A/N: The first Harry Potter related thing I have ever written. So, I'm proud of this little piece. I accomplished my goal. Woo hoo. I'd love opinions, since I'm not really sure how good this is...so reviews would be nice. =)

Second Best

One again, I, Ginevra Weasley am jealous of one of my closest friends. Hermione Granger could be such a pain in the arse sometimes and not even know it. She was at the top of all her class, while I struggled to pass, she was school prefect and maybe she wasn't the most popular girl at school and she didn't care about what she looked like, but in some odd way, that made her pretty. And that was a lot more than I could say about myself. And finally, she had a boyfriend. Okay, so maybe that boyfriend just so happened to be my brother, Ron, who at times could be the world's most insensitive and inconsiderate human being I had ever known. And it was slightly disturbing watching him kiss, much less hold hands with my best friend. Still, I was happy for the two. They had finally admitted their feelings for each other. For that I was glad. It was really getting annoying hearing Ron blab on and on about Hermione. I knew she had to be someone special...or of much significance when he had come for the summer after his first year and Fred and George would tease him relentlessly about this Hermione Granger. Even ten year old me knew there was something interesting going on there.

But that wasn't the point at all. The point was that Hermione had all the luck in the world. Things were going great for her. But where did that leave people like me?

I'm just so tired of being alone. I was even more alone now that Hermione had Ron and was constantly sneaking out on nightly escapades with him—that rebel. She was so lucky. I knew, though, that there were far more important things to worry about than my non-existent love life, but I couldn't help it. I had all this free time...what was I supposed to do?

By the end of fourth year I was with Dean Thomas, but I decided things really shouldn't continue because to be honest, I didn't like him all that much. I had at first, but things sort of changed. I suppose it was rather stupid of me, because here I am, days later, sulking over not being with anybody.

I was lying on my bed, staring intently at my ceiling and contemplating my entire life, when I heard a sharp knock at the door. The door cracked open a bit and a familiar voice said, "It's Hermione, can I come in?"

"I suppose," was my bitter reply.

Now that it was finally summer, Hermione was staying here at the Burrow with our family. I used to love having her here...before she got so chummy with my brother and forgot about me.

"Ginny, what's going on?" she asked me, walking in and coming over to sit on the edge of my bed.

I just shot her a quizzical look.

"You've been kind of distant these past few days. I was wondering whether you were mad at me or something..."

"Of course not. Everything is fine and dandy," I replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ginny," Hermione said in a warning tone, almost like the tone my mother uses whenever I said something she disapproved of.

"Hermione," I said, mocking her tone of voice.

I moved my eyes toward my ceiling again.

"Seriously, talk to me," my friend ordered.

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere with Ron?" I asked dismissively. Whoops. Wrong thing to say. I was in for it now.

"As a matter of fact, my entire life does not revolve around him, as some are keen to believe. I always have time for you, Ginny. Now tell me what's bothering you," she demanded.

I sat up, flopping my arms against the bed, sighing.

"It's just that..." I thought carefully before speaking. I took a deep breath. "Hermione...how do you do it?"

She looked perplexed. "Do what?"

Jeez, she was so oblivious. Couldn't she see it? It was right in front of her face. Her, perfect at everything. Me, a complete failure.

I think she's spending way too much time around my brother. She's starting to sound like him.

Okay, wow, now that's a scary thought. Must...stop...

I sighed again. "How can you be so...perfect?"

She laughed.

I didn't.

"Honestly, Ginny, I'm far from perfect."

I almost burst out laughing. But I restrained myself. "If you're far from perfect, I'd be afraid to know just how from perfect I am," I mumbled, not looking at her.

"Okay, enough with the nonsense. What's this really about?" Hermione asked.

Ugh. For a smart witch, she could be pretty thick sometimes.

I sighed dramatically and got up off of my bed...

"It's just that, you're Hermione Granger. Top of all your classes, prefect, you have great friend and a boyfriend, even if he is Ron," I explained, now examining the paint on my wall.

"Ginny..." was all she said. She got up and stood by me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I didn't want comfort.

"But what about people like me? Short, dumb red-haired girls with no place in her family or at school who could never get anyone to fall in love with her," I continued, trying not to let the tears that welled up in my eyes fall. All this self-pitying was painful. Maybe I should get a hobby...

"Ginny, don't you ever call yourself dumb. And you have a great family. They all love you very much. And you've had several boyfriends—"

I cut her off. "That's just it, Hermione. I don't want several boyfriends. Call me cheesy, but I want a relationship like you and Ron have. Love at first sight...whatever. Do you think I really fancied Dean? I—"

Tears were really threatening to spill, so I covered my face and slumped to the ground. Hermione dropped to the floor with me as well. She put an arm around my shoulder.

"You're not cheesy. I understand—"

"How could you? You've had it made for you. It just took you forever to realize that you loved Ron. A good five years wasted. But it was there. You have the greatest friends in the world. They love you. But, me? No. Everyone has preconceived ideas about me. 'Oh that Ginny; so innocent, so young, so naïve.' I'm not like you Hermione."

"No, because you're Ginevra Weasley. And I do have great friends. And you're one of them. One day, Ginny, you'll find the right person and you'll fall in love. You just have to wait," she consoled.

The right person? I'd already found the right person. I wanted to yell it and shout it at her. But I didn't. I stayed quiet, blinking back tears.

"I'll admit, Ron and I wasted years, but we're together now. And that's all that matters. Ginny, trust me, you'll be okay. You'll find the right person," she finished.

By now the tears had fallen down my face and I was leaning on her shoulder crying my eyes out.

"I already have," I choked out, not looking at her.

Surprise flickered through her eyes for a moment.

"Who?" she questioned. She paused and then looked at me. "Harry?"

Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The Boy Who I Was Madly in Love With. And ever since I was eleven years old.

Some still think I only fancied him because he was famous, and maybe I had in the beginning, but then I really got to know him. I'd beg Ron for details about him and that worked...for a while. But then he got sick of my badgering and I wanted something real. I couldn't hold onto the stories forever.

Maybe I didn't try hard enough. Or maybe he'd just never like a girl like me. I was speechless around him. I went weak in the knees and my heart stopped and I couldn't breathe. And all he took me for was Ron's little sister.

Okay, Ron seems to have seriously been ruining my life over the years. I should kill him for this.

So maybe I'm not pretty like some of the other girls I know. So maybe I don't giggle and flirt with every guy I come across. But couldn't he see that I was real person? Oh, and hopelessly in love with him.

I just nodded at Hermione, who pulled me into a tight hug.

"You're a great girl, Ginny. Harry's absolutely stupid if he can't see that."

"Mind telling him that?" I asked, wiping tears away.

"There'll be more guys," she said.

"You don't get it, Hermione!" I snapped, glancing at myself in my mirror. My eyes were puffy, outlined in red and my hair was flying in random directions. I looked like a mess. "I just want—"

I was interrupted by two people who had just entered my room. Ron and Harry. I nearly jumped a foot in the air. HARRY! Harry was here?! Why didn't anyone tell me? I looked like a wreck...my eyes...my hair...oh, this was very bad...

"You just want what, Ginny?" Ron asked, taking a bite out of the apple he was holding. "And why are you two huddled on the floor like that?"

Hermione and I immediately stood up.

"No reason," Hermione answered vaguely. "Harry, it's so good to see you again!" she said, giving him a hug.

"Likewise, Hermione," he said.

He looked over at me. I looked back. "Ginny, why are your eyes all red?" he asked me, coming over and wrapping his arms around me. I nearly died. He let go of me and I glanced at Hermione, unsure of how to answer this questions.

'Oh, it was nothing, Harry, I was just crying because you would never love a stupid redhead like me. That's all.'

How brilliant would that sound?

"Oh," Hermione said, "we were just talking about this book we read" –Ron made a face at the mention of the word book and began to look disinterested—"and it was very emotional and—"

"And I just got carried away," I finished. "No big deal."

Harry looked at Ron and he just shrugged.

"Um, Ron, have you done any of your summer homework?" Hermione asked in an unusual tone of voice. I glanced at her.

"Hermione, I said I'd do it later," Ron told her.

"Well what better time than now? Let's go."

"But Harry just got here!" he protested.

"Harry's been here loads of times. You're comfortable here, right, Harry?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Yes, see, Ron? Let's go," she said firmly. She glanced from him to me and Harry and then whacked him lightly on the shoulder and repeated, "Let's go."

I bit my lip. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to get me and Harry alone together. And I wasn't even sure I wanted to be alone with this boy who drove me tears just minutes beforehand.

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and led him out the door. "We'll be downstairs if you need us," she added and led him out the door.

You could hear him in the hallway saying, "You know, you're kind of cute when you're angry," and her replying, "Oh, Ronald!"

I made a face at Harry and he laughed.

"Great couple those two are, eh?"

"I suppose they are," I replied. "So how are you doing, Harry?"

I didn't want to bring up anything specific, but after the events of his fifth year, I was curious as to how he was holding up. After all, he is the love of my life.

"Better," he said and I smiled. He didn't seem to want talk about it anymore. I mean, he probably talked it all out with Ron and Hermione. He didn't need me.

"So why were you really crying, Ginny?" Harry asked.

I felt my cheeks get hot and I tried to look up at him. "Hermione told you. Some book."

"A book made your eyes go all red and puffy?" he questioned. "Was it really that upsetting?"

I sighed. "Alright, I wasn't crying over a book," I admitted.

"I figured. So what was it?" he asked. He looked ? No, that couldn't be it.

"It's rather stupid, actually," I said. "Me wallowing in self-pity. What else is new lately?" I mumbled.

I think I confused the poor boy because he just stared at me.

I bit my lip and sat down on my bed.

"Do you ever get tired of being the famous Harry Potter?" I asked him.

I think I had missed something because the next thing I knew, he was sitting next to me on my bed.

ON MY BED.

HARRY POTTER WAS SITTING ON MY BED.

I was starting to feel a bit faint...

"Plenty of times," he answered and I was confused for a second but then I realized I had just asked him a question. Whoops.

"Well," I began, "I get tired of being Ginevra Weasley. People think they know me and just don't bother to take the chance to talk to me. They seem me as Hermione's little friend, just another Weasley, Ron's baby sister. And it's so infuriating and, ugh, I don't know...maybe I'm overreacting, but..."

I was thinking of something else to add to try and make me sound a little less pathetic, when Harry said, "Ginny, not everyone sees as you just those things. I don't."

I froze.

"You don't?" I asked, taken aback.

"Of course not."

I don't know if it was possible for me to love Harry anymore than I did in that moment.

"If there's one thing I've learned so far, it's been that you can't let other people's ideas of who are you get in the way of life. It goes on. Moping doesn't help anything, it just makes it worse."

Wise words from Mr. Potter. Although, I'm sure that's probably what Hermione was trying to tell me earlier but it was different coming from him. Hermione was expected to say those things...

I smiled my goofy little smile and looked at him. "Thanks, Harry," I told him sincerely.

He gave me a quick hug and said, "Anytime, Ginny. You're easy to talk to."

I'm pretty sure I was blushing like crazy by now, but I tried not to think about that...

Harry stood up and looked at me. "So what do you say we go save Ron from all that homework and go play a game of Quidditch or something?"

"Oh, I'm sure Hermione's keep him entertained, if you know what I mean, but I'm always up for Quidditch."

Harry made a disgusted face and I burst out laughing. He held his hand out to me, and I took a second to convince myself that this was real. I grabbed his hand and he led me off of my bed, out of my room and downstairs to join Ron and Hermione.

So maybe he doesn't love me the way I love him, but he sees a real person in me. Not just a little girl. And that was much more than I ever expected. Besides, I had the rest of the summer to make him change his mind...or rather, his heart. If that was even possible. But, you know what they say...when it comes to love, anything's possible.

A/N: So there it is. My very first HP one-shot. It's kind of depressing...I could have easily made Harry kiss Ginny or something, but I thought it was good enough here. So I ended it where I did. Hope you all like it...I'd love feedback. Thanks.