The Gathering: The New Order of Merlin Book 1

3. Every day is a game day

"Twenty-seven days left until Hogwarts."

That was all Ginny Weasley could think about as she jumped off her bed and stared out her window at the sun-bathed rolling hills. There were only twenty-seven more summer days left before the start of her first year of magical education. She squealed, having a hard time containing her excitement. Making friends, playing Quidditch, testing just how great of a witch she was—it would all begin in twenty-seven days.

Her eye caught the animated poster of Gwenog Jones hanging above her desk. Ginny stood in front of it with her hands on her hips and asked herself the usual morning question.

"What would Gwenog do today?"

The tall dark-skinned captain of the Holyhead Harpies looked back at her fiercely and punched the air with her fist.

"Gwenog would treat every day as game day," Ginny answered.

The smell of breakfast reached her from downstairs, and her stomach growled. Yes. Gwenog would eat a hearty breakfast to get ready for another exciting day.

She bounded down the stairs, humming "Twenty-seven days" to the melody of Do the Hippogriff, but when she made it to the kitchen, her world turned upside down.

Harry Potter was sitting in her kitchen!

No way.

The one and only Harry Potter, The Boy That Lived, the boy that defeated He Who Must Not Be Named as a baby, was in her kitchen, eating sausages with Ginny's brothers as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

He turned to her, the famous lightning-shaped scar peeking from under his messy black hair, and an involuntary squeal escaped Ginny's lips. She immediately turned around and ran back up the stairs. She slammed the door after herself and sat on her bed, hyperventilating.

She'd been looking forward to meeting him for a long time and hoped her brother, Ron, would introduce them once she got to Hogwarts, but she never would have imagined that he would bring Harry right here to their house.

Ginny got up to look in a mirror hanging on her door, and a miserable moan escaped her lips. Her cheeks were a violent shade of red. She was wearing an old only-good-enough-to-sleep-in gown. Her ginger hair was uncombed and sticking in all directions. This was the first impression she gave him.

She wanted to bang her head on the wall. Instead, she went back into bed and curled up under the covers, trying to disappear.

Meanwhile, the poster of Gwenog Jones stared daggers at her.

"Every day is a game day," Ginny said to herself. "How could I forget?"