When Tom Riddle entered the circular room, his eyes immediately fell on the flaming-red curls of the girl who sat in front of the headmaster's desk. Curiously, he tilted his head aside to catch a glimpse of her face. All he could see was soft, creamy-white skin with a huge amount of freckles and a nice profile with a stub-nose. She was very small and slender - almost fragile, he noticed, and her posture was quite tense. She seemed to be literally on the edge of her seat, ready to jump to her feet and flee the room every second.
Her hands were constantly wrestling with her robe and the pulse at her neck was throbbing visibly. For some reason, she seemed to be very nervous, almost frightened.
Well, that was certainly none of his concern. After all, he was just supposed to offer her some help as a Prefect and that was it. He had other things in mind than to wonder about a scared little girl.
But there was definitely something strange about her, he couldn't put his finger on it. Something mysterious. He couldn't even tell her age, as long as she didn't turn her face towards him. If she had only looked at him.
Ψ
Ginny's eyes widened with shock, when Tom Riddle stepped into the room. Quickly, she turned her back to him and stared at the desk in front of her.
She was turning bright red, she already felt the blood creeping into her cheeks.
-Damn -
How on earth could she have forgotten about the fact that he had been a Prefect? She had read about it in the yearbook, hadn't she? But she simply hadn't thought of it, when Dippet had asked Dumbledore to send the Slytherin Prefect up to his office.
How stupid of her – now she was completely taken by surprise and unprepared to face him. Surely, she had come here because of him, but she hadn't planned to meet him like this.
"Ah, Riddle," the headmaster remarked affably, "there you are."
"You called for me, Professor Dippet?"
Ginny almost flinched at the sound of the voice she hadn't heard for so long now. But this time it wasn't echoing somewhere in the far distance at his every word, as it had in her first year; and his shape wasn't transparent or blurred at the edges either. He was still quite pale, but looked healthy and definitely - alive.
"Yes, indeed my dear boy," Dippet told him kindly. He pointed out the chair next to hers to him.
"Take a seat please, Mr. Riddle."
The addressed crossed the room and stepped next to her chair. There was no escape now. She had to look at him.
"This is Miss Otis, a new student," Dippet continued, "she will join Slytherin House as a fourth-year. In your responsibility as a Prefect, I request you to lead her down to the common room and introduce her to the first class she has to attend."
For the first time since Tom had entered the room, Ginny really looked at him. He was tall and lean, his jet-black hair was cut in just the same way she had seen it in the yearbook. He looked a lot like that picture, just a little younger. Well, he was 16 now, not 18 as his graduation photo had shown him. He looked good. At the moment his eyebrows rose in surprise and a slight smile appeared at his features.
"Oh, that's why," he held out his hand to her and hesitatingly, she took it.
"Miss Otis."
His skin was warm and his grip firm, but not bruising like many other boys', especially that of Quidditch players.
"H-hi," she muttered and felt the heat creeping to her cheeks again at his interested look.
"It's Virginia, Ginny, to be precise ..." she stuttered and cursed herself for that damned shyness that captured her every clear thought once again.
Tom smiled at her. He looked incredibly, breathtakingly good when he did.
"Pleased to meet you - Ginny. I'm Tom. Tom Riddle."
"Hello Tom." She felt a funny fluttering in the pit of her stomach that was well familiar from every time she had looked at Harry in the recent four years. But there was also an odd tickling sensation at the back of neck that caused all the little hairs there to stand on end. A slight shiver ran down her spine, she couldn't tell if it was from excitement or fear.
When he slowly released her hand and took the seat next to hers, she suddenly noticed, she had still held it. Blushing furiously, she put her hand down, wrapped it into the other one and stared down at her knees.
'Brilliant," she thought, 'this can't possibly get any worse. Now he'll think I'm a coy little fool, like Harry and everyone else thinks anyway.'
"Here is the schedule for 4th year Slytherin classes, Miss Otis," the headmaster told her. "You can choose your elective subjects later on. Which ones did you attend at your old school, by the way?"
"Miss Otis.." he requested, when she didn't look up at once.
With that, Ginny snapped out of her thoughts.
"Huu-, oh erw, Divinations and Care Of Magical Creatures, sir."
"Ah, perhaps it is best for you to take those ones now, too."
She just nodded in agreement.
"Well, if there is nothing else to discuss at the moment, I suggest you lead Miss Otis down to your common room now, Mr. Riddle."
"By the way, is Professor Futhark at his office at the moment?"
Tom shook his head at that. "No sir, he's teaching right now."
"Ah yes, of course, the third years. I forgot," Dippet chuckled.
"So you will have to introduce yourself to him in the afternoon, Miss Otis. Professor Futhark is the Head of Slytherin House. He is teaching Ancient Runes," he explained.
"Well then, if there is any problem, don't be shy to come to my office, or ask Mr Riddle for help, will you? I suggest you should better head for your common room now. You both have lessons to attend."
Ψ
They exited the office and descended the spiral staircase in silence.
Ginny shot several secret side glances at Tom every now and then. He certainly looked good, even better than in the yearbook picture. Who would have supposed Voldemort had been such a hottie as a teen? She immediately corrected her thoughts – No, this wasn't Voldemort now – and he would never become him, if she could help it. This was Tom, the boy from the diary, to whom she had spilled all her secrets once. Except that he didn't know this yet. A slight grin slipped across her lips. Just that moment, he turned his face towards her and their eyes locked by surprise. In her eager attempt to appear unaffected and casual, Ginny tripped over her own feet and almost fell.
"Look out!" his left hand rushed up and reached for her. He steadied her by gripping her upper arm and she came into balance again.
For a few seconds they stared at each other, Ginny with shock and he with a quite unreadable expression, before a slight smile appeared on his lips that made her heart flutter.
"You need to be careful with the stairs at Hogwarts. Most of them are moving and keep changing directions from time to time."
"Oh," was all she could say at the moment. She was quite well aware of the fact that the spiral staircase was moving ever since they had stepped on it, but was glad; he obviously tried to make her feel less awkward about her tipsiness.
'Wow, very original. I'm sure he's impressed by you,' she complemented herself sarcastically.
She normally wasn't this tongue-tied or clumsy, except in Harry's presence. Maybe it was because she felt a little frightened around Tom. After all he had once tried to kill her and made her do things she'd rather not remember.
Again she corrected her train of thought. She had to stop thinking of these memories as the past – it was the future now – or maybe it wasn't even that.
When they reached the wide Entrance Hall, which was deserted during morning lessons, Tom looked at her once more.
"Can I help you with your luggage, or has it been brought down to Slytherin House already?"
"Oh no, it's here," she stuttered nervously and started to fumble with the pocket of her robes.
Tom's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"I've shrunken my trunk so it fits into my pocket, you see?" with that, she grabbed the matchbox-sized trunk and held it out to him in the palm of her hand. His bottle-green eyes lit with amusement at that.
"Wow, a pocket-trunk! That's some idea," he remarked, grinning. "I've never thought of that possibility. You must be pretty good at Transfiguration, aren't you?"
Ginny blushed. "It's my favourite subject," she exclaimed proudly.
"There's no doubt about that."
Tom smiled at her once again and beside the nervous fluttering that crept through the pit of her stomach, it made her feel quite good and less frightened.
"Mine is Defence Against The Dark Arts," he added.
Ginny almost blurted out with laughter at the joke in and on itself, but bit her tongue just in time.
"Well, that's an important subject also," she remarked cautiously.
Tom gave her an interested look. "Oh, it might be overestimated, if you ask me."
Ginny held her breath. Was that supposed to mean, what she thought it did? An uncomfortable tickling sensation crept down her spine again.
"Why?" she asked carefully.
Tom's dark-green eyes seemed to seek her out.
"What do you mean?" she repeated tensely and he stared at her thoughtfully.
After a few seconds he looked away. "Oh, just that there are other important subjects, like Charms or Transfiguration or Potions," he added thoughtfully.
They descended the stairs to the dungeons right now and passed the one where she used to have Potions. The door was closed at the moment. Probably because a lesson was being held. Ginny shuddered. She tried to get used to the fact that it wouldn't be Professor Snape who was teaching in there – that he wasn't even born yet. It was a strange thought and it once again showed, how very far she had travelled into the past.
Dark shadows lured in every corner and their footsteps echoed hollow along the deserted corridors. But their way led them even deeper down into the darkness.
Ψ
Tom, who noticed her uneasiness, smiled encouraging at the shy red-head beside him.
But for some reason, she didn't seem to relax at this. She only flinched and stared to the floor. He couldn't tell why, but she seemed to be terribly nervous about something.
They followed a winding corridor and descended another long staircase whose lowest steps faded somewhere into the darkness.
Once again, Tom turned his head to look at the girl. She bit her lip. Although it was certainly none of his concern, he felt a little sorry for her. Maybe it was because she was so small and fragile, he wasn't sure of it, but she looked so frightened and out of place.
"Don't worry," he told her, "we're almost there."
She looked up and smiled hesitatingly at him. "Is it always this dark down here?"
"Oh no, don't worry. It's just these parts of the dungeons. The tract where the common room and the dormitories are, does have light-wells and even some small windows."
Her head snapped up at this.
"How's that possible?" she asked confused.
"Hogwarts was built into a boulder above the lake," he explained. "There are different heights in the fundament. Most parts of the dungeons reach deep down into the bedrock, but not all of them."
Ψ
If Ginny hadn't known better, she would have thought he might be trying to be nice to her. But that was hardly possible.
While she still wondered what to think of this, he suddenly stopped in front of a bare stone wall and looked at her. The torches' guttering flame dipped his face into an odd interchange of light and shadows and his voice echoed back from the walls in the long corridor, when he spoke.
"Here's the entrance to our common room," he told her. "The password is 'Algiz' at the moment."
Ginny's head snapped up with surprise.
"That's a rune," he explained at her stunned look.
"I know it's a rune," she frowned. "I have Divination as an elective subject, don't you remember?"
"Oh yes," he smiled apologetically at her, "I'm sorry." Then he frowned himself. "Do you study Ancient Runes in Divination?" he asked surprised.
Ginny bit her lip. "Oh, just the basics," she shrugged casually. It was true, they had learned the shapes and names of the runic alphabet in her Divination class and she could only hope these days' curriculum included them as well, but most of her little knowledge about the matter came from the Graduation essay he himself would write two years from now. It had been there that she had read of the meaning of the rune he had just mentioned.
Algiz - the rune of warding, used to protect a person or place. Quite suitable for a ward on the entrance to the common room. But if it appeared in a sense of divination, it could also tell of an ethical dilemma, new opportunities and a challenge. Well, in this way it was quite suitable to her current situation as well, she decided.
When she looked up at Tom, she noticed he was again watching her with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Aces," he smiled. "If you already know the shape and name of the various runes, it certainly helps. We had to put extra wards on the entrance as some nosy Gryffindors happened to sneak around spying in the dungeons lately. You'll have to draw the rune's shape onto the wall, while saying the password."
With that he took out his wand and Ginny's eyes widened with fear. This was the wand that would cast Avada Kedavra on so many people, Harry's parents and himself included.
Insecurely, she lifted her head to look at the dark-haired boy beside her. His bottle-green eyes locked with her brown ones and she flinched once more.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked, confused.
"N-nothing," she stuttered miserably.
"Good," he smiled and turned to the wall again. Carefully, he traced the tip of his wand across the raw stone wall. The rune looked similar to the letter Y. But the vertical part continued in the upwards direction.
"Algiz," Tom muttered and Ginny shivered at the odd effect his low whisper had on her nerves.
Slowly, an archway appeared in the bare stone wall and gave view to the Slytherin common room.
When she noticed Tom waiting for her to step in first, her eyes widened with surprise. She hadn't expected such politeness. Harry had never ever held any door open for her.
Slowly and carefully, she stepped inside.
Tom followed close behind her and with a low hiss, the archway disappeared.
Nervously, Ginny turned around and became aware of the fact that all other students were in class right then. She was all alone with Tom Riddle in the Slytherin common room.
It was nothing like the Gryffindor common room, she noticed.
It wasn't half as cosy, but larger and darker. Round, greenish lamps spread a dim light. She noticed they were hanging on chains from the low ceiling. Walls and ceiling were of raw, uneven stone.
Like Tom had said, there were some light-wells in the back of the room, but they spread only a little light. She wouldn't have noticed they were there, if she hadn't been looking for them.
"What's your next lesson?" Tom asked all of a sudden and she snapped out of her reverie.
"Oh em," she consulted her new schedule. "It's History, with Hufflepuff."
Tom smiled sympathetically at her. "Oh, that's an iffy start, I suppose. The mere thought of Professor Binns' lesson gets everyone sleepy. Half the school is convinced that he'll bore himself to death one day."
Ginny nearly croaked with surprise at that. "So-o he, he isn't a ghost, then?"
Tom gave her an odd look at this. "No, what makes you think so?"
"Emm, I just thought … never mind …" she stuttered.
He shrugged. "Well, I guess it wouldn't make much difference anyway. It's probably Peeves you've heard about. He's a poltergeist and he only 'lives' to annoy everyone else to death.
I suggest, you don't hurry so much with getting ready for class and spare yourself the History lesson. It's halfway over, anyway. Just unpack a few things, I'll wait in the common room. The girls' dormitories are over there."
He pointed at a spiral staircase in the back of the room. At least this was similar to Gryffindor tower.
Ginny hesitated. The suggestion was certainly tempting.
"But what about your own lesson, Tom?" she asked carefully. "Won't you get in trouble, if you stay away too long?"
"Oh no, don't worry. I've Transfiguration right now and I don't mind if I miss it. Dumbledore –" he trailed off then added, "Well, lets say, he isn't my favourite teacher."
Ginny flinched slightly. 'Well, that's no surprise,' she thought.
Ψ
When she reached the top of the staircase, she quickly found the fourth year girls' dorm. Tom had been right about the windows in here as well.
Right opposite the door, three deep nooks reached into the thick stone wall, high enough for a person to stand inside. The windows at their end were of half-transparent green and yellowish glass. They threw a mosaic of green and yellow onto the stone floor and added a dreamlike atmosphere to the room.
She stepped into one of the nooks and opened the small upper part of the window. Warm, golden sunlight floated into the room. A mild wind ruffled her hair, when she leaned forward to have a look outside. This part of the castle was surrounded by water. Bright sunlight reflected on its smooth surface, about fifty meters beneath her feet.
Bright and clear the lake stretched up in the distance to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She could hear the wind whispering in the thick green leaves. It was only now that she noticed it was summer in this time. That must have been what had occurred as odd to her, when she had looked out of the small window in front of Dippet's office earlier. Well, she could hardly expect to get out at the exact same point of season, if she travelled this far through time.
Summer was fine with her. Smiling, she closed her eyes, tilted her head back so that her face was bathed in warm sunlight and inhaled the mild air. It held the smell of weeds, sun and earth – the smell of summer.
Carefully, she closed the window and turned around.
There were five large four-posters in the dormitory. Two on the right and three on the left of the room. Each had a dark wood chest of drawers by its side.
But instead of scarlet-red colour, the curtains were of thick, emerald-green velvet. There were curtains of the same material next to the window-nooks as well, she noticed. At the moment, they were drawn to the sides and covered the wall between the nooks.
Four of the beds had a heavy trunk at their feet, only the last on the left that was next to her was free.
She put her trunk down at the foot of this bed and pointed her wand at it.
"Engorgio," she muttered and the trunk enlarged to its usual size. With a sigh of satisfaction, Ginny collapsed onto the bed. She would unpack later on.
Ψ
When she descended the stairs to the common room again, Tom looked up from the book he had been reading. He was seated in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. As it was summer right now, there was no fire in its hearth.
"Shall we go then?" he asked and she nodded. Once again they passed the archway in the wall and headed for the exit of the dungeons.
"What class do you have now?" Tom asked while they ascended the stairs to the Entrance Hall.
"Charms," Ginny smiled. She still wasn't exactly comfortable in his presence, but she was getting used to it.
"Ah, that's better. Flitwick is nice enough," he remarked. Then the conversation ebbed away. They ascended another flight of stairs in silence and Ginny had to be careful not to let Tom notice that she knew the direction.
"You'll need to introduce yourself to Professor Futhark later this day," he remarked suddenly and she flinched. 'So much for getting used to his presence,' she thought.
"I'm seeing him about a project this afternoon, anyway. If you like, I can show you the way to his office and introduce you to him," he offered.
Ginny blinked, she could hardly believe her ears.
"Oh, erw yes. Yes, that would be nice," she stammered, confused.
"Meet me in the common room at four o'clock," Tom told her. He didn't smile, nor did he give away any other kind of emotion, but she decided this had to be a good sign.
Ψ
The door was already closed when they arrived, and Tom knocked three times, before he entered the room.
A tiny little wizard stood on top of a pile of large books behind his desk and a young girl with light-brown pig-tails was writing some rules on the board. She looked strangely familiar.
The wizard turned his head to look at them.
"Professor Flitwick," Tom addressed him and Ginny was caught by surprise. Like Dumbledore, he looked much younger. Even now, he was quite old, but his hair and moustache were of a dark grey colour instead of white as they would be her day. He was probably no older than eighty by now. At their entry, he had lowered his wand. "Ah, Mr. Riddle, what is it?"
Tom stepped forward. "This is a new student, Professor. Miss Virginia Otis. She is a member of Slytherin House."
With that, he shoved her into the room. "Good luck," he whispered.
"Thank you Tom. Till later," Ginny muttered.
"Till later, Ginny." With a last encouraging smile in her direction he left the room.
Slowly, she turned around to face her new class and house members. Everyone was staring at her and she felt she was turning bright red again. 'Damn that pale Weasley skin.'
Professor Flitwick smiled at her, too. "Well then, Miss Otis, you can take that seat next to Miss Mirth over there. By the window, do you see?"
Some sniggering filled the room as Ginny moved towards the last free seat next to a plain, shy Hufflepuff girl with straight mouse-brown hair and quite a lot of spots. Frightened pale-blue eyes stared at her from behind thick glasses.
Ginny smiled at the shy looking girl, who shifted uneasily in her seat.
Ginny wondered what was wrong with her. She certainly didn't look that frightening, did she?
But for some reason that Hufflepuff girl seemed to be scared by the prospect to be seated next to her.
'Well, you better get used to it. You're Slytherin now,' Ginny reminded herself, 'maybe that's why.'
'Had this house ever had a better reputation than it did in her own time?' she wondered. Well, maybe it wasn't a real surprise. The one Dark wizard – Grindelwald - wasn't defeated yet. And the next one was already doubting the usefulness of his Defence Against The Dark Arts class.
She tried another friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Ginny," and held out her hand for the other girl, "what's your name?" The girl nearly dropped out of her seat. Suspiciously she stared at the offered hand for a few seconds before she took it – reluctantly. Her grip was weak and she drew her hand back as soon as she had touched Ginny's.
"M-myrtle," she muttered timidly. "Myrtle Mirth."
"I hope you don't mind me sitting here, Myrtle," Ginny said.
"Oh, no," Myrtle blushed and shook her head. "It's just that-" she bit her lip. "Are you really in Slytherin?" she asked suspiciously and glanced at the green and silver Slytherin crest on the front of Ginny's robe.
Ginny followed her gaze. "Well it looks like it, doesn't it?" she smiled at her once more. "Yes, I'm in Slytherin. Why, shouldn't I be?"
Myrtle hesitated, awkwardly she scratched her nose. "Well, you seem to be quite nice, so …"
"Oh and that's not common for Slytherins?" Ginny asked.
"I –I don't know," Myrtle muttered embarrassed.
At that Professor Flitwick clapped his hands. "No time for chatting, Ladies, I'm afraid. Please pay attention to the lesson now."
He turned to the familiar looking girl at the board. "Please continue with listing the instructions, Miss Sprout."
Ginny gasped with surprise. Now she knew what had been so familiar about that girl. She was sitting in class with Liana Sprout, later Herbology Professor and Head of Hufflepuff. If this wasn't odd, she didn't know what was. Carefully, she let her eyes wander around the classroom, to check for further surprises.
There was a pale, silvery-blond girl, who reminded her strongly of Draco Malfoy; and a dark-haired boy, who resembled Snape, but otherwise there was no connection to the future.
Ψ
After the lesson a pair of Slytherin girls joined her in the corridor outside.
"Hi," a tall, lean girl with green eyes and shiny, dark-brown hair approached her.
"I'm Olive Hornby," she exclaimed and tilted her head at a smaller girl with golden-olive shimmering skin, black eyes and thick, chin-length jet-black curls.
"That's Rabia Aydin."
"Hi," Rabia grinned, "Virginia, wasn't it?"
Ginny just nodded in confusion, she had been so sure the Malfoy-ish looking girl would be in Slytherin as well. Olive, who had followed her gaze back to the classroom, added, "Righto, there are also Cathrina Malfoy and Lilith Crabbe, but they are probably still chatting about Cathrina's Mr. Wonderful. - Her cousin, Lucretius Malfoy. He's a 7th year," she explained at Ginny's confused look.
"She has a crush on her – cousin?" Ginny asked startled, "Huu-"
"Yes, it's quite funny, isn't it? She's supposed to marry him. It has been set since ages ago, but now he has actually asked her out to Hogsmeade and she has such a crush on him, she's really luckier than all get out –"
Ginny shook her head to clear it from confusion. "She is going to marry her cousin?" she asked, thunderstruck.
"Yes," Olive shrugged, "it's a quite a common habit in the old wizarding families, especially with the Malfoys'. But it's funny that they have a thing for each other. Their fathers are brothers, so they are both Malfoys. And they look very much alike. It's quite sweet, don't you think so?"
"Hmm," Ginny just shrugged.
"I see you've already met Moaning Myrtle?" Olive grinned. "She's a broad-assed nitwit."
"Sssht, Olive," Rabia warned uneasily, "she's listening."
"So what," Olive shrugged, "one should be allowed to have a little fun."
"I don't think that's funny at all," Ginny frowned at her.
Olive's eyes widened in surprise at that.
"I don't like things like that," Ginny exclaimed. "It's no fun to pick on someone, who is too afraid to fight back."
"If she doesn't fight back, she deserves to be picked on," Olive declared carelessly.
"I don't think I like your attitude," Ginny told her. "Did you ever consider what it means to her?"
"Oh, don't tell me, you like fat stupid cry-babies? Are you sure they shouldn't have put you into goody-goody Gryffindor!?" Olive mocked.
"Yes, very sure," Ginny glared at her and reached for her wand. "Shall I prove it to you?!"
"Hey girls, no need to get at each other's throats," a melodious voice cut into their fight. Cathrina Malfoy had arrived, a pale, shrew-mouse-faced, sandy-haired girl at her heels.
"Rabia, run off to comfort Moaning Myrtle, if you're that worried about her."
The addressed grinned at her, but Ginny noticed she threw a concerned glance at the awkward Hufflepuff girl, who shuffled away, her head bowed.
The Malfoy-ish looking girl turned her head to Olive and frowned.
"And you, Olive Hornby, should be more careful. If you don't care about what people think of your manners, you should at least think what damage you do to Slytherin. We have a reputation to hold up, especially these days, and impoliteness does more damage to our reputation than you might realise."
"Why should I be polite to a stupid cow like her? Not even her own house mates like her."
"You needn't like her," Cathrina declared, "that's not the point of it!"
Rabia rolled her eyes at Ginny. "That's Cathrina, she's a little snobbish and bossy, but otherwise, quite nice," she grinned once more, "since her dear cousin is Head Boy, it's even worse with her. The other one is Lilith Crabbe, her very shadow. She doesn't speak much. I'm still not sure what to think of her."
Right then, Cathrina turned her head in Ginny's direction and exposed a row of pearl white teeth at her smile.
"So you're new at Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I'm Ginny W-eww- Otis," she stuttered. If she wasn't much mistaken this had to be Draco's granny.
"Welcome to Slytherin, Ginny."
Ginny took the pale beauty's hand. "Thank you, Cathrina."
"Well, if you don't mind, we should head for Potions now," with that she gracefully turned around and left. Lilith and Olive immediately followed.
Rabia ginned at Ginny. "Do you see what I meant now? She's like that all the time. But one gets used to it."
Ginny decided she was lucky to have Rabia in her house. She seemed to be nice enough. The other girls were a little stuck up.
"Come on now," Rabia urged her, "I'll show you the way to the Potions classroom. It's close to the entrance of our common room. By the way, do you already know the password?"
"Oh-w-er yes, " Ginny muttered, "Tom gave it to me."
Rabia's eyes went wide at that. "Tom Riddle?" she gasped.
"Yes," Ginny nodded. "He led me from the headmaster's office to our common room, so I could leave my belongings at the dorm; and he showed me the way to the Charms room afterwards."
"Don't let Olive hear of this," Rabia giggled.
"Why?" Ginny asked nervously. "Is she dating him?"
'That would be brilliant,' she thought to herself. What a fun, if she would have travelled all those years through time, just to find the boy in question dating another girl there.
"No?" Rabia grinned, "but she err- probably would, if he asked her."
"Ohh-" Ginny released her breath. She couldn't deny it, she was relieved about this.
"He's rather cute, isn't he?" Rabia teased.
"Ohh err, yes, he's not bad," Ginny shrugged and flinched at her own statement.
When they rounded a corner and descended a flight of steps, she noticed they had almost reached the Potions classroom. "Who's teaching Potions?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, that's Professor O'Malley," Rabia told her.
"Is he – emm, is he – strict?" Ginny asked, once again reminded of her own time's Potions Master.
"Oh no," the other girl laughed, "he's no trouble at all. He's Head of Ravenclaw. But he's quite old already and the rumour is going that he'll retire at the end of the year and Professor Flitwick will get the post. As Head of Ravenclaw," she added, "not as a Potions Master."
"Indeed?" Ginny asked with amusement, "That's interesting."
"Awem, speaking of Potions," Rabia began, "we are mostly working in pairs. You haven't met the boys yet, have you?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, what about them?"
"Oh they are quite nice, but there are six of them, so they are always working with each other. And Cathrina is working along with Lilith. Therefore I'm usually paired up with Olive," she pulled a face. "I'm sorry, but you'll probably have to work with one of the Gryffindors."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Ginny shrugged.
But Rabia shook her head. "You don't know the Gryffindors," she said with a grave sigh.
A/N: I supposed both, Harry's and Tom's wands, to be out of holly's wood with a core of a phoenix feather as these wands are said to be 'brothers'. In a review, I've been told that just Harry's wand is made of holly and Tom's one is yew tree instead. I had to change a little detail in the first chapter for that reason. Please have a look at it, it's important for the plot.
I need to apologise for the long gap between updates. I had an important exam to take and for an ambitious Slytherin girl like me work comes first. But now it's done and I have time for writing again. I hope you liked this chapter. Lots of thanks for all the very nice reviews. I didn't expect to get that many for a story about a pairing like this one.
My little knowledge of runes and their meaning is a result of various sources.
I hope no one feels offended, if I'm playing around with runes in some parts of this story. I try to keep my interpretations as close to their original meaning, as possible.
I decided to name each chapter after a specific rune that's meaning suites the content.
The first two chapters have been renamed in this sense, as well.
Chapter one, named 'Out of reach' so far is PERTH now, which represents the rune of initiation. It also stands for hidden aspects in a relationship and for a secret destiny.
The second chapter's name has been changed from 'Stumbling in' into RAIDO, the rune of journey.
The third rune, ALGIZ is a rune of warding, as it is explained in the story. I also choose the kind of symbol that resembles the rune best to separate the single sections in each chapter. I hope it will appear in the same way on the net.
*amyza* Thanks for the first review to the second chapter.
*Emaeleigha* Actually the little ¥ should have been a laying 8 as the mathematical sign for 'never ending', but it appeared differently on the net. Thanks for the nice review.
*Kat Riddle* Oops, I meant boarding-school, of course. Silly little me. Thanks for making me notice.
Thanks to SilentG for doing the beta-reading!
Please keep reviewing.
Serpentina