Disclaimer - The usual. Not mine never will be, thank you to JKR and everyone else for allowing me to play.
If this Chapter feels a little rushed it's because it was. It's been written to try and fill in the gaps between the Diary and this story in regard to Ginny and in part the bits about Ron and Hermione and sort out the mistake I made in publishing the diary story as far as I have without thinking it through. The same warnings from the last chapter still stand. I'm not a writer and I have no beta. By all means tell me ways you think I might improve.
For four of the teachers within the walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it was a case of the morning after the night before following the revelation that a boy, now a man, who they had been teaching just days prior, was actually a Founder. The quartet had sat in stunned silence for a significant length of time before slowly making their way to their respective rooms.
Sleep did not come easily for any of them. For Minerva McGonagall it was the shock of seeing a pupil who was one of her favourites, succeed in becoming the man he was born to be. In spite of the affection which she held for him, she had always been slightly disappointed in Harry, who when first appeared, seemed to have neither his father's easy charm and charisma or his mother's intellect. That this was in no small part due to her agreement to place him with the Dursleys had weighed heavily on her for many years, and it was only this year, with the long overdue appearance of his father's charisma as he led the DA, that fears she had been complicit in causing irreparable damage to the child finally began to recede. That such a child would become a Founder, the first Headmaster even, of her school filled her with both pride for his achievement, and regret at the necessity of such drastic measures. Of course her lack of sleep could also be blamed on her recovery from receiving so many simultaneous stunners, but for the most part she deemed her restlessness due to the night's revelations.
For Filius Flitwick the excitement of one of his students becoming a Charms master made settling down rather difficult. That little Harry Potter, and there were very few people Filius felt comfortable calling little, who appeared so shy and overwhelmed as an eleven year old should follow in his mothers footsteps and become a Charms master was cause for celebration. That he also appeared to be perhaps the greatest enchanter Filius had ever heard of and the architect of Hogwarts renowned wards filled the small professor with an overwhelming sense of pride.
Bathsheba Babbling felt rather different. When she had first noticed Harry Potter as an eleven year old she was rather confused that this tiny little thing could be the child of Lily and James Potter. Two years of sitting next to Severus Snape had left her rather disappointed with the boy so when the time came that she had earmarked to speak to him about her class she let it pass. The subsequent years had done nothing to dissuade her from her decision. Apart from Snape numerous other Professor's including Minerva had made it known, perhaps not intentionally, that they were disappointed in the child. He was powerful certainly, but lazy, intelligent but not overly so, rarely motivated to work to his full potential. Truth be told from afar he seemed like a stereotypical Gryffindor. Not especially hardworking or ambitious almost determined not to make use of his intelligence and a tendency to get into unusual scrapes earmarked him as a lion through and through. Having heard his story or at least parts of it from Minerva and Filius after leaving the office, she was disgusted with herself. Knowing something of abused children it was immediately obvious why Harry was the way he was, he had been brought up to do worse than his cousin hence no hard work or ambition and an engrained aversion to using his intelligence. That she had allowed herself to be swayed by the clearly biased testimony of others sickened her. That she had missed out on teaching a true Runemaster was a fitting punishment though perhaps not enough, especially now it appeared that he was going to give her an opportunity to study both his Enchantments and his Wards. Yes it was a very guilty Bathsheba babbling who eventually drifted off that night.
Albus Dumbledore just gave up on the idea of sleeping entirely. He was filled with a strange combination of relief and regret. Relief that the decisions he had made in regard to Harry Potter, though they would never and could never be vindicated, had at least had most of their unpleasant effects on Harry negated. Regret of course that in no small part due to his own actions in regard to the boy the coming war would apparently have been especially violent and resulted in the apparent necessity of significant manipulation of the timeline. Of course a greater portion of his night's musings was in regard to what this now meant in relation to the prophecy. Clearly 'the Power he knows not' could be anything and though Dumbledore still thought based on the interaction between Harry and Rowena that it was love, the ability to create and wield a rather big flaming spear or a lightning covered battle hammer would work just as well.
As the night passed Dumbledore spent time reading through the new chronicles of the founding of his school. Albus was fascinated by the role Harry was documented as playing. He seemed to be involved in every aspect apparently moving every stone in the castle and carving every rune for the wards, becoming increasingly drawn into the life of his student Albus was startled by the knock on his door and more startled when it opened without his saying a word to reveal Harry and his wife.
"Good Morning Albus" seeing his former mentor's reading material Harry smiled. "Interesting book?"
"Wonderful Harry, simply marvellous. That you accomplished so much beggars belief but I'm half tempted to believe it doesn't do you justice."
"Oh I don't know about that, it was written by Rowena and Helga for the most part. They both tend to be rather bias towards me." Replied Harry with a self deprecating smile. Rowena rolled her eyes and clipped her husband round the ear.
"Don't listen to him headmaster. It's actually a fairly faithful account." Turning to her husband she started again "Don't you have something to ask?"
"Oh yes! Can't believe I forgot the reason for coming. Professor I was wondering if you could ask Ginny to come here please, possibly with Pro...Minerva?"
"Of course" answered the aged Headmaster. "Just Miss Weasley?" he enquired as he attached a quick note to Fawkes who quickly disappeared.
"For now yes." Harry grimaced "It's going to be a rather unpleasant conversation and the fewer witnesses the better."
"Ah in that case, upon Miss Weasley's arrival I will make myself scarce."
"Thank you Headmaster." Rowena answered for her distracted husband.
"It's Albus my dear. I understand that you will wish to talk to me later in regard to your scar Harry."
"Hmmm? Oh yes professor but that will take rather a lot of time I would prefer to see my friends first if you don't mind. I haven't seen them in nearly thirty years. I managed to put it off yesterday I don't think I'm willing to do it again."
After nodding his agreement the trio sat silently for a few minutes before a knock was heard at the door.
"Ah Minerva, Miss Weasley come in please." Responded the Headmaster.
The office door opened to reveal a somewhat confused looking redhead. The pair stepped in to the room and Ginny looked around. Her eyes finally came to rest on the strange man who had just stood to greet her. Her confused look lasted for a few seconds before the colour drained from her face and she gasped.
"With that I'll take my leave." Dumbledore stated quickly. "Miss Weasley would you like Professor McGonagall to stay?" Ginny nodded but no one was entirely clear that she had heard what was asked. As Albus left the room and closed he heard a very quiet "It was real" from the redhead.
Inside the office Ginny was struggling to breathe. "B-But it can't have been real it made no sense."
"What can't be real Miss Weasley?" asked McGonagall unsure of whether to try and comfort the possibly distraught girl.
"Two nights ago after the Department something happened. I was woken up by a woman who said she was me that she was from the future and that Harry was going to go back in time to train to properly fight the war and if I wanted him I needed to go with him. It made no sense and I'm with Dean and I'm over Harry, I am." The girl spoke quietly though and it was clear to everyone she was trying to convince herself. "So I said no and went back to sleep. I forgot about it until just now."
Sighing Harry hated himself for having to have this conversation, it was clear that Ginny was hurting. "It was real Ginny, she came to me after speaking to you and convinced me to go to the Room of Requirement which ended up sending me back to the time of the Founders were I trained.
"The future Ginny and I talked a bit more." The teenager looked up at this. "She and I were married as we would be if our future selves hadn't interfered."
Rowena looked at the girl in front of her. She knew about the Chamber now. Harry had always called it an 'incident' before, trying not to colour the perceptions of the other Founders towards Salazar, but he had explained the details last night. Observing the girl she could see why Harry might have fallen for her. She was cute and feisty and living with her brothers had apparently instilled both devious and independent streaks in the teen. She had also experienced darkness in a way few others had. Of course given her knowledge of her husband's feelings for her and the obvious age gap there was no competition between the two. In fact she was more inclined to get to know the girl better, there was a possibility she wanted to explore.
Minerva McGonagall watched the scene before her unfold and felt for the girl she had taught for four years. It wasn't that she had gambled and lost, she had tried to grow up and move on with her life. Everyone in Gryffindor knew of her crush on Harry Potter, and after the Chamber Minerva knew the crush was on Harry Potter, not 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', but she had seen the girl attempt to start a friendship instead. Explore other possibilities with other boys and put her past behind her. That she needed to know the details of the time-travel phenomenon was unquestioned since she was uniquely involved but it felt indescribably cruel.
Harry continued after a short pause, unsure of the best way to proceed. "Apparently though the future needed to be interfered with, thousands died ad final battle here was particularly cruel. F-Fred was one of those lost."
Ginny was alarmed at that. That war would have casualties was obvious, that it could have been a member of her family was a possibility even if she hadn't really contemplated it but the fact that it would be Fred, one half of a pair just seemed unfair. Taking the time to settle herself she breathed deeply. Well if her not being married to Harry meant Fred would live it was something she could cope with, besides she was with Dean, and happy, and there are plenty more men anyway.
Becoming more composed with that thought she decided to start asking questions "So why not Ron and Hermione? How come they didn't go back with you?"
The grin that appeared on Harry's face was rather predatory and both Ginny and the Professor were rather disconcerted. "You know about Hermione and the Time Turner?" Ginny nodded. "Well after that she decided she shouldn't mess around with time. It was exceptionally dangerous. So when our older selves went to see her with the plan she refused outright saying she couldn't in good conscience play around with time."
"And Ron?"
Harry's grin magnified, "Wouldn't leave his wife when she was so adamant. He didn't want to risk the possibility of not being with her."
The gleam that appeared in Ginny's eyes at this news would have significantly scared the two absent members of the 'Golden Trio' had they seen it.
The smirk on McGonagall's face indicated that she too, as with the rest of school was rather tired of the sexual tension surrounding the pair.
Much happier now Ginny decided to carry on with her questions.
"So Harry is there a reason you haven't yet introduced me to the woman beside you?" she looked at him expectantly.
"Yes Harry your manners are rather appalling, I know I taught you better." Rowena smirked while Harry winced. "Rowena Potter, formerly Ravenclaw, Harry's wife."
Ginny's eyes widened comically and she settled herself in for what was sure to be a fascinating story...