Authors Note – This one took forever to write, first I had a severe case of writers block and then softball started (my team won the county championship!), then my band went to Boston, then field hockey started, and then finals were upon me in full force! Craziness I tell you! Well, here it is! Chapter 5! Enjoy!

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game

She turned her attention back to her path and ran right into Colin Creevy. The load of books Colin was carrying flew everywhere. Ginny and Colin both tumbled down the stairs. As Ginny tumbled, the sands in the time turner slid back and forth. The world around Ginny began to spin, but she couldn't tell the difference as she continued to somersault down the stairs. She finally landed at the bottom of the stairs with a loud thud. Ginny lay there in shock when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her up.

"Are you alright?" A tall, blonde boy, about 17, pulled Ginny into a standing position. "What on earth were you running so fast for?"

"I'm fine. I just needed to give Hermione her time turner. Have you seen her?"

"I'm afraid I don't know who you're speaking of." The boy replied.

Ginny was shocked; everyone in school knew who Hermione was! "Surely you know Hermione! Hermione Granger."

"No, I'm afraid not." The boy replied.

"Well, have you seen Harry around?"

The boy continued to look perplexed, "Harry who?"

"Harry Potter!" Ginny was stunned.

"Sorry, love, I've never heard of him."

That's when Ginny realized something was very, very wrong.

Chapter 5

Harry was on his way back to the common room when a burst of red blazed by him.

"Ginny? Where are you going?" He called after her.

Ginny glanced over her shoulder and shouted something, but it was distorted by the stone walls and other conversations going on in the hallway.

Colin Creevy could be seen walking into sight and Ginny had not even noticed.

"GINNY! LOOK OUT!" Harry yelled, but he was sure she had not heard him for moments later they collided and flew out of sight down the stairs.

Harry rushed to the edge of the staircase. Ginny and Colin were tumbling down the stairs in a hurricane of flailing body parts and books. Something odd was happening. Ginny was becoming more and more transparent with each tumble. Within seconds the scene was over as Colin landed at the bottom of the stairs along with his books, but Ginny was no where to be seen. There was no sign that Ginny had even been involved in the ruckus, except a few small spots of blood at the foot of the stairs where she might have landed.

Ginny was on the verge of hyperventilating. She sat down on the edge of the stairs and put her head in her hands. A wet, warm sensation touched her skin and she pulled her hands back in surprise, in her hand was Hermione's Time Turner. Broken into many little sparkling shards, and mixed with sand and blood.

"Oh… no…" Ginny's chestnut eyes welled with tears.

"You're bleeding!" The boy grabbed her hand and looked closely at her cut. He took out a handkerchief embroidered with the Ravenclaw emblem and wrapped it tightly around her palm to slow the bleeding. "Let me take you to the infirmary."

Everything was happening in a daze, everything was so awfully wrong. Not only was Ginny in a time frame that she could not identify, but she had no way of getting home because her fall had crushed the Time Turner. Miserably, she let her unknown rescuer lead her to the infirmary.

"Here we are." The boy pushed the door open and led Ginny in.

It looked just like it did in her time, except there was an absence of Madame Pomfrey roaming about and the usual students who frequented the infirmary.

A middle age woman bustled up to Ginny.

"May I help you dear?"

"I… I just need something for my hand, and I have a nasty headache. I took a bad spill down the stairs…"

The witch whipped out her wand and in moments had healed the cut and zapped Ginny's headache into oblivion. Ginny was waiting for the nurse to turn her back so she could make a hasty exit. The opportunity arrived and Ginny quickly and silently made her way towards the door. The large, oak door creaked slightly as she opened it.

"Wait just a minute!"

Ginny froze.

"I need your name, age, and House, dearie. For my records sake."

Ginny blanched, "Oh… well… my name is… Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina DuBoir."

"What House are you in?"

"I'm not assigned yet, I just got here… and I was waiting to be sorted." Ginny said nervously.

The Nurse eyed her a bit suspiciously, Ginny tensed even further under her gaze.

"Hmmm… very well. Paul?" The blonde boy turned upon hearing his name. "Please escort Ms. DuBoir to the Headmaster's office."

Paul nodded and Ginny followed him out the door.

Colin sat up in a daze, "What the hell just happened?" He rubbed his head, "Where is Ginny?"

Harry bounded down the stairs, two at a time. He pulled Colin up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Where did Ginny go!" Colin looked around frantically.

A small crowd had gathered and all who had witnessed the fall looked on in bewilderment. Colin scurried to pick up his books and Harry helped. He knelt down to pick up a rather dusty book when he noticed the tiny blood droplets and slivers of glass.

"Colin! Come look at this…"

Colin sat his books down on the stairs and knelt next to Harry.

"Are you bleeding?" Harry asked Colin.

"No… where did that glass come from? My glasses aren't broken, are they?"

Harry glanced over. Colin's glasses were intact.

"No." Harry whispered. "They're not broken…"

"Let me through! Why is everyone just standing around!" Professor Snape broke through the crowd of curious onlookers and strode towards Harry and Colin.

"What is going on here?" Snape hissed. "Loitering, again, are we Potter?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Colin just took a bit of a bad spill down the stairs. I'm helping him get his books together."

"Five points from Gryffindor for causing a commotion in the halls. Each." Snape said maliciously.

"That's not fair!" Harry shot back.

The evil smirk widened, "Ten."

Harry opened his mouth but Colin nudged him hard in the ribs.

"I expect to find this hallway empty when I return in five minutes." Snape flipped his robe around him and swished away, pushing a line of first years in the process.

The crowd slowly disintegrated as Hermione appeared.

"Harry? Have you seen Ginny? I was just in the common room and Ron told me she had gone looking for me. I need my time turner to—"

Harry whirled around, "Your… what?"

"My time turner…" Hermione repeated.

Harry bent down and examined the small pile of glass shards carefully. Small, tiny grains of sand could be seen mixed between the glass and blood.

"Oh… shit…"

'This is all a bad dream. I'm going to wake up and be late for potions and the worst thing that will happen is a detention with Snape…' Ginny kept thinking to herself, but the more she thought it, the more it felt like a lie.

Ginny and Paul reached the large phoenix statue which she had seen so many times before.

"Stupendia." Paul whispered.

The large statue began to revolve revealing the glimmering golden staircase. Perhaps she wasn't in a time too distant from her own. She could only hope, yet fear gripped her body and made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. As Paul pushed the large oak door open Ginny's stomach was somersaulting in agony.

"Headmaster?" Paul asked.

A wizened, frail looking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of silver hair, peered up at Paul with tired eyes. "Can I help you, Mr. Jenston?"

Paul cleared his throat, "Sir, Madame Darlinie requested that I bring Ms. DuBoir to see you to be sorted. She was on her way here but took a bit of a nasty spill down the stairs and was in need of some quick healing spells."

"Thank you for escorting her here, you may return to class now." The old wizard replied kindly.

Paul nodded to him, waved bye to Ginny, and left the room quickly.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Ms. DuBoir. I'm Headmaster Dippet."

He continued to speak but Ginny's mind was whirling at a thousand miles an hour. Had he said Dippet? Why did that name sound so awfully familiar?

"Ms. DuBoir?"

Ginny snapped back to reality, "Oh, so sorry. Yes?"

"I was just wondering if perhaps your parents had accompanied you?"

Ginny was a bit worried, "No."

"Do you have any transcripts from the previous school you attended?"

Ginny was starting to panic.

"Well, you see…" She thought hard for a reasonable explanation that would cover any future questions he might have. "I don't have any… when our home burnt down I lost everything…"

Dippet looked genuinely sympathetic towards her. "You poor girl! No worries, it will all be taken care of. Just have a seat right here while I fetch the Sorting Hat. Classes have only been in session a short time. You should have no trouble catching up." Dippet continued talking as he rummaged through a drawer in his spacious desk. "A-ha!"

He produced the same tattered and torn Sorting Hat that Ginny remembered from her first year, and placed it on her head delicately.

Ahhhhh let's see. A Weasley? Again? Ah, but a Weasley in disguise. This is simple enough for me…

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Headmaster Dippet clapped his hands together in delight. "Perfect! I'm sure you passed the Great Hall on the way in?"

Ginny nodded.

"Do you think you could find it again?"

Ginny nodded and made her way out of the door.

Harry stared blankly at the pile of glass, sand, and blood on the floor.

"Harry?" Hermione put her hand on his shoulder. "What on earth is wrong?"

"I… I think I know what happened to Ginny. We've got to see Dumbledore, quickly."

Harry, Colin, and Hermione hurried to Dumbledore's office.

"Harry! I don't understand. What do you mean you know what happened to Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Ginny was bringing your time turner to you, right?" Without waiting for an answer Harry continued, "I was in the hallway and saw Ginny rush by me. Ginny ran right into Colin and they tumbled down the stairs. They tumbled down the stairs…"

Hermione stared blankly.

"Hermione. Ginny had your time turner in her hand, and she tumbled down the stairs. What happens when you tumble?" Harry asked.

"Whatever you have tumbles with you… the time turner tumbled too. Oh my God… the sands shifted." Hermione looked absolutely mortified.

"The blood." Colin whispered.

Harry and Hermione turned to look at him.

"The blood at the bottom of the stairs, it was right next to the shards of glass and the bit of sand. The time turner, it broke in the fall. Probably in Ginny's hand…"

It was still early; Ginny would be making it to the Great Hall just in time for lunch. Lunch with a group of strangers she didn't know. How was she going to explain her presence? She practiced her greeting like a broken record. 'Hi. I'm Wilhelmina DuBoir, I'm new here and I've just been sorted into Gryffindor. It's very nice to meet you all.'

No matter how many times she repeated it in her head it still sounded stupid. Bumbling and stupid. Just like her.

Lunch was in full swing, no one even noticed her enter the Great Hall. Ginny silently walked to the end of the Gryffindor table and sat down. A hush fell over the table as everyone observed the stranger at their table who had not introduced herself and was not looking at anyone.

"Excuse me?"

Ginny glanced up to see a boy that greatly resembled Harry speaking to her. He had sandy blonde hair that flopped around in the same unruly mass Ginny had seen so many times on Harry, and vivid brown eyes. He had to be related to Harry.

"Are you new?" The boy inquired.

"Yes." Ginny's voice came out as a barely audible whisper.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"Yes." Ginny spoke up.

"I'm Daniel Potter." Daniel slid down the bench until he was right next to Ginny. "Who are you?"

By now the entire Gryffindor table was watching her. Ginny smiled nervously. "I'm Wilhelmina DuBoir, but you can call me Mina."

"Well, Mina," Daniel offered his hand, Ginny shook it. "It's very nice to meet you. Welcome to Hogwarts."

A ruckus erupted in the Great Hall as a group of screaming girls rushed in. They were surrounding a tall boy with wavy, shoulder length black hair and deep green eyes. The boy fended them off and made his way towards where Ginny and Daniel were sitting.

"Hey, Al." Dan greeted the boy.

He was very handsome, Ginny observed, he reminded her of someone, but she couldn't put her finger on who.

"Hey Dan, so I was thinkin' that maybe later we could sneak out and—" Al stopped in mid-sentence, realizing that Ginny was there.

"Well, and who might this charming young lady be?"

Dan grinned, "This is Mina DuBoir, she's new."

Al reached down and grasped Ginny's hand, "The pleasure is all mine, mademoiselle." He kissed her hand lightly and Ginny giggled.

Dan rolled his eyes, "Mina, this is Alphard Black."

Ginny let out a small gasp, Alphard Black! Sirius' uncle! She remembered now! Al smiled at her with the same smile she remembered Sirius to have and his eyes smiled kindly at her and almost made her cry when she thought of Sirius' death.

"I assume that was your fan club that followed you in?" Ginny smiled at Al.

Al grinned, "Oh, yes I suppose so, they just can't resist me, ya know?" He winked at her and chuckled.

"What year are you in?" Dan asked.

"Oh, I'm a sixth year." Ginny smiled at them. She was so lucky to have gone back in time and met Harry and Sirius' relatives, she couldn't be that far back because she remembered Sirius mentioning Alphard when he was talking to her about the family tree that hung on the wall in his home.

"We're sixth years too!" Dan exclaimed.

Alphard was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table, "Damn owls, always late. I want my paper!"

"The Daily Prophet," Dan rolled his eyes, "The owls that deliver the papers are never on time, and they come at the most inopportune moments. Last time my paper ended up in my nice, big bowl of tomato soup."

Almost immediately after Dan had finished his sentence the sound of flapping wings could be heard getting gradually louder. Hundreds of owls swooped into the Great Hall and dropped newspapers like small bombs. Dan caught his while Al's paper hit him right on the head. A lost paper landed next to Ginny on the table and she picked it up nonchalantly. Her eyes scanned the headlines for anything interesting to read, but it wasn't a large headline that caught her eye. It was a very small date printed in the upper right hand corner.

12 September, 1948

Ginny's eyes widened to the size of saucers. A light tap on her shoulder brought her out of her shock.

"Excuse me."

Ginny glanced over her shoulder; a tall boy was addressing her.

"I believe you have my paper."

Ginny jumped up, "Oh! I'm so sorry! It just kind of landed next to me, I thought it was an extra—"

If she thought that the date had been the biggest shock of the day, she was sorely mistaken. For there, standing in front of her, was the man who had haunted her dreams for so many years. Tom Riddle stared into her wide chestnut eyes. He was living, breathing, and just as devilishly handsome as he had been when she first met him and Ginny was petrified.

Hope you all like it! Reviews make me smiiiillllleee!