Tom Riddle.

When Ginny had left Dumbledore's office after her first disastrous year at school, she had been happy and felt like she had got over the nightmare of having Tom Riddle nestling in her head. When she rode home on the train with her brothers and their friends she had still felt perfectly happy and joined in with their banter with ease. However now, a few days into the summer holiday, she felt dirty and ill at ease again. The fear she had harboured of being the only one not to make friends, the connection between her and Tom Riddle that had at first been so sweet and affirming and then turned out so terrifying preyed on her mind. What was it about her that had made her so weak, so susceptible to the evil in the diary? Once again, Ginny found herself craving her mother's advice and the comfort she could hand out in between the outbursts of her infamous temper.

So Ginny found herself pacing around the doorway to the house waiting for her mother to get home from her latest trip out to Diagon Alley to get supplies for their trip to Egypt. When Molly arrived back with Arthur, they found her hovering anxiously in the doorway. Her mother took one look at her and gave her husband a peck on the cheek, asking him to put their purchases away. Then she asked Ginny to help her degnome the garden. With a sigh of relief Ginny followed her mother outside.

When they had chivvied Ron back inside and had got a good rhythm in the gnome throwing, Molly casually asked her daughter a question.

'What's bothering you, Ginny? You seem a little unlike yourself since you got home. Is it,' Molly hesitated, 'is it because of what happened?'

Ginny shuddered as she thought about it, about how sullied she had felt all through her momentous first year at school. 'Yeah. I just feel like ... like I should have tried harder, fought harder ... I don't know.' She threw a gnome over the fence with far more force than strictly necessary.

'Ginny, you fought as hard as you could. It's not your fault that that evil book got a hold of you.' Her mother's gnome landed next to Ginny's and they began chittering angrily at each other as they trudged away from the fenceline.

'But, I feel like it is my fault, Mum. I was so desperate for a friend that I let him get hold of me. I ... I liked the way he made me feel.' She bent down to pick up another gnome, accidentally squeezing it hard, making it squeak in indignation. Dropping it over the fence, she turned to her mother. 'What if I really am ... evil?' It was evident from her tone that this possibility seemed very real to Ginny and Molly stood up, allowing the gnome she had meant to pick up to get away.

She took Ginny's face in her hands and looked her in the eye. 'Never think that, never. You're a good person, and I think you know that.' She smiled at her daughter with affection, patted her cheek and bent down to catch the gnome that had foolishly reappeared at her feet. 'You said it yourself ... you were desperate for friends, and so he was able to use that.'

'But Mum,' Ginny said in a miserable tone as she scoured the grounds for another gnome, 'he seemed so nice. How can you ever tell if someone is what they seem to be?'

Molly scrutinised her carefully. Ginny was clearly worried and upset, and Molly remembered just how concerned she had been about making friends last year. It looked like those fears had been magnified, with good reason, but it wasn't healthy and it really was time that Ginny learned how to size people up for herself.

'First, sweetheart, you have to remember that Dumbledore said everyone was taken in by Riddle, so I don't think anyone could have resisted him. That doesn't make you weak.' She shuddered as she thought again about You-Know-Who being inside Ginny.

'I guess.' The tone of voice was mutinous and the gnome Ginny was holding was flung over the fence fiercely enough that it bounced as it landed. Ginny stood for a few moments looking out over the field next door. She took one deep breath after disposing of the gnome and turned to look at her mother. 'But, the thing is he seemed so nice. He acted no different to any of the other people I talked to this year, so how will I know if I,' Ginny stopped, gulping back some tears that were threatening to spill over, and her voice was anxious , '... if I meet someone else like that? I don't want to be taken in again, Mum.'

Molly took her into her arms and though she would normally resist such motherly coddling, Ginny melted into her embrace. 'I know, dear. I think the thing to do is not cut yourself off from other people just because of this. I know it's tempting, and I know it would be easy, but it won't help you in the long run.' Ginny stiffened in her arms so Molly let her go and threw one last gnome over the fence. She sat down on a rickety wooden bench that Ginny knew was only held together by strong magic. Ginny sighed and slid onto the bench beside her mother, but her body language was stiff and she held herself aloof from any contact with Molly. Always attuned to the needs of her children, even if she didn't always pander to them, Molly kept her distance.

'Now, as to how you'll know if you meet someone like that again the simple answer is you won't know. You can't. That is a hard thing to hear I know.' Molly took Ginny's hand and gave it a squeeze as her daughter shuddered. 'The thing is, you just need to learn balance in how you approach people. Don't cut them right off like I know you're thinking of doing.'

Ginny blushed, and murmured something that sounded like, 'I wasn't going to ...' and Molly smiled at her and carried on.

'But you don't need to become best friends with everyone right away either. Be friendly, be open, but hold your full trust in check 'til you really know someone. That way you're less likely to be hurt if you do run into someone ... well, someone bad again.'

They sat in companionable silence, Molly still holding Ginny's hand, for several minutes, appreciating the beauty of the surrounding garden. Then Ginny broached another subject that had been bothering her.

'Mum? I don't know if people will, you know, like me now. I – I mean I did all that stuff even if I didn't mean to ... and ... and I was only friends with Tom. Everyone already has friends, and how will I ever find someone to be friends with?'

Molly gave her a small hug and said, 'you know what Ginny? I don't actually know. But if the people around you don't want you to be their friends then I have to say they probably aren't worth it.'

Ginny huffed in frustration. 'That isn't helping, Mum. I look at Ron and he made friends so easily ... why can't I be like him?'

'I don't know, love. But you're you, and you are a wonderful person, despite having made a mistake or two.' Molly looked at Ginny sideways and smiled gently. She was looking pensive and Molly took a chance on a new tack. 'Do you remember when we talked about school last year, and you didn't want to know people like Luna?'

'Yeah.'

'I do wonder if you might take another look at her from where you sit now, Ginny.'

Her daughter looked at her with accusing eyes. 'I'm not being friends with rejects just because I'm a reject now too.' She stood up and made to leave and Molly grasped her hand and pulled her back down.

'No, no ... that's not what I mean, Ginny. You have been at a real low point, love; you know what it's like to be shunned and to have people not want to be your friend because of their perceptions. Don't you think it's time to take a look at some of those other people who have been there too?'

Ginny shrugged noncommittally then said, 'what if I still don't like them? Luna really was ... well, weird.'

'Then you move on, love. But don't ignore people just because they don't appear the way you want them to.' She squeezed her daughter's hand and then got up to go inside. 'You might also think about Ron's friend, Hermione. I think she seems a little lonely for girl company. Ron and Harry are lovely boys but at the end of the day they are boys, and she might be happy to have another girl to talk to sometimes.' She smiled down at Ginny. 'Just think about it, okay?'

Ginny smiled back and when her mother asked if she wanted to come inside, she shook her head. She stayed outside, enjoying the peace and feeling somehow happier than she had before. She knew her mother was right. She could feel herself flowing back inside. She was strong, and she now had a plan. Ginny didn't need to hide from her past but nor did she need to dwell in it either. By the time she returned to the house she was happier than she had been in over a year and she knew she would be okay. If she was herself, the herself she really was, not the one she had been hiding as all year, people would like her. And if they didn't ... well, then she didn't need to bother with them anyway. It was a much happier and much more confident Ginny who re-entered the house that day. She felt she was finally on the path to knowing who the real Ginny Weasley might be.