Chapter 2

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter yada yada…

Harry landed with a muted thud on what felt like a particularly luxurious carpet. He blinked in astonishment and hurriedly tried to grab his wand, which was rolling away from him almost lazily. Just as he was about to grip it, it darted out of his reach and into a feminine hand.

"I'm afraid I can't trust you with that quite yet," spoke an achingly familiar melodic voice.

Harry turned around so fast that he was sure he had managed to crick his neck and gazed at the woman holding his wand in astonished disbelief.

"Ginny!" He breathed the name reverently. How could it be? She was dead! Dead by his hand! How then could she be standing before him, her luxurious red hair cascading around her shoulders like a silken waterfall, and her snowy white skin so smooth to the touch? And her eyes, like dark brown pools in which he could drown himself for hours…

Surely it was a delusion. Yes that is what it was. He had wandered into Knockturn, fingering his ring and drowning in longing of his love, and his mind had conjured up her gorgeous figure which would disappear at any moment…

His delusion frowned at him in displeasure. "Who are you? I summoned Harry Potter and I know for a fact that my love is not blond!"

She strode up to him and gently cradled his chin in her hand, looking at him intently as he knelt at her feet.

"I did everything exactly as it should be. There has been no mistake. I know it! You are under a Glamour yes? Or perhaps it is Polyjuice? Yes Polyjuice is more likely. You could not have concealed that scar of yours without ridiculously elaborate rituals."

He blinked at her uncertainly and stood up, careful not to push her away. She was so close that he could feel the warmth radiating from her. And yet something about her was different, disconcerting.

"How long for the Polyjuice to wear off, Harry?" Ginny said.

"An hour. I took it quite recently you see. Ron and Mione dragged me shopping and I didn't want to be mobbed. But I do have the antidote," He added at her frown. He would give his delusion no reason to leave him.

"Do you?" Ginny snaked her hands into his pockets pulled out a tiny corked bottle and pressed it to his lips. Harry suppressed a shiver.

"Drink," Ginny commanded. "I wish to see you again. It has been so long…"

"Wait," Harry said hastily, his tingling body protesting feebly. "I cannot take it now my beautiful illusion. I'm in Knockturn Alley and if the Knockturners' see me now, I will be quite dead, Boy-Who-Lived or no."

"Knockturn Alley? You aren't in Knockturn my love. You are in a different dimension! A dimension I brought you to. And I am certainly no illusion. Do I not feel real? Can you not feel this?"

She trailed a hand down his body and this time he couldn't conceal his shudder. She certainly felt real. Deliciously real.

"How can this be?" Harry asked, astonished. He had heard of alternate dimensions in theory. Mione had spoken of them. But it was considered impossible to actually travel, to transcend the bounds of your own reality…

"Drink it and I will tell you," said Ginny, pressing the vial to his lips, a predatorily light in her eyes and this time he drank.

Harry's body rippled and shifted, and he felt himself grow taller, sinuously muscled. He was now a hand taller than Ginny and his messy hair stuck up in all directions. He had selected a Polyjuice guise as far from his own appearance as possible, but he would keep his own face, the face of a murderer, even though it pained him. Ginny required it to be so.

"No glasses?" asked Ginny, running a hand through his hair. "Have you performed an eyesight correction ritual?"

"Yes. I found them something of an inconvenience while dueling." He slid a hand around her waist hesitantly and she did not withdraw. His Ginny had never seemed to see the monster in him.

"Come."

Ginny led him over to a loveseat and settled down on him comfortably, drawing his arms around her.

"In my universe you died Harry," she began, "You died, taking Voldemort with you. And so I had to bring you back. Somehow, though it was impossible, unheard of, I just had to."

Harry nodded. He could certainly understand that sentiment. It was that which had driven him back to the soul-destroying curse, to research its origins. He had found it in one of the dusty tomes buried in the Potter vaults, though it was not an elaborate entry. The Potters, it appeared hadn't been quite as Light once upon a time. It made sense; they were descendants of the Peverell's after all, and Antioch and Cadmus Peverell had hardly been Light. His search had led him to the Peverell vaults and eventually to old magic.

"And so I left the country," Ginny continued, her eyes devouring his features. It was disconcerting in a way. Her eyes had been for a moment coldly analyzing. "I travelled and I explored all kinds of magic Light and Dark. Of course the Dark was more likely to be of help. I studied for very long. But it is as they all said. It is impossible."

She studied his expression anxiously and it took Harry a moment to realize her unease.

"Dark is not evil. I understand this now. To condemn you of its use would be hypocritical of me. I delved into it myself to defeat Voldemort. Sometimes it is the only way."

Ginny nodded, relieved.

"Hence I looked for other options. Dimension travel. It seemed equally impossible but I was determined, and so I prevailed. You see, there have been theories that worlds do not move at the same pace; some of them lag behind temporally, and some are much faster. I moved to such a world which lagged behind. It is the year 1995 here. Quite a lag. However, I hadn't focused the spell properly. You didn't exist in this world my love and I couldn't find my way back. There are too many worlds to focus on a particular one. That was something I forgot to consider. Foolish in retrospect, but there it is."

"So you altered the spell to get another version of me to this world? Amazing!" whispered Harry staring at Ginny in wonder. He knew she was clever; she'd certainly proved it with her hexes, but this clever? To have devised a spell by herself! Harry had only the vaguest idea of it; something to do with Arithmancy. He could have managed such a thing with old magic perhaps, but of course the risks in using the magic and keeping it in control wouldn't have been worth it.

Ginny smiled, and Harry found himself once again mesmerized. She truly was a stunningly beautiful creature.

"I did take Arithmancy you know. Not all of us slacked off with Divination."

Harry rolled his eyes. This was almost like old times. "Divination! Why oh why did I ever take that subject!"

Ginny laughed out loud and Harry felt himself flush as her body briefly pressed up against his. They hadn't ever slept together even though they had been going out for more than a year before he'd cast the Pereunto curse-

Abruptly he stilled. What was he playing at, acting like Ginny's lover? He'd destroyed her counterpart's soul! What would she do if she knew? Would she leave him? Would she summon another version of him to this world? He couldn't bear it if she-

No! He destroyed lives. He always destroyed! Anybody who befriended him suffered. He had observed it time and again. She'd be better off without him. He did not deserve to have her!

He was roused from his thoughts with a tender hand caressing his neck.

"What is the matter? You seem disturbed."

Harry glanced down at her then quickly away. He couldn't just push her away. It would hurt her feelings, and he would die before he ever hurt her again.

"It is simply a bit much to take in. Switching universes I mean."

Ginny eyed him carefully and nodded.

"You need time to settle. This place belongs to me so you can relax without interruption. Come, I have a room set aside for you."

She tugged him to his feet and led him through a wide corridor, portraits peering at him suspiciously. His room was huge, with a queen sized bed with murals on the walls of incredible detail and a fluffy comforter. Harry blinked, bemused. How had Ginny managed to acquire a mansion in a new world? This was the kind of place Harry would have expected of a Malfoy. Were the Weasleys' here rich? No, that couldn't be. She said it belonged to her. They must have been rich in her own world then. But no, purebloods would never sell their ancestral mansions, especially one as rich and well stocked as this one.

Harry looked to Ginny, about to question her of this disparity, when he noticed what seemed so different about her. She moved with a fluid catlike grace that his Ginny never had. Her eyes glittered with something undefinable and inviting. She practically oozed seduction. His Ginny had never been so blatant. It was almost like watching a stranger. But of course she was a stranger; she was from another world! She was…

Then she turned to him to lead him in, and he stopped, breath catching. Her eyes were no longer warm. They captured his own green orbs, cold and imperious. And hungry…so hungry, like he was a toy she had wanted for long and finally had in her reach… She still had his wand with her. How could he not have noticed it? Had he been so lost in her as to have forgotten his own wand? Moody would be disgusted.

"Go on in," said Ginny, the warm façade back in place. And it was a façade alright. There were the little slips, the oddly calculating looks that one didn't give a friend, let alone one who might well become a lover.

There was something going on here, something he didn't comprehend, something he was being too oblivious to see. It had been too good to be true. An alternate version of Ginny could never be exactly the same Ginny he knew. And this one was very different. He shouldn't have let his guard down. This one was dangerous.

Author's Note: Whew! Another chapter done. Ginny's certainly not what she seems. Poor Harry!

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