- - - Ginny - - -

Even twenty years in the past, Hogwarts still remains Hogwarts. The corridors seem the same. Most of the paintings and portraits haven't been moved or altered from what I can tell. The suits of armor continue to stand and be a steady presence. Honestly, Hogwarts is a soothing constant after the upheaval of seeing my family so utterly different that I know and love.

Dumbledore had given us rooms to stay in on the third floor, departing with the words 'Please take the night to recuperate. We'll speak more in the morning.' As if a night, a singular night, will solve anything or make either of our brains - mostly Hermione's, as her mind always seems to be in constant motion - wrap around the thought that we are in the past. The past!

Though, for my part, I didn't stay awake longer than I had to. I found a bed, flopped onto it, and passed out. If I had thought that we would be magiced back to our time, I thought wrong.

When I first woke up, I stared at the ceiling, uncomprehending of why I saw stone instead of wood. And then my brain decided to catch up and remind me: 'guess what, remember that dream of you and Hermione going to the past? Yeah, not a dream. Welcome to your new loony world of nothing making sense!'

"Miss Weasley?"

I jolt in my seat and smile at the Headmaster, who sits in one of the three squishy, purple armchairs he had conjured for us all in his office. I glance down at the forgotten tea on the table between us. "Yes, Headmaster?" Dumbledore looks the same from my time. White beard, always twinkling blue eyes - how does he do it? A spell? A charm? - and overly colorful robes that clash horrendously.

"How much do you want to tell your family?"

Nothing. Except I can't say that because Dad knows we are from the future, I'm his - future - daughter, and that we have fought in a battle. I glance at the portraits and blink. They all have a faint, silver sheen in front of them. None of them seem to hear our conversation.

"That depends."

"On what, Miss Weasley?"

"How are we going to explain our presence here?"

"If you are amiable in letting your family know of your arrival, I believe we can make a suitable story for yourself and Miss Granger."

I look over at Hermione, who shrugs at me. Thank you, Hermione, very noncommittal. Though if we had arrived in the past in her parents home I would have followed her lead so… I can't really be upset with her. And I'm not. I'm just… Merlin, we're in the past . "Honestly, Headmaster, I only want them to know the bare minimum if possible. The less they know, the safer they are. If we just explain that we're from the future…" I trail off and shrug myself as I look back at Dumbledore. "I don't want them to get hurt."

"I am sure they will be just fine as long as we have a convincing backstory. And if Brian is willing, as is Septimus and Cedrella, then all should be fine."

"But… Uncle Brian isn't married."

"I will have to speak with him and see if he is willing."

I nod. "Alright."

"Then I will contact your uncle in the next few days once the excitement of Percy's birth has somewhat diminished. Now, onto other matters." I turn my attention to the phoenix as I listen. "How familiar are you with time travel?"

Besides being in the past? Hermione jumps into the intricacies of time travel, but it only relates to going back a few hours where there was a double of oneself. I took the time to stare around the office at the trinkets, the baubles, the paintings, the phoenix, the weirdly ornate desks and bookshelves. Some things look familiar, but in different places than what I remember from my visit in December.

"Then I'm sure you're aware that you two can't change anything."

Oh hell no. "That isn't going to be possible." I turn back to the conversation and smile at the Headmaster - I would like to raise an eyebrow, but I've never gotten the knack for it. "As Hermione said, time travel is extremely finicky and dangerous if someone goes back even an hour. We traveled twenty years to the past. There is absolutely no way for us to know what we should do, what to say or not to say. I have never seen anyone in my family that looks like me and the only brunette in my family is Mama Ella." Besides, if we can change our future for the better even by a little bit, I will honestly say I'm happy for it. I do not want Voldemort wandering around again. Give Little Me a chance for a good first year at Hogwarts.

"She's right, Headmaster." Thank you, Hermione! "I'm sure you're aware that our existence in this timeline has already changed things. Even if we were to die right now, our lives have impacted the people we've already met."

Another thought hits me. "And we have no plans of dying or leaving the magical world." If the headmaster really doesn't want us changing anything, that seems to be the easiest way to keep us from 'doing any harm'. I refuse and I'm pretty sure Hermione will agree with me. Either way, Dumbleore is not going to send us away.

Dumbledore stares at the both of us and I stare firmly at his nose - thank you Bill for all those Occlumency lessons, the man does not need to be reading any of my thoughts, no thank you. I should probably see if Hermione knows Occlumency. Probably important with us not wanting anyone else learning we're from the future. Voldemort and his followers would love to get their hands on us if they learned that tidbit. "I see." Does he really?

Hermione reaches over and squeezes my hand and I smile at her before her attention returns to Dumbledore. "As we're already changing things, I would like to share what we know of Voldemort with you. He supposedly dies but comes back as a shade and then eventually has his own body again."

"That is quite disconcerting," Dumbledore murmurs. "Do you have any idea of how he came back?"

"He never really left." I shudder and wrap my arms around myself. "He got his body back my third year, Hermione's fourth, but he would have been back my first because of what I did."

"You didn't know, Gin."

"But I did." I turn to Hermione, blindly reaching for a cup of tea to wrap my hands around. "At least to some small extent. He would have come back, and it would have been my fault. I knew that the diary was no good. Why else would I have thrown the thing away in an unused bathroom if I didn't have some inkling? It's my fault for getting it back and giving him the opportunity he needed."

"Perhaps start from the beginning and we'll go from there." Right. I forgot about the old man. Situational awareness, Ginny, it's a thing.

"The beginning should be 31st October 1981 then." And with that Hermione began the story. Once she finishes her second year, I take over. I can still smell the metallic scent of blood. The texture of the crumpled, crusty feathers I found in my clothes. I can remember scrubbing my skin raw to get the blood off me. I can remember how confused I had been, wondering if I was going barmy at the empty spaces in my memory. Hours that I couldn't remember where I had gone, where I was, or what I had done. I admit, "I remember the last time, though."

"What?!" Hermione gasps, grabbing my hand again. "But you said you couldn't remember anything once you… laid… down…" Hermione is bloody brilliant, her mind catching and remembering nuances that everyone else forgets.

I smile, but I know it's a fragile, weak thing. I pat Hermione's hand. "It was different that time… He knew I wasn't going to be able to get control again so he made me watch. He even talked to me… mocking me for falling for something so deplorable as friendship. He told me how his name was an anagram, taunting people for their stupidity for not figuring out who he was." How I was stupid for trusting a book. How I didn't deserve to be a pure-blood. How the only purpose of my life, the only defining thing I would ever amount to, was giving him the opportunity to come back. "I watched him open the chamber. Myrtle never forgave me. We went down and he wouldn't stop talking. I finally…" How do I explain the sensation of existing, but not? How I felt what happened, but thought it was a dream? "… floated for a while. I sat down and I could make out a form beside me. He even turned my head so I could watch him appear. Looking exactly like the boy in the memories he showed me, but everything was… fuzzy. And then there was… nothing until I woke up and Harry was there."

"My dear, if you're amenable, will you share this memory with me?"

Merlin's saggy balls, I really need to stop forgetting the old man is here. "Sure? Why?"

"You know how to open the chamber. And if you know how to open the chamber, we can remove the basilisk."

"Oh… of course. I'll help in whatever way I can."

Hermione takes over in the retelling again. I provide tidbits when I can, but otherwise leave it to Hermione. Once she finishes, Dumbledore hums and refills our three empty tea cups. "I have much to think on. Thank you for trusting me with all of this. Now, let's speak on lighter subjects. You'll be here for the next few days. If you'll provide me with your measurements, we can get you some clothes that fit."

- - - Hermione - - -

Ginny's smile is anything but sweet when she says, "You can repeat your fifth year. We'll be in the same classes together."

"Tempting, but no."

"Think of the mayhem we can cause!" Ginny's eyes sparkle with mischief. "It could be so much fun."

"You're incorrigible," I laugh and sigh with a smile. "I've never been one to cause mischief… on purpose."

"You mean pranks," Ginny clarifies.

"I do," I agree. I have seen them, I have heard of them, I know the twins are particularly brilliant at them, but I've never participated in pranks. I have even tried stopping the twins when I was a prefect. "Oh…"

"Oh?"

"I won't be a prefect again this year." I shrug it off. "Ah, well. More time to study, I suppose."

"Or more time for fun?"

Ginny and I are on our way back from the headmaster's office once more. We have been talking about core subjects as Dumbledore assesses our placement for next school year. It isn't as if I can be officially tested for my O.W.L.s, so the three of us have been discussing each class and demonstrating the practicals.

Dumbledore is duly impressed when Ginny showed him her patronus, but she simply could not sway him into allowing her to skip a year and join me in sixth. Not even for her Defense class. Oh how she tried.

Once we're safely back in our temporary quarters, we can relax. We are staying in the Head dorms. It's surprisingly secluded from the rest of the dorms. A small common area with two separate bedrooms with their own ensuite. If we had stayed in our own timeline, perhaps I'd have been made Head Girl…

Nope, no. Not going to think along those lines, it is too detrimental to my sanity.

Ginny flops onto the couch in front of the fireplace which is not currently lit. I sit in a nearby arm chair and ask, "How does one go about pranking?"

Laughing, Ginny explains the motives behind pranks, the ideas one must develop, the process in order to set them up, and how to properly execute them. I just stare utterly flummoxed. I had no idea how involved the process is and now that I'm learning I'm not sure I can carry this off… at least not without help.

"I'm not sure I'm the pranking sort," I admit.

"Let's get you to relax enough to have some fun and we can go from there."

"Really?" Can I really relax and not work so hard at passing classes? I have nothing to prove to these people any longer. I know who I am. I know what I am capable of. So yes… I can relax. I smile at Ginny. "Okay…" I frown and ask, "Can you teach me?"

"Yes!" Ginny practically leaps from her seat and dances over to me. Oh my, what have I gotten myself into? Ginny pulls me from my chair and begins dancing around the room. Oh bloody hell, why not? I throw my arms up and dance with her. I feel utterly ridiculous, but then… that is the point, isn't it?

We laugh until we cry and tumble onto the sofa in a heap. I am desperately trying to catch my breath and realize that this situation we find ourselves in is utterly frightening and we can either hide and shelter or laugh and take it by the horns. We are Gryffindors. We do not hide in fear.

Bullocks. This is going to be an interesting year.

A/N-Elipsa: I completely forgot that Ginny remembered everything before she laid down on the floor in the chamber. That just... blew my mind 'cause I was like: 'no she didn't', but yes... yes she did. Whoops. And it totally makes sense. Voldy is cruel and in my head forcing the girl to watch him set up the trap, watch as Harry comes to die, and make her realize that it was all her fault is something that he would definitely do.