For Marlene McKinnon, the future parents of Harry Potter, and the rest of the first year students, it had been the first week of classes. With their professors: a member of the Order of the Phoenix, named Ignatius Prewett, for Defense Against the Dark Arts; a pair of new witches alongside each other for both Herbology and Astrology, named Professors Spring, and Sinatra, respectively; Slughorn of Potions; McGonagall of Transfiguration; and Flitwick for Charms; Ginny could not help but feel as if the class of '78 had had a much easier time with their lessons, rather than that of the next generation, in the class of '91.

For Ginny McKinnon, her favorite class had turned out to be Defense; in her past life, as Ginny Weasley, she had been more inclined toward Charms. Back then, she would never have guessed that she would be more in favor of what had been Harry's favorite class, this time around as a McKinnon. To her own credit, she did alright in Charms, but even so, she was sad to see that she didn't happen to be as good in Charms as she was with Defense, this time around.

At least Harry doesn't have to rush in and save me in a duel, Ginny, with no less amount of bitterness, thought. Or Mum, in the Battle of Hogwarts, saving me from that mad, old Dark witch.

For Marlene McKinnon, even with having been inseparable with James Potter since the meeting back at the platform of King's Cross, the class that had happened to be the best, was not Defense, as her twin had expected of her, but, of all other classes, Charms. Unfortunately, this had only served to make Ginny even more incensed than she had been when Marlene had chosen James Potter over her own twin, back at the platform of King's Cross.

As for James Potter, himself, no matter how much Ginny tended to avoid him, even she had to admit that he seemed to be a master of the art of Transfiguration, already at the age of eleven-years-old. At their first lesson of Transfiguration, Potter had managed, in a single, fluid motion, to transform the pin into a needle, as if he had been born to do such a thing. By the end of the lesson, with McGonagall having rewarded Potter a rare smile, Ginny had been in a very bad mood: since, other than Potter, no one else had managed to turn their own pin into a needle, she had been forced to let her own pin remain as it was.

Lily Evans, who would be the future wife of James Potter and the mother of his son, Harry, was not good at Transfiguration, nor Defense. What she was good at, however, were both Potions and Charms. Ginny had known, thanks to her son, that Lily had been good at Potions, but she had no idea of her ability at the latter. Ginny would continue to have no idea, until later that same day, that Lily would upstage Ginny in Charms, and show an affinity for both the subject, and for her own twin sister, Marlene.


Professor Flitwick, both the Charms teacher and the smallest wizard they had faced yet in the school, had to stand on top of a heap of books, in order to peer out from his desk and view the students, from his vantage point. At the start of their first lesson, he took the roll call, and proceeded as usual with the lesson, except for when he had taken to one of the students' familiars, and Charmed it to zoom around the classroom. This had gotten a roar of applause from the students, and afterward, they had set to work at once.

The students' task was to aim their wand directly at the object upon the center of their desks, put as much power behind their own wands as they could, and cast the spell with just as much precision, in order to Charm the designated object. For the first time, not even the future Marauders seemed to be able to complete this task; Marlene had been nearly successful in her attempt, but not quite there yet; a couple tables over from Ginny, the eleven-year-old Severus Snape was having no more luck than she, but the same couldn't be said for his partner, Lily Evans.

"When d' you think we'll have our first Defense lesson?" Snape was asking Lily, as Ginny strained her ears in order to listen in, wishing she had one of the Weasley twins' Extendable Ears.

"Why don't we forget about Defense," Lily suggested rhetorically, as she tightened her strong-hold on her own wand, "and concentrate more on Charms?"

Snape grumbled, something that Ginny couldn't catch; then, his voice rose: "What was the spell again?" He returned to mirroring Lily's movements, around his own wand.

"Color mutatio," replied Lily. She had surprised Ginny by having the pronounciation of the spell to near-perfection. Unlike Hermione Granger, however, she did not demonstrate the spell in order to show up Snape, who, by now, had finally gotten his wand aimed directly at the object, in itself, and had uttered the same words Lily had spoken: "Color mutatio."

There was nothing Snape had done wrong in casting the spell, as far as Ginny could see, but nothing had come from his wand, and his object—a black box—had remained the same. Snape tossed his wand upon the desk, next to the box, and turned expectantly toward his partner. Lily readied her own wand, uttered the spell once more, and not an instant later, did her own object change, with flying colors; the Professor had just been to round the corner of Lily Evans and Severus Snape's desks, and had spotted Lily's creation, at once.

Professor Flitwick had been completely beside himself at Lily's achievement. "A job well done, Miss Evans! Everyone, pay attention: Miss Evans has done it!"

There was no question for accounting Ginny's bad mood by the end of class.

"Don't be such a party pooper," admonished Marlene, as they made their way into the corridor. "I'm sure you weren't the only one who wasn't able to manage the Charm."

"I'm not the party pooper around here," scowled Ginny. "That would be more of Evans' thing. She's such a show-off, honestly."

The guest of the hour, Lily Evans, herself, had knocked right into both twins in her rush to escape them.

"I think Evans must have heard you," Marlene pointed out to her twin.

"What does that mean to me?" Ginny asked rhetorically, and shrugged it off.

By that time, they had all entered the Great Hall, and all thoughts of Lily were put out of their minds by the standard feast put together by the House-elves that night. Ginny, however, wouldn't forget how Lily had upstaged her in her best subject; Marlene wouldn't forget her twin's remark about Lily; and, she, Lily, herself, would never forget how Ginny had treated her, early on in their first year at Hogwarts, just for being as good at a subject as Ginny had been, and perhaps even better.


Aside from Charms, as well as the rest of all the other classes, there was one class where Ginny McKinnon had finally stood out by herself and unhindered by the likes of Lily Evans and James Potter: Quidditch.

In reality, it wouldn't be fair of Ginny to say that she had been unhindered by the likes of James Potter in Quidditch; or, at least, she wouldn't be fair to his son, Harry, from the future. For Potter Sr., turned out to be nearly as good as Ginny, with all her experience as a seventeen-year-old Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; but nearly still wasn't as good, and Ginny relished in that difference, as well as using the first opportunity that had came to her, in their first Quidditch lesson, to demonstrate that exact difference between the levels of their talents.

Madam Hooch had turned out to be the same flying instructor for Ginny McKinnon, in 1971, as she had been in '92. Her instructions had, also, turned out to be the same as she had remembered, before: divide the Gryffindor first years into two lines; place the students next to their broomsticks, hold out their hands; yell "UP!" and wait for the broomstick to shoot right up their hand, and grab it with both of them.

Ginny turned away from Madam Hooch to look James Potter right in the eye, who had been glaring at her with such a fierce intensity, she had no doubt who her real opponent would be, within the House, at Quidditch. Ginny turned back to Madam Hooch with a smile on her face; she had been the first one out of the entire class to receive the broomstick in her hand. And, it seemed as if she was about to receive her retribution for Transfiguration class, after all.

"Now," began Madam Hooch, "when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady; rise a few feet; and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle!"

Within those three moments, Ginny braced herself for the kick-off.

"Three —"

Keeping her eyes straight ahead; her fists clenched tight around the broomstick, and within her stronghold; and waiting for the final moment that seemed two moments too long.

"Two —"

Two moments away from the kick-off; within that moment, the only thing she knew, was the broomstick between her hands; and the destination within her full view; nothing would be able to distract her from it, including James Potter.

"One!"

Before the word had even come out of Hooch's mouth, Ginny had been the first one out to kick-off and shoot straight up to the sky. Both now air-borne, along with the rest of the Gryffindors following suit behind, James Potter had faced her. Ginny looked him right in the eye, just as she had before Madam Hooch had began her count-down, and remembered what she had said, back in her past life: "Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve for it."

"I heard what you did to Evans," Potter reported, "Not a very good show of sportsmanship, that was."

"Did you, now?" Ginny said tartly. "I didn't know you were advocating for sportsmanship, now. That's rich of you, Potter."

A dark and ugly flush went through Potter's face. "I would never do that to someone else on the House team. Anyone else? They're free game, including you."

"In your dreams," taunted Ginny; behind his half-moon spectacles, so unlike Harry's, sparks flew in his flaring hazel eyes. She had dodged from his raging pathway just in time, when Madam Hooch had called for a stop.

"That's more than enough for today," Madam Hooch said; she had pinned her flinty-eyed glare at the Gryffindors. "It's clear to see that you all have already picked out your teams. Next lesson, we'll begin a mock-game. Until then, with express permission from me and your Head of House, you'll be able to practice out here on the pitch. Off you go, then, and mind you keep to yourselves!"

"What have you got against James that you had to be like that to him?"

"Oh, so he's James now?" Ginny said, still keeping her voice tart. Marlene had come right up behind her twin, taking herself by surprise when she was abandoning her broomstick.

"Grow up," Marlene snapped. "He's one of my best friends. You didn't answer my question, anyway."

"If anything," snorted Ginny, "Potter was hard on me. It's not my fault he has a thing for Evans."

"What have you got against Evans, anyway? James can take it, but she's just a Muggle-born. You're not one of those freaks obsessed with blood, are you?" demanded Marlene.

"For your information," gritted out Ginny, "I befriended two of those supposed 'freaks' on the train. So I would appreciate you not insulting them, just for their beliefs, thanks."

Marlene's eyes had grown as wide as saucers. "You befriended them? Who in Merlin's name?"

"If you must know, Andromeda and Narcissa Black," Ginny told her twin. Without giving her a chance to react to their names, she added, "Fine, Marlene, I'll do what you want. I'll stay away from Evans and keep from challenging Potter further in Quidditch. But I don't know why you choose them over me; I'm your twin sister, not them. And the next time you want to ask me: 'what I have against Evans and Potter,' why don't you think about that?"


Disclaimer: A certain scene pays homage to p. 171-172 in the American E-book edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this chapter. Please review!