Warmth spread to Ginny's fingers through Ron's embrace. As the phoenix lifted them off the ground into the pipe, clean energy rushed through her veins. Her tears slowed as the warmth spread to her face. Her throat relaxed and she was able to take a deep cleansing inhalation.

All too soon they entered Myrtle's bathroom and Ron dropped her hand. They hit the floor hard but the residual warmth from the phoenix kept her from feeling any pain. Ginny looked around. There were no visions of previous visits. Tom's voice never came. Her mind was empty and quiet. The battle she had been waging internally for almost a year was over. The boys were talking to Myrtle but Ginny couldn't concentrate on their conversation. Tears of shame and relief continued to stream down her numb cheeks.

She heard her name called from a million miles away. She couldn't respond. The emptiness surrounding her without Tom in her head was deafening. Ron took her hand gently pulling her towards the exit of the bathroom as Professor Lockhart lagged behind. Harry led them down the halls until they found themselves in front of Professor McGonagall's office door.

Harry knocked and Professor McGonagall jerked opened the door. The four of them stood there covered in slime, muck, and blood as Professor McGonagall gaped stunned in silence. Before any of them could explain what happened Molly seized Ginny from Ron's desperate grasp and pulled her into a rib-crushing embrace.

"Diary"

"Voldemort"

"Dark Arts"

Ginny burrowed into her Mum's shoulder as pieces of the conversations whirled past her head. She stopped processing what everyone was saying. All she could do was look at her Dad's shoes to avoid his piercing gaze. He looked at her as he tried to understand how his daughter became involved with Voldemort. She stole a glance upward and met his gaze registering a look of bewilderment and fear. She jerked her head downward and began to re-examine her father's shoes.

"His d-diary," erupted from her mouth without looking up. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year –"

And with that Ginny was unable to speak. Her throat seized up in a wave of panic as she struggled to breathe. The numbness spread further around her body as she felt her father's disappointment. She watched as his face morphed from seeing her as his little girl to seeing a stranger in front of him. His disapproval sat heavy on her body. Heavier than the invisible blackness that held her captive in the chamber.

"I d-didn't know," she sobbed. "I found it inside of one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it there and forgotten about it –"

As soon as the words escaped she knew she partially lied. Yes, at first she thought the diary was a gift from her parents, but how long did she have doubts about Tom? Why did she continue to write? How long did she keep quiet and stay unseen and hidden in the shadows? The guilt rose again from her stomach in such a strong wave she had trouble remaining seated. Unable to look at her dad's face she noticed how frayed his shoelaces were. The toe on his left shoe scuffed white contrasted the warm brown color of the leather. She never noticed before that his shoes were the same shade as her Mum's eyes.

"Hospital…No lasting harm"

Hearing that, she jerked her head up. She felt her Mum pulling her towards the door and dragging her into the hallway. The halls were empty and deserted as if there was no one left in the school. She felt herself walking towards the hospital wing trying to keep up with her Mum's brisk pace. Everything around her was dull and numb. Colors seemed darker. The light wasn't penetrating through the windows in quite the same way. Before she knew it she was helped to bed and given a potion that made her fall into a timeless sleep.

After an hour, day, or week later Ginny woke. She looked around and saw her Mum watching her in the chair next to her bed.

"H-hello?" she said. She was still unable to raise her voice above a whisper due to the shame constricting her vocal cords.

"Oh, Ginny! Are you okay? Do you need a drink?"

"No. I am just a little tired," Ginny yawned.

"I am so sorry," her Mum's voice cracked.

"You are sorry?" Why was her Mum sorry? This was all Ginny's fault. Everything. She chose to write in the diary. She chose to not tell a teacher. She chose not to tell her brothers and steal back the diary when she was finally free.

"Ginny, of all my children, you were the one I worried about the least. Bill was first to go off and everything was so foreign and no one knew what to expect. I wrote almost every day. Charlie had always been a bit of a handful at home, especially when he needed to sit still indoors. I wrote to Bill constantly to watch over him and make sure he was going to class." Her Mum stopped a took a large drink of water.

" Percy was the opposite of Charlie. I was terrified he would never stop working and come up for air. I wrote to Charlie to make sure Percy was having fun, even suggested he try out for Quidditch. The twins. Well, Fred and George need no explanation. I had nightmares of howlers from Dumbledore saying 'no more Weasleys'." Her Mum stopped and chuckled. Her eyes lightened thinking of her rambunctious boys who will never be contained.

"Ron. Poor Ron. Caught between pure chaos and our miracle surprise," Molly stopped talking. Emotion crept into her voice as she continued on. "But you my precious girl. I never worried about you. You were so sure and so confident of yourself. The brains of Bill and Percy, the fierceness of Charlie, the chaos of the twins but tempered by Ron's gentle heart. And on top of all that, you have this innate confidence in yourself and the world around you."

Molly stopped talking. She grabbed a handkerchief and blew her nose. Brushing back a tear from her cheek she continued on, "We never should have left you here over Christmas. I should have seen the gaps in your letters. Oh, Ginevra, this is not your fault. If anyone failed it was me. I was so ready for a break I lost sight of how much my child still needed me. I am truly sorry for that."

Ginny looked at her Mum after her confession. She sat looking smaller and less formidable. The larger than life facade broke like an egg cracking it's hard shell and spilling its essence onto the table. There was nothing she could say or do to fix any of last year. So she burrowed her face into her Mum's arms and cried until she fell into another dreamless sleep.

Ginny woke with her Mum in the bed next to her. She felt her Mum's hands softly stroking her head closer into her chest. Memories of the night before Ginny left for Hogwarts flooded the two of them. Memories filled with old books and her room in the burrow. Her soft yellow room. With the white curtains. And the nightstand that always held a diary. Just like...remembering how close Tom slept to her old bed made her body involuntarily shuddered.

"Ginny! Oh good, you are awake" Madam Pomfrey said pushing a mug of hot cocoa into her hands.

"How long was I asleep?" Ginny said drinking the cocoa.

"Just a little over 6 hours. How do you feel darling?" her Mum said. She removed her warm hands from Ginny's arms and adjusted her position on the bed. Molly wiggled against the pillows until she was sitting against the headboard. The warmth of the cocoa flooded through her and she breathed in the steam rising from her mug. She felt better than before sitting in her Mum's familiar embrace.

Until the memory of her classmates, especially her roommates, flooded back. Her sense of peace dissipated back into nervousness. What would she tell her classmates? Did she lose house points? How would she face the students who she petrified? Colin and Hermione especially. They had been her friends. Would Percy forgive her for hurting his girlfriend?

'Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to almost kill you! I was lonely you see and thought it was a good idea to start a correspondence with the Dark Lord. No lasting harm right?'

"I feel fine" Ginny lied.

"Are you ready to go back to your common room?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"No! She needs to come home with us! How could you even think of sending her back up there?" Molly answered for Ginny. Her fierce definitive tone left little room for arguments.

At first Ginny felt a wave of relief. She would not have to face her classmates. Until she remembered the look on her Dad's face. The look of her father's disappointment permanently etched into her mind. As terrifying as it was to go back to her classmates, the thought of going home alone with her parents was so much worse.

"Please Mum, I need to go back. I need to- I need to get my things and finish my school work," Ginny said.

"But you have been through so much dear, you don't have to go back," her Mum said. She gripped Ginny's shoulders a little tighter.

"It's for the best Molly if she does return," Dumbledore said. Ginny failed to notice him appearing in the small hospital room. He looked down at her with his penetrating blue eyes. Not with a look of contempt or disappointment, but searching.

"Yes, Ginny has been through a hard and arduous ordeal, but we must allow her to face what must be faced. You and I both know that hiding her away won't make this disappear. She has chosen to face what scares her. Rejoining her friends is a wonderful place to start."

Ginny swallowed. Dumbledore somehow knew what was coming next. After everything was decided and arranged she left the safety of her Mum's arms. Meandering through the halls it was alarming how different yet similar everything felt. She made the slow ascent towards the Gryffindor common room reaching the Fat Lady. She probed her eyes at Ginny as she gave the password. She swung open with less vigor than usual. Ginny entered the room as everyone stopped what they were doing and swung around to look at her.

"You Know Who"

"Possessed"

"Dangerous"

Low murmurs of rumors flooded past Ginny as she started to walk towards the girl's dormitory. Crossing in front of what felt like every student she looked up from her feet halfway through. Her cheeks burned scarlet with shame as her eyes met the same emerald green eyes that saved her in the chamber. Unable to handle being a disappointment to yet one more person Ginny averted her gaze. Closing her eyes as tight as possible she tried to block out the curious stares. The numbness returned as she felt her airways begin to constrict. Maybe she made the wrong choice. Maybe facing her dad was nowhere near as bad as all these people at once.

"Do you want to play exploding snaps?" Harry asked. In the chaos of her mind she failed to notice him standing from his chair and approaching her. His quiet voice was hard to hear over the buzz of the common room crowd.

Ginny's gaze shot up. She stared at Harry's face now standing directly in front of hers. He had never once asked her to do anything before. Before today she had doubted he even knew she existed. She stared at him dumbfounded and searched his eyes for some sign as to what this meant.

"Only of you want to of course," Harry said. "Ron's gone upstairs to practice his curtsy. Hermione went to sleep after hearing from him for the 112th time what a hero he was. It's boring down here."

Ginny nodded yes. She could not comprehend how the boy who was everything was talking to her. Everyone else in the common room gawked in silence as she sat down in front of Harry with cards in his hand. They played an awkward first hand. Once everyone realized there was nothing left to see the buzzing dissipated. The next hand was just as stilted until Ginny noticed a slight smirk on Harry's face.

"What?" she asked

"Nothing. Wonder what would happen if I jumped up and declared myself Basilisk king in parsletongue. Think that would move some of this gossip along?" He asked with a challenging look in his eyes daring her not to smirk back.

He put his cards face down on the table and stretched upwards. Ginny stopped playing her hand and looked at him trying to decipher if he was serious or not. They locked eyes, hers with a confused questioning and his with a strange defiance.

"No, you are quite right. Since I am the lone freak who can speak it, the joke would most likely get lost in translation." He smirked at her again and then picked his cards back up and played the next hand.

The fire behind Ginny blazed as she felt some of the year's tension drain away. Every now and then she would glance into his face trying to understand what was happening. But all she could see were two eyes looking at the cards deciding what move to make next. After a few more hands Ginny lost a fight to stifle a yawn and realized how tired she was. Harry looked up and smiled at her. The light from the fire flickered across his face. He looked his age when he smiled. Ginny nodded back and put her cards down on the table where she first picked them up.

"Thanks," she said. She got up and walked the rest of the way to her bedroom. She shut herself behind her curtains in her familiar four poster bed. Behind the drapes, she sighed and decided to try and figure out the boy who lived another day.