When Harry emerged from the floo he found himself in a rather small and ramshackle kitchen with Mrs. Weasley waiting for him. Harry could immediately tell that he would like the house, it had a lived in feel that just made him feel welcomed.

“Oh, come in, Harry dear.”

“Hello, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks you again for having me over.”

“Oh, it was nothing, dear. Now, why don’t you head on outside. Ron and Ginny are waiting for you.”

Harry made his way out the door into a large yard. He barely had time to make out the slightly over grown plants and the gnarled trees that surrounded the lawn before his attention was drawn by a shrieking redheaded missile.

“Harry! You’re here!” Ginny exclaimed as she hugged him tightly.

“Course,” he laughed at her exuberance, then turned to the tall boy next to her. “Hey mate.”

“Hey Harry. Come on, let’s go play Quidditch.”

Harry grinned at Ron before following him over to the broom shed, where the three children selected brooms and took off into the air. Harry flew high enough to locate the large black dog hidden in the trees before he began a series of aerial acrobats that had both Ron and Ginny shouting in excitement. It wasn’t long before Harry was showing the two of them some of the Quidditch moves that Sirius had taught him. Surprisingly, both Weasleys caught on quite quickly. Ron even remarked about how good Ginny was. Evidently, her brothers had never allowed her to play with them before. It was only Harry’s presence that had worn Ron down today. The three children spent several hours flying in the sun before Mrs. Weasley called them in to lunch. As they landed, a feral grin spread across Harry’s face. It was time to meet the twins. He patted his pocket, making sure the packet Sirius had prepared for him last night was still there, before following Ginny and Ron into the house.

Harry volunteered to help Ginny set the table so that he could discretely add a small amount of white powder to the glasses in front of the two identical redheaded boys. Then he sat down to enjoy the large lunch Mrs. Weasley had prepared. Her cooking was much better than Sirius’, or even Remus’. It was several minutes before anything unusual happened. Then Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek as she looked up at two of her sons.

“Fred and George! What did the two of you do to each other?”

The twins looked at her in confusion and then looked at each other. It was then that they noticed that their hair was no longer red. It was flashing through a rainbow of vibrant colors. It only took one look before they broke out laughing.

“We didn’t do it mom,” Fred said.

“Honestly,” George added when he saw the skeptical look on Mrs. Weasley’s face.

Harry could no longer keep it in any longer and started to laugh. This caused the twins to look at him critically.

“Harry…” Fred began.

“We didn’t expect…” put in George.

“A prank out of you.” Fred finished.

“That’s what you get,” Harry said through his laughter, “for underestimating the son, godson, and nephew of the Marauders.” Fred and George stared at him in shock.

“Did you say the Marauders?”

“Harry, you’ve been holding out on us.”

“Which one is your dad?”

“Dad was Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, and Moony is Uncle Remus.”

“Oh, Harry.”

“We are going to get along marvelously.”

Harry laughed once more at the identical looks of excitement on the twin’s faces, then he turned to the still shocked Mrs. Weasley.

“Sorry, Mrs. Weasley. Your sons’ reputations preceded them, and I couldn’t resist.” He smiled at the look of mischief on Ginny’s face. He had a feeling she would be more than willing to help him the next time he tried to prank her brothers. Looks like he had found the second member of the new generation of Marauders.

After lunch, Fred and George dragged Harry outside where they began to pester him with all sorts of questions about the pranks the Marauders were famous for, and in turn told him many of their own pranks. Harry told them as many stories as he could remember and the five children spent most of the afternoon laughing at the stories. But Harry refused to explain why he was laughing so much and shooting looks at the trees; he didn’t want them to know he had seen Padfoot listening curiously from behind a nearby tree. But from the look on the dog’s face it seemed that he was enjoying the stories just as much as the kids. It wasn’t until late that afternoon that disaster struck.

Fred and George seemed to be getting bored, and so they fell back on one of their favorite past times–teasing Ginny and Ron. Harry laughed right along with them until George turned to Ginny.

“So Ginny, we’ve gone an entire day without hearing how wonderful Harry Potter is. Have you given up on your little crush now that we have another Harry to entertain us?” Ginny blushed crimson, not noticing that Harry was just as embarrassed.

“Shut up, George!” she answered violently. “I do not have a crush on Harry Potter! I just like to hear his story.”

“Yeah, several times a day,” Fred answered back.

Ginny stuck her tongue out at her brothers.

“What’s so special about Harry Potter?” Harry asked quietly.

“Oh, don’t you know his story?” Ginny asked eagerly, forgetting her anger at the twins.

“Only some of it, Sirius told me it yesterday.”

“You didn’t know who Harry Potter was until yesterday?”

“Not exactly.”

“It’s the best story ever! He defeated You-Know-Who when he was only a year old.”

“Who? Voldemort? No, he’s not really gone.” Harry ignored everyone’s shudder when he said the name.

“What do you mean?” Ron asked.

“Uncle Albus says he is just in hiding. He’ll be back some time.”

“Uncle Albus?” Fred asked.

“You call Dumbledore uncle?” George put in.

Harry was saved the trouble of answering by a call from the house. Mr. Weasley was home and it was getting close to time for Harry to go home.

“Hello, Mr. Weasley. It is nice to meet you,” Harry said, offering his hand to the tall balding man in front of him. Mr. Weasley shook his hand firmly, looking curiously into his eyes.

“It is nice to meet you, Harry. You have very unusual eyes.” Harry shifted anxiously. “I knew a witch once with the exact same eyes.”

“They’re my mom’s eyes,” Harry said nervously.

“Harry, who was your mother?” Harry looked uneasily up at the tall man, then shot a furtive look at Ginny before he answered.

“Lily Potter.” He said it as quietly as he could.

“Oh!... But…” Ginny stuttered, staring at him. Harry slowly took his hat off, watching her the whole time. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. “Oh, Harry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to… Why didn’t you say anything?” Harry shrugged in embarrassment.

“I didn’t want you to treat me any different at first. And then… well… I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

Ginny’s face went deep red once more, and with one final look at Harry she turned and ran out the door, Harry only steps behind her.

“Ginny!” he called after her. “Please don’t run!”

Ginny came to a stop, but she didn’t turn around to face him. When he caught up with her he could see tears running down her face. Harry was heartbroken. He hadn’t meant to hurt Ginny; he had liked that she wanted to know him without knowing who he was.

“Please don’t cry Ginny, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She still refused to look at him. “I’m sorry… I just really wanted to be your friend. I’ve never had a friend my own age before and you were so nice and wanted to get to know me before you found out who I am. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. I honestly only found out I was famous yesterday. And then when Fred and George started teasing you I didn’t know what to say. Please don’t be mad at me, Ginny!”

“I’m not mad at you,” she said in a small voice. “I’m mad at myself. I made a complete idiot of myself. I’m really not a silly girl who moons after you all the time, I just always thought it would be wonderful to get to know you.”

“You do know me.”

“No, I know Harry. Just plain Harry. But you’re Harry Potter and that is so much more and…”

“No it isn’t,” he interrupted her. “I’m not any more special than you are. In fact, I think you’re lucky. You got to grow up with your family and all your brothers. You didn’t have to hide all your life. You can do things without always having someone watching you to make sure nothing happens.”

“But Harry, no one is watching you now.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” He looked at her carefully. “Can you keep a secret?” Ginny nodded shyly. “Padfoot!” He called.

It took barely a minute for a large black dog to bound in to view, looking much more alarmed than a dog usually can. At the sight of Harry, standing there looking perfectly fine, the dog stopped in confusion and cocked his head at Harry as if in question.

“Will you show Ginny who you are? I need to prove something to her. She won’t say anything, she promised.”

Padfoot looked at Harry for a long minute before nodding his head and slowly shifting into the form of Sirius Black once more. Ginny let out a startled shriek at the sight.

“But you’re… but how… I’m confused.” She finally managed to stutter out.

“Sirius is an animagus,” Harry explained. Sirius shifted back into a dog and approached Ginny shyly until she reached out a tentative hand to stroke his fur. “He wouldn’t let me come today unless he was close by. He was worried about something happening to me.” Padfoot barked as if in confirmation of this fact.

Ginny looked up at Harry for several long minutes. It looked like she was trying to make a difficult decision. Eventually she smiled brightly at him, grabbed his hand and pulled him down to the ground. They sat right next to each other and Padfoot curled in to ball in front of them. After several minutes she finally spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Harry. I guess I’ve just always assumed that Harry Potter would be so much bigger than life. I never thought that he could be just like me.”

“I’m not special,” Harry stated emphatically.

“Yes you are,” she responded. She waved aside his protests. “You’re my friend, and that makes you special.”

The two friends sat and talked until it got dark and Padfoot began pulling on Harry’s clothes, as if telling him it was time for them to leave. Harry didn’t want to leave. For the first time in his life he had made a real friend. He and Ginny seemed to be able to talk about everything. Ginny had been fascinated by some of the stories Harry told about how he grew up. She was shocked that he knew Dumbledore so well, and asked a lot of questions about the man who would one day be her Headmaster. Harry, in turn, asked to hear all about what it was like to grow up in a large family. Finally, clearly tired of trying to get Harry’s attention, Padfoot once more shifted forms.

“Okay, kiddo. I know you two want to talk some more, but we really do need to be getting home. Remus is coming over for dinner and you know how worried he’ll be if we aren’t there when he gets there.”

Harry looked at Ginny sadly. “Can I come back tomorrow?” he asked Sirius pleadingly.

Sirius chuckled. “How about we take Ginny out tomorrow? Then you’ll still get to see her but you won’t be in Mrs. Weasley’s hair two days in a row.”

“Thanks, Uncle Sirius!” Harry turned to Ginny, beaming, and grabbed her hand to drag her into the house. “Come on; let’s go ask your mom’s permission.” Harry stopped just as he was about to open the door. “I better floo home, Uncle Sirius. I don’t want the twins getting a hold of you tonight. They might not let you go.”

“Highly possibly, kiddo. I’ll meet you at home.”

Sirius Black laughed at his godson for what must have been the tenth time that morning. Harry had been up and ready at the crack of dawn this morning, and ever since Sirius had woken up he had been pestering him to get ready so they could go get Ginny. Sirius briefly wondered if Harry had a crush on the young girl, then dismissed this thought. He was too young to be thinking about girls that way. Harry was just happy to have his very own friend. It made Sirius think that maybe he had been wrong keeping Harry so concealed from the wizarding world. The kid was practically starved for friendship. Well, Sirius would make it up to him. He had a feeling that Harry and Ginny were going to be great friends. Probably Ron, too. Especially as he would be in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. It was doubtless a good thing that Harry had made genuine friends before heading off to Hogwarts. He would need them when faced with all the attention he would be sure to garner at school.

“Finally, Uncle Sirius! What took you so long?” Without waiting for a response, Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the fireplace. “Come on, let’s go get Ginny.”

Harry missed the laughter on Sirius face, as he was already swallowed up by emerald green flames. He emerged once more into the Weasley’s kitchen. Ginny was there, waiting for him, excitedly bouncing on her chair at the table.

“Harry! You came! Where are we going to go?”

“Hi Ginny!” he beamed at her. Behind him, Sirius emerged from the fireplace. “Uncle Sirius is going to take us to a park nearby. We used to go play there all the time; I actually live pretty close to here.”

“Really? Can I come see your house?”

“No, I don’t think you would be able to see it.” He looked up to Sirius for confirmation. “There is a spell or something on it that keeps people from finding us. We would have to ask Uncle Albus if you would be allowed to come over.”

“We’ll have to ask him about that, kiddo,” Sirius responded, shocking Harry. No one had ever been allowed over to their house. “Now, why don’t you go find Ron and invite him along, too.”

“Oh, that would be so fun!” Ginny exclaimed. She took Harry’s hand and pulled him out the door. “Come on, Harry. I’ll show you where his room is.”

Harry followed her up a crooked and rickety staircase to the very top floor where a small sign on the door proclaimed “Ronald’s Room”. Harry knocked shyly. It was a couple of minutes before Ron opened the door, his disheveled hair proclaiming he had been asleep.

“Ginny! What do you… Oh, hey Harry.”

“Hi Ron. Do you want to come with Ginny and me to the park? Sirius is going to take us.”

“Sure, let me just get ready. I’ll meet you guys down there.”

“Okay, come on, Harry, I want to show you my room.”

Harry laughed as Ginny once more dragged him by the hand, chattering at him the whole way. He liked having friends. Even if being Ginny’s friend did seem to make Ron a little jealous. But Harry couldn’t help it. He just liked being around her. Her excitement about life always seemed to rub off on him. And it was hard to be sad when you were around Ginny. In fact, Harry realized with a jolt, he hadn’t thought about that awful prophecy since he had met Ginny. Deciding that this was definitely a good thing, Harry wondered if Ginny would be willing to write to him while he was at Hogwarts this year. He didn’t want her to think that he was forgetting about her since she wouldn’t be there.