.Chapter Two.
Ginny returned to Hogwarts for her second year of school the same way she started her first, nervous and excited. For much different reasons though. Ginny sat in the carriage by herself on the Hogwarts express and tried to calm her nerves. She spent the entire break trying not to worry about her second year, trying to guess what her family thought, she trying to hide away in shame, trying to spend time with Charlie who gave her nothing but calm and support. Most importantly, Ginny spent the entire break trying to understand how she had changed. Ginny knew she had changed on a fundamental level, but she couldn't put it in words, she couldn't see it on the outside, and couldn't really describe it. She just knew. Ginny also knew her second year would be very different than the first and Professor Snape would play a large part in that.
Ginny didn't have any friends. Hermione, Ron's best friend other than Harry, talked to her at the train station, and seemed nice. But Ginny didn't really know the girls of her year because she spent last year hiding from them.
So Ginny sat alone on the Hogwarts Express and tried to stay calm. She managed that until three hours in, until the Express stopped in the middle of the bridge and all the lights went out. Ginny could feel a coldness to the air, a catching, sheer darkness that made her shiver and her heart race at the same time. She couldn't see out the windows, but she could see shadows and they were moving everywhere. She heard kids start to scream and yell doors banging along the train and she had one irrational thought of Tom, before her compartment door opened and she came face to face with a dementor. Ginny froze. She didn't know what they were until she saw it. As if the knowledge was there in her heard, and the imagine brought it to the surface.
Ginny pushed that alarming thought away, and focused on the threat in front of her. Curiously, the dementor started to enter the compartment and then paused. Ginny saw the dementor mimic inhaling, and then the dementor was gone.
Ginny felt like no time had passed before an unfamiliar teaching was rushing in and making sure she was okay. The whole experience felt like no more than 15 minutes.
The lights were back on, the students talking, their fear turned into loud chatting and laughter for the shared experience. The train started to move and Ginny sat back into her seat, and tried to not lose her mind.
Half an hour later, Ginny felt like she walking into the gates for the first time, and regardless of what just happened, she felt excited.
She followed the crowd up through the courtyards and into the castle. Ginny seated herself at the Gryffindor table. Hermione was on one side and a blonde haired girl from her year sat on her left. Ginny remembered the girl from her year's first name was Alice, and nothing else. Hermione turned to Ginny straight away and said, "Ron is with Harry at the Hospital Wing. Did you hear what happened?"
Ginny blinked at Hermione, "Sorry?"
Hermione stared back at her, "Didn't you hear?"
Ginny shook her head and Hermione threw her a concerned glance before continuing, "The Dementors on the train. It affected Harry in an unexpected way. Harry experienced something and was unconscious before we could do anything."
Ginny blinked at Hermione and then realised she hadn't even checked on anyone else, casting a glance over the table for her elder brother twins, Ginny responded, "Is he okay? Are you all okay?"
Hermione brushed the question away and reached over for some juice, "All fine, he's just getting checked out." Hermione paused, as if a thought had interrupted her, "I need to understand Dementors."
Ginny frowned, "I wonder why he fainted? That's a strange reaction. Speaking of, you haven't seen the twins have you?"
Hermione looked down the table and confirmed, "No, I haven't seen them, and yes, it is a strange reaction."
Ginny and Hermione stared at each other. Ginny thought they were staring for different reasons. Ginny was staring, wondering if this was someone related to Tom Riddle, then recognising her reaction as paranoid. Hermione was likely staring because she was gently remembering Ginny's over the top crush on Harry the year prior. Ginny fought the blush, and considered maybe Hermione was considering that Harry always seemed to be involved with strange incidents at school.
Ginny shook it off, noted her troublemaking twin brothers were nowhere to be found and then wanted to leave the silly chatting of her schoolmates behind. She stood suddenly, surprising Hermione who flinched back. Ginny's tone soft in apology, "I need to try and find the twins before they get into trouble."
Before Hermione could respond Ginny was walking out the Great Hall doors.
Ginny just started walking in any direction. She felt out of sorts, disjointed, out of sync. She kept walking down hallways without a destination in mind. She turned a sharp corner and ran into the one person she wanted to see and the one of many she also wanted to avoid. Professor Snape.
Eyes wide, she stuttered back a step. She felt small and nervous all of a sudden.
Professor Snape stilled in front of her, "Miss Weasley."
Silence.
"Professor Snape, Sir," Ginny said her voice small and quiet. Professor Snape frowned down at her.
"Come."
Ginny barely heard the command before the Professor swept past her and down the corridor. She felt off centre as she scrambled to follow.
Ginny followed the Professor down hallway after hallway in silence. Soon enough, they stood in front of the Potions classroom. Professor Snape swept into the room and stood at the front of the classroom. The bench next to his desk held a potion cauldron, more ingredients than she could name, and lots of small containers. Professor Snape started stirring the cauldron absentmindedly. Ginny followed behind the Professor and stopped to face him, standing against the desk near the front, both in silence.
Professor Snape broke the silence, "Tell me what happened on the train today, Miss Weasley."
Ginny stared at him, "Sir?" She asked hesitantly.
"Tell me what happened on the train today, Miss Weasley." Professor Snape stated in clear and slow tones.
Ginny didn't know it was just the question she needed to hear.
"Miss Weasley?"
Ginny breathed deeply, "I didn't know what Dementors were until I saw them today."
Professor Snape frowned and then returned to his potion as if nothing happened, "The same with most of the students below fourth year Miss Weasley, Dementors are not common knowledge."
Ginny stilled and focused on the Professor. Somehow that caught his attention and he looked back at her while Ginny continued, "I didn't know of Dementors until one opened my door and I thought, that's a dementor. I didn't learn this, I knew it."
Professor Snape stood straight, turned to face Ginny and stilled. There was a charged silence of about 20 seconds. Professor Snape then sunk into his chair, and quietly breathed out a long breath.
"Well then," Professor Snape started to say. The Professor tried to sort his thoughts and work out how have this conversation with a young student he barely knew. Trust was a solid ghost between them. Professor Snape also knew it would be up to him to walk through that ghost the first time.
Professor Snape locked eyes with Ginny and then nodded his head at the chair across from him. Wordlessly, he cloaked his classroom in locking charms and strong privacy charms.
"Miss Weasley, now seems as good a time as any to start our lessons," Professor Snape watched his young student sit straight in her chair, and lean forward in subconscious interest.
"Sir?" Ginny queried.
Professor Snape gave her a quick assessment and then made a decision, "Miss Weasley, we are going to talk about your experience with the Dark Lord. I want us to talk about it, because I have a feeling you know more than you have let on, and I also think I know more about you than you know as well."
"I don't understand, Professor Snape." Ginny frowned at the Professor.
Professor Snape replied succinctly, "Miss Weasley, I think it will save time for you to call me by my name. My plan is for us to examine what you have been through, which includes your thoughts and memories. I hope you will trust me in this, and therefore, I trust you to call me by my name inside this classroom."
Ginny swallowed, tried to understand the gravity of what her Professor was saying. "Yes, Sir."
Ginny saw the side look the Professor gave her and tried to settle her thoughts, "I understand, Sir, I'm just very confused by everything that has happened today already. Can we focus on that first?"
"Of course, Miss Weasley. Tell me your thoughts." Professor Snape sat back and Ginny tried to not feel like she was being tested.
"I have a lot of thoughts. If I didn't know what Dementors were previously, and trust me, I went through all my memories to see if I had a mention of them anywhere, and I don't. That leaves me with only one possibility." Ginny stood from her seat and started her pacing again. She felt so restless, energy that wouldn't let her settle, like her mind racing with questions.
"And what possibility is that, Miss Weasley?"
Ginny swung around to stare at Professor Snape, disbelief on her face. Whether that disbelief was from the question or her answer, was unclear. She let out a breath. "I took something from Tom."
Professor Snape steepled his fingers, "That seems like a simplistic answer, Miss Weasley. Elaborate."
Ginny threw her hand in her hair, tugging and responded, "I have memories, or knowledge that Tom had. If I personally don't have that knowledge independently, it has to have come from Tom. Which means even though I protected myself from him, I still took something from him. Which makes me terrified that he took something from me, or what if he still is?"
Professor Snape could see the fear in Ginny. He stated in clear terms, "Miss Weasley, if I didn't think you were your own person, we would not be having this conversation. Rest assured, the Headmaster and I checked you thoroughly, and I constantly assess your shields to ensure no one else can be in your mind. You are safe. You are alone in your mind. You have control of that."
Ginny settled again, her whole body choosing to trust in Professor Snapes words. "So that means I took something from him, or remember something from him."
"There are a few options, Miss Weasley."
Ginny waited for Professor Snape to continue before commenting, "And? What are they?"
"I believe you subconsciously fought the Dark Lord once you realised what was happening. You protected your mind and power from him when you could. Your power and strength of will fought back, and I think we will see the result of that for years to come. I think your strength of character will provide a number of surprises in the future."
Ginny frowned, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Miss Weasley, no one has ever been under such circumstances in their early magical and childhood development, nor come out of it so well. I mean, the possibilities of what you took, or developed, or absorbed, or remember from the Dark Lord are infinite."
Ginny stared hard at Professor Snape, "So you wish to pick my brain to learn about the Dark Lord and use it in the future?"
Professor Snape let a heavy silence sit for a while, "I mean, Miss Weasley, I wish to learn who you will become after such a formative first year, and work with you to understand how you have changed. I also wish to teach you how to protect yourself so in the future you can turn everything you are against the Dark Lord and never be in the same position again."
Ginny felt startled to feel her eyes smarting. She blinked furiously and stared Professor Snape, or her ally Severus in his dark and energised eyes. "I wish the same, Severus."
Ginny saw Professor Snape startle slightly, before she saw the slightest smirk on his lips. Ginny took that as a laugh and felt another link in their tentative and precious friendship form.