Remember Me

Ginny stretched and threw herself out of her four-poster bed.She shivered in the feeble sunlight, and quickly dressed into her school robes.It was her last day at Hogwarts.She couldn’t believe that the time had gone by so quickly.Just yesterday it felt as if she was boarding the Hogwarts Express, to adventure, learning, and wizardry.She looked around the dormitory- all of the other seventh year girls were probably in the Great Hall.She had heard their excited whispers the night before, about futures, and how much fun they’d had over their seven years.

 

For some reason, Ginny hadn’t made many friends.She loved school, but had always felt as an outsider.Her last year had been the worst.There weren’t any Weasleys left in the school besides her, and she felt lonely.She was alienated, being unlike any of the girls in her year. Their nightly gossip was unappealing, and they no longer invited her to be a part of their lives- it had been at least five years since they had last asked her to participate.

 

She trudged down to the Great Hall, and looked about.A sigh passing by her lips, she sat at one of the less occupied spots of the Gryffindor table.Helping herself to some bacon and scrambled eggs, Ginny watched her peers.The Great Hall was quieter this past year.Harry, Hermione, and Ron, along with the others of their year, had left.After the defeat of Voldemort, they had all taken up jobs at the Ministry.

 

Colin Creevey, a fellow seventh year, sat down and peered at Ginny. “Is something up, Gin?” he asked her carefully.Colin and Ginny had been going together since their sixth year.Ginny liked him very much, but felt she was missing something she couldn’t put her finger on.

 

She sighed, and said, “It’s depressing, leaving Hogwarts and all…”

 

Colin grinned, and peered at her.“Is that what you’re worried about?You know we’ll see each other over the summer.I suspect we’ll both be getting jobs at the Ministry anyway…”

 

Ginny shrugged.“I don’t know.It just feels like I’ve missed something I shouldn’t have.”She pushed the food around her plate.

 

Colin looked at her questioningly.“Do you mean that we’ve missed something in our relationship?Because then we could work on it…”

 

 

“Ginny!” Colin called out to her, his voice fading into the usual low mummer of the Great Hall, “Is there something you want to talk about?”

 

“No.” She whispered as she opened the doors that led out of the Hall.‘Nothing at all.”

 

Colin watched her go.He felt confused, and slightly hurt at her comments.He had always wanted to be with Ginny since his third year, and could barely remember not thinking about her.When he finally screwed up the courage to ask her to go with him, he remembered her smiling and radiant face when she had said yes.He remembered all the pictures of himself and her posing in front of his camera, the walks through the grounds, and the midnight talks in the Common Room when everyone was asleep. He couldn’t see any problems with their relationship.Sure, they had had their fights, but didn’t every couple?I hope she has no regrets, he thought sadly to himself.

* * * * *

After walking about aimlessly for a few minutes, Ginny found herself in front of the door to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.The paint that read “Girls” was chipped and faded, and a sign with neat handwriting read, “Out of Order.”The bathroom had been out of commission since Ginny could remember, and Ginny suspected it was from Myrtle’s constant taunting of the students, and the fact that the Chamber of Secrets lurked behind one of the sinks.Very few people knew the Chamber was in this very bathroom.

 

Ginny stepped in, and found the place in an even more mess than it used to be.The tile was cracked and faded more than she remembered, and the mirrors that had hung above each sink were shattered, several pieces lying in the mildew-ridden sinks themselves.The place had come into ruin since she’d last seen it.She heard sobbing in one of the stalls, and dismissed it as Myrtle.

 

She strode to the infamous sink, and looked at the copper tap with the tiny snake sketched onto it.It brought back a flood of tense and unspeakable memories.Memories that had never left her since her first year.She suspected that the day she had found the diary was the day she had withdrawn from the rest of the students at Hogwarts.She knew fears and terror worse than they could ever comprehend.

 

Ginny heard a splash as Myrtle pushed herself down one of the toilets.She’s probably zipping and zooming around the pipe system in Hogwarts, she mused to herself.

 

Ginny’s attention was brought back to the sink.She peered at the minute serpent, and opened her mouth.A distorted hissing sound surfaced, and tap blazed fiercely with an inner light.The sink dropped out of sight, and before her was a great slimy pipe- the means to the Chamber of Secrets.She smiled wryly to herself- Riddle had taught her Parseltongue well.

 

Why Ginny had opened the Chamber she had no idea.She bit her lip.It felt like closure, to see a place that had caused so much torment, and had stolen away her childhood.She carefully crawled into the dark, slippery hole, and slid through the twisted pipes into the depths below.The last time she had taken this journey had been with a severe and wicked Riddle behind her.

 

With a skid, she landed in the stone tunnel, and raised her wand.“Lumos,” she spoke under her breath.The wand flooded the passageway with light, and revealed several tiny creatures’ bones and the half-decayed skin of the Basilisk that once was.Stepping around it carefully, she came to a blockage of rocks, with a small recess just large enough for a person to fit in.She smiled.The cave-in.This is where Ron and Harry jinxed that fool Lockhart.She squeezed herself through the rocks, and strode through the long and twisted tunnel.Before she knew it, she was standing at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

 

The two stone serpents were still there, and their green eyes glinted in recognition.Speaking in a low hiss, she muttered, “Open.”The wall split into two, and the halves slid away.Cautiously, she stepped into the Chamber.

 

It was exactly as she had remembered it.She had tried to bury the memories that haunted her very existence; of diaries that entranced and boys who tricked young girls, but they now all came flooding back to her.

 

In one sudden motion, Ginny swiveled around quickly.She had the feeling someone was watching her.Holding her wand up, she saw the grotesque statue of Salazar Slytherin standing before her.Laughing nervously to herself, she thought, Just that dumb old statue.I can’t believe I’m still scared of it.Again she felt a presence.A soft breeze had taken up in the Chamber, and she could feel it caress her face, almost feeling like long fingers.Tilting her head back, she called out, “Is anybody there?”Nobody answered.

 

Feeling the wind play over her face, Ginny felt it brush lightly against her lips.A word formed on the tip of her tongue.“Tom?”

 

Tiny pinpricks of light began to condense into one corner.If she squinted, she could see the fuzzy outline of a boy.The outline became clearer, and his image grew brighter and brighter.The figure seemed to solidify, and Ginny could make out his pale, smooth skin, the endearing cowlick that fell into his eyes, and those eyes- of a deep midnight blue so easy to sink into…

 

Ginny heard his voice- a voice she hadn’t heard since her first year at Hogwarts.Its haunting melody that had sounded so witty, so full of life, was now a whisper, a shadow of what it had once been.“Ginny.” The dark circles under his eyes deepened, and he cried out louder, his voice echoing over the chamber, “Ginny!”She flew towards him, and threw herself into his arms.It felt as if she was holding something that was slowly fading in substance.“Ginny, it is over for me.Nobody remembers me anymore.My elder self, Voldemort, has been vanquished, and nobody remember me.Nobody remembers…” he rocked her back and forth, wailing.Where had the strong, self-sustaining boy gone?

 

She ran her fingers through his jet-black hair, and whispered, “I remember.”

 

He tried to throw her away, but his feeble push only sent her stepping back.“You are not enough, Ginny.Not enough.My memory is fading.I am fading.” His voice cracked.“I have been waiting so long for you to come see me.So long.I’ve missed you so, Ginny.But I have been weakening, year after year.Every single minute, another person forgets Tom Riddle.Every single minute.And- and, it’s too late.”

 

Tears sprang from Ginny’s eyes, and she choked out, “If I would have known, you were down here, I-“

 

He cut her off.“What would you have done?Told people to remember me?Do you think the witches and wizards would have wanted to remember someone who caused them so much pain, so much grief?”He looked at her bitterly, wringing his hands, long fingers intertwined with each other.The projection of what he used to be flickered once, and a look of shock flashed through his eyes.Ginny ran to him, but ended up running straight through him.

 

“Tom!You’re disappearing!”

 

His image wavered again, and slowly, from the bottom up, his image began to disappear.Ginny stared in disbelief as Tom began to ebb away.A look of bewilderment and anguish crossed his face.Before she could blink an eye, only his shoulders and head were remaining.

 

“Ginny! I love you!” his voice reverberated around the chamber, breaking her heart into a million shattered pieces.“Remember me.”All that was left were his eyes, pain etched in his expression.

 

She whispered back to him, pain coursing through her heart and veins, “I love you.”

 

With the tinkling of wind chimes, a cold wind swept through the chamber, and he was gone.Ginny fell to her knees, as his last words vibrated through the chamber- “Remember me.”