Disclaimer : I'm not JK Rowling just simply jealous of her. lol.

TO UNDERSTAND

'Ginny have you done this before?'

'Of course I have...On a puffskein!'

Chapter 2 : Changes in the Laundry room.

She shoved me inside and my jaw dropped. It was a huge room that I'd never set foot in before and was really quite astounding, since from the front it only looked like a broom closet. There were hundreds of houselves milling around all dressed in the customary teacloth, piles of laundry stacked up in their arms. The ceiling was lost in a huge cloud of soap suds as rows of what seemed like muggle washing machines lined the room, though each whirring contraption was about the size of a small lorry. I ran my hand over a giant button on the front of a machine and it gave a loud belch spewing bubbles out a pipe in the top and letting them float up to join the giant soap sud cloud. A huge wheel was spinning above our heads clearing a hole in the enormous cloud, whipping what seemed like black Hogwarts uniforms round and round drying them off. The whole operation seemed to be connected to a giant hamster wheel in the corner with about 50 houselves running about inside keeping the whole thing moving quickly. I watched as one houself jumped out to be immediately replaced by a second waiting elf.

I bet Hermione would have an absolute field day if she saw this. She'd get SPEW on the case before you could even say 'slave labour'…

'Time to get a uniform.' said Ginny walking over to a nearby pile. 'There we go!' she said happily, tossing me a plain set of robes and black shoes. 'These will do fine.'

She began to walk off carrying her own uniform.

'Where're you going?' I shouted after her.

'To get changed, you stay there!'

Oh. Better not follow her then. I ripped off my grubby t-shirt and began to change.

So we're going to be sorted again. Oh that'll be fun. That stupid hat trying to convince me that Slytherin is my destiny all over again… Guess I'll be in Gryffindor with Ginny. I'll probably be in a dorm with my Dad, Sirius, Remus and Peter…the rat...the boy that will rat out my parents to Voldemort, knowing full well that he would kill my family. The traitor that framed Sirius and sent him off to Azkaban for 12 years while posing as my best friend's pet in a perfect position to kill me. The turncoat that tied me to a gravestone cut my arm and lopped his whole hand off to resurrect Voldemort. The bastard who I saved from being murdered by his two best friends when he deserved to be blown to bits…and the boy that I'll have to sleep next to for however long we're stuck here while knowing what he'll become… Oh how fun. He was my parent's secret keeper and he told Voldemort exactly where to find them… Though I suppose Voldemort wouldn't have had a reason to kill my parents if it hadn't been for another traitor. Severus Snape. Murderer of Dumbledore and my potions teacher for 6 years... He told Voldemort the prophecy. He gave him a motive. He and Peter Pettigrew ruined my life! Snape is here too, he's at Hogwarts right now, right within my grasp. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Snape and Peter all under one roof, all totally oblivious to the events to come… Thinking about it, many deatheaters are going to be here. Amycus, Alecto, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy…all life wreckers. All in Slytherin, apart from Peter the odd one out… Dumbledore once told me that one day I'd be thankful I saved Peter… though so far he's been wrong…very wrong indeed.

'Harry?'

'Oh hey.' I said, turning to see her dressed and ready. She smiled in my direction but then stared at me as though something was wrong.

'Are you okay?' she asked concerned.

'Um, yeah. Why shouldn't I be?'

She furrowed her brow and looked at me worridly

'You just had a weird look on your face…'

Did I?

'Oh. Sorry I was far away…'

Lost in old regrets and bittersweet memories...

She didn't seem consoled and stared at me as though trying to read my mind until shaking herself slightly and clapping, breaking into another smile.

'So, I guess we'd better do something about your appearance then!'

I did a double take.

'Sorry, what?'

She laughed.

'You can't go walking round looking like a clone of James Potter! It'll just cause problems! People will ask questions. Questions we want to avoid.'

'Oh okay.'

'We can't let anyone find out anything about the future. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Got it?'

'Okay.'

'If we do, we could change time! Change events! Cause chaos! Hermione even said something about the apocalypse! We CANNOT risk ANYTHING-'

'Ginny I get it!'

She looked me up and down as I sighed impatiently and eventually she seemed satisfied.

'Alright then.' She said cracking her knuckles. 'Get a chair and… I'll see what I can do.'

I rolled my eyes at the seriousness of it all and grabbed a stool that looked like it was built for a six year old. I pushed my hands down on it and it creaked a bit but overall seemed sturdy. I placed my backside on it gingerly and rested my hands on my knees that were now inline with my chin!

'Right then Mr Potter.' said Ginny as she circled the stool slowly, tapping her wand into her palm. 'I guess we're going to have to dye your hair.'

For the first time I began to feel nervous.

'And I guess we're going to have to try and get it as contrasting to black as we can…I suggest…'

I waited for the verdict with little enthusiasm.

'Blonde.' she said simply.

'NO WAY!' I exploded.

'Harry please be reasonable-'

'REASONABLE!?! I AM NOT GOING TO WALK AROUND LOOKING LIKE A BLOODY MALFOY! OKAY?!? SO SCRATCH THAT IDEA OFF THE LIST!'

I sat there fuming and she sighed as though dealing with a petulant child.

'Harry calm down for god's sake! It wouldn't be platinum blonde just a nice…honey blonde.'

'Yeah, well, you can shove your honey blonde right up your-'

'You're being childish!'

'Yeah well I'll be anything but blonde!'

She made a frustrated sound and sat down next to a giant iron.

'Then what do you suggest?' she said angrily.

'I don't know.' I said stubbornly. 'Can't I just go…Your colour?'

'Nope, too much like your mum's hair colour. People are already calling me Lily. My hair will have to change too.'

'Well…Dark brown?'

'No. We need to go lighter to make you look different from your dad.'

'Light brown?'

'Oh Harry be a little bit adventurous. We can practically look like whatever we want here. Nobody is going to know us and we'll be going home in a while anyway…'

'Blue, then.'

She looked at me with total venom.

'You are impossible sometimes!'

'You said to be adventurous!'

'But not stupid!'

'Yeah well you were trying to turn me blonde…'

She gave me the evil look again.

'Was that meant to be funny Harry Potter because if it was-'

'It wasn't meant to be funny!' I said quickly, avoiding the death glare.

She sighed again and began to pace up and down biting her lip.

'What's wrong…?' I said carefully, not wanting to incur the wrath of Ginny Weasley again in a hurry.

'It's just…It's just that if someone recognises the resemblance between you and your dad Harry… It could lead to big trouble.' She looked at me and I saw her eyes actually filling up with tears, a guilty feeling now settling in my stomach. 'I wouldn't ask you to change …If we didn't need to…I wouldn't do that Harry…'

My stomach lurched and her lip actually started quivering…

She's only doing what's best I guess… Come on Harry don't be so stubborn! I mean she is staying in this whole mess with you! You're the one whose fault this is in the first place! You're the one who let your watch drop into that potion…

'Fine, I'll…I'll do it...You can dye it….' I shivered, dreading what I was saying '…Honey blonde.'

'Excellent!' she said happily cheering up immediately and I got the feeling that I'd just been suckered… 'I'm so glad that you've come round to my way of thinking!'

She walked behind me and began combing my hair forward a strong feeling of foreboding replacing the feeling of guilt in my stomach.

'Here we go...' she said quietly, rolling up her sleeves.

'Have you done this before?' I said quickly before she could do anything.

'Of course I have...' She assured me like a surgeon on their first operation 'On a puffskein!'

'Oh dear god…'

'Right, just close your eyes Harry'

'Why…?'

'Close them or lose them Potter!'

'Oh god…Ginny was the puffskein alright?'

'…'

'Ginny!'

'I'll tell you after.'

'GIN-'

She tapped the top of my head as I jammed my eyes shut and a weird heat sensation spreading across my scalp. When it stopped Ginny gasped and my stomach dropped.

'Oh shit…' she muttered under her breath.

'THAT DOESN'T EXACTLY FILL ME WITH CONFIDENCE GINNY!'I glared at her keeping my eyes closed.

'Its fine…Nothing I can't…Fix. Right here we go. I'll get it right this time!'

My head heated up again and my stomach filled with dread as she snorted with laughter.

'Ginny what's happened?'

'Your …head…Is glowing!' she gasped between giggles.

'WHAT?!?'

'3rd times a charm!' she said jovially and tapped my head again. I crossed my fingers hard and bit my lip. Ginny gasped again.

'What is it this time…?' I asked apprehensively.

'Oh wow…' she said quietly, ruffling my hair.

'Can I open my eyes yet? Have you done it?' I said standing up

'Don't open them yet! I've got the colour right but we just need to calm your hair down a bit. If your dad has messy hair then youcan't have it too...'

I sat back down sadly and she poked me in the back off the head. My hair flopped onto my forehead and over my glasses and I immediately wanted to sneeze.

'Oh my god...'

'My hair isn't on fire is it?' I said gloomily, perfectly resigned to an affirmative.

'No…It's just you look so different…This is so weird.'

I began to open my eyes.

'Keep them shut!' she shouted rapping my head hard and I clenched them closed again grudgingly. What the hell do I look like? I bet I look like Malfoy… I just know I will….

'Harry I'm gonna have to take a bit off okay? Otherwise you won't be able to see…'

'Okay.' I sighed. 'Might as well.'

I heard he swish her wand behind me and hair dropped onto my face. I shook my head hard to get it off.

'And you're done!' said Ginny happily and I stood up stretching my back then ran a hand through my hair.

It was shorter than before, way shorter, though since it used to be nearly down to my shoulders I guess it needed cutting… It was no longer tangled and all the familiar cowlicks weren't there. It was straight and for the first time ever didn't just go wherever it wanted, defying gravity. It was weird.

'Thanks Ginny It's really…'

I caught sight of my reflection in the shiny surface of a washing machine and my jaw dropped .

That's not me... That can't be me... There's this 17 year old boy looking at me through green eyes, my eyes but he can't be me… In plain black robes and with straight blonde hair I hadn''t realised how much of a difference it could make…

'Do you like it…?' asked Ginny tentatively biting her lip and when I turned to her I did a double take. She'd done her hair the same, her red curls replaced by mid length blonde tresses resting just below her shoulders.

'Yeah it's … you look… I mean…'

She blushed

'I meant your hair Harry…'

Oh.

'Yeah it's different alright…really different.' I said awkwardly.

'I guess so, but you'll get used to it.'

'I won't be able to recognise you anymore.' I laughed. 'A blonde Weasley… That doesn't sound right somehow.'

She nudged me playfully.

'Well for the next …Well for however long we're here, you'll just have to get used to it!'

'I guess.'

We went silent for a minute and I eventually grabbed my jeans pulling out a small box from the pocket.

'What's that?' asked Ginny

'They're Contact lenses.' I said simply 'Hermione and Ron persuaded me to get them since: 'It's all very well if you can do all these spells Harry but if the other guy knocks your glasses off in a duel then you're buggered.' So I took a trip to the opticians but I haven't tried them out yet…'

I whipped off my glasses putting them on the stool and balanced a thin lense on my finger.Now how the hell am I supposed to do this when I can't even see?

'Do you want help?' asked Ginny

'Nope I'll do it myself.' I said calmly, missing my eye completely and poking my nose.

'Harry you are going to blind yourself.'

'No I'm- OW!'

I rubbed my eye tenderly and blinked hard holding back tears.

'Come here.'

'Ginny I am perfectly capable of- SHIT THAT HURT!'

She sighed and in one quick movement had taken the slightly battered contact lense from me and opened my eye wide with her fingers slipping it in smoothly.

'There. That wasn't so bad now was it?'

I grunted grumpily, keeping one watering eye closed. It's so irritating how she's always right.

'Now the other one…'

I surrendered the other contact lense and she slid it in, smugly.

'Right, now can you do something about your eye colour?' she asked me peering into my eyes. 'Since everyone always says you have your mother's eyes and we really can't risk a chance of anything being noticed…'

I raised my eyebrows.

'Harry I know I'm being fussy but still we really can't risk it if we're going to try and pull this off…'

I tapped my wand above both my eyelids, remembering the incantation from Transfiguration last year and then blinked a few times.

'Did I do it?' I asked smiling.

'Yep…Perfect.' she said staring up at me.

I looked down at my feet.

'I thought as much' I said happily and she looked at me questioningly

'I made them the same colour as yours…'

She blushed a bright red and looked away swiftly.

What am I doing?!? I can't be saying things like that to her! She's not my girlfriend anymore…and never will be until Voldemort is finished…I shouldn't be leading her on like that….I shouldn't be leading myself on…

'I guess we're finished then' she said, still not looking at me 'but before we go to Dumbledore we need to get our stories straight.'

'Our stories?'

'Well we can't just tell the truth about why we're here, can we?'

'I guess not…'

'Well we look very much alike now so… I say we pose as siblings.'

'You want me to pretend to be your brother?'

'Yes.'

'Um okay…'

'We can say our dad taught us magic up until now but died last year so we need to come to Hogwarts.'

'What if Dumbledore decides to check up on our story?'

'…He won't. He usually trusts people.'

'True.'

I had a weird feeling in my stomach. Are we really going to try to lie to Dumbledore?

'What about names?' She asked

'Um…Threston…?'

'Threston….?'

'Yeah it's the name of an author I saw once.'

'Harry and Ginny Threston... Okay.'

I looked at her nervously my face feeling bare without my glasses. Were we really going to do this?

'Are you totally sure about this Ginny?' I asked and she seemed to look nervous

'As I'll ever be…' She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.

She put her hand in mine and I squeezed it, in hopefully a comforting way. She pulled me out of the laundry room and back in the direction of the stone gargoyle. Leaving our old clothes (and old lives) behind, to where Dumbledore would be waiting…

Hi, So that's the second chapter up... I'll put 3 chapters up to start with and then if the reviews pick up then i'll decide whether to carry on or not. I have 9 chapters in the works that I could have up for you all but I guess that if you want them you'll just have to press the little purple button (please)... Hwyl Fawr ! (Good Bye)

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