MetaFic

((A/N: All new chapters won't come this quick, but I thought I'd send the next one out to give people more of a flavor for the story. For those who are wondering about the ritual Ginny did to time-travel, it would not be considered dark, at least not completely. The blood was *freely* given. Still, sacrifice was required which makes it pretty gray. Ginny wasn't thrilled to do the ritual, but saw the necessity. Five years of an ugly war allowed her to push aside her morals for a moment, much like a soldier does to kill when it is his duty. Does this mean Ginny is dark? No. Does this indicate that "warrior Ginny" may have trouble fitting in as an 11 year-old girl? Yes. She will be tempted to do things she really should not.))

Chapter 2 - Location, Location, Location

Her eyes flew open and saw white. After a few moments of disorientation, she finally recognized the whiteness: it was the ceiling in her room at The Burrow. That seemed important for some reason, but she was having trouble thinking. She had gone to bed last night after her brothers had been arguing over some prank, but she could not remember what. Yet, she also had the memory of brewing some very important potion. But she was very sure she had not been helping her mother brew any potions. It was all so confusing.

Feeling something in her eyes, she rubbed the sleep out of them. As she went to pull her hands away, she looked carefully at her hands. They were too small, and yet, they were also right. A wedding ring was also missing, but that could not be right because she was only ten, to be eleven in a few weeks. No, she turned twenty-one a few weeks ago. She mentally screamed. Why was figuring out what was going on so hard?

She was young, and yet she was old. Over the next few minutes, more “old” memories started coming to her, and then she remembered. With a gleeful smile, she sat up in bed and looked around her bedroom in The Burrow. It had worked! She had really come back in time!

Yes, her hands were too small. Feeling even more different in her body, she pulled the front of her nightshirt away from her and looked down. Yep, no boobs. Damn! That was really too bad. She had liked her adult boobs. Well, to be honest, she had liked what they did for Harry and how he had liked them, but still, it felt weird not to have that weight on her chest any more.

Of course, on the plus side, she would have more time with Harry, years even, and if everything went according to plan, she would get to marry him all over again and get to lose her virginity to him again. She giggled at that, as that would be a lot of fun – again.

As she went through her memories, she found a “fresher” or “newer” set, as well as her “older” set. Her older self knew all of the newer memories, but she still tried to quickly go over them, looking for inconsistencies. Fortunately, everything seemed to match up.

Happy that everything was working out so far, she got up, put on her robe, and went downstairs for breakfast. At the last landing with one flight of stairs left, voices from kitchen area floated up to her, along with the smells of her mother’s cooking. Those smells produced a longing she had not been able to fulfill for several years. Then one voice in particular caused her to freeze. It was Harry.

Now, she was of two minds, almost literally. Her new mind wanted to “eep” and run back to her room. Her old mind wanted to run downstairs, grab him, snog him senseless, and then drag him upstairs to have her wicked way with him. That thought stopped both of her minds. Her new one was hyperventilating, while her old one was disgusted at herself. Lusting after a twelve year old boy who was about nine years younger than she was? What a pervert!

But she wanted him, her Harry. Leaning against the wall, she allowed herself to slowly slide down to the floor, sitting with her thighs against her chest. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she buried her face in her robe between her knees and quietly sobbed. She was so close and yet so far away. Harry was here, but he would not be her Harry for several years yet, probably in the fourth year. If she worked things right, maybe this time he would take her to the Yule Ball and then they would be together again -- forever.

Right then, she purposed that she would not unduly pressure Harry. Tempt him at times, yes; flirt with him, absolutely; but not pressure him. She vowed to herself that she would not do more than hug him or kiss him on the cheek until the Yule Ball, unless he initiated it. The last step where they became one again would have to wait until he was at least seventeen. She did not dare consider the idea that he would not choose her; that would have been heart-rending.

Ginny wiped her tears away and got up. She needed to go wash her face now. She would be friends with him, and not a cowering little fan-girl. She remembered how much Harry did not like that, especially as he got older. That made her wonder if she was the cause of that in the other timeline. Splashing water over her face felt good, and it hopefully helped to make it look like she had not just been crying. Drying her face, she thought about what she had to do. She would do her best to be normal and friendly around him, maybe even a little flirty, but not too much. Yes, not too much, that was older Harry that had like her flirting with him. For this younger Harry, she just had to show that she was a girl who was her own person. With a smirk as her updated plan came together, she brushed her hair until it was smooth and silky. Harry had never been able to resist the allure of her long red mane.

With a deep breath and a smile on her face, she walked down the stairs into the kitchen. No one noticed her at first, which was just fine. Seeing Harry in her chair, she sat in the empty one next to him; that got her noticed. Harry looked at her and then blushed slightly. Ginny just smiled at him and held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Ginny. I believe we met last year on Platform 9 ¾.”

Harry hesitatingly reached out and shook her hand. “Hi, uh, yeah, I remember.”

“It’s good to have you here. Now there will be two normal people in the house,” she said as she started filling the plate in front of her.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Ron asked somewhat belligerently.

“I’m having a conversation, Ron,” Ginny replied, rolling her eyes at her brother. “You should try it sometime. Maybe you’d have more friends that way.”

“Ooh!” She heard from her left.

“Ouch!” came from the other twin.

“Way to go Ginny,” they said in unison, drawing Ron’s ire to them.

“So, Harry, I’m surprised to see you here, not that you aren’t welcome, because you are, but what brings you here?” Ginny did her best to project calm curiosity.

Harry blushed, again being the object of her scrutiny. While she found that cute, she found it hilarious that Harry stuck his elbow in the butter dish as he suddenly turned around towards her.

The twins started laughing at Harry’s predicament. Even Ron seemed to lighten up as he looked at his friend.

“Idiots,” she muttered. “It can happen to anyone.” She handed a napkin to the boy, who smiled gratefully at her help and her comment.

Harry wiped the butter off and moved the dish to the center of the table. He looked at Ginny and she was patiently looking at him. “Thanks for the napkin.”

“Anytime. You were about to tell me about how you got here?”

“Er, right. Well, you see, I was having a spot of trouble at my relatives, and your brothers were nice enough to come rescue me…” He trailed off and looked down at his plate, eating some more as if to prevent more of an explanation.

Ginny nodded at that before she turned to her brothers. “You used Dad’s car, didn’t you?”

“You should have seen it,” Fred started.

“It? You should have seen us, magnificent.” George added.

Ginny shook her head as she listened to the story, giving the appropriate responses as needed. She did her best to ask questions, of all four of them. Harry’s responses were the shortest, but he did talk to her.

“Ginny!” Ron finally burst out, as if not able to contain himself any more. “What are you trying to do? He’s my friend, you don’t even know him.” A glance showed her twin brothers were shocked at their younger brother.

“What, Ronald? I can’t be a friend to Harry too?” she asked scathingly. “I never saw a sign that said ‘Boys only’ when I walked in. And did you ever stop to ask Harry’s opinion on the matter? Perhaps he’d like another friend. Why don’t you stop being jealous and grow up.” Ginny realized that Harry was very quiet and looking down. She hoped she had not started them off on a bad footing.

“Gin-Gin,” George finally spoke into the growing silence, “this is so unlike you.”

“Yeah, why aren’t you squeaking and running away from your…”

“Fred!” Ginny growled with her eyes staring holes in her brother. “Finish that question and if you’re lucky, you’ll live to regret it.”

“Harrikins, you want to be careful with this Weasley,” George said very seriously as he nodded at his sister. “She is proof that very powerful things can come in small packages.”

After a few seconds of silence, Ginny’s demeanor change 180 degrees as a big smile came over her. “Thanks George.”

Mrs Weasley took that time to come into the room. Looking at the children, she started giving orders to send them on their way. “Fred, George, Ron, outside and remove all the Gnomes from the garden.” At their less than pleased looks, she added, “And if you don’t like that, then you shouldn’t have done something so thoughtless last night.” Her gaze moved to her daughter. “Ginny, go get dressed. Harry, you’re welcome to accompany the boys, but you don’t have to do anything with the gnomes.”

“Gnomes? What are those?” Harry asked.

“A real blight, they are,” Ron started before his mother’s disapproving look stopped him. “Come on, Harry, I’ll show you,” he said to his friend as he got up.

Ginny watched her past/future husband walk outside with her brothers. As she went upstairs to get dressed, she smiled to herself as she thought about the time she would get to spend with Harry, merely because she was not some shy little fan-girl who could not stay in the same room as Harry for the next three years. Yeah, she was only about to be eleven, but she would make the most of her circumstances.

---

That night, Ginny crawled into bed a tired little girl. She had also flung a few gnomes that morning when she had joined the boys. That little exercise has brought back the realities of being eleven again. She did not have the stamina or the build of a battle hardened twenty-one year-old anymore. It would literally take years to get into that condition again, as she would need to go through puberty to get there, but she could help that change along. She would have to start some simple exercises, which would have the nice side-benefit of helping her with her Quidditch game.

She almost laughed out loud as she thought about her afternoon of flying. Her brothers had been so adamantly against her playing, saying that she did not know how to fly well enough. Even more amusingly to her, it had been Harry that had insisted on letting her join. It was not hard for her to guess that he understood what it was like to be left out.

Once she took off on her father’s old broom, only Harry on his Nimbus 2000 had a chance of keeping up with her. It had been amazing to fly with him again. He was such a natural. Even with her memories of past skills honed with years of practice, she had trouble keeping up with Harry when he really got going. It had been exciting to fly with him, and to see the shocked expressions on her brother’s faces to see her skill.

Remembering the time with Harry brought her thoughts back to her purpose in life for the next year or so. As Harry had a date with destiny, so did she now. She started to review her plan.

First and foremost, she had to get a good wand. Her grandmother’s, which her mother had forced on her last time around, would not do. No, she was going to have to cast some difficult magic and needed a wand that suited her. The problem there was getting the money to buy one. “This Ginny” had a little more then four Galleons to her name. A decent wand would cost seven or eight Galleons from Ollivander. Better yet would be a custom wand that did not have the Ministry tracking charms on it, but that would easily run her double the normal amount.

As she considered what to do, who she could go to, only one person came to mind. Only one person had the money and probably would not hold it over her head: Harry. She would have to make a deal with him. Perhaps a trade of knowledge for a loan. Yes, if she promised to pay him back by Christmas, that would look realistic.

Of course, as she thought about the tasks of getting all of the Horcruxes, she knew where a small fortune was for the taking. With some work, she should be able to get her hands on that by Christmas, then money would never be a problem again. Not that it had been much of a problem last time around either.

Ginny had never been that bothered by her family’s financial status, unlike her brother Ron. By the time the war had really gotten started last time, she had been firmly in Harry’s closest circle of friends. As he was quite rich, and had the foresight – or good luck – to withdraw most of his money before Gringotts went under, the resistance had plenty of money for their fight. Then she had married into the Potter family. No, money was not a problem last time, and it would not be a problem this time either, assuming her plan worked.

Another part of her overall plan was niggling at her, something about that part did not seem completely right; but in her present exhausted state, the problem or inconsistency was escaping her. With a large yawn, she rolled over to go to sleep. She would have to figure it out later.

---

The next morning, Ginny came down for breakfast to find Harry there, but no one else was at the table. Her mother was in the kitchen, based on the sounds coming from the other room. Three of her brothers preferred to sleep in; there was no accounting for what Percy would do. Hmm, she thought, she would have to work on Percy to see if she could prevent his estrangement this time.

Deciding to take the opportunity to talk to Harry alone since it had presented itself, Ginny sat beside her “new friend”. “’Morning Harry.”

“Good morning, Ginny.”

She noticed that he did not look at her for very long and there appeared to be a slight pink tinge to his face. Ginny almost laughed at the role reversal from last time. Not knowing when someone else might come in, she figured she had better get right to the point. “Hey, Harry,” she whispered. “How would you like to make a deal that would help both of us?”

“What?” he asked in his normal voice, looking back up at her.

“Ssh,” she whispered again. “This is one of those things best kept a secret.”

He gave her a quizzical look, continuing to look her in the eye.

“How much money do you have in your trunk?”

Harry shrugged. “Don’t know,” he whispered back. “Forty or fifty Galleons. Why?”

Ginny smiled. “That should do. Loan that to me now and I’ll get you something you really need, and something I really need, plus I’ll pay you back the money I need at Christmas time.”

“What do I really need?” he asked with the expected curiosity.

“You need two books and a very special necklace,” she whispered calmly and with a straight face.

Harry jerked up and sat very straight in his chair. “A necklace?” he asked in his normal voice.

Ginny was about to shush him when her mother walked in. “Oh, Ginny. I didn’t know you were up. Good, you’re eating. When you’re finished, you and Harry can go play until the boys get up. I have some things for everyone to do later.”

“Yes, Mum,” her daughter dutifully answered.

“And Harry, have a few more pieces of bacon. I think you still look too thin.”

“Yes, Mrs Weasley,” Harry told her as she left to return to the kitchen.

Ginny smiled at him. “That’s the way to deal with Mum. Be respectful and tell her what she wants to hear, while also being as vague as possible. You can almost get away with murder with her if you’re respectful; more-so with Dad, but it works with Mum too,” she said quietly. “It also helps that you’re not really her child, although she does think of you that way.”

“Really?” Harry got a wistful look on his face.

“Harry, I heard what my brothers said they found at your relatives’ place.” His head jerked around towards her, with an intense stare on his face. “It’s pretty bad there, isn’t it?”

He looked down at his plate, moving the last bite of eggs around but not eating them.

After what seemed like a long gap of silence, Ginny went on. “Listen, Harry. If you ever need to talk about it to get it out of your system, I’ll listen and I promise I won’t judge you or think any less of you. You’ll still be just Harry to me.” He looked back up at her with astonishment on his face. “And Harry, I swear to you,” her voice lowered to a whisper again, “I’ll do everything in my power to help you get out of ever going back there.”

His eyes grew big. “How?”

“I don’t know, Harry, but I’ll find a way. You might have to go back for a few days next summer, but I will find a way to get you out of there and make it so you never have to go back,” she swore fiercely.

He looked at her very intently for a long moment. She held his gaze, trying to prove herself worthy of him. Of course, it helped that she loved to gaze into his lovely green eyes. Finally, he nodded. “Thanks, Ginny. Even if you can’t, thanks for believing in me.”

She gave him her best smile before she drained the last of her morning juice.

“So Ginny, what do you need…” he stopped as he heard multiple footsteps on the stairs. A few seconds later, the twins came into view.

“Ah, look what we have here…”

“It’s so sweet.” Both twins were grinning like idiots.

Harry looked down and grabbed the last piece of bacon off of his place and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

Ginny just shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, tease all you want, brothers mine, but Harry and I both know it’s all a joke to you, right Harry?” She hoped to set him at ease, but he just blushed and got up.

“Come on Harry, let’s go fly,” Ginny encouraged him. “These sleepy-heads can catch up with us later.” She headed for the back door and Harry was quick to follow. It looked like she had established a friendship with him and she was very happy about that. Once they each retrieved a broom out of the shed, both of them took off into the sky.

Harry hovered over the middle of the paddock about thirty feet in the air. When Ginny caught up to him, he relaxed on his broom and turned to her. “So, Ginny, what do you need the money for?”

She smiled. She had assumed that was his interrupted question. “I’m sure Ron’s told you that we’re not the richest family around?”

“Sure, but I don’t care.”

“Thanks, Harry.” She flashed him a big smile and he blushed slightly. “Well, Mum’s already mentioned that she’s going to make me use her mother’s wand, but I want a new wand that attuned to me.”

“The wand chooses the wizard”, Harry murmured.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve always heard too.” She did not bother to mention it was from Harry in the other timeline, but she had heard that. “Anyway, I wanted to get my own wand, and one that doesn’t have the Ministry tracking spells.”

His head jerked up to look at her. “You mean…”

“Yeah,” she answered when he had trailed off. “I’ll obey the Secrecy from Muggle law, but I want to be able to do magic whenever I want to. I’ll have to be careful not to be caught by Mum and Dad, but I don’t see why some stupid law should stop me from doing magic whenever I want. I am a witch,” she said proudly.

“So if I got a wand like that…”

Ginny could see the wheels turning in his head and she laughed. “Yeah, mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Magic tracking is done in two parts. A special tracking charm on the wand by all officially licensed wand makers helps. That along with the magic monitors which can sense magic in areas that aren’t supposed to have magic.”

“But that means…” Harry trailed off as he thought it through.

“Exactly, even with the tracking charm on your wand, you can do magic if you’re in a magical place, like at school or here. The monitor can’t tell if it’s illegal magic or not. So they have to err on the side of caution and assume that you’re doing magic under the supervision of the adults here.”

“Bloody hell! That’s unfair!” Harry looked as outraged as he sounded.

“Yeah, it’s really unfair to Muggleborns.” Ginny had almost said “to Hermione”, but had caught herself just in time. She could have explained that away by saying Ron had written about their Muggleborn friend, but it was best to avoid scrutiny of how she knew of Hermione.

“So I would have always gotten in trouble with magic at my relatives house.”

“Yep. You’ve managed to avoid it so far, haven’t you?” She looked at him, curious to know if a house-elf was repeating what she knew.

He looked down at the broom he was on. “Er, no.”

“No? What happened?” She had to ask.

Harry looked around for a moment. “Long story, but, uh, I didn’t do the magic, this magical creature did, but I got a warning anyway.”

She looked at him for a minute, both of them still hovering and enjoying the morning breeze. “Talk to Dad about it, Harry. Tell him what happened and get him to take you to the Ministry to appeal it. You can have them do a spell on your wand to show you didn’t cast the spell they said you did, and they’ll have to take it off of your record.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, thanks Ginny!” He seemed to be embarrassed by her smiling at him again. “Say, what did you think I really needed?”

As she was about to answer, her three brothers came out of the house and started running for the shed. “I’ll have to tell you later, but if you can get me the money tonight, we can pick everything up when we go shopping for our school things. I think Mum is going to take us in a few days. You’ll be glad you did this.”

“OK, I’ll trust you on this.”

She laughed. “You will be glad, Harry. I think I can also say that this is the start of a very profitable friendship.”

He gave her a strange look at that statement, but did not get the time to pursue it as Ron and the twins flew up with an old Quaffle in hand.

That evening, Harry had stopped by her room just long enough to toss her a bag with forty-eight Galleons, nine Sickles, and five Knuts. When she added her money in, she had a few Knuts over fifty-three Galleons. It should be enough.

The next evening after dinner, Ginny made an excuse to go clean her room. She locked her door from the inside with a key and from her closet, pulled out one of her father’s full length cloaks and her grandmother’s wand. With the wand, she did a few glamours on herself and now she looked a foot taller and sounded like a man the age of her father. Putting on the cloak and pulling up the hood, she thought about the area outside of the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and Apparated.

After feeling the familiar squeeze, she found herself right where she wanted to, which made her smile. She still had it. With a purposeful stride, she made her way to a store in Knockturn Alley. It was dusk and this was prime time for the district of less than reputable stores. Looking like she knew she should be there and ignoring everyone she walked past, she avoided all trouble with the drunks and prostitutes. Finding the store she had visited once in the other timeline, she entered and happily found that it was empty of customers.

“Yeah?” asked a gravelly voice.

“I need a custom wand,” her older male voice said.

The old shopkeeper stepped out of the shadows and looked “him” over. Apparently, the well kept but older looking cloak passed inspection. “That’ll be fifty Galleons and it’ll take two hours.”

“I’ll give you twenty and I’ll come pick it up in two days,” she countered.

Laughter filled the shop, which turned into a cough as the old man had laughed too hard. “A lovely sense of humor you have. Forty and not a Knut less.”

Ginny was not happy with the price, as it had not cost nearly as much last time. Then again, last time they had been in a war and every shop was happy to get any business it could. That must have made more of an effect than she had realized. Not saying anything, she looked around at some glass cabinets with various things in them. With a swagger that was not naturally hers, she moved over to see what was in them. After a moment, she saw pendent with a Tiger’s Eye stone.

“That necklace and pendent,” a manly finger came out of the cloak and pointed. “What charms does it have on it?”

The old man came over to see what she was pointed at. “It’s guaranteed to stop mind attacks.”

“Guaranteed?”

“That’s what I said,” he retorted.

“Guaranteed or double my money back?” Ginny fingered the end of her wand.

The shopkeeper looked affronted. “All my merchandise is guaranteed.”

Now Ginny chuckled. “I know, or I wouldn’t have come here.” At the man’s questioning look, Ginny added, “I just wanted to hear you say it. I’ll give you forty for both the wand and the necklace, and another twenty if you can find another necklace just like that when I come pick up the wand in two days.”

The old man looked more interested as the amount of money went up. “Fifty-five now and twenty-five if I can get another necklace.”

“You can have the twenty-five on the second one, but only fifty for the wand and this one here; and I want a receipt to prove I’ve already paid you.” Ginny held her breath, she really wanted to go back home with something in her money purse.

A laugh filled the shop again. “You’re good, I’ll give you that. Come over here and pick out the wood.”

Ginny slowly exhaled and walked over. Ten minutes later she had picked out an ash blank and a phial containing the heart-string of a Gryffin. That combination caused the shopkeeper to raise an eyebrow, but Ginny just laughed and pulled out Harry’s money purse. As she counted out fifty Galleons, the old man got her necklace and wrote up a receipt.

They exchanged and Ginny told him, “I’ll be back in two, maybe three days. Be sure it’s ready.” The old man snorted, and Ginny left.

As it was now dark, Ginny quickly made her way back to the Apparation point. She passed two Aurors on patrol near the entrance to Knockturn Alley, but they had no reason to stop her and left her alone. A few minutes later, she was back in her room, with none the wiser. A couple of “Finites” removed the glamours. After a few waves of the wand to clean her room to account for the time, the borrowed cloak went back into her closet. She kept the wand and necklace on her.

Deciding she had some time before she could talk to Harry alone, she went up to Percy’s room. Ginny hoped she could talk some sense into her overly ambitious and stupid brother.

---

A little after midnight, the whole house had been quite for nearly an hour. Putting on her house-robe, as if she was going to the bathroom, she quietly went down the hall to the room Harry was staying in, which was Bill's old room. Opening the door, she saw it was dark, so she went in and closed the door behind her.

“Harry?” she whispered.

“Ginny?”

“Well, it’s not my mother,” she answered, barely suppressing a giggle.

“Here, I’ll light the candle.”

“No, don’t,” she commanded, and he obeyed. “If someone else walks down the hall to the bathroom, they’ll see the light under the door and they might come in.” She continued to whisper and he did too.

“OK. So, you said you had something for me? Did you find it that quick?”

“Yeah, I got lucky. It cost a bit more than I thought it would and I ordered another for me, so I spent more than I had planned, but I think you’ll find it worth it. I promise I’ll pay you back at Christmas if not before.”

“If it’s for a good reason, that’s fine,” Harry assured her. “So what is it?”

Ginny silently did a quick Legilimens and read his current thoughts, which showed him to be very curious about what she had and a slight thrill for her sneaking into his room. That last part quickened her heart as she sat down on the edge of his bed. “Hold still and I’ll put it around your neck. You should always keep this on, especially when you’re at school.”

“Why?”

She finished and pulled back, purposefully placing her hands in her lap so as to avoid the temptation to run them through his hair. “Because it blocks all mind probes.”

“What?” he asked in his normal voice.

“Ssh,” she hissed and sat silently to make sure no one was coming. He seemed to understand and stayed quiet too. She studied his outline in the pale moonlight. She wished there was more moonlight and they were both about five years older.

Silently doing another quick Legilimens, she found that she could not read his current thoughts. So it worked.

After no other sounds, other than the ghoul in the attic, were heard, she continued on. “I’ve heard the stories from my brothers and I’ve heard things from my parents. Harry, have you ever felt like Dumbledore knew what you were thinking? Like he was staring straight through you into your soul?”

She saw Harry’s head slowly nod.

“My brothers say that Snape is the same way, only worse.”

“I’ll agree. It seems like he knows what I’m thinking sometimes, just so he can pick the worst time to do something to me.”

Ginny sighed. “From what I can gather, he probably is, Harry, and this necklace will protect you from that. Your private thoughts will now stay private.”

“Really? That’s brilliant!” he excitedly whispered. “And you tried to order another so you could be safe too?”

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.” She really did not need one as she knew Occlumency, but the necklace would shield her without making it obvious she knew the mind skill.

“No, it makes sense. Thanks!”

“No problem. Keep it hidden under your shirt, Harry. That will drive anyone who tries to read your mind crazy, as someone your age shouldn’t be able to block your mind. It will only be funnier because they can’t ask you about it without revealing they were trying to read your mind, which is immoral in the least, and illegal in many cases.”

Harry quietly laughed. “That will drive Snape batty. So, how do you know all of this?”

He could not see her smile or blush, but she did both. “Remember I said I’ll give you two books too?”

“Yeah.”

“When we go pick up our school books, I’ll show you two small books you should buy while you’re there. One of them is on customs in the Wizardaring World. That will explain a lot of the things that I would think you find strange. When you understand all that, you’ll be able to deal with things better.”

Harry snorted. “I bet Hermione already had that one.”

“Hermione? I’ve heard that name somewhere.” She played dumb.

“One of my best friends. I’ll introduce you to her on the train. I think you’ll like her. She’s very smart, like you.” His outline made it look like he was looking down.

“Thanks, Harry.”

After a long pause, he asked, “What was the other book you said I needed.”

“Well, if your Potions class was anything like Fred and George’s, then I bet you had a hard time and didn’t feel like you learned much. Am I right?”

Harry snorted again. “You got that right. Snape really didn’t teach at all. He just made fun of me and my father, then pointed to the board and had us work without every explaining anything. Plus,” his whispered turned a little angry, “he let the Slytherins sabotage our work.”

Ginny quietly “tsked”. “That sounds like my brother’s class. Well, there a little book called ‘Fundamentals of Potions’ that explains all the basics of Potions and why things work the way they do. Once you understand that, a lot more of the class will make sense. My twin brothers swear by the book and they are really good at Potions, even though they try not to look like it.”

“Really?”

“Harry, didn’t you learn not to accept food from them last year?” she asked in an exasperated whisper.

He was silent for a few seconds. “No, they didn’t ever try anything on me.”

“You got lucky then. I bet you don’t escape this year. They like to pick on us because we’re family and we always forgive them. Now that you’re more like family, you’ll probably become a target too.”

Harry seemed to go rigid and she wished she could see his expression. She bet it was the dreamy one and that made her want to blast the Dursleys and Dumbledore into next week. One day, both of them would feel her wrath over what they did to her Harry.

“Thanks,” he finally got out so softly she could barely hear him. “I’ll watch out.”

She smiled and enjoyed the moment before a yawn caught her. “I better be going. It’s late.”

“Yeah, and thanks, Ginny.”

“Anything for a friend, Harry. We’re friends, aren’t we?” she asked tentatively.

“Of course, Ginny. I’ll take every friend I can get,” he said seriously.

“Thanks, Harry. Good-night.”

“Good-night, Ginny.”

Ginny went back to her room a happy girl. So far, her plan was going well, despite the last minute change and coming back a year late.

Three days later, all of Ginny’s family, even her father, went shopping for school supplies. The Weasley boys and Harry enjoyed the cart ride to the vaults. Just before Harry retrieved some gold from his vault in Gringotts, Ginny winked at him to remind him to get some extra. Harry blushed mightily as he got out of the cart for his vault.

Her brothers were impatient in the bank, wanting to do other things. Ginny’s mother was not much better, as she had heard that Gilderoy Lockhart would be at the bookstore today. If her mother only knew what a fraud the man was.

They also met the Grangers there. This was Ginny’s official introduction to this Hermione. Their meeting was just like in the other timeline. Hermione was polite and friendly, although the two girls did not talk much for the rest of the day. Hermione spent most of her time talking to Ron and Harry.

Ginny was of two minds about what to do in the bookstore. On the one hand, she considered doing everything just like last time, as she really wanted that diary of Riddle’s; because if she did not get it from Malfoy again, she was not sure how she was going to track it down. On the other hand, she really wanted to save Harry the embarrassment Lockhart caused and show the fraud for what he was. In the end, her need to get the Horcrux pushed her desire to help Harry avoid a little embarrassment to the side. He would survive the bookstore -- again.

The tricky part of the day would be sneaking away to get her new wand. Although, if required, she could wait until after they went home and she could sneak back here for a few minutes.

After Harry rejoined them, they started their shopping at Madam Malkin’s. It took longer than Ginny remembered from the first time, but maybe that was just because she hated shopping for school robes. She enjoyed shopping for dress robes, but school robes were boring. On they went to each store until they came to the bookstore.

While her mother stood in line to purchase their books and get a good look at Lockhart, Ginny showed Harry the two extra books he needed to buy. Since Ron was not standing next to him to say something stupid, Harry bought a couple of others. Ginny found that amusing but did not say anything.

Like last time, Lockhart saw Harry and made a big deal out it, and Harry also gave Ginny his “free” books. Ginny was on pins and needles until she heard a voice she had come to truly hate. A voice that, when she thought about it, gave her enough hate to cast any Unforgiveable curse. A voice that belonged to the person that had killed Ron and several of her other friends.

“I bet you enjoyed that, didn’t you Potter,” drawled a blond boy with his usual sneer.

Ginny watched the altercation between Lucius and her father develop like last time, although she did her best to keep her cauldron of books in the corner of her eye this time. When Lucius Malfoy threw one of her books back into her cauldron, she noticed that it was fatter than it should have been – again. She was so happy and yet so angry, that she could not stop herself from casting a rotting spell on his cane. In about an hour, it would be little more than sawdust, unless he stopped the curse quickly. Fortunately for her, no one, not even her mother saw her do the spell in all the chaos. She was quite pleased with herself and could only hope that the rot affected the man's wand, which she knew was in the top of the cane.

Since they went home immediately after the incident in the bookstore, Ginny never made it back to pick up her new wand. Fortunately for her, on the way upstairs to her room, Harry nonchalantly passed her his money bag and she smiled at him.

Closing her bedroom door, she quickly reapplied the glamours, got the cloak, and Apparated back to Diagon Alley. With the receipt in hand, the shopkeeper gave her no problems picking up the wand. As she held it for the first time, she could feel a hum coming from it. A wave produced a multitude of golden sparks.

“Nice work,” Ginny’s altered voice said. “Did you find another necklace like the other?”

The shopkeeper pulled one out. After inspecting it, Ginny pulled out twenty-five Galleons and handed it over. With a thanks thrown over her shoulder, she quickly left the shop and the shopping district.

Ginny had barely returned home when there was a knock on her door and she heard her mother. “Ginny? Is everything all right?” With all the speed she could muster, she removed the glamours and tore the cloak since she took it off too quickly. With only the thought of trying to avoid getting caught, she tossed the ruined garment under her bed just as her mother opened the door.

“Yeah, no problem, Mum. I was just looking at some of the things I got for school. Was something wrong?”

“Well…” her mother hesitated. “I was walking by and I heard a noise like… But that’s silly because you can’t… Never mind, I must have been imagining things.”

“Sure Mum. I’ll just hang these robes up.” She picked one up off the bed while her mother shook her head and left the room. That was close, she thought. Very close.

That night, after everyone was in bed, she returned Harry’s money pouch to him and thanked him profusely for the loan. After that, she Apparated to her father’s shed and found some small pieces of metal about the size she needed. Apparating back to her room, she used her new wand to “weld” a metal box together from the metal scraps. With five sides together, she pulled the diary out of her cauldron. The mere touch of it created a connection and caused her to want to write in it. Pulling up her Occlumency barriers reduced the desire to use the diary just enough that she could place it in the metal box and weld the top on. Lastly, she did a transfiguration to turn the tin metal to lead.

Dropping her Occlumency barriers, she found no desire to interact with the diary. She breathed a sigh of relief as Hermione’s theory had proven correct. Wrapping the heavy little box in a pair of knickers, she hid it in her closet. It would go to school with her and she would destroy it there.

During the last three weeks of summer, much to Ron’s dismay, Ginny hung out with the boys and Harry accepted her better than her brothers. She was quite pleased that he treated her like one of the boys.

In fact, one afternoon, Ron had gotten upset that Ginny was there and had stalked off to his room. Ginny had gone on a walk with Harry around the back garden. Along the way, she spotted a small snake.

“Oh look, isn’t he cute?” She pointed to the little garden snake. “I wish I could understand snakes.” That felt so contrived and phony to Ginny, but she was not sure what else to say. Fortunately, Harry was not bothered.

He stood there a second and tilted his head a little. “He’s saying he wished he had nice juicy bug.”

Ginny raised both eyebrows in surprise. “You can understand him?”

“Er, yeah?” he finally said, not understanding why she asked.

Ginny just smiled as another part of her plan fell into place. “I think that’s really cool, Harry, but you shouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Uh, why not?” he looked confused. “I’ve done it before when I was at a zoo with my cousin.”

“You understand that I’m not bothered, right?” He nodded. “Well, you also need to understand that I’m more tolerant of a lot of things. Most people think that if you can talk to snakes, meaning you’re a Parseltongue, then you’re Dark.” Harry looked alarmed. “But don’t worry, Harry,” she hastily added. “They’re just being stupid. Some people can talk to other animals too, so I don’t see any difference. Like I said, they’re just being stupid, but there’s no reason to do that in front of others and invite trouble either.”

Harry thought about it for a long moment before he gave her a tentative smile. “Thanks for the advice, Ginny.”

“No problem, Harry. That’s what friends are for.” She gave him her big smile and watched him blush and turn away. She chuckled and said, “You’re so fun to tease, Harry.”

He blushed again before he looked at her. “One day, Ginny, you’ll get what’s coming to you for doing that.”

She chuckled and looked him right in the eye. “I look forward to that, Harry.” He blushed again but did not look away. This time, she looked away first and continued their stroll around the garden. Ginny felt she was making good progress with Harry.

When Ginny crawled into bed for real the night before she was to leave for Hogwarts, she was a tired “little girl”.

As soon as everyone was in bed several hours earlier, she had put her jeans back on, along with a long sleeve T-shirt. Charming them both black, along with her hair, she Apparated to the Riddle graveyard. There, she put a Bubble Head Charm on and quickly dug up Riddle Sr to Vanish his bones. She hoped things never got this far, but this seemed like a prudent move – just in case.

After the deed and as she was about to fill the hole back in, she heard a noise behind her. Spinning, she was glad to have her wand in had as she saw the big snake yet again – although the first time in this timeline. Without hesitation, she fired off a Cutting hex and chopped the snake in two as it coiled to strike. Checking with a revealing spell, she saw nothing magical about the snake now, so she moved it into the open pit in front of her and cast a Fireball spell on it. After it was reduced to ashes, she covered it up. Good-bye Nagini, she thought.

That done, she Apparated to the Gaunt house. There, she found a number of rats and transformed them into monkeys. The monkeys were sent into the house one by one to trigger all of the traps that she could not quickly neutralize. Eight dead monkeys and twenty minutes of hard charm work later, she had the Gaunt family ring. Resisting the urge to put the ring on her finger, she put it into a small tin box she had taken from her mother. After transfiguring the metal into lead, the urge to wear the ring disappeared.

Apparating back home, the new little box along with the box with the diary, went into her school trunk. She had three Horcruxes under control and four to go.

She would sleep until the last minute tomorrow to try and recover from her magical workout tonight. In many ways, this was no different than most nights since she had received her custom wand. Most nights she had practiced her magic late at night to try and build her magical core. A person’s magical core was like a muscle and she was determined to make hers bigger as fast as possible.