Disclaimer: This story includes characters and situations that are part of the Harry Potter universe, which is copyright J.K.Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made in the production of this FANFICTION. Not many outside resources were needed this time, but I (as always) made extensive use of the Harry Potter Lexicon when writing this chapter.

Author's Note: This chapter made me laugh out loud several times while writing, and giggle while editing. I hope it does the same for you! Thanks to SaintRidley for the review!

Expectations of Grandeur: Chapter 31: The Date

Madame Pomfrey let Ginny out of the Hospital Wing a few hours later, after making her promise not to do anything dangerous until she had been free of headaches for at least a week, so Harry didn't have to secret her out from under the Nurse's nose; although Ginny began to think that if he had been forced to do so, he might have conveniently forgotten. The Hogsmeade weekend had been canceled due to the still-unresolved threatening messages, and Harry hadn't said a thing about it, except leave a short note telling her to meet him in the Gryffindor Common room that Saturday morning anyway. Other than that, he hadn't said a word. Once again, she was peripheral, and while making her way back from Quidditch practice alone (again), with Harry and Ron a few hundred feet ahead of her and in quiet conversation, not bothering to look around, she decided that perhaps she would be best served to conveniently forget about it as well.

That was absurd, she scolded herself. She had wanted this – this, and nothing more, a date with Harry Potter – since her first year. What kind of fool would turn that down? And on the rare occasions when he did speak to her, it was in the friendly and happy sort of way that made her think she would genuinely like to speak to him more.

Of course, that was apparently easier said than done, and she wasn't one who thought that breaking in to her brother's whispered conversations with his best friend was a good idea. So she contented herself to know that on March the fourth, there would be plenty of time for talking. In the meantime, she had her studies to attend to.

And there were an awful lot of them. With O.W.L.s coming up at the end of the year, her classes were picking up to a frenzied pace, and she was just barely on top of Charms and Transfiguration – her two best subjects. She could tell that she was falling behind in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and almost wished she had the gumption to ask Harry for assistance (he was, everyone knew, stellar at it – even though his education up to this point had been remarkably pathetic). She had asked Tom for help with Potions, after all, and everyone knew Tom was the scary new Slytherin whereas Harry was her housemate, Quidditch Captain, and friend. Then again, she hadn't really asked Tom for help with Potions. He had practically forced it upon her.

Which should have been suspicious to her from the beginning, she thought mildly. But if Harry discovered that she was having difficulties in Defense and offered to tutor, well, she certainly wouldn't turn it down.

Not like that was going to happen, she reminded herself as she pushed open the door to the castle (which had closed completely since Harry and Ron slipped through it ahead of her). No, Harry Potter would most likely remain just as distant as he had ever been, notwithstanding his surprising desire to sneak off to Hogsmeade with her.

She would have hoped that he would start talking to her after that. But apparently that was too much to ask of the great Harry Potter.

She sighed and shook her head. This was ridiculous; she could see Harry and Ron making their way slowly up the stairs in front of her. Why was she moping behind them, annoyed that Harry wouldn't start a conversation, when she could catch up and start one herself? She ran to meet them and did when they were halfway up the staircase.

"Hey Ron," she said, catching her breath. "Thanks for waiting up for me."

Ron flushed a bit but then rolled his eyes and mumbled something about girls taking much, much too long in the showers to save face. Harry actually looked a little bit abashed. "Hey, Harry," she said as an afterthought.

"Hi," he said, dumbly, as though Ron's presence made it difficult to have the sort of conversation that seemed so natural in the hospital wing last week.

Then again, Ginny thought, Ron's presence did make things more difficult, more awkward, and more nerve-wracking. She didn't know for certain how Ron would feel about her flirting with (or, for that matter, sneaking off to Hogsmeade with) his best friend. He certainly hadn't taken kindly to Hermione's friendly relationship with Krum the previous year, and he had teased her mercilessly about her crush on Harry since her first year, just like the rest of her brothers. And her relationships with Michael Corner and Dean Thomas had been anything but welcome news.

She forced that thought out of her mind. It was, after all, a useless thought. She was going to do what she wanted, not for Ron or Hermione or Harry or anyone else, but simply because she wanted to. That was what being a grown-up was, right? At least, it seemed, that was what Harry and Tom thought being a grown-up was, and they were the only people who were really telling her anything about it. She squared her shoulders and wondered if they noticed. Probably, they didn't.

Ron cleared his throat awkwardly, and Harry kicked the stairs as he walked up them, and then finally said, in as hurried a voice as he could manage, "RonwantsyoutospyonRiddleforus."

Ginny blinked. "What?" she asked, not quite understanding what Harry had even just said.

"I still don't trust Riddle," Ron said bluntly. "I can't believe that he's really not plotting behind our backs. Harry was telling me that you're still getting tutored from him, and I wanted you to spy on him; I don't know, ask him if he has any idea what's going on. See if you can't get him to gloat about it."

Ginny paused on a step, forcing Harry and Ron to stop a few steps up and look down at her quizzically. "Veritaserum wasn't enough for you, Ron?" she asked.

Ron sighed. "Maybe he wasn't up to anything then," he said stubbornly, "But he's up to something now."

Ginny shook her head and sighed in frustration. "You gave him Veritaserum after people left for the Holidays. There haven't been any more attacks, or threats, or anything since then. The only reason you're remembering it is the Hogsmeade weekend was just canceled. Why would he be up to something now if he wasn't then?"

Harry's mouth quirked up in a smile, caught between agreeing with Ginny and supporting his friend. Ron didn't look over to notice, he just continued lecturing Ginny. "But none of this makes sense, Gin. Why would he offer to help you with Potions if he wasn't up to something? And the Parchment and all of it. I don't like you being at the center of all of this, but if you're going to be no matter what, and it seems you are, well, Harry suggested that we might as well treat you as an equal."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh at that. "Might as well?" she repeated. "One of these days, Ron Weasley, you'll learn that I am your equal." Harry laughed, and Ron looked ashamed of what he had said, but quickly brushed it off. She started climbing the stairs again, and continued. "I don't know what he's up to either. I agree with everything you're saying. And I'm on my guard around him, trust me," she said. "I just think we're looking at this incorrectly. Isn't it possible he has some ulterior motive for seeking me out that has nothing to do with the threats on the school?"

They were silent for a moment, and then Ron said, "I'll bet he's doing it to get on our nerves."

Ginny almost laughed at the absurdity. "Ron," she said in a voice full of laughter, "Tom Riddle is not approaching me simply to aggravate you."

Harry laughed a little bit. "It does seem rather unlikely," he said.

Ron sighed. "Fine," he said. "But he's up to something."

"I'd want to apologize," Harry said quietly. "For the... chamber incident."

Ginny considered this. Certainly, that had been Tom's goal at first – to apologize for the events of her first year and get it off his chest so he could go back to being a slimy, disgusting Slytherin. But although she hadn't accepted his apology at the feast, she couldn't believe that his goal was still simply to apologize. "If he wanted that," she said, "he would just apologize and be done with it."

"Right," Ron confirmed immediately. "No one takes this long to apologize for something."

Ginny shook her head. They were approaching the Fat Lady, and soon they would be inside the Common room where this conversation would be inappropriate. "Why not let's drop it?" she said. "I'll keep an open ear, and I'll stay on my guard, of course, and I promise to come to you two if anything should happen. But it seems that you will know as soon as I do anyway. And it also seems that he's not really up to anything truly diabolical, or he wouldn't be wasting his time with me."

"Puffskien," Harry said quickly and the Fat Lady swung forward with a smile. "I agree with Ginny, Ron," he said as they entered the Common Room, and Ron looked put out but at least he didn't say anything.

Harry and Ron sat down to play a game of Wizard's Chess, and Ginny went up to her dormitory to pick up books to study from before meeting with Tom. She quickly picked up her Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions texts, a few spare rolls of parchment and a quill, and thundered back down to the common room. Heartened by her conversation with Harry and Ron on their way to the Common Room, she chose a seat nearby them and opened her Defense text to the chapter on enchanted books. She winced a bit and began reading, scribbling notes that seemed important.

It wasn't long before Hermione sunk into the chair next to her and took out a book of her own. "Have you two finished the essay for Defense yet?" she asked Harry and Ron, pointedly ignoring Ginny.

Ron mumbled something and Harry answered that no, he hadn't finished it, and that he would just as soon as he finished his game of chess. "All I'm saying," Hermione responded quickly, "Is that you could do with some more studying and a little less Wizard Chess. Take Ginny's example,"

Harry looked pointedly away, studying his pawns, and Ron turned to Hermione angrily. "What's with you, Hermione?" he asked. "Ginny would be playing if it was a three-player game, anyway." Ginny thought of protesting that no, she really did have to study, but it was pointless and Ron had already gone on, adding "Lighten up already!" by way of conclusion.

Ginny froze; she could feel Hermione's anger from across the table. "Lighten up?" she asked in a huff. "I'm looking out for your best interests, Ron Weasley, and you should know it. If you don't pass a single N.E.W.T., well, it certainly will not have been my fault."

Ron rolled his eyes and scoffed, and Ginny could tell that the best thing she could do was leave. It was almost time for her review session with Tom, anyway. So she slipped her books and parchments back into a satchel and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, probably more snappishly than she meant.

Ginny cleared her throat. "Study session," she said nervously. "I have my study session with Tom in the library."

Hermione frowned. "You're still having those sessions?" she asked suspiciously. "I thought you were going to stop."

Ginny shrugged her shoulders in as noncommittal a fashion as she could. "Well, he's not up to anything, is he?" she said by way of explanation. "And besides, my Potions marks were really suffering."

Hermione sighed in frustration. "You need to work on your priorities, Ginny," she said. "And I told you to avoid him. He's up to no good, I just know it."

Ginny stared at her blankly. "You and Ron should have a great time figuring out what that is, then," she said softly. "I'm going to the library, unless anyone else wants to criticize my behavior?"

Harry glanced at her with half a smile on his face, as if he knew exactly how she felt and wished he could escape as well. Ron shook his head and turned back to the game, but Hermione put her hands on her hips and stared Ginny down. "You never listen to the people who care about you," she said with a sigh. "If you did, you certainly wouldn't go around with him."

Ginny was appalled. "What do you mean, Hermione? I'm going to a tutoring session. For the last time, that's all it is! How many times to you lot have to have that driven into your head? What's wrong with a tutoring session?"

Hermione snorted. "All I'm saying," she hissed, loud enough for everyone in the common room to hear "Is that if I had feelings for Harry, I wouldn't be getting Potions help from You-Know-Who."

Ginny winced, tears coming to her eyes. Harry and Ron were still pointedly studying the chess-board. "He's not... I'm not..." Ginny began, and found that the silence of the room, the shocked confusion of all of the students, was far too much for her to handle just then. She ran from the room.

And then Harry showed his true colors. "He's not You-Know-Who, Hermione," he declared, his voice calm. "He's Ophicus Marvolo."

Ginny, of course, didn't hear Harry, and so she thought that the entirety of Gryffindor thought she was getting tutored by Lord Voldemort in the best way to concoct Felix Felicis. She couldn't take it; how rude, how stupid and hateful, of Hermione, to actually say something like that!

They had found out at the beginning of the year that Tom wasn't You-Know-Who. And even if he was, or even if he could have been, well, it just wasn't something you tossed around the Gryffindor Common Room!

Ginny didn't know if she could face Tom like this, so full of righteous indignation on his part and her own. But she didn't have much choice, she noticed, as the argument had taken up the few minutes she had before her meeting with Tom. So she stormed into the library and flounced into a seat across from him (he was always early), and mistakenly pulled out her Defense text. It flopped open to the page on enchanted books.

He fixed her with a murderous stare. "I thought I told you I didn't have anything to do with that Diary, or with the side-effects of the parchment. Do you still not trust me?"

Ginny looked flustered for a moment, and then glanced down at her book, and realized her mistake with a good amount of embarrassment. "Oh," she said softly, and closed it carefully, pulling out her Potions text. "No," she mumbled, not sure how to begin. "No, Tom, I trust you – at least, as much as I can trust you, being a Slytherin and everything. That's just the assigned reading for Defense, I was doing it in the common room before I came here."

He looked suspicious. "That does not explain your unaccountable rage."

Ginny sighed and tugged at her ponytail. "It's Hermione bloody Granger," she said with a sigh. "Ever since the Quidditch game week two weeks ago she's been in a fit about something; snapping at everyone whenever she can, for next to no reason. She attacked me for 'going around with you' as if we're best friends and she as much as accused you of being the He Who Must Not Be Named in front of the whole Gryffindor Common Room. No one would even stand up for me when she said that!" Ginny shook her head. "But it hardly matters, I don't care what they think, they're a bunch of stupid codgers anyway."

Tom smirked slightly, laughed once, and then said, "Well, then, to Potions?"

"Yes," Ginny answered confidently. "And I've been reading ahead so I can ask you questions for next week as well; I'm afraid I can't make it."

Tom looked shocked. "What?"

"I'm... I'll be with Harry. Sorry; we made plans for the Hogsmeade weekend. When there was a Hogsmeade weekend." She didn't know why, but she felt unaccountably guilty about it. That was absurd; what did Tom care if he wouldn't be obliged to tutor her for another hour?

His face was devoid of emotion, though, and it frightened her. He had never done that before -- she was much better than he was at hiding what she was feeling. She wondered what was going on in his head. Was he rejoicing? Angry? "I was unaware you and Mr. Potter were an item," he said, simply, without emotion.

It was possibly worse than shouting at her. "Well, um," she said, again beset with that nervous awkwardness. What on earth was wrong with her? "We aren't. Or, we weren't. Until the Quidditch game, we weren't. But he came to visit me in the hospital wing after, and, well..." she trailed off, blushing pink. Tom was a Prefect, or had been, she didn't think she should tell him about her plan to sneak off to Hogsmeade when the weekend had been cancelled.

Tom nodded slowly, his face still a blank mask, and then said, "Well, perhaps that is what Hermione has been upset about."

Ginny frowned. That didn't make sense. Hermione didn't like Harry, she liked Ron – it was easily apparent to anyone. "I didn't think..." she began, and then immediately realized it was none of Tom's business. "Never mind. It hardly matters anyway," she said. "Just, I'll not be here next week. So I have a lot of questions now."

Tom laughed mirthlessly. "I imagine you do."

Later, in the Slytherin Dungeon, Tom Riddle stared at the parchment that revealed the inner workings of Ginny's mind without seeing it. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and it all came down to that girl.

He had told himself she was an interesting case study in recovery from a severe psychological trauma, but he had realized that was a lie. He had told himself he would use her, then, to take advantage of Harry Potter (should he ever need to do such a thing). By all accounts, his plan to weasel his way into her good graces for purposes of subterfuge and espionage was working as well as could be expected. She clearly didn't think twice about confiding in him the goings-on in the Gryffindor Common Room, and she also clearly thought he was innocent (and that, apparently, without proof as well). He should have been thrilled with her confidence (although it would admittedly have been better had she told him exactly what she and Harry Potter planned to do on the canceled Hogsmeade weekend). But that was just the thing.

The more Tom Riddle told himself he couldn't care less what Ginny Weasley's plans were for March the fourth, the more irate and frustrated he became that he didn't know exactly where she was going to be and what she was going to be doing.

And that was, simply put, absurd.

He threw himself into his studies with reckless abandon. Better to focus on them than admit he, once again, had to re-evaluate his plans. But he couldn't help thinking about them anyway. Maybe it would be best if he just avoided her altogether. Maybe it would be best if he called off his tutoring sessions. They were, after all, a relic from the time when he thought she would be an interesting experiment, and that time was certainly long over. Maybe it would be best for him to find a way to destroy the parchment, and thus the link between them.

Maybe this was just a symptom of her emotions leaking into his mind.

That was more likely, he decided. Her emotions, her infantile emotions of jealousy and confusion and lust were leaking into his mind, and he simply had to destroy the parchment in order to stop it.

Then again, he remembered, she had no reason to feel jealous.

So even if he destroyed the parchment and cut off the link, well, he might not feel confused or... or whatever else he was feeling towards her, but he probably would still feel jealous.

Which was the central problem to begin with, he knew, and so it was pointless for him to destroy the link which could only be used to his advantage now that he was more practiced at Occlumency and she was decidedly unguarded.

But part of him, a part that he had a habit of stamping out for being stupid, and ridiculous, and entirely unacceptable, still wanted to find a way to destroy the parchment once and for all. So that's what he was examining on the evening of the fourth of March, when he would have been advising Ginny on her Potions work.

It only seemed fitting.

He wasn't looking at the parchment. Or rather, he knew exactly what was on the parchment in fine detail, but he wasn't looking at it. She was enjoying her time with Harry. They were in Hogsmeade, at the Three Broomsticks. How they had gotten there without tipping off a Professor to their indiscretion was beyond Tom, for he had picked up the parchment after they were already in the town; although he knew enough to guess that Harry's invisibility cloak played a central role. They were talking about her brothers Fred and George, and their heroic pranks towards the end of the previous year. She was laughing heartily and sipping on her Butterbeer. She was about to suggest that they visit the shop (newly opened in Hogsmeade), but she was worried that her brothers would tease her for being out with Harry. Tom thought it a reasonable worry, and hoped that they teased her enough she regretted her decision.

He decided he had to stop looking at the parchment, and focused instead on the textbook open before him.

He had several options to destroy the parchment. Disenchanting them and tossing them into a fire would work nicely, or at least as nicely as anything, since they all required him to get his hands on Ginny's parchment. So it was next to useless for him to be reading about it anyway. He sighed, slammed the book shut (which earned him a glare from Madame Pince which he could only meet with a scowl of his own) and strode off to wander the grounds.

They were in her brothers' joke shop, and the twins were teasing them mercilessly, but offering them free chocolates, left over from Valentine's Day and shaped like hearts, which almost made up for it. Ginny knew better than to try them herself without proof that they were harmless, but thought she might give some to an unsuspecting Ron. Harry made the foolish mistake of eating one, and Ginny admonished him as the Twins began to snicker. But nothing happened, at least not anything that Ginny could tell. Harry grabbed her arm and they left the shop to return to Hogwarts as he whispered that she really should try one, they weren't enchanted.

Tom hastily folded up the parchment and put it in his pocket. He hoped Ginny had the good sense not to trust a chocolate made by her brothers for Valentine's Day, but somehow doubted that she did when it came to Harry Potter. He turned back to the castle; he would get no peace tonight no matter what he did, so he might as well not shiver outside when he could be inside and comfortable. It was late, anyway, long past dinner time, and Ginny would be back or her absence would be noticed soon, so he had no reason to continue his absurd jealousy.

He was halfway to the Slytherin Dungeons when he was accosted by Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. "What have you done with them?" shouted Ron.

Tom blinked, confused, and still mostly thinking about Ginny, Harry, and the potential properties of the Twins' chocolate. "What?" he asked.

"Harry and Ginny," Hermione answered quickly, just as furious as her comrade but considerably better at expressing herself despite her rage. "What have you done to Harry and Ginny? Where did you take them?"

Tom stared, dumbfounded, and discovered that the desire to laugh at the absolute absurdity of the situation was perfectly coupled with his desire to hex the two Gryffindors into oblivion. "They're on their way back from Hogsmeade," Tom hissed. Apparently, Harry and Ginny had kept their actions a secret from the rest of the dream team. Ridiculous.

Ron spluttered a bit, and Hermione just shook her head, grabbed Tom's wrist in one hand and Ron's with the other and began dragging them to Dumbledore's office. "Harry and Ginny are nowhere to be found," she said curtly. "There's been another attack. We're going to Dumbledore."

Tom wrenched his hand out of Hermione's grip and pulled out his wand. He wasn't going to be mothered by her the way she mothered Ron Weasley. He didn't have to take this from her. "We are not going to Dumbledore," he said, barely maintaining his calm. "And if you touch me again with your filthy hands I swear on Slytherin's grave I will kill you." Even he was surprised that he meant it, and he appreciated the fear that crept into her eyes.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been watching Ron. "Expelliarmus!" shouted the boy, and Tom was thrown down the hallway, his wand wrenched from his grasp. "I don't think so, Riddle," Ron said in as proud and brave a voice he could manage. "Petrificus Totalus!"

And Tom felt his body go rigid and fall towards the floor.

Hermione was pocketing Tom's wand and congratulating Ron on a job well done. Then she whispered "Mobilicorpus" and they trotted off together towards Dumbledore's office. They were standing beside the Gargoyle, trying to guess the password, when it happened.

In retrospect, Tom was, in some ways, glad that he was petrified. Suddenly, without warning and without explanation (although Tom guessed as to what had happened quickly enough), he was completely and totally overcome with giddy happiness.

Ginny's giddy happiness. The emotion was not one he had ever felt; nor was it one he ever intended to feel. It pressed against the sides of his mind and if he had not been petrified he would probably have cried out from pain. The feeling was distinctly hers. He was worried he would be transported into her consciousness temporarily and would have to deal with the disgusting prospect of the tail end of a date with Harry Potter. He had read about that happening.

For once in his life, he told himself, he was lucky, and he was spared that horror. He was not, however, spared the pain of being taken up the revolving staircase to Dumbledore's office (whether they had happened upon the correct password or Dumbledore simply knew they were outside and could cause the gargoyle to move aside from his office Tom never figured out) or of confronting the headmaster. "Finite Incantatem" Hermione said begrudgingly, and Tom shook his head to try and get the feeling of Ginny out of it.

It was some use, the feelings abated slowly.

"Professor!" Ron had begun shouting as they walked through the door. "Someone attacked the Gryffindors! Harry's nowhere to be seen and neither is Ginny and we found him wandering around outside your office."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "What would you like me to do about this, Mr. Weasley?"

"Expel him! He's up to no good, Professor!" Hermione chimed in.

Dumbledore sighed but his look was still entirely amused. "And if he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley?"

"He's still up to no good," Ron responded without a second's pause.

Tom forced himself to think clearly, think around Ginny's emotions. It was a difficult proposition. He laughed. "Clearly you can see, Professor," he said as calmly as he could, "That these two poor excuses for students are accusing me out of a ridiculous personal prejudice and without any real evidence."

"You threatened to kill Hermione!" Ron shouted.

Dumbledore's expression dropped from one of amusement to one of stern consideration. "Is this true?" he asked.

"She grabbed my wrist and was pulling me up here, as if I was a misbehaving child," Tom responded proudly. He had been in the right; if that disgusting excuse for a witch hadn't been so overbearing and self-righteous as to do that, he would have treated her with all the civility in the world; as evidenced by his treatment of her up until this point. And, as though his own rage were enough to fight off whatever Ginny was feeling (and he could scarcely say how thankful he was about it), the giddiness stopped. He could focus again, and he stared Dumbledore straight in the face. The Headmaster was not pleased.

"That is no excuse to threaten death, Ophicus," Dumbledore scolded, and the way he said it, it almost seemed true. But Tom knew that Dumbledore favored the Gryffindors, and he also knew that the one thing that would make him happy would be to be left alone, and the only way to ensure Hermione Granger would leave him alone would be to dispatch her quickly.

"Well," Tom said seriously, "If she doesn't want me to threaten her, she shouldn't treat me like I'm her enemy." He calculated his options. He could admit that he knew she had called him You-Know-Who, in which case he gave up some of the surprise that Ginny had been reporting to him on their actions, but which would almost certainly justify him acting the way he did. He could simply say that she had been alienating him for long enough, and that if she honestly wanted him to be forgiving she might at least behave as if she expected it of him, which got the same message across without giving away any secrets. It would be best to play close to his chest. "She thinks I'm teaming up with the Dark Lord, if I'm not You-Know-Who himself. If she treats me like a sociopathic murderer, why is she surprised that I begin to act like one?"

Dumbledore frowned. "Miss Granger, I have told you on several occasions that we have no reason to doubt and every reason to believe in the good intentions of Mr. Marvolo. Perhaps something has come to your attention that you believe I have overlooked. Do you have anything to tell me?"

Hermione squirmed in her shoes. "What was I supposed to think, Professor? There was another attack – we couldn't find Harry or Ginny, and then we find him wandering the hallway on the way to your office. Who else would target Ginny?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Nonetheless, Miss Granger," he began, and then the door was slammed open by none other than Ginny Weasley herself. Tom imagined Harry wasn't far behind, but didn't want to think about that very much.

"He didn't do it!" she shouted.

Ron and Hermione just stared. "What?" Hermione asked.

"Whatever you're accusing him of. He didn't do it. He's innocent." She paused, and caught her breath. "Or, well, he's probably not innocent. But he's not guilty of this either."

Dumbledore looked as though he was about to burst into laughter. "So Mr. Marvolo did not in fact abduct you and Mr. Potter?" he asked, as Ron turned to his sister and demanded to know where she had been.

"Harry and I," she began, and her ears began to turn pink, "Harry and I were in Hogsmeade. We snuck out under his invisibility cloak." She glared at Ron as though she could seriously injure him on the spot for demanding an explanation in front of Dumbledore himself, but then examined her shoes and said in a rather small voice, "I'm sorry, Professor."

It was then that Tom realized what exactly was going on. She was putting herself on the line for him. She was willing to tell the truth and take a fall when she could easily have said nothing and he would have been an easy, and obvious, scapegoat.

It was the sort of thing only a Gryffindor would do; stupid but chivalrous. And for the first time in his entire life, Tom was glad that he knew a Gryffindor who didn't hate him.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Well," he said quietly and with a bit of the old grandfather in his voice, "It would seem that we have discovered who spirited away Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley." His face grew grave. "However, I would remind you, Miss Weasley, that sneaking outside of the grounds, especially when there have been attacks in the school, is not in any way acceptable. Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for each of you, and you can report to Filch for a detention on Friday next." Ginny nodded bravely, and seemed (to Tom's eye) almost relieved that the punishment had not been worse. "Mr. Marvolo," Dumbledore said, turning to Tom. "Might I remind you that, although it is certainly frustrating to have to deal with continual accusations, this is in no way a reason to threaten one's fellow students. Ten points will be taken from Slytherin. You can report to Filch next Friday as well."

Tom scowled. Ron looked victorious and Hermione seemed to think this was good, but not good enough. Ginny cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Professor? Would you mind if I left?"

Dumbledore laughed again, said that he didn't imagine there was any more business here, and bid them all goodnight. Ginny practically ran from the room as fast as she entered, and was certainly gone before Tom could thank her for admitting what had happened.

He realized, when a faint unwelcome echo of Ginny's earlier joy bounced around his head, that any thanks would be out of the question after he shared a detention with her and Harry Potter.