Ginny sat quietly at the dinner table that evening. Harry was sitting across and to the left of her. Since dinner started all he had done was answer questions from her father about muggle things. Ginny was wishing that her father would be quiet. Not that she would talk to Harry on her own, she knew she would just make a fool of herself in front of him. But maybe, he would have something to say to her. It didn't hurt to wish.

Keeping her head down, Ginny looked up at him from under her eyelashes. He was talking constantly about all the muggle things in the Dursley's house, and how they hated anything magical.

*I think your magical, Harry…*

Ginny couldn't help but grin to herself. She would never say such a thing out loud, but in her mind she was a real smoozer! Ginny jerked her head up suddenly. She threw a furtive glance around the table. She could have sworn Harry's eyes had flickered to her for a moment.

*Big deal. What if he did look at you. You're practically sitting across from him. Get a grip.*

Ginny pushed an imaginary hair behind her ear nervously. She caught Fred looking at her with a wicked grin on his freckled face.

"Oy Harry! Did you happen to notice anything different around here?"

Ginny eyes went wide and unblinking as she made a conscious effort to avoid looking in Harry's direction. She felt her face turning red. Fred's face split into a huge grin.

"We got ourselves a house elf!"

Ginny let out an audible sigh of relief. Everyone turned and looked at Winky, who was busy ironing some clothes. Mr. Weasley explained.

"Well she had no where else to go, and Molly has been wanting some help around the house so…..here she is. Now Harry, tell me again how the mickrowave works again……"

The conversation droned on for another thirty minutes before Mr. Weasley was satisfied for the evening and let everyone leave the table.

~~~~~

Harry lay on the damp grass next to Ron, looking up at the stars. They laid there in silence watching the stars winking at them. Harry was dreaming of Cho Chang's beautiful face. He knew it was cold-hearted of him, but he couldn't help but wonder if she was over Cedric Diggory's death yet. He would do anything to get Cho to notice him. He had even given some thought to letting her catch the snitch next time he played opposite of her on the Quidditch field. He threw that idea away pretty quickly. He knew it wasn't fair to the team and to Gryffindor. But still….there wasn't much else he had to offer her. He couldn't help but wonder if she would have gone with him to the Yule Ball last year if Cedric hadn't been around. She had been polite, but she had said no. That brought an unexpected twinge in his side when he thought about it. Everyone had had a date except him and Ron. Even Neville had a date before them. True it was just Ginny, but it was still a date. Harry frowned to himself. There was something different about Ginny when he saw her, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. She had pulled her hair back like the girls at his old muggle school had, but there was something else. Perhaps it was the absence of breaking china. She hadn't broken anything this evening at dinner. She usually was very clumsy. Not like Cho. She was so graceful Harry thought she could have been a ballet dancer in the muggle world. Harry smiled as visions of Cho filled his head.

~~~~~

Ginny looked out her window and watched Harry and Ron up on the hill looking at the stars. Ron looked like he was asleep, but Harry was wide awake. She leaned her elbows on the windowsill and propped up her chin into her hands. She would give anything to know what Harry was thinking. She stared at the moonlight as it played on Harry's face. Even from the field she could see his green eyes bathed in moonlight. She laid her head into her arms and just gazed longingly into the distance.

*Oh Harry! How beautiful you are to me! Your eyes are as green as the slim at the bottom of a pond, and hair as black as night itself…. I would give anything to be next to you….*

Her eyes glazed over as she dreamed longingly into the distant treetops. She came out of her reverie as the hairs on the back of neck stood up and told her someone was watching her. She didn't move, but slowly let her eyes roam around the fields. Her heart jumped when she saw Harry looking her way. She lifted her head slowly and he looked back up into the sky. She stepped away from the window and went immediately to the mirror in her room.

She checked her hair, still pulled back away from her face with a bit of bang hanging artfully over one eye, she checked her skin tone, it wasn't oily. She started posing in front of the mirror to see how she had looked when Harry had saw her.

"What the heck are you doing?"

Ginny spun around so fast she nearly tripped. George was looking at her like she was nuts.

"None of your business!"

She crossed the room in a hurry and slammed the door into his astonished face. Sometimes she couldn't stand having so many brothers. She looked at the muggle fashion magazine that she had borrowed from Hermione sitting on her bed. She picked it up and looked for some advice. Surely there would be something that could tell her how to talk to Harry without looking like a twit. Nothing. Well….nothing for a girl her age to use on a guy. She sighed and flopped backwards on her bed. After a while she fell into a fitful sleep.

~~~~~~

The next morning Ginny took her shower and fixed her hair up again. Even if Harry hadn't noticed anything different about her look, she decided she liked having her hair pulled back out of her face. She looked in the mirror and frowned, then pulled a bit of bangs over her left eye again. There, just right. She turned her head to the right and then to the left. Patted her hair one more time and went downstairs for breakfast. She had been the last one to get up, so the kitchen was empty except for her mother and Winky. She flopped down at the table and her mother handed her a piece of grilled toast with melted cheese and a slice of fresh tomato on top. She ate and drank her milk slowly. She had no plans for today.

"Ron and Harry are going to Diagon Alley to pick up a few household items I need, why don't you go with them. You can window shop while you're there."

Ginny was surprised her mother was going to let them go without an adult. Mrs. Weasley answered as though she could read Ginny's mind.

"I figure you're old enough I don't have to tag along and babysit you. Mind if any of you put a toe out of line I'll wring your necks!"

Ginny agreed to go and went upstairs to put on a better looking robe than the one she was wearing. Shopping without her mom! She scooped up her savings, 15 galleons and thirteen sickles, into a little purse to take with her. She went downstairs and waited impatiently for Harry and Ron to get ready to go.

~~~~~~~

"Look at the new Quidditch robes!"

"Hey, they even have a new Cannons robe."

Ginny rolled her eyes as harry and Ron drooled at the Quidditch supplies shop. Ginny went to Waggle's Wonderments. She looked around at all the little glass bottles full of love potions, truth syrups, little gnome teeth made into bracelets, and rings, a real dragon's eye and other assorted oddities. She wasn't sure if she wanted to try and buy a love potion or not. She wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school and this was a good chance to use some on Harry. What the heck? Freckle Syrup?

"Um..Excuse me? Does this freckle syrup work? Does it really remove freckles?"

The plump short woman behind the desk laughed gently.

"No dearie, it's the other way around. You drink it and get freckles."

"Why would anyone want freckles?"

"Some people say they are a mark of great beauty. Every where there is freckle, that is considered to be a beautiful spot on the person. I see you have a lot of freckles, you're very lucky to have them."

Ginny wasn't sure whether or not to believe the lady. The lady smiled knowingly at Ginny.

"Is there anyone you have mind? I get a lot of girls on here about your age, you know."

Ginny hesitated.

"Well….. I don't know if he thinks I'm pretty."

"My goodness. Do you live in a house with no mirrors? Child, you're very lovely. Freckles or no freckles. You have lovely eyes, beautiful hair, and a very pretty smile. I think a boy should be lucky to be the object of your affection. But, with all things, you have to feel that you deserve to be the object of his affection before he'll ever notice you. If you hide yourself from people they tend to ignore you, just let him see you, the real you."

Back outside in the sunlight, Ginny thought about what the woman had said. She sat down at the ice cream shop and ordered a pumpkin and strawberry shake. She barely noticed when Ron and Harry flopped down at the table with sundaes of their own.

~~~~~~~

Harry had just spotted Ginny outside of the ice cream shop slowly sipping a shake.

"Hey Ron, let's get something to drink, my treat."

Harry sat on one side of Ginny and Ron sat on the other side. Nobody spoke for awhile. Ginny looked like she was in a trance. Harry watched her out of the corner of his eyes. He noticed she had thick long lashes and the color of her eyes were a soft coppery brown.

*Why haven't I noticed her eyes before?*

He furrowed his eyebrows. Still he kept looking. He noticed the soft pink shade of her lips as she bit gently on the end of her straw. He watched as the shade from the umbrella softly accentuated her high cheekbones. He was glad she was so lost in thought that she hadn't acknowledged his presence.

Harry felt a familiar lurch in his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with the ice cream. He had only felt it once before, and it was when he saw Cho Chang for the first time.

* This is Ginny you're thinking about. Ron's little sister…… Not so little now though, is she?*