Disclaimer: I own nothing. I've taken some excerpts and quotes from the HP books- but please don't sue. I am but a poor fanfiction writer…

A Lingering Memory

Prologue: The Chamber

"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed."

Shaking all over, Harry pulled himself up. His head was spinning as though he'd just traveled miles by Floo Powder. Slowly, he gathered together his wand and the Sorting Hat, and, with a huge tug, retrieved the glittering sword from the roof of the basilisk's mouth.

Then came a faint moan from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Harry hurried towards her, she sat up. Her bemused eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Harry, in his blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

"Tom – oh, Tom, no… Harry, what did you do?" she asked accusingly.

Harry's jaw fell. This was not what was supposed to happen. This was the part where Ginny jumped into his arms and rode off into the sunset with him on the back of a dragon. Or something like that…

"Er… save your life?" Harry answered cautiously. The female mind was an unpredictable and volatile thing… he must tread carefully.

"B-but the diary! It's ruined!" Ginny sobbed.

"Well… yeah." Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say.

"Tom's gone, Harry! You- you killed him!" She felt a strange sense of loss at the thought, as if she had lost a part of herself.

Harry bit back a reply. Obviously, Ginny was traumatized. He couldn't hold her responsible for the things she was saying. Taking a deep breath, he said soothingly,

"C'mon, Ginny. Let's get out of here. Ron's waiting…" Pulling her up off the stone floor, Harry half-carried, half-dragged Ginny out of the Chamber.

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Harry urged Ginny forward; they stepped over the motionless coils of the basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. Harry heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.

After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Harry's ears.

"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

He heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned under the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizeable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"

"What happened?" Ginny spat out bitterly, her red, bloodshot eyes glaring at Harry. "Harry murdered him, that's what." Her inexplicable rage was consuming her. She vaguely wondered why she was so angry, but the thought was quickly squished by stronger forces lingering in her mind and she began to cry again.

Ron turned to Harry, clueless, and uttered a heart felt "What the bloody hell?"

Harry shrugged. "She's been like this ever since I found her. We'll talk when we get out of here" Harry whispered behind his hand in Ron's ear, with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever now. They shared uncomfortable glances. "I wish she would stop crying, though…" Ron muttered. Harry nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Where's Lockhart?" asked Harry abruptly, who felt a change in subject was in order. He looked around, but the pathetic excuse of a teacher was nowhere in sight.

"Back there," said Ron, jerking his head up the tunnel towards the pipe. "He's gone mental. The memory charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are."

Sure enough, as they approached the pipe, there sat Gilderoy Lockhart, who was humming placidly to himself.

"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, isn't this? Do you live here?"

"No," Ron said shortly, raising his eyebrows at Harry.

Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.

"Have you thought about how we're going to get back up this?" he said to Ron. Ron shook his head, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, waving his long golden tail feathers.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold…" said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there-"

"Fawkes," Harry interrupted, "isn't an ordinary bird."

And so Harry, Ron, Lockhart, and Ginny flew up the pipe, leaving the Chamber of Secrets behind them…

AN: Originally, this idea was a oneshot… but I'm trying to make this into an actual fic with multiple chapters. I've never tried anything like this, so please be patient… I have a vague idea of where this story is going, so if you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions. I know this was short, and it was a lot like the chapter in CoS, but I'm trying to set the groundwork for later. The next chapter is already (mostly) written!

Here's a teaser, just because I'm so nice (or mean, depends on how you look at it):

A loud boom was heard behind the door, followed by a string of curses. The noises got louder and louder, until the pale face of Severus Snape came into view.

Immediately, as if a reflex, his face turned into a snarl.

"I have no idea what you are doing here, at my private rooms, past curfew. Nor do I care. Fifty points from Griff-"

"Lovely to see you, too, Severus." she said boldly. "I have a favor to ask of you."

Sooo, what do you think?

Please R & R! Constructive criticism would be much appreciated! If you need an extra incentive, perhaps you can be persuaded by poetry…

There once was a reader named Sue

She read a fic but didn't review

Her stories were flamed, it drove her insane,

So review or else this will be you!

Love, limonade