Disclaimer--If you see something you like just assume I don't own it, and you'll be fine. Conversation is from CoS--no copyright infrigement is intended by this, and no money is being made. Please don't sue.

Author's Notes--For those of you who are wondering, this story will be concluding with chapter 40. However, I do intend to try my hand at Prisoner of Azkaban, Ginny style, and intend to post the first chapter of this story--"Ginny Weasley and the Specter of Atonement"--at the same time as the conclusion of this story. Please read it and let me know what you think!

EEDOE--I'm a big fan of that scene between Ron and Hermione myself...I agree it's a great picture of pre-teen attraction. ;-) And I definitely liked seeing Harry carrying Ginny from the Chamber...much more emotional impact that way! I'm glad you thought Ginny's /My hero/ line was romantic--only our Ginny could use sarcasm as a declaration of love! *winks* I felt for her, too--and I'm definitely NOT giving up hope! I was so proud of Ron...he actually realized how important Ginny was for a moment, and let her be the center of attention without shame. He's a great brother, even if he can be a prat. ;-) I think Ginny always believes deep down that he is exactly as you described...smart girl. I think you'll like how this installment ends. *winks*

Bill--I wasn't disturbed at all by you mentioning Ruskbyte...there's a reason why his two biggest stories have more than a millenium of reviews apiece. He's got great timing, fascinating plots, and a quirky sense of humor...and I'm proud to be on any list that includes him. :-D I actually hadn't realized he had other stories besides "Order of the Phoenix" and "Well of Shadows", but when you clued me in, I went and read "Riddle of the Diary" immediately...and, naturally, loved it. If only Harry were that self-aware...*grins and winks* I agree with you about the movies, and about Harry--he SHOULD have paid more attention to her in the other books, but sometimes boys that age don't notice the forest for the trees, and I do have to agree with JK that the uncertainty of whether or not he'll notice her probably does add to the interest of the books. Still...If Ginny's anything like I suspect, she'll more than make him writhe when he catches up. *snickers* I think you're dead on target about the contact, too...it was far more about assuring themselves they were alive and together than anything else...that they thought of, anyway...though I think some faint stirrings might have occurred in that last embrace...and now...*winks*

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Mum was sitting before the fire. Ginny was shaken to see her cry. Dad's hand was white-knuckled over hers, his face gray.



"Ginny!" Mum's scream shook the entire room. She threw herself over Ginny, making her rock backward. Dad fell on top of them, cutting off any and all hope of air...but it probably wasn't such a bad way to go.



The air seemed cold against her skin as they finally let her go. Mum captured Harry and Ron together in a very similar-looking hug. Dad stayed where he was, his hand on Ginny's shoulder. Professor Dumbledore was watching them; he looked as if someone had lit his face like a birthday cake. Professor McGonagall was actually smiling in between deep breaths, her hand still resting on her chest. Ginny hoped she didn't have to add giving her Head of House a heart attack to her list of ill deeds. She also wished-more fervently than fruitlessly-she didn't have to disappoint them when they were so happy.



"You saved her!" Mum was exclaiming rapturously to Harry and Ron. "How did you do it?"



"I think we'd all like to know that," Professor McGonagall seconded faintly.



Mum released Harry, who walked over and laid the sword, the Sorting Hat, and the ruins of Tom's diary on the desk, very carefully. Pacing slowly, as if it helped him think, Harry began to speak...He told a story Ginny had never heard before at first, a story of a disembodied voice whose source he didn't comprehend, a story of Hermione's brilliant deduction the voice belonged to a basilisk in the pipes, a story of a midnight trek into the Forbidden Forest to speak to a giant spider-Ginny saw Ron shudder, and she didn't blame him-a story about Moaning Myrtle, Tom's first, and only, victim.../Maybe I owe her an apology/, Ginny thought with a pang of conscience.

The others seemed fascinated by what Harry was telling them. Ginny was fascinated too, but by him. He acted as if he encountered such things all the time...as if he never doubted his ability to handle them. She remembered the feel of his arms around her as Fawkes carried them from the Chamber just listening to him. She suspected she'd never forget it.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said, sounding a bit more like herself. "You found out where the entrance was-breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add-but how on earth did you get out of there alive, Potter?"

Ginny felt a tremor of fear. Surely they wouldn't expel Harry and Ron for saving her?

With an expression that reminded her of a shrug, Harry continued his narration, telling of Fawkes and the sword. Apparently he wasn't concerned about whether or not they expelled him...but Ginny knew he'd be crushed if he wasn't allowed to come back to the school...She rested her head against Mum's shoulder, and her shoulders against Dad, closed her eyes and tried not to think.

Harry hadn't mentioned her at all. He stopped suddenly, and Ginny knew he didn't want to. She knew he was thinking about what she had said, trying to protect her from the same thing she feared for him. She thought her heart would burst...it meant so much...Harry taking care of her...but there was no help for it. She wouldn't be able to prove it wasn't on purpose, the diary had been destroyed, but even if it hadn't been, she had written in it, and she was responsible for what she had done... She had done it, and she had known for months she had to confess. Ginny opened her mouth to do so at last and spare Harry the guilt.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore intervened, his tone gentle, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

Harry looked as relieved as Ginny felt.

"W-what's that?" Dad gasped behind her. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not...Ginny hasn't been...has she?"

"It was this diary," Harry interjected quickly, drawing attention away from her. He handed the charred remains to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote in it when he was sixteen..."

Dumbledore stared closely at the burnt and soggy pages. "Brilliant," he said quietly. "Of course, he was probably one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has ever seen." No surprise. At least not to anyone who had talked to him.

Mum and Dad hadn't.

"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle," Dumbledore explained for their benefit-and Ron's as well. "I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving school...Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But, Ginny," Mum said, her fingers tightening painfully around Ginny's arm. "What's our Ginny got to do with-with-him?"

"His d-diary," Ginny repeated, sobbing in spite of her determination not to. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been writing back all year--"

"Ginny!" Dad reproved. His shocked disappointment was worse than being expelled. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic--"

If he'd said the words once, he'd said them a hundred times, but until he said them now, Ginny had never once connected them to Tom Riddle's diary. She frowned a little, trying to figure out how she could have failed to see something so obvious...at first she hadn't thought the diary had thought for itself. She thought it was just a very clever publishing trick. She hadn't shown the diary to Mum and Dad, because she thought it must be valuable and they'd tell her she had to give it back... And after she started talking to him, Tom had been-as he himself had said-so charming, it had never occurred to her to ask herself if he might also be somewhat dangerous. /I really am a burning imbecile./ Ginny sniffled.

"I d-didn't know," she said inadequately. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it there and forgotten about it--"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted. Ginny had the feeling he was trying to deflect the lecture that was coming. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over and opened the door himself, his eyes twinkling warmly down at her. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up." Hot chocolate had always cheered her up, too. Ginny smiled at him tremulously. He seemed to understand. "You will find," he added conspiratorially, "Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice-I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up at any moment." He couldn't have given Ginny a better gift. As she looked into his eye, Ginny hoped he knew it.

"So Hermione's okay!" Ron said, looking considerably happier.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," Dumbledore assured her.

Mum, her grip still a bit tight, half-pulled Ginny from the room. The last thing Ginny saw was Harry's reassuring half-smile over her shoulder.