"Why the bloody hell is this hall flooded?" Harry asked, stomping through large puddles on the ground.
"It's Myrtle's bathroom. She's probably flooded at toilet again. Let's go see," Ron suggested. It wasn't like either of them wanted to attend Lockhart's class, and anyway, Neville was sure to let them borrow his notes.
"Who the hell tries to drown a book?" Harry said, picking up a soggy, black book off the ground.
"Tom Riddle. I remember that name from my detentions with Filch. He's done some great thing for the school 50 years ago, or something," Ron commented. Harry shrugged his shoulders and shoved the book in his bag, determined to look at it later.
After supper, everyone was locked into their common rooms, keeping Draco from the group. Harry, Ron, and Neville cracked open the black book, hoping it had some answers in it. To their disappointment, there was nothing, so they put it away for another day.
"Why do you have Gin's diary?" Draco asked, plopping down at the Gryffindor table the next morning.
"What do you mean 'Gin's diary'?" Ron asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Since when do you have cute pet names for my sister, Malfoy?"
"Since I've always called her that?" Draco asked, cocking his eyebrow in response.
"Not that this little pissing contest isn't fun, but what do you mean by diary?" Harry asked.
"I gave that to her at the beginning of the year. So she wouldn't feel nervous," Draco explained.
"So, she's been writing in here?" Harry asked. Draco nodded his confirmation.
"Let's see what happens," Harry said, taking out a quill and putting ink to paper.
Hello, I'm Harry Potter
Harry started but didn't know how to finish. During the pause, the ink swirled away and a new line replaced it, in much neater handwriting.
Hello Harry Potter,
I've been waiting to speak to you.
Harry screamed, slamming the book shut. Ron, Neville, and Draco jumped back. Minerva gave them a look from the head table, telling them to behave themselves, or else.
"Okay, we can all agree that was weird, right?" Harry asked, looking at the other three boys.
"Yeah, but what did it say that made Ginny want to write in it all year, then violently flush it down a toilet?" Neville asked.
It was several days before Harry could try to talk to the diary again. What he learned was a trip. Tom Riddle had stopped Hagrid- Hagrid?- from killing anymore students with his dangerous spider. It was decided that Ron and Harry would use the invisibility cloak to go question Hagrid one night. Neville didn't want to get into trouble with Alice and Draco couldn't sneak out too far with his step-father guarding the dungeons.
Hagrid proved useless. He explained the whole situation, which made more sense than Riddle's version of the story, to the boys over tea and rock cakes. After, they snuck back to the castle, not catching any attention on the way.
Draco had taken to sitting with Hermione when the twins would let him. Minerva wasn't fond of letting anyone out of their common rooms, as she had no idea when the next strike would occur. As weeks passed with no attacks, she reluctantly allowed more freedom around the school. Draco was taking advantage of this, talking to Hermione and telling her all about all the things that had been happening, even if Madame Pomphrey didn't seem to think that she could hear him.
"I really miss you, Hermione. You're like my little sister, even if you're older than me. I know Harry misses you for the same reasons. Come back to us, please," Draco said, grabbing her hand. He felt something in her frozen, clutched fist. Confused, he pulled his hand back and ran to find the others.
"Harry, I think I found something, come look," Draco said, finding the Gryffindor boys during a free period.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked, following anyway.
"Hospital Wing. Now," Draco demanded, sprinting away.
The group rushed into the Hospital Wing, running to Hermione's bed. Draco worked a piece of paper out of her fist, showing it to the group. It was a torn piece of book labeled 'Basilisks' with the word 'pipes' in Hermione's neat handwriting.
"Hermione is four steps ahead of us and she's petrified!" Ron exclaimed, jumping at the news.
Fred and George normally avoided all of the younger girls, with the exception of Hermione and Ginny, but being late to supper, the only seats left near their pack of friends was by a group of first and second year girls who were giggling.
George took the seat closest to the girls, leaving a space for Ginny when she finally came down. It wasn't until Ginny finally appeared and saw the seating arrangement did she freeze in the middle of the aisle, her eyes wide in panic.
"C'mon, Ginny. Have supper with your favorite brothers," Fred teased as Ginny finally got close enough.
"She has so many brothers, I bet that's why her robes are so horrendous, she is wearing boy one," One of the first year girls said, making the others around them laugh.
Ginny took her seat and grabbed at the spoon for mashed potatoes.
"Careful, Gin," One said, mimicking Draco, "You wouldn't want to get a boyish figure and lose all of your admirers. Or any more Valentine's from your brother's best friend. Do all of your brother's best friends give you special gifts?"
"What is your problem?" Fred said snapping at the girls.
"We have no problem," they all muttered.
"It's fine," Ginny told her brothers before grabbing some bread and walking away from the table, leaving her brother's gawking.
"Meeting in five minutes, tell Draco," Fred and George told Ron. "We need to go find a weasel."
They both jumped up from the table, stuffing their pockets with sweets for Ginny and sought out their eldest brother. Percy, who was sitting with the other prefects of the Gryffindor house didn't see the twins coming. Or the hand that pushed his face into his plate of gravy and potatoes.
With little effort, Fred and George picked him up from the table and dragged them out of the Great Hall, causing a scene in the process.
The group of second year boys followed, Draco catching on from the Slytherin table.
"It's nothing, Fred," The boys overheard Percy say in the hallway.
"I'm George and it is something. She's being bullied!" George, assumably, yelled at Hogwarts' reigning Weasley.
"Not that this isn't nostalgic, but we can't have rows in the halls like this is home. Let's find another place to discuss this," Percy said, subconsciously clutching his arms to his chest. The twins shoved him into an unused classroom and the herd of second year boys followed.
"Now, we don't have much time, Mr. Prefect, so we'll do this quickly. Why didn't you say anything?" Fred asked, shoving his older brother into a wall.
"Who're you talking about?" Ron asked, nervous. Fights never ended well for the youngest sibling. Everyone knew that.
"Ginny. Those ratty first year girls have been making fun of her because of the Boy Wonder and his amazing sidekick, Hairgel Boy," George said, pointing at Harry and Draco.
"Hey!" Harry shouted just as Draco said, "What did we do?"
"You mean, she has been bullied all year by the girls in her class?" Neville said grinding his teeth. His voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stare.
"No, they just tease her about all you boys being her friends. It isn't that big of a deal," Percy defended. Fred shoved him harder into the wall.
"Girls don't tease like we do!" Neville shouted. "Girls are mean and they bully and call names. They will exclude each other right in the face. They will talk behind each other's backs until the person they are talking about knows about it. They will say one thing to your face and then another behind their back. Girls fight dirty. They don't push each other and then be done with it. They verbally abuse a person until they can physically no longer stand it."
"She is a girl."
"No, she is a girl that has only been surrounded by boys. If we put a cat in a room full of dogs it's entire life then threw it in with other cats, it's going to be different. Ginny is different because she is kind, and nice, and doesn't fight like a girl."
"That wasn't the biggest problem," Ron sighed. "None of us noticed."
"Why didn't this happen to Hermione?" Harry said.
"It did. Hermione told me. That's she is never in the dormitory." Draco whispered. "She wouldn't see it or hear it because she wasn't there."
"Why didn't Ginny tell us," Harry said, meeting Draco's eyes.
"Because she doesn't want to choose." Neville answered for them, practically screaming the last word. "You turned her life into a competition, and all of the girls know it."
"You want to blame us for this!" Harry said, pulling out his wand.
"Why not?" Neville hissed. "When you two put her in the middle, you're not being her friend. You're just acting like those girls!"
"And you've been told by Neville Longbottom." Ron laughed.
Hello, Ginny. Ginny heard. She sat bolt upright, staring into the darkness. It couldn't have been, there was no way. Her heart was racing, pounding in her ears.
What? Did you think that just because you got rid of the diary, you got rid of me too? That's not how it works. I'm part of you now. You die, I die. Conversely, I die, you die. Do you understand?
She didn't know her heart could pound any harder. Fear was all she could feel. Real fear, palpable fear. Nothing her classmates would understand. Ever.
How? She thought, panicking.
Oh, sweetie. Ginny, my pet, you poured yourself into me and, by contrast, let me into you. Your very being is now entangled with me. I'm part of you. You will never escape me. Let's see your precious Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy beat this. Time to take one last walk.
Her body will lay in the Chamber forever.
That was all the wall said, and that was all it had to say.
"Shit," Harry, Ron, and Neville said collectively.
Students were herded to their houses. Panic ensued. Doors were locked, but not before Ron and Harry did some neat foot.
"Cover for us, Nev!" Harry whisper-shouted.
"You bring her back, or you don't come back," Neville agreed.
"Professor Lockhart has been bragging that this monster is afraid of him. Let's grab him so that we have 'adult supervision.' Isn't that what we got in trouble for last year?" Ron asked, veering towards a secret passage leading straight to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Close enough. Now remember, Tom Riddle told us that some girl died last time the chamber was open. Where would you find a dead girl?" Harry asked as they passed Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They stared at each other as light bulbs went off in their heads. They rushed to Lockhart's office, only to find him packing his bags.
"Yeah, you're not leaving. You think you can defeat this monster and we need an adult so we don't get grounded for this. Let's go, Crazypants," Harry said, pointing his wand at Lockhart.
"No use resisting. He's the Boy Who Lived. He killed Voldemort as a baby. You'll be nothing," Ron said, pointing his own broken, defective wand at Lockhart. Lockhart chose to play along and let the kiddies think they had power over him, seeing a good story in the making.
They forced Lockhart into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they were confronted with another challenge.
"Where is the door and how do we get in?" Ron asked, causing Lockhart to roll his eyes.
"Hey, watch yourself," Harry said, sending a mild stinging hex at his professor.
"Let's ask Myrtle," Ron suggested.
"Hey, Myrtle," Harry called out. The ghost floated up from her toilet, cackling. "How did you die?"
"No one ever asks that, it's such an interesting story. I was in here crying because Olive Hornby was making fun of my glasses. I heard someone come in and speak in a strange language near that stall there. It was a boy, so I stuck my head out to tell him to get out. I saw a pair of yellow eyes. And then I died," Myrtle explained, rather proud of her death.
"That stall there?" Ron asked, pointing.
"Yes?" Myrtle said, confused.
"Great, look there," Ron said, and the two boys started looking, all while keeping an eye on Lockhart.
"Found something," Harry said. "Snakes all over this sink here."
"Myrtle, you said you heard a strange language?" Ron asked.
"Yes?" Confusion still evident.
"Harry, you remember that time you spoke to the snake in Mum's garden?" Ron asked and Harry nodded. "Try saying open to that sink there."
Harry said 'open' or, at least, a version of 'open.' He knew it, but it sounded like hissing. The sink bay in front of them opened up, leading to a tunnel below the school.
"I'm telling a teacher!" Myrtle said, floating through the nearest wall.
"I'll help," Lockhart said, nearly fainting.
"No!" Harry and Ron said, grabbing the back of his horrid periwinkle robe. "You'll lead us."
They proceeded to push their professor down the slide to the Chamber of Secrets. The boys followed quickly after, dog piling with Lockhart on the floor.
"Ha! I've got you now!" Lockhart said, grabbing up Ron's wand. "Oh don't look so confused, I've done this plenty of times. Usually, I wait until after the monster is dead, but this is close enough. Obliviate!"
Ron's wand backfired and oblivated Lockhart and caused an explosion, blocking Harry from Ron and Lockhart.
"You safe on your side?" Harry called.
"Yeah. Lockhart's gone batty. Go get my sister," Ron called back. Harry took off, determined to win.
It didn't take that long to find Ginny laying on the floor with the diary nearby.
"So that's why our room was trashed this morning," Harry commented.
"So you are the great Harry Potter," he heard behind him.
"Tom? Tom Riddle? How did you get out of your diary?" Harry asked.
"Simple, little Ginny wrote to me so much that I simply stole her life force. Soon, she'll be dead and I'll be alive," Tom said, straightening his Slytherin tie.
"You're killing her? Right now?" Harry asked.
"Yes. And once that's done, I'll kill you," Tom responded. "Why should you live when the Dark Lord died?"
"You know Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"Know him? I am him, long before he was a self-proclaimed Dark Lord," Tom said, floating letters in the air and rearranging them in an overly dramatic reveal.
"So, you're going to kill me here? In Hogwarts? So close to Dumbledore?" Harry asked, having been raised to know Voldemort's one weakness.
"I am not afraid of Albus Dumbledore!" Tom shouted, causing the diary to flip pages wildly.
"Please, Harry laughed. "Even I know Dumbledore is a better wizard than you and he left me on a doorstep!"
"Well, let's see how well Dumbledore's chosen boy compares to the Heir of Slytherin.
Harry heard the snake coming towards him as the cry of the phoenix caught his eyes. He watched the bird drop the sword of Gryffindor to his feet and saw the bird blind the snake. Turning around, Harry looked at the beast, before climbing to a high advantage point. With McGonagall, Hest, Sirius and Remus, Harry knew how to fight.
He threw rocks in the opposite direction of where he was, gaining more time to set in the right position before he began to yell at the snake, making enough noise to send the snake in attack mode right towards him.
Harry lifted the sword right into the snake's awaiting mouth.
It scream and died. Tom cried.
Harry pulled the sharp tooth out of his arm and went back to Ginny's side.
"Come on' Ginny. Wake up." Harry pleaded, feeling her ice-cold arm. "If I pretended to be someone else would it make you wake up faster?"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Tom hissed. "Ginny Weasley is almost dead, and I alive again. I guess that's what happens when a silly girl writes to something that write back. Not even one of her closest friends can save her now. You and Ginny will be dead. I will be alive."
Harry looked at the diary in Ginny's arms and looked back up to Riddle. "How about you rethink that you bastard." He took the fang in his hand and pulled the diary from Ginny and stabbed it.
The ink spilt like blood on the chamber floor, and Tom Riddle slowly fading away like the pages he came from.
"Harry," Ginny said confused, her eyes filling with tears. "Harry, I-How are you here?"
"How do you know where here is?" He asked, trying to get the pain from his arm to leave.
"I-I remember everything." Ginny whispered, the tears now leaving her eyes. "I-He was inside my head and wouldn't let me out."
"We need to get you out of here. Ron is on the other side of the wall with Lockhart. You need to get to safety." Harry told her.
"What's wrong?" Ginny said, not hiding the pain her body was in as she moved to him. She pulled his hand from his arm, seeing the bite in his arm. "You're- You're, no, you're not going to die!" Ginny told him, her eyes meeting his. "You can't die. You're Harry. Dumbledore needs you. We need you. I need you."
At the mention of Dumbledore's name the phoenix came back into their view, flying in the air until he finally landed in front of Harry. "Perhaps Dumbledore isn't as useless as we thought." He laughed bitterly.
"Phoenix's have healing powers," Ginny whispered, as the bird put two tears on Harry's bite, healing and taking the venom out of his body. Harry wrapped Ginny in his arms for a hug, before helping her stand, making their way to the blown out rocks, and using magic from their wands to move the rocks. Afterall, magic is useful for heavy lifting.
Once they finally reached Ron, who hugged Ginny until she collapsed, and Lockhart, who told her she reminded him like a cute baby fox, Ginny showed them the exit from the chamber. It was charms that made the person standing in the spot, with the right word in parseltongue, that transported them back into the bathroom.
Before anyone else could speak to her, or touch her, McGonagall took Ginny into her arms and to her office.
Three days later was the End-Of-The-Year Feast, and all the students who had been petrified were now cured and running into the Great Hall to join their friends.
Hermione, however, found all of her friends next to her bedside, watching their faces light up when her eyes began to move.
"Hermione!" They cheered in unison, all fighting to get a hug to her first, while explaining all of the events that happened while she was petrified.
"Wow," she smiled, while eating some of the food that was brought up for the group. "You really are heros."
"We aren't heros," Harry said humbly. "We could have avoided all of this."
"Let's make a promise," Ron started. "You, me, Harry, Draco, Neville, Fred, George, and Ginny. Promise that if something bad happens, we face it together. Not alone."
"And not to be complete arrogant arseholes," Harry added, mostly for himself.
"And to listen, even if it isn't something we want to hear," Hermione added, her eyes on Draco.
"And to give those first and second year girls shit until we all graduate!" Fred smirked at George.
Kat: Can I go on it yet? Huh? Huh? HUH?
Gabs: If you must…
Kat: I know that everyone has opinions and feelings and all that shit, but let us be very clear on one thing. Never, ever, ever, call our story a waste of time. We have said it countless times that we aren't going to tell you our ships because they are important parts of our story that you need to wait for. They will unfold, just like in any good writing. But to say that our story is a waste of time because it may or may not have the ship you like in it, is NOT acceptable. This story is AU as in Alternate Universe...Did I miss anything, Gabs
Gabs: Hmm… Let's see, AU means Alternate Universe means not the same as the book…. Our story isn't a waste of time…Nope that's about it. If you didn't say it, don't worry about it. We aren't talking to you.
Kat: Yes, to those of you who review and are constructive, we love you! We love you enough to tell you there won't be a post on Saturday. I have the GRE and Gabs and I haven't seen one another in a while, so we need a little more time for the transitioning of PoA. We promise, this story is about to be far away from cannon =).
Gabs: We own nothing.
XOXO
Gabs & Kat
