A/N: Sorry it took sooo long to get this up, I'm lazy and I've been pushed to the limit with homework. But it's Xmas break…so I hope chapter 4 will be finished and posted by early January.
Chapter 3 – The DiscoveryHermione sat waiting at her window. She glanced at her watch. It was already 9:15. They were late. Probably Fred and George with their tricks again. *Like that time they gave Dudley a Ton-Tongue Toffee.* She thought, smirking. *I wish I was there to see that.* Finally, there was a faint noise through her open window. On the horizon, very high up, she could just make out a black car. *Good. They're here and I can ask them what they did to Dudley this time.* In a few minutes they were exchanging greetings and getting Hermione's bags into the car.
"So, Fred, George, Ron, Harry, what's with the big goofy grins, huh?" Hermione asked innocently. "You look like something just happened to Dudley." At the mention of his name, all four boys burst out laughing.
"Oh, no, we just gave him a few candies, let's say." Harry said slyly.
Hermione smiled. "I knew it. What happened to him?"
George snorted. "He turned into a huge feathery bird, that's what happened. We gave him a few Canary Creams and Harry's aunt was right there. Oh, you should have heard her scream, it was so loud!"
Hermione's face split into a devilish grin. "Okay, you can tell me how you did it after I'm in and we're on our way. We're a bit late…" Fred nodded. And then they were off.
When they arrived at the Weasleys' house, Mrs. Weasley immediately bustled out to welcome them cheerily.
"Harry, Hermione, so nice to see you again! Come in and relax, I've got lunch cooking." George dumped the last of Harry's luggage on the floor and grinned at him.
Then Ron tugged on Harry's arm and said, "C'mon, let's go put all your stuff in my room…" and he lead both of them up towards his room. "Oh yeah," Ron turned back, "Hermione, you're staying with Ginny again, okay?" Hermione nodded. When they got up to his room and Harry put his stuff down, they sat and started to talk about what to do. "Okay," Ron started, "Mom wants us to clean out the attic 'cause the ghost that lives up there went on holiday and we finally have a chance to clean up everything. By the way, if you find anything up there you want, Mom says you're welcome to keep it. It's all junk and stuff from our relatives that we don't want anyway. Hermione and Ginny are coming with us, okay?"
Harry nodded, excited at the prospect of seeing Ginny again.
"Hey, you want to practice some Quidditch later? We can use apples or something."
Ron grinned. "Sure, Harry. Dude, let's go down for lunch now, Mom's going to have a fit if her food gets cold." Harry followed Ron to lunch.
***
A few hours later, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were sitting on the floor in a circle, discussing random topics.
"Do you guys wanna go through the attic and find something to play with?" Ron suggested suddenly. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny looked at each other in unison and said "Ok!" all together.
Once up there, the idea wasn't so appealing anymore.
"This place is dark." Ginny muttered, slipping her hand into Harry's.
"That's okay," Hermione said. She mumbled "Lumos!" and a tiny light popped up on the end of her wand. She repeated the spell three more times, each time handling someone else's wand. When she was done, all of them had magic lights. Harry and Ginny had stopped holding hands the second Hermione conjured the spell. They still didn't want to break the news yet. *It will be hard keeping it a secret though.* Ginny thought. *Hard to just act like the way it was before. Well, I'll just have to give it a try.* She added to herself grudgingly. *Hell, who gives? They'll find out eventually.*
"C'mon," muttered Hermione. "Let's go, it's creepy in here."
Ron shook his head. "Sorry, Hermione, but I gotta get this place cleaned out. Let's spread out. I'll do that wall, Hermione, you do this wall, Harry and Ginny, take those two side walls."
Several minutes later, they had managed to clean off everything using various spells, and also managed to organize everything so they could go through it all. Ron looked at everybody.
"Ready to start digging?" he asked, grinning and wiping sweat from his brow. Simultaneously, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all replied "YES!" from their varied locations. "Alright." Said Ron.
About an hour or so later, they broke for dinner. When they came back, instead of digging some more, they shared some of their finds.
"…costumes belonged to one of my uncles I think…"
But Ginny's mind began to wander. *Is there anything in this room worth exploring?* she thought desperately. *There's just nothing interesting to look through!*
"…yeah, I saw it too, great big rat…"
Ginny's eyes subconsciously started searching the walls for any sort of secret passage, like in the movies.
"…think the cartons are stuck to the floor and wall….no, they won't come off…"
Ginny barely even heard the words, she just let her eyes follow to the cartons her friends were talking about. She began to study it harder and harder, until all things but the cartons and the surrounding wall and floor were blurred. Then she saw the lines, the cracks in the door. Even though it wasn't easy to see, Ginny was absolutely sure there was a secret door behind there. Then the voices going on in the background interrupted and pulled her closer to consciousness.
"Ginny! Ginny, wake up, wake UP!" Ginny did wake up to find herself sitting straight as a ramrod, her eyes fixed on the "door".
"Ginny, what is it?" Harry asked, concerned. Ginny got up. She felt like she was in a trance, slowly, ever so slowly making her way towards the door.
"I think she sees something." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. Ginny ignored the voices. She walked right up to the door and started to rip the wall paper around the door so it could be opened.
"What's she doing?" she heard Ron say indistinctly.
"Oh…my…God…" Hermione gasped, suddenly realizing what was going on. "She sees something, I think…if you stand where I'm standing and stare hard, it's…a door! Ron, did you know about this door?!" Ron shook his head.
"Anyway," Harry interrupted, watching Ginny, "Want to help her?" They joined Ginny in ripping the wallpaper in places only Ginny and Hermione could see. Finally, it revealed a huge and shiny wooden door with a silver handle built into the door so that you could lift out the handle and open the door without any bumps sticking out.
"Wow!" breathed Hermione, backing away. Ginny suddenly snapped out of her trance.
"What happened? I was dreaming I saw a door…" Her voice trailed off when she half turned and saw the looming door behind her. "Somebody pinch me, I think I'm still dreaming." She pinched herself. "Oww! No, I'm awake. How did we come across this?" She noticed that everybody was staring at her. The realization dawned on her. "I saw this…didn't I?" she asked suspiciously. The three of them nodded. "Okay…so…let's go see what's behind it!" Mutely, they nodded again. The boys worked to pull the door open, as they were stronger.
After several minutes, "It's no use," Harry gasped, leaning against the wall and cleaning his glasses, "It's too heavy."
Hermione went to examine the door. "It's locked." She said. "Back away for a second…" Obediently, Harry, Ron and Ginny all backed away from the door. "Alohomora!" Hermione snapped curtly, sounding just like Professor McGonagall. The door instantly sprang open, startling them with a loud BANG! and a blinding flash of light. They all shaded their eyes and peered into the light. All they could make out was a very small room with a tiny window lighting up the fine layer of dust all over.
"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed. "So that's what the mystery window leads to." Seeing Harry and Hermione's confusion, he explained hastily. "We all were trying to figure out where the window led to, 'cause it wasn't anywhere in the attic and we went crazy looking for it. But I guess we found it, huh?" Ginny had an expression on her face that clearly broadcast her eagerness to explore.
"Guys…there's a trapdoor right in the middle of the floor…with a silver handle. Who votes for opening it and seeing what's inside? I want to." Without waiting for an answer, she promptly walked in and slipped her slender hand through the ring on the trapdoor. She started to pull, and the floor underneath her creaked dangerously. By instinct, Harry grabbed Ginny around the waist and pulled her backwards, just as the trapdoor flew open and the floor Ginny had been standing on sagged and snapped, leaving a gaping hole in the floor to reveal a chamber underneath.
Hermione asked, "Ginny, are you alright?"
Ginny nodded. "Just a bit shaken up though." She leaned back on Harry, whose arm was still around her waist. "Thanks, Harry." Ron watched, his eyes widening more by the second. Harry noticed, and pulled his arm away, blushing furiously. Ron had that look as if he figured something out.
"Ron," Harry gave him a weird look, "You know, if you're not careful, you'll turn into a goldfish or something. Relax the eyes." He grinned. Ron's eyes stopped getting bigger, but now they were definitely narrowed and suspicious.
"Is there something going on here that I don't know about?" He asked, his eyes narrowing even further. Harry and Ginny both blushed at the same time, and Hermione started giggling.
"What?" Ron turned to Hermione. "Tell me! I want to know what's going on!" Hermione glanced at Harry and Ginny for permission. Ginny winked.
"Alright, Ron," Hermione said, "Harry and Ginny are going out."
This time, Ron's eyes rolled straight up and he started to make a choking sound. When he eventually recovered, he managed to croak, "My best friend and my sister are GOING OUT and I didn't even KNOW?!"
Ginny looked embarrassed. "Well, um, Ron, uh, we were, uh, we were going to tell you but-"
Harry interrupted her. "But we thought you might fall out the window in shock or something…so we…um…decided not to tell you." Ginny nodded.
Ron looked satisfied. "Well anyway, now that I've gotten over my slight heart attack, let's go see what's in the trapdoor quick. Or maybe we should do it tomorrow? It's already 9:30, and we have to go to bed at 10. Of course, Mom and Dad go to bed around 12, so we could always get up to play cards or something with Fred and George. But if we do, we'll have to use Ginny's room…it's the biggest. Is that alright?" After all agreeing on what to play, when to get up, what the secret knock was to be and everything, they separated to their own rooms. "Don't forget," Hermione reminded them, "Tomorrow we check out what's in the secret room. I already sealed it back, so we'll have to undo it again tomorrow. Goodnight!"
***
The next morning, they gulped down a quick breakfast and ran straight up to the attic. Hermione unsealed the door with a flourish, and they crowded around the still open trapdoor, careful to avoid the hole or create another one.
"It must be about 10 feet down," Harry exclaimed. "But I'll go…I just want my wand so I don't hurt myself."
Ginny stepped forward. "If Harry goes, I go. If there's anything harmful down there, it's my fault for leading you here, so I'm going."
"But Ginny-" Harry and Hermione protested.
Ron cut them off. "Guys, when she talks like that, there's no arguing with her. Just…Harry, take care of her, okay?" Harry winked.
"Alright, let's go, already." Ginny urged. Then both of them, grabbing each other's wrists, jumped down into the hole.
"It's dark in here," Ginny muttered. "Alohomora!" Harry repeated the spell, so that they could see.
"It's so…old and musty and everything." Harry said. "It's pretty big too, let's split up and search this room." Ginny nodded and began searching the left side of the room. Harry searched the right.
"Nothing," He reported, yelling up into the light.
"Search for a trapdoor again or some secret thing." Hermione called back. "There has to be something in there, it wouldn't be down there for no reason."
"Ok!" Ginny replied. "Search the wall for cracks." They split up the room again, but they found nothing. "Let's do each other's sides just in case we missed something." Ginny began moving around the right side of the room, feeling the walls and the floor. Suddenly, she caught her fingernail in something. It was a rectangular shaped bump, so slight it was almost impossible to see, sticking out of the wall. She kept her hand there so she wouldn't lose it, and yelled, "Harry! I found something!" Harry immediately scrambled over to help her. "The wall paper is attached to the drawer thing. We have to tear it off." With help from Harry, she managed to tear the paper off the whole of the drawer. It revealed a beautiful mahogany wood drawer with a gold clasp to pull it out. The clasp was studded with diamonds, sapphires, emerald, silver and rubies. "Wow!" Ginny breathed. "It's so…pretty. We have to open it." Together, they pulled open the drawer. Inside, on top of a cover of blue velvet, lay a diary, old and worn. Harry flipped the diary open, and on the inside they could clearly read the name Veronica Weasley in cursive.
"Weasley." Harry muttered. He looked at Ginny. "Is she a relative of yours?"
Ginny shrugged. "I'll ask mom at lunch. Let's get back downstairs, I feel dirty."
***
Everyone at the table sat in silence, quietly pondering the mysterious diary discovered minutes before. Mrs. Weasley was bustling about, serving food and not noticing the lack of conversation. Mr. Weasley was at work, but Bill and Charlie had come to visit. They were busy fishing out unknown lumps from their pie, glaring at Fred and George, who were smirking and trying to hide it. Finally Mrs. Weasley sat down, and Ginny immediately looked up.
"Mom?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Do we have any relatives whose name was Veronica?"
Mrs. Weasley frowned, her whole face going dark. "The bad one." She muttered.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched her curiously. The change in Mrs. Weasley was extremely unusual, as she had been in a jovial mood before. The four kids exchanged looks.
"Mom?" Ginny peered curiously at her mother. "What do you mean by the bad one?"
Mrs. Weasley considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Veronica was the black sheep of the family." She explained. Everyone, including Fred, George, Bill and Charlie, stared. Apparently no one knew about her. Mrs. Weasley continued, "She fell in love with a piece of filth." She spit out the last word like it was curse.
"Filth?"
"Never mind, dear."
"So…was Veronica one of Dad's cousins, Mom?" Ron asked.
"No, thankfully," She replied, "Veronica was your father's cousin's cousin. Why do you ask about her, anyway?"
No one answered, so Ginny did. "Well, we found this spell that…uh…reveals your whole family tree, and Ron wanted to try it, and we didn't know who she was." She finished triumphantly.
Mrs. Weasley only frowned, but said no more.
Lunch was finished rather loudly, as Fred and George had invented some new jokes, including a chocolate flavored candy they named the Temporario Gacioso, which made the consumer repeatedly pass gas for 5 minutes. It was the perfect candy of revenge.
Bill, unbeknownst to him, had a Temporario Gacioso, or the TG, as they were beginning to call it, slipped onto his plate. A few seconds later, a familiar noise floated up from under the table. Fred and George gave in and burst out laughing, and Ginny and Hermione began to giggle. Mrs. Weasley even managed a smile.
"FRED AND GEORGE, I WILL GET YOU TWO FOR THIS!" Bill shrieked, and promptly ran from the room, another loud rumbling escaping before he managed to get to the stairs. Everyone else collapsed in laughter. Ron was rolling on the floor, Charlie was holding onto his sides, and Ginny and Harry were leaning on each other for support. The look on Bill's face was priceless.
Mrs. Weasley was giggling too, but still sternly reprimanded the twins. "Now, Fred, George, you know it's not nice to do things like that to Bill, especially at lunch."
Everyone immediately sobered up and soon chatting broke out. A while later, lunch was over, and Mrs. Weasley took out her wand and said a few spells. The dirty dishes flew to the sink, the sink water turned on, and in a matter of minutes the dishes were thoroughly cleaned and everyone got up to leave. The girls, Ron and Harry quickly sneaked back up to the attic, and there, in the musty light, they opened the diary and read it together. The entries were short and nothing much happened, so Hermione rapidly flipped through the pages until she came to an entry in early July. She quickly scanned over the scribbles, not letting anyone else see, and when she finished, she looked up to find three pairs of inquiring eyes watching her. Hermione's face darkened.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" Ginny asked, confused.
"Veronica Weasley fell in love with a Malfoy."
(A/N: Stef, if you're reading, review, k? I have a temporary case of writer's block…flames are welcome.)