A.N. And here is Chapter Three, covering third year! Yay! Again, please review everyone, and have a lovely day! Thanks for reading! also Guest: aww thanks! You're very sweet. harrypottercrookshanks: oh my goodness, you are so flattering! Thank you so much :)

xoxo

-S

The summer of 1995 was an important time for the world. President Clinton announced regular relations beginning between the U.S. and Vietnam. A heat wave in Europe was killing hundreds. It was ten years since President Reagan was sworn in for his second term, and ten years before the invention of Youtube.

But for the wizarding world, it seemed ordinary. The Quidditch World Cup was held that summer in Britain, and Ireland won.

No-one realized the Dark Lord was returning.

As for Ginny, she had a peaceful summer, much better than her last. The Quidditch World Cup was very enjoyable for her, even though Luna couldn't come- that was, until the riot started.

To be truthful, Ginny hadn't really been noticing the tremors coming through the wizarding world, the first signs of the storm that was to come. She was thirteen in August (receiving a strange blue flower in a pot from Luna, and a very boring book from Hermione), and like most thirteen-year-olds, she didn't notice much in the way of politics. Perhaps her father seemed more tired lately, and her mother more worried, but Ginny simply assumed they were getting old.

For her elective courses, Ginny had chosen Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. Both were rather unpopular, but Ginny liked learning about the Muggle world, which she had presumably inherited from her father. As for Care of Magical Creatures, it had a scary reputation, so Ginny did it as a matter of pride.

Luna didn't take either, instead choosing Numerology and Ancient Runes. According to a few conversations Ginny had accidentally overheard while pressing her ear to the door of the teacher's lounge (which she tried not to make a habit of; but really, it was so interesting) Luna was brilliant in Numerology but decidedly backwards in Ancient Runes, as she insisted on believing in alternate meanings of every rune, and that they were originally invented by a species of intelligent trolls.

Given the fact that Ginny was no longer constantly in Luna's presence, more people started talking to her, probably because Luna tended to scare people off. To Ginny's infinite surprise, she found herself growing quite popular. She would hang out with Eloise Midgen in Care of Magical Creatures and Wanda Tellsie, a Hufflepuff, in Muggle Studies. Both proved to be nice friends, although Eloise, who was very skeptical (McGonagall had had a very difficult time convincing her magic existed, back when she was eleven- rumor went around she had to actually transform into a cat) would argue with Luna for hours on end. But it was a friendly sort of argument, the type where Wanda and Ginny would be crying with laughter after Eloise made a snarky comment or Luna spouted nonsense profoundly.

The Triwizard Tournament was interesting as well. Ginny got to meet French students and Bulgarian, and they proved to be interesting, although most of them were older than her. And of course, once word got out that there would be a Yule Ball over the Christmas break, the third-year girls were thrilled. Wanda even managed to snag a date with another third-year Hufflepuff (to Ginny's great amusement), before it was revealed that the ball would be only for fourth-years and up.

Obviously, there was outrage. Ginny and Eloise begged McGonagall to be allowed to go, but she was exasperated and facing a lot of similar requests and banished them unceremoniously. Wanda had better luck with Sprout, who seemed sympathetic but remained firm. Luna was finally convinced to ask Flitwick, but he dismissed her like all the others.

As no-one quite had the courage to ask Dumbledore, they had to accept their fate. Wanda and Eloise decided to go home for the holidays. Ginny, however, decided to stay. Why, she didn't exactly know, only that she was being defiant and proving some sort of point about stupid age limits.

Luna was staying also, but nobody really knew why Luna did anything. When Ginny asked her, she said she just liked the way Hogwarts was at Christmas.

The night of the Yule Ball came. Ginny had crawled up to her empty dorm to feel sorry for herself and stare wistfully at her bright orange dress. It had clashed terribly with her hair.

Ginny hadn't even been that excited about the ball, but once told that she couldn't go, it had become that much more important. It was a sense of indignation that propelled her forward now.

Ginny put on her dress, put her hair up, and went to fetch Luna.

"What is it, Ginny?" said Luna. Ginny hadn't managed to guess the answer to the riddle to get inside the Ravenclaw Common Room, but Luna had, inexplicably, come out anyway.

"Wait- how did you know I was here?" asked Ginny, ignoring Luna's question. "And how did you know to wear your dress, and put your hair up?" Luna was looking quite lovely, in a pale blue dress, with her long hair half-up.

"I had a feeling," said Luna vaguely.

"Okay," said Ginny slowly. "Um. Yes. Anyway. We're going to sneak into the Yule Ball,"

"Are we really?" said Luna. She sounded excited.

"Yes," said Ginny firmly, and they left.

It took them a long time to make their way in, as they had to avoid Filch, and , and all the teachers, and any nosy people. Then they noticed that Professor McGonagall was practically standing guard outside the Great Hall, wearing a distinctly annoyed expression.

"What do we do now?" whispered Luna. Ginny risked another look around the corner; McGonagall was still there.

"This is the sneaking in part," said Ginny.

It took them a while, but eventually they managed to slip in behind McGonagall's back when she spoke with Professor Sprout. After that, they were home-free: they only needed to avoid the stern gazes of the professors, and they could blend in among the twirling and tumbling dancers.

The party had begun a while back, and the music had gotten better, so Ginny and Luna began to dance. Luna was good and Ginny mediocre, but no-one was paying them any attention, so Ginny let the music get the better of her and began to sway.

She felt quite happy. She was doing something moderately stupid, but she was thirteen years old and a Gryffindor, so why not? And dancing with Luna was fun, surprisingly fun, given the fact that Ginny had never really liked dancing.

After a while, though, they decided to get something to eat and drink. Luna went off in search of eclairs, and Ginny in search of punch. She was pouring herself some sparkling purple liquid when someone called her name in a surprised tone:

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?" It was an actual question; Hermione looked fabulous but very different, with her silky hair and flowing dress. "Wow, you look nice,"

Hermione had mentioned that she was going with Viktor Krum, (which Ginny had thought cute), but she hadn't realized Hermione would be looking so.. well, different.

"Thank you Ginny!" said Hermione, smiling. Ginny noticed, though, that she looked a little flustered.

"Is something the matter?" Ginny asked.

"No- just- your stupid brother, I suppose,"

Ginny was going to ask which one, but Hermione's irritated glance at Ron answered her question.

"Anyway," said Hermione briskly, "Who are you here with? I thought you were too young,"

"Technically," said Ginny, "But it's not like anyone's checking ID,"

For a moment, Hermione got a funny look on her face, and Ginny thought she was going to tell, or at least scold. But she seemed to be in a strange mood tonight, and shook it off.

"Oh. Then who are you with?"

"We came together," said Luna. She had appeared quite suddenly beside them, holding two plates of pastries. "Hello, Hermione."

"Oh," said Hermione, looking confused. Then, something clicked: "Oh. Are you two.. um.. dating, then?"

"What?" said Ginny, blushing. "No."

"We came as friends," said Luna matter-of-factly, as she picked up a macaron and inspected it.

"Oh.. sorry," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "You're just.. close, is all.." she drifted off, and suddenly her face lit up: "Oh! There's Viktor. I better go. Have a nice time, you two!"

And she ran off.

Ginny fell asleep late that night: her head was full of music and dancing, and she was very awake. She'd had a very good time, she thought, so why did she feel sort of… let-down? Maybe it was just because it was the end of the holidays.

Unaided, the image of Luna laughing, her eyes sparkling and her hair flying, came to Ginny's mind.

Then, sighing and rolling onto her pillow, she remembered Luna saying, simply and truthfully, that they were only friends.