Author's Note: Hello, and Happy New Year! I don't know what time it is wherever it is you are, but here it's January 1, 2006, about 2:15 PM EST. I know it's taken me sooo long to update, and I am truly sorry. I just couldn't make time to sit down and write lately. But here it is, chapter three, and hopefully it was worth the wait. I've also already begun chapter four, so look out for that soon! I hope your holiday seasons have been great, and I wish you all a happy, healthy new year.
CHAPTER THREE:3
The next morning was clear and the temperature was just right for a ride on the Hogwarts Express. September the first, Ginny remembered, was always a hectic day at the Burrow. But not this year.
The house remained motionless as Ginny woke up at dawn, taking care not to awake Hermione, rolled out of bed drowsily and staggered toward the bathroom. Silence followed her back to her bedroom as she quickly dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a cream-colored sweater. She brushed her scarlet hair out smooth so that it lay in soft waves on her shoulders, and packed a few last-minute items into her trunk.
Down the stairs she traveled, marveling at her mother's lack of frustrated shrieks and weary demands. Past her father's and brother's snoozing portraits she ambled, toward the kitchen which she knew held her mother fixing a special breakfast for her.
Carefully and gently, Ginny lowered her wand so that her trunk landed quiescently on the floor outside the entrance to the kitchen. Ginny even held her breath momentarily, for it seemed as if the house demanded stillness that morning.
Finally, the redhead sighed and lightly pushed open the kitchen door. The scent of marmalade and sausages lingered in the air as Mrs. Weasley scrubbed the pans out with her wand.
Ginny pulled the chair out closest to her mother and sat down before a full feast of eggs, sausage, toast, marmalade, and various types of juices.
"It's nice, isn't it? September the first and I'm not wailing my head off." Mrs. Weasley dried her hands on a dish towel and took a seat next to her only daughter. Ginny smiled feebly and poured herself a tiny glass of orange juice.
Since she had been offered the position of Defense against the Darks Arts professor at Hogwarts, Ginny could not have been more eager to travel back to Hogwarts once more when she'd thought that she might never again see the castle she loved so dearly.
However, now that it was time for her to actually leave the people she loved most, she felt the knot in her stomach tighten with apprehension.
For the first time in her life, she would be completely on her own. And though that was once what she had wanted more than anything, something made her feel as if she had made the wrong decision. Something inside of her was screaming that now was the time she needed to spend with the people she held dear.
But Ginny had no choice anymore, whether she wanted to agree with that inner voice or not. She had accepted Dumbledore's offer and there was no way she could change her mind on the first day of term.
"Ginny, dear," her mother said very tenderly, "everything will be fine."
Ginny looked up, suddenly aware of her mother's presence beside her.
"I know that you must be feeling a bit nervous - maybe even regretful, after last night - but please don't. We all know that going back to Hogwarts will make you happy, and we all want this for you. Even Harry. He only wants you to be happy, dear."
Her mother's mention of Harry seemed to twist the complicated knot of anxiety in her stomach even tighter.
She and Harry were to be married, but when would they ever find the time to plan the wedding? She wouldn't even be seeing him until Christmas, and the two of them couldn't possibly have their whole wedding planned by the time holiday was over.
Once she had dreams of finally leaving home, starting her own life and her own family as soon as she graduated from Hogwarts; But the summer had completely changed her life. She had helped to thwart the evilest and most destructive wizard of all time, and yet she wanted nothing more than to shrink back unnoticed and resume her normal life.
Ginny knew, however, that her life could never possibly be normal again, if ever it was.
"Mum, thanks. For all of this - for, for everything. I don't have to ask you to write me everyday, because I know you will."
Mrs. Weasley chuckled, hurriedly wiped a tear from her eye, and reached out to hug her daughter.
Footsteps could be heard from above, and moments later Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie appeared in the kitchen, fully dressed.
Ginny stared at them, amazed that they all weren't still comfortably in their beds, sleeping for at least three more hours.
"Did you honestly think we wouldn't come and see you off?" Hermione asked, a knowing smile spreading over her lips. Ginny grinned; she hadn't even considered that they might see her off.
Mrs. Weasley was smiling broadly at her daughter's genuine thrill.
"Well, we best get going. We're still a bit early, but this morning was already full of firsts for me."
Mrs. Weasley started out the kitchen door, followed by Bill and Charlie, Fred and George, Ron and Hermione. Harry moved slowly toward Ginny, smiling gently to ease the tremendous nerves he knew she must be feeling.
He clasped her warm hand in his, leading her tenderly away from the table and out of the kitchen.
"Harry, this summer's really changed us, hasn't it?"
Ginny stared up into his green eyes, searching for comfort.
"It's changed everyone. It's changed everyone for the better. And that's all because of us."
Ginny looked away, slightly frustrated at his answer.
"But that's just it! Everyone owes their lives to us! You and me! If it hadn't been for us, they'd be dead, we'd be dead, everyone would be dead, Harry! People look at us differently now. Treat us differently. Doesn't that bother you?"
Harry was still grinning, and Ginny wondered if he'd paid a bit of attention to a word she'd just spoken.
"In case you've forgotten, I've been treated differently my whole life."
Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but then understood.
Harry had been treated differently his whole life. Ginny doubted there had been one shred of normalcy in his whole eighteen years of living. Yet, here he was, with her. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, was standing beside her, holding her hand, smiling at her.
Ginny didn't have to say anything else, for her face glowed with comprehension.
The Weasleys and Harry and Hermione walked briskly past the first nine platforms at King's Cross Station. They had apparated just five minutes away from the station, yet somehow Ginny had only five minutes to get on the train.
"It must be a Weasley curse," Mrs. Weasley muttered as she hurried them all along.
Quickly checking to make sure no one was looking, the nine of them filed through the barrier between platforms nine and ten, as they had done so many times before.
They were greeted with the usual hustle of bustle of parents and students, hooting owls, small children crying, and of course, the scarlet steam engine which was the Hogwarts Express.
Though Ginny had see all of this every year since she could remember, it all seemed strangely new to her. The students now hurrying onto the train were no longer her schoolmates, Housemates, or classmates, but her pupils. It felt as though this would be her first trip on the Hogwarts Express, for just as when she'd been a First Year, she didn't know what to expect.
It didn't take long for people to take notice of Harry and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley tried to pretend that everyone wasn't staring at them in awe, and continued to move toward the train.
"Oh, Ginny, come now, you mustn't be late!"
Ginny looked desperately at Harry, and he grinned and started following Mrs. Weasley, pulling Ginny with him.
And to her utmost embarrassment, as Harry and Ginny passed through the crowd, everyone started clapping.
Ginny felt herself blushing furiously, and nearly sprinted after her mother.
"Just try to ignore them," Mrs. Weasley whispered as she brushed Ginny's shoulders off rather vigorously.
Ginny nodded. "Goodbye Mum."
She kissed her mother on the cheek, and swiftly hugged Charlie, Bill, Fred, George, Ron and Hermione.
Ginny paused as she came back to Harry, and kissed him full on the lips.
To her horror, laughter erupted from the people on the platform, and even the students on the train who hung their heads out of the window to see Ginny Weasley kiss Harry Potter goodbye.
Harry pulled her into a tight hug, and as Ginny looked over Harry's shoulder, she saw Fred and George conducting them all!
"Christmas is only four months away, Ginny," Harry whispered into her ear.
"Until then," she whispered back, aware that her face was nearly as scarlet as the train.
Ginny pulled away, but Harry caught her by the arm.
"I love you."
Ginny's shoulders gave way and couldn't help but smile through her tears of mortification. "I love you too, Harry Potter."
One enormous, simultaneous, "Awwwwww!" erupted around them and Ginny rapidly picked up her trunk and disappeared onto the train.