The following morning, Ginny headed downstairs to find her mother preparing Harry a breakfast of bacon and egg, as well as a cup of tea. She was arguing with Fleur, saying she was perfectly capable of taking it up. One thing that had happened during the holiday which Ginny hadn't been too particularly thrilled about was the fact that Bill had finally found someone, and that someone had to be Fleur Delacour. Ginny couldn't stand the girl. It was her complete lack of tact, combined with her air of arrogance and self importance that she didn't approve of. But the thing that irked her the most about Fleur was her complete vanity.

Fleur was busy arguing with her mum, "Oh Mrs Weasley, I am more zan capable of taking that breakfast to 'arry! Particularly after he had such a big fight wiz your daughter, I'm sure 'e will want to see someone wiz a friendly face!" Ginny cleared her throat loudly, "Excuse me, Fleur, but firstly we sorted the fight out, and secondly, it is none of your business whether or not we had a fight. And also, it sounds as if you're implying that my mum doesn't have a friendly face." Ginny crossed her arms irritably and Fleur raised her eyebrows, "I never said such a thing! I was just saying to Mrs Weasley that I'd love to see 'arry, since I haven't seen him since the Triwizard Tournament and I never got to thank him properly for saving Gabrielle and myself."

Ginny scowled. She remembered when Harry had saved Gabrielle alright, and she perfectly remembered how she had thanked Harry-by giving him a nice big peck on the cheek in front of the entire stadium. Ginny rolled her eyes, "Alright then, you can have the honors of waking him up, too." Ginny was being sarcastic, but it obviously didn't register with Gabrielle, who smiled gratefully, took the tray of food upstairs and hurried up them two at a time.

Her mum turned to face her and she was red in the face from her irritation, "That woman has got to go! Give her hell, Gin!" Ginny giggled, "I'm trying mum. The problem is, she doesn't understand sarcasm." Her mother groaned, "Of all the girls in the country Bill could have chosen, he HAD to go for her!" Ginny sighed, "I know. Hopefully it's nothing more than a fling. I'm going to go and check on Harry and see if he's coping with her."
Her mother nodded distractedly and then turned back to the washing up. Ginny took the stairs slowly and when she got to Ron's room, she walked in to find Harry awake in bed, with Fleur leaning over him and planting a kiss on each cheek, and Hermione sitting on the end of Harry's bed, with Ron sitting on his own.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Fleur's display of affection as she gushed all of Harry saying, "Ah 'arry, you 'ave grown so much since I last saw you! I must thank you for saving me and Gabrielle in the tournament! Gabrielle never stops talking about it. I zink she 'as a bit of a crush on you." Here, she winked at Harry (who spluttered incoherently) and Ginny couldn't believe that Fleur had the nerve to say that in front of Ginny, but then again she had her back to her.
Hermione said brightly and pointedly, "Oh, hey Ginny! Nice of you to join us!" Fleur turned and blushed a little before saying, "Oh, I better get going! Lots to do!" She hurried out of the room and Harry smiled in embarrassment, "Uh, hey Gin. Sorry about that…I didn't mean for it to happen…" Ginny shook her head, "I know you didn't, Harry. Phelgm is just really slow in catching on to social situations. It's rather annoying." Harry chuckled nervously and nodded in agreement, before hungrily tucking into his breakfast. Seconds later, Hermione had gotten up and paced around the room, before they heard a loud "OW!" sound. She had one of Fred and George's tested products in her hand-a massive boxing glove- which had just punched Hermione in the face and caused her skin to turn purple. Ron laughed and Ginny rushed over to check it out. Hermione squealed, "Get it off, get it off!" Ginny frowned, "We better go down to mum and see if she can help."

Once they were dressed and ready and had all had breakfast, Hermione paced around nervously in the kitchen. They had received a letter the previous evening to let them know that Harry, Ron and Hermione's O.W.L results were arriving today. Harry and Ron were stressed, but nothing in comparison to Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes at her, "Relax, Hermione. Stressing like this won't help!" He said. Hermione scowled at him and retorted, "And sitting around doing nothing about it won't help either!"

Minutes later, they saw an owl flying towards them in the distance. Hermione's eye momentarily forgotten about, she screamed and hurried to the window, where the owl eventually landed and she ripped open her letter. Tension filled the air and Ginny waited. Hermione's face was frozen, as Ron yelled in excitement, "Excellent! Six Exceeds Expectations! One acceptable in Astronomy and I only failed History of Magic and Divination! What did you get Harry?" Their mum strangled Ron in a tight embrace, "Oh Ron! You did better than the twins put together! I'm so proud of you!" Harry showed Ron his results and Ron raised his eyebrows, "Wow! Five E's and one O for Defense! No surprises there! Well done mate!" Harry turned to Hermione, "What did you get, Hermione?" he asked her.

Hermione's face was frozen in a mask of shock as Ron grabbed hers from her and said, "Eleven O's and one E for Defense! You can't seriously be upset, can you?" She looked at him and shook her head meekly as they all started to laugh.

It was the day they were returning to Hogwarts. She was actually somewhat excited to be going back. With Umbridge gone, this year would be far better than last year. There was no way anyone could compete with the old toad. She was also particularly looking forward to the train ride because Harry had promised to tell them where he had gone with Dumbledore when they were by themselves.

Ginny was packed and ready to go. She waited downstairs, cooped up in a chair and when Harry came down, he was just as somber as ever. He went straight to her mother and apologized for the way he behaved last night. Of course, her mother brushed it off and said he didn't need to apologize. However, Ginny disagreed. Of course he needed to apologize! Especially to her! He had ruined a perfectly good family evening by acting like the biggest prat on planet earth.

Ron and Hermione hadn't followed him down yet and she was purposefully keeping her attention on her book-she didn't want him to think that she'd noticed him yet. Predictably, he walked over to her and whispered, "Gin? Gin…I'm sorry." She turned a page idly and raised an eyebrow, "For what?" He sighed and said morbidly, "For the way I acted last night. I was out of line." She nodded and looked up at then, "You were." He gestured to the couch beside her, "Can I sit down so we can talk?" She sighed and rolled her eyes before murmuring, "Fine."

He smiled at her gratefully and asked as he sat down, "You understand where I'm coming from, don't you?" She sighed and replied, "Harry, I do. But that doesn't mean I agree with the way you think. I want to be with you, Harry. I want you to want to be with me, without fearing anything. I want you to try and do that, because I can see that you've just been wallowing in your own self misery." He nodded and sighed, "You're right. I have. And I've made up my mind. I want to try. And I want to start trying by letting everyone know we're together- that is, if you want the same thing." Her mouth fell open in surprise and she suddenly broke into a grin, "Oh Harry, that's so sweet! Of course I want that! Wow…what a change that will be!"

Harry chuckled and nodded, "You can say that again." She smiled and was about to kiss him when she heard Ron clearing his throat and she couldn't help but role her eyes. He blatantly ignored the fact that he had just interrupted something and Hermione smiled at them nervously, "Right we're ready to go!" She said, with her trunks at her side.

Only Hermione could be enthusiastic about going back to school. They all side-alonged with mum or dad and then appeared in an empty room at King's Cross. They hurried to barrier and Harry went first, followed by Ron, Arthur, then Ginny and Molly. She got to the platform and they went straight away to go and find a free compartment. Then they went to go and hug their parents goodbye. Her mum told her firmly, "Now you better write to me a hell of a lot more than you did last year! I know if things are going down that something is wrong and we'll come charging over there in a flash!" Ginny rolled her eyes and smiled, "Alright, mum! We'll keep you informed." Her mum squeezed her to death before turning to Harry and saying, "Now, I'm not going to tell you to look after Ginny, so instead I'm going to say…" here she looked at all of them meaningfully, "Look after yourselves."
Ginny nodded and smiled and got one last hug before she boarded with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They sat down in a single compartment to themselves, with their bags above their heads. Harry sat next to her, and took her hand in his as he said, "So, I wanted to tell you guys about what happened with Dumbledore." They nodded eagerly and he continued, "He wanted me to recruit a teacher…Horace Slughorn. I'm assuming he's for Defense against the Dark Arts." Hermione raised her eyebrows and asked, "And how would you help recruit him?" Harry shifted uncomfortably and sighed, "Apparently, Slughorn likes to…collect is the word Dumbledore used, students." They all frowned at him and Ginny asked quietly, "What do you mean, collect?" Harry turned to her and sighed, "I mean, he likes to put people on a pedestal. And Dumbledore wants me to let him." They all stared and then Ron laughed, "Why?" Harry shrugged, "Beats me."
They sat in silence before Hermione asked, "Maybe he needs Slughorn to do him a favor and he won't. It's the only logical explanation." Ginny nodded in agreement, "Of course. It would make sense. How is Slughorn, Harry? Do you like him?" Harry shrugged again, "I'm not sure. I don't know if I like how he treats people." Hermione sighed, "I hope we don't have another dud of a Defense teacher.
The train ride was a long one, and half way through they all got up to go and change. When they got back Malfoy passed them and didn't even make one snide comment. Ginny frowned and whispered, "That was weird. And unusual." Harry nodded in agreement and whispered back, "I'm going to see what he's up to!" He went into the compartment, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and then followed Malfoy down the hallway.
Ginny sighed and shook her head, "He's really intent on the fact that Malfoy is a Death Eater, isn't he?" The other two nodded in agreement and they spent the rest of the journey guessing what Slughorn would be like. When the train finally came to a halt, Harry still hadn't returned. They stepped out of the compartment and Hermione said, "Do you think he's ok?" Ron nodded, "He's probably already gotten off, I expect. Come on, let's get going."

They headed down the passage and climbed off. Hagrid greeted them cheerily and they went to go and wait for the horse-drawn carriages. Ginny looked around for Harry but couldn't see him anywhere, so she began to worry. Eventually, they reached the front of the queue for carriages and then climbed on. When they reached the gates, they were forced to hop off. This was unusual. Ginny frowned as she saw Filch standing in front of the castle with a pile of baggage standing beside him. He scowled at them, "Got any Weasley Wizard Wheezes objects, Weasley's?" They shook their heads as he scanned some sort of detector over them. He frowned and yelled, "All right off ya go then! Out of my way! You're holding up the queue!"

Willingly, they hurried along, eager to get out of Filch's path. They entered the entrance hall thankfully and Ginny still couldn't see a sign of Harry as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Dean nodded at her from the other side and asked, "Had a good summer, Ginny?" She shrugged and replied, "It was rather uneventful, thanks, and yours?" He smiled and replied, "Same here." Ginny greeted Seamus and Neville, who were sitting next to her.

The sorting ceremony finally started and there was still no sign of Harry. Finally, after about four students had already been sorted, he entered the hall with Luna at his side, and a handkerchief pressed to his nose which seemed to be bleeding. Ginny frowned and said softly to them, "He's covered in blood again. Why is he always covered in blood?" Ron shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It looks like it's his own."

Harry sat down beside them and Ginny asked irritably, "Where have you been?" Harry sighed, "I'll explain later." He glanced behind himself at the Slytherin table and Ginny realized that he was staring at Draco Malfoy. She frowned and wondered what on earth had happened in the Slytherin compartment. She couldn't wait for dinner to be over in order to hear about it.

Author's note: Hey guys! I know this is incredibly delayed and I feel really bad about it! I had a really horrible exam I wrote on Friday which I know I failed because it was a language exam and the standard was set at a much too advanced level since it was a third language. Anyway so I've been studying for that and now I have another exam on the 28th so I can't guarantee that I'll have another chapter up before then.

Also thanks so much for the feedback on seventh year! I really appreciate. I still have a whole book to write about to I'll have enough time to think about it but I'm more inclined to keep Ginny at Hogwarts now during seventh year.

Thanks again guys and once again I'm really sorry for the delay! Also I really appreciate the patience you guys have! So thank you very much for that!