Harry had rather enjoyed his summer. During its entirety he had never missed a chance to gloat to Sirius that he had, in fact, successfully snogged more witches in his first year than his godfather had managed. Of course Sirius' excuse was that he wasn't really trying very hard his first year as he'd only recently become interested in the opposite sex, Harry would have none of it, though.

Unfortunately for Harry, the Weasley's had won the Daily Prophet's Annual Prize Draw and gone to Egypt for much of the summer. He tried to convince Sirius to let him go, as well, but Sirius, being a top auror, and, therefore, in great demand, couldn't get enough time off to make the trip and both he and Harry agreed that Mrs. Weasley probably wouldn't want Harry to join their family on the trip unsupervised. In fact, Harry thoguht she probably wouldn't want him on the trip supervised, either, provided such supervision came in the form of Sirius Black. Thus, Harry spent the summer mostly alone as his other best friend, Hermione, didn't yet seem ready to admit that she was marauder, or that she was his friend, but Harry knew she would come around. Although she hung out with the marauders she refused to call herself one, openly condemned their antics, and seemed to think that spending too much time with Harry would lead to her being corrupted. Harry thought this was a little hypocritical. Harry's solitary summer was occasionally punctuated on days when he would hang out with Dean or Seamus, acquaintances from Gryffindor, they weren't marauders but it was better than sitting around an empty house.

At present, however, with present referring to 9 AM on a Saturday, Harry's slumber was coming to an abrupt end, not unlike the summer itself. The case Sirius just closed for the Ministry required him to be on an uncomfortably early schedule, uncomfortably early for him, anyway. The fact that he could use this to wake Harry after only a few hours of sleep almost made getting up at a respectable hour worth it. Today Sirius' method of choice to rouse Harry from bed was a stream of water to the face, summoned from his wand. It had the desired effect. Harry was so used to these antics, however, that he wasn't surprised when he woke up to a face full of water, just tired.

"Seriously?"

"Sirius-ly, more like it."

"Come up with that one all on your own?"

"I did. What is at issue here, however, is not my comedic genius. We've actually got some shopping to do."

"Yes, but why does it need to be done at 9 AM?"

"So we can beat the crowds!"

"Err, right. I'll get right on that."

With a family as large as the Weasleys even breakfast was an ordeal, but Molly managed just fine. The Burrow was even busier than usual, this morning, however, as it was time for the annual trip to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies and the upper stories of the Burrow clamored with the sound of children jockeying for the house's only bathroom. Molly shed a tear as she thought how, as hectic as these trips were, she was going to miss them when her kids had all grown up and moved out. Ginny, her youngest, would be joining her others this year at Hogwart and that meant she only had 6 Diagon Alley days left. She was worried about her, too. Her youngest and her only daughter, to boot. Sure, with Dumbledore there Hogwarts was a safe place but just last year the Defense against the Dark Arts professor tried to kill a student. And, while this isn't something that's likely to happen every year, what was even more concerning to Molly was the student who stopped him: Harry Potter. Everyone knew Harry survived Voldemort's killing curse as a child, that was surely the mark of great power. Stopping a defense against the dark arts professor was no small feat, either, even if he was raised by an auror. This time, however, Harry did more than just survive, he actually killed the professor. This isn't the sort of thing most normal boys were doing and even if the professor in question was up to no good it doesn't mean Harry Potter was all good, either. This power Harry Potter has isn't necessarily bad, Dumbledore is powerful, but so is Voldemort. And, even if that Potter boy isn't the next dark lord he wasn't exactly who she wanted her children hanging out with. In fact, Harry is probably the reason Ron was in a girl's lavatory when the troll showed up last year. Just because Harry saved him from the troll doesn't make up for the fact that Harry is probably the reason Ron and that poor muggle-born girl were there in the first place. Molly had also heard that he was up to the same pranks that his father and his friends were up to and the last thing Fred and George needed was encouragement and she certainly didn't want Ron sucked up into that mess. Even more frightening for her was the fact that she suspected Ginny might be attracted to the boy. Ginny was unusually quiet when she met him last year and stared at her feet the whole time, that wasn't her normally loud self at all. At the same time, she might have just been star struck because she always used to ask her and Arthur to read her tales of Harry Potter when she was younger. Either way, Molly knew the way Sirius went through girls and Hogwarts and, based on bits of overheard conversation among her sons she gathered Harry was no different and she certainly didn't want her daughter to fall victim to that sort of thing.

Ginny always made sure she woke up before her brothers to insure she could have much time as she pleased in the bathroom for her morning shower. Because they had to go to Diagon Alley today she knew this to be of paramount importance if she didn't want to be rushed. During her shower she realized that, although tomorrow would finally be her first day at Hogwarts, today might be even more important. Ron, Fred, and George are all friends with Harry Potter so she just might get to see him in Diagon Alley today. She probably needed a pep-talk for this.

This isn't a big deal, Ginny. He's not a character from a book, he's just another student, he's no different from any of Ron's other friends. Just act normal. You could probably even try eye contact this time.

Actually, no. Don't try eye contact, that's moving a little too fast, just stick to looking at your shoes. It's probably not a good idea to give him the entire history of your name either, though. Although last time you did he made a joke. Harry Potter is so funny. He has the cutest smile, too...

Focus, Ginny. Today act totally normal when you see Harry Potter. You're going to be the most normal girl he's ever seen.

Actually that doesn't sound so good, either...

Arriving as early as they did actually did mean that they beat a lot of the crowds to the stores. Harry wasn't sure why this surprised him so much, every normal person, which is to say: everyone who is not Sirius during the past 3 weeks, probably likes sleeping in. The lack of crowds meant that they made quick work of getting his supplies and, just as the crowds started to arrive, he and Sirius made their way to the ice cream shop to finish off their day with a pre-lunch ice cream, because when you make a bachelor raise a kid there will be pre-lunch ice cream. Just as they sat down with their cones a gaggle of redheads walked out of the Leaky Cauldron toward the shop.

Harry was thrilled . He'd written letters to Ron and the twins over summer but this was the first time he'd gotten to see his fellow marauders since the last of day of their first year.

"Harry!" his three fellow marauders called out to him as they ran over to join the table he and Sirius were at.

"It's been a while."

"That it has, Harry." "Some might even say too much of a while." "Indeed." The twins agreed.

The rest of the Weasleys had caught up to them, now.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. How was Egypt?" Harry inquired. After his last encounter with the Weasleys he thought it wise to paint the picture of himself as a golden child. This was new for Harry, the whole boy-who-lived thing usually won him instant trust but you can't be a good marauder without knowing how to act.

"It was fantastic. We got to meet one of our other sons, Charlie, and see all the ancient Egyptian ruins. That's the oldest known magical place, you know."

"That sounds charming, and it's nice to see you all, again. Even you, Perc'."

Percy didn't seem to take offense as he smiled and nodded in kind.

"And you" Harry said, looking at Ginny, who was hard at work on her stare-at-the-ground routine "I don't think we've met before."

Ginny, confident that the ground wouldn't go anywhere were she to look away, looked up Harry "Hi. We actually met last year. I'm Ginny."

I was doing so well impressing Mrs. Weasley, too, and now I forgot I met her daughter before. How is that even possible? She's the only girl. Also, she's a girl. Actually, she's not that attractive, so I guess that answers how that's possible. I think I can still salvage this. Ginny's gotta be short for something, right? Virginia, maybe? Or Ginevra. Well this is a witch we're talking about here, I don't guess that's too hard to figure out... "Ginny, short for Ginevra, right? I think I remember meeting you now."

"Yeah." Ginny said, staring at the ground again.

She sort of seemed upset, Harry thought, but she was starting at the ground before, perhaps upset is just her natural state, Harry thought, as he and Sirius finished up their respective ice creams.

"This is going to be her first year at Hogwarts!" Mrs. Weasley said, beaming.

"I"m sure I'll see her around Gryffindor tower, then." Harry said, returning Mrs. Weasley's smile. Harry didn't much care where she went but he knew mentioning to a Gryffindor family how likely it is that their child will be a Gryffindor was a sure way to win over hearts and minds.

"Well, as much as I hate to truncate this reunion I think it's probably about time we start heading back, Harry."

"Aww, can Harry shop with us, can't he?" Ron pleaded.

Sirius, quickly noting the look of disapproval cut in "I actually need him back at Grimauld Place, sorry guys. I promise to return your marauder to you tomorrow."

Harry, saying goodbye to everyone, grabbed Sirius as the apparated out.

"You didn't actually need me for anything, did you?"

"Did you see Molly's face?"

"Yeah, it was a good call, I just wanted to make sure you weren't actually expecting me to do chores or something.

When the Weasleys returned home Ginny went straight to her room to organize all her new school things, and to think.

I think I did pretty good, today. Sure, last year I gave Harry the full entomology of my name but that's the reason he remembered me today! Actually, it might not be a good thing that the only thing he remembers about me is the most embarrassing moment of the entire 2 minutes I've ever seen him. I've got the entire school year to make it up, though, and he actually sounded excited that I'm probably going to be a Gryffindor. It's too bad Draco Malfoy had to show up in the book shop and ruin all that, though. It was actually kind of funny when you think about it, really. He assumed that the marauders needed Harry around to engage him in a verbal sparring match but he's clearly never had to trade insults with Fred and George before. It ended being Draco's dad that had to save him, though. I think it's a little sad for a grown man to be making fun of a little girl for having used books, though.

A/N: Yup, the trip to Egypt moved up a year. I'm writing this author's note from the future and I can tell you that I sort of regret doing that just a little but it all works out.