Ginny waited patiently. Her mother kneaded the dough then handed it to her. "Ginny, work the garlic in." She said absentmindedly. Ginny grabbed a handful of minced garlic and worked it into the center of the dough, like a filling. She put it on a bread pan and put it into the very hot stove. It was swelteringly hot. She made her way slowly up the stairs and into her room. A shabby old room . All that fit was a bed and dresser. Her few pieces of clothing, worn and ratty, all having been handed down several times, hung in the closet, her few possessions at the bottom. She sighed. She had never gotten a new bit of clothing, excepting bras and underwear. She looked at herself in the old full length mirror that hung on her door. She had a nice figure (though that's not was she was looking at, it was her clothes, really) and pretty wavy bright red hair that fell several inches below her shoulders. Her soupy brown eyes looked the shabby jeans she was wearing over. Ginny sighed. Why was everything she owned at least two children down the line? She was the only girl! Now she at least got some of her mother's old clothes. But she felt so alone, even with all of her pestering siblings. Fred and George were tricksters and nearly ignored her, Ron just made her go away, and the others were all away. She didn't even have a pet. Her only of 2 friends had moved to China, where her dad lived, and no owl she could access would make that trip. School started in a few days. Harry and Hermione, Ron's friends, were coming that afternoon. Ginny had once liked Harry, but the way he looked at Cho broke her heart, and she managed to make herself believe that she didn't like him anymore. She'd asked Mum last year if she, too, could invite a friend (Ling Su, who had moved in with her dad) but she had just said 'no, we already promised the extra tickets to Harry and Hermione .' So, of course Ginny gets shunted aside. Ronny gets two. Ginny gets none. Ling Su had moved, though, so she decided to try to be friends with everyone. Her other friend, the only one remaining, had written once to her to tell her to stop sending her some stupid letters just to say 'hi'. So she hadn't heard from her. Her name was Linda. She heard a "Harry!" and walked out of her room, watching on the stairs as Harry Potter stepped out of the fireplace. Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother, but waved (glumly) anyway and slumped back up to her room. Of course, there were too many kids with Hermione and Harry so Ginny couldn't invite Linda. Of course, again , Ginny is shunted aside. So she picked up a book and kind of just sat there pretending to be interested.