Chapter Three: Myrtle and Muggles

Ginny dragged herself up from the depths of the Slytherin dungeon that morning and made her way toward the Great Hall for breakfast. In the night she'd dreamed of Harry, for the first time in over a year. The other dreams had been innocent little things, she couldn't even think of Harry kissing her before without blushing. But this dream was different, things were being inserted into places they shouldn't have been.

The Doctor's words had brought this on, she'd woken up with the notion that all her current problems could be traced that lanky, floppy-haired man. She'd hex him if she got the chance, never mind the detention or the loss of House points. It wasn't her House anyway, she needed some form of revenge.

"So you've been sorted into Slytherin?" came a familiar voice. Ginny turned to see McGonagall following her down the hall. "Just looking at you, I wouldn't peg you for the type," she said.

"What type is that?"

"Blood purists mostly, though not all of them are," McGonagall sighed. "When I was a first year there was this really lovely seventh year boy in Slytherin…"

"I'm pure blood, but not a blood purist by any means," Ginny said. Taking her acting a little further Ginny writhed her hands together. "I actually…don't get the whole house thing…"

McGonagall nodded. "It might be a bit weird to outsiders. Houses are like family here, you eat together, sleep in the same dorm and, share a common room and attend classes in groups. Each House has a Professor over it, yours is Professor Slughorn, mine is Professor Dumbledore…" she explained. "Didn't Riddle explain any of this to you?"

"No. What do you know about that Riddle guy?" asked Ginny.

"He's a bit of a charmer, won't give me the time of day though," McGonagall said. Ginny could see that at this point no one saw Riddle for what he really was. Even McGonagall didn't get that he was a ticking time bomb.

And this was becoming harder, Ginny's mind screamed for her to tell McGonagall, warn her of Myrtle and the Chamber of Secrets, have Tom Riddle Expelled and end this right here. Perhaps that's what the Doctor brought her back for. But a nagging sense of doubt spoke to her in Harry's voice. "You don't know what else will change Ginny, it might just make Riddle more dangerous, now less," it said.

"I meant to ask you, the man you came in here with, he's your uncle?" asked McGonagall.

"Yeah, my…uncle," Ginny said with a nervous laugh. She realized that she didn't know what to call the Doctor. Uncle Doctor was just too stupid for anyone to believe.

McGonagall leaned in close to Ginny. "Really…how old is he? He's pretty fit, probably the only Professor around here one could say that about—though from the look of the old photos I've seen Dumbledore was something in his heyday," she said.

Ginny couldn't believe anyone could go for the Doctor, he was eerily awkward and despite pretending to be human, she got the strange idea he was from another planet. He didn't seem to think he was human and she didn't know what a Time Lord entailed. Though McGonagall was giving her an idea, she smiled. "He's not too old, I can talk to him if you like?" asked Ginny.

"That'd be nice, thanks Ginny," she was backing away now. "See, you're not one of the bad Slytherin's after all."

When she was gone Ginny was just about to turn and leave when the Doctor called after her. "Ginny Potter! There you are, my lovely little niece," she turned back to see him bounding down the hall toward her with a tiny bucket shaped hat on. A few paces behind him was a redheaded woman with a bland expression on her face. "Someone I want you to meet," the Doctor said.

"Is that 'im on your head? Newt's teeth, what the Hell are you wearing now?" Ginny said and the girl behind the Doctor laughed.

The Doctor plucked the hat off and held it out, it was red with a little golden tassel hanging from the top. "This? It's a Fez—they're cool, that's why I wear them," he said.

"You wear them to look like more of a bloody idiot," Ginny said. "Who's this poor girl you've dragged down here? Someone else you kidnapped?" she asked. "I'm sorry, he's obsessed with gingers."

Fiddling with the hem of his coat, the Doctor chuckled as he looked between them. "No. This is Amy Pond. Pond, meet Ginny Potter, or that's what we're calling her these days," the Doctor said as he rubbed his boney hand into the top of Ginny's head.

She scrunched her face under the weight of his hand. "It's nice to meet you are you from the school here?" she asked.

"I'm from the year 2010," Amy said suddenly.

Ginny leaned in. "So he's picked up others?"

"Lots of others," Amy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Are they all gingers?" asked Ginny.

The Doctor stepped in between them. "That's enough with the first meeting," he said holding his hands out to keep them apart.

"Is someone all grumpy face today?" asked Amy feigning sadness, pouting her lip out. She stepped over so that she was next to Ginny. "Don't mind him, he's just upset that we've become fast friends."

"We'll show him, form our own team or something—Team Ginger or something," said Ginny with a smile.

"Glad you're both getting on so well," said the Doctor as he straightened the fez. "You're going to pretending to be sisters Amy Potter and Ginny Potter…"

"Sisters?" Ginny said. "First good news you've given me," she said.

"Amy here is my assistant, she's going to be helping me teach classes," said the Doctor.

"What's Quidditch," asked Amy staring toward a handmade poster on the wall.

Ginny shot her a stern glance. "Don't let anyone else hear you saying that," she said. "It's the biggest game in the wizard world."

"Sounds fun, they're having a tryout today," Amy said.

Ginny brushed between the Doctor and Amy to get nearer to the wall. "Did you bring my broom?" she asked glancing back at the Doctor.

Doctor nodded. "I brought everything you had with you," he said.

With her arms folded, Ginny smiled. "At least I can have somewhat of a normal life while we're here," said Ginny.

The Doctor spoke in a stern, low tone. "It's important that you listen to me, anything that you see out of the ordinary…anything not still there in your time, you need to tell me about," he said holding up the sonic screwdriver. He clicked the buttons on the side and extended the neck up on the tiny tool.

"What's that thing doing?" she asked.

"Picking up temporal signatures, strong ones and getting stronger," said the Doctor.

Amy groaned. "Sounds a bit boring," she said with a yawn. "We need to get ready for class. We do need to actually teach to remain here."

"Amy, I know," she said. "This is just…if whatever we're looking for isn't obtusely obvious we're going to need Ginny's help to find it," the Doctor shut the sonic screwdriver and slipped it back into his coat. "Now, we must be going. You ready Amy?"

She was already following off behind him. "I'll see you around, sis," Amy waved and winked at her.

The Doctor and Amy were gone off down the corner back towards the classrooms. Ginny turned and entered the Great Hall in hopes of catching the tail end of breakfast.

Dumbledore hadn't been at breakfast when she got there. The first time that she Ginny laid eyes on him was in her Transfiguration class. He looked as old as she remembered him in her own time, his beard was shorter which actually seemed to detract from his mystique, but he was still the same old Dumbledore.

As he taught the class, his steely blue eyes kept falling on her. In the back of her head she had this tingling feeling, it was almost as if he was looking through her and able to see her inner most thoughts. Finally she just started to avert her gazes from his when he looked down.

When she had come in she slumped down into a desk right next to Myrtle because there had been nowhere else to sit. It was odd, looking at a flesh and blood Myrtle. She was very pale with dark hair done up in pigtails. Her glasses were the same ones that the ghost-Myrtle wore, but her face was ridden with acne. Ginny felt kind of sorry looking at her, she knew this girl's future. She knew Myrtle wouldn't finish this year alive.

The class went by without anymore incidents and when the room was emptying out, McGonagall passed close to Ginny and smiled at her with a nod. Ginny nodded back, but went after Myrtle as she walked off down the hall. When standing up, Myrtle was lithe and somewhat lanky; Ginny could tell that she was at least a fifth year.

Ginny caught up to her at the corner. "Hello," said Ginny as grabbed Myrtle by the arm.

Myrtle jumped, startled. "Oh, were you talking to me?" her voice was somewhat squeaky.

"Of course," Ginny chuckled as she bent down to look into Myrtle's face. "It looks like you're having a little outbreak, you want me to help you with it?" asked Ginny.

"With what?" asked Myrtle.

Ginny drew her wand and held it up lightly. "Hold still," she said. "Carbuncla Tergo!" Ginny said in a low tone. In a swirl of glittering lights Myrtle's face was cleared of all acne.

She reached up and felt the skin of her face and let out a short gasp. "You…what did you do?" asked Myrtle.

Slipping the wand back into her cloak, Ginny winked. "Just helping out where I see the need," she said. "I'm Ginny Potter by the way."

"I'm Myrtle," she said still feeling her face in utter disbelief. "You're that new Slytherin girl who's the niece of that Professor, aren't you?" Ginny had to admit that the skin being cleared up was a vast improvement over how she looked. Myrtle wasn't a bad looking girl.

"Yeah," Ginny said. "Now I'm wishing that I knew more about you," she giggled. Myrtle talking to Ginny was funny enough already. She didn't really believe it.

"Well, I'm not really from a wizarding family, my parents live in Surrey," said Myrtle. "They were shocked when the owl came to deliver my Hogwarts letter—I'd always been a little strange, but suddenly I was special, you know," Myrtle's dark brown eyes lit up and Ginny thought that for the first time she was seeing the girl truly happy.

The Doctor swept into his class room with a brisk demeanor and closed the door behind him. The class fell silent as he walked to the front of the room and looked over them all with a sly little smile. "Alright then, glad to see I have your attention," he said. He glanced back over his shoulder to where Amy stood near the wall. "My notes, Miss Potter," he said.

Amy stepped forward with a leather bound book and offered it to him. When he went to reach for it, she snatched it away and there was a plethora of small snickers from the desks. Amy plucked the fez from his head. "We're not going to wear hats in the building, makes you look frumpy," she said as she handed him the book.

He snatched it. "Thank you, Potter," said the Doctor. He flipped the book open and glanced at something and then slammed it, placing it down on the desk. "Okay, can anyone tell me what we're here to do today?" he asked.

Several hands shot up, none of them from the section of Slytherin students near the corner of the class. The Doctor paced down the side of the classroom and looked down at a dark haired girl with sparkling green eyes that was staring intently up at him. "Miss Minnie McGonagall," he said with a smile as he pointed to her.

"We're trying to learn how to better co-exist with Muggles and understand their culture and mores," she said in a prim voice.

"Correct-a-mundo!" the Doctor said. "Ten points to Gryffindor—ooo I like saying that—five more points to Gryffindor!" He leaned back to sit on the corner of the wooden desk and he noticed that McGonagall was staring up at him with a beaming smile. "Miss McGonagall is right, this is Muggle Studies and we're essentially here to learn to understand our non-magical neighbors. Now I notice that some of you are less than enthused with this task, why is that?" asked the Doctor.

There was a stirring near the middle of the class as one of the Slytherin students let out a sigh and glanced around at his Housemates. "It just seems we could occupy ourselves with something more productive than studying non-magical people," he said.

The Doctor crossed his legs, wagging his foot off the edge of his knee. He nodded for a moment, thinking to himself and then sprung up from the desk. "That kind of thinking is exactly why this class exists. Honestly you lot that don't want to learn need this more than those that are interested. Muggles lead just as interesting a life as you or I, in fact because of the age you all will live to be—they lead more interesting lives. The punctuality of human existence is what makes it so special!" the Doctor said.

He glanced back at Amy and she was standing against the wall, picking at her nails. Her light brown eyes fixed down on her fingers. When he turned back the Slytherins seemed to be wearing the same expression though much of the rest of the class seemed impressed. Especially Minnie McGonagall.

She raised her hand again. "What are we to call you, sir?" she asked.

"Well, definitely not sir! How about just Professor Pond," he glanced over at Amy and she was staring at him in disbelief. "Professor Harry Pond—that's a funny name, isn't it," he whipped his head back to the front of the class so that his hair flopped down in his face. "Alright, today we're going to be discussing forms of Muggle travel," he said pointing to Amy. She picked up a set of laid out poster boards that had pictures of different forms of travel glued to them.

"Ahem," Amy cleared her throat as she gathered the cards.

"Oh yes, this is my niece—other niece, Amy Potter!" said the Doctor. "She's ginger…as you can see," he added.

Amy rolled her eyes as she brought the cards to the front of the class and waited for the Doctor to continue his lesson.