Hello, Ginevra, the voice of Tom Riddle purred inside her head. It was deep and slow and rich. Hypnotic. Like a snake, lulling her into complacency before she could be bitten. Did you miss me?

Ginny couldn't move. She was completely paralyzed. Her limbs wouldn't obey her. Nothing was working for her. When had she ended up in the Transfiguration classroom? She had been going to sleep last thing she remembered. What are you doing?! she screamed in her mind. Tom just laughed at her.

Giving you a little taste of what might have been, Ginevra…and what might still be…

The students filed into the classroom. Ginny was shocked to realize that the class wasn't for her year, but for the fourth year students. And there was Harry up in the front of the classroom. Funny. He looked so much more confident and muscular than she remembered him.

"Ginny?" Harry asked with a smile that should have set her heart aflutter. It didn't, as much as Ginny had tried to convince herself otherwise. And it never would. "What are you doing here?"

Ginny's hand moved on its own accord and the words "Avada Kedavra!" emerged from her mouth and she woke up with a scream. It had been another nightmare. She'd been having them with regular frequency since Tom had been destroyed. They usually went the same way, with him succeeding in possessing her fully and using her body to hurt the people she cared about. Ginny wished there was something that could make them go away, but not even magic could accomplish that.

"Ginny?" Hermione's voice called out blearily. Ginny gave a sheepish grin as Hermione walked over to her. "Oh, honey, did you have another nightmare?" Ginny nodded. "I just wish something could be done for you. You really should talk to someone about this."

"I…I can't," Ginny said. "I've tried, but…" She really had tried to talk to an adult about it. But every time she tried to talk to Madam Pomfrey, the words wouldn't exit her mouth, as if they were being prevented somehow. And of course Mum and Dad hadn't understood at all, and that was before Mum had lost every single last one of her marbles. She had a hunch they actually blamed her, though Ginny wasn't sure whether or not it was just her paranoia talking.

"I understand," Hermione said with a sigh. "I feel the same way about being petrified. I was conscious the whole time. It was beyond horrifying. But I can't tell anyone, because…well, it'd just hurt them."

Ginny hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh! Oh, no, Ginny, I'm not trying to blame you. Not at all! You were possessed. It wasn't your fault!"

Ginny laughed caustically. "Wasn't it? I'm the one who wrote in that diary, Hermione! I'm the one who released the basilisk! I should have realized what was going on…"

"You were a first year, Ginny," Hermione pointed out in that infuriatingly reasonable tone. "And that…thing, whatever it was, was a dark artifact made by the worst dark lord of all time. Professor Dumbledore doesn't blame you, right? He said so himself."

"I guess…" Ginny said. Knowing that the wise and brilliant Professor Dumbledore didn't blame her did help a lot, but…she knew no matter what, she was going to have to deal with her guilt for a very long time. In the end, it wasn't Hermione's forgiveness she was looking for. It was her own. And Ginny could be a very unforgiving individual, to say the least, even to herself. Maybe especially to herself.

Hermione patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. "There, there." She conjured a mug of warm milk onto Ginny's bedstand. "You just get back to bed, Gin. You'll feel better in the morning."

It was probably not surprising Hermione had dropped Divination, since her skill at that subject was clearly substandard. Contrary to her expectations, Ginny did not feel better in the morning, not at all. She was still tormented by guilt and fear and self-hatred. It felt like it built up in her continuously, threatening to drown her. Maybe it would have been better if she'd have gone to Azkaban, instead of Professor Dumbledore sweeping it under the rug. Even if she'd lost points, that would be something. But since no one was punishing her, she felt like she had no choice but to punish herself.

"Hello!" a voice called behind her and Ginny let out a loud yelp as one of Luna's friends approached her, a Slytherin girl in their year. Ginny had seen her around a lot more recently. At least she thought. The girl was quite forgettable. Now what was her name? It started with D. Ginny was very certain of that. Diedre? Yes, that was it. "Isn't it just a gorgeous day?"

"Yes, indeed," Ginny said curtly. She wasn't in the mood for talking to anyone, not before breakfast, anyway. Let alone a Slytherin. It wasn't as if she thought all Slytherins were awful, but most of the awful people she knew were Slytherins, so she wasn't well disposed to them.

"Luna was wondering if we could ask you some questions," Dana said. "We're working on a sort of biography about Harry." That…actually sounded interesting. And helpful. There were so many horrible rumors about Harry. And Ginny did trust Luna to set the record straight. "We wanted to ask you some questions about last year…about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets."

Ginny should have just told Deandra to shove off. It seemed the sensible option. For starters, talking about what happened in the Chamber could open herself up to legal jeopardy. Ginny suspected the courts didn't accept "I was possessed by the memory of You Know Who" as a legitimate defense. Though it might help her with an insanity plea if push came to shove. But Ginny was just sick of keeping everything inside her. Maybe talking about the whole thing would help her be able to let go.

"I'll talk to you if I can be kept anonymous," Ginny said eventually. Demeter nodded quickly. "Good. I have to warn you, I was unconscious through most of it, but Harry gave me a secondhand account. And…please keep an open mind. Please."

"I hang out with Luna," Daisy pointed out. "Having an open mind is a requirement of being her friend." She gave an encouraging smile. "Thank you so much, Ginny. I think this'll really help us both, when all is said and done. And Harry, of course," she added as she strode away.

Ginny felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders just with the idea of talking about her experiences to someone, especially Luna and…her friend? Was there a second person? It had been Luna talking to her just now, hadn't it? She was so bewildered by what exactly had been happening that she didn't even realize she had reached the Great Hall until she stepped inside it. And then she remembered why she wasn't taking her meals in the Great Hall anymore.

"DISGUSTING PERVERTED WHORE!" the voice of her mother – if she could be called that anymore – thundered through one of her regular Howlers. "YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY, GINNY WEASLEY! YOU –" George fired a blasting curse at the letter before Mum could say another word.

"Hi?" Ginny said with an awkward wave. The whole room was staring at her. She'd rarely been more embarrassed in her life. Ron practically leaped across the room, grabbed her by the arm and placed her at the fourth year area of the Gryffindor table.

"Listen to me, Gin," Ron said, staring her right in the eyes. "I've got your back. I'm not going to let her talk me into hating you. Mum's completely in the wrong."

"Listen to Ronnie," Fred said, sitting on the other side of her. "Your real family has your back. If Mum wants me to choose her or you, it's gonna be you. Family takes care of family. Just make sure you pick a bird who treats you well, or she'll have me to deal with!"

Ginny could feel a tear threatening to fall down from her cheek. "You guys are the best…"

"It's a disgrace!" Harry shouted. Ginny initially feared he was referring to her sexuality, but she quickly settled down when she realized he was referring to the Howlers. "This is harassment! I don't know why this sort of thing is allowed."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Professor McGonagall is literally refusing to believe it's happening, even when it's right in front of her. I've never seen someone so deeply in denial. And the headmaster…well, he's a busy man, of course. Many important responsibilities to the magical world. I'm sure he has better things to do than…"

"Stop one of his students from being harassed?" Harry spat. "Mrs. Weasley is treating her no better than my aunt treats me. So what if Ginny likes girls? So do I! So does Ron! What's the big deal? Girls are awesome!" Ginny couldn't help but giggle a little despite herself. "I just don't understand what her deal is."

Neither did Ginny, really. Funnily enough, and she hadn't told anyone this yet, not even Luna, but Mum hadn't initially freaked out when she heard about Ginny being a lesbian. No, it had been her announcing that she hadn't really had a crush on Harry that had driven Mum over the edge. Ginny had thought she had a crush on Harry. But she'd confused a case of hero worship for something more romantic in nature. It wasn't until she started feeling things for her female classmates that she realized what a crush was really like and that she didn't have one on Harry.

Mum had begged and pleaded for her to continue pursuing Harry. She'd told Ginny that she could have as many female lovers on the side as she wanted, but she had to be Lady Potter. Ginny had had to tell her flat out to her face that would never happen. And Mum had just exploded in rage and hatred. She'd gone on a psychotic rant about how they were destined to rise in the magical world by using Harry as a pawn, and how she was planning on having Ginny dose Harry with love potion. (Which she would never do, obviously, because that was pretty much rape in her opinion, even if the law didn't agree.) At that point, Ginny had run away, fearing for her safety. She hadn't seen or spoken to Mum since.

"I expect nearly losing you left her a little…unbalanced," Hermione suggested diplomatically. "Perhaps you can talk to your dad about all this?"

Ginny scoffed. "That man is almost worse than her if he's letting all this happen without doing anything about it. No, Hermione. I don't have parents anymore. It's just that simple."

"Well, at least you still have brothers!" George said, sneaking up behind her and ruffling her hair. Ordinarily, Ginny would be supremely annoyed – and she certainly wasn't jumping for joy – but now a part of her appreciated the affection.

"Yeah, I just got an owl from Charlie – he's completely on your side," Ron assured her. "Bill's on assignment, but when he gets back, he'll say the same thing." Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been quite worried about her brothers taking her side. "And Percy…well, Percy'll come around sooner or later."

Harry smiled at her. "You have me too, Ginny. And the rest of your friends. No one here is on your mum's side. We've all got your back." His grin turned more diabolical. "And you have Luna too…" he added in a sing-song voice.

Ginny slammed her head against the table in frustration. She'd told Harry about her crush on Luna in confidence at first. He hadn't told anyone, but their conversation had been overheard and the end result was the same. Everyone in the school seemed to know now that Ginny liked Luna. Thank Merlin Luna didn't pay the slightest amount of attention to gossip. But now that the cat was out of the bag, Harry had no compunctions about teasing her in public (in a friendly, sibling-like manner, naturally; he never crossed any lines) regarding her complete inability to function around the gorgeous Ravenclaw.

It had been a bit of a surprise, to say the least, when Ginny realized her feelings for her best friend weren't exactly platonic. They'd been swimming in a lake near Luna's house when the realization that, in fact, Luna was spectacularly gorgeous hit her like a ton of bricks. From there, everything had fallen in place. Luna's warmth, her kindness, her enthusiasm for cryptozoology, her willingness to drop everything to help a friend in need, and, of course, her physical beauty, all conspired to make a perfect being that Ginny was hopelessly, hopelessly besotted with.

Of course, there was absolutely no way someone as incredible as Luna would ever return her feelings. Why would she? Ginny was a broken, weak failure of a witch who was dumb enough to write in a book that wrote back to her and almost killed children as a result of it. Not to mention, Luna had once mentioned having a slight crush on a member of a boy band. So, honestly, what were the odds she liked girls too? No, the most sensible thing to do was to shove her feelings deep down within her psyche until she'd forgotten them entirely.

Ginny had never been accused of being the world's most sensible of individuals.

"Something still needs to be done, Ginny," Hermione said, bringing Ginny's mind thankfully back to the present. "It's absolutely intolerable she can get away with harassing you like this. I mean, what is wrong with people in the magical world that this sort of behavior is seen as acceptable?"

Ginny sighed. "I don't know, Hermione. Some days, I wonder if it'd be better to leave all this behind, you know? Live like a Muggle. But…but I couldn't. Magic is a part of who I am."

Hermione nodded understandingly. She'd likely experienced the exact same dilemma before. "Well, chin up. You'll have your friends to help get you through it."

"You don't have to go to any trouble on my account," Ginny assured her. They all stared at her like she'd grown a second head. It was so persuasive she wondered if she had done just that for a second; certainly it sounded like something the twins would have done. "I mean, you've got much bigger problems with the whole Triwizard Tournament thing."

"Hey, that was a problem of my own making," Harry said. Ginny gave him an utterly deadpan expression. One would have to be truly dumb to believe Harry had put his name in the goblet, his words notwithstanding. "You don't deserve this. And contrary to popular belief, keeping me alive is not a full time job." Everyone gave him a skeptical look.

"Of course not, Harry," Ginny said patronizingly and patted his hand. "Of course not."

One of the things that frustrated Ginny the most about Hogwarts was its lack of a common space for people from different houses to hang out. If she was the headmistress, that would be one of the first things she changed. But Dumbledore had always been adamant against multi-house common rooms, though no one could really get a straight answer out of him as to why. Nevertheless, there were still unofficial places that students would hang out with one another. Hogwarts was a castle with a thousand secrets, and that was a conservative estimate. One of those secrets was a door hidden behind a television in the Muggle Studies classroom, leading to a secret room.

The room was supposedly an accurate representation of a Muggle living room. According to Hermione, it was around fifty years out of date style wise. (To be fair, as Ginny had argued, this was likely why it was hidden now.) Either way, it was a relatively popular spot for students to hang out, especially with Professor Burbage turning a blind eye to it. Ginny was not surprised to be meeting Luna there to discuss details of that biography on Harry she was writing. She was, however, mildly surprised to see they were being joined by a Slytherin girl from Luna's year Ginny thought looked vaguely familiar, but Luna assured her that Dorothy or whatever her name was could be trusted.

"How much do you know about Harry's past?" the Slytherin began without preamble.

Ginny shrugged. "Just as much as most people do, I suppose. He defeated You Know Who when he was just a baby, and was raised by his aunt and uncle." She made a face. Ron had told her Harry's aunt and uncle treated Harry foully, putting bars on his windows and starving him at times. She had no clue why Harry was made to continue living with them. "When he came to school, he became friends with my brother. Together, they fought a troll and saved the Philosopher's Stone from You Know Who."

Daphne and Luna shared a very concerned look. "See, this is exactly why we asked you," Luna said. "Because most people don't know that. They think Harry was raised by a distant cousin of his father and they had all sorts of adventures. Fighting evil, slaying monsters, and the like. And certainly no one knows You Know Who was after the Philosopher's Stone."

Ginny laughed. "Oh, is this about those books?" There'd been a bestselling series of children's books about a thinly veiled iteration of Harry known as Henry Porter with the details of him changed just enough to avoid being sued. Ginny's parents had read them to her as bedtime stories, with her mother substituting Harry's name for Henry's.

"Partly," the Slytherin admitted. Damn it, what the hell was her name? It started with D, Ginny was certain of that much. This was going to bug her all day. "But there's more to it than that. How the hell do people even know it was Harry who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named? There were no witnesses, were there? All we know is You Know Who killed Harry's parents and then vanished, and Harry had a scar on his face when he was found. There wasn't even a body left behind."

"Okay…?" Ginny said, not sure where the Slytherin was going with all this.

Luna looked impressed with the Slytherin's reasoning. Ginny couldn't help but scowl a little. She wished Luna would look that impressed with her someday. "So how do we even know he survived the Killing Curse?" Luna finished. "What if Mrs. Potter activated some sort of trap keyed to her death that got V – You Know Who before he could even cast a spell on Harry?"

"He just got that scar out of thin air, then?" Ginny pointed out.

"Since when does the Killing Curse leave scars?" Luna shot back. "For all we know, Harry could have gotten that scar in an accident before You Know Who even showed up."

While all this was fascinating, Ginny was pretty certain she wasn't going to be able to provide any answers for them. The only person who knew the truth was possibly Harry himself and even that wasn't a near certainty. "I think we're getting distracted," Ginny pointed out.

"Oh, thank you for telling me!" Luna said with a bright smile. Ginny hated the way her stomach quivered at that sight of that amazing smile. It was just a reminder Luna would no doubt never return her feelings. "I do have a tendency to go off on tangents. It's the Ravenclaw in me."

"We wanted to ask you about the Chamber of Secrets," the Slytherin said. Ginny started panicking. It had sounded like a good idea in theory when they'd first approached her, but now, Ginny realized she was going to be telling her crush about how she'd been possessed. And how she'd been an idiot who hadn't been able to stop it. "Don't worry. I know it might be upsetting for you. As you requested, it'll be anonymous."

Ginny sank deeper down into the sofa cushion, blood rushing to her face. "It's…it's really quite embarrassing. It was…it was all my fault, you see…"

Slowly, painstakingly, Ginny told the two of them about her horrific first year and the awful, awful things she'd done. She made sure to completely address her comments to the Slytherin, trying her best to pretend Luna wasn't even in the room. Luna cooperated with this decision by giving her best fake vacant look and pretending to be completely unaware of what was going on. Words could not express how grateful Ginny was for this, to say nothing of the fact Luna didn't seem to hate her at all.

"…and when I woke up, there was a bloody huge dead snake in front of me," Ginny finished. "And that's basically the end of the story. I went home for the summer and tried to go on like normal."

Luna looked up, startled. "So, wait, that's it? You weren't examined by anyone at St. Mungo's? Or even the Department of Mysteries? You didn't even get therapy? They just brushed you aside and did nothing?"

"Yes?"

Luna swore under her breath. "Those barbarians." She grabbed Ginny's chin gently, practically setting Ginny's heart aflame at the unexpected nature of the touch, and then forced her to meet Luna's eyes. "I want you to understand something, Ginny. It wasn't your fault. I don't blame you. Not one bit. It was You Know Who. He tricked you." For a few seconds, Ginny thought Luna was going to lean in and kiss her. It was a profound disappointment when she did not.

"I don't need your forgiveness," Ginny said. "I need mine."

"Look, I'm going to be blunt with you," a Slytherin girl with multicolored hair said and Ginny jumped. Had she gotten so into conversing with her crush she'd completely failed to realize there was another person involved in the conversation? How embarrassing. "We think something very, very suspicious is going on with Harry. It's like someone wants him to get into scenarios where he's seen as a hero."

"I don't know anything about that," Ginny told her. "All I know is I see him as one. Because he is. Manipulations or not, Harry chose to rescue me. He didn't have to. He could have let the adults handle it, and who would even blame him? But he chose to help me, purely because he thought it was right."

Luna nodded. "Good point. But still…well, I don't think we're ready to share our findings with you just yet. But when we are, can we rely on your help?"

"I'm happy to do whatever it takes to protect Harry," Ginny promised. "I owe him my life. If someone's plotting against him, then I'm going to do what it takes to stop them."

"Good," the Slytherin said. "Because I'm going to do the same thing. Harry's done so much for this school, for us all. It's time we did something for him." She gave a sudden brilliant smile. "Now I'll just leave you two lovebirds to talk."

"Us two what?!" Luna shouted as the Slytherin left the room with a wink. An awkward silence descended upon the room. "So…do you think Harry put his name in the Goblet of Fire, then?"

Ginny laughed. "You must be joking! Harry, actually seeking out fame? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! Harry hates his fame. He's told me over and over again, he'd give up all his fame in a heartbeat to have his parents back. He's just messing with people."

"It seems to be having some effect," Luna noted wryly. "Quite a few girls seem to be very interested in him these days."

Ginny gulped. "Your – yourself included?"

"Oh, heavens no," Luna said with a gorgeous giggle. "No offense to Harry, but if I had a significant other, I'd like him or her to be certain to survive the year." Him or her? HIM OR HER?! Luna liked girls and boys?! You still have a chance! "No, as it happens, I do have my eye on someone."

Ginny's heart sank. Luna already had a crush. She should have known it was too good to be true. "You want to tell me about him?"

Luna tilted her head, her face unreadable. "Well…I don't think I'm quite ready to make a move just yet…but well…I suppose I could give you some hints." She leaned in close to Ginny's face. For a wild second, Ginny was tempted to kiss her, but of course, that would be deeply inappropriate. "Well, it's a girl, for starters. And she happens to be a Gryffindor. A very beautiful Gryffindor. Incredibly smart and brave and loyal. Now who do you think I'm talking about?"

Ginny thought about it for a long while. But at the end of the day, there was only one logical option. Only one person met that criterion. "It's Hermione, isn't it?" she realized.

A flurry of laughter emerged from behind the door. Luna cast a spell to open the door, revealing an unfamiliar Slytherin with multicolored hair to be on the other side of it. "I'm going to kill you, Daphne!" Luna shrieked.

"You'll have to catch me first!" the Slytherin shouted and Luna ran after her.

Ginny sighed. The girl she liked had a crush on one of her best friends. She really couldn't catch a break, could she?