A/N –IIIIIIIIII"M back! Welcome to the page of absolute insanity on my part that seems to be confused with absolute genius on others' parts. Hey- whatever floats your boat.
DISCLAIMER – Anything pertaining to the books of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Gee- sorry if I haven't told you that before.
Chapter 11 – The Chamber
Ginny left the hospital wing just before dinner accompanied by Anne. There was no mark on her face from Ron's extremely hard punch, however the nuisance continued to throb sharply. Despite the fact that she had been lying in bed for quite a while, her hair hung in soft waves on her shoulders as she and Anne meandered over to the Great Hall through torch-lit corridors.
Ginny glances sideways at the other girl. "You know what," she said persuasively, "Why don't we just eat up in the dormitories tonight? I'm sure we could just get some food from the kitch-"
"No," Anne said defiantly. "You have been cooped up way to long already. Besides," she said a bit softer, "I won't let anyone in particular bother you."
Ginny grinned and gave her friend a hug as they entered the Hall. Suddenly- for what seemed like the eighty-millionth time- someone stepped in front of them. Once again, it was Harry. "Can I talk to you?" he asked gently, glancing dismissively at Anne.
"No," she said bluntly.
"Why not?" he asked defensively.
"I don't want to obviously."
He clenched his fists and ground his teeth together. "For what reason do you not want to?" he said through gritted teeth, his eyes flashing.
"None in particular."
At this point he paused, his anger ebbing slightly. "You're just trying to annoy me, aren't you?"
"Well aren't we a smart little cookie!" she said in a high voice, grabbing hold of Anne's arm and walking around him.
"What- going to run to Malfoy now that you're finished with me?!" he yelled at her back, anger written on his face.
Ginny stopped in her tracks and swiveled around on her heel with a strange look on her face. "What did you say?" she said dangerously, her eyes narrowing and her head tilting slightly.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you wench!" he yelled, his voice cracking.
Her eyebrows shot up. "I'm a what?!"
"Every time I try to be nice to you, you find every excuse to go off and romp around with Malfoy instead!" he bellowed.
"Romp around?!"
"So is he using you for a good shag or what?!" he spat, his arms shaking with his clenched fists.
The people around them stopped and stared at the two. Anne had backed away into the wall of people behind Ginny, who in turn noticed Ron appearing behind Harry with a cold look on his face.
"I can't believe you would say that!" she said indignantly. She turned her eyes to Ron. "How could you let him think…" she trailed off as she saw that his face was unchanged and emotionless. "Ron?…" she choked out through misty eyes. "Ron! Don't you believe me?…" she pleaded.
Ron's face remained the same, his eyes glaring at her. Harry took on a face of pity and moved towards her. "It's always good to get this kind of thing off your chest. We'll be here to help you get over it."
"Get over this!" she snarled with venom and- before Harry could realize what was happening- she pulled back her arm and landed her fist across his nose. "And don't you EVER accuse me of that again!" she yelled.
"I'm only saying what you don't want everyone to know is true!" he roared as he struggled to get up while holding a mangled nose. By then, though, Ginny was running down the corridor with tears streaming down her cheeks.
* * *
Ginny ran and ran through the halls, tapestries, and down endless flights of stairs until she could go downward no farther and didn't know where she was. Panting and puffy-eyed, she finally slowed down at the end of a dark corridor that erratically ended. She glanced around at her surroundings, which consisted of black, moldy stones all around. She was quite sure that all the classrooms were far above, even ole Snape's.
Shaking her head, she dropped down to the floor and leaned against the dead end wall. There was a distinct smell of mustiness that surrounded her suddenly, and she wrinkled her nose at the dust that came flying up as she sat down. She huffed gloomily as she looked at the adjacent wall. Since when were the walls black at Hogwarts? She lifted an eyebrow as she saw that there were little plants growing on it. I must be near, or even under the lake… With a long sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back
Suddenly, there was no wall behind her. Ginny shrieked as she tumbled back into the blackness where the wall used to be. Screaming like never before, she fell through a cold chute that sent her straight downward. The icy cold took her breath away as she plummeted to what seemed like the center of the earth, and she was no longer able to cry. All of a sudden there was no chute and she was sent sprawling towards the nothingness beneath her. Her tears fell with her as she plunged down. Then, she abruptly stopped in mid-air. She gasped as she was slowly sent down towards what she could now see to be a little box with a hole in the top. Gently, she was placed down upon more black stones and found herself surrounded by even more of them. She gulped as she peered up to see where she had fallen from, and was horrified to see no opening. Ginny glanced around the chamber in terror: She was in a tomb.
* * *
"Ginny?" Anne whispered as she entered the girls' dormitory. "Ginny? Are you okay?" Getting no answer, Anne apprehensively pulled the red curtain of Ginny's bed aside. She was surprised to find no one there. "Has anyone seen Ginny?!" she called through the common room.
"Not since before dinner!" another girl answered. Worriedly, Anne climbed back out of the portrait hole and was met face-to-face with Ron. "Where's Gin?" she demanded.
Ron made a grunting noise. "No idea. Did you try asking Malfoy?" he sneered as she stepped aside.
"No- I never thought of that," Anne replied, completely missing the slur in his voice. "Thanks!"
Anne jogged through the halls and peered into different classrooms. Fretting, she ran towards the Great Hall. "Ginny!" she yelled. "Gi-" she cut off as she spotted a tall blonde striding down the corridor towards her with Pansy Parkinson latched to his left arm. "Malfoy!" she said with relief.
"Do I know you?" he asked with a reproving look.
Anne disregarded his question. "I'm looking for Ginny. Do you have her?"
"The red-head?" he replied dismissively. Pansy gave the two a look that clearly said she had no idea what they were talking about.
"Well it's not blue, silly. Do you have her?" she continued with a flip of her hand.
"Have her?" he inquired curtly, narrowing his eyes at her in suspicion.
"Well- yeah. I just figured- since, er, all the rumors about, um…" Anne said, trailing off at the look on his face. "Um, everybody's saying that you two were- how do I say it?"
"Oh please," he scoffed while shaking his arm loose of Pansy's and crossing them at his chest. "The only time I see that mudblood-loving girl is during that damn class or when she's hiding from Potter."
"Ohhhhhh!" Anne said dimly, nodding her head knowingly. "So you're not sleeping together!"
For once, Malfoy looked completely astonished. Pansy looked indignantly between them. "Who the hell would say that we were sleeping together?!" he snarled, involuntarily lunging towards her.
"H- Harry and Ron," she stammered, backing away from him.
Malfoy smirked and closed his eyes, leaning back. ""Ha!" he snorted, opening his cold, gray eyes. "Potter only wishes he could get into her pants, although her prat of a brother…" he paused for a moment. "I don't know what's wrong with him. Well, I never did, come to think of it."
Anne laughed nervously, wringing her hands together. "Right, then. Um- I'm gonna go fix everything- er, now."
"You'd better," he growled menacingly.
Anne nodded quickly with a gulp and then spun around on her heel to run back to Gryffindor Tower.
* * *
Ginny backed up against the frigid wall of the small chamber in fear. On the opposite side, a pale blue light illuminated what seemed to be a concrete coffin that stretched sideways to nearly each side of the room. Two steps were leading up to it on all sides, and the most peculiar thing about it was that there was a huge, slightly tattered book on top of it.
Ginny glanced on either side of the room like a child that was about to steal a cookie before dinner. No! I will not tough it! she thought as her legs slowly led her towards the illuminated tomb. Remember the #1 rule of Ginny! Never pick up strange books! Don't even look at them! her mind screamed as she put one foot down on the first step. Ginny paused and reached out with a trembling hand to the coffin. Gently, she barely touched the side of the lid curiously. Her fingers moved across a series of etches that lined it. "It's…" she said to herself, tilting her head to get a better look at the writing, "Latin…"
Instantly, voices erupted in the small chamber, some whispering, others talking, and a few screaming. Ginny shrieked as a blast of icy-cold wind tore through the room and seemed to carry the voices around in a whirl of sound. As the wind grew stronger, Ginny cracked open her eyes to see that the book was fluttering open. Immediately, she reached out and snapped it shut.
Everything was quiet. She exhaled sharply and wiped her brow, smoothing her wild, windswept hair down at the same time. Ginny narrowed her eyes at the book. Climbing the second step, she peered over both the coffin and the book.
The coffin, she noted, was decorated with intricate, twisting designs over the top and stepped at the sides, which had continuous writings all the way around. The book, on the other hand, was a maroon-red color. At the top of its cover was a black jewel in the shape of a diamond that had a gold chain design leading from its top point all the way around the border. In the center of the face were words painted on delicately in flowing, curled gold. Ginny gasped in surprise. "Godric Gryffindor!"
A/N – Hey! I hope you guys liked it! More to come REALLY soon! (I've already begun the next chappie!)