Disclaimer: Characters from the Harry Potter novels obviously belong to J.K. Rowling. I own Arion (haah… yes I do… and his alter-ego Professor Caelestis). I also ooooooown (I love this word!) Venice, Jordan, and Nico. :Grin:

Author's Note: School's back in session. I'm a hop, skip and jump away from pure bliss, can't you tell? I apologize for the last chapter being much less enjoyable than hoped for. I really did struggle with it. I couldn't quite put my finger on what I'd like Arion and Ginny's relationship to be. I've got it figured out now… I'm not going to go back and change what I've written again. Instead… some developments will be made come Hogwarts time. I wrote the ending to the fic already:grin:… now I just have to fill in the middle. Would it appease you if I said that I find the ending rather likable:grin: Hogwarts might not be along for another two chapters… I expect this fic will be quite long. I think you'll find the Hogwarts school year very enjoyable though… you have yet to meet Nico C. He is possibly everything I want in a guy… which is of course nonexistent, so I had to create him instead. Oh how very, very sad. By the by, Arion is a very versatile character. Please keep that in mind. Versatile. :grin: Okay… on with the story. I hope you like this chapter.

BIG SHOUT TO Hnz786: I got a message for you in the Notes later on… Here's Harry for you in this chapter! Sorry about his late debut!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Just Harry

Drip. Drip. Drip. Ginny scrunched her brow… blasted dripping. It couldn't possibly be time to wake up already. Through her eyelids, she could sense the telltale lightness around her… :Damn: It really was time to get up. Groaning, Ginny threw her covers off and sat up in bed. The thing about Ginny is there's no real transition between waking up and getting up. It all just happens in a swift motion… sleeping to sitting. So there she was, sitting up in bed, blinking to adjust to the newly sunlit room. The calendar on her far wall read something like July 16th, 2005. (Author's Note: I know it's supposed to be 1996… do I care much? Negatory. I think it's easier for everyone to relate to something happening in the now… year 2005 is the closest I can get it without trespassing on the untold.)

She shook off the remaining tendrils of sleep… a month and a half till Hogwarts:excellent:. Somewhere downstairs, Molly Weasley was already banging pots and pans, undoubtedly making breakfast somewhere in along with all the noise. Ginny looked at the little black ball that she'd set up on the little table next to her bed; she'd gotten into the habit of having it be the last she saw before she fell asleep and the first thing she saw when she woke up. Black glass balls don't just show up for decorous purposes, she was sure. However, as always, the smoke in it just swirled around, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

A spectacularly loud, "OI!" made her jump and she looked towards the ceiling on the other side of which her brother and a certain Harry Potter slept. "RON!" – There ya go… the oaf went and did something else stupid.

"HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" :Shite:. Ginny just about bashed her head into the wall. It was Harry's birthday. How on earth did she manage to forget? It was all Ron and the twins could talk about for the past week. She'd even been included in some celebration preparations, not that she thought Harry would particularly like the part which involved Bat Jelly capsules exploding in his face, but… Still, it was his birthday. She hadn't prepared anything, she had no idea what was going on… and she had no gift. Curses flew through her head.

Breakfast, needless to say, was a horrid affair for her. Everyone was walking around shooting meaningful glances at each other as if they all had a huge thing going. Ginny knew for a fact that they'd stashed a pile of gifts somewhere… even Bill and Charlie had mustered something up for him. Ginny was, in fact, the only giftless one. Lovely.

Remus showed up near noon and asked for Ginny to go check up on something with him. Read: Urgent talking needed! She excused herself from the Quidditch discussion she'd been having with Bill and Charlie and met a very nervous looking Remus in the front hall.

"You look a bit jumpy Remus. Everything all right?" To her utmost surprise, as Remus was normally a very composed, very dignified person, he snorted and :giggled:. Yes, giggled. Well… a very manly giggle, but a giggle nonetheless. "Oookay."

"It's Harry's birthday." She immediately scowled.

"Yes, I know that. And don't rub it in Remus, I'm sure one of those half-wits have gotten around to telling you that I'd completely forgotten about it. I'll be sitting at dinner tonight trying very hard to not mourn the relationship that crashed before it started." she said with a groan. To her further dismay, a very slyly grinning Remus proceeded to steer her towards the back Drawing Room promising her something wonderful.

"You'll love it. I promise. It's a dream come true. You'll love it!" he crowed.

"…I'm going to hate it aren't I?" she asked warily while Remus hummed lightly, apparently very delighted with himself.

"You're going to love it!"

Finally, they reached the little door to the right of the House Elf corridor and he pushed it open with a soft hand. Then, with a very un-soft hand, he shoved Ginny inside, waved a very cheery goodbye, banged the door shut and an acute :click: was heard followed by a muttering of incantations, and Ginny found herself alone in the back Drawing Room. Well… alone included a green-eyed boy with messy black hair and a slightly perturbed expression.

--------------------------------

Remus Lupin was a man of very few words. He normally chose to listen and think as opposed to pull pranks… that was Sirius's and James's job. However, when he woke up that morning and realized that it was his best friend's son's birthday he thought he'd do something rather reckless but quite necessary. He was going to get this Ginny-Harry nuisance out of the way.

Of course, she hid it very well… having liked the boy for a good long while. He reckoned that it killed her regularly to have Harry be her brother's best friend and not pay any attention to her. It seemed so natural to Remus for the two of them to be something. Of course, Ginny was very much her own person. Merlin knew what happened to her between Hogwarts at Grimmauld Place, she most definitely wasn't the girl he and Sirius had met two years prior. She was very determined, very snarky and definitely very beautiful.

Harry, on the other hand, had tried keeping his eyes off her for the two they'd been there and was successful not at all! True, he contained himself very well, never spoke of her, stole glances during dinnertime and hardly said a word beyond "Pass the gravy." but Remus noticed his subtleties and decided that it was high time the two of them got it out.

Well, it would have all worked out quite nicely if neither teenagers had any pride. Unfortunately, Ginny had more pride than patience, and Harry didn't enjoy confined spaces. So…

--------------------------------

Harry just stared at her. It was beginning to get annoying, truthfully. Yes, she liked him… but that'd started well before her first year, and she was about to begin sixth year, one would think that her crush would be on a slight decline. Still, he stared at her. He was probably trying to think of something to say that wouldn't 1. be awkward, 2. set off her temper, and 3. cause one, two, several or all of her brothers to go after him with their wands drawn. Either way, it was beginning to gnaw at her. She was not some little girl with heart eyes for the Boy-Who-Lived, and she most certainly wasn't about to let him think that. Enter Snarky Ginny.

"So… they trained you well, didn't they?" Harry's head snapped up from its position: nodding towards the ground.

"Huh?"

She snorted with mock delight, "Well! He's intelligent too! My, my what doesn't the boy do?" remarked Ginny. The theory was to get all the rounds out now, explanations could come later. Harry's face reddened a bit, but his trademark defiance surfaced as well. However, true to chivalrous Britain, he maintained a very polite disposition.

"Have you any idea why Remus locked us in here?" he asked quietly.

"Rest assured, Harry, if I knew I wouldn't have let it happen and never presented myself as a victim."

"Victim!" he balked. "What did you think? I've taken cannibalism and want to eat you? Or maybe practice some live-target hexing? Because, you know, things get so dull around here sometimes!"

"Well, it's good that you can come up with your own answers, isn't it?" she noted with a jaunty air, "Not like the Order does much of it. They do a wonderful job making one feel safe, don't they?" This somewhat subdued Harry as he was no fan of them himself, Arion and Remus aside.

"Yes, indeed."

"Mmm."

"Mmm?"

"Mmm, indeed." She paused… "Well, as much as this has been fascinating, I'm sure Fred and George are just about tearing the house down looking for me, so if you don't mind too much, I'll just be leaving." Ginny stood and tested the door, who in good Merlin's name knew what Remus had done, he had quite ripped apart all of Ginny's previous inclinations towards him. Very despairingly, she found that it was impossible to open and pivoted on the spot. "We'll just have to find another way out of here, now won't we?" She strode to the door on the far side of the room and was found wanting. There were no other doors to be seen and she was quickly losing her reserve of patience.

Harry had taken a seat on one of the plush couches and was studying her with a steady gaze. Fine, be that way. Unable to really do anything Ginny picked a seat across from his and sat down to return the favour. It gave her an excellent excuse to have a good look at him away from the attention of the rest of the household.

He had grown over the weeks at Grimmauld Place, his hair was a little longer than normal, no less messy, reaching just to his shoulders. It was still black as night and messy in a careless and abominably sexy way: the type of hair that no doubt, Lavender, Parvati and probably the rest of Hogwarts' female population would love to run their hands through. Brown – black – brown… BLACK HAIR. Oooooh. Ginny found herself astounded when her mind flitted to someone definitely not Harry when she thought of hair. Blinking back her surprise she focused back on Harry. Eyes. They were a brilliant green that used to sparkle when he was in first and second year. Ginny had noticed with growing despair that their glimmer had dulled throughout fifth year and looked dead and hard in his sixth. It was also disconcerting to see a hint of coldness in his eyes. Normally warm and safe, Ginny could no longer look at him and see good through and through. She felt an overwhelming urge to gather Harry in her arms and force into him the fact that there was still love in the world… most unfortunately, that would likely result in Harry thinking her a psychopath, so she restrained herself and resolved to sit there lost in his emerald eyes.

Emerald eyes, which at that point in time, were thinking some very similar thoughts about her. Maybe Ginny didn't know it but Harry did. He could smell the pain and grief on her. A very delicate scent mixed in with her beautiful long red hair that had tricked the course of time and suddenly came to hang at her waist during the two weeks that school had been out. Her skin held a tint of honey to it, still pale but golden. She looks like she comes from the sun, he decided. That much was true. The odd gold fleck still gleamed in her eyes. She looked like a very tragic fairytale. Why was she so sad? A stab of annoyance went through him. Who was she to be so sad? Sadness had become a cliché emotion for him and him only. Maybe Remus too, but Ginny Weasley? Youngest child and the baby daughter of the Weasley clan… she must have gotten a showering of love and affection, she must've had everything that he didn't. Why in bloody Merlin's name was she sad? Harry was determined to figure her out.

That was how Remus found them, two hours later, well into the afternoon. He strode jubilantly into the room expecting to find something hard and compact hurled his way when he happened upon the two teenagers gazing at each other with more curiosity and understanding than anything else. It stopped him mid-step to see this. He had only ever seen Harry like this once and that was during a period of deep mourning for Sirius, and he'd never witnessed a silent Ginny.

Ginny notice him first. She felt a quiet disturbance of peace when she sensed someone else in the room. No words had passed between her and Harry since their debuting squabble. They'd read each other clean through and it was completely futile to use words anymore. Ginny turned to see Remus, breaking the comfortable and knowing gaze she'd shared with Harry. Surprised, he too looked up.

"Halo Remus."

"Halo to you too. That must've been a cosy few hours." he observed, "Harry everyone is running amok frantic. You'd better go out there and tell them you haven't been killed off." Harry gave a quick nod of assent and with a brief quizzical look at Ginny left the room to find the rest of the Order. Remus and Ginny stayed in the Drawing Room, the latter much calmer than she should've been under the circumstances.

"I'd like to say that I'm livid and am currently thinking of some way in which I can deduce you to a pile of dust, but that would be perfectly pointless. Plus, that was probably the most productive few hours of my summer holiday." She remarked frankly. "So, why'd you do it Remus? I've known you for far to long to think that you just woke up this morning and decided to lock Harry and I in a room on his birthday."

"Well, now that you've brought it up, that's exactly what happened!" Ginny offered a wry smile to which Remus responded by completely ignoring her knowing full well that everything he'd set out to achieve had been accomplished. So there, HAAH. "I've asked Professor Dumbledore and your mother… though I must say the latter was harder to persuade, and they'd both given me the go ahead to take you to Diagon Alley for a bit to pick something out for Harry. I think she thought that the shame of a you not having something for him was a bit more poignant than a possible threat on your life… but there you go, she loves him very much." Ginny's countenance brightened and then darkened considerably at this. She sniffed… her mother always did care about Harry a little more than expected. More than she cared about Ginny, she was certain.

"Fine. I'll go grab my savings. Mind you, I need some things of my own. I'm not about to dedicate a trip to Diagon Alley all on Harry."

Remus looked on with great amusement as she stalked out of the room undoubtedly to do what she said she would. He remembered very long ago time ago another feisty redhead had snubbed another black-haired boy in a very similar manner. A pang of memory stabbed him but he shrugged it off. Today was about Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

Hnz786: Halo! I realize that you might have envisioned Harry's part to be different. I think right now, dialogue between Harry and Ginny would be wasted. They were never friends before, to suddenly make them close would be awkward. They're learning about each other, it builds a strong foundation for the future.

Remus: Haah! Sneaky bastard this one is. I always thought Rowling and other writers downplayed Remus's capacity for mischief. There's got to be a reason why he was a Marauder… I thought it was prime time he pulled a prank of his own. Hey! At least his was productive.

Black Orb: It'll come in good time!

Brown Hair: Hmmm… who has got warm brown hair and makes Ginny bothered… I wonder!

Hope you had fun with this! It was a short chapter, I know! School's back with a vengeance!

- PT