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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Action/Adventure Warnings: Disturbing Imagery Story is Complete Rating: PG Reviews: 160 Summary: Dumbledore is dead. Harry ran away from the Dursley's before getting his Hogwarts letter. Who will save the magical world now? Hitcount: Story Total: 85552; Chapter Total: 5276 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: Thanks to SIYE beta readers for checking and approving all the stories on this site. |
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The Weasleys went through their usual last-minute rush to Kings Cross and the Hogwarts Express. Ginny couldn't understand it; she had packed the day before and the boys were supposed to pack the night before. But they had to return to the Burrow several times to get things that Fred or George or Ron had forgotten. When they got to the train, Percy went to the front of the train where the prefects car was located, whilst the twins disappeared with their friend Lee Jordan. Ron found some friends too: a bushy haired girl, a round-faced boy, and a blonde girl. When Ginny tried to join them in their compartment, Ron said, "Go away Ginny! No one wants you here. Go find some first years to ride with." Ginny was so mad she almost used the bat-bogey hex on Ron, but instead she huffed away and wandered through the corridors until she found her friend Luna sitting by herself in a compartment. Soon they were joined by another first-year girl who introduced herself as Astoria Greengrass. "You look like the Wrackspurts have infested your brain, Ginny," said Luna. Astoria looked puzzled, but Ginny was used to her friend's eccentricities. "I am just mad at my git of a brother. He kicked me out of his compartment as if he is something special just because he is a second-year." "He's a boy," said Astoria. "What do you expect?" "I guess so," said Ginny. "But I only have brothers so I don't really know what sisters are like." Astoria looked out into the hallway to make sure no one is listening. "I have a sister and no brothers, and I suspect it isn't much better." "Maybe it's best to be an only child like Luna," said Ginny. "You have to put up with brothers and sisters," said Luna, "but I have to put up with Moon Frogs and Dabberblimps." "I can see where that would be a problem, Luna," said Ginny, whilst Astoria tried to suppress a laugh. "So, what house do you think you will be sorted into?" asked Astoria. "Both my parents were Ravenclaws, so I'll probably be one too," said Luna. "Everyone in my family has been in Gryffindor, but after the way my brother treated me today, I don't want to be in the same house as him." "Well, I'll probably be in Slytherin," said Astoria. "If you're in Slytherin, we could be roommates." Sure enough, the Sorting Hat put Astoria in Slytherin and Luna in Ravenclaw. Ginny was the last to be sorted. "Oh, another Weasley, hmm?" Ginny heard when the hat was put on her head. "You are certainly brave enough for Gryffindor, but you are also crafty enough for Slytherin, and smart enough for Ravenclaw. Based on what you are thinking about your brother, though, you wouldn't do well in Hufflepuff." "Put me anywhere but in Gryffindor," Ginny urged. If she was in Ravenclaw, she could be Luna's roommate. "Really?" said the hat. "Well, then it must be SLYTHERIN!" he shouted aloud. "Slytherin?" yelled Ron. "I win," said Fred to George. "You owe me five Sickles." Ginny walked over and sat down at the Slytherin table between Astoria and a blonde girl who might have been her older sister. Across the table, Draco Malfoy leered at her. She looked down to where the older Slytherins were seated, and most of the boys also had leers or sneers on their faces. Some of the girls had looks of disgust as if she had just crawled out from under a dead Kneazle. "Merlin," she said aloud as Astoria reassuringly patted her on the back. "What have I gotten myself into?" After dinner, Ginny followed the Slytherin prefects to the common room, which featured a large, stone fireplace over which hung a huge painting depicting a man wielding a gleaming sword encrusted with emeralds fighting a host of opponents. "This is Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four, who defeated every enemy he ever fought," the male prefect said proudly. Ginny learned that she would, indeed, share a room with Astoria. When she unpacked her trunk, she rediscovered the diary so she decided to write in it before going to sleep. "Dear Diary, My brother is a git," she wrote. After a moment, the words disappeared. "That's pretty useless," she thought. But then, other words appeared. "Hello, I am sorry your brother is a git. What did he do?" "He refused to let me sit with him and his friends on the Hogwarts train," Ginny wrote. She wondered if this book was charmed like the mirrors at home to make fun of people or turn their questions back at them. "Are you a student at Hogwarts? I once went to Hogwarts. What house are you in?" No, she thought, this book must do more than just repeat people's questions. "I am in Slytherin, but all my brothers are in Gryffindor." "Slytherin and Gryffindor are both good houses," said the diary. "My name is Tom. What is your name?" "I'm Ginny Weasley," she wrote, yawning. "It is nice to meet you, Tom, but it's late and I have to go to sleep." "Good night, Ginny Weasley." Ginny blew out the candle on her night table and went to sleep. The diary lay quiet, but inside, a piece of Voldemort's soul was elated that it would finally have a chance to escape. Professor Snape gave Ginny her schedule at breakfast the next morning. She had potions and defense in the morning and charms in the afternoon. As soon as she walked into the potions classroom, she could hear the Gryfiindor first years who would share the class with her housemates whisper about her being the first Weasley in history to be sorted into Slytherin. Some of them seemed even more suspicious of her than they were of people like Astoria, whose families had been Slytherin for generations. "I heard her brother Ron say that she was always a sneaky sort," one of them said, confirming her belief that Ron was a git. When Professor Snape swept in, he asked if anyone in the class knew where a Bezoar came from. Ginny raised her hand; her mum always kept a Bezoar on hand in case anyone in her family was poisoned. But instead Snape called upon a timid-looking Gryffindor girl who didn't even have her hand raised. When she couldn't answer, Snape took five points from Gryffindor. After that, the professor told the class to make a simple Pepperup Potion. The directions were on the board, but Ginny hardly needed them because she had watched her mum make the potion about once a week. When she handed in the potion at the end of class, Snape just stared at her as if he was trying to read her mind. Her defense class, which took place with the Ravenclaws, was more frustrating. Ginny had heard a rumor that Professor Flamel was something like 650 years old, but he didn't look much older than her father. He gave a lecture about minor hexes that didn't even mention her favorite, the bat bogey hex, but he said that a simple shield spell, Protego, could defend against many of them. His goal this term, he said, was for every first-year student to be proficient at Protego. He paired up the students and asked them to shoot Rictusempras at each other so they could practice Protego. Ginny could do the tickling hex, but she couldn't get a decent shield. Her partner, Luna, was able to defend against Rictusempra after a couple of tries, but Ginny ended up giggling throughout the class. "Don't worry if you haven't been able to cast the shield today," said Flamel. "By the end of the term, you all should be able to shield against all but the most powerful curses." But Ginny, who was not used to failure, was worried anyway. After lunch, the same thing happened in charms. Professor Perspicacity started the class on a few simple cleaning charms, which Luna and a few other students were easily able to cast. Ginny, however, could barely get a response from her wand. That night, after dinner, she opened her diary and wrote, "Dear Tom, I had a hard time getting my wand to work in Charms and Defense today." "I am sorry to hear that, Ginny. Did you buy the wand from Ollivander's?" "No, it was my grandmother's wand." "That's the problem. You need a wand that is just for you. Mr. Ollivander once told me that 'the wand selects the wizard,' or the witch in this case." "But we can't afford a new wand for every member of the family, and even if we could, Ollivander's wand shop is too far away for me to go to get a new wand." "I think I have a solution for you, Ginny. But I am going to have to show you rather than tell you. Is that alright with you?" "Yes." The pages of the diary suddenly flipped forward and she briefly saw the date, "November 15, 1943." Then the room she was in seemed to transform itself into a classroom. She was sitting in a seat next to a handsome boy with black hair. "Tom? Are you Tom?" But he ignored her. Then someone, apparently a professor she didn't recognize, spoke at the front of the room. "Class, today we are going to learn a spell that will allow you to double the power of any other spell. This is a NEWT-level spell and you will probably be tested for it on your NEWTs. The incantation is 'Geminus,' and there is no particular wand movement. If you immediately follow this up with another spell, the next spell will be doubled in power. Mr. Riddle, would you step up and demonstrate?" The boy sitting next to her stood up and walked over to the professor. "Now, cast a simple 'Lumos' spell." Riddle cast the spell and his wand lit up. "Now, cast a 'Geminus' followed by 'Lumos.'" Riddle said the two spells, and his wand lit up so intensely that Ginny, and most of the rest of the class, had to shield their eyes. "'Geminus' is one of the easiest spells to cast silently, so after you have successfully done it once, I want each of you to practice doing it silently," said the professor. Ginny watched as Riddle and each of the other students practiced the spell. She noticed that Riddle was the first to succeed in doing it silently. "Five points to Slytherin, Tom," the professor said quietly. "Class is dismissed." Suddenly, Ginny was back in the common room. Though the lesson she had just witnessed lasted close to an hour, none of her housemates had moved from where they were before Tom had taken her to his classroom. Apparently, she could learn an entire lesson in just a few moments. The next day, she had no problem with any of her spells. At first, she whispered "Geminus" before incanting a spell, but soon she was able to do it silently. That night, she asked Tom to let her view all of the classes he took in his first year. She was able to view a week's worth of classes in just a few minutes. More than a week at a time felt overwhelming, but she thought she might be able to do two weeks a day on weekends. At this rate, she would finish all seven years of school before the end of her first year. For his part, Tom was happy to show her his classes. He figured that the more time she spent with him, the easier it would be to possess her when he was ready to take control of her body and soul. On Friday, at the end of her third day of classes, Ginny walked from the Great Hall to the Slytherin common room after dinner when someone grabbed her and pulled her into an empty classroom. Draco Malfoy sat in the teacher's chair in the room with his feet up on the desk. She looked behind her to see that Gregory Goyle had pulled her into the room and still had her robes in his fist. Vincent Crabbe also stood behind her to make sure she couldn't escape. "Welcome to Slytherin, Weasley," said Malfoy with a sneer. Crabbe and Goyle both snickered. "We just want to make sure you know that Slytherin is a traditional house. That means that the boys get to do what they want, and the girls do what they're told." Goyle punctuated this statement by slapping her bum. Ginny pulled herself out of Goyle's reach. "Then that's a tradition we're going to have to change," she said. Draco jumped up, with his chair tipping over backwards, and marched over to stand nose-to-nose with Ginny. "You better watch yourself, Weasley," he said. "Some traditions never change." She pulled out her wand and performed a bat-bogey hex on his conveniently placed nose. She had never done one with the help of Geminus before, and the results were spectacular: the bats coming out of Draco's nose were twice as big as when she cast the hex on Ron, and Draco fell on the floor screaming. Ginny then whipped around and pointed her wand at Goyle's nose. "Do you want to join him?" He and Crabbe backed away, shaking their heads in fear. "Then stay out of my way." When she got back to the common room, she sat next to Astoria and quietly asked her about Slytherin traditions. Astoria confirmed that her sister had told her that Slytherin girls were vulnerable to the boys' demands. "I have a little hex I'd like to teach you," Ginny whispered. "One of my brothers taught it to me, and I think we should teach it to all the other Slytherin first-year girls." * * * * * Lucius Malfoy and several officials with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Apparated near the Burrow and walked up to the front door. Arthur Weasley opened the door in response to Lucius' knock. "Lucius," said Arthur was a hint of disdain. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" "Business, I am afraid," said Lucius. "These officials are with the new Office for the Protection of Endangered Magical Species." The officials began tramping through Molly's garden. "I am saddened to say that they have received notice that someone here has been mistreating garden gnomes--removing them from their habitat and flinging them into another field. Such a shameful way to be treating an endangered species. I do hope that you have not been a part of this and that you support the Ministry's campaign to protect endangered magical species." "Of course I support such protection. But these are just ordinary gnomes," said Arthur with a puzzled look. "I happen to know that you have similar gnomes on your property." One of the other officials came over and whispered something in Lucius' ear. "Oh, these are anything but ordinary," said Malfoy. "The gnomes on my property are the common English garden gnome, found throughout much of Britain. But the gnomes on your property are the rare Devon subspecies of gnome, found only in a few valley bottoms in Devon County. The English gnome is light brown with dark brown stripes, whilst the Devon subspecies is, well, dark brown with light brown stripes. The difference is obvious, at least to experts, which these officials are." Arthur thought he heard one of the "experts" snigger. "The stories we heard appear to be true," said the official who whispered in Malfoy's ear. "The gnomes in this garden show clear signs of abuse, as if someone had spun them over their heads and flung them as far as they could." "We can't have them in our garden," said Arthur. "They would eat all our vegetables." "Gardens are their natural habitat," said the somewhat puffed-up official. "The gnomes have evolved over hundreds and perhaps thousands of years to become dependent on human gardens." "Tch tch," said Lucius. "I'm afraid the Office for the Protection of Endangered Magical Species will have to serve you a notice to cease and desist from all activities that could harm these rare gnomes." "What does that mean? That we have to stop gardening?" "Oh no, nothing like that. In fact, you will have to keep your garden in good shape to provide this subspecies with the habitat it needs. However, all other activities on the property will have to end, at least until we can be certain that the species has recovered." "But we live here!" "Not anymore you don't. Don't worry, the Ministry will provide you with alternative housing--at a reasonable rent, of course." "You can't take our property!" "Oh, the Ministry is not taking your property. You can still use it for whatever you want as long as it is compatible with the gnomes. I am sure that, with careful Ministry supervision, you will be able to visit here every Saturday so that you can tend the garden and maintain optimal gnome habitat." "Under this cease-and-desist order," said the puffed-up official, "you have until 5:00 pm tomorrow to move your place of residence off the property. When you are ready to go, just Floo the Office of Relocation and someone there will take you to your new home." Monday found Ginny entering the Great Hall for lunch when Ron bumped her shoulder as he hurried in. "Ron!" she yelled. "Why are you saying such bad things about me to your housemates?" "Stay away from me, Ginny," he sneered. "I can't be seen with any dirty Slytherins." Ginny got mad and shot him a double jelly-legs curse, causing him to fall over. "Ten points from Slytherin," said Percy, who she didn't notice was right behind her, "and you'll serve a detention tonight with Mr. Filch." That made her mad at Percy, too, but the detention was worth it to get revenge on Ron, who used to be her best friend, for mistreating her. That night, Mr. Filch directed her to polish the trophies in the trophy room. She wasn't allowed to use magic, which she didn't mind because her mum never let her use magic to clean at home. The brass polish Mr. Filch made her use had a funny smell. As she worked her way through one of the trophy cases, she saw a few names she recognized: James Potter, for example, had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Then she found a plaque awarded to Tom Marvolo Riddle for special service to the school in 1943. She wrote the name down on a piece of parchment, thinking she would commend Tom for his service the next time she wrote in the diary. When she returned to her common room, she overheard Marcus Flint, a seventh-year, talking about his Ancient Runes class. "Runes are often scrambled to make them hard to read," he told one of his classmates. "You can use the 'Anagramus' charm to unscramble them." For a lark, Ginny touched her wand to the parchment with Tom's full name and whispered "Geminus Anagramus." The letters moved around to read, "I am Lord Voldemort." Ginny was so surprised that she dropped her wand and jumped out of her chair, knocking it over backwards. "What's wrong, Ginny?" asked Astoria. "Oh, nothing. I mean, I must have miscast a spell because it gave me a small sting." She sat down, crumpled up the parchment, and threw it in the fireplace. So the Tom in her diary would become, or had become, the Dark Lord who had killed so many people, including her mother's beloved brothers and Harry Potter's parents. Ginny would have to think about that for a bit. In the meantime, she decided not to mention to Tom that she knew his full name, or even open the diary for one of her weeklong lessons tonight. The next evening, she did open her diary for another week's worth of lessons. When Tom asked why she hadn't written in the diary the night before, she just said she was in detention and went right to bed afterwards. She wondered to herself if the Tom of her diary perhaps hadn't become evil yet, or if he was going to try to get her to do something that could harm others. To answer this question, she left the Slytherin common room a short time before curfew and found an empty classroom. After making sure she was quite alone, she called for Dobby. "Ginny Weasey calls Dobby!" he said popping in front of her. "My master doesn't need me right now so I is come right away." "Thank you Dobby," said Ginny. "Do you remember my order to you not to say anything that would make you punish yourself?" Dobby solemnly nodded his head. "Without violating that order, can you tell me if the horrible things that are going to happen to Hogwarts this year have anything to do with this diary?" she said, showing him Riddle's book. Dobby took a step back, eyes wide in fear, but nodded his head slowly. "That's what I thought. With your help, nothing bad is going to happen." "What does Ginny Weasey want Dobby to do?" "Nothing more right now, but I may call you again soon." "Dobby is ready, Ginny Weasey." He popped away. * * * * * Devon was enjoying a St. Martin's summer as Harry carefully stirred the soupy mixture of herbs, animal parts, and minerals in a crude iron cauldron that was propped up over a fire by several sticks. "The goblins are unmatched in metalwork and have great magic as well," Torino had told him, "but no one makes potions as well as centaurs." Making potions, Harry learned, was a lot more difficult than making soup in the Dursley's kitchen. First, he had to collect the ingredients, some of which were only available during certain times of the year or in certain parts of the country. He had spent many days accompanying Torino on collection trips and trading things that they had collected in abundance with other centaurs who had things that were not available in Devon. Some days they traveled many miles to the north, east, or west, but never went south. When Harry asked why, Torino just said it was too dangerous to go into the southern forests. After collecting ingredients, he had to prepare them, often chopping them into tiny pieces or grinding them into powder. His goblin-made knife came in handy for chopping, and he ground ingredients using two rocks as a mortar and pestle like one he had seen his aunt use in her Little Whinging kitchen. Storing the ingredients and the potions they made was a problem for the centaurs, who did not have the technology to make glass or metal containers. Some of the centaur families had a few containers that had been discarded by humans, likely non-magical humans if the remains of their labels were any indication. Until Harry arrived, these containers were treated as precious commodities. Harry built a small forge and turned some scrap metal that had been left by someone, probably non-magical humans, into cauldrons for mixing potions and various sizes of containers for potions ingredients. The containers had tight-fitting lids so the ingredients would stay fresh for a long time. He gladly gave containers to any centaurs who asked for them. In return, they insisted on giving him potions ingredients that he and Torino did not already have, as well as other things such as arrows and a bow that one of the centaurs had made just for him. All of these trades had made Torino's family--which Harry belatedly realized was his family--one of the wealthiest in the troop. The potions he was learning from Torino did many things. Some gave you energy when you were tired; others helped you sleep when you were nervous. Some helped heal burns, cuts, and other minor wounds. Others cured upset stomachs, headaches, and other pains. Harry soon learned that a potion that helped a centaur didn't always work for a human, and for those that did, the dosage Harry needed tended to be much smaller than would be taken by a full-grown centaur. Other potions were more intriguing. The centaurs were very interested in predicting the future, and sometimes took special potions to put them in a trance to help them do so. Each centaur family had their own formula for divination potions, which they jealously guarded. On clear nights, Torino tried to teach Harry how to read the stars. Torino and the other centaurs often commented on how bright the constellation Orion was, and Torino said that this indicated that Harry's destiny was to be a very strong leader. Harry was always puzzled when the centaurs referred to his "destiny." Whenever he asked Torino about it, the head of his family always said something vague about the stars and changed the subject. But Torino and some of the other centaurs frequently called Harry, "Harry Orion" or just Orion for short. When the nights weren't clear, Harry joined in with the younger centaurs as some of the older ones told stories of the history of the magical world. Like the goblins, the centaurs viewed wizards as devious and oppressive, but the centaur history was better organized and less focused on their own people, as the goblins had been, looking more broadly at the magical world as a whole. For the first time, Harry learned about giants, magical snakes and spiders, and other creatures that he had either thought were mythical, such as unicorns and dragons, or had never heard of before, such as Hippogriffs and thestrals. "Our homeland was once the home of many magical creatures," said Ixion. Harry realized that what he called Britain, and the goblins called Albion, the centaurs simply called "our homeland." "Before the coming of the wizards, nearly 2,000 years ago, large numbers of centaurs inhabited the hills that make up much of our island. We lived peacefully with the elves, who inhabited the forests, and the goblins, who lived in the mountains, and humans, who farmed the lowlands. "When the wizards came, they tried to change the order of things. They could barely tolerate the non-magical humans, who they derisively call 'Muggles.' They enslaved the elves, made war on the goblins, and pushed the centaurs into the forests. The many wars have reduced our numbers and now we huddle in fear, hoping for a guide who will lead us back to freedom." At this point, she looked straight at Harry, and Nephele and many of the other younger centaurs did as well. Harry felt uncomfortable and just looked into the fire, wondering if he should feel guilty about what other wizards had done. * * * * * After one of their lessons, Tom casually asked Ginny if she had ever killed any chickens. She told the story of her mother teaching her how to kill chickens and how it made her think it might be okay for magical people to kill Muggles too--without mentioning her mother's response or their visit to the orphanage. Tom wrote, "I have a job for you, Ginny." Ginny smiled; now she would find out what Tom really wanted from her. "Yes, Tom, what would you like me to do?" "I need you to kill some roosters for me," he wrote. After giving her some additional instructions, he gave her a few advanced lessons so she would know how to Disillusion herself, speak Parseltongue, and protect herself from being killed by a Basilisk's eyes. "And when you are done, you will forget all about it," he said confidently. "Do you think you can do this for me on Hallowe'en?" "Yes, Tom," she wrote. * * * * * Fall was quickly turning into winter, and the edible plants, herbs, and potions ingredients that Torino and Harry had collected in the summer had gone by. Whilst Torino's family had a good store of many provisions in the cannisters that Harry had created, they could always use fresh meat. So, for the first time since he had met the centaurs, Harry went hunting. Harry's family--Torino, Ixion, and Nephele--watched in puzzlement when Harry said he was going to hunt a rabbit for their evening meal. For centaurs such as Castor and Pollux, hunting meant leaping through the woods after game with bow and arrow. But Harry just sat down in the troop's common area and closed his eyes. Soon, a rabbit hopped out of the woods and stopped in front of Harry. Harry began what the goblins had called his Druidic ritual of asking the rabbit if it could speak and vowing to feed it in the next life if it would feed Harry's family in this one. But before he could ask the second question, an arrow shot came out of nowhere and pinned the rabbit to the ground. Not yet dead, the rabbit screeched and kicked in pain for a few moments before succumbing to shock. Harry looked up to see Pollux step up and pick up the arrow with the skewered rabbit. Nephele ran out in anger, yelling "That's Orion's rabbit, not yours." "It was in the common area," Pollux smirked. "As long as it was alive, it could be anyone's rabbit." Nephele looked like she was going to make a fuss, but Harry put his hand on her back. "Come, sister," he said. "I don't want that rabbit anyway." It was true: he didn't felt comfortable killing an animal that he had not personally vowed to feed in the next life. * * * * * On Hallowe'en after sundown, but before dinner, Ginny made herself invisible using a charm she learned in one of Tom's classes--and walked out to Hagrid's chicken coops. After cancelling the Invisibility Charm, she called Dobby. "Ginny Weasey needs Dobby's help?" the house elf eagerly asked. "Yes, Dobby. Could you pop into the school broom locker and bring me a broom?" Dobby popped away and almost immediately popped back. "Thank you, Dobby. I am going to kill some chickens and keep their blood, but I don't plan to eat the chickens. Do you think you could find a use for them in your family's kitchen? I would hate to see them go to waste." Dobby didn't flinch as Ginny grabbed the roosters, held them upside down, and used the Diffindo spell to cut off their heads. After draining most of their blood into a jar she had brought, she gave the carcasses to Dobby. "Don't worry, Dobby. There is nothing in these chickens that will hurt your family if you serve them for dinner." Dobby took them, thanked her, and popped away. Ginny made herself invisible again and took the jar of blood and the broom to the second-floor girl's bathroom, where she knew no one except Moaning Myrtle would see them. During the Hallowe'en feast, Ginny chatted about classes with Astoria and some of the other Slytherin first years. After dinner, she went back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and spoke Parseltongue to open the passageway to the Chamber. She then grabbed the jar of blood and jumped on the broom and flew down into the passage. From there she opened the door to the Chamber itself and flew to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four," she spoke in Parseltongue, rolling her eyes at the egotistical claim. The statue's mouth opened, and whilst she carefully stared at the floor she heard a voice in Parseltongue say, "Who dares disturb the Chamber of the great Salazar Slytherin?" As Tom directed her, she responded saying, "I am the heir of Slytherin and I command you to stand down." Ginny could hear the scales scrape the Chamber floor as the snake slowly slithered out. Finally, she sensed that it stopped directly in front of her. "Look me in the eye, child," the snake in Parseltongue. "I will not hurt you. . . yet." Ginny looked up and stared at the snake's yellow eyes. "I've been fooled before by someone claiming to be the heir of Slytherin," said the snake. "There is a sword in my grotto. If you are the true heir, get the sword and bring it here." Ginny got a little nervous. Tom hadn't written anything about a sword. But she had no choice, so she followed the length of the snake's body to the entryway and walked inside. A Geminus Lumos command revealed the room to be filled with small bones. But in the center was a sword standing, point down in the grotto floor. The visible part of the sword was almost as tall as she was, and its hilt glittered with emeralds. Ginny grabbed the hilt and pulled, but as tall as it was she really didn't have much leverage, and it remained firmly in its place. She noticed some large, flat stones in the grotto, so she levitated them and stacked three of them beside the sword. Standing on top gave her greater leverage, and she pulled again. Nothing happened. She could hear the snake slithering in behind her. "If you are the heir of Slytherin, you will call upon the power of Salazar Slytherin and pull out that sword," said the Basilisk. "If you are not the heir, you will die." "I am the heir of Slytherin," Ginny shouted in English. "I call upon the power of Salazar Slytherin." After repeating the phrases in Parseltongue, she grasped the hilt again and pulled. It resisted at first, but then, like the lid of a jar of preserves when it is first opened, the sword slowly slid from the stone with a slight hiss. Despite its length, the sword was surprisingly light. Ginny decided it must be charmed to be easy to carry. She held the sword upright in front of her and turned to face the Basilisk. "I am yours to command," hissed the snake. "Do you have a name?" asked Ginny. "Salazar called me Ambassadoress." "My name is Ginevra Weasley, but my friends call me Ginny for short. May I call you Bassie?" "If you wish." "I understand you can petrify other creatures without killing them." "Yes. I can choose to kill, petrify, or let other creatures live." "Good. I do not want you to kill any sentient creature except in self defense." "As you wish, Ginny." "However," she said with a smile, "there are some that could use a good petrification." * * * * * "Two of our students petrified!" said Snape. "I thought the Chamber of Secrets was a myth." "No, it was actually opened after I was a student here but before I began teaching," said Headmaster Flitwick. "The headmaster at the time blamed Hagrid, but Dumbledore always thought he was innocent." "I am reluctant to agree, but I doubt that oaf could have done something like this," said Snape. "We need to keep this quiet, or the Ministry is likely to do something stupid like arrest Professor Kettleburn," said Flitwick. "Mr. Filch, can you remove those bloodstains from the wall?" "I'll do my best," he said. "If only I could use the thumb screws, I'd show whoever did this the folly of their ways." "Madam Pince, I believe there are several books in the library that discuss the Chamber of Secrets," said the diminutive headmaster. "Could you move those books to the restricted section? We don't want to frighten the students unnecessarily." "Yes, headmaster. I'll do it first thing in the morning." * * * * * "Dear Tom, The most horrible thing happened last night. A student was killed and another was petrified. Someone painted a sign on the second-floor corridor wall in blood that read, 'Enemies of the heir beware: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.'" "That's terrible, Ginny. Were any of your friends hurt?" "No, the one who was killed was Muggleborn, whilst the one who was petrified was a half-blood." As she wrote this, it dawned on Ginny that all of her friends were, in fact, purebloods. "That's good. I'm glad you and your friends are alright." "What do you think it means? Who is the heir? What is the Chamber of Secrets?" "There is a legend that the Chamber of Secrets was a room in the castle built by Salazar Slytherin. Only the heir of Slytherin could open it." "Did Slytherin have any heirs?" "No one knows. Would you like to have your next week's worth of lessons now?" Ginny accepted the change of subject, and started auditing Tom's third year of Hogwarts classes. * * * * * "I have an astronomy essay due next Monday, December 7, on the significance of the Orion constellation," Ginny wrote in the diary. "I wrote an essay on the very same subject when I was a student at Hogwarts," Tom wrote back. "Would you like me to present you with my memories of the library research I did?" "Yes, Tom, that would be great." After quickly absorbing these memories, Ginny then went through the usual week's worth of classes. "The Reducio spell can shrink anything to a much smaller size," lectured Tom's Charm's professor. "However, neither it nor the Engorgio spell work on witches or wizards. You can use either on non-magical animals, but for magical animals, the Engorgio spell only works to restore them to their normal size after being Reducioed; you can't Engorgio them larger than their normal size." "Who would want to make a dragon bigger than its normal size anyway?" asked one of the students. Almost everyone laughed, but Ginny noted that Tom did not. After the lessons, Ginny was about to close the diary when Tom started writing again. "Tomorrow night, I would like you to return to the Chamber. Release the monster and have it kill or petrify a few more Muggleborns. Then I want you to forget everything that happened." "Yes, Tom," Ginny obediently wrote as the words faded into the diary. |
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