Harry walked aimlessly around the grounds of Hogwarts, lost in his thoughts. This whole week had been stressful; firstly, some of his classmates had been petrified by an unknown creature lurking in the Chamber of Secrets. Secondly, he gets accused of opening said Chamber of secrets by his prejudiced classmates for speaking in parseltongue an apparently "very dark language" as it was a gift Salazaar Slytherin himself had possessed. Thirdly, his best friend Hermione gets petrified as well and Hagrid gets accused and arrested for opening the Chamber of Secrets, and then his best friend's sister had been lured to the Chamber of Secrets to await her death.
Fortunately Harry and Ron managed to save Ginny before death could fully claim her, it now became apparent that she had been possessed by a diary that contained the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a Lord Voldemort.
Harry sighed and kicked a rock, bad things usually happened to him ever since he found out he was a wizard. One would think that he had enough of the drama, that he couldn't handle anymore of the evil that came crawling his way, but no, Harry had to face another type of evil that took the form of his aunt and uncle. If Harry had to choose between them, and the troubles of the wizarding world, then Harry would gladly choose the latter.
A sob tore Harry out of his thoughts, and he realised that he was in the far side of the grounds of Hogwarts. He hadn't even realised that he had walked this far, being absorbed in your thoughts could do that to you.
Harry turned in the direction that the sob originated from and his eyes immediately took in the bright red hair perched on top of the person's hair. Harry's first thought was that it was his best friend Ron, but then he realised that this person's form was far too petit to be Ron, so it must be Ginny, but why was she crying?
Another sob broke was Ginny's lips and Harry decided to comfort her, he cautiously walked towards her. Harry had never really talked to Ginny, even though he did save her life, so it was only natural to feel slightly awkward.
Harry silently sat beside the weeping girl to ensure that he didn't startle her, the effect he desired was entirely opposite, however, as Ginny's head shot up from where it was resting against her knees.
"Wh-What are you doing here?" Ginny stuttered, she was obviously still shy around Harry.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay, I heard you crying." Harry replied, concerned.
Ginny immediately wiped the tears that were streaked upon here face away, "I'm fine." Her voice wavered as she attempted to keep it firm. Harry, however, wasn't convinced.
"You're obviously not alright though Ginny, your face is bright red, your voice is wobbly and it's obvious you've been crying. You can tell me what's wrong, I promise I won't tell your brothers if that's what you're concerned about." Harry hesitated to speak again for a second, "is it Riddle?"
The effect was immediate. Ginny's face morphed into anguish, her eyes filled with tears and her jaw was tensed as she attempted to block away the tears that pooled around her eyes.
"Yes." She breathed the single word out slowly, as though it was a secret she was reluctant to tell. Ginny figured she could trust Harry, had he not also been tainted by the evil that Voldemort held smugly in his hands. Wouldn't he understand how she felt? Perhaps no one would understand how Ginny felt, she had after all been possessed by an evil dark wizard for almost a year. But if anyone was close to understanding the pain Ginny felt, it would be Harry.
"It's just, I feel so tainted and betrayed. Even though Tom will never possess me again, I can't help but feel as though he marked me mentally. It's like when you spill ink on a textbook and you can never take the stain out, no matter how hard you try, it would still be etched permantely upon the parchment. If you close the book you'll never know, but open it, and it will be there, free for everyone to see. He was my best friend, I poured my secrets out to him, and he read them patiently. He always knew the right things to say and didn't make me feel embarressed, he was my best friend and I never felt so close to anyone other than him in my life!" The more Ginny talked, the louder her voice became. Harry knew that he shouldn't stop her rambings, she had been bottling this up for quite a while and needed to let it out, before she lost the courage to let it out again.
"I just wanted to thank you Harry, if you hadn't come to save me then... I probably wouldn't be alive right now." Ginny said.
"It's no big deal Ginny, I did what had to be done. If you had died it would have crushed your family, plus I couldn't let you die. You wouldn't have deserved that fate." was Harry's response.
Ginny looked down, ashamed. "It was my fault though, if I had never written in that stupid diary in the first place no one would have gotten petrified, Hagrid wouldn't have gotten arrested and the school wouldn't have almost been shut down! I mean dad always told us to never trust anything than can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain and yet I still wrote in that blasted diary! If I never did then the Chamber of Secrets would have never opened up again, and no one would have gotten petrtified."
Ginny began crying again and Harry tentatively wrapped his arm around her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Don't be daft Ginny, it wasn't your fault. This is Voldemort we're talking about-" Ginny flinched when Harry mentioned Voldemort. "I'm sure he was very manipulative. Besides, I'm sure if Ron, Hermione and I talked to you every now and then, you would have never felt lonely and driven to write in that diary. For that, I apologise, we shouldn't have neglected you like that."
Ginny looked up at Harry, her head nestled against his shoulder and smiled sadly. "It was partly my fault for that as well though, don't you see? If I stopped stuttering or running away from you everytime I saw your face then maybe we could have had a small chat! But that's in the past now, and maybe we should leave it there, same with Riddle"
Harry smiled, Ginny was taking this Riddle situation better than he thought. "Maybe we should go inside inside now, I'll make sure to talk Ron into being more nicer to you and I promise to never ignore you again"
Ginny smiled, "I like the sound of that".
Together, Harry and Ginny rose from their position on the ground and walked slowly back to Hogwarts. The next day, Harry talked to Ron about Ginny and Ron agreed that he would give her more attention next time in the future. Next year, Ginny would be sitting with them in the Hogwarts express; the trio plus Ginny would find out about Sirius Black together; Ginny would believe that Harry didn't willing enter the Triwizard Tournament in his fourth year; Ginny would be with Harry when he, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville went to the Ministry of Magic to save SIrius; Ginny would also believe Harry in thinking that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater and lastly, Ginny would stay faithfully by Harry's side till the very end.