AN: Hey everyone this is my attempt at writing an AU for the Harry Potter books following what would happen if Harry and Ginny became friends after Chamber of Secrets. It never made sense to me that they never became friendly after this event so I am trying to right that wrong :D.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to the original author J.K. Rowling, I am but a humble servant playing with them.

Harry remembered what it felt like sitting in the Gryffindor common room once he heard that Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets. He thought for sure that there was no way that Ginny would still be alive but he couldn't sit still. If there was anything he could do to help the Weasleys get through this, to make it better, he would do it in a heartbeat. The Weasleys took Harry in and treated him, not like The-Boy-Who-Lived, rather like any other 12-year-old boy that needed a home. Then with Ron, Harry decided that they needed to go to Lockhart to tell him what they knew. But when they got to Lockhart's office the pair of them found the coward trying to flee and then they uncovered that he really was nothing but a pompous git stealing credit for the work of other Witches and Wizards. Harry and Ron couldn't sit back and not attempt to save Ginny from the Basilisk so they took Lockhart with them into the Chamber but unfortunately got separated once the arse tried to escape again.

Harry, as dread and fear crept up inside him, set off to see if he would be able to find and hopefully save Ginny. Then he found her, she was laying lifeless face down on the floor. Or at least that's what he thought until Tom Riddle revealed himself as Lord Voldemort. With the help of Fawks and the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry was able to kill the Basilisk and destroy Tom Riddle's diary. Shortly after Ginny awoke and couldn't stop crying, though it didn't make him uncomfortable like he thought it would. All Harry wanted was to get her away from the Chamber as soon as possible. Harry didn't see Ginny at the feast later that night and surmised that she must still be in the hospital wing with her parents, Deciding that he would visit her in the morning, Harry was finally able to fall asleep.

Harry awoke at 8 o'clock the next morning to find all his dormmates still asleep; not surprising as they didn't get back to the dorm until after three this morning. But Harry wanted to get an early start and see Ginny as she was a mess when he last saw her in Professor McGonagall's office. Making his way towards the hospital, Harry was thankful that he didn't run into anyone, in fact when he arrived Ginny was alone. All of the petrified victims had been cured last night and attended the feast. Walking over to her bed, he was surprised to see that Ginny was awake, as she was laying on her side, back turned towards the door. Her eyes looked vacant staring into the wall.

"Ginny?" Harry questioned as he pulled up a chair to sit next to her. "Are you okay?" She looked up at him, almost as if she was looking through him, and blinked real slow as if he wasn't really there.

"H-harry… What are you doing here?" Ginny struggled to get the words out.

"I came to see you, I wanted to know that you were alright but I can go if you don't want me here." Harry said as if he was trying to make himself believe that what he was saying was true.

"No, it's okay," She replied as she sat up in her bed, trying to brush her red hair out of her face. Blushing she looked down at her hands as she started twisting them around. "My parents left not too long ago and I couldn't go back to sleep. I- every time I close my eyes I see Tom's face. He was cruel-" Ginny broke off what she was saying looking over at him. "I'm sorry, you don't need to hear this."

"No Ginny, I came here to talk to you. Please continue." She looked up at him and gave Harry a small smile. The tears were starting to swim in her brown eyes. Before he could register what he was doing, Harry reached out and took a hold of the hand closest to him, stopping them from being rung, and gave her a smile in return and nodding his head for her to continue with what she was saying.

"I was so stupid. I wanted to believe that Tom was my friend and I told him everything!" She cried. Taking a deep breath, "I didn't know what was going on at first, I found the diary with the books that my mum bought me last summer and thought that she wanted me to keep a journal. When I started to write in it and he wrote back I knew I shouldn't have responded. My dad told all of us from a young age, 'Never trust anything that can think for itself' but he was so nice. He offered me advice and kept me company while the boys ignored me. They never wanted to play with me because I was their annoying younger sister so I found a friend in Tom. How could I be so daft?"

"I was tricked by Tom Riddle too, Ginny. He made me think that Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago. I know Hagrid, I trust Hagrid and within 30 minutes I believed him. You are not at fault Ginny, Voldemort did this, not you," Harry begged Ginny to believe him. "The fact that you tried to get rid of the diary when you started to lose your memory is proof of how strong you are."

"But I went back to it Harry," Ginny gasped

"Only because he already took control of your mind. Tom told me himself down in the Chamber how he tricked you. How he allowed himself to grow stronger by pretending to be sympathetic and kind. By lending you an ear to tell your troubles to. If you knew that he was evil, of course you never would have written to him. Ginny, Tom was manipulative, when he was at Hogwarts he had all the teachers wrapped around his finger. He was a prefect, a model student, if you asked any of the professors at the time. The only one he couldn't fool was Dumbldore. Don't blame yourself Ginny," He gave her hand another squeeze.

"Thank you, Harry. I- I just want to say I'm sorry," She could see that he was about to interrupt her, so she pulled her hand from his and held it up. "Please listen," once she was sure that Harry wouldn't stop her, "I need to apologize to you. I have done nothing this year but act like a stupid little fan girl everytime I saw you. Instead of actually trying to get to know you, I made up a version of you that I could idolize. Now I know how moronic that is because I finally understand why you didn't want to be around me, I kept reminding you of the worst night of your life. You were but a babe in Godric's Hollow and couldn't even comprehend what was going on, let alone fight You-Know-Who. I let the stories I was told as a kid shape an image of this powerful wizard." Blushing she looked away from him for a couple of seconds before looking back up to him, "I hope you can forgive me because I've done nothing to deserve your kindness. I mean, I sucked a bloody Valentine Dwarf on you!"

"So that really was you?" Harry couldn't help but chuckle even as he felt his blush creeping up his neck. Ginny laughed with him, her own blush fighting his, "I mean fresh pickled toad isn't how I would describe my eyes.." He took a sigh and looked up at her, "Thank you, Ginny. I might not see myself in that light but I can somewhat understand how others could perceive me in that light, especially if they were told stories about me as a babe and don't know me. I do want us to be friends Ginny and I promise to knock some sense into your brothers because I think you're pretty cool." He smiled.

With a month left in the school year and final exams cancelled, the Hogwart students were able to finally relax. The threat was gone and everything was back to normal. Peeves was celebrating by throwing water balloons at everyone singing, 'The hero who conquered the Dark Lord'. Defense Against the Dark Arts was also cancelled due to Lockhart being sent to St Mungo's to try and get his memory back, no love lost there Harry thought but Ginny was happy again. She had started to sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione during lunch hours and frequently hung out with them while they weren't in class.

As they were on their way home on the Hogwarts Express, Harry had remembered that he wanted to tell Ginny something. While the others in their compartment were busy playing Exploding Snap, Harry motioned for Ginny to come sit next to him. Curious Ginny walked over to him.

"Ginny, I want you to have this." Harry handed her a piece of paper, "It is the telephone number to the Dursleys. I taught your dad how to use the phone last summer and I could really use someone to talk to. Owls can only do so much and I'm not sure I can stand two months with no one to talk to." In an even lower voice he said, "If you need someone to vent to, I'm there. I know I can't physically be there for you but I know what it is like to keep everything bottled up. It is good for the soul to have someone to share the load."

Ginny took the piece of parchment slowly and nodded, "Okay and I'll write to you too. I hope you know that you can also write to me Harry. The Dursleys sound awful and if you need anyone I am here." She couldn't find the words to describe how she was feeling. While she was at school Ginny was able to surround herself with people to keep from slipping off and start blaming herself like she did while in the hospital before Harry came along. Now that she was going home she feared that she wouldn't be able to stop the dark thoughts from creeping up. Somehow Harry knew and was giving her a hand when he couldn't be there in person. Not only had he given her his number to call but he also gave her the green light to write to him. She missed writing down her thoughts, and while she knew that Harry was not a diary, he was someone that she could trust. He was someone that wouldn't judge her for her thoughts and someone that she could relate to. Ginny also wished that Harry would take her up on her offer and release some of the tension being with the Dursleys will cause him by writing to her.

AN: I am sure everyone noticed the little poem from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets chapter 13. I couldn't resist mentioning it as I felt their friendship couldn't move forward unless Ginny confessed to sending Harry the dwarf (plus I think it is absolutely hilarious). I hope everyone enjoyed this so far. I am hoping to write more soon as I already have three more chapters mapped out. Let me know what you think and remember this is AU so everything will not be the same as it was in the books but of course there will most definitely be snippets here and there.