Chapter 9: Dobby's Warning, Back to School
All too quickly, July turned into August, and Harry, Carrie, Pierce and Miranda returned to Little Whining. Very reluctantly. Thankfully, Mr. Fawkes was in much better temper then when they had bolted, so he only scowled and berated her for going off on her own. Much better than the alternative.
Harry returned to the Dursley's house, which was feeling more like a prison than ever before. He was nastier to the bridge club than ever before when they went to his house, resulting in many threatening to stop coming to meetings if Petunia didn't keep him away from their tables. So he spent most of Tuesdays and Fridays on the roof.
He got into more fights with Dudley and his groupies, which he noticed to his cold delight were going more badly for Dudley these days – he was learning to separate the group and fight them one at a time.
He tore up Petunia's garden one day when he was in a particularly vindictive mood. This, of course, only served to make his aunt and uncle angrier and angrier with him, to the point where Petunia ordered him to stay in his room at all times except mealtimes.
Of course, Harry used his cloak to get outside when he was starting to go crazy, but opening his door and finding him not there only made Vernon tighten security more and more. He was one incident away from putting prison bars on Harry's windows. It was being more like prison than the actual prison had been.
A few days before he was scheduled to go to Hogwarts, Uncle Vernon pulled him aside and told him that a business associate from Grunnings would be coming to their house. "I'm warning you," He said firmly, "I won't have your delinquent behaviour ruining my chances of promotion."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Don't give me that attitude!" Vernon blustered. "I mean it. This is a very important meeting, and it could change a lot around here. You've never been grateful for everything we've done for you -" Like what? Harry thought scornfully "-but even you can understand how important this is to me."
"Into your room, for the rest of the day. You just stay in your room and pretend you don't exist – and if that bloody cat makes a single peep, I'm throwing her out. Understand?"
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry said with as much sarcasm as he could put into that word.
Vernon scowled angrily and shoved Harry towards the stairs. Catching himself by the bannister through long practice, Harry walked up the stairway and into his room. Once he was inside, he let out an angry growl.
He'd love no more then to mess up Vernon's meeting – preferably with paint guns, pinatas and glue – but he was worried about Vernon following through with his threat of throwing Maria out of the house. He could keep her in the back yard and feed her there, but there were vicious stray dogs in Surrey and he didn't want her vulnerable to them.
It was always frustrating when he didn't have the freedom he had gotten used to after years of lawbreaking. Harry felt like a caged bird more and more every day he spent inside Privet Drive, and it was threatening to drive him out of his mind. Trying to play by the many, many rules the Dursley's had after disregarding them for years felt like someone had attached weights to his shoulders.
Why obey the rules? Because if he was in Juvie for too long, he would miss the Hogwarts train. And they had realized it. That was the worst of it.
Adding to his unhappiness and cabin fever was the fact that, for some reason, Daphne and Tracy's letters weren't reaching him. Something or someone was cutting them off, and if Harry hadn't been a virtual prisoner in Privet Drive, he would have gone looking for whatever was causing it.
Harry slammed his door shut as hard as he could to vocalize his displeasure with this. His window was still open, so he could always climb down the side of the house – something he had done many times before when confined to his room. He put some food and water in a dish for Maria and grabbed his Hogwarts bookbag.
Maria scampered over to the windowsill when Harry had halfway climbed out of it and mewed pitifully.
"I know," Harry told his irate cat. "I hate it too. But those dogs are getting worse, and you're one of four things that makes this prison even marginally bearable. I don't want you getting hurt."
Maria yowled in displeasure, causing Vernon to roar from somewhere down stairs, "I told you to shut that cat up!"
Harry gave an angry snort, stroked his cat's head and swung his feet out over the side. He grabbed onto a nearby tree branch and swung onto it, ignoring the smaller branches that swatted at his face. From there he climbed to the ground with practised ease.
Harry retreated to the far end of the Dursley's back yard, taking a deep breath of cool September air. He opened Advanced Charms and started reading. The fact that he couldn't preform any magic around the Dursley's wore on him. The Underage Restriction rule was absolutely absurd; how was a muggleborn supposed to keep up if they couldn't cast any spells over the summer?
Then again, it was probably lucky for Dudley that it did exist, or Harry would have hexed him half to death weeks ago, to hell with any consequences. That mini killer whale had given it his all to make Harry's life as miserable as possible. Harry was getting to the point where he wouldn't mind having his wand snapped if it meant hurting that brat. The unfairness of his situation roared in his ears whenever Dudley punched him or took his food.
Hogwarts would be an eventful school, if last year was any indication. Harry wondered if the Headmaster had stowed away any more killer dogs and trolls this year. Yes, he had managed to survive that the fist time, but that was mostly because there had been a floor between them, and all six of potential victims were fast runners.
And in any case, wouldn't Granger's parents have complained that their daughter had almost died? Harry wondered about that. There hadn't been any outward signs that someone had commented on the hellhound being inside school. If that had been Dudley in that position, Petunia and Vernon would have been raising all kinds of hell.
The wizarding world must really operate differently from the muggle one.
Harry's eyes skimmed the second year spells when suddenly there was a popping noise. He looked up from his textbook and swallowed a yelp of surprise.
Standing in front of him was a small, battered creature identical in all but gender to the creature that had picked up Daphne and Astoria when he'd seen them at Diagon Alley. A house elf.
"Dobby has found Master Harry Potter!" The little creature said in a loud voice. Harry's head snapped to the right, sure his insufferable neighbours John and Olive would overhear the creature. But nothing stirred at their window.
"Quiet!" Harry barked. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
The House Elf nodded jerkily, like he was in physical pain. Harry wondered what was wrong – had he sprained his back or something? He was pretty sure any creature shouldn't move like that.
"Dobby knows that Master Harry Potter is a great wizard...Dobby is a mere house elf, sir. But Dobby must tell you something..."
"Tell me what?" Harry asked, putting his textbook aside. "Look, my aunt and uncle are not very receptive of magic and magical creatures-" he looked Dobby over critically. "And right now isn't exactly the best time-"
"Oh, of course, sir, Dobby understands...but Dobby must tell you...it's difficult to say, sir..." the elf was trying very hard to tell him something, but it wasn't being very clear.
Harry couldn't help it; his impatience and confusion got the better of him. "Okay, sit down and tell me what's wrong, then."
"S-S-Sit down?" Dobby stammered, looking at him in shock. Before Harry's stunned eyes, he suddenly ran into the fence head first. And then he did it again.
"Bad Dobby! Very bad Dobby!" The elf shouted.
Alarmed, Harry jumped to his feet. "Hey! Hey, stop that!" He grabbed the elf before he could hammer himself again and pulled him away from the fence. "What was that?"
"Oh, Dobby is being a very bad elf, sir. Dobby must punish himself very severely for coming to see you-"
"Why?" Harry demanded, feeling the beginnings of a migraine headache coming on. Why couldn't anything around him make sense?
"Because Dobby is disobeying his master, sir." Dobby said, wringing his tiny hands with such violence Harry half expected them to dislocate. "Dobby is disobeying orders, house elves must always obey their masters."
"Master?" Harry echoed. "Wizards have slaves?"
"Oh no sir, house elves are a bound race. We are supposed to serve our families." Dobby said frantically. "No matter what, sir!"
"Well, who is your family? Your master?" Harry insisted. Most decent punishments didn't involve doing something that could potentially give you a concussion.
"M-M-M-M-Master is...m-master is..." Dobby's voice was shaking worse than every before. He was obviously terrified and thinking of what his master would do if he found out about this. "Master is M-Master Lucius Malfoy, s-sir."
"Malfoy?" Harry echoed. "As in Draco Malfoy?"
"Draco Malfoy is Young Master, sir." Dobby said unhappily. "Dobby is bound to serve them."
"...So there's something Malfoy doesn't want me to know?" Harry guessed. That he could believe. "Alright Dobby...what is that?"
"Master Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts this year!" Dobby exclaimed. Once again, Harry winced at his volume.
Not go back? Stay at Privet Drive all year? There mere thought nearly made Harry physically ill. "Why not? Why shouldn't I go?" He asked.
Dobby merely groaned, grabbed one of Harry's textbooks and began beating himself over the head with it.
Harry's nerves, already on end, wouldn't tolerate this. "No! No, stop that! Give me that. And be quiet!" He wrenched the book out of Dobby's hand. Dobby ceased his wailing, probably because Harry had given him direct orders, and stared up at the young wizard as though he had lost his sanity. "Listen to me! Tell me why." Harry ordered.
"Because-" Dobby swallowed. "B-Because the Heir will be back at the school!"
"The Heir?" Harry repeated, mind racing. Dobby's jaw locked shut, clearly it was too much for the elf to continue any further.
The Heir...that could mean a lot of things, and none of them that obvious. He remembered his history book of the Founders. Was one of their Heirs coming to the school? That was probably it; pureblood wizards liked to pride themselves on how far back their bloodlines went – it was possible there was a direct descendant from at least one of the Four still alive. But why would he or she be a danger?
"Y-Y-Yes, sir...that is why Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts..." Dobby said, his voice shaking.
Harry set his jaw. There was no way he was going to let some brat drive him away from the one place he had been completely accepted because of fancy ancestry. He was not trading Hogwarts for Stonewell and an entire bloody year unable to use magic, stuck with the Dusleys.
But somehow he had to convince Dobby to let him go. "Dobby. You're afraid of your Master – no, don't hit yourself, just listen."
Dobby had made to punish himself – again – and only stopped when told to, looking up at Harry in confusion.
"You shouldn't have to be afraid of him," Harry went on. "So let's say this – you let me go back to Hogwarts, and I will find a way to have Malfoy declare me you master. How does that sound?"
Dobby stared at Harry with abject disbelief. "M-M-Master Harry Potter would d-do that f-f-for Dobby, sir?"
"Of course." Harry said, with a roll of the eyes. "I take good care of the people who are nice to me. Just let me go to school and I'll take care of things."
"Master Harry Potter sir is very great indeed! But Hogwarts will not be safe! Master Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!" With that, Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Harry let out a sigh and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. This was already shaping up to be a repeat of last year. Damn it. Well, if he was careful – and clever – there should be no reason he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed. After all, he'd been in bad fixes before. He was going to be fine.
Right?
Time Skip
Ginny Weasley shuffled through her second hand trunk, second hand robes and second hand books and put a lot of effort into hiding her current emotional turmoil. The ghoul in the attic was making more noise than usual, but she had grown accustomed to ignoring him.
If only my mum had been willing to buy me a new robe, she thought sadly.
Of course, her family's lack of money was nothing new to her – and this was going to be her first year at Hogwarts! - but she recalled Ron's many, many letters complaining about people taunting and tormenting him about being poor. Mostly perpetrated by that rotten Malfoy character, if his raging comments were anything to go by.
No, Ginny was worried that if she came to school looking completely second-hand, no one would want to be friends with her. And she had never had friends, beside Luna anyway. And Luna wasn't always easy to understand. Lack of money went hand in hand with loneliness as far as she remembered. If only there was something she could do to help her family.
She'd begged her mother to buy her at least one new textbook, only to be turned down, repeatedly. She gae a familiar phrase – when you're father's next payment comes, we'll see. But their father never made very much, because few people at the Ministry took him seriously due to his fascination with muggles.
Ginny often walked out to his garage and watched while he tinkered with muggle gadgets and batteries, wondering how they worked. She had never been in the muggle world, and with all her father talked about them it was beginning to interest her as well.
But it was no mystery that this was why he wasn't payed so well – his boss didn't share his enthusiasm for their unmagical counterparts.
Luna could see her unhappiness and tried to cheer her up, in her own way. Thus, Ginny ended up spending several hours on a Wackersprout hunt. While it left her tired, and they didn't find any, it had the effect Luna wanted – Ginny was in better cheer when she went home. Her friend was strange, but she was very kind.
Finally, her first day of school drawing nearer and nearer, they went do Diagon alley.
Most – if not all – of Ronald's complaints about Draco Malfoy rang true when they ran into the boy and his father, Lucius, after buying their new Lockhart books – the ones she'd be needing for defence. They were much more expensive than her mother would have liked.
Lucius Malfoy had come up behind them at some point and had immediately pulled out one of her old books. He berated her father for being involved with the raids the Ministry was doing, and commented on their lack of money. Ginny opened her mouth to say something only for Percy to elbow her in the ribs.
Her father urged them to move on, but Ginny could feel Lucius's eyes on her in a way that made her feel dirty.
He had no idea what their life was like! Ginny fumed internally as she violently shoved her books into her trunk, still dwelling on that moment. Lucius had inherited the fortune he loved to flaunt around so much. He was handed everything he could want while her father – a much better man – had to struggle to keep what they had. What kind of justice was that?
She wanted to rip her hair out or break something. The more she thought about it, the more trapped she felt.
She let out her breath. Was it not fair of her to wish her father made more money? He already worked so hard to get them what they had. What right did she have to demand more of him?
She sat back on her knees, though the soles of her old shoes dug into her skin painfully. Her fingers worked their way through her long red hair. Stop thinking about them. It's just making you upset, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Instead she thought about Hogwarts. Her entire family was in Gryffindor. There was no reason the hat would put her anywhere else, right? Would her parents be angry if she was sorted somewhere else? Most of her siblings had a die-hard hatred of Slytherin, and Percy and Ron seemed to think very little of Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad, she thought, but she wouldn't count herself as particularly clever.
Her heart thudded in her chest. Oh dear, what if she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor? Would her parents stop loving her? Would her siblings hate her? Would it be because there was something very wrong with her, that the teachers saw unfit to be in Gryffindor?
Ginny buried her face in her hands. She wanted to cry but refrained. She didn't want her brothers thinking she was a little baby.
She was going to be fine. She would. She just had to think on it.
Thinking on that, Ginny pulled her caldron over and began pulling out her Lockhart books. After a few volumes her hand touched a small black book.
Confused, Ginny removed it from the caldron and stared at it. She hadn't bought this. Where had it come from? Her fingers opened the cover and turned several pages. It was completely blank.
Frowning, Ginny deduced that it must be a diary. Well, she could certainly use a place to put her thoughts. She sat aside, grabbed her quill and wrote; Thoughts from Ginny Weasley.
She was about to write more when suddenly the ink vanished. A squeak of shock escaped her, and she stared at the pages. After a second, the ink reappeared, but arranged into different words -
Hello Ginny.
Time Skip
Harry walked into King's Cross station, Dobby's warning still ringing in his ears. "The Heir is coming to Hogwarts." No matter how many times he considered that enigmatic statement, he didn't come any closer to guessing what it might mean.
The Heir could be one of the first year students coming to the school, but that wasn't a small number, and Harry had no idea what he would be looking for.
He stood at the entrance to the station, alone with his thoughts, Maria's cage balanced precariously on the top of his trolley. People looked oddly at him as they passed by but didn't say anything. It would have been nice, he thought ruefully, if Dobby had given me some indication of what kind of danger to expect when he got there. Now I'm walking in blind.
"-a flying car! Really Arthur!"
Harry gave an 'oof!' of surprise when someone walked into him from behind. The redheads – the Weasley Family, he realized – continued past them, caught up in whatever they were discussing. He turned around to see a small redhead mumbling apologies as she collected her books. That was the girl who'd shown him the entrance to 9 3/4 last year; Ginny.
"Hello." Harry said. Ginny paused in her corralling and looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she jumped to her feet, forgetting about her other books.
"Oh! Harry! Harry Potter. H-Hello. I-I'm s-sorry, I was just thinking and, and well I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking." She said, blushing so fiercely her face was the same colour as her hair.
"No worries," Harry shrugged, and dropped to his knees to collect the other fallen books. He stood up again and handed them to the girl, who would probably pass out if her face got any redder. "This is your first year, right?"
"Y-Yes." Ginny accepted the books from Harry and clutched them against her chest. "V-Very nervous, Fred and George and Percy have been talking about Hogwarts for years now, and now I'm finally going. My whole family's been in Gryffindor, like you – but, I'm worried I won't be." She blurted this all out on a single sentence, and then looked embarrassed. "A-and you didn't need to know that, I'm sorry-"
Harry rolled his eyes and smirked. So he had a fangirl. Oh, the many ways he could take advantage of that. If what Pierce had told him about the time he had one, it was like having a worshipper who'd do anything for you.
That thought was enough to put him in a good mood. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Eh, don't worry about it. We're all a little talkative in our first year in."
Ginny blushed again and looked around. "Mum? Dad?" The crowd around them had changed. Evidently, they'd been left behind.
"They seem to have left without us," Harry said mildly, grabbing his trolley again. "No matter. Let's find the platform – the train leaves soon."
Ginny looked extra nervous now that her family had accidentally walked off without her. Harry took it on himself to lead her through the crowd of muggles towards the archway to the Platform.
When they reached the platform, however, it became evident that something was wrong. Astoria was standing in front of it, kicking the wall, oblivious to the attention and stares she was drawing to herself. "Damn it!"
"Astoria." Harry said, walking up behind her, Ginny trailing behind. "Astoria, calm down. People are taking notice."
Astoria spun around, her blonde hair whipping behind her, green eyes filled with anger. "Harry! Thank Merlin someone's here – something's wrong." She said, "And if I ever get to Hogwarts I'll personally strangle the one responsible."
Harry raised a hand defensively. "Hey, take it easy. What's the matter?"
"Take it easy-?" Astoria's eyes widened. "Harry, something's sealed the gate to the platform! Daphne got in just fine, but when I tried to follow her-" She slapped her hand against the wall, which held steady as though it were an ordinary wall. "See? !"
Harry's eyes widened. That was bad. The train was going to leave any minute.
"What the hell?" He walked up to the wall and tapped it himself. It didn't budge. "Has this ever happened before?"
"If it has, no one's ever mentioned it." Astoria fumed. "Or how to get to Hogwarts when someone's locking you out of the platform!"
"Someone?" Harry repeated. "Who would freeze the platform?"
"NO idea." Astoria said through gritted teeth, "but if this is supposed to be a prank, I'm not finding it very funny."
They both turned their attention to the clock.
"Oh no..." Ginny whispered. "My parents must have already gone through, they've left me behind! What do I do?"
Astoria blinked and looked at Ginny, noticing her for the first time. "Oh. Hello, who are you?"
"This is Ginny Weasley." Harry responded for her. Ginny brightened when he said her full name. This one is easy, all right. "Her parents got away from us when we bumped into each other."
Astoria nodded. "Astoria Greengrass." She said.
"...Hello," Ginny said timidly.
"I don't suppose you know any other ways to Hogwarts?" Astoria asked as though not expecting an answer. Sure enough, Ginny shook her head. "Damn it all." She crossed her arms. "What are we going to do then? We can't just stand here!"
Harry thought about it, and suddenly remembered something Molly Weasley had said. "Ginny?"
"Yes?"
"Your mother said something about a car." He recalled. "Is it a normal car?"
"Oh no," Ginny shook her head. "My dad – he's fascinated with muggle stuff, and one thing he did this summer was restore one and give it the capability to fly. He's really proud of it."
Astoria's eyes lit up. "We do have a way to Hogwarts! That's wonderful. But -" She glanced at Harry. "Can you drive?"
Harry smirked. "Yeah."
"W-Wait!" Ginny protested. "My mum – mum will be really mad if I take it! I could get in a lot of trouble – mum could send me a Howler."
"Blame us." Harry responded. "Tell her we talked you into it. Believe me, it works. Don't you want to go to school? Besides, I think this qualifies as special circumstances." He waved a hand at the sealed gateway. "This is our only chance. Or we could all be stuck going to St. Brutus for the year."
"St. Brutus?" Astoria looked blankly at Harry.
"It's a school for 'incurably criminal children'. My uncle likes to threaten to send me there instead of Hogwarts whenever I annoy him even slightly." Harry said.
"B-But." Ginny shook her head wildly. "Harry, if we get caught the consequences can be very serious! The Ministry might get involved!"
"Then we won't get caught." Harry turned around fully to face Ginny, a false pleading look in his expressive green eyes. He gave her a smile he usually reserved for the staff of Winners whenever he shoplifted there. "Please, Ginny. You're our only hope."
That did it. Ginny lead them back into the parking lot towards a blue car. It was an older model then the one Carrie used, and thus had simpler to drive. Ginny importantly tapped it with her wand, and the three of them piled their trunks in the back, Maria and Hedwig being placed with Astoria in the back seat. Ginny sat up front with Harry, pointing at various parts of the car explaining what they did.
"That's the invisibility button," She said, tapping the silver button with her finger. "makes the car vanish. But-"
"-not here," Harry agreed, finishing her sentence for her. "Too many muggles. Let's find a garage." Astoria hung over the back of Ginny's chair as Harry put the car in gear and drove it off. They ducked into a back alley and Harry swung it into the driveway, being careful not to turn the steering wheel too hard.
Harry pushed the silver button, and the car shimmered. A muggle walked right past it, giving no indication he saw it. Harry felt himself smirking again.
"Wicked."
He put the car in gear and had it fly into the sky. The buildings seemed to shrink as the car coasted over them. "Now all we have to worry about it the aeroplanes." Harry said. Ginny let out a squeaking noise and stared out her window. Astoria was doing the same, gaping down at the world below. This was the first time either of them had seen Britain from the sky, Harry mused.
"Look at that!" Astoria said, amazed. "Is that all muggle London?"
"What can I say?" Harry shrugged. "There is a lot of us."
"There's the express!" Ginny cried. She pointed downward. Sure enough, there was the Hogwarts Express, streaking across the countryside like a scarlet snake.
"We'll check every thirty minutes, to make sure we haven't lost it." Harry said, before pulling them back above cloud cover and flooring the accelerator.
The car sped on above the clouds, like wandering into a dream. The sun blazed down from an endless sea of bright blue, the clouds making all kinds of shapes beneath them. Ginny stopped her worrying about getting caught to stare out of her window. Astoria had dropped her unhappy mood ages ago and would enthusiastically point at various things whenever they dropped below clouds to keep an eye on the train.
"This is amazing," Astoria said. "Do all muggles have one of these?"
"More often then not." Harry said. "Although most of them can't fly." He added as an afterthought. "We have aeroplanes for that."
The drive itself continued for several hours, and was in fact quite pleasant. There was a stack of sweets in the glove compartment, and Harry was free to discuss muggle life with the two girls. Ginny, now feeling giddy over her first major break of the rules, had inherited her father's interest in muggles. That coupled with her obvious crush on him had her hanging on his every word. It was both cute and extremely amusing. Astoria, having never met a muggle in her life, listened curiously, her arms resting on the back of his chair, interrupting only to ask questions. The thought that he had managed to pull off a more dramatic entrance to school then Fred and George Weasley also put a smug grin on Harry's face.
Several hours later, Hogwarts finally came into view. Astoria was feeding Maria and Hedwig when the car started to descend. "Where are we going to park it?" Ginny asked nervously. Now that they were here, the excitement of having pulled off the theft had once again given way to anxiety. It reminded Harry of the first time he'd shoplifted.
"Out back." Harry responded easily. "Right behind where they keep the express. The train'll be along in a few minutes, and we'll just join the crowd. Easy, and no one will have to know."
The tires touched the ground as Harry followed the last bit of train track to the garage where the train was kept. Turning the steering wheel to the right he swung the car around back. "Last stop, everyone out!" He said cheerfully.
Ginny sprang out of the car, squeaking as her cramped muscles strained in protest. Astoria got out more carefully, holding Hedwig's cage. "Well, that was interesting," She said.
Harry got out of the car, turning it off the same way Ginny had activated it, before getting Maria out. She didn't seem to like flying very much, because she was giving him an evil eye.
"Grab your trunks," He said. "The train will be here very soon."
%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&
Slipping into the crowd, Harry felt a twinge in his stomach. Shouldn't he feel bad about using Ginny that way? A crush was so easy to manipulate...but had she deserved to be put in that position? After all, if they had been found out they could have faced expulsion from Hogwarts, and she hadn't been wild about doing that until he'd given her the Look.
But when no one looked sideways at them as they entered the school, he decided that it didn't matter – no harm had come from it, and they had gotten to school on time to boot! Astoria looked like she enjoyed the trip a lot, and was currently walking up the hall to be Sorted.
She grinned at Harry as she walked past. Ginny offered him a tentative smile, before turning her eyes to the floor looking guilty as sin.
Again, Harry felt a twinge, but dismissed it quickly. It would stop bothering her after a little.
Daphne looked a little suspicious when Astoria had reunited with her on the platform, clearly not entirely buying the story of being in a different compartment. Now she was smiling as Astoria went to get Sorted; with any luck she wouldn't think too hard on it.
"Greengrass, Astoria!"
Harry watched as Astoria scampered up to the hat and sat on the chair. After a second, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"
Astoria put her hat down and darted over to where her sister was sitting, the table clapping and cheering.
"Lovegood, Luna!"
A dreamy-looking blonde girl walked up to the chair. Harry watched curiously as the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!", and the strange girl walked – no, wandered – down to the Ravenclaw table and sat down. That was a strangeness he had come to associate with Carol – maybe they knew each other?
"Weasley, Ginny!"
Ginny walked up to the hat. It sat on her head and waited. And waited. The hall grew quiet, and suddenly the hat yelled - "SLYTHERIN!"
%&%&%&%&%&%&%&&%%&
Ginny sat frozen on the chair, unable to comprehend what had just happened, though the word was ringing in her ears. Slytherin? Her?
McGonagall gently pushed her in the direction of her new house. There was a scattering of polite applause, but she could feel several of the house members glaring at her. She swallowed. Then – then Astoria stood up and waved her over. "Over here, Ginny." She said.
A boy nearby – Malfoy, Ginny realized, she remembered him from Diagon Alley – glared at her, but she seemed not to notice. Nervously, Ginny walked over to her and sat down at the offered seat.
"That was unexpected." Astoria remarked, "We were expecting you to be Sorted with the rest of your family. Well – welcome to Slytherin! This is my sister, Daphne."
The older blonde on Astoria's other side nodded and smiled. "Hello Ginny." She said quietly. She glanced at her younger sister. "You've met?"
"On the train," Astoria lied immediately. "We happened to run into each other while looking for a compartment to sit in. We talked a lot."
Ginny nodded, praying her guilt didn't show in her face. Her father was going to be so worried...she'd have to make sure it 'reappeared' when she came back for the summer...oh dear...they'd be so angry with her...they were already going to go spare, she'd been sorted into Slytherin...
Her hand went into her bag and she felt Tom's diary. She relaxed a bit; Tom had been a Slytherin. He'd be able to calm her down. She knew Astoria, too, and Harry Potter had made sure she got to school.
That couldn't be too bad, right?
End Chapter
All right, the reason I had Harry manipulate Ginny like that was I felt that I wasn't having him do enough questionable things. If that unsettled you, good - it was meant to. Harry doesn't really meant to put her in trouble, but he's so used to not caring about the consequences of his behavior that the seriousness of getting her involved isn't occurring to him. Also, if you think the car thing was dealt with too easily, trust me, it's going to come back - and Ginny is going to suffer for it.
Moon: Hello, I'm back! Again, thank you all for all your lovely reviews and encouragement - you're all so kind. Now, this chapter kicks of both the start of Slytherin Ginny and Harry's dark reputation (hence the chapter title!) I do not own Harry Potter...enjoy!
Chapter 10: Bad Reputation
Harry immediately sat down on his bed, for once not protesting when Maria hopped up on his stomach. The other boys were talking to Ron, who had been beside himself over the fact that his little sister had been sorted into Slytherin. Harry really didn't see what the problem was, but the way Ron was going on about it made it seem like the Hat's decision was some sort of personal betrayal. Dean and Seamus were trying to get him to see reason, but they didn't seem to be having much luck. Neville was hanging back, too nervous to comment on anything, as usual. That was a frustrating note about the shy boy; if you were too afraid to take risks how did he expect to do anything in life?
Ron's yelling was making it hard for him to sleep, and after the pulse-pounding expedition with the 'borrowed' car Harry could really use some. He kept wondering why the gateway to the platform had been sealed – or who could have done it.
Blaise might have a few suggestions, he mused.
He was just glad Granger hadn't seen him come in on the car. Lord knows how she would have reacted; it probably would have involved a big speech about how it was the Wrongest thing he could possibly do. You'd think he'd have committed murder or something, the way she acted when he broke a rule. It wasn't as though anything bad had happened.
He realized he didn't have much knowledge about the other two houses, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. It would be good to keep an eye on the two houses, perhaps make an acquaintance or two inside them. After all, the more you know, the better prepared you are when something goes wrong. Which things often seemed to around Harry.
He fell asleep with Dobby's warnings in his ear. The sealed door was just the start, wasn't it?
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Ginny numbly followed the other Slytherins down the halls into the dungeons, feeling very much like someone had dumped her into a tank full of hungry sharks. The Hat had insisted something about 'her brilliant mind' before sorting her here, no amount of begging had made it change its mind.
"Can you remember the last time a blood traitor was sorted into Slytherin?" Draco said in a voice that was meant to be a whisper, but pitched to carry in a way that couldn't have been anything less than intentional. "That was decades ago. Usually, when one of those – or Merlin forbid, a mudblood – was sorted into our house, they didn't last a month."
"The last recorded Honour Killing was a hundred years ago, Draco." Blaise said, his tone hard. "We've given up on that bloodthirsty tradition."
Draco seemed not to notice. "The last recorded honour killing..." he muttered, casting a glare at Ginny. "It's a pity, really...Hogwarts could use a little cleanup..."
Ginny shivered and started walking faster in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Draco. His two cronies and a few girls snickered; her distress must be obvious to them. Her father had talked about how barbaric the honour killings had been. Oh lord, what if she was targeted? She didn't want to die!
"Ignore him," Another girl who'd followed Astoria and Daphne down the halls, Tracy Davis if Ginny was remembering her name right. "The Malfoy's have very strong views on blood purity; he's just trying to frighten you. Don't let him know it, walk with your back up straight and your eyes indifferent. Sharks won't come after you if they can't smell your blood."
Astoria nodded in agreement of this. Ginny swallowed and straightened her back like she was told, forcing back tears that wanted desperately to come. It felt forced and awkward at first, but she saw what they were getting at, and held herself this way all the way to the common room.
The common room was coldly pretty, with green and silver everywhere. There were armchairs around the fireplace, a circle in the corner for duelling, and there was a skull on the mantle. Ginny tried not to look at it.
They were immediately menaced by their Head of House, Severus Snape, who launched into a monologue about honour, cleverness and tenacity that Ginny desperately hung onto, trying to absorb how she would be expected to behave.
An ideal Slytherin girl should be, according to the speech, cool and reserved, careful and clever, put thought before action, pragmatism before emotion, act instead of react, and weigh all the possible outcomes to a situation. She would never start a battle that she could not win. She would lie her way into the enemy's good graces to lower their guard, and then she would strike. She would never dishonour her allies.
Ginny fought back a shiver. It sounded so opportunistic and uncaring. She'd always been emotional and outspoken. How would she meet these expectations? The stress of her situation was high and mounting every minute.
After this speech, Severus Snape dismissed them with a twirl of his cape and told them to prepare for their lessons tomorrow. She was scared of him; she had heard all kinds of horror stories about Snape from her brothers. How would he treat her?
Ginny followed Astoria, Daphne and Tracy into the girl's dormitory. The first year girls took a different section from the others; Daphne and Tracy said something to Astoria before going in the other direction.
Some of the older girls who were already there gave a moment to stare at Ginny as she walked past them, some of them with coldness in their eyes, others with confusion, and still others with simple curiosity mingled with a challenge.
Pansy Parkinson stopped her, Astoria and her two other dorm mates Megan Rushman and Selena Pritchard on their way to their room. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black, and they were like chips of ice will of scorn and hate.
"What's the blood traitor doing here?" She demanded, not even looking at Ginny. "Her whole rotten, muggle-loving family's always been in Gryffindor. They should keep their disgrace away from this noble house."
"She's been sorted here, Parkinson." Astoria responded stiffly. "That makes her one of us."
Pansy tossed her hair and glared at Ginny in a way that made the redhead want to melt into the floor and disappear. "One of us? A base-born brat born of a muggle-lover who raises his children like animals?" She scoffed. "Not likely! Send her off somewhere; I don't want to share my dorm with the likes of her." Several other pureblood girls made noises of agreement.
Ginny swallowed hard, she would not cry in front of this girl; it would only egg her on. Astoria merely glared back at Pansy and said, "Parkinson, she won't be in your dorm, she'll be in mine. It's the hat's decision to put her here; therefore it falls on us to help her become a snake. She's still a pureblood, you know, and therefore you should show her a little respect."
"Respect?" Pansy growled. "Her father is so obsessed with muggles he's hardly better than one. None of them have any respect for ancient traditions or their bloodlines. They're no better than those mudbloods. I won't have her tarnishing our house honour with her presence."
"Move, Parkinson," Astoria said, her temper visible in her words. "If you have nothing constructive to say, say nothing, remember?"
Pansy gave Astoria a dirty look. "You better watch it, Greengrass. I'm not going to kowtow to you just because your Malfoy's betrothed." She spat the last words out as though they were poison to her. "You can go and host a filthy blood traitor if you'd like, but I have social standards. And I'll be keeping them."
She walked past the group, smashing Ginny with her shoulder as she went past. "You better watch your back, blood traitor." She finished scathingly. "If I catch you doing anything untoward, you're dead." The girls who'd been standing with her all shot Ginny venom-filled glares and followed Pansy to her dorm.
Ginny stumbled a bit, nearly falling over backwards over her trunk, but Megan caught her arm. "Quite the conversationalist, isn't she?" The black-haired girl asked sarcastically.
Astoria shook her head. "Girls, not here – come on, we better get to our dorm." She nodded in the direction of her dorm, and lead the other girls into the corner where the four beds were. The other Slytherin girls watched them leave.
There was a long, painful pause before Megan walked over to the far end bed and dropped her trunk in front of it. "Nice welcome. They sure know how to treat new students." If her sarcasm had a physical form, it would have been heavier than an elephant. Her blue eyes were alive with scorn.
Selena, a silver-haired girl with storm-grey eyes was still gawking back in the direction the confrontation had taken place. "Do they all talk like that?" She asked uneasily.
"A lot do. But it's hardly just them. There are bigots scattered throughout all four houses. Some are more vocal than others." Astoria said, putting her trunk on her bed. "I'm sorry Ginny, but I'm afraid there's going to be more of that in the first year."
Ginny stared at her trunk, still refusing to let herself cry. Her day had been horrid enough already without breaking down in front of a group of strangers. "About what Malfoy said...have there been any honour killings recently?" She asked, hoping that she sounded casual, and that the answer was no.
Astoria looked grimly at her. "A muggleborn disappeared during Daphne's first year. They never found him, and I have a sneaking suspicion why, especially since Drake Lehane looked so please with himself...but mostly muggleborns are just bullied so fiercely their parents pull them out."
"That's comforting," Megan muttered. "So they won't kill you, they're just make you life utterly miserable. That's so much better."
Ginny squeezed her hands around the handle of her trunk. Her parents couldn't afford to move her to a different school; the tuition would be too much for their already shaky finances.
"What do you guys think?" She whispered. "Me being a blood traitor? Should I be thrown out? Am I a disgrace of a witch?"
"No." Astoria said flatly. "We can't help who our family is. And I don't think blood is an appropriate measure of magical ability – after all, wasn't it Harry Potter, half-blood, who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Besides, regardless of blood, I'm not treating another girl my age that way."
"I don't hold that against you," Megan said. "My eldest brother eloped with a muggle lady not too long ago; he escaped to Australia, of all places. You should have seen my parents – believe me, that's not a scene you want to step into. But I still love him, and I don't think he would have chosen her if it was wrong, somehow."
Selena shifted. "I...I don't really have an opinion," she whispered. "But you don't seem...wrong, Ginny."
Ginny listened to this, burying herself in those words and trying to put out Pansy's vicious statements about her being dirty and worthless out of her mind. Her shoulder was aching and probably bruised. "What's her family like?" She asked quietly.
"Oh, Pansy gets all her unpleasantness from her father, Evan Parkinson." Astoria said darkly. "He works alongside Lucius in the Ministry, trying to pass laws that would put further restrictions on what muggleborns can and cannot do...he also claimed imperious after the first war with You-Know-Who... they're like minds, Malfoy and Parkinson. Everyone was expecting them to form an official alliance via marriage contract, but for some reason Malfoy came to my father instead."
Megan nodded. "I heard about your betrothal. My father was surprised by it, too. I think he meant to offer my brother Hadrian as a husband for you, but Malfoy got there first. I think he might have his eye on your older sister, though."
Astoria shook her head. "I think my dad's aiming to have Potter for Daphne's husband." She said. "Especially after the way he talked to him when he first met him at the robe store."
"I can see why," Selena said quietly. "The Potters are one of the oldest families still alive, and have relatively healthy blood. My mother is certainly willing to overlook the fact he's half-blood if it means marrying me to him." She sighed. "I'm a little worried about that. If he turns me down my other choices seem to be Marcus Flint or Drake Lehane, and they're awful brutes, both of them."
Astoria nodded. "You have my sympathy if you get stuck with one of them, Pritchard." She said. "What about you, Rushman? How's your future looking?"
Megan managed a sarcastic smile. "At least one of my choices looks like a half-decent fellow, at least. Lucky for me," she muttered. "It's Nathan Clearwater. He's a Ravenclaw. Frankly, I'd rather him – or death – over my other option."
"Who's that?" Ginny asked, her mind spinning with this talk of marriage contracts and old families between the other girls. Her mum and dad had tried to distance themselves from pureblood tradition and history and hadn't told her about these things, so she was feeling hopelessly confused. The girls referred to themselves by their last names instead of their first – was that a sign of respect? Or wariness? Should she use their last names too?
"Theodore Nott." Megan replied with a grimace. "If there's a more unpleasant bigot, I'm yet to meet him. How about you, Weasley?" She turned her attention to Ginny. "Considering your...status, let's call it, I'm not sure if your parents are looking at marriage contracts, but are they thinking about it?"
"I..." Ginny took a breath to steady her voice, and did her best to match Megan's cool, indifferent tone. "Not as of yet, no. My father doesn't think some of the old traditions have my best interests in mind."
Astoria looked seriously at Ginny. "Are you familiar with any pureblood customs?"
"...No."
The blonde girl let out her breath. "Okay. You going to want to get up to speed on those for your duration in the Slytherin house. I'm not asking you to change what you believe, but it will be much easier for you if you outwardly meet the model the other Slytherins are expecting."
"We'll help you." Selena offered.
Ginny looked hopefully at her dorm mates. She already had a target painted on her, but with some help maybe she'd be able to make it through her school year. "Thank you! That means a lot to me."
"You might want to leave it mostly to us, Greengrass," Megan warned Astoria. "I don't need to talk to Malfoy to know he's angry enough about you chatting with Potter without you publicly lending a hand to a known blood traitor."
Astoria's eyes narrowed angrily, and she exhaled through her teeth. "You have a point. Right. Ugh, damn him. Sorry Ginny, but I won't be of much help to you in class. Only when we're here." She gestured to the dorm. "We might as well start now."
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Tom, I've been sorted into Slytherin.
You have? I told you before, that's my old House. You must be pleased to have been placed in the most noble of Hogwart's houses.
I was a little scared actually; remember I said my whole family was in Gryffindor? What if they're angry? What if they don't like me?
There's no reason they should be! They should be proud of a Slytherin daughter. There's so much you can do, and what you can become...none of the other houses can – or are willing to – offer you what Slytherin can and will.
That's nice to know. Some of the other girls don't seem to like me very much, and my dorm mates are going to have to catch me up on pureblood tradition and how Slytherin girls behave. I don't know anything about it and some of the girls are already being awful to me. Malfoy was whispering about honour killings just as we were coming in, I'm sure he meant for me to hear.
I see. I've heard about a number of honour killings in my time. But you aren't a muggleborn.
No. This girl Pansy Parkinson called me a blood traitor, though, because my parents didn't raise me or any of my siblings by the traditions.
You'll have to prove to her that you can carry yourself like an honourable pureblood. She will repeal her words if you prove her wrong.
Thanks. Malfoy also doesn't want my friend Astoria openly associating with me because I'm a blood traitor. They're betrothed, she said. How is that fair?
It is most likely he's merely going overboard protecting his intended. Once you establish yourself there shouldn't be any problems. Of course, you'll have to do a lot to prove your family still has honour.
My parents are honourable! They just think differently from the others!
Of course. I'm simply stating that their different though process will not do you many favours among your peers.
I noticed; it isn't just Parkinson who's giving me nasty looks.
The gateway to school was sealed today. Harry Potter convinced me to fly my dad's car to Hogwarts. Was that wrong of me? Will my dad hate me?
Someone sealed the gate? Dreadful, trying to keep students from reaching school. No, you were absolutely within your right to get to school any way you could. Your father may be angry for a little, but news that your in Slytherin should change his tune.
Will he think Harry is a bad influence? I mean, he did talk me into breaking an important rule, and if we had been spotted we could have been expelled. Will he make me stop seeing Harry if I tell him?
It shouldn't matter to him; the Potters are an ancient family. Closeness to him could potentially erase your poverty forever and establish your family as a kingpin among British civilization. He'd be a fool to throw that away over a single violation; after all, you weren't caught.
I've been told his family is really old before. My friend Selene Pritchard said that her mother was considering offering Harry a marriage contract for having Selene as a bride. And Astoria's betrothed to Malfoy. Isn't that strange? I mean, we're all eleven – well, Harry is twelve, but that's still really young to get married!
It wasn't that strange when I was in school. Girls often married young, especially in times when there was danger on the horizon.
Do you think Parkinson will try to make me a victim of an honour killing, if she thought she could get away with it?
Hmm...the Parkinsons have considerable political clout, you may want to keep an eye on her. It would be...brazen...of her, considering that Headmaster Dumbledore seems to have a soft spot for families such as yours, but she may attempt it.
Thank you, Tom. You always have such helpful advice. It's so nice to have a friend in my pocket in such a scary position. I have to sleep now, though. Goodnight.
Good night, Ginny.
Inside the confines of the diary, Tom Riddle boded his time. Listening to this blood traitor's worried prattling, and pretending to be sympathetic was exceptionally irritating. Of all the people who could have picked up his diary, why did it have to be a preteen girl? If he had hair, he'd be ripping at it.
However, her being sorted into Slytherin would have her writing in his diary more than she usually did, which was all the better for him. He was gaining more power steadily the more she poured her fears and hopes into him.
She was putting so much of herself into him, he would be able to unlock the Chamber sooner than he had expected! This was more than he had initially hoped for. If she kept up like this, he'd be releasing the Basilisk within the week. Then all would come to fear Slytherin's heir, and he could begin what he had meant to do years before – purge the world of those unworthy of studying magic, until only the pure remained. And he'd start with his former home, Hogwarts, which had undoubtedly been sullied even further since that doddering old fool Dumbledore had become Headmaster.
And the stupid brat was already offering him potential targets, without even realizing it. Perhaps he should have it attack the Parkinson girl; her father had renounced his service to him and lived on his gold like a coward, after all. She mentioned this Granger mudblood, her bizarre and half-blood friend Lovegood, her blood traitor siblings, and of course Potter himself.
Speaking of whom. It seemed that the boy was more of a risk-taker and a rulebreaker than he would have expected of Dumbledore's Golden Boy; it may require a different approach for when he went after the boy again. But with that in mind, it would be easier to drive a wedge in between him and that meddling old coot if that was his normal behaviour.
The boy seemed to be ready to break rules to look out for himself...and the coot was of the mindset that anything can be sacrificed for the Greater Good. Oh yes, it should be easy to push the two apart. Divide and conquer had always been his preferred methods.
For years he had been trapped within this diary. But it wouldn't go on much longer. No, soon Tom Riddle would be released, and he would reign over all.
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Harry woke the next morning with a headache he couldn't explain. Must be left over from the altitude yesterday, he reasoned, swinging his legs off the bed and getting dressed. He grabbed his books and his timetable and headed downstairs.
And of course, Defence Against the Dark Arts was every bit the joke it was last year, with Professor Lockhart still in the position. He hadn't stopped his self-interested boasting since last year; in fact Harry was getting the impression that he was more arrogant and overblown than the last time he had seen him. At the beginning of the lesson, he let loose a cage full of pixies into the classroom and then couldn't contain them; Hermione Granger of all people had had to freeze them and put them away.
At this point Harry would rather be taught Defence by a werewolf and cut class right after this, halfway through the man's rambled explanation. If he flashes those teeth at me one more time, Harry thought, I'll probably go blind. Whoever hired this guy should be fired from breathing.
He ended up catching up with the Weasley Twins, who had the sense to leave long before he had. This, of course, got him on the wrong end of a Canary Cream, so he walked into his next class – Herbology – plotting revenge. He would rather die than admit that, yeah, it had been kind of funny.
In Herbology, they were repotting Mandrakes. The little creature's cries gave him a splitting headache, and he nearly passed out since everyone had pulled their Mandrake up at the same time, but he pulled through nonetheless.
On his way to his next class, he walked into a smaller kid. The kid had mousy hair and reminded Harry of Ginny for some reason, in size and in expression. He scrambled to pick up his camera and looked up at Harry, eyes wide.
"Harry! Harry. All right? I'm sorry. I – I'm Colin Creevy," He said excitedly. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. Do you mind – would it be alright if I took you picture?"
"Oh-uh-all right." Harry said, trying to keep the smile of his face. Another fan? Wow. Colin wasn't a girl, but it was still a nice feeling to see someone in such awe of you.
"Taking photographs now, Potter? What do you do with your spare time?"
Harry rolled his eyes and turned in the direction of the ever-present Draco Malfoy and his cronies. He'd walked across the Courtyard at some point and said it loudly enough to catch some of the surrounding student's attention. More fool him.
"I was going to ask you the same thing, Draco," He said in a bored tone. "Don't you ever get tired of following me around? I swear, it's like I have a stalker. Man – if we were a little older, and in a muggle school, you'd be expected to declare your intentions." When he said this last sentence, he raised his eyebrows in a way that his meaning couldn't be mistaken.
Draco turned several interesting colours and it was all Harry could take not to burst out laughing. "You – you – Potter – what kind of – how dare -"
"It's funny seeing you at loss for words, Malfoy," Harry said with a smirk. "Maybe you should freeze your face like that."
Colin started giggling, a motion that was followed by the other students. Draco's mouth opened and closed and repeated this several times. Harry returned his attention to Colin. "Sure Colin, but maybe later, I don't like the backdrop." He gestured to the wall and then walked off, leaving a hyperactive Colin and a gaping Malfoy, who was still hadn't quite processed his response.
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Harry stepped back into the hallways of the school and then stopped. An uneasy feeling had washed over him, and he had a feeling that he wasn't alone.
"let me rip let me tear let me kill-"
The voice hissed from the walls, making him spin around. But he was alone, there was no one who could have said it. It was resonating within his head. It was old, and angry.
Harry started walking down the hall. Magic or no, hearing voices inside your head was never a good sign. The voice was heavy with malevolence; he picked up the pace, trying to find out where it was coming from -
"letmekill!"
He rounded the corner and stopped. The voice had retreated, but there was something on the floor that wasn't the leaking water.
A Ravenclaw was lying still on the floor. Justin, if Harry was remembering his name right. Ginny was kneeling next to him, putting a hand on his and then pulling it back, fear in her eyes.
"What happened?" Harry asked, running up to the unmoving body.
Ginny's head shot up. "Harry! I don't know. I was just wandering in the halls and I found him like this! But I don't know what's wrong, he's so cold, is he dead?"
Harry looked down at Justin and put two fingers on his neck. His skin was cold, but there was a stiffness and a hardness to it that a dead person didn't. "I don't know," he told her, he knew that didn't sound very comforting, but he couldn't tell her what he didn't know.
He caught sight of her left arm. Although it was mostly obscured by her sleeve, there was a nasty-looking scar that started at her wrist and went up. "Hey, what happened-?"
"Bulstrode's work," Ginny muttered, pulling her sleeve down further. "Do you think we can pick him up-"
"Hah!"
Harry and Ginny looked up to see Filch, the caretaker, standing over them, his face twisted into a horrible grimace. "Caught in act!" He shouted.
"What?" Ginny said in a small voice.
"I knew you were trouble from the first minute you stepped into this castle, Potter," Filch went on, "And here's the end proof – you've attacked another student?"
"I didn't!" Harry said hotly, "I found him like this, Ginny called me over-"
"So you have an accomplice!" Filch said, "That changes nothing. Headmaster!"
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Harry and Ginny were hauled through the school and up into the Headmaster's office. This in and of itself wouldn't have bothered Harry, who was familiar with such offices, if it hadn't been because a boy had been turned to stone. Both their Heads of house, McGonagall and Snape, came in along with them when they heard Filch's shouting.
Ginny was shaking and looking positively terrified. This was truly the cap-off of a terrible week – being suspected of causing students harm. She clutched her arm, where the curse was still stinging her. No, she'd been on the receiving end of student harm, not the perpetrator.
Her fingers locked around Tom's diary, seeking comfort as Headmaster Dumbledore appeared from his study. Her mother talked about Dumbledore all the time and called him the 'greatest, most fair person you'd ever meet'. She desperately hoped that it was all true.
Harry, on the other hand, was feeling distinctively uncomfortable with the way Dumbledore's twinkling eyes seemed to bore into him and refused to meet them directly, instead settling for staring over his shoulder at the brilliant red phoenix on the perch in the far corner. No matter how many people sang Dumbledore's praises, something about him just felt off, and he was going to stay on his toes around the man.
"I've heard about what happened to poor Justin," He began in a grandfatherly voice, but perhaps the two of you could tell me what happened?"
Ginny immediately started, "I was just walking down the hallways, you know to get to my next class – I turned the corner, and I saw Justin on the floor! I went over to him, but he didn't answer me and his skin was so cold. A minute later Harry found me, and we were about to find a teacher when Filch came over." She subsided, her brown eyes wide and beseeching.
"A likely story!" Filch exclaimed. "He's using you as a cover-up...Potter, nothing but trouble ever since he got here, has no respect for anything, he's probably trying to see what he can get away with."
Harry bit down on an exceptionally foul-worded retort. It wouldn't do him any favours when he was trying to prove his innocence.
"No second year could have done this," Dumbledore said firmly. "But that means that someone else has. Did either of you, per chance, see anything suspicious in the halls before you came upon Justin?"
Harry shook his head no and looked at Ginny. She blinked once, twice, and seemed to be looking at something that wasn't there. "No sir," She whispered.
Something was wrong. Maybe it was her arm that was bothering her.
Maybe.
Dumbledore shook his head. "You both may go. Severus, Minerva, please remain, there are some things we should discuss..."
Harry and Ginny left the room, Harry straining to hear whatever he could before he was shuffled out the door. "...Chamber...can't be back..."
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At dinner, Harry picked at his food, deep in thought. Something strange had happened in the halls – he had heard that voice, and then he'd found Justin. He forbore mentioning that to the teachers, because it probably would only have served to make him look worse.
If the voice and the attack were connected, why hadn't Ginny heard it? She was fairly close by when he had heard it.
What was going on?