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Golden Lass: thanks for reviewing!
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A Subtle Change
Chapter 8A week passed after Harry's attack on Draco with no more dire consequences than Harry having to serve McGonagall's detentions. Ron had been briefly worried that incurring the wrath of the Malfoys could be detrimental to them all but everything seemed surprisingly peaceful. They remained so until breakfast one morning the following week when Ron realised that revenge did not have to be taken immediately but that many people, apparently including Malfoys, prefer to savour it.
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Ginny was eating breakfast at Dean's side when a non-descript tawny owl dropped a small package in front of her, she looked up at the bird in surprise but it was already flying away. The bird hadn't waited for any kind of reply and she didn't recognise it. She shrugged to herself and picked up the parcel. No one around her paid any attention, Ron, Harry and Hermione were chatting together on one side of her and Dean was busy with Seamus on the other. Ginny pulled off the plain brown paper, deeply curious, and found herself holding a book. A book she recognised all too well.
Ginny sat transfixed, unable to do what every instinct in her body was telling her to do and throw the book as far away from her as possible. The voices around her became fainter and her vision blurred, the only clear sense she had of anything was of the small diary in her hands. It felt slightly, strangely, warm and it was feeling more powerful by the moment, just as she was feeling increasingly weak. She tried to put it down but found herself unable to move her own limbs, she simply lacked the strength.
Dean turned around from arguing with Seamus to speak to Ginny, to try and involve her in their quidditch debate, but something definitely didn't look right. His girlfriend appeared to be wasting away before his eyes, her cheeks were gaining a hollow appearance and her robes were hanging loosely on her diminished frame. She was swaying in her seat as though lacking the strength to hold herself up any longer and her eyes were dull and focused on the object she was holding.
"Ginny!" Dean looked at the book in her hands; it was glowing ever so slightly with an eerie greenish light. Without thinking, Dean grabbed it and pulled as hard as he could, forcing it away from Ginny's iron grip on it, hardly noticing the pain as it burned his hands.
Ginny continued to sway and, before Dean could catch her, her eyes dropped shut and she fell backwards off the bench, hitting the floor with a loud and sickening thump.
The whole hall was silent for a moment before bursting into pandemonium. Ron instantly dropped to his sister's side. Ginny lay, unmoving, on the cold floor, all signs of life extinguished.
Dean was kneeling on her other side, the palms of his hands already beginning to blister and the skin to peel. Seamus was on hand, pouring a pitcher of ice water into a bowl and putting his friend's hands into it causing Dean to hiss at the pain but it was clear his attention was still focused on the unmoving redhead.
The staff stood almost as one, with Madame Pomfrey, McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and Hagrid heading for the scene of the disturbance and the others moving to restrain and quiet the other students.
The school nurse pushed Harry and Hermione aside to reach Ginny and ran her wand over her, performing a medical scan, watching as a weak aura appeared around her body, changing colour to indicate the problems. "I need to get her to the hospital wing, now!" she snapped.
Hagrid instantly lifted Ginny into his arms as though she weighed nothing at all and he and Dumbledore followed Madame Pomfrey out of the hall. Ron and Dean both moved to follow them but were stopped by McGonagall, "Give Madame Pomfrey a few minutes boys, you can see your sister later, Ron."
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked in distress.
"I'm afraid I don't know," his head of house replied gently.
"She's not dead is she?" he asked very quietly.
"No!" McGonagall answered emphatically but it was clear from the look in her eyes that Ginny's condition was a long way from good.
Snape was paying more attention to the book that lay discarded on the floor, it had ceased to glow and as he touched it nothing happened.
"What is it, Severus?" McGonagall asked quietly.
The potions master looked at her, "Riddle's diary," he said simply.
"But we destroyed that!" Harry objected.
"Apparently not," Snape sneered.
Ignoring the interruption from her student, McGonagall asked, "Can you find out anything from it, Severus?"
The potions master nodded thoughtfully, "I can try."
"What is it, Finnegan!" The transfigurations professor snapped suddenly, feeling someone pull on her robes in frustration.
Seamus had been trying to gain his head of house's attention for several minutes without any luck. "Dean's hands are burnt."
McGonagall looked at his hands and frowned, "Severus, do you have a burns potion in your stores?"
"Yes. Come with me, Mr Thomas, I'll get you something for that."
Dean followed the potions master as he left, Riddle's diary clutched tightly in Snape's hand.
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Once in the entrance hall Poppy Pomfrey almost forcibly prevented anyone but Hagrid, who was still carrying the unconscious Ginny, from following her up to the hospital wing. Even Dumbledore quailed at the fierce look on his healer's face. Instead he turned to speak to McGonagall and Flitwick who had joined him in the entrance hall.
"The Weasleys must be informed immediately. I'll speak to Arthur through the floo system, Minerva could you go to the burrow and bring Molly back here. The poor woman may need some support when she finds out. I'll contact Ginny's brothers once I've spoken to Arthur."
McGonagall gave a small tight nod, hesitated briefly as if trying to take in what had happened, before taking an even tighter grip on herself than usual and walking briskly from the room.
"Fillius, go back inside and calm the students down, and send Mr Weasley to my office, preferably without Mr Potter and Miss Granger. This is a matter for him and his family, not to be overshadowed by the wider politics of war." Dumbledore watched his staff retreat into the great hall and demand attention. Shaking himself from his shock he hurried to his office all the while wondering who would have the means and the sheer temerity to attack a student right under his nose.
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Percy was at work when his father rushed into his office, failing to knock and nearly knocking a very irritated Druscilla Thornfield flat on her back as she tried to open the door from the inside at the same moment he chose to dash in.
"I am sorry," Arthur steadied the woman automatically with his hand and turned his attention to his son. "Percy, it's Ginny."
Percy was on his feet before his father could explain, "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know exactly, there was some kind of incident at Hogwarts, your mother's meeting us there, Dumbledore wants us to floo into his office immediately."
Percy's boss waved a hand at him, the other clutching her face where the door had hit her, "Go. I'll deal with your work for today. I hope everything's alright."
"Thank you, Professor." Percy didn't wait even to grab his cloak from where it hung by the door as he followed his father in dashing to the entrance lobby and the fireplaces, internally damning that you couldn't just apparate into Hogwarts.
Druscilla sat down suddenly in one of Percy's chairs, a trickle of blood running from her nose and a bump forming on her head where she'd been hit by the door. "Now, if someone could just tell me what that was about…" she groaned and shook her head to try and clear it. Wherever her assistant had gone it didn't seem he would be coming back soon so she called out to his secretary in the office across the hall and demanded they get a mediwizard to help her.
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A very concerned Molly Weasley was already sat in Dumbledore's office when her husband and son arrived from the ministry, with Fred, George, Bill and Ron seated around her. Charlie was stood to the side, his hand on his mother's shoulder.
Molly stood the instant Arthur entered the room and he drew her protectively into his arms, "What's happened?"
Dumbledore looked up at him with all trace of his usual twinkle gone from the bright blue eyes. "I'm afraid there has been an incident involving your daughter. Somebody sent her a package containing Tom Riddle's diary, the one he used to possess her through in her first year."
Molly gasped and clasped her husband's hand. "Is she alright?"
"I'm afraid she's not, she is in the hospital wing in a very serious condition. The diary drew energy from her in much the same way it did then, only at a much accelerated pace. If she'd held onto it a few seconds longer than she did, she would not have survived the incident."
Molly sobbed and Percy sank into a chair.
Dumbledore continued, "You have Mr Thomas to thank for the fact she is alive, he saw what was happening and grabbed the diary from her hands, severely burning himself in the process but Severus tells me he will be fine in a day or so. Ginny's condition, as I said is serious, she is dangerously underweight, her magical energy is drained and even if she makes it through the next few days, which we are hopeful she will, it is going to be a very long road to recovery."
"If?" Percy asked, voice slightly trembling, "What do you mean, 'if'?"
Dumbledore looked at Percy with nothing but sympathy and sorrow in his expression, "Mr Weasley, your sister is very dangerously ill. She is unconscious and has shown no signs of waking, she appears to be running a fever which is nothing to do with the diary but is due to her apparently already having a slight cold which she likely had not even noticed yet. Her immune system is as drained as everything else and the cold virus quickly developed into something far more serious."
Molly was sobbing quietly into her husband's chest and he held her close, his face ashen.
"Can we see her?" Arthur asked, quietly, sounding as though his voice might break at any moment.
"Of course, I must warn you though, she will most likely not be awake for a few days and even when she is she will be exhausted both mentally and physically and will probably prove rather unresponsive at first."
Ginny's father nodded in understanding, helping his wife to dry her tears.
"You can floo through to the hospital wing from here," Dumbledore offered, gesturing to the fireplace and a pot of floo powder on the mantelpiece above it.
From the moment Riddle's diary had been mentioned Percy's head had been filled with some of his worst memories. Penelope in the hospital wing, still as a corpse and not looking any healthier than one. Ginny being taken into the Chamber of Secrets. The realisation at the end of the year that Ginny had tried to talk to him, tried to talk to Ron, and both times he had been too caught up in his own worries about Penelope and their relationship to allow her the comfort and help she had so desperately needed. The weeks of insomnia that summer as guilt and fear ate away at him until he felt he was going up the wall.
He jumped at feeling a hand on his shoulder. It was Charlie, concern written all over his face, they were the only ones left in the room apart from Dumbledore himself. "Come on," Charlie handed him some floo powder and took some himself. "Try not to panic, Perce, we have to believe she's going to be ok."
Percy nodded dumbly, following his brother into the fireplace and through to the hospital wing.
Ginny was lying at the far end of the ward looking small and fragile. Her freckles stood out far more than usual against the pale skin, which looked stretched across her bones, Percy could see the bones in her arms as they lay on the sheet and the form under the sheets was far too thin. Even her fire coloured hair looked less vibrant than usual.
Molly burst into further sobs at the sight of her child looking so desperately unwell and Arthur helped her gently into a chair by Ginny's bedside. The others stood or sat around, all sharing looks of horror, maintaining their silence because there seemed to be nothing anyone could possibly say.
After a few minutes Dumbledore excused himself saying he had to speak with some of the staff and Madame Pomfrey came across to discuss Ginny's condition with her family.
XXXXXXX
Albus Dumbledore returned to his office to find Professors Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick waiting patiently for him.
"Severus, Filius, what have you discovered from the Diary?" he asked, sitting down carefully and gratefully accepting the tea McGonagall conjured for him.
His potions master set the book down on the desk, the hole still evident from where the basilisk fang had penetrated it. "Somebody has worked out how to reactivate it to a degree, using some highly complex charms work from what Professor Flitwick and I can ascertain. Riddle is certainly gone from it but some of the power he poured into the diary remains, its ability to draw energy and almost her life from Miss Weasley was due to it's previous experience of doing so. It wasn't the book that burnt Mr Thomas but the energy flowing through it. It was really only dangerous to Miss Weasley and I would assume whoever reactivated and sent it would know that."
"Who did it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Whoever it was went to great lengths to conceal themselves, there is no evidence for who did it." Snape sighed, "However we would do well to remember who was last known to be in possession of it."
"Lucius Malfoy," McGonagall said after a moment's thought, "But he's still in Azkaban, how could he have done it?"
Severus Snape shook his head, "I don't think he did, but he was not the only one with access to it."
"Narcissa," Flitwick spoke up suddenly, "The girl was very talented when it came to charms."
"Yes she always was," Severus agreed, "And I would think this would be well within her abilities."
Dumbledore frowned, "I am tempted to agree with you but she has never done anything like this before, even during the last war she seemed to keep very much out of it."
"She did have a baby then," McGonagall pointed out.
"And she was a lot younger," Flitwick suggested.
"More importantly she lacked a motive."
Dumbledore turned to Snape upon hearing his comment, "What's her motive now, Severus?"
"Revenge most likely, either for her husband's incarceration or the incident with her son. It's more likely to be to do with Draco I think."
"But that was Harry," McGonagall argued.
"Ah Minerva, I believe Narcissa probably sees little difference between Harry and the Weasleys, her threat to Molly on September 1st said that if the Weasleys or anyone connected with them harmed Draco she would harm Molly's children," Dumbledore said gravely.
"This has happened because of the altercation between Potter and Malfoy then?" Flitwick asked.
"Most likely," Snape agreed.
"Severus," Dumbledore turned to the dark man once more, "Is there any way you can find out for certain if she did this?"
"I can try but I haven't spoken to Narcissa much in recent years, not least of all because she is not easily fooled and is easily made suspicious. Not to mention the fact that the loss of her husband has put her rather on edge. When she's not moping around worrying about Lucius she's snapping at everyone who crosses her path, apart from Draco of course."
"Well don't press the issue, just see what you can find out." Dumbledore stood slowly, looking his full age for once, "And now I really must go back to the hospital wing and see how the Weasleys are doing. Thank you all for your efforts."
"I'll come with you," McGonagall volunteered. As they were processing solemnly down the staircase she asked, hesitantly, "How is Ginny? Is there any change?"
Snape and Flitwick paused to hear the answer.
"She is still in a serious condition but Poppy says she has high hopes of getting the fever under control by tonight. If she pulls through the next few days things look good." Dumbledore did not miss the tears in his Transfigurations teacher's eyes or the slight faltering of her steps as he said 'If she pulls through'. Nor did the sharp eyed, elderly wizard miss the fact that Snape's hand was there to steady her, receiving a grateful and slightly comforted look from the man's one time most hated teacher.
Despite the circumstances Dumbledore smiled, when he had first employed Severus he had wondered how he and Minerva would work together. She had been a young teacher fresh to the profession with only a year's experience when she had first taught Severus and the pranks she had been subjected to by the Slytherins had made it perhaps unsurprising that she had neglected them on occasions but he knew that the guilt she felt for not reaching out to Severus had never diminished and had in fact increased with his having to return to his dual role. It was good to see the way the two worked together now though. Of all the people Severus held a grudge against, Minerva was clearly not one of them and Albus Dumbledore held the sneaking suspicion that she had in fact managed the very difficult task of winning Severus' respect and friendship.
XXXXXXX
In the hospital wing, the headmaster was greeted solemnly by the two eldest of the Weasley siblings who seemed keen that their parents were left alone with their grief and were not troubled by anything unrelated to their daughter. Once assured that the headmaster had no intentions of troubling their parents further, Bill and Charlie allowed Dumbledore to pass over to where Arthur was sat with a protective arm around his sobbing wife.
"Is there anything I can get the two of you?" the headmaster asked gently.
Arthur shook his head, "No, that's fine. You've done everything you can. Thank you." He turned to his wife, "Molly, sweetheart why don't you go home and get some sleep. You look exhausted and there's nothing you can do here."
"But, Arthur, I can't leave her…" she began to protest.
"Darling, she won't wake up for a while yet and if the first thing she sees is her mother looking worn out and as though she's been making herself ill it's not going to make her feel any better now is it? And I can't worry about both of you. I'll stay here with Ginny."
"Dad's right, mum," Charlie agreed, "You look like you need a rest."
Molly gave a tired, reluctant nod. "Well alright, but you have to promise to get me the instant anything happens."
It took a further quarter of an hour before Molly was convinced enough to leave the school and return home, refusing to allow anyone to accompany her despite her elder sons' worried protests.
XXXXXXX
Upon reaching the Burrow, Molly conjured herself a cup of tea and went straight upstairs to bed, she was desperate to sleep not only because of how tired she felt but also to temporarily shut out her pain at the attack on her youngest child. She moved to close the open window and noticed that there was a letter lying on the windowsill sealed with black wax.
Molly looked at the letter curiously, there was a strange crest in the black sealing wax that she was sure she had seen before but could not put a family name to. She broke the seal and unfolded the expensive looking parchment, reading its words with growing dismay.
I warned you. You didn't listen. Next time I won't fail.
Narcissa Malfoy née Black
The parchment suddenly began to burn in her hands causing Molly to drop it in pain, watching in horror as it blackened and curled until all that remained was a pile of ash.
The crest that she had been unable to identify suddenly became clear in her mind, the Black family crest that she had so often seen in Grimmauld Place. The bleeding crow with a rope around it's neck, an ancient omen of death, a fitting emblem for a family that had both caused and endured various macabre deaths throughout the years. It seemed Narcissa did not need Lucius' name or power in order to cause pain and it also seemed she had no compunctions about gloating over nearly killing a small child. Molly sat down heavily on the bed, tears beginning to flow once more.
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Ok, apologies again for my sporadic updates, hope people are sticking with me. Anyway, for those who are the next chapter's about Ginny again, unsurprisingly given the way this ended.
Oh yeah and the bleeding crow with the rope around it's neck really is an ancient omen of death, it's Celtic I seem to remember but I haven't got the book here to look it up but I'm pretty damned sure it's Celtic.
I'll update again soon! However I am a third year university student currently facing dissertatioin and exams so please don't think I'm abandoning this story, I'm not I just have a lot to do at the moment. Thanks for reading:o)