McGonagall sat there, unsure of what to do or say, unsure of anything at this point. All she could do was stare mouth agape. The confusion, surprise and shock shown through her eyes as clearly as the sun shines through on a cloudy day. The two women in front of her were one and the same, yet as different as night and day. The woman on the right seethed with dark magic, anger and a terrible sadness. It seamed as if any happiness has been siphoned from her entire being. The woman on the left was the exact opposite. Her ora consisted of a goodness and a kindhearted strength. The only thing was that she also held the look of terrible sadness in her eyes. How was this possible, for before her sat not one but two Ginevra Weasleys, or rather Ginevra Riddle Voldemorts.
"You see now do you not? This is what we must prevent. The balance of good and evil in the world rests with young Ginny. These are the futures that we must prevent." Dumbledore looked more like and old man than ever. His strength was leaving him. He held on for this single purpose.
"But sir how is this possible? How are they possible?"
The two women looked at each other and shared a small tight smile. The darker woman let out a small laugh and begun her tale. "We come from alternate realities to this one. We are the product of an idea gone horribly wrong, and we have come to help correct these mistakes. There needs to be a balance neither good nor evil may rule. If one does the world falls into chaos. In my world I succumbed to the dark power that Tom offered and in the end it ruled my life. With the knowledge that I brought with me I was able to dictate the future. No Harry Potter, the fall of Voldemort never happened, my world is near death. The sun no longer shines and life is all but extinct. In her case," she nodded to the other Ginny, "the exact opposite happened. She was able to steer Tom away from his darker side and lived with him in peace for years. Everything seamed good for a while. But you see, without Voldemort the wizzarding world grew lax. It lazed about thinking all was right with the world. But those who were to follow Voldemort slowly begun to plan. With out Voldemort the defenses against dark arts was lacking. In one fatal swoop half of her world was lost. You see Voldemort was evil but he kept a strict code of conduct, he kept the others in line. He also made way for newer and stronger defenses to be put in place. Without him the under lords hade no system and in the end rained terror as you would not believe." She stopped seeing that she was not understood, turned to her companion and shrugged.
The other Ginny sighed and looked the professor straight in the eyes, "Voldemort is evil yes, but an evil that was needed. Now you have sent this young girl into the past to stop him but that cannot be. Nor can he," she looked and her darker self, "be allowed to have too much power. Sadness is a part of this world and you cannot change this, in fact it is essential to the growth and strength of the world and it's inhabitants. We dearly love Tom and both were set down a different path. We are here to rectify the mistakes of our worlds and help to balance the light and darkness of this one. Our ideal world would be where Tom does in essence lose himself in his darker self but also not so much that Ginny is not unable to pull him back. To save him and hundreds of lives. Ginevra must be with Tom, there is no other choice. The events of our first year would have eventually pulled us back to him. We can not help ourselves. You see Tom holds a piece of our sole and we a piece of his. It is a star-crossed love in our worlds but we're here to make sure that that doesn't happen to her. They must find happiness in each other."
McGonagall shifted between the two not sure if she should believe them, of what she assumed Ginny was sent back to completely deter Voldemort and stop the war, make sure none of it happens. Now she was being told that it has to, oh not to the extent of what it was, but that it was needed at all was what confused her. Deep within herself she knew what they say is true and it must be done. It is a sad lesson to learn but in order to learn there must be something to learn from. She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin, "What needs to be done?" Once again the two girls looked at each other and smiled, this time however there was joy in their faces.
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Gwen sat on her bed her chin resting on her knees. It had been two weeks since the night in the forest and she had come to a sort of peace with her current situation. She was stuck here and everyone she loved wouldn't do a thing to help her, fine, so be it. She was strong, she battled her own demons. She will make it through this. Besides, she thought, it's not so bad. She was making friends here and she was far more advanced in lessons than any one else in her class. Cymantha had become a stone and provided support without asking many questions. And Tom, she was becoming more and more confused about the way she felt about him. Her dreams gave her no rest for they always had him there with her. Now before they would be horror dreams and she would often wake up screaming. Now the dreams were almost pleasant and held a kind of softness. In her dreams her and Tom would be in a room somewhere in the dungeon. He was talking to her, teaching her, and she hung onto every word that he said. The lessons were dark magic and Gwen loved it. She could almost feel the power flowing through her, she most ardently loved the feeling. She would wake and find herself with her wand in hand and wondered if it had truly been a dream.
Gwen had not gone to Professor Dumbledore like she had planned and she no longer felt the need to. He had lied to her and she couldn't forgive him that. Gwen got out of bed and made her way down to the common room, it was a free day and she felt like taking advantage. She and some friends had planned to go to Hogsmead and buy some new clothes and a supply of sweets. She had at first hated the clothes of this time but she had come to accept them even admire them. As she was walking down the stairs she heard Cymantha's voice.
"I know a secret, but you have to promise me you won't tell Gwen I told you." She seamed excited and Gwen became confused, "Gwen has been sneaking out of the room almost every night and when she is there I hear her whispering Tom's name. I guess that is the reason Tom has been so happy lately."
"Oh my god, are you serious, I never would have thought, she seamed to hate him. But than again Tom can never seam to stop staring at her. This is so weird and scary, Cymantha I think you should talk to her. Tom is dangerous he could hurt her." Gwen recognized the voice of a Ravenclaw girl that Cymantha was talking to. She was a girl that often went to the same night parties as Cymantha had gone to. Gwen herself started attending them.
Gwen waited a few more moments and stepped into the common room. She gave Cymantha and Nicole each a kiss on the cheek and they left for the Great Hall for breakfast. Gwen was worried but kept a smile on her face, sneaking out? If she was than those dreams were not dreams at all and that meant she truly had been learning dark magic. When they entered the room it was full of talking, students discussing how they were going to spend their free time. She saw Tom and saw the empty seats next to him, she led Cymantha and Nicole there and took her seat next to Tom. Once she found a free moment she turned to Tom and gave him a knowing look, nearly shouting at him in her head. Now he couldn't read her thoughts, but he did read emotions. His eyes winced at the anger he felt and got the message, she wanted to talk.
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Hogsmead was breathtaking in the early hours of a winter day. Witches and wizards passed by politely nodding their heads and giving a soft good morrow. As they passed one store than another they commented about the items in the windows. As they passed the book store Gwen had a flash of Hermione in her mind, for the briefest moment she felt like crying. Hermione was so strong and Gwen knew that she had to be strong if she was going to make it out of this. When she looked back up she saw Tom slip into the doors of a pub. Claming that she was thirsty she and her friends entered. When they stepped in the room was full and one had to push their way to the bar to order. About halfway there Gwen felt a hand on her elbow and let Tom guide them to a dark corner and there he pulled back a bench and revealed a small passage way. Gwen found that they were let out in back of the pub into a small alleyway. She could still hear the noise of the people inside and some of them had even began to sing.
Tom turned her around and all Gwen could he was stare at him. The cold had turned his cheeks and nose a soft red and his eyes were watery from the harsh wind. He was handsome, she could not deny him that. It was bad at times because it was distracting. She waited for him to speak and the longer it took the angrier it made her. Finally he began small chit chat asking her how she felt and if she and her friends had found any of the window shopping to their liking. Oh how she felt like spiting on him right then and there. Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and asked him point blank, "What in the hell do you think you are doing. I haven't been having strange dreams at all. What have you done to me?"
"It's all really simple. Your anger has been rising higher and higher in your emotions as of late I am merely providing it an escape. Have you not noticed how much more calm you have become over the past few days. How much easier things have become for you."
"Tom I want nothing to do with your dark craft. I'm not like that. I'm a good witch please just stop."
"Oh I think that you like it. In fact I think that you love it. Every lesson that I give you, you enjoy it more and more. Gwen I can feel it in you, dark magic compliments you. I know that you feel it, the rush, the power." He moved in front of her and slowly bent his head down to her lips. Gwen could feel the spark of the dark craft, sharp at first then easing into a gentle whisper of energy. She responded to it, without thinking she felt strands of her own magic reach out to him entwining with him. Her mind had completely succumbed to what he was offering her. When their lips meet the impact was powerful indeed, the rush of their mixing power seducing her. More than the power Gwen felt her own desire rise as the kiss progressed. Tom pulled back smiling softly and Gwen felt heat rising in her face partly from desire and partly from embarrassment.
"This is what I can give you. This and more." With that he turned his back and went inside the pub. Gwen was left standing there, her entire body screaming yes and her mind slowly accepting the same answer. Yes she did want this. The feelings Tom had just shown her were like nothing she had ever felt and she would do anything to feel that way again. As she made her way back into the pub the realization hit her. Dark witch she just might be, and it seamed that she would wholly enjoy it's progression.
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The day was slowly ending and the students made their way back to the castle, bags of sweets and other interesting things to be secreted away for the appropriate time. Amidst the gathering students a single own flew searching for it's destination. The owl spotted Gwen and flew directly to her. When she looked up and saw the owl Gwen was surprised for she had yet to receive and letters for she knew no one outside of school and had no reason to expect one. Carefully she opened it.
To Our Dearest Gwen,
Greetings from your parents, we are informing you that we will be at Hogwarts within fourty eight hours and would like you to join us for a private dinner. We would very much like to know how your studies and various other aspects of your life are going, well we hope. We can not wait to see you.
Charlotte and Damien V.
Well if that wasn't the weirdest letter she had ever read, so formal. Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, they were after all posing as her parents. It would only be natural for her to meet them.
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A.N. Sorry that this has taken so long every time I read it there seamed to be something wrong. I still can't get it the way that I wanted but it's ok, let me know what you think and I will try to get the next chapter a little bit faster than this one. I want to thank you for giving me your opinions, they do mean a lot.