The Harry reading the newspaper looked quite a bit older than the Harry that had just got the train, but maybe that was the light. What was more intriguing was how he had got off the train without anyone seeing. Harry looked up, puzzled at Ginny recognising him.

"How did you get off the train?" she asked. Harry's mouth dropped open as he drank in her image, eventually shaking himself and answering the question.

"Magic. I'm not actually the Harry you saw on the train. At least, not yet. No-one's supposed to know about me, not even the other Harry. I can't tell you more here." Ginny looked back, just in case her parents were looking. She knew they'd be suspicious of her talking to a complete stranger, and she knew they'd have to report this second Harry.

"Can you tell me about it somewhere quieter? How about my house?" she asked quickly.

"Ok, I'll meet you outside your house. Presumably away from your parents?" Ginny quickly nodded and ran off to the toilets. It would still be suspicious, or rather worrying, if she spent a long time in the toilets. She escaped just in the nick of time, avoiding being caught by her parents looking in Harry's direction. Harry walked off the platform just behind her, not wanting to be caught by someone who had seen the other Harry.

As she was gone, Ginny's thoughts were confused and scrambled. Why were there two Harrys? What would her parents do if they caught him? Had they caught him already? Panicking, she rushed out of the toilets and bumped into her mother.

"What's the rush, Ginny dear?" she asked kindly, drawing her into a huge hug.

"I thought you might be gone," replied Ginny, thinking quickly on the spot. "I didn't want to be left alone..." She tried to crane her neck around to see where Harry was, but he'd gone. Mutely holding onto her mother's hand, she walked out into the pale London sunshine. As they reached the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny had a sudden sinking feeling. She hadn't told Harry where she lived! A solitary tear rolled down her face as she stepped into the emerald-green fire and called, "The Burrow!"

It was another slightly chilly day, but the sun was out again, contrary to the muggle weather forecast. Mr. Weasley had managed to get a television set working in his shed and marvelled at how they could predict the weather without magic until he realised that they had already got it wrong. Ginny, however, was sitting by the large green pond in the garden of the burrow. She was holding a gnome by the feet, dipping the top of its head into the still water. There was a large rock in the middle of the pond with a small area poking just above the smooth surface of the water where she lightly placed the disgruntled gnome. As she watched it running around the edge of the rock, figuring out how to get off, there was a blue flash and the loud cracking of branches as something landed in a nearby rhododendron.

"Argh! Gotta sort out that landing!"

"And the flash," said Ginny, staring at the figure in the bush. They both stared at each other, mostly in fright, until a small splash snapped them out of their momentary reverie. The gnome had tried to jump to the nearby bank, but had landed in the water, barely a few centimetres from the rock. Instead of swimming to the bank, it panicked and flailed its way back onto the rock, shaking itself as it crawled out of the water. "How did you know where I lived?" she asked.

"I've learned a lot of things that the other Harry will come to know," explained Harry, deliberately trying to sound mysterious. He took his wand out and wordlessly levitated the gnome onto the bank.

"Aren't you too young to be doing magic outside of school?" asked Ginny cheekily, sticking her tongue out at Harry.

"Technically I can't exist, so I don't have the charm that other people do. I don't even exist in my own world."

"How can you not exist in your own world? And what do you mean 'own world'?" Harry explained to Ginny how he didn't exist and where he came from, Ginny drinking in the story as though it were an exciting fairy tale. She oohed, ahhed and gasped in all the right places and was the audience every storyteller wished for. "It's not a very believable story," she said when he was finished. "What proof do you have?"

"How do you think I was sitting, watching myself get on the Hogwarts Express? Ron's probably sitting with me in Potions right now."

"Well then, let's ask him," said Ginny, standing up. "Come on." She led him through the garden and up to the back door, taking a route through the bushes so as to hide Harry from the back windows in case her mother was looking through them. He waited under the largest of the windows, next to the back door, while Ginny went inside to check the area. "She's out front, feeding the chickens," she said, making Harry jump. She'd crept so quietly up to him that he hadn't noticed her. Ginny led him through the kitchen and up the stairs. They stopped on the third landing, where Ginny opened a door and quickly pushed him in, looking out of the window to check that her mother was still spreading chicken feed across the yard. "Phew, she's still out there. Now let's send that letter."

"But Ginny, this is your room," said Harry, who was now beginning to turn pink.

"Oh, shush!" she hissed, jumping onto her bed and sitting cross-legged. She pulled some parchment and a quill over to her and began to write with guidance from Harry.

A couple of days later, during which Harry had spent most of the time camped in an almost inaccessible area of the garden, Ron's reply barely made it into the house. Ginny rushed to bring it to Harry and they both read it.

'Dear Gin,

Thanks for the letter. I'm good, thanks, but Snape's a right git. He's already taken twenty points from us. Never cross him if you can.

I'm going to give up potions as soon as possible. Don't tell mum, though.

I don't know why you want to know about Harry, but yes, he is in all of my classes, as a Gryffindor. He hasn't not shown up for any classes, as if he would.

Say hi to mum and dad for me.

Love you loads,

Ron'