I stayed away from my house for a month. It wasn't worth trying to go home before then. I spent New Years' with Neville and Justin. We ended up having a small party at the apartment. I didn't get a New Years' kiss, but I didn't care.

It was the beginning of February when I decided to go to my brothers' shop to see what they were up to. I also wanted to see if I could go home yet.

"Ginny! Long time no see," Lee greeted as I walked in.

"Hey, Lee. How're things? Get a girlfriend yet?" I said as I wandered around the shop. It was relatively slow because many of their customers were at Hogwarts. During the school year, the shop does a lot of mail order business.

"You know what? I actually do have a girlfriend," Lee said. "I hear you're seeing someone as well."

My eyes opened wide with surprise. Who am I seeing? I'd like to get in on that action.

"Who told you that?"

"Harry."

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.

"Really?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

"Yeah. Oh, hi Fred!"

Fred came into the shop with a large canvas bag over his shoulder and smiled at me. "We get so much mail these days that we can't have the owls come into the shop. So they go to the owl post office and I have to go pick it up there." He dropped the bag on the floor and a few letters spilled out of it.

"So, Ginny," he said, regaining his composure. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you have any idea when I can come home?" I asked. No point in beating around the bush.

Fred sighed. "I really don't. Mum seems bent on kicking all of us out of the house. Did you know Ron and Hermione have their own apartment now?"

I gasped. "What? When did this happen?"

"Couple of weeks ago. Ron said that he wanted to move in with Hermione once summer started and she got mad and said he might as well move in with her now. So he just up and left."

"So I'm not coming home any time soon, am I?"

"Nope. I hate being there alone. Now Mum has no one to boss around but me. You might as well find yourself a permanent place to stay, Gin. I think she and Dad want the house all to themselves."

Fantastic. Now what am I going to do?

"Wow. Okay. You wouldn't be able to tell me where Ron lives now, would you? I kind of miss him, annoying as he is."

Fred and Lee both laughed. "I don't really know. But George does, if you want to wait for him to get here."

I decided to wait until George came in. Apparently he comes in later than Lee and Fred do because he has to take care of Katie in the morning. I guess she has horrible morning sickness.

George walked in, brushing snow from his clothes. "Ginny!"

"Hi, George. How's Katie?"

"Except for the horrible morning sickness, fine."

"So do you know where Ron lives?"

"Yeah, actually. He lives in the same place I do."

"You do?" Fred asked. "I didn't know that."

"He doesn't want Mum to find him so he doesn't want anyone to know. I wasn't even supposed to know but I ran into him the other day."

"Well, where does he live?"

"In Hogsmeade. In an apartment."

Wait a minute. I live in Hogsmeade and I haven't seen anybody! Wait a minute, there's only one apartment complex in Hogsmeade and I live in it! What in the world?

"Interesting. So are you going to tell me which one or do I have to find it myself?"

"Sorry, can't tell you. Have fun looking!"

"George, you suck."

"Yep."

I hexed him (he really doesn't look good with elephant ears) and left the shop. Now that I think about it, no wonder I never see them. I usually apparate from place to place but don't really take the time to walk around Hogsmeade, much less my apartment complex.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Neville said happily as he came into my room.

"Mmm hmm. Good night now," I said sleepily as I buried my head under a pillow.

"Up! This is going to be a good day!" Neville said as he bounced onto my bed.

"Too early. My day off. No one to love. Me sleepy. Go away."

Neville pulled the blanket off of me and grabbed my ankles. "I'll pull you out of bed," he warned. I grabbed the edge of the mattress.

"Go ahead and try."

Neville pulled and I fell off of the bed. "Ow."

"Get dressed! It's already three in the afternoon."

"You're freakishly strong, did you know that?"

"Yep. No complaints from Justin though."

Oh dear god, I so do not want to know. I got dressed and we left for Hogsmeade. My store was closed for the holiday, so I had the day off.

"Where's Justin?" I asked.

"He had to work. He asked us to stop by though."

Justin works as a manager at a flower shop in Hogsmeade. We went in to say hello, but he was really busy so we left.

"So what are you two doing tonight?" I asked.

"I dunno yet. It's a surprise."

"That's cool." Tonight I would be going to Luna's house. She and Colin insisted I hang out with them tonight because they didn't want me to be all alone.

We walked into the Three Broomsticks and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione. By instinct and out of fear I grabbed Neville's hand.

"Harry! Hermione! Hi!" Neville yelled, pulling me toward them.

"Neville! Ginny! What a surprise!" Hermione greeted. She got up from the table and gave each of us a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked coldly.

"Just enjoying time off. You?" Neville responded.

"It's Valentine's Day and we didn't want Harry to feel left out. So I have two dates today!" Hermione boasted.

"That's cool. Neville, we really should be going." I turned on my heel and made my way through the crowd to the door.

"It was nice seeing you again!" Neville yelled to Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Ron and Hermione waved at us. Harry sat there with a dark look on his face.

The rest of the day passed and was pretty much uneventful. I went with Luna and Colin to the movies and out to a restaurant in a muggle town. Being the third wheel definitely sucks.

I was walking home through Hogsmeade, keeping an eye out for my brothers to see where they lived, when someone came up behind me and put their hand over my mouth. I struggled and fought, but they were stronger than me and pulled me into an alley behind Madam Puddifoot's. They reached into my robes, found my wand, and snapped it into two pieces.

"Let go of me!" I yelled.

"Shut up!" the man hissed. He threw me away from him and I stumbled into a couple of garbage cans.

"You'll stay still if you know what's good for you," the man said, pointing his wand at me. I looked at him.

"Goyle? Gregory Goyle, is that you?" I asked.

"Shut up." He took out his wand and muttered a spell that had me stuck to a wall. Then he backhanded me.

Someone else came into the alley.

"Thank you. Here's your money," the woman said. She held out something in her hand and Goyle walked away from me to take the money. He pocketed the money and ran away.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I said fearfully.

"Stay away from Harry. He's mine!" the woman yelled. Oh, I know who this is.

I strained against the bonds. "Lavender, you're insane. I know all about you. You can't threaten me like this!"

"Stay away from Harry!"

"Or what?"

"I'll kill you!"

Oh, that's it. She can't boss me around. I screamed and lunged toward her, breaking whatever spell Goyle had ineptly cast. I hit her in the face and soon we were involved in an all out brawl. I made Lavender come out into the street. She punched me in the face and I threw her up against a window. Someone must have heard our yelling, because I was being pulled away from Lavender.

"Stop! Stop!" a man yelled. I stopped fighting and stood still. There were about twenty people staring at us. Lavender was dragged away and I was forced into the Three Broomsticks.

I sat down at a table. Someone gave me a napkin and I started to wipe the sweat and blood from my face and hands.

"Ginny?"

I looked up. There was Harry, standing over me.

"Harry," I said simply.

"It's okay, I'll take her from here," Harry said. The people that were standing around me went away.

"Lavender attacked me," I said. "But I'm okay now. I'm just going to go home." I got up and walked out of the bar. Harry followed.

"Ginny," he said. "I'll walk with you."

We walked through the streets of Hogsmeade until we reached Neville's apartment building.

"I have to go," Harry said. He wouldn't even walk me into the building. "My girlfriend is waiting for me."

"Oh," I said softly. "What were you doing in the Three Broomsticks then?"

"Talking with Hagrid. My girlfriend works there too, I was just waiting for her to get off."

"Oh. Okay then," I stated.

"Is he a good boyfriend?" Harry asked.

"Who?"

"Neville. He seems to like you a lot."

"What are you talking about? Neville isn't my boyfriend."

Harry seemed to get angry. "Then what are you doing with him? You spend all of your time with him and you live with him. Don't lie to me, Ginny!"

He walked away from me. "Harry, he's not my boyfriend!"

"I don't want to hear it, Ginny!"

"Harry, Neville's gay!" I yelled. I don't think he heard me though, because he kept his head down and walked down the street, away from me.