Harry Potter was cursing his luck - detentions were never his favourite thing to do, still he at least was happy it was at least not with Snape, but Filch, the caretaker. The new headmaster clearly had more important things to do than entertain a troublemaker.
Harry actually did not mind detentions with the castle cleaner - it was usually cleaning, he had years of experience doing that while he lived with his relatives at Privet drive - he still had to clean occasionally during summer holidays.
Even Filch was quite satisfied by the boy's cleaning skills - hence Potter was given a task to clean the caretakers office. It was a bit of a challenging task in fact as it was in fact full of confiscated dangerous items.
Incorrectly handling an innocently looking pen could cause it to spew tons of ink to the boy's face - which was hardly the worst that had happened to him.
Harry in fact finished organising the current drawer and was about to begin another one. As soon as he opened the thing he ducked and waited for the impact - but nothing happened. He shrugged thinking that trinkets charmed by hitting the head of the nearest human if not touched for too long was probably not as common as he thought it was… Still he was now more careful - going over just three drawers ingrained him with more caution.
Looking inside his eyes widened - there was a familiar black book inside - well half of it. The same one he had seen then Ginny extracted a memory for him - just so that he knew what he needed to search a week or so ago.
After a few cautious checks for any charms and other dangers he picked up the book and opened a random page. He was about to grab one of the pens from the drawer, but his hand stopped in mid-air. Not wanting to risk touching another pen that was charmed to keep poking him to the side he just grabbed one from his pocket. Yes he always brought his own notebook with him - it made the hassle of remembering all the homeworks, quidditch practice sessions and other events that much easier.
Not pondering for much longer, he just put down a simple greeting - *hello?*
It did not take long for words to appear back - *hello*
The boy smiled - perhaps it was Ginny's friend - still he had to confirm - *Are you Tom by any chance?*
It took a bit longer for reply to appear - perhaps whoever is inside is thinking over his options?
*Yes! How do you know that? Who are you?"
Harry grinned - it was somewhat entertaining, chatting like this - it would be nice if owls would be replaced by magic chat parchments like this eventually…
*I am just a boy, looking to find my girlfriend's lost book, yet how can I be sure you are that Tom she is looking for?*
Surprisingly the reply came faster this time
*Is that you Harry Potter? Congratulations to both you and Ginny, you make a great pair!*
The boy nodded - it was probably the correct book - if not he was sure Ginny could confirm for sure, he closed the book and put it in his pocket.
Then he started rummaging in his other pocket - not long after another book appeared, which the boy tore in half at roughly the same spot the book he had was torn. It was a notebook created by Ginny that looked almost the same as Tom's book - she even charmed the pages with disappearing ink charm. Initially they thought to use it to switch Astorias book, yet after their failure of even locating it, the book just laid there forgotten in Harry's pocket.
The boy grinned - he had some exciting news for his girlfriend today! Then he looked at the clock and sighted - he still had to clean for two more hours today.
As soon as the girl picked up and hugged the book, I could already see through her eyes - now this is fast progress, not like that Slytherin girl hiding her emotions like a turtle.
It did not take long for us to exchange greetings again and chat for hours. Frankly I hardly had much to say - I was just stuck alone for more than a year… even unconscious for part of it. Ginny on the other hand had a lot of stories to tell - how teachers teamed up to kill the basilisk, Sirius Black escape, Marauder's story, Harry's short time turner journey….
I just read with a smile on my face - I was finally reunited with her… my friend Ginny.
Pondering over my revival rituals I shared most of them with Ginny - all but one, the one based on the revival of the original dark lord, it was the worst one, yet I had to admit it had the highest chance of success, especially given the peculiarity of my existence as a whole.
Still, just in case I should at least hint at it - otherwise then the time comes she might not listen to me… Even if possession time rises as fast as last year it was not enough - Voldemort revived himself somewhere afternoon - shortly after Harry grabbed the cup.
I wondered, perhaps I could claim to have received a prophecy? A divine revelation?
I did not want to lie too much - it did not feel fair cheating my friend, perhaps half-truths would suffice, I could just refer to my past life as if it was a dream of sorts…
*Ginny, there's something you should know. During the time away I had as if a… vision, a glimpse of the future, like a bad dream, a nightmare*
*Perhaps it really was a dream? Want to tell me what that was about?*
*I would rather not - yet I fear it might be a sort of vision - one about the future. In case Harry does enter Triwizard Cup against all odds, I will tell you then*
Tom could see Ginny's eyes widening with disbelief - she hastily wrote back
*Only wizards of age can participate this time, Harry should be fine*
*Perhaps, let us hope it really was just a bad dream*
Albus Dumbledore was tired - he was a bit too old for teaching, yet he wanted to remain in school - it was all for Harry and the prophecies…
Tiredly he finished grading the last parchment of homework - he was sad to see students making such simple mistakes - has Severus been teaching them properly even? How come they don't even know what happens when mixing some first year ingredients in a cauldron? He sighed, perhaps he was too lenient of a headmaster… At least with Snape taking his headmaster mantle Horacius Slughorn was back at teaching potions… He had to admit, while Horacius skills were subpar to Severus… the students he taught were clearly of better quality.
Storing the stash of graded homework in the cupboard he habitually glanced at the page, then furrowed his brows - it had some actual words this time!
*future. In case Harry does enter Triwizard Cup against all odds, I *
Alchemy professor could confirm it was hardly a proper sentence - more like a part of it, yet the content was worrying him - could Harry somehow get over his age ward? No he would have felt the ward breaking, unless someone of age crossed it…
Albus slapped his head - of course! What if he simply asks someone to throw his name in? The goblet itself had no age limitation…
He rushed to the cup in haste - champion drawings were tomorrow, perhaps he still had time! Alas his detection spell showed harry as an entry… The only entry of forth school. Headmaster sighted - things just got more complicated, the only saving grace to this headache was that it would be Severius prombled to explaining two Hogwarts champions to the other schools.
He sighed and slowly walked back to his office - he would need to keep close watch on the tournament now… Harry Potter must survive until Voldemort breathes his last… If only he figured out how exactly the dark lord kept clinging to life after his body perished…
As midnight was approaching Harry was sitting with Ginny in the room of requirements.
"So that.. Book will possess you, and you're okay with it?"
Ginny sighed - "How many times do I have to tell you - it's not the first time this has happened, I can still control my body if I focus, besides it won't be long now before we can let Tom have his own body - in fact we are about to try a ritual for it today"
"We? I don't know a thing about rituals!"
"I meant me and Tom"
"It's like you like him more than me" - Harry's voice sounded a bit hurt.
Ginny pecked him on the lips - "You know you're the most important for me now" - she laid back on the bed, then glanced at the clock - it was just a few ticks away from midnight.
Soon Ginny collapsed - as if asleep.
"Ginny!" - Harry was shaking her in a bit of panic - 'she told she would stay awake damnit!, not fall asleep!' - his disturbance seemingly woke the girl from the slumber.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Rubbing her eyes the girl looked at the source of noise - "Potter? Harry Potter? What are you doing here?" - she looked around, seemingly not recognising the environment around her - "I see, this must be a dream, I have never been to such a place before… Still, why is Potter here?"
Harry was struck with horror as his girlfriend was just not the same.
"Ginny, Tom, what happened?"
The girl looked around, confused by the names, yet seeing no one else in the room she glanced back at the boy, confusion evident on her face - "I do not know of any Tom, that's clearly a name of muggle origins. As for Ginny, perhaps you mean Ginny Weasley? I don't think she's here, Potter, just me and you"
Harry's face paled - he knew that one way or another something got terribly wrong, he thought of a mirror and the room provided one just beside the girl.
Ginny glanced at the mirror, then moved her arm as if fascinated - "How interesting, my reflection really does look like Ginny!" - Then she touched her face, her hair and as if realisation struck her, moved a lock of hair in front of her eyes, then pinched herself and fainted.
Harry sighted and picked up the diary laying by the side - he assumed Astoria Greengrass was now somehow possessing Ginny - he assumed his girlfriend and her troublesome book friend was in the girl's body now, perhaps they could tell him what was happening?
Opening a random page he quickly wrote - *Tom! What happened?*, yet no reply came.
He decided to wait and see what happens, once in a while asking the book the same question as before - from Ginny's tales he knew the so-called 'possession' did not last that long - a couple of hours at most, and shorter upon first contact with the book. And surely, 7 minutes after midnight, a reply finally came.
*I am sorry Harry, I think a problem occurred, somehow Ginny and I took possession of Astoria. I never knew this would be the case, but alas she should be back now I think.*
Harry's relief was short-lived as as soon as 'GInny' regained her consciousness she looked at him in a different gaze than he was used to - "I overheard some things while I lost consciousness for a bit, this is not a dream is it, Potter?"
Harry face-palmed - It seems one way or another Ginny and Astoria remained swapped.