A/N: Thanks, blondegolfer.opps.sorry, ArticAnglezTx (that HP RPG thing is cool), and Nickel (always ask questions. I promise to leave no loose ends. Wink.) I appreciate your reviews! Thanks again! Much Love!

Disclaimer: I disclaim…for now.

It had been 3 hours. Only three hours since she arrived home. Why was time suddenly slowed to a crawl? It was because some higher being, somewhere, was having one hell of a good laugh. She sighed. She was currently sitting at the table where her mom was asking the two boys every little question about school and life in general.

The kitchen had obviously been cleaned up. Her mother always wanted to make a good impression. Harry didn't care if the Weaselys lived in a shoe, he would still appreciate them all the same, and respect them as if they owned the biggest house on the south of France. That was always a good thing about Harry, you could knock him for being stubborn, and other things but he was never pompous or snotty.

Ginny was tired of the conversation and so she excused herself from the table. She went to her room. Though it wasn't large by any stretch it was still hers. She had never painted it but her brother, Percy, had found a neat spell that would make the walls change colour to her mood. That was back before he went to Hogwarts and got a stick up his ass. She was pretty little when he did it. It always mystified her though and so whenever she was in her room she was always happy.

She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling which was enchanted also. The whirl of colours made her feel sleepy. Before she would go to sleep she would always see the walls of her room turn green. Tonight however, the color was very tumultuous and the whirl was so great that they only discernible colour was gray. "Strange," she commented before drifting off.

Ugh, falling asleep in the late afternoon was stupid. It was sometime near 4 in the morning and she was completely awake. When she awoke the colors were still whirling but at a slower rate this time and the walls looked grayish blue. It was actually very pretty. After doing everything, short of her Christmas break homework, Ginny left her boring room. She had missed dinner and so now she was very hungry. Finding whatever left-overs she could, she gobbled them up speedily.

"Whoa, someone is hungry."

She turned around, sure of whom was addressing her. "Morning Harry."

"Good morning. Why are you up so early?" He stood across from her. She was sitting on the kitchen countertop. Her mother always chastised her for doing it so whenever mommy was not around she would seize the opportunity.

"The same question could be asked to you," Ginny said gracefully.

Having lost Harry simply responded, "True."

Ginny put down her plate in the sink right next to her and the returned her attention to Harry. "So are we just going to pretend like nothing ever happened or what?"

Harry affected confusion. "Pretend like what never happened?"

Ginny laughed, "Either boys are thick or you're acting." She paused and stared him dead straight in the eye. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, here's the thing of it. I would love to apologize to you and say, 'You were right,'" he began.

Ginny cut him off by offering a simple solution. "Then do it."

"But I can't because you weren't completely right, and I was completely wrong." He smiled a little at her.

"Nothing is ever black and white," Ginny complained.

"Not usually."

"Alright, I'll bargain with you. And let it be known that I don't often bargain so consider yourself lucky."

Harry cut her off, "Oh, I'm so graced."

"Yes, well if you just tell me why you are concerned with my involvement with Draco then I'll forgive you for being an idiot." She finished feeling it was perfectly reasonable.

"What? That's not a good bargain." He fidgeted with his frayed red tee shirt. "I've already explained it to you."

"No, don't try to bullshit me Harry. What you said to me was so generic and worn out. I know there is something else. I can tell. You are a good judge of character, usually, so for you to be so against someone must mean something important." She leaned forward and made sure she didn't lose contact with Harry's green eyes. He could never lie, she could tell from his eyes. "Don't dare try to lie Harry," she warned.

Harry only took a second to appreciate Ginny's analytical mind. "I don't lie," he said seriously. "I also don't break promises." His eyes had a new found intensity and Ginny felt like she was staring right into the sun. She couldn't break the stare but it was so hard to continue looking at his ominous green orbs.

She finally did give into his gaze and lowered her head. "Sorry." There was a silence soon broken.

"It's okay," Harry said in a low voice. His head was now lowered as well. His eyes were fixated on his shirt.

Ginny looked up. "Look, I don't want to ruin Christmas for either of us. So why don't we just forget about it for a while," she said hoping he would agree, otherwise things were going to be pretty chilly in the Weasely house.

Harry looked up and as quickly as he had gotten upset, he was content again. "Okay."

Ginny jumped down from the counter, "good. I'm bored, what should we do now?"

"We? I was going back to bed," he laughed walking out of the kitchen.

Ginny tugged at his shirt, "no you're not. You are keeping me entertained."

Harry put up a valiant effort to make it back to the stairs but Ginny kept an iron fist around his shirt. Finally he gave up and the two brainstormed on something they could do until the others woke up. Harry had suggested sleeping but it was turned down by the fully awake Ginny.

"Well, did you wrap your gifts?"

"No, I haven't gotten them yet." Ginny and her family all went out to buy each other's gifts two days before Christmas, which was tomorrow.

"Right, I forgot. When you get them I can show you the ancient muggle art of gift wrapping."

"Don't you just point your wand at it?"

"Muggles can't and not so long ago I thought I couldn't either. I had to wrap all of my cousin's gifts for my aunt and uncle. I wish I had a pound for every paper cut I received."

Ginny just stared at him. What was a pound? She felt dumb asking but did so all the same. Harry explained it to her. "But you already have a lot of money."

"I guess that saying doesn't quite work anymore. Hmm." Harry pondered a moment. How things had changed. Sigh…

The two of them were sitting in the living room near the fire. The one couch was tattered and green, the second, slightly smaller one, was white with many unexplainable stains, and the third, medium sized couch was old, worn out, and faded red. Harry was sitting on that one and Ginny was on the green one. They discussed things that were simple and casual. Not once did the talk about Hogwarts or the harsh memories that the both had associated with it. There was a silence in which Harry had thought (or wished) Ginny had fell asleep, thereby letting him get some rest as well. Mr. Weasely kept him up late, asking about different muggle objects and such.

"Harry?" Ginny asked ruining Harry's chance at getting rest.

"Yeah."

She rolled over so she was lying on her side with her head propped up by her arm. "What was life like before you knew you were a wizard." This was a topic that Ginny found most fascinating. She had been exposed to magic all her life, but he had been thrown into it. It was something she knew nothing about.

He let out a huff of air. "Wow. I guess its true was Teen Witch Weekly says," he tried to mutter inaudibly.

She heard and giggled. "What does TWW say these days Harry?"

"That you girls ask all the deep questions late at night," he responded angry that she had heard him.

"I guess so. But seriously." She returned Harry to the subject at hand.

"Life before magic. Well, it was…simpler. There were no spells to memorize or potions to perfect. There wasn't a Voldermort to worry about. There were other criminals, though, like this psycho spy, Zakley."

"Oh."

"But it was far duller. There were no mysteries to solve or people to beat up. There wasn't anything to do, or at least for me."

"What was the worst part of it, the un-magical life I mean," she stared straight at him. He was lying face up on the couch, and his eyes sparkled in the flittering light.

He paused, obviously calculating in his mind. "It was lonely," he said simply. "I had no friends. I never went anywhere, minus school and the rare times Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had to take me." Struck with a thought he turned over to Ginny, "Like this one time they took me to the zoo," he began. He explained to her what the zoo was and the creatures it contained. He told her about the snake and the look on Dudley's face.

"Do you still see them?" Ginny inquired after she had finished laughing.

Harry shook his head. "Not really. I try my best to not. It's hard to believe that life was my reality. I just think about it sometimes and," he stopped because he was at a loss for words.

"You're blown away," Ginny added. Harry nodded his head. "I get like that sometimes. Although mine is on a complete different level but I have an idea of what you're talking about."

"What wows you?"

"Life at the Burrow back in the day. Back when I was young and most of us weren't in Hogwarts yet. And even George and Fred's first year. It's funny how things change."

"Its funnier how people change," Harry commented. "I can vividly recall your friend Mary when she was a first year and how uptight she was. She nearly knocked me on my arse once to get to class early! Not even on time but early!"

Ginny chuckled, "yeah. But she loosened up. I think most people are like that in the beginning. I mean just like at Hermione." Just as she said it she regretted it. 'Fuck, I need to be conscious of who I talk to!' she thought.

Harry's lightness faded just at little. "You're right. I remember what a stickler for detail she was. She still is like that. At least now she doesn't correct the teachers. She eased up a lot when she started dating. She could be really fun when people showed her affection."

"Hermione? Fun?"

"Oh yeah. But then she had to go get her heart broken and screw it up for the rest of us." Harry was being pretty okay with the Hermione topic which was very shocking to Ginny.

"Oh. She was dating Neville right? Is that who you mean?" Oh, gossip! Ginny's favorite!

"Yeah. She would never talk about it though. That was the problem with her, she would never tell anybody if she was angry or sad or anything. She was also so stoic and there's only so much of that any one person can take. But she was our friend you know, she we just let her be and figured she would calm down sooner or later."

"But they broke up last year! She's still angry a year later?"

"I guess. By her silence I would assume so."

"Then why would she go out with you if she was still hurting from Neville?" Wow, she didn't know that Hermione was this screwed up.

"I have no idea." He paused and sat up. He leaned forward. "I didn't want to date her."

Ginny was being trusted with this information but why? Oh who cares why! She was finding out what was really going on in the inner circle. "Really?"

He nodded. "I thought that maybe I could help her get over Neville by being there. I thought that she would open up to her boyfriend. I was wrong. Now, I think things are worse."

"Well, I guess I could see where you're coming from. But what if she, 'fell in love' with you or something, how were you going to help her after that? Have Ron date her?"

"I don't know. We didn't think that far ahead. Me and Ron just thought that maybe we could get in her head. Besides she would never fall for me if she was still in love with Neville." Harry was finally getting everything off his chest and for some reason he was trusting Ginny. He knew that she wouldn't go off telling everyone and their brother or something like that. He was almost kind of over what Herm had done. Sure it was awful but life goes on.

"Why did they even break up?" Ginny asked, confusion in her voice.

"Hermione had said that he didn't like her. She was certain that he liked some one else."

"Who?"

"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me anything past that. And I'm not that good of friends with Neville to go asking about it." Harry sat back and let out a breath. For once, Ginny had no reply. He was looking at the shadows from the fire dance on her face. Her hair was a little messed up and she was sitting up with her head in her hands and a pensive look on her face.

"I'm so glad that I'm not dating anyone. It seems too messy," she said while making an icky face.

"It can be. But I don't think you should be disillusioned with it, I mean that's just one person's experience. What about Ron and Mary? They're really happy."

Having lost she responded simply, "True. But I don't know. I don't like the idea of relying on someone so much. I would feel so vulnerable. I don't like that." She didn't know why she was even telling him this. Not so long ago, she hated Harry. Now she's telling him that she doesn't want to fall in love. 'Life can be odd like that I guess', she thought.

"That's just because you're pragmatic. And not to mention you don't have the best of memories dealing with vulnerability," Harry said hinting at the incident from her first year.

Merlin, he did read a lot of TWW. "What about you? What holds you back? Or have you been in love?" What a personal question. She hoped the mood of the room would allow it.

"I haven't been in love. I don't like getting close with anyone. It always backfires some how. I feel like I'm constantly waiting for the bottom to fall out. No one wants to be with a person who's just waiting for the breakup," he said sadly. "You know what's funny. I thought that I had gotten over that when I was with Hermione. I mean I knew I wasn't in love or anything but I thought that maybe I could get attached. I don't know, I guess that was stupid."

"It wasn't. You just felt comfortable with her because you were already friends with her. But being with Hermione helped you out."

"How?"

"It was the worst experience ever," she said as if it was completely obvious. Harry raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Now its nothing but up from here. I doubt you could get into a relationship more screwed up than that one."

"Think so?"

"I know so. Although you are a magnet for crazy situations."

They both laughed.