Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter… and I never will.
A/N- So this is chapter 10. Again, sorry for the wait. This chapter is A LOT longer than I expect. Initially is was supposed to be a transition chapter, maybe a page or two long. It ended up 8 pages long on word, single spaced size 12 font. I have never written that much before. Anyway, as I was writing this chapter, I decided which way the story was going to go and actually thought up a plot. Because before it really didn't have much of a plot and now it does. Read the authors note at the end! I still need help with this story. The beginning italics are direct quotes from DH. I didn't write that!!
"It's all right," Ginny was saying. "It's OK. We're going to get you inside."
"But I want to go home," whispered the little girl. "I don't want to fight anymore!"
"I know," said Ginny, and her voice broke. "It's going to be all right."
(Skip ahead in the book)
Ginny was kneeling beside the injured girl now, holding her hand. With a huge effort, Harry forced himself on. He thought he saw Ginny look round as he passed and wondered whether she had sensed someone walking nearby, but he did not speak, and he did not look back.
Ginny continued to look in the direction that Harry was walking. She knew that someone had been watching her as she comforted the terrified girl and came to the conclusion that it was Harry under his cloak.
She knew what he was going to do. Giving himself up would be thing he would do, even if it were pointless. Harry's saving-people-thing always won over common sense and self-preservation.
She got up after giving the girl some last comforting words and a hug, and then quietly followed Harry out the doors. She walked quickly across the grounds, forcing herself through the cold chill of the dementors. Memories of the Chamber crept into her mind, but she continued on, thinking of Harry and of her family. After making it to the edge of the forest, she took a deep breath, pulled out her wand and continued on through the forest.
Before long, Ginny heard voices ahead through the trees. She slowed her pace and slowly crept towards the clearing. She couldn't see Harry, but she just assumed that he was still under his invisibility cloak. After a moment, Harry revealed himself, and to Ginny's horror, he did not have his wand ready. He was just giving himself up! She was just about to stop him when she heard those awful words and saw the green light shoot towards him. In the one moment, Ginny felt her heart stop. She watched the scene numbly as Harry raised his arm and let the curse hit him. However, she was jolted into action when he started to sink into the ground. To busy running towards Harry, she didn't notice Voldemort sinking too and the surrounding Death Eater begin to panic.
Unfortunately, she reached Harry just as his head slipped through the ground. Ginny frantically started to dig for him, still not noticing the dark wizards fleeing from the forest. Her shock and horror soon turned to anger that Harry had given himself up. She screamed and stormed back up the castle. Everyone looked up in surprise as they saw the girl return from outside in such a stat.
"Where are you going Ginny?" She heard Ron call from the Great Hall, but she ignored him. She didn't know where she was going, but she just needed something to take her anger out on.
Unknown to her, Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance in the Great Hall and took off to follow her. The kept some distance between, but it didn't seem as if she would have noticed them even if they were right beside her. They continued to quietly follow the angry redhead, and exchanged a few worried glances when the path they were following led to the headmaster's office.
Ginny finally decided to go to Dumbledore's office. She wanted answers on why Harry had given himself up and if anyone knew it would be Dumbledore. The gargoyle did not stop her as she stomped up the stairs. By the time she reached the top, Ginny was well aware that Ron and Hermione are following her, but she still did not acknowledge them. Once inside the office, she took one look at the headmaster's portrait before a clear puddle attracted her attention. It looked like water, but it had air of mystery about. Cautiously approaching it, Ginny held out her want to poke it.
Ron and Hermione had just made it up the stairs when they saw Ginny bend down to touch the mysterious liquid. Hermione had just enough to shout out to her before her wand touched the fluid. However, the moment Ginny's wand touched the liquid, a bright blue light filled the room, leaving Hermione and Ron starring at the spot where Ginny had been seconds before.
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Back in the past…
Ginny landed with a thump in the Headmaster's office. Sitting there a moment, Ginny thought about what had just happened. She had touched the puddle, and then was engulfed in a bright blue light and landed back in the Dumbledore's office. A quiet twittering pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned to see Fawkes looking at her.
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Dumbledore woke with a started when he heard a noise in his office. Quickly and silently grabbing his wand, he made his way down to the office. When he entered, he was surprised to see a teenaged girl with flaming red hair staring at Fawkes. What surprised his was when she started to talk to him like she knew him.
"Hello Fawkes." She had said quietly. "You look like you know what's going on. You do, don't you?"
Fawkes just cocked his head to the side before flying over to land on Dumbledore's shoulder. The girl's eyes followed him until they reached Dumbledore, when her eyes widened considerably. Judging from her reaction, Dumbledore guessed that this was the friend that Harry was referring to.
Speaking quietly, as to not startle her further, he asked. "Do you know anybody by the name of Harry Potter?"
She just nodded mutely.
"Ah… then that explains our predicament. You see Harry managed to land himself in the past, and it seems that Fawkes brought you back to help him complete whatever he must do here. Although, your presence might be a surprise for him, as he just recently told me that he didn't want anyone to come back with him." Dumbledore continued with a chuckle.
"Now, what I haven't told Harry yet is that you both came back for a reason. Traveling back in time is never an accident, at least, to those who control it. What your task is, I don't know and is what you must figure out on your own. Do you understand?"
Ginny, now getting over her shock of seeing Dumbledore alive began to process what he had said. A task? Slowly she nodded her head, knowing she would probably understand more once she had talked to Harry.
"Good." Said Dumbledore happily. "Now, as it is essential that nobody knows who you are and that you're from the future, I must change your appearances slightly and your last name. It is easy to see that you are indeed a Weasley."
With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore changed Ginny's long red hair into a chocolate brown color that matched her eyes. He also vanished most of her freckles. It is amazing how a few subtle changes can completely change a person's appearance.
"Now I believe that you should keep your first name, but we will absolutely have to change your surname. How about Westly? It's similar to your old name."
Again, Ginny nodded, still unable to find her voice. By now she had gotten off the floor and was standing up while facing Dumbledore.
" Now, would you mind staying in the Room of Requirements tonight? I'm afraid that you'll have to be re-sorted."
"What?" Yelped Ginny, as she was finally able to find her voice. "Why do I need to be re-sorted?"
"It is mandatory to sort all new students to Hogwarts. I am aware that you have already been sorted, or will be sorted, you are still new to this time period and would be suspicious if you weren't. Besides, Harry had to be sorted again to." Dumbledore explained cheerfully.
Ginny nodded, then turned to leave for the Room of Requirements when she realized that she didn't have any of her things.
"Sir? What about my things?"
"Don't worry about that Miss Weasley, I will inform a house-elf to pick up some things tomorrow for you and place them in whatever dormitory you get sorted into."
Ginny turned to leave again when another problem popped into her head.
"Umm… Professor Dumbledore?" She said hesitantly. Dumbledore appeared as if he just really wanted to go back to bed.
"Yes, Miss Weasley?"
"Umm… well… I'm a year younger than Harry, but my sixth year was almost over. So do you want me to go into seventh year or stay in sixth year?"
"I don't think it would do you much good to redo your sixth year, so you may join the seventh years." Dumbledore said with a small and knowing smile.
Ginny smiled back and mumble a "Good night" before stealthily making her way to the seventh floor. Once inside, which looked similar to her Gryffindor dorm, she fell, exhausted, into a large queen sized bed. Without a second thought, Ginny fell asleep.
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The next morning at breakfast, Harry was sitting at his usual spot at the Gryffindor table: beside Alice, and across from Lily and Marlene. He was a bit depressed about not seeing anyone from the future. As usual, Lily noticed his behavior and wondered if it was because of the meeting with Dumbledore he had last night. However, before she could ask him about it, Dumbledore stood up and waved his hand for silence. The hall went quiet after a few moments and he began to speak.
"After arriving late last night, we have another new student to welcome into Hogwarts. She comes from America, just like Mr. Porter and will continue to study here for the remainder of the year. Please welcome Miss Ginny Westly!"
As he said this, the Great Hall doors opened, much like they had done with Harry, and a brown haired girl walked in. Unlike Harry though, she seemed a lot less confident and a lot more nervous. She was looking at the ground as she walked up to the stool that McGonagall had placed moments earlier. Lily continued to study her, like the whole school, and concluded that seemed like a nice person, especially since she was a friend of Harry's.
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Over by the Marauders
The Marauders finally raised their heads from their scheming when the doors opened. Sirius was the first to spot here, and he immediately liked what he was seeing. The girl looked to be about their age, with long flowing chocolate brown hair that cascaded down her back. He couldn't see her eyes because the new girl had her head bowed down so she could look at the floor. He just assumed that she was uncomfortable with all the stares she was receiving. But Sirius couldn't blame them; she was absolutely beautiful. And way she walked just screamed confidence, even when she was nervous was something Sirius rarely saw in girls. He liked her already.
"Stop drooling Padfoot." James laughed, interrupting Sirius' scrutiny of the girl.
"I wasn't drooling!"
"Then what's that puddle on the table?"
Sirius looked down, only to find that there was nothing but food on the table. However, when he looked back up, he saw that Remus and James were shaking with silent laughter.
"What's so funny?"
"I can't believe you actually looked! You can be so gullible!"
"Oi! It's not that funny though!"
"Yes it is, Padfoot" Remus said through his quiet laughter. "You're seventeen years old and you still manage to fall for Prong's teasing! Even if he didn't mean for that to happen."
"Look guys!" Peter exclaimed, interrupting Sirius' response. "She's about to get sorted!"
The Marauders looked up and saw that she was already sitting on the stool with the hat on her head. After a few moments the hat cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Marauders, along with rest of the table, cheered and clapped loudly. As she nervously made her way over to the Gryffindor table, Sirius called to her and waved her over to sit with them. Sirius watched her acknowledge the gesture and smiled when she began to make her way over. His smiled faded a little when he saw her trade a look with Porter and it became clear to him that they must know each other. All Marauders smiled at Ginny as she took a seat beside Sirius.
"Welcome to Hogwarts and to Gryffindor!! I'm Sirius Black and these three idiots are my fans. The black haired kid is James Potter, the nerdy looking guy is Remus Lupin and the blond is Peter Pettigrew." Sirius said excitedly.
"What he means is that we are his friends." Remus said while rolling his eyes.
Ginny laughed at their antics and introduced herself. "I'm Ginny Westly. It's nice to meet you."
"It certainly is nice to meet you." Sirius said, leaning in towards her. To the Marauders surprise, Ginny just laughed and leaned away from him. Taking the hint, Sirius leaned back and mocked scowled. Ginny just laughed again. It seemed to the Marauders that Ginny was a lot different from her friend Porter.
However, what the Marauders didn't know is that Ginny is an extremely good actress. While Sirius attempted to flirt with her and she pretended to be having a good time, she was actually sad. The Marauders reminded her of Fred and George. Which made sense as the Marauders where their idols. But now Fred was dead and is seemed as if George would never laugh again. Not to mention that she was still mad at Harry for going all suicidal to 'save' them. It seemed that everyone knew that once he gave himself up that Voldemort would just continue his attack. Well everyone except Harry.
It was Sirius that snapped her out of her thoughts when he noticed that she had stopped giggling and a frown appeared on her face. Maybe she wasn't so different from Porter after all. At least in the way that they change modes so suddenly. So the only way Sirius could think of to snap her out of it was to ask about Porter.
"Do you know Porter?" he asked.
"Who?" Ginny jumped, but quickly answered.
"Harry Porter. He's the brown haired kid sitting by the girl with red hair. She's Lily Evans, by the way, and Head Girl. James is Head Boy, but anyways, do you know him?"
"Ya. We lived in the same town and my dad taught him and my brothers magic." Dumbledore had informed her of his story before she got sorted.
"You have brothers?" Remus asked. Ginny just nodded. Intending to keep the conversation going, he then asked, "How many?"
Ginny smiled before answering. "I have six older brothers."
"Six!" James exclaimed.
"Yup." She continued happily. " And they're all overprotective prats."
"Wow… I guess you haven't had many boyfriends then, right?"
"No, I've had a few. I just don't generally tell my brothers that I'm in a relationship, so they don't bother me that much."
"Oh."
The rest of the morning passed similarly, the Marauders and Ginny exchanging stories; Ginny of her brothers and the Marauders of Hogwarts and their pranks. The Marauders loved Ginny, as she was just a female version of themselves and it delighted them even more when they noticed the she was glaring at Porter whenever they saw him.
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Ginny didn't get a chance to talk with Harry alone until that night. She was walking back up to the Gryffindor common room with the Marauders when he approached her. All five of them glared at him, making Ginny what Harry did to upset them, but that didn't faze him from talking to her. Much to the Marauders surprise and Harry's relief, she accepted and soon they found themselves in the Room of Requirements.
"What do you want?" She asked angrily. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare at him. She wanted to make sure he knew that she was angry with him.
"How did you get here?" he asked, knowing that it was a dangerous question, especially when she was already angry with him.
"No idea." She responded passively. She took in a deep breath, preparing for her rant and was pleased to see that Harry took a step back and looked quite fearful, and started to yell.
"HOW COULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF UP LIKE THAT! IT WOULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING AND YOU KNOW IT! HE WOULD HAVE KEPT ATTACKING AFTER HE KILLED YOU!" Deep breathe. "AND THEN YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO NOT SAY GOOD BYE TO ANYONE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT WOULD HAVE HURT EVERYBODY? AND DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT THE EFFECT YOUR DEATH WOULD HAVE AFFECTED EVERYONE?" Ginny took another deep breath. "IT WOULD HAVE DEVASTATED EVERYONE! BUT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? NO! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO US?"
Finally, Harry had had enough of her accusations and started yelling at her.
"OF COURSE I THOUGH OF ALL OF THAT! DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK I'M THAT UNSENSITIVE THAT I WOULDN'T?"
"THEN WHY DID YOU DO IT?"
"I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CHOICE!"
"DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE? YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE!"
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND GINNY! I HA-!"
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND? OF COURSE I DON'T UNDERSTAND! HOW COULD I WHEN YOU NEVER TELL ME ANYTHING?"
"FINE! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I 'GAVE' MYSELF UP?"
"YES I DO!"
"BECAUSE I'M A HORCRUX! WE CAN NEVER DEFEAT VOLDEMORT WITHOUT ME DYING FIRST!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Ginny yelled, then more quietly. "You're not making any sense!"
Breathing deeply, Harry answered. "It's what Hermione, Ron and I have been looking for this past year. Voldemort's Horcruxes."
"You're still not making any sense, Harry. What's a Horcrux?"
"It's how Voldemort plans to become immortal. A Horcrux is an object where a wizard can hide part of his soul inside. It's really dark magic. You split you're soul, usually by doing murder, then you place it inside a container."
Ginny was horrified, but motioned for Harry to continue.
"Voldemort made seven. We managed to destroy five of them. You remember the diary?" Ginny nodded painfully. "It was a Horcrux. So was the ring that blackened Dumbledore's hand, but he destroyed that one. Then Slytherin's locket was one. Ron destroyed. Hufflepuff's cup was one too, and Hermione got that one. Then there was Ravenclaw's lost diadem. It was in the Room of Requirements; Crabbe managed to destroy that one with Fiendfyre. That only left two: me and Voldemort's snake Nagini."
"Y-You?"
"Yeah. I don't know how, but he managed to make me one. The only way to destroy it was for me to die, so I gave myself up. A win-win situation for everybody; another Horcrux down and a chance for everybody else to escape." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly after he finished speaking.
To his surprise, however, Ginny did not run away screaming, she hugged him instead. For a moment or two, they just stood there; holding each other before they slowly separated and sat down on the couch behind them.
"So what are we going to do about the whole time-travel thing and you being a Horcrux?"
For a moment, Harry looked like he was about to argue the 'we' but seeing the look on Ginny's face he quickly reconsidered. With a sigh he answered, "I don't know Gin. I don't even know what I'm doing here."
"When I came Dumbledore told me that we are here for a reason and that we can't go back until we complete a task."
"He told you that? He never told me anything like that! ARRG! He can be so frustrating!"
"Harry calm down. He probably didn't trust you at first. And now that he does, he just probably didn't get a chance to tell you."
"You're right. Do you know anything about the task though?"
Ginny shook her head. "No and neither does Dumbledore. Maybe you have to figure out a way to destroy the Horcrux inside of you?"
"Probably something like that. Why don't we sleep on it and talk tomorrow? It's getting late."
"Okay, but I'm still going to pretend to be mad at you."
"Why?"
"Because the Marauders like better when I'm mad at you. I have the feeling they don't like you that much and I thought I might get to know the good side of them even if you can't. What did you do to get them to dislike you like that?"
"I'm sharing their dorm. And if my guess is correct, they think that because I'm there that they can't do nightly pranks and that I might find out that Remus is a werewolf. And there's fact that I'm hanging out with Lily. James hates me for that."
"That makes a little bit of sense I guess. What's Lily like? I'm sharing a dorm with her. Dumbledore bumped me up to seventh year."
"She's great! She's better than I though she was. I saw one of Snape's memories of when they were in school, don't ask, but back then I thought she was just like Hermione. You know the whole 'do your homework' and 'don't break any rules' or 'pay attention in class'. But she's not like that at all! She's a great friend and I'll bet she'll be a great mother. She was so caring and stuff. She barely knows me and was all caring when I had a nightmare last night--"
"You're having nightmares?" Ginny interrupted.
Harry looked uncomfortable before answering. "Only one so far. And they're not like Voldemort dreams. Just… just normal nightmares. Which reminds me, can you help me look up silencing charms?"
"Why? So you can silence yourself so no one can here you? Absolutely not!"
"I don't want the Marauders to know I have nightmares! They were terrified when I woke them up with my screaming! And Lily even heard!"
"Fine. But I'll only help if you promise to tell me when you have nightmares! And you have to talk to me about them, okay?"
"But—"
"No! You have to promise me! I used to have nightmares all the time. It really does help to talk about them you know." Ginny said the last part quietly.
"Fine."
"Great! Now lets go to bed. I'm exhausted!"
"I was the same way when I got here too. Time-traveling takes a lot out of you."
They grinned at each other before getting off the couch. As they made their way to the door, they both made sure to put angry faces on before leaving. You never know who could be waiting outside…
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The Marauders were suspicious the moment that Porter approached them and said that he wanted to talk to Ginny alone. But with nothing more than a glare towards him, not that it did much, they allowed her to go. However, as soon as the couple was out of sight, James pulled out his invisibility cloak. Once Peter transformed and the other boys crammed under the cloak, they followed them. To their surprise and frustration, the pair led them to the Room of Requirements and before they could sneak into the room, the door closed and vanished.
But to the Marauders glee, the room was only sound resistant instead of sound proof. They couldn't hear words, but they could definitely hear the screaming match they were having inside. Once the voices died down, they could no longer hear anything.
It took about another ten minutes for Harry and Ginny to reappear. They both looked extremely angry at each other. Without another words, they both stalked down the hallway in different directions. The Marauders quickly followed after Ginny, and only took off the cloak when they were absolutely sure that no student could see them.
Stuffing the cloak inside his robes as he ran, James and his fellow Marauders ran to catch up with their new friend.
"What were you and Porter arguing about?" Peter asked once they caught up to her.
"Nothing!" She snapped back at him, catching them all off guard with her viciousness. "I'm going to bed!"
The Marauders stopped walking and watched her march down the hall as she headed towards the common room.
"Wouldn't want to be on her bad side." Sirius said jokingly.
Remus ignored him as he pointed out a crucial fact. "Did anyone show her the way to the common room?"
The boys looked at each other before racing off to find Ginny before she got lost. They arrived in the Gryffindor hallway just in time to see a brown hair enter the common room.
"Dumbledore must have shown her around the castle last night." James said to the others to explain how she knew the way.
The others were convinced, except for Remus. He didn't voice his thoughts, but he had a feeling that Ginny was keeping a secret. Just like Porter is. He reinforced that idea by telling himself that Dumbledore probably didn't show here around because of three reasons.
Dumbledore never before shown a student around Hogwarts.
It was very late when Ginny arrived last night.
They wouldn't have known she was going to be a Gryffindor
With a suspicious mind, he followed his friends through the portrait door into the common room. He wanted to solve the mystery of Ginny Westly and Harry Porter. They're presence here did not sit well in his gut. He had a feeling that they didn't belong here. He had ignored for the weeks that Porter had been here, but now that it had grown with the arrival of Ginny, he wasn't about to ignore.
With a sigh, we went up to his dormitory and changed for bed. As he lay there, he was aware that Porter was already there and asleep. He hoped he wouldn't have anymore nightmares. Maybe he would ask Lily to help him solve the mystery about those two. She liked mysteries. After all, she investigated him for two years before she found out his.
A/N- IMPORTANT So I was reading DH and that's where I found my plot. You know in the King's Cross chapter where Dumbledore explains everything to Harry about the Horcruxes and the stuff about the wands? Ya that one, well my story takes the place of that chapter. Them going back in time was meant to happen for Harry to figure out what Dumbledore told him! That's my plot! Now I need your help to help me figure out how Harry and Ginny are going to figure out that information, as well as their relationship and all the mistakes that Voldie made. So I need ideas!! I thought of the plot then drew a blank when it came to writing it! HELP ME!! any suggestions are welcome. REVIEWS HELP MAKE THIS STORY BETTER!! And tell me if there are any mistakes!