Thirty: Sins of old

St. Mungo's struggling to keep up with inflow of patients as struggle intensifies

It hit her at two in the night on a Friday, technically Saturday by then. It had just been another night of tossing and turning and trying not to see the Death Eaters that lurked behind her eyelids. Until she saw something she did wanted to see. It had been staring her in the face, really. Dumbledore had even drawn her attention to it in the memory. Tom hadn't come for the DADA position that time, but for something else. He'd said as much. And what else could it be than a Horcrux?

One was here at Hogwarts. She knew it. The memory proved it, as did what she knew of Tom. It had been one of the few times he hadn't lied to her, when he'd told her how much he loved this castle. How it had been his home, and how he could make it hers as well. Of course, he would have stored a piece of his soul here, so part of him would always linger here. And she thought she knew what place he'd have chosen.

Tempting as it was to put on her cloak and starting running through Hogwarts' halls, she told herself it was better to wait for the morning. To bring Astoria, yes, but also in the hope that during the day, a piece of Tom Riddle's soul would be just a bit less frightening.

She tossed and turned again, too excited to sleep. Sirius might still elude them, but finally, finally they had a different lead.

Minister deploys Dementors as Auror numbers dwindle

Ginny wolfed down her breakfast and dragged Astoria away from the Slytherin table as soon as her friend looked mostly finished. The days of Astoria sleeping in on a Saturday were long gone, the combination of impending O.W.L.'s and their hunt taking its toll. She could hear Nott and his friends guffaw as they hurried away, but she didn't care. Let them mock her all they want, she was taking a step towards winning the war today.

"Merlin, Ginny, what's going on?" Astoria asked, finally breaking free from her grip about three hallways further. Ginny looked around to see if anyone was around, tossed the cloak over them and pulled her friend into an abandoned classroom.

"I think I know where another Horcrux is," she said, unable to contain her excitement.

Astoria's eyes lit up underneath the cloak. Her friend too had been getting demoralised by the lack of progress. They told each other that even Dumbledore hadn't instantly found a Horcrux, but with the Prophet headlines bearing down on them each day with more bad news, they could feel time was running out.

"You sure?" she asked tentatively.

"Well, not sure, but I have strong suspicions. I think there's one here at Hogwarts. That's what the first memory was about," she whispered and was rewarded by Astoria nodding in agreement.

"Of course, you're right," she agreed. "It's the only reason why I can imagine Dumbledore including that memory. But where?"

"I think it may be hidden in the Chamber of Secrets," Ginny said. "Almost impossible to find, guarded by a basilisk and I'm sure the grandeur of it all would have appealed to him as well."

"Hmm, makes sense. Did you see anything there last time?" Astoria asked.

"We weren't really that concerned with searching the place," Ginny admitted. "On account of the giant snake and the other Horcrux. But it's worth checking out, right?" she said.

"And how do we get there?" Astoria asked and Ginny hesitated.

"I only remember flashes," she admitted. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Him - me hissing at a tap. Maybe we can get in with a blasting curse?"

"Can't we just speak to it as well?" Astoria suggested

"I don't speak Parseltongue anymore," Ginny admitted.

"Can't we just try hissing at it? I mean, Parseltongue never really struck me as a particularly poetic language," Astoria suggested and Ginny grinned. She could feel Tom's derision, but it couldn't hurt to try.

To return to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom felt strange. It was like any other Hogwarts bathroom, especially today with Myrtle absent. Cracked tiles, mirrors, sinks and a layer of dust that told her it had been a while since a House Elf or Filch had passed by here. But when she looked in the mirror, she could see Tom lurking behind her eyes. From the walls, she could hear hisses coming, promising to Rip… Tear… Kill… It was like walking over her grave.

"You alright, Ginny?" Astoria asked. "You look pale."

"I'm fine, it's just, I haven't been here since my first year," she admitted, coming to a stop in front of a sink; The sink. She ran her finger along the tap with the snake scratched on the side.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Astoria asked. "We could get Bill and Fleur?"

"No, not until we're sure. If they show up at Hogwarts, people are bound to talk and ask questions we don't want answered," she said, staring at the snake on the tap. She tried to imagine it moving and wiggling and hissed.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe in a different pitch?" Astoria suggested.

Ginny hissed at it, soft and loud, long and short, high and low. Nothing happened. Astoria joined in as well, the two of them sounding more like a kettle on the fire than a snake. She could hear Tom laughing at their performance. That dislodged the memory. He'd laughed at her before when she was trying to fight him even as he guided her to the Chamber of Secrets. She'd hissed too then and could hear it in her head again, feel it on her lips.

She hissed. The tap glowed and turned, the sink sank into the floor and before them appeared a tunnel, large enough for a man. Or a snake. Ginny stared into the darkness, thinking of everything she'd lost to it.

"Do we slide down this?" Astoria asked. "And if so, what will it do to my robes? I dressed for a Saturday, not spelunking."

"Nothing good, I'm afraid," Ginny said, feeling like she was missing something. She could hardly imagine Tom riddle sliding down this like a kid on a playground.

Quite right, would you like a hint? He asked. She ignored him.

"And how do we get back? This looks deep," Astoria said, peering down.

"That's what I'm mostly worried about, yes," Ginny admitted. "Last time, Fawkes carried us back up but I haven't seen him since… since Dumbledore died."

"Hmm," Astoria said and then sighed. "Well, if flying works, go get your broom. I'll stay here and make sure no first year falls down the pipe or something."

She returned at a run, finding that Myrtle had surfaced in the meantime and was carrying on a conversation with Astoria. Myrtle seemed to do most of the talking, but Astoria nodded along with a serious expression on her face, emitting noises of assent at just the right time.

"Ah, there you are," Astoria said. "Well, sorry Myrtle, but we got business down there," Astoria said.

"If you die, just know this is already my place to haunt," Myrtle warned them.

"I'll keep it in mind," Astoria said with a light grin as she sat on the broom behind Ginny. One hand around Ginny's midriff, the other holding her wand as she cast a Lumos that only barely penetrated the darkness.

"Making friends with Myrtle already?"

"She suddenly came zipping out of one of the bathroom stalls and I could hardly ignore her."

"Why not? People do it all the time," Ginny said.

"Well, yes, but her histrionics would have drawn attention."

"Or… you were being friendly to a lonely ghost."

"Hardly, I'm a Slytherin," Astoria said and Ginny could picture her rolling her eyes behind her.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," she said.

The pipe seemed to go off forever, branching off far too often to be reassuring. But she just followed the large pipe as it twisted and turned, reasoning that was the only way she'd ever find a way back. The darkness was oppressive, the sounds distorted. Rats scattered in the distance, their feet going tip-tap and the sound carrying much further than it had any right to.

"How far does this go?" Astoria asked eventually.

"I don't know. I think we might be under the lake by now," Ginny replied, flying at a pace that would never allow her to catch a Snitch, or even a Quaffle, but did prevent them from crashing.

And still the ever-winding pipe continued. It made her wonder if there would ever be an end to it, or if they'd spend the rest of their lives flying down here in the dark. To think that Harry and Ron had glided down here once, hot on the heels of Gilderoy Lockhart. Would he still be in St. Mungo's?

Eventually, the pipe levelled out and led into a dark stone tunnel, the air damp and the floor covered with the bones of small animals. Ginny decided to stay on the broom as they flew past puddles, bones and the rubble Ron had once moved aside after Lockhart brought down half the tunnel.

Two great green emeralds met them, the eyes of two serpents entwined and carved into the stone. By now she knew what to do and got the hiss right from the first time. The walls parted; she slid off the broom and drew her wand. After four years, she had returned to the Chamber of Secrets.

It all washed over her at once. Nights running through the castle, hissing at a snake in the pipes. Scrawling horrible messages on the walls. Killing roosters. Scribbling in the diary. Tom pulling her strings until they got so tight she choked. And then Harry had cut through it all with nothing but a phoenix song and a sword. Back then, he'd still been just a hero, and heroes didn't fail. It only had started to go wrong when he had become her friend. Friends were fallible

This time, it was up to her to be the hero. To face down Tom Riddle's scattered souls and somehow come out on top. At least she already had the sword.

The Chamber hadn't changed much. Towering stone pillars adorned with more snake carvings that reached farther than the dim glow from Astoria's wand could reveal. The damaged statue of Salazar Slytherin. The remnants of a massive basilisk, teeth still gleaming with eternal poison. It all spoke of a time long gone, when the Founders still walked the land and creatures such as a basilisk could still be controlled. To think she'd lain here once, almost but not quite dead as Tom Riddle clawed his way back to life. If her guess was right, the diary hadn't even been the only Horcrux there that night.

"It's massive," Astoria breathed, staring at the basilisk with horrified fascination. "Harry killed that?"

"With only the sword of Gryffindor and Fawkes," Ginny said, walking past the snake's remains. "Stay away from the teeth. They're poisonous."

"I don't intend to walk into its mouth," Astoria reassured her. "That's more of a Gryffindor thing."

"Sure," Ginny muttered, moving her wand in an arc to so her wand-lighting arc covered a larger area. The place somehow seemed smaller than she remembered.

They searched for more than an hour, looking in every nook and cranny, even going as far as to dismantle the statue of Slytherin with a few well-placed Reductor curses. That at least felt satisfying. But no matter how, hard they looked, they couldn't find anything and slowly the realisation began to sink in that she may have been wrong.

You don't understand me quite as well as you think, it seems, Tom mocked her and while at any other time, that would have been a relief to hear, now it just drove her up the walls. She blew holes in walls and sifted through the rubble. She hissed at suspicious carvings. She jumped back on her broom and flew high enough that she could see the ceiling. Still, she found nothing. She'd been wrong.

Head in her hands, she sat down at the feet of Slytherin's by now even more damaged statue. Astoria dropped down next to her and sighed, looking equally despondent.

"I do wonder what Dumbledore was thinking," Astoria muttered. "All of this, it just feels like a bit much sometimes for two witches who still have to take their O.W.L.'s."

"You don't have to do this, Tori," Ginny replied, perhaps a bit shorter than called for, but Merlin after searching for more than an hour and finding nothing, after more than an hour of nothing but darkness and walls from her oldest memories, she was done.

"I didn't mean it like that, Ginny," Astoria snapped back. "Of course I'm not backing out. Because then it's you versus the world. Because that's what this is about," Astoria said and Ginny could hear her breathing quicken. "If we don't succeed, we lose and You Know Who takes over and we can't even hope for him to die of old age. If we fail now, Wizarding Britain as we know it is done! Done!" she repeated, eye twitching and hands shaking.

"Shh, Tori," Ginny said, taking her friend's hands, but Astoria just pulled her hands free.

"Don't shush me! We're never going to find them, the Horcruxes. We'll look and look and-" Astoria said, but whatever else she meant to say got lost as she took a sharp breath and kept repeating the action, like a drowning girl desperate for air. Her wand clattered to the ground, taking its light with them.

"Tori, shh, I'm here, take a deep breath, calm down," Ginny said, only now seeing how clammy her friend's skin was, the sweat glistening in the nigh darkness. "Listen to my voice. Breathe in… breathe out," she said, unsure whether it was actually helpful.

What were you supposed to do when someone had a panic attack? She just held her friend's hand and whispered reassurances to her. And then she remembered a tale Astoria had once told her, of how Luna had found her in her first year when she'd been having a panic attack as well.

"Hey, Tori, have I told you about Blibbering Humdingers yet?" Ginny began and launched into an explanation, drawing on every memory she had of Luna dazzling them all with stories of crazy creatures.

She talked and talked and talked until it was almost as if Luna was in the chamber with them and Ginny missed her more than ever. Eventually Astoria's breathing began to slow down until it was almost normal again. Her skin was still slick with sweat.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm here," Ginny said.

"I'm sorry Ginny, it just – was a bit much," she whispered.

"It's a lot, I agree," Ginny said, thinking of nights awake and despair that threatened to drown her.

Somehow, it had never occurred to her that Astoria might have been going through the same. For that, her poise was too perfect, too Slytherin. But here in the Chamber, still slightly out of breath and pale even by her standards, the mask had come off. It reminded her of that night with Malfoy on the Astronomy Tower.

"I'm not abandoning you though," Astoria promised.

"I know. You're my friend."

"And I crossed Susan's stupid line," Astoria chuckled, though Ginny could tell it was a forced attempt at mirth. "I just don't get how it ended up being the two of us."

"It's not just us, though," Ginny said, squeezing her friend's shoulder.

Astoria sighed and looked at the dark chamber. "Sure feels like it though."

A/N: Sorry for the horrendous hiatus. No real excuses there. Just me getting distracted thinking I could be a published writer one day. Ah the naivety of the youth