Chapter 2: Home at Last

Harry had hardly stepped out of the fireplace when he found himself in a bone-crushing hug from Mrs. Weasley. "Oh you poor dear," she cried, tears in her eyes, "Albus told us those…those people kicked you out in the dead of night. I have half a mind to see them and hex them. Come on in and sit down"

Harry was grateful that Dumbledore had charmed the blood off his face and healed his injuries. Had Mrs. Weasley seen him while he was covered in blod , she probably would have gone to Privot drive and hexed the Dursleys. "Thank you for having me, Mrs. Weasley, and sorry for intruding on you at this hour."

"Not at all, not at all, please sit down. Are you hungry? Can I get you anything? Albus, please sit, do you need anything?"

"Molly my dear I am quite well and we already had tea at Mrs. Figgs, but I daresay Mr. Potter could do with some food." Harry was so used to hunger that he hadn't noticed, but he was indeed hungry. Mrs. Weasley got up to prepare a late supper for Harry. The whole family (excluding Bill and Charley who had moved away) was in the kittchen sitting at the table and Harry took a seat between Ron and Ginny His thigh brushed Ginny's sending some blush to his face, he looked at her and saw that she too was slightly pink.

Mr. Weasley was in his chair at the end. He looked at Harry. "Welcome Harry, could you and Dumbledore explain what happened?"

"Earlier this evening Mr. Dusrley and Harry had a disagreement. In short, Mr. Dursley read Harry's letters from his friends and this upset him, both that Harry had correspondents and that one of the letters was quite personal." Harry blushed, which Ron was oblivious to but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley noticed with a bit of curiosity. Dumbledore continued, "I'm sad to say that Mr. Dursley struck Harry several times and…"

"HE WHAT!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, setting a plate before Harry of some sausages and cheese, along with bread and butter, "A grown man striking a child for getting letters!"

"I'm afraid so Molly." Dumbledore said, with pain in his eyes, "and one thing led to another until Harry had a blast of accidental magic, cutting Mr. Dursley's face and rendering him unconscious."

"Way to go Harry!" said Fred.

"Glad you got to hurt the bastard" said George.

"Language!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, though much more quietly and with less conviction than normal, apparently sharing the sentiment.

"Indeed," said Dumbledore, "and when his Aunt saw the both of them she insisted Harry move out and disowned him. Harry is now a ward of the state under my supervision, which I will be hopefully formalizing soon. This will protect Harry's assets. May I ask you to watch Harry during the holidays? Otherwise he would be at the school, and probably the only student there over the summer."

"Of course we will Albus," said Mrs. Weasley.

"We would of course like to adopt you Harry," said Mr. Weasley, "but with the situation in the ministry, opening custody hearings would be…unwise"

"Yes Arthur, I have explained the situation to Harry," said Dumbledore.

Harry was touched, he had known Mr. and Mrs. Weasley liked him, but to know they would adopt him. Harry had spent the last eleven and a half years with family that hated him and wanted nothing to do with him, and these people liked him and wanted him in their lives. Harry started to tear up when he felt a warm hand on his and looked over to see Ginny looking at him with a searching look on her eyes. Harry squeezed back. Mrs. Weasley caught this exchanged smiled softly to herself. Wouldn't that be wonderful, then I would be a mother to the poor boy, and Ginny has been in love with him since she was a little girl, and Harry already risked his life for her…

"Very well, it's settled then. I must be off. Messers Weasleys, Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter, I shall see you at start of term, good day." Dumbledore left though the front door then with a CRACK he was gone.

After Dumbledore had left, Ron turned to his father.

"Dad, can I tell Harry our news!" shouted Ron excitedly.

Mr. Weasley smiled broadly, "go ahead then."

"Dad won the Daily Prophet Grand Galleon Draw! Seven hundred galleons! Mom and Dad are taking us to Egypt and I'm getting a new wand!" Ron told Harry excitedly

"Ron," said Mr. Weasley, "we were going to Egypt, I'm not sure if we are still going, I'm sure Harry would like some time to rest, and we didn't budget any funds for another traveler."

"Please sir," Said Harry, "I've never been on holiday, I would love to visit Egypt. Don't worry about paying my way, I can pay for myself for this trip." Harry paused and added, "please sir, I would insist on paying for myself, I don't want charity." This was laughable as everyone knew Harry had a fortune, but Harry added the last part knowing the Weasleys were sensitive about money and were quite poor, but far too proud to accept any form of charity. Harry hoped the last part would show Mr. Weasley that he didn't want to pay for himself because they couldn't, but because he would feel better himself if he were not being a burden.

Mr. Weasley considered this for a moment, and then smiled and said "Very well then, it's settled, and you'll get to meet my oldest, Bill"

"Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, "you don't need to do that, we can manage."

"Mrs. Weasley, you are opening your home to me and feeding me, paying my own way to Egypt is the least I can do. I don't want to be a burden; I would also like to pitch in on groceries."

"Absolutely not! We won't take your money."

Harry knew she would say this, and continued, "Very well, but I insist then on paying for Egypt myself, it's an educational experience for me and my money was earmarked for my education, it would make my mother and father proud to know that they were able to pay for this for me."

A look at Mrs. Weasley's face let Harry know he had won this argument, especially after he threw in the bit about the money being his parents for him. "oh very well, you can pay for Egypt, but I insist that you don't try to help with Groceries, honestly Harry, feeding eight isn't much different than feeding seven."

Mrs. Weasley moved towards Harry. "Harry dear, you look like you could use a good night's rest. As Bill and Charley have moved out, and you'll be staying for a while you can sleep in their old room." Harry was grateful. He would never say anything, but the old camp cot was far from comfortable. Mrs. Weasley shooed them all to bed. Harry said good night to the Weasleys and headed up to the third floor. Harry opened the door and looked inside. Bill and Charley's room was slightly larger than Ron's but not by much. It had a double bed and a window overlooking the garden, a wardrobe against the wall to the right and a small desk and chair. His trunk was at the foot of his bed. Harry was a bit confused as the room didn't look like it housed one boy, let alone two.

"They turned it into a spare bedroom, after Charlie left" Harry turned and saw that Ginny was standing in the threshold, with a somewhat nervous expression in her eyes. "Harry…the other day I sent you a letter…"

"I got it Ginny, and no I am not disgusted or ashamed, at least not of you. I am disgusted with Riddle, and ashamed of myself for not being there for you when you needed me. I was writing a reply when Uncle Vernon barged in and started hitting me. He saw what you wrote and said some, unrepeatable things. He thought Tom was an older student that, well, and he accused me and you of being…together."

Ginny turned bright red and tears started in her eyes. "That pig, but Harry, this means I am the one that got you kicked out? I'm so sorry, I…"

"Ginny, getting kicked out is the best thing that has happened in my life since I got my Hogwarts letter. Had I known this would happen I would have hexed him a long time ago, I'm free!"

"Was it really that bad Harry?"

Harry wasn't sure how to respond. On the one hand he was a rather private person and didn't want to really talk about it, he didn't want pity. On the other hand, Ginny had opened up to Harry in her letter, and it would be nice to finally tell someone. "Ok Ginny, but promise you won't make a big deal about it, I honestly don't care anymore."

"Fair enough." Ginny closed the door and sat on the bed. Harry waked over and joined her.

Harry spent the next hour telling her about life at the Dursley's, about never getting enough to eat, wearing Dudley's second hand clothes, living in the cupboard under the stairs, never being called "Harry", having to do poorly in school so he didn't make Dudley look bad and so forth. Then he started to tell her about how his aunt would make him hold his hand on the door jamb while she slammed it shut to punish him for being too slow at making dinner and how his uncle would punch in the face or kick him in his crotch if he had a note from a teacher indicating either poor marks or misbehavior. Then he told her about the humiliation; about how Dudley would throw him in the mud in the schoolyard so he would have to sit the rest of the day in filthy clothes, and how his aunt would make him strip and go to the back garden to be hosed down in cold water before being allowed in the house after working in the garden. Harry looked up at Ginny, tears were in her eyes.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"Harry, I know I told you I wouldn't make a big deal about it, but Harry, those awful people! I can't believe what they did to you, why didn't you call the police?"

"I told a teacher once, the principle informed her that my uncle was a "Pillar of the Community" and told me to stop lying. Uncle Vernon beat me bad that night; I couldn't move my left arm for days. I don't think I ate anything but bread and water for a month, and the teacher was sacked."

Ginny starred at Harry for a few seconds and then flung her arms around him and started crying. Harry wasn't sure what to do so he gingerly put his arm around her and patted her back. He didn't understand, these things happened to him, not to Ginny, why was she crying? Ginny cried on his shoulder for a good five minutes until she got ahold of herself. She was leaning against him, Harry could hear the occasional sniffle.

"I'm sorry Harry, I'm not normally like this, it's just, I can't believe they treated you like that…You never deserved anything like that."

Harry gave her a hug and said "It's okay Ginny, it's over and I never have to see them again."

Then the door opened.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" Ron said, his face turning a bright red.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "oh you know Ron, we're clearly snogging, that's why my eyes look like this. Honestly Ron, I've been in here literally crying on his shoulder."

Harry was about to smile but saw the look in Ron's eyes; clearly Ginny's sarcasm didn't penetrate his rather thick head. "Relax Ron, I was telling her a few stories of my time with the Dursleys and it upset her."

"Since when do you sit up at night talking about your feelings?"

"Since your sister here went through hell last year and I realized I had been a prat."

Ron looked at his friend and his baby sister. Ron didn't like the idea of his sister being so close to Harry. In the first place his baby sister didn't have any business hanging out with ANY boys, and second, Harry was HIS friend, and he didn't appreciate his Ginny worming her way in.

"Ginny," Ron said, "don't you think you should leave Harry alone? I'm sure he wants some rest, and doesn't need you bugging him all the time."

"You foul git," Ginny snarled, "I have half a mind to."

"Ron, Ginny, please." Said Harry, "please don't argue. Ron I don't mind talking to Ginny. In fact, I want to talk to Ginny. I am perfectly capable of being both your friend and hers."

Ron looked at Harry and back to Ginny. Just one year ago Ginny was acting like Harry was some inapproachable rock star and now she's in his room crying on his shoulder and talking to him about his relatives, which Harry had never really done with Ron. He opened his mouth to retort, but he saw the look in Ginny's eyes, for the first time since they had come home she looked….peaceful.

"Alright fine," said Ron, "but you better not follow him around like a puppy."

Ginny glared at her brother but Harry knew Ron was just saving face. Harry and Ginny said goodnight and Harry enjoyed a peaceful nights sleep, secure in the knowledge that his nightmare was over.

The next day when Harry woke it took him a few minutes to realize where he was. There were no bars on the window and he couldn't hear his aunt yelling at him to get up and make breakfast. Then he remembered that he was not at number 4 privot drive but was at the Burrow. Harry grinned as he leapt out of bed and started to get ready. He found his trunk and got the best fitting t shirt and jeans he had, both were far too baggy, and put on his dilapidated trainers. Harry was looking at his clothes and then it hit him: he had gold and no longer had any reason to hide it. He dressed and headed downstairs. Mr. Weasley was sitting down reading the daily prophet and Mrs. Weasley was cooking breakfast. Percy was sitting next to his father reading what looked like a book on the Ministry of Magic.

"Morning Harry dear, did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"I did, thanks. Mrs. Weasley, do you think it would be alright if I went shopping? For muggle clothes I mean, with my own gold? All of my clothes are hand me downs from Dudley and far too big. I never bothered before because I knew if I had new clothes the Dursley's would ask how I got them and try to get to my gold."

"Of course, Harry. We can head out after breakfast," replied Mrs. Weasley with a smile, though Harry could see the pain behind it, knowing that she knew about how the Dursley's treated him.

"Where are we going then, Mum?" asked a voice descending the stairs. Fred came into view, closely followed by George.

"Harry needs to go shopping. His only clothes are from his cousin," replied Mrs. Weasley.

Just then, Ron came thumping down the stairs. "Morning, Mum. What are you all talking about?"

"Taking Harry shopping for some new clothes. Eat your breakfast." Mrs. Weasley bustled over and put eggs on everyone's plate.

"We're going shopping?" Ginny's excited voice came ringing from the hall as she strode into the kitchen. "Robes or muggle clothes?"

"Harry is going shopping for Muggle clothes. You can all come if you want, but we won't be going into any joke stores or sweets shops. Harry is free from those…" Mrs. Weasley paused as she battled between her anger and her manners. "…people, so he can finally use some of his gold for clothes and the like."

"Can I come?" asked Ron, "I can get my new wand!"

"I'll go," said Ginny. "I love shopping, even if it's for someone else. Do you mind if I come, Harry?"

"Of course not, Ginny. You can help me pick out some things. I'm rubbish at picking out clothes. No idea what looks good on me."

"Don't mind us," said Fred.

"We wouldn't want to spoil ickle Ginnykin's date," George said with a smirk.

Harry had turned slightly pink. Ginny was bright red and had her hands balled into fists. Mrs. Weasley shot her twin boys a disapproving look.

"Stop it, you two," scowled Mrs. Weasley. "Okay then; it looks like it's Harry, Ron and Ginny going. We should be back after lunch. I'll set aside sandwiches for you all. Harry, after we get you some clothes, we can stop by the Ministry and get your portkey authorization."

"What's a portkey? And do I need to get a passport to go abroad in the wizarding world?" Harry asked.

"A what?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"A passport. It's this little book the government issues to you with your picture that you get stamped when you go abroad. My uncle has one."

"Fascinating, what are the stamps for?"

"They show that you have the right to be there, and when you have to leave, does the wizarding world use anything similar?"

"No, not really, but if you're going abroad you can get the ministry to provide you with identification documents, in case of emergency, most don't bother. But most travel by portkey. A portkey is an object that looks like rubbish to a muggle but has an enchantment placed on it that transports whoever touches it at a certain time to a different location instantly. Because the ministry wants to coordinate travel, and to make a port key you have have knowledge of each location, portkeys are controlled by the ministry. Normally you simply have to file a plan with the office and pay a fee, but for international portkeys the ministry handles the spell work themselves. We already had ours made, they will need to make one for you, or add you to ours. Well I'm off"

Mr. Weasly gave his wife a peck on the cheek as he turned on the spot and disapperated to the ministry. Fred and George's comments about Harry and Ginny's "date" was bothering Ron, he couldn't' decide if it was the thought of them getting Ginny's hopes up, fear she would annoy Harry, or the unthinkable of his little sister dating at all.

"Mrs. Weasley, I was thinking, what if we get Hermione to come with us? She lives in London, and it would be a short ride on the tube to her house," asked Harry.

"The tube? You mean muggle transportation? I don't know Harry…sounds dangerous"

"Please mum?" asked Ginny, "I have never been on it before, but Colin says everyone does it, it's perfectly safe."

It took Molly some time but they finally convinced her that the tube wasn't some "muggle deathtrap" and Harry, Ron and Ginny walked to the village to use the telephone. Hermione was ecstatic and very eager to spend time with her friends. She informed them that they were planning on going to London anyway for a few things and her mother would meet them at the Leaky Cauldren at noon for lunch. At five till noon the three children and Mrs. Weasley flooed over to the Leakey cauldron.

As Harry stepped out of the floo at the Leaky Cauldron he was immediately given a hug by a very excited Hermione Granger.

"Harry, it's so good to see you," Hermione gushed, "you said on the phone you were kicked out of your aunt and uncle's house, what happened? Just then Ron walked out of the floo and Hermione gave him a similar greeting. When Ginny walked out she eyed Hermione nervously.

"Hi," Ginny said, with her voice trembling. She felt so guilty for what she did to Hermione when possessed by Tom Riddle.

Hermione threw her arms around Ginny and enveloped her in a tight hug. "It's so wonderful to see you again. I'm so glad you are out and about, and that I get to go shopping with you!"

Ginny felt relieved that Hermione didn't hold any ill feelings towards her.

"Well then," said Mrs. Granger, "we have a table already, shall we?"

The six of them sat down to a very tasty lunch and a lively conversation about the Weasley's upcoming trip, and the Grangers upcoming holiday in France. After lunch Harry went to Gringotts while the rest were waiting for him, to Ron's dismay, at Flourish and Blotts (Hermoine wanted a new book on French wizarding history). Upon entering the bank Harry went to the counter and told the Goblin that he would like to make a withdrawal.

"Harry Potter, Dumbledore sent us an owl, if you would wait here, I will summon your account manager."

Harry stood there puzzled for a moment before an aged Goblin came to see him and introduced himself, "Greetings, Harry Potter, I am your account manager Gornuk, if you would come with me." Gornuk ushered Harry to a passageway with many small rooms and entered one. It was a small room with a desk, a small Goblin sized chair and a man sized chair.

"Mr. Potter, as you are now a ward of the state under the supervision of Albus Dumbledore, he has requested that I inform you of your inheritance and give you a Gringotts withdrawal book. At current your vault, Number 687, has the sum of 47,456 Galleons, 15,234 Sickles and 2,231 knuts, the equivalent of 48,465 Galleons, 10 sickles and 27 knuts, or 238,935.62 Pounds Sterling. In the Potter vault, which you will inherit at the age of 17, you have 45,859,127 Galleons, 5 sickles and 32 knuts. That is a little over a quarter Billion pounds. The interest on this is paid quarterly at 3.12%. You also own several properties around England and Whales, the remains of the cottage in Godrick's Hollow, Potter manor near Godrick's hollow, several properties overseas, and various stock in wizarding and muggle businesses. Also in the Potter vault are several peices of furniture, art, and jewelry that are not appraised. Do you have any questions?"

Harry was in shock. He knew he had inherited a small fortune, but he had no idea he had inherited this much. This would put him as one of the wealthiest wizards in Britain. He thought of the Weasleys and would have gladly given half of his gold to them, but he knew they would never accept it. Harry snapped himself back to the present, the Weasleys! Molly was waiting for him; he had best get back to business.

"I don't have any questions now, but I'm sure I'll have quite a few once I am of age, what's the Gringotts withdrawl book?"

Gornuk withdrew a small pad in a dragonskin cover and handed it to Harry, "This, Mr. Potter, works like a checkbook in the muggle world, you write the amount and who it goes to and press it with your key which imprints a magical seal. The book is enchanted with a variant of the protean charm, so that the slip of paper will cause a duplicate record here in the bank. This only works if both you and the person you are doing business with have a Gringotts account, and there is a small surcharge equal to 5% if the amount is under 10 Galleons, so I would advise using it only for larger purchases. You can also use it at the front counter to get money out instead of travelling to your vault. Normally this is only given to an adult wizard with at least 10,000 galleons in his or her vault, but being that you are no longer under the direct care of any adult, we decided to make an exception. This concludes the items we wished to discuss with you, do you have any questions?

Harry did not so he bid the goblin farewell and went to the front counter to withdraw some gold and some muggle money and left to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He walked to florish and blots to find Hemione with a stack of books about to pay at the counter, next to a very bored looking Ron. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger were looking at household charms and he found Ginny browsing in the quittage section.

"Found something interesting?" asked Harry as he approached Ginny.

Ginny looked up and gave Harry a warm smile, "just this book on the Hollyhead Harpies, they're an all witch quiddich team."

"you don't support the Chuntly Cannons?"

"oh no, I actually like to support a team that wins more than once a century"

Harry laughed. Ron was his best mate, but for the life of him Harry couldn't understand why Ron supported a perpetual loosing team like the cannons. Ginny put the book back and sighed.

"you don't like it?" asked Harry.

"oh no, I just don't have much pocket money, what I have I want to save for Egypt". Ginny answered. Harry remembered from last year that Ginny's birthday was a within a fortnight of his own, and while she was walking back to see Hermione, picked up the book and paid for it quickly.

Hermione finished browsing and paid for her books and they departed the shop. At Harry's insistence, they went to Olivander's first and Ron bought his new wand. It didn't take Olivander long to find the right wand. When Harry asked about this Ron said it was probably because there are so many Prewits and Weasleys that Olivander didn't have to search long. Indeed, it seemed Ron was given mostly Unicorn hair wands to try, as all the Weasley boys had unicorn tail hair wands. Normally wizards get poor results from a wand that didn't choose them, but Ron had always gotten good results from Charlie's wand, also unicorn hair core. Ginny, the only girl, was harder for Olivander to place. While Ron had been trying wands, Ginny had told Harry and Hermione that they had tried to give her Bill's old wand but in the end couldn't get a good reaction from it and they were forced to buy her a new wand on credit, Holly and Dragon heartstring.

The next two hours were spent first at Madam Malkins buying Harry some casual robes, then to the underground to take the tube to some muggle shops to buy Harry some muggle clothes (Mrs. Weasly couldn't understand why they couldn't use a charm to expand the seating of Mrs. Granger's BMW, and took some coaxing to get her into the "Muggle deathtrap") and by the time they returned to the Leaky Cauldron, it was four in the afternoon and Harry had an entire new wardrobe.

"I'll send these clothes onto the Burrow, I've sent word to Author to meet you in the ministry and you can floo back home from there. Just say "ministry of magic" and you should come to the lobby, Author will meet you there. " said Mrs. Weasley.

Harry approached the fireplace and threw the floo powder in and said "Ministry of Magic" and with a loud whoosh was speed on to the ministry of magic.

When Harry exited the floo he was taken aback by the sight before his eyes. He was in the grand atrium of the ministry. He could see fireplaces lining each side of the hall, and a large fountain in the middle with a witch and wizard, a house elf, centaur and a goblin. Harry wasn't sure where to go when he heard a familiar voice.

"Alright there, Harry" said Mr. Weasley as he strode towards Harry.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley just sent me though to get my portkey authorization"

"Right, she sent me a message earlier, let's go then."

They walked down the hall to a security guard who examined Harry's wand and gave his a visitor badge and they walked towards a set of golden lifts.

They took the lift to level 6. Upon arriving a ministry witch informed Harry and Mr. Weasley that they were expected, and drew a letter from her desk from Dumbledore giving his consent for Harry and the forms already prepared.

"Doesn't miss a trick, does he?" remarked Mr. Weasley.

Harry paid for the portkey registration was given a letter in an envelope from the ministry witch containing travel documents, at which point she touched her wand to an old bicyle tube Mr. Weasley had brought with him, and said "portus". The tube glowed slightly and then returned to normal.

"Very well, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, the portkey is now coded for eight. Do keep in mind the portkey will activate at 8:00 sharp on July 21st."

They thanked her and Mr. Weasley walked Harry back to the atrium, where he flooed back to the burrow.

"Great catch Ginny!" Shouted Harry as he saw a streak of fiery red hair swoop down and catch what Harry was sure was going to be a fumble. He had attempted to pass to Ron but was blocked by Lee when Ginny took her broom into a 50 foot dive to catch the football they were using as a quaffle. Lee had flooed in to spend the day with the twins and they decided to play some quidditch. Having an odd number, they were going to have uneven teams when Harry suggested they let Ginny play on Bill's old broom. Her brothers were opposed at first, insisting Ginny couldn't play quidditch, but at a score of 140-70, 80 points scored by Ginny, they were now eating their words. Lee, Fred and George were on one team, Harry, Ron and Ginny on another. At first Ron moaned that they would be flattened by the older boys, but while they were bigger and stronger, no one had anticipated Ginny's skill or speed, and Harry's Nimbus 2000 was certainly helping even the odds. Ginny swooped again past George and throw the ball though an old tire for a goal, ending the game at 150 – 70 after reach the 150 point agreed upon end point.

"You're amazing Ginny!" said Harry as he pulled alongside her. Ginny's face filled with blush at the complement as they flew down to the ground. Ron landed beside them and have Ginny a hug

"Great job Ginny! I had no idea you could fly like that!"

"Well, to be honest, I've been sneaking out for years and flying your brooms when you boys are asleep, started when I was eight."

"Our little sister is full of surprises, isn't she Fred," remarked George.

"evidently," replied Fred.

They made their way back to the Burrow and said goodbye to Lee. Life at the Burrow was even better than it was the year before. He had only been there a few days and already it seemed as though life with the Dursleys was in a past life. In addition to the afternoons quidditch match, he had been playing chess with Ron and had gone swimming with Ron, Ginny, Fred and George a few times in a small lake on the Weasley's property. Harry had never gotten swimming lessons, but the twins were helping him learn. Harry was a bit uncomfortable swimming with Ginny. Harry didn't know why he hadn't noticed before, but Ginny was a girl, a very pretty girl. Though her swimming costume was far from revealing, it still made him feel weak in the knees seeing her swimming. Though still quite short, Ginny took after the Prewitt side which was shorter than the Weasleys, her legs were already getting very long and shapely, and her skin was getting covered with freckles in the warm sun. Also, Harry had started to notice, especially in her one piece swimming costume, that her breasts were starting to develop. In short, though he was himself too young to fully grasp the fact, she was becoming a young woman.