Draco decided it would be best to avoid Ginny over the next few weeks, watching her only from afar. She seemed to be adjusting well to her new classes and friends, though it seemed as though she was spending less and less time with the other first years, and more time by herself or lusting after Harry. Draco found it quite sickening that Ginny was so taken by Harry, especially when he knew that Harry did not even notice her at all.
As he watched Ginny, usually at meals in the Great Hall or passing her in the corridors, he had observed that she did not look like her normal energetic self. She seemed more tired and pale. No one else around her noticed a difference, except perhaps her eldest brother-but he was generally overworked by his prefect duties and had little time to figure out what was wrong with Ginny.
Trying to distract himself from Ginny's curious changes, Draco kept himself busy with Quidditch and classes. He continued to patrol the hallways at his leisure with Vincent and Gregory at his side, but he had not annoyed the Weasels in awhile. In fact, he was quite impressed with himself for not insulting them-Ginny would have been proud, if she were actually talking to him, that is. The few times he had tried to talk to her, she had given him a cold glare before turned a corner and disappearing. She seemed to have an impeccable knowledge of the school's hidden passageways, because Draco could never find her once she vanished from sight.
October soon arrived, and along with it came a sudden increase in fevers and sicknesses among the students. Draco supposed that Ginny's paleness might have been a cold, like the rest of the student body. Concerned, he sent the Weasel Percy an anonymous note, advising him to make Ginny take some of the Pepperup potion that Madam Pomfrey was passing out to ailing students. He could tell his note had worked, because the next time he saw Ginny she was smoking from her ears so badly that it looked as though her bright hair was on fire.
The month passed quickly, as many students spent a lot of time sleeping in order to accelerate the boredom caused by the chilly and damp weather. Throughout the month Ginny was still not looking any less pale. Draco had thought it odd before, but now he was starting to get concerned. In all the years he had known her, she had never looked like that-and although he had his own friends and business to attend to that did not involve babysitting the littlest Weasley, he could not help but feel uneasy.
~*~
Ginny woke up late on Halloween-she had been sleeping in quite a bit lately. It seemed as though no matter when she went to bed, she always was tired. Of course, she never went straight to bed, because she always had to talk to Tom a little about her day. Ginny was beginning to think that the loss of sleep was messing with her head, because there were times when she suddenly forgot what she was in the process of doing, and she was having problems remembering what she did earlier in the week, especially at during the evening hours.
This morning, she had woken up particularly sore. She was still wearing her school robes, and there was a load of feathers all over her robe and in her hair.
Flipping open her diary, she decided to write a little to Tom before she got ready for the banquet. "Dear Tom," she started, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there." She paused for a moment, waiting for his response.
"Are you all right? I'm sure it was nothing-perhaps someone is playing a prank on you?"
Ginny contemplated his statement. Perhaps her brothers had done something to her rooster feathers? She would not put it past them, but it still did not make sense. She carefully responded, "I don't know. I just feel like something is wrong with me." She watched as the ink faded away and Tom's words began to form on the paper, telling her that she was overreacting and everything was okay. As much as she wanted to believe him, she still had a gut feeling that something was awry. She sighed and said good-bye to Tom, thanking him for his kind support, as always.
She was excited about the Halloween banquet-she had heard her roommates talk about it for days. She never talked to them anymore, but she still listened silently from her bed as they gossiped each night. The Great Hall was spectacularly decorated, and supposedly, there were going to be dancing skeletons for entertainment, though people could not confirm that.
After spending most of the day alone in her room, Ginny got ready for dinner an hour early. She wanted to see all the decorations and grandeur that everyone else had been endlessly talking about. She pranced down the stairs towards the Great Hall, when suddenly she felt someone grab her wrist. Looking at the captor, she realized that it was Draco, yet again. "What do you want this time?" she asked sternly, trying to be cold but failing miserably because of her Halloween spirit.
~*~
"What's the matter with you these days, Ginny?" Draco asked concernedly. He was standing halfway behind a tall suit of armor, so that if any students came through the corridor, they would not be able to see him, although if they saw him holding onto Ginny's arm he was sure they would be quite suspicious.
Ginny rolled her eyes at Draco and stepped behind the suit of armor, squeezing herself into the small space. "Nothing is wrong, Draco-I've just found different friends," she said lamely, staring at him blankly.
"No, you haven't," Draco said, narrowing his eyes at Ginny. "I've watched you-all you do is wander around by yourself or write in that stupid book of yours. You haven't spoken to one of your `friends' in weeks!" Draco stared at Ginny's eyes, trying to get some sense of what she was feeling. "As much as I try, I can't not care about you-I've known you for so many years, and I can't understand why you're suddenly so… unsociable." He waved his hands around, trying to think of the words to describe what he was feeling. It was a bit unnerving for Ginny to just stare at him without saying anything. She seemed to be pondering something, and there was confusion in her eyes. "Ginny, I care about you…" he offered, trying his best to reconcile with her. They were both crammed behind the suit of armor-it was the closest Draco had been to Ginny for quite some time. He almost wanted to reach out and hug her, telling her that everything would be all right-but he had a sinking suspicion that she would just hit him if she tried. For a petite girl, she had a great deal of strength-Draco had learned this the hard way several years ago.
He watched as her eyes flickered around, perplexed and bewildered about something. Suddenly, the confusion faded and her eyes regained their focus on Draco. He could almost see the muscles moving in her face as her vacant expression turned intense. "I don't need your pity, Draco," she said severely. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I'm sorry if you're not happy, but I have different friends now-ones that don't talk to me when they need me and then drop me for their little vendettas against my last name."
"I haven't insulted your brothers in weeks!" Draco claimed, defending himself. He was beginning to get very confused-he had not seen her with anyone else in weeks, and he had no idea who this `friend' that she kept talking about was. He tried to reach out to comfort her, but she jerked away suddenly, falling out of the alcove they were sitting in. Jumping out after her, Draco tried to help her up but she wrenched herself away and glared at him.
"I don't need your help! I'm fine!" she yelled, her voice echoing down the empty hallway. She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself through her yelling. Ginny quickly rose to her feet and glared at Draco, "I don't need help. Not from you. Not from anyone," she said, falsely stern. Then she turned and ran out of the hallway, towards the Gryffindor dormitories.
Draco stared after her, wondering what was wrong. Now he was really certain that she was not all right. If only he could keep tabs on her long enough to figure out what was causing her unexplainable changes. He sighed and headed towards the Great Hall-there was no use chasing after her-she knew the secret passageways of the castle much better than he did. Maybe after dinner he would be able to talk to her.
~*~
Ginny ran back to the Gryffindor dormitories as fast as she could, eager to get away from Draco's sympathy. She did not need his condolences-she did not need to be his little charity case. She was perfectly capable of choosing her own friends, and he did not need to keep interfering. He was almost acting like one of her overprotected brothers. Passing several of her roommates in the hallway, Ginny told them she had forgotten something as she continued towards the portrait hole.
She climbed into the Gryffindor common room, but it was very empty due to the fact that everyone else had gone down to the Great Hall for Halloween festivities. As she climbed the stairs to her dorm, Hermione rushed down the stairs past her, hurrying to meet Harry and Ron who had stealthily appeared from the boys dormitories. Wondering briefly why they were not at the Great Hall yet, she brushed the thought aside as she heard Harry mention something about a party. They were just running a bit late, Ginny figured.
Upon reaching her room, Ginny flopped down on her bed and began to write furiously in her journal.
~*~
Sweet Ginny… She has finally returned to me-again earlier than the previous night. It seems that she becomes fed up with her friends and family sooner and sooner each day, and she then turns to me for support. I know that tonight is the night-Ginny has been talking about it for weeks. The entire school will be at the Great Hall to celebrate Halloween, and finally--finally, the Chamber of Secrets will open again. I am not surprised that Ginny opted out of the festivities-she tells me that she would rather write than do anything else. With pleasure I offered encouragements for her to do as she pleased. She is a big girl now-full of real life problems and traumas. Does Harry Potter notice her? Does Draco Malfoy hate her? Does anyone care about her? Anyone? I had alleviated her pain-showing her that someone does care-and over time, she has come to trust me more than anyone else. My plan is nearly complete, and with the help of Ginny Weasley, I will finish the work of Salazar Slytherin that was started so many years ago.
I shall invite her into my memories once more, and channel her thoughts to my noble purpose as we began the processes necessary to purge the school of Mudbloods, once and for all.
~*~
Draco yawned loudly as the Halloween banquet drew to a close. Despite all the hype about it, it was really quite boring and tedious. As soon as it was over, Draco hurried to leave the Great Hall to return to his common room. He found himself trapped between large crowds of students, all pushing down the hallway.
Suddenly, he ran into the person in front of him-everyone had stopped for no reason. Impatiently, Draco squeezed up to the front of the crowd. They all seemed to be entranced by some text on the wall. Draco squinted at the wall and read "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." Draco could vaguely remember his father speaking of the Chamber of Secrets… It was a Hogwarts legend-one that most had heard of, but no one really believed.
It was eerily silent as the students struggled to see the writing on the wall. Draco could see Potter, Weasley and Granger off in the distance, staring at a still figure which looked oddly like Filch's cat. It looked… dead… Draco smiled at the sight of Filch's cat, Ms. Norris-that cat was amazing annoying and nosy, and if it really was dead, it would be a blessing for everyone.
"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Draco said, sarcastically mocking the sign. He walked over to Ms. Norris hanging upside down and peered at her closely-she looked nearly dead. Draco glanced back at the Mudblood Granger-she looked completely horrified. The Weasley and Potter looked similarly shocked at the cat and the writing on the wall.
Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Filch approaching, with Dumbledore and a trail of other teachers right behind. Draco slipped back into the crowd of students, wanting to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with professors. Harry Potter and the Golden Trio may be able to escape punishment in any situation, but Draco was generally not granted the same privilege. Besides, Draco did not want to get blamed for killing the cat-Potter could deal with that instead.
Wandering slowly downstairs to the dungeons, Draco tried to remember what he had heard about the Chamber of Secrets. He knew the story involved the founders of Hogwarts, especially Salazar Slytherin. Draco knew that Slytherin's purpose had been to eliminate Muggle borns from Hogwarts-perhaps there was someone at Hogwarts now who wished to continue his plans. Either that or someone was playing a very clever joke-it certainly had everyone talking. Draco figured that Potter and his gang were probably trying to solve the mystery, seeing as the Mudblood Granger certainly did not want to purge the school of her own kind.
The rest of the Slytherin students slowly meandered in, all discussing who the heir was, and if the whole ordeal was really one big joke. Maybe it was someone's excuse to kill Filch's bloody cat as a gift to the entire student body. Draco smirked-maybe now he would be able to wander the castle without Ms. Norris alerting Filch of his every move. Vincent and Gregory slowly lumbered over to Draco and sat down on the other chairs around the fire.
"Do you know who the heir of Slytherin is?" Vincent asked Draco slowly, as though it was hurting his head to strung so many words together in one sentence.
"No," Draco snapped, "I don't know. I'll have to ask my father." He stopped talking, shooting both of them a glare which warned them not to bother him any more. They grunted in affirmation, and the three of them continued to sit in silence for a long moment.
Finally, Draco rose slowly, and nodded good-night to the two large brutes before he walked over to his private bedroom and went to sleep.
~*~
Ginny awoke, disheveled and awkwardly positioned on the wrong end of her bed. The curtains were closed around her, but her blankets were pulled off the bed and her pillows were all over the place. She reached a hand up to flatten her rumpled hair, but she noticed that her hand was dirty and covered with red paint. She looked down at her front-she had not changed into her nightclothes; instead, she was still wearing her black robes from the day before, but they were splattered with red paint.
Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, Ginny closed her eyes and tried to remember she had done the previous night that involved paint. All she could recollect was that she had gone to the Great Hall for the banquet. But wait-maybe she did not go to the Great Hall… She never made it there… because… because she had been arguing with Draco! And then she had come back here to her dorm, and talked to Tom. She bit her lip and looked straight ahead at the curtains. What she remembered from last night did not make any sense-she must be forgetting something. She tried hard to recall some other event, but she failed miserably.
Still befuddled, Ginny changed out of her dirty clothes and showered before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
~*~
The Chamber of Secrets has been reopened-finally I can follow in the righteous footsteps of Salazar Slytherin as Ginny and I cleanse Hogwarts of Mudbloods. I pity the fool who gets in my way. The reopening of the chamber transpired without a hitch-my only disappointment is that we only managed to petrify that ridiculous cat. It was a horrible waste of our efforts-but no worries, there is plenty of time to prolong our mission-and someday, the school will be purified of those unworthy of studying magic.
~*~
A/N: I'm trying to pick up the pace of the story, and move on… I got caught up in keeping to the books and introducing Ginny and Draco, but now I think it's time for better things to happen… Besides, they need to stop arguing and just get together… Hehe… Tell me what you think, and I'll get more up.
I butchered some of the tedious parts from the previous chapter and posted a newer version-I plan to do that to all of the chapters. Basically, when I first wrote the story I focused a lot on using and justifying all the quotes from the canon, because I thought it was necessary to do so in order to explain Draco. However, I have decided that it makes the story boring, so now I'm just mentioning canon events (or some of them) in a couple sentences rather than a couple paragraphs. I'll try to do that to all of them now. I hope this chapter was a little less boring, but I'll look at it again later to edit it if necessary.
As always, comments and criticism are welcome.
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