Author's Note:

I mentioned it before, that I love the idea of each one of the Weasley boys having their own nickname for their sister. So far, I have only mentioned a few of them: Bill has Firecracker, Charlie has Jitterbug, and George calls her Nevra. For Ron, I wanted it be a little different — and then I thought, well the two of them are barely a year apart which means that little Ron would have had trouble saying his baby sister's name as a kid. For example, children often struggle with the 'g' sound and instead it comes out like a 'd' so I thought it would be cute if sometimes Ron called her Din instead of Gin, in remembrance of that time in his life when he called her as such. I wanted to continue that idea here as something Ron doesn't usually call her, but in this instant, it fits.

Also — just love this Ron quote from the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so I had to find a way to put it in.

Reviews and Comments: To coloredwords: I agree, you can't cancel Quidditch was too iconic not to add in. Sirius meeting the parents would be a night to remember and yes, Harry will be taking some different classes. To ManyGrey: Thank you for saying this is one of the best stories you've read. Sorry I kept you up reading until the early morning, but I hope it was worth it! Thank you for saying you like how I'm showing the cruelty and madness of Voldemort to make him be so feared and for keeping Pettigrew a coward, but showing how he fell. Yes, it took 60 fucking chapters to build the relationship between Harry and Sirius, but I felt it was worth it. Thank you very much for calling ASC a masterpiece! To Cj: Yes, there will be Hinny smut but not any time soon as they are much too young and will not be getting together any time soon. To Shamelessnweird: Thank you! To DEeverafter: Thank you! To Millie072: Thank you I think? I'm glad it makes you not want to abandon ASC, but I'm also sorry you don't like Ginny. Her role is about to become a lot bigger so I don't know what to tell you. To Steelcode: Thank you!

To alix33: You've never seen Tom Riddle compared to Percy Weasley before? Um, pretty sure Harry thinks that in the books when they find out he accused Hagrid (albeit, it was before he knew Riddle was Voldemort, but still). Thank you! To Sleepyhawk502: Thank you! To LAoR: Thank you! I love that you just binged this story. To Xenia_Moon: Yes, Hermione has been attacked!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THREE:

The One Where It's Not Follow the Butterflies

The entire school seemed to be in chaos once more.

Everyone was talking about how Hermione and a sixth year Muggleborn Ravenclaw prefect named Penelope Clearwater had both been attacked near the library with a mirror. No one could explain what had happened and no one had seen anything. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Zee had all come to see him, as they'd been at the match, and offer comfort about Hermione. Sirius told him they would get to the bottom of it, but Harry could feel his father's frustration just as much as his own. The only consolation on Harry's part was that for the first time since everything had happened, no one blamed it on him.

A few of the Hufflepuffs had even came over to apologize to him, claiming that he would of course never attack his best friend and that they were sorry for ever having doubted him in the first place

But Harry could only nod, still in shock himself.

Why had Hermione rushed off to the library the way she had and why was she with that prefect? He didn't have the answer and it worried him even more.

But that night, as McGonagall claimed that everyone had to be in their common rooms and that everyone had to be chaperoned by a teacher from class to class for protection, no exceptions, that Harry and Ron decided that they really needed to talk to Hagrid. They couldn't wait any longer.

Neville dug out Harry's invisibility cloak from his friend's trunk. "I'm coming with you guys."

Harry just nodded. He felt like he was partly numb over learning of Hermione being attacked. He kept telling himself that he should have stopped her from running off to the library alone; he should have insisted on going on with her. He knew that Ron was feeling the same way, but it didn't make him feel any better.

Hagrid wasn't happy to see the three of them and he was embarrassed when they told him that they knew he had been accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and that it was the reason why he had once been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year. Harry reassured him that they didn't believe he had attacked anyone and that they were only trying to find out the truth.

But Hagrid didn't have any answers for him. He didn't know what was going on any more than they did and he didn't know who had opened the Chamber of Secrets back then let alone who was responsible for it now. He wished that he could help them and he was very sorry to hear about Hermione.

The next few things that happened, Harry couldn't quite explain.

The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, showed up with two Aurors at Hagrid's cabin, demanding Hagrid's immediate arrest and immediate removal to Azkaban Prison for opening the Chamber of Secrets and sicking a monster on the students (for after all, his record was against him) which Dumbledore tried to prevent, but ultimately failed — as Lucius Malfoy showed up, claiming that the Hogwarts Board of Governors needed him to urgently attend an emergency meeting to discuss whether or not he was still fit to serve as Headmaster (apparently Malfoy had tried to convince the Governors as such, but had come up against Sirius and Mrs Longbottom, who adamantly refused his terms and demanded an audience with Dumbledore himself) much to Malfoy's dismay. Dumbledore left a cryptic message, looking pointedly at the exact spot where the three of them were hiding unbeknownst to everyone else under the invisibility cloak, about him only being truly gone from the school when no one who remained was loyal to him. Hagrid was then taken away to Azkaban, but he mentioned to the empty room at large that someone would need to feed Fang while he was away and that if they were looking for information to follow the spiders; and then the three of them watched in sadness as Hagrid was taken away they're mouths all open in shock.

The next week passed with Harry feeling incredibly sad. Hermione was still in the hospital wing waiting for the Mandrakes to mature, Hagrid had been arrested, and the scare of the Chamber of Secrets was back in full swing. The somber mood was affecting the entire school.

Ginny was avoiding him and Ron and if was honest with himself, he was too worried about Hermione to figure out why. Remus made sure to pop by the table at every meal and offer a reassuring word, telling them not to worry and that the Mandrakes would soon be matured and their friends would be okay, but it was the idea of the Chamber of Secrets itself that worried Harry. He said as much to Sirius in his latest letter, asking why a monster would specifically target Muggleborns and petrify them. Was it just the terror that the Heir of Slytherin was feeding off of or did he have another goal in mind?

The sight of Persephone flying towards him brought a small smile to his face as he greeted his father's owl and opened the letter, eager for news.

Prongslet,

Dumbledore is under pressure because of the Chamber, but he WILL be returning to the school at the end of the week, I'm not letting Malfoy remove him as Headmaster no matter what he wants. All of the governors agree that with Dumbledore there, the school is much safer, despite what has been happening. However, I do think that Dumbledore knows more than he is letting on and Mrs Longbottom and I particularly have been drilling him for information on the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened in 1943. Zee says that between the idea of it being Slytherin's monster and the petrifying, it sounds like a Basilisk, but everyone knows that they have been extinct for centuries. According to Zee, the last known reported sighting of a Basilisk was in the sixteenth century as they are extinct. It is strictly prohibited by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to breed them, but it is also true that not everyone follows the law.

I'm so sorry about Hermione, Prongslet. But don't worry, the Mandrakes will be ready soon. Just try to keep your head down and get through your studies. Stick with Ron and Neville. If you see or hear anything suspicious, including mysterious voices again, go to Uncle Moony. Listen to the teachers. Do not do any more late night exploring until this is solved.

We will get to the bottom of this.

I love you.

Love,

Uncle Sirius

Harry sighed as he folded up the letter, but he didn't feel any better after reading it. He remembered covering Basilisks briefly in Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Quirrell last year, but Quirrell had also stated that the so-called King of Serpents was extinct. But the idea of the monster being a snake or something similar to a snake did make sense as the symbol of Slytherin House was a snake. But it still didn't give him any more information on where or what the Chamber of Secrets was and what the Heir was hoping to accomplish outside of terror.

Later on that day in Potions class, he noticed a line of spiders moving quickly to exit the castle and he remembered Hagrid's advice, pointing it out to Ron. He had to admit, the more that he saw the spiders fleeing from the castle as if they were afraid of something, the more nervous it was making him. They both decided that it was time to see what following the spiders entailed.

Neville had only raised a brow at them when they told him that they were going to down to check on Fang.

"Harry, we're not allowed to go wandering off alone! What if the monster sees you?" he asked, fearfully.

Harry grinned at him. "Nev, stay here, Ron and I will be fine. We're just heading down to check on Fang and check on Hagrid's stuff. You don't have to worry."

Neville rolled his eyes. "Right."

Ron grinned widely. "We'll be fine, Nev. We're just popping down to Hagrid's."

Neither of them had decided to mention the idea of listening to Hagrid's advice on following the spiders. Both had immediately regretted that decision on both fronts.

Neither of them had expected to be led into the Forbidden Forest, to come across an entire army of Acromantulas, and to speak to Hagrid's own childhood pet named Aragog — nor had they been pleased when said giant spiders then planned to eat them and they were unexpectedly rescued by Mr Weasley's Ford Anglia, which had apparently been living in the wilds of the Forbidden Forest all year after crashing them into the Whomping Willow and throwing them from the car back in September.

When they were ejected from the car safely back onto the Hogwarts grounds, Ron was swearing bitterly.

"Follow the spiders! Follow the spiders! If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him! Why couldn't it have been follow the butterflies?"

Harry only grinned at his friend. "Ron, calm yourself! Look, Aragog confirmed it, Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets!"

"We already bloody knew that, Harry," Ron said bitterly, still rubbing his arms and legs in fear of spiders crawling on him. His eyes were wide with shock and he was still swearing under his breath.

Harry nodded. He knew how much his friend hated spiders and he was quite impressed that Ron had held up as well as he had considering the circumstances. "I know, but now that we have a clue about the monster. It's something that spiders fear above all else. And we know that the last time the Chamber was opened the girl died in a bathroom!"

Ron simply stared at him. "So?"

Harry grinned at him as they headed back. "I think that it's time we talk to Sirius."

"Why?" Ron asked as they hurried back towards the castle.

"Because I don't know why I didn't think about it before, Ron! Zee is a Magizoologist if anyone would know the answer about what this mysterious monster is she would!"

"How come the Care of Magical Creatures professor doesn't know then? Wouldn't he be just as knowledgable?" Ron asked, still a little annoyed from the spider fiasco.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. Kettleburn's a little old and worn out though so maybe not. I heard that he's retiring in June and if he knew anything about it, he would have come forward by now, right?"

Ron scratched his long nose. "Then maybe Zee won't know either."

"Maybe not, but I still want to ask her. Sirius told me in his last letter that she originally suspected a Basilisk, but they've been extinct for centuries. She has to have another idea."

They both grinned as they saw Neville waiting for them in the entrance hall.

"I was getting worried! You two said you that just had to feed Fang at Hagrid's, but it's been hours and when I went down to his hut, you two weren't even there!"

"Aww, Nev, have you been checking up on us?"

Neville scowled at Harry. "It's almost curfew! And Filch keeps lingering around demanding of me why I'm loitering in the hall! What happened to you two? You're both covered in dirt."

"We got attacked by giant bloody spiders that's what happened," Ron muttered. "But Harry thinks it's a good thing."

Harry snorted. "Not that we got attacked by giant spiders, Ron, but I think that Zee can help us and that's a good thing."

"Sirius' girlfriend?" Neville asked in confusion as they headed towards Gryffindor Tower. "What can she help you with? She already said that she didn't know what the monster could be."

The last thing he had expected to find at the top of the staircase were three familiar Slytherin boys.

"Sneaking out after hours? How scandalous!" Theo said with a smirk, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Could say the same, Nott, except we still have ten minutes until curfew so not after hours at all. What do you guys want?" Harry asked, eyeing the three of them suspiciously.

The three of them waiting for him could hardly be considered a good sign in his book.

Blaise grinned. "We were hungry and made a trip to the kitchens."

"Then Draco heard you talking and wanted to chat," Theo added with a smirk.

Neville crossed his arms in front of him and glared openly at the three Slytherin boys. "The kitchens are downstairs. What do you want?"

Draco merely raised an eyebrow. "Really, Fatbottom? We can't want to stop and say hello."

"Stop calling him that, Draco," Harry interjected.

Draco sighed. "Right, fine, sorry Longbottom, don't mean to hurt your sensitive sensibilities."

Neville simply stared at him. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

Draco stared at them for a moment, his eyes meeting Harry's. "Potter owes me a favour."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Which you have been taunting me about for over a year look — when you finally figure out what the hell you want, talk to me! Until then, we have more important things to do."

"I'm here to collect."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Actually?"

Draco nodded and gestured for them to follow him. He led them into an empty classroom, closing the door behind him. "I'm here to see if you're interested in a little tit for tat?"

Neville sighed. "We're not here to make a trade with you, Malfoy. If Harry owes you a favour then he'll provide it, but you need to actually ask for something."

"No one was speaking to you, Longbottom!" Draco said angrily. "And trust me, what I've got to say is worth listening to. You know I'm right or you wouldn't have made Polyjuice Potion to sneak into the Slytherin common room just to talk to me before Christmas."

Ron's eyes widened. "How did you —?"

Draco smirked at him and turned his attention back to Harry. "Pipes."

"What?"

"It's travelling through the pipes, Potter."

"What's travelling through the pipes?"

Draco rolled his eyes, his gaze moving to the backs of Blaise and Theo who were watching out for teachers. "The monster."

Harry eyed him for a moment. "Why are you telling me this? What's in it for you? How do you even know this?"

Draco looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Look, maybe I overstepped back at Halloween. I was… wrong to wish something harmful upon Granger even though she's an annoying brown-nosing bint, but, she didn't deserve to be attacked anymore than the others, well, maybe Filch's mangy beast, but… you're a Parselmouth."

"Yeah, so?"

"Merlin, Potter, I thought that you were smart," Draco drawled in annoyance. "The monster is a Basilisk, you know — a giant fucking snake?"

Harry paled. It was the second time today someone had mentioned the mythical King of Serpents to him. "How do you know that? What do you get out of telling me this?" Harry demanded.

Draco merely shrugged. "Just remember who helped you."

Harry's brow only furrowed as he watched the Slytherins leave, turning back to his friends. "A Basilisk? Zee said that they're extinct and have been for centuries."

Neville only shrugged. "Let's get back to the common room and look at Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I'm sure it must be in there and then we can confirm Malfoy's story. I think I remember Hermione telling me they were one of the creatures that could live for centuries so, maybe it's an old one, if that's even what it is. Why would Malfoy tell you that?"

Harry only nodded in response, but he was starting to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a strange thing for Malfoy to suddenly decide to share with him. And he hadn't provided Draco with anything back so what did he want? How did he know it was a snake? But then, a snake was the symbol of Slytherin House so having the snake as the monster would make the most sense and it would explain why Harry could hear the snake speaking through the walls. It was in the pipes and if it was in the pipes it had to come out somewhere to attack the students, but how was it getting out?

He stopped mid walk and reached out to grab the arms of his friends. "Mate, if Draco is right about the pipes… the girl who died back in '43, Aragog said that she had died in a bathroom — well, what if she never left? What if she's still in that bathroom?"

Ron froze, his eyes widening. "Moaning Myrtle! All those times we were in there, why didn't we ever ask her how she died?"

Neville's eyes were wide as he looked between Ron and Harry. "Guys, what are you thinking?"

The loud voice of Professor McGonagall echoed throughout the halls like a speaker.

"All students are to return to their dormitories immediately. Your prefects will explain upon arrival. Do not delay. All students must return to their dormitories, immediately, there will be no exceptions."

Harry shook his head. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in the girls' bathroom! That's how it's travelling through the pipes! That's how Myrtle died! It came out and attacked her!"

"Harry, you don't know that!" Neville protested, his eyes wide in fear.

Harry ignored him. "Come on; let's go tell McGonagall what we know, it might help!"

Ron nodded and the three of them ran towards the staff room. But on their way, they had to stop when they saw McGonagall and Snape standing in front of the very girls' bathroom that they had just been discussing.

Harry tugged Ron and Neville behind the wall so that they could listen.

"We'e too late, the school is going to have to close," McGonagall said sadly. "Dumbledore is on his way back, but what else can we do?"

"Closing the school can't be the only option, Minerva, there has to be a way to put a stop to this," Snape insisted, his voice sharp. "Someone in this school knows exactly what is going on!"

"And no one has come forward, Severus. A student was taken by the monster itself! We've reached the point of no return, the school will have to be closed."

"Who did the monster take, Minerva?" Snape asked quietly.

McGonagall's bottom lip quivered for a moment. "Ginny Weasley."

Ron's eyes widened in shock as the teachers moved away from the wall and they were able to read the bloody message written there.

Her body will lie in the Chamber forever.

"Dinny," Ron murmured, his eyes wet with unshed tears. "But she's a pureblood!"

Harry was staring intently at the bloody message on the wall as the teachers deserted the corridor. The sound of Ron murmuring his childhood nickname for his sister sent a dagger through his heart.

"No! Her body won't stay there forever! If the monster took her that means that he didn't kill her."

Neville was pale as he stared at Harry. "How can you be sure?"

"The monster hasn't killed anyone, Neville, it only petrified them. She has to be alive down there or why would it take her down into the Chamber otherwise?"

Ron was gripping his broken and spello-taped wand tightly in his hands now. "You're not going down there alone."

Harry looked at the determination on Ron's face. He knew his friend was thinking the same thing he was. He turned to look at Neville. "Nev, you run and tell McGonagall what we found out. Ron and I are going after Ginny."

"Harry! Don't be daft! You can't just simply go after her! You don't even know what's down there! Malfoy says that its a giant snake, but you don't know that for sure! And Basilisks have been extinct for centuries so he can't be right!" Neville exclaimed, his eyes flashing in horror. "What about Professor Lupin? He's the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher! Let's get him to help us!"

Harry stared at his friend for a moment and shook his head. "Uncle Remus can't help us, not tonight," he said quietly as his gaze moved to the full moon in the sky through the window which told him that Sirius would also be unavailable at the moment. "And you're right, I don't know for sure what's down there, but I do know that I can talk to snakes — so maybe I can stop it from hurting her, or me, and… Malfoy's right, Nev, a Basilisk or at least a snake, makes the most sense and… she's my friend, Nev. I'm going."

Neville simply nodded and he took a deep breath. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not. We need someone to tell McGonagall where we are."

"And she's my sister so I'm going," Ron insisted.

Neville let out a slow breath. "All right. But for the record, I just want to say that I thought this was a stupid idea, so, don't die — okay?"

Harry smirked at him. "Come on; let's go talk to Myrtle first. We just want to find Ginny."

Neville nodded and visibly gulped.

The three of them took a deep breath and then they slipped into the girl's bathroom to talk to Moaning Myrtle.

~ ASC ~

When Harry stepped into the antechamber, the large circular door rolled to a close behind him with an echoing bang. He and Ron had opened the door to the Chamber of Secrets by a sink in the girl's bathroom. They had slid down the tunnel and found themselves in a large underground cavern full of bones. They yelled up to Neville to let him know that they were all right before they began to move forward. The sight had horrified them and with each crunching step they knew that Harry's suspicions were correct.

Ginny had been alive when the monster had taken her.

They followed the tunnel with the snake skin, the sight of it making Harry's eyes widen. Anything that could shed that was definitely not an ordinary garden snake. It had to be at least fifty feet long and fifteen feet high. The sight of it made him gulp and he clutched the mirror in his pocket. Sirius would be furious at him when he found out that he had come down here, but Sirius wasn't available. Sirius was running as Padfoot and staying with Uncle Moony. He was doing his duty and as far as Harry was concerned — Harry was doing his.

They had made their way through a small tunnel and Harry whispered 'open' in Parseltongue and the door rolled open, slamming into the rock on the side so loud that it echoed and a huge jolt of power seemed to sizzle through the cavern. The walls shook and Ron's eyes widened in horror.

"It's going to come down around us," he said, his eyes frantically searching for safety.

"Quick, into the tunnel," Harry yelled, but as he rushed forward the door closed behind him and he heard Ron's fists hit the door.

"Harry! Open the door!"

Harry instructed the door to open, but it remained shut. He tried to pull, but it was made of solid steel and didn't budge. There was a shimmer behind him and he turned in time to see a magical ward lift away.

"Ron, it won't open," he yelled back. "There's some kind of warding, I think it's runic!"

Ron swore. "Go on, Harry! I'll be fine, just… just find Ginny!"

Harry could only nod as he heard his friend's voice and he took a deep breath moving deeper into the tunnel. He could feel the magic pushing on him as entered as if warning him of the power within. After reassuring himself that Ron would be fine, Harry had stepped through the open door at the end of the cave.

He had promised to go on.

He would find Ginny.

He had to.

He followed the long tunnel, twisting and turning in the eerie glow of the cavern, the stone damp and mossy, looking more and more like an underwater castle. He had come across another large circular door, this one marked with a large stone snake that sat across the top. He swallowed as he heard screaming from behind the door and he demanded it to open in Parseltongue.

The stone snake slithered around the door, unlocking, and the door swung outward. Harry simply took a deep breath and stepped through it.

The echoes of the screams he had heard coming from behind the door were still in his ears as he sprinted in the direction that he had thought it was coming from. Now that he was inside the antechamber, he could only hear silence and the trickling of water, and it gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he didn't like. He had no idea where the monster was, but he did know that those screams had belonged to Ginny.

He ran down the wet stone path, rushing around until he was under a large stone statue the size of a building, of Salazar Slytherin himself.

He saw Ginny on the ground beneath the statue and he fell to his knees, sliding across the wet stone to her side and his wand falling to the ground next to him. His hands went to her immediately and the sight of the blood staining the stone and turning the water around her red, had him paling considerably.

"Ginny!" He shook her a bit and she moaned.

Alive, he thought, she was alive! He wrapped her arms around his neck and scooped her up into his arms, the tiny black diary falling to the ground.

"Hold onto me, Ginny, I've got you. We're going to get out of here," he told her, standing on his shaky legs as he held her. As tiny as she was, he wasn't sure that he could make it all the way back to the chamber door carrying her.

"She won't wake," a voice said from behind him.

Harry spun around, eyes on the young boy walking towards him. "Who are you?"

The boy smirked, twirling the wand in his hand between his fingers. "Lightning bolt scar, you are Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived — isn't that what they call you?"

Harry nodded. He could feel Ginny's ragged breath against the side of his neck, her head resting against his shoulder. His hands were stained with her blood, but he couldn't see where she was hurt; her robes covering her.

"You know who I am now, who are you?"

The wand continued to twirl from finger to finger idly in a gesture that Harry found oddly familiar, but he couldn't place it. "My name is Tom."

Harry's eyebrow rose. "Tom Riddle? From the diary?"

The boy nodded. "She won't wake. You might as well put her down."

Harry didn't want to obey the boy, but holding her upright for as long as he had, was tiring. She was passed out and dead weight in his arms. He carefully lowered her back to the stone floor, tugging his robe off and rolling it under her head as a makeshift pillow. Her hair was wet from the water. There was a white sticky substance in her hair and on her face and neck as well as down the front of her robes. And she was bleeding from somewhere, but he didn't know where.

"You were a sixth year in 1943," Harry said, his eyes leaving Ginny to look at the teen standing before him.

"I was," Tom said simply.

Harry wrapped his fingers around Ginny's wrist, the slow pulse there making his heart race faster. He needed to find a way out of here, to get Ginny to the hospital wing. She was badly injured and he didn't like how cold her skin felt to his touch. "It's 1993. Yet, you don't look a day over seventeen. How is that even possible?"

Tom smirked. "You are an intelligent boy, I'm sure that you've already contemplated the possibilities. You wrote in my diary, but you didn't like what I had to tell you. Did you?"

"You framed Hagrid."

Tom shrugged nonchalantly. "He was a stupid oaf always trying to make monsters into his pets. Who in their right mind wants to own an Acromantula or anything that can kill them in a second? It made sense for it to be him. He was dangerous."

"Dumbledore didn't believe it. Dumbledore knew that Hagrid wasn't dangerous."

Tom sneered at that. "Dumbledore never quite trusted me, it's true, but with the attacks having stopped, he had no choice but to admit that Hagrid was the obvious guilty party."

Harry ran a thumb gently over the top of Ginny's hand as he spoke, his eyes moving to her pale face briefly before watching Tom who continued to twirl the wand. Something about that gesture made a pit form in the bottom of Harry's stomach as a sense of déjà vu overcame him and he didn't know why. But it truly unnerved him as if it was trying to tell him something important.

"Is that what you do then? Accuse others of your crimes? Is that how you get your rocks off? Forcing others to do your dirty work for you?"

Tom's face flushed. "I don't have to force anyone to do anything! They are thankful to be in my presence at all. As for little Ginny there, well, she was truly my most pitiful follower. Do you have any idea how boring it is to listen to the life of an eleven-year-old-girl? Her sad and pitiful life… all about how much she missed her big brothers, how the brothers she did have largely ignored her, and how her best friend, the infamous Boy Who Lived, was too busy with his new friends to even notice her? How when he did show her attention, she was embarrassed because she had come to the conclusion that he was special to her in a different way? And my favourite, the fear she began to show when she couldn't quite remember things that happened to her."

"What do you mean she couldn't remember things that happened to her?" Harry demanded, his thumb moving gently to her wrist, still moving in slow circles, trying to reassure her that he was there, that he would protect her.

Tom smiled. "Dear Tom, today I woke up in the corridor covered in blood and feathers, but I don't remember how I got there or where it came from? I think I'm going mad! Dear Tom, today Harry asked me if I was all right, but I couldn't tell him the truth, that I think I'm going insane and that I keep having dreams about summoning a monster. What will he think of me? Dear Tom, I think that I'm attacking these students! I think that I attacked Colin! He's my friend, why would I hurt him? I think that I attacked Hermione! Hermione, Tom, Harry's best friend! Ron's best friend! How will they ever forgive me? How do I stop this? Help me, Tom! What should I do?" he mimicked in a childish mocking voice. "Pathetic, stupid, little girl."

Harry's eyes had moved back to Ginny's form now, the diary was next to her sopping wet from the water and her blood and there was a bloody bone by her feet.

"She wouldn't attack anyone! She's too good. She would never hurt anyone — not willingly."

"Ah, but she would if I told her to."

"Give me back my wand, Tom. We need to get Ginny to the hospital wing."

He smiled coldly. "No, we don't, Harry Potter, for with every breath I take, she loses more of her life force — and with her death, brings me new life."

Harry swallowed. "W-what do you mean? How is that even possible?"

"Ginny Weasley willingly gave me her soul, which I have spent months feeding off of and finally, I will possess her soul fully and once more become fully corporeal and alive."

"Give it back to her," Harry demanded, his eyes on Ginny's pale face. "You can't have her soul! I won't let you take it from her!"

Tom smirked. "I can have anything that I want from her," he said smartly. "And I can take anything from her that I so choose. I am in control here not you, which is why you will tell me exactly how a baby, completely devoid of any magical powers outside of blood was able to survive against the greatest wizard of all time?"

Harry simply stared at him. "Why do you care? Voldemort was after your time."

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future," Tom said, boldly.

When Harry only stared in response, he waved Harry's wand through the air like he was writing and sharp printing flashed through the air to write the name Tom Marvolo Riddle. He waved his hands and the letters began to rearrange themselves, forming a sentence that sent chills down Harry's spine.

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

And suddenly it made sense. Harry remembered watching Voldemort twirl his wand between his fingers as he had taunted Peter in the memory. It was a tell that he had obviously had for years.

"Now, tell me, Harry Potter, how did you survive against the greatest wizard to ever live?"

Harry swallowed. He couldn't possibly be trapped down here with Voldemort, he thought — it wasn't possible.

Not again.

He had to bide his time, to try to find a way to get his wand back and most importantly to help Ginny. He desperately hoped that help was on the way, that Neville had convinced McGonagall to come.

And if it wasn't… he just had to hope above all else that he could at least save Ginny.

He just didn't have any idea how that was going to happen.