20th October 2022 - This will be the only long AN of the story, ahah. Thank you for giving it a minute :)
I have been putting pressure on myself to write this fic perfectly before I published it. This is fanfiction however and every year, I read many many stories that are not perfect but that entertain me nonetheless. Some are also truly epic.
So I have decided to start publishing and warn you that I won't have a regular posting schedule. I will try to be a bit less of a perfectionist (personal challenge there!) and focus more on getting my ideas typed and shared! Let's see how long that resolution holds!
This said, I do not have a beta, so do feel free to point out inconsistencies if you find any - or if you fancy taking the creative journey with me, pop me a DM and become a beta (it doesn't have to be about proofreading for errors, I am happy with someone who likes the plot and who wants to read the story first to give me their opinions!)
Warning: This is rated M as I will be discussing dark themes, including violence done by and to teenagers - I do not plan to write lemons at this stage and probably won't.
Disclaimer: I am only playing in JKR and WB's sandbox and building some sandcastle, I own nothing and definitely don't make a profit from this.
Here! Enjoy reading and let me know what you thought, reviews are my only palpable reward, ahah!
Ada xx
—
She was walking in a daze along the dimly lit corridors. The moonlight sometimes came to rest on the bodies of fallen friends and foes. Each human shape looked even paler in the eerie glow of the moon and she felt sick. Each new lifeless form crushed a little bit more the hope she had left to find survivors.
She hated the moon.
She sighed, her throat tightening painfully as she tried to swallow back her tears. Now was not the time to let them spill over.
She lowered herself to uncover the face of another dead person. The moonlight filtered through the broken wall just enough to reveal the identity of the young victim; Colin would not take another picture. A shocked expression on his face, he laid amongst the rubble, his camera a few feet away - shining in the night light.
Oh, how she hated the moon right now.
She used to love the moon and its soft, once comforting, light. It used to be synonymous with freedom, with innocent flights around her childhood home, away from the eyes of her brothers. What she would now give for them to see her, to call her, to tell her they were here, well and alive. She needed to find them.
But all she found was another body with a torn, black cloak and a silver mask covered in dried, brown blood which only revealed a strand of black hair in a comical, yet dramatic way.
A morbid sense of curiosity overtook her and she pushed away the mask. She felt a mild feeling of recognition. The man was young; no more than twenty odd years. Had he been a student when she had joined Hogwarts? Maybe. Probably.
She closed her eyes and breathed, trying to ignore the heavy smell of dust, death and blood, as she needed to clear her thoughts and focus. But as she closed her eyes, a terrifying, smiling face came back to her mind; Bellatrix. Bellatrix laughing as she was torturing Tonks in her last moments, blood pouring from her shaking, barely living, body. Blood. Blood everywhere.
Her stomach clenched in revolt, she felt bile burning her throat but she hadn't eaten properly that day and she had already vomited what little she had had before Harry arrived at the castle. Her whole body was shivering. She forced herself to move forward but froze almost immediately as she heard the horrible voice resonating throughout the castle once more.
"Harry Potter is dead…"
She fell to her knees.
"He was killed whilst running away, trying to save his life as you were giving yours for him…"
She was frozen, terrified. The world must have stopped in that instant because she couldn't hear anything more even if somewhere at the back of her mind, she vaguely registered his poisonous voice continuing to spill its venom.
Harry could not be dead. He was supposed to beat Voldemort. It had to be a lie, a lie meant to discourage them, to convince them to give up completely. Harry had sworn, sworn to defeat Voldemort. Harry could not be dead. He had promised that he would end it. That the fight was worth it, that she would be freed from his influence… freed from the memory that had attached itself to her when she was just 11. She could not live in a world where Voldemort won because that would be...
Neither can live while the other survives… was that it? Was Voldemort prophesied to be the survivor? Was she cursed to feel the weight of his presence for the rest of her days?
She brought her hand to her chest, rubbing at it as if to try and bring life back to her now frozen frame.
Up and down, putting pressure, clawing in search of her lifeless heart.
So much death.
So much loss.
As her hand was coming higher over her breast, she felt the weight of the small pendant around her neck. Her breath caught in her chest in a painful, yet minutely hopeful realisation. She remembered the day Hermione had given it to her…
!Flashback!
The sun was high above the Burrow.
Hermione and her were sitting under her favourite oak tree, just atop a little hill which offered an almost limitless view of the countryside around her childhood home. School would restart soon for the last few months of the year and Hermione had offered to help her revise for her OWLs.
At least, that is what she was supposed to do. After asking her the same question for the third time, Ginny had taken the book from Hermione and placed her hand on hers.
"Is everything alright, Hermione? You seem to be somewhere else."
"Sorry Ginny, I…" she hesitated. This was so unusual coming from Hermione that Ginny had felt on edge immediately, shifting slightly to get closer to her friend.
Hermione had taken out a tiny bottle, filled with a dark purple liquid which shined in a way reminiscent of a night sky just before dawn came to replace it.
"I don't think we will be back in Hogwarts next year," Hermione had continued.
"But you haven't taken your NEWTs yet and mum…" Ginny had attempted, a sense of dread starting to grow inside of her.
Hermione had shaken her head. "It is only a possibility, do not mention it to anyone, Gin, please!"
The frantic tone of her voice had told Ginny that it was more than a possibility but that secrecy was paramount. However, Hermione had apparently decided that Ginny should know. Ginny had squeezed Hermione's hand slightly and smiled reassuringly. Or at least she had tried.
"What is this?" Ginny had then asked, trying to encourage Hermione to continue.
"It is a very unique potion… I had to…" she had hesitated then, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It's very unique." Hermione was clearly not ready - or able to tell her all the details. "It is an Essence of Time"
Ginny had frozen in place and Hermione had met her gaze, conscious of her younger friend's stillness.
"It can take a person back in time, a few years back." she had explained, regaining her academic voice. "However for the essence to take effect, there must be a connection between the person who drinks it and the anchor."
"Anchor?"
"The reason the Essence of Time is so rare, so unique, and…" she had again stopped briefly, lowering her voice to barely a whisper, one dedicated to the heaviest of secrets. "...is that it only allows souls that have a very special connection to find each other in time. The person who drinks it needs someone to act as an anchor of sorts, to pull them through the fabric of space and time." Hermione's voice had been barely more than a breath then and Ginny had leaned towards her without thinking about it.
"What are you trying to say, Hermione? Why are you telling me this?" Ginny had asked, insisting on the "me".
"When Harry saved your life in the Chamber," she had looked apologetically at Ginny when she recoiled minutely, the memory clearly still painful, "you created a life debt towards him and you… well, you haven't repaid it yet."
Ginny had frowned. She had never thought of this. Harry had never mentioned it and she wondered if he had even understood the implication of his chivalrous actions. They had only been children after all.
"I believe, based on my research, that this creates a magical bond between your souls until the debt is paid. This would fulfill the connection needed for the potion to work"
"I see," Ginny had said, understanding drawing upon her. "You want me to take the potion. Why? When would I go?"
"Yes, it needs to be you because Harry trusts you… He will listen to you and there is no-one else that would have as strong a bond." Hermione had explained. "It should take you back to the Chamber."
"The Chamber!" Ginny had cried, a shiver running down her spine as she hadn't been able to contain her fear at having to go back to that place.
"Wait, listen to me, Gin," Hermione had pleaded. "You would go back to the Chamber and tell Harry what happened. You can help him make things right if we can't do it the first time. This is only a last resort, hopefully it won't ever be needed," she reassured. "Meddling with time is dangerous. I would not encourage you to take that risk if there is a chance we can succeed naturally. But Ginny, there are things you must know…"
!End Flashback!
The memory faded and Ginny's gaze fell on Voldemort, who had his wand pointed at Neville.
"... no more Sorting at Hogwarts. There won't be any more Houses. The crest and the colours of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin will suffice for all…"
They had lost. Harry was dead. Fred was dead, Lupin, Tonks… so many were gone forever and Voldemort had won. They had failed.
Amid the chaos, she found Hermione, who was already watching her. Their eyes met and she knew. It was time. Hermione's eyes fell down, looking at Ginny's chest, where the pendant was hidden. Slowly, almost without thought, Ginny reached for the tiny vial and opened it.
She drank it all, the content so little that she could barely taste it. She felt the burn however. The overwhelming, powerful pain that took her away into nothingness.
Fear came, grabbed her chest and squeezed at it, suffocating, threatening to make her heart burst under the immeasurable strain.
She would have preferred to stay in the nothingness.
Suddenly an incredible sense of gravity crushed her, throwing her violently on the ground that had not been so far away in her last memory of life.
Burning tears were falling freely across her face and she gasped for breath, desperately inhaling, trying, almost in vain it seemed, to tame the fire now roaring in her.
Struggling to steady her breath, she looked around her, batting her eyelids to chase away the tears. There was too much light and it took a moment before he could see where she was.
It was not the Chamber of Secrets.
