Chapter 1 was a little on the short side, so here's chapter 2 free of charge.
Please comment, review, follow, but most importantly enjoy !
Everything was going splendidly. The good feeling Ginny had had shortly after coming into existence down in the Chamber turned out to be quiet right so far : being the new and improved Ginny was absolutely brilliant ! It was like she saw everything in a new light. Which was rather obvious since, in a sense, she was seeing everything for the first time, but compared to the memories of her accidental creators her mood and outlook on the world were a vast improvement. She often found herself wondering whether OG and Tom were truly gone or if they endured through her, somehow. Her unique situation made questions about being, consciousness and souls far less abstract than they were for most people. Could two souls truly merge ? What even was a soul ? Was she truly a new person or the combination of two existing people ? What did it mean for two consciousnesses to become one ? In any case, if Tom and OG still existed through her then surely they where better of now. All these strange and new thoughts about her own nature did not weigh her down however, on the contrary they made for good entertainment, for when particularly boring people felt the need to talk to her.
The last three days, her first three days actually, had been hectic to say the least. It hat taken three full days, but at last all the urgent business was taken care of and all the loose ends tied up. Nothing had gone according to her original brilliant plan of course, but that hardly mattered, as in the end she had triumphed. With these thoughts she felt herself slowly drift of to sleep in her bed in the Griffindor tower, a satisfied smile plastered on her face with the satisfaction of a job well done.
Her original plan had failed because she, somehow, hadn't been able to acquire and use Percy's time turner. Perhaps she hadn't found it or he simply didn't have one or, more likely (since it didn't involve a failing on her part), Percy had already used up the six extra hours that day. She couldn't know for sure where the plan had failed, since she hadn't even tried. That was the neat thing about a plan involving a time turner: you could find out if it had worked before even trying and save yourself the effort if it was doomed to fail.
Her plan revealed itself a failure while she was making her way out of the Chamber and heard voices further down the tunnel, worse they seemed to be looking for her. She cursed to herself, more for the missed opportunity to play with time than having to change plans, after all, improvising was fun ! Having cast a disilusionment and a quieting charm she walked on towards the voices. As she came closer she recognised three voices: Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and Professor Lockhart. It made sense for a legendary adventurer like Lockhart to come on a rescue mission and they would need a parselmouth, so of course Harry Potter had to come as well, but her brother's presence seemed irresponsible and she wondered why Lockhart would put more students at risk than strictly necessary.
She felt her hearth sink as she realised that fooling everyone with a cunning plan or even approaching undetected, with a hero of Lockhart's calibre involved, might be beyond even her capabilities. She searched through OG's hazy and confused memories of the past months for an angle and found a promising one. Lockhart seemed to be absolutely full of himself and quite vain. Perhaps she could manipulate him with flattery ?
She kept on walking towards the voices and finally the trio came into view around a corner. The situation was quite tense and unexpected: Lockhart had a wand trained on Harry and Ron and seemed completely unhinged and from what she had picked up from their conversation he was about to obliviate them ! More surprising still, Lockhart seemed not to have noticed her arrival. Simple disilusionement and a quieting charm should not have been enough to sneak up on such a legend, especially in a place like this, where he should be on high alert ! Blessing her luck for his, surely uncharacteristic, lack of professionalism, she snapped of three quick stunners and watched in amazement as the three wizards dropped. Not even a passive shield ! She thought as she quickly cast her own shield, chastising herself for making such a beginner mistake. Seems like old Tommy's good habits are a bit rusty after all those decades in a diary…
Ginny re-stunned all three for good measure then scanned the scene with a wand detection spell. It revealed only three glowing outlines of wands, which she collected and stuffed in her pockets. Lockhart had been holding a broken wand, poorly fixed with sellotape, for some reason. The whole situation kept getting stranger and stranger, she thought, and that was saying something coming from someone who was half sentient diary. With now very low expectations she manually checked Lockhart for one of those fancy undetectable wandholsters, and found none. Merlin's balls, Lockhart ! No detection spells, no shield and no backup wand ! What kind of legendary hero are you ? … Maybe the kind around whom foolish people drop their guard thinking they uncovered a fraud ? Well not me buster ! I ain't bitch made !
She applied a sticking charm between the three recovered wands and the inside of her pocket, then cast incarserous on Lockhart followed by another sticking charm between his body and the cavern floor, finally she levitated a small boulder above his head. There she thought I'd like to see you try to get out of this one !.
Ginny woke Lockhart up. "Hello Professor, before you try anything, I'd like to bring your attention to the quite large mass of stone I am currently levitating right above your head. If at any point during this conversation I lose my concentration… well I think you get what happens then."
"Wh-who are you ? W-What's going on ?" He stuttered, a deep frown of confusion on his face. To his credit he seemed to regain his composure remarkably quickly. Flashing a charming smile he started to speak quickly in a jovial tone: "Are you a fan ? Well of course you are ! You must be, you know this isn't the first time I find - "
"What's going on is that I will be asking the questions and you will answer. Is that al right with you, Professor ?" She interrupted, trying to sound and look as intimidating as an eleven year old could.
Surprisingly, it seemed to work, though perhaps it was threat of imminent, hardcore geology that did the trick.
"Well … hum… I suppose so, given the circumstances."
"Excellent ! First question then: Why in Mordred's name are you so unbelievably incompetent ?"
"Wha-whatever do you mean ?"
"I mean how is it that a supposed legend like you gets caught in the back by a stunner ? Are you a fraud ? Are all your books made up ?"
"I… well… no! Of course not ! And cursing someone in the back is quite dishonourable, you know ? I am used to a much higher class of opponents. That is all."
She looked him in the eyes, trying to pry the truth from his mind, but to her surprise he pushed her out immediately. Well well, at least you know some oclumancy, not completely useless after all. It seemed like Tom's legilimancy skills weren't quite up to the task, at least not without assistance.
She sighed, "Why am I even bothering ?" and stopped the levitation charm. The boulder dropped.
She stopped it again a mere inch from his face.
Lockheart flinched and screamed in fear. When he opened his eyes again she peered into his mind and plucked the answers right out.
"How disappointing… Of course you're a fraud. A pathological liar with a talent for obliviation, basic oclumency skills and a gigantic ego, and that's all it took to fool the world."
She set down the boulder next to Lockhart and sat down letting out a heavy sigh. The conjured ropes and sticking charm where already overkill to restrain a mediocre wizard like him.
Lockhart was looking wide eyed and panting, struggling to recover his composure.
"Oh, come on don't be dramatic. Didn't you enjoy getting a taste of the action you write about in your books ? You where never in real danger you know, I just needed to scare you enough so you'd drop your oclumancy."
She conjured a jet of water in his face hoping it would help. "You can drop the act now and if this is real pull yourself together ! We have important matters to discuss."
"You-you'r-"
"I-I am incredibly skilled for someone my age. Yes, I know but there will be time for flattery later. I believe I have quite the business opportunity for you, professor. Your spectacular defeat of Slitherin's monster would be a fitting topic for your next best-seller, don't you think ?"
That finely seemed to get his attention and pull him out of shock. "Hmm wh-why yes. That does sound like a book I would write, doesn't it. What do you have in mind ? Did you, perchance, just defeat Slitherin's Monster and wish to avoid the publicity ?" He asked with a hopeful note.
"Yesss, something like that, but it's a bit more complicated. We might need to find a fake monster to take the blame.-"
"Wh-"
"Don't ask what happened to the real one, I won't tell you. From what I glimpsed of your mind, you did actually do quite a bit of research about the dark creatures featured in your books. What's more you have already faked monster captures, aside from your usual methods, so your experience will be useful here."
"Yes, well, you should know it's quite impolite to look through someone's mind like that ! But hum given the circumstances… well anyway, let me think… We would need a creature capable of petrification and of moving though the castle unseen and with a long enough life span to have belonged to Slitherin himself … Young Harry and Mr Weasely, hum your brother, he is hour brother, isn't he ? Anyway they seem to think that the monster is a basilisk, but that can't be right, if there was a basilisk loose in the school, people would have died and besides, finding a basilisk corpse on the black market that could believably be that old, would cost more than the book could ever make so that's of the table. Hmmm, I'm not sure there is a creature that actually fits…"
"We could have the creature be an imposter for Slitherin's monster and drop the age requirement, plus a fake monster could add to the intrigue for the book…" said Ginny thoughtfully.
"Hmm yes, yes that would work. You have a knack for this, planning on following in my footsteps when you graduate, perhaps ? I could coach you." he offered, his smile now back in full action, as if he wasn't held against his will in a dank cave.
"Did you miss the part where I'm an unimaginably skilled first year and could actually do all the things you pretend to do in your books by the time I graduate ?" Ginny retorted with a wide grin of her own.
"Who's got a gigantic ego now ?" Lockhearth mumbled. "We better get back to it, however. Faking epic adventures can be quite time sensitive and besides, these ropes and cavern floor aren't quite the level of comfort I'm used to. I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible. Actually couldn't you conjure us a pair of armchairs and untie me before we continue since I clearly have no chance of overpowering you and we are about to become business partners ?"
"That's a great idea actually !" With a wave of her wand a comfy armchair rose up from the ground under her.
"Show of." he mumbled again. "Oi ! What about me ?" he complained indignantly, when she seemed to have no intention to untie him.
She cast a cushioning charm under his head. "That's all you get for now. Let's get back to time sensitive epic adventure faking, shall we ?"
"Fine," he sighed "let's get this over with. I really need a change of clothes ! So, dropping the long lifespan, let's think again … Oh, what about a false gorgon ?"
"Never heard of those."
"Oh come on ! What do they teach you in defence these days ?"
"…"
"Hum right … anyway, you must have heard of gorgons or at least of a very famous one named Medusa, she was from Greece."
Ginny nodded "Upper half woman, lower half of a snake, snaky hair, petrifies people. Is that the one ?"
"Yes, that's right. Except they don't petrify people, they actually turn them to stone, so it would not fit and besides they are extremely dangerous and finding one on the back market would be no easier than a basilisk. That's why I'm suggesting a false gorgon. They look very similar, hence the name, and they do petrify people, and they are much more common." Lockhart had taken a scholarly tone by now, and it occurred to Ginny that he might actually be a good teacher, if he dropped the silly persona.
He continued his first quality lecture, "Now false gorgons have been known to terrorise remote villages now and again. In one notable case, a false gorgon was recorded saying she did it to take out her frustration at not being a real gorgon. So it's perfectly plausible that one would have heard about the legend of Slitherin's monster and decided to come terrorise Hogwarts to blow of some steam."
"And you know a place where we can buy a fresh false gorgon corpse ?" she asked expectantly.
"No, but we won't need to. I'm thinking we hire a false gorgon to play the part ! We can even ask for her input to make it all more believable !" He was on a roll now, his eyes shining with glee. Ginny was beginning to appreciate the conman's talent.
He went on "Besides, if my editor is to be believed, stories where the hero finds a pacific way to deal with the monster will by all the rage in a few months. And he is almost always right about that sort of thing ! Claims he is somewhat of a seer but only for literary trends." He added the last part with a shrug.
"We do still have to solve the whole 'Her bones will lie in the chamber forever' nonsense. I think the simplest would be if we pretend our monster kidnapped you, since that's everybody already believes. You'll have to hide for a few days and-"
"No, that won't work." Ginny interrupted.
"Why not ? Don't tell me you're too proud t-"
"Because, I grow tired of hiding my prodigious talent and I doubt the story will be believable by the time the book comes out. No, I'll just pretend I was practising advanced transfiguration or something in an unused classroom and lost track of time. It will seem perfectly reasonable, once I come out as a genius. But don't worry I know the perfect actress for the role of the damsel in distress. Oh yes, one that will discourage any who would pry a little too much."
"Sure. If you say so. Now, can you please release me from these ropes and conjure me a chair before we iron out the details of our plan ?"
"Uh. Fiiine !"
Contrary to her original plan, that one worked out splendidly and it took care of the whole Chamber Of Secrets and kidnapping affair in one fell swoop.
Lockheart's contacts had come through and found them a willing false gorgon named Gladice hardly more than a day after Lockhert had sent his owl. Ass for Ginny's part of the plan, like she had expected no one had paid enough attention to Luna Lovegood to notice that she had not been missing at first and she had been quite enthusiastic about playing a part the play.
After she'd hidden Luna in the chamber, Ginny herself had been found, wandering the castle without a care in the world, by McGonagal. She'd had a strange urge to whistle a tune during that part for some reason. McGonagal's half worried, half indignant rant of "Miss Weasely ! Where in Merlin's name have you been ? We thought you had been taken !" and so forth had been quite annoying to endure, but she had been passiffied when Ginny mentioned she had been practising transfiguration in an abandoned classroom and lost track of time. Ginny had been immediately ushered to the headmaster's office where her entire family, except Bill and Charlie, had been sitting in anguish. Merlin ! You write some bloody letters on a wall and vanish for an hour or two and everybody looses their minds ! Even Ron was there with not the faintest recalling of any unnecessary rescue attempt, courtesy of Professor Lockhart.
Meeting her family for the 'first time' had not been an easy or pleasant situation to manage, there had been a lot of emotions and some crying, ranting and questioning. In the end she had pulled trough, though.
It had taken an embarrassing amount of time for the staff to notice that it was in fact Luna Lovegood who was missing. Luna might have been offended by that fact if she had she known or cared.
The tension had been rising all year, but finally reached a breaking point when the ominous message had been found and a student had gone missing. That day the school had been put in lockdown : courses and other activities where cancelled and all students where to remain in their respective common rooms and dorms. All the teachers and some seventh years had been put to the task of searching the castle and a few aurors had been brought in to help. Moaning Mirtle had been bribed with a few interesting pictures of young wizards, however, and Ginny had changed the password for the entrance of the chamber to a long random sequence of parseltongue syllables instead of open. As a result, like so many times over the centuries, the search parties had attempted the impossible task of searching Hogwards with nothing to show for it. They even had Harry try to speak with all the painted and sculpted snakes they could find, but to no avail, the Chamber remained hidden. Only when Lockheart and Ginny's plan was ready did the search efforts finally get 'lucky'. Two seventh years spotted the false gorgon around the corner of a hallway and called for help, of course the nearest teacher happened to be Gilderoy Lockheart ! He immediately gave chase to the monster and called to the two seventh years to follow him (So there would be witnesses to his heroic rescue of course.). The chase had led them to one of the stranger parts of Hogwards that wasn't accessible every day and thus hadn't been searcher yet. There Lockhart and Gladice played out their final confrontation in which, after protecting the two Hufflepufs from her petrifying gaze, he convinced her to free Luna and leave Hogwarts.
And just like that it was all over. Hagrid was soon released and Dumblodore reinstated as Headmaster.
Wait, why had Hagrid been locked up in the first place ? Pinning the whole chamber crisis on someone else had felt strangely familiar… with a pang of guilt, she remembered Hagrid taking the fall last time, leading to his expulsion and the snapping of his wand. She shook her head. That had been Tom, not her, there was really no point in feeling guilty. If she went down that path, she'd soon start feeling guilty about death of Mirtle. Besides, at the time, Hagrid had in fact been raising a man eating spider in a school full of children… but perhaps she could find a way to exculpate Hagrid for what had happened 50 years ago.
Soon the mandrakes would be mature, all the petrified victims would be revived and everything would go back to normal. Except Ginny of course, who would never be the same again. She'd also become a good deal richer in a few months, when Lockhart's new bestseler came out.