It had been two days. Just two days since Harry and Ginny had learned that they were never meant to be together. Two days since they had discovered that neither their children nor Teddy Lupin should even exist. It wasn't anywhere near long enough to come to terms with it, and now Harry had to bring home an experimental new time-turner, because the world just loved giving him things to stress about.

"Ginny!" Harry called to the wife he loved like a sister, "I'm home!"

"Harry!" Ginny rushed to meet him and pull him into a hug, "How was work? Did you find out anything that can help us?"

"No," Harry replied, feeling quite angry now. "It's been more than five years since our marriage, therefore we cannot do anything beyond get a divorce!" His fists began to clench, and he forgot that he was holding the time-turner. "We can't even really stir up a fuss, as then people will say that because we were together so long, love potions really work! It's completely wrong!" As he finished talking, he threw the time-turner down at the floor, forgetting what it was.

When it hit the floor, it burst, covering both Harry and Ginny in the time-sand it contained. The two of them looked at each-other in shock and barely had time to recognize how bad this was before they both vanished into thin air. What neither of them had noticed was that Kreacher had also been caught in the sand.

Harry knew something was wrong immediately. How could he not? The first thing he heard was his Aunt Petunia yelling at him to get up, and only a few moments ago, he hadn't even been near her!

Then, it registered in his mind. The time-turner. Was he eleven again?

"I'm up!" he called to his Aunt, sitting up as he did so. He looked around and saw his old cupboard-under-the-stairs. So, he was ten, almost eleven, then. He bet it was Dudley's birthday. Less than two seconds later, his Aunt confirmed his suspicions, telling him to look after the bacon and make it perfect for Duddy's birthday.

Pulling himself out of the cupboard and into the kitchen, he made the bacon, mostly because he hadn't had a chance to cook recently, as Kreacher took personal offense to Harry wanting to cook. Offended house elves were not fun to deal with, so Harry left the issue alone.

Harry was quite honestly uncaring about the current goings-on of the Dursley household. What was really on his mind was finding a way to contact Ginny, to A) Make sure she was back in this time as well, and B) See if she had any real plan on how they were going to change things.

He didn't even notice the Dursleys discussing what to do with him while they went to the zoo, and honestly was so lost in thought he didn't really register anything until Uncle Vernon prodded him to go get in the car.

Harry got in the car, and then vanished from the world again, as he kept running into road-blocks when thinking of ways to contact Ginny. He didn't have an owl yet, so that was out. No floo powder, no floo calls (duh). No wand, so he couldn't send a Patronus. And even when he could, Ginny would be unable to reply. Ugh, there had to be some way to get in touch with her!

When Harry got out at the zoo, he wondered if he could steal Uncle Vernon's wallet and just live here until Hogworts. He then realized that, while it might be a good idea in the short term, there was no way that he could sustain living at a zoo for the next seven summers.

The zoo, in and of itself, was quite dull. When Harry and the Dursley's went to the reptile house, Harry made an effort not to set any of the snakes loose, as he did not want to lose his meals. However, he made an effort to talk to a few of them. He discovered that the zoo snakes had nothing interesting to talk about.

"~Speaker, speaker! Don't talk to them, I'm bigger!~"

"~Speaker, you need to eat more mice.~"

"~Speaker, have you seen that fat one over there? The way he walks… Ha!~"

Nope. Nothing of interest at all.

Harry managed to get back to Privet Drive without incident, and soon went to bed, only to waken around midnight due to a sharp crack and sudden lump on his bed.

"Master Harry! It is Kreacher!" Kreacher yelped when Harry attempted to shove him into the wall.

"Kreacher? Wait… Did you get caught in the sand when the time turner exploded too?" Harry questioned his house elf, though he got the feeling the answer was yes.

"Yes, Master Harry. Can Keacher do anything for Master Harry?"

"Haven't I told you to stop calling me Master? Also-" Harry cut off as he heard footsteps on the stairs. "Hide!" he whispered urgently. "Under the bed!"

Kreacher quickly slid under the bed, only barely making it as the bed took up so much space, and Harry quickly pretended to be asleep, complete with light snoring.

It must have been believable, as when Uncle Vernon opened the cupboard door, no doubt to see if Harry was the source of the cracking noise that had heralded Kreacher's arrival, he just grunted and closed it back.

Harry waited a good ten minutes before he heard Uncle Vernon going back up the stairs and sat up, whispering, "You can come out now, Kreacher."

"Master Harry… where bes this?" Kreacher asked as he pulled himself back up onto the bed.

"Number 4, Privet Drive, Kreacher. We went back in time,and now I am once again stuck in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry sighed. "I wish I could talk to Ginny… If you're here, there's no way she isn't…" Then it hit him, an idea so obvious that Harry facepalmed for not thinking of it sooner, even though he had only had the ability to even think it an option for about ten minutes. "Kreacher, can you take a message to Ginny for me?"

"Kreacher will take Master Harry's message to Mistress Ginny!" Kreacher said indignantly.

"Great! Tell her that we are both here, and ask if there is anything she really wants to preserve or change other than the obvious changes. Also,Kreacher, don't come back tonight, as the Dursley's will blame your apporation on me, and that would be bad."

Kreacher nodded, gave a, "Yes Master Harry!" and vanished with a crack, as Harry attempted or at least pretended to go back to sleep.

Ginny Weasley had just had the strangest day of her life. She had woken up, ten years old again, back at the Burrow. Trying to act normal had been completely impossible as soon as she realised that Fred was alive again.

Her family had thought she was acting very strange when she suddenly began avoiding her Mum like Molly Weasley was ill with the Black Plague, and spent all day tailing the twins like they were going to die overnight. However, she didn't care. Molly, as Ginny refused to call her Mum, had betrayed her trust, ruined her friendships and romantic relationships, and, through the use of the love potions Molly fed to both Ginny and Harry, addled Harry's mind to the point that she might as well be held responsible for the death of Sirius Black. The twins, on the other hand, had never done any of those things, and when he had heard what Molly had done, George had stopped selling any and all love potions. And Fred…

Ginny had missed Fred. The darker of the twins, a bit harsher, but still lovable, and still her big brother. She had missed him so much. The twins, while finding it a bit strange that Ginny was tailing them, kinda accepted it around noon, and actually taught Ginny how to pick locks. Not that she didn't already know, but she liked spending time with Fred and George.

She went to bed that night with a lot on her mind, and wishing she could contact Harry without it looking strange. Then, at about 12:15 that night, she woke when there was a sudden crack and weight on her bed.

"Who's there? I'm warning you!" Ginny called out.

"Mistress Ginny, it is only Kreacher!" Kreacher attempted to calm down the red-head.

"Kreacher? Proper Kreacher, my Kreacher? The Kreacher who won't let anyone else cook?" Ginny could hardly believe it.

"Yes, Mistress Ginny," Kreacher said with a sigh. "Kreacher has a message from Master Harry."

"Really! Oh thank you, thank you, Kreacher!" Ginny gave in to her crazy ten-year-old impulses and gave Kreacher a hug. "You're the best, Kreacher!"

'Th-thank you, Mistress Ginny…" Kreacher seemed quite flustered all of a sudden. "But the message…"

"Oh right… So what is the message?"

"Master Harry would like Mistress Ginny to know that Master Harry and Kreacher are both present, and if Mistress Ginny has anything she wants to keep the same, to let Master Harry know."

"Tell him that there is nothing in particular that I would like to keep… except maybe you!" Ginny giggled as she tackle-hugged Kreacher. "My favorite house-elf."

It hasn't been long since they came back. Kreacher ferries messages back and forth between Harry and Ginny quite often, although he spends much more time at the Burrow with Ginny. Harry and Ginny have been settling back into this time, although with… differing personalities than originally. While the Dursleys notice nothing different about Harry, the Weasleys notice Ginny acting odd immediately, and regard her with suspicion for a while, before they determine that she is actually Ginny Weasley, and not an imposter.

Thankfully, it isn't long until Harry's first Hogworts letter arrives. Harry looks at it, and sees that opening it will get him nowhere but stranded up a creek without a paddle, so he gave it to his Uncle with the rest of the mail.

Harry knew the moment Vernon saw it, as he lept up from his seat with a very loud "WHAT IS THIS, BOY?!"

Harry wasn't in the mood for this, as he needed to tell Ginny and Kreacher about his decision, so he answered back drily, "I don't know, Uncle Vernon, I never get any mail, so I don't look at it anymore."

"THEN WHAT IS THIS?!" Vernon yelled, waving the Hogworts letter in Harry's face.

"I don't know, I didn't send it, so how should I? I don't get mail, and I don't send any, either." Harry desperately wanted to cross his arms and huff, but he figured that doing so would get him into trouble, so he resisted.

"PETUNIA!" Vernon yelled, and then the two of them argued over the letter, just to decide to ignore it. And Harry, but they did that anyway.

Although they did move Harry into Dudley's second bedroom, which made Harry very happy, and gave him time to call Kreacher and tell him about his choice.

When Kreacher showed up, the first thing Harry noticed was that Kreacher had a new outfit, a spare Black family bedsheet, draped like a toga. It looked quite nice, in all honesty. The other thing Harry noticed, was that Kreacher looked very tired.

"Did you get enough sleep last night, Kreacher?" Harry asked his house elf.

"No, Master Harry…" Kreacher said, wobbling on his feet. "Up late… Mrs. Weasley being paranoid… no sleep for Kreacher until three in morning…" He punctuated the end of the sentence with a yawn. "What is it Master Harry needs?"

"I was going to tell you and Ginny about the changes I made to today, but you need to sleep," Harry grabbed a bedsheet and made it into a nest beneath his bed. "Get some rest, Kreacher."

"Yes, Master Harry."

When Kreacher woke up, late that night, Harry was still up, drawing a picture on a loose bit of paper that had been laying around. It was a very nice picture too, of Harry, Ginny, and Kreacher, with Harry and Ginny in muggle clothes and Kreacher in his bedsheet-toga. However, as soon as he noticed that Kreacher was awake, Harry put down the pencil-nub he had been drawing with, and turned to face Kreacher.

"Good evening, Kreacher, did you have a nice rest?" he said, smiling in that way that Kreacher had never seen any-one but Harry, Ginny, Harry and Ginny's kids, or Hermione ever give him. A lovely grin that told Kreacher that, even though he was their house-elf, they saw him as their equal, their friend, something that no house Black member, not even Regulus, had ever seen him.

"Yes, Master Harry," Kreacher grinned, as the 'Master' or 'Mistress' titles were really the only thing about house Black he wouldn't drop. Even if he wouldn't give up his life with Harry and Ginny for anything, house Black was where he began, and, he would admit it held some sentimental value.

Harry sighed, and told Kreacher about the changes he had made that day, ignoring the Hogworts letter and being witty at his Uncle. Kreacher ginned, and with a crack, vanished from Privet Drive and re-appeared back at the Burrow, only to immediately be tackled by a slightly worried and very relieved Ginny.

"Kreacher!" she said, hugging the house-elf close. "What happened?"

"Master Harry told Kreacher to take a nap," he deadpanned. "So Kreacher took a nap."

"Oh…" Ginny looked quite sheepish. "I guess I was worried over nothing, huh? I thought the Dursleys might have found you or something…"

"While not at all similar to what happened, that is a valid fear, Mistress Ginny," Kreacher assured his beloved mistress. "Kreacher be scared of what happens if Dursleys be catching him!"

"Oh, Kreacher, I won't let them hurt you!" Ginny said as she, once again, gave Kreacher a hug. "Oh, wait… What did Harry call you over there for? I doubt it was just to take a nap."

"No, Mistress Ginny! Master Harry was telling Kreacher about some minor changes he had made. They are not likely to change much, but beware the butterfly effect, Mistress Ginny!"

"Of course, Kreacher. What were these minor changes?" Ginny asked the house-elf kindly.

"Master Harry bes cheeky to his Uncle Walrus, and gave him the Hogworts letter without opening it!" Kreacher burst out.

"Why would he not… oh. Oh. Oh!" A look of realization dawned on Ginny's face. "Yes… I'm not certain he could make it to Diagon if he opened it now… Clever, Harry!"

Harry was bored out of his mind. The letters had progressed just like before, with more and more of them coming, and the eggs and what-not all going on, and, just like before, they had left.

Just before they left, Harry had slipped away to the bathroom to call Kreacher and inform him not to contact Harry until Harry called for him, because this was not a safe time for Kreacher, and Harry would practically never be alone until after Hagrid had both come, and left.

Ginny was worried about him, Harry knew that, but he couldn't do anything about it, because what he had said had been quite true, and all three of them were well aware of that.

So here he was, waiting at the Hut on the Rock again, on the floor with only the thinnest of blankets over him. Dudley's watch told him that his birthday was in only a minute, and Harry was carefully listening for Hagrid. But, Harry heard nothing like Hagrid.

When midnight rolled around, Harry did not hear a boom as Hagrid slammed on the door. Instead, he heard a polite yet fierce knock, is such a thing were possible. Just who was at the door?