Author's Note: Don't worry Obi-Wan Kenny, I'm not giving up this story. I've got a lot going on in my life right now so I haven't had time to really sit down and bang out chapters, but it is getting written. Updates will be slow, but they will come!


September arrived in a flash. Tom had spent the past two months practically memorising his textbooks, and Ginny had had to remind him several times that he wasn't allowed to use his wand outside of school. This hadn't stopped him from practising wand motions, staring at it longingly, and just generally holding it, however. Ginny herself had skimmed the spell-books, re-familiarising herself with the basics.

She had also tried to read her new book, Mysteries of the Unspeakable, and discover more about the Veil, but it was difficult with Tom being practically glued to her. He was intensely curious and would absolutely ask questions she couldn't really answer. She'd have the opportunity to read it without Tom looking over her shoulder once they were at Hogwarts.

She had told him all about the Hogwarts Houses and the Sorting Hat. Tom was certain he'd be a Ravenclaw, but Ginny wasn't so sure about that. She wasn't about to burst his bubble though. She also wasn't quite sure what House she would end up in this time around.

Although Tom was very vocal about them both being clever enough for Ravenclaw, there was no real doubt in either of their minds that they were going to end up in different Houses. The thought loomed in the back of their minds like a dark cloud, even as Ginny saw the advantage of it, at least for her.

She didn't really want to leave her friend alone in a common room filled with strangers who would look down on him simply for not being raised in the wizarding world, without even any brothers to back him up when things got tough. There wasn't much she could do about that though, other than make damn sure she hung around as much as possible, and let him know their friendship would remain intact even if they were in different Houses.

They were excited to go nonetheless. Their trunks had been packed and ready to go for days now, and the Matron already knew that they would be leaving today. They weren't really friends with any of the other kids, but even if they were, there had been an announcement at dinner yesterday about their departure. So, after Tom and Ginny got ready for the day, they simply wheeled their trunks out.

They were halfway down the hall that led out of the building when they saw Sarah blocking the path, hands on her hips and glowering at them.

"Were you two really going to just leave without saying goodbye?" she demanded.

They gaped for a moment, but before either could muster a reply, the older girl grabbed Ginny in a tight embrace, "I'm gonna miss you, you little firecracker."

She was let go as swiftly and suddenly as she was grabbed. To her side, Tom was getting twitchy.

Sarah placed her hands on his shoulders and crouched to his level. She was tall enough that her eyes were almost level with his even while squatting. "You're a good kid, Tom. You're gonna knock em dead." Tom stood there, waiting and still, unsure how to reply.

The girl pulled him in for a hug. His arms flapped uselessly before just resting on her back. "I'm proud of you, Tom."

Tom still didn't reply. He couldn't. He clutched at the back of her dress desperately.

Sarah waited until his grip relaxed, then let go and stood up.

"Be safe in that new school, you hear? Stay out of trouble, and learn lots. Virginia, that goes double for you."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sarah smiled and nodded, and then left. Ginny picked her trunk handle back up and started walking again, then noticed that Tom hadn't moved. She looked at him, curiously.

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked after a moment.

"Yeah," he replied, shaking his head. He picked up his trunk and carried on.

They hitched a ride on a carriage to Kings Cross Station. Being on an actual carriage led by horses was quite the novelty for them both, albeit for different reasons.

Kings Cross Station was as crowded as ever, which was to be expected, it was the main station in all of London. Ginny led the way over to where their platform would be.

Tom stopped as they approached platform 9. "Ginny, there is no platform 9 ¾." he looked again, peering at the signs for platforms nine and ten.

"Well its a magical platform isn't it? They don't want muggles just stumbling across it."

Tom frowned, looking at the signs again. Then he noticed the archways between the platforms. Ginny grinned at him, and walked straight through the wall between platforms.

She waited on the other side for a little bit. Either he'd follow or she'd have to go back and explain properly. She wished she could see the look on his face.

Moments later, Tom showed up. "That was amazing," he said, his eyes still wide. "How did you know where it was?"

"My parents, remember?"

Tom's mouth twisted, "You would think Dumbledore would have given instructions."

Ginny shrugged.

Platform 9 ¾ was crowded with parents and children alike, all bustling around and chattering, saying their goodbyes and trying to get the students actually onto the train.

Ginny and Tom boarded with little issue, having no one to say their goodbyes to and no friends to meet up with. Hopefully that would change, and they'd meet some fellow first years. Maybe Ginny's first year would actually be alright this time.

As they pushed their trunks under the seats and settled into the empty compartment, Ginny was hit with just how much she missed her family. It'd been a long time ago now, but any other school year her mum and dad would be waving from outside the train window. They'd have hugged her and said a teary goodbye and promised to write.

She wondered if she'd see Professor McGonagall or another of her former teachers as students. It'd be really weird seeing them as kids, but cool too. Would they remember her, in the future, if she met them?

Would that mess things up? But, if she was going to mess things up in the timeline, she would have done so already by befriending Tom.

She was pretty sure that he wouldn't end up making an evil murdering diary this time around. Unless… What if he did anyway? Or somehow she was why he did so? What if this was all some big loop in time and nothing she did changed anything?

That was a seriously frightening thought. She didn't want to be the cause of anyone suffering at the hands of the Basilisk, let alone the cause of her own trauma. She didn't want Tom to end up like that either. Whilst all she wanted really was to get home and becoming Tom's friend had been more of a coincidence than anything, she did want to try and prevent that whole thing if she could.

But how could she? It had happened to her, so if she tried to prevent it, it would never have happened to her and so she would never try to stop it. Gah, her head hurt just thinking about it.

"Its weird," Tom said suddenly, just as the train started moving, "I would have thought that we'd get to Hogwarts magically, but this is just a normal train. It's hidden by magic, but its still a train."

"It's powered by magic. The Hogwarts Express doesn't use any coal or anything, its enchanted."

"Really? How does that work?"

"I… have no idea, actually."

Luna might have. Even if she didn't know how it actually worked, she would certainly have some kind of conspiracy about the secret dark history of the train and how it ran on the left pinkies of baby Hinkypunks or something. Neville would be beside her, listening as he held a new plant on his lap.

Instead, sitting across from her, she had Tom. Tom who at the same time was and was certainly not the same person who had violated her mind and possessed her body.

Tom who's icy blue eyes were watching her with the kind of warmth that he hadn't been capable of when she'd first met him.

They sat in comfortable silence as the hills and plains rolled by, until finally a teenaged student already in uniform stopped by to tell them to change into their robes. They'd be arriving soon.


They exited the train following the throng of students. It was dark by the time they arrived, the path up to the castle looming ahead. Ginny consciously stopped herself from following the older students up those stairs. She was a first year now, she reminded herself.

"First years!" called an unfamiliar voice, "This way please, first years!"

A lantern hung from a very tall staff that was held by a tall, skinny man with dark hair tied at the nape of his neck, and a hawkish look to his face. "All first years!" he called.

Once they had all gathered around him he told them to follow, and walked up the stairs, turning off at the path towards the lake.

The lake at night was gorgeous, a shimmering inky expanse reflecting the lights of the distant castle like stars. Awed ooh's and aah's sounded around them.

They were all ushered into small boats, four to a boat. Ginny and Tom took one, along with two other students.

The boat ride was magical, in both senses of the word. The castle loomed overhead, huge and magnificent, light pouring from the windows and towers reaching for the sky.

The two newcomers gasped at the sight. Tom simply stared, wide-eyed.

Stepping foot into the castle was still awe-inspiring, despite its familiarity. It was almost like deja-vu, a feeling Ginny had a suspicion would become very common for a while.

All of the new first year students were led into the small side chamber that opened to the Great Hall. Time passed very slowly for a large group of eleven year olds who were left with nothing to do but mill about in suspense.

Tom yelped in surprise, and several others screamed suddenly as ghosts poured into the room.

"Ghosts are real?!" Tom hissed at Ginny.

Ginny only had time to nod before the doors opened and an old woman with kind eyes stood before them all.

"Welcome, students, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor Merrythought. In a few moments, you will pass through these doors to the Great Hall, where you will be Sorted into your Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

The process is simple, I will call your name, you will come and sit on the stool, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, it will call out your new House and you will go sit with your new classmates. Does everyone understand?"

Nods and calls of agreement flooded the room.

The woman smiled and opened the doors, leading the way in.

Walking into the Great Hall, Ginny didn't even need to try to look appropriately awed, and Tom looked like his jaw might fall off as he stared up at the starry sky.

Professor Merrythought positioned herself next to the Hat and pulled out a long scroll. The Sorting Hat itself looked exactly as ragged as it always did.

And, like it always did, it sang.

Tom was completely boggled, as were about half of the other first years. The other half of them seemed delighted about a singing hat.

Professor Merrythought started calling out names. While she and Tom waited for their names to be called, Ginny looked up to the teachers panel.

The only person there that she recognised was Professor Dumbledore, who was sitting in the seat left of the Headmaster's chair. Said chair was filled with an old short-bearded man with shoulder length white hair and a serious expression.

Among their professors was a man with a metal arm, a very round middle-aged man, and a fidgety looking young-ish woman.

"Griffiths, Virginia!"

Ginny didn't hesitate at that name anymore, she'd owned it long enough, but it was still weird. She walked up to the stool and sat, and let the Hat slip over her eyes.

'Oh, aren't you interesting,' the Sorting Hat's not-voice echoed through her mind.

Interesting? What did that mean? She sat stiff on the stool, alarmed at what the Hat could see. It wouldn't tell anyone, right? She could not afford to spend her life in Saint Mungos.

It didn't say anything else.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted aloud.

She hopped off the stool and wandered over to the long table of clapping students.

She watched the rest of the Sorting rather detachedly, making polite small talk when another kid started chatting to her.

"Riddle, Tom!"

Her head whipped over to watch him, her gaze meeting Tom's just as the Hat slipped over his eyes.

"Do you know him?" asked the girl, Enid, she'd said her name was.

"He's my friend," Ginny replied, "We're from the same orphanage."

"Oh, you're an orphan? What's that like?"

"Dreadful, thanks."

The Hat was taking a surprising amount of time Sorting him.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Tom took the Hat off his head and started for the Slytherin table. Ginny grinned brightly at him and waved. He waved back, though if he smiled she couldn't see it from here.

"I knew it. He's probably disappointed though, he was hoping we'd both end up in Ravenclaw," Ginny said to Enid.

Enid looked back over at her, surprised, "How'd you know about the Houses? My ma and pa wouldn't tell me anything. Wait, you're an orphan, how'd you even know about Hogwarts?"

"People aren't always orphaned when they're babies, you know."

Enid frowned. "Oh. Does that mean your parents were wizards?"

"No, they were muggles who just happened to have exact knowledge about Hogwarts Houses," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. Some people didn't seem to understand tact.

Enid grumbled, "No need to be mean."

The last of the students were Sorted and the feast appeared in front of them. Ginny hadn't had such flavourful food in years. Orphanage food was warm and filling, but didn't taste very good.

After everyone had eaten, the prefects guided everyone to their common rooms. Tom waved to her as their groups passed each other on the way out.

She followed the prefect easily and listened with half an ear to his explanations about the castle and the dorms, and headed up to bed as soon as possible. A few other Gryffindors did the same, but most decided to hang around the common room for a while longer.

She climbed the stairs to the first year girls dorm. Her trunk was already at the foot of one of the beautiful and huge four poster beds, so she changed into her pyjamas and climbed in.

She closed the curtains around the bed and lied there, staring at the ceiling. It was strange now, to be in a bed so large, to be alone to sleep. For all that the room had more people in it, the beds offered a private space all of their own. It was nice to have that again, even if it felt weird. It had felt weird the first time around too.

She lied there for hours.

No matter how soft and comfortable the bed, however, sleep would not come. She wasn't even anxious, she just felt lonely.

She hopped out of bed and rummaged through her trunk until she found what she was looking for. Mysteries of the Unspeakable. As she pulled the book out of her trunk, something fell out. She picked it up, it was her second-hand, stolen doll. The first gift Tom had given her. She took both it and her book and climbed back into bed.

The book had an entire chapter dedicated to an artefact it called the Archway of Lost Souls.

'Those who have seen the face of Death and understood it will hear the calls of the dead, whispering and calling to join them.

Those who know of the arch believe that those who pass through the arch will too die. However, there is evidence that this is not necessarily the case.

There are seven known cases of witches and wizards succumbing to this call and leaping through the archway. Of these, precisely one has returned; Jonah Pristish.

Jonah wrote extensively on his experiences through the arch in his autobiography 'Into The Void and other Pristisms'. One extremely important fact listed in his book is that he allegedly fell into another world, but had a different name there.

From this we can easily see the conclusion that many people are not truly from this world, but are in fact doppelgangers from other dimensions gathering information for their inevitable invasion.'

It dissolved into further ridiculousness from there. Ginny skimmed the rest of the chapter looking for some useful reference for how to get home, or where she was, or what the hell was up with having a different name, but there was nothing. She would have to find this Jonah's book. Hopefully there was a copy in the restricted section.

She shoved the book under her covers so no one would see it, and lay back down, plotting how to break in and search the restricted section without getting detention for a year or expelled.

Clutching the soft doll, she eventually managed to drift into uneasy unconsciousness.


Down in the Slytherin dorm, Tom was having his own restless night, although rather than being simply lonely and overwhelmed, his mind was also whirling with both possibility and nervous energy.

He was unable to calm himself down, not that he really tried at all, and instead decided to look through his text-books again. He knew, consciously, that he wouldn't be expected to know everything on his first day, but he needed to make a good impression. He was already practised in magic, and the professors had to see that.

He and Ginny both had to be ahead of the students born to muggle parents, who didn't know anything of magic, and definitely hadn't actively practised like Tom had.

It felt cold in the room, even with the curtains shut around his bed. The actual temperature was pleasantly cool, just brisk enough that bundling up under the covers would be terribly nice. But somehow the gentle coldness only reminded him of nights spent huddled and freezing next to his best friend.

Perhaps he was lonely.

Perhaps he needed to show someone, anyone, that he was worth something. That he could be great. That throwing him away was their mistake.

Sarah had said she was proud of him. In the moment it had meant the world, but now all he could think was that she only said it as he was leaving. She could have said something at any other time in his entire life! He'd lived in that orphanage since his birth!

But, he could prove himself. He was here now, at the mythical Hogwarts. He'd never doubted it's existence, not for a moment, but being here was something else entirely. The place hummed in his bones.

He abandoned the text-book. He'd re-read the same page about four times now, so that wasn't happening. He crawled out of his bed, leaving the curtains closed to keep in the warmth, and headed out to the common room.

The entire back wall was glass, leaving a clear view of the dark bottom of the lake, moonlight gently leaking through from the surface in ripples. A few fish swam by occasionally. He couldn't see the lake floor.

Oddly, the glass wasn't cold when he put his hand on it. Surely the heat would be lost though this wall, even if it wasn't glass? And for that matter, what would happen if the glass cracked? Wasn't this a serious flood risk?

Surely they wouldn't be so stupid as to leave a fragile structure in the dorm room as a bunch of children? It had to be somehow reinforced.

He looked around the room, and picked up a ceramic ornament from on top of the fireplace. He threw it with all his might at the glass.

It bounced off, making a slight clacking sound.

Yep. It was reinforced.

He turned back and headed to bed, finally tired enough to sleep.