A/N: DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter Book Series. That all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I own the stuff not present in the books.

I hope you all enjoy this.

Chapter 4: Meeting You For The First Time

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

THE NEXT MORNING

"Where am I?" Hermione looked around at her surroundings when it all came back to her. Pictures on the walls of the twins and Lee, the whole Weasley family, Fred and Ron, Hermione and Fred, Fred and George by a swamp they'd set loose in their sixth year, and the saddest picture of all, a picture of Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny just before they left for their quest. Before…Harry left and Ginny ran away and died. Times were getting better. Many people had accepted it and moved on. Ron and Hermione decided that they weren't right for each other after Ginny died. They realized that they were just caught up in the moment and that they should see other people. Hermione saw a few people before secretly dating Fred. Ron dated one woman, a Muggle named Penny, for a few weeks when he decided he loved her. They waited a couple of years and then got married. She knew Ron had sent an invitation to Harry because she had to send it. She really thought he might actually come, disguised or something, but she had still not heard from him since she and Ron sent the letter to him discussing the "Ginny situation."

"Mini? You awake? And might I add that you look fantabulous today." Fred walked in the room with a breakfast tray consisting of two plates of orange slices, bacon, eggs, toast, and two glasses of orange juice. He placed the tray on Hermione's lap and kissed her on the cheek before getting his own plate and setting it on another tray he'd brought in. 'She does look very beautiful even though her hair hasn't been tamed and she has no make-up on'. "You know, Mini. I think you look better without all the brushing and make up and stuff. I think you should just throw it all away."

Hermione just smiled before screaming at a loud crack! sounded from outside the bedroom door.

"Is it safe to come in? It's urgent. I have to talk to Hermione!" They recognized the voice as Ron and let him in.

" What's wrong Ron? You look pale. Are you okay?"

"It's uh… I…uh…I ran into an old friend last night. He needed help. He…uh… He…oh how do I say this? Oh whatever. Fred could you leave? This is kinda, well. I promise you'll find out later. Don't worry. I'm married! You know that!" Ron chastised Fred for his conspicuous look. After Fred left, they added a silencing charm on the door. "Hermione. Last night someone apparated into my house. I checked to see who it was and well, I know this will come as a bit of a shock, but. Put the glass down. And the toast. It was well it was Harry. He needs us to come visit him. He's having a big problem from what I could get out of him. But I think we both need to go. I don't think I could go alone. Not after everything he told me." Hermione gave him a questioning look to which he responded, "No, I won't tell you. He needs to tell you himself. Let's just say. He was happy living with Dudley. Until he went to Dudley's daughter's end-of-school program. And saw someone he uh. Oh come on. Get dressed. Meet me out in the kitchen when you're ready. I'm gonna get some food." Without giving Hermione a chance to talk, Ron lifted the silencing charm and left the room seeing an upset looking Fred sitting in the sitting room. "What?"

"Well, I don't like my brother talking to my fiancée about something and not letting me know about it!"

"Look. I'm hungry. Hermione and I have to go somewhere. It's really important that she goes. If I go by myself, I might fail. It could all be worthless if she doesn't go. I need help and she's the only one that can." Ron finished his second speech for that morning and made himself at home in the kitchen becoming very acquainted with the leftover bacon and eggs. Twenty minutes later, Hermione emerged and said that she was ready. She gave Fred a reassuring, passionate kiss before she apparated away with Ron. They landed next to a dumpster and started walking around. Hermione still had no idea where they were. They came upon a row of identical houses. Ron started walking down the sidewalk when he came upon a house with a pudgy little girl playing in the yard. Ron walked up to the girl and asked if she knew which house the Dursley's lived in.

"Well you see, that's a problem. One, because I don't know you and two, which Dursley are you talking about? Dudley or Vernon?" The little girl said with a smart-aleck tone.

"Dudley, I believe. Should I be under the impression that you are Lilianne? My. You are as beautiful as your uncle described you." With that, she smiled and pointed to the house behind her.

"This is my house and my uncle lives with us. Daddy's at work but if you have-"

"No, you see, I need to talk to your uncle." Ron said and all he received was a solified, "Oh."

Ron and Hermione walked up to the front door and before he could knock, the door swung open and they were immediately pulled inside.

"Ron? Thank God you're here. And who is this that you brought. I know for sure this is not Penny. Unless she magically became a witch."

"No Harry. This is not Penny. Look closely. Maybe you can figure it out yourself." Harry looked closely and then his eyes opened wide.

"Hermione!" After a slight nod and smile, Harry and Hermione gave each other a magnanimous hug that seemed to linger a little too long. "You came? Wow. Congrats on you and Fred. I was surprised when you wrote me and told me a couple of years ago that you were going out. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I guess now, for the better."

"Harry. Thank you. But Ron told me you have a, situation? He wouldn't tell me what it was. He thought it best that you tell me. Are you in trouble of some sort? Did the Ministry find out you were alive? What is it?" Hermione looked truly worried.

"Hermione. You might want to sit down for this. Okay for starters. Ginny's alive." And with that, he told her the entire story of what happened. "And I don't know where she lives or anything so I can't talk to her or find out what's really going on-."

"Harry. Did you say that Lilianne and her stepdaughter Kaylee were in the same class?"

"Well, yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, most likely, in schools with students this young, they usually send out a booklet with addresses and phone numbers for each student. Do you have one of those?"

"I think so. I think Dudley put it in…" Harry walked in the kitchen without finishing his sentence and came out with a light blue half-sheet booklet. "Here it is…" Harry flipped through the booklet before he came upon Kaylee's name. "You were right Hermione! An address AND a number. You are so smart!" Hermione blushed and walked out of the room to find Ron in the kitchen eating.

"RON! Get your face out of the fridge! You just ate!"

"Sorry Hermione."

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

GINNY'S FLAT TWO HOURS LATER

Ginny was still sitting on her bed from the night before, though, no tears came out when she heard someone knocking on the door. Ginny slowly got up still thinking about the eventful day before. She couldn't believe that it had only been twenty-four hours since she'd seen Harry. Before that, it had been eight years. 'Who could be at the door? I didn't order any take-out. Tim was firm on leaving. Why would anyone come to visit me?' Ginny thought as she made her way to the door. Ginny opened the door to see three grinning, yet anxious faces, two of which she hadn't seen in eight years, one of which she'd seen just the day before."Ron? Is that you? And Hermione! You look amazing. I always told you you should straighten your hair. Oh. Hi Harry. What are you all doing here?" Ginny stepped back to allow them to enter the flat. Harry looked around and noticed that it was very similar to the way her room looked back at The Burrow from what he could remember. He looked at Ron and realized that he was thinking the same thing. No one spoke for a while. Ginny took the opportunity to sit there and analyze her friends. Hermione was obviously very happy about something. She kept her hands in her pockets but kept looking around the room and smiling. Ron had gotten surprisingly taller. His hair was lighter than she remembered but he had just as many freckles. Oh! How she missed her brother. They were the best of friends in school, along with Hermione and Harry. Besides Fred and George, she and Ron were the closest of the Weasley siblings. And finally she turned her focus to Harry, who she noticed had been staring at her as well. But instead of it looking like he was studying her as she was doing to everyone, he was just sitting and smiling. She smiled back and looked quickly away to the pictures on the wall.

"Ginny." Ginny looked away from her concentration on the pictures to see that it was Hermione that said her name. "Wow. Well. You're alive. That was a shock."

"And you didn't let us know? We were worried sick!" Ron sat down in a nearby chair then stood up and started walking around the room again. "Do you realize that Mum and Dad sat up for nearly six months because they couldn't believe that you were gone? You caused so much pain for everyone! Seriously Ginny! How could you be so-."

"So what? Ronald! So stupid? Is that what you were going to say? Because if I remember correctly, I left because my brother told me that my boyfriend was DEAD! You know, I wouldn't have left if I just knew he was alive! And you managed to lie to my face about something this huge. I loved him! You knew that! You knew that and you still managed to hurt me! Now I see what I left." Ginny got up, and seeing how upset she was, Harry glared at Ron and took off after her to find her crying in her bedroom.

"Ginny. Can we talk?" She didn't look up but Harry went and sat next to her on the bed. "Ginny. Okay, I'll talk. I thought you were dead. I know how you feel. At least you were told to your face, I'll admit though, he did lie. I was told you were dead through a letter. But he only lied to you because I asked him to. I'm telling the truth. I didn't want you to come looking for me. I left because I needed to get away from the whole wizarding world. I couldn't stand to go back to your house, see you, and then leave you. I needed some time to myself. It says that in the letter I wrote. I wanted to go to Dudley's wedding. They have been so nice to me. I thought about writing you right after I left, but I didn't want anything to happen. I still love you. I know you're married-."

"Ha. Married. Is that what you call it? When your husband sees your old boyfriend and accuses you of cheating on him then leaves you? Well, I'd like to hear your explanation of dating." Ginny said all that with a smirk on her face before she started crying again.

"Ginny. He left you? Why? Who would want to leave you?" Harry stopped there and realized that he had done the exact same thing. Harry looked down and then turned back to Ginny. "Ginny I'm so sorry. I love you. I was confused. I needed space. I was actually going to come back in a few years, but when Ron wrote me and told me you were dead I just knew I wasn't going to be able to come back. I couldn't dare facing your family without you. Ron kept writing me, sending me the Daily Prophet and stuff. It was really amusing when I saw my own obituary in the paper. But when he sent me the one that had your obituary in it, I cried for days. Dudley kept looking at me like I was crazy. Of course, if I met me, I would think I was crazy too. You see, Ginny. The thing is. I love you. I still do. I t was very hard on me when I thought you were dead. I didn't know how long I could go on. I went to Dudley's wedding but all I could think about was that I should've been up there standing next to you. Then I saw you yesterday and I was shocked. When he called you his wife, I panicked and left. I apparated to Ron and Penny's flat and then passed out. I told Ron everything. He couldn't believe you were alive. Then this morning, he showed up at my house with Hermione and they told me I had to come talk to you. You see. I don't care if you're still gonna stay married. I love you and I just want what's best for you. You can stay with this other guy if that's what you want. I'm not going to push you into doing anything like that. All I want you to do is go and talk to your brother and best friend. Oh and Hermione's got a pretty big something to tell you." Harry took a breath and continued just to look at Ginny.

"Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, Ginny? What?"

"Who's Penny?" Ginny said with a smile.

"I think that's for Ron to tell you." He took her hand and walked with her back out to the sitting room.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

A/N: Okay, Not so much a cliff hanger. Sorry. I was out of town this weekend and when I tried to post it on Friday, it wasn't working. So I'm just getting back to it now. Review!