CHAPTER TEN
Theodore Nott was acting very strange, Harry noted. So, for that matter, was Tracy Davis. Draco had noticed it too, judging by his furrowed brow and overall confused expression. The two had been located after the Christmas feast, which was, in itself a surprise as Harry and Draco had seen them get onto the Hogwarts express earlier that day. They had also forgotten the password to the common room ('pureblood'), and looked distinctly uncomfortable, perched on a dark green sofa opposite them. They were seated very close together, shoulders touching in a way that neither of them would have allowed usually and seemed to be struggling to find something to say. Harry threw himself onto the carpet dramatically, pulling out a deck of cards for exploding snap, and Draco followed him, pulling on a pair of goggles that Harry was sure were against the rules. As the two played, Tracy toyed with the fabric of the armchair anxiously, watching them with some trepidation.
"So… What do you guys think about the whole chamber of secrets business?" she finally asked. Draco accidentally tipped the pile of cards, leaning back as an explosion singed off half of his left eyebrow,
"I hope they get Granger next." he said casually, Harry snorted; whether at his friend's comment, or the sight of him lacking an eyebrow was unknown, but Tracy's grip tightened on the arm of the sofa nonetheless and Theodore looked distinctly unamused.
"He's kidding…" Harry said with a raised eyebrow, "Though, I wouldn't mind seeing Creevey hospitalised for a bit. The little git is tailing me all the time nowadays."
"He's just eleven!" Tracy snapped. Both Harry and Draco were peering up at the girl in confusion now,
"Tracy, you hexed him the other day." Draco reminded her,
"Deservingly, of course. He should watch his mouth, but still…" Harry prompted, worried further when the girl's cheeks flushed pink, Tracy was flustered, no Slytherin got flustered.
"I guess. But petrification is awful." she said.
"Any guesses as to who this 'Heir' is?" Theodore asked, cutting of Tracy (another non-Slytherin action, Harry and Draco noted).
"No. You know we don't." Harry said, irritably.
"You think if we knew, we would be sitting here, after the Greta incident?" Draco asked incredulously. Confusion flickered across Tracy and Theo's faces and the former opened her mouth, pausing when Theo squeezed her arm warningly. Harry suddenly paled,
"Wait! I know what's going on!" he cried, he was on his feet in an instant, wand pointed accusingly at the two, who scrabbled away from him in panic.
"it's not what you think!" Theodore said worriedly, Harry snorted,
"I think it is! You guys are dating!" Draco followed Harry to his feet with a yell of;
"That explains everything! They are sitting close together, staying with each other for Christmas. Tracy is even acting like a girl, and pretending to care about eleven year olds!" he clapped dramatically, the two high-fived and Tracy and Theodore glanced at each other with gazes of pure horror, faces flushing pink,
"No… we're not-" began Theodore, but Tracy cut him off with a yelp, she yanked him away from the two boys with a cry of,
"You guys got it! We're going to go… uh, kiss!" she said, pulling her Theodore from the common room. Harry and Draco laughed at their retreating forms, so caught up in their amusement that they didn't see Tracy's straight hair begin to curl, or Theo's eyes flicker from icy blue to a wide brown as they darted off.
The two were beyond perplexed when their friends didn't return the next day, coming up with several conspiracy theories about their whereabouts. They were further surprised to hear from professor McGonagall that their friends had supposedly never returned to Hogwarts.
The Weasley children also remained at Hogwarts for Christmas. Ginny had signed the form saying that she was staying with a trembling hand. She was unsure if she could have chosen not to, by this point. Tom's grip was like an ice cold fist around her throat. Her brothers hadn't wanted to leave her alone during the dangerous times, choosing to stay with her. She wished they hadn't. Since Ron had been petrified, she had been avoiding her brothers like the plague. Their absence was painful, but the weight of the diary in her pocket kept her away. She was responsible for the attacks. She could feel it in her bones, but she couldn't tell anyone, her mouth would open, but no words would escape. She was made painfully aware of the grip that Tom had upon her when she tried to dispose of the diary. She stood for a good five minutes, frozen; peering into the toilet cistern. Her hand was poised to drop the black book, yet her fingers wouldn't unclench and her breath came out in shallow gasps. When she finally gave up, she ran from the bathroom, tears blurring her vision. She lobbed the book into the wall of her dormitory, shrieking into her pillow. Her eyes burned with tears that wouldn't fall. Astoria had noticed her becoming more and more withdrawn as time went on, and expressed concern, only to be brushed off.
"Ginny, what's going on?" she had asked gently, after Ginny had decided against going to lunch in favour of reading one Saturday before the Christmas holidays. Ginny had shrugged hair flopping over her face as she avoided eye contact.
"Nothing." she responded finally, "I'm just busy." Astoria had stomped angrily, black-heeled school shoe snapping against the stone floor, drawing Ginny's gaze to her once more. The dark-haired girl's face was flushed and scowling,
"Busy my foot!" she sneered, "What's with you? You're never around anymore! You're meant to be my friend but I never see you." Ginny swallowed the lump rising in her throat and forced her voice to sound bored as she responded,
"I don't have to spend every second with you." her voice was slightly chilly and Astoria recoiled slightly, "I have my own life."
"I know, but I'm worried about you, Ginny." she said finally, her dark eyes slightly pleading as she gazed at her friend, "You're not eating, you're really pale and you hardly talk anymore."
"I talk." Ginny said, bitter words coming unbidden from her lips, "Just not to you." Astoria breathed in sharply, dark eyes narrowing,
"You can't just- fine, Weasley. Be that way. You're on your own." She stalked from the room, and Ginny stared blankly at the diary lying on the bed in front of her, she couldn't even bring herself to cry, merely lay back, gazing at the canopy of her bed for what felt like hours, before sleep dragged her under.
From then on Ginny spent her days, her classes and mealtimes without her friend. The girl's absence only furthered the chill residing in her bones, and she carried on robotically, the black outs that claimed her at random times, just another part of her schedule. It was only on the 28th of December, upon finding herself crouched over Colin Creevey's frozen form, that she fully broke down.
Creevey was never somebody who she liked, casually spouting his anti-Slytherin beliefs, that he had clearly culminated in the first hour of being in a solely Gryffindor compartment on the train on his way to school, he had made her life unpleasant. But she hadn't wanted him petrified. His skin was cold to the touch, camera held over his eyes, and mouth slightly ajar. Ginny trailed her fingers over his neck, searching, scrabbling for a pulse. She let out a sob of relief to feel one, faint as it may have been. Having felt that the boy was still alive, she staggered to her feet, running as fast as she could to put as much distance between herself and the victim, her victim, as she possibly. It was as she was rounding the corner to her common room, face flushed and breaths laboured, that she slammed into another figure. Harry Potter let out a yelp as his books were sent flying from his hands and he was knocked to the floor by a small cannonball of a Slytherin.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" he snapped, dusting himself off before beginning to get to his feet. He paused as he caught sight of the expression of his assailant. Ginny's eyes were glossy, face red and slightly sweaty. She looked a sight, and Harry felt a lurch of guilt in his chest. "Are you alright?" he asked, voice softer. He held out a hand to pull the girl from the floor, which she ignored, clambering up unassisted.
"I'm fine." she half snarled, but the overall effect was ruined by how pathetically defeated she looked at that very moment. Harry frowned,
"You don't look fine." he was blunt, and Ginny forced herself to meet his eyes. They were a very bright green, and she, for half a second, deliberated over whether to tell the boy, if she was physically able to. Harry Potter was her childhood idol, his sorting into Slytherin had somewhat tainted the dream figure she had created, yet she could hardly talk about not living up to expectations. She was the first Weasley in centuries to go to the house of the serpents, it was this thought that spurred her.
"Help me, please." her voice shook and she physically felt a pressure on her vocal chords, suffocating her, but she carried on nonetheless, "I swear I can't control this… thing but Colin Creevey is petrified and I think I did it and-" Harry Potter's eyes widened and his mouth gaped slightly, whatever he had been expecting, this wasn't it. Ginny had half a second to wonder if she had done the right thing before her consciousness shut down, and her wand was pulled prom her pocket, pointed at Potter's heart.
"Very well. If the girl wishes to push the issue, you, Mr Potter, are coming with me… I've heard all about you…"
When Draco awoke to find Harry's bed vacated, he assumed his friend was in the library. This assumption meant that the absence of the two missing students wasn't noticed until several hours after Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley had been taken into the chamber.
Hey, I know that this is really, really late, but I've been having a really bad case of writers block which I have finally overcome. Frequent updates will return, I swear. Sorry this is shorter then my normal updates... Please review! I need opinions!
