When Harry Met Ginny

"Fine then, you can go," Uncle Vernon grudgingly told his seven-year-old nephew. "No one can take you for the day."

"Okay," Harry said nonchalantly. He had learned at a young age not to display excitement. That would just make Uncle Vernon mad. But when he got back to his cupboard, he hugged himself in excitement.

He, Harry Potter, was finally going to the zoo. All his schoolmates had been at least once, but Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had never taken Harry. This year, though, Harry got lucky. Mrs. Figg was out of town, and Aunt Marge was sick with a mysterious virus that had her broken out in purple spots.

"Hurry up, Harry," Vernon said loudly. "We're leaving in two minutes, exactly."

Harry hurriedly pulled on his trainers, and was out of the cupboard in one and a half minutes (his left shoe had been hidden under a stack of Dudley's old coloring books).

Aunt Petunia surveyed him with a particularly foul look on her face. "I suppose you'll do. That awful hair, though...I am just about to chop it all off."

With that, she sailed out of the house, leaving Harry to make faces at her back.

"Don't dawdle, boy," Uncle Vernon growled. "Get yourself in that car, right now. And no funny business."

Harry sighed. Every time they went out, it was the same thing. "No funny business," they said, like he could control it. He couldn't. Strange things just seemed to happen to him, things most decidedly out of his control.

*

At the zoo, Aunt Petunia told him to clear off, so that Dudley could enjoy his birthday without having to put up with Harry.

"Be sure to be at the gate at five o'clock precisely," Aunt Petunia warned. "We aren't too concerned about leaving you behind. And don't cause any trouble!" she shouted after him.

Harry just laughed. He was here, at the zoo, all by himself. No Dursleys to bully him, insult him, or generally make his life miserable. He could enjoy the entire day.

Harry walked to the elephant exhibit first. His view of the beasts was blocked by a large group of redheaded people, who all seemed to be related.

"Mum! Mum!" clamored one of the redheaded boys, and Harry noticed that he was standing by another boy who looked just like him. "Can we get some peanuts?"

"Yeah," his twin agreed heartily. "We want to feed the elephants!"

"No, boys, I don't have enough money," a harried looking woman replied. "You've all already fed the giraffes."

"But we wanna feed the elephants, too," whined a boy that looked to be about Harry's age.

"I warned you, Ronald," the woman chastised. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to feed the elephants if you fed the giraffes. I said you could feed one animal."

"But I changed my mind!" the boy called Ronald explained.

"Too late," his mother said. "No, Ginny dear, don't eat that leaf! Percy, take that from her," the lady said, addressing a bespectacled boy who looked to be about eleven or twelve.

The boy obediently confiscated the leaf from his little sister, who reluctantly let him take it out of her chubby hands.

They were a funny lot of people, Harry decided. And their hair was just so red. Harry suddenly laughed and clapped his hands together in excitement. He'd follow them around all day. It would be more interesting than wandering around by himself.

When the redheaded family moved off from the elephants, Harry followed at a discreet distance, not wanting to be seen.

The twin boys were highly excited about the turtles, claiming that it would be nice to have a charm to breathe underwater. Harry had no idea what that meant.

"Shush, Fred," his mother scolded. "What did I tell you about talking like that in front of Muggles?"

"Sorry, Mum," Fred answered ruefully. "But it would still be cool!"

Muggles? Harry wondered exactly what Muggles were. He looked around, trying to spot anyone that looked out of place, someone who looked like they warranted the title of "Muggle." He couldn't see anyone like that.

When the family reached the monkey exhibit, the little girl cooed excitedly and ran up to the barrier, her bright red curls bouncing. "Look, Mum, look!" she exclaimed, laughing merrily at the antics of the funny little animals. One monkey came up to the bars of the cage and started chattering at her, pulling faces and trying to reach between the bars.

"He's talking to me, Mum," the girl said happily, and began to imitate the monkey's chattering. Harry laughed outright, amused at the girl's antics. The little girl turned to look directly at him, a scowl adorning her adorable face.

"Are you laughing at me?" she demanded angrily.

"No," Harry assured her quickly. "I...well...I think you're funny," he finished lamely.

"Fred," the girl called angrily. "Fred, that boy is having a go me."

"Hey," Fred said, coming up to defend his little sister. "Are you being mean to Ginny?"

"No," Harry said for the second time. "I just thought she was funny, is all. She is. But that's not bad."

Fred looked at Harry suspiciously, trying to tell if he were being rude or not. "Okay. Ginny, be quiet, he doesn't mean anything bad." Giving Harry a smile, Fred extended his hand. "I'm Fred Weasley, who are you?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said, shaking the boy's hand. To his surprise, Fred's eyes widened and the boy ran back to his mum. Ginny just stood looking at him, studying him as if he were a book to be read.

"Are you really?" she asked, and Harry noticed that her voice still contained the traces of a baby-like lisp. He guessed that she wasn't much younger than him. Maybe a year or two.

"Yeah, why?" Harry asked, completely confused.

"Wicked," Ginny said, smiling brightly at him. "I'm Ginny."

"Why do you know my name?" Harry asked.

"Because you're Harry Potter," Ginny said with a shrug. That didn't help him in the slightest.

"Mum! Mum! It's Harry Potter, Mum!" Fred cried, tugging on his mum's hand. His mum looked up anxiously, and gasped when her eyes fell on Harry. Harry squirmed uncomfortably, because he wasn't used to all this attention. He wondered vaguely if he'd done something wrong.

"Hello, Harry," the woman said kindly, extending her hand. "I'm Mrs. Weasley."

"Hello," Harry replied politely.

"We have to leave now," Mrs. Weasley continued. "It's been a pleasure meeting you."

"Ow!" came a girlish scream. Harry looked around Mrs. Weasley to see a brown-haired girl glaring angrily at the boy Mrs. Weasley had called Ron.

"You pulled my hair," the girl accused.

"You were standing in front of me," Ron defended. "Your hair was in my way, I couldn't see the monkeys."

"You could have just asked me to move," the girl yelled. "You didn't have to pull my hair. It hurt!"

"You're a big baby," Ron shouted.

"I am not," she replied. "You're a git."

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley called anxiously, running over to her son. "Stop it right this instant."

"Hermione!" called a pretty brunette woman. "That goes double for you."

"But he started it," Hermione whined.

"I wouldn't have done anything if your hair hadn't been so bushy," Ron retorted.

"The two of you can just cut that out right now," Hermione's mother warned. The two mothers shared an understanding smile.

"Sorry about that," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Me, too," the other woman said. "They're at that age, you know."

"Oh, believe me," Mrs. Weasley said, "Ron's going to be getting a talking to, I can assure you."

"Double for this young lady," the brunette woman said, gesturing to Hermione, whom she had by the hand.

"Goodbye," Mrs. Weasley said amicably.

"Have a nice day," the woman said, before proceeding to drag her daughter away.

Harry and Ginny laughed.

"Ron's mean sometimes," Ginny offered. "He's just a boy."

"I'm just a boy," Harry said, feeling slightly offended.

"No you're not," Ginny scoffed. "You're Harry Potter."

Then something odd happened. One of the monkeys turned yellow. Ginny gasped, and looked around at her mother.

"I'm sorry, Mum," she wailed. "I didn't mean to!"

"That's alright, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley soothed, throwing anxious looks around.

"What did you do?" Harry asked curiously.

"I turned the monkey yellow," Ginny cried, almost in tears. "I promised I wouldn't do any magic, I promised Mum I'd try to control it! And I couldn't help it!"

"Magic?" Harry asked excitedly. "You can do magic?"

"Yes," Ginny said, and looked at Harry oddly. "Can't you?"

"Well...I..." Harry started.

"You had to," she said. "To be able to kill You-Know-Who."

"No, I don't know who," Harry told her.

"Ginny!" her mother scolded. "Look what you've done." Mrs. Weasley looked at Harry in exasperation. "He thinks he's a Muggle, Ginny."

Ginny gasped. "You do?"

"What's a Muggle?" Harry asked.

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Really, Harry, I am sorry. I hate to do this, but it can't be helped."

She then looked around surreptitiously, and pulled out a thin piece of wood.

"Oh, what's that?" Harry asked. "Is it a magic wand? Ginny said she can do magic. Can you?"

Mrs. Weasley ignored his questions and pointed the wand at him.

"Obliviate," she said clearly.

*

Harry woke up on a park bench an hour later, with no recollection of the family of redheads, and was surprised by the reports of a monkey that had mysteriously turned yellow.

But, years later, when he went to Hogwarts, he'd get flashes of memory that he passed off as dreams. It was ridiculous, really. Why, he had never met Hermione or the Weasleys before he arrived at the train station for the first time.

Or had he?

*

You know how it is when you're young. How many things can you honestly say you remember from when you were nine and younger? Fred simply forgot the incident.

Ginny knew that she had loved Harry since the first time she'd met him. She just decided that she knew him so well it was easy for her to imagine how he had looked when he was seven. If she and Harry had ever gotten together and discussed their strange dreams, a whole new slew of questions would have been asked.

But they never did, and so Mrs. Weasley was the only one who ever knew the truth. For reasons of her own, she never told anyone about the incident.

As for Ron and Hermione...well, you know what they say. Habits formed young die hard. So they continued to fight.