Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anybody else in this story.
A/N: The small stone bridge in this chapter is visible in the Deathly Hallows films, which is also the "official" version of Hogwarts shown in the tour on Pottermore. It connects to the same tower (which I designate as Ravenclaw Tower) as the larger and better-known Stone Bridge.
Chapter 4
That first week of school was a whirlwind for Ginny. To start with, she was quite alarmed by hearing Professor Trelawney saw the Grim in Harry's tea leaves, no matter how much Hermione tried to dismiss it. It didn't help that Hermione was acting so strange all of a sudden. Malfoy's adventure with the Hippogriff was amusing, until she found out how much trouble it had got Hagrid into, but the git's comment later about getting revenge on Sirius Black left the whole group more confused than anything else. Then, she was surprised—and yet not surprised—when Harry relayed the story of the boggart and claimed that he was more afraid of Dementors than Voldemort.
But after hearing him confide that, she became very concerned in her Friday Defence class when Professor Lupin led the second-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws down to the staffroom.
"The boggart lesson went so well with the third-years," Lupin said, "I thought I'd try it out on you second-years as a special treat."
A special treat? The class regarded him with looks ranging from scepticism to outright terror.
"Now you may think this is a little too advanced for this class, but remember that what really does a boggart in is laughter, and the younger set always has the greatest capacity for laughter."
Ginny didn't feel like laughing as Lupin taught them the Riddikulus charm. She wasn't sure what the boggart would turn into in front of her, but a Dementor sounded like a good bet. Would Lupin really make her face it in front of the class?
"Very good, but the charm itself is only half of the solution. Joanne, would you come to the front, please?"
Ginny's quiet, blond, muggle-born roommate nervously walked to Professor Lupin's side. She had never really talked to Joanne much. The girl mostly kept to herself, writing stories in her little notebooks.
"Joanne, what would you say frightens you most in the world?" Professor Lupin asked.
Ginny could barely hear Joanne's answer when she said, "Being buried alive."
"Hmm…" he said thoughtfully. He whispered to her for a minute something Ginny couldn't quite make out before turning to the class. "If Joanne is successful, the boggart will shift its attention to each of us in turn. So I want each of you to think of what scares you most, and then think of how you can make it most funny. On the count of three, Joanne—one—two—three—now!"
With a spell from Lupin's wand, the wardrobe flew open, and mound of dirt poured out. In the blink of an eye, it formed into a freshly-dug grave in front of Joanne, yawning open to swallow her. She backed away, holding her wand up, trembling, but it moved toward her, its lip threatening to crumble away under her feet.
"R-R-Riddikulus," she squeaked.
Crack! Instantly, the grave exploded, overflowing with thousands of brightly coloured balls that bounced all over the room. Behind her, Ginny heard Colin Creevey laughing hysterically and saying something about a "ball pit," but all of the purebloods and most of the half-bloods were merely confused.
"Excellent, Joanne," Lupin exclaimed. "Patrick, forward!"
Ginny's classmates faced the boggart one by one, each succeeding in turning their fear funny. But there was nothing that could make a Dementor funny. Not when a Dementor instantly sucked all of the laughter out of the room. Didn't Professor Lupin remember what had happened on the train? She wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She knew she shouldn't be afraid to admit it in front of the class, but something stopped her, because as worried as she was, she still wasn't certain. Something about the thought of the Dementor felt wrong.
"Ginny, forward!" Lupin said.
She stepped forward slowly. It was now or never. "Professor," she said, "I think it's going to—"
But it was too late. The boggart was in front of her and transformed with a Crack!
It wasn't a Dementor.
It was Tom.
There was a scream behind her, and she saw why. At Tom's feet lay the limp body of Harry Potter, looking the way he had in the Chamber of Secrets, filthy, bleeding, and poisoned.
"No!" she said.
Then Tom spoke: "You've failed, ickle Gin-Gin. You escaped me, but he couldn't save himself. He died because of you."
"NO! RIDDIKULUS!" Ginny screamed, not even sure of what she was thinking.
The Boggart-Harry's eyes snapped open. In a flash, he grabbed Tom by the ankle with one hand and pulled his legs out from under him. Tom toppled forward and smashed his face bloodily on the floor.
"Oh, my," Lupin said uneasily. "I'm sorry you had to see that." Whether he was saying that to Ginny or to the rest of the class wasn't clear. He stepped in front of Ginny, probably to force it back into the wardrobe, but in his distracted state, he was too slow. The boggart changed to a silvery white orb, and when he used the spell himself, it became a balloon that zoomed around the room before stopping…in front of Luna Lovegood.
Luna's eyes grew wide with fear, and Ginny braced herself for whatever horrible monster her friend's wild imagination might come up with.
Crack! Suddenly, standing before Luna was Cornelius Fudge, except this Fudge was wearing a blood red suit and bowler hat instead of his usual lime green, and a goatee. And he was holding up a steaming-hot meat pie towards her.
"Pie, my dear?" the Boggart-Fudge said with an evil grin.
"N-n-no thank you…Riddikulus!" Luna squeaked.
The meat pie morphed into a banana cream pie and leapt from Fudge's hands, smacking him in the face. It was then that Colin Creevey got an idea and moved faster than anyone had seen him move before. Before the boggart could change again, he whipped out his camera and snapped a picture.
"Sugar quills."
Harry finally got a chance to go up to Professor Dumbledore's office on Saturday. As the moving staircase rotated into view, he saw that it looked much the same as it had last year, the walls filled with books and portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses, much of the floor space taken up by tables full of curious silver instruments that emitted whirs and pings and puffs of smoke continuously. Fawkes sat next to Sorting Hat in one corner. Everything looked the same, in fact, except for Dumbledore himself. It had not gone unnoticed by the students and professors that the Headmaster had eschewed his brightly-coloured robes in favour of more subdued light blues and silvers, and the man himself looked a good deal more subdued than usual. Most people believed this was because of the Dementors, but Harry had to wonder if that was all it was, especially in connection with Snape being surprisingly tolerable this year—at least when Professor Lupin wasn't around.
"Ah, Harry," Dumbledore said with a forced smile. "I trust your summer was not too unpleasant, despite a few hiccoughs. Please, sit down." Harry tread carefully around the many odd devices and took the chair across Dumbledore's desk. "I presume you are here to ask about the developments about Lord Voldemort and Sirius Black," the old wizard continued.
"Well, not exactly, sir…but if there's any news I should know about…"
"I'm afraid the news is most incomplete, but what I have been able to ascertain is not good," Dumbledore said. Harry tensed in his seat. "I have reason to believe that Sirius Black is attempting to help Voldemort obtain a new physical body and return to power."
"You mean—you mean with another horcrux, sir?" Harry asked.
"No, not a horcrux, or at least not a horcrux alone. For a horcrux has no memories or experience after the time it was created. No, I mean the true spirit of Lord Voldemort—the "main piece," if you will—the one who possessed professor Quirrell two years ago. This Voldemort is more dangerous than any horcrux. And should he return, you will be an great target than you are to Black."
Harry took a deep breath. Just his luck, he thought. He knew this was coming, more or less, but he certainly didn't expect it so soon. He nodded his understanding before changing the subject: "Professor, I tried to get my Uncle to sign my Hogsmeade form—"
"No, Harry," Dumbledore said sternly. "I'm afraid it is far too dangerous. It gives me no pleasure to tell you this, but even if you had a signed permission form, I would not permit you to go to Hogsmeade, not with both Black and the Dementors about. You saw how the Dementors went for you even under the full control of the Ministry. If Voldemort returns, they will turn at a moment's notice. I have told the Minister as much, but he refuses to listen. No, regretfully, while the Dementors remain on patrol and Black is at large, I cannot permit you to leave the Castle Grounds, and I must ask you to promise me you will not attempt to circumvent my wishes."
Harry's mouth turned very dry. There went any hope of going to Hogsmeade—maybe for the duration—and somehow, this didn't seem like the time to bring up wanting to leave the Dursleys either. Still, if Dumbledore said it was this bad—Dumbledore, who he was pretty sure had let him go after Quirrellmort his first year—he decided he had better listen. "Y-y-yes, sir," he whispered.
"I apologise that we had to meet on such unpleasant terms, Harry. Was there anything else you wished to discuss?"
Harry finally remembered why he had come up here in the first place. "Yes, um…Professor, is it okay if I tell Ginny about the Prophecy? We've been talking a lot this summer, and I know she'd want to join with Ron and Hermione and help me."
The Headmaster looked thoughtful at that, as though he were weighing the possibilities. "Very well, Harry," he said. "If you feel Miss Weasley can be trusted, I also will trust your judgement. However, I must remind you again not to repeat the part that Voldemort has not heard. He may yet have spies hidden within the castle."
"And what about the horcruxes? Can I tell my friends about those, too?"
Dumbledore's face darkened. "Harry, horcruxes are the darkest of all magic. Their very existence is must be kept secret from the general public, both to prevent panic and to stop people who are so inclined from getting ideas, as the young Tom Riddle did. There is also very little we can do about them right now, so it would not be productive."
"But can I at least tell Ginny, sir?" Harry pressed. "Even if we can't do anything, I think she has a right to know."
"I don't think it would be good to alarm Miss Weasley with such revelations."
"Ginny's stronger than she looks, sir. And what she's guessed is close enough to the truth already. I want her to know what we're fighting."
Dumbledore's eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly. He had not missed the Harry's use of the word "we," which Harry himself might not have noticed. "I suppose that is reasonable," he conceded. "You may tell Miss Weasley…and her brother and Miss Granger, if you wish, so long as they tell no one else."
"Thank you, sir."
Ginny sat in the Common Room until everyone else had gone to bed. Ron and Percy had both enquired as to why she was staying up so late, but she pleaded her usual insomnia, and they left her alone. In truth, she was only here because Harry had pulled her aside at dinner and whispered for her to meet him here.
It was getting quite late. She was already tired from Quidditch tryouts that morning, where she'd made reserve Chaser, and she was starting to fall asleep over her Defence textbook when she heard someone whisper her name behind her.
She leapt from her seat and whirled around, wand in hand and her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex on her lips, only to blush with embarrassment when she saw that it was only Harry who had managed to sneak up on her.
Worse yet, he actually smiled at her, even though she had her wand at his throat. "Nice reflexes," he said.
She turned even redder and lowered her wand. "Merlin's beard, Harry, where'd you come from," she said.
"I'll show you," Harry said, still grinning. He took a large step back, unfurled a folded, silvery piece of cloth, and draped it around himself. And disappeared.
Ginny's mouth hung open. "You have a—?"
He took the invisibility cloak off again. "It was my Dad's," he explained.
"Harry, that's awesome!" she said, a little too loudly. "Does anyone else know about this?"
"Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Hagrid. I don't think anyone else does."
Ginny reached out and touched the silvery material. It felt like liquid silk under her fingers.
"Come on," Harry said. "We need to talk, but not here. Stay close." With that, he stepped beside her and threw the cloak around both of them.
"Um…okay…" she said, blushing again as she realised they pretty much had to walk arm in arm to stay close enough to hide under the cloak.
Harry led the way out through the portrait hole and down the corridor. "Keep an eye out for Mrs. Norris," he whispered in her ear. "We don't want her to hear us." Just before rounding the corner to Ravenclaw Tower, he stopped at a door that Ginny passed every day on the way to breakfast, but had never paid any attention to. A simple "Alohomora" opened it (what the use was of having doors that could be unlocked that easily neither of them knew), and she found that it opened into a small tower.
"I've never been in this tower before," she whispered. "What's in here?"
"Storage, mostly," Harry said. "I think it might have been an armoury once." They climbed three flights and came to another door, which was obviously on the outside of the tower. Ginny didn't understand why Harry was leading her to this door until he opened it, revealing a small stone bridge, high above the battlements, connecting the small tower with Ravenclaw Tower. She knew at once where they were. The bridge was easily seen from the grounds, but she could guess hardly anyone ever paid it much mind. He took off the cloak, then led her by the hand onto the bridge and pointed up. She gasped. The entire dome of the sky was visible, the stars twinkling in the clear night air like thousands of fiery sparks. The view was as good as at the Astronomy Tower, but on the narrow bridge, she had the feeling of being suspended in space.
"Harry, it's beautiful," she whispered.
"I know. I started coming up here last year to think. I think it's the highest open-air part of the castle besides the Astronomy Tower, and a it's lot closer to the dorms. Less likely to get caught."
Ginny glanced toward the far end of the bridge, where a door led into Ravenclaw Tower.
"No idea. None of the spells I know will open it, and I've never seen anyone come out of it."
She wondered if Luna would know where it went. She was usually good about finding out things like that. Harry pulled the cloak off of them and sat on the bridge. Ginny followed suit.
"So what did you need to talk to me about?" she said.
Harry told her. He told her about the Prophecy and how he would need to fight Voldemort to the finish sooner or later. And he told her about Dumbledore's warning that it might well be sooner. Ginny, for her part, sat quietly and listened, though she grew increasingly pale, and tears started to form in her eyes. There wasn't really much she couldn't have guessed if she had forced herself to admit the obvious—but when combined with Trelawney predicting his death and him seeing the Grim at least twice now, it was truly alarming.
"Oh, Merlin!" she exclaimed, leaning over and hugging Harry. "He's really coming back, isn't he? Harry, what are you going to do?"
"Same as we planned. I'll ask Professor Lupin or someone for extra lessons."
"But what about the Grim?"
"I don't know," he admitted, adjusting his position so he could more easily put an arm around her. "Dumbledore says divination's a lot less reliable than real prophecies, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Is Dumbledore even sure the prophecy's true?" she said hopefully.
"Doesn't matter. He thinks it is, so he's gonna keep coming after me until one of us is dead. But honestly, it's nothing new. Dumbledore hinted it to me in my first year. I just didn't want to think about it if I didn't have to. But there's something else, too…" And then he told her about the horcruxes and how he had destroyed not one, but two of them in the Chamber of Secrets.
"You mean…your scar?" Ginny breathed. If it were possible, she was more horrified about that than her own possession by a piece of Voldemort's soul.
"Uh-huh." Harry absently ran a finger over the now H-shaped mark. "The fang destroyed it by cutting it in two. That's what I meant about saving my life. He didn't come out and say it, but I don't think Dumbledore knew a way to get rid of it that wouldn't kill me."
"But that means…that means you could never have beat him."
"I know. It was really lucky, in the end. It's almost like it had to happen that way. It, um…well, it gives me a better chance to win, at least. And on the bright side, no more headaches. My vision's even got a little clearer. Madam Pomfrey had to transfigure my glasses."
Ginny smiled weakly. "When are you going to talk to Professor Lupin?"
"Next weekend, I think. If his next class is as good as the first one, anyway."
They sat for a while and talked about nothing in particular. It hadn't been a very cheerful week, and the prospects for the coming year didn't look much better, but they both tried to remember Harry's advice about being able to laugh about it. Harry wrapped his cloak back around them, just to keep out the cold, prompting laughs from both of them when they each found themselves talking to a floating head. They finally went back inside when they realised they were in danger of falling asleep out there—not that Ginny would have minded in principle (or even Harry, for that matter), but the chill in the windy air and the risk of sleeping past sunrise and being found out motivated them to go back.
The next morning, no one noticed that they had been gone, but their friends did note that both Harry and Ginny seemed to be in a better mood than the night before.
"Professor?" The door to Lupin's office was cracked open, so Harry pushed his way inside.
"Hold on—stay very still, Harry." The professor was standing in front of a tank of water, where a creepy-looking creature that resembled a scaly green monkey was standing on the lip, staring hungrily at him. He made a great flourish with one hand and bowed to the creature. The creature bowed back, spilling some water from the hollow on its head.
"Ha!" Quick as a wink, Lupin whipped out his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" The creature was knocked backward into its tank. Another quick spell, and the lid slammed down on its head.
"A kappa," Lupin said, turning around. "Next week's lesson. Hello, Harry. How can I help you? Would you like some tea?"
"Um, sure, I guess."
"Sit down." He dug a dented tea kettle from his trunk and conjured up some boiling water to fill it. "I only have tea bags, but I can imagine you've had enough tea leaves for a while."
Harry stiffened. "You know about that, sir?"
"Professor McGonagall told us in case there were any concerns. You're not worried, are you?"
Yes, very, Harry thought, but he didn't feel like saying it. "I think I have bigger things to worry about, Professor."
"Ah…Sirius Black," Lupin said as he handed Harry a chipped teacup.
"Among other things," Harry said, taking a sip of tea. "Professor, I was wondering if there was a way I could get extra defence lessons—me and my friends. Like duelling and anything else we might need in a fight."
"Extra lessons?" Lupin set down his teacup. "Harry, if you're thinking of going after Black—" he said darkly.
"No! Why does everybody think I'm going to go after that lunatic?"
Lupin looked very uncomfortable and didn't speak for a minute. "I'm sorry, Harry. Why did you decide you need these extra lessons?"
"Well, ignoring the fact that I've nearly died somewhere about nine times in the past two years…" Lupin turned several shades paler at that. "Professor Dumbledore told me he thinks Voldemort is going to come back soon, and I'm eventually going to have to fight him."
Harry was pleasantly surprised that Lupin didn't flinch at the name. Instead, he just said, "Oh…so he told you, then…well, I suppose that's for the best. How many friends are you talking about? Ron and Hermione, I assume?"
"And Ginny. I know she's a year behind us, but she's pretty smart."
Lupin smirked at that, as if Harry had said something unexpectedly amusing, and then he looked almost wistful for a moment before he snapped back to reality. "Yes…" he said. "I think I can work with that. If you and your friends are willing to put in the extra time on the weekends, I would be happy to train you. If the four of you would come by, let's say after lunch tomorrow? Then we can all discuss it together."
To a student of muggle films, the room would have looked like the lair of a conspiracy theorist. In truth, that wasn't too far off, except that the master of the conspiracy was the one standing at its centre.
One wall was filled with a circle of names and pictures, with links to various positions—in the Ministry, in magical society, and in Azkaban. Another wall was filled with newspaper clippings and other documentation about what had happened in magical Britain since the end of the war. A third wall was dominated by the enemy forces—the structure of the Ministry and the members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, along with speculations on major targets and possible weak links. The fourth wall, most empty, held the fruits of the most difficult task: tracing Lord Voldemort's movements for the past twelve years.
And the Tom Riddle who carried Ravenclaw's diadem stood at the centre of the puzzle, pondering his comeback—the Tom Riddle who was least informed of the four, having only possessed a student, and was thus the furthest behind. He needed to catch up.
"Master?" a very nervous Edward Avery said from the door, carrying a sheaf of parchment. Riddle turned around. "Master, I succeeded in copying those files from the Ministry, but…"
Riddle stepped toward him, his eyes momentarily flashing red. "But…what?" he hissed.
"Master, these same files have been accessed by others recently. Several times."
His eyes narrowed slightly. "How many times, Avery?"
"A-a-at least four."
Riddle's eyes widened before he snatched the parchments from Avery's hands and spun around. "Leave me," he ordered.
"Yes, Master."
Four others had accessed the files, he thought. He laid out the parchments on the table and began to go over the information they contained. There should be at most three more of him somewhere in Britain, and he had no way of knowing for sure if they were active. If four others had accessed the files, someone else—probably Dumbledore—was on to him.
He needed to move faster. Based on what Avery had told him, the easiest way to find out what he needed to know would be if one of his doppelgangers decided to assemble the Death Eaters, but Tom Riddle wasn't going to leave something so important up to anyone else, even if it was Tom Riddle. He quickly got to work on Avery's next assignment.
Summary
This is as far as I wrote this story before I lost interest and started The Arithmancer instead. The next few chapters would have had more character development with Harry and Ginny, including them starting special Defence lessons with Remus. They would meet Luna, including asking her about that high stone bridge and introducing her to their circle of friends. They would tell Ron and Hermione about the horcruxes, but it might not be right away.
The four Toms continue plotting in secret, and on Halloween, they all independently decide to make their move and summon the Death Eaters at the same time. This causes a lot of confusion with the Death Eaters being summoned to four different places, but they eventually sort it out and bring everyone together in Little Hangleton. Seeing four of them freaks out the Death Eaters.
When Sirius breaks into the castle that night, he meets Pettigrew at the door to Gryffindor Tower as Pettigrew tries to answer the summons. They get into a fight in front of many witnesses and are both captured. This leads to Sirius's exoneration in short order.
The four Toms change their names to avoid confusion, becoming the Brothers Gaunt: Cadmus (the ring, and the youngest), Corvinus (the diadem), Salazar (the locket), and Brogan (the cup, and the oldest). With practice, they are able to develop telepathic communication among themselves similar to Voldemort's connection with Harry in canon, and they lay plans to resurrect the "main soul" of Voldemort.
When they find Voldemort, he is surprised that there are four of them instead of three and soon figures out what happened with the horcrux in Harry. Because of this, he reluctantly does not make Nagini a horcrux. They resurrect Voldemort at the end of third year, using Mad-Eye Moody for the ritual. (The Gaunts do not have Voldemort-Prime's restriction against touching Harry, so they aren't worried about needing his blood.) Moody fails to escape alive, and Harry doesn't have visions, so Dumbledore has no proof that Voldemort is back.
At the end of third year, Harry finally puts his foot down about the Dursleys and because of this and various other events, he winds up living with the Weasleys at the Burrow behind powerful wards set up by Bill. The Death Eaters are broken out of Azkaban that summer while the Aurors are busy with the Quidditch World Cup, marking Voldemort's public return. The Triwizard Tournament is cancelled as the second war begins two years early.
However, there is dissension in the Death Eaters' ranks. The Gaunts come to realise that Voldemort only cares about them as protections for his soul and will imprison them in their horcrux vessels again if he fears they are at risk. They secretly plot to depose him and to steal Nicolas Flamel's research to recreate the Philosopher's Stone as a new path to immortality. Also, Bellatrix falls in love with Brogan, the physically oldest and most attractive of the Gaunts, and joins in their plot.
I know I could probably write a detailed outline for the war working from this summary. It would probably last about two years, and it would probably end with Voldemort-Prime being successfully deposed by the Gaunts, but the Gaunts being taken down by the Order and the Ministry with Harry and Ginny in the lead. But as I said at the beginning of this section, I just don't have much interest in writing another Hogwarts-years fic. I won't swear I'll never come back to it, but I'd be more interested in adopting it out if someone else wants to try their hand at it.