A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. I'm open to suggestions to the story so please R/R.

Disclaimer: I wish I could be as good as JK Rowling but I'm not. This is her stuff and not to mention the influence that this story took from various fanfics.

Chapter 18
Anna's Story and Ginny's Decision

Harry noticed a small little girl with dark red hair that didn't seem to be enjoying herself and excluded herself from everybody and just sat there away from everybody playing with a doll by herself. Harry asked Ms. Grant, "Who's that girl over there?" Harry motioned to the girl playing with the doll.

Ms. Grant said, "That's Anna Thymes. She doesn't really talk or socialize with anybody ever since she came here. Her parents were killed in the Diagon Alley attack a few months ago."

Not taking his eyes off the girl, Harry asked, "Does she have any family left?"

She nodded and said, "Yes, she has a brother who is in his first year at Hogwarts. His name is Anthony. I believe that he was sorted in Hufflepuff. He wasn't given the option to visit his sister because first years are not allowed to go on Hogsmeade trips but he writes to her every other day letting her know what he's doing and checking up on her."

"I take it that she can read and write than?"

"She doesn't have difficulty reading but her writing skills still needs much work. A teacher is usually there to help her each time she writes to her brother and helps her read his letters. She has been working really so she can write to Anthony without any help."

"How old is she?"

"She's seven but is about to turn eight in a week I believe."

He nodded and said, "Thank you Ms. Grant." Harry made his way over to Anna and tried to make himself known by walking around her before sitting down in front of her in hopes of not startling her.

Anna looked up at him for a moment and Harry took that instance to say, "Hi Anna, I'm Harry." He extended his hand which Anna reluctantly shook after looking around and got a nod from the adult supervisor who was watching Harry and Anna. After shaking his hand, Anna went back to playing with her doll.

Harry asked, "How are you Anna?"

Anna stopped playing with her doll and looked up at him with a face that seemed like she was thinking of what to do. She said in a soft voice that ware barely audible, "I'm fine."

Harry didn't want to keep the girl talking so he asked, "How come you're not playing with anybody?"

She looked towards the ground and said, "I don't want to play with them."

"How come you don't want to play with them?"

"I just want to play with my brother." She gave a hint of a smile and said, "He takes care of me you know. Anthony is good to me."

Harry didn't know Anthony and didn't want to make her upset so he said, "I heard about your brother. He's really a good person."

She had a large smile on her face but it quickly disappeared. She asked, "Do you talk to Anthony?"

Harry said, "I haven't talked to him but that's what I heard," he ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly which showed his scar.

She pointed to his scar and asked, "How did you get that?"

He took a second to think of what he wanted to say then said, "An evil man a long time ago gave me this scar."

Her eyes lit up as she realized something, she asked, "Are you Harry Potter?"

Harry wasn't annoyed at all by what she said. As a matter of fact, he was actually glad that his fame was good for something. He nodded and said, "Yup!"

She was so happy when he said that but her smile faltered a bit which Harry noticed and he asked, "What's wrong?"

She looked down at her doll and said, "I'm bad luck. Everything that is good around ends up going away."

"What do you mean?"

"It all started a few months ago when mum and dad took me and Anthony to go get his school supplies." She stopped and tears started to form in her eyes.

Harry saw this and picked her up and sat her in his lap. All of the other kids started to notice the two of them and stopped what they were doing and slowly made there way towards them. The two of them were in their own world and didn't notice or care what was going on around them. Harry didn't want to pressure her but felt that she needed to let it out so he asked her, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I understand what it feels like but I'll tell you my story if it will help."

Anna nodded and said, "We were shopping in Diagon Alley when all of these men showed up wearing these white masks. They pointed there wands at anybody that moved and said some words than either a green or a red light came out. Every time a red light hit something than it would blow up but a green light would make the person fall down."

She took a deep breath then said, "When these men showed up, my mum picked me up and we ran towards a store because my dad kept on yelling, 'Get the kids out of here! Find the nearest fireplace and floo home!' So we ran as my dad followed with his wand out. We made it close to a store but one of those people with a white mask popped out in front of us; I think that daddy called them Dead Munchers."

Harry said, "That's Deatheaters."

"Oh, thank you. Two Death Eaters just showed up in front of mum and she froze. My dad caught up with us and tried to shield us from them. My dad was fighting off the two Deatheaters but he was hit by a green light and just fell down. Anthony ran up to my dad and tried to get him to wake up. Anthony kept on yelling at my dad to wake up but he wouldn't. Mum said that he wasn't going to come back and for Anthony to get behind her. Mum put me down and begged the Deatheaters to leave us alone. Mum told us to run and try to get home but we didn't know where to go. So we just stood behind mum while Anthony was trying to shield me. They kept on teasing mum saying some really bad things. My mum reached in her pocket and pulled out her wand. The two evil men pointed their wands at her and one of them said something and mum was on the ground yelling in pain. She was shaking uncontrollably."

Anna had tears coming out of her freely now as she sobbed the rest of her story. She sobbed, "All of a sudden it ended and one of them told my mum that she would die and they would kidnap me and Anthony and do the same thing to us that they just did to her everyday. That got mummy angry and she tried to reach for her wand but a green light hit her and she wasn't moving anymore. My brother got in front of me and all I could do was hang onto him. I was just too scared to do anything else. He told me that he will protect me so all I could do was hug him even harder. Than those men pointed there wands at us but this beautiful blue and white bird showed up out of nowhere and attacked those evil men. Anthony and me just watched as the bird attacked and before we knew it more help came and all those men with white masks disappeared. After a while the Aurors took us here and than my brother had to go to Hogwarts so I'm all by myself now."

Harry hugged her tight and she cried on his shoulder. He said some soothing words to her as she cried and encouraged her to let it all out. He said, "You know something similar happened to me. I lost my dad, mum, godfather, and a friend to that same man that ordered the attack on Diagon Alley. It is easy to push everybody away and be alone so you don't have to feel hurt anymore but that doesn't work out very well because there is nothing to live for anymore. You shouldn't give up hope. When you have hope tied in with love than anything can be done so always follow your heart. Let your heart lead you but let your mind keep you in control."

She stopped crying and said, "Thank you. I'll try to do what you said."

"You can talk to me whenever you want. Feel free to write me whenever you want and I'll write back as fast as I can."

With a smile and a hopeful expression she asked, "Can I tell my brother that I know you?"

Harry smiled back and said, "Of course you can, I'll even let your brother know that I got to meet his beautiful and brave little sister. You can tell anybody you want and can I tell people that you're my friend?"

She jumped up, gave him a fierce hug, and said, "Yes, I'm Harry Potter's friend."

Harry hugged her back and when she let go and backed away a bit, Harry said, "I have a surprise for you. I want you to meet one of my friends." With that, Harry whistled and Nightlight appeared on his shoulder.

Nightlight flew down to a chair near Anna as she slowly approached the Phoenix. Harry said, "Anna, this is Nightlight. He is my phoenix that helped you that day."

Nightlight nodded slightly as Anna reached out and slowly pet the phoenix just like Harry was doing. She soon became comfortable and said to the phoenix, "Thank you Nightlight for saving me and my brother that day." She than hugged the phoenix. Nightlight started to sing a phoenix song which filled her heart.

Everybody got up and met Nightlight and sat in a large circle and exchanged some kind of funny story or adventure that each of them went through with Harry and his friends telling the most stories as everybody seemed to get wrapped up in the stories of the Boy-Who-Lived but more importantly the boy who saw them as a friend.

That night Harry went to look for the person that he was most familiar with in Hufflepuff. He found Susan and asked her about Anthony and found out that he is usually a loner and rarely talks to anybody and he is usually seen writing letters to his sister. Harry saw him sitting alone at dinner at the far end of the table that was closest to the Head Table.

Harry excused himself from his friends at the Gryffindor table and made his way over to the Hufflepuff table. Half of the school had there eyes on him as he made his way over to Anthony. He sat down across from him and whisperings could be heard from the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students to what was going on. Anthony was stunned that Harry would sit down with him.

Harry said, "Hi Anthony, I'm Harry."

Anthony reached out and shook Harry's hand and said, "I know about you already. I don't mean to be rude and all but how come you're sitting with me?"

"I hope you don't mind. It's just that I met your sister earlier today and wanted to pass a message to you from her. She says hi and that she is doing fine."

"Thank you. I wish that I could've gone to visit her."

"I know and she wanted to visit you also. I understand if you don't want to tell anybody about this and me and my friends won't tell anybody either."

"It's alright. I usually tell anybody that asks me about it so don't worry about it."

"Alright, I hear that your sister's birthday is coming up soon. I was wondering if you could help me pick out something for her."

Anthony's eyes opened wider as Harry asked for advice on what to get for a birthday present for his sister. The two of them ended up talking for a few minutes and they were later joined by the rest of Harry's friends who came over to talk to them. Anthony hadn't talked so much since he came to Hogwarts and knew that he would be able to confide in Harry if he needed to or wanted to talk.

After a few days of Harry randomly eating over at the Hufflepuff table or Ravenclaw table to eat with Luna, students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff could be seen eating more frequently at each others table which left a few students from Slytherin envious of the other three houses. The Slytherins that wanted to join the other houses were members of the DA but didn't want to cause a civil war in their own house which they would be outnumbered.

Harry had gone to Dumbledore to ask permission to go to Hogsmeade with Anthony for Anna's birthday but Dumbledore refused. After more persistence throughout the week, Dumbledore continued to refuse which had Harry thinking of alternative methods to meet Anna. The night of Anna's birthday, Harry was sneaking out of their common room to meet up with Anthony but was caught by Ginny so Ginny ended up coming along.

Harry and Ginny disillusioned themselves and stayed under the invisibility cloak just to be extra cautious met up with Anthony who was waiting just outside of the Hufflepuff common room. The three of them made it through the secret tunnel that exited at Honeydukes. They made there way over to the Orphanage and after meeting up with the staff to alert them of there presence they made there way down to the basement where they waited with the rest of the orphans minus Anna.

Anna was with a teacher at the time that brought her in minutes later to a surprise party where Anthony was kept hidden. Anna was happy and became even happier when Harry and Ginny made there way through the crowd and wished the young girl a happy birthday after giving her an affectionate hug.

The party was just getting started when Harry asked her, "What do you want for your birthday Anna?"

Anna scrunched up her face as she thought then said, "I wished that Anthony could be here with me."

Harry covered her eyes and nodded to Anthony who took off the invisibility cloak. Once he took his hands off her eyes, the two of them rushed at each other, hugged for a very long time, and started talking happily. While the two of them were talking to each other Harry made his way over to Ms. Grant and asked her, "How is Anna doing now?"

Ms. Grant said, "She's doing much better now. After the day you visited and talked to her she opened up much more and could be seen participating much more in class and with her peers outside of class. She's happier and looks forward to your letters along with Anthony's letters. She keeps every one of them in her desk."

The party went on for a few hours were Anna spent time with everybody but had most of her time dominated with the company of Harry, Anthony, and Ginny. The three of them stayed for two hours and left to go back to the castle because they didn't want to be caught. Harry and Ginny walked Anthony back to his common room and after Anthony thanked Harry over and over again for the night Harry and Ginny went back to their own rooms.

The next evening Ginny knocked on Harry's trunk and asked to come down. The two of them met with each other in the common area of Harry's trunk. After getting some butterbeer for the two of them Harry asked, "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Ginny was nervous and Harry sensed that but didn't call her on it. Ginny said, "You know Harry, it was really nice what you did for Anthony and Anna. I think that you couldn't make them any happier."

Harry replied, "It's what I could do and I'm happy that it worked out for the best." He paused a moment than said, "I wanted to thank you for joining me last night. It wouldn't have been the same if you weren't there and I know that Anthony appreciates it also."

Ginny blushed. Harry asked, "Was that what you wanted to talk about?"

Ginny's nervousness came back and summoned up her courage to say, "I wanted to talk to you about the Ball. It's a few weeks away and wondered if you had any advice on my admirer."

Harry asked, "Do you want to go with your admirer?"

"I want to find out who he is but I also want to go with someone else though."

"Who is it that you wanted to go with?"

"Well, you know that I've had a childish crush on you for most of my life but I've gotten over the crush. I know that you are much more to me than that now."

Harry raised his hand to stop her than asked, "I'm guessing that the person that you want to go to the dance with is me than."

She nodded and had a hopeful expression on her face. Harry continued on saying, "I'll be honest with you Ginny." He became a little nervous when he said, "Ginny, this school year has been as good of a year as I can expect I guess. In reality, I've spent more time this year studying and training that I don't get much time to enjoy myself or what most would consider enjoyable. But what makes all of this enjoyable was mostly because of you. When I think about this year in general there has been lots of ups and downs and as far as I can think of the lowest point was when Sirius died with my high point when I spent that night with you under the stars after Ron and Hermione became a couple."

The two of them were staring into each other's eyes at this point. Ginny asked, "Harry do you want to go to the ball with me?"

Harry said, "I do want to go to the ball with you but I think that you should go to the ball and find out who your admirer is."

Ginny's emotions played on her face when Harry talked. Her eyes lit up when he said that he wanted to go to the ball with her but it all fell apart when the word 'but' was mentioned and recovered a bit when he said that the reason was she should find out who her admirer was. Ginny said, "I want to go to the ball with you also. I can live without finding out who my admirer is."

Harry shook his head and said, "I promise you something Ginny. I'll be here for you if your secret admirer does not work out but I think that this would be best." Ginny wanted to interrupt but he stopped her and continued saying, "I want you to be able to find out about that person first or you will regret it. I know that you will ask yourself about that person."

Ginny knew that Harry was right about questioning herself but she didn't want to give up Harry. She waited for so long for him and now he wanted to be with her but the secret admirer stood in the way. She asked him, "Do you promise what you said before? That you will be there if things with the admirer don't work out with during the ball?"

Harry said, "I promise."

"Alright, I'll go to the ball with my admirer. Will you tell him for me?"

"I will and I know that he will be more than happy."

The two of them talked for a little while longer about the last week and what have been going on with the orphanages and a few ideas that she was having. After a while, Ron came down and asked to talk to Harry alone and Ginny reluctantly left.

Ron said, "Look, I know that one of my attributes is being an over protective brother about my sister but I want to know what's going on between you and my sister."

Harry sensed that this conversation was coming but didn't realize that it would be this soon. He said, "There's nothing really going on between the two of us. The two of us are really close friends."

"Look it doesn't take a genius to see what's going on between you and Ginny. It's obvious that the two of you like each other and I don't want her going around getting hurt because of you especially if there is something going on between you and somebody else like Cho."

Harry sighed then said, "In all truthfulness, I do like your sister and from what I can tell she likes me also. It's just that I want her to go to the ball and find out who her admirer is before she tries anything with me. Plus there is nothing going on between with any other girls."

"What was that that Cho and you were talking about that you never told us about?"

"It was nothing really, Cho asked me to go to the ball with her and I said that I would think about it because I asked somebody already."

"Who did you ask?"

"I don't want to say. I prefer that to be a secret between the two of us. You will find out who she is at the ball."

"I can keep a secret you know."

"It's not that. This is just a secret that I want to keep between her and me for now just like there are personal things between you and Hermione that you wouldn't want to tell me or more specifically I don't want to know." Harry smiled at the end because his friend was getting nervous and turned red at the thought of the things he and Hermione have done that they wouldn't want to tell anybody.

Ron said, "Alright, I can live with that. I'll let you get back to what you were doing before Ginny showed up." He made his way towards the ladder than paused and said, "Just so you know Harry. Out of everybody at Hogwarts, I wished that she was going with you. I know I am over protective but I know that I can trust you."

Harry said, "Thanks," as Ron climbed out of the trunk.

The next day for some reason unknown the entire school knew about Ginny's acceptance of the invitation by the secret admirer to the ball. Ginny was happy that now she would have Harry if she wanted and be able to find out who her admirer was. She came into the Great Hall finding the rest of her friends sitting together listening to Harry and Kayla talk. She sat down next to him and grabbed his hand that was under the table. He squeezed her hand to let her know that he was fine with this as she heard Kayla say, "I think that we both know that you're holding back now in our duels. I've studied these different forms of magic for years and you seem to grasp them with no effort."

Harry said, "I don't mean to make you seem inferior."

"It's alright Harry. I just think that we need to figure out a way to challenge you. It's not going to do much good to practice with me if you aren't challenged."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, I was thinking that you would duel with a few of us going up against you at the same time to help you fight with multiple opponents and build your endurance. Plus, I'll work with you develop that attack abilities of our Chinese paper shields."

Hermione asked, "What are the Chinese paper shields?"

Kayla said, "It's based on Charms where there is a thin strip of white paper with a Chinese character on it that is used as a shield against spells or objects, a warning/detection alarm to unfriendly wizards or creatures, or the third and most difficult form is the attack. I have been unable to use its attack form but I think that Harry might be able to do it because it requires a great deal of energy and concentration. I've been teaching Harry about this ever since our duel."

Ron asked, "When did the two of you duel? I've never heard about it."

Harry said, "She showed me when we were trying to gauge our abilities the first time we practiced with each other. She's been teaching me about how other cultures use magic to protect or attack their opponents while I've been teaching her on the spells that I know and help her balance physical and mental flexibility, defense, attack, agility, and endurance. It's kind of like an extremely advanced form of the DA."

Ginny asked, "Are you going to teach us what Kayla taught you?"

Harry said, "I guess I could teach you guys but I think that Kayla would be the best because she's more familiar with it than I am."

Everybody turned to Kayla expectantly and she said, "I guess I can try to teach everybody after Christmas with Harry's help of course. Oh that reminds me." She turned back to Harry again, "I heard that you usually spend your holidays at school and was wondering if you wanted to spend it with my back in the states."

Harry said, "Well, I was actually thinking of opening up Potter Mansion so a few people can visit it and you're more than welcome to join us if you want but I didn't plan my entire holiday so I might be able to come out there and visit you."

Kayla asked, "I'll be glad to spend some time there. I'll probably be able to spend the start of the holidays there but I'll have to spend the rest of my time home starting on Christmas Eve."

"That's fine than. So the start of the holidays you'll be with me than and after Christmas I'll come and join you in the states."

Luna asked in her usual airy voice, "Who did you invite to Potter Mansion? I would love a chance to visit there if possible."

Harry said, "You all are welcome there its just I guess I forgot to tell you all about it. I've already written letters to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Mrs. Longbottom, Mr. Lovegood, Remus, Tonks, and all of the Weasleys not at Hogwarts minus Percy. I sent it out a few days ago with Hedwig and I guess responses will arrive sometimes this week."

Ginny said, "We'll be glad to visit Potter Mansion with you and I know that mum and dad will want to be there also. But do you think that Dumbledore will let you go to America?"

Harry replied, "I hope that you all will be able to make it and in all honesty I don't really care what Dumbledore says. It's my life and I know things that he doesn't so as long as he plays a game of secrets than I will play that game also."

Neville asked, "What happened between you and him? Dumbledore used to be your idol and it's like he is your enemy now."

Harry sighed then said, "I don't hate him, it's just that the two of us have a lot of issues that I don't really want to talk about."

Everybody let it go but felt that they had to figure out a way to break Harry and get him to talk about it. They ended up talking about what they would do over the holidays and what they did or traditions that each of there families had for Christmas. Harry mentally took note of everything so he can plan for everybody to still have their Christmas traditions. Later on in the week, Harry received replies from everybody either by letter or verbally from Tonks and Remus that they would be able to attend. Harry also reluctantly agreed to allow Dumbledore to come and visit the place due to the urging of all of his friends including Remus and Tonks.

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers. Everybody seems to agree that the admirer will either be Harry or a character that I have hidden. The next chapter will unveil the admirer and the Ball. I think that there is a seed of doubt if Harry is still the admirer. Next chapter should be up on Saturday. Now to address my reviewers.

JPx: Thank you for the review and hope that you were just as pleased with this chapter.

Dancerrdw: Thank you and I'll try to work more humor in.

SilverWingZ: Thank you and there will be lots of back pedaling so every detail will become important later on.

Loopy dane: Thank you and you will find out in the next chapter if Harry does show up in a disguise but I promise you that the admirer does show up all covered up.

Yorkvillebird: Thank you and the question of admirer will be answered soon.

Cynthia1850: Thank you and I agree that spending money on making children feel happy and loved is a good thing.

Lillian Marie Potter: Thank you and I will keep the updates coming.

Nutty Al: Thank you

IamSiriusgrl: Thank you and I guess this is adding more doubts if Harry is the admirer.

DoomGazeHell: Thank you and I'll try to continue to implement humor.

Rivenn: Thank you and the naming of the orphanages after the marauders was a last minute thing that worked out. That question of a Slytherin admirer does add confusion does it not?

Lonsome-Love: I guess you are still thinking that its Harry. The ball will be in the next chapter.

Donalddeutsch: Thank you and it is a strong possibility that it is Harry but be warned that I like to play tricks.

Ducks with ballons: Thank you.

YelloWitchGrl: Thank you and I hate it when that happens when I get 'then' and 'than' mixed up but I'll get better at it.

Gaul1: Thank you and I hope that you liked how I had them interact with the kids.