Ginny stepped out of the floo and landed rather gracefully in a pub.

It was the Leaky Cauldron. The infamous wizard pub that connected the muggle world to the finest place for wizard shopping in the country, Diagon Alley. You could tell only the finest and wealthiest stopped here for drinks and the latest gossip.

The tables were covered with fine silk and everyone there was wearing fancy clothes, much like Ginny's.

When the red head walked further into the crowded room, some people stopped to stare, others ignored her, since she obviously didn't know them.

It was weird for Ginny to be in a place like this. Yes, the manor in Hogsmeade was big and filled with expensive furniture and an over all nice place to be in. But never had she been in a place with so many fine people all at once. After her father died, she was taught to not go to Diagon Alley cause no one there wanted to see her.

"Do you need help with anything, Miss?" A voice asked from behind the bar that Ginny was standing next to. "You look a little lost."

Ginny turned towards the voice and came face to face with an old man. He had only little wisps of hair combing over the top of his head, and they were all a gray color. He was wearing a dark gray jacket and black shirt underneath. He had an apron on and was cleaning out some of the large glasses while looking at Ginny.

"Ummm, how do I get to Diagon Alley from here?" She asked.

He raised his bushy eyebrows at her. It's been a while since someone came into his pub and not know how to get to the famous alley of England. Some people who were standing near by caught her last words and turned questioning heads to her, eager to know who this stranger was and if she was important.

"I mostly live in the country and only just got allowed to go shopping alone. It's been about 10 years since I've been here." She answered hastily.

It looked like the people around her were satisfied and turned back to their original conversations like Ginny hadn't even said anything. The old man behind the bar gave her an almost toothless grin.

"Go through the back door over there," He said pointing through the crowd, "and go straight through the brick archway. Then, you'll be in Diagon Alley."

"Thank you very much." She slightly bowed her head out of habit then walked towards the back of the pub.

She had to push through many people to get to the door. Many people turned to glare at the person who dared to touch them as they walked by, but would stop and smile at Ginny while she apologized. Oddly, a lot of men ended up doing this even when she didn't bump into them.

Finally the red head pushed open the heavy wooden door. As soon as she stepped out the door her attention was caught by a large brick archway. Just like the old man said there would be. Looking through it she saw blurry figures walking around, knowing this to be the entrance, Ginny took a deep breath then headed straight through.

There was no special feeling when she walked through. It was just like air. Instinctively, Ginny had closed her eyes and when she opened them, they filled with all the different stores and people leisurely walking around her.

Randomly picking a direction, Ginny joined the crowd. She was walking slower then everyone else since the stores were common sights for the people around her. She would stop at every store window to look in and see what that particular one is about.

Up ahead there was a large crowd surrounding a store front, so Ginny curiously made her way to them.

When she arrived, the crowd seemed to be mostly made of boys and young men. They were standing in front of a store called Quality Quidditch Supplies. Everyone was staring and rambling off random facts about the newest broom.

Ginny remembered her brother's talking about a new broom that had just been released. Charlie had said it was so fast, the professional teams were having trouble flying them.

"I heard they're taking it off the market in a month because of it's speed." One boy next to Ginny said to his friend.

"I heard the price is getting raised instead." The boy's friend said instead.

"I heard not even the prince has the new model yet."

When Ginny heard this, she silently doubted this. The prince and his best friend have whatever they want, whenever they want. They're completely spoiled and probably can't even fly on it properly. She thought.

Harry and Orion made their way to the Quidditch store in their own time. They had heard what James said when they left, and they were fully prepared to pretend they didn't when they turned up 2 hours late for meeting their parents. Sure they liked Uncle Remus, but, come on, there's a new broom model out!

Unfortunately there was a large crowd that surrounded the quidditch supply store. Fortunately Harry and Orion were well known around the area. Otherwise they might not have been able to walk right through the parting crowd to get a look at the new broom.

Orion was quite absorbed just looking at the new thing he could own with some major pleading to his father. Him and Harry happened to like their current brooms. They worked just fine and they still beat their fathers at small games of quidditch (they used the same field that the professionals played at sometimes, it was in their backyard).

While Orion was looking at the store window, Harry's gaze was focused on a pretty, very pretty red head standing next to them. She had long red hair that matched his mother's almost perfectly and from the side had a cute face. From what he could see of her figure… he thought it was very nice.

He had to talk to her.

He nudged Orion and when he had his friend's attention, he nodded his head in the direction that the pretty girl was standing. Orion looked over and discreetly checked her out.

"Go talk to her." Orion whispered. Harry didn't need any further encouragement.

"It's a nice broom isn't it?" Harry asked.

Ginny heard a question being asked by someone right next to her. She didn't expect anyone to be talking to her, but looked over anyway. She was startled to find a pair of gorgeous green eyes starting straight at her.

"Ummm, yes it is." She said, still unsure if he intended to ask her.

"Do you know anything about quidditch?"

"Yes, a little. My brothers used to play a lot." She said.

Finally convinced that this young man was intending to start a conversation with her, she gave him a look over. And what a fine young man he was. Very handsome, with messy black hair and the greenest eyes she had ever seen. He had a very masculine body and verynice clothes. For some reason, he looked vaguely familiar to Ginny. Like she had seen him before.

"Do you think you will buy it?" Harry asked again. He was hopefully going to be spending some more time with this girl, he needed to get the subject off of quidditch.

"Oh, no. I would never buy a broom like that. Or a broom at all. If I want to fly, I can always borrow one of my brothers'. There are enough of them." She said.

"Harry, we have to get going. With the crowd, we'll never get to Florean's in time." Orion said from his other side. He gave Ginny a quick smile and a pointed look to Harry.

Harry got the hint and took advantage of his friend's advice. "Yes alright." He turned back to Ginny. "Would you like to join us? We need to meet our parents at Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream, maybe we could talk over a cone of vanilla ice cream?"

Ginny thought over the offer. He was fairly good looking (maybe a little more), and he didn't seem to dangerous or anything. Why couldn't she go with them? It's not like Narcissa was here. Well she was, but she wasn't with Ginny at the moment. Wisteria wasn't here to take all the good looking guys away. No, this guy was interested in her. Or at least seemed interested.

"I would love to go with you." She decided.

Harry smiled at her and put out his arm so she could hold on. The three teenagers walked away from the store, followed by the stares of curious people.

"I'm Harry, by the way. And this is Orion." Harry said to her as they walked down the cobblestone streets.

"It's nice to meet both of you." Ginny looked at both of them, who were standing on either side of her. They were both taller then her so she had to look up slightly, but she knew she had heard of those names somewhere.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Orion asked.

Ginny nodded her head, "You two just seem very familiar, that's all."

Harry and Orion exchanged looks. What happens if she recognizes them and acts different? It's happened lots of times with girls that the two meet and it got very annoying.

"Well, finally." A masculine voice said from behind them when they arrived at the ice cream shop. "These two decide to grace us with their presence."

The three turned around and saw a table occupied with four adults. One woman and three men.

"Uncle Remus!" Harry and Orion ran over the short distance that separated them from the table and gave a three person hug to the man who had stood up.

Remus Lupin had sandy blonde hair and was fairly tall and skinny. His face scrunched up a bit when he smiled and his hazel eyes were wide when the hug ended.

"Look at you two! Spitting images of James and Sirius! And who is this pretty lady behind you?"

"Oh!"

Harry turned around and dragged Ginny who was standing behind them, not wanting to intrude on their family reunion.

"Come on, you can meet our parents. Don't worry they're cool." He assured her when he saw the doubt in her eyes. The two walked over to the table and immediately had everyone's attention.

"This is my mum, dad, Sirius, Orion's dad and Uncle Remus." Harry said, pointing to each respectable person.

Lily stood up, James and Sirius followed suit.

"You can call me Lily, dear." She said, shaking Ginny's hand.

"James." James took her hand and gave it a light kiss, Sirius did the same.

Ginny blushed slightly at the unfamiliar gesture, but smiled all the same.

"Let's go inside," Harry said when everyone was done with greetings. "I believe I promised you a vanilla ice cream."

"Yes, you did. But could we get chocolate instead? It's my favorite." Ginny asked, grabbing on to his offered arm.

"Of course." He looked at Orion, "You coming?"

"No, I think I'll stay out here and talk with Uncle Remus. You two have fun." He replied.

Harry shrugged and him and Ginny headed to the front door.

"Who is that girl?"

"How long have they known each other?"

"Where does she live?"

"What's her name?"

Orion was bombarded with questions as soon as he sat down and the couple had walked through the front door. The adults leaned in as Orion did, so no eavesdropping gossips could hear.

"I don't know who she is, they just met at the quidditch store, she didn't recognize any of us so I don't know if she lives in Hogsmeade, and I actually have no idea what her name is." Orion said, answering all their questions.

"She's very pretty." Lily said. They all nodded in agreement.

"Would probably look good with a crown on her head too." Sirius said with a smile.

"Yes well, us pretty red heads have a natural compatibility with crowns." Lily said, jokingly flinging her hair over her shoulder in a snobby exaggeration.

Back in the ice cream shop, Harry and Ginny picked seats over in the corner, so as not to draw to much attention to them selves. Like he promised, Harry bought her a chocolate ice cream cone and he got one himself. The two sat there, enjoying their ice cream and each other's company.

"You know, it's funny. Your parents look really familia- oh my God! I know where your from! Your Prince Harry! The prince of Hogsmeade!" Ginny said in astonishment.

Harry looked down at the white table. "Yeah, I am." He said unenthusiastically.

"I just met the King and Queen. Cool."

Harry knew what was coming next. Shameless flirting, never ending questions, her life story perhaps. Maybe even a marriage proposal, so she could secure her future.

"Well that's cool. So what do you think about that new broom over at the quidditch shop?" Ginny asked casually. Her casualness and non caring attitude startled Harry for a moment, so he couldn't answer.

"Hello? You okay?"

"You don't care that I'm the prince?" He asked.

"Well, it's not that I don't care it's just that I don't know you and I don't think I should treat you any different then any other guy I was eating ice cream with. Why?"

"Usually girls get all annoying and clingy when they learn about my family." He said honestly.

"Well I'm sure I can be annoying and clingy if that's what you want."

"No! No, I like the normal conversation, but thanks for the offer."

"Anytime. So, what did you think about the new broom?" She repeated. This time Harry was able to answer.

"It was okay. But I think I'll stick with the one that I have already. I wouldn't be able to give it up if I got a new one."

"That's kind of sweet in a not sweet at all way." Ginny finished unsurely.

Harry laughed and Ginny relaxed, glad she didn't make a fool out of herself.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What did you think of the broom?"

"Oh, it was okay. But like I said. I would rather borrow one of my brothers'." Ginny said. "And by borrow I mean take without asking and eventually put it back when they notice it missing then blame it on a different brother." She added.

Harry laughed again. "Do you have a lot of brothers then?"

"Six."

"Six what?" Ginny and Harry looked over and saw James, Sirius and Remus had come over to their table and hadn't been standing their to long.

"Six brothers." She told them. She laughed at the looks on all their faces, including Harry's when she said that. "And that's not including my step sister and step brother."

"That's a lot of kids." Sirius said.

Ginny nodded her head in agreement.

"Was their something you three needed?" Harry asked politely.

"Right!" James said as he just remembered his purpose for coming inside. He turned to Ginny and spoke to her. "We would like to invite you to the ball that's being held in a week at Hogwarts Castle in Hogsmeade. We ran out of invitations, but it starts at eight o'clock and is being held in honor of Harry and his need to find a wife. Or at least a girlfriend. I'm sure Harry wants you to come and we would all be honored to have you attend." He said it all very formerly and Ginny couldn't help but feel giddy at the thought of getting invited to a ball. A real ball.

But then that nagging in the back of her brain, that was called Narcissa and her two brats came to the front. There was no way she could get out of the house with them all their. Especially since Wisteria and Draco will be at the ball. She could have her brothers cover up for her. Yes, that's what she would do. Narcissa wasn't going to spoil her once in a lifetime chance and what if she sees Draco or Wisteria? She'll deal with that when the time comes.

Making a decision, Ginny smiled at the three men standing by their table, "I would love to go to your ball." She said.

They all smiled and said their final words to Harry, before leaving.

Harry said something, but Ginny couldn't hear him. When she had glanced out the window that was behind Harry she saw the unmistakable form of Narcissa Malfoy walking with her daughter and son. Towards the Leaky Cauldron and back home.

"What time is it?" Ginny asked suddenly.

Harry was a little taken aback, but looked at the clock in the store. "It's 4:30, why?"

"Oh no, they're going home early. They must have bought more clothes." She muttered then stood suddenly.

When she made the movement to leave, Harry quickly jumped up. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Ginny ran out of the shop and almost into the table that Harry's family was still talking at. They all looked up at her and smiled. But their smiled left when they heard her mutter sorry and run around the table, with Harry chasing her.

"Where are you going?" Harry yelled again.

"I'm sorry. They're home early. I have to go. I'm sorry." She said to him as she turned to leave again.

"Wait," Harry said grabbing her arm to stop her. "You'll be at the ball?"

"Yes."

"You promise?"

Sirius, James, Lily, Remus and Orion had stood up at the commotion and were looking back and forth between the two confused.

"I promise. Please, I have to go." She pulled out of Harry's loose grip and turned to head off again. Orion and Sirius went to go after her. It's not all that often Harry finds a girl like this. Actually he's never found a girl he actually cared for and they weren't going to let her run away without an explanation.

But Harry put his arm out to stop them. He wasn't going to force her to stay. She obviously needed to get somewhere.

"I'll be at the ball Harry! I promise!" Ginny called behind her when she had looked back and saw his sadness. He seemed somewhat better.

Then before she was to out of ear shot, he yelled out to her "What's your name?"

Ginny stopped. What if they recognize the name? Think Ginny! Think! She turned around and called the first thing that came to mind "Cinderella! My name's Cinderella!" Smiling she turned around and got lost in the crowd.

"Cinderella." Harry said. Orion patted him on the back and they all went back for another ice cream.

Ginny had run all the way back to the Leaky Cauldron. She received odd stares from people, but she didn't notice. The only thing running through her mind was getting back to the manor before Narcissa did.

The bottom of her dress had ripped and she lost the shawl sometime during her run. When she saw sight of the brick arch way, she ran through it and without slowing down, ran into the door and stumbled into the pub. It had gone quiet with the noise she made.

She mused at what a sight she must make to all these rich people who never got dirty. A pretty girl running through a pub all sweaty and in a torn dress. Lovely.

People started whispering and eventually chattering at normal volume when she walked to the bar in the middle of the room.

"Do you have any floo powder?" She panted to the same bartender who had helped her before.

"Of course. Here you are." He pulled out a mini pre-made satchel of floo powder and told her to use the whole thing.

With a quick thank you, she went to the fire place and threw in the powder. "Malfoy Manor!" Another swoosh and she was gone.

Bill and Fred were cleaning the living room when the fire turned green. They got ready for Narcissa or Draco to come through the fire. They had a prepared excuse for Ginny and nodded to each other before a body came out of the fire place.

But it wasn't Draco or his mother. It was their little sister.

"Ginny? What are you doing?" Bill said, rushing up to her to help her up.

"Narcissa…early…ran" She was out of breath from the run through Diagon Alley and the out of control floo ride.

"It's okay, it's okay. Let's go downstairs before anyone else comes home." Fred said , also helping her up.

Ginny nodded her agreement. Fred and Bill walked her down to their shared room in the basement where there was seven cots near the window that let a little bit of light in.

"Get changed and get to bed. We'll say you've been sick all day when they get home." Bill told her. He kissed her forehead and the two left her alone.

When Ginny got changed and situated in bed, her mind drifted to Harry and the ball. She would go to that ball. Her brothers were sure to help her sneak out. Nothing could stop her from seeing Harry again.

And with this last thought, she fell into a deep sleep.

A/N: phew! I typed this up and I'm about to fall over and fall asleep. I had no idea how this chap was gonna turn out, but I'm happy with it. If I made any mistakes…let me know!

Thanks to all my reviewers!

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