Her dress had been horrible.

Ginny remembered little of that day, Fleur and Bill's wedding. The whole day seemed like a blur to her now, as she thought back. But she could recall the dress. For all Phlegm's talk of how pink would clash horribly with Ginny's hair, picking red just seemed stupidly evil.

The end result was Ginny looking like a red round tomato. The dress was frilly too – frilly, hardly Ginny's style. Most of the day, she spent scowling; the rest had been spent smiling flakily at the cameras.

It hadn't been a good day.

Seeing Harry had been painful, especially when he'd greeted her as warmly as he would have when she had been nobody but Ron's little sister. Didn't he realise yet that she wasn't a nobody? She'd always known, during their short time together, that she'd cared for him a little more than he did her. That had hurt but it was little to the pain now.

After Dumbledore's demise, he just didn't care anymore.

And Merlin! Harry looked so skinny and tired, but so grown up. He'd been travelling, looking for something although he wouldn't tell Ginny where or for what. It made her tummy feel sick to think he actually still thought of her as a child.

And the fact that he had to see her in this sickening tomato-coloured, frilly-styled dress just made it all the worse!

"I'm leaving tonight," he told her in a rare moment without Hermione and Ron. "I have to go…do stuff."

"I miss you, Harry," she whispered to him. "I miss us being together. Don't you miss it too?"

Harry nodded his consent quickly, looking scared of either an emotional outburst or a battering of questions. Ginny presented him with neither and it was only ten minutes later that she'd had to dab her eyes with an abandoned napkin in the bathroom.

So she had little memory of the actual day. She remembered the hideous dress and she remembered drying her eyes in the toilet. The rest was an unimportant mesh of smiling faces and notes of badly picked music by the wizard version of a DJ who'd apparently thought he was providing music for a circus.

She remembered the night clearly though. Finding herself unusually tired, she'd told her mother – who'd had rather a lot of sherry – that she was returning home. Harry, Hermione and Ron were in the corner, probably plotting out their next adventure, and Ginny didn't bother interrupt them, knowing there was little point.

Catching the Knight Bus and surviving the whole trip was an ordeal in itself and, when Ginny finally came to her house, she was ready to crash. She flung herself into her bed more than ready to sleep and-

-and sleep didn't come.

She blinked at the ceiling.

Frustration flooded through her.

Everyone was still at the wedding…Harry, he was leaving tomorrow.

I should take something, Ginny thought suddenly, something of his to remind me of him. He won't mind. Whatever he doesn't know can't hurt him, after all.

Ginny crept into his bedroom (He was sharing with Ron), her bare little feet soundless against the cheap carpet. She scuffled through his stuff a little, tense and ready to bolt at the tiniest sign of accompaniment.

And then she saw it – a box. Medium sized and plain – but pulsing. It was calling out to her. Gin-ny, it whispered, Gin-ny. She stepped towards it as if in a trance and felt for the lock. There wasn't one. She turned the little knob and the box quivered and hesitated – as if it was considering her – then swung open.

Inside, there was a locket. It was a bit big for her liking – bulky and not pretty like the rest of her jewellery. But there was something entrancing about it all the same, powerful and precious. Most importantly of all to Ginny, it was Harry's.

She thought slowly then put the locket over her head. It seemed to shrink into her skin. She stood there for one more minute then returned hastily back to bed. She couldn't believe she had stolen…Would Harry know it had been her? Would he notice it was gone?

Was that why her heart was beating so quickly, because she was scared of Harry's calling her a thief? Or was it because, even little Ginny Weasley, could feel something dark and frightening coming from the necklace and settling itself inside of her? Either way, no matter what Ginny had been so scared about, it still didn't make her take off the locket.

She would always think back on the day and wondered why she didn't just take it off.

If only she had…It would have saved them all of the trouble that followed.


This is going to be dark and angsty in parts, although, since I don't write Ginny a lot, I think I'm going to make her a bit funnier than Hermione ( my normal) and a little more girl-y and insecure and happy.

Pairings are going to Blaise/Ginny/Harry and Hermione/Draco so far. i'll tell you if I decide differently. There'll definetly be moments of each although I don't know who'll stay with who, by the end.

I'm really excited about this story! I've been planning this one for ages - since the start of this year! The sixth book just helped! Hopefully y'all will give this a chance and give me a couple of reviews! Reviews really do inspire, after all.

What do you think so far? Worth keeping going?