When Harry Met Ginny...

Author's Notes: After the fluff of the first chapter, this one is a little more angsty. I mean come on you can't have a Harry Potter story without a little angst and drama. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy. Please read and review!

Chapter 2: "Fun" At The Pond

The sight that greeted Harry Potter when he arrived at The Burrow's pond left him feeling like he had been hit upside the head with a ton of bricks. His eyes bugged out of his head, his jaw fell open, and he was certain that had he been forced to talk at that moment the only sounds that would have emerged from his mouth could have easily passed for the gurgling of a disgruntled infant. What Harry saw was Ginny in all her resplendent glory.

The small red haired girl was dressed in a dark blue one-piece swimsuit that clung very tightly to her body. Her beautiful red hair was pulled up into a ponytail held in the back by a small white elastic hair tie. The neckline of the swimsuit extended several inches down from her throat, showing off some of the creamy-white skin of her upper chest. Her arms and legs were completely uncovered, and Harry saw that her skin appeared to be extremely soft and smooth, and he suddenly had the desire once again to tell if it felt the same way that it looked. She was definitely still a young girl, but Harry could see that her future womanly features were starting to develop. She had obviously just finished swimming because her hair was soaked, the water having the effect of making some of the reddish hues appear darker. The drops of water still clinging to her body sparkled and shimmered as the sunlight filtering down from the heavens above reflected off them. Her wide chocolate-brown eyes, however, reflected the sunlight most powerfully. Harry was struck again with the thought that the girl in front of him was actually an angel, for in his mind there was no possible way that any human being could be that beautiful. It was enough to make one's breath hitch and one's knees go weak. If only that had been the reason why Harry felt that way right now.

The scene before him was what made him go loopy. Ginny was hanging upside down about twenty feet in the air directly over the middle of the pond. Her soaking wet ponytail was dripping with fresh water and was swishing madly from side to side. Her arms and legs were flailing madly in the air as if she were attempting to kick and to hit an invisible giant that had grabbed her off the ground. She was making loud angry noises, but no coherent words were issuing from her lips because every sound was accompanied by gagging and spluttering as water, spit, and snot flew out of her mouth and nose. Harry watched in horror as Ginny suddenly plummeted straight down and was plunged beneath the waters of the pond, her terrified gasps stifled as she attempted to shut her mouth and pinch her nose before she hit the pond's surface. After what seemed like hours, but was in actuality only a few seconds, Ginny remerged from the water and was hoisted back up into the air, water pouring off her small body, her arms and legs continuing to flail wildly, while new rivers of spit and snot issued from the orifices of her face.

"Missies must not go to Hogwarts! Missies must promise not to go to Hogwarts and then I will release her and her possessions. Harry Potter sends me to tell you this. Quite forceful about it young Mister Potter was. Says to tell the youngest Wheezy that she mustn't be bothering him at Hogwarts this year. Missies must promise not to go or I will destroy her wand and tell Harry Potter the things she has written about him in her diary."

As Ginny attempted to speak again, Harry's attention was diverted from her still-suspended form to the source of the voice that had just spoken. As the realization of the identity of the speaker dawned on Harry, he dropped the picnic basket and the carefully packed contents came spilling out, some of them tumbling into the pond. Feelings of anger and hate coursed right through Harry. It was one thing to steal from him and threaten him. It was quite another thing to threaten, attack, steal, and lie to someone else supposedly in Harry's name. The fact that this was being done to Ginny of all people made Harry see red. Harry felt a sudden surge of white-hot heat course throughout his body as a powerful sense of protectiveness for Ginny roared to life within him. He had never felt anything like this before and the power that it seemed to generate came spilling out of him like a tidal wave.

"DOBBY!" Harry yelled. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Harry's voice was so loud and was accompanied with so much fury that as it reached the small elf's bat like ears, Dobby's hands flew up to cover them, his tennis ball-sized eyes snapping shut. The upside of this occurrence was that Dobby's attention was forced off Ginny, and her possessions that he was holding tumbled from his hands to the ground. The downside was that as Dobby lost his concentration, the magic that he had been using to suspend Ginny in the air was broken, and the girl fell back into the pond kicking, screaming, and crying. As she splashed back under the surface of the water, Dobby opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears, while turning to gaze shamefully at Harry.

"Harry Potter should have never left his home! Harry Potters must not go to Hogwarts! Harry Potters' lives will be in danger if they do," Dobby cried. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" The elf started twisting his right ear with one hand while pummeling himself in the face with his other one.

"Your life is about to be in danger, Dobby, if you don't clear out of here right now!" Harry spitted venomously as he rushed forward and grabbed the little elf's shoulders and starting shaking him violently.

"Doesn't matter if Dobby dies, sir! As long as Harry Potters are safe, sir. Harry Potters must not go to Hogwarts. Terrible things are being planned. Terrible things will happen. Ancient evils released, sir. Murder, sir. Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

At that moment, Ginny burst up from the pond's surface, spluttering and spitting water out of her nose and mouth. As she slowly realized that she was no longer being pulled forcefully back into the air, but was emerging from the water on her own power, the thrashing of her arms and legs subsided. She gazed up at the bank of the pond, her eyes opening wide in shock and horror as she saw Harry standing there with his hands gripping both of the elf's shoulders. Harry and Dobby turned to stare at her, and as Dobby's previous words to Ginny flooded his mind and the realization of how this scene must appear to the girl took shape in his consciousness, Harry desperately wanted to say something to her, but he found himself speechless for the second time in the last five minutes.

"Stupid little girl! See, the great Harry Potter sends me to do this to you as a warning not to go to Hogwarts. You are nothing but a bother to him. Harry Potter hates you he does. A stupid little girl he says you are," Dobby exclaimed as Harry stared openmouthed in utter disbelief.

As the words left Dobby's mouth, the elf snapped his fingers and Ginny was immediately plunged back under the water as if a giant invisible hand were pressing down on top of her. Before Harry could react, Dobby had twisted himself free and swung one of his small fists directly into Harry's stomach. Despite the elf's small size, his arms packed quite a wallop, and the force of his punch knocked the wind out of Harry and forced him to stagger backwards.

"Harry Potters must agree to not go to Hogwarts, or Dobby will destroy the missies's diary and wand," Dobby said as he bent over to pick up a silver-colored wand and a small black-colored notebook that lay at his feet. Harry struggled to catch his breath and rise to his feet at the same time, but the force of Dobby's blow still had him on his knees, clutching his stomach. He briefly considered just agreeing to what Dobby was saying and then ignoring it when it came time to go to Hogwarts. However, a thought suddenly flashed across his mind that said that would be a big mistake.

"Dob--Dob--Dob-by, please don't do that. We have to go to Hogwarts. It's my only true home and Ginny has wanted to go more than anything for the longest time," Harry said with a hint of desperation in his voice. He was suddenly startled by what he had just confessed, and wondered how exactly he knew this fact about Ginny.

"Dobby is sorry, sir. Dobby must do it, sir. It is for Harry Potters' own good, sir," Dobby said. With a sad look on his face, Dobby placed the diary and wand on the ground before him and snapped his fingers. The two items burst into flames and turned instantly into smoldering piles of ash.

Harry had never been so furious in his life. That blasted elf had just punched him in the stomach, attempted to drown Ginny, and destroyed two of the girl's most prized possessions. Harry felt power flow through him now, power so intense that his lungs expanded and filled with air instantly. The pain in his stomach subsided and he launched to his feet. Yelling out in anger, Harry pushed his arms forward, hands open, palms facing out. Twin jets of red light exploded from both of his hands and flew with incredible speed directly at Dobby. The elf's eyes widened in horror and he snapped his fingers again in order to disappear, but he was not quite fast enough. The twin jets of light hit him directly in the chest and threw him almost thirty feet backwards directly into a large oak tree, his back smacking against the trunk with a sickening thud. His body slid down the trunk, hit the ground, and then vanished from sight. Harry fell back to his knees as a wave of physical and emotional exhaustion washed over him. Startled by the sound of splashing water to his right, he looked up to see Ginny emerging at last from the pond. Her hair had come completely loose from her ponytail, and it was plastered all over her forehead, face, and back. Snot and spit covered her face and her eyes were red and swollen. Ginny looked first at Harry and then turned and saw the two piles of ash that lay just a few feet in front of him. She quickly looked back at Harry, and he stared into her eyes. What he saw made his blood run cold. Her eyes were filled with the purest hate and anger that he had ever seen.

"HOW COULD YOU!" Ginny screamed. The girl's voice was so loud that several birds shot out of the tops of the trees that they had been nesting in and several unseen animals scurried away into the woods.

"THAT WAS MY DIARY! THAT WAS MY GRANDMOTHER'S WAND! WHY DID YOU SEND THAT HORRIBLE CREATURE TO TORTURE ME! I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DROWN ME! IF YOU THOUGHT I WAS SO MUCH OF A PEST, THAN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME TO MY FACE? YOU ARE WORSE THAN MY BROTHERS! YOU ARE A CRUEL, COLD-HEARTED BASTARD! I HATE YOU, HARRY POTTER! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! I HOPE YOU DROP DEAD!"

Ginny had been exerting so much force with her screams that her face had turned completely red, and Harry could see veins bulging along her neck and in the middle of her forehead. Tears were streaming from Ginny's eyes and sobs began pouring out of her mouth. She turned and started to run in the direction of The Burrow. Desperate to stop her, desperate to explain the truth, Harry struggled his way to his feet and made a desperate run for her. He caught up to her a few yards away and said the first thing that came into his mind.

"Ginny, wait!" Harry yelled, as he grabbed her wrist to stop her from running.

In an instant, Ginny spun around and her free hand flew forward and slapped him so hard across the face that the impact sounded like a shotgun blast. Then without stopping, she drove her right knee directly up into his manhood, and Harry released her wrist as he doubled over in pain and fell sideways to the ground.

"DON'T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, HARRY POTTER! GO TO HELL!" With that, the girl turned around and continued running up the path, sobs echoing loudly through the canopy of the trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

After about fifteen minutes of excruciating and then numbing pain in his crouch, Harry was able slowly to extract himself off the ground. He reached up and gingerly touched his face, immediately flinching at the touch. Harry imagined that he would probably have a permanent imprint of Ginny's hand on his face.

"Why does this junk always happen to me? Why can't I just have a normal day, a normal life? Why can't I just go for a swim and talk to a pretty girl? Why do I have a crazy house elf running around destroying family desserts, drowning my friend's sister, and destroying personal property? If I ever see Dobby again, so help me Merlin, I will kill him myself with my bare hands. How am I ever going to fix this mess with Ginny? She's probably told her parents and all of her brothers about this. Well, it's been nice knowing you world. Mum and Dad, here I come!"

Harry slowly walked back in the direction of the pond. He reached down and picked up the picnic basket. Seeing that there were still several items of food inside, and realizing how hungry he was, Harry sat down and helped himself to a serving of salad, a juicy green apple, and several sandwiches. Eating the sandwiches reminded him of the ones that Ginny had made for him the night before. At the thought of the young girl and the completely bizarre circumstances that had occurred between them in the last day-and-a-half, Harry felt his eyes start to burn. Before he even realized what was happening, tears were sliding freely down his face. Thoughts began to surface within Harry's mind; thoughts of his parents and their murder; thoughts of the abuse and neglect he had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys; thoughts of the difficulties he had undergone his first year at Hogwarts; thoughts of a Voldemort-possessed Quirrell; thoughts of Ginny and her angry bitter words. It was the thought of Ginny and the last things that she said to him that caused Harry to breakdown completely.

Harry lay down on the grass, curled up into a ball, pulled his knees as close to his chest as possible, and wept. He cried as if he had never cried before. Sobs wracked his body, tears flowing freely from his eyes like a raging river breaking out of a huge dam. As he cried, Harry began to cough and gag with such force that he pulled and strained muscles in his jaw, neck, and back. His breathing became erratic and labored, his body began to twitch, and still the tears poured forth. Harry was only mildly surprised to discover that only a small portion of the tears that he was crying were for himself. Most of the tears, he realized, were for Ginny. It was almost as if he could feel her pain, her sorrow, her feelings of worthlessness, her self-doubt, her insecurity. The emotion that washed over him the most powerfully, however, were that the feelings of her love, affection, and desire for Harry had just been trampled on and thrown back in her face. Harry realized at that moment just how deeply Ginny felt about him, even though they had only met just the day before and had only spoken a handful of words to each other. Harry wished at that moment that he could make things right, that he could relieve her of her pain and sorrow. As if in response to his silent prayer, he was flooded with a surge of Ginny's emotions, and wept even harder than before. After forty-five minutes of crying, all of his tears were dried up, but his sobs continued for almost fifteen more minutes. Eventually, overcome with grief and exhaustion, Harry fell into a deep sleep.

Harry was so overwhelmed with grief throughout the hour that he cried that he never noticed the gold light that surrounded him, or the pulse of gold light that emitted from his body. He never saw that that pulse of light enveloped two piles of ash lying nearby. Harry never noticed that as the gold light faded a silver wand and a small black-colored diary now lay where the two piles of ash had been only moments before.

On the other side of The Burrow's property, a brilliant gold light enveloped the body of a crying and heartbroken Ginny Weasley as she lay in a patch of tall grass. As the gold light enfolded her, Ginny felt all of her pain, all of her sorrow, and all of her feelings of worthlessness, self-doubt, and insecurity melt away. As the gold light continued to caress her heart and soul, Ginny drifted of into a deep, peaceful sleep. As sleep overcame her, a voice spoke in her head, a voice that suspiciously sounded like the voice of Harry Potter.

"It wasn't me, Ginny. I swear. I love you."

A slight smile formed on the soft pink lips of the sleeping girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

Harry Potter awoke and was greeted with the vision of a light blue sky sprinkled with several wispy grey colored clouds in various shapes and sizes. The sight, however, was somewhat blurry, as if he was looking at it through a fogged-up mirror. Sticking his fingers underneath his glasses, he vigorously rubbed his eyes, and then reopened them. The sight still remained blurred. Removing his glasses to clean them on his shirt, he suddenly realized that everything around him came into sharp, perfect focus. Harry was stunned. He quickly put the glasses back on and immediately he was gazing at the world once more through that fogged-up mirror. Taking his glasses off again, Harry saw with crystal-clear vision.

"Amazing! I can see without my glasses. How did that happen?"

Harry laid his glasses down on his chest and gazed upward at the sky for the first time with just his own eyes. He was amazed at the sharpness of his vision. He could see that the sky was layered with different shades of blue. He could make out the subtle curves and lines of the clouds, and the various shades of grey scattered throughout them, the intensity and deepness of the color determined by the concentration of water found in that particular region of the cloud. Lowering his gaze somewhat, he saw the tops of the trees, and was amazed that he could make out every single leaf that was on each tree. He could even make out the veins and ridges of the leaves, and differentiate between the various shades of green and brown that adorned the live and dying leaves, respectively. Harry could see insects in the trees: a brightly colored ladybug, several dark and light brown beetles, a bluish-greenish-blackish caterpillar, and yellow-and-black striped bees. He was able to catch a glimpse of the birds and squirrels that swarmed around the tops of the trees, and he marveled at the various delicate colors of the birds' feathers and the light grays and browns of the squirrels' soft fur.

"Hey there, sleepy head. 'Bout time you woke up!" a voice sounded from Harry's left side.

Harry slightly rolled his head to the side and saw that Ron, Fred, and George were sitting a few feet from him.

"Hey, mate! Better be glad Mum put an anti-UV charm on you, or you'd be as red as a beet," George said.

Harry's throat felt dry and scratchy as he tried to speak. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven o'clock, mate!" Fred said.

"Mum sent us out..." George began.

"To find you and Ginny." Fred continued.

"Guess she thought maybe Ginny had drowned you..."

"Or maybe snogged you senseless."

"So, we were entrusted..."

"With the noble task..."

"Of preserving the Boy-Who-Lived's virtue..."

"From the wiles of our wee sister."

"Can't imagine how surprised we were..."

"To find our wee sister asleep in the grass..."

"On the other side of The Burrow."

"Did she run off again..."

"When she saw you coming out to meet her?"

"She wouldn't say anything to us."

"Had a huge grin on her face..."

"And told us to bugger off..."

"And that it was none of our business."

"Said she left you down by the pond..."

"And that we should look for you there."

"So, dearest love of our little sister's heart..."

"What happened?" they both asked together.

Harry was stunned. He was positive that Ginny had run straight back to the house to tell her parents and brothers about the horrible things that "he" had done to her this afternoon. He had been convinced that he would be waking up in the afterlife, positive that her brothers were going to come out and pound him to death while he slept. However, here her brothers were telling him that Ginny had not told them anything, and she had been smiling when they saw her.

"Man, girls are strange!" Harry thought to himself. "Maybe she doesn't hate me. Maybe she thinks I didn't do that to her after all."

With both curiosity at Ginny's reaction and relief at her family's apparent ignorance about the events of the day coursing through him, Harry released a deep breath that he had not even known he had been holding. Harry quickly decided that he would let the twins keep on believing the story that they had worked out in their own mind. It would not be too far of a stretch for their imaginations, seeing as they had only seen Ginny acting embarrassed around him so far.

"Yeah, when I got out here she got really embarrassed. I tried to get her to talk and she just sort of clammed up and then ran for it," Harry said.

The twins howled in laughter, and Harry felt slightly guilty for his fabricated story. Both the twins and Harry sprung from their musings as Ron's voice sounded out. Ron had been so quiet up to this point that Harry had almost forgotten he was there. The direction that the red head quickly steered the conversation left Harry wishing that he had not been there after all.

"Hey guys, listen to this!" Ron said.

Harry and the twins shifted their attention to Ron. Harry noticed that Ron was reading from a small black-colored book. He obviously found the book very interesting as his nose was practically buried in it, his eyes hungrily devouring the words inside it. Something clicked in Harry's brain as it occurred to him that the book looked familiar for some reason. Suddenly, Harry felt as if the ground had opened up beneath his feet, as the realization of the book's identity came to him. Harry quickly sat up and gazed over near where Ron was sitting, desperately looking for two piles of ash. He did not find them, but instead saw a silver-colored wand sitting where one of the piles had been previously. The place where the other pile had been was empty.

"Ron, what's that book you're reading from?" Harry asked with a small tremor in his voice.

"Ginny's diary," Ron answered absent mindedly, his eyes never leaving the pages of the diary. "Stupid girl left it sitting right here. I guess she's not too worried about keeping her secrets secret. There's some great stuff in here!"

Harry felt as if someone had just sucker punched him upside the head. Without realizing it, his jaw tightened and his neck got stiff.

"She goes on and on about how everyone babies her, how it makes her so angry..."

Harry felt his heart harden like a piece of stone, and his breathing rate suddenly increased.

"...About how much she likes Quidditch and is determined to be a starting Chaser. Yeah, that's a great laugh. The little pipsqueak can't even fly. She'd probably fall off a broom if she ever manages to climb on one..."

Every hair on the back of Harry's neck stood on end. Unconsciously, Harry balled up his fists, and the veins of his neck popped out.

"...There's at least six pages in here about how horrible we are to her, and how I'm such a git for not writing to her this past year. I mean what did she expect, a letter every month? I sent her at least three during the year. She even says that I've been nothing but a royal prat towards her this whole summer. I mean come on, who wants there icky baby sister pestering them all day long..."

Harry felt as if ice was flowing in his veins. He was convinced that had someone cut him open, pure cold fury would have flowed out of him instead of blood.

"...Oh, this is rich. 'Harry Potter is so cute. His green eyes are mesmerizing,'" Ron stammered out in between huge gut-wrenching laughs. "'I hope he wants to be my friend. He seems really sweet.' See, Harry. I told you our baby sister has a thing for you..."

The twins had turned away from Ron to look at Harry's response to that last statement. When they gazed at Harry for all of one second, their eyes went wide with fear.

"'I wonder what it would be like to kiss him. I hope that he and Ron will let me spend time with them at Hogwarts this year.' Yeah, fat chance of that ever happening, I mean she's going to be a first year midget..."

"Um, Ron," Fred said.

"You may want to stop reading from Ginny's diary, um, like right now would be good," George said, throwing a quick glance at Harry, which only confirmed his suspicions.

"WHAT! She called me a wanker for making fun of her at the table yesterday morning. How did she hear that? I thought she was up blushing like a tomato in her room. Why that little..."

Ron never got to finish his next statement, however. Harry could not believe his ears. Here Ron was reading out of Ginny's private diary, making fun of her carefully guarded secrets as if they were the storyline of a cheesy Muggle soap opera, and once more deigning to consider his sister as nothing more than a pest to be tossed off. Harry, who had felt every one of Ron's taunts of his sister go like a dagger right into his own heart, was overwhelmed with that fierce sense of protectiveness for Ginny that he had felt when Dobby was attacking her. Power surged through Harry again, pure, unstoppable power. The twins had hastily backed away from Harry, fear written all over their faces, as the two older, taller, and bigger boys cringed at the sight before them. Harry's eyes were filled with fire, red hot and smoldering.

Harry launched himself up onto his feet and lunged directly at Ron. His fist made contact with Ron's face with a sickening crunch, and the Weasley boy's nose exploded in a shower of blood. Ron, who was completely caught off guard by Harry's sudden attack, flung the diary from his hands and toppled over, his hands flying up to grip his now busted and bleeding nostrils. Harry kept pummeling the boy as Ron made a desperate attempt to defend himself. Swinging and kicking his own legs and arms, his right fist made contact with Harry's left eye, but that did not even slow the black haired boy down. After a moments hesitation, Fred and George hastened to break the two apart, George grabbing Harry under the arms from behind and yanking him up and off of Ron, while Fred hopped on Ron's chest pinning him to the ground.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT FOR, HARRY?" Ron bellowed, his hands now desperately trying to cover his bleeding nose once more.

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE FUN OF GINNY THAT WAY!" Harry yelled. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO READ HER PRIVATE STUFF!"

"IT'S JUST MY STUPID LITTLE SISTER'S DIARY! WHO GIVES A BLOODY HELL ABOUT HER PRIVACY? SHE'S TEN FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!" Ron exclaimed.

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER STUPID AGAIN OR I'LL POUND YOUR HEAD IN RON! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH YOU HURT YOUR SISTER BY SAYING THOSE THINGS!" Harry fired back.

Fred and George stared at the two boys who they were each holding and then turned to glance at one other. Seeing as this situation was just escalating and did not appear to be getting any better, the two brothers looked at the pond and then nodded at each other. Physically lifting the two younger boys up off their feet, they proceeded to carry them both over to the edge of the pond and unceremoniously dropped both of them into the water. The two boys stayed submerged for a few moments before resurfacing, violently spitting water out of their mouths. Harry's normally wild hair was plastered all over his forehead and ears, while streams of clear and bloody snot ran down from Ron's nose all the way to his chin. Both Harry and Ron stared murderously at the twins, who were gazing at them from the pond's bank with a smug look on their faces.

"What the hell did you do that for guys?!" Ron exclaimed in a loud, but more controlled tone of voice.

"Gee, let's see." Fred said.

"It may have been the fact..." George continued.

"That you two were about to..."

"Take each others heads off."

"So we decided to step in..."

"Before you two dunderheads murdered each other..."

"And Dad had to get Aurors over here to cart the surviving one..."

"Off to Azkaban."

"Now you two..."

"Are going to stay down there in the water..."

"And resolve this little problem in a civilized manner..."

"Or we will drown you ourselves."

Harry's anger slowly deflated as he began to shiver. He noticed that it had grown much darker and that the sun was no longer visible in the sky, though a few stray beams where shining sideways through the trees to the west. A somewhat strong breeze had begun to blow, causing the temperature to fall steeply. The number of grey clouds in the sky had increased dramatically, and it was apparent that a storm was on the way. Harry suddenly became aware of the stinging sensation coming from his left eye and he gingerly touched it, flinching when he made contact. He also rubbed his right fist, which ached with a dull throbbing pain, and had several small cuts that were exuding a small amount of blood. Harry turned to face Ron and saw that his best friend had his arms crossed tightly over his chest in an attempt to keep himself warm. Ron was staring in the opposite direction, refusing to look at Harry or the twins.

"Ron, I'm sorry that I hit you. I shouldn't have reacted that way," Harry finally said.

Ron continued to stare resolutely in the other direction, but he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as Harry spoke.

"Why did you do it, Harry? I thought you were my friend!" Ron responded.

"You're my friend, Ron. But ever since I got here all you have done is put down your sister, and it just flat out makes me angry!" Harry said.

Ron finally turned to face Harry, his cheeks red and his eyes squinting sharply.

"Why do you care what I say and do in regards to my sister? You're not her friend!" Ron retorted.

"Well, maybe not, but I would like to be. And friends don't let people treat their friends like dirt, even if it's their own family members. How would you like it if it was Malfoy who was making fun of Ginny? Wouldn't you want to clobber him?" Harry asked.

"That's totally different," Ron fired back. "Malfoy's a slimy git and if he so much as looked at my sister wrong I would rip that smug look of his right off his face."

"So, it's not ok for Malfoy to taunt Ginny, but it's ok for you to do it?" Harry questioned.

"Look, Harry," Ron began in a somewhat condescending tone that caused Harry to frown and his irritation level to go back up. "You just don't understand what it's like because you don't have a family yourself."

Harry felt like Ron had just ripped his heart out, set it on fire, and fed it back to him on a cold silver spoon. Fred and George both let out a gasp of complete shock and horror. Ron continued bantering away, completely unaware of the implications of his last statement.

"I say those things about her for fun, you know," Ron continued, oblivious to the stunned expressions on the faces of the three other boys. "I don't say them to really hurt her. She knows I'm only joshing her. She doesn't take them seriously. I'll admit sometimes I do say mean things to her, but only when she won't stop bugging me. It really gets annoying sometimes."

Harry felt his anger and frustration beginning to mount once more. He also became aware of the fact that the power he had felt earlier was starting to stir once again. Harry closed his eyes briefly and took several steadying breathes in an attempt to calm himself down. When he finally felt that he could respond with his mouth instead of his fists, Harry spoke.

"You're right, Ron! I don't have any real family, and I don't know what it's like to have a sister, or a brother for that matter. But I do know that you're wrong about Ginny. What you say about her does hurt her; in fact, it breaks her heart. And as someone who wants to be her friend, I absolutely REFUSE to be friends with anyone who even attempts to break her heart, intentionally or unintentionally," Harry responded.

A flash of anger passed over Ron's face as the implications of Harry's statement registered in his mind.

"So, what are you saying, Harry? That you choose Ginny over me!" Ron challenged.

"If you continue to treat her like crap, then yes, Ron, that is exactly what I mean," Harry retorted.

"Fine, Potter! Good luck with your new friend! I hope you're happy together, if she can even talk to you that is. Hope her blushes don't get in the way!" With that, Ron climbed out of the pond, pushed George out of the way as he made to stop him, and stormed back in the direction of the house.

Harry shook his head in disgust. He almost wished for a second that he was back at the Dursleys. The summer had been a disaster so far. Dobby, Ginny, and now Ron. Harry was convinced that if things kept going the way that they were then Lord Voldemort would not have to worry about finishing Harry off one day, because he would probably finish himself off. Fred stretched a hand out to Harry and helped pull him up out of the pond. Harry walked over, picked up Ginny's diary and wand, and placed them inside the picnic basket. He grudgingly followed the twins back to the house.

When they got inside, Mrs. Weasley was fussing over Ron, demanding to know how he had acquired a bloody nose, while she used her wand and a quick healing charm to fix it. Turning to look at the three boys who had entered, she stared at Harry and her eyes went wide.

"RONALD WEASLEY! DID YOU GIVE HARRY THAT BLACK EYE! WERE THE TWO OF YOU FIGHTING! ANSWER ME YOUNG MAN!"

Ron shifted around nervously, while Harry stared down at his feet in shame.

"It wasn't his fault, Mrs. Weasley," Harry began.

"Yeah, Mum, it was an accident," Fred said suddenly.

"We were having a wrestling match and it got a little out of hand, and Ron and Harry fell over in the pond," George supplied.

Mrs. Weasley eyed them shrewdly and Harry was convinced that she did not believe a word of the twins's story. She turned to face Harry.

"Come here, Harry dear, and let me take care of that eye for you," Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry walked over to the Weasley matriarch and she gently touched his eye with her wand. Instantly the stinging sensation disappeared.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry responded.

"Anywhere else, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Harry reluctantly stretched out his cut and throbbing right hand. Mrs. Weasley surveyed it knowingly, a frown forming on her lips, but she said nothing. After administering a healing charm on his hand, Harry noticed that the cuts were gone, the pain had subsided, and it appeared that his hand had shrunk, probably from a loss of swelling.

"All right, Ron and Harry, you go change out of those wet clothes and come back down for dinner," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm really not hungry. I think I might just go ahead and go to sleep if that's ok," Harry said.

"Are you feeling ill, dear? Ginny said she wasn't feeling too well either and she's already went to bed to. Too much sun I guess," Mrs. Weasley stated.

"No m'am, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all. Long day," Harry said.

"Of course, dear. If you get hungry later, the leftovers will be in the fridge. Just make yourself at home," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied.

"Mum," Ron suddenly said, casting a quick glance at Harry. "Harry told me he wanted to sleep somewhere else. He said that my snores kept him up last night."

"Is that true, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked him.

Harry seethed inwardly for a brief moment. Apparently, Ron was making his choice about being Harry's friend loud and clear. Harry considered telling both Mrs. Weasley and Ron that he was full of it, and what a big prat he was being. Finally, he decided if that was how Ron wanted to respond, then he would grant the big git's wish.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. His snores are just a little too loud for me in that small room," Harry replied.

Mrs. Weasley eyed the two boys shrewdly once again before turning back to look at Harry.

"Of course, dear. I completely understand. You can use Bill and Charlie's old room. Fred, George, move Harry's trunk downstairs to your other brothers' room," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Harry," Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, and Percy all said.

Harry placed the picnic basket on the kitchen counter and removed Ginny's diary and wand from the basket. He was determined to give them back to her in person, hoping that it would provide him with an opportunity to talk with her and explain about Dobby. As Harry passed Ron he attempted to make eye contact with him, but the red headed boy refused to look at him. Harry sighed to himself and made his way up the stairs just in time to see the twins carrying his trunk into his new room. The twins came out, politely said goodnight, and headed back downstairs to dinner. Harry removed some clean clothes from his trunk, headed to the bathroom, and proceeded to take a long hot shower. It felt wonderful to wash away the grit of the day, and he instantly felt his mind and body relax. After dressing in his clean clothes, he stepped out of the bathroom. He looked over intently at Ginny's closed bedroom door. Walking over to it, he gently placed his right hand on the door and sighed deeply.

"Ginny, please understand. It wasn't my fault. I want to be your friend. Please give me a chance to explain." Harry whispered so softly he could barely hear himself speak the words. Turning away, he climbed the stairs to his new room, closing the door softly behind him.

"I know, Harry. I want to be your friend too," the voice of a small red haired girl whispered back behind that closed bedroom door Harry had been standing in front of just moments before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

Harry tossed his dirty clothes into a corner of the room and began to pace around. He mulled over the events of the past two days, trying to wrap his head around what was going on around him and within him. He was completely flabbergasted about the situation with Dobby. Obviously, Dobby did not want him to return to Hogwarts, a fact the strange creature had made more than abundantly clear, but Harry had no idea why he would not want Ginny to attend. He also mused that when Dobby had come to warn him his tactics had been frustrating, but somewhat benign. Today's attempt had been downright scary, and while a part of Harry was convinced that Dobby would not have actually hurt Ginny or himself, the elf was obviously becoming very desperate. Harry knew only too well from personal experience that desperate people could often cause great harm to themselves or others, often unintentionally. It was also Dobby's message that was frightening. He had spoken this time about murder and ancient evil. Either the elf was seriously off his rocker or he knew something terrible that was really going to happen. Harry was also convinced that Dobby would probably attempt something else to stop him and maybe Ginny from getting to Hogwarts. He resolved to be more watchful and alert for the elf's presence and to bring the matter up with Dumbledore when he arrived back at Hogwarts.

"And what did he mean when he kept saying Harry Potters?"

Harry's thoughts then turned to the situation with Ron. Ron had been Harry's first and best friend in his whole life. He hated being at odds with the Weasley boy, but Ron could just be so stubborn and inconsiderate sometimes. Harry was still amazed at Ron's apparent disregard for his sister's privacy and feelings, and the casually way he just assumed that Ginny would understand that his teasing and inattention were really signs of brotherly affection. Apparently, Ron had clearly understood Harry's ultimatum, and he obviously was choosing to keep his cold attitude towards Ginny even if it cost him his friendship with Harry.

"Great, just great!"

Of all these situations, however, none threw Harry for more of a loop than the one with Ginny. He just could not understand what was going on there. It was pretty clear that Ginny had a crush on him, and that that crush made her incredibly self-conscious and embarrassed around him. Harry was convinced that if he could actually have a decent conversation with the girl that she would probably be able to overcome some of her shyness. He guessed that part of her embarrassment came from her seeing him as the famous Boy-Who-Lived. Normally, Harry would have been upset by this, but surprisingly he could not find himself placing any blame on Ginny. From what he had been told, almost all current children of the Wizarding World had been raised on fantastic stories about him, and Ginny's brothers had only confirmed that their sister fell right into that category. He also suspected that the stories that Ron and the twins had told her about the adventure with the Philosopher's Stone the past year had only served to reinforce that fairytale image of him in her mind. Harry was positive that if he could get her to know him the way that Ron and Hermione had come to know him this previous year that a lot of her awkwardness would fade away on its own.

What surprised Harry the most about the situation with Ginny, however, was his own personal response to the girl. After all, Harry had just recently started to take notice of girls, and strictly speaking, he had only really noticed older girls so far. In reality, Ginny, though not ugly by any stretch of the imagination, was still an underdeveloped ten-year-old girl. Despite this fact, however, Harry found her to be one of the most stunningly beautiful girls he had ever seen. He was still amazed at the way his body responded every time he say her, and he was convinced that had Dobby not been down at the lake trying to drown Ginny that the sight of Ginny in her swimsuit would have had him drooling from the mouth and light in the head. At this thought, an image of Ginny in that swimsuit appeared in his mind. The thought sent chills down his spine, and his heart rate immediately increased.

The other strange things that had occurred whenever he was around Ginny further served to mystify him. He was astonished as he contemplated the feelings of fierce protectiveness that seemed to explode inside of him like a roaring fire whenever Ginny was "threatened" or "harassed" in some way. He also shuddered at the memory of the power that seemed to coarse through his body during those moments, and he marveled at the fact that some kind of powerful magic had erupted from his bare hands when he was attempting to protect Ginny from Dobby. There was also the fact that Harry had watched Dobby destroy Ginny's diary and wand, and had woken up to find them completely restored. Then there was the fact that his vision was now mysteriously perfect. Though he knew that he had been asleep when these three things had been "fixed," some part of Harry suspected that their resurrection was linked in some way to that mysterious power he had felt within himself.

Harry quickly grew tired of pacing and decided that he might as well attempt to go to bed even though he was not tired. He stepped over to his trunk to extract some pajamas, but as he dug through it, his eyes fell on a book tucked in between some of his shirts. It was the fantasy novel about Wil and Shirl that he had acquired from the library in Surrey. Harry realized that in his haste to escape the Dursleys he must have inadvertently thrown the book in his trunk. Taking the book out of the trunk, he proceeded over to one of the two beds in the room and opened the book at random. Harry had read the novel so many times during the month that he was at Privet Drive that he could open the book anywhere and instantly know what part of the story he was at. Harry marveled briefly at the pull and attraction he felt towards the book, but he was quickly drawn into the story.

This section talked about how Wil had been given the opportunity to become friends with another boy and girl who everyone else pointedly ignored for various reasons. No one ever assumed that these two individuals would ever amount to much, and either flat out ignored them, or often mercilessly taunted them. Wil, being the dunderhead he often was in the story, fell into this pattern himself and alienated them from his life. It was one of the many mistakes Wil would come to regret at the end. As it turned out, the two individuals were quite truly diamonds-in-the-rough, an exceptional man and woman who had never been able to reach their potential because they were never befriended by anyone and were unable to fully bloom. A major part of Wil's failure was the fact that he did not have the help of these two important characters at the most critical phases of his journey. Harry briefly wondered if he had ever been guilty of making this same mistake, especially during his first year at Hogwarts.

"I promise that I will never over look any diamonds-in-the-rough that I encounter. I promise if I find any, I will be their friend, stick up for them, and do my best to let them really shine."

Harry's eyes slowly grew heavy as the softness of the bed lulled his body and mind into a state of relaxation. The words on the page began to blur as Harry drifted off into a peaceful sleep. That was the reason he did not see the white light that shined brilliantly around his body for over an hour.

In two separate parts of Britain, a similar bright white light shone around the sleeping bodies of a short blonde haired girl who normally had a dreamy look on her face, and a brown haired somewhat pudgy boy who was rather clumsy and forgetful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry awoke to the sound of thunder. Sitting up in bed, he instinctively reached for his glasses on the small bedside table before realizing that they were not there. He also realized that he no longer needed them. A flash of lightening that seemed to be awful close for Harry's taste suddenly lit up his room. Another peal of thunder followed closely, and Harry could hear the sound of the wind howling and torrents of rain falling just outside the walls of the house.

"Neville? Why was I dreaming about Neville? And who was that blonde headed girl? She looked like she was off in her own little world."

Rubbing his eyes to work out the gunk that had accumulated in them while he slept, Harry swung his legs out of the bed. He noticed that his novel was lying on the floor and picked it up and tossed it back into his still open trunk. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost four in the morning, and he realized that his throat was quite dry. He climbed out of bed and noticed that there was a slight chill in the air. Walking over to his trunk, he dug out his robe and wrapped it around himself. Quietly exiting his room, he walked down the stairs to answer the call of nature. After finishing in the loo, he headed down the stairs to the kitchen, where he poured himself a large glass of cold pumpkin juice, which he drank quickly, before pouring himself a second glass. As he drank deeply, he noticed that a faint glow was emanating from the living room, and Harry assumed that a fire had been lit there earlier that night and was probably still burning. Placing the glass in the sink, he made for the stairs. He was stopped by the sound of a soft, sweet sounding voice coming from the direction of the living room.

"Harry?"

Harry turned to face the living room and walked slowly towards it. The fireplace was lit up with a small smoldering fire that was giving off pleasant warmth. Looking around the room, his eyes fell on the source of the voice and immediately he felt his face flush and his heart rate speed up. There on the couch, legs wrapped up in a blanket, a book open on her lap, the light of the fire reflecting from her beautiful chocolate-brown eyes, sat Ginny Weasley.