarts (no annoying brothers), and had passed my apparition test. Ok so you can't apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, but at least everyone would know that I could if I wanted to. So from the summer, it looked to be the perfect year. There would be no hiccups, no distractions and I could just have a peaceful, quiet time. I can't really emphasize how wrong this perception was, because no matter how hard you try, you can never have a quiet year at Hogwarts.

I arrived in the Great Hall for the start of term feast as usual. This is where the story begins. The hall was just as I remembered it, although the enchanted ceiling, which had been a clear blue when I had been there last, was now a murky grey. It was enchanted to look like the sky outside. I walked on over to Gryffindor table, and sat down with my two best friends; Colin Creevy on my left, and Britney Green on my right.

The actual feast went perfectly. I'd missed the Hogwarts cooking, but that's no insult to my mother's handiwork in the kitchen. I filled up on all my favourite foods whilst listening to my housemates recount their summers to the others.

"I am so glad to be back here," said Melinda Gordon, one of my room mates. "It beats spending time with my sister. I'd rather take double potions with Snape than spend an afternoon with her. She drives me crazy."

"Sisters are nothing," Erin Walters, Melinda's best friend, and another person I shared a dorm with, replied. "I spent the summer listening to my mother badgering me about everything. That woman won't leave me alone. She has to know every little detail about my life. As if I'm going to tell her."

"Well my dad has been lecturing me about what careers I should be thinking about," Kyle Wilson said. He shared a room with Colin. He deepened his voice which I assume was an impression of his father. "This is a very important part of your life. You're NEWT results will affect what careers you can pursue and if you don't get a respectable job then I haven't done my job right." A few people laughed, and agreed that their parents had said similar things over the holidays.

"How was your summer Ginny babe?" Britney asked me.

"Oh fine," I replied "Charlie was supposed to come and stay from Romania, but couldn't, and Fred and George were round a lot. Didn't see Bill much, I expect he was working, and Percy was giving me countless lectures when he found out I was Head Girl. I think he made a bigger deal than mum, and that's saying something." Britney and Colin laughed.

"Yeah I spent my summer with my family," Colin said. "My dad, Dennis and I went on a fishing trip."

"What's fishing?" I asked. Colin and his younger brother Dennis had come from a muggle family, and he often said things I didn't understand.

"It's when you use bait, hooks, string, and long poles to catch fish out of rivers," Britney said. I looked at her in surprise. She, like me came from a wizarding family, and I didn't think she'd know about these muggle activities. "What? I took muggle studies for 3 years. Just because I failed my OWL doesn't mean I didn't learn anything." I laughed and Colin chuckled.

"Well, what did you do over the summer Brit?" I asked her.

"Oh it was pretty quiet," she said. "Nothing exciting. I just stayed at home really." I nodded, and we went into a comfortable silence. I looked around the hall at the various students eating and chatting. A warm feeling spread through my stomach. Hogwarts had always felt like a second home. It just had a family feeling, except for the Slytherin table. I wouldn't be in their family if you paid me.

When everyone had finished eating, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet for his start of term address. A hush fell over us all as we waited for him to speak.

"Welcome to, and back to Hogwarts," he said warmly. "We have a busy year ahead as always, but before I let it start I have a few notices." Dumbledore went on to speak about things like the Forbidden Forest, and banned items. We older students didn't really pay attention because we'd heard it so many times before. It wasn't until he reached the new staff appointments that I tuned in again. I knew we'd be getting a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, as the previous one had retired last year, and as it was my favourite subject. I was anxious to know who would be teaching it this year.

"As you all know," Dumbledore continued. "Our previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher retired at the end of last year. I am proud to announce that I've found a replacement. Allow me to introduce Professor Potter." Dumbledore indicated to a wizard on his right, and I followed his hand. My eyes fell on the hottest boy, no man, I've ever seen. I can't stress how good looking he was. It felt like I'd been winded by a bludger; I couldn't breathe. Professor Potter couldn't have been more then 18. He had messy, jet black hair that stuck up at odd angles. He stood up and waved at the hall when Dumbledore said his name, and I got a good look at his physique. Perfect was an understatement. His body was hot. He was hot. He was my teacher.

Hang on those two sentences didn't seem right together. My Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor was better looking then all the 7th year boys put together, and it seemed that every girl in the hall had noticed. I couldn't see what colour his eyes were because he was quite far away. They looked brown, but I wasn't sure, because his glasses obstructed the view. His skin was evenly tanned, and he was wearing a smile that could have rivaled Gilderoy Lockhart's. (Lockhart has won Witch Weekly's most charming smile award 7 times in a row now. My mum has a thing for him, but he is very handsome). Lockhart had nothing on Professor Potter.

Wait, this was going to be a big problem. I thought about this as I walked with Britney and Colin up to Gryffindor Tower.

"That Professor Potter is hot," Britney said as we climbed through the portrait hall, and entered Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah," I said weakly. Colin just snorted. "This could be a big problem."

"Why?" Britney asked. We headed over to the comfy arm chairs by the fire, and sat down. Colin didn't join us. He just went up to bed.

"How am I supposed to learn anything from him," I asked. "I'll be too busy looking at his body to take in what's coming out of his mouth." We dissolved into silence. Britney didn't seem to be as worried as me. Maybe she hadn't experienced the sudden loss of breath at the sight of him. I had never understood the term 'breathtaking' until then.

I soon got over my worries. So I was attracted to him, big deal. It was only a crush. I could get over a stupid crush. Oh how wrong I was.