Another Shade of Red: An Unexpected Occurrence

Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, blah blah blah, you get here I'm going. The disclaimer is in the first to chapters, read it there if you find you need to.

A/N: Ah yes, another chapter. I have the story down on paper, but it's just a matter of finding the time to type it up. Summer's keeping me busy, not to mention my original story, which is already 34 pages done with lots more left. I appreciate all my reviews, thanks you guys!! J I'd like to thank each of you personally after you all read this chapter. ;)

"Excuse me, everyone," a small man wearing a sky blue pinstripe suit and a bowler hat to match it announced. "I'm Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic." Whispers arose from the crowd. "Please calm down, nothing too serious has occurred. Although I am very sorry to report that that Hogwarts Express- has broken down. There has been no permanent damage, but it will take a while for the Department of Magical Mechanics to get the Express up and running again. I hope you all will have other means of arriving at the school by tonight for the feast. Once again, I apologize on behalf of the Ministry, and if you have any questions on how to reach your destination please contact us so we can get everyone there on time. Thank you very much." Fudge immediately disapparated, leaving not even a trace that he was ever there, except for the bustling crowd at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Most of the witches and wizards complained about the "poor misfortune" or "sloppiness of the Ministry" and then left immediately. Ginny was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to chat with her friends in different compartments or buy a pile of chocolate frogs and pumpkin pastys with the money she had saved over the summer, abandoning the chicken sandwich her mother had made for her that morning.

"How peculiar," Mrs. Weasley stated, feeling quite confused. "How could the ministry let the train break down? It must have been in disrepair for quite a while. After all, it only runs twice a year." She shook her head. "Children, wait here while I stop at home quickly to talk to your father. Maybe he can arrange a portkey for all of you while we drive home."

That summer Mr. Weasley had been given a French muggle Citroen that had been bewitched by a wizard that escaped from St. Mungo's Wizarding Hospital a month before. It had been a complicated case for the Ministry, but Mr. Weasley did a good job in the end with sorting things out. He made sure that the car couldn't fly in any way, shape, or form, or be flown by anyone under the age of eighteen. Fred and George had been trying to break that charm all summer, but so far they had succeeded in driving the car zero times and had been caught twenty-two times. The Weasley twins refused to give up easily, however, as usual. A lot of the time they were busy with their jobs at Gambol and Japes wizarding joke shop, which the Weasley parents thought was good work experience, but the two brothers thought of it as free joke supplies and good money.

"Don't hurry back, mum," Fred grinned. "Take your time. Your two youngest will be safe with us. Hermione and Harry, too."

"Well, I would expect so," she glared at them. "And if anyone has an extra head when I return I will know who gave it to them!"

"We will be fine Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, trying to comfort poor Mrs. Weasley, who looked quite stressed. "The Finnigans are over there, and so is Neville's grandmother. Not to mention the MacMillans, the Jordans, the Changs, the Spinnets, the-"

"I think that's enough, Hermione," nudging her in the ribs quite hard. "My mum won't worry now, and we want her to get things sorted out as quickly as possible, isn't that right, Harry?"

"What?" Harry asked, not really paying to attention to the conversation at hand because Cho Chang walked by with her older brother who worked at Gringotts. Ron gave him a look, and he understood, at least he understood enough to agree with his best friend. "Oh, yeah, of course. We'll be fine Mrs. Weasley, don't worry about us. It will only be a few minutes." Ginny rolled her eyes. Obviously the famous Harry Potter only liked girls that were competitive and had nice eyes. Typical, she thought.

"Okay, then," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "I think I can count on Hermione, Harry, and Ginny to keep things in order, can't I? I will be back very soon." She gave Fred and George one last glance before apparating. Fred and George began to walk away.

"We're going to go talk to Angelina and Alicia," George called to them as the twins walked toward the two Gryffindor chasers. With Katie Bell and Oliver Wood out of school, there were two open places on the Quidditch team, and the position of captain was available as well. Some thought Harry would be made captain, while others thought Angelina Johnson would get the position. But it was up to Madam Hooch to decide at that point.

As soon as the twins were out of earshot, Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved away from the crowd to talk. Ginny suspiciously followed.

"Isn't that something?" Harry wondered. "What Fudge said, I mean."

"You don't actually believe that rubbish Fudge was saying, do you?" Ron shook his head. "I thought you knew he was full of baloney."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing that would interest you, Ginny," Ron replied. "Nevermind. You wouldn't care. Don't you have some friends around that you can go talk to until mum gets back?" That last remark made Ginny very annoyed. She was only a year younger than her brother, and she was sick of having treat her like a little girl. In fact, she had just about had it at that point.

"Of course it would interest me, why wouldn't it?" Ginny asked angrily. "If you haven't noticed, I'm only a year younger than the lot of you. Can't you even treat me like an equal, Ron, instead of your naïve little sister?" When she stepped forwards to give her brother a talking to, her hat fell off, revealing her newq hair. Hermione and Harry's jaws dropped.

"I told you, Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "But you didn't think she would really do it!" Harry and Hermione just gaped at Ginny's hair, which was beginning to grow a great deal and was almost shoulder-length.

"Wow, Ginny, it looks beautiful!" Hermione exclaimed as she felt Ginny's sleek, new hair. "What did you use on it?" Ginny liked the attention, but she was still trying to tell off her brother, and she wasn't ready to stop right then.

"Why don't you just tell me what you three were talking about," she said sternly. The trio looked at each other.

"Fine," Ron sighed. "But you can't tell anyone. Not mum or dad, and definitely not Fred and George."

"I promise on Hogwarts that I won't tell unless put under a powerful charm which I have no control over," Ginny smiled jokingly. What in the world could be the secret that was so secret?

A/N: *sigh* Another chapter done!! Hahaha, another evil cliffie. How I love those!! Sorry, it's a short chapter, but I'm a busy girl. Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon. But until then, I'd like to thank everyone who left me a review:

JellybeanOasis: Thanks for giving me my first review!! J I appreciate it a lot.

Oowth: Thanks for such a nice review. And who knows if Harry will think differently of Ginny? Maybe a few other people will, too!!

Bucky: I've been updating, but not too regularly. Check back soon!!

Evil*Fairy: I love strawberry blonde hair, but as to whether it will suit Ginny, well, we'll see. Sorry, but Ginny's eyes are going to stay the same color. No color-changing charms for her!! This story is about a lot more than Ginny's new look, but that happens to be the thing that sort of pulls the story together. Think of it was sort of a book 5 story!!

Daphne Black: Thanks for the note. I'll change it when I get the chance!! Until then, let's hope people read the reviews, huh??

HarryandGinny4eva: There will be more soon, you can count on it!!

Mage of Fire: Thanks, but is "interesting" good or bad?? Lol.

Sweetihunni: Thanks a lot!! I'll be sure to R&R yours when I get a chance.

Satans Little Princess: Muahahahaha don't you LOVE cliffies?? They're evil, but exciting. Thanks for the nice review!!

Lioness Silence: Thanks so much!! And thanks for the tip, too. I know where my story is going, and I'm not one to take ideas from other people. I figure they should take credit for their own ideas.

WeasleyGranger: Thanks for coming back to read the second chapter!! I hope you enjoyed chapter 3 just as much.

Jedi Rowena Gryffindor: Hmmm, has Ginny taken off her hat?? Don't think so!! Not until chapter three, and then it sort of fell off, hehe. Atb the right moment, nevertheless!!

Daphne Black: Wow, thanks for reviewing twice. That's so nice of you!! I'll be sure to check out some of your work, too.

LilyAyl: Although I read a good deal of fanfiction when I have the chance, I haven't come across one like this yet. And as I said before, it's just the idea that pulls the story together. It will get a lot darker, believe me. I basically got the idea from from well, actually I don't exactly know. I just sort of get these ideas that pop into my head. I get a lot of those, and I have plenty more stories, but they're all on paper, not typed up. Thanks again!!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful reviews. That was so nice of you!! I remember when I got my first five reviews I has jumping up and down, hehe. I hope to be a writer some day, if not a marine biologist, and it feels good to get positive feedback. Thanks a million!! -- PaGi