A/N: Hello there! And welcome to the first chapter of my new story! And now, I know I already got a story up and I want to make it clear right now that I won't abandon Harry Potter: Hidden Prodigy. Or my pokemon fic, if any of you are reading that. This fic will not receive as fast updates as the other two, unless I am stuck in a complete writers block on both those. So don't go say that I am trying to chew off more than I can swallow, because I know a lot of writers who are ten times worse than me XD
Now, this will be a lot different from anything I have ever written. It is a lot darker and it will start straight into the chaos. If any of you have read any of my other fics, then beware that this will be a lot different. And I mean A LOT! This will be an AU story and will feature some OCs later on.
Now that we got that funny stuff out of the way, I guess I'll just let you read the chapter and tell me what you think. If you think it is worth keep working on, please tell me so in a review.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Those rights belong to JK Rowling.
Chapter One: The Chamber of Secrets
His hurried steps and unsteady breathing echoed all across the chamber as he ran through the room towards the unconcious girl on the ground and the now almost complete image of a sixteen year old boy that was towering over her form with a wicked grin plastered across his face. There was not much time left now and they both knew it. Harry Potter felt his heart beat wildly in his chest as he reached the two humanoid forms and fell to his knees in front of the red haired girl, dropping the sword he held in his hand in the process. This couldn't be how it all ended. After all they had done, he still couldn't save her. He had failed. He had failed Hermione, who had left behind so many clues and payed the ultimate price to give him this chance. He had failed Ron, whom he had promised he would bring back his sister alive. And most of all, he had failed Ginny whom he was unable to save.
He reached down and touched her white hand. It was cold. Even colder than it had been when he had first entered the chamber. She was still alive, but just barely. If she was dead, he knew Riddle wouldn't still just be standing over her, waiting for the process to be complete. He would have used Harry's wand and finished what the basilisk started. He heard Riddle chuckle at his panicked expression, but he tried to shut it out. He had to think. There had to be something he could do. Somehow, he just had to save Ginny! He couldn't just sit by and watch as one of his friends, how awkward she might be, die because he couldn't do anything.
"Yeah Potter. Soon, the moment will be here!" Riddle mocked with a sickly sweet voice. "In mere moments, Ginny Weasley will be dead, and I will seize to be a memory!"
Feelings his hands shake, Harry grabbed ahold of one of Ginny's hands. He felt his breathing tremble, along with his entire body. If Riddle could come to life by absorbing Ginny's life force, then maybe Harry could save Ginny by giving up his own? Clasping his hands around her's and praying to whatever god there was in this world that this would work, Harry tried to will himself to give up his life. He had to save Ginny, no matter what. If he could not do that, even after all the help he had received from his friends, he knew he would never be able to live with himself anyway. If paying with his own life was the price, then he would gladly do so if it saved Ginny from dying.
And then it happened. The gods must have heard his prayer, because a faint, white glow appeared where his own hands touched Ginny's. As the glow intensified, he felt the warmth of his body leave him and slowly but steadily make its way down his arms and into his palms, where it was somehow being transfered to Ginny's hand. As the realization that it was actually working came upon Harry, he felt a small glimmer of hope settle in his chest. Everything was not lost yet!
Behind him, Riddle's eyes widened at this to him foreign phenomenon. He had never seen or read anything life this before. Then, his confusion was intensified when he felt a sudden increase in the life energy that was being absorbed into him. It took him a few moments to register what was happening and put the dots together, but when he did, he smiled sweetly at the struggling boy that had his back turned to him.
"Really Potter? You're giving up your own life to try and save this pathetic excuse for a human being?"
Harry just shook his head and tried to tune out the taunts. If he broke this connection between himself and Ginny, he didn't know if she would make it. The only way to be completely sure that she would not die when Riddle absorbed her last life energy was to give her all of his, ensuring that the energy she lost was replaced. He felt himself struggling as his strenght left him and felt his head becoming dizzy, but he didn't stop.
"To think that the boy who supposedly 'defeated' the strongest wizard to ever walk the earth would give up his life for such a silly, little girl." Riddle chuckeld, watching Harry struggle to keep pushing his own life energy into Ginny. "How noble of you, Potter. How... pointless you make life look."
Once again, Harry tried to tune out Riddle's mocking taunts, but he felt like soon he wouldn't need to. His head was starting to spin and his gaze was becoming hazy, despite him still having his glasses on. He was close now. After giving up so much energy during the battle with the basilisk, Harry had been exhausted even before he had started to give his energy to Ginny and he didn't have much to give. He just hoped it would be enough to save her.
"Life is a wonderful thing, Potter. To throw it away like you're doing right now makes me sick to my stomach. But at least you're saving me the trouble of killing you myself." Riddle kept on mocking Harry.
Feeling the last of his energy leave him, Harry fell over and felt his eyes close from the feeling of complete exhaution that had overcome him. Had he done it? Would Ginny be alright? He tried to move his head to look at her, desperate for any sign that he had not failed to save her. But he could not even move an eyebrow. His body was completely depleted of energy and the last thing that ran through his head as he felt himself succumb to the welcoming darkness was that at least he would see his parents again.
-Z-Z-Z-
Riddle drew in a shaky breath, filled with anticipation as he felt himself return to the world of the living. He could breathe. He could feel. He felt himself shake in excitement as he bent his fingers and felt real flesh and blood move when he did it. Looking at his own hand, he felt his lips being drawn out into a twisted grin. He had done it! He was really back! Nothing could kill him! He had become truly immortal!
His maniacally cackle echoed throughout the chamber as he took his first step as a real, living being again, after 50 years of confinement. Now, all he needed to do was to find his original, so they could merge and become even more powerful and the world would be at his feet! He could hardly believe it. With a young, teenage body and knowledge and experience gathered over almost 60 years of magical studies, there was no way anyone would be able to stop him! Not even Dumbledore!
He was just about to start walking down the chamber and leave when he heard something, or rather someone, moving at his feet. Looking down, he found Ginny Weasley had began to move.
'How could she still be alive? Does this mean that Potter's little trick actually worked?' he thought as Ginny slowly opened her eyes.
When she spotted the boy standing over her, Ginny's eyes widened and she gave off a terryfied croak. She tried to slither as far away as she could from him, but she was still weak and barely made it half a feet away before she fell to the ground again, shaking.
"N-no Tom! I w-won't let you do it!" she cried.
Hearing her declaration, Riddle couldn't help but smile at her. A sick, wicked smile that caused Ginny to shiver and her breathing to become unstable with fear. Slowly, Riddle reached out with a finger and pointed it towards the limp form that was lying at his feet, which Ginny obviously had not seen up until this point.
"I'm afraid it's too late now, Ginny. Harry Potter... is DEAD!" he shouted the last word and his voice echoed off the walls and the ceiling.
Ginny's eyes widened in shock, but upon seeing the body at Riddle's feet, that shock was quickly replaced with sorrow and despair. Riddle felt a surge of exctiement upon being able to cause pain like this again. The defiant look that he had been given by Potter had really gotten on his nerves.
"NO!" Ginny cried out in despair and desperately tried to slither over to Harry's limp form.
Riddle laughed as he saw her desperately try to reach Harry, to try and find anything to deny his statement. But it was futile. She was too weak and could barely move. To be honest, he was surprised she was even alive and able to move at all. The ritual should have completely drained her and the only thing he could think of that would enable her to stay alive would be Harry's attempt to transfer his own life energy to her. It was unheard of to be able to do something like that and it unnerved Riddle greatly that Harry, while dead now, had possessed such powers. He would have to do some research on that subject.
"You can't save him. He's dead. He gave his life to save yours. Perhaps your feelings for him weren't one-sided after all." Riddle couldn't help but mock the helpless girl. After all the boring and irritating conversations he had been forced to have with her to gain her trust, he felt it wasn't more than right that he got to torment her back a little now.
However, Ginny didn't give any indication of having heard him. She was too lost in her own despair to even hear his taunts. Seeing that he wouldn't get a reaction out of her, Riddle just turned to leave. He didn't need to waste his power on her. She was too weak to make it out of the chamber and the best way to cause her pain would be to let her keep living with the knowledge that she had killed the person she believed herself to love. With that thought in mind, Riddle left the distressed Ginny and made his way through the chamber. It was an exilarating feeling to be able to walk with his own body again. He had never felt truly alive when he possessed Ginny. He had been in control of a living body, yes, but he hadn't been able to actually feel anything.
Making his way through the chamber's opening, he noticed that something had caused the cave ceiling to crumble. There were rocks everywhere and the exit appeared to have been blocked by it. What could have happened here to cause something like this? The ceiling had held strong for thousands of years, so why had it caved in now?
"Harry? Is that you?"
The voice startled Riddle slightly, but he quickly regained his composure. So Harry had brought friends with him down here? Then they must have been the ones to cause the cave-in. Grinning wickedly, Riddle lifted Potter's old wand and aimed it towards the pile of rocks that blocked his path.
"Confringo!" he shouted, loud and clear, relishing in the feeling of magic flowing through him once more as he performed his first, real spell in 50 years.
A red beam of light shot out from the tip of the wand and hit the pile of rocks, causing it to explode. Over the sound of the echoing explosion, a surprised yelp could be heard from the other side. Riddle cackled in glee from being able to use his magic at full power again, something he had been unable to do while possessing Ginny. He briefly covered his face with the sleeve of his right arm to keep himself from inhaling the dust from the explosion, then stepped forward. He stopped briefly when he noticed a man lying face down on the ground in front of him. If he wasn't completely mistaken, this was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher of the year, Professor Lockhart. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Could Dumbledore really not find anyone more fitting for the job than this clown? Well, he appeared to be dead now so it really didn't matter of course. By the looks of it, he had been hit badly by the rocks when Riddle cast his Explosion Curse, if the strangely bent limbs were any indication.
"W-who are you?! Where did you come from?!"
Looking up from the man on the ground, Riddle found a red haired boy sitting a few feet away. He had apparently jumped backwards to avoid being hit by the rocks when the explosion had occured. Pointless, yes, but at least he seemed to be a little bit more intelligent than the sorry excuse for a teacher that was lying over here. Looking closer at the boy's face and his hair, Riddle was reminded of the girl he had been possessing for the last year. If he wasn't completely out of his mind, this was one of her brothers, Ron, whom she had always complained was such a git. He grinned coldly towards the boy who stumbled to his feet and pointed a broken wand towards him. Did he honestly think he could do anything against Riddle with a broken wand?
Taking a deep breath and relishing the sensation of his magic building up inside him in preparation for the powerful curse, Riddle aimed his wand at Ron, whose eyes widened in shock, and shouted the words he had been longing to say again after all these years:
"Avada Kedavra!"
The cave was lit up by a spooky green light as Ronald Weasley was hit by the Killing Curse. The power of the curse grabbed him and sent him flying backwards against the wall. The thump when he hit it echoed throughout the cave, like Riddle's laughter had done through the chamber. But Ron didn't feel the impact of the wall against his body. He was dead long before his body hit the wall.
-Z-Z-Z-
The first thing that came to him as Harry began to wake up, was the sound of someone crying. Was he dead? Who would be crying over his death? Slowly but steadily, he felt sensation coming back to his limbs and body. What had happened? He remembered desperately trying to save Ginny from dying, but then it had all just gotten black. Had he managed? Had it worked? Was Ginny ok? He had to know. Groaning slightly from the effort, he opened his eyes. The slimy, green stone that was the ceiling of the Chamber of Secrets met his gaze. As his senses returned, he felt that something heavy was lying on his chest and found that he could not move because of it. Forcing his head up to be able to see what was keeping him down, he was greeted by a sea of long, red hair and a scent of wild flowers. A red-haired figure was leaning onto his chest, crying. His vision was still a little blurry, but he recognized that mane of red hair, even with a bad vision.
"Ginny?" His voice sounded weak and it was barely more than a whipser.
Hearing her name being called, Ginny looked up from his chest to find a pair of emerald green eyes staring back at her. She drew a shaky breath, her body still shaking from silent sobs, not daring to believe what she was seeing.
"H-Harry?" she whispered with unsteady voice.
Upon her answer, Harry couldn't help but smile, thought it was a weak one. But he had done it! Ginny was alive! He didn't know how he had done it, but right now it didn't matter! Ginny wasn't dead, neither was he! He would be able to keep his promise and bring Ginny home alive! Despite his weak state, the relief that filled Harry gave him strenght enough to lift his arms and pull Ginny down to him for a hug. He needed to feel that she really was alive and that this was not just an illusion caused by his weak state. But she wasn't. He could feel her heart beating against his chest as he held her close.
Ginny gasped when Harry pulled her into a hug. She had not expected that from him.
"B-but how? T-Tom said I k-killed you!" she stammered, unable to make sense of what was happening.
But Harry just shook his head, still holding her close. Soon, realization kicked in and Ginny realized that Harry really was alive. He was not dead, like she had thought, but alive and was currently hugging her for dear life. Hesistantly, she began to return the hug, but eventually managed to compose herself enough to completely snake her arms around him.
"You didn't kill me, Ginny. I'm alive and so are you. Oh man, I can't believe it really worked!" Harry whispered into her ear.
Ginny's eyes widened and she felt a shiver run down her spine as she felt Harry's breath tickle her ear. But she didn't pull away. Instead, she hugged him closer and Harry did the same when he felt her inital caution disappear. After all that had happened, they both needed this. They needed to feel that there was someone who was still there for them, someone who cared for them. Despite his weak embrace, Ginny felt herself calm down in Harry's arms. Somehow, he made her feel safe.
Harry felt relieved that he had really managed to save her. When Riddle had told him that there were only a few moments until Ginny would be dead, he had felt like the world had come crashing down around him. After Hermione had died, he had felt like he had failed as a person. Not because he was supposed to stop it or anything, but because he felt that maybe she wouldn't have died if she hadn't been friends with him. Sure, she would still be a muggleborn but aside from her, everyone else had only been petrified. Hermione had been the only one to die at the hands of Slytherin's Monster. That had driven him and Ron to do everything in their power to find out about the Chamber, but once again it had been Hermione who came through for them, in the form of a piece of parchment that held all the information they needed. Even when dead, she had come through for them...
Armed with the knowledge of what was awaiting inside the chamber and its means of transportation, Harry had managed to figure out where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was hidden, just in time for the message to reach them that Ginny had been taken down into the Chamber. There wasn't words to describe how that had felt. Once more, someone who meant something to him had been taken and without thinking twice, Harry and Ron had gone down into the chamber to find her. Now afterwards, it was easy to see that their actions had been reckless and foolish. They should have just told McGonagall or someone who could help them. But the desperation to save Ginny had overshadowed everything else.
But now, she was ok. They had managed to save her. She was alive and that made Harry feel like he had accomplished something. Feeling his strenght slowly making its way back to him, Harry carefully broke the hug and looked up into Ginny's tearstained face. He smiled sadly at her and lifted a hand to brush the tears away. She flinched slightly at his touch, but didn't pull away, like she usually did when he touched her. She didn't even squeak.
"It's ok, Ginny. Everything will be alright now. It's just a memory."
Or was it? He suddenly remembered the being that had caused all this trouble. Riddle! Where was he? He had been right here when Harry lost conciousness. Had he been destroyed? No, who would have done that? Ginny certainly didn't seem like she currently had the strenght to destroy him and Ron... RON!
A cold fear gripped Harry's chest and he abruptly stood up, causing Ginny to gasp in surprise.
"H-Harry? What's wrong?" Harry's sudden change in attitude and demanor made Ginny uncomfortable. Was something the matter, after all?
"Ginny, was Riddle here when you woke up? Where did he go?" Harry asked frantically, dreading the answer.
Ginny's eyes widened in fear at the mention of the name. She frantically looked over her shoulder, half expecting him to still be standing there, but there was nothing. When had he disappeared? She hadn't noticed when he left...
"H-he was here w-when I woke up. He m-must have left while I w-was crying over you." she silently cursed her own voice for stuttering at a time like this. Now that Harry mentioned it, she found it strange that Riddle had just left her here.
Hearing that Riddle had been here and left, Harry cursed under his breath. There was only one way out of the Chamber and that way would lead Riddle straight towards...
"We need to get out of here quickly! Ron's in danger!" he exclaimed and extended his hand towards Ginny.
When Harry mentioned her brother's name, Ginny felt her heart freezing over. Ron was down here? Of course he would come with Harry! Why hadn't she seen that before? Fearing for her brother's life if he ran into Riddle, Ginny took Harry's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. The two didn't say anything but took off down the chamber towards the exit. Or well, it was a struggle since they were both quite weak after their ordeal, but Harry seemed to have gotten back at least a decent amount of energy.
When they reached the door, they found it closed. So that was why Riddle had just left Ginny, Harry thought. He had planned to lock her up in here so that even if she had the strenght to try and leave, she wouldn't be able to, because Ginny wasn't a natural Parselmouth. He obviously had thought Harry to be dead, so he didn't count on the possibility that Harry would wake up and be able to open the door for her.
"Open!" Harry said, hearing the word come out of his mouth in the form of a hoarse, reptilian hiss.
He felt Ginny's shiver at the hiss through their still connected hands and tried to give her a comforting squeaze. Feeling some of the tention leave her, Harry turned towards the red-haired girl and gave her an apologetic look.
"Sorry about that. I imagine you never wanted to hear Parseltongue ever again." he said, realizing that perhaps she still had some memories of the times when Riddle had possessed her. Riddle had told him that later on, Ginny had become aware of what she was doing and tried to resist him and he had even mentioned her fighting back and crying over being forced down into the chamber this time, showing that she had still been somewhat in control.
Ginny shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. She drew a deep, shivering breath and swallowed to try and regain her composure.
"It's ok. It's just... I-I didn't think I would still be able to understand you." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid to admit it.
Harry, who had been on his way to start walking again, stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to look at her. She could still understand Parseltongue? How could that be? He had assumed that Ginny would lose that ability now that she was free of Riddle's influence, as it was because of him she could understand it in the first place. But then again, did it make sense that she would just forget an entire language just because she lost Riddle's soul? Shouldn't that knowledge be inprinted in her mind, once it was in there? Perhaps, if she hadn't been aware of what she was doing and completely controlled by Riddle then it would be like that because the language never actually touched her own mind, but she had been at least aware a few of the times when she had been possessed and thus must have been aware that she was speaking Parseltongue. But still, it wouldn't have been her who did it... but at the same time it had been... how did that even work?
"I...see." Harry said, deciding that was a thought for another time. Right now, they needed to make sure Ron was ok.
Without wasting any more time, Harry climbed through the door, whereafter he helped Ginny get through. Her hand was trembling slightly, telling him that despite the brave facade she tried to put up, she was still terryfied. Not that he could blame her for it, but he took note of it and told himself to keep an extra eye on her if she would start faltering.
Not even bothering to close the door, Harry led Ginny through the cave that led up to the point where the pile of rocks should have been visible. Keyword being should... it wasn't there. Harry felt like someone had turned his insides out. If the rock pile was gone, then that had to mean that Riddle had been here, and if Riddle had been here then that would mean...
"No!" he cried out and let go of Ginny's hand, rushing forward in desperate search of his best friend.
As soon as he reached the part where the rocks had been lying, he found something. Gilderoy Lockhart was lying face down on the dirty cave floor. But Harry didn't stop there. He had to find Ron! Where was he?
While Harry was frantically looking for his best friend, Ginny slowly caught up to him. She stopped when she saw Lockhart's body. Her lower lip quivered as she tried to fight back the tears. This was her fault. If she had just stayed away from the diary in the first place, none of this would have happened. None of all those innocent kids would have been petrified and Hermione would still be alive. Professor Lockhart wouldn't have been killed and Ron... Ron...
"NOOOO!" Harry's agonized scream echoed through the cave and made Ginny flinch and jump as if the ground had burned her.
Looking over in the direction where the scream had come from, Ginny felt her eyes tear up at the sight before her. There, over by the wall of the cave, Harry had fallen to his knees, leaning over the unmistakable form of a body.
Tears were streaming down Harry's face in steady floods as he held Ron's head in his hands, desperately triyng to get a life sign out of him. But there was no mistaking it. The wide-open, unseeing eyes... the coldness of the body when he touched it... it was like holding Hermione for the last time all over again. Harry felt his hands shake as he finally took it all in. He had lost his best friend. First he lost his parents, then he lost Hagrid when Fudge threw him in prison, then he lost Hermione to the Basilisk and now he lost Ron...
"Why?!" he cried as he looked up at the ceiling. "Why did this have to happen?! Why do I keep losing people?!"
Harry didn't know how long he just sat there, crying over Ron's corpse. He had no one left now. He had lost his parents, he had lost the first person to be nice to him and he had lost his two best and only real friends. Was this how his life would continue? Was it his destiny to keep losing the ones close to him?
Over by her spot, Ginny felt her knees give in and she fell to the ground with a thump. This was her fault. Because of her foolishness, Harry had lost his two best friends and she had lost her own brother. Their blood was on her hands. She was the reason they were dead. She had practically killed her own brother! The mere thought of it made Ginny start shaking. Her breathing became unstable and increased in pace at an alarming rate. She didn't care. She just wanted it all to end. It was all too much for her. The pain, the guilt, the sorrow, the agony...
And then, it all stopped. Without warning, she felt someone tug at her robes and shot up, screaming in panic. But then she saw who it was. Harry had made his way over to her while she was drowning in her own emotions. His eyes were red and swollen and tears stains were clearly visible on his dirty cheeks.
"Ginny..." he whispered. "Please, don't leave me. You're the closest thing I have to a friend now."
His voice was so weak, it made Ginny shiver just hearing it. She looked back up at him with her own tearstained face before he pulled her close into a hug, desperate for comfort. She didn't resist, but she didn't embrace him back the same way. How could she? She didn't deserve to call herself his friend!
"H-how can you regard me as your f-friend? This is all my fault!" she whimpered.
Harry, who had burrowed his face in Ginny's shoulder, raised it slightly to shake it in denial.
"No it's not. You were tricked. Voldemort has tricked a lot of older and wiser people over the years, so it wasn't your fault." he murmured into her ear.
Hearing Harry's declaration, Ginny's eyes shot wide open and she temporarily forgot her own misery as the indication of what Harry had said sunk in.
"V-Voldemort? H-how does Voldemort f-fit into all of t-this?" she gasped in shock, but in her mind, she had already gotten an idea of how Voldemort fit into this mess. She wasn't stupid, far from in fact, but this time, she desperately hoped she was wrong.
"Tom Riddle grew up to become Lord Voldemort. He abandonned his old name permanently when he left school. Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort'." Harry said, his voice stabilizing slightly. He had to calm himself. If he broke now, then who would take care of Ginny? He had to make sure that she at least made it out of here, had to make sure that all of this and his friends' sacrifices hadn't been for nothing.
Upon getting her worst fear confirmed, Ginny gave off a terrified squeak. She had been possessed by Voldemort! The most dangerous dark wizard of all time had been inside of her head! He had been manipulating her, controlling her and forced her to do his bidding! She had opened herself up to the man who had terrorized the wizarding world for generations before Harry had stopped him! As the realization of this sunk in, Ginny began to tremble. How much worse could this get? Every time she thought she had reached the bottom, something new came along and made it even worse than it was before!
Seeing Ginny's terrified expression, Harry silently cursed his own stupidity. Why did he have to tell her that now? He should have realized that she already was vulnerable as it was, without knowing that it had been Voldemort who had controlled her like a puppet. Swallowing down his own need for comfort, Harry forced himself to calm down and opened his arms to pull her into another hug, resting her head against his shoulder. Right now, she needed his comfort more than he needed hers.
This time, Ginny's didn't hesitate. She broke down crying and threw her arms around Harry, burrying her face in his shoulder and soaking his robe with tears. Harry swallowed as he gently rubber her over the back. He had to remain calm. Don't break Harry... Don't break!
"It wasn't your fault, Ginny. It wasn't your fault." was all he could get out.
He didn't know how long they stayed like that, but to him it didn't matter. Holding Ginny, feeling her cry against his shoulder, somehow made him feel a little better. Knowing that she was still alive, that he had at least managed to save her, made him at least feel that this all hadn't been for nothing. Knowing that helped him take in Ron's death. At least a little.
When Ginny finally had managed to steady her breathing again, she broke the hug and looked up at Harry. Seeing the broken look in her eyes made Harry's heart crack. She looked so lost and vulnerable.
"W-what's going to h-happen to me n-now?" she whimpered. Even if they showed someone the diary, it didn't work anymore, since Riddle had left it. How would they be able to prove that Ginny hadn't done what she did out of her own free will?
Harry looked down at her with a rising lump in his throat. He too had taken note of that the diary didn't work the way it used to without Riddle inside it. Now, it was just a normal diary, like any other book in the school. That would not be enough to prove that Ginny had been possessed, perhaps not even Professor Dumbledore would be able to see that.
"I honestly don't know. But we will get through this, somehow. I won't let anything happen to you, Ginny. I promise." Harry said, trying to convince himself that it was true. What could he do if they really did blame Ginny for all this?
But regardless, his words appeared to have a soothing effect on Ginny, because she drew in a shaky breath before she leaned back into his embrace. But this time, Harry noted, she was not shaking as much as she had been before.
"I don't deserve this, Harry." she whispered, without stuttering for once.
Harry sighed. He had no idea how they would get out of this, but he knew that no matter what he had to protect Ginny. He had made a promise to Ron to get her back out of here alive and he would fulfill that promise. No matter what their differences and constant complaints about each other, Harry knew that Ron had treassured his younger sister dearly. The least he could do to honor his best friend would be to watch over his sister, and make sure she would pull through. Not to mention that now that both Ron and Hermione were... passed on... Ginny was the closest thing he had to a real friend himself.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Harry said and pulled himself and Ginny to their feet.
Ginny didn't say anything, but nodded her assent. Slowly, they began making their way towards the exit. Ginny held her gaze fixed on Harry, trying to find support and strenght in his determined face, while Harry held his gaze stiffly faced straight forward. Neither of them wanted to look over at the bodies that lay on the ground. They walked in silence, their hands interwined, until they reached the dead end where Harry, Ron and Lockhart had arrived through the pipe slide. But now, that they wanted to go in the opposite direction, how would they manage?
"Now what?" Harry cursed under his breath. He and Ron had been so focused on getting to Ginny that they had failed to think of a way to get back out, once they had her. Now, they were stuck with no way of getting back up the slide.
Looking at her surroundings, Ginny felt something tug at her memory. She had been here before, many times during the past year and she had always gotten out. Slowly, a surpressed and very blurry memory began to emerge. She saw herself standing in the same spot, but this time she was alone. Or well, physically she was alone. Somewhere deep inside her, another prescence was with her and that was what was currently controlling her body. She shivered as she saw herself raise walk over to one of the walls and place her hand against it, touching a small carving in it that resembled a snake.
In the present, Ginny had let go of Harry's hand and followed her memory over to the spot where she remembered the carving to be. Harry watched her with surprise, not having expected her to take command like that. As Ginny's fingers slowly travelled along the wall, they finally found the carving and she drew a deep breath.
"Open!" she said, but unlike in her memory, the words came out in english instead of the hoarse hissing sound that her possessed self had manage to produce.
Realizing what she was trying to do, Harry's eyes widened. She remembered how to get out of here? Then, Riddle's voice came floating back to him again. '...the longer time went, Ginny became suspicious of her diary and began to realize what was happening to her. She began to fight my control over her, to the point that I couldn't completely surpress her memory afterwards. That's when I realized that I couldn't drag this out any longer...' So Ginny had been able to retain some of her memory from when she was being controlled?
Seeing her try to open what he thought had to be a secret passageway out, Harry made his way over to her. Failing again to speak parseltongue, Ginny clutched the carving in frustration. Why wasn't it working? She had understood parseltongue when Harry spoke it, so why couldn't she speak it now?
"Ginny, step aside. Let me try it." Harry said, hoping that he would be able to speak parseltongue himself. Ever since he got down here, he had managed to speak it more naturally even without a snake being close by.
Ginny reluctantly did as she was told. Harry walked up to the wall and put his hand on the spot where Ginny had held her hand just a few moments ago. There! A carving of some kind! He couldn't see it clearly, but considering this was Slytherin they were talking about, he had a pretty good guess of what had been carved into the wall. Closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, he tried to imagine a snake.
"Open!" he hissed, but the words that slipped out of him was not english. Instead, he could make out the hoarse, hissing tone of parseltongue.
Behind him, Ginny shivered uncomfortably at hearing the tone of his voice. She could still understand him but she could also still make out the reptilian hiss that was the speech of a snake.
However, they both got other things to think about because as soon as the speech had left Harry's lips, a low rumble could be heard and the wall in front of them began to change. The bricks used to build it began to change place, similar to how the archway to Diagon Alley did, and soon they stood in front of a staircase. Both of them were staring at it in shock, even Ginny who still vaguely remembered it from the few times she had been half concious when Riddle had forced her down here. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and began to ascend the stairs. Ginny followed without a word. As soon as they had both began to ascend the stairs, the archway closed behind them, engulfing them in darkness.
"Ginny, do you have your wand with you?" Harry asked, hoping that she had since Riddle had stolen his.
He got his answer, when he felt Ginny's hand shift slightly in his as she reached inside her robes and a second later, he heard a whispered: "Lumos!"
The staircase lit up from the light that appeared at the tip of Ginny's wand. Giving her hand a slight squeaze to show his appreciation, Harry began to lead them further up the stairs. Considering how long the slide had been, Harry wasn't really surprised that the staircase took time to ascend. He frequently cast glances over his shoulder, making sure Ginny was ok. She appeared to be a little stronger now, compared to how she had been when he woke up. Her eyes were still blurry and far from the normal, chocolate brown and lively eyes he had learnt to know her by during their summer together at The Burrow, but now at least he could see some life behind them.
They walked in silence until they reached another dead end. This time however, they didn't need to use a trick to figure out what to do. The end was circular, the same size as the pipe the had entered through. In the wall, Harry found a line of rungs attached. They were a little rusty, but appeared to be ok and considering that Ginny had been using them the entire school year, he felt confident enough that they would hold up. Sending Ginny up first, he then followed and after just a few minutes of climbing, they found themselves coming out of the same pipe they had entered through, back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry frowned, as he didn't remember seeing any rungs in the pipe when they entered, but figured that he shouldn't bother trying to figure that one out. They were in a magical castle, after all.
"Oh, you survived." came a disappointed voice from somewhere above them.
Both Harry and Ginny jumped at the voice and looked up to see Myrtle hovering above her booth. Remembering that she had told him before they entered that if he died down there, he was welcome to share her toilet, Harry felt guilt well up inside him once again. He hadn't taken her seriously back then but now, when one of them actaully had died down there, it all felt so much more real. When he entered, he hadn't even considered the possibility that one of them might not make it out again. He had even forced Professor Lockhart to come along against his will and for what? Because he was angry at the man for being a fraud. He disliked Lockhart, some might even say he hated him, but that didn't mean he wanted him to die.
Swallowing and trying to tune out those thoughts, Harry took Ginny's hand again and led her out of the bathroom. He didn't know where they should go. Who would they speak to? Who would most likely believe their story? Dumbledore wasn't in the castle anymore, thanks to Lucius Malfoy and while most of the teachers didn't have any reason not to believe them, they didn't have any reason to believe them either. Thinking carefully, Harry began to steer them towards Professor McGonagall's office. She may be strict, but she was fair and would be able to look at this in an objective light, unlike someone like Snape.
Ginny took note of where they were going and began to twist nervously. She still felt like it was all her fault and now that they were going to a Professor's office, she felt like she would be punished for it. When they reached the office of the Deputy Headmistress, Harry stopped outside the door and turned to look at her.
"It will be ok, Ginny. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will understand." he tried to soothe her worries.
And with that, he opened the door. But what awaited on the other side was not what he had expected. As soon as the door was slightly open, voice came out of the office and it was not a voice Harry was pleased to hear.
"I assure you, Mr Weasley, that Draco's retelling of what he saw was very accurate and trustable." came the sneery voice of Lucius Malfoy.
"I refuse to believe this rubbish! What proof do you have that it wasn't the other way around, Malfoy?! That it wasn't your son who got caught writing a message on the wall by my daughter?!" came a furious scream that Harry recognized as Mr Weasley's.
Hearing her father's voice and quickly understanding what was going on inside the room, Ginny twitched and her insides grew cold. She began trembling and made a desperate attempt to pull away from Harry, but he held a firm grip on her hand and she couldn't get loose. It was too late to run away now. If she did, it would only serve to strenghten the suspiscions placed against her.
"Mr Weasley, please calm down! I have spoken to Draco myself at several occasions and he is a fine boy. He wouldn't be lying about something like this." came a less familiar voice, but Harry quickly identified it as the voice of Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.
Hearing the Minister of Magic claim that Draco was a "fine boy", Harry felt his insides boil with anger. How did that make his claim the truth? Of course, he didn't know if Draco really had seen Ginny write the message on the wall, which was possibility since she really had done that, but it still didn't mean that the minister had the right to decide what was right or wrong from his personal views. Gritting his teeth in anger, Harry pushed the door open and dragged Ginny inside.
The scene in front of him seemed to freeze as he and Ginny entered the office. Over by the fire, Mrs Weasley was slumped down in an armchair with her face hidden in her hands, obviously having been crying. Over her, Mr Weasley was standing with a fierce expression on his face, glaring at the blonde man who stood opposite to him. Lucius Malfoy was standing a few feet away from them, with his cold eyes locked onto Mr Weasley and at his side, Draco stood. Over by the master's desk, Professor McGonagall was standing with a very strained expression on her face, obviously displeased with the situation that had escalated in her office. Professor Dumbledore was standing behind his Deputy Headmistress, looking straight at Harry, as if he had been awaiting his arrival. And a few feet away from him, the round form of Cornelius Fudge was standing, flanked by two taller figures whom Harry guessed were some kind of bodyguards.
Mr Weasley had just opened his mouth to come with a retort to the minister's claim when Harry entered. For a few moments, no one said anything and all eyes turned to look at Harry and Ginny, with varrying degrees of shock. Then, scream came from over by the fireplace.
"Ginny!"
Not a second later, Mrs Weasley slammed into Ginny, engulfing her daugther in a hug. Harry took a step away to not be dragged along and kept his eyes focused on Lucius Malfoy with a suspicious look in his eyes. Professor McGonagall swallowed and drew a deep breath, bringing her hand up to clutch her chest over her heart. Draco stared at Harry in shock, not having expected his nemesis to show up now of all times. Harry tuned out Mrs Weasley's cries of happiness over seeing Ginny alive and took a step forward.
"What's going on in here?" he asked. From what he had heard through the door, Lucius Malfoy was accusing Ginny of opening the chamber and that could be a problem. As slimy as he was, the Malfoy family held a great deal of influence in the wizarding world.
Dumbledore stepped out from behind Professor McGonagall's desk and gave Harry a reassuring smile.
"Nothing of importance, Harry. We were just... discussing who had opened the Chamber of Secrets." he said.
Despite feeling grateful that Dumbledore tried to not put any suspicions on Ginny, by toning down the nature of the conversation, Harry felt like he still wasn't safe yet. Behind him, Ginny had broken down into her mum's arms and was crying against her shoulder, but she didn't say anything.
"There's no discussion here! We know that it was the Weasley girl! We have witnesses who claims to have seen her write her own little 'farewell message' on the wall!" Cornelius Fudge exclaimed, clearly irritated that Dumbledore tried to tone down the seriousness of the situation.
At this, Mr Weasley looked up from his daughter in his wife's arms and glared at the minister. Harry swallowed as he felt panic slowly start to rise in his chest. The minsiter looked like he wouldn't budge on this one. Dumbledore fixed Fudge with a very strict look, that caused the man to take a step backwards.
"I'm afraid that no matter what your position within the ministry, Cornelius, that you can't make arrests like this without either sufficent evidence or if the culprit in question admits to the crimes, neither of which you have in this case." Dumbledore said.
The man in question cowered under Dumbledore's gaze and took yet another step back, almost backing into his own bodyguards. Lucius Malfoy however, did no such thing and instead took a step forward.
"Oh, but we do have sufficent evidence, Dumbledore. Draco here have been kind enough to give us his recollection of what happened and I got his memory right here." he said as he pulled out a small vial, which contained a strange, light blue liquid looking essence of some kind.
Seeing the vial, Harry felt his panic rise further. He didn't know that you could extract memories or how it worked, but he was pretty sure that if you could extract memories you would be able to show them to someone else. And if you could do that and those memories really showed Ginny writing her 'farewell message', then she was through.
"Memories can be tampered with." Dumbledore answered simply.
"Be that as it may, they can still serve as enough evidence to allow us to investigate it further." Fudge said as he stepped up, obviously feeling more confident now that Lucius had presented a, in his mind, valid evidence. "I will therefore administer a truth serum on the girl so that we may know the truth. Dawlish! Shacklebolt! Take the girl in."
Those words triggered reactions from all the occupants of the room. Arthur Weasley was on his feet in a second with a scream of rage at the actions that had been taken against his daughter. Within a second he had his wand out and aimed towards the one of the two men who had began moving towards Ginny and Mrs Weasley. Dumbledore had also acted by pulling out his wand and so had McGonagall. Seeing that opposition had arose, Lucius and Draco both had their wands in their hands and aimed at Mr Weasley.
In that moment, it felt like time slowed down for Harry. It was as if he was watching it all play out in slow motion. A cold feeling spread through his chest as he saw the two bodyguards advance towards Ginny and her parents. Ginny was the closest thing had to a friend now... and the Weasleys as a whole were the closest thing he had to family. His mind raced with thoughts as he tried to come up with a way to stop what was going on. He had to somehow make Fudge and Malfoy stop this madness. His first thought was to use his wand, but that had been stolen by Riddle down in the Chamber. His next thought was the Sword of Gryffindor, but then he realized that he had left it back in the chamber when his worry for Ron had gotten the better of him. Unarmed, he had no chance to stand up against these men, he wouldn't even be a match for Draco. But he had to save Ginny!
"THEY'RE FAKE!" he shouted over the commotion that had broken out in the room.
His voice somehow reached everyone and they all froze in place. Arthur had his wand still pointed at the man who had advanced towards his family, both Malfoys had theirs pulled back over their heads, half way through a curse. Dumbledore had waved his wand to put up a shield charm between the two offending sides.
"What did you say, Potter?" Lucius Malfoy spat at him.
Harry bit his lip to try and calm himself. Now he had really put himself on the spot. If he couldn't say why the memories had to be false now...
"I said... the memories are false!" Harry said while staring Lucius Malfoy in the eye, trying not to flinch. He had to divert their attention away from Ginny! But how? There was of course one way, but there had to be another way!
"And how would you know?!" Draco snarled at him.
Harry swallowed. Time was running out. No... time had run out! There was no time left, either he said it now or Ginny would be taken away from him!
"I would know all about that." Harry began and took a deep breath to try and steady himself. He sincerely wished this wouldn't be for nothing. Swallowing hard, he uttered the words that he had tried to deny for almost the entire school year. "Because I am the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets."
A/N: So how was that? A bit different from what I usually write and read. This will be a challenge to write, I'm not usually this sadistic XD Anyway, if you read this far then thanks for that and please tell me what you think in a review. If you want to flame me, then either save your breath or at least be decent enough to do it using an account. That was all for now, thanks. MrOakzzz out!