Transfixed

Ginny's Experiences with Tom Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets

Synopsis: Basically, the events of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are retold from Ginny's POV. Ginny's thoughts are in italics, and writing in the journal will be in different colours.

Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling, I don't own most of the characters that will be used in this FF, and it's based on events from 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. If you have any questions, PM or email me.

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Chapter 1: Dinnertime Daydreams

Ginny Weasley sat at the kitchen table daydreaming and idly pushing her peas around on her plate. She only listened half-heartedly to the conversations her family was having, as her mind kept drifting back to a certain dark-haired boy.

'I'm so glad I'm going to Hogwarts this year. I'll bet I get to spend a lot of time with him, since he's friends with my brother and all. I might even be able to sit with them at meals. I'll have to ask Ron if that would be ok. Hmm…I think I'll let him think that I'm nervous and don't want to sit with someone I don't know. I wonder if our hands would touch if I passed Harry the bread basket…I should make sure to keep my nails looking nice, just in case…Which is better, I wonder, pink or red polish…maybe red…'

She woke up from her daydream when she noticed Percy was complaining to their mother about waking up that morning to find his bed had been moved up onto the roof. Glancing at her mom, Ginny saw her grit her teeth, turn a little in her chair and stare at Ginny's twin brothers who were sitting at the other end of the table. The boys were pretending not to notice her, and shovelled food into their mouths.

'This should be interesting' Ginny thought, glancing back and forth from her mother to Fred and George. None of them were saying anything, and she began to wonder who would speak first.

"Ah-hem." Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat and glared at the boys. Ginny could see them struggling not to laugh, and the effort was making their faces turn a funny purple colour.

"Good potatoes, eh Fred?"

"Definitely the best I've ever had George."

"What do you suppose is in this gravy?"

"My best guess would be a bit of chicken broth."

"Interesting. What do you think Ron?"

Before Ron could say anything, Mrs. Weasley threw her napkin onto the table and stood up, towering over the table, casting a threatening shadow over the culprits.

"Boys! I want an explanation this instant!"

Putting on brave faces, Fred and George turned and faced their mother. 'Let's see how they get out of this one.'

"We couldn't help but do it, Mum. His poor bed was complaining about never getting to go anywhere--"

"--The sad little thing is stuck in Percy's room day after day. It needed to get out for a while--"

"--We felt so bad for it, having to share a room with Percy and all, that we wanted to help it--"

"--So we flew it out the window once Percy was asleep--"

"--You should have seen it Mum…it kept thanking us, and thanking us."

"My bed does not talk!" Percy said indignantly.

"Of course it does," Fred said.

"You just need to know the right spell to make it able to be understood," George added.

"That is no reason to put your brother's bed on the roof! He could have fallen and broken his neck!" Mrs. Weasley said, patting Percy's head protectively and spooning more mashed potatoes onto his plate.

"But Mum, we had to put him on the roof. We would have put him in the garden, but his bed would have been infested with gnomes in ten minutes."

"We couldn't very well let that happen. The bed's been through enough already."

"Percy's bed shouldn't have been moved anywhere!" She exploded, causing the pitcher of pumpkin juice she was summoning to spill onto her plate. Without noticing, she said "I will have no more spells cast on his bed, or any other article of furniture in your brother's room. Do you understand?"

Fred and George nodded, and looked down at the table.

'They must be hiding something.' Ginny thought. 'They wouldn't give in that easily if they weren't. I wonder what it is.'

"Now," her mother was saying, "go up to your room and stay there the rest of the evening."

They stood up and turned to leave just as Percy asked "Shouldn't they have to apologize to me?"

Fred and George paused, looked at each other, then turned to Percy. "We're sorry your bed doesn't like you Percy." They said together, then ran up to their room before their mom could say anything.

Ginny chuckled. 'I would have loved to see Percy's bed being put on the roof. I wish they'd let me in on their jokes once in a while.'

Once she heard the twin's bedroom door close, Mrs. Weasley sat back down in her chair and Ginny thought she heard her muttering "Just one more month, Molly, one more month. Then off to school again."

Percy soon began talking again, and Ginny once again retreated into her thoughts.

'I hope I don't get sorted into a different house than Gryffindor. If I do, I'll never get to see Harry.' A slight blush spread on her cheeks as she thought his name, and she smiled to herself. 'I can't believe I'm going to be going to the same school as Harry Potter! I'll probably be really popular because he's friends with Ron. That's good. I wouldn't want to be unpopular. Being associated with Harry will most likely mean people will know who I am. Once they know who I am, I think they'll like me. Then I'll have lots of friends. Only one more month to wait!'

All of a sudden, a big ball of fluff fell into Ginny's plate. Shocked out of her musings, she looked down to see the family owl Errol sitting on her roast beef, looking confused and covered in potatoes.

"It's about time that ruddy bird got back. I sent him off a week ago." Ron reached across the table and plucked him out of Ginny's plate. "What the heck. Harry didn't even write back!"

Ginny's head snapped up and she stared at Ron, feeling her face go a little red. 'What's that he said about Harry?'

"The poor thing probably wound up dropping your letter or forgetting where it was supposed to go, dear. Harry would have written back if he had gotten your letter." Mrs Weasley said as she took the owl from Ron and put him into the sink to wash the food off of him.

"No Mum. Harry hasn't written once all summer. Hermione hasn't heard from him at all either."

"Nonsense dear, I'm sure he'll write back. He's probably just busy spending time with his family," she said.

"Those people can't be called his family," Ron muttered. "If Percy would just let me borrow Hermes, I could be sure my letters were getting to him, then we'd know why he isn't answering."

Percy looked at Ron like he was asking the most impossible thing in the world. "You can't borrow Hermes. I need him for delivering my own letters."

"Come on Percy, please?" Ron asked.

"No. There's nothing wrong with Errol. He's a perfectly fine bird, and there's no reason to take Hermes when you already have an owl you can use." Percy stood up and walked out of the kitchen, as if to say that there was nothing more to be said on the issue.

"Mum, can't you make Percy loan me Hermes?"

"Oh, Ron dear, Hermes is Percy's owl and I can't make him loan it to you. You'll either have to work something out with your brother or use Errol." Mrs. Weasley dried her hands on her apron and kissed Ron on the forehead. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about sweetie. He might be off on vacation somewhere or busy with his muggle friends. He'll write back soon."

'She sounds like she's trying to convince herself that what she's saying is true,' Ginny thought.

Mrs Weasley left, holding the wet owl under her arm, to go put him into the barn. Ron sat across from Ginny with a crease in his forehead as he thought about what was just said. A couple minutes passed in silence, then Ron glanced up and noticed Ginny was still in the room. They were the only ones left in the kitchen.

"What do you think Ginny?" he asked. "Do you think Harry's just busy?"

She felt her face flush and her stomach flip-flopped.

"I, uh, I think there might be something wrong. Harry seems like he would answer a letter no matter how busy he was."

Ron looked at her strangely for a second, then nodded and left her alone in the room.

A worried look spread over Ginny's face as she watched her brother leave.

'Oh no…does Ron know? I'd better watch what I say about Harry.'

The kitchen was silent as she sat distressing over the thought that Ron might know about her feelings. It wasn't until the silence was broken by a load boom from the twin's room echoed down to the kitchen, followed by loud laughter. Sighing, Ginny stood up and went upstairs to see what was going on.