Ginny's Diary
Chapter 6
Ginny lay in the dull sun, contemplating whether it was worth returning to Hogwarts. She would no longer be able to play Quidditch; the sleeves on the robes were too short and she wouldn't be able to hide the mark—the Mark that had ruined her life. She would have no friends, not proper ones like Harry and Hermione and of course her brother. There would be endless torment by the Slytherins if they found out that the baby Weaselette had become a Death Eater. And of course, the slimy git Snape—everyone knew he was a Death Eater. Every one except Dumbledore believed it. And look where trusting Severus Snape had got him—dead! Blasted off the Astronomy tower to rot on the once beautiful, now grey, grounds.
Harry saw Ginny lying alone, and from the expression on her face, deep in thought. Slowly he walked forward, unsure whether she wanted to be jolted back to reality after all that had happened to her. He was curious as to what could be on her mind…was it her mother's reaction when Ron first shouted it through the fireplace of Bill and Fleur's marital home? Or was it the fact that numerous times a month she would come practically face to face with Voldemort—if you could call that thing a face. Harry knew he had to tell her about everything—the Horcruxes, the prophecy, and the fact that he was leaving this year to track down the Horcruxes.
"Err, Ginny? Can I talk to you?" Harry asked rather nervously.
"Of course, Harry, you know you can. Don't worry, I won't pass on an thing to You-Know-Who." Ginny added the last part hastily after catching the nervous look on his face.
"I wanted to tell you about something," he told her, taking a seat on the dewy grass.
Ginny nodded for him to continue. After several minutes Harry drew a breath and carried on.
"At the end of my fifth year, just after we got back from the Ministry, Dumbledore told me what the prophecy said. He told me it said that—well, put in easier words—the person to defeat Voldemort would be born as the seventh month ended and only one of us could live whilst the other survived. Which means if Voldemort lives I die, or if I live then he has to die," he told her.
Ginny stared at Harry, terror rising in her chest. What had Harry just said—he had to fight the Darkest, most feared wizard of all time? Not only did he have to fight him—he had to kill him in order for him to survive. No wonder he'd looked a bit peeved in his last year.
"Harry, how are you going to kill him when he just keeps coming back? Look at last time you conquered him: fourteen years later he forces you to help him come back," Ginny whispered. She saw Harry visibly wince and quickly added, "Sorry to remind you."
"Well, I learnt one more thing. It's about something called Horcruxes," he began. Seeing the confused look on Ginny's face, he knew he would have to explain what they were.
"A Horcrux is when someone commits a murder so full of hatred that it actually pulls a piece of their soul away. Riddles diary, that was a Horcrux—that's why when I pierced it with the Basilisk fang, Riddle sort of evaporated. That's how he remained young—the diary was part of his soul," Harry finished.
"You mean he killed someone at the age of sixteen? Who?" Ginny asked rather confused.
"Moaning Myrtle," Harry answered simply. A look of realisation dawned on Ginny's features, telling Harry she understood.
"I want to go with you. No, don't argue. I know you'll be taking Ron and Hermione. I want to help," Ginny found herself saying.
Ginny and Harry had begun going out toward the end of his sixth year; but after Death Eaters had breached the school and Dumbledore had been killed, Harry had decided that it was best to put their relationship on hold. That summer had been horrendous; he kept wanting to hug her or be with her, and when he remembered it had been his own idea to put their budding relationship "on hold", he got even more depressed. He ended up spending all his time locked in Ron's room trying to avoid Ginny—every time he saw her, his heart ached, crying out for her, shouting to her. He knew he needed her. This year, however, they had settled their uneasiness and were once again good friends.
"Ginny, you know you can't—you have to finish your seventh year. Maybe when you've finished it we'll come back for you," Harry tried to reason with her. But his effort went unnoticed.
"Harry, the Ministry has been trying to shut down Hogwarts. They have been ever since Voldemort has got so much more powerful. Last year half the students were missing—I had a full dormitory to myself. None of the sixth year Gryffindor girls came back except me." Ginny was growing steadily more angry by the second.
Harry bowed his head in defeat. He had never bested Ginny in anything—not arguments, not even toy fights. Six older brothers were only one reason; the truth was that Ginny was just too darn strong. She was smiling rather smugly now. She knew Harry had given up; now she just had to persuade her mum. "Oh, bugger!" was the first thought to pass through her mind after thinking about her mum. Harry decided to give in. He trudged back into the Burrow and dragged Ron up the stairs with him.
"Ginny wants to join in searching for the Horcruxes with us," he told Ron flatly.
"Yeah? Well, she isn't," Ron said in a bored voice. "We went through this last year. She figured out we must have been going somewhere at the end of Hogwarts, as she kept asking me and 'Mione. We told her she wasn't allowed to go and she fell out with us for about two weeks."
Harry rolled his eyes and they began to discuss how they could go without Ginny catching them and tagging along.
Ron and Hermione sat on the floor in the lounge reading books; they were all about Dark magic.
"Harry, get your backside in here now! Hey, it says here that underage wizards and witches can get past wards easily as they aren't usually a threat—or so most wizards think," Ron told him with a smirk.
"I could have told you that. No, wait—I did! After I got back with Dumbledore," Harry said wiping the smirk off Ron's face.
"Maybe Ginny will prove useful after all," Ron said, reluctantly beginning to accept the idea that Ginny wanted to tag along with them.
Hermione looked up from her books and gave the boys annoyed looks. They had disturbed her from reading—as if she had a thought in her mind that could have helped them with the whole situation and they had once again made her lose her train of thought.
Harry and Ron were talking about when they were going to leave, and finally decided they would leave the next day. They all went to bed in hopes of getting a decent night's kip so they could be up earlier than normal in order to avoid everyone. They planned to go, leaving a note for the Weasleys to find.
