Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, thank God. Imagine the pressure on Rowling to write a perfect book 7!

SORRY FOR THE SHORTNESS! I'll post the next one in a couple hours, if I can, so you're not stuck waiting on three pages for a day. Next chapter is 8 pages long. And it includes a main event. So there.

Am I alone in that I'm scared once I see a review in my inbox? I'm always scared it'll be a flame. (That doesn't mean stop reviewing. If you did that, I'd stop posting.) Do any of you feel like that? Or are you all ecstatic about it like some people are?

OK, that's all… I'm going to rant at the end of this chapter, so ignore that if you don't want to deal with the troubles of the first day of high school.

Oh, and the timeline with Lily isn't quite worked out yet. I'll have to change future chapters. If I don't and I post the wrong thing, please scream at me. I'd appreciate it.

The morning after went quite normally, although everyone was talking about the nightclub attack. It was on every news station on the TV, and it was in almost every newspaper you could buy. Cammie was also quite distant to Livy, obviously still aggravated about the night before. However, Livy was soon seated behind a table in a bookshop (she couldn't remember which; she was hopeless with names) and could see a crowd of people waiting outside the store.

"Wow," she murmured. "Are they all for me? All for my autographs?"

"You betcha," Cammie said, beaming, as she came up behind Livy. "Bigger turnout than we expected; you must be really popular here."

"Wow."

"Don't wow anymore; they're coming in. And lose the amazed expression – you're supposed to be in charge, the superior."

Sure enough, a whole crowd of people swarmed the front of the table. Cammie moved and started arranging them in a line.

"Come on now, people. If you don't get into a single-file line, Livy won't sign your things."

Soon people were in a line and Livy began signing autographs.

"What's your name, sweetie?" she asked of a small girl, maybe five or six years old at oldest, in the middle of the line.

"Lily," the girl answered shyly. "My mommy read me your book and I loved it."

Livy couldn't help but feel a smile tugging on her lips as she signed the book that Lily held out for her. Then she took a good look at the child. Lily had the same flaming-red hair that Livy had had when she was Ginny, only it was bushy like Hermione's had been. She had freckles like Ron and doe-like brown eyes just like Hermione's. Livy's eyes widened as she remembered that Ron and Hermione had gotten married after they graduated from Hogwarts and that Hermione had been just pregnant, but she pushed the book back across the table to Lily, who grabbed it and smiled.

"Thank you," Lily said happily. Her mother came up behind her and took her hand gently. Livy did a double take; the woman did, indeed, like suspiciously like Hermione.

"And what's your name?" Livy asked to the next person in line, letting the adrenaline in her body settle down, and starting the process of signing books once more.

She had relaxed until the end of the signing was in sight. Sure, Cammie was right, her hand hurt like hell and her cheeks hurt from smiling, but there appeared to be no sign of anyone Livy knew.

Unfortunately, gloating about that seemed to awaken the Ironic Overpower.

"There you go," Livy said to a teenage girl with short-ish dirty blonde hair and freckles spanning across her cheeks and nose. "Next!"

The girl moved off and a book was pushed across the table.

"Name?"

"Harry."

Livy's eyes snapped up. She knew that voice better than she knew anyone else's, and the owner of the voice matched the name given.

There, standing before her, was the reason she had left everything and everyone behind. Well, and Dumbledore, but he obviously wasn't there. Harry Potter in the flesh. She turned back to the book, intent on writing something inspiring. Hey, she might hate the guy's guts, but she wanted him to beat Voldemort, at any rate.

Harry-

Follow your dreams and believe in yourself. You can do it.

-Lily James

Well, not perfect, but good enough, Livy thought. She gave the book back to Harry and avoided his gaze. He took it, accidentally brushing her fingers as he did so. Livy felt a shock go through her. Harry obviously felt the same, as he stared at her with a question written all over his face.

"Ginny?" he whispered. Livy arranged her face in a confused look.

"My name is Livy, sir. I don't know any Ginnys."

He continued to look at Livy suspiciously, but moved off to the side to join Hermione and Lily, who were browsing the easy chapter books (obviously for Lily).

Lily signed the rest of the books on autopilot, her heart pounding from the close encounter with people from her past. To add to her anxiety, when Harry, Hermione, and Lily left the store, Livy could audibly hear Harry saying something about 'Ginny Weasley' and Hermione looked back at the young author. Livy pretended to be busy, but she could hear Hermione say, "No, it can't be her. They look nothing alike!"

Heaving a sigh of relief, she listened to Cammie.

"Livy, that man who called you Ginny… he looked a lot like the man in the picture, the one who you said died. Explanation?

"Coincidence."

"Coincidence, my arse. Why did he call you by your sister's name, then?"

"I don't know."

"B.S."

"Look, Cam, not everything is a conspiracy. It's a big coincidence, nothing more. Give it a rest," Livy said tiredly as they walked out the bookshop to the waiting cab (Livy refused to take a limo). Cammie sighed.

"Fine, but I AM going to find out."

"You do that," Livy said, sitting back and massaging her aching right hand. "I'm hungry. Can we stop somewhere?"

"Livy, do you really want to stop somewhere? You're not in Chicago, and you're famous," Cammie answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, but this means two words."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Room. Service."

Cammie laughed. "You got it."

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OK, my rant. High. School. Sucks. Majorly. Today was my first day and I'm terrified to go back. The upperclassmen are fine, probably because I'm in a junior math class (Algebra II Honors) and Honors everything else I can, but the school's so damn confusing. I have to go from the orchestra room (room 65) to room 205 and I was late to World History today because I don't know my way around. I toured the school five times with my schedule, and it hasn't helped. I'm practically hyperventilating just thinking about it. I never had Algebra, so I'm probably going to have to either drop down to Algebra I or get a tutor. So now I get to make a fool of myself in front of upperclassman as well as the sophomores and freshmen. Woohoo (note the sarcasm). We got homework the first day, and I didn't write down which calculator to get for Algebra II. I think it's a TI-83, but I'm not sure. And those are expensive calculators, so I don't want to get the wrong one. UGH.

Anyone who read that whole thing gets a cookie! Anyone who makes me feel better gets the whole bakery!