Gryffindor common room was, for once, entirely silent. Even that third year, McLaggen - and his friends - who'd been playing a noisy game of Exploding Snape just moments before, seemed to have nothing to say.

McGonagall was a bit like Mum in that regard, Ginny couldn't help but think; she knew how to make herself heard… though, Ginny thought someone as quiet as Neville Longbottom in Ron's year could have made everyone listen with the same words.

"The Heir of Slytherin has made himself known to the Headmaster," she'd said. "And to one of our students-"

The silence broke, as a dozen people asked all at once Who? and Was there an attack? and The Heir?! Who?

"First, I would like to know who is not accounted for," McGonagall said, over the top of them all. She looked around, beadily. "Raise your hands! I won't have you all shouting at me."

"Angelina and Alicia went upstairs to change," a fourth year girl said, waving her hand at the professor.

"And Fred and George," Lee said. "Wood came back with us," said Katie Bell, who had her hair wrapped in a wet towel. "I think he must be upstairs too."

One of the seventh years had gone to bed early, and one of the fifth years was visiting his girlfriend in Hufflepuff. McGonagall sent a silvery cat running from the common room, with instructions for Professor Sprout to confirm that, and students from the common room to check on those that were upstairs.

"Verbal confirmation would have been satisfactory, Mr Wood," McGonagall said, when Wood skidded down the boy's staircase, to announce that he was there and safe, and ask what was happening. She sent him away to put on something more than a towel, and pursed her lips at the girls that sighed when he started back upstairs. Ginny didn't understand that; she'd seen enough boys in towels to know there was nothing special about it.

Then, Hermione spoke up.

"Professor," she said. "Harry." She, Ron and Draco were all looking stricken. Harry wasn't with them. Ginny felt her stomach drop, and hoped he was all right.

Wood stopped half way up the stairs and called back down to McGonagall. "He knocked his head, and left practice early, but I don't know where- that was an hour ago, Professor-"

"Thank you for that, Mr Wood," she said. "Mr Potter is accounted for," she told him, and Ron and Hermione and Draco. Wood opened his mouth. "I don't want to see or hear anything more of you until you are dressed," she said, pointing upstairs, and Wood grinned and jogged back up to his dorm. "Is there anyone else?" Murmurs raced around the common room, while Ginny sat on and watched from her cushy armchair. "Very well." She smoothed the front of her robes. "The Headmaster has requested certain information. I – and the Headmaster through me – wish to know of any suspicious activity anyone has seen this evening. It may be as obvious as a direct interaction with the Heir, or as subtle as an uneasy feeling in a certain location around the school, or around a certain person." The room was silent. "I will remain in the common room for the next while," she said, with pursed lips. "I will watch over you, and, should you wish to speak with me discreetly about anything you may have seen, I will be available. My office is also open to any of you who wish to come and see me, either to impart information, or just to talk."

And so, everyone gradually went back to what they'd been doing; McLaggen's noisy game of Exploding Snape resumed, and McGonagall shot him irritable looks over her shoulder as she worked on her marking, while she waited for people to come forward. Hermione was the first to go to speak to her, and that didn't surprise Ginny at all. The spoke for a bit, and then Hermione went back over to Ron and Draco, and the three of them put their heads together. Ginny was too far away to even try to hear them, and so went back to watching the fire. She was too tired to bother with homework and Tom had been quiet for two hours now, but Percy had told her she wasn't looking well earlier, so she didn't want to go to bed yet, because then he'd worry.

Several others approached McGonagall – Angelina, then Parvati Patil from Ron's year, then twenty minutes later, a seventh year boy Ginny didn't know went up. She tried to think if she'd seen or heard anything, but she hadn't, so she went back to watching the fire, and watching her brother and his friends.

Ginny wanted to go over there and talk to them, and find out what was happening, to worry for Harry with them. She didn't though. Ron wouldn't want her there, and Hermione would just tell her it was okay, and not to be scared, when she wasn't really. Worried and scared were two different things. Ginny sighed, missing Tom's company, and missing Colin's too.

He was – or had been - the only friend she had in Gryffindor that was hers and not Ron's or the twins' first. She decided she'd go and see him tomorrow; a letter had come today, from his little brother (or at least that's what Ginny assumed, from the handwriting and the fact that Colin had always talked about Dennis) and she thought he might like it if she read it to him. She hoped he would.

The common room fell silent again, and when Ginny looked up, she saw it was because McGonagall had stood up, and was packing her things away.

"The Headmaster and I will personally look into the information I've received tonight, so I thank you." She adjusted her stack of books, and then looked up again, the hard lines around her mouth softening a bit. "It goes without saying that these are dangerous times. Have a care for your peers and your friends, and your family, if they attend the school, and do not hesitate to come forward if you have any information that may help. Remember, my office is open." And, with a nod at them all, she headed for the portrait hole, then, abruptly, stepped back.

"It's got to be the ring," Padfoot said. Harry nodded, sure he was right, and Dumbledore had agreed that it made sense; after all, it couldn't be Slytherin's locket, because they had that, and the ring proved that Voldemort – that Tom – was related to the Gaunts. "Keep an eye out, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Harry hugged Padfoot goodbye and promised to talk to him soon. What else was there to say, he wondered? Part of him wanted to say thanks for coming, and thanks for bringing Quirrell, but Padfoot knew he was grateful, and would probably be insulted if Harry tried to say thank you. Part of him wanted to cry, and ask to please be taken back to Grimmauld, so that Harry could hide under his bed for the rest of his life. He could apparate to the bathroom, and Kreacher could bring him meals, and Padfoot could keep him company when he wasn't working. It'd be a boring life but he'd be safe.

Instead, Harry hugged Padfoot again, and gave the Fat Lady the password. She swung open and Harry clambered in, almost stepping on McGonagall as he came through. She put a hand on his arm to steady him.

"Potter." Her beady eyes looked over him, resting on his Quidditch robes, the broom on his shoulder, and then rested on his face. What she was looking for, he couldn't have said, but she nodded once. "You're all right?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, looking only at her; he could feel a hundred pairs of eyes on him, and didn't like it at all. He kept his voice low, but no one had moved to hear better anyway; McGonagall didn't look like she'd tolerate much tonight. "How much do they know?" It occurred to him that it was presumptuous to have asked, but McGonagall didn't even hesitate.

"That the Heir was in the school tonight, and that they're to take care of each other, and report anything unusual."

Harry nodded slowly and said, "So they don't know who then?"

"Not at this stage," she replied.

"They should," Harry said.

"Ignorance is not ideal," McGongall said curtly, "but they are scared enough without knowing that You-Know-Who is running around attacking people with some sort of monster."

"Snake," Harry said. McGonagall glowered at him. "And he has a name," Harry said. The glower didn't soften, not one bit. "Tom Riddle. It's him, not V-"

"They're one and the same, Potter," she said tiredly.

"No," he said, "they're not." She looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time.

"Potter-"

"They're different," he said. "And someone might know that name-"

"Very well," she said, almost faintly. "I-yes, very well, Potter." She looked like she was struggling to make sense of it – not that Harry blamed her for that – but she turned toward the common room again.

Ginny and just about everyone else was watching the exchange between their Head of House and Harry. She watched as Harry went to join her brother and Draco and Hermione, and wasn't sure whether to watch him, or whether to keep watching McGongall, who'd stepped forward, as if to speak again.

"We have a name," she said slowly, and she won out, earning the attention over Harry.

"Who, Professor?" Seamus Finnigan asked loudly. Fred and George were among those that hissed at him to be quiet. Ginny expected McGonagall to reply with something sharp, but she didn't. She blinked, and turned to look at Seamus.

"Tom Riddle," she said, sounding faint.

Ginny thought she felt her heart stop.

Percy's heart had found its way into his throat. The name Tom Riddle meant things to him; firstly, he'd been a highly regarded Prefect, someone Percy had read about in old newsletters, someone Percy had aspired to be like; successful, clever, well-liked, and forever remembered through his award for services to the school.

The name also meant something to him for an entirely different reason; that summer, Ginny had returned from Diagon Alley with a diary, with Tom Riddle's name in it. Percy'd held the thing, but never looked inside. If McGongall – or really, Harry Potter, since he was obviously the one who'd given her that particular name – was right, and Riddle was the Heir, then who knew what awful secrets that diary contained?

And Ginny- Ginny would have read them. She was involved somehow. Percy refused to believe that his little sister had knowingly let a monster loose to attack muggleborns – her little first year friend had been attacked, after all – but she knew something, Percy was sure of it. Perhaps there was a dark magic on the diary, like an Imperius curse, that made her do those awful things. She had been ill and odd all year, but he'd just thought it was stress, or homesickness… maybe it was stress, but for a different reason. Percy didn't know, but he knew he had to talk to her, to do something.

And he couldn't go to the teachers; they'd expel Ginny for sure, and not only would that break her heart and ruin her future, but it would look terrible for the family, and for him. If his little sister was blamed for attacking muggleborns – and doubtless she would be, by men like Lucius Malfoy – then Father would lose his job, and Percy would never be Head Boy.

He needed to get the diary away from her, before she could do anymore damage, and hand it in. He'd say he found it somewhere, perhaps in the library, or perhaps abandoned in a corridor. Dumbledore could deal with it, Percy would be the boy who'd stopped Tom Riddle the Heir of Slytherin, and Ginny would be safe. Percy could talk to her, and understand why she did it, and help her see why her actions had been wrong. He could look after her, and no one else would need to know. He thought she'd appreciate that.

He looked up in time to see Ginny disappearing upstairs, with several other people; now that McGonagall was gone, no one saw much point to hang around the common room anymore, it seemed. But while the others were talking loudly, and asking questions of each other, and yawning, Ginny had her head down, was as pale as Percy had ever seen, and was moving with an urgency that he thought he was the only one to notice. He swallowed and settled into his chair to wait.

Hi everyone!

A bit of a short chapter, so I'm sorry for that, but I haven't had a lot of time this week, and this really felt like the best place to end (next chapter's going to be a big one, that's for sure!).

Unfortunately, it's going to be a couple of weeks away; I head off on placement this weekend for two weeks, and am going rural, so I won't have internet. The next update should be up by Tuesday the 14th. Sorry to keep making you wait; life just seems to be hectic at the moment!

Until then,

MarauderLover7.