Title: Ginny Weasley, The Sorcerers Stone, and The Chamber of Secrets

by: ginnyismyname at yahoo dot com

Author's Note: Sorry it's been a while. Finals, you know.


Chapter 5: A Secret Diary


Ginny's heart was pounding. She dipped her quill into the ink bottle and moved the quill over to the diary. Her hand started shaking as she wrote down: "Excuse me?" Her words vanished as soon as she took her hand off the paper.

"My name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Please, call me Tom." The words disappeared and Ginny didn't know what to think about that. Then more words appeared on the page. "Who are you and how did you come across my diary?"

Ginny scooted to the edge of her seat, her head was pounding and her heart was racing, she was so excited. She began writing. "My name is Ginevra Molly Weasley, but everyone calls me Ginny. This diary was in a book I needed for school. A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration."

"Oh, you're a witch," Tom wrote. "What school do you go to?"

"I'll be starting at Hogwarts."

"I attended Hogwarts. What year is it?"

Ginny loaded her quill with more ink, "1992."

It took a second before Tom replied, "I went to Hogwarts about fifty years ago."

"How old are you?" Ginny asked.

"I preserved my sixteen year old self in the pages of my dear diary." The words vanished and more appeared. "Tell me more about yourself, Ginny. I am curious to know who has discovered my diary, this is the first real contact I've had since I was put in these pages."

Ginny didn't know what to say she thought about it for a moment then replied, "Well, I'm eleven years old. I'll be starting Hogwarts in seven days and I am terrified."

"Why?"

Ginny didn't really feel like telling him right away but he was the only person who really wanted to know. Her parents didn't ask her about her worries and her brother's never cared, she didn't have any real friends and now there was this book who would listen to her. She put her quill to the page and wrote, "I have six older brothers who all have already been to Hogwarts."

"Six? Wow."

"Wow is right," Ginny wrote. "Bill was Head Boy, Charlie was Quidditch Captain, Percy is a Prefect, Fred and George are really funny and very popular, and Ron is best friends with the most famous boy in school! How am I supposed compete with any of that?"

"Most famous boy in school? Who is he?"

"Harry Potter!" Ginny sighed deeply, "He is wonderful!"

"How old is he?"

"Twelve."

"He's twelve and he's the most famous boy in school? How did he get so lucky?"

Ginny started writing quickly, "Because he defeated the darkest wizard of all time, twice! Once when he was a baby and then again last June!"

"The darkest wizard of all time? Who is the darkest wizard of all time?"

"You-Know-Who."

"No I don't."

"No, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Ginny corrected.

"I still don't know who that is. He is probably after my time. Could you write his name down?" His handwriting seemed rushed and excited.

Ginny felt a rush of excitement too and she put, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to write it down..." Then in the smallest handwriting she could do without making it hard to read, she wrote, "Voldemort."

"Voldemort? Sounds fierce."

"Yes, he was! He was the darkest wizard ever!"

"Then, how was he defeated? This Harry Potter character beat the darkest wizard of all time?"

"Yes, that is why he is so wonderful." Ginny told Tom the story of Harry Potter, the one she heard so many times and even went on to tell him about this last run-in he had with him. "He is just so handsome and brave and would never want a red-head freak like me." Ginny added sadly.

"Oh, Ginny," Tom started. "Don't let him get you down. I want to tell you something. I didn't even notice girls until I was fourteen years old! Boys don't mature as fast as girls do."

"You're such a good friend, Tom."

Suddenly from two floors below, Ginny heard her mother yelling, "Dinner's ready!"

Ginny dipped her quill in the ink and jotted down, "My mom's calling. Dinner's ready. Talk to you later?"

"I'll be right here when you want to talk again."

Ginny smiled and thought she just made a best friend. "Thank you, Tom." She closed the book and ran down stairs. Dinner was uneventful, Ginny tried hard to avoid Harry's eyes after the Draco Malfoy-calling-her-Harry's-girlfriend-fiasco.

Ginny went upstairs after excusing herself before desert. She was about to open Tom's journal and start writing again when she stopped herself. Why did this invisible sixteen-year-old boy care about a little first year? 'Because he hasn't talked to anyone in over fifty years,' Ginny reminded herself. She dipped her quill in ink and stopped again.

Ginny's father used to tell her not to trust anything that could think for itself if you can't see where it keeps their brain. 'But,' she thought, 'its just a book, and he is really thoughtful and considerate.' Ginny decided that if anything weird started happening, like if she started going blind or started speaking gibberish then she would stop talking to Tom.

She opened to one of the many blank pages. "Tom, are you there?" She wrote.

"Always."

Over the next few days Ginny didn't go anywhere without her new diary. She spent most over her time hidden in the trees around the paddock that her family owned. She would write to Tom while watching her brothers play Quidditch with Harry.

She watched Harry dive and catch an apple and triumphantly hold it over his head while Ron cheered. After their Quidditch match, they would put their brooms in the broom shed and Ginny would sneak Fred's broom out and have a ride on it.

Ginny made sure she could see them enter the back door of the Burrow before she broke into the shed. Last time she took George's broom for a spin so this time she would take Fred's. Ginny tightened her fingers over the old Cleansweep 5 and marched back to the paddock. She swung her leg over the broomstick and kicked off from the ground.

Her brothers would never let her play with them so she would have to fly in secret and practice with no one else around. She jerked the handled sharply to zoom around their homemade quidditch post.

Since it was her last day at home before she left for Hogwarts, she spent a whole hour on her brother's broomstick, zooming around, practicing chasing and seeking, to release some of her nerves. Ginny dismounted and put the broom back exactly where she found it and hurried upstairs to her room with her diary. She barely started to write to Tom when her eyelids drooped and closed without her wanting them to, then her mind went blissfully blank.

She woke up later out in the garden. She was sitting next to a huge, dark green bush. She blinked several times. Her head was hurting, her eyes were watery, and her sight was extremely blurry. She blinked some more and everything came back into focus.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley called out. She walked out back into the garden, wearing her apron and a scowl. Ginny noticed the setting sun to her right. "Ginny, there you are! Did you hear me? I've been calling you to help me for five minutes now! Come in and set the table."

Ginny stood up, her legs were a little wobbly and her stomach was stirring. She wasn't sick but waking up gave her an ill feeling. She was out for about two hours and when she woke up she didn't remember how she got there. Ginny helped Mrs. Weasley get ready for super and tried to convince herself that she took a nap and walked in her sleep down two flights of stairs and out of the house to sit in the garden.

Ginny busied herself with eating when her family came down for dinner so not to think about it. Soon she was being entertained by her brothers Fred and George with a display of fireworks.

After the wonderful meal, Ginny got up and was about the leave the kitchen, like her brothers and Harry had already done, when her mother stopped her, "Ginny dear!"

"Yes, Mum?" Ginny turned around.

Mrs. Weasley handed Ginny a laundry basket full of clean clothes. "Here, make sure you pack everything you need!" She looked at her daughter with a cautious eye. "Are you all right dear? You look pale."

"I'm fine mum!" Ginny said, pulling away from her mother's grasp.

"Well," Mrs. Weasley said worried, "I suppose you are just nervous?"

"Nervous?" Ginny asked. The blackout back on her mind.

"Yes, about going to Hogwarts tomorrow?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, I am nervous about starting Hogwarts tomorrow, you know," Ginny bent the truth a little, "I'm nervous about being sorted tomorrow."

"Don't worry, dear!" Mrs. Weasley kissed her daughter's forehead, "Your father and I will be proud of you in whatever house you get it. Don't worry about a thing. Now, go pack and get some sleep."

"Yes, 'mam," Ginny said and ran to her room. She put the basket on her bed and ran to her diary and quickly scribbled, "Tom, something really strange happened."

"I should say so!" Tom wrote in a slightly calm slant, "You were in the middle of telling me about how your brother's wouldn't let you play quidditch when you just stopped writing. What happened?"

"I don't know!" Ginny wrote. "I was just writing and the next thing I know I'm in the garden!"

Tom didn't write anything right away. After a few seconds, he wrote, "Maybe you needed some rest. You should get some sleep."

Ginny felt funny, like when you are sleeping and you dream of falling off a cliff and you jump, but you are still safely on your bed. The fear of jumping is still with you, even though you are awake.

Ginny wrote, "OK." Then closed the book. Her head was swimming but she was worried about Hogwarts. She wondered if she would have any friends, "Any real friends," she reminded herself as she packed her clean clothes in her school trunk.

What if she got in Slytherin? She thought sadly that she was a pureblood after all. She changed into her pjs and turned off the lights. She crawled into bed dreaming of being at the Sorting Ceremony. The Sorting Hat is on her head and yelled out to the crowd, "So Brave and True! No doubt about it! GRYFFINDOR!" And Ginny running to the Gryffindor table and Harry Potter there to greet her with open arms and telling her how wonderful she is.

She didn't notice her day-dreaming turning into actual dreaming because she was just thinking of sitting next to Harry at the Welcome Feast when her mother woke her up. "Go have breakfast, then get ready and bring your stuff downstairs."

Ginny put her robe on and went down for breakfast. She looked out the window on her way to the kitchen and saw it was dawn. Her mother was zooming around the house in a bad mood looking for socks and quills. Ginny might have thought she was in a slightly bad mood because she would only have to cook for herself and her husband from now until next June.

After a couple pieces of bacon and a slice of toast, Ginny ran upstairs to dress. There was a knock on the door and she opened it. "Morning, sweetheart, do you need my help?" It was her father.

"Yes, sir!" Ginny closed her trunk with snap and her father picked it up, he smiled down at her and told her to lead the way. She took him down the stairs, out the front door and out toward the Ford Anglia. But half-way toward the car Mr. Weasley tripped over a stray chicken and flipped over Ginny's trunk. Something crashed, some bad words were yelled ("Arthur! Not in front of the children!" Mrs. Weasley barked.) and they all got into the car.

Ginny sat in the front with her parents which she complained to herself about it in her mind until something far more entertaining happened when George made their father mad by saying he forgot his fireworks at the Burrow. Then after taking off again Fred said he forgot his broomstick and they had to turn around again. They were halfway to the highway when Ginny put her hand in her pocket to make sure her diary was there when it wasn't!

"Oh no!" She whispered.

"What is it, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked fondly.

"I forgot my diary!" Ginny moaned.

"Arthur," Mrs. Weasley crooned.

"No! Not again!" Arthur growled, then he looked down at his daughter and turned the car around. When they reached the Burrow, Ginny climbed over her mother, ran to the house and upstairs and saw her diary on her desk. She grabbed in, tucked it safely in her pocket and ran back to the car. She climbed back in, out of breath. After that, tempers were running very high.

They reached Kings Cross with fifteen minutes to go. It took a while for Mr. Weasley to get enough trolleys and to make it through the crowd to platform nine and three-quarters, but when they finally got there they had about two minutes to spare. "Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley followed Percy and the twins followed them. "I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Ron and Harry. Then she pulled Ginny through the platform to view the Hogwarts Steam engine. Ginny's heart was racing. This was it! She was going to Hogwarts. "Go on, dear, go find yourself a place to sit."

People were running around trying to get in one last goodbye with their children, who were to interested in seeing their old friend's new haircuts and tans. Fred and George helped pull Ginny's trunk on the train. They hugged their mother and father one last time before getting on the train which just started moving. The twins began pushing Ginny's trunk down the train to find a compartment for her.

"Hi Fred, George," said Hermione Granger from down the train, she ran over, "Hello, Ginny!"

"Hi," the three of them replied in unison.

"Have you seen Ron and Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Nope," said Fred.

"Not since last Wednesday." George joked.

"They were behind us in Kings Cross," Ginny said, trying to be more helpful than her brothers.

"Oh, ok, I wonder where they are." Hermione shrugged, "Do you need a compartment, Ginny?" The red-head nodded. "Well, I have a compartment! Come on!" Fred and George dropped Ginny's trunk and went off in the opposite direction, leaving Hermione to help Ginny.

Hermione opened the door and the two of them shoved Ginny's trunk in. "I'm worried about Harry and Ron," Hermione said after looking down the hallway, both ways before following Ginny in and shutting the door. "What if they didn't make it on the train?"

Ginny shrugged, "They would let them come to Hogwarts! I mean, he is THE Harry Potter."

Hermione nodded, "And Ron?"

Ginny moaned, "Who needs him?"

Hermione and Ginny began giggling like crazy after that. They did nothing but laugh for a good solid hour after that, until the food trolley appeared and Hermione went off to search through the train to see if Harry and Ron made it on the train without her knowing and were in some other compartment.

Ginny pulled out her diary and began writing in it, "Tom! I think Harry and Ron missed the train to Hogwarts!"

"What happened?"

"Well," Ginny wrote sloppily because she was moving, "they were behind me in Kings Cross but I don't think they made it onto the platform."

"Don't worry, Ginny." Tom wrote neatly, "They will make it to Hogwarts."

She wrote goodbye to Tom because Hermione came back without any good news. They talked the rest of the trip about Hogwarts. Hermione, who Ginny thought sounded more like textbook than a girl, knew lots of interesting facts about Hogwarts because she read Hogwarts, A History.

When the train began slowing down Hermione spat angrily, "Those stupid boys! They don't realize how much they make us worry!"

"They don't realize a lot of things, Hermione," Ginny said.

Hermione sighed, "You're right. I don't even think Harry and Ron can see that I'm a girl."

"I've spent the whole month with Harry and I'm surprised that even knows my name," Ginny mumbled.

"Do you like him?" Hermione asked. Ginny's cheeks turned red. Hermione smiled, "Your secret is safe with me." Ginny returned the smile and the train stopped. Students piled off the train at the station.

"Firs' years! Over here! Firs' years, follow me!" Said a large man holding up a lantern. "Hiya, Hermione!" He smiled.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Hermione waved over the crowd. She turned to Ginny and said, "Follow him, I'll see you in a minute at the sorting ceremony," she gave Ginny a hug, "Good luck!" Ginny smiled and went to the front of the other first years to follow the giant, Hagrid. He led them to a small fleet of boats.

Hagrid instructed the pack of 11 year olds to get in four to a boat. Ginny got into a boat in the front, a girl joined her a second later. She had a look of dreamy boredom on her face. "Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley."

The girl looked at the glassy lake, her sandy blond hair hitting her shoulder and her face, and she said, "Luna Lovegood."

"Nice to meet you," Ginny said.

"Likewise," Luna said dreamily, she sighed, "Do you suppose we will get attacked by a fleet of Blood-Hungry Groopelhacks?"

Ginny giggled. Luna looked over at her with wide eyes. Ginny stopped giggling. Another girl entered the boat, she had black hair that went down her back. Ginny said hi but the girl said nothing. A boy got in the boat too, he was small and excited, his mousy brown hair flapped in the wind and she said breathlessly, "This is so amazing! I'm Colin Creevey," he said. "You are?"

"Ginny Weasley."

"Luna Lovegood," she said staring at the boy.

"Annita Breadmore," the black haired girl mumbled and the boats took off.

"Wow," Colin said. "Are you all from magic families?"

"I am," said Ginny.

"Not me," Annita said. "My mother's a muggle."

"Muggle!" Colin said excitedly. "Some kids on the train told me that Muggle means non-magic people and that I am a Muggle-born." Colin was shaking with anticipation. "I can't believe it, are these boats actually moving by magic?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. She was sort of amused by Colin's amazement.

"I can't believe it! My dad will be so surprised when I send him his first Owl mail!" Colin squealed.

Hagrid was yelling from his boat to look around the corner. There it was: Hogwarts in all it's beauty and splendor. Ginny's boat fell silent with awe at the many glimmering windows, the high twisting towers and before the boats went through an underground tavern a first year from another boat pointed to the sky and yelled, "Look, there is a flying car!"

Ginny turned quickly and saw her father's Ford Anglia zooming from the station toward Hogwarts.

"I wish I had my camera!" Colin said in mix disappointment and excitement.

Ginny was trying to convince herself that it was someone else's flying Ford Anglia when the boats docked and they climbed up to a massive door which opened a second later by a tall strict looking witch. "Thank you, Hagrid. We are having a little problem on the grounds, do you mind?."

"No problem, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said, letting the throng of first years pass through the door. "Through here, kids!" Hagrid closed the door behind him. McGonagall sent them through another pair of doors where hundreds of kids were already seated.

"Look at the ceiling!" Colin pointed upwards.

Luna looked up and said, "Wow," but she didn't sound or looked impressed. Ginny was, it showed the night sky outside, stars glittering like flames miles away. Ginny and the other first years were taken to the front of the room. She saw her brothers at a long table with Hermione, they gave her thumbs up.

A raggy old hat sat on a stool in front of all the first years. It started singing a song about the different houses at Hogwarts. In Ginny's mind she was praying for Gryffindor. It didn't help that her last name is Weasley and they went in alphabetical order. Annita was put in Hufflepuff, Colin was put in Gryffindor, and Luna was made a Ravenclaw.

Ginny's hands were shaking when her name was called. She walked up, sat down on the stool and looking longingly at her brothers and Hermione before the hat fell over her eyes and down to her chin.