Prologue

Fred was dead. George was dead. Ron was dead. Bill was dead. Charlie was dead. Percy was dead. Dad was dead. Mum was dead. Hermione was dead. Neville was dead. Luna was dead. Everyone else was dead, really. Except for the Death Eaters.

And Harry was dead. Rather quickly, too.

Ginny? She was still alive. Something about how an abuser bonds with their victim? Right, somehow after having been possessed by Voldy-Moldy for a year, he had simply lost all interest in her and decided that no, she was not a target.

Or it could have something to do with the fact that everyone thought she was an idiot and no one believed that she was capable of anything at all.

Oh well, all for the better.

Instead of being a typical Gryffindor and running straight out onto the battlefield after every single person she knew had died, she had channeled her inner Slytherin (oh, how her family would disapprove at this phrasing) and had gone into hiding. Many people might call it pathetic, but those with any amount of brain cells would call it smart. You see, three years in hiding gives you rather a large amount of time to actually research magic, and try spells.

It also gives you rather a large amount of time to befriend the Slytherin shacking up with you in your little hidden van. Oh, here come the shocked gasps and disapproving glances from the prejudiced people who believe that all Slytherins follow Moldy and are evil, rotten people. Many, yes. All, no.

Granted, Slytherins and Gryffindors have never been known to be friends, even when the Slytherins are neutral.

But desperate times call for desperate measures, as the saying goes.

Moldy had, naturally, tried to recruit as many followers as possible, and kill those who refused to join him. Daphne, not wanting to work for anyone, really, had somehow come across Ginny while "hiking" (or, for those who can not understand subtlety) searching for a place to hide in the Australian forest. A weird coincidence that they had both chosen Australia to hide in, or, for those of you whom are superstitious (and that does not mean like Trelawney) you can call it fate.

Well, deciding that anyone who wasn't part of Moldy's little playgroup was an ally, they had found an old abandoned van and had restored it together. Restored means surrounding the area with the most protective wards they knew.

They had, much to their surprise, remained unfound (the fidelius charm will do that) and had been cultivating a very extensive knowledge of magic and a large talent in defense. Together, they would very much be a match for Voldy-Moldy alone, but with all of his toddler friends supporting him (and that is thousands with giants and huge spiders included) it would be safer to stay in the minuscule van.

Until, one day (that you would have expected to happen a lot earlier into the hiding) Ginny became fed up, and decided to say fuck you to Narcissa Malfoy (no, there will not be an explanation for that) and use the time-turner that the woman had given her seconds before her own death. Her exact words had been, "Only use this if you are already dying, as it is incredibly risky, and will most likely kill you instead of work. And please, do not bring another person with you, because that is a death wish."

Of course, she wasn't going to tell that last part to Daphne, was she?

So that is how, on the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts (it had taken a year for everyone to be slaughtered, and this date could not possibly have been planned, as neither of the witches even knew the date at this point, and hadn't for at least three and a half years) she was trying to convince her "roommate" of this plan.


May 2nd 2002

"Daphne," Ginny said seriously, "I've been thinking."

"Oh no, that's always a terrible sign," Daphne said dryly.

Ginny gave her a look that most definitely was trying to convert a very frustrated "fuck you, shut up and listen" and Daphne, somehow understanding the long message from a three second look (really, how does she do it?) rolled her eyes and got ready to listen. Listening, of course, requires a great deal of preparation. You know, like not getting distracted from what you're writing. Anyways.

"So you know about that drawer under my bed that I've tried to keep you from finding out about?"

"Well, naturally," Daphne responded.

Ginny nodded. "Right, thought so."

"If you could get to the point any quicker..." Daphne trailed off.

"If you had any more patience, that would be great," Ginny said frustratedly.

"I'm working on it," was the other's reply.

"And you've been working on it for the past three years without any progress."

"Well, it takes a while."

Ginny let out a frustrated groan and resisted the urge to think of a clever comeback, deciding that it was much more important to move on than engage in friendly (yes, it was friendly, I promise) bullying.

"Okay, well, that box contains this."

She pulled out a time-turner on a chain, similar to Hermione's in third year but a lot smaller, and filled with red sand instead, with a triumphant "ta-da!"

Daphne, on the other hand, did not look impressed. "So you mean to tell me," she said, her voice turning dangerous, "that this entire time, you had an object that could very easily get us out of this situation, and yet you refrained to tell me about it or use it?"

"Well, you see," Ginny explained, not at all fazed by her partner's wrath, "there's a ninety-nine point infinite nines percent chance that we will both be killed if we use it."

She was not going to disclose the fact that if two people used it the number was pretty much one hundred.

"Then why, for Merlin's sake, are you showing it to me now?" Daphne asked, visibly exasperated.

"Because," Ginny said, dragging out the word as if Daphne was a three-year old whom needed explaining to, "I don't actually care anymore, and I want to try it."

"And you think that I'm going to risk my life to go back to...well, whatever time?" Daphne spoke as if the assumption deeply offended her.

"Daphne," Ginny said, once again dragging out her name, "do you really believe that staying here we're going to be able to defeat Riddle?"

Yes, Ginny had been informed of the horcruxes by Hermione, right before she died (as predicted, she was indeed the last member of the Golden Trio to die) and Ginny had, of course, informed Daphne of this. Secrets were hard to be kept from eachother when you were in hiding together, and Ginny seemed to have had an awful lot of "i'm gonna die soon so let me tell you this" conversations.

"But I don't want to defeat Riddle," Daphne said - this was something that she had said many times, and Ginny had long since accepted. Some people just wanted a peaceful life, and were content to let others fight to the death while they sat in Italy, sipping wine. If it was something Daphne believed in, she would fight as well as anyone else, but she found the whole war quite ridiculous.

"I know, I know," Ginny said, "but do you really want to spend the rest of your life living in this van, never being able to go outside? Because I can guarantee you that if we step a singular toe out of this van, there will be thousands of very skilled magicals ready to murder us without a second thought."

Daphne was silent for a long while.

"Besides," Ginny added, hoping it'd lighten the mood, "it'll be just like a vacation!"

Daphne snorted, but immediately turned serious again.

"Okay."

Ginny blinked, surprised. "Okay?"

Daphne nodded, slowly. "Yes. I might not be one for dying, but I can recognise a useless existence when I see it, and I had hoped to never have one. So I will go, if it offers me a chance at a better life. And if I die, I will have failed no one, and I can move on in peace."

Ginny nodded, thinking that if she died she wouldn't have failed anyone either, because they never expected her to be able to do anything. A very depressing thought, but one that had often flitted through her mind.

The following days they decided where they would go, who they would be, and what they would do.

May 3rd 2002

"The Mauraders Era?" Daphne asked in confusion, frowning.

"Oh, right, sorry, you were never told about them. When Sirius, Remus, James and Lily went to school."

Confusion slowly dawned on Daphne's face. "Sirius Black, the mass-murderer-"

"The wrongly convicted mass-murdered," Ginny smoothly interrupted, and Daphne sent her a glare before continuing.

"Proffesor Lupin, and Potter's parents?!"

Ginny nodded. "Yep."

"And why we would we go there instead of when Riddle was much younger?"

Ginny shrugged. "Why not? Besides, if we're going to go back in time and risk our lives, I want to at least end up somewhere fun if we do succeed! It's not like we can go back to our previous lives, so.."

"Hmm. You know, that does actually seem rather entertaining."

May 4th 2002

Daphne had made these little "character cards" with their new names and family backgrounds on them, and she would blush embarrassedly whenever Ginny pointed them out. The red-head found it quite cute, actually.

"Okay, and your name is?" Daphne asked on one of their reviews.

"Elisabeth Newport, Lizzie for short. And yours?"

"Claire Proseus, no nickname. Your hair colour and length?"

"Hazel brown, to my shoulders, naturally wavy. Yours?"

"Dirty blonde, to half-way down my back, straight. Your family is from?"

"New Zealand, they're purebloods whom chose to send me to Hogwarts because they heard from a family friend it was a good school. And your family?"

"Also New Zealand - our mothers were best friends, meaning we grew up together."

May 5th 2002

"Okay, we need to figure out what to do about the Sorting Hat," Ginny declared.

"What about it?" Daphne asked distractedly, looking through their small bookshelf to see which books they most definitely needed to bring to to the future.

"What if the Sorting Hat can see that we time-travelled?"

"Oh, it's bound by some magic to not reveal the secrets of the students."

"I bet Dumbledore still tried."

"Well, naturally."

Ginny took a deep breath to control her anger at her former Headmaster. He was dead, and that was that.

"Okay, but there's something else. It would be beneficial if we were in the same house," she said.

Daphne turned around to face her and blinked. "Well, I'm not being sorted anywhere other than Slytherin. That's no offence to the other houses, really, but I know where I belong and I know what my home is."

Ginny sighed. "But it would be-"

Daphne held up a hand to stop her. "Let's just see what the Sorting Hat does, alright?"

Ginny grumbled.

May 6th 2002

"Okay, so we're bringing all the books, money, a dagger each, our wands, all permanently transfigured school supplies, and that's it?"

Daphne nodded. "Yep. But I still don't agree with the fact that we have to become eleven year olds again."

Ginny waved her complaints way. "If we're going to go the Mauraders Era, we might as well go back to the beginning of it. Besides, it'll give us more time to kill Riddle."

"My goal isn't to-"

"I know, I know."

Daphne huffed.

She must be tired from permanently transfiguring small pebbles into full on trunks. That, I have been told by no one in particular, is very complicated magic. I'm sure Ginny helped just as much as she did, so they should both be fine. I wouldn't worry. After all, they did survive a war. When literally no one else did. I think that says a lot about someone's character, don't you?

May 7th 2002

Okay. They were ready. Ready to turn back time, to defy the rules of the universe, to take a profound journey through inner-space and galaxies-

Oh, who am I kidding? They were ready to turn a button and watch red sand. Not that interesting, I know.

"You ready?" Ginny asked.

Daphne nodded, not saying anything. She seemed oddly sentimental. Huh. Strange, considering the fact that she's very well aware that she's most likely going to die in the next few seconds.

Much to Ginny's surprise, Daphne grabbed her and wrapped her in a tight hug. She pulled away, blushing slightly.

"Sorry."

Ginny shook her head and smiled. "It's okay."

They each took one end of the time-turner, and Ginny spun the wheel, once, twice, thrice, as many times as it would take. When the last turn was spun, the entire world seemed to warp and fade, and they could hear a large howling of wind rushing past their ears until it become a dull buzzing sound. No once could tell how long this feeling lasted, until...

September 1st 1971

They landed with a loud thump on the hard floor of a compartment in the Hogwarts Express, and when they looked up they saw someone who looked distinctly similar to Harry looking at them with concern through the half-open compartment door.

Ginny turned to Daphne. "Well, I think it worked, don't you?"