"Harry?"

"Hmm?" He wound her ponytail around his wrist and off again, staring up through the branches of the apple trees.

"Tell me about this one."

Ginny's thumb rubbed the inside of his right arm just above the crease, where the Basilisk scar should be. Fawkes had healed it completely; no one but she knew where it was.

"You know about that one."

"I want to hear it from you."

Harry thought about where to begin. "Well, we found out at the dueling club that I could speak Parseltongue, do you remember?"

She nodded.

"That's really what started it all … I heard the Basilisk the first week of school, during my detention with Lockhart. I didn't know what it was, of course. I just heard this horrible voice wanting to hurt and kill. I heard it on Halloween too—that's how we ended up in the corridor where Mrs. Norris was attacked. Hermione couldn't find any books about the Chamber of Secrets in the library, so she convinced Binns to tell us the legend, and that's when we found out Salazar Slytherin was the one who created the Chamber and how he fell out with the other founders over accepting Muggle-borns. We all suspected Malfoy, naturally—"

Ginny nodded again.

"And Hermione came up with the idea of brewing Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle and get him to confess."

"That was the potions accident?" she said. "A mistake with Polyjuice?"

"She told you?"

"I visited her in the hospital wing, but all she would say was she'd had a potions accident, and I should always be very careful and follow the instructions exactly."

"She thought she had a hair from one of the Slytherin girls, but it turned out to be her cat."

Ginny giggled, then slapped her hand over her mouth. "It's not funny," she said, still fighting a smile. "But Hermione … messing up a potion … and it explains the tail…."

"It's funny now." Harry grinned.

"But it wasn't Malfoy," Ginny said, steering them back on track.

"No, and we learned that on Christmas Day, when we took the Polyjuice. Ron and I found the diary in Moaning Myrtle's toilet not long after that." Harry shot her a sidelong glance. "I, er, I figured out how to work it when my bag ripped and my ink bottle spilled all over everything."

Ginny blushed, and Harry knew she was thinking about the singing Valentine too.

"There was ink all over everything except the diary. So, I took it up to the dormitory alone and wrote in it and—"

"Tom wrote back."

It was Harry's turn to nod.

"What did he say?" Ginny's voice had gone tight and flat.

"He showed me what happened the last time the Chamber was opened. He showed me his capture of Hagrid."

"Hagrid? Hagrid would never hurt anyone!"

"Not on purpose," Harry agreed. "But he does have a tendency to underestimate how dangerous monsters really are." He remembered Hagrid's words as he was being carried out of the Great Hall by Acromantulas: "Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!"

"You suspected Hagrid?" She crossed her arms and frowned.

"Well, we knew he had been expelled," Harry said defensively. "And we knew it wasn't Malfoy, so it seemed unlikely it was his grandfather or anything. We debated about confronting Hagrid, but by that time there hadn't been an attack for months, so we decided to leave well enough alone."

"But then … Hermione and Penelope," Ginny whispered.

"Yes." His heart felt heavy, realizing Ginny had felt guilty not just for attacking people, but people that she—and those she loved—cared about. "But that wasn't you," he said firmly.

"I made it possible," she said evenly. "Without me, without a live body to inhabit, Riddle would never have been able to open the Chamber and release the Basilisk. Without me, no one would have been Petrified."

"Yes, but—"

"What happened next?"

Harry frowned at her attempt to change the subject. "Without me, George would still have two ears. Hermione's parents wouldn't be in Australia. Loads of people wouldn't be dead. And don't say it's different, because it's not. Everybody says it's not my fault, that they don't blame me. Well, no one blames you, either. Certainly not me. And not Hermione, I know."

Ginny sat quiet and still, and Harry hoped he'd made her think.

"What happened next?" she said again.

"We went to see Hagrid, and he told us to 'follow the spiders.'" Harry sighed. "That was the monster he'd been hiding in the school, the monster everyone thought was responsible for Myrtle's death—Aragog the Acromantula."

"Myrtle's death?"

"Aragog wouldn't tell us anything about the real monster, but he said the girl who was killed was found in a bathroom."

"So, Tom figured out how to open the Chamber of Secrets, and when the Basilisk came out, it killed Myrtle. Then he framed Hagrid for the murder and Hagrid was expelled, but he finished school," Ginny spat.

"With honors," Harry said, then at her questioning look, he added, "He was Head Boy. And they gave him a Special Award for Services to the School for 'catching' the monster."

She scowled for a couple of minutes longer, then said, "But that still doesn't explain how you found me."

"Ron and I were trying to find a way to talk to Myrtle, to ask how she died. We gave Lockhart the slip one morning, but McGonagall caught us, and I said we wanted to visit Hermione. She sent us on to the hospital wing, and it was the first time we'd seen Hermione since she'd been Petrified, and she had a note in her hand—a page from a book, explaining about Basilisks. She'd written pipes in the margin, and we put that together and realized the entrance was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We were on our way to tell McGonagall when—when—when we found out you'd been taken."

Ginny shuddered, and Harry pulled her close. She was cold, and he wrapped his arms and legs around her, trying to cover as much of her as he could.

"Me and Ron—we'd hidden in a wardrobe in the staff room, so we knew they were expecting Lockhart to go after you. After a while—after hours and hours of just waiting miserably, we decided to go tell Lockhart what we knew in hopes it would help." Harry clenched his jaw. "But he was packing—running. Like a coward," he said scornfully. "He confessed he hadn't done any of the things he'd written in his books, and then he tried to modify our memories. But I disarmed him, and we forced him to come into the Chamber with us. I opened it using Parseltongue."

"But there was the cave-in," Ginny said.

"Yes, Lockhart got Ron's wand and tried to Obliviate him again, but it backfired. That was Ron's old wand, remember?" He felt her nod against his shoulder.

"Harry, what happened—what happened in the Chamber? I woke up and—and there was this great dead snake, and Riddle was gone, and you showed me the diary with a hole through it…."

So, Harry told her about seeing her lying at the foot of Salazar Slytherin's statue, cold and pale, about Riddle and his taunting. Discovering that he was a young Lord Voldemort. How Harry had been filled with panic, then growing courage as phoenix song filled the Chamber. Pulling on the Sorting Hat in a fit of desperation and begging for help, only to nearly be knocked out cold as the sword of Gryffindor clunked onto his head. How Fawkes had poked out the basilisk's eyes and made it safe for Harry to fight it.

"You know the rest."

Ginny lay still with her head in the hollow of his shoulder for several minutes.

"Did Tom ever tell you anything about me? About what I wrote?"

"Not specifically."

"Good."

Harry tickled her nose with her hair. "What, was it all about me?"

She didn't smile. "I was terrified that you would find out, that you would never like me and I would be expelled and my family—"

"Your family adores you," Harry said firmly.

"I know, but—I was young, and Tom messed with my mind. Fed my fears. When I saw—" She took a deep breath. "On Valentine's Day, when I saw you with the diary, I knew I had to get it back. He had asked me so many questions about you. I knew it wasn't safe for you to have it. I'm sorry I trashed your dormitory."

Harry squeezed her tightly. "It's all right, Ginny. You're safe now. We're both safe."

She reached up and kissed him, and it was several long minutes before she spoke.

"Do you remember Christmas your fifth year? At Grimmauld Place?"

He nodded.

"Remember hiding from everyone because we overheard Moody say he thought you were possessed, and then when Hermione arrived, you finally came out and talked to us?"

Harry nodded again, wondering where she was going with this.

"Do you remember what I said?"

He was quiet for a moment. "That I should have talked to you because you knew what it was like to be possessed by Voldemort."

"And do you remember what you said?" she whispered.

" 'I forgot.' "

"How could you have done that, Harry?" Ginny's voice was anguished, her face twisted with hurt as she pushed herself up on one elbow to look down at him. "How could you have forgotten about the Chamber?"

"I didn't forget about the Chamber," he said, smoothing her hair away from her face. "I watched you, those last few days of term, and you seemed all right. Perfectly happy."

"Didn't … didn't Ron tell you about that summer? About what happened in Egypt?"

Harry shook his head. "What happened in Egypt?"

Ginny's expression changed, and she lay down again, but not on his shoulder—beside him. "I had nightmares all summer long," she said. "I used to sneak upstairs and sleep with Ron because I was scared to be by myself."

"I had no idea," Harry said in amazement. "You seemed just fine. Resilient. Strong."

"I wasn't. I was scared of my own shadow that summer, and I was terrified of going back to Hogwarts. I knew, logically, that it couldn't happen again, but I had these big gaps in my memory, and I hadn't really made any friends because I was always writing to Tom, and the castle seemed big and spooky and intimidating. I think it's why, when Dad won the Daily Prophet prize, they took me to Egypt."

"To Egypt," Harry said blankly, not following.

Ginny nodded. "To see Bill."

And it clicked. "To see a curse breaker!"

"Yes. But Mum and Dad didn't want to talk about what had happened, I could tell. So, I hid my fear and the nightmares as well as I could, but we visited all these dark, underground tombs, and I wouldn't go in. Mum said I was too little, but Bill knew there was something wrong when I didn't argue with her. He tried to get me to talk about it several times, but—well, I didn't like to talk about it, and I didn't want him to think badly of me."

Harry reached down and took her hand. "What happened?"

"I sort of fell apart the night we got our Hogwarts letters. Ron fetched Bill from his flat, and he convinced me to let him take me into the curse breakers' training course so he could teach me how to work around dark magic."

Harry was surprised. "The curse breakers' training course? Really?"

Ginny nodded. "Ron never said anything? He was there too."

"Not a word. He's very protective of you, you know."

"I know," she said with easy confidence.

"I never would have guessed, Ginny. You seemed fine, and I knew you were strong and capable. I thought you had handled everything on your own."

"You really watched to make sure I was okay?"

"I did. When we were in McGonagall's office afterwards, I was trying to think of how to explain without mentioning you. I was terrified you were going to be expelled. I wanted you to be safe and happy and at Hogwarts with us."

"You did?"

"Well, not that I would have admitted it back then, but yeah. You were cute. And you liked me."

"Oh, I see. You just wanted another cute girl for your fan club," Ginny teased.

Harry laughed. "Hagrid used to tease me about you. He thought you were coming to visit him in hopes of running into me."

"I was in the beginning," she admitted. "But Hagrid became one of my first friends at Hogwarts. And—"

"Colin," Harry said quietly.

"Yes."

They were quiet for a few minutes. Ginny snuggled against him again, and Harry ran his hand through her hair, loosening her ponytail. She didn't protest.

"So, when you said you forgot, what you meant was you thought I was strong enough to handle it, and I appeared to be doing well, so you didn't worry about me."

"That's it."

"That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me."

Harry scrunched his neck to look down at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, everyone else walked on tiptoe around me for a while, like I was fragile. Like they were afraid I would shatter or explode or something. Even when I went back to Hogwarts, it was hard because everyone knew but no one knew what to say. Except Professor Lupin."

"Lupin? He knew?"

"I think Bill wrote and asked him to look out for me," Ginny said. "Lupin tried to make out that Dumbledore had told him, but I never really bought that. I was really annoyed at Bill because I didn't want anyone else to know, but Lupin gave me some extra work and helped me catch up with my lessons. Didn't you ever notice that Bill and Lupin were friends?"

"Not really." But then again, it had been to Bill's house Lupin had come to announce his son's birth.

"Well, you weren't at Grimmauld Place as long as we were. I noticed it the first time they met—it was like they already knew each other."

"Nothing gets by you, does it?"

"You remember that, Harry Potter."

()()()()

Harry lay in the shade of the willow tree by the pond two days later, supposedly dozing but in actuality watching Ginny through his eyelashes. She lay just outside of the shadows, propped on her forearms as she flipped through the latest copy of Teen Witch, her ankles crossed and swaying back and forth behind her. She wore an aqua bikini and nothing else, and either Harry had not paid proper attention when Ginny and Hermione sunned themselves by the pond the summer before sixth year or Ginny had grown. Harry let out a quiet breath and made a discrete clothing adjustment. She was so distracting, it was hard to think.

But he was going to have to tell her soon.

They had been kissing and talking in the orchard for a month, and he still hadn't told her about the Horcruxes. Nothing from this last year, really, because it all revolved around Horcruxes or Hallows. What they were, who had them, where they were hidden, how to destroy them, when they would find another, why Dumbledore hadn't given him more information, how the Hallows played into the plan.

And Ginny was getting impatient. She didn't say so, but Harry could feel it in the line of her body when he chose something to tell her, could see the flicker of disappointment in her eyes. And he.…

His eyes strayed over her form again. He wanted to see just how serious she was about offering "all" her freckles to him, but it didn't feel right when he was hiding something from her. Ginny was smart and intuitive. She had always had an uncanny, almost unsettling, knack for understanding him. Harry was afraid she would guess the rest once he explained about the Horcruxes, and he didn't want to talk about the final Horcrux. He didn't want to talk about the Forest.

But Godric, she was gorgeous, and clever and funny and…. Without consciously thinking about it, he rolled towards her.

"Look at this," Ginny said. "They did a story on Dumbledore's Army." She held up the magazine, which showed a picture of the DA from fifth year. "It's one of Colin's photos. He would have been over the moon to see one of them published."

Harry rolled back onto his back, staring up into the hanging branches of the weeping willow. "Yeah, he would have been."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said after a minute. "I didn't mean to make you sad."

"Well, it's not hard to do, is it?"

"No. But it will get better."

Harry turned his head to look at her, her features blurred by the bright sunlight behind her. "Do you think so?"

Ginny stared at the photo with peculiar intensity.

"It got better after Cedric died, and Sirius," she said. "I know you still miss them, but not like you did at first, right?"

He didn't say anything. He didn't want to talk about the dead any more than he wanted to talk about immortality.

"Right, Harry?"

Her voice cracked, and he realized with a start that if she was studying a photograph of the DA, she was seeing Fred. Harry scrambled for something to say and came up with his own lifeline.

"This makes it better, doesn't it? Being together?" He reached across the shadows and laced his hand with hers.

She squeezed back hard and nodded, blinking fast.

"I don't know what I would have done this summer without you, Ginny."

She squeezed his hand again. "Me either."

Then, as if to reinforce his concerns about her perceptiveness, Ginny let go and turned back to her magazine.

He was going to have to tell her soon.

a/n: I know the scene about the Basilisk scar is rather repetitive (sorry!), but trust me, retelling it in dialogue is a heck of a lot more interesting than the paragraph of narrative summary I started with.

One of my favorite things in writing is to tie fics together, and I told you last week I would be referring to a couple of previous works in this chapter, specifically More Than a Mug of Hot Chocolate (one-shot) and Hidden Chambers and Unseen Monsters (multi-chap).They both tell how Bill helped Ginny recover from the events of CoS, and everything Ginny tells Harry here is actually shown in Chambers.

Ginny would not have known about the Basilisk scar. It is only in the movie that she wakes up before the wound is healed, and while I usually ignore any changes made by the movies, I couldn't resist the romance of the two of them being the only ones who knew its exact location.

Hagrid's plea not to hurt the Acromantulas is a quote from: Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury: London, 1997. I admit to being too lazy to look up the page number right this second, but it's in chapter 32, "The Elder Wand."

Finally, I need to warn you that my computer and I may be forced to part ways this week. I accidentally fried my USB ports with a spilled glass of water a few months ago and have finally reached the point where I can no longer work without them. I may have to ship it off or replace it, so if you don't see a new chapter next Wednesday, please know that I am grieving just as much as you are, and I will post as soon as it's physically possible for me to do so.

Thanks for reading!

ktoo