Chapter One: The Once and Future Husband

Ginny was waking up, but it was painful in a way. It was as if her brain was too small or slow to process everything she was thinking or worried about. Realizing that this was probably exactly the problem, she tried to relax and stem the tide of thoughts and concerns that threatened to overwhelm her.

This turned out to be the key. Her senses began returning and she could hear voices around her. The voices of her family. Her heart leapt for joy. Fides had succeeded! She could hear the twins whispering to themselves mischievously. Her father was saying words to Ron and her mother was speaking to someone with an unfamiliar voice. She chose to focus on her mother's words, and as she did so, she could make out the conversation.

"But what is wrong with her?" Molly Weasley demanded, quite agitated but trying to be civil.

"I don't know ma'am." a male voice responded. Whoever it was, he sounded embarrassed for not knowing. "Are you sure you've told us everything?"

Mrs. Weasley's answer was shrill. "I've told you everything. I was in the kitchen. She was in the other room. We were having a conversation. I asked her a question and she didn't respond. When I walked into the other room I found her lying on the floor, unconscious."

"Was she engaged in some sort of task? Are there any magical objects of questionable nature in the room?" The other voice asked.

"There are no Dark objects in my home!" Mrs. Weasley declared, sounding very offended. "Why would you say such a thing?"

There was a rustling of parchment before the man answered. "Our examinations and tests indicate that there may be something wrong with your daughter's right arm."

Ginny felt her self jerk in shock. Her arm? Surely it wasn't still destroyed! Forgetting her composure and effort to stay calm, she immediately attempted to move her hand and arm. She felt her right hand open and close, and her arm bend at the elbow but it didn't feel right. It felt strange. It was as if it was someone else's arm and not hers. Before she could speculate on this oddity, her consciousness was discovered.

"Mum! Ginny is regaining consciousness!" Percy declared with excitement, forgetting his usual decorum. "See! Her hand is moving."

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cried, at her side in a moment. "Can you hear me?"

Somehow, Ginny forced her eyes open, but then had to squint when she was overwhelmed by the bright white walls. They were in St. Mungo's. Ginny's favorite. Mrs. Weasley peered into her eyes, concern etched all over her face as the rest of the Weasley family present scrambled to gather around the bed. "Are you okay?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"I feel fine, Mum." Ginny lied, this fact being betrayed by the obvious difficulty involved with forming the words. She could hear the twins snickering. Her father's face was painted with concern. Even though Ron and Percy weren't betraying much emotion, she could tell that they had been worried.

"You are most certainly not fine!" Mrs. Weasley retorted.

"Well, I am very tired." Ginny conceded. "I'm sure a little bed rest will solve everything though." She looked at the man Mrs. Weasley had been speaking too who was dressed in Healer robes for support.

The Healer cleared his throat. "Bed rest will of course do you good." he stated. "However, there may be something amiss with you arm."

"It seems fine to me." Ginny said, lifting it up and waving it around to demonstrate. She knew perfectly well what had caused the oddness in her arm. She also knew that there probably wasn't anything that could done to fix it. She would have to accept it as it was.

"If you say so." The Healer stated diplomatically, obviously not believing her. "Perhaps you could tell us what you were doing before this . . . condition came upon you."

Ginny screwed up her face, putting on a show of trying to remember. In actuality, she was trying to come up with a really good story. In the end, she decided to keep her deception simple. "I can't really remember."

This of course frustrated the Healer and he peppered her with a lot more questions. Ginny's answers to each of them was equally vague. Finally, he had no choice but to admit defeat. He turned to the Weasley parents and informed them that he would be releasing Ginny to go home and that they should see to it that she got plenty of sleep. He further instructed that Ginny should return if she encountered any difficulty whatsoever with her arm.

Mrs. Weasley of course agreed to this plan and before Ginny knew it, she had been whisked to the Burrow and been put to bed. She fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Over the coming days, Ginny began to regain her strength and was able leave her bed for short periods, usually to join the family at the dinner table. It was during one of these dinners that Mr. Weasley observed that she no longer was right-handed. She had been trying to eat a bowl of soup using her left hand and was failing so miserably that it had only been a matter of time before someone noticed.

Her parents of course requested that she try to use her right hand. As awkward as using her left hand felt, using her right was much worse. This resulted in a visit to the Healer at St. Mungo's who was unable to make any definite conclusions. When they thought she wasn't paying attention, she heard the Healer whisper to her parents that he thought she might have had a stroke of some sort, or perhaps epilepsy. He advised them to watch her.

So they did. It was highly frustrating. Ginny's every waking moment was shadowed by at least one member of the Weasley family. When she had a particular nasty nightmare one night, she awoke to find that her parents had rushed to her room, apparently alerted by some noises she had been making.

Ron had observed that she was not quite the same Ginny she had been before her little incident. Before she had been able to respond to this accusation, Percy had pompously explained that people who had looked death in the face often changed a great deal.

He had no idea how correct he was, Ginny mused.

She had no problem letting them believe what they would about any difference they might observe. Nor did she worry about letting them see the basic changes in her personality. It was not as if they would immediately assume that she had traveled through time. They would find their own plausible explanations.

It had been early June when Ginny's supposed attack had occurred. By mid-July the family had laid off a little and Ginny began to be granted privacy. It was during one of these moments that Fides the phoenix arrived.

Her brothers were out playing Quidditch, Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen, and Mr Weasley was of course, at work. Ginny was reading a book when Fides appeared with a puff of flame- the Pensieve containing the two wands still in her talons.

The phoenix flew to the bedside table and set the Pensieve down. Without any other ado, Fides disappeared in another puff of flame. Ginny recalled that the ball was in her court with regard to what to do next.

Noise from the kitchen reminded her that she was not alone, so she immediately began to take steps to protect the secrecy of the Pensieve and wands. As quietly as she could, she pried up a couple of floorboards to reveal an empty but dusty space below.

Knowing that her specially made wand with Fides' feather would not be detected by the Ministry as underage magic, she used it to cast a few spells to modify the space. The floor looked the same as it had before, but it now had an invisible trapdoor that opened only to Ginny's touch. She secreted both wands and the Pensieve in it and shut it.

Ginny came to the conclusion that it would be better to introduce herself to her once and future husband sooner rather than later. This would give her more of the summer to prepare Harry for what was to come. Using her own memories of Harry's description of his past and the assortment of the memories in the Pensieve, she was able to pinpoint the date that Harry's first Hogwarts letter arrived at 4 Privet Drive.

She decided that it would be in a good idea to warn him not to let his aunt or uncle see the Hogwarts letter. This would enable Harry to avoid many difficulties, though it would prevent his friendship with Hagrid. She would have to encourage him to develop that friendship another time.

It was late on the night of July the twenty-third that Ginny made her preparations to visit Harry. She went to bed like everyone else, but lay awake until a little bit after midnight. Satisfied that everyone in the Burrow was sound asleep, she crept out of bed and retrieved her wand from the compartment beneath the floorboards.

With a little bit of effort, she was able to cast a Silencing charm around the room followed by a Repelling charm to keep any possible intruders away. Casting spells with the wand had become awkward, now that her wand-arm was her left arm. She assumed that she would get used to it soon.

Ginny whispered "Lumos" and studied herself in the mirror with the aid of the light emitting from the wand. She could not resist the urge to change her clothes and make some adjustments to her hair. She told herself that first impressions were important and then began to feel utterly ridiculous. He was not even eleven years old yet, and she wasn't yet ten.

A blush spread across her face and she whispered "Nox" to cancel the spell. With a wave of the wand she Disapparated to the cupboard at 4 Privet Drive.

Space was limited in such cupboards, as they had not really been designed to serve as bedrooms. Therefore, when Ginny appeared, she found herself standing on Harry's bed above his sleeping form. Before she could decide what to do next, she banged her head on the ceiling and fell down- on Harry, and knocked the wind right out of him. This effectively woke him up.

Ginny heard him gasp for breath as he tried to sit up. She quickly cast another Silencing charm and then cast a spell that caused several glowing orbs to hover near the ceiling, lighting up the cupboard.

She then scrambled off of him and took a seat on the end of the bed, facing him. "I'm sorry about landing on you." she said apologetically. "Are you okay?"

Harry Potter nodded and stared at her with confusion in his eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ginny Weasley." she said carefully.

"Er . . . I'm Harry Potter." he supplied.

"I know." Ginny said quickly.

"Oh."

There was silence as they stared at each other. Ginny was fighting to keep her emotions from overwhelming her at the sight of Harry.

It was Harry who finally broke the silence. "So why are you here?"

Ginny wasn't really sure how to answer that. "I'm here to help you." she finally said.

"How?"

"In the morning you will receive a letter in the mail. I'm here to tell you that you must not let your aunt or uncle see that letter. Hide it and read it only when they aren't around or they'll take it away and destroy it. I'll come back tomorrow night, talk about it with you, and answer your questions."

Harry was beyond confused. "Why would anyone mail me a letter and why wouldn't Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon want me to read it?"

"The letter talks about something they've tried to keep secret from you. It tells you who you really are."

Harry was intrigued, but still confused. "Why would they try to keep it secret and what is it?"

"Don't worry about it." Ginny said, beginning to feel ridiculous. "I promise that I'll explain everything tomorrow night. You just have to trust me for now. Now repeat back to me what you're supposed to do."

"Uh- I get the letter, keep it secret, read it alone, and wait for you to land on top of me again."

"That's about right." Ginny confirmed. "One more thing. Don't tell anybody that I was here."

Harry wasn't sure that anyone would believe him, even if he told them, but he agreed and promised nevertheless.

Satisfied that she had accomplished her mission for now, Ginny instructed the bemused Harry to close his eyes. When he opened them again, both she and the glowing orbs were gone without a trace.

Harry picked up the three pieces of mail that lay on the doormat. One of them was a letter for him.

Mr. H Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

The strange girl's prediction had been fulfilled. He stared at the odd envelope for a moment and then Uncle Vernon's voice broke through his reverie demanding the reason for his delay. Remembering the girl's instructions, he stuffed the letter into his pocket and brought the rest of the mail to Vernon.

It seemed forever to Harry before a chance to read the letter presented itself, but he kept himself amused by thinking of the girl. Who was she and why had she come to visit him- in the middle of the night?

When the Dursleys left Harry to go out to a new restaurant that had opened nearby, Harry secreted himself in the cupboard and retrieved the letter from its hiding place. He broke the seal that held the letter closed and opened it.

Harry read the letter and examined the enclosed supply list. He understood why the Dursleys would not appreciate the contents of this letter. It was strange. The Dursleys did not like strange. After rereading the contents of the letter several times, he finally decided to wait for the girl who called herself Ginny to appear again.

Strangely he found himself looking forward to her visit more than he was looking forward to learning about the letter. It was nice to have someone who wanted to help him- a friend as it were.

Harry went to bed as early as possible, hoping to hasten Ginny's arrival. When he next awoke he found the familiar glowing orbs floating near the ceiling and Ginny was leaning over him, calling his name.

He sat up quickly. "I got the letter." he reported eagerly.

"I suppose you have quite a few questions." she said to him cheerfully.

"Yes." he replied. "What does it all mean?"

"Harry," she said and then paused. "You're a wizard."