Senior Year

Senior Year

Disclaimer: No, I do not own the characters that you recognize... But, I do own the characters you don't recognize and the idea... like usual... Well, you know the drill...

Chapter One: Gotta Love Summer

The early morning sunlight filtered in through the window of the bedroom. It revealed a messy bedroom that was messy to a point that could only be achieved by a teenage boy. There were random articles of clothing flung across the floor, on the couch, the desk, even on the bed. The carpet on the hardwood floor was stained in several places. Papers were strewn haphazardly across the desk and some had fallen to the dirty floor. The small trash can in the corner looked like it had just erupted. Trash from yesterday mingled with trash from three months ago to create quite a scene. The bookshelves were cluttered with books of various sizes and subjects. Some lay on their sides while others stood upright, giving off a messy look. The walls were cluttered as well. Various posters crowded their limited space. They all revealed sports teams or bands. One of the larger posters was of a sports team that appeared to be in a humungous group hug... meaning that there were more than sixty people in the group hug. The words about the picture read "Boston Red Sox World Series Champions 2004". Another poster had what appeared to be a space ship from far away, but when seen up close, it was hard to tell what it was. There were two words under the picture one read "Escape" and the other was "Journey".

Underneath the comforter on the messy bed, there seemed to be a rather large lump. As the sun continued to filter into the room, the lump began to stir, for the sun seemed to be seeping into its eyes. After a few minutes of moving around and trying to find a position in which the sun did not penetrate into its eyes, the lump finally realized that it wasn't going to fall back asleep. It threw the comforter off and blinked into the offending sun.

What was revealed when the comforter was torn off was a skinny boy of about seventeen. He had extremely messy black hair that stuck up in odd places and looked like it hadn't been combed... well, ever. Through the mass of jet-black hair, keen, emerald green eyes could be seen when he wasn't blinking. The boy hastily grabbed a pair of round glasses on his bed-side table and thrust them onto his skinny nose. He sat up farther in bed and stretched.

The boy was wearing only a pair of boxers, which revealed his skinny, yet muscular form. Tan skin stretched over his muscles as he stretched to relieve his body of the kinks from sleep. Slowly, the boy climbed out of his bed. He stumbled over to his closet and grabbed a gray t-shirt from the floor. He began to walk out of his room while pulling on the t-shirt. It took him a while to open the door for all the clutter that was scattered around it. When he had successfully vacated his room, he closed his door and proceeded to walk down the hall towards the staircase. Behind him, on his door, there was another poster. This one had a very distinct space ship on it that looked like it was about to land. The solitary word under the picture read "Boston".

As the boy stumbled groggily down the hallway, he stopped at one of the doors closer to the stairs. It was partially open. He pushed it open so that he could lean his head in. What he saw was a room quite similar to his own, what with the strewn clothes and all around messiness. The covers on the bed were open to reveal an empty, but slept in bed. Seeing that his godfather was awake, the boy continued his stumbling way all the way downstairs to the kitchen that was in a similar state to both of the rooms.

Before he entered the kitchen, the boy smelled the bacon that was cooking and the salted eggs. He also smelled the pot of coffee that his god father had put on. Smelling these good smells, the boy felt his stomach growl and quickened his pace until he had entered the kitchen.

Leaning on one of the counters on the right side of the stove was a tall, lean man of about 35. He had shoulder length, stringy black hair and fierce gray eyes. His tan skin contrasted with his dark hair and his mouth was always at the ready to break into a flirtatious smile. He was practically the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. He was leaning carelessly against the counter, reading the morning's paper and sipping coffee from a dark blue mug that read "Baseball Hall of Fame".

When he heard his godson enter the kitchen, the man looked up and smiled. "'Morning, Harry!" he said cheerfully. Harry mumbled an incoherent reply and slumped down at the table. "Sleep well?" Harry mumbled another reply. His godfather just laughed at him. Harry grumbled at him.

"Sorry, you're just very amusing when you're sleepy," the man insisted, placing a plate full to the point of exploding with bacon and eggs. He placed a mug of coffee next to the plate and gave Harry a fork of questionable cleanliness. Harry mumbled a thank you and proceeded to shovel food into his mouth. He was done within five minutes.

"Thanks, Sirius," he said.

"You better now?" Sirius asked, still incredibly amused.

"Yeah. Thanks," Harry said, getting up to pile his plate with more food and refill his mug with coffee.

"No problem," Sirius said, smirking. "The Sox won."

Harry looked at his godfather in disbelief.

"I'm serious!"

"I never had any doubts that you weren't," Harry said, smirking.

"Oh shut up!"

"You walked right into that one, Sirius. Not my fault," Harry said, smiling at his godfather in mock innocence.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "So, what are your plans for today?"

"I'm gonna meet Hermione at the bus stop and then we're going to walk over to Ron's. Mrs. Weasley is making egg salad for lunch," Harry explained.

"Well then, I might just have to come over for lunch too," Sirius said, jokingly.

"I'm sure that she would love to have you over. She worries about you," Harry said.

"Molly Weasley worries about everything and everyone," Sirius said, smiling.

Harry smiled too. "Yeah, but that's good when I have a godfather who neglects me," he said, teasing Sirius. Harry had lived with Sirius since he was two years old, when his parents had died in a car crash. Sirius had been his dad, James's, best friend and so, he was naturally Harry's godfather. Sure, they had their moments, just like everyone, but they got along very well and had tons of fun together.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry.

"What are your plans for the day? Seeing Jessie today?" Harry asked, referring to Sirius's long term girlfriend.

"Yeah. I'm going to meet her for lunch," Sirius said.

"When are you going to pop the question?"

"It's none of your business," Sirius said, his face growing hot. He had been trying to ask Jessie to marry him for weeks.

"O.K. I'll see you... later. I'll call you, O.K.?" Harry said, getting up and walking up the stairs to get changed.

When he came back down, Sirius was doing the dishes. "See you," Harry called as he slammed the door. He grabbed his bike and began to ride towards the bus stop to meet his friend.

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Harry rode his bike down the road that he and Sirius lived on, Hogsmeade Row. It was a sunny day in August and it was extremely humid. As soon as he had stepped outside, Harry had felt like he was entering a sauna. The air seemed to press in around him, almost suffocating him. As he rode his bike down the street, underneath the cool shade of the maple trees, Harry daydreamed.

When he turned onto the sidewalk on Main Street, Harry was forced to snap out of his day dream because he was almost hit by a car. But, as soon as he had assured his safety on the sidewalk, he let his mind slip away as he neared downtown Lexington.

The first thoughts that came to mind were of the new school year that he and his friends would soon be starting. They would be seniors in high school! They had to load up on APs and start thinking about which colleges they wanted to go to. Then, they had to apply to the colleges and start thinking about majors and career choices. Suffice to say that it was going to be a busy first semester. But, second semester, they didn't have to worry anymore, just go to school and keep their grades up for sports.

Ah, sports! Harry loved sports. He was a total jock and he was proud of it. Sports toned his body and made him feel good. Harry's favorite sport was soccer. He and his best friend Ron were soccer nuts. During the soccer season, they ate slept and drank soccer. But, soccer season wasn't until spring. Until then, they had to deal with cross country, indoor track, and their coed softball team. But, their softball team was not competitive in the least. They simply played for fun with their friends. Heck, even Hermione was on the team. And then, when they weren't playing sports or being forced to study by Hermione, Ron and Harry were on the tech. crew for their school's drama productions.

Thinking about the drama productions made Harry think of Ginny. Ginny Weasley was amazing. She was a straight A student, she was a phenomenal singer, she was a graceful dancer, she could act extremely well, she was kind, she had street smarts, she was tough, she was wild, she was beautiful... she was Ron's little sister. Harry sighed. Over the summer, he had become increasingly infatuated with Ginny Weasley. But, he didn't know how to explain these feelings he was having towards his best friend's little sister. It was more than just liking her, but certainly, it wasn't love... was it?

Harry almost ran into Hermione's bus when it dawned on him that he was in love with Ginny Weasley.

His bike skidded off to the side, allowing Harry to narrowly avoid his death. He landed in a labyrinth of bike and limbs on the soft grass next to the road.

As the passengers began to unload off of the public bus, Harry tried to regain control of his senses. When his head had stopped reeling and he was able to see things at a normal level of blurriness (his glasses had fallen off in the commotion), Harry found that he was trapped beneath his bike in a most painful way. A bar was digging into one knee while the chain was digging into his calf. A wheel was over his chest and the handle bars were sticking painfully into his lower abdomen. Harry groaned.

He heard footsteps and a soft laugh, then a sigh of resignation as the person who had come up next to him bent down to retrieve his glasses. He felt lean hands place his round glasses back on his nose and as everything became clear again, he saw a head full of bushy brown hair trying to help him out of his predicament.

"You're really lucky that you didn't break you glasses this time," Hermione laughed as she helped him untangle himself from his damaged bike.

"What do you mean 'this time'?" Harry asked indignantly. Hermione gave him a look as she pulled his bike up and reached a hand down to pull him up. "So I fall a lot, what can I say? I'm a guy," Harry said, trying and failing to defend himself.

Hermione chuckled as she made sure that he was OK enough to walk by himself.

"And yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking," Harry said sarcastically.

"As you said, you fall a lot. I know by now that your leg could be broken and you'd still be able to walk, if only out of stubbornness," Hermione joked. Harry stuck his tongue out at his friend. "Oh, very mature, Harry," Hermione joked.

"Hey, give me a break! I just fell off my bike."

"Last time you fell off your bike, you managed to get up mere seconds after the fall in order to push me into the Lake, if you don't recall," Hermione said, staring him down.

Harry shrunk under her glare. "Sorry about that, 'Mione. I was aiming for Ron." Harry winced.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know! I was only joking!" she started laughing at how serious Harry had taken her.

Harry laughed too and pushed his friend gently.

The two friends continued on in a comfortable silence on their way down the street that would eventually bring them to the Weasleys' driveway, which, after two miles, would bring them to the Burrow where the Weasleys resided.

"So, what were you thinking about that made you almost run into the bus? I mean, you're thick, but you're not usually that thick," Hermione joked, breaking the silence and causing Harry to push her again, this time a bit harder.

"Nothing," Harry said, embarrassed by his sudden revelation.

"Oh come on! You almost ran into a bus for god's sake! Something is definitely up!" Hermione said, exasperated with her friend's sudden shyness.

"Well, I just... discovered... that I'm... that I'm... I'm... in love," Harry said, finally managing to finish his sentence. But, by the look in Hermione's eyes, he knew that the conversation, however, was far from finished.

"Who?" Hermione asked, smirking at her friend.

Harry blushed. "I'm not telling."

"Oh, don't be silly! I already know who it is, you just need to say it out loud to finalize it."

"You know?" Harry asked, his heartbeat speeding up considerably.

"Harry, everyone knows that you've been in love with yourself..." Hermione trailed off as Harry sighed with relief.

Then, he realized what she was implying. "Hey! I'm not like that!"

"Mmm hmm... sure," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Soon, both friends were stumbling around, their persons racking with laughter.

"God, Hermione! You're awful!" Harry managed to gasp out when their laughter had subsided.

By now, the two friends had turned down what appeared to be a gravel driveway, and it did lead to several houses like a driveway would. But, after a while, the gravel would turn into a dirt road that would continue on for another mile or so before it reached the Weasleys' house. Their house, the Burrow, was the farthest one away from the road. It was slightly inconvenient to get to, but it was a beautiful, big old house that the Weasley family had occupied since before the American Revolution. Behind the Burrow, there was an expanse of woods that everyone called Fangorn Forest. And then, there was the battlefield of the first skirmish of the Revolutionary War, with the Rude Bridge visible in the distance.

Once they had calmed down, Hermione looked at Harry curiously. "But, I think I do know who you are in love with," she said, her voice suddenly serious.

Harry looked at her and realized that she wasn't joking this time.

"Really?" he asked her, suddenly nervous that he was being way too obvious.

Hermione simply nodded.

"Who?"

"You need to say it for yourself. To make it real," Hermione insisted.

Harry sighed and looked around nervously, afraid that a Weasley was hidden somewhere in the trees that bordered the road they were traveling. "I'minlovewithGinny," he said quickly, not looking at Hermione.

"What was that?"

"I'm in love with Ginny."

"What?"

"I'M IN LOVE WITH GINNY WEASLEY!" Harry finally shouted out, and he had to admit, it felt good to just scream it. He smiled over at Hermione who gave him a satisfied look.

"Good," was all she said.

"How did you know? Was I being that obvious?" Harry asked, suddenly nervous. "Does Ron know?" Harry asked, referring to his other best friend who was Ginny's older brother and would probably pummel him if he so much as touched Ginny.

"Harry, relax! I just know because I'm one of your close friends and I'm unusually observant. I don't think anyone else knows. Ron certainly doesn't. He's too thick," Hermione trailed off. Unlike Harry's crush, everyone was aware of the mutual affection between Ron and Hermione, except for Ron and Hermione. It was quite frustrating.

Once Hermione had assured Harry that she was the only one who knew, the two friends continued on to the Burrow, discussing things like their upcoming senior year of high school and their coed softball team.

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The white knob of the shower squealed and creaked as a Ginny Weasley turned it. The warm water began to spurt out of the faucet, splashing the girl a bit. She clambered into the shower and sighed as she let the warm water run over her body. She lathered her long deep-red hair with lily-scented shampoo and then let the soap be washed off by the water that was spraying out of the showerhead. She continued her shower, and when she was done, she stepped out and grabbed the green towel that was waiting on the hook near the shower. She dried herself off and scrubbed her hair so that it was drier than it had been before.

Ginny proceeded to lather her body with lotion so as to moisturize it. Then, she began to brush her teeth.

As she covered her teeth in the minty toothpaste, Ginny thought about a certain black-haired, emerald-eyed boy for whom she was head over heels.

Ginny had known Harry for as long as she could remember. Before his parents died, they had been close friends to her parents, for even thought Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were older than Mr. and Mrs. Potter had been, Mrs. Weasley had been pregnant at the same time as Mrs. Potter and they had gotten to know each other because they both used to go for walks around the Rude Bridge and the Old Manse.

Harry and Ron had been born mere months apart and had been best friends their whole lives. After the Potters had died, the Weasleys had helped Sirius and Harry start their new life together. That had been when Harry and Ron were three and Ginny was two. Ginny had grown up with Harry like a seventh brother. But, recently, she had started having feelings about him that were not sisterly. And it wasn't until a few days ago when Ginny had finally come to terms with the fact that her feelings for Harry were no longer crush material.

But, this realization only made Ginny more upset because she knew that these feelings could never be returned. She had to keep telling herself that Harry saw her as a little sister and a friend, nothing more. But, it was so hard to do when she some near every day and was close to him and looked into his emerald eyes and saw his heart-breaking smile. It was all Ginny could do not to tell him she loved him every time she saw him.

Ginny sighed as she spit out her toothpaste and wrapped her towel around her body so that she could walk across the hall to her bedroom.

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Harry and Hermione opened the back door that led into the Burrow's kitchen to find the Weasley twins sitting at the kitchen table looking mischievous and whispering about something or other. The twins looked up when they heard the door close to find a wary Harry and a suspicious Hermione.

"Well good morning, surrogate Weasleys!" Fred said. Harry had known the twins for his whole life and could tell them apart. He wouldn't be able to tell you why or how if you asked him, but he could definitely tell them apart. So could Hermione. No one knew how she could tell them apart, but she most certainly could. It unnerved the twins and added to the fact that, besides their mother and sister, Hermione was the only one they were afraid of.

"'Morning Fred, George," Harry said, taking a piece of bacon from George's plate and chewing on it.

"Help yourself," George said sarcastically.

"Thanks," Harry replied with a cheeky smile.

"What are you two up to?" Hermione asked, trying to snatch the paper that the twins had been pouring over.

"Oh no you don't!" George said, holding it out of her grasp.

"Be patient, 'Mione," Fred said.

"You'll find out-"

"-soon enough," Fred said, finishing his twins sentence.

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes as the twins stalked out of the room.

"Obviously college has not matured them," Hermione said. Fred and George had just returned from their freshmen year at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Harry laughed and nodded his head in agreement.

"Harry! Hermione! How are you, dears?" Mrs. Weasley said, coming into the kitchen with Ron following her, looking rather sleepy.

"Good morning Mrs. Weasley," Harry and Hermione said, smiling and accepting her bone crushing hugs.

"Here. Sit down and have some breakfast."

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley, but I already ate..." Hermione was cut off when a large plate of steaming eggs and bacon was pushed under her nose. Hermione was too polite to refuse, so she proceeded to eat. Harry was always hungry, so he didn't mind having a second breakfast. Ron sat at the table groggily until his food was placed before him. Then, he seemed to come alive as he began shoveling food into his mouth.

After a while, Harry excused himself, because he had to use the bathroom. He walked up the familiar steps and into the hall.

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Ginny stepped out of the steamy bathroom and let the cool air of the hallway engulf her, cooling her warm body. After a moment of letting the sweet, cool air sweep over her, she opened her eyes and was about to walk across the hall and into her bedroom when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Stupidly, she assumed it was one of her brothers and waited to give whoever it was the shock of their life.

However, the person who came up the stairs was not the only one who was shocked. Ginny nearly fell down when she saw that it was Harry who was coming up the stairs.

Harry stopped when he saw Ginny in nothing more than a towel that clung to her wet body, with her wet hair falling down her back and her face. However, he quickly regained composure, as did Ginny. This was one of the reasons their relationship had not progressed, they were both too stubborn.

"Wow Gin. I didn't know you were like that," Harry said, smirking at her.

Ginny almost blanched when he used her nickname, but quickly recovered. "Like what?" Well, maybe not so much.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head and laughing at her, making her angry at him.

"Oh shut up, Harry. You're the one who's not even averting your eyes and is just standing there staring at me while I'm indecently clothed."

"Gin, I've known you forever and you're basically like a sister to me. I really don't think it matters." It took all of Harry's will to say this with a smile on his face.

Ginny tried not to feel sad and angry when he called her his sister. Instead, she brushed past him, making sure that their bodies touched, and proceeded into her room. Hey, she could still try to seduce him, right?

Harry almost passed out when her body brushed up against his. He shook it off and walked into the bathroom.

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