Back to Ginny, a few months later.

GINNY IX

She woke up, not feeling rested at all. She had trouble sleeping ever since the day Hermione and that other student from Ravenclaw were Petrified. And when she managed to get some sleep, she made nightmares, horrible nightmares. She couldn't focus on what teachers were saying in class, and she couldn't focus on her homework outside classes either.

Ginny looked at her calendar. In three days, she would have her first exam, and she barely began to study at all. She rose from her bed and began to dress for the day. She yawned several times. She felt as if all the members of her body were tired. When she went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the glass, she saw how pale she was. Everyone, from her roommates and her brothers to her teachers, said she looked horrible. Madam Pomfrey gave her a potion to help her sleep. Apparently, Ginny wasn't the only one with that problem. But it barely helped at all.

Ginny sat on her bed after she was finished preparing for the day. Under the mattress, she felt the form of Tom's diary. She wanted to get rid of it, but with professors escorting them every time they left the common room, she couldn't find an opportunity. Even when they wanted to use toilets, they needed to be accompanied. Anyway, Ginny wasn't about to try again to get rid of the diary in a bathroom. The last time she tried, it ended up in Harry's hands. She had to find another way to get rid of it. Perhaps she could throw it in the lake and hope for the giant squid to eat it. She tried to burn it in the fireplace of the common room one night, when everyone had gone to bed, but she found the diary intact the day after, when she woke up early to make sure it was all consumed. She didn't know what to do in order to destroy it.

At the agreed hour, the Professor McGonagall came to escort them to the Great Hall. Ginny stayed in the back of the line, not talking to anybody. She sat as far away from Harry and her brothers since Hermione was Petrified. She felt ashamed for what happened, and she was also afraid that they might discover that it was her.

Conversations were going on around her. It had been three months since the last attack. Students had slowly gotten used to the new state of affairs at Hogwarts, although some grew impatient and wanted their freedom of movement back. In the Gryffindor Tower, a few brawls had almost started in the last month. Some students were on edge. Ginny was among them, but not for the same reasons. She was just eager to find a way to get rid of Tom's diary, which was in her bag right now. She was waiting for a solution to throw it somewhere it would be destroyed or where she would be sure he would never reappear.

"YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE." Professor McGonagall had stood up at the staff table. She still occupied her old seat, the one usually occupied by Albus Dumbledore being left empty. "I have good news."

The Great Hall immediately erupted as all students began to shout.

"Dumbledore's coming back?" Ginny yelled in hope with many others around her. She also hoped that Hagrid would be back soon. He had been very kind with her this year. It was her fault after all if Dumbledore and Hagrid were both gone.

"You've caught the heir of Slytherin?" a girl from Ravenclaw shrieked.

"Quidditch matches are back on?" Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, hopefully shouted.

"We can go to the bathroom alone now?" someone joked, but most students around looked at him queerly.

"Lucius Malfoy was fired from the Board of Governors?"

To Ginny's surprise, that last one came from a girl at the Slytherin table. Many of her comrades looked furious.

Questions and hopes travelled the Great Hall for quite some time. When the students had calmed down, McGonagall spoke.

"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

Ginny should have felt elated by the news. This nightmare was finally coming to an end. But... what if the students woke up and said it was her who attacked them? Ginny still kept hoping, somewhere, that she was innocent, but she didn't see any other explanation to the fact that she had no memories of where she was or what she was doing every time an attack happened. Would she be expelled? And what about Ron? Fred? George? Percy? Would they be in trouble? Would her parents also be in trouble? Could her father lose his job at the Ministry of Magic? And what about Harry? If they found the diary, and someone remembered Harry had it, he could be suspected as well? Many people did believe he was the heir of Slytherin after all.

She was twisting her hands, uncertain as to what she should do. Everyone looked so happy, relieved, except maybe a few people in Slytherin. And except herself. She looked at Ron and Harry. They looked happy as well. Of course, they were. Hermione would soon be revived. The people at Hufflepuff looked quite happy too. Justin Finch-Fletchley would be revived as well. Even Filch looked better, now that he knew Mrs Norris would be back soon. Ginny spotted the girl of Ravenclaw, Cho Chang, talking excitedly to the captain of their team. Their Beater would be back soon. Ginny should be happy too. Colin, her class comrade, and Nick would come back soon as well. But she wasn't. She felt so horrible, so bad, so selfish.

She watched Harry and Ronald speaking. She should tell them, at least. If she didn't tell a professor, she should tell them. Maybe they would be more understanding than the others. Filled with uncertainty and dread, her legs shaking, Ginny stood up and walked towards them. She sat next to Ron. She didn't think she would be able to speak if it was next to Harry that she sat.

"What's up?" Ron asked her. She thought she heard a hint of worry in his voice. She kept twisting her hands. How could she tell him this? She looked around. She didn't want anyone else hearing what she would tell them. "Spit it out," her brother added.

"I've got to tell you something," she muttered, keeping her eyes on the empty plate in front of her.

"What is it?" Harry asked very kindly, but she wished he didn't. She already struggled to talk to him in normal circumstances, and now wasn't any easier.

"What?" Ron asked on an insistent tone.

Ginny tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Her lips were quivering. She tried again, to no avail.

"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"

The questions Harry just whispered couldn't have made her panic more. He knew. He knew something. Ginny inhaled very sharply.

"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty."

It was the voice of Percy. Ginny jumped from her seat and ran away to the end of the table, as far away from Percy, Harry and Ron as she could. On her way, she looked very briefly at Percy's face. He looked gravely at her.

Ginny sat away from everyone. She was breathing heavily. She couldn't tell the truth in front of Percy. From the look on his face, she was afraid he might know something as well. And she should have known that Ron and Harry would suspect her. After the Christmas holidays, Ron asked her if she saw something strange the day the Hufflepuff student was Petrified. He said that the girl who found him thought she had seen Ginny nearby at the time. Ginny told Ron that she was in Transfiguration, and he didn't press forward other questions, but Ginny knew by this time that she was telling a lie. She knew that it was Transfiguration class at this hour, but she didn't remember at all being in the class when it happened.

Was everyone suspecting her already? If she really did all this, she only had a few hours left. Among the four students and the ghost who would be revived tonight, it was nearly impossible that none of them would have seen Ginny if it was her who did this. She had to get rid of the diary, today. Ginny seized her bag. It felt so heavy on her shoulder. She wanted to get rid of it. She wanted it out of her life, for good.

Ginny barely listened to what Professor Flitwick taught them in the Charms class. She struggled to succeed with the spell they were learning today. She struggled to even keep her eyes open during the class. At the end of it, Professor Flitwick came to see her.

"Miss Weasley, you don't look like you're doing well. Are you ill?"

Ginny had to provide a considerable effort to get up from her seat. "No... Professor Flitwick. I just... I haven't been... sleeping well... lately." She was taking huge breathings between her words. The professor looked very concerned at her.

"I think you should go to the hospital wing," he said. "It's on our way to your next class. I'll drop you there."

She wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the infirmary, but she didn't feel she had the energy to tell the professor. So she just followed the others, and once they were close to the infirmary, Professor Flitwick led her near the door, then went back to the other students.

Ginny approached the door slowly. She heard the sounds of the other students receding in the background. She felt so tired. Every step was taking its toll on her. Her bag felt like it weighed a ton. She was close to the door, and she extended her hand to seize the handle.

She had her back against a stony floor, and above her laid complete darkness. Ginny was breathing very quickly. Confused, she looked around.

Where was she? Wasn't she at the infirmary? All around her, rocky walls lit in a green gloom. She straightened up a little. All her body was hurting her. She put a hand on her neck and realized that her hair was wet. There was water all around her.

She had trouble focusing, but she saw a huge statue next to her. It was gigantic. It was that of a man with a long thin beard that fell on the end of his robes. Each one of his feet was at least twice Ginny's size. She didn't recognize the man this statue was representing, but he scared her. As she looked from his face to his feet, Ginny's eyes fell on Tom's diary. She looked around. Her bag wasn't here. There was only the diary. What was she doing here? And why was she here only with the diary? Ginny panicked. Her heart was running wild. She needed to get away from this place, away from the diary. She tried to stand up, but as she got onto her knees and tried to stand on her feet, she fell face first onto the marble floor.

Every movement she tried to do was excruciatingly painful. She tried to stand up again, with a result that was just as pathetic as the first attempt. She began to weep. She crawled forward, away from the statue, away from the diary. She had to get out of here. She wanted to go home. She wanted her parents, her brothers, her family. She advanced slowly, one step at a time, her hands and her knees scratching the hard surface of the floor.

There were two rows of high pillars, glowing green like the rest of the place, forming a long and deep corridor whose end Ginny couldn't see ahead of her. She went towards it, each step costing more, her vision becoming blurred by the tears that kept streaming from her eyes. She could distinguish serpents carved on the pillars, even from this distance and despite her limited vision. She squealed at every new effort she made to move forward. In the end, she couldn't do it anymore. She let herself drop on the floor, hitting her face hard against the stone. She screamed, but she felt so weak that it barely produced a sound.

She wanted to escape this place, to get far away from Tom's diary. She struggled to make any move now, but she still managed to turn her head enough to see the diary, only a few feet away from her. She barely made any distance despite all her efforts.

Her vision was becoming darker. It was then that the diary opened itself, and a light emerged from it. From the light came dark clouds that raised high above the diary. Ginny watched in shock and horror as the black vapor condensed, slowly taking a human shape.

A tall man now stood in its place, his back turned on her. He turned slightly on himself, so his side was visible to Ginny. His hair was pitch dark, his skin pale. He was looking at his hand, rubbed them together, then began to touch his face, his hair, his neck, his shoulders, his arms. Even from aside, and despite her vision continuing to diminish, Ginny could tell that he was contemplating himself.

He then turned further, facing Ginny, and seemed to realize her presence for the first time. A pair of very dark eyes looked at her. He was wearing the uniform of the Slytherin House, with the green badge displaying a snake. First, he looked at Ginny with interest, then he smirked.

"Thank you, Ginny."

She felt her last forces leaving her. Her head was against the floor again. She struggled to breath now. She felt very cold. She couldn't see anything now.

"Harry."

It was the last word she whispered before she lost consciousness.

I tried to describe how things would have fallen apart for Ginny the best I could.

And so begins the final act of the second book.

Please review

Next chapter: Ron