Chapter 3

My Dearest Virginia,

Don't trouble yourself. I'm not telling you to hate anyone. I was simply expressing my opinion about this Harry. I think he's a fool, Virginia. A fool for not seeing how wonderful and beautiful you are. Stand up for yourself, Virginia. Don't let your brothers or Harry walk over you. You're strong. You have me on your side, Ginny. You need no one else.

Your friend,
Tom.

Harry blinked over and over again. He felt like he was going blind, blind with fury. Voldemort...how dare he! Taking over the mind of an innocent girl.  Again.  Harry clenched his fists, feeling even more hatred for the Dark Lord, if that was at all possible.

Harry stood up quickly and walked over to the sink, running the water underneath his hands and pressing them to his face. He felt a wave of nausea come over him. This is my fault...my fault...he thought guiltily.

"H-Harry?"

Harry whirled around and saw Ginny in the kitchen's doorway, clutching his diary to her chest. She was sniffling; her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"Ginny!" he cried, rushing over to her. He was about to embrace her but she stepped back.  Harry's arms fell to his sides, his cheeks flushing.

"Did you read it?" she said in a small voice, nodding at her diary on the table. Harry felt his cheeks heat up once again in guilt and embarrassment.

"Y-yeah," he stammered. "I'm sorry, Ginny, I couldn't help it...I bet you hate me right now..."

"No...it's okay...I..." Ginny sniffled and looked down at her feet shamefully. "I read yours too."

"O-oh." Harry's voice broke and he coughed. "Um..."

Ginny suddenly burst into tears and threw her arms around his waist, pressing her face against his chest and sobbing. "What do you think of me now?" she hiccupped.

Harry put his arms around her awkwardly. "Nothing! I don't hate you or anything...it's not your fault..."

"Yes it is," Ginny sobbed. "I believed that Tom was still my friend. I believed him! I wasn't strong. I'm not brave...I'm no Gryffindor..."

"Yes you are," he said fiercely. "You are brave, Ginny. You of all people went down there with me to the Department of Mysteries knowing that Voldemort was down there. You are strong. Sometimes I think you're braver than me."

"What?" Ginny sniffed, looking up at him with tearful eyes.

"Nobody knew about this Tom Riddle thing. You kept it to yourself. I could never do that."

"That's being a coward," she sobbed.

"It's not like I'm any braver," Harry said contemptuously. "Ginny, why didn't you tell anybody?"

"They'll think I'm a traitor, for siding with V-Voldemort," Ginny whispered shakily. "Mum and Dad will kick me out and all my brothers will hate me..."

"No they won't," Harry interrupted. "They'll only hate Voldemort more. It's him who's the bad guy, Ginny, not you. Never you."

"I thought I could deal with it," she admitted heavily. "But I guess not. I guess I needed somebody like you again." Ginny smiled sadly at Harry. She blinked and pulled away for a moment to hold up his diary.

"So you read all that rubbish?" Harry said with a bitter laugh. He took it from her and flipped through it idly. "It wasn't really him writing back to me, was it?"

"Perhaps it was, Harry," Ginny said softly. "I don't know how that diary works. Maybe it's an illusion. Because I wanted Tom so badly, he came. Because you missed Sirius, he wrote to you."

"An illusion," Harry echoed dully. "Of course. He's gone and not coming back. It was stupid of me."

"No, Harry," Ginny said firmly. "Sirius isn't gone. He'll always be with you."

"Where?" he said savagely. "I don't get it. Dumbledore said the exact same thing about my dad. But I don't see them. I don't."

"Do you want to know?" Ginny whispered. She placed her palm against his heart. "They live here, in you, Harry."

"That's what Dumbledore said," Harry said, his voice full of frustration and rage.

"I don't know about you, but most of what Dumbledore says is true," Ginny pointed out with a small grin.

"He's made mistakes. He's not perfect," he said angrily.

"But he is right about one thing. Sirius and your dad and your mum aren't gone forever. They're here, in you. Maybe the diary helps you connect with that part of you. Maybe that is really Sirius writing to you."

"It sounded like him," Harry said heavily. "I miss him."

"You're not the only one who does, Harry," Ginny said gently. "I miss him too, you know, even though I didn't know him well. Did you see that portrait of him?"

"Yeah," Harry mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "It was really good...it looked exactly like him."

"I drew it just a few weeks ago, out of memory. And that's how I'll always remember Sirius, Harry. Smiling and happy." Ginny smiled sadly and opened her arms, welcoming him. Harry fell against her, embracing her tightly, burying his face in her hair.

"It's not fair," he said, his voice muffled.

"Just think of it this way," Ginny said soothingly. "Sirius and your dad are together again."

They stood there embracing for a moment. Ginny heard him sniffling and knew that he was crying. She didn't say anything for fear of insulting him. She rubbed his back soothingly and listened to the muffled sounds of his sobs against her hair.

When he was through, Harry straightened up and broke away from her, rubbing his eyes. "Thanks," he said roughly. "I really needed that."

Ginny nodded. "I needed it too, Harry." She handed him a handkerchief and he wiped his eyes quickly, averting his gaze from hers. Nevertheless, Ginny saw his red-rimmed green eyes, but they didn't look so forlorn.

"Er...well, we'd better go to bed," Ginny said, breaking the awkward silence. Harry handed her the handkerchief.

"Okay," he said softly, taking his diary and making sure it was his. Ginny took her own and stood there for a moment.

"Good night," Ginny whispered.

"Good night," Harry muttered before doing something that completely threw Ginny off. He bent down and gave her a very awkward and very sweet kiss on the lips.

He straightened up, still avoiding her gaze, but this time, a blush had crept over his cheeks. Without another word Harry left the kitchen and walked back up the stairs to Ron's room.

Ginny smiled to herself and trudged back up to her room, surprised at her relative calmness and serenity.  She flopped on her bed and began tearing out the entries out of her diary one by one, grinning triumphantly as she crumpled each page and tossed it in the wastepaper basket.  Then she picked up her quill, loaded it with ink and began a new entry in her newly cleaned out diary.

Dear Diary,

You won't believe what just happened.  I can scarcely believe it now…

The end.