I would just like to say that although I love J.K. Rowling and all of her characters, imagery, storylines and the such, they have never been mine and will never be mine. Rowling has just given me a push to explore my own imagination.

A/N: Okay, now it begins... I'm trying to stay at true to the characters as possible. You guys think I'm doing a good job so far? Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Chapter 2: Unexpected Emotions

It was three weeks into the summer holidays when Ginny finally decided she'd had just enough of her room. She came down to breakfast early, Ron was still asleep, and her mother was just making eggs and bacon. Mrs. Weasley had been very worried about her daughter, but after several failed attempts to get her out of her room she gave into the fact that Ginny needed to deal with her problems in her own way. Startled by the sudden appearance of her absent daughter Mrs. Weasley dropped her wand and the fork that had been flipping the bacon flew across the kitchen hitting her father, who had just walked through the door, in his cheek. It brought a small smile to Ginny's face. It almost hurt to smile.

"Oh my, Arthur. I'm sorry, Ginny startled me. Here, let me see," Mrs. Weasley said as she started to fawn over Mr. Weasley's very crimson cheek.

"Oh woman I'm fine. See, I still have a cheek," he mumbled as he batted his wife's hands away from his face. Ginny actually started to laugh. Seeing her parents in this very Weasley like moment made her realize that maybe life wasn't so bad after all. She still had her family.

"Oi, Ginny. You finally decided to get over yourself and join the land of the living again." Ron, never really was very good with sympathy. "Oh stuff it Ron," Ginny replied. He stuck out his tongue as he walked by her rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. As they sat down to breakfast she said, "So, you've advanced to sticking your tongue out at people, have you? I must say, it's a might bit better than words coming out of your mouth."

He contorted his face into something resembling a house elf who's had a bit too much firewiskey and asked, "Dad, have you heard anything about Hogwarts yet?"

Mr. Weasley who had just put a piece of bacon in his mouth replied, "Well, they are going to announce whether the school will stay open in this mornings paper, but the morning post hasn't arrived yet."

"No wonder Ron has such bad table manners Arthur, don't talk when you're chewing please," Mrs. Weasley said with a loving smile on her face.

"But, Molly, the boy asked me a question. What was I supposed to do," he replied with a knowing wink. Ginny and Ron just stared at each other and laughed.

With all the retched things happening around them, it appeared to Ginny that her family had managed to save some small bit of happiness. She was thankful for that, she needed something to take her mind off of everything it had been dwelling on for what seemed like an eternity. "Look," said Ginny, "Here comes the post." Sure enough, there was Pidwidgeon coming with the mail which was three times his size.

"It still amazes me how that small little creature manages to carry everything he does," Ron said with a goofy grin on his face. He jumped up and collected the post from his tiny owl. There was a letter from Harry and one from Hermione as well as the morning paper. He threw the paper to Mr. Weasley and sat back down with his letters. Ginny wasn't paying any attention to Ron as she patiently waited to hear about Hogwarts. "I don't believe it," Mr. Weasley stated, "Minerva's actually done it! Hogwarts is staying open!" Ginny felt her heart rise a little, but Ron suddenly smashed it right back down.

"Harry and Hermione are coming tomorrow to spend the rest of the summer holidays with us!" Great, Ginny thought to herself, I guess I'd better find a way to learn to love my room...

The next morning she didn't come down to breakfast, she couldn't stand to see Harry. "How am I supposed to live in my own house with him around all the time," she said to nobody. She pulled the blankets up over her head. Maybe, she thought, maybe he might come around and realize he made a mistake breaking up with me. She just rolled over and tried not to think about it anymore.

She awoke to Hermione, "Ginny, your mother tells me you've been in your room the whole time you've been home. You can't do this to yourself."

"Oh, believe me I can and I will. I can't face him Hermione. I still want him, I've always wanted him. I just, oh, I hate this. Maybe I should just throw myself to the Death Eaters and save everyone the trouble."

Making one of those very Hermione like "I'm going to fix this" faces she said, "Ginny, the only people that would save any trouble for, would be the Death Eaters. You can cast one hell of a hex and you're excellent in a fight. What would we do without you? Now, get up, get dressed, and get down stairs. We're all going to have lunch in the garden." Ginny just stared at her, daring her to make it happen. "NOW, GINNY WEASLEY!"

"Oh bloody hell, alright, I'm getting up okay?" Ginny replied. She knew if she didn't do what Hermione said, she'd never hear the end of it. Hermione was one very persistent girl.

As the door closed behind Hermione, the wheels in Ginny's brain began to turn. She thought to herself, if she had to face him, she would do it on her own terms. She would dress in her best clothes and put on her prettiest smile. She still didn't want him to know how much it was hurting her. She would just go back to hiding her feelings like she had done for so many years. She began to think that if she just acted normal, like she wasn't bothered, she would have a better chance of getting him back than if she said anything at all about what had transpired between them. She knew he had to still care for her, a little at least.

When she had finally made herself as attractive as she thought was possible, she stole a quick glance in the mirror. "I would date me," she spoke to her reflection. She then laughed at her own brashness as she walked out of the room.

Everyone had already gone out to the garden when she arrived down stairs. She made her way through the house nervously checking her reflection in anything that would reveal it. As she passed through the kitchen door she could see everyone sitting around a table that her father must have found somewhere while she and her brother had been away at school. It was an old fashioned muggle picnic table and from the looks of it probably one of the first ever built. Arthur Weasley still made time to find and study anything from the muggle world even after he had gotten his promotion. Ginny didn't think even Voldemort could make her father's fascination with muggles dissolve in the slightest.

"This old thing looks as if it will fall apart at any moment. I'm almost scared to sit down." Everyone turned as Ginny walked up to the old picnic table.

"Hello Ginny," Harry looked as though he had just swallowed a vomit flavored Every Flavor Bean. "I'm glad you could join us." Ginny just smiled the most beautiful smile she could manage to muster and sat down next to Hermione. Hermione was sitting across from Ron who was sitting next to Harry who was now studying Ginny's face very intensely.

"So, how've the Dursley's been to you since you arrived home from school?" Harry looked at her with an almost shocked expression on his face as though he was expecting her to have an emotional train wreck as soon as she saw him. Apparently he hadn't been expecting to see her doing fine.

"Well, of course you know the school had sent letters to all the parents informing them of what had happened. So, when I arrived at Privet Drive they were well aware of what had transpired. Uncle Vernon refused to talk to me at all. I guess he figured he didn't have that much longer to put up with me so he'd just pretend like I wasn't there at all. Aunt Petunia seldom said anything to me and buzzed around the house singing or humming most of the time. I guess she was happy. And Dudley, well, he was an ass as usual. He constantly taunted me with, 'Oh, poor Harry's got no family, he's got no school, and soon he'll have no place to live. Oh where, oh where will the little Potter boy go?' Then he would break into his own version of some song or another, whatever he could manage to remember at the time, filling in my name now and then."

"I'm sorry, Harry, that must have been horrible for you," Ginny replied. She felt bad for him, but she was beginning to feel like she didn't want to hear him complaining anymore as well. Why did she feel like she just wanted to scream at him to shut up at the top of her lungs? She knew that what she had been dealing with was not nearly as bad as what he continually had to go through, but she still felt as though he was being a whining little prat.

They had all finished eating before she arrived. Ron suddenly drew Harry's attention away from her and they left the table. Ginny let out one giant breath. Hermione turned to her and studied her face for a moment. "You were holding your breath?"

"I know I didn't even realize it. I just wanted to scream at him. I wanted to tell him how much he hurt me, I wanted to tell him I hated him. I even wanted to tell him I didn't care if I ever saw him again. I felt bad for him, but I was glad he was hurting too. Even if it wasn't because of me."

Hermione took Ginny's hands in hers and said, "Well, you did brilliantly. I couldn't even tell you weren't your old self and I think it shocked him. As much as I care for Harry, I think he was getting some sort of pleasure out of hurting you. There's only one reason I can think of for this." Ginny felt giddy all of a sudden. Was she glad she shocked him? Was she happy that she pulled it off and he didn't see what she was really feeling? No, she thought to herself. I'm thankful for all of that, but that's not why I'm feeling like this. She suddenly felt a little dizzy.

"I know I've been proven wrong, not often I might add, but here's my theory," Hermione continued. She let go of Ginny's hands to take a sip of her butterbeer. It stopped. A little bit of the wooziness in her stomach was still there, but everything else started to fade. Her heart had been pounding so hard in her chest that she thought even Hermione could hear it, but it was steadily slowing back to normal. The electricity that had been coursing through her body was gone, but she could still vividly remember what it felt like. She felt light headed and very confused. Why did it stop when Hermione drew away her hands? More importantly, why did it start when she took my hands in hers?

"Ginny are you okay?"

"What? Sorry, I'm fine. I guess the lack of air a few minutes ago finally caught up with me. Go on."

"You scared me for a minute. I thought you were going to pass out. You need to eat. Here, have a slice of cake while I tell you my theory." Hermione cut Ginny a slice of lemon cake and put the plate in front of her. When Ginny took the fork from Hermione she accidentally brushed her hand and there it was again. One touch sent a feeling of euphoria throughout Ginny's body.

"As I was saying, I think I know why he's taking pleasure in hurting you. I believe that he's been hurt too many times by too many people. He's lost almost everyone he ever loved. He has an evil mass murderer after him. He has no control over his own life and I believe he thought he had some control over you. So when he broke up with you he knew that it would deeply hurt you. I think he feels jealous of you because everybody loves you, you have your family, you have everything that he doesn't. I don't think at first he meant to hurt you badly, he was trying to do what would cause you less danger. Sadly though, I think he liked the fact that he could make you suffer almost as deeply as he does. See, Ron and I are his best friends, we fight all the time. Most of the past two years have been spent with one of us not talking to one or sometimes both of the others. He can't hurt us the way he hurt you, we don't feel the same way about him that you do. Hopefully he'll get over whatever it is that's going on with his emotions soon. I really hate seeing you treated like this Ginny. You mean too much to me."

I mean too much to her, Ginny thought, what does that mean? She dropped the fork on the table and put her head in her hands. Now I'm more confused than ever she thought weakly.

"Ginny, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Hermione put her hand on Ginny's shoulder and that feeling sliced through Ginny's heart this time. She quickly pulled away from Hermione.

"I-I... I need to be alone right now. You should go find Ron, I'm going to go for a walk. I need to think." Ginny looked into Hermione's eyes, those beautiful brown depths, and she lost herself for a moment. "I'm sorry Hermione, I need to...I need to go." With that she turned and ran down the path to the woods by the Weasley house. The last thing she saw was the hurt look in Hermione's eyes, those mesmerizing eyes.

What in the name of magic am I doing, she thought as she followed the meandering path down to the little stream that ran past The Borrow. She often sat next to the bubbling, flowing waters when she needed to collect her thoughts. She laid down on her back and picked a blade of grass from the ground. She watched it dance as she spun it between her fingers and her thoughts drifted back to the feelings she had just experienced. It was simply the single most wonderful thing she'd ever felt. It was like her first flight on a broomstick, her first correctly cast spell, the first time she caught the golden snitch, and the first time she'd ever laid eyes on Hogwarts all rolled into one. She rolled onto her side and propped her head up on one hand. She watched the water flying past her and let her other hand fall into it's cold refreshing embrace. Was she starting to develop romantic feelings for Hermione? It couldn't be, she loved Harry, but she had never felt anything so intense with him. She wanted to go back to Hermione and tell her everything she was feeling. Hermione would know what it was, she knew everything. Maybe someone had cast a spell on her. Yes, she thought, that has to be it. "This is insane," she said aloud to nobody but herself. She rolled back over onto her back. The warm sunlight on her face and the hypnotic song of the stream suddenly made her drowsy. She began to give into her feelings and drifted into a peaceful sleep. As she nodded off her last thought was of Hermione. Yes, I've had a spell cast over me. It isn't one of magic though. With that, she was asleep.