Chapter Two

As soon as she did, Ginny's uncomfortableness reached never before known levels. She felt as dirty; she knew the boys were - judging by the way their appearance - the same age as her, and they did not know her as Molly Weasley's daughter or Ron's little sister, but it still felt awkward and wrong to get under the same cloak as them. To be so close to them. The air under the Cloak was uncomfortably hot and they kept bumping into each other; the Cloak was obviously too small for three teenagers.

When she was able to get her mind off the wrongness of the situation, she noticed the boys were practically leering at her. The twosome was giggling under their breaths, like nervous children carrying out their first so-considered (at least by them) big scheme. Ginny had no patience for this kind of behavior - she was tired, confused, angry, paranoid, and she felt disrespected.

"OK, what the hell is going on!?" she demanded, grabbing the Cloak and tearing it off of the three of them. "What the hell is going on!?" she was furious, and had already whipped out her wand and was preparing to hex them.

She did not tolerate such juvenile behavior. The only reason she put up with Ron was because he was her brother – sadly, not sadly, it was just the way it was, and one was more permissive when it came to their relatives. However, neither James nor Sirius shared a familial bond with her, so they were the rule, not the exception; she did not have to tolerate their demeanor if she did not want to.

"Who-ah," James said, putting up his arms in mock-defense. "What are you doing?"

"Expelliarmus!" Ginny snapped, having noticed from the corner of her eyes that Sirius was getting out his wand from the back pocket of his jeans, preparing to hex her. "Don't even think about it," she said, then turned back to James. "Petrificus Totalus!" she cried when she saw James trying to do the same. Two against one is not the least bit fair, Ginny thought irritably.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded, having lost all her patience. "Where are you taking me? What do you want?"

"Merlin's beard, Ginny – what's up with you today?" Sirius was grinning mischievously, as though somehow he still had the upper hand.

"I'll tell you everything if you tell me what's going on," she said.

"Why don't you undo the curse you put on Prongs first, so we can both talk-"

"Why don't you shut up-"

"And here I thought you wanted me to talk-" Sirius said with a cocky grin that put Ginny over the edge.

"Permuto!" Ginny said, and his bogies turned into bats and started attacking Sirius. "Ouch! Ow!" Sirius cried. Ginny smiled in smug satisfaction before draping the Invisibility Cloak over her and disappearing through the Portrait Hole. She could hear Sirius's outraged and pained cries, but she did not care. She was tired, exhausted, and quite frankly even a tiny bit paranoid. Only a few moments after the ordeal did she realize that she might have been a bit harsh on them. But no – the boys had been rude first. They deserved it. They had it coming; they were practically begging to be put in their places, and that's exactly what she had done.

Except, she knew she would normally just ignore this sort of behavior because she knew perfectly well that it was not up to her to redeem the gits of the world. She would not waste time on such a lowly sort. However, she did hex them when they passed her boundaries.

It was just that her threshold of tolerance was a lot higher normally. However, the strange situation, the fear, the stress were all effecting her. Suddenly she feared that if she stayed in this incomprehensible world for too long, she would go insane.

She needed to find Dumbledore immediately.


She had never sneaked out after bedtime before. It felt strange, it felt weird – it was not, given the circumstances, as exhilarating and heart-stopping as she had always imagined it to be. Moreover, she could not seem to find her way; it may have been the nerves, her overactive imagination, or whatever else, but she was under the impression that the castle wasn't quite built the way as the castle of her memories. This was a whole new Hogwarts, Ginny thought with a hard gulp. No. No. Maybe your memories are just foggy. You're tired, exhausted, and you've been through an ordeal. Concentrate on the task at hand. Solving this mystery is your only possible relief.

She had to be firm with herself. Her mind, as her father had often said, could either be her worst enemy or her greatest servant. Up until now, she had not been quite sure what he had meant. Now Ginny thought she understood; a part of you could turn against you unless you controlled it with an iron fist. It was a scary thought that not only did one have to protect themselves of others but their own selves; a usually hidden, darker part of themselves. It was chilling to think she even had a side like that. So far, she had thought that the world was divided between evil and good; now she knew it was much more complex than that. Her mother had always said that there is a bad wolf and a good wolf inside of us; the one you feed is the one that grows.

Now, she would not feed negative thoughts by giving her attention to them or giving into them. She would control them, and only feed positive thoughts and feelings with her attention.

This is going to be a hard task, she thought.

Finally, somehow, after much wandering, she finally arrived at the Headmaster's Office. The two familiar stone gargoyles lulled her into a false sense of security. It felt as though she was just minutes away from being restored to her rightful place, her own world. However, she was not fully convinced of this fact; how pointless would whatever magic be that had sent her back if it could be reversed so easily. However, she had to believe. And the Headmaster would definitely help. Just seeing Dumbledore, feeling his omniscient and serene presence would have a calming and reassuring effect on her that no other person's presence could. However, she didn't know the password. What was it the last time…? On the offchance that it was the same… Ginny revealed her presence, taking off the Cloak, and said to the stone gargoyles, "Lemon powder."

The gargoyles blinked in surprise at the unexpected guest's apparition, and even more surprised that she had gotten the password right, "Come in." Ginny climbed in through the newly formed entrance, her heart beating in her chest, feeling the blood pump in her veins – this is it – with each step she took upwards on the spiral staircase leading to the Headmaster's Office, she was closer to reaching her goal. Excitement washed over her, re-energizing her. She hadn't felt this fresh, this healthy and happy in longer than she could remember. She ran up the remainder of the steps to enter the Headmaster's office; what she saw there made her blood freeze and her overjoyed train of thought come to a sudden halt.

There were two people in the Headmaster's Office; McGonagall and Dumbledore, more specifically their younger versions, but that was not the most shocking part of the scene that lay ahead of her. For it was McGonagall sitting behind the Headmaster's Desk instead of Dumbledore.


The two adults looked irritated by her interruption - they must have been talking about something of utmost importance, Ginny assumed-, but she was too frozen in shock to even excuse herself. She opened her mouth several times but closed it each time because she found herself unable to utter a single word. "S-sorry," she said at last, her eyes still wide with shock.

"What happened, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye and a half-smile; it was like he was in one on some big secret with her that Ginny did not know. Ginny blinked hard in response. The Dumbledore she knew did not care about her existence whatsoever. What…? How…? She was going crazy.

"I need… I need to…" The world was spinning with Ginny. It was all too much to take in. She could not even express everything that had happened since her wake up - it all seemed so surreal, and she felt as though she ought not to say it for some reason. Nothing made any sense whatsoever. Perhaps her hunches were leading her astray again as they had so often done in the past. She had no idea. It was all too much for her brain to take in. "I need to lie down…" she muttered weakly at last. She felt nauseous, and fought hard to not vomit. She took a few deep calming breaths and for a moment she thought she had regained control over herself. But the illusion was only temporary. "I'm not…" but before she could finish her sentence, the world went dark.

The next thing she remembered was waking up in yet another setting that reminded her of something she knew but did not look exactly like it. She opened her eyes, her head feeling heavy, her vision blurry. When her eyesight slowly cleared, she realized where she was. She was in the Hospital Wing, or at least, in an earlier version of it. She was barely able to move. She sat up groggily, massaging the back of her head, the world still spinning with her as she did so. She felt nauseous again, and saw from the corner of her eye that a metal bucket had been placed beside her bed just for this reason. She bent over and threw up into it. She could not help it, she reasoned. She started crying. Where was she? Why on Earth was she here? She felt chilled to the bone, hopeless, and alone. Her tears mixed with vomit as they hit the bottom of the bucket. She felt disgusting. She did not notice the shadow looming over her bed.

"Good morning, Cinderella," a sarcastic voice said suddenly.

Ginny froze. She looked up slowly, dreading who she might find at the edge of her bed. She screamed out loud when she saw who the voice belonged to.

"M-Mom!"

Ginny recognized the young woman standing in front of her clearly from old family albums. There stood the younger version of her mother with her curly, light red hair, narrowed, bright brown eyes, and a stern expression that looked considerably less threatening on her young face, but certainly still threatening enough.

Ginny had only known the version of her mother that was worn out after six children, poverty, and working non-stop; the girl who stood in front of her was strikingly beautiful. Before, when her relatives had insisted that the resemblance between Ginny and Molly was uncanny, she had felt slightly irritated. Now, she felt flattered. The young woman who stood in front of her was strikingly beautiful.

"Just your sister, but I might as well be!" Molly snapped.

"What?" Ginny felt like crying again. She had not signed up for this. She wanted out of this. Why was everyone being so hostile? Why couldn't…?

"Where were you again? Snuck up to the Headmistress's office and threw up on her carpet? I have been telling Mom that you're the embarrassment of the family!"

Ginny instinctively went on the defensive. "Oh, I'm sorry – how could the embarrassment of the family do this then?" she reached for her wand on the bedside table but by the time she grabbed it, Molly had already approached her, and was now standing dangerously close to her, her wand drawn and pointed at her future daughter and now – sister!?

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked. She felt extra threatened, because it was her mom; she knew it was not, but it still felt like it. She would have no problem hexing one of her brothers, even their much younger versions, but her mother was an altogether different matter. Her mother was the one that gave her life, she was delicate, fragile, and womanly – at least to her… but this Molly seemed to have no maternal feelings for her. Ginny gulped.

"Molly!" a pompous male voice yelled. Both of them turned in the direction of the voice and the noise of the approaching footsteps. Oh, no, Ginny thought when she realized who was making all the noise.

"James," Molly said, smiling, blushing, brushing her hair behind her ears.

"Huh?" Ginny said, her eyes going wide in disbelief. The mother she knew would never endorse the kind of behavior Harry's father and friends obviously engaged in…

Then Molly's face went red with anger as though she just remembered that the boys were interrupting when they should mind their own business. "You are the reason she's turned bad! You have a bad influence on her!" she announced shrilly, pointing a finger at Ginny. Surprisingly, Ginny thought, she is turning maternal now. She felt a bit warm inside despite the circumstances.

James just grinned condescendingly and Ginny could feel them getting under her skin. What a bunch of baffoons, she thought angrily. She looked at Sirius, the loving, mature godfather that she would later come to know – what was wrong with him now? She stared at him accusatorily but he just grinned in return.

"Ginny!" yelled a concerned female voice. It was familiar, but this time Ginny didn't get her hopes up. It must be someone's mother, she thought, thoroughly annoyed with this world. However, she slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice, mimicking the others. Her jaw dropped when she realized who the owner of the voice was -

For at the edge of her bed, between Molly and the boys, stood her best friend Hermione Granger, with her fuzzy, large brown hair and eyes, her cheeks reddned, panting as though she had just ran a marathon.

"It's a busy day in the Hospital Wing, eh?" Molly said irritably, shaking her head.


A/N: Thank you for your reviews for the previous chapter! Looking forward to hearing your opinions for this one!

Constructive criticism, praise - anything is welcome. I review back.

Have a nice day! :)