Fragments

Chapter 4

Werewolves of London, eh Malfoy?

~*~

Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy sat in silence, staring at the swinging phone receiver. Yet Ginny didn't hear the silence. Her ears were ringing and her mind was roaring with questions. Many of which she feared the answer.

'How can this be happening?' she thought, panic rising in her chest. 'How can he still be here? How come I didn't realize it? Is this why I've been dragged into my mind? To face Riddle?' She pondered this for a moment. If it was true, then why was Malfoy here? It just didn't add up. And why were so many of her dreams around? She shuddered slightly as she realized just how embarrassing this all was with her family's enemy witnessing the inner workings of her mind. Her hopes and dreams. She just hoped-

"Weasley!" Ginny's body jerked, as though electrocuted, as Malfoy's voice sliced through the hurricane of thoughts raging inside her head. She turned and looked at him only to realize that he had been talking to her for a while. Or at least attempting to. She stared at him, her eyes widening as the full reality of the situation washed over her.

"Are you listening now?" he asked, looking slightly vexed. She nodded numbly, not blinking. "Or should I leave you alone to continue making faces at the telephone?"

Ginny blinked once. Twice. Three times. Something about what he had said should have offended her, a voice in the back of her head insisted. Then it hit her. "Hey!" she sputtered. "I don-"

"Welcome back to reality," he interrupted smoothly. He looked around the vacant classroom, with the exceptions of themselves and the phone booth. "Or at least, this excuse for a reality."

She looked at him. 'Was I going over the edge?' she thought, silently suspecting that she was. 'But then why did he pull me back?' She paused for a moment. 'Probably because if I lose it, he's stuck here indefinitely.'

"So are you ready to tell me what the hell is going on?" Malfoy asked her.

"Huh?" she said with a mental start. 'Almost slipped back,' she thought with more than a little horror.

"What's going on?" he repeated.

"I don't know," she replied truthfully.

"Well how is it that you came across Tom Riddle? I doubt he was just floating about and thought: "Oh look at the cute little red head! Let's invade her mind!"." Ginny stared at him, the words 'Cute little red head', echoing in her mind. He looked at her expectantly.

"He was in a diary," she said slowly, shifting her eyes from him to the far corner of the room. "The same diary you picked up in my dorm. He placed his sixteen year old memory inside it. I suspect your father told you all about it. How it enabled him top reopen the Chamber of Secrets." She glanced at him, expecting to see him nodding in agreement or looking smug. Instead his brow was furrowed and he was looking at her with confused disbelief.

"My father told me that a book was the key to opening the Chamber and that he had given it to someone during my second year. He never told me that the Dark Lord was in it, or that he had given it to you," he said quietly, an impassive look falling over his face.

"Well he did," she snapped. "And Tom Riddle took me over and made me kill roosters and open that damned chamber. And then at the end of the year he took my life energy to bring himself out of the diary and tried to kill Harry." Ginny realized that her voice had gone shrill and stopped talking, shivering at the sudden chill she felt.

"He didn't succeed, did he?" Malfoy asked. "To kill Potter I mean."

"What do you think?" she hissed, looking at him from under the red hair that had fallen into her face.

"Hey," he said, raising his hands defensively. "That kid has survived so many things, how do I know that he hasn't died and been brought back to life?" Ginny rolled her eyes. "Anyway, so Riddle is in your head. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," she responded, secretly dreading what she would have to do.

"Well, he said that he wanted to see you," Malfoy started. "So why don't we go and find-"

"We can't," Ginny said quickly before Malfoy could continue. "I don't remember where the entrance is," she added lamely. She knew full well where it was: Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. But she sure as hell didn't want to go there.

"How can you not remember?" he asked skeptically. Ginny felt a pang of dread. Could he tell she was lying?

"I was unconscious at the time," she said, waving her hand. What was one more lie?

"Right," he said slowly, looking at her oddly. Finally he looked away and stood up. "Since we have nothing better to do, I suggest we look for Riddle. Perhaps he knows a way out."

'That's what I'm dreading,' Ginny thought, getting to her feet and following the platinum blonde out the door, leaving the telephone behind, receiver still swinging.

~*~

"This is such a waste of time, Malfoy," Ginny groaned. They had been walking about the school for the past three hours in search of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

They had encountered many strange things in the time that Ginny's hands had never felt so clammy. Lockheart being chased by an army of angry pixies clad in army drab. Harry, Ron and Hermione singing Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' while head banging down the hall. Hippogriffs dancing the River Dance. These were just to name a few.

"What else would you care to do?" he hissed at her, pulling open a door to his left revealing a frail looking rat being chased by a large, black, lean dog. Ginny watched Malfoy's eyes widen in confusion and shut the door. He paused for a moment then continued: "Sit around with Potter and his mullet?"

"Well..." Ginny began sarcastically then stopped at Malfoy's look of disbelief. "I'm not that obsessed!" she said defensively.

"Right," Malfoy said, looking suspiciously at the door to his right as though debating whether or not to open it. "You only stalk him because it gives you something to do."

"I do not stalk Harry!" Ginny said angrily.

"Sure you don't," he replied, deciding to ignore the door and walk towards the hall to the right instead. "You just-" he stopped as he turned into the hall.

"Now what?" Ginny said exasperatedly and took three strides to stand beside him.

What she saw made her debate if she should burst out laughing or run and hide under a desk for the rest of her life. In the end she did neither, just stood and watched as Professor Lupin, her second year DADA professor, dance about with a pack of wolves. He was signing on the tops of his lungs.

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand. Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain. He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's. Going to get himself a big dish of beef chow mein. AWWWOOOOO! Werewolves of London! AWWWOOOOO!"

"Let's not go that way," Malfoy squeaked, going extremely pale. Ginny looked at him strangely. 'Is Malfoy scared of Werewolves?' she wondered, then dismissed the thought as she turned around and realized that by going the other way they would be headed straight towards Tom.

"No. I think past the wolves is the best way," she said in what she hopped to be a reasonable voice.

"What are you talking about Weasley?!" he shouted back with barely controlled panic in his voice. "There's nothing behind us!"

"No," she said firmly. "I have this gut feeling that he is past the wolves."

"Like hell he is," Malfoy said, his voice still unnaturally high. "Come on." With that he forcefully grabbed her right wrist and pulled her away from Lupin and the wolves, down the other hall. Towards Tom Riddle.

"You're hurting me!" she yelped in surprise, trying her hardest to stop him from moving her. Unfortunately for her, he was quite a bit stronger.

"Then stop struggling!" he hissed back, breathing heavier, she noted with satisfaction, than usual. "Honestly, Weasley! You'd think I was dragging you off the edge of the world or something!"

'You are!' she screamed at him in her mind. 'I don't want to see him again! I can't see him again!' With this in mind she struggled even more to get free.

"Weasley," Malfoy growled, but never got the chance to continue his sentence, for as they rounded the corner a vine shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around his mouth.

Ginny felt Malfoy's grip on her arm slip away as another vine shot out and wrapped itself about the boy's body. She looked towards the source of the vine and saw a giant plant settled in an alcove in the wall. It was large and dark green, teaming with vines and prickly looking leaves.

She looked back towards Malfoy who was now struggling against his captor. Oddly enough, none of the vines came near her. In seconds more vines shot out towards him and soon lifted him off his feet and into the air.

"Malfoy!" she screamed, looking frantically about for something to free him with. The walls were bare. She thought briefly about running back around the corner to grab an axe from a suit of armor. In a second she dropped the idea for fear that when she returned the plant would no longer be there, Malfoy along with it. 'If only I had my wand!' she thought in panic. 'A simple charm would repel the plant in an instant.'

"Weasley!" Malfoy screamed. She looked up. He had managed to pry off the vine covering his mouth but already others were moving in on his hands. He fought them off. "Weasley! You've got to stop fighting him!"

"Who?!" she screamed back. An odd noise had filled the room hat sounded like a wind storm. She glanced around and saw a tornado moving towards them from down the hall.

"Riddle!" he responded, struggling harder. "Riddle! You have to see him! Stop fighting it or you'll be going alone!"

"What do you mean alone?!" she yelled, a greater sense of panic over taking her now. Could you die in your mind? Her robes were billowing violently in the oncoming wind storm, her red hair blurring her vision.

"I'll be dead! And I am betting that Riddle wants you alive!" he shouted down. She could hear the panic in his voice. And the fear. "Stop fighting it!"

"I can't!" she shrieked. "I can't do it! I can't go in there!"

"Come on Weasley!" he screamed back, frustration growing in his voice as he struggled. "You can't be scared of him. It's all in your mind!"

"You're in my mind too!" she screamed as the tornado got ever closer. Soon she would be swept away into its depths. "And what do you care anyway?" She could feel tears stinging her eyes. 'Don't cry,' she begged herself. 'Don't cry.' "You just want to get out of here!" she finally shrieked.

"That's not true!" His words sliced through the screaming storm and the panic and fear in her mind. She stopped moving and stared up at him, stunned. "You've kind of-" he stopped, pretending to be distracted by another vine by kicking at it with a newly freed foot.

"Yes?" she screamed back at him, eyes wide.

"Grown on me," he finished grudgingly, so quietly that she almost didn't hear him. With that, Ginny collapsed to her knees, dropping her head to her hands. In that instant the wind stopped abruptly and she heard Malfoy yelp as he fell to the ground with a thud. The plant had disappeared as well.

In her mind, Ginny screamed and cried with fear and rage. Why did she have to face him? Why did Riddle pick her? Why did Malfoy's dad give her the diary? Why did she have to grow on his son? Why-

"Weasley?" Malfoy's voice cut through her mind's torrent of thoughts. She lifted her head from her hands and stared up at him from the ground. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were extremely rumpled. Other than that, he looked none worse for wear. "Are you alright?"

"No," she said hoarsely. "I don't want to see him again!"

Malfoy's features hardened from the impassive mask he had worn before. "Well you have too if you want to get out of here."

"I know," she whispered, diverting her eyes from him. "But I just don't want to."

"Well, Weasley," Malfoy drawled, attempting to straighten his hair that had once been smoothed slick across his head. "Sometimes in life, we have to do things that we don't want to do."

Ginny looked up at him once more to see the seriousness on his face. "That was pretty philosophical of you, Malfoy," she said, a grin tugging at her lips.

He stared down at her and after a moment began to grin as well. "Well I am a pretty philosophical person really. I just don't usually have someone to share it with..." he trailed off, an odd look on his face that Ginny found quite humorous.

She began to giggle and soon the giggling turned to laughter. Suddenly, the entire absurdity of the whole day struck her with full force. She was soon clutching her sides and gasping for breath.

"What are you laughing at?" Malfoy demanded.

Ginny glanced up and realized that he thought she was laughing at him. She felt a pang of guilt.

"All of this," she said, bringing her laughter under control. "Everything that has happened. Singing teachers, bouncing ferrets, pixie armies, Celebrity Jeopardy, Harry with a mullet." At this Malfoy let out a snort of laughter. Ginny began to laugh once more as the image returned to her mind's eye. "Harry with a mullet!"

Within a moment both of them were laughing so hard, a passerby would have thought they were high. Or seriously deranged. Take your pick.

Ginny was the first to regain her composure and took a double take as she realized just how much nicer Malfoy looked when he laughed. 'And hotter,' a voice in her mind added and she felt her face grow hot.

He stopped laughing and looked down at her. She smiled up at him and almost gasped in surprise when he smiled back. If she thought he looked good when he laughed, it was nothing compared to when he smiled. She stared up at him in awe until he struck out his right hand towards her.

That simple gesture was an unofficial, unspoken agreement that they were, at least for now, friends. Not that either of them would admit it to the other, but they needed to work together to get out of here. Ginny didn't mind at all. In fact, she was relieved.

"Let's get his over with, shall we?" he asked, still smiling that wondrous smile.

"Yes," she said breathlessly, taking his offered hand and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Let's get back to the world where Harry's hair is simply messy, not greasy."

And with that, they headed off to meet Riddle.

~*~

(A/N: Now if I hadn't made you wait so long, I would have ended it here. But since I feel bad, I will continue!)

The trek to the bathroom only took a few minutes, yet it wasn't the death-walk had Ginny feared it would be. With laughter still on the tip of her tongue and Malfoy's smile in her memory, she found that she had more courage. She felt as though nothing could stop her. Not even a Dark-Lord-in-Training.

"It's in here," Ginny said, pointing to the entrance of the girl's bathroom. There was a large sign overhead that read: 'Chamber of Secrets! Admission 1 Galleon' in bold, green letters.

"You knew where it was the whole time, didn't you?" Malfoy sneered slightly.

Ginny blushed. "What would you do if I said yes?" she asked. All he did was roll his eyes and open the door. He allowed her to walk in first and she shuttered slightly at the sight of the familiar room.

"The infamous Chamber of Secrets was in a girl's bathroom all along?" Malfoy asked in disbelief.

"I know," Ginny said conspiratorially. "What does that say for the acclaimed heterosexuality of good old Salazar Slytherin, eh?"

Malfoy snorted but did not have a chance to respond for at that moment Moaning Myrtle floated out of her stall. Unlike everyone else Ginny had seen so far, Myrtle looked exactly the same as she did in the waking world. She floated over to them, a glum look on her semitransparent face.

"Oh," Myrtle said when she saw Ginny. "It's you." Her eyes flicked to Malfoy. "You two want to see the Chamber of Secrets?" They both nodded. "Two Galleons please."

Ginny nudged Malfoy. "Well, pay the girl," she said. Malfoy looked at her darkly then pulled two Galleons from his pocket and handed them to the ghost.

"So what made you decide to go into the tourist business?" Ginny asked Myrtle as the former Hogwarts student pulled a snake out of the toilet next to hers and dirrected it towards the sink.

"I figured I might as well exploit my death to its fullest potential," Myrtle responded in her usual moppey voice. "It helps me raise funds for the People Who Are Now Ghosts and Were Killed by Riddle Society I am going to start."

"How much have you raised so far?" Ginny asked conversationally.

"Two Galleons."

"Oh."

The snake hissed at the little emblem of a snake, which began to come to life. "Can't you people just leave me alone?" it asked as it opened the Chamber entrance. The pipe grew big enough for the both of them to get in.

"Well, in you get," Myrtle said in the cheeriest voice Ginny had ever heard her use, which was dismal at best.

The ghost drifted up behind Ginny, who was standing along side Malfoy staring into the entrance, and pushed the two adolescents in. Ginny let out a gasp of surprise and heard Malfoy do the same as they toppled over and plunged head first into the slide like tunnel.

'Oh Merlin!' her mind screamed in panic. 'Why head first? WHY HEAD FIRST?! The first thing you learn is to never go down head first! If there's something blocking the entrance I'll break my neck!' Trying to contain the over whelming fear that was twisting inside her gut, Ginny attempted to pay attention to her surroundings. The slide like pipe was slimier than she remembered, and longer.

As if someone with a largely ironic sense of humor had heard her thoughts, Ginny felt the slide fall away from beneath her. She hit the ground and felt the air whoosh out of her. A second later, Malfoy landed on top of her.

"Eww," he moaned, and Ginny saw him looking disdainfully down at his robes. She opened her mouth to say something witty but instead realized that she couldn't breath. He was sitting on the back of her chest, and her already oxygen deprived lungs were screaming for air. She began to frantically swing her arms behind her and swat at him.

"I'm not that heavy Weasley," he drawled, glancing down. Through spotted vision she saw him do a double take and felt him quickly scramble off. In an instant she was curled into a ball, gasping for breath while the blonde sat on the ground looking at her with the tiniest bit if guilt. 'Quite a large step,' she thought cynically as her breathing returned to normal.

Ginny opened her mouth to bitch at him but was cut off by someone politely clearing their throat further down the tunnel. She looked up, and, for the first time, took a look at her surroundings. They were not in the dank and dreary tunnel that she remembered, but in a brightly lit one with souvenir stands and a small snake-pulled carriage, before which stood only one person. Wormtail.

Now despite what her brother would have liked, Ginny knew all about Scabbers being Peter Pettigrew. She had 'accidentally' overheard a few key conversations. Well accidentally wasn't exactly the right word. Let's face it. Ginny Weasley is a full fledged eavesdropper and she would recognize Ron's former Rat anywhere.

Malfoy seemed to recognize the rat-man as well for he turned to her in furrowed disbelief. "What the hell is he doing here?" he demanded. All Ginny could do was shrug and begin to cautiously approach the man.

"Would you two like a ride to the Chamber?" he asked pleasantly enough. Ginny weighed her options. She honestly didn't know where the Chamber entrance was and was sure that she did not want to be wandering around down here like they had in the dungeons.

"Sure," she said, and felt Malfoy glare daggers in her direction. She ignored him.

"Ten Galleons, please," Wormtail said in a very oily voice.

"Well, pay the man," she said to Malfoy who began to mutter darkly and fish about his robes until he had ten gold coins in hand. He reluctantly shoved them towards the former rat.

"Thank you, you may be seated." Ginny and Malfoy boarded the carriage which began to move as soon as Wormtail was seated at the helm. She glanced at Malfoy who seemed to be trying to bore holes through the back of their coachman's head with his glare. Ginny frowned.

"We are now exiting the tunnel and entering the chamber in which Professor Lockheart blasted the ceiling with Ron Weasley's broken wand and wiped his own memory," Wormtail said suddenly as they entered the new chamber.

"Uh, that's nice," Ginny said slowly, raising her eyebrows.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy demanded of the man instead.

"Commentating," Wormtail said simply. "Part of the job."

"Well, bloody stop it," he snapped.

"Right you are," the other man said cheerfully. "The customer is always right. That's what Master says."

With that he didn't speak again until they reached the serpent laced doors. Ginny dreaded seeing them despite her new found courage.

"Entrance fee is one hundred Galleons," Wormtail said after bringing the snake led carriage to a halt.

"Damn money pit," Ginny muttered then turned to Malfoy. "Well, pay the man."

"I'm not made out of money, woman," he said crossly.

"Well you sure act like it," she snapped back. "So are you telling me that you have no money?"

"Not that much," he said grumpily.

"Well then I guess you are just going to have to sing to get in," Wormtail said gleefully.

"Sign?!" Ginny and Malfoy demanded at the same time.

"Oh yes. I haven't heard Tweeter and the Monkey Man in ages!"

Malfoy looked at her in horror.

"Maybe we don't have to," Ginny said slowly, remembering something. She jumped off the carriage and shot her right hand into the air. "Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" she shouted then spun three times, came to a stop, clapped her hands and shouted: "Olay!"

Malfoy's horror stricken face twisted with disbelief. "Well that was... interesting," he said slowly, backing away from her.

"Bloody weird that was," Wormtail offered, wide-eyed.

"I had a dream where I did that and..." she trailed off, feeling both male's eyes on her, looking at her, as though she were insane. "Like you could have come up with anything better?" she asked skeptically.

Neither had a chance to respond for a screaming filled the hall and the still mullet clad Harry crashed from the ceiling to Ginny's feet.

"Oooh," he hissed. "Did you hear that Doppler Effect?" He rose to his feet and bowed before Ginny. "You called, milady?"

She stared at him, wide-eyed as Malfoy began to snicker behind her. 'Great,' she thought darkly. 'I finally have Harry wrapped around my finger tip and I don't like him anymore.' With a heavy sigh she said: "Harry, could you open the Chamber door please?"

"Your wish is my command," Harry said faithfully. He then turned towards the door and hissed something in Parseltongue. The doors magically opened.

"Weasley," Malfoy said, coming up beside her. "Tell Potter to punch himself in the head. I've always wanted to see him do that."

"No!" Ginny said in astonishment.

"Please?" he asked.

"No! Tell him yourself," she said more firmly.

"Fine," he hissed and turned to Harry. "Potter, punch yourself in the head."

"Get bent, Malfoy," he growled and Ginny burst out laughing.

"Shut up," Malfoy sneered, cheeks going slightly pink. He then grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and pushed her towards the entrance. "Let's just get this over with. Ladies first."

Still laughing softly, Ginny walked towards the threshold. With a final breath she took the last step over it and entered the Chamber of Secrets.

Everything went black.

~*~