Darkness morphed into a dim lit cavern. Water trickled off mildewing rocks into a larger reserve. Tepid damp air clung to her face. A weight fell on Ginny's chest as pressure pushed her into the cold stone floor. She tried to breathe, but only felt a boulder of pressure restricting her breath.
"Hello Ginny," Tom Riddle hunched over her. He stood halfway out of the diary. The pressure descending on her chest synchronized with his slow ascension out of the diary. "Thank you for bringing me back here. This is goodbye for us. I am going to use your pure life force to bring me back to full strength."
A loud laugh reverberated around causing all previous sensations to vanish. The water trickling, humid air, and flickers of light, all turned off like a candle snuffed. All that remained was the cold floor beneath her back and the slow increasing pressure above. Ginny wasn't sure how much time passed as the pressure gradually suffocated her compressing her ribs into her lungs. She tried to claw at the pressure pushing her down but her arms stayed clamped at her sides unresponsive.
She never wanted this, waking up to lost time, blood on her hands, and classmates lying petrified in the halls. The past year had been a nightmarish comedy of errors leading up to this moment. How had she fallen so far?
The pressure suddenly stopped descending and hovered at a permanently uncomfortable level. Unable to squirm, the darkness and silence continued engulfing her. The combination of weight and silence made her claustrophobic as she lost track of time. If this was how she was going to die it would not be so bad. Fading into the background and darkness. She hoped her Mum would not be sad for too long. Ginny couldn't bear to picture her Dad's face. His trusting loving face, at least, until he heard the truth. Now he would see all the ways she let him down. Believing a diary could talk like the stupid little girl who believed "The Boy who Lived" could be her friend.
Why hadn't she fought harder? Why didn't she tell her parents or teachers? Why did she go back for more after she was free? Who cares if Harry knew she loved him in an unhinged and obsessive way? How had she allowed Tom to take over?
She should have been smarter and fought harder. The weight of a year of guilt and shame pushed as hard as the pressure on her chest. Ginny gasped and tried to breathe. The guilt suffocated through the blackness constricting her airways closing her throat.
Dad taught her better than this. Why didn't she listen to the lessons he taught her growing up? Why did she think she was so much smarter than everyone else? How would she ever look her parents in the eyes again? The people, who always saw her as their special miracle, will now see the mistake she allowed herself to become.
No. NO! She is more than this. She is more than a stupid little girl. She is still that girl who got on the train back in September before Tom first talked back. She is strong and brave. Gryffindor brave.
Ginny pushed. She pushed back with everything inside her. She focused on channeling everything she knew she was. She knew she was a kind friend, a clever student, a budding Quidditch star, and her Mum's daughter. She knew she was pure and filled with light. She pushed harder and stronger than before.
Her parents still love her. They would continue loving her no matter how many mistakes she made. The world around her shifted as soft light penetrated through the darkness. The pressure on her chest reversed a few millimeters allowing lungs to expand with air.
Yes, she may be a burden to her brothers, but they love her. She thought of the burrow, of home. She thought of Quidditch and flying away from wherever this was. She pushed. She pushed harder with all the love and light that lived within her heart. The pressure started to falter. She felt it wavering above her. Jostling on an unstable axis like a gyroscope that was about to lose balance and fall.
She felt the most beautiful song caressing her. She felt embolden. She felt strong. A voice in the distance called for her. The most magnificent voice she had ever heard called her name. It pulled her away from the pressure.
"I am coming," she attempted to scream but cotton filled her unclamping mouth. A groan escaped as her lips stayed shut.
Pushing harder she focused on her light. She focused on pushing the love and goodness from her core. She was bold. She was a Gryffindor. She could be as strong as the Queen. Her knight was out there waiting for her, calling to her. He found her and was trying to help. She had to get up. She had to help him.
With a sharp force, all the pressure on her chest lifted. Sensations returned with a sudden deafening force. The dripping water, the distant lights, and the smell of the cold stone slick with mildew, all came back into focus. Ginny caught her breath as a blast of cold air slammed into her like a brick wall. She sprang upward as her arms flailed working again. Her eyes adjusted to the brightness around her when she saw a pair of almond-shaped green eyes. Her knight came.
Her knight was standing in front of a giant snake and holding the diary. The dripping noise wasn't from far off water into a reservoir. It came from the diary as ink spilled from a giant fang to the floor. The knight came closer to her into soft focus. She realized it was no knight but Harry crumpled over in blood-soaked robes. He held a glistening sword reflecting far off torch light. She could smell the metallic coppery odor of his blood mingled with sweat. He absentmindedly pushed his bloodied hand across his brow to move sweat filled hair out of his eyes.
Ginny's floodgates unleashed seeing him standing there, with his sword glistening and the concern in her face. Tears and words poured out as panic overtook her.
"Harry – oh Harry – I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy – it was me, Harry – but I – I s-swear I d-didn't mean to – T-Tom made me, he t-took me over – and – how¬ did you kill with that – that thing?"
Harry of all people had to understand she wasn't evil that she didn't mean for this to happen. Frantic she looked around and saw the stabbed diary as a vice re-constricted her airways. Breathing felt impossible as words continued to leak in bits and phrases.
"W-where's Tom? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary-"
Tears threatened to escape out of her eyes as she felt her cheeks go numb in an effort not to cry. The pressure traveled from her lungs to her arms, to her face. Desperate she tried to hold herself together and not sob.
"It's all right," Harry told her holding up the diary with the fang jutting from the middle. "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk."
She couldn't contain the pressure any further as she released her breath weeping. Something warm and sticky dripped down her back as his arms held her tight. His warmth made it impossible to contain her tears. His words, telling her it was over and the diary was gone, became muffled before they hit her ears.
"C'mon, Ginny, Let's get going," Harry's soft gentle words fell into a torrent of sounds that bombarded her ears.
"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny huddled into the safety of his arms around her. She stumbled to get to her feet and tried to make herself as small as possible. The weight of the shame and guilt surrounded her. He led her numb body through the dim cavern towards a brighter light. Sensations and sounds amplified around her as she unsuccessfully tried to stifle back the sobs welling up in her chest.
"I've been looking forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and – w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"
A flash of a red bird whirled in front of her. Air from beating brilliant ruby red wings pushed air past her neck. Harry's hand gripped her body as if letting go would allow her to fade back into the chamber. They walked out of the chamber's entrance stepping over the dead body of a giant snake. They had to climb over it as it was the width of her favorite tree back at the burrow.
They walked wordlessly through the tunnel as Ginny continued crying. Harry never released her shaking body, a hat in his hand, or the sword. She looked over at his steely determined face. He looked so much like the knight from the stained glass window. For a brief moment relief flooded through Ginny as she relaxed into his embrace.
"Ron!" Harry yelled hurrying her along. "Ginny's okay! I've got her."
Ron hooted. Turning a final corner they were confronted with a massive pile of rocks and boulders blocking their way. A hand reached through pulling Ginny through small space into Ron's tight embrace. He held her with a frenzied desperation, terrified to let go. His hands crushed into her shoulders and he placed his head on top of hers.
"Ginny! You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How – what – where did that bird come from?"
The red bird swooped behind her. His wings beat wind against their bodies as he ascended to the ceiling of the cavern. Ron walked over to help Harry through the rocks leaving Ginny standing in the corner by herself.
"He's Dumbledore's" explained Harry as if having a phoenix following them out of the cavern was the most natural thing in the world.
"How come you've got a sword?"
Ginny stood to the side sobbing inattentive to the conversation unfolding before her. The mention of the Dumbledore reminded her that she was about to be expelled. Her parents were probably already called in. Everything was crumbling around her. While she was free from Tom and his diary destroyed, now was the point where she had to accept her fate.
The phoenix descended and led them through a path away from the boulders. His wings illuminated with gold almost as if he was emitting candlelight. They followed the phoenix until they reached the mouth of a pipe. Gildroy Lockhart sat dumbly by himself humming a simple nursery tune.
Ginny couldn't comprehend why her defense teacher was sitting at the base of a pipe. Ron explained the situation to Harry, something about a memory charm but it was hard to focus on his words. The weight of the day, Tom sucking her life, her soon to be expulsion, and her parents waiting to punish her, made it difficult to focus on anything. Numbness engulfed her. Her fingers and arms tingled as Ginny's mind went blank.
Harry stuffed the sword and some hat into his belt. He grabbed Ron's hand as Ron grabbed hers. They formed a train with Professor Lockhart holding her hand as the caboose. Harry grabbed the bird by the leg as they all ascended through the pipe away from the chamber. The chamber entrance becoming smaller and smaller and they flew into daylight. Hot tears streamed down her face as all attempts of containing a year's worth of pain faded with the chamber.