Chapter Nine: Cruel Fate


Ginny stayed up in her room for the rest of the evening, watching the gently falling snow becoming a blizzard upon the castle. Without even realizing it, she had stayed up the entire night, thought after thought plaguing her mind.

"Could Harry really be the Heir of Slytherin?" she wondered. "But Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets, how could Harry have done it? But Harry is a Parselmouth, only the darkest of wizards, including Salazar Slytherin are Parselmouths. And most bizzare of all, how is it that I could understand Harry when he talked to the snake?"

She continued to ponder this throughout the morning, skipping breakfast and her morning classes, trying in vain to understand the meaning of it all.

Ginny had purposely not told Tom about the events of the night before. Still, too afraid and embarrassed of what he might think of her if he knew the truth. But he had never held anything against her before, and never thought ill of her, no matter what she had done, and she desperately needed to talk to someone. Finally, she gave in and picked up the diary.

"Dear Tom, I don't know what to do! Something happened last night, which is very important, but I'm so afraid to tell you. But I know I have to tell you."

Tom responded quickly, "What is it Ginny? Tell me what happened."

"Last night at the Dueling Club, Malfoy was paired with Harry. He tried to scare him by setting a snake on him, but it went after another student. Harry told the snake to stop, and it did! He's a Parselmouth!"

"A Parselmouth, now that is an interesting development. What happened after that?"

"Now of course, nearly everyone thinks that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin. Everyone is so frightened right now. I mean, it's not like I don't understand why Justin, the boy the snake came after, was so scared. He's just as afraid as everyone else around here, perhaps even more so. I heard from some of the other girls in my dorm that he is muggle-born, so that would explain a lot, but to blame Harry like that without any real evidence is just so unfair! No one knows about Hagrid opening the chamber fifty years ago."

Much to Ginny's relief, Tom was as wise as ever. "I understand Ginny. Life is very unfair at times. I know this all too well. People will always be afraid of what they do not understand. I am sure that this Justin fellow is frightened because he, like most everyone, does not understand what Harry is capable of. Perhaps Harry does not even know himself. After all, he defeated Voldemort, he may have powers no one understands yet.

"Now I am curious about something, Ginny. If Harry was speaking Parseltongue, how do you know that he told the snake to stop?"

Ginny hesitated, knowing the question was bound to come up, but she had to tell him, if only to get it off her chest. She dipped her quill again and wrote, "I heard him Tom. I understood him. Don't ask me how, but I did. I wish I could understand it myself. All of it. But I fear that I may have been influenced somehow by all of this. With the sleepwalking, the strange dreams, now the roosters and understanding Parseltongue. I just don't get it. Am I going mad?"

"Ginny, perhaps it really is just a coincidence that Harry is a Parselmouth. After all, it was Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets to begin with."

"I thought of that too Tom. But what if Hagrid, who is so close to Harry already, has influenced him as well in some way, forcing him to do these awful things? Perhaps I should find Harry and warn him about Hagrid."

"I would not do that if I were you. If Harry is under Hagrid's influence, it is possible he will not believe you, or even turn you over to Hagrid himself."

" I know, Tom. But I care for Harry so much, I think it's worth the risk."

"Ginny, this is a very dangerous idea. I would not recommend it. You have no idea what the Heir of Slytherin is capable of."

As Ginny read Tom's last passage, the night without sleep began to catch up with her, and without warning, she had to strain to keep her eyes open. Barely able to even pick up her quill, she began to write, "Tom, I'm so tired all of the sudden. I think I should–"

Ginny fell into the blanket of warmth before she could even finish her sentence. Immediately falling into a dream of the older Harry, who once more, led her into the damp room.

As she looked upon her reflection, Harry whispered into her ear, only this time she heard him, and it didn't much sound like Harry at all, at least not the Harry she knew now. His voice was a few octaves lower than normal, sounding older than she was used to. He told her to call the monster.

Ginny told him that she didn't want to do it, still unsure if it was dream or reality, but she couldn't stop herself from saying the words. And it was no longer the gibberish that she was used to in previous dreams. It was now Parseltongue.

Suddenly, she saw the fangs of a snake, the one from the Dueling Club, now grown to an enormous size, emerging from the wall before her. She cowered in fear as it hissed and slithered out of the room and down the corridor.

As Harry beckoned Ginny to follow him, she begged Harry not to attack anyone else, but Harry ignored her. In a panic, she chased after him again, pleading for him to stop, but it was too late. She heard voices down the corridor, and she ran shouting out to warn them.

Ginny gave a blood curdling scream as she turned the corner to see Justin Finch-Fetchley, who had evidently been talking to Nearly Headless Nick, caught sight of the snake, causing him to freeze up and fall to the ground. Nick, who also noticed the snake, suddenly lost his silvery shape, froze as well, and fell, hovering beside Justin, head dangling, like a black smoke cloud.

Ginny, feeling her body give in to the terror she felt, began herself to fall to the floor, losing consciousness. The last thing her vision held was Harry's face, now distorting into someone else, though she could not tell who. All she could see were his eyes, now red like fire, glowing in the darkness that surrounded her, and a high-pitched laughter that she knew would haunt her long after she awoke from the nightmare.


* * *


Eyes still closed, Ginny woke feeling the cool stone floor beneath her. Feeling weakened, she strained to push herself up from the floor with her hands, and then rubbing her eyes in order to focus..

As she turned around to pull herself up, she gasped in horror, seeing a pair of shoes sticking out from behind the corner of the wall in front of her.

"No, please, no!" she begged herself.

Ginny crawled to the corner and peeked around it, knowing in her heart what she was about to look upon. Justin Finch-Fetchley, laying on the floor, face frozen in terror, beside a blackened silhouette of Nearly Headless Nick.

Turning her head away, Ginny shoved a fist in her mouth to stifle the screams of agony trying to escape. Taking every last bit of energy left in her, she pulled herself up and walked away from the lifeless bodies on the floor.

Feeling her strength slowly beginning to return, her pace quickened down the corridors, as she neared the Library. The doors were opened to the Library, and she glanced inside as she walked past, noticing Harry immediately. He looked as though he were having quite a headed argument with another student Ginny didn't know. Probably defending himself against accusations of being the Heir of Slytherin. She wanted to stay, her heart wanting to defend him, but her fears of being found anywhere near Justin and Nick surfaced again, and she left without hesitation.
She proceeded down the hall, unable to see straight through the blinding tears in her eyes. She looked down to the stone floor, allowing it to be her guide, until she was stopped in her tracks by an unusually large pair of boots blocking her path.

"Hello Ginny! How yeh doin'?"

Mortified, Ginny looked up into the snow-covered hood that was covering Hagrid's head.

Hagrid pulled down the hood, just enough to get a good look at her. "Ginny, are yeh all right? Yeh look as white as a ghost!"

Sickened by the reminder of the smoky ghost, only a floor above them, she looked back at Hagrid wearily and thought, "You did this! You terrible monster! I hate you!"

"Excuse me Hagrid, but I'm not feeling well. I have to go to my room now," were unfortunately were the only words she could force herself to utter, as she tried to hide the scowl on her face.

She ran past him, disgusted by his mere presence, back to Gryffindor Tower. There she cried uncontrollably until she fell asleep, unable to forget the horrendous things that had just occurred.