Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own anything having to do with Harry Potter. I might own the third "if" and the fifth "then" but other than that nothing. Wait a minute I don't own those either. Ok so I own nothing. (sighs heavily.)

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Chapter Two: The Burrow

He passed each day reading over and trying to memorize all the books he had bought and continued his workouts at night so he could have his privacy. The month that he had to spend at his aunt and uncles passed quicker than usual. As his birthday grew nearer he was wondering when he could leave. Not that it was bad there or anything. In fact it had been one of his best summers so far. The Dursley's had not said more than two words to him since returning home. Harry, of course, had said even less. He had just closed the book he was reading when an owl came swooping into his room. Harry caught him quickly to minimize the noise it would create and removed the letter from his leg. Once Harry released Pig, he flapped happily around Harry's head a few times and flew back out the window. Harry opened the letter.

Harry,

Dumbledore finally said you could come over. Dad will be there tonight with a Ministry car. He'll bring you straight here to the Burrow. Hermione's already here. Can't wait.

See you tonight,
Ron

"Well I guess I had better get ready."

He went around the room gathering his things and piling them into his trunk. They barely fit because of all the extra books he had. After packing he walked downstairs to let the Dursley's know. As he walked into the living room his aunt cast a withering look in his direction but said nothing. He cleared his throat to let his uncle know he was there. Vernon didn't even acknowledge Harry let alone look at him. Harry just shrugged and told them that he would be leaving tonight. He told them he was already packed and was waiting on Ron's dad. Vernon grunted. Harry knew that was all he was going to get so he walked back upstairs to take a shower before leaving.
When he got out of the tub he wiped the wiped the mirror clean so he could look at his reflection. There was a noticeable difference. The workout had caused the little muscle he had to grow and become defined. He was even a little taller though not very much so. He dressed and went into his room to wait.

That evening at eight o'clock there was a gentle knock at the door. Harry stood up from the step that he had been waiting on and opened the door. Waiting on the doorstep was Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin. Lupin quickly walked in and wrapped Harry in a tight hug. Arthur walked in and asked where Harry's things were. Harry turned and walked over to the foot of the stairs where all his stuff was stacked neatly against the wall. He grabbed Hedwig's cage off the top and Arthur levitated the trunk out behind him. Lupin just stood there with a shocked expression on his face.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing" Lupin replied. " You've just grown quite a bit this summer."

Harry just smiled at him and shrugged his shoulders. Lupin did not miss the fact that his smile did not continue to his eyes. They had a distinctly haunted look coupled with dark rings under them. Lupin sighed but said nothing. He couldn't blame him for lack of sleep. He hadn't gotten much sleep either since that night. He just smiled sadly and gestured to the door.

"See you next summer." He called out before walking out the door.

*************

Harry passed the trip by staring at the landscape outside the window. The car was silent except for the soft drone of the engine and the tires rolling on the pavement. He was fighting sleepiness but was steadily losing. Just as he was about to submit they rolled to a stop. Harry raised his head to look around. The were at the Burrow. Harry shook his head slightly before reaching for Hedwig's cage and clambering out. He looked up to see all the Weasley's (except Percy) and Hermione coming out the door to greet him. Mrs. Weasley wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug when she reached him. He felt the cage being taken out of his hand and looked over. He saw Ron letting Hedwig out with a smile on his face.

"Hello Harry." He said shaking his hand.

Just as he let go Hermione rushed up and gave him another hug much like the one Mrs. Weasley gave him. After returning the hug he turned a little to see Ginny staring at him in shock.

"Hello, Ginny." Harry said smiling.

"Hello, Harry." Ginny said as she snapped back into reality. She rushed up and gave him a quick hug before turning to go back into the house. As she turned into the light Harry could have sworn she had turned red. "Nah" Harry thought "She doesn't like me like that anymore." Strangely this thought made his face fall into a frown. He quickly recovered before anyone noticed. The twins walked up to him to shake his hand but both cringed when they did.

"Ow, Harry, you nearly broke my hand." Fred said with a fake grimace of pain on his face.

"To right. I guess you don't know your own strenght." George said with an equally fake grimace.

Harry started laughing for the first time in a month. Shaking his head he walked into the house.

*******

"Holy shit" Ginny thought when she made it back to her room. "He's hot."

"No." A small but insistant voice in the back of her head thought. "You're over him. Don't start acting like a fool again. You know he doesn't care for you that way."

"I know it's just seeing him after all that's happened and the way he's changed. It's just... Wow. I thought I would faint when he looked at me with that smile."

"Don't do this. You're only gonna be hurt again."

"Right. I'm over Harry."she thought resolutely. She fixed herself in the mirror before walking purposefully back downstairs. As she did she wondered why she had taken the time to adjust her appearance.

************

After dinner Harry excused himself by saying he was tired and started to make his way up to bed. As he was walking out the door he turned to say goodnight but his breath caught in his throat. Ginny was looking at him. She quickly turned away with a blush when she realized that he had caught her. Knowing that she had been looking at him used to embarass and even irratate Harry a few years ago. She was his best friends little sister after all and he didn't feel the same way toward her. Did he? This time when he had caught her his heart had sped up and his stomach cleched. He didn't realize that he was staring right back at her until she looked back and their eyes met. He quickly left with his head turned to hide the blush.

***********

That night his dreams were more violent than usual. After watching Sirius fall through the veil he screamed "No". This time instead of waking up his mind decided to torture him some more. As he ran after Bellatrix he entered the brain room. He stopped halfway across when he saw Ginny leaned against the wall. She was in considerable pain from her broken leg. She looked up at Harry tears and something new in her eyes. It was hatred.

"Why did you do this? You brought us all here. You killed Cedric and Sirius. I hate you for doing this. I wish you would just leave us alone."

He stared at her stunned, at the words that came out of her mouth. He was about to say that he was sorry when laughter rang through the room. He spun to see Bellatrix standing in the doorway. She met Harry's gaze and slowly raised her wand. Not at him but at Ginny. He tried to raise his wand. He tried to do anything to stop what was going to happen but he was frozen to the spot. He started crying when she uttered the killing curse. He watched unable to move as the jet of green light shot out of her wand and flew directly at Ginny striking her in the chest. The last thing he saw before he awoke was Ginny slumping lifelessly to the floor.

He sat straight up in his bed mouth wide in a silent yell. He was drenched in sweat and shaking from head to toe. He quickly got up and took his now soaking wet shirt off. He grabbed his glasses and went outside to do his nightly workout. When he passed Ginny's room he sped up when he felt the guilt tighten his chest. He to get past this landing or he was liable to break down. He rushed downstairs trying to be quiet but still catching the attention of a certain redhead that was still awake.

********

She was lying in bed thinking to herself. She was going over all the things that had happened that night. That look that Harry had given her foremost in her thoughts. She was trying to sort out all the things she was going through. It would have been so much easier to just write all her feelings down and stufy them that way but she hadn't kept a diary since her first year. Tom Riddle was still too fresh in her mind for her to trust her feelings in a book.

She was about to turn out the light and attempt to get some sleep, though she knew it to be impossible, when she heard something outside the door. She stood up and made her way to the door. After seeing no one she made her way to the stairs. She saw a boy with raven black hair, that was even more untidy than unsual, going outside. He didn't have a shirt on and she had to swallow several times to get the lump, that had appeared in her throat, to disappear. She quickly went back into her room and went to the window to find out what he was doing. She watched entranced as he started stretching. After a little while he jogged out to the field in front of her house and started circling it.

Coming back to reality she realized he could see her because the light was still on. She got up quickly to turn it off and quietly moved her chair from her desk to the window. She down in the now darkened room started watching him. She watched him make three full laps around the field before starting to slow. She figured that he was about to stop when all a sudden he seemed to get a second wind. He started sprinting full out. She watched in awe as he started running faster and faster until he took on a slightly blurred appearance. As he passed close to the house on his way around the field he seemed to take on a slight greenish tint. She shook her head and closed her eyes hard. When she opened them it was still there. She looked up at the moon and noted that it was full.

"That must be it." she thought to herself. "It's trick of light caused by the moon."

She her eblows on the windowsill and placed her head in her hands. She sighed as she continued to watch that wonderful boy.

********

When he finished stretching he set off at a jog around the field. He would have just run away and back like usual but he didn't know this place. Just as his breath started to shorten and his chest started burning he thought of that nights dream. The pain immediately stopped and he picked up speed. When the alarm on his watch went off he slowed to a stop. Since he was doing laps and didn't want to be bothered with counting he just set his alarm for two hours.

He made his way back into the front yard and started the ret of his nightly workout. He had decided that since he was now sharing a room he would do this outside as well. He finished up a little while later and started to make his way back to the house. He looked up, almost wistfully, at Ginny's window and paused.

"Was that." he thought. "No it couldn't have been."

He thought he had seen someone looking out at him. His heart soared as he thought it might be Ginny but crashed back to Earth as it was filled with guilt and doubt.

"No. It wasn't her. Even if it was her, she was probably thinking of how stupid I am for being out here at this time of the night."

He sighed heavily before making his way back into the house.

**********

Harry looked over the top of his book at Ron who was stirring. He smiled as his friend slowly opened his eyes and looked over at him.

"Mornin', Harry." he said groggily.

"Good morning."

"Come on lets go get some breakfast." Ron said as he rubbed the sleep from his eye.

He closed his book and made his way down to breakfast with Ron. He entered to find everyone else already awake. He sat down next to Ron and said good morning to everyone. He looked around the table but stopped when his eyes fell on Ginny. She was talking to Hermione. Harry noticed that her eyes were a little bloodshot and wondered how much sleep she had the previous night. Despite the redness of her eyes and the slight droop in her eyelids she looked beautiful. He was shocked that he had never noticed it before. She looked over at him and blushed immediately. He felt the heat rising in his face but was unable to look away. He opened his mouth to say something but was saved as Ron spoke.

"Well, Harry, what do you think?"

"Huh.. about what?"

"I asked you if you wanted to play Quidditch today. Bill's going to drop by about noon. We'll make him and the twins play. If Ginny will play then we can make it a three on three game."

"Ok. That would be great." Harry replied. He turned to Ginny. "Would you play with us."

She turned red and simply nodded her head.

*********

He went back up to Ron's room after breakfast to continue studying. Around noon Ron poked his head in the door.

"Oy, Whatcha doin'"

"Reading"

"Why" Ron asked with an incredulous look on his face. "You don't have any homework left do you? Hermione made me do mine the moment she got here."

"No I just got interested in this book so I started reading it."

Ron just mouthed wordlessly, wondering why anyone would read when they didn't have to.

"Harry you've been hanging around Hermione too long. Let's go play some Quidditch."

**********

After getting his Firebolt he made his way up the hill. He kicked off as soon as he was out of sight. He left all his feelings on the ground behind him and was enveloped in a sense of peace. Flying was the one thing he could do to take his mind off everything. He made his way around the field a few times before getting an idea. He hadn't ever really tried the Wronski Feint. He had attempted a few time back always pulled out to quickly. He made another loop of the field before sending his broom into a sickening dive. He watched the ground rush up to him. At the last moment he pulled up hard and righted himself. He was so low that his feet were dragging the ground. He looked up when he heard cheering.

He quickly stopped and dismounted with a blush on his face. He watched as Bill, the twins, Ron, and Ginny all rushed up to him.

"Brilliant, Harry. Viktor Krum couldn't have done it better himself." he stated with a large and somewhat smug look on his face.

"That was amazing Harry." Ginny said with a slight blush.

Harry blushed even harder but was still immensley pleased that she had praised him.

"Ok, thats enough guys. Let's play." Harry said sheepishly.

After splitting the teams (Harry, Fred, and Ginny versus the others.) they started to play.

*********

After several hours they trudged back up to the house. They were all talking animatedly about the games. Harry's team had one all three games. The second game he caught the snitch in less than two minutes but the last game ended up being very close.

Harry engaged Ron in talk about Quidditch during dinner. He was forcing himself not to look at Ginny but his eyes kept darting to her all night. After finishing he went up and collapsed onto the bed. Just as he was about to doze off Ginny popped in his head. A faint smile crossed his lips as he fell asleep.

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Author's Note: Thanks to Chicanosufer01 and Muhahahaha for reviewing my story. I tried to space the sentences better. I know how irratating that can get especially on the eyes. I've already got several chapters written I just need to type them on my computer. Expect more chapters soon and again Thank you.