AN: Another disappointment as after deleting the extremely long Author's Note at the bottom the size was cut down to 5 pgs.  But this is one of my favorite chapter's just cus of the huge Hermione bashing. Since the writing of this chapter I've become more tolerant of Hermione when she's toned down but she still annoys me. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do. :D Laterz…Lilguji

The Secret of the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 12

Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall wouldn't let me keep Monty, which was the name of the snake. She sent Monty back to wherever he came from and then walked stiffly back towards the stage. I watched her go and noticed that Professor Snape was watching me. His gaze was intense and slightly unnerving but I sent a small smile his way. His expression softened softly then hardened again when his gaze shifted to something behind me. Confused I turned around and rolled my eyes. The Dream Team had finally caught up to me and didn't look happy.

Actually, Ron and Harry still looked slightly shocked and were bordering on nervous. Hermione looked furious. She strode up to me purposefully and the two boys followed behind her, probably to hold her back if she attacked. She stood in front of me breathing hard. I bet she was wondering what to say. After all, what could she say? I had beaten her fair and square and there was nothing else she could blame me for. It looked like she had finally made up her mind as to what to say when I spoke up.

"Look Hermione. I'm not going to apologize for beating you. And I'm definitely not going to apologize for going hard on you. If you can't handle it, too bad, but I seriously expected better from you. You hang out with my brother and the boy who fricken lived. I thought you would have learned something from them but I guess not. Now, I have done nothing wrong and I don't want to hear anything from you so please just leave me alone." I made my speech and turned to walk away.

"So that's it Ginny? You're just gonna walk away like nothing happened? Maybe Tom had a lasting effect on you, because you're acting more and more like a Slytherin every day." My eyes widened in shock and I heard a few gasps from the crowd that had gathered around us.

"You hide in your room all the time and don't talk to anybody anymore. You're hiding something from all of us and you wanna know what I think it is? You cheat. You can't get perfect grades like you do effortlessly. So you cheat. That's why you never come out of your room and don't talk to anybody. It's a secret worthy of any Slytherin. And now with the love of snakes and everything. I saw that evil look in your eyes when we were on the platform. You were enjoying the duel. I'm convinced that Tom still has a hold over you. And that's why you hate me isn't it? You still think of me as a filthy little mudblood don't you?? DON'T YOU??!!!"

I was frozen by her words. My mind just couldn't get around all the accusations that Hermione had sent my way. I was so shocked that she was so close to the truth, yet so far from it. Everything she said was either completely right or completely wrong and it didn't make any sense at first. When my brain finally understood what she had said I couldn't take it anymore. I burst out laughing.

Hermione's face had lost all color while she was yelling at me and now it all rushed back into her head. She was starting to shake with emotion when I finally calmed down. Taking a deep breath I turned to answer Hermione with a grin on my face.

"Hermione, you have no idea how right you are, yet how wrong you are. Yes, Tom has left a lasting impression in me. The same way he left one in Harry. But instead of looking like him, I seem to have adopted a few of his traits. I love snakes, always have and always will. I used to search for them when I was little back at the Burrow. And Pansy just demonstrated how important it is to like snakes in order to be a Slytherin.

As for tests? I get perfect scores because of my hard work. I don't cheat and just because you don't like me or the Slytherins, you don't have the right to accuse us of anything without proof. I work hard to get where I am, above you. The evil expression I got on my face when I was dueling you was because I finally got a chance to prove that I was better than you in your face. I work hard, day and night to get this good and you don't. You just can't handle the pressure from everyone because they all think you're a genius when the statistics say that you are not!!!

And do I think you're a filthy little mudblood? No!! I don't!! But I think you do. Ever since you got your letter you've been wondering whether it was a mistake that you were accepted. You're afraid that people won't like you since you're a muggle born witch and so you strive to be on top. You want to be best because that's the only way to prove to others and to yourself that you really are a witch. And when someone comes along that works harder than you, does better than you, you start questioning yourself again. Well guess what Hermione? Get over it!! Ron and Harry are great friends and they will accept you no matter what. And if you think that they won't accept you if you're not the best then I feel really sorry for you.

Now you must be wondering why I hate you so much. It has nothing to do with all of this. Nothing at all. However the real reason I hate you so much is not for everyone to know. I don't want to tell you why I hate you so much. It's not as if you can change so that I won't hate you anymore. But I am warning you Hermione. If you hurt them, either of them, and I know you know who I'm talking about, in this little game you're playing, I'll hunt you down and make you regret the day you were born." I took a deep breath and turned to Myrtle.

"Come on, let's go find out who my next opponent will be." The crowd parted to let us through. I didn't turn around to see Hermione's reaction, but I hoped she understood my threat and knew that I wouldn't hesitate to hurt her if she hurt either Ron or Harry.

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When I got to the stage I was in for a shock. All the years were done with the dueling and already had the two finalists. The only duels going on right now were to decide who got first place. The only year left was the seventh.

The chart on stage showed the fight narrowed down to three finalists. Me, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy. And there was a giant argument going on about how we were going to proceed. Both Professors Snape and McGonagall were fighting over which two to duel first and they weren't getting anywhere. The other Professors watched with practiced interest, almost as if they had seen this fight before.

The crowd that had broken up after I left Harry and Ron to deal with Hermione had gathered again at the stage. I pushed through the crowd to the center where Snape and McGonagall were howling at each other and saw that Malfoy was already there. The third part of the topic of discussion, Harry, was just pushing his way through. We watched as the head of houses continued to bicker, completely oblivious to the crowd that had gathered. Dumbledore had finally noticed that the three finalists had arrived and stepped forward to stop the fight at last. There was a collective groan throughout the Great Hall as the two Professors broke apart, inches away from pulling their wands. By now, the 1st and 2nd places for the other years had been determined and everybody had placed their attention on Dumbledore. All that was left was the final duels for the seventh years before everyone was sent to bed. Dumbledore had all the attention when he spoke up.

"We seem to have run into a small problem with the seventh year finalists. It seems that instead of two finalists, we have three. This normally wouldn't be a problem and we would just draw straws, but arguments have come forth saying that this would be unfair. It seems that two of the finalists are Gryffindors and one is a Slytherin. Arguments have come forth claiming that Gryffindor has an unfair advantage over Slytherin. We amongst the teachers are unsure what would be the fairest method to go about this. If anyone has any suggestions then please voice them now."

There was a murmur throughout the Great Hall as everyone discussed what to do.

"I have a suggestion!" A clear voice rang out from the crowd. I turned to see Draco Malfoy step up.

"I suggest a battle Royal. A three way battle, the last one standing wins." I raised my eyebrows in surprise. He must have been hit by one of the spells and gotten his brains knocked loose. Otherwise he would never have made such a crazy suggestion. Snape was thinking the same because he looked as if his eyes would pop out of their sockets. The entire time he had been arguing against that idea because the outcome was obvious.

"Are you sure you want that Mr. Malfoy?" At Malfoy's nod, Dumbledore turned to Harry just to see him doing the same thing. He turned to me last and I realized that the decision was in my hands. I stared at Malfoy, trying to figure out what he was thinking. He sent what I think he believed to be a reassuring half smile my way. I gave a loud sigh and agreed. Why should I care if Malfoy wanted to dig his own grave? But for some reason, I didn't like the fact that the odds were against Malfoy.

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Everyone believed that the outcome would be one of two things. Me and Harry would gang up on Malfoy and then fight it out between us. If that happened, then most of the crowd was betting on Harry as the winner. The other option was that Harry and Malfoy would battle it out with each other. They would take me out either in the beginning or the end, but the signs all pointed to Harry winning there as well.

I didn't like it. I liked the fact that everyone expected me to help Harry or stay out of it even less. The sexist pigs didn't believe I could do it!!! So to say I was upset when I went up to the now triangular platform in the center of the Great Hall was an understatement. I got to my corner of the triangle and studied the two boys I would face.

They were complete opposites. One light, one dark in background, one light, one dark in coloring. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin. And I was caught in the middle. I was the one thing between them and victory and I was a mix of the two of them. My past was light but my present and future were dark. I was a Gryffindor but also the Heiress of Slytherin. I was what would be created if those two were put together, and the idea unnerved me.

Dumbledore gave us the signal to start and I took a short bow in case the two decided to take me out first. I didn't need to worry. Harry and Malfoy took bows even shorter than mine and immediately dismissed me as harmless. I was angry at first but got over it when I saw Malfoys eyes flicker in my direction. He was watching me, waiting for my move. Harry was trusting me blindly and it was gonna cost him. Just as I saw Malfoy gaining the upper hand, I sent out two stunning spells, one at each boy.

Malfoy was prepared for it and dodged it easily but Harry wasn't. He was hit from the side and was knocked out cold. Malfoy didn't waste a breath and started sending curses at me. His curses were fast and strong and his skill surprised me at first. But soon, I became more used to his style and started sending curses back instead of just dodging or countering his.

Malfoy had been more talented than Harry and given another minute or so, would have taken Harry out by himself. But the two of us were more evenly matched. We used all the spells we could think of and pretty soon, all I cared about was beating him, no matter what the cost. The spells we used became more complex, more advanced, more dark. I didn't even realize that I had started using dark spells until it was too late. I found that I had crossed the sacred line that I had refused to cross with Hermione.

When dueling her, I wanted to hurt her, to do damage and to let my magic free. But dueling Malfoy, I felt nothing but the joy of a good challenge. I think he felt that way too because his face wasn't hostile like it was when he had dueled with Harry. I think the corners of his mouth were actually twitched up. We were enjoying the duel too much to hold back or care about the consequences. So the spells continued to get darker and darker.

I was starting to worry what the teachers would do to us after the duel was over for using such spells but was distracted by the end of the match. I had just remembered a curse that enhanced the effects of the 'Rictemsempra" spell. It not only knocked out the opponent, but threw them back quite a distance. Apparently he remembered the same spell the same time I did because we shouted out the curse at the same time.

The fact that we both shouted the same spell at the same time threw me off a bit. I guess it threw him off too and we froze for a second. At the last minute instincts kicked in and we both shouted 'Protego' at the same time. Our own curses bounced back at us but we were too surprised to react in time again. We were hit simultaneously and like mirror images of each other, we flew off the platform. My back collided with the wall behind me and I think I heard something crack. I now realized why the spell was considered dark. It hurt like hell and if you fell the wrong way, you could snap a neck or something. It also occurred to me that the match was over and it seemed to be a tie before my world faded to black.

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