CHAPTER 3: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Ginny blushed when she saw Harry Potter at her family's breakfast table, let out a squeal, and ran off in embarrassment. It couldn't be any other way, after all, all her life she had heard about him, Percy even read her at night the complete book of The Adventures of the Boy Who Lived.

Even when she was even younger, she pretended to marry him.

Those days were a martyrdom, whenever she was next to him, she couldn't help but make blunders, Ginny used to throw things away every time Harry walked into the room where she was once she even stuck her elbow in the butter when he asked her if she was also going to Hogwarts that year. And Harry always pretended he hadn't seen her so as not to embarrass her. But her twin brothers teased her, and Ron had an arrogant smile.

She cowered when she saw it, and couldn't believe it from herself. She could dominate even the twins, who stole the brooms at night and flew away from her parents.

The letters from Hogwarts arrived and Ginny almost jumped with excitement and hugged Percy with kisses on his cheek.

When they all went together to Diagon Alley, they felt a great deal of anguish when they lost Harry for several minutes. She also felt so embarrassed every time they walked into a store and her mother suffered and chose the oldest and cheapest to save, all observed by Harry, who didn't dare look them in the eye when that happened.

They were met by a girl and her parents, who, to Ginny's horror, rushed at Harry and hugged him. She almost wanted to cry and drag her by the hair away from him, but she calmed down when she saw that Harry was extremely uncomfortable and didn't reciprocate, and the girl quickly let go of him and hugged Ron as well.

After that, her mom allowed them to separate and took Ginny alone to a clothing store to her surprise.

"Honey, I'm so sorry you have to wear your brothers' robes and shirts, I'll adjust them to fit you perfectly." Her mom said sadly and Ginny reacted immediately, she never wanted to see her mom sad.

"Don't worry Mummy, I'm fine with those clothes, it doesn't bother me." She said immediately, which brought a smile to her mother's face.

"You're such a good girl, my love, anyway, there are clothes that your brothers can't give you." Mrs. Weasley took her daughter's hand and led her to the underwear section. "You need proper underwear, skirts for your uniform, some socks and shoes, I set aside money for this, so don't worry, it will be new, just check the prices well when you see something you like."

They had a great time together, shopping for nice new clothes, it was one of the best moments Ginny remembered. She was so happy, and when they were reunited with her siblings in the bookstore, she was dragged to see Gilderoy Lockhart, for whom her parents had spent a lot on books for school, she didn't want him to be the new professor at Hogwarts. As she analyzed this thought, she was surprised: How did she know she was the new teacher?

When Harry entered, he was also dragged into the crowd, but by Mr. Lockhart, who practically forced him to take a picture with him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said aloud, calling for silence with a wave of his hand. "This is a great moment! The ideal time for me to announce something that I have kept secret until now! When young Harry walked into Flourish and Blotts today, he was only thinking of buying my autobiography, which I shall be very glad to give him." The crowd applauded again.

"He didn't know," Lockhart went on, shaking Harry so hard that his glasses slipped to the tip of his nose, "That he was soon going to get a lot more from me than my book The Enchanter. Harry and his schoolmates will be here to be with me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride to announce that this September I will be the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Magic!"

The crowd applauded and cheered the wizard, and Harry was presented with the complete works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering a little under the weight of the books, he made his way from Gilderoy's table, where the public's attention was focused, to the back of the shop, where Ginny waited by her new cauldron.

"You can have it." Harry stammered, putting the books in the cauldron. "I'll buy mine... "

"Do you like it, huh, Potter? " Said a voice Ginny didn't recognize. She turned around and found a blond boy with a contemptuous air of contempt "The famous Harry Potter. Not even in a bookstore can you stop being the protagonist?"

"Leave him alone, he didn't look for it!" Ginny replied, it was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at the brat.

"Potter, you have a girlfriend!" He said, slurring his words. Ginny turned red as Ron and Hermione approached, carrying piles of Lockhart's books.

"Ah, it's you!" Ron said, looking at the blond as one looks at a piece of gum that has stuck to the sole of one's shoe. "Are you surprised to see Harry here, huh? "

"I'm not so surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," replied the blond boy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for those books."

Ron turned as red as Ginny. He put the books down in the cauldron and went to him, but Harry and Hermione grabbed him by the jacket.

"Ron!" Dad said, struggling his way through Fred and George. "What are you up to? Let's go outside, you can't be here."

"Why, whoa, it's Arthur Weasley himself! "

A man just as blond as the brat who had embarrassed her, took his, probably son, by the shoulder and looked with the same look of contempt as he did.

"Lucius," Dad said, greeting him coldly, she had never heard that tone from him.

"A lot of work in the Ministry, I've been heard," said the unpleasant gentleman. "I guess at least you'll get paid overtime, right? "

He walked over to Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a very old, tattered copy of the Beginner's Guide to Transformation from among Lockhart's new books. "Not," he corrected. "Dear friend, what's the use of dishonoring the name of a magician if you don't even get paid well for it?"

"We have a different idea of what dishonors the wizard's name, Malfoy," Dad replied, at least now Ginny knew his last name and realized who they were.

"It's obvious," said Malfoy, glancing sideways at Hermione's parents, who were looking at him apprehensively, "From the company you frequent, Weasley. I thought you couldn't sink any lower."

Then Ginny's cauldron leaped through the air with a metallic crash; Dad threw himself at Mr. Malfoy, and he went backward against a shelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks fell on their heads.

Fred and George were yelling, "Come on, Dad!" and Mom would say, "No, Arthur, no!" The crowd retreated in disarray, knocking over other shelves in turn.

"Gentlemen, please, please!" An employee shouted. And then, louder than the other voices, it was heard: "Enough, gentlemen, enough!"

Hagrid waded through the river of books to get closer to them. In an instant, he separated the two men. The first had a split lip, and the second had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Inedible Mushrooms. Mr. Malfoy still held the old book on transformation in his hand.

He handed it to Ginny, with a strange twinkle in his eye that she couldn't identify. "Here, child, have your book, your father has nothing better to give you."

Getting rid of Hagrid, who was grabbing his arm, he beckoned to his son and they left the bookstore.

Hagrid pulled them out while Mom angrily scolded Dad, "What a good example for your children, fighting in public! What must Gilderoy Lockhart have thought?"

"He was delighted," Fred said. "Didn't you hear it when we were leaving the bookstore? he asked the reporter from Daily Prophet if he could include the fight in the report. He said it was all advertising."

Tempers had calmed down by the time the group reached the chimney of the Leaky Cauldron, where they returned to the Burrow using the flu powder. Before that, they said goodbye to the Grangers, who left the bar through the other door, and into the Muggle street on the other side.

o-o-o-o

When Ginny found the black book among her things she was surprised, it was something of good quality, black leather with gold engraving, something they could not afford to buy. It crossed her mind that perhaps during the fight he had accidentally slipped into her cauldron and almost got up to go hand it over to her parents to return it to the store.

However, when she looked at it, she saw that it had a name written on the back cover and realized that it was something second-hand, she smiled to herself and thought that her mother had given it to her, or maybe Harry, she thought blushing.

She began to write;

August 10, 1992

Dear Diary

I'm Ginny Weasley, this year will be my first year at Hogwarts and I'm so excited...

As she thought about what else to write, Ginny watched in amazement as the ink disappeared from the paper, she was disappointed for a moment, she had been given a broken diary. But she was surprised when words written in elegant handwriting began to appear.

o-o-o-o

Molly was so excited, that day her adored daughter turned eleven years old, she had almost two years of happiness and peace, and her little girl was so happy. She got up early and started preparing the cake for the party they would have for her birthday.

In the afternoon everyone gathered around the dining room table and congratulated Ginny on her birthday, and she was so excited. Molly watched with grace her daughter's blush when Harry complimented her, she was so tender with that crush on the little one, she had never seen her behave like that.

The remaining month passed like a blur, and she watched as her daughter blossomed, glowing with happiness, and sometimes wondered why she was locked in her room all day while laughter came from there. But she didn't want to embarrass her, she was probably just too excited about little Harry, and that made her so happy. Anyway, she took some time alone with her daughter to explain the facts of life, soon her breasts would begin to grow and she will bleed, and Ginny had to be informed of everything.

Soon the day came when all their children would depart. Something stirred inside her at the thought that they would never be so hers after that day. Ginny will depart, and the Burrow would never be her home again, or of her older children. In the wizarding world when a child leaves for Hogwarts they never really come home. Oh of course they came back on holidays and vacations, but once they completed their magical education at the age of 18, they began to study some profession and became independent, many of the girls even got married as soon as they graduated.

Bill had left for Egypt as soon as he finished his last year at Hogwarts to study how to break curses, only returning to the Burrow when they did the ritual. Charlie only spent a couple of months with his parents and then went to Romania to study dragons, and she only saw him at Christmas last year. Percy was in his sixth year, and when he graduated, he would probably return to the Burrow for a few months, as he would pursue a career in the Ministry, but he would not return completely. And the twins ah, if they get to graduate, she will be happy.

That morning, it took them a long time to get going. They got up with the crowing of the rooster, but it seemed that there were still many things to be prepared. Molly, sulky, went to and fro like an exhalation, looking for a pair of socks as soon as a feather.

Some bumped up on the stairs, half-dressed, holding a piece of toast in their hands, and Arthur, carrying Ginny's trunk to the car across the yard, nearly broke his neck when he tripped over a clueless chicken.

When they were all finally in the car, Molly glanced into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were sitting comfortably next to each other, and Arthur said, "Muggles know more than meets the eye, don't they?"

She and Ginny were in the front seat, which had been lengthened to the point where it looked like a park bench.

"I mean, from the outside you'd never say the car is that spacious, right?"

Arthur started the car and they drove out of the yard. They had scarcely left the property when they had to turn around, for George had forgotten his box of Dr. Filibuster's flares. Five minutes later, the car had to stop at the corral so Fred could get in to get his broom. And when they were on the highway, Ginny yelled that she had forgotten her diary and they had to back up again.

When Ginny got into the car, after picking up the diary, they were very late and spirits were upset. Arthur looked first at his watch and then at his wife. "Molly, my dear... "

"No, Arthur."

"No one would see us. This button here is an invisibility trigger that I've installed. We would ascend in the air, then fly above the clouds and arrive in ten minutes. No one would notice…"

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight." They arrived at Kings Cross at a quarter to eleven.

Arthur sped across the street to get some carts to load the trunks, and they all ran into the station.

o-o-o-o

The beginning of the year at Hogwarts was exciting, even though the sorting hat had wanted to put her in Slytherin for some unknown reason, she eventually convinced it to leave her in Gryffindor.

She met her classmates and immediately became friends with Colin Creevey, he shared with her a great fondness for Harry Potter, and he even gave her a photo of Harry, unfortunately, he was accompanied by Lockhart, but it was nothing that a pair of scissors couldn´t solve.

And Tom... ah Tom, he was her best friend, she loved him so much. He understood her and he taught her so many new things, he even taught her an incantation, Muffliato, so that she would put around her bed when they talked and her laughter would not be heard by her roommates.

She could write to him for hours, she almost fell in love with him.

Slowly Ginny became weaker, she felt so tired all the time, that she began to have trouble with her homework and spent a long time in the infirmary for colds and diarrhea.

Everything changed on the night of October 31, when Mrs. Norris was petrified and the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

For a few days, the school talked about nothing but what had been done to Mrs. Norris. Filch kept the memory alive in the memory of everyone standing guard at the spot where she had been found as if he thought the culprit would return to the scene of the crime.

When Filch wasn't guarding the crime scene, he prowled the corridors red-eyed, lashing out at students who were not at fault and trying to punish them for imaginary faults like 'breathing too hard' or 'being content.'

Ginny was affected by Mrs. Norris's fate, she felt strangely responsible for it, she had even told Tom that. She couldn't remember where she was on Halloween.

"But you didn't know Mrs. Norris," Ron said to cheer her up. "The truth is, we're much better off without it." Ginny's lip quivered. "Things like this don't usually happen at Hogwarts. They'll catch whoever it was and throw him out of here immediately. I just hope it gives time to petrify Filch before he gets kicked out. That's a joke. " He added hurriedly, seeing Ginny turn white.

And everyone blamed Harry, Ginny was worried that he might be expelled, where would Harry go if he was expelled from Hogwarts? What if she had? Was it possible?

One day Percy found her crying because of the great guilt she felt, and could only mumble an excuse that she was afraid Harry would be expelled. Her brother hugged her comfortingly, telling her that Harry wouldn't do such a horrible thing and of course, he wouldn't be expelled.

When Harry was hurt in a Quidditch match, she made a supreme effort to go see him and leave him a chocolate without blushing. Supported by Colin, who was slowly becoming her best friend.

That day she even told Tom about him; she was excited because he was her first real friend. And Tom encouraged her and told her how happy he was for her, because if she was happy, he would be too, Ginny almost died reading those words and her heart beat madly.

She almost recovered from her weakness, but what followed took its toll on her.

News that Colin Creevey had been attacked and that he lay dead in the infirmary spread throughout the school on Monday morning. The atmosphere was filled with rumors and suspicions. The first graders moved around the castle in very compact groups, as if they were afraid of being attacked if they went alone.

Ginny was devastated, she couldn't bear to think about what had happened to Colin, she felt that it was her fault, that she had done it or provoked it.

It was so obvious how upset she was that even Fred and George tried to cheer her up. They took turns hiding behind the statues, disguised with skin, and scaring her away as she passed.

But they had to stop when Percy got fed up and told them he was going to write to their mother to tell her that Ginny had nightmares because of them. Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a market for talismans, amulets, and other protective gossip was taking place in the school.

The rumors about Harry continued and increased even more when he spoke in front of the whole school in Parseltongue. And then it happened again...

The double assault on Justin and Nearly Decapitated Nick turned what had been a panic into a real panic. Interestingly, it turned out to be the fate of Nearly Headless Nick that people were most concerned about. They asked each other what this could do to a ghost; What terrible power could affect someone already dead.

People rushed to book a place on the Hogwarts Express to return home for Christmas.

But when she spied on Harry, she found that he was glad that most of the people were leaving. He was sick of them being pushed aside when he was wandering through the corridors, as if they were going to grow fangs or spit venom; Fed up with others murmuring, pointing at him, and talking in low voices as he passed.

Fred and George, however, found it all very amusing. They met him and marched ahead of him through the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the heir of Slytherin, here comes the wicked sorcerer indeed... "

Percy strongly disapproved of this behavior. "It's no laughing matter," he said coldly.

"Get out of the way, Percy," Fred said. "Harry is busy."

"Yes, he's going to the Chamber of Secrets to have tea with his fanged servant," said George, laughing.

Ginny didn't find it funny either. "Oh, no!" She moaned every time Fred asked Harry who he planned to attack next, or when, upon meeting Harry, George pretended to protect himself from Harry with a large clove of garlic.

At last, the term ended, and a silence fell over the school as vast as the snow on the fields. More than gloomy, Ginny found it reassuring and was glad to be left alone with her family, Harry, and Hermione at Gryffindor Tower. She had preferred to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with her parents, as she was afraid that her mother would find out what was happening to her.

Percy only spent time with Ginny, while the rest of them played explosive snaps giving voices and not bothering anyone. Her brother had already told them in a presumptuous tone that he stayed at Christmas because it was the duty of a prefect to help teachers during difficult periods.

Christmas passed and the calm was gone. Tom ended up convincing her that Harry was the one who opened the Chamber, justified every blank moment she had in her memory, and even convinced her that the blood he found on the skirt of her uniform was a product of her menstruation, even though it hadn't even happened to her yet.

When Valentine's Day came, she watched in horror as someone had sent that old poem to Harry (she had written it long ago), and she blushed with anger, old feelings stirred within her, and at last, she woke up from the infatuation she was feeling for Tom and on an impulse threw the diary on the floor, while Harry and Draco fought in the hallway and the others cheered them on.

Finally, Percy put everyone in order, but when Ginny passed by Draco to enter the classroom, he shouted at her in disgust, "I think Potter didn't like your Valentine's Day greeting very much!"

Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. She was ashamed of herself.

As the days went by, she saw that Harry had the diary. And a terrible anxiety came over her, she needed to write on it, she went so far as to break into the boys' room and steal it.

She asked Tom's forgiveness and begged for his love, for his affection, for his attention. And he gave it to her, and she allowed herself to get lost again in that obtuseness in which he put her. She didn't even care when Ron and Harry's friend was petrified, it was probably as Tom told her, and that cow deserved it.

It was like this until the day when the mandrakes were ready for harvest, and all who were petrified would wake up.

That day she was in the girls' bathroom of Moaning Myrtle, and she felt weaker than ever, saw blood on her hands, and for the first-time heard Tom's voice.

"Damn, why can't I take your soul, what's protecting you?"

She was terrified, she fell to the floor in pain, she felt as if something wanted to come loose inside, and suddenly the screams of agony were heard, they seemed to come from the diary she was holding in her hands, and also from herself.

"Who could love you? Frigid bitch, the only good thing you have is your blood. You're too insignificant for Lord Voldemort to take you."

Ginny screamed in pain, and the newspaper shrieked as black smoke rose and consumed itself with howls of agony. She felt her hand red hot, consuming her flesh in agony, it was all over and Ginny was left lying on the floor, soaking wet, as she felt her mind open and her memories unblock.

The mark on her left hand looked like a horrific bleeding heart, it hurt so much, that she barely felt the pain in her abdomen when the cramps began.

And the blood gushed out for the first time.

English is not my first language, if you please you can correct the text.