No no no no no, no way is this actually happening, I sat in the common room with Harry and the Weasleys, I was shaking, and my head was getting crowded by thoughts that I couldn't hear any of the voices anymore, "w-why would he take Ginny?" I asked Harry, my voice coming out hoarse, "We don't know" he said and then told me what happened with Aragog and what they heard in the staff room in whispers, I couldn't wrap my head around it, slowly the voices in my brain started to unravel into a million question, why would the heir take a student instead of just killing or petrifying them? Why would he take Ginny in particular even though her family are known purebloods? How is no one from the staff able to stop that? This whole afternoon went in a haze I couldn't get myself to even stand up or talk or at one point even breathe regularly, Percy, Fred and George all had went silently to their dorms, not able to talk about it, the entire house was in silence, every thing that happened since September rose into my head, in sync with the guilt that rise in my chest, I notice Harry and Ron leave the common room not even bothering to wear the invisibility cloak, I didn't find the strength to follow them, I just watched as guilt and confusion weighed me down, pinning me in my place, I wondered vaguely if maybe I was petrified too, I kept thinking about every encounter I had with Ginny, all the fights and little spats we had, all the times I envied her for simple existing, I put my face in my palms, everything swarming in my head, the way she spent all her time alone, in the dorm room with her diary, the way she...wait, suddenly I realized something, my head stopped, the voices quietened all at once as I remembered, Ginny's diary the name on it, it was Tom Marvolo Riddle, I had notice the name in the very beginning of the year and I didn't think about it again, that's where I saw the name before, but what does that mean? Did Tom Riddle have two diaries or was it the same one? I remembered a couple of weeks when Ginny wasn't writing in it anymore, maybe that's when Harry had it, but he said someone threw it at moaning Myrtle, was Ginny trying to get rid of it? The questions crowded me again and suddenly I was able to move again, my limps unfroze, I got up and sprinted to my now deserted dorm room, Ginny's four posters were the same as she left them, her stuff splattered everywhere around it, I started looking everywhere, I looked all over the bed, emptied the drawers and looked through her suitcase, no trace of the diary, it drove me mad, it was supposed to be there, well unless she had it on her, I stood there for a few minutes feeling so useless until I made my decision, I have to let Ron and Harry know about this, wherever they went I'm sure they have at least a vague idea about where the chamber is and maybe this information would help them, but how could I find them? I ran down to the common room and left through the portrait without knowing where to go, it doesn't matter, I'll search the whole castle for them if I have to, besides, anything is better than letting myself sink into my thoughts, I started running through the halls, contemplating the places I should look in first, I figured they might have gone back to the staff room for more information, it was too risky to go there but I had no other idea, I started towards the staff room and bumped hard into someone, we both fell to the floor, I looked up dreading who just caught me, I let out a relieved sigh when I saw it wasn't a professor, it was a Ravenclaw in my year. "Oh, hi, what are you doing here?" Asked the girl in her dreamy voice, "erm, You're Lovegood, right?" I asked a little out of breath, "Yes, and you are Emma Potter" she said smiling, "Yes, I am, hey I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone you saw me, okay? Thank you" I said and walked around her, "okay, I'll keep looking for Ginny then, bye" said Lovegood waving dreamily and starting to walk in the other direction, I stopped in my tracks "Wait, wait, you're looking for Ginny?" I asked she turned to face me again, "Of course I am, why else would I be out right now, you know there's a monster that petrifies people right?"
"Of course I do, but how do you even know that Ginny is missing?" I asked urgently, her calmness was getting on my nerves.
"Well everyone said that there's a student that got kidnapped and I figured it was Ginny"
"Why would you think that?"
"Because she told me"
"WHAT?" I asked too loudly "What did she tell you?" I asked again lowering my voice.
"She said that if the Slytherins heir takes someone, it's going to be her"
"And you didn't question that?!"
"No, I didn't, maybe I should have, I just figured that the Nargles had gotten to her head"
"The what? Look I really don't have time for this, do you have any Idea where she might be?"
"I don't know for certain, but I was going to look around the lake, that was her favourite spot"
"Fine, I'll come with you," I said, grabbed her hand and hurried outside.
"Why are you looking for her?" Asked Luna. "What do you mean, why? I want to make sure she's safe" I said as we were reaching the lake, I wondered why no one stopped us, we weren't exactly quiet and we were taking the most direct paths, on normal days we would have definitely bumped into Filch or one of the faculty, but I figured they must be all putting in last efforts for finding the chamber of secrets in hope that the school doesn't have to close.
"But I thought you hated her" answered Luna.
"I don't hate her, we just don't get along, that doesn't mean I want her hurt, besides, how did you even know about that?" We had reached the lake, it was almost the middle of summer, but the wind was blowing almost as strong as the fog in my brain.
"she told me," said Luna a little louder through the wind,
"she told you I hate her?" I asked as we started looking around the lake.
"She used to tell me how you don't like her around because you think she's pathetic and shy and you don't like the fact that she likes Harry"
I stopped running around the lake.
"That's not...I don't care that...I"
it seemed like my mind controlled my stamina and right now I was all out, I knew how I felt about Ginny was completely unreasonable, but I always assumed it was requited, she must have hated me as much, my mind was starting to wander and the guilt was making its way up my throat to suffocate me, I sat down on the ground, I was shaking, whether from my thoughts, the cold or my tiredness I didn't know, I had to stop.
"Well, she's not here" I said as the wind eased a little, I didn't hold hope that she'd be here, it was a very long shot, but I was still disappointed, Luna sat down next to me.
"She'll be okay" The way she said it, she didn't sound like she was reassuring me, she was certain of it, she said it the way someone says "The weather is nice today"
"How do you know?" I asked.
"I just do come on, let's keep looking" She got up and offered me her hand, I didn't understand, there was no point, any logical person would have to admit that Ginny was most likely dead by now, and if she wasn't, the chance that we would save her by running around school was non-existent, but Luna Lovegood was definitely not a logical person and Apparently neither am I because I took her hand and we started towards the school again.
"When Ginny told you she would be the one to be kidnapped, did she mention anything about her diary" I asked Luna as we made our way back.
"No," said Luna simply, I couldn't decide if the conversations with her were frustrating or calming me exactly, but I was secretly glad I had someone with me right now.
"But, there was like a week in February where Ginny didn't have her diary," said Luna in thought "We used to spend our time by the lake after potions class, she used to just write in it while I read the Quibbler, but she didn't have it this time, we sat and talked, it was nice"
Somehow, Luna's dreamy voice got me to realize where we should look next, Harry said that they found the diary in moaning Myrtle's toilet, what exactly my brother and his best friend were doing in a girl's toilet I don't want to know, but if the diary was actually Ginny's, that means she got rid of it there.
"Come on Luna, I know where we should look" I said, grabbed her hand and started running through the halls again, it was still a long shot, I knew that, but it was the best I could do, I wasn't going to let my thoughts win and for some reason I felt that if Luna believes Ginny is still alive, then she is.
we kept running until our luck ran out, "STOP, what are you doing here"
I am the stupidest person alive, I hadn't even noticed that we'd have to pass by the hospital wing on our way, I had led both me and Luna into a trap, Madam Pomfrey looked like she wanted to kill someone, and her eyes looked red from tiredness or possibly anger, but I choose to fixate on the positive.
"Oh hello, Madam Pomfrey, we are looking for ow why are you stepping on my feet?" Said Luna as I was trying to silence her, I racked my brain for an excuse as to why we were out, but before I could stutter any half-formed lie Madam Pomfrey interrupted me, "I don't care what you two are doing out here, you're going to go back to your houses right now, all the professors are busy that's why I'm stuck doing the potion alone" she said, her voice full of fury, she looked so tired, her eyes were red from lack of sleep, her hair was fuzzy and coming out of its bun, she looked like she was close to tears, "wait no, I can't escort you back I'm too busy and it's too dangerous for you too to get back alone" she put her hands over her face, "just stay here, you better hope the school does close because if it doesn't, you two will be in so much trouble" she said and led us to the infirmary full of petrified students, she started fussing over the potion and talking to herself, remembering ingredients and steps, we still stood by the door, it looked like she instantly forgot about us, Luna was standing next to me with her usual dreamy smile on her face, "oi, Luna" I whispered.
"Why are you whispering" she said, I was relieved she had the common sense to at least be quiet.
"Because I don't want her to hear us, listen, we have to get out of here and keep looking for Ginny"
"Don't you think we should help her?"
"What?! No, Luna, we have to keep looking for Ginny, who knows what happened to her by now"
"We have nothing to do, Emma, we don't know where to look and we keep making up places to feel like we're doing something, we're holding on to delusion"
Oh god, Luna Lovegood was telling me that I'm delusional, I'll say that again, LUNA LOVEGOOD was telling ME that I was delusional.
"You're the one who said you believe she's okay," I said frustrated.
"Because I believe she's okay, I also believe there's nothing we can do, Ginny's tough, I trust her"
"Well I don't, she's not tough, she's shy and weak and she's going to get herself killed"
"So she was right, you don't like her"
"That's not the point, Luna, I have to-"
"Emma, listen, some things are just not logical, I believe Ginny is going to be okay, I'm not asking you to understand it, I'm asking you to believe it" I stared at her, I was more terrified than I've ever been, nothing made sense, I wasn't ready to let that go, I wasn't ready to let her die and live with my guilt forever, I know how selfish that might sound, fine, I know that is selfish, but I was terrified of my mind, I wouldn't be able to live with my self.
"Trust me, Ginny would've" I was still terrified, but I figured I should at least do something with it.
"Fine" I said then raised my voice, "Madam Pomfrey, how can we help?"
Doing something made me feel the slightest bit better, Madam Pomfrey looked like she was going to cry when we offered help, the potion was complicated and she had to redo nourishing spells on all petrified students (and cats) every three hours; to keep them alive. As the potion is very complicated, she has no time to stop the process and redo the spell, especially since every petrified person has a different timeline for the nourishing spells. I started chopping the mandrake roots into even pieces while Luna stirred the potion clockwise, to give Madam Pomfrey a chance to redo Penelope Clearwater's spell. Luna openly showed her displease by the way mandrakes are treated, she kept saying, "If they scream then they're alive, you can't just chop them, the potion can definitely have something to replace them" I ignored her. We kept working on the potion for what seemed like hours, when I finally glanced at the clock on the wall, I realized, it actually had been hours. I kept praying Ginny would be okay, there was still the tiniest voice of reasons in me telling me that it was impossible, but I ignored it like I had been all night, something in me believed that if Luna said she was okay then she was. And yes, I know that's the same Luna that thinks some wolves turn into humans on the full moon, but somehow I trusted her on that.
I risked a glance out of the window while taking a second to catch my breath, the last thing for the potion to be done was to expose it to the first strand of sunlight of the day, we had to hurry up, I whipped my forehead with my sleeve and started preparing the very last ingredients. Pomfrey had set an alarm for the potion to start simmering, the last ingredients were in we just had to wait the last few minutes and then we could wake them, I sat on the floor next to Hermione's bed, I stared at the opened door of the infirmary wondering if any of the professors' efforts was effective in finding the chamber of secrets when I spotted Mr and Mrs Weasley making there way towards the infirmary, my mind started jumping to conclusions and wondering where did they find Ginny's body, before realizing that she was right there between the two of them! I raced to them.
"Ginny, what happened, are you okay? You're okay right?" Even as I said it I knew she wasn't, she was crying, her whole face was almost as red as her hair and full of tears and sweat, her school uniform was tattered and shaggy, and her hair was dusty and everywhere, but she was alive, that's what's important, she's okay, she's alive.
She seemed to cry more when she saw me, so I took a step back and let her sit down with her parents for a while. The alarm ticked, the potion bubbled and turned faint green, and it was finally done, "can you two start bottling it as I get Weasley a calming draught?" Asked Madam Pomfrey, Luna and I nodded and started putting the potion into five bottles and a dropper for Mrs Norris after we were done, Luna rushed to Ginny's side and hugged her, I took one of the bottles and started waking Colin.
The petrified students slowly woke up one by one, I almost cried when Sarah started stirring, they all had headaches, and some of them still had one or two paralyzed limbs, but they were slowly healing, I kept glancing in Ginny's direction she couldn't seem to meet my eyes, she had stopped crying, her parents left after making sure she's okay and she just sat holding her hot chocolate and quietly talking to Luna, I still didn't know what happened or how did she survive but I couldn't have been more glad to see her okay.
Hermione had freaked out when she gained consciousness, she said something about basilisks and pipes which sent Ginny into another fifteen minutes of sobbing. I helped Sarah out of bed while Madam Pomfrey repaired the damage caused by staying static for too long, she hugged me and then rushed to Ginny's side too. As I was helping Justin, I heard a great deal of noise outside, I thought that was weird given that it was almost 2 am until Professor McGonagall dropped by the infirmary and informed us that we would be having a feast to celebrate the end of the attacks. When I heard that, I instantly looked at Ginny, she met my eyes for a fraction of a second and then looked away, her ears turning red, I didn't want her to start crying again, so I made a mental note to interrogate Harry about it. How do I know he was involved you ask? Well, this was a major event that included danger and a possibility of death, of course, he had a part in it.
When all of the petrified students were awake and healthy, Madam Pomfrey let us join the feast with everyone else, after giving Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seventy-five points each as a reward for my and Luna's help, which put Ravenclaw in the lead, but that was okay (skipping over the inferior unimportant fact that we broke curfew), we all went except for Ginny who was going to spend the night there.