AN: Looks like you guys have some pretty strong feelings. Harry's apparently a moron, and Ginny's even got death threats! I hope this chapter changes your mind. As usual thanks to my 155 favorites and 277 followers. Special thanks goes out to reviewers kentrek1, serenityselena, MariusDarkwolf, Majerus, Belladonna16, SomeGuyFawkes, Katzztar, LadyLombax, Cateagle, mwinter1, Spring Raine, Loves to read books, Evangelynn, Deadzepplin, Kairan1979, mrrlyn, wolfish-willow, serialkeller, wolfey141, A Lady of Time, Wonderbee31, slicerness, Lightningblade49, Guest, and red-jacobson. Final word count before author's note: 2,539
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.
Kaitlin Elizabeth Bell prided herself on being a well-rounded individual. She got great grades, played Quidditch, had many friends, and considered herself…not exactly pretty, but definitely not ugly. She managed to juggle a lot of things, and she was fine with that because she liked being busy. One thing she could not handle was a hysterical Harry Potter.
"Wait a second," Katie said, interrupting his pacing. "You mean that You-Know-Who is inside a diary, Ginny Weasley's diary, that you stole from her to protect her, and she stole it back because she doesn't realize how dangerous it really is?"
Exactly," Harry nodded frantically. "And it's all Lucius Malfoy's fault."
Harry and his friends had commanded a corner table in the library. It wasn't the ideal location to hold a top-secret meeting, but it was incredibly early, so the only other person there was Madam Pince. Plus, this was the only semi-private place big enough for their large group.
"And you didn't think to tell us this before because?" Ron asked angrily. His skin had paled dramatically, making his freckles stand out in contrast.
"I was going to tell you all today, I swear. And I tried to get Ginny to give it up first, but she's convinced that the diary is her friend." Harry kept pacing.
"You said his name is Tom Riddle, right?" Percy double checked.
Harry nodded.
"Alright, I don't have much on him, but here's what I have so far," Percy said. "His middle name is Marvolo, he went to Hogwarts from 1937-1944, he was a Slytherin, he earned 12 O.W.L.s and the only elective he didn't take was Muggle Studies, he became Head Boy his last year, worked as a salesman for Borgin and Burkes, and disappeared off the face of the planet," Percy rattled off.
"Isn't Borgin and Burkes a shop in Knockturn Alley?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah. Dad's been trying to get a search warrant for that place for years, but they won't give it to him."
"Pretty shady place," Angelina commented.
"Sounds like Riddle was a pretty shady guy," Harry observed darkly.
"How did you know all that stuff?" Alicia asked Percy.
"Prefects in Power," he replied, pushing up his glasses. "It's a book I read over the summer."
"You would read something like that," Oliver teased.
"Something like what?" Neville questioned suddenly.
Everyone jumped.
"Oh, just talking about books," Katie said nervously. "It's a, uh, study group!"
"Oh, can I join? I don't want to do badly on exams," Neville pulled out a chair.
"Go away Neville!" Ron snapped.
"Ronald! Don't be rude," Hermione scolded him.
"I'm not, he's the one who invited himself to sit with us-"
"Do you want me to leave?" Neville interjected.
"No!" Hermione said firmly.
"Yes!" Ron shouted.
"If you can't be quiet in here, then just leave!" Madam Pince whisper-yelled.
And thus the library was no longer used as a meeting place.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Ron asked.
"We split up," Oliver decided. "Katie, Hermione, and Percy can try to go research more on Tom Riddle and how he can get in a diary in the first place. The twins, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina can go try to distract Ginny so that she doesn't have a chance to write in the diary. Harry, Ron, and I will ask around to try to find a way to get rid of it. Does that sound good to you guys?"
"What about me?" Neville piped up.
"You're still here?" Ron said incredulously.
Everyone looked to Oliver to see his reaction, but he seemed locked in a three-way staring contest with the twins. Finally, one of them (Katie couldn't tell which) nodded.
"He can come with us," The twin grumbled.
"Hey Ginny, come here," Alicia called in the common room. Ginny was about to head back upstairs after eating breakfast. They were hoping to keep her occupied until after lunch, at which point they hoped that someone would have a solution.
The red-headed girl approached the group sitting by the fire warily. Upon closer inspection, Alicia could see the deep bags under the girl's eyes. What happened there?
"Want to take this quiz I found in Witch Weekly?"
Ginny hesitated, then sat down. "Sure. Why not?"
Throughout the quiz, Alicia would try to keep her talking, commenting on everything from Quidditch to being the only girl in a family of boys. She did everything she could, and when the quiz was done for both of them, she went over the entire magazine with the girl.
Finally, when it would've looked suspicious to keep going, she stood up and stretched.
"I think I'm going to take a walk," she said casually.
Angelina swooped in before Ginny got up.
"Your brothers are soooo irritating," she moaned, collapsing onto a chair.
"Tell me about it," Ginny muttered.
"Seriously, the only redeeming quality the two of them even have is that they're decent Quidditch players," Angelina carried on. "Do you play?"
"Yeah, actually. Chaser," Ginny replied, taken aback. Not one, but two older girls were having a conversation with her in one day?
"What's your favorite team?"
"Holyhead Harpies," Ginny said immediately.
"Me too! Can you believe how badly they beat the Tutshill Tornadoes last week?" Angelina exclaimed.
"Wasn't it amazing?" Ginny gushed.
The two girls chatted for over an hour, first about Quidditch and later about everything else.
"How was your first night at Hogwarts?" Angelina asked.
"Not so great," Ginny said sullenly. "I lost my diary just before we left."
"You can always get a new one," Angelina suggested.
Ginny shrugged and stayed quiet.
"You can get one that looks exactly like the last one, same cover and everything."
"It won't be the same," Ginny snapped stubbornly.
"Why not?" Angelina pressed.
"It just won't," Ginny huffed and got up to leave.
"Sister dear," Fred said slyly as he and George sidled up to Ginny.
"We happened to notice you-"
"-getting a bit snide with Angelina-"
"-and we'd appreciate it if you stopped."
"Why should I?" Ginny challenged.
"So I can get her to go with me to Hogsmeade, of course," George said.
"Wait, I thought I was asking Angelina out," Fred said, puzzled.
"No, you're you today, remember?"
"Really, because I thought today was the day for me to be you?"
"As fascinating as this is…" Ginny trailed off as she tried to wriggle away. Two arms, belonging to two different bodies grabbed her before she reached the stairs.
"Rule number one, ickle Gin-Gin," Fred taunted.
"Never let the enemy know what to expect," George said sagely.
Suddenly the two halves became a whole, speaking as one.
"Let's go plop you down next to Neville. He's a decent enough bloke, though he does tend to sweat a lot when he gets nervous. Anyway, don't run off now, because we'll know if you do." They said, dragging her towards a slightly chubby boy in a cardigan reading a Herbology book.
"Take care of our sister for us, will you?" They barked at him.
"Uh, sure," Neville gulped.
"You're Ginny, right? I'm-"
"Neville, I know. My brothers told me," Ginny said shortly.
The boy, despite being a year older and probably loads smarter than her, quaked in her presence. Every time she moved, he flinched. If she looked his way, he stared at his shoes. She sighed and he scooted away.
"I'm sorry," she told him, not unkindly. "I've just not been having a good couple days."
He nodded slowly, eyeing her.
"Do you like plants?" Ginny asked awkwardly. She cursed herself. Is that really the best you could come up with?
Neville didn't seem to mind. "Yeah. They're the only things that get in my head and actually stick. You've probably heard what they say about me," Neville said, embarrassed.
"Not really," Ginny lied.
"Right," Neville scoffed. "I hear everything they say about me. I'm nervous and blubbering and a stupid fool. I'd forget my own name if I could. I shouldn't have been allowed to come to Hogwarts because I'm practically a squib. Maybe they're right," Neville said sadly, staring at his shoes.
"I know what you mean. Everyone thinks I can't understand, because I'm a girl, or because I'm so young. They don't trust me with secrets, and I'm always so," she struggled to find the right word. "…Alone."
"I think you're okay," Neville said shyly.
"I think you're okay too," And then she smiled, a real, true smile that lit up the whole room.
"Found anything yet?" Percy asked, exhausted. He, Katie, and Hermione had to beg Madam Pince to let them back in the library. They'd been looking for anything on Tom Riddle for over three hours. Percy had even managed to get a pass for the Restricted Section, but that too, had seemingly turned up nothing.
"Well, Marvolo is the name of one of the last Gaunts, supposedly descendants of Slytherin himself," Katie said. "The line died out with Merope Riddle nee Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt. Merope died giving birth to Tom, and Morfin died in Azkaban."
"What was he convicted of?" Hermione asked.
"It doesn't say."
"That means the Ministry doesn't want us to know," Percy murmured. "What about you, Hermione? Got anything?"
"Sort of. There isn't a name given to it. Supposedly, there's a way you can split your soul and embed part of it in an object. It's basically a way to live forever. The book refuses to say the name, it doesn't really go into detail on how to create one, it just says that a murder is needed. Which is nothing new of course, we all know You-Know-Who murdered countless people. It says that you shouldn't try to destroy the object yourself, that you should go to the proper authorities," Hermione paused.
"But that's not all. The book says that if the soul in the object stays in contact with one person for a long period of time, then the soul can take over that person's body. Percy, Tom Riddle could possess Ginny."
Katie paled and gasped.
Percy froze, seemingly lost in some kind of horrible nightmare.
"Percy, what do we do?" Katie cried.
"The only thing we can do. Tell Dumbledore and then run like hell to get to Ginny," Percy said tightly, already half way out the door.
"Pumpkin Pasties," he barked at two gargoyles. The gargoyles snorted, tossed their heads, and moved aside to reveal a gorgeous spiral staircase. Percy took the steps two at a time, and the girls struggled to keep up. The three quickly reached a door, which Percy knocked impatiently on.
"Come in!" A muffled voice called.
Percy hastily swung the door open and sat in one of the chairs across from Dumbledore's desk. Hermione and Katie both took a bit more time to look around. Silver and gold instruments, most with colorful buttons or levers, sat upon shelves that lined the walls. Thousands of dusty old books and tomes lay scattered about. Models of the solar system, lunar calendars, and complex astronomy drawings were clustered together on a table.
But best of all was a fiery red bird, sitting majestically on a perch. Katie walked towards it, almost entranced by its beauty.
"I see Fawkes is interested in you three," Dumbledore said pensively.
"Professor Dumbledore-" Percy began.
"Mr. Weasley, do not rush. I know that now everything seems urgent, but when you are as old as I am, you realize that you have all the time in the world." Dumbledore held up his hand.
Percy's knuckles turned white from gripping the armrests of the chair so tightly.
"Fawkes is a wonderful bird. All phoenixes are, really. Fawkes is fast approaching his burning day. He will burst into flames and be reborn. It's one of the things I like best about phoenixes. Their ability to re-start their whole life. Did you know that phoenix tears can heal any wound?" Dumbledore got up from his desk and calmly stroked Fawkes.
"But sir, my-" Percy started again.
"You know, Mr. Weasley, of the saying that certain things are better left unsaid? This is one of those things."
"Sir, my sister is in danger of being-"
"Ask yourself this, young Percival," Dumbledore interjected. "Is it at all possible that you are able to solve this on your own? If there is even a sliver of a chance that you and your friends could, then I encourage you to go for it."
"But Headmaster, the book said-"
"That is the sad thing about books, Miss Granger. They only provide solutions for the easy problems, never for the hard ones. Now, I hope you children have a good day."
And with that, Dumbledore swept into a room within his office, and three Gryffindors were left to gape soundlessly at him.
Oliver, Harry, and Ron weren't having much luck. The thing had a piece of You-Know-Who in it, it wasn't going to be easy to kill it. So far, they had only come up with two options. Option A: Throw the diary into the Forbidden Forest. Option B: Put the diary in one of Snape's boiling cauldrons. Both plans had flaws. For instance, what if the centaurs found the diary? What if werewolves didn't like eating paper? What if Snape saw them with the diary? What if something in You-Know-Who reacted with a potions' ingredient and the whole school blew up?
Ron was about to suggest that they just give up for now and eat lunch when a dreamy looking blonde girl wandered past them.
"Oh no," he muttered. "Run!"
"Hello Ronald," The girl said serenely.
"Er, hi."
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Guys, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is Harry Potter and Oliver Wood."
"Hello. I live right by Ronald. I'm friends with Ginny. That's how we know each other. Are you looking for something?" She asked quizzically.
"Um, yeah," Oliver replied. "But you wouldn't have seen it anyway, so never mind," he added.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with Ginny's diary, would it?" Luna asked.
"How do you know about that?" Ron said accusingly.
"She mentioned it on the train. She said she'd lost it. I wanted to get it back for her, because we're friends, but then I saw all the bad energy around it," she explained.
"So you have it?" Harry asked desperately.
"Well, really more like had. I didn't want anyone being attacked by Nargles, and the book was was practically infested with them. So I threw it in the lake," she said matter-of-factly.
"You WHAT?!"