Ginny's Dark Secret
Chapter 1 – In Slytherin Robes
Disclaimer – This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary – Ginny's secret is out; she's supposed to be in Slytherin. After being disowned by her family & hated by her friends, Draco takes advantage of her vulnerability & talks her into making a life-long sacrifice. Will she stop herself before it's too late?
Ginny nervously stepped off the Hogwarts Express, crossing her arms over her chest trying to keep warm in the freezing cold of the night. She looked around her. This was the place she had dreamt of being for years, ever since she was a little girl and Bill and Charlie attended the school.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Ginny could hardly believe she was finally here.
Unfortunately, not everything was going how she had previously envisioned; Ron and Harry were missing. She had been rushed on to the train by her mother and father eight hours earlier and hadn't seen her brother since she walked through the barrier. And through-out the whole train ride, the boys were no where to be seen.
Ginny had began to worry, but wasn't going to ruin her day for it.
"Firs' years … firs' years this way," she heard a loud, booming voice say. She looked over and gasped. The man was huge! Some may even say he was massive. Ginny had never seen anyone like him.
'Must be Hagrid,' she thought, recalling stories from her brothers.
She quickly walked over to him and joined the group of scared and excited looking first years.
"Yeh all 'ere? Great!" Hagrid said and began to walk. Ginny quickly followed him, eager to get up the front to get a good view of Hogwarts. Hagrid spotted her and beamed.
"Yeh must be a Weasley," Hagrid said. Ginny looked up at him surprised.
"Yes, I am … how did you-"
"Yeh brothers an' yeh 'air o' course," Hagrid told her. Ginny's hand immediately went up to her crimson locks.
"Oh, of course," Ginny replied.
"Yeh'll be in Gryffindor fer sure," Hagrid said, still beaming at her. Ginny smiled at him, but couldn't ignore the butterflies flapping around in her stomach.
What if she wasn't in Gryffindor? What would happen then?
Ginny walked on without another word, until they reached the lake.
"No more than four to a boat," Hagrid ordered as he hopped into a boat all by himself. Ginny jumped into an empty one and waited for everyone else to do the same. She didn't even realise when a couple of other girl hopped into her boat.
"Ev'ryone in?" Hagrid asked. "Let's go." He tapped the side of his boat twice with a bright pink umbrella Ginny hadn't noticed him carrying before and suddenly, with a violent jerk, they were off across the lake.
"Now, mind yer heads 'ere. Yeh should get yer firs' view of the castle in a minute," Hagrid informed them. Suddenly, all the first years began ooo-ing and ahh-ing as they each got their first sight of Hogwarts.
"Wow …" Ginny whispered to herself in awe. Her dreams of this moment were never this good. They sailed across the lake, whispers breaking out here and there all about the magnificence of the castle that loomed above them.
After a few more minutes, they finally reached the school. Ginny felt the butterflies invade her stomach again and she began to feel a little nauseous. But, still at the front of the line, she followed Hagrid up the stone steps to a large door.
He raised his massive fist and knocked three times on the door. After a few moments silence, the door opened to reveal an old witch wearing an emerald green cloak and her grey hair tied neatly into a high, tight bun atop her head.
"I'll take them from here, Hagrid," the woman said and Hagrid nodded and left, smiling at Ginny before doing so.
"Now, if you would please follow me," the woman asked and the first years quickly filed inside. They were now in a huge entrance hall; a lot bigger than Ginny's whole house. She followed the woman up the steps until they reached the top.
"Hello, my name is Professor McGonagall and I am the Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. In a few moments you will all be sorted into your respected houses; Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Slytherin," Professor McGonagall said. "Now, while your triumphs will gain your house points, any rule breaking will result in loss of house points. Now, please wait here for a moment until I return." McGonagall then turned around and went through a pair of doors at the top of the staircase.
As soon as she had gone the first years broke out in whispers.
"I hope I'm in Ravenclaw …"
"Did you hear about Slytherin …"
"My sister said the staircases move!"
Ginny zoned out and looked around her. She couldn't wait to see more of the school! After a few more moments, McGonagall returned.
"Okay, please form a line a follow me," Professor McGonagall said and began walking towards the big double doors again, the new first years filing after her. As soon as she opened the door, the chatter died down immediately and they were met with silence.
Ginny felt her heart racing as she stepped into the hall. There were four long tables; one for each house, and one at the front of the hall which seated all the staff. Ginny heard people behind her gasp suddenly, so she turned around to see them glancing upwards. She too, looked up where she expected the roof to be, but instead found herself gazing up at the stars. She could not suppress a gasp.
People around her were all whispering excitedly now. Ginny gazed over at the Gryffindor Table, looking for her brothers. She found Fred and George sitting with their friend Lee, waving frantically at her. Ginny laughed and then saw Percy, and waved to him. He waved in a very stiff manner, sitting at the prefects' end of the table. She then looked further up the table, but Ron and Harry weren't there.
'I wonder where they could be …' Ginny thought as the line of first years shuffled forwards. The butterflies in her stomach were zooming around like mad now. She began to feel a little queasy.
They all shuffled forward in the line, coming closer and closer to the front of the hall; closer and closer to the patched, old hat sitting on a spindly stool; closer and closer to being sorted.
Suddenly a wave of nausea crashed over her and dizzy-ness took over. She gasped as she felt her knees buckle beneath her and she suddenly jerked downwards. Darkness engulfed her before she hit the floor.
Ginny awoke in a strange and peculiar office. Portraits of aged people stared down at her, exchanging glances with one another, whispering under their breaths. A red and yellow feathered bird was perched on a copper stand, cocking its head to one side as it examined her. Strange ornaments and artifacts sat – some whirring and making the oddest of sounds – on a long wooden table, quite low to the ground.
Ginny realised she was sitting on a chair facing a wooden desk. However, it took her a few moments to realise that a man was seated behind the desk in front of her, watching her intently. Ginny gasped aloud. Not just in shock, but also at the sense of such a man. He had a long silver beard which was tucked into a loose brown belt secured around his waist. Kind blue eyes watched her from behind half-moon spectacles, wrinkled heavily in the corners.
Ginny's brothers had told her about this man, the Head Master; Albus Dumbledore.
"Ginevra Weasley," the man spoke, his voice warm and kind.
"Professor Dumbledore…" Ginny trailed off, unsure of what to say. It was at this time that she realised her head was aching. She reached up, feeling around the side of her head until suddenly she drew her hand away, her fingers touching a very painful bump.
"You gave us quite a scare, fainting like that in the middle of the sorting, though I must admit it's not the first time it's happened – nor is it the worst incident," Dumbledore said, lowering his half-moon spectacles. Ginny suddenly remembered the nervousness, the nausea, the darkness.
"I'm sorry," Ginny apologised, unsure of what else to say. There was a still silence, in which Ginny suddenly realised something. "I missed the sorting."
"Yes, you did, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore confirmed. Suddenly the nausea and nervousness was back.
"Does this mean I'm not going to get sorted?" Ginny exclaimed, clutching the arm of the chair she sat in. "Are you going to send me home?"
Dumbledore allowed himself a small chuckle.
"Of course not, we wouldn't not sort you. We will have to do it in my office, right here. This isn't a problem for you, is it, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, of course not. That's fine," Ginny assured the Headmaster, who suddenly flicked his wrist to his left. A second later, the sorting hat came zooming into his hands. Ginny looked at the sorting hat, an odd feeling coming over her. Something about that hat made her feel strange and unsure. Professor Dumbledore passed Ginny the hat, who gingerly took it. After a few seconds of staring at it in her hands, she looked back up at Dumbledore.
"Do you mind, sir, if I went into another room to be sorted? I feel a bit weird having people around me when I have something over my eyes," Ginny lied. She didn't know why she was lying like this, nor was she really sure why she didn't want to be sorted in front of Dumbledore. It was something to do with the hat.
Dumbledore seemed to study her for a moment, but eventually smiled.
"Of course, I have a smaller room over there, just by that door," he said, pointing to the right of Fawkes's perch.
"Thank you," Ginny said. Rising slowly from her chair, Sorting Hat in hand, Ginny walked over towards the door, gazing curiously at everything she passed. She reached out and grabbed the crystal knob, turning it slowly before opening the door and entering, closing it behind her. This room was indeed small, a little bigger than a wardrobe but smaller than some of the walk-in-robes Ginny had seen.
Dumbledore had managed to squeeze a small armchair in the room, though why anyone would place a perfectly good armchair in a wardrobe-like room was beyond Ginny. Never-the-less, Ginny took a seat in the crimson chair, flicking her eyes around the room a few times before almost-nervously placing the Sorting Hat atop her head.
"Ah… another Weasley, the youngest one. Ginevra, you're a bit late."
"Sorry, I-"
"Fainted, yes I know. I can see it all… it's all here in your head."
Ginny felt a pang of discomfort, hoping the curious hat didn't probe too far into her mind.
"Don't worry, I'm only here to sort you, not search your mind for secrets."
After a small pause, the Sorting Hat began speaking again.
"You are different from your brothers… somehow; you're not quite the same."
Ginny frowned.
"I see a desire in here… a selfish desire. I see plenty of courage, but would it be used in the right situations? … Power, is that what you really want? Over what… oh, I see. Sick of being the underdog in the family, are we? … Cunning, quite a surprising attribute for a Weasley-"
"Stop… just sort me, please?" Ginny asked, not wanting to hear anymore about herself that she couldn't deny.
"Not only are you the underdog in your family, Ginevra, you are also the black sheep. You'll have to go in SLYTHERIN!"
Ginny awoke from her dream with a gasp, suddenly up bolt-right. She panted heavily, the nightmare playing over and over in her mind. 'SLYTHERIN' echoed around her head and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, trying to rid herself of the noise. Eventually it died away.
The thing about that dream was that it wasn't just a dream. It was a flashback. Something Ginny had kept secret for four years. After the Sorting Hat had placed Ginny in Slytherin, she went back into Dumbledore's office and told him it had put her in Gryffindor. Dumbledore believed her, of course. Who was going to doubt that a Weasley was placed in Gryffindor?
Still, in those few seconds that she had told him what house she was in, she felt incredibly ashamed. Dumbledore trusted her enough to let her be sorted separately and she lied to him. She had betrayed his trust. But Ginny was glad she had. If not she would be stuck in Slytherin right now. And who knows how she would have turned out had that happened?
Ginny used to have nightmares that she was in Slytherin, and it had only been recently that Ginny had begun thinking about that day again. The guilt was horrible, but bearable. Since she started having these nightmares again, Ginny kept a diary. She was reluctant at first, especially after what happened with Tom Riddle's diary in her first year, but it seemed the only way to keep her lie from taking over her life.
Ginny looked around her dormitory. Light was beginning to peek through the crimson curtains and looking at the clock on the wall, Ginny saw that it was almost seven in the morning. She yawned, stretched and hopped reluctantly out of bed. On most weekends, Ginny would not be caught out of bed before ten. However, these past weeks had seen her arising at about the same time as the sun.
Reaching into her trunk, Ginny quickly swapped her pink pajamas for a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt before throwing her robes over the top. She sat down on her bed again with a sigh. The dream had disturbed her – it was much clearer than usual and had lasted the whole duration, instead of just bits and pieces.
Better write this down, Ginny thought, and pulled open her drawer, lifting up the bottom and reached into the secret compartment. But her fingers touched nothing but the harsh wood of the drawer. Her heart felt like it dropped down into her stomach, a sudden sickness washing over her. Desperately she pulled the drawer out of the dresser and tipped it out, its contents spilling out over the floor.
"No …. it HAS to be here … it just has to!" Ginny exclaimed aloud.
A door slammed behind her and Ginny whizzed around, her eyes meeting her Head of House's cold ones. And clasped tightly in her hand was Ginny's diary.
"Dumbledore's office – NOW, Miss Weasley!" McGonagall shouted furiously, her eyes narrowed in cat-like slits. Ginny's mind was blank as she stood from the floor and followed the angry Deputy Headmistress out of the Common Room. Whispers followed her as she walked by, but Ginny didn't hear or acknowledge any of this. Her brain simply refused to believe what was happening, sending her into a state of denial. It was almost as though she was frozen inside – everything had seemed to stop. By the time she reached the Head Master's office and faced a very angry Dumbledore in front of his desk, she finally accepted it.
"Explain yourself, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore demanded, a fire in his blue eyes that Ginny felt burn her. And slowly, witnessed only by Dumbledore and McGonagall, Ginevra Weasley divulged her long-kept secret, her head bowed the whole time.
And after her tear-filled confession, Ginny was forced to wear that darn hat again. Sobbing, she pulled it over her head and blocked out its taunting words. But there was one word she could not block out.
SLYTHERIN!
She squeezed her eyes shut, tears spilling all over her cheeks, knowing that this was the dawn of a new beginning – and a horrible one at that.
"Miss Weasley, I'm sorry but we have no choice," Professor Dumbledore announced gravely. "As of now you are a student of Slytherin House. You have one hour to gather all your belongings and transfer them to your new dormitory. Professor McGonagall will escort you, and Professor Snape will show you around the Slytherin Dungeon."
The old man paused before waving his wand at her, and suddenly the Gryffindor emblem disappeared from her robes, replaced instead by the Slytherin one. She shuddered and was unable to suppress a sob.
"I'm appalled, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore told the crying girl. "You have betrayed my trust and I must tell you, trust is a hard thing to gain."
With those final words Ginny was sent out of the Head Master's office and back into the school which seemed a hell of a lot different in Slytherin Robes.
A/N – I wrote this story over a year ago, and I have it all mapped out – even the sequel. I hope you like it. If you thought Corruptive had a lot of twists and turns, wait until you read what this will become.
Marauders Gal