Chapter One: Homecoming

He wasn't there.

At that moment, Ginny Weasley felt her heart die inside of her. He hadn't said he would be there...but he hadn't said he wouldn't either. She had just assumed he would be standing there, right beside her mother and father, waiting.

That's what you get for expecting anything from the famous Harry Potter, Ginevra.

She used her own name as if it was an insult. She had to be realistic - the way he'd been when she'd left, the way his letters were short and apathetic, she couldn't expect him to be any different now. She stepped off the train, alone, though not as much as she would have liked. She could feel the eyes on her back. The familiar male eyes she had learned to ignore completely, and her friends' eyes didn't penetrate her sense of hollowness, but they were still there and she still felt surrounded by their owners. Ginny put on a smile for her parents, even though she knew they would see through her eventually. She could only buy herself time as her trunk was loaded into the back of Mr. Weasley's car and her parents drove her back home. She would be able to get away from them there.

The Burrow is rather empty, Ginny realized. She was used to having a load of brothers around to make things interesting - certainly Fred and George had been up to the task. But even though she knew there would be a welcome home party in her honor tomorrow (Ron and Hermione had an engagement that night), she wondered if it would ever be the same. It wasn't that she didn't notice her mother fussing over her, or her daddy taking in her trunk for her. No, it was something else. Something was gone. Her childhood had disappeared as fast as if she had banished it with her wand. She was a witch of age now, and there would be no more Hogwarts.

"Ginny...dear?"

"Oh...sorry mum." Ginny quickly snapped back from her thoughts. "What did you say?"

"What happened to that boy, Jared?" Mrs. Weasley's face looked very concerned. Her daughter hadn't said anything since the train station. For someone usually so full of energy, Ginny seemed dead.

"Oh...we broke up...it wasn't going to work." That seemed like ages ago, though it had only been a few short hours since she had turned down her boyfriend Jared Weaver's offer to come stay with him in America for an extended period over the summer. That had led into his break-up with her, after which Ginny had felt oddly relieved. He was a year younger than her, and she didn't want to wait for him to finish school anyway. Not like you waited for...

A clock shifted, bringing Ginny back from her thoughts into the real world as it made a loud clicking sound, her hand falling into place at "Home". Her hair flowed as her head shook softly. It certainly didn't feel like home.

------------------------------

"Go away." A pale hand reached up and swatted at an even whiter owl. The motion earned a hard peck on the wrist. A resigned groan came from below the owl, earning the wrist...

Show full text: 826,822 characters