By the time afternoon classes rolled around, the whole school carried on as if the attack in Hogsmeade never happened. Despite having witnessed it first hand, it was somehow decided that Ginny and Sirius would no longer discuss it.
Half way through Professor Binns monotone lecture on the giant wars there was a knock on the classroom door that got the classroom's attention. Professor Binns however droned on, as if he hadn't even noticed the noise and kept on talking.
"Sir, I think there's someone at the door," A Hufflepuff girl spoke up from the front of the class.
It took a few tries, before Professor Binns blinked, looking at the class as if he just registered that they were here and floated over to the door. There was a light conversation before he came back blinking at the class.
"Ginevra Dunham?" he asked, as if expecting no one to answer.
"Yes?" Ginny responded hesitantly as all eyes turned to her.
"The headmaster would like to see you," he added, before he went back to talking about the giant wars, as if he was never interrupted.
Ginny snuck a worried glace at Sirius before she picked up her bag and headed out of the class and to Dumbledore's office.
"Ginevra," Dumbledore greeted when she walked in and took a seat in the familiar armchair.
Ginny was unsure why she was here, the only logical answer would be that he saw her last night, which made no sense since she never saw him. That and the fact that Sirius was not called to his office as well.
"I take it you heard about the unfortunate events that took place in Hogsmeade last night?" Dumbledore asked, folding his hands on his desk, and surveyed her over his half-moon spectacles.
"It was in the prophet," Ginny responded, discreetly wiping her hands on her robes, as to smear the sweat off.
"You hadn't anticipated this attack?" Dumbledore questioned.
"I was surprised actually; Tom Riddle's first organized attack wasn't until February 14, 1979. When I saw him last night I-" Ginny closed her mouth and met Dumbledore's gaze.
Dumbledore's blue eyes almost seemed to sparkle as he chuckled quietly.
"I mean-"
"It is quite alright Ginevra, I knew you and Mr. Black were in Hogsmeade last night, just as a number of my students were," Dumbledore responded calmly.
"How did you-"
"How did I know? Ginevra, I am the headmaster, and I will be the first to admit that I do not know nearly half of the secrets this castle holds, but I do know where my students are."
"We didn't know that there-"
Dumbledore slowly raised a hand, cutting Ginny off, and to her surprise, he didn't look angry, his expression was rather calm.
"No matter, you both managed to make it back safely, and I have no need to speak with Mr. Black."
Ginny let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"It appears we do have a more pressing matter to discuss," Dumbledore continued gravely, as he stood up from his chair and walked over to the window. His hands were folded behind his back as he gazed out on the courtyard calmly.
"When you first arrived Ginevra, I asked you not to tell me the nature of your time travel, and instead told you I trusted that you had a good reason."
No amount of smearing would stop the sweat that gathered on her palms as Dumbledore spoke.
"Wizards are curious by nature; it is often a virtue that drives us mad. When you arrived there was a ripple in magic, do you know what causes a ripple?"
Ginny shook her head, and then realized he couldn't see her and hoarsely whispered no.
"It is often a large amount of dark magic mixing with good,"
Ginny suddenly thought of Harry- or rather Lily, the night she sacrificed herself for her son. Surely, Voldemort's dark magic rebounding off the love Lily had for protecting Harry produced a ripple. Maybe that's what people felt when they told stories of the end of the war. Many people said they just knew Voldemort was gone, that they felt it, maybe that was a ripple.
"There are cases when a prophecy is made, that lead to a ripple," Dumbledore continued, "the most uncommon though Ginevra is a ripple in time," Dumbledore said, turning to walk back towards his desk.
"A ripple in time? You mean me traveling here, to the past?" Ginny asked anxiously.
"There's been two cases of such events, one unfortunately the wizard didn't survive, travelling through time is dangerous."
"How did he die?" Ginny asked alarmed.
"He wasn't destined to travel."
"Destined, what do you mean destined?" Ginny responded, panic sinking in.
"The reason I didn't ask you what your purpose was Ginevra was because I knew you didn't know, not yet anyways. If you weren't destined to be here Ginevra you wouldn't have survived."
Ginny let his words sink in, she was destined to be here? She wanted to laugh, and throw her chair at him all at the same time. Ginny didn't believe in destiny, nothing that had ever happened to her could have been planned out.
"What does this have to do with Tom Riddle's attack?" Ginny asked calmly, distracting herself from the idea of destiny, with a problem she could tackle; Tom Riddle.
"It means he felt your ripple too."
"Felt my ripple?" Ginny asked wearily.
All this talk of destiny, and time ripples made Ginny's head spin.
"All that power, your future's been written Ginevra, it was just waiting for you to arrive."
"I don't understand, what does that have to do with Tom?" Ginny asked, growing frustrated.
"Tom Riddle, was an exemplary student, the top of his class, one of the brightest to have walked the halls during my time here. Unfortunately, Ginevra, Tom Riddle is a very powerful wizard, who as we both know has already begun to dabble in the dark arts. It is only natural that that a wizard with his soul spread out, and dark magic coursing through his veins would feel the shift in power."
Ginny said nothing as she let his words replay in her head. If Tom felt her 'ripple' did that mean he knew she was from the future? Could that be the connection he feels with her? Maybe the reason she got Tom Riddle's diary in the future had to do with his past with her. Maybe the reason Ginny was haunted by Tom, the reason she nearly died in the Chamber, was that she traveled to the past now. Could her whole future have been written before she knew who she was, was she really just a pawn in a future that had a plan without her.
"Does he know it's me?" Ginny asked quietly, unsure.
"He's fascinated with you, although I doubt he knows," Dumbledore responded trying to ease her worry.
The words Tom spoke the day she met him in Hogsmeade came back to her
'I enjoy your company Ginevra, there's something electric about you that I cannot place'
Panic began to swell inside Ginny, and suddenly it didn't matter that Dumbledore didn't want to know the nature of her arrival. Initially he was worried about changing the future, but Ginny had already done that, although it was never her intention. For the sake of her future and her own life, she needed to avoid changing anything else.
"The truth is Professor, I already knew Tom Riddle," Ginny sighed, realizing that she was in over her head when she agreed to help Dumbledore in finding the horcruxes. "In fact, I met him when I was eleven. Tom Riddle trapped himself in a diary…"
Ginny respected Dumbledore's wish in not wanting to know about the future, so she didn't give away anything that could sway his decisions, leading to a change in the future. She only told him about her tainted past with Tom Riddle, in the hopes that in aiding him to stop Voldemort she would be able to save herself, and the future.
"And you say the diary was destroyed?" Dumbledore asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, Harry- err the boy who saved me made sure of that," Ginny responded.
Dumbledore nodded, but said nothing at Ginny's answer, which left her feeling more confused.
"Ginevra, I believe that, that diary was a horcrux," Dumbledore spoke.
"A horcrux, well what's that mean then?" Ginny asked taken aback.
"A horcrux is dark magic, it's something only a dangerous and floolish wizard would do - all in the name of becoming immortal," Dumbledore answered gravely.
"Becoming immortal, that's possible?" Ginny asked intrigued.
Dumbledore did not answer her right away, he sat very still in his chair, his face a blank mask, as his eyes gazed over her.
"Not in the way you're imagining it," he responded slowly, watching her.
"I-"
"When he was sixteen, I had my suspicions that young Mr. Riddle had taken too much of an interest with the dark art. He had also taken to
one book, Secrets of the Darkest Art," Dumbledore continued.
"One book and an interest in the dark arts makes you think he is immortal?" Ginny responded doubtfully.
"Ginevra creating a horcrux is to rip parts of your soul from your body and store them away, it is the single worst thing a witch or wizard can do."
Tom Riddle/He Who Must Not be Name/Voldemort was already the single worst wizard that Ginny had ever know, and if Dumbledore thought that he did the single worst thing a wizard could possibly do, who was she to argue.
"What does this mean for us?" Ginny asked.
"It means that he cannot be stopped, as long as her has horcux's he has the upper hand."
"Horcruxes, as in more than one?" Ginny asked.
"Yes,"
"Ok so we what, destroy the other one now, and in a handful of years you wait for Harry to destroy the other?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple Miss Weasley."
"Why not?"
"From what information I have gathered, I believe that he has created four," Dumbledore responded lightly, as if they were discussing the weather.
"Sir, if I help you with this it would change the future would it not?" Ginny asked.
The mention of Harry, gave Ginny an idea. Harry was like family to the Weasley's, he had saved her life he was Ron's best friend, he was Lily and James's son. Maybe by stopping Voldemort now, it meant that Harry could grow up with both his parents in the future.
"In a way that wouldn't affect the course that was already laid out. Destroying these horcruxes now, while Tom Riddle is unaware would ensure that when the time was right the task of killing him would be easy."
"But if the future is already changed Professor-"
"Ginevra, I am unaware what hardships you face in the future-"
"Everyone I know here will die!" Ginny cried frustrated. "My friends here will be dead from the war, my friends in the future will grow up without parents," by now Ginny was crying.
How could Dumbledore expect her to help win a war without saving her friends. The people Ginny loved meant more to her than anything, and Dumbledore didn't seem to understand that she couldn't be here and not try to make a difference.
"I'm afraid Ginevra that some things happen for a reason."
"The reason being that I sat back and did nothing," Ginny challenged.
"Ginevra i regret to tell you that by doing something- that by intentionally altering another timeline can destroy the future all together," his voice was softer now, as if he was talking to a homesick first year.
"What if they don't have a future?" Ginny whispered, thinking of the loss the first wizarding war would bring.
"Not having a future isn't the same as a destroyed one," Dumbledore countered.
"But this- what you are asking me to do- that changes the future,"
"Not directly, it changes nothing, it's like moving a lamp your mother kept on the left side of the room to the right, because the change is minor it goes unaware, it sits in the background and only presents itself as a problem when the time comes."
"That makes no sense,"
"Ginevra, aiding with this task ensure that there is a future, this is no longer about your friends and family, this is about the entire wizarding world, the muggle one too,"