MetaFic

((A/N: A longer than normal chapter, but I think it will clear up some things on how Ginny views herself. There’s also some fun here too. :-)

Also, I need to say that my long Christmas vacation has ended and work calls again, so updates will slow to probably 1 a week. Sorry, but real life has to come first.))

Chapter 6 - Secrets

A little before six the next morning, Ginny went down to the common room. Going to the corner to make her work easier, Ginny conjured a fairly flat box along with some plain brown paper and string. Even though they were conjured, they would last long enough. Next, she cast the snake summoning charm six times before she got what she wanted: a small greenish snake and a large black snake. The other four were medium sized. They seemed content to stay in the corner, and that was fine with Ginny.

As six o’clock came, so did Harry and a very sleepy Ron. When Ron saw what was in front of her, he started to shout, forcing Ginny to quickly clamp her hand over his mouth.

“Ssh, Ron,” she whispered and glared at him. “Part of pulling pranks is staying quiet, and if you can’t do that, you can go back to bed.” She slowly pulled her hand away from him, waiting for his reaction.

“You could at least warn a guy,” he retorted softly.

“Be ready for anything. Now, I’m going to ask Harry to do something very special, Ron, and you can not make a sound about it, and you will not give him a hard time about it. Do you understand?” She continued to stare intently at him, to point out that she was serious.

“Why would I give him a hard time, he’s my best mate?” Ron asked looking back and forth between them.

“Just don’t say a word, Ron. Harry?” She turned to her friend, “I need you to talk to the little green one and ask it if it will help us. I want to put it in a box for a short period of time, where it can take a nap, then when the box is opened, I want it to jump out and bite a person with white hair on the nose.”

“Ginny, people can’t talk to snakes…” Ron stopped as Ginny’s wand came up and pointed at him.

“I said hush. Your part in this will come.” She looked at Harry, who shrugged and then knelt down and started to hiss at the snake.

“Bloody…”

“Silencio,” Ginny hissed. “Ron, I swear, this is the last prank I’m including you in. How many hints do you need to keep quiet?!” she fiercely whispered. He continued to mouth things at her, but she ignored him and paid attention to Harry. He finished a minute later. “Well?” she asked.

“He says he’ll do it, but he wants a few juicy bugs first.”

Ginny bent down to picked up her box and conjured a couple beetles and a few fat worms, not really knowing what it wanted. She handed the box to Harry, who picked up the snake and put it in. It started going after the beetles and the worms, so Ginny assumed it was happy and closed the box, wrapped it, and tied it shut with string. When she was done, she handed it to Ron. He mouthed something at her, causing her to remember that she had silenced him, so she removed her spell.

“Finally,” he whispered angrily to her.

“If you’d have kept you mouth shut, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Now hold on to that and don’t drop it.” Turning back to Harry, she said, “Harry, please ask the big black one if he will nicely go with me. I’ll put him somewhere warm he can sleep, but if anyone disturbs him, I want him to bite that person.”

“Er, Ginny, I’m not an expert with snakes, but this one may be poisonous,” Harry quietly said.

“Yeah, well, hopefully biting the person won’t hurt the snake,” she replied with a grin.

Harry looked at her for a moment before he chuckled. “Right, I got it now. That’s funny. Hold on.” He hissed at the big black snake, who hissed back. “He wants a small mouse since you gave the other one bugs,” Harry said.

Ginny rolled her eyes and conjured a small mouse in front of the snake. The mouse never had a chance as the snake quickly struck and then swallowed the small mouse whole. Ron made gulping sounds.

“OK. Oh, you should also probably tell him that after he bites someone once or twice, he should probably find a nice hiding place for a while before he goes back outside.”

Harry hissed again to the snake, and indicated that the snake understood.

“Also, if you would please tell the other snakes that we’re sorry we bothered then, and that you’ll put them back outside. You can put them in the grass outside on the way to the owlery. Here’s a letter for Hedwig to take to my father.” She stopped herself. “You don’t mind if Hedwig does this, do you?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s fine. She’ll probably appreciate the exercise.” He took the letter and picked up the four snakes he was to take outside.

Ginny walked over to Ron and pulled out a quill. Putting it on the box, she said, “Draco Malfoy”. The Dict-O-Quill dutifully wrote that. Putting the quill back inside her robes, she told Ron. “After Harry sends Hedwig off, get one of the school owls to deliver that. Got it?”

“This is for payback for what he did to Hermione, isn’t it?”

“Very good, Ron. Now, there’s an important lesson for all of us. First, we stand up for our fellow Gryffindors. Second, if we stick together and don’t say anything, then we’ll all be fine. What I’m trying to say is that loyalty is important, even if you’re not a Hufflepuff.” She fixed each boy with a questioning look. Harry gave her a quick nod. Ron stared back for a moment before he also nodded. This was not quite the same sort of lesson Harry learned in his second year in the other timeline, but hopefully it was close enough to help him.

“Ron, you and Harry get going before someone comes down. Come back here when you’re done. And for Merlin’s sake, don’t get caught!” She carefully picked up the big snake and followed the two boys out. As they went towards the Owlery, she headed for the Great Hall. A few minutes later, she cast a warming spell and then a Disillusionment spell before she returned to the Gryffindor Tower.

---

Ginny arrived at the Tower a few minutes before the boys. A few other students had come down, but no one questioned them being up.

“I gotta go to the loo,” Ron said before he walked up the stairs towards his dorm.

She turned to Harry to ask him a question, but he beat her to one.

“Ginny, I know you told me you picked some spells up at home before you started school, but I want to know how you can do all of those. Conjuring live animals is NEWT level work,” he quietly told her.

Bloody hell, mentally she cursed to herself. How could she have let herself get so sloppy. She would not have done all of that in front of Hermione. Ron had not noticed and she would not have expected him to. But she had gotten too comfortable with Harry, thinking of him as “her Harry” who knew exactly what she could do. She was such an idiot, she told herself.

“You know what George said, I’m a lot of power in a small package,” she said meekly, but she could tell from his expression that he was not buying that excuse. As she considered what to tell him, Ron came back down, and Hermione was there a few seconds later.

“Hi!” she brightly told everyone, appearing no worse after what happened to her last night.

“Doing OK, Hermione?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, now.” There was a brief flicker of another emotion on her face, but it passed so quickly it was hard to tell what Hermione was thinking.

Ginny wondered if her friend was really fine or not, but decided that now was not the right time to ask. “Good, let’s go have breakfast. We can’t be late to breakfast,” she told them as she led them out of the portrait hole, trying to escape her predicament with Harry.

As she went down the stairs, she felt a presence next to her and a soft voice. “I still want an explanation as to why you know more than it appears you should.” She glanced at Harry’s serious face and nodded. She was well and truly busted, but there had to be a way to salvage this. She was not ready to tell him everything yet. In her perfect plan, she would have told him shortly after he picked her as a girlfriend.

Ron and Hermione lightly argued about punishments for Malfoy. Ron thinking that something severe was in order, while Hermione being more of the mind that detention would be justified. Harry just walked silently beside her; Ginny had nothing to say at the moment either, although she was glad that Ron appeared to be normal and had not said anything about the prank.

The four friends had barely sat down in the Great Hall when Severus Snape walked in. Ginny whispered, “Watch Snape without looking at him,” in Harry’s ear. To Ginny’s relief, the Headmaster was not in attendance.

While she was dishing up her food, the man pulled his chair out and started to sit down. He never made it. For the first time in anyone’s memory, the Potion Master screamed in pain and surprise and grabbed his arse. As everyone turned to look at him, he let out a loud “Uh” sort of grunt, reaching with his other hand for the back of his leg. Loud mumblings broke out as the man fell to his knees. Several teachers rushed over to him to see what was the matter.

“Something bit me, twice,” everyone heard him say to someone’s question. All the students instantly quieted to see what else would be said. They all watched him pull a phial of something out of his robes and quaff it in one gulp. “Hospital Wing, quickly,” he ground out through clinched teeth. McGonagall and Vector helped him stand and hurried him out of the Great Hall.

Professor Flitwick started looking around. Ginny assumed he was trying to find a guilty party. Fortunately, Ron was sitting with his back to the head table. A glance showed Harry to be looking as surprised as everyone else, most of whom were quietly speculating as to what had happened to their Potions professor.

“What do you think happened?” Hermione asked. Everyone nearby seemed to shrug or otherwise reply along the lines of “I don’t know.”

Further speculation was put on hold as the morning owls flew in. Ginny watched Hermione take her Daily Prophet from an owl, just like normal. Finally, she saw an owl bring Malfoy a small package wrapped in brown paper. It was hard to hide her glee. She looked at Harry when he nudged her foot; he had the slightest of grins on his face.

A moment later, everyone heard another scream, but this time from the Slytherin table. In the middle of the long table, everyone saw Draco Malfoy jump up with a small green snake hanging from his nose like a very long piece of snot. Ginny could not stop herself and sprayed the pumpkin juice she had in her mouth. Fortunately, it was mostly aimed down, but the rest of it hit Ron in the shoulder. He never said anything as he was too busy to notice as he stared and laughed at Malfoy, who was now jumping up and down and shaking his head, trying to get the snake to let go.

After several more screams that sounded like they came from a girl, the snake was finally flung off and landed on the table in front of Millicent Bulstrode. The Slytherin witch looked at it for a few seconds before she picked it up. Holding it in her hand, she gently stroked its head. A pleased look came over the girl, and there was little doubt that she now had a new pet.

Meanwhile, Malfoy was holding his nose while running around in little circles and jumping up and down, still screaming like a little girl. Most of the students were laughing at him now. Without saying a word, Professor Sprout went over, grabbed his arm, motioned for Bulstrode to follow her, and led them out of the Great Hall.

“Well, Hermione,” Harry said to his friend, “if Malfoy ever gives you a difficult time about that duel, you can throw this back in his face.”

“Yeah,” Ron agreed with a big smile on his face. “His screaming like a girl is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

Ginny just nodded, trying to keep attention away from herself. The pranks had gone better than she had imagined. A moment ago, she had even heard her twin brothers proclaim their desire for a camera.

Hermione stared at them all for a moment before a smile slowly broke out. “That was quite a sight, wasn’t it?” They all laughed again. “I do wonder what happened to Professor Snape, though.”

Everyone shrugged, and Ginny thought that was just fine.

---

Nothing special happened at lunch, other than Malfoy was back. He was very quiet after what happened at breakfast.

However, dinner was very different. About mid-way through the meal, Dumbledore stood and everyone automatically became quiet to listen.

“I am very saddened to report that Professor Snape was seriously injured this morning. Fortunately, he is well on the road to recovery and should be back teaching his classes in a couple of days. Although all of his classes have been cancelled for today, I shall teach all Potions classes for the next day or two until he returns.” He paused for a moment and looked at all of the students. “If anyone has any information about the attack on Professor Snape or who did this, please see me or your head of house.” As he sat down, many students started to talk to one another. The word “attack” was clearly heard all over the room.

“Did you hear? He called it an attack,” Hermione said.

“I think the greasy git deserved it,” Ron told her.

“Ron, that’s barbaric. You can get expelled for attacking a teacher.”

“Yeah, yeah you probably can, but it doesn’t change the fact that he deserved it,” he argued back.

“I can’t believe you’d say that,” Hermione huffed.

“Why not?” Ginny asked, trying to stop a fight between those two before it really got going. “I think I have to agree with my brother. Look at what he does in class, or even outside of class. He helps the Slytherins take advantage of people, like when he gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to use the pitch even though we already had it reserved.” Ron nodded vigorously. When Hermione opened her mouth to reply, Ginny went on. “And how about in class? He doesn’t teach, he doesn’t explain anything, and I know he sabotaged one of my potions once.” At Hermione’s look of surprise, Ginny added. “Yes, he, the teacher, threw something into my cauldron that ruined it so I had to take a zero for the day.”

“But he’s a teacher,” the brunette protested, as if that explained everything.

“Hermione?” Harry got her attention. “You know how he’s been towards me since my first day here, even when I had never done anything in his class. I agree with Ron; Snape deserves anything bad that happens to him. If he doesn’t like it, he should start doing the right thing or leave.”

That gave Ginny an idea.

Hermione did not look convinced, but she did not argue it anymore. Ginny thought that meant that they had given her major doubts. Now, if she could only give Hermione major doubts about Lockhart.

---

Just after dinner, Ginny managed to sneak away to an unused classroom. It was a real feat, especially since Harry was trying to keep track of her. She knew she could not put him off for very long, but she really needed to do this now. She made a few notes to herself and then spent almost an hour working on her project. At the end, she was pretty happy. Pulling out her Dict-O-Quill and some parchment, she read her work so it could be copied in a handwriting that was not hers.

Snape,

Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are alumni of Hogwarts who are sick and tired of your shenanigans. Many of us had to endure your abuse in the classroom and out of the classroom. While we hated you, we endured you because we had no choice. As students, we could do nothing about you. But as fully qualified wizards and witches, we now have the power to do the right thing.

For too long we have heard more stories from our younger brothers and sisters, and in a few cases our children, about the unfair treatment and the general inability to teach your subject, denying us and them the opportunity to get the jobs desired because of the lack of a Potions NEWT. You have given detentions where none were deserved. You have demoralized instead of encouraged. You have purposefully allowed students to be physically and emotionally harmed. You have terrorized students. And you have played favorites with your Slytherins (and some of us were Slytherins so we know of what we speak).

We have rebelled. We have pranked. We have complained. We have filed notices. And nothing has stopped you or caused the Headmaster to stop you. No more! We are now determined to put an end to your reign of terror, starting today – or rather yesterday as you read this. You will no longer corrupt and harm Britain’s magical youth.

Consider your present situation a warning. You are warned to stop acting the way you have been. You will no longer harm and mistreat students, our brothers, our sisters, our children, and even those we’ve never met. You must act in the manner of a professional educator, or you must leave Hogwarts.

If you do not, your present problems are but a small taste of what you will experience. We have a long reach, both inside and outside Hogwarts. You must either treat students correctly, or you must leave. Failure to do one of those two things will eventually result in your death. Yes, we are that serious about this.

Your instruction to a young student to cast a snake summoning charm, and to do so in a manner outside of the rules of dueling, is the last straw. The only reason you had for doing such an action was to humiliate and terrorize another student.

We also want you to know that it does not matter if you show this letter to Dumbledore or not. Our complaints about you to him have fallen on deaf ears and have been ignored; therefore we will ignore him. He can not protect you: there are too many of us.

Decide carefully and decide soon. As the Muggles say: Shape up or ship out.

Concerned Citizens for a Better Hogwarts

Satisfied that it would redirect any potential scrutiny from this morning’s event away from her and her friends, as well as give Snape notice to shape up, she sealed the letter in an envelope and Vanished all of her practice copies. All that was left was sending it, so she went to the Owlery to mail it. She wondered what decision he would make as she walked back to the Gryffindor Tower. She really did not mind if Snape stayed, as long as he acted like a decent human being. There would be no second war, if she could help it, so Snape would not have that temptation in this timeline.

Entering the Tower, she was not surprised to see Harry sitting in a chair that faced the Portrait Hole. Sure, he was working on homework with Hermione and Ron, but it was obvious he sat there to be able to watch everyone who entered and left. His look to her made it clear that she should come over. With some fear and trepidation, because she still did not know how to answer his questions, she went over.

“Hi, Harry,” she greet him timidly. The others looked up at her too.

“Ginny,” he greeted pleasantly, if a little curtly. “I’ve been looking for you.”

She nodded in acknowledgement. “I had to do something else this evening for a little while, but I’m done now.”

“So, can we talk?”

Ginny had never seen him this to-the-point, this focused – at least not in this timeline. She nodded again. “Let me put few things up and we can go talk somewhere. You should probably get your Cloak. We might need it coming back.”

Ron looked concerned, but it was Hermione who asked the question. “Where are you going? It’s almost curfew and you can’t be out.”

Ginny shrugged. “Harry and I need to discuss a few things and we can’t do it in here because there’s not enough privacy.”

“What are you going to talk about?” Ron asked suspiciously.

“About private things, Ron,” she said in a slightly forced tone.

Ron looked a little upset. “Harry tells us everything, so why can’t you tell us?”

“Your jealousy is showing again, Ron,” she told him, which shut him up.

“Ron’s right,” Hermione said. “We share everything. Besides, if you tell us, we can help too.”

Ginny looked at Harry, who looked very surprised at the direction the conversation was going. “As I said, it’s a private matter between us. If Harry wants to share parts of it with you later, he can do so. It will be his choice. But as for the idea that you all share everything with each other, that’s – well – that’s simply stupid. We all have secrets and private thoughts. Maybe our secrets are simple things that would embarrass us if someone else ever found out.” She looked at Ron. “Maybe they’re nightmares or things we’re afraid of,” she now turned to Hermione, “or maybe they’re things that have happened to us in the past that we’d prefer no one else ever know.” They both looked down. It probably was not fair of her to use knowledge from the other timeline on them, but she thought they needed to understand.

“We’ll be back later,” Ginny informed them, “maybe even after you’re asleep, depending on how long we talk. Don’t bother getting worried unless we miss breakfast.”

Ron looked alarmed again, as did Hermione and Harry. “But, but you can’t be… I mean, you aren’t old enough…” her brother objected again.

“Relax, Ron. We’re only eleven and twelve. Now if I was fifteen or sixteen, you might actually have to worry about Harry’s virtue.” She smirked and watched Harry blush and look away. Ron and Hermione both looked outraged. Ginny threw up her hands in exasperation. “I give up. None of you can take a joke. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Harry, go get your cloak if you still want to talk.” With that she left.

In her dorm room, she changed into some comfier jeans and a sweatshirt. She also grabbed a book she wanted to show him. Not sure where to hide it, she Disillusioned the book. Her hand would look a little funny, but hopefully it would go unnoticed if she kept it somewhat behind her. Returning to the common room, she found the other three there. She just raised an eyebrow at Harry.

“I’ve got my cloak, come on.” He started to lead her away.

“I still can’t believe you’re doing this,” Hermione muttered.

Both Ginny and Harry ignored their friend and left. She led him up to the seventh floor, looking for a special tapestry.

“What are we doing here?” Harry asked. “There’s no room nearby.”

Ginny just smiled, thinking of a room for them and pacing back and forth. A door appeared a few seconds later.

“Wow.”

“Wow, indeed,” Ginny grinned. “Come on in. Once we close the door behind us, no one will be able to find us if they don’t know we’re here.” Inside, there was an overstuffed couch, like in their common room, and it was covered in pillows. There was also a fireplace with a nice fire. It had a cozy feeling. “Let’s go sit down, Harry. We might as well be comfortable. Harry picked one end and she picked the other. With one pillow behind her, she grabbed another pillow to hold in front of her, and made herself comfortable. The hidden book was laid beside her. “So, here we are.”

“Yeah, here we are.” He looked around. “Where are we?”

Ginny could not help but giggle. “We’re in a place the elves call the ‘Come and Go Room’. It’s a very special place. You think of what you need, pace back and forth, and the room gives it to you. I wanted a comfortable place to talk.”

Harry thought about that for a few seconds. “Very interesting,” he finally said. “This could be a very useful place.”

“Yes, it could be.” If he only knew, but she figured he would do some of those same things again a few years from now.

“So, Ginny. Can you tell me how you can do all of the things you do?” Harry asked quietly.

“Will you promise this all stays between just the two of us?” she asked very seriously.

Harry looked at her very intently for a moment before he said, “I will keep your secrets.”

Ginny looked down and deeply sighed. Fingering the edge of the pillow, she started her explanation, hoping for the best. “I’ll try to explain, Harry, I really will; but know that there are some things I can’t tell you.” She looked up at him and breathed a small sigh of relief as she saw him nod.

“I’ve thought of this conversation all day, or really a lot longer, but I’ve never come up with a good answer, so you’ll have to forgive me if I ramble a bit.” She saw him nod again, still looking very serious.

“I suppose the best way to start is to tell you who I am. You see, while I’m Ginny, I’m also, uh, Ginny.”

He gave her a funny look that turned into one of alarm. “Are you possessed?”

“No! No, definitely not,” she quickly assured him, now realizing how her statement must have sounded to him. “Or at least not in the way it’s commonly understood.”

“Huh?”

Ginny gripped the pillow tighter to her. “OK, let me try this. Do you remember my full name from the sorting?” She hated her full name, but perhaps it would be useful here.

‘Er, no, sorry. I remember it was sorta like Ginny but different. That’s all I remember.”

She gave him a faint smile. “I suppose I should be grateful for that, as I’ve never liked it. My birth name is Ginevra. So you can think of the Ron’s little sister as Ginevra. She’s an almost eleven year-old witch. Does that make sense?”

“I suppose, except that I thought you had a birthday while I was at your home.”

Ginny had to chuckle. Harry had not that been that observant in the other timeline. “Yes, I did, but then I’m not Ginevra, I am Ginny.”

“What?” He looked as confused as he sounded, and she did not blame him.

“There’s two of me, Harry. There’s the witch that I was until you arrived at my house this past summer, and that’s Ginevra. Then there’s the witch that I am now, and that’s Ginny. At the time I became Ginny, Ginevra essentially ceased to exist. I’ll explain how that happened in a minute, but do you understand so far.”

Harry scratched the side of his head and looked intently at her. “So, you were one person, then you became another person, but both people were, uh are, you?”

“Yes,” she smiled and then chuckled. “I know it’s confusing, but that’s how I am.”

He continued to look at her for a long moment before he shrugged. “OK, so how did that happen? I guess you’re going to tell me that this new you is how you can do all the advanced magic?”

She smiled. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re not smart, Harry.” She took a deep breath and hoped this worked. “So, do you know what a time-turner is?” Ginny knew he should learn next year, but it was possible he had heard of them before and she did not know.

He shook his head.

“A time-turner is a magical device that allows you to go back in time for a few hours, usually from one to about twelve.” He gave her a shocked look. “Yeah, pretty amazing, huh? Anyway, were you to use a time-turner to go back in time, for the overlapping period, there would be two of you – literally. And because the ‘first instance’ of you, the one that exists before you used the time-turner, does not know that you did that, it is possible that you could hurt or kill yourself as you may think there is an imposter. They are devices closely guarded by the Ministry, at least usually,” she tacked on as she remembered Hermione’s usage in the other timeline. That was something she never could figure out; everyone had been out of their mind to let Hermione do that for something as simple as school.

“So you have a time-turner?” It was obvious he was still trying to figure it all out.

“No, I’m just using the idea of a time-turner to explain what happened. What you need to know is that Wizards have figured out how to manipulate time. Time-turners are the normal way it’s done.”

“OK,” he drawled. “So, you’ve done something like that, but different?”

“Yes.” Now it was going to get hard, she thought. “I did a ritual, Harry, one that sent me, my soul, my knowledge, maybe even a little of my magic back in time; but it wasn’t like a time-turner. I came a long way back and there aren’t two of me physically. The ritual only sent the essence of me back and I arrived the night my brothers broke you out of your relative’s house. Ginevra is the original me that was born in this timeline and basically ceased to exist when I came back. Ginny is the one I think of as myself, and I’m the one that came back in time to take over my own, younger, body. That’s why I can do those things.”

Harry just sat there and stared at her. It was obvious that he was working through that explanation and trying to determine whether he believed her or not. The silence dragged on and he continued to stare.

Finally, she could not take it anymore. “Harry, please say something,” she begged, almost in a whine as she gripped the pillow in front of her even harder.

He blinked rapidly and then looked at her differently, as if coming back to this world. “So you’re from another universe? Another world? Another timeline? Or what?”

“I, uh, I guess you could say I’m from a potential future timeline, or that’s how I think of it. If I had done nothing different when I came back, then I believe it all would have happened the same way again.”

He tilted his head while thinking that through. “So, that’s how you know advanced magic, because you’ve already finished school?”

“Well, no, not really. I had to skip my seventh year, but I know enough to take my NEWTs now, if I could revise to refresh on the theory,” she told him, a little embarrassed, although she could not explain why.

“How old are you?” he asked in wonder.

“I had just had my twenty-first birthday before I came back.” She continued to hope that he did not ask much more about her personally, especially about one topic in particular.

“This must be really strange for you then, you know, to be going through school all over again.” He looked like he was still trying to wrap his mind around her situation, but he seemed to believe her.

“Yeah, somewhat, but it’s not too bad. The worst part is the boredom. The work is really easy.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I could see where that might be true.” He looked at her for a few seconds before he asked his next question. “So why are you only advancing one year over the holiday? Why not take your OWLs and NEWTs and be done?”

She had to be careful; he was coming dangerously close to yet another topic she really did not want to discuss. “Because I need to be here, Harry. It would look pretty weird for an eleven year-old to ask to take her OWLs. That would draw too much attention to me and I can’t have that.”

Harry nodded some more, acknowledging her explanation. “You’ve come back ten years in time and you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.” She nodded when he looked at him for confirmation. “And you’ve sorta said that you’ve made some changes because if you hadn’t, then everything would be the same,” he said, as if thinking out loud. “In fact, you must be making changes because why else would you even need to come back.” He gave her a piercing look. “What changes are you making, Ginny, and why?”

Damn, he was good! She had forgotten just how good he was in working stuff out. Thankfully, he was or she would have died in her first year in the other timeline. What should she tell him? She had not planned on this conversation until this coming summer. She was caught and knew it.

Maybe a summary would be enough. “In the other … timeline,” she decided that would do, “there was a problem. Well, there were several major problems, but there was one that was the root of all the others. Because of that problem, the war with Voldemort went badly – very badly.”

“How badly?” he interrupted.

“On our side, there was only me and one other person left. Probably half of the good side died before the final battle, and the rest died in the final battle,” she told him quietly, the memories of pain and grief returning to her. “Magical Britain was in ruins and essentially lost. There weren’t enough of us left to repopulate it or to restart our society. I know others were in hiding, but I still think our society was all but dead. We may have won the final battle, but for all intents and purposes we lost the war.”

“So you came back to fix things?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it seemed like the only way. And if it hadn’t worked, then there was no loss.”

A shocked look came over him. “No loss? But Ginny, it sounds like you’d be dead if it hadn’t worked.”

She gave him a grim smile. “I wouldn’t have cared, Harry. That’s how bad it was.” Then she brightened again, more like her normal self. “But it did work, Harry, and I’m back here. I can’t fix the one root problem, but I can fix all the little problems created by the root problem because of my foreknowledge. I’ve already fixed several things and I’ve only got about three, maybe four more to go. When I’ve done that, then I can stop worrying and just live my life again. My reason for coming back will be complete,” she told him with an air of satisfaction. Or mostly so, she thought, as the idea of her and Harry being married again came to her.

Harry sat there looking at her and thinking it through. He had not gotten mad at her or anything like that. He had not asked questions about things she did not want to explain; it was going very well. Finally, he broke his contemplation, and his question wiped the smile off of her face.

“This has something to do with me, doesn’t it?” he quietly asked, as if afraid of the answer. “You’ve been acting and talking like we knew each other really well. Were we more than friends before you came back?”

Ginny knew she must be very red right now. She could not help her blush. She was surprised he had picked up on that, and she was also very worried. He had asked one of the questions she had not wanted him to. Eventually, she nodded as she looked down. She could not lie to him. “We were close friends, Harry.” She prayed he did not ask more.

“Just close friends, or more?” he asked.

A quick glance up showed her he was blushing, but he had asked the question and not backed down. He was still staring at her and waiting for an answer. She did not answer.

“Ginny?” His voice went up in volume slightly. Another glance up showed he was glaring at her and looking determined.

“Please, Harry,” she asked, suddenly sounding like the eleven year-old girl she looked like. “Please don’t ask me any more about that.” She did not want him to know about them. Her Harry would take that knowledge and think it must be; it would force him into the role, whether he really wanted to or not. Ginny did not want that, she wanted him to choose of his own free will, even if it meant they never got together again. As much as she wanted to be with him again, she wanted him to be happy more than anything else.

His glare strengthened and he looked like he had in his fifth year. “Ginny, what aren’t you telling me?”

She whimpered softly. There was little she would or even could deny him, but she must be strong and hold out on this. “Please, Harry, please don’t ask. Please don’t make me tell you.” Seams started to tear as she pulled the pillow tighter still, while tears started to spill out of her eyes. She could not look at him as she begged, “Please don’t stop being my friend; please, anything but that.” Ginny did not want to cry, but she could not stop the tears.

“Ginny?” The demand and anger had left his voice; he sounded almost shocked.

Looking up, she saw he looked confused and worried about her. That brought back memories of their time during the war. He looked younger than then, but it was a look her Harry would have given her. Instinctively and before she could stop herself, she flung the pillow to the floor and launched herself at him. Before he could move, she had wrapped her arms around his body and pressed her forehead and face against his chest, sobbing into his shirt as she held him tightly. “Please, don’t ever stop being my friend,” she choked out. “Please…” She hated showing this weakness, but she hated the thought of losing him more.

His arms slowly came around her as he tentatively hugged her back, patting her back lightly. That wonderful feeling of being held by him filled her with a happiness she had missed so much, so she hugged him even tighter.

“Ginny,” he wheezed, “I need to breathe.”

A smile came to her face, breaking the heart-wrenching feeling she had been experiencing a moment ago. She loosened her grip, but she did not let go of him.

“Ginny?” He almost sounded embarrassed, but she did not look up to see if he was. “Ginny, why are you hugging me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to go away,” she told his chest, still afraid to look up.

“Did I leave you, you know, in the other timeline?” He sounded a little worried and that made her feel even better.

“You died in the final battle, Harry.” She said sadly as she turned her head and pressed her cheek against his chest now. She still did not look up. “You were brilliant and fought spectacularly, but there were too many of them.” He had killed Voldemort, but had not been able to hold out against all of the Death Eaters that had been there. She had been separated from him and was not there to watch his back, like she had promised. The guilt of her failed promise still ate at her when she thought about it, so she did her best never to think about it. However, when she did think about her failure, it drove her to protect him from the Prophecy even more -- to make up for her failure.

He had stopped patting her back, but he still held her, for which she was thankful, especially when he asked his next question.

“It was Voldemort, wasn’t it? He tried to kill me as a baby and again last year. He came back and tried again, didn’t he?”

Ginny knew she should not be surprised by this insight, as her Harry had these moments too, but she was surprised anyway. She supposed her wonder came from him being only twelve. She nodded against his chest. “He tried, but you killed him, Harry. You beat him.” She swallowed and hugged him tighter. “It won’t happen again, Harry. I swear to you, I won’t let it happen again,” she swore fiercely. “Not this time.”

Her Harry would have squeezed her shoulders in acknowledgement; this one did not. But that did not matter, he was with her and holding her, even if he did not know why.

“That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? You’re making sure we don’t have another war.”

She smiled and was happy he could not see her face. He probably would not understand how proud she was of him figuring so many things out. “Yes, Harry, I’m making sure there’s not another war. I’ll tell you more this summer, but until then, it’s not important.”

“Why not until then? Why not tell me now?” He did not sound angry, and for that she was glad.

“Because, there’s nothing to do until then, and I don’t want you to worry about any of it. We’ll tackle the problems when they come, both of us together. If everything goes right, by this time next year it will all be over. No more Voldemort, no more possibility of war. Everything will be better.” And if things went really well, maybe they would even be dating by then. Probably not, as Harry had not seemed to notice girls until his fourth year, but then again, she had been a stupid fan girl last time and not like she was now. She grinned as she thought that maybe this time tonight would help speed that up, if she was lucky.

They quietly sat on the couch with their arms still around each other for several minutes. Ginny was still reveling in the feeling when she heard Harry say, “OK, Ginny, I’ll trust you for now.” That made her feel even better.

“Thank you, Harry. That means a lot to me.” She was so happy at the moment, that if they had been a little older, she would have snogged him senseless. As it was, she had to content herself with holding him. Fortunately, he had not let go, nor had he asked her to let go.

“Ginny?”

“Hmm?”

“You said there was one major reason the war was lost. What was it?”

She sighed and sat back up. Ginny would have preferred to just enjoy the feeling of holding him. “Dumbledore.”

“Dumbledore?!” Harry sounded shocked. “I thought he was leading our side?”

Ginny could not help but smile at his naivety. “Yes he is -- was -- but he’s also human, Harry. Never forget that he’s human too. He’s very smart and he wants the good side to triumph, but he’s also human and makes mistakes.” She could tell his struggle with that was brief. “Dumbledore’s great mistake was that he held information too closely and didn’t share it until it was too late. If he had shared information more often and with more people, it’s possible that the war would not have been so bad, and it certainly would have ended sooner with less loss of life. It’s a certainty that we wouldn’t have lost the war.”

“You mean that others could have been doing what you’re doing now, in defeating Voldemort?” She nodded. “So what didn’t happen?”

“That’s the problem, Harry, it wasn’t just one thing. Dumbledore is over one hundred and fifty, plus he’s a very intelligent person. He knows an awful lot, but he rarely shares it in time to help other people because he thinks he knows what’s best for everyone. To make matters even worse, he died at the end of your sixth year before he could share some things with us, which made the war that much harder. He’s not evil or anything, he’s just a little too controlling, especially with information.”

“Like how he didn’t tell me about my family vault and other family things?”

She had to nod again. “Please understand, Harry, he doesn’t do that to hurt people. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He doesn’t tell people because he doesn’t want them to worry about things they can’t change, at least most of the time. Sometimes, he doesn’t say anything because he needs to keep secrets so his plans against Voldemort will work. He has good reasons, but he doesn’t stop to think about what will happen to people individually and how not knowing will hurt them more. He can be misguided, but he’s not a bad person.”

“Do you really think so? I mean, look at what’s happened to me…” He stopped and looked down. She could see him getting upset.

“Harry, look at me.” She put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention and to show support. He did not look happy when he turned to look at her. “I know some awful things have happened to you, and I’m working to correct them. But you have to understand Dumbledore’s point of view. He’s trying to manage a war and so he watches the big picture, trying to keep everything going. In doing so, he’s going to overlook details. Details which are very important to you and me, as they are our lives, but he feels he can’t get bogged down in those details.”

“If that’s true, then how can he care about us like you say he does,” he questioned her logic.

“I know it’s hard to understand as it took me a long time to understand too, but he does care about you, Harry Potter. He probably looks at you like a grandson, even if there is no relation between you and him. But in running the war, he doesn’t see all the little things he does and how they affect you; he doesn’t see the cause and effect all the time. He still cares for you and wants you to be happy, but he just doesn’t realize that some of the things he does hurts you at the same time.” She hoped she was getting through to him. The sooner he dealt with this and understood it, the better. It would prevent many of the problems he had experienced in his fifth year.

After several long seconds, where she could see him thinking it all through, he said, “So you’re telling me that I can trust him, but I also need to look out for myself. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s not a bad way of putting it. He has blind spots, like we all do, but he is trustworthy. If he makes you a promise, he will keep it.”

Harry nodded. “And what do I have to watch out for?”

Ginny smiled; he was learning fast. “Ask questions about things you don’t understand or that don’t make sense. You probably can’t make him tell you things, but ask anyway. If you find something he won’t tell you, come ask me. There’s a good chance I’ll know. Also, be careful with people around you who are not trustworthy. Another one of Dumbledore’s major faults is that he’s too trusting, giving third and fourth chances to people who don’t deserve them, which lets them take advantage of you.”

“Like Snape and Malfoy?” he asked.

She chuckled. “Those are two good examples. You’ve seen how he is with Snape and all the junior Death Eaters? He never really does anything to correct them. He’s too trusting and gives people too many chances with no real incentive to change. Take Malfoy, for example. What has Dumbledore ever done to correct his behavior?”

“Nothing,” Harry said slightly bitterly.

“Yet, I’ve gotten Malfoy to change at least a little by smacking him and threatening worse. If Dumbledore would only suspend him for month, or something to show Malfoy that there are real consequences to his actions, he might reform. But Dumbledore won’t do that, so Malfoy doesn’t really reform because he has no reason to.”

“Makes sense.” A playful look came over him. “You put that big snake up by Snape, didn’t you? That’s why you had me tell it to bite him twice and then leave.”

“Yes,” she admitted with a smile. “It was payback for what he did to Hermione. I was also sending him a message that he can’t get away with hurting people anymore. You should also know that I sent him a letter telling him that he needs to shape up and act like a professional teacher, or he needs to leave Hogwarts.”

“What?” Harry’s eyes were wide and he looked frightened for her.

“Relax. I used a dict-o-quill so they can’t trace the handwriting. I also said it was from a group of Hogwarts alumni so they wouldn’t look at us. I can tell you because our necklaces protect us, so they can’t read our thoughts. We’re safe, but I’m tired of what Snape does to you and the rest of us.”

Harry thought about that. “I see,” he finally said before he grinned. “That’s why you’ve been so hard on Malfoy too, isn’t it?”

She returned his grin. “Yeah, I’m trying to reform him by showing him that he’s not the best around. Snape certainly won’t try to make him into a decent person, and all the other teachers have refused as well, so I guess it’s up to me.”

He nodded as he thought about it. “Makes sense.” Harry looked deep in thought for a moment before he sighed. “There’s so much to think about with Dumbledore. At the end of last year,” he said as if far way, “I asked him if he knew why Voldemort wanted to kill me and he said not today. That means he knows…”

When he did not say anything more for a few seconds, she pretended it had been a question. “Yes, he does, Harry. He knows why, but if you could get him to answer why, he’d tell you that he cares for you and wants you to have a childhood because there is plenty of time to worry about things in the future.”

Harry snorted. “That’s stupid. I’ve never had a childhood because of growing up with my relatives.”

“I know, Harry. That’s why I’ve promised to get you away from there as soon as I can,” she told him fervently.

“I don’t know how you plan to do that, but if you can, I’ll be really happy and owe you,” he promised her seriously.

She smiled thinking of at least one way he could work off that debt. “You’ll have to go home with them, Harry, but I don’t think you’ll be there more than a day max, maybe not even that long.”

“What about Voldemort? You know why too, don’t you.”

Ginny sighed. “Yes, Harry, I do. Can I put that off until this summer? I promise I’ll tell you then, and it won’t matter otherwise, other than to make you worry.”

“That bad?” he asked a little fearfully.

“At first glance, yes, but don’t worry, Harry. This is why I came back, so I could make things better. We’ll talk about it this summer and we can plan what to do,” she told him confidently.

He considered that. “Do you know how hard it is to trust you and wait?”

She nodded. “Yes, but you can trust me, Harry. If things change, I promise I’ll tell you sooner, but I really think that you can relax and enjoy school for now. We’ll plan the next step of our private war over the summer and then execute the plan during the fall. If all goes well, we should be done by Yule a year from now at the latest.”

“Why then, Ginny? Why do we have to wait?”

Ginny sighed. “Because something special has to happen next summer and into September, and we need that to happen. Or at least that happened in the last timeline. Once that event happens, then the rest should be fairly easy. I’ll explain this summer.” She hoped he was still as understanding when he found out about Sirius Black.

“OK, I’ll trust you,” he said with resignation.

“Thanks, Harry,” she told him brightly. “If you want to do something now, there are two things you can be doing.”

“Oh?” He looked eager.

“First, I can show you some exercises that will help you to build up your magical core. Your magic is like a muscle and if you exercise, it will grow stronger faster,” she explained. “It’s really too late for it tonight, but I can show you tomorrow if you’d like.”

Harry looked very eager. “I can hardly wait. What’s the other thing?”

“Second, you can also start some simple exercises to build up your body. A good fighter has the strength and endurance to last a long battle. You’ll do better after puberty gets done with you in a couple of years, but you can start now to give yourself a good foundation.” An impish grin came over her as she thought about what her Harry used to look like. “Plus, it will help you with life in general and with Quidditch.”

He chuckled but seemed to like the idea. “Maybe we should head back, Ginny. I don’t know what time it is, but it’s got to be very late.”

Mentally grumbling at having to stop this private time with Harry, she looked at her watch. “It’s a little after midnight. We can either go back under your cloak, or we can stay here and sleep. I can cast an alarm charm to wake us up so we can head back around half six.”

“Stay here, together?” he almost squeaked, wide eyes staring at her.

Ginny saw an almost frightened look on his face as he looked down at her. She could not help but giggle, which did not seem to help him. “Relax, Harry. If we stay here, we’ll only sleep. You’re only twelve and I promise not to do anything to you, no matter how much I may enjoy teasing you.”

That did not seem to comfort him any based on his expression. “I really think we need to go back, Ginny. I mean, there’s only one couch and it wouldn’t be very comfortable for you. I also don’t think I really want to spend the night on the floor.”

Ginny could not help but giggle again as she thought about their needs. The couch suddenly turned into a big bed. She laughed as they fell backwards with her ending up mostly on top of him. While he looked horrified at their position, she stopped laughing and smiled brightly as she moved to the side to lie next to him. Laying her head on his shoulder, as she used to in the other timeline, she said, “See, this isn’t hard and I even find it comfy. How about you?” She wondered if he would stay here or not.

He was silent for a moment before he asked, “What about your brothers? I don’t think they would approve. I don’t think your parents would either, and I’m not sure I could look them in the face next time I see them if we stay here.”

Understanding that her fantasy of sleeping with him, even platonically, was not going to happen tonight, she raised up on her elbow and looked at him as he lay in front of her. He was so cute. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Harry, so we can go back. We’ll just need to go slowly under your cloak so we don’t get caught.”

His smile became much more relaxed. “Thanks.”

Ginny turned around to get up and her hand hit something hard. With a smile, she remembered the book she had brought with her. “Harry? There’s one more thing I want to show you before we go back?”

“What?” He looked a little spooked, as if he was afraid of what she had in mind.

She pulled out her wand and ended the charm on the book. At the sight of the book, he relaxed again. “I found this in the library for you today. There’s not a lot here, but you’ll find a little more on your family in here. I can also probably tell you a few stories too, stories the other you told me.”

He looked surprised at that, then thoughtful. “That’s how you knew about the Potters and what you said in Dumbledore’s office, wasn’t it?”

Ginny was again surprised he had put it all together that fast. She did not know why she was that surprised, but she was. She decided right then that she was going to help him with his studies so he could be his best. No longer would she let her brother Ron drag him down. She would not nag him like Hermione did, but she would find a way to push him to do his best. Of course, her being in his classes would help a lot with that, or so she thought.

“Only a little. Most of what I said in there is common knowledge to anyone who was raised in the Wizarding world.” She sighed. “That’s something else I probably need to help you with.”

“What, beyond the book you had me buy? It did help me to understand some things.”

“That book was a good start, but there’s more. We can take it slowly, but there’s more, Harry.” She watched him quickly flip through the book. It talked about all the major families, a “Who’s Who” in the Wizarding world. When Harry reached the end of the book, he gently closed it and looked at her intently. “Thank you, Ginny. No one else has ever taken the time to tell me about my family.”

Ginny mentally kicked herself for not thinking of that sooner. “I’m happy to help, Harry.”

He yawned and looked at her. “Come on, we better get back so we can go to bed.”

“OK.” She stood, and when he did too, she stepped forward and gave him another hug. “Thanks for still being my friend, Harry. You don’t know how much that means to me.” She felt his arms go around her and squeeze for a moment before he let go. With regret, she let go too and looked at him. He was blushing furiously.

A giggle escaped her before she told him, “It’s OK to hug and touch people’s hands, Harry. I know you didn’t get a lot of that growing up, but I’ll be happy to help you learn that too.” That caused him to blush even more, which she did not think was possible. “Come on, get your Invisibility Cloak out and let’s go back.”

They made it back to Gryffindor Tower without any major problems. They saw Filch at a distance down one of the hallways, but fortunately for them, he was going the other way. At the bottom of the stairs to the dorm rooms in the common room, Harry turned to her and briefly put his hand on her shoulder. “Thanks” was all he said with his smile that could melt her heart.

“Remember, please don’t tell them about me, Harry. That needs to remain a secret,” she quietly begged.

He nodded once. “We talked about my family, that’s all they need to know. Good-night, Ginny.”

“’Night, Harry,” she told him with much relief. She went up to her bed feel much better about Harry than she had before their talk.

((A/N: Ginny telling Harry her secret is one of the highlights the story has been driving towards. But there still more she needs to tell him and for them to work out. ))