The Unlikely Marauders - A time travel story

Ginny

Christmas break was only a few days away. James had invited all the Gryffindor second years over to his place, but Remus, Marlene, Lily, Peter, and Alice wanted to see their families, Sirius had to go back to the Black household whether he wanted to or not, Ginny was joining the McKinnon's, and Draco wasn't talking to them. Ginny and Draco had also been invited to stay at Hogwarts, but neither wanted to do that.

"We'll still meet up for a Christmas party, though," Marlene reassured James, "I've heard Mrs. Potter makes the best Christmas Puddings. I wouldn't miss that for the world."

"I'll bring some cupcakes too!" Alice chimed in.

James grinned, "Remus, you coming?"

"If you don't mind." Remus kept his eyes on the bag he was packing, "I wouldn't want to impose on a family dinner."

"Don't be stupid, Rem," James threw a pillow at his head, "You are family."

Remus' eyes nearly popped out of his head, "Really?"

"Hell yeah!" James wrapped an arm around Peter and Sirius's shoulders, "We're the Marauders, the best family ever."

 "Well, I wish I could come to your little family get-together, James," Sirius laughed, "But I've got a prior engagement with the worst family ever."

"Guess we'll just have to kidnap you then," Ginny snapped her suitcase shut. "Think you're small enough to fit in James' trunk?"

Sirius eyed the richly decorated case in question, "I'm not quite that small." He finally decided. "Besides, I don't want to be executed over the summer."

"Suit yourself."

"We'll bring you some cupcakes and porridge when we get back," Alice said.

Sirius grinned, "I'm not sure there will be any leftover if Marlene's going to be there."

"Oh, shut up," Marlene threw a pillow at him but missed and hit James.

"Oi, what did I do?" James threw the pillow back, and two seconds later, the Gryffindor common room was a war zone for a violent pillow fight: Marauders versus everyone else. The Marauders were soundly and quickly defeated and forced to limp back to their dorm, carrying a 'dead' Sirius on their shoulders.

"You're going to love my house," Marlene tossed an arm around Ginny's shoulders as they walked towards the train, "My mom's the best, and my Hufflepuff friend Dorcas is coming over too. She's going to teach us painting, I heard she's outstanding, but she's great at everything so of course. I wonder if she can make those cool magic portraits. Not outside of Hogwarts, of course, because 'no magic outside of Hogwarts!' but still, that would be awesome if she could. Do you think she would paint me? I don't want to ask; that's probably a rude thing to ask an artist..."

Ginny tried to listen.

She really did.

But her mind wandered as Marlene's rant just kept going.

She started looking into the different train compartments, hoping to find somewhere to sit or, better yet, someone to sit with. She loved Marlene, but when the girl started talking, only a powerful sleeping potion or seeing a very hot person could make her stop. 

A group of Hufflepuff third years...some fourth years playing a drinking game with butterbeer...a couple making out...Ginny stopped short, her breath catching in her throat.

Draco, Regulus, and Snape were sitting together in a compartment, listening to a young Lucius Malfoy. Her stomach shrunk in on itself. He was here? Why hadn't she seen him before? Did he know? Did Draco tell him everything? He always used to go off about telling his father everything. Shit. This could ruin everything. He would tell the death eaters, maybe try to recruit Draco, and of course, Malfoy would do whatever his dad told him to, what if they asked how she got there? She couldn't tell literal death eaters that she accidentally brought back young Voldemort...

"Ginny!" 

Marlene punched her in the arm. Hard. But it brought her back to her senses.

"Ow!" Ginny rubbed her arm, "What was that for?"

"You froze suddenly and went white. I tried getting your attention in nicer ways, but nothing was working." Marlene looked her in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Ginny shook her head clear, "Let's just find somewhere to sit down, yeah?"