Ginny did indeed wake up early the next morning. She didn't realize that she was in the past until she had entered the bathroom, the obvious change between the Leaky Cauldron of her time and this time quite obvious. When she got downstairs she saw many vaguely familiar people. It was strange how she kept waking up thinking it would just be a normal day, perhaps with a battle against the death eaters or a surprise raid thrown in. Would she wake up every morning forgetting where she was or would she get used to the time after a while?

She was raised a Weasley and the worth of a Galleon didn't fluctuate as often or as drastically as muggle money. She knew what a school year at Hogwarts cost, knew how to stretch the money to get it done with the least amount possible. As soon as a list of the needed items arrived on her desk that morning, she started marking it with expected prices and calculating the overall

Ginny ate in her room, food which the innkeeper personally brought up to her. She had eaten quickly, enough to give her a slight stomach ache, but with the little food Snape had been able to provide for them at their hideout and the lack of food she had had the day before, she was almost starving in actuality. The abundance of a food was a luxury her mother had always ensured they had. The Weasleys had been poor, but they'd never been hungry, not until after the war.

Ginny reached into her pocket, making sure she had the oval, before leaving out the back of the Leaky Cauldron. She walked down the street self-assuredly, going straight for Gringotts. She saw Hagrid out of the corner of her eye, peering into a shop window, completely oblivious to her, but it reminded her that she was now a different person. She couldn't be the unshakeable Ginny Weasley. She had to be more skittish, not too difficult after all she'd been through.

She tried a bit, and then some more, but she wasn't able to really make her walk seem more pathetic. She only made herself look awkward. She sighed. She had to be herself but at the same time, be another person. She was that person, truly… very deep down, that lost orphan, alone and damaged, but she couldn't find a way to deal with it other than masking the pain. Therefore, she couldn't show the world that she had pain or the grief would drown her.

Ginny had a throbbing headache by the time she reached the steps leading to Gringotts Bank and immediately stopped thinking about how to make herself look miserable, because the headache had already succeeded in making her miserable. She rubbed her temple, sighing deeply as she approached the head Goblin, who looked down at her condescendingly, as she wore her blood-stained muggle clothes, a pair of boots the kind innkeeper had left outside her door, and the cloak given to her by Tom Riddle. She had nothing else and she needed money. It wasn't as though she could help what she was wearing.

"Do you need something little girl?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you. I need to access the Hogwarts account," she said, snippy.

"Well, if you produce the necessary object, we can move the process right along can't we?" he said, nearly growling at her.

She flashed it before his eyes, and for a moment, there was a light of recognition and of doubt, possibly that it wasn't authentic. As she shoved it back into her pocket, he waved a goblin over, whispering direct orders to him. The Goblin nodded solemnly.

Ginny hurried after the quick little goblin, ignoring the stares she received at the state of her muggle clothes. She wished briefly that she had been able to keep her yellow robes, but then thought about the contrast of the red on the yellow. That would have drawn even more attention than her strange attire now.

She felt rather dirty and the first thing she would do after she got her hands on a pair of clothes, would be to shower and change out of the dirty clothes. Even if she had used cleansing charms, it didn't feel right walking around wearing blood-stained clothes. She hoped she could salvage Tom's cloak after this before returning it to him.

She stepped into the cart as the Goblin indicated, and stared around her as the cart rolled quickly past so much that she didn't even have time to take in. She gasped as the cart stopped and a great dragon stood before them.

"Oval," he grunted. She had to think for a moment about what he wanted, but soon had the object out in plain sight for the dragon. The dragon stepped back, bowing his head.

"Vault 17," the goblin said, in an almost bored voice. His voice was still a lot like a grunt, but she was still in awe with the odd behavior of the dragon to pay any mind to a goblin voice. She stepped out, handing him the lamp. He placed his hand against the door.

"Palm flat against the door and press the oval in there," the goblin indicated, quickly. She did as she was told, pressing the oval into the yellow opening. The goblin nodded, holding out his hand to take the oval. She relinquished the treasure and he pressed it to the door briefly. It made a gentle clucking sound and smoke was released from it before it opened, but she didn't see the vault she was expecting, just another door.

The goblin seemed unsurprised. There were three circles on the door, purple ones. "Your face goes there and your hands there," he indicated. She nodded, placing her face into the center circle and her hands into the two others. The door emitted a bird-like screech and in a second it was gone, replaced by another.

There was a large snake on this door and it moved around. "Feed the oval to the snake," the goblin instructed. She gave him an incredulous look that clearly said she didn't want to, but he pressed the oval back into her hands. She tried a few times, but couldn't catch the snake by grabbing at it. Finally, getting irritated, she slammed her hand down on it, stopping it in it's place. The mouth opened and she dropped the oval in.

Finally the door opened, with a rather loud, incessant hissing that hurt her ears. She stumbled back as the hissing turned into words, words that were loud and harsh and condemning and then they stopped. She sighed, getting not only irritated, but a bit frightened. This time, there was neither snakes, nor circles, but there were two hands emerging from the door. She looked at the Goblin who ordered her to move forward. She placed her hand on both of the hands before her, grasping them. They were stone and then they softened turning into what felt like real flesh, human hands that pulled her through the door.

Ginny looked back. The hands were gone, and there was a simple door with a doorknob. The goblin was gone. She gripped the little pouch she had in her hands. She had found it in her room when she woke up, perhaps yet another gift from the innkeeper. She turned her eyes back on the room, but she couldn't see anything. She frowned, before lifting her hand and walking forward. Suddenly bright lights flashed on one at a time all around the room, fires from every few feet of wall and she couldn't even see to the end of the vault it was so far away.

Ginny had never seen anything like it. There were so many mounds of gold and silver that she thought she would go blind from the brightness. Statues and ancient, beautiful artifacts stood here and there and the room was lined with stone knights who looked just as forbidden as their counterparts at the castle. In this room there was more wealth than anything she'd ever… more than… there was just more. She couldn't even describe how much she saw as she stood there. The piles seemed to go on forever. She began to blush at how much trust Dumbledore had in her, when he didn't even know her. It was rather alarming.

Ginny walked to one of the piles, and began slowly counting out piece-by-piece how much she would need for the upcoming year, including what she might need during the year and to buy a few muggle casual outfits. She was counting money into her purse, not wanting to spend a knut more than she had to when she heard a chuckle behind her, a chuckle she knew all to well from both her nightmares and her dreams.

She jumped, nearly dropping her perfectly calculated bag of money. "I see you've been looking around the shops for prices. How much exactly are to taking?" he asked.

"193 Galleons, 8 sickles and 9 knuts," she said, simply, her face taking on that embarrassed shade of red again.

"All you have to do is shove some into the bag and leave, you know. That goblin out there is nearly out of his mind angry that you're taking so long," Tom said.

"W-Well, I didn't want to betray the trust of the staff by taking more than I need to," she said, looking anywhere but at his face. It was hard to appear embarrassed. Usually when she was embarrassed someone would be on the receiving end of an angry hex by now. That was the real Ginny's style, hot-headed and vengeful.

"They trust that you will get everything you need without using second-hand stores. You are representing Hogwart's teachers, and they are not supposed to be portrayed as cheap. It just gives the ministry something to poke fun at, besides you're a pureblood. You deserve more than ragged, mangled clothes," he said, seriously.

She felt she might gag, but it would help her slow change of his mind against his biased state. "What's so great about being pureblood? Fat load it's helped me," she said, letting her voice sound as annoyed as she really was.

"Your blood isn't tainted by the muggles, like those people who nearly killed you," he said, his eyes flashing black, though she couldn't quite pinpoint why.

"There are also muggles who are good and kind. I know many muggles who are much nicer than… well, I don't know, but they're not all bad," she said, unable to come up with a name from this time, off the top of her head.

"How can you go through that and still not see how despicable they are?" Tom asked, disgusted.

"When you see all of that bad, Tom… you also see a lot of the good. You can't have one without the other. Muggles and Wizards, Dark and Light, Good and Bad," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get out of these clothes. They make me rather uncomfortable. I'll return your cloak this evening," she said, brushing past him and opening the door, as she opened it, she felt something weigh down in her pocket; obviously the oval had magically come back to her.

"Finally," the goblin grumbled. There were two now, but she got into the cart with the one that she knew. He took her back to the top and she sighed as she entered the Gringotts foyer.

Ginny wondered if she should indeed disgrace Dumbledore by arriving shabbily dressed, but decided that that would not be the case. He was not the type to look down on someone who exercised propriety. She did however, get fitted for new robes and a uniform rather than going for the old. Though the muggle clothes she chose at a shop just outside of Diagon Alley were a bit worn, they weren't in dreadful condition.

Ginny bought her books however in second hand stores, though she was almost certain the ones she bought were third or fourth hand. Her cauldron she got for a very agreeable price and she was quite confident it would not fall apart with the first acidic potion she made. The last stop of the day was coming up fast and Ginny soon found herself in front of Olivander's Wand Shop.

Ginny looked up at the intimidating place. She had been here only once before when Ron had gone to receive his wand after breaking his hand-me-down after second year. Ginny had never received her very own wand. Her had been handed down from Bill when the agency he'd worked for as a curse-breaker had bought him a new one. It made her nervous somehow that she should now be faced with the idea of a wand that was made just for her. It had seemed such a luxury to her. She opened the door to find that it seemed empty. She walked to the counter and suddenly around the corner came a strange-looking man. He looked quite the same as he did in her own time, which surprised her a bit, but she conceded that Dumbledore didn't look much changed either.

Ginny was relieved when only a small fifteen minutes later she was allowed to leave with her 11" wand made of Yew. He had gone on and on about the properties of the core of her wand. It was very rare he said, but he warned her that it would be extremely powerful and she might sometimes have to try to control the level of magic she tried to funnel through it. He usually only used one of three cores, Phoenix Feather, Dragon Heartstring, or Unicorn Hair. This one, Mr. Ollivander had told her, had been made by his father one day on whim. It was as if he'd been waiting for someone to come along for it for years. It was Chimaera Scale, which it turned out was extremely expensive, but when he heard that Dumbledore was her sponsor, he lowered the price quite a bit. He seemed very proud of this particular wand.

Ginny looked down at the box in her hand, ducking down a side-alley and sliding down the wall to sit on the ground. She opened the beautiful box carefully. She lowered her hand and ran her fingers along the light wood. She had never had a wand for her own. She could practically feel the magic of the wand.

"Are you lost?" a deep voice asked. Ginny looked up sharply to the tanned, unshaven face of a young man she did not recognize. He looked around her age, but he didn't look friendly. Her nimble fingers closed around the wand before her.

"Actually, I am quite all right," Ginny said, coolly. She didn't like the look in his eyes.

"You're sure?" he asked, stepping towards her.

"I'm fine now and would appreciate if you would leave me be," she said.

"I think-" he began, her eyes going to where he was beginning to draw his wand.

"Leave me be!" she exclaimed, standing sharply and moving her wand quickly to point directly in his face.

"What exactly do you plan on doing with that?" he asked dolly, raising both hands.

"Let's suppose that you plan to attack me. If that be the case, I wonder what your chances of getting your wand out before I hex you into oblivion?" Ginny said, her voice low and challenging.

"Well, feisty are we?" he said, smirking.

"Leave the girl alone Dolohov," a voice demanded. Ginny glanced only slightly to her right to see another with his wand trained on this boy.

"What are you going to do about it, Potter?" Dolohov asked, tauntingly. Ginny's breath caught in her throat and she looked between the two, sharply.

"Don't push me," Dolohov growled. Ginny's eyes narrowed at Dolohov, who seemed to be completely ignoring that she was there.

She flicked her wand brutally, no words leaving her lips but a bright light shot from her wand, catching Dolohov in the side, and throwing him into the wall on the other side of the small alley, leaving quite an indent as a few bricks fell around him, dust rising around it. He lay unconscious on the ground and Ginny let out her angry breath.

"Idiot," she muttered, kicking his wand further down the alley, but taking no further action against him. She picked up the box she had dropped. She carefully placed her new wand within it.

"Well, I didn't expect that," the other man said. Ginny felt a small smile play across her face. She glanced at him, finding easily the resemblance with her childhood crush.

"Thank you very much for distracting him," Ginny said.

"Of course!" the nice young man said. "I'm Felton… Felton Potter," he introduced, holding out his hand. Ginny smiled at his eagerness to make a new acquaintance and took his hand warmly.

"Gin Wesley," she replied.

"New wand?" he asked, looking down at the box. She nodded in the affirmative.

"Forgive me, but I don't believe I've ever seen you before," he said.

"I will be starting at Hogwarts this year," she said.

"Really a transfer? What year?" he asked, interestedly.

"Seventh," she replied.

"I don't think there's been a transfer at Hogwarts in ten years," Felton told her. "Have you been sorted yet?"

"Yes," she replied. "I was placed in Slytherin."

"In that case, I feel it my duty to warn you that you've just met one of your kinder house mates," Felton said, gesturing to Dolohov. Ginny was a bit wary about his reaction to finding her a Slytherin, but it seemed he didn't care too much which was a good thing. She could use a few friends if she were to live in this time indefinitely

"Well that certainly does not bode well," Ginny said, smiling.

"I was just going to meet a few friends at Newt and Eye for lunch. It's a restaurant not far away. Would you like to join me?" he asked.

"Oh…" Ginny was caught a bit by surprise. "I-I'd love to," she said.

Ginny found the group of Gryffindors pleasant upon first sight, and immediately recognized one among them. Poppy Pomfrey looked quite wonderful in her younger age and greeted Felton's newfound friend with great enthusiasm. She immediately pulled the girl over to what Ginny later found was their "regular" table.

"Do you play quidditch?" Poppy asked.

"Well, I don't… what's quidditch?" Ginny asked, softly. She had not thought whether or not she should be able to play quidditch in this time. It seemed such a trivial matter in the scheme of things. She thought hard. She would have to have someone teach her.

"WHAT'S QUIDDITCH!" Felton exclaimed. "It's only the single-greatest sport on the face of the earth."

"Is that the one where you fly around on brooms dodging malicious balls trying to knock you off?" Ginny asked. Poppy and Felton's friend Alec started laughing boisterously. "If it's fun I'd quite like to play," she added timidly.

"Hm… well I hope you are quite rotten at it!" Felton declared.

"Really?" Ginny said, a bit surprised at his response.

"Sorry about him. It's the quidditch captain's prerogative to wish no Slytherin player has any skill," Felton's friend Alec explained, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Does Tom Riddle play quidditch?" she asked. The whole table became very silent and Ginny very quickly realized her error.

"How do you know Riddle?" Felton questioned suspiciously.

"He saved my life," she mumbled, softly.

"Really?" Poppy asked, eager to hear the details. "Was it really heroic?"

"Not exactly. I was almost killed, stabbed in the stomach," she replied, bitterly. She wondered how she could have ever thought as Poppy did now, that someone saving your life was such a great experience. She could never think that again and wished she could get that across to Poppy. "I made it to Diagon Alley and he healed me."

"God, that's horrible," Poppy breathed. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. I'm fine!" Ginny said quickly. She didn't want to ruin everyone's mood with her dark story. She'd most definitely not be telling them it had happened only the day before.

"Oh, well to answer your question, yes he plays quidditch. He's Slytherin's Quidditch Captain," Felton said, seeming lighten up a bit at her answer.

"And head boy! He's head boy too!" Poppy added, smiling and giggling. Ginny watched as Felton gave her a rather dirty look, to which she only smiled sweetly, looking at their quiet friend Alyssa who rolled her eyes, probably used to her friend's antics.

"Well if you do try out for Quidditch, Riddle still has a problem. He lost three players last year and I doubt he'll be able to make up for the loss of his seeker, and two of his chasers. I'm sure he'll move to seeker, but that leaves him completely at a loss for chasers," Felton explained.

"Chasers?" Ginny asked in a confused tone, slowly smiling inwardly as Felton gave her a shocked look, that completely shocked look that she had seen once before in Ron's eyes when trying to figure out how someone didn't know how quidditch worked. She'd of course always been much better at Ron at quidditch as well as more patient when explaining it to others.

"Well I suppose we shouldn't have to worry too much, should we Felton?" Alec laughed. Ginny gave a confused look.

"Say, we're leaving from Diagon tomorrow for Kings Cross. You can join us if you'd like," Alec offered. "Of course, it would be bad taste to travel with a Slytherin, but I'm sure we'll be able to live it down."

"That would be wonderful… thank you," Ginny said, a bit stunned by the kindness these people were showing. She wasn't used to it, and especially wasn't expecting it from some people of a rival house. It was like Draco Malfoy skipping up to her and asking her if she'd fancy chocolate or vanilla for her birthday cake. Her smile faded away when she thought more of Draco. He had turned on his father when his father tried to kill Snape two months ago. She remembered the two weeks he had been with them before he had been killed in a battle against the death eaters.

Suddenly tears sprang to Ginny's eyes. She stood quickly, surprising the others. "Sorry, I have to… I have to go," she said, walking off quickly, leaving enough money to pay for her drink. She pushed the door open and half-jogged up the street. It was starting to rain again and she felt it appropriate for the terrible mood she now found herself in. Tears steamed down her face as she hurried down the alley towards the Leaky Cauldron, but before she made it there a solid form stepped in front of her. She stopped immediately then looked up to see that it was one person she honestly didn't want to see her crying. She made her excuses and apologies and ducked around him, her halfhearted running turning into a full-out sprint.

She couldn't control the feeling of utter loneliness as she made it to her room, slamming the door behind her and falling onto her bed. She felt her sorrow engulf her and she couldn't pay attention to the fact that she had just shown how weak she truly was in front of none other than the great Tom Riddle. She didn't care now, all she cared about was all those that had been lost. Her terrible thoughts soon took her to the Weasley Family massacre. She cried tears she didn't know were still in her until all had dried and she lay in her bed, staring listlessly at the wall, the aching of her heart never ceasing.

Ginny wondered if she could do it, but knew she would have to find some way to stop him, whether she saved him or murdered him. She would have to stop him… or all of this would just happen all over again. She was sick of this pain, sick of this heartache and she resolved that she shouldn't have to put up with it all over again, she couldn't.

Ginny awoke the next morning with her Hogwarts Oval clasped in her small hand, a knock on the door telling her that someone was there. She glanced in a mirror, seeing that the sleep had done her well, as the red around her eyes was gone. She ran a shaky hand through her hair before opening the door. Shock gripped her as she saw who it was who was calling upon her this morning.

"Tom," she said, in surprise. The surprise melted into suspicion though. The hallway, the street last night, and now her door this morning. She didn't like how often he was turning up and she was starting to get the strange idea that he was following her.

"Dumbledore requested I should apparate you to Kings Cross. He sent me an owl," Tom said, his voice low and dark.

"Oh, well I…" she looked around the room.

"Don't worry about your things. A house elf will come for them from Hogwarts," he explained. "I will be downstairs when you are ready," he added, nodding his head to her before turning and walking down the hallway.

Ginny sighed. She'd have to explain to Dumbledore that he couldn't help her out with this. Her connection to Dumbledore was already a fault in Tom's eyes. She had to catch his attention on her own with as few lies and as little manipulation as possible. She gathered her things into her trunk to give the House Elves little hassle. She performed a cleansing charm before changing her clothes into a simple green t-shirt and black slacks. She slipped her wand into her back pocket and grabbed a small back that held her Hogwarts Uniform and the small bit of money that she had left.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she spotted Tom sitting at a table, reading The Daily Prophet. He had a cup in front of him, but no food. She walked to his table and stood in front of him. Ginny wondered if she should sit down. With a wave of his wand, Tom had conjured a small plate of food, not looking up. Ginny sat down and began to eat the food, though her stomach protested. She really didn't feel up to eating, but it was better than talking to Tom about why she had been running through Diagon Alley the night before. Still, she'd really like to ask what the hell he'd been doing out there in the rain as well. She remained silent though and when she had finished, Tom set his paper down and looked down at her for a moment before standing and holding out his arm.

Ginny carefully reached out, but didn't immediately grab it. "Have you done this before?" she asked, looking up at him with a frown. "I don't want you doing this if you haven't done it before."

"I have a license," he told her.

"As if that's supposed to reassure me. I've read the books. I could lose an arm or worse," she said. He stared at her for a long moment then snorted with an amused grin, reaching out and grabbing hold of her arm in a firm grip. In a moment she felt the strange sensation of apparition. She felt a bit nauseated as they arrived in the new place, and she quickly grabbed hold of his arm when her feet were back under her, trying not to fall over. He didn't move for a moment, allowing her to get her feet back under her. Ginny pulled away a moment later and held them out in front of her to be sure she could stand all right on her own. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she swayed but a moment later she was alright.

"Come on," he said, leading her through the small crowd of students. She followed quickly. He stepped onto the train and the first door he came to was open. He stepped aside, allowing her to walk in. She did so, ducking her head slightly as she passed him. She sat down in the corner near the window, pulling a book out of her small bag. She opened it, carefully, and set to reading.

She was halfway through the first chapter when she heard a clamor outside. Tom looked up as well and then at her. Their eyes met for a moment, but he stood and walked to the door. He looked out into the hallway and said something in a very low voice. When he came back in, he was followed by another. Ginny stood quickly, dropping her book aside and pulling out her wand when she saw the person's face.

"What the bloody hell is she doing here?" the gruff voice of Dolohov demanded indignantly, his own wand pointed at her. Tom looked back and forth between the two.

"Didn't I prove last time which of us was the better duelist?" she questioned tauntingly. She would not hide her true nature of being competitive and a rather proud of her dueling skills. Tom had been interested in her enough when she was a first year and she couldn't doubt that he would not find her actions if not intriguing, at least amusing.

"Y-you? You threw that spell?"

"How long were you unconscious? I was thinking with that blow it would be at least four hours, but I suppose with a head that thick, you might have woken quite sooner than I had expected," Ginny said, a sinister smile upon her lips.

"But… Potter. He was…" Dolohov was quite flustered now.

"Might I inquire as to the disagreement you had? Or how perhaps Potter was involved?" Tom asked.

Ginny smirked at Dolohov, taking her wand from his face and picking up her book from where she had discarded it. "And he thought I was in danger from that," Ginny said, sending an appraising look in Dolohov's direction before snorting. "Should you like to explain your actions to your friend?" Ginny asked, smirking at Dolohov, whose face became quite pale. Ginny figured she could leave it at that. She left the compartment, not feeling any danger that Dolohov would tell Tom much.

Ginny ducked into an empty compartment with her bag and her book. She set both aside, turning her eyes out the window. She honestly needed a plan. She had seen girls swoon over Tom, seen them fall at his feet, and she would not be like so many of them, would not be weak in his eyes. She was not a child. Tom Riddle was Voldemort. Voldemort was only the form he took after he had torn his soul into sevenths. She knew with even half the soul Tom had, he would not be redeemable. She pondered over that. She did not want to kill Tom Riddle. As a matter of fact, she knew she could likely not live if she had to kill someone else she knew so well.

Ginny sighed. She had had too much pain in her life to see anything as innocently as she had once before. A part of her worried that that was the innocence that had come to inspire Tom's attentions the first time, but she knew deep down that that innocence had only brought him to see how easily he could control her. She didn't want to be controlled. She wanted to make a difference, inspire a change if she could, but not be controlled. She didn't want that ever again.

Her stomach made a painful turn. She reached into her bag, pulling out a picture from the bottom of her backpack. It was the only other possession she'd brought with her, stashed along with the note to Dumbledore in the secret pocket. It was a picture of everyone, just before her fourth year at Hogwarts. She ran a hand over Harry's face. She knew that she had loved him, that she could not forget him. He looked so terribly lost in this picture, but stayed by Ron's side as if leaving his best friend's would be the end of him.

Ginny wondered what would have happened in that last major battle if the Weasley massacre had not occurred. Arguably, that was the point that they had lost the war. Ginny closed her eyes, lowering her head and trying to control her emotions. She could not be seen crying again like a child. She drew a deep shuddering breath, raising her head then looking out the window as the landscape turned into rolling hills. She smiled slightly, remembering the many times she had spent with her brothers on the train.

She tried to comfort herself with these fond memories, knowing that if she succeeded, when she became older, she would be able to look around and see those people she had loved so dearly, see them and touch them with her own two hands, but for now, she would content herself with this.