Thank you for the favourite, follows and reviews!

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

The return to Hogwarts had been rather abrupt. Dumbledore and McGonagall had taken Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna along, closely followed by Tonks, with the others remaining behind. Once they had got there, they had quickly recruited Professor Flitwick. Their next attempt to enlist help, however, was proving far less easy.

Professor Slughorn fidgeted nervously. "You want me to go where?"

"The Chamber of Secrets,"McGonagall said, not for the first time.

Slughorn nodded thoughtfully, as he had done several other times. "Of course, I would like to be braving that great danger with you, Albus. Except that, to be blunt, I really don't see any need."

"Merely a precaution,"Dumbledore stated. "The basilisk was killed four years ago. In order to prevent its remains being misused, I had them returned to the chamber. However, there are a few details that are less than certain. And I would like having an experienced potions expert on hand if we're dealing with venom."

"I am still unsure why you need to be messing about with venom in the first place."

"That was Ginny's idea,"said Luna helpfully.

Ginny suddenly found herself on the spot but nodded in confirmation. "It was the basilisk that killed the manifestation of the young Tom Riddle, the part of his soul that he left behind in his diary. So, I thought we could use its venom to destroy…"

"…something similar,"Dumbledore put in sharply. It was clear that he didn't want Slughorn to know the full story.

But Slughorn's face was ashen. "Horcruxes,"he said slowly. "He actually did it. Tom…the person he became, You Know Who. He split his soul…again and again. I suspected it, knowing what he looked like, but I never dreamed…"

Harry produced the locket, which Sirius had given him for safekeeping. "We think this is one of them. If we destroy it, it'll be one step closer to making him mortal again."

"But there are probably powerful charms protecting it,"Flitwick noted.

Dumbledore nodded. "Given what we have encountered in the past, that seems certain."

Slughorn took a deep breath and gathered himself. He stood as straight as Ginny had ever seen him. "Very well then. I will give you all the help you need."

They headed to the girls' bathroom, where they had exited from the chamber all those years ago. The hole in the floor, made by Draco Malfoy under Thomas Riddle's control, had long since been repaired. "How do we get down there?"Ginny asked.

"I was hoping you could provide the solution there,"Dumbledore replied. "You still speak parseltongue, I trust?"

Ginny cautiously stepped forward. "Open,"she hissed. And part of the wall swung back to reveal a secret entrance.

"Of course!"Hermione exclaimed. "Salazar Slytherin must have keyed it in the hope only his heir could open it!" She realised everyone was looking at her. "Which you'd probably already figured out."

"I hadn't,"Neville assured her.

The group descended into the darkness. Given that the chamber was the site of the first in a very long line of frightening encounters for Ginny, she hadn't exactly been looking forward to seeing it again. But when they reached the end of the tunnel, there it was in all its glory. And in the middle of it was the skeletal remains of the basilisk.

"Take a closer look, Horace,"Dumbledore instructed.

Slughorn cautiously made his way forward. "The fangs are still intact, complete with venom. If I could examine them more closely…"

"We only need one for the task at hand, Horace. The rest are yours to do with as you wish."

Slughorn gave the first fang he broke off to Dumbledore, then began gathering the others. Flitwick held out a hand. "The locket, please, Harry." With a small amount of reluctance, Harry complied. Flitwick turned the locket over and over. "I'm not sure if we can really know what defences it has without opening it. We'll need to do that in order to destroy it."

Harry spoke up. "Um, shouldn't Ginny be the one to do that?"

Dumbledore considered the matter for a moment, then smiled. "Yes, I think that's appropriately symbolic." He gestured for Flitwick to place the locket on the floor, then handed the fang to Ginny. "Be careful not to prick yourself."

Ginny would have quite happily left the task to someone else this time but she didn't want to let people down. She cautiously approached the locket and opened it. A black mist came out and inside it she could see a face, formed in silver, and then a whole body. She realised with a start who it was.

Draco Malfoy.

"Well, well, well,"he sneered. "Ginny Weasley, the Girl Who Lived. Come to save us all again." His arrogant face contorted into a snarl of hatred. "Couldn't save me though, could you? Didn't even try. Didn't think I was worth it. You're the same as the Dark Lord, deciding who lives and who dies, who's worthy of being saved and who isn't."

Ginny could hear Harry and the others shouting at her but couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything was drowned by Draco's words, and by the image that sprung into her mind, of him lying dead in the chamber. Could she have saved him, if she'd tried? If she'd noticed something was going on with him rather than just dismissing his behaviour as his usual nastiness?

No. No, that wasn't what happened. If there was anything she could have done, she'd have done it. By the time she knew anything was going on, he was already dead. It had been Tom Riddle, that part of Voldemort in the diary, that had done all of it. And it was another part of Voldemort doing this to her now.

With a cry of anger, Ginny plunged the fang down into the locket. There was a shriek and then the black mist vanished. The locket lay smouldering in front of her. Ginny remained on her knees and then she felt Harry's arms around her, offering silent comfort. She looked up at Dumbledore. "Now what?"

"Now,"replied Dumbledore,"we must think."