The Very Secret Diary of Ginny Weasley

Chapter Seven: Guilty Secrets

 

             After a restless night, Ginny finally got out of bed, eager to find out any new information about Harry’s health from Ron and Hermione, though she was still a bit mad at them. A few of the girls in her dorm were still asleep, so she quietly pulled on a skirt and a Weasley jumper, pulled her hair back in a sloppy ponytail and tiptoed towards the common room.

            She found Hermione downstairs in a quiet corner of the common room reading a book. She was apparently waiting for Ron, who had obviously slept in like most of the students in Gryffindor Tower that Sunday morning.

“Good morning, Ginny,” Hermione said brightly.

             “Morning,” Ginny said flatly. Allowing your friend to be pushed out of a crowd when they were only trying to help another friend, still did not sit well with her.

            Hermione noted Ginny’s mood and tried a different approach. “What you did yesterday, it was very brave you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Trying to protect Harry like that.”

             “Oh–it was nothing,” Ginny said, a bit thrown off, not knowing how to take the sudden compliment.

            “Honestly Ginny, you don’t give yourself credit sometimes,” Hermione said, sounding very much like Ginny’s Mum. “You could have very well been lying next to Harry in the hospital wing right now too.”

            Ginny pushed the lovely, but rather distracting thought from her mind. She still wanted to be mad, but Hermione seemed to have a point . . .

            “I know Hermione,” she said, suddenly fighting off tears. “But it really hurt me that you and Ron forgot about me in the crowd. I couldn’t fight them, and they pushed me away from you all.”

            Hermione, realizing her error, shut her book, and stood up from her chair to comfort her friend, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Oh Ginny, I’m so sorry. We never meant for that to happen. You knew something was wrong right away, and you tried to help him the best way you could.”

            Ginny couldn’t help the tears now. All her emotions that had been building up over the last week, now sought release. “He was so helpless, and no one would help him. He was nearly killed,” she said, beginning to sob into Hermione’s shoulder.

            “But he’s all right now,” Hermione said, patting her on the back.

            Ginny looked up at her, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Really? He’s okay?”

            “Yes, of course,” Hermione said, handing her a handkerchief to help dry her eyes. “He broke his arm, but mostly, he was just worried about the fixed Bludger. He had to regrow the bones in his arm, due to a minor accident on Professor Lockhart’s part, but he will probably be out of the hospital wing after breakfast.”

            “Good,” Ginny said hopefully, dabbing her eyes. “I’m sorry I got so worked up about it, Hermione. I just don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.”

            “Good morning, girls!” Ron said as he approached them.

            He noticed Ginny wiping her eyes with Hermione’s handkerchief. “Is everything all right?”

            “Yes, we’re fine Ron,” Hermione said, pretending not to notice, and started pushing towards the portrait hole as a distraction. “Are you ready for breakfast?”

            “Starved!” he said eagerly, giving Ginny a sideways look. “Are you comin’ Gin?”

Ginny sniffed away the rest of her tears and gave him a faint smile. “Yeah.”

            On their way to the Great Hall, Ron was telling Ginny of his theory that Malfoy was behind the mad Bludger, when Hermione suddenly stopped behind them in front a classroom door.

            “Hermione, what are you doing?” Ron said, turning around, but almost instantly, Hermione raised her finger to her lips, to silence him, and with the other hand, motioning them to come closer.

            Ginny and Ron looked at each other, shrugging in confusion. They stepped quietly near the opposite side of the door where Hermione was listening. It seemed to be a private conversation between Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick.

            “Oh dear, another attack?” Flitwick said in a gasp that sounded more like a squeak.

            “Yes, I found him myself on the stairs near the hospital wing. Albus and I agree he was most likely on his way to visit Potter.”

“Who was it again?”

            Hermione and Ron looked at each other with wide eyes, while Ginny just stood there motionless against the brick wall next to her brother, unable to breathe. Hoping against hope, but knowing deep down the answer Professor McGonagall’s was about to give . . .

            “It was young Colin Creevey.”

 

            *          *          *

 

            “Poor Colin. I can’t believe it’s happened again so soon,” Hermione said, spreading marmalade on her toast.

            Ron nodded to Malfoy who was sitting at the Slytherin House table. “Look at him,” he said with disgust. “Pretending like he didn’t even know what he did. I ‘ought to go and petrify him for good, right Gin?”

            But Ginny didn’t answer. She felt as petrified as Colin probably was, not to mention the tremendous guilt over the fact that she had very likely something to do with it. It killed her inside that she could have done this to him, though she couldn’t explain how. Her strange dream the night before was her only clue. Either it was Harry Potter who had helped her do it, or someone who she didn’t even know who looked remarkably like him

            Ron and Hermione however both seemed in quite a hurry to finish their breakfast.

            “Well Ron, we should get along to the library now,” Hermione said.

            “Library! Is that all can think about at a time like–OW!”

            Hermione gave Ron a tense glare. “Yes, the library. But first, I have to stop at the bathroom.”

            “Oh, okay, “ Ron seemed to finally understand Hermione’s hints. “We’d best be off then.”

            Ginny finally spoke. “Aren’t you going to visit Harry this morning?” she asked innocently, though she knew they were obviously up to something.

            “No, we really have to get to the library,” Ron said, rubbing his leg beneath the table. “Why don’t you visit him? You can tell him all about yesterday.”

            “What’s to tell?” she thought bitterly. “But then again, I could possibly get some information out of him about last night.”

“All right,” she said.

 

            *          *          *

 

            Ginny had no idea what she was going to say to him. Although she had made several attempts, she had never actually had a normal conversation with him. But she had to know; she couldn’t live with the guilt. She would just have to suck it up and talk to him.

            “Excuse me Madame Pomfrey, may I see Harry?” she asked, poking her head through the doorway.

            Madame Pomfrey got up quickly trying to block the door. “I’m sorry Miss Weasley, but he has already left this morning. I believe he said he was on his way back to Gryffindor Tower.”

“Oh,” Ginny said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

            But at that moment, all thoughts of talking to Harry were washed away as she saw the silhouette of a body lying on a bed behind the curtains. She stared wide eyed, rigid as the body before her, and before long, her knees began to give and waves of nausea flowed over her. Unable to bear it any longer, she simply passed out.

            Ginny opened her eyes to Madame Pomfrey hovering above her.

“It’s all right dear,” Pomfrey said in a comforting tone. “You just fainted.”

            Ginny sat up from the floor. “I’m sorry. I guess I just didn’t eat enough breakfast or something.”

            Pomfrey gave her a disapproving look. “Perhaps you need some Pepperup potion. I’ll go fetch you some.” She returned and handed her the bottle. “Now I want you to take this at least twice daily, with some food.”

            “I’m all right, honest,” Ginny said, trying to avoid looking at the curtain again as she brushed herself off, but took the bottle anyway. “I think I’ll go back to my room now.”

            Ginny ran. She ran as hard as she could through the halls, outside through the gardens, and to the lake, where she couldn’t go any further.

            Warm tears streaked her face as she chucked the Pepperup potion into the lake. She screamed loudly in anger and frustration. “What have I done?” she said over and over to herself. “How could I have done this?”

            She cried a while longer before she was able to calm down, walking along the banks of the great lake. Before long, she found herself walking towards the tiny hut that rested outside of the Forbidden Forest. She rapped lightly on the door.

            Hagrid opened his door, his eyes nearly as red as her own.

            “Hullo Ginny,” he said pleasantly surprised, as he wiped his eyes.

            “Hagrid, is everything all right?” she said to him, genuinely concerned, and forgetting her own woes for the moment.

            “Oh, I’m alright. Would yeh like to come in?”

            “Are you sure I’m not interrupting anything?”

            “‘Course not.” he said, a smile beginning to warm up his bearded face. “I’ll make us some tea.”

            As Ginny sat at the scrubbed wood table, she noticed a large book, with the Hogwarts crest upon it.

            “What’s this Hagrid?” she said curiously, picking up the book.

            “Oh, that’s me old yearbook,” Hagrid said. “From me third year.”

            “How wonderful!” she said, immediately flipping through the pages of students, most of them grinning madly back at her. Some of the girls were primping and preening, while the boys tried to look cool. A few boys reminded her of her own pictures of Fred and George at home, if which they tried to make rabbit ears behind the students in other pictures.

            “How long has it been since you were in school anyway?” she asked, as Hagrid sat down, handing her a cup of tea.

            Hagrid sat back a moment and thought back, “I’d say ‘bout fifty years or so.”

            Ginny sat flipping through the book over and over, completely enthralled. She wondered what was the significance of his third year, and why it seemed to make him so sad. She thought it best not to ask him as he sighed deeply, gazing at the book with a overwhelming sadness in his dark eyes.

            Hagrid had got up again for another cup of tea while she began thumbing through the fifth years. She turned the page and was struck immediately by a young man’s picture. One which seemed to demand attention. He had dark wavy hair, and penetrating blue eyes. She looked at the name beneath the picture,

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Slytherin House, Prefect

 

            She couldn’t believe it. It was Tom himself. She often wondered what Tom looked like, but she never imagined that he was so captivating, and quite handsome to boot.

            Instantly questions popped into her mind about Tom to ask Hagrid, but she couldn’t risk revealing her knowledge of him without having to explain the diary. Instead she opted for another approach.

            “Hagrid, who is this? This, Tom Riddle?” she said, pointing to the picture.

            Hagrid, who was taking a rather large sip of tea, nearly choked at the question. “Tom Riddle did yeh say?” he coughed.

            “Yes,” Ginny said eagerly. “He looks very interesting. Did you know him?”

            “Yeh, I’m afraid.” Hagrid said mournfully. “He’s the reason I was expelled in me third year.”

            Ginny gasped. “Expelled?”

            Hagrid winced, realizing that he had said something that he shouldn’t have. “It’s a long story. Sorry, but I don’t wish to share it righ’ now if yeh don’t mind,” he said with a nervous tone to his voice.

            Looking for a diversion as Ginny reached for her cup of tea, he finally said. “Blimey, look at the time! I’m sorry Ginny, but I gotta tend to the chickens. Somethin’ has been killin’ all the roosters.”

            It was now Ginny’s turn to choke.

            “The roosters,” she coughed, looking horrified. “They’re being killed?”

            “Yes, I can’t figure out how, but its happenin’,” he said, handing her a napkin. “Now, I mus’ insist that yeh go Ginny. We’ll talk a bit later.”

            “Yes, you’re right. I should go,” Ginny said, beginning to tremble as she got up from the table.

            In her frustration Ginny cried to herself in her room for the rest of the afternoon. She had seen Colin nearly every day, sitting next to him in her Charms class. How could she have allowed this to happen? And now the roosters were being killed too? Was she responsible for that as well?

            The only consolation she could think to find was to write in the diary to Tom.

            “Dear Tom, Something awful has happened. There’s been another attack. This time it was Colin Creevey. I know I was sleepwalking again, because I woke up in the common room early this morning. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know where I was.”
            “Ginny, just because you were sleepwalking does not mean that you had anything to do with the attack on Colin. I am sure that you had nothing to do with it,” Tom consoled.

            “But Tom, I had a dream last night, about Colin. I might have seen it happen! I know that I had something to do with it. I just don’t know how.”

            “Do you honestly believe that you would have intentionally harmed him? That you have single-handedly opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed a terrible monster on the school that you love so much?”

            “Tom has a point,” Ginny thought. “How could I possibly be the Heir of Slytherin? I must be going mad.”

            “You’re right Tom. I would never want to harm anyone. But someone else was there in my dream. I think it was Harry, it looked like him, though I couldn’t see his face. I can’t imagine what would happen if he were responsible. I would lose him forever.”

            “You said that Harry was hospitalized. It could not have been him. But Ginny, with these dreams you keep having, I fear for your safety more than ever. It is time that I reveal to you something about my past.”

            Ginny was a bit taken aback by Tom’s last entry. It’s true that he never really talked about himself as much as she did, after all, it was a diary. But all she knew of him was that he had gone to Hogwarts long ago, he mentioned being a school prefect like Percy, and he was an orphan, like Harry. The fact that he wanted to share something of himself, seemed very important, and this intrigued her.

            “What is it Tom?”

            “It was fifty years ago when the chamber was last opened, which led to the killing a young girl. It was another student who opened the Chamber of Secrets and released the monster. I know this because I was the one who caught him.”