"Harry!" Ron greeted him as he arrived back at school. "I am so glad you're back."

"Me too,"Harry agreed. After going missing for a few months, going back to school felt delightfully mundane.

"So you have to redo your year then?" Ron asked.

"Missed too much," he confirmed with a nod. "At least I'll be able to copy my work from last year for the first half."

"That means you'll be in my sister's class though. Let me check where she is, I am sure she'll be happy to introduce you to her friends." Ron peered around until he spotted her.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be an annoyance…" Harry asked.

"No, it is fine, come on." Ron grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along. "Ginny, I am handing Harry off to you, since he'll be in your class this year."

Ginny looked up from her conversation and eyed him. "Harry! I heard you were back." She shooed Ron. "We'll take care of him, off you go."

"You good?" Ron asked.

When Harry nodded, Ron trod off.

Ginny turned to him, her arms crossed and looked him up and down. "You got tall, you were barely taller than me last year. Now you're what? Two heads taller than me?"

"Looks like you haven't grown at all since I last saw you, though. Have you stopped growing already?" he retorted. For a moment he was worried he had overstepped, they weren't that close but Ginny turned her chin up at him in a dramatic manner

"Well, I don't think it is my fault my parents ran out of ink by the seventh kid." She smiled and he chuckled in turn. "Now let me introduce you to my friends. This is Robbie, who was our token guy until now. This is Vicky and this is Siobhan, don't tell her anything, she is a terrible gossip."

"Hey!" Siobhan objected.

"Am I wrong?" Ginny asked.

"No, but I was trying to make a good first impression." She smiled and turned her attention back to Harry.

"Well, everyone knows me as the guy who went missing, so my first impression is ruined at this ruined," he replied.

"Right," Siobhan said. "What happened?"

"See, I told you she's a terrible gossip," Ginny said with a smile.

"No! I am just curious," she defended herself.

"My parents and I had to relocate for a while," Harry tried.

"Why?" Siobhan prodded.

Thankfully Ginny stepped in. "Leave him be, you don't know what happened and maybe he doesn't want to talk about it."

She looked at him and he sent a grateful smile back.

She seemed determined to have his back, because when they were assigned a group project, Ginny made sure he had someone to work with.

"Okay, you have to divide into groups of three for this project," the teacher said.

Before Harry had time to wonder who to ask, Ginny had leaned towards him. "You're with us."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Unless you don't want to work with us, but I don't think you have many other friends to choose from."

Vicky looked up from her notes in surprise. "Ginny, that's not nice."

Ginny looked at Harry to see his reaction.

He chuckled. "No, no, she's right. Thank you for adopting me into your group."

Ginny sighed. "I am only doing it to please my brother, I don't particularly like you."

"Ginny!" Vicky let out.

Ginny grinned at Harry, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I am kidding, I would never do something just to please my brother."

Harry snorted.

Harry was utterly bored in class. He looked over at Ginny who was sitting beside him. She was barely keeping her eyes open.

He leaned over and whispered. "So have you heard about Mr Santor?"

Ginny blinked a few times, not even attempting to hide she was almost dozing off. She looked at him warily. "What?" she asked, glancing at Mr Santor who was droning on about the Great Depression.

"He's a vampire."

The laugh she let out was so loud that nearly half of the class looked up at her. She covered her mouth. "I think that's why he is a teacher," she whispered from behind her hand when she had recovered.

"I am not following?" he replied.

"Well, the younger the blood, the tastier, so I have heard. He gets an endless supply here…" She gestured around her, before adding a few more ridiculous made-up facts about their teacher.

Harry was struggling to keep in his laughter and so was Ginny

Mr Santor paused and looked at them. "You two, please keep quiet." Then he continued with class.

"Harry, it's fine to come clean," she said in a low voice, eyes full of glee. "I know exactly why you went missing. Mr Santor… he got to you and you had to recover. That's why I was so quick to cover for you."

The fact they were trying to keep their laughter in, made the whole thing so much funnier than it was.

"It's alright, Harry," she said solemnly. "Your secret is safe with me. Couldn't have been easy." She put on a grim face but her eyes were sparkling.

Harry hid his face in his arms trying not to laugh.

"Mr Potter, just because you have already had this lesson, doesn't mean you should distract others."

"See, he remembers," Ginny whispered behind her hand.

Harry was biting his cheeks trying to keep his face neutral.

Ginny sat up and faced Mr Santor. "Actually, sir, this was my fault, Harry had nothing to do with it."

Mr Santor looked at them both and sighed. "Fine, you both get detention then. Now get out of my class so I can teach those who are interested." He waved them off.

Whether anyone else was interested was debatable, but they packed up their stuff and left the classroom.

"Sorry that I got you detention," Harry said as they walked down the hall.

Ginny shook her head. "Not my first time. Besides, I need to keep up the Weasley tradition of detentions."

"That's mostly Fred and George, no?" he asked.

She looked at him. "Oh, absolutely but you can't underestimate the rest of them."

"I have to give you points for originality with your little conspiracy theory there," he went on.

"How many?" She looked at him expectantly for an answer.

He laughed. "It's not a game, Gin-"

"It is now." Her face broke out in a smile.

"Fine, two points," he said giving in.

"Okay, then I am ahead of you," she teased.

He halted and crossed his arms as he turned to her. "Well, it's not hard to be! You just invented it two minutes ago!"

Harry came home and threw his bag on the floor.

His mum looked up from the couch. "We got a call from school today." She didn't seem particularly upset.

He walked to the couch too. "Yes, I got detention. Am I in trouble?"

Lily shook her head. "I am pretty sure your dad got more detention in his time than anyone I know. What did you do?"

"Oh, we were just laughing in class, Mr Santor wasn't happy." He sat down on the couch.

She frowned. "So you are making new friends and already getting them in trouble?"

"She has been in detention plenty of times, trust me," Harry defended.

"Oh, a girl?" Lily asked with a knowing look.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, it's Ginny, Ron's little sister."

Lily didn't say anything and just looked at him. Her eyebrows raised.

Harry sighed and stood up to go to the fridge escaping from her scrutinising gaze. "No, we are just friends, she's funny. Besides, I do think she has enough interested parties if I hear the guys in my class."

"She's popular, then?" Lily asked, turning towards him from the couch.

Harry took a can from the fridge and closed the door. "I suppose. She's smart and she's pretty. Doesn't matter to me."

Lily crossed her arms. "So you are sticking to the not dating thing then?"

Harry nodded resolutely as he walked back to the living room. "Yes. It's just easier that way."

She shook her head. "You sound just like your dad … worked out for him too," she said with a smile. "Fine, I won't push but you know my opinion on the matter."

"Yes, you have said, several times." He sat down again.

Her hand came to his arm. "I just don't want you to be alone and sad."

"Mom, some people are married and sad. Maybe I can be lonely and happy."

She sighed. "I'll drop it, I am sure you'll change your mind sometime, you're still young."

"Sure, mom," he agreed. He was tired of arguing about it.

Ginny stepped into the car with Harry after detention.

"Hi, Mrs Potter, nice to meet you," Ginny said politely as she closed the door and put her seatbelt on.

Lily looked over her shoulder. "You must be Ginny, then."

"Yes." She smiled. "I am so sorry I got your son in trouble."

Lily smiled back at her before starting to drive. "It's okay, I think he is genetically inclined for trouble."

"Mum!" he complained.

Ginny shot him an amused look. "Me too, I think."

"Definitely," Harry replied.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" Lily asked casually.

Harry kept in a groan. "Mum, why would you want to know?"

"Just making small talk," she replied innocently. "I am sure Ginny doesn't mind."

"Oh, I don't have a boyfriend currently. I don't think summertime is a good time to have boyfriends," she replied.

"Oh, so do you plan them around the seasons then?" he asked with a laugh.

"It's almost fall," his mum noted.

Ginny nodded. "Indeed it is. I am sure Harry will help me select one, he has all the boys' intel."

Harry tried to resist smiling when he saw his mother's visible disappointment. He looked at Ginny. "It would be my honour."

"You still haven't guessed the animal, Harry," she said, coming back to the game they were playing during detention.

"I give up."

"It was a pangolin," she told him.

"You were being misleading on purpose!" he accused her.

She shook her head. "Are you just bad at games or do you enjoy losing?"

Lily chuckled. "You were right, Harry. She is funny." She stopped the car in front of their house. "I have a few more errands to run."

"Thanks for dropping us off." He had a suspicion she just wanted to see Ginny.

They stepped out of the car and they both walked into the house. Harry let her in.

Ginny looked around the living room. "Wow, so are your parents, like, rich?"

Harry shrugged, a little embarrassed. "We do okay."

"That's such a rich-people thing to say," she said with an amused shake of her head.

They walked to Harry's room. He had just turned around to take out his laptop when he noticed Ginny had made herself comfortable on his bed, leaning against the wall.

He raised his eyebrows.

She chuckled. "Sorry, when you have six brothers, you don't get a sense for personal space. I can move?"

"Just scoot over," he told her.

She moved a little to the side and he sat down beside her.

"So I am helping you pick out a boyfriend?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded. "Yes, you must have the changing room secrets."

He chuckled. "I sure do." He didn't immediately go on.

"Is it that bad?" she asked.

"No, no," he reassured her. "Trust me, you have options." He looked around. "Where is my notepad?"

"You're taking notes?" she asked.

"This is serious business, Ginny," he told her. Instead, he opened his laptop and started a new document.

"Are you going to print me a copy?" she teased.

"Is an email fine for you?"

She nodded with a smile.