Chapter 8: Blacking Out

A/N: Once again sorry for taking so long to post another chapter. Fortunately over Christmas break I was able to write quite a bit during my free time so expect the next couple of chapters to arrive shortly.

I even came up with an idea for a fourth book. I know that's very far into the future, but the idea has gotten me very excited to continue writing.

In this chapter Ginny experiences several more blackouts and slowly comes to believe that she is behind the attacks that are plaguing the school.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling. Any recognizable sections of this chapter come from chapters 8-13 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

September sped by and soon it was October. There was a bout of colds amongst the students and staff that kept Madam Pomfrey busy. Much to Ginny's annoyance, Percy made her go to take a pepper-up potion saying that she looked pale. She nearly cursed Harry when he made the comment that the steam from the potion, combined with her red hair, made her head look like it was on fire.

Truth-be-told, she hadn't felt like herself for over a month, ever since the night that she had blacked out. She kept telling herself that she had just fallen asleep, but the whole event had felt extremely unnatural. If she had fallen asleep, then why did she still feel tired afterwards?

There was also the fact that the following day Harry had been going on about hearing voice after his detention with Lockhart. She knew it was probably just a coincidence, but the whole night had set her on edge.

"Ginny are you listening?"

She jumped slightly and looked up to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione looking at her oddly.

"Sorry, I spaced out. So what's this about a deathday party?"

Harry sighed before repeating himself, "Nearly-Headless Nick helped me get away from Filch after a Quidditch practice. In return, I offered to go to his five-hundredth deathday party this Halloween."

"But we'll miss the Halloween Feast!" Ron complained.

"Do you always think with your stomach Ron? I'm sure it would be fascinating. We could be some of the only living people to be invited to one. Besides, I'm sure there'll be some sort of refreshments there, it is a party after all." Hermione replied.

"Why would they have food? Ghosts can't eat!" Ron retorted.

"So would you want to go with us?" Harry asked Ginny as Ron and Hermione continued bickering.

She nodded her head. "It sounds interesting, plus if we miss all of the feast we could just ask Fred or George where the kitchens are. I know that they figured it out a couple years ago."

Harry nodded. "Hopefully we won't miss much of the feast. I was thinking we could just pop in and say hello before leaving…"

They were suddenly interrupted by several loud bangs and a shower of sparks. They looked over to see Percy yelling at Fred and George as the fire-salamander they had been trying to feed a filibuster firework escaped into the fireplace. Any further conversation was forgotten as they watched in amusement.

On the day of Halloween, Harry and the others were beginning to regret their promise to Nearly-Headless Nick. Whenever they mentioned skipping it however, Hermione insisted that Harry had promised and therefore, had to go. So, while everyone else headed down to the Great Hall for the feast, they got ready for the deathday party.

"What's taking Ginny?" Ron grumbled as he looked down at his watch."If we don't hurry up we'll miss the feast altogether."

"I'll go up and check on her." Hermione said as she walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Harry and Ron waited impatiently at the bottom of the staircase, but Hermione soon came down shaking her head.

"She's not up there. She must have headed down without us."

As they headed down to the party Harry grew concerned about Ginny. She had been acting odd lately and it wasn't like her to go somewhere without them. Especially if they had planned on going together earlier.

They finally reached an entryway hung with black velvet drapes that Nearly-Headless Nick was floating in front of.

"My dear friends", he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…"

"It wasn't a problem Nick. Did Ginny happen to come ahead of us?" Harry asked.

"No you three are the only students to arrive tonight. Now please, step inside and enjoy." He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside.

"She ditched us, that prat! I bet she's in the Great Hall right now enjoying the feast." Ron said angrily.

"Now Ron, I'm sure she didn't ditch us on purpose. She must have a perfectly good explanation for not being here." Hermione said.

Ginny woke up in her bed in a cold sweat. She glanced around frantically, not knowing where she was at first. When she realized that she was in her dorm room she calmed down slightly.

Her panic returned when she glanced at her watch and realized that she couldn't remember the past four hours and that her hands were covered in what she hoped was just red paint. It had happened again! She'd had another black out.

Ginny racked her brain. The last thing she remembered was… writing in Tom's diary. She vaguely remembered him asking her a question, but she'd passed out before she could answer it.

She headed into the girl's bathroom and started washing the paint off of her hands, wondering how it had gotten there. She jumped when she heard Ron, Harry, and Hermione's voices in the common room.

"The deathday party! She had missed it!" she thought as she groaned.

She decided she might as well face her friends now so she headed down the stairs.

"There you are! Why did you ditch us?" Ron asked angrily when he noticed her.

"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep while doing homework. I just woke up." she explained.

"But I checked your room before we left and you weren't there." Hermione said looking confused.

Ginny shrugged. "I guess you didn't look hard enough."

Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but Harry jumped into the conversation before she could.

"Well you didn't miss much at the deathday party, it was rather dull. However, wait until you here what happened afterwards." Harry said.

Ginny grew more and more concerned as she listened to Harry recount the nights events. This was the second time Harry had heard the mysterious voice, and he'd heard it on the same day she'd blacked out, just like the previous time.

When Harry got to the part about the red writing on the wall she visibly paled. The red paint! She'd woken up with red paint on her hands. Could this all be her fault somehow?

"Are you ok Ginny? You got really pale all of a sudden." Harry asked looking concerned.

"I-I think I might be coming down with something. I'm just going to go to bed. Goodnight everyone." she said making a hasty retreat back to her room.

Hermione gazed quizzically at Ginny's retreating form. Something was going on with her friend, and she was determined to figure out what it was. Judging from Ron's still angry expression, he was still angry at Ginny and hadn't noticed anything. Harry, however, had a very thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you know what's going on with Ginny?" She asked him.

Harry shrugged. "I haven't got a clue. I've noticed something's been off about her for the past month." he responded.

"Do you think we should ask her about it?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "No she'll let us know when she's ready. Pestering her about it won't help."

Hermione nodded. She wished she could just figure out what was bothering the young redhead now, but she knew some things just took time. Besides, she was going to be extremely busy the next few months putting together the polyjuice potion.

On the morning of the Quidditch match against Slytherin Harry could be found with the rest of the Gryffindor team picking at his breakfast. This is where Ginny found him. She had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. She still couldn't help but think that somehow she was the one behind Ms. Norris' attack and the writing on the wall and it was affecting her sleep. She pushed her worries to the back of her mind thought as she sat in front of Harry.

"Ready to beat Slytherin today Harry?" she asked as she grabbed a biscuit and began buttering it.

He weakly nodded his head and went back to stirring his food around his plate.

"Harry you need to eat to keep your strength up for the game." she added noticing that he hadn't actually eating any of his food.

"Sorry, I've just got pre-game nerves. I can never eat much before a game. Don't worry I'll be fine." Harry reassured her.

Ginny nodded. She really didn't feel like eating much either, but she managed to eat a small breakfast. A few hours later when the rest of the school was eating breakfast the Gryffindor team got up to head down to the pitch.

Ginny waved goodbye to Harry and stayed at the table chatting with Colin. They were starting to become friends and she found that she enjoyed his company when she could steer their conversation away from Harry.

A short while later everyone began getting up and heading down to the Quidditch pitch. Ginny and Colin got up and walked down with Ron and Hermione. Ginny sighed when they started arguing again. She was about to ask the two to drop it and shut up when she began feeling extremely odd. She wanted to… no she needed to return to her dorm couldn't explain the desire, but she knew that she needed to follow it.

"I'm sorry Colin I forgot something in my room. I'm going to go get it and I'll meet you guys in the stands." She said.

Ron and Hermione barely noticed what she'd said, but Colin replied, "I'll come with you and keep you company."

She shook her head. "No it's alright Colin I'll be quick. Besides, boys aren't allowed in the girl's dorms."

She quickly turned around and headed back to the castle, not being able to resist the urge anymore, leaving Colin behind with a confused expression on his face.

Collin watched Ginny rush back to the castle. "Have you two noticed anything odd about Ginny recently?" He asked Ron and Hermione.

Ron shook his head, but Hermione turned to Colin. "I have and so has Harry. Do you think you might know what's wrong with her?" she asked.

"Unfortunately no, I was hoping you guys would." Colin replied.

"Harry says that if something is bothering Ginny, than we'll just have to wait for her to tell us. We won't get anything from her if we pester her about it." Hermione explained.

No matter how much she hated it, she had accepted that she was just going to have to wait for Ginny to tell her what was wrong.

Colin crept through the castle halls late that night. He knew that it was well past curfew, and if he got caught he would be in huge trouble, but he was on a mission. He had to see Harry Potter.

This trop wasn't about trying to get another picture or autograph from him thought. Although he did bring his camera in case the opportunity arose. No, he was making this trip to ask Harry about Ginny.

She had said that she just needed to make a quick trip back to the castling that she would be back shortly, but she never did. Even after the game he had searched the castle, but wasn't able to find her. Hermione had told him that Harry had noticed something was wrong with Ginny as well. So he figured if anyone might have an idea of what was going on with her, Harry would.

He turned another corner and continued to head toward the hospital wing when he heard a strange sound ahead of him. It sounded like… something slithering across the stone floor.

"That's odd." he thought

He got his camera ready in case it was something interesting and began heading toward the noise. As he reached the end of the corridor he saw what looked like a massive tail slide around the corner.

Growing excited he jumped around the corner with his camera at the ready. He had snapped three rapid pictures before he even realized what he was looking at. It was a massive snake that easily filled most of the corridor it was traveling through. He let out a small gasp as he continued to take pictures.

Suddenly the snake turned it's massive head around and the creature's beady, yellow eyes gazed directly into the camera and Colin knew no more.

"Ginny? Ginny wake up! Wake up!"

Ginny's head shot out of her pillow and there was a loud *crack* as her head collided with Hermione's.

"Bloody hell! Sorry Hermione!" she said as she rubbed the knot that was now forming on her head.

Hermione grimaced as she rubbed her head as well. "It's alright Ginny, I probably shouldn't have be leaning over you like that."

"So why did you feel the need to wake me up this early on a Sunday?" Ginny asked.

"It's about Colin. Professor McGonagall just announced that he was attacked last night. He's in the hospital wing right now, petrified." Hermione explained.

"What?!" Ginny asked as she paled and memories from the previous day came crashing back to her.

After she'd left Colin behind she had gone to her dormitory. She had no idea that why she'd had such a strong urge to return so she decided to ask Tom what was going on with her. As soon as she had opened the Diary and asked him, however, she had blacked out. She'd awoken late that night feeling exhausted and having no memory of the day. She'd then kept down the stairs, but stopped when she heard voices. Ron and Hermione were still up discussing the days events. This was how she'd discovered that Harry was in the hospital wing regrowing all of the bones in his arm.

She had been relieved to hear that nothing suspicious had happened while she'd been out. However, after hearing what Hermione had just said to her, she now knew that something had in fact happened. There had been another attack while she was still unconscious!

"Ginny are you alright? You look pale." Hermione asked looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine Hermione. I'm just worried about Colin." Ginny reassured her.

Hermione didn't seem to believe her. "Are you sure Ginny? I've noticed that something's been off about you for awhile now."

Ginny was now having an inner conflict inside her head. She knew she should tell Hermione about her blackouts, but what if she told a professor and they somehow linked them to the attacks? She could be expelled.

"Don't worry Hermione. I really am fine." she said, deciding not to say anything. After all, she could just be jumping to conclusions.

"Alright, if you say so." Hermione responded. Though she didn't seem to accept what she had said.

"So do you have anything else to tell me?" Ginny asked when Hermione didn't leave.

"Yes, actually. Because of the attack, Ron and I want to start the Polyjuice potion as soon as possible. We're going to head down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in a little bit if you want to join us." Hermione explained.

Ginny nodded. "Alright just let me shower and I'll meet you in the common room." she replied.

"See you in a bit." Hermione answered before leaving the room.

Ginny sighed. She hated lying to her friends, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth of her blackouts. She got out of bed and took a quick shower before putting her robes on and heading down into the common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for her on one of the couches.

"Ready Ginny?" Ron asked when he saw her.

She nodded her head. "Shouldn't we wait for Harry to get out of the hospital wing?"

Hermione bit her lip as a guilty look flashed across her face. "Normally we would, but I think we should start the potion as soon as possible."

Ron nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah Harry should be able to find us pretty easily. We visited Myrtle's bathroom just the other day."

So the three left the common room and headed to the corridor that Myrtle's bathroom was located they had made sure no one was looking they went inside. Hermione had already brought a cauldron down and she started pulling ingredients out of her robes.

"Right, so this is a very difficult and complicated potion, but since we're starting now we should be able to get done by Christmas." Hermione explained.

Ginny listened intently as Hermione gave her and Ron instructions. She hoped that the potion would work and that Draco would know something about the attacks. It would bring her some peace of mind if she found out that someone else was responsible and not her.

Suddenly Ginny heard the door open and a voice say, "It's me".

Hermione gasped and dropped the spoon she was using to stir the potion. She then peered through the hole in the stall.

"Harry! You gave us such a fright - come in- how's your arm?"

Harry told them the previous night's events. First that Dobby had visited him and he was the one behind the cursed bludger, and also that Dumbledore had confirmed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened when Colin had been brought in petrified.

They worked diligently in silence after Harry had finished. Once they had done everything they needed to do for the potion for the day Hermione and Ron packed up there things and got up to leave. Harry however waited behind and grabbed Ginny's arm when she tried to get up as well. She gave him a questioning look but he just mouthed the word "stay".

As Ron and Hermione left the room Hermione noticed what was happening and she gave Harry a nod and a knowing look before leading Ron out of the bathroom.

"What's going on Harry?" Ginny asked growing a little concerned.

"Nothing bad I just want to talk to you." He responded.

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" She asked.

"You. Something's been off about you Gin. It started a few months ago and I've kept my distance, hoping that you could figure it out on your own, but now I want to know. What's been bugging you?" He asked.

Ginny sighed. She had wondered how long it would be before someone confronted her. She had been noticing Hermione giving her worried looks for awhile now and that morning wasn't the first time that she had asked if she was ok.

"I'm fine Harry, really." Ginny responded knowing that Harry would buy it.

"How long have we been friends Ginny? I know when something's bugging you and there has been something wrong with you for awhile now." Harry responded crossing his arms.

Ginny crossed her arms as well. "Harry if there was something wrong I would tell you. If I've been acting odd than it's probably because I'm still adjusting to being at Hogwarts. Now can you stop questioning me." She snapped at him.

Harry stared at her for a few seconds before nodding sharply. He gathered his things and left the bathroom leaving Ginny by herself. She felt bad immediately. Harry didn't deserve to be yelled at, he had just been trying to help her and she let her temper get the better of her. She quickly followed him out of the bathroom with the intent of apologizing and reassuring that him that she was fine.

Over a month passed and Ginny didn't experience anymore black outs. She was beginning to think that the worst was over. That she was in and definitely not behind any of the attacks. Now she focused on helping the others to finish the Polyjuice potion. She still wanted definite proof that it wasn't her behind the attacks and she agreed that if anyone knew something, it was probably Draco.

They decided that since there was only enough potion for three people that Ginny would stay behind, which didn't upset her at all. She really didn't fancy having her body morphed into a Slytherin.

Hermione managed to get a hair of Millicent Bulstrode at Lockhart's dueling club. Unfortunately the success of the day had been dampened when everyone discovered that Harry was a Parselmouth. Now it was believed by most that he was the heir of Slytherin and the one behind the attacks.

"It's more likely that I'm behind the attacks than Harry." Ginny thought as she lay on her bed. She had just overheard some of her fellow Gryffindors saying that they didn't feel comfortable staying in the same tower as the heir of Slytherin.

She had told them off before angrily storing up to her room. She decided to talk to Tom about what was going on. After all, he did always seem extremely interested when she talked about Harry.

As she was opening her trunk a thought struck of her black outs had occurred while she was talking to Tom. She figured it was a coincidence, but something was tugging at the back of her mind. She had the diary in her lap as she tried to stretch her memory to the times right before her blackouts.

She was always talking to Tom… and he'd always say something to her. No, he'd asked her a question, the same question. "Can you do something for me?"

She if Tom had been causing her to have blackouts? She glanced warily at the Diary as something her dad had told her passed through her mind.

"Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps it's brain."

She cautiously opened the book. If Tom was behind the blackouts she needed to find held her quill above the paper, but before she could write anything, the words, "Hello Ginny, I need you to do something for me again." scrolled across the page and everything went black.

She awoke several hours later to the sound of commotion in the common room. She was in full panic mode now. Tom was the one behind the blackouts! But why? And did this mean that she was also behind the attacks?

She glanced down at her hands and sighed with relief when she saw that they were clean. She did notice something sticking out of her robes. When she pulled it out she found that it was a chicken feather.

"How did that get there?" she thought.

Now that she was certain that Tom was behind her blackouts, she needed to find out if she was responsible for the attacks. So she went into the common room and located Harry, Hermione, and Ron whispering in a corner.

She put on a fake smile and walked over to them. "What are you three whispering about? You look like you're up to something."

"Oh Ginny, it's horrible! There's been another attack." Hermione said.

Ginny's smile vanished and she stopped in her tracks. "W-Who was attacked?"

"Nearly-Headless Nick and Justin Flinch-Fletchley." Ron said.

"And to make matters worse, now everyone is going to be certain that I'm behind the attacks. The Hufflepuffs thought that Justing would be my next target." Harry added looking depressed.

Ginny slumped down in her chair. This seemed to confirm her worst fears. She must be somehow causing the attacks. She needed to tell her friends.

But just as she opened her mouth to speak a thought crossed her mind. "What about Draco?" What if all of this was still just a coincidence?"

However likely it seemed to her that this was all her fault, Draco also seemed suspicious. So Ginny decided that when the time came for them to interrogate Draco, if they came up with nothing, then she would tell them everything. In the mean time she need to figure out how to get rid of Tom's Diary.

The last few weeks leading up to the Holidays seemed to go by at a snail's pace for Ginny. She was in constant fear that somehow someone would link the attacks to her and that she would be expelled. The only thing that kept her going was the small hope she had that they would discover that Draco was behind the attacks.

She also continued to try to think of ways to dispose of the Diary. She knew she wouldn't just throw it away and risk another student discovering it. She'd considered just throwing it in the fireplace, but something was holding her back.

Finally, the day came for them to use the potion. Hermione and Ginny waited in Myrtle's bathroom while Harry and Ron went to get Crabbe and Goyle's hair. They soon came in with grins of success as they brandished a few tufts of hair apiece. Hermione portioned out three glasses of the potion and they all added their hairs.

"Urg - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron gazing at Hermione's potion in disgust.

"You know, I was upset that I wouldn't be able to join you guys, but now that I see the potion… I'm glad I'm staying behind." Ginny said.

"Well aren't you the little martyr." Harry scoffed.

She simply tuck her tongue out at him.

"Come on, let's just get this over with." Ron said.

They all agreed and each went into a different stall. About a minute later Ginny saw the stalls start to shake and she could hear grunts of pain coming from them. Soon they stopped and Harry and Ron emerged looking identical to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Wow, you two look exactly like Crabbe and Goyle." She remarked.

Harry and Ron stared at each other for a few seconds. Ron eventually said, "This is unbelievable!"

Harry nodded, "We'd better get going. We've still got to figure out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow."

Ron continued to stare at Harry. "You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking."

He banged on Hermione's door. "C'mon, we need to go-"

A high-pitched voice answered him. "I-I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."

Ginny watched confused as Hermione convinced Harry and Ron to leave without her. They soon left promising they'd be back in an hour.

"Hermione? What's wrong? Why didn't you go with them?" she asked as she approached the stall.

"It's nothing Ginny. I-I'm fine." Hermione responded.

"You don't sound fine to me." Ginny said.

Suddenly Moaning Myrtle came out of her toilet and floated over to Hermione's stall curiously. She looks in and immediately burst into giggles.

"Ooh wait until you see her. She looks horrible!" she said before continuing to giggle.

"Hermione open up!" Ginny said as she began tugging on the stall door.

No Ginny, just leave me alone." Hermione said.

Finally having enough, Ginny pulled out her wand and muttered, "Alohamora!"

She gasped when the door opened and revealed Hermione, who was looking very much like a cat.

"I-It must have been a cat hair that I pulled off of Millicent. Look at me! I look horrible!" Hermione moaned as tears formed in her eyes.

"Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will be able to fix you up." Ginny said giving her a hug.

"Y-You think?" Hermione asked.

"I'm certain." Ginny said

She spent the rest of the time comforting Hermione until Harry and Ron returned.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind him. "I know we still haven't found out… Bloody hell Hermione!" Ron explained as he and Harry stared at her in shock.

"She pulled a cat hair off of Millicent, I'm going to take her to the hospital wing soon." Ginny explained. "So what did you guys find out? Is Draco behind the attacks?" She asked eagerly.

Harry shook his head. "Sorry Gin, he isn't behind it and he doesn't know who's doing it either."

Ginny slumped down next to Hermione, struggling to hold back tears.

"Don't worry Ginny. Whoever the bastard is that's behind this, we're going to catch them. We're not going to give up." Ron said trying to comfort her.

The problem was, Ginny now had a pretty good idea who was behind the attacks.

After that night Hermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. Fortunately Madame Pomfrey didn't ask too many questions when a student came in so they didn't have to explain much to her.

At first the rest of the students thought that Hermione had been attacked during the break, but Harry, Ron, and Ginny had spread the rumor that she had just been exposed to a Transfiguration spell gone wrong.

After about a week of being confined to the hospital wing Hermione and complained about being lonely, so Ginny decided to lend her Midnight. Much to everyone's amusement, Midnight took an instant liking to Hermione and wouldn't leave her side.

While Harry and Ron worried about Hermione, Ginny continued to worry about the attacks. she was now almost certain that she was behind the attacks and somehow the diary was linked to it. She'd even started to notice that whenever she was nearer to the diary she felt an urge to open it.

The urge increased with each passing day. Finally one night it all came to a head. She was in her room when once again she felt an urge to open the diary, but this time it was almost irresistible. She had her trunk open and was digging for the diary when she caught herself. She couldn't let Tom control her, she couldn't let there be another attack. Ginny knew what she had to do.

She grabbed the diary and quietly rushed down to the common room. She headed straight for the fireplace and held the diary above it. Her arm began shaking and she eventually pulled it back.

"Fine Tom, if I can't destroy you, them I'm going to put you somewhere no one will look." she mumbled as she clutched the diary to her chest and left the Gryffindor tower.

"What are you doing? It's past curfew!" The fat lady said as Ginny crawled passed her portrait, but she ignored her.

She quietly crept from corridor to corridor until she had reached er destination: Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She opened the door and crept in. Standing there silently, she drew back her arm and got ready to throw the diary into a toilet, but minutes passed and she still hadn't. She was beginning to lose the will to even do this.

"No! You won't control me any longer Tom!" She said as she gathered her nerve and threw the diary.

It sailed through the air toward the toilet. At the last second Moaning Myrtle stuck her head out curiously and the diary passed right through her head and landed with a loud *splash* in the toilet.

Ginny turned and ran before Myrtle saw who had thrown the diary and headed back to Gryffindor tower hoping Myrtle's wails wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to her.

She arrived safely a few minutes later at the entrance to the common room. After giving the password to a very disgruntled fat lady she crawled through the passageway and snuck back up into her bed. That night she slept soundly for the first time in months.

"Please guys, don't make me do this to him." Ginny moaned to Fred and George, who had just cornered her.

"Now Ginny, you agreed to the bed." Fred said.

"And lost." added George.

"So you have to do one thing for us." Fred continued.

"Of our choice." George finished grinning.

Ginny shook her head. "I know, but this is going to be so embarrassing. Not to mention cruel to Harry." she complained.

"Relax Gin-Gin, it'll be funny." George replied.

"Yeah and you won't even have to give it to him. We recruited this fine fellow." Fred added indicating the ridiculous-looking dwarf next to them.

"All you have to do is read this to him and he'll deliver it to Harry." George explained handing a piece of parchment to her,

"Do you think you could sing it?" Fred asked the dwarf who gave him a gruff nod.

"Excellent!" Fred and George said simultaneously.

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord." Ginny read out loud to the dwarf who nodded his head again and rushed off.

"Oh that's horrible guys, poor Harry."

Fred and George both grinned. "Yes poor Harry indeed!" They both laughed.

A few hours later Ginny was heading to Charms class when she noticed the dwarf. She looked around and realized that Harry was close by. She did her best to surprise a giggle. She felt bad for Harry, she really did. But when it came to pranking, Fred and George were the best and she always enjoyed watching their pranks play out.

She had to give it to him, Harry did his best to avoid the dwarf, even ripping his bag in the process, but he was soon pinned down by the dwarf and having the poem sung to him.

She now laughed along with everyone else. Harry's face was priceless. It had gone beet-red, almost Weasley style, and he was struggling to escape the crowd.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" She heard Draco Malfoy sneer and she looked to see what he was talking about.

Suddenly all the blood drained from her face and she felt like she was going to pass out. Draco was holding the diary! Which meant that Harry had just had it. How long had he had it? It had been several weeks since Ginny had gotten rid of it. What if Tom had told Harry that she was behind the attacks?

She was so deep in thought that she wasn't paying attention to the exchange between Harry and Draco and jumped when Harry successfully cast Experlliarmus on Draco.

She would deal with Harry and the diary later, for now she needed to get to class and think about what to do next. As she passed Draco he yelled at her, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"

She turned to him and snarled. "At least he got a valentine, I haven't seen you receiving any today. I guess no one's interested in a greasy-haired git like you." She then turned and entered her class leaving an open-mouthed Draco behind.

That night Ginny headed up to the second year boy's dormitories. She had seen Harry head up there a little while ago and decided now was as good a time as any to tell him everything. Seeing the diary again had made Ginny come to this decision. Since getting rid of the diary obviously wasn't working she'd decided it was time to tell everything to one of the few people she trusted: Harry.

She quietly opened the door to Harry's room and went in. It looked almost exactly like hers, just with a few extra beds. She looked around and saw Harry staring in shock at the open diary in front of him.

Fear rushed through her veins. Had he finally discovered that it was her behind the attacks?

"Harry?" she asked nervously.

He turned to her. "It was Hagrid, Ginny. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

"What?" Ginny asked.

Harry indicated the diary, " I can write to the owner of this diary, Tom Riddle, and he just showed me what happened fifty years ago. Hagrid's the one who opened the Chamber." he explained.

"Harry, I don't think you should trust that diary or Tom." Ginny said.

"Why not?" Harry asked giving her an odd look.

"Because, I think it's been making me cause the attacks that have been happening this year." she replied.