disclaimer: harry potter is not mine.

Chapter 3: Hogwarts always feels like home

Ginny woke up the next day, her mind made up. She hadn't slept much and had spent the whole night thinking. She took a shower, straightened herself up and wrote a letter to Harry saying:

Dear Harry,

I am sorry for my sudden disappearance. You shouldn't be worried. I'll be back in three weeks.

Meet Dumbledore. He will hopefully explain.

Forever and Always

Ginny

She apparated to Hogsmeade and went through the passageway leading to Dumbledore's office."Raspberry" she whispered. The door opened immediately. Dumbledore was sitting in his chair,

"Miss. Weasley, I trust you have an answer"

"Yes, Professor I choose to go"

"Very well, take it, i trust you know how it works?" he said holding out the device and for some reason was looking very pleased.

" Yes. Professor, before I go, I wanted to ask, what should I tell? I mean, won't you, at least feel a bit suspicious?"

Dumbledore smiled again, this time a knowing smile "Make up a story. I'm sure you can think of something. Now, take this bag it has all the things you need . You will come exactly after three months there, that is to say three weeks here."

"will i come exactly after three months ? Has the device decided that or something?"

"Yes." He said simply.

She looked at the device. It was written 1978 September 7th. Ginny shivered. Was she actually going to do this?

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the date as much as she could . She felt a tingling feeling and the last thing she felt in the present, sorry past a sad feeling that it would be a whole year until she saw Harry again. She felt her body being pulled and pushed. When it finally stopped she opened her eyes and found that she was standing in front of Hogwarts. She entered into the corridors of Hogwarts and heard a voice behind her.

"Excuse Me? Are you looking for someone?" She turned around to see Lily Pott- Evans. That is going to take some getting used to.

"Umm... Yes. I need to see Professor Dumbledore. Could you tell me the way to his office?" she said. It was frightening to see Harry's eyes on another person.

"Oh Yes… I'm Lily, Lily Evans. I'm Head Girl at Hogwarts. I'll show you." She followed Lily even though she knew where the office was.

Soon, they reached in front of the gargoyle and before Lily left. She muttered "He likes sweets."

Ginny knew what that meant but didn't know how it would help her to guess the password. She straightened up put her face in what she hoped was a business manner and said.

"Jelly Beans." She told the gargoyle, but nothing happened.

"Lemon Drops?" but again nothing happened. "Candy canes?" The door opened and she saw Dumbledore sitting on his chair behind a table "A good guess." But somehow it sounded more like a question.

"A student told me that you liked sweets"

"Oh! So you met a student already. Who was it, may I ask?"

"Lily Pott- I mean Evans. Lily Evans." She felt like slapping herself.

"Of course. Nice young lady. Now excuse me for being rude, But who are you?-"

Ginny said the first name that came to her mind. " Pott- Umm…Porter. Ginevra Porter" She suppressed a sigh. She almost said Potter. Wishful thinking.

"Miss Porter, you are here because?"

"Umm….you see-" Her mind went blank, " I… um…am a transfer student from Beauxbatons . My mum, she is a witch…. She had to, Umm, transfer here for a private reason and couldn't leave me there alone." She finished looking at the headmaster and hoping she sound at least a bit convincing.

"Alone?" He said in a sharp tone. "What about your father?"

"Umm…He died two years ago." She put on a sad face thinking of her father in 1998.

"Oh! I'm very sorry for your loss. I shall tell the house elves to bring the necessary supplies to your room which will be decided after the dinner which is in a few minutes. The Sorting Hat chooses your house. There are four Houses; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuf and Ravenclaw." Ginny knew that Dumbledore wasnt convinced even though she used Occlumency.

At dinner, she was standing next to the teachers, where Dumbledore had told her to stand. Dumbledore stood on the podium and said:

"Greetings students, this is Ginevra Porter, a transfer student from Beauxbatons and she will be joining the seventh years. Since she was a little too late to arrive, we will have another Sorting Ceremony." Ginny nervously looked around and saw Lily wave at her. She smiled back and then saw an unruly mop of hair just like Harry's hair and sighed. She move towards the chair where the Sorting Hat was lying. She sat on the chair and put the hat on top of her head.

"Ah! A time traveler is it? Nice to have you here. Now, let me see? You show true loyalty, bravery, wisdom and cunningness. Salazar would have loved your determination and Godric will value your bravery. I shall let you choose Slytherin or Gryffindor?"

"I don't want to choose. You are the Sorting Hat. Pick what's right for me."

"As you wish." It said and after a moment bellowed "SLYTHERIN!"

For a moment Ginny thought that maybe she should have chosen Gryffindor. Now how was she supposed to be friends with Harry's parents? But then she decided to enjoy her time in Hogwarts as much as she could. Just because she was in Slytherin doesn't mean she could have fun.

She walked towards the Slytherin table where Snape was eying her with interest. She puked internally but decided to be friends and smiled at him. He looked surprised and quickly turned back to Avery.

Harry's dad, Remus, Sirius and Wormtail were there staring at her. She smiled back, but they either chose to ignore it or didn't see it. The former was more likely as they were blatantly staring at her. "Stupid house prejudice." Ginny muttered to herself.

The dinner at Hogwarts was just the same but it helped having Dumbledore sit there instead of Snape and the Carrows. And then she heard a familiar voice beside her.

"You're the new Slytherin. As I am Prefect over here I am supposed to introduce you to Hogwarts. Usually the girl prefect is the one doing this but as she is-" he stopped looking at Narcissa Black talking to her fellow housemates. "-a bit busy now. I will do it."

"You are Snape aren't you?" she asked, and then she realized that she wasn't supposed to know that.

"How did you know my name is Snape?" he asked suspiciously

"Well, Lily Evans told me about you." She saw a wistful smile come across his face as he looked at Lily but then asked sharply once more." She told you about me?

"Umm ….. Yes?" she said and then she said, "Well…. She actually described you." And stopped and looked at his hair. He looked at where she was looking and at once turned back away sharply and went back to where Avery was sitting.

"Hey Snape! I'm sorry." She called after him. Avery looked around, saw her and smirked but Snape didn't even move a muscle. She sighed and had dinner.

"Now that you are all fed and watered. The Head Girl and Head Boy have an announcement to make." Said Dumbledore.

James got up and said, "In light of recent events, to show that school is one of the places where we can have fun, we are holding a Halloween Masquerade Ball."

Lily continued, "And, please, don't come as yourselves. It's a masquerade ball.

Ginny's eyes watered remembering Fred on the night of the Yule ball sporting Neon blue.

Lily was looking at her strangely from the Gryffindor table where she was standing. Even Sirius was giving her a pitying look after seeing her crying. She shook herself. No. It would do no good to think of the past….ehhm future.

She walked towards the Slytherin common room and saw Narcissa coming towards her, staring at her bitterly. "Porter." "Black." Ginny stared back.

"I saw your exchange with Evans in the Great Hall." She said as if it meant something. "Congratulations." Ginny said back sarcastically.

"If you didn't know, Evans is a Mudblood and Slytherins don't converse with Mudbloods." Narcissa said stiffly.

"Listen Black-" Ginny said spitefully "-I'll talk to whomever I wish to talk to and you can go bury yourself in your pity hole. Or better yet, mind your own business." She finished by giving her a Bat-Bogey hex.

Thankfully no one saw her or it would be detention on the first day.

"Porter isn't it? Nice job dealing with Cousin Cissy like that. I guess you're not bad for a Slytherin." called Sirius from behind. Guess she was wrong.

"Only 'not bad'? She asked acting hurt. "Want to try my Bat-Bogey hex?" she asked playfully.

"No thanks." answered Remus for them. "Thanks for standing up for Lily." said James. Ginny's eyes widened when she saw him . She shook herself suddenly it was not Harry it was James Potter she made sure to look at his eyes or otherwise..."Come On Prongs! All you ever talk about is Lily-Flower! Shut up for a while." whined Sirius.

"Shut up Padfoot have some manners for once! Sorry about that! anyway we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Remus Lupin, Those two idiots are James Potter and Sirius Black and that there is Peter Pettigrew. we're known mostly as the Marauders."

"Marauders?" Acting as if she had never heard the word before and fighting every instinct that told her to kill Pettigrew. "Okay. I'm Ginevra Porter, but please, call me Ginny. I swear my mother was on something when she named me."

"Trust me Ginny, Sirius is worse." said James.

"Hey! You're just jealous of my wonderful hair. Women like my hair better." said Sirius to James while winking at Ginny.

"You wish, Black. So… I have to go. See you guys tomorrow." She walked off to The Slytherin Common Room and went off to sleep in the girls' dormitory.

" Pretty girl, huh? Mysterious and sexy." said Sirius smiling with a mischievious gleam in his eyes.

"Don't you dare, Padfoot. You saw her face at dinner, she's already lost someone close to her, the least she needs is you breaking her heart. Besides, who says she likes you?" asked Peter who was quiet for all this time.

"Well, Wormtail. She most definitely does not like you or Moony and Prongs is booked and a girl needs a boyfriend doesn't she?"

"We'll talk about this tomorrow." said Remus ending the conversation.

Meanwhile back in the Slytherin Girls' Dormitory, Ginny had to block a few hexes from Narcissa's cronies but while sleeping she couldn't help but think

Hogwarts always felt like home...