Disclaimer: This is getting kinda repetitive. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize. OK?
A/N: Well, you all are very lucky people. I worked it out so that it can have six chapters. I'm about halfway through writing it, so it'll probably be posted sometime this week. Please R&R!!
I awoke that morning to Mum yelling, “Ginevra Molly Weasley, wake up this instant!”
“What?” I asked, opening my eyes and sitting up groggily.
“We have to be at Diagon Alley in half an hour!” she exclaimed. “Hurry up and get dressed!”
Oh, right, I thought. Diagon Alley. How could I have forgotten? I stood up and did as I was told, then headed downstairs for breakfast and ate hurriedly. Mum lectured us the whole time about staying with our escorts and all the things that could happen if we didn’t have them around.
“Remember to stick with Remus, Tonks, and Alastor,” Mum reminded us once again. “If they’re not around and Death Eaters come, how do you expect to live? You’ll never be able to protect yourselves!” That was not completely true, considering that we had done that already at the end of the school year. Although I had to admit that we probably wouldn’t have lived if the Order hadn’t come when they did.
When I finished, Mum asked, “Do you all have your lists?”
We nodded and held them up.
“Good. We’re off,” Lupin said.
When we arrived in Diagon Alley we saw a lot of our classmates. The first person we ran into was Colin Creevey. “Hello, Harry!” he exclaimed. “I’m a prefect! Isn’t that great?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Colin Creevey was the other Gryffindor prefect?
“Dumbledore must be crazy,” I heard Ron mutter under his breath. I snorted.
“Harry, do you know who the girl prefect is?” he asked, completely ignoring our presence. “I mean, it would only make sense if it was Ginny, because I think she’s at the top of our class and””
“Yes Colin,” I intervened. “I’m the other prefect.” He looked over at us as if he was seeing us for the first time.
“Oh. Hello,” he said. “I’ve got to go. All right, Harry?”
“Yes, Colin,” Harry sighed.
“Bye,” Colin said, running off. I was surprised; he usually followed Harry around whenever he had the chance.
“I wonder where Dennis is,” I said. Everyone shrugged.
“I wonder why he’s so obsessed with Harry,” Ron mused.
“Harry was probably one of the first people he heard about, especially out of all the people near his age. Harry’s his idol, Ron,” Hermione told him in a very wise (and slightly condescending) manner.
As we headed toward Flourish & Blott’s I was talking to Hermione about OWLs, not paying any attention to where I was going and just following Hemione. I felt someone shoulder me and then a familiar voice mumble quietly, “Sorry, Ginny.”
I turned around, startled, to see Dean Thomas standing hesitantly behind me. I smiled slightly, “It’s fine, Dean. Just fine.”
I saw him break out into a tentative grin as he turned around. I was glad. It seemed like things were basically settled between the two of us. I didn’t want him acting strangely around me for the next two years.
We saw Cho Chang, too. Luckily, we were all paying attention to where we were walking so none of us bumped into her. A conversation with her would probably be more awkward than one between Dean and me. Much more awkward. I felt bad for her because of Cedric and all, but as far as I could tell she had just used Harry as a device to find out more about Cedric’s death. I don’t doubt that she liked him, but she had a strange way of showing it. Maybe that’s not what happened, but that’s what it looked like to me.
It took forever for us to get out of the store; there was a long line of people in front of us, mostly fellow students, who had large piles of books, too. My arms were getting tired from carrying the books, so Tonks took over for a little while.
And that’s when Malfoy appeared. He was walking away with a stack of books he had probably just paid for. He glared at all of us and shouldered Harry when he walked by, causing him to almost drop his books. I was sure it wasn’t a mistake. Harry grunted, but said nothing. It was almost strange to see Malfoy without his bodyguards”he wasn’t all that imposing a figure without those two fat bastards on either side of him (not that I would actually pick a fight with him or anything). He was furious that we had sent his Dad to Azkaban. But that’s where he belonged”not only was he a Death Eater, he was responsible for almost getting me killed when I was a first year.
He turned around and scowled again at all of us in pure disgust and said, “I see you’re with your girlfriend. Do you take that slut everywhere with you?” There was no question that he was talking about me.
“You shut up, Malfoy,” Ron warned, balling up his fists. Rage welled up in my veins”how dare he call me a slut?
“And the mudblood, too,” he said. “They do go everywhere with you, don’t they. ‘Oh, Potter, I love you!’” he said in a mocking tone. I glared at him and grabbed Ron’s arm to keep him from doing anything stupid.
“Go away, Malfoy,” I ordered.
“Leave us alone,” Harry said. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
With one final glare, he stalked out of the store.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see him until school started,” Harry said.
“I was hoping that I would never have to see him again ever,” Ron replied, still seething.
Hermione snorted. “That was wishful thinking.” Ron shrugged.
We paid for our books and left the store. Finally. It had been an hour since we had first entered it.
Tonks looked at her watch. “Wow. It’s noon already. Is anyone hungry?” she asked. We all shook our heads.
“Well, then, how about we go and visit Fred and George?” she suggested.
“Sounds great!” I said. They nodded in agreement, so we headed off in that direction. We were all eager to see their shop; none of us had seen it yet, although it had been a month since school let out.
It was a small shop with a big sign outside that read “JOKE SHOP” in big, capital red letters. It didn’t seem too busy; there were a lot more people walking out (with bags of Skiving Snackboxes in hand) than there were walking in. It seemed everyone was finishing so they could take a break and eat.
Well, it is around lunchtime. I guess we picked a good time, I thought.
We headed in and started looking for Fred and George; it wasn’t long before we found them. They were both sitting on benches behind the counter, grinning at us.
“Hey,” Fred said. “What brings you here? Would you like to buy some””
“No, thank you,” Tonks said, grinning. “We just came in to say hello.”
“Hi,” we all chorused.
“How’ve you been?” I asked. “Business been going well?”
Fred nodded. “It’s been going great. Lee wanted a job for the summer, so we told him he could be in charge of the money. We get less profit, but now we don’t really have to do anything here. We can leave whenever we want.”
“And since we know and like all of you, how about Skiving Snackboxes for half off?” George asked, grinning expectantly. Ron looked as if he were seriously considering this. I glanced at Hermione to see if she noticed. She definitely had; she had a look of strong disapproval on her face. I stifled a laugh.
We visited for a little while longer, then left to finish our shopping. I had to admit, it was strange not having the two of them around. I missed it; they made life so much more interesting. There really hadn’t been a time (at least during the summer) when they weren’t around to make us laugh. This had definitely been one of the hardest summers of my life (although that certainly wasn’t the only reason).
But one of the hardest years of my life was the year before I went to Hogwarts. I was the only one around, and I couldn’t get away with anything. Mum was constantly watching my every move (something she never got to do when there were seven of us at home). I spent almost every waking moment (and I even had dreams about it) wishing I was at Hogwarts. I remember seeing Charlie, Bill, and Percy off for Percy’s first year when I was about six and asking Mum, “Why can’t I go there?”
I don’t really remember what her reply was, but that was beside the point. What mattered was that I wanted to go to Hogwarts. And I waited for it patiently for four years. The year I was ten, I have to admit, I wasn’t so patient…
And then my first year came; it would’ve been great, except that Tom Riddle’s diary ruined everything. I almost died, and I was so sure I was going to get expelled… but no one blamed it on me. I was the only one who blamed it on me, at least then. Everyone else thought it wasn’t my fault. It took me a couple years to realize that.
Being escorted wasn’t really all that awful. Tonks was never annoying to have around; she was really pleasant and gave good advice. And Lupin was nice and very friendly and understanding. Moody… well, he was strange, but not all that bad once you got to know him a little better, and as long as you didn’t stare at his eye for too long. When we finished our shopping, we headed back to Grimmauld Place. It seemed like a normal enough day. Little did I know that it would turn into one of the strangest and best days of my life.
A/N: I hope you liked it! Don't forget to review! I love you all!~Molly
P.S. I'd love you a lot more if you went over and reviewed my general-historical fic, "Moving On"!! It's about Lily and James and what becomes of them and their friends during their seventh year. It could go under romance also, and I suppose it would work in dark/angsty. Although its not dark yet. There's something there for everyone! so go over and read it and then drop in a review (please)!!