disclaimer: i don't own harry potter, obviously, if i did there would have been way more harry/ginny

a/n: this is my first harry potter story, it takes place during the fifth book and features HP/OC and HP/GW friendship (its a very close friendship if that helps). as a huge harry/ginny fan this is something a little different for me but i hope it works. please let me know what you think, reviews are much appreciated.

Harry Potter was having a bad day. No, make that a bad week, month and year so far. His high spirits at spending time on the school train with his friends had evaporated immediately upon entering his uncle's car and the melancholy of having witnessed the death of Cedric Diggory and the return of Lord Voldemort to power had returned. On the journey home from King's Cross Harry had been forced to listen to Aunt Petunia alternate between praising Dudley for his new found athletic talent and a self satisfied diatribe against the Smelting's school nurse. When that wasn't the talk of the car his Uncle Vernon was sadistically reeling off a large list of chores he would be expected to complete over the summer and the rules he would be forced to live by, including, but not restricted to, a ban on anything Harry found enjoyable.

Harry nodded and agreed with the restrictions his uncle was putting in place. His foul mood had returned and he couldn't see himself enjoying anything this summer. Cedric was dead, Voldemort was back and Harry was being forced to spend the summer with the three people outside of Voldemort that would prefer to see him dead. Yes, this summer was definitely going to cap off a bad year and begin another that promised to be just as bad. Uncle Vernon parked the car in the drive of Number 4 Privet Drive and immediately went inside leaving Harry to struggle with his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage. For her own safety, Harry had sent Hedwig ahead so she wouldn't fall under the scrutiny of the Dursley's.

Harry made sure to thump his trunk heavily on each stair as he dragged it up to his room. He blatantly ignored the way his uncle's purple face appeared around the living room door and shouted at him to be careful. All Harry wanted to do was lock himself in his room and fall into bed. Though he didn't want to he knew he would simply lie there thinking about the events of the previous year. He shoved his door open with a thump and came to a startled halt just inside. Sitting on his desk gently stroking his owl was a young woman. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was pulled to the side and tied with a black ribbon over her right shoulder. Her eyes were a deep midnight blue and her fingernails were painted black. She was wearing a long black leather cord around her neck with a charm dangling from it down into her cleavage, clearly visible peaking over the top of the white tank top that did nothing to hide the fact that she was wearing a deep red lacy bra. Her short denim skirt left nothing to the imagination as both of her heavily black booted feet were propped up on the arms of Harry's desk chair affording him a clear view of her matching knickers and really long tanned legs.

Harry's breath caught in his throat and his cheeks flooded with heat. He tried to speak but no words came out. The beautiful blonde turned to him and smiled at him in such a way that Harry felt he would never stop blushing.

'Hello Harry.'