AU!

THC, Round 2

Slytherin, DADA

Prompt: (Pairing) Harry Potter and Ginny Potter

WC: 1789

July 31, 1980

Dumbledore looked down at the crying baby in his arms and sighed. He hated doing such things, but it was all for the greater good. The prophecy specified only one baby, so he would make sure the other child wasn't around to mess anything up. He cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself before Silencing the baby and hurrying through the hospital's corridors, his robes billowing around his ankles.

Once he was far away, he Disapparated with a crack.

In the hospital, Lily Potter wailed and broke down in tears when she realised her only daughter was gone. The only thing left behind was a ripped blanket soaked in the baby's blood. Beside it lay a newborn boy with a tuft of black hair on his head and emerald-green eyes.

August 11, 1981

"How are we supposed to tell the poor woman her daughter is dead?" the new Mediwitch whispered, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked down at the dead newborn in her arms.

"I know this is a very sensitive topic, but—" the Healer trailed off when Dumbledore entered the room with a newborn baby in his arms. "Headmaster Dumbledore, sir, what are you—"

"Obliviate," Dumbledore whispered, his wand pointed at both the Healer and the Mediwitch. Within seconds, he had placed the newborn in the Mediwitch's arms and shoved the dead child in the large pocket of his purple robes. He would get rid of it soon. He made sure the Stasis Charm he had placed on the 'newborn' baby was strong enough to hold for a while longer.

Without a word, he Disillusioned himself and disappeared without a trace.

A few moments later, the Mediwitch smiled as she placed the newborn in Molly Weasley's arms. "What are you going to name her, Mrs Weasley?"

Molly cooed and ran her fingers through the child's red hair, lovingly gazing into her hazel-brown eyes. "We'll name her… Ginevra. Or Ginny for short."

1998

"You know… I wouldn't mind if you and Ginny..." Ron made an extremely crude gesture with his hand, but Harry began gagging violently.

"Merlin, mate, she's like my sister! No," Harry said, shaking his head to dispel the image from his mind. "Just no."

"Why not? Not that I'm not happy you think of her as a sister," Ron said, putting his hands up defensively. "Everyone in our year is paired up… except for you and Hermione—but that's another problem. You and Mione wouldn't work, so I thought you could date Ginny instead."

Harry gagged and shook his head again, his shaggy black hair flying in all directions. "Merlin, Ron, what's wrong with you? Most boys threaten their mates not to hit on their little sisters, not suggest they do whatever you were suggesting with your hands."

Ron laughed and ruffled Harry's hair. "That's because you're too proper to do anything stupid with her. Besides, I'm sure you'll be a good influence on her."

Harry stared at Ron with wide eyes. "Me? A good influence? On Ginny? Have you lost it, Ron? You do know our track record of getting in trouble, right?"

"Yeah, but we always get in trouble while saving the world. You've never been in trouble for chasing skirts."

"I can't believe you just called Ginny a skirt." Harry looked around the common room worriedly, hoping Ginny wasn't around to overhear their strange conversation. "She will kill you if she hears you say that. Hermione would be offended, too."

"All I'm saying is that you should make a move on Gin before someone else does." Ron patted Harry's knee before getting up and stretching. "I'm going to find Lav before she comes looking for me instead."

Harry nodded absentmindedly as he stared into the fire, his mind confused as it warred with his heart.

Ron was right. Except for a couple of kisses with Cho, Harry had never been with anyone else, but as much as he tried to picture himself with Ginny, he just couldn't. It went against everything ingrained in him.

He was brought out of his musings when Ginny plopped down beside him with a tired sigh. "Hey, Harry, whatcha thinking?"

Harry's face warmed when he glanced at Ginny's sweat-drenched clothes. Even thinking about her sticky clothes made him want to throw up for some reason. He shook his head and muttered, "Just something Ron said."

"Ron says the strangest things sometimes. He's like Luna in that regard," Ginny said with a laugh. "Except for weird creatures, he mentions weirder things."

"He does, doesn't he?" Harry murmured, his lips turning up in a slow smile as he looked at Ginny.

"So… what did he say to you?"

"He…" Harry wondered if he should even tell Ginny what Ron had said or not. Deciding to take a chance to see what she thought of the idea, he blurted out, "He wants me to take you out."

"He wants you to date me or kill me?" Ginny's nose was scrunched up in disgust.

Harry burst into peals of laughter at her expression. "He wants me to date you."

"Eww!" Ginny quickly shot away from him, her hands up defensively. "Sorry, Harry, no offence, but I don't think—"

"Rest assured, I think of you as a sister, too," Harry said, his shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" Ginny's shoulders relaxed and she leaned back against the couch. "I'm just not into you. I'm more into blondes…"

"Like… Malfoy?" Bile rose in Harry's throat at the thought of Ginny and Malfoy together.

"No, more like…" Ginny leaned closer and whispered, "Lovegood."

"Xenophilius? But… he's so… old!" Harry was about to keel over and die of a heart attack.

"No, you idiot! Luna!" Ginny yelled, smacking Harry's arm.

"Oh… Oh!"

"Yes, oh," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Really, we haven't even been hiding anything, but you're still blind as a bat."

"Just tell Ron yourself so he doesn't try to set me up with you."

"I will. Soon." Ginny then started laughing. "I can't believe you thought I was interested in Mr Lovegood!"

"Shut up," Harry grumbled, crossing his arms. But he had to admit the thought was funny.

Ginny was still teasing him when Hermione entered the common room, panting from exertion. Her bag was weighing her shoulder down despite the Feather-Light Charm cast on it. She held two thick tomes under her arm, and when she caught sight of Harry and Ginny on the couch, she hurried over to sit down beside them.

"Merlin, the library was so crowded I could barely hear myself think!" she snapped, pulling out a few parchments from her bag and slapping them down on the table. "I really need to work on this family tree for Arithmancy, but no… Nott kept pissing me off with his utter lack of regard for proper behaviour in libraries. I could just wring his scrawny little neck and—"

Harry and Ginny chuckled at Hermione's tirade of abuse against Theodore Nott, a Slytherin boy who had been annoying her ever since their first year. They listened to her patiently as she scribbled down Arithmancy equations and continued ranting about the Slytherin's hair which she wanted to grab and yank out from the roots.

During her verbal onslaught, Hermione grabbed Harry's hand, sliced the back of his forearm with her wand, let a few drops of his blood drip down onto the parchment, and healed his skin. Harry was too overwhelmed to react to her bewildering actions.

The parchment began glowing a brilliant blue, and Hermione finally paused. She picked up the paper and scanned it, her brow furrowed with obvious confusion. She glanced at Harry before she pursed her lips and flipped the page, scribbling down the equations again. This time, she used her own blood on the parchment.

The parchment glowed blue just like it had before, and Hermione used her finger to scan the information that had appeared. She frowned and glanced at Harry again.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" Ginny questioned, leaning over to see what was going on.

Hermione was quiet for a few moments before she said, "I'm… not sure, actually."

"Hermione Granger's not sure about something? Contact the Prophet!" Harry teased, elbowing Hermione in the ribs. She squealed and shoved him away, which made him laugh. "What is it, Mione? What's wrong?"

Hermione licked her lips and explained patiently, "The equations I'm using to make a family tree are similar to the ones used on the Black family tree in Grimmauld Place. But for my equations, I just need a little bit of blood to check the person's ancestry."

"Alright, that's understandable. Did you check my family tree?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes. And that is confusing me… I'm sure I used the right equations because my family tree is perfect," she said, shoving the parchment in Harry's face to point at the names leading down to her name. "See? My parents, then their parents, and their parents, and so on…"

"Okay… What's the problem then?" Ginny leaned over to inspect the family tree.

"My family tree is perfect—but for some reason, Harry's isn't."

"What?" Harry and Ginny asked in unison.

Hermione flipped the page and showed Harry his name on the bottom of the paper. "See this… The equation says you have a sibling. But that isn't right. You're an only child."

Harry frowned as he stared at the small box beside his name. His parents' names were written right above his, but the space beside his was blank. He shook his head and said, "This must be wrong… I don't have a sibling."

"That's what's bothering me, Harry," Hermione said, wringing her hands. "I rechecked the equations to be certain, too."

Ginny chimed in, "How about you try the equations on me? That will show us if this is just a fluke or not."

Hermione painstakingly wrote down the equations on another parchment, while Harry secretly panicked at the thought of having a sibling. No one had ever mentioned he had a sibling before; not even Sirius or Remus had hinted at it.

Did he have a brother? Or a sister? Where were they? Were they even alive? What if they were a Squib? Better yet… What if they had magic too? Were they at Hogwarts? No, Harry would have recognised his sibling, wouldn't he? They must at least look alike, right?

Harry was still lost in his thoughts when Ginny and Hermione cried out in unison. Harry asked, "What happened?"

Hermione's eyes were wide with shock as she pointed a shaky finger at Ginny's name.

Harry squinted and his heart stuttered.

Ginny's line slowly materialised and connected with James and Lily Potter, and then with… Harry James Potter.