Ginevra Weasley and the Disorder of the Phoenix

Episode 3: The Dog Days of Summer

When Ginny woke up the next morning, she was wondering why she was in Grimmauld Place instead of the Burrow. After a moment of thinking, she remembered that this was 1995 and not 1999; Fred was still alive, Percy was still a prat, and Voldemort was still evil. As she got dressed, she imagined for a moment what would have happened if Voldemort had fallen in love with a muggle sometime before taking his NEWT examinations. With a laugh, she figured that it would have been someone just as insane as he was. "I mean, really; what sane woman would Voldemort fall in love with?" she said, not realizing it was out loud.

Hermione rolled over in her sleep. Ginny finished getting dressed in silence, then crept downstairs to wait for her mother and Harry to get ready. Kreacher was puttering around the house, oddly quiet. In the quiet, Ginny kept going over who Killconey could be in her mind.

Percy was possible, he had a lot to regret from the war the first time, but why would he still be away from the family if he came back and knew they were right? Unless… he never had been to Grimmauld Place, maybe he didn't know where the family was…

Then there were the Dursleys. Unlikely, but possible, was the chance that Dudley had come back somehow. According to Harry, this had been the summer when Dudley had started changing; but Ginny had never actually met any of the Dursleys until they went to get them out of hiding. The only problem was that Dudley would have said something to Harry before the Dementor attack… would have remembered the Dementor attack…

The name Cho wandered across Ginny's mind. It was possible that Cho had come back in time, maybe to do things right this time around with Harry… no, that couldn't be it. The letter Killconey had sent had addressed both Harry and Ginny, and had acted like they were already married. If it had been Cho, maybe she wouldn't be trying to lead Harry on this time? Maybe there was a boy she had liked and didn't realize it until after Harry…

She sat in her thoughts, thinking of even more unlikely people to have come back – Draco Malfoy, Rita Skeeter, Xenophilius Lovegood… as she discounted each of them, Harry came down and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good morning, Ginny." He said with a smile. "Been up long?"

"Not very long. Ready for today?"

"Yeah. I've told Molly that… wow, that still feels weird to say. I've told Mom that I'll pay for the shopping today."

"She didn't like that, I'll bet."

"No she didn't; she's insisting on treating it like a loan." At that, he made a face. "Still, she does have a point; I can't get into the full Potter vault until I'm physically seventeen and out of Hogwarts, so I can't just spend the vault I'm using now into oblivion."

"You could sell an interview of yourself."

Harry laughed a hollow laugh. "Yeah, and I'm sure there's a magazine out there that would pay for that interview. Xeno ran it for free last time, and that was mainly because he is the only one that would go against the Ministry."

"You mean other than us." Ginny smiled, and Harry didn't even bother trying to stop himself from grinning. "So, why are you up so early?"

Harry shrugged. "Had a nightmare, couldn't get back to sleep, figured I'd help with breakfast today." He picked up a random object and screwed up his eyes in concentration. Ginny watched as Harry attempted to transfigure it without words or wand. After half of a minute had passed, the object was still itself. Harry sighed, set the object back where it was, and went into the kitchen. A moment later, the smell of coffee wafted out, and Ginny couldn't keep herself from smiling. Harry might be bad at potions, but nobody had ever compared potioneering to cooking for him, and Harry was a good cook.

The next person to wake up was Molly Weasley. She was bleary-eyed, and looked to only be halfway awake. In fact, it looked like she was following the smell of coffee. Ginny was wondering just how good a cook Severus Snape was, when she heard her mother yelp in pain.

"Molly! Are you alright?" came Harry's voice.

"Ow ow… I didn't think the coffee pot would already be hot!" said Molly, moderately annoyed.

"Well, I'm sorry you got burned. Coffee?"

"Yes, thank you."

Ginny smiled, then went into the kitchen in order to have breakfast. What Harry had cooked wasn't a huge breakfast like what Molly would have cooked, but there was enough for the three of them. With a smile, they all sat down to a quiet breakfast. It was too early for anyone else to be awake, and Ginny knew that Harry and Molly both would want to be gone before anyone could bother them with asking for details. She ate happily for a few moments, then something caught her eye.

Molly looked deep in thought, and was not eating as much as Ginny remembered her eating in these times. When Harry and Ginny were close to being finished eating, Molly cleared her throat. "What was last night all about, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I had an opportunity to change things, and I took it."

Molly was not dissuaded. "Change what things? You're talking like you've come back from the future or something. Ginny is too. What's going on?"

Harry sighed. "I really don't want to have to explain this too many more times. I want to tell the whole Order at the same time. Sirius, the Twins, Ron, Hermione, Snape, and Dumbledore all know already, and I think you and Tonks have guessed it. Me and Ginny were sent back from a point in the future just after the war. We won, but there were some… losses. Sirius was among them."

Molly didn't show whether she was surprised by this or not. "Why aren't you keeping it a secret? This doesn't sound like the sort of thing you should be telling everybody."

Harry shrugged again. "I'm not telling everybody; just everybody that Dumbledore trusts. I've tried being Dumbledore, keeping secrets from everybody, and it's not fun. I'd much rather be Harry."

Molly tried one last question. "Why did you come back?"

Ginny sighed. "We didn't choose to; somehow we were forced into this. The night before we found ourselves in this time, Harry proposed to marry me."

Molly looked from Harry to Ginny, then back again. She smiled excitedly. "Did you accept? Is this what you were referring to yesterday?"

"Yes to both," Harry said happily, "which is why I need to go to Muggle London later today; need to get rings again."