Chamber Born

“Astrid…”

“Yeah?”

“Are you still mad at me?”

Astrid looked up, clearly confused.

“Mad?”

They were in the library and Ginny had found Astrid pouring over a large amount of books and taking careful notes.

“Yeah… about the petrification.”

“I’m not mad?” Astrid said. “Why would I be?”

“I petrified you… and you left?” Ginny said, now completely confused herself. Was this a passive aggressive thing?

“But you said you were possessed…” Astrid said, looking at her suspiciously.

“I was.”

“So you didn’t petrify me,” she said slowly.

“But it was me!”

Astrid looked at her as if she were mad.

“I thought you were possessed.”

“I was!” Ginny said loudly. And that was how they were kicked out of the library. 

When Ginny turned to Astrid in the hallway, the girl was grinning. 

“You were messing with me?”

“Well, I didn’t leave because I was mad. But just now, yeah, I was messing with you. We can now call ourselves even for you petrifying me.” She held out her hand. Ginny slumped and then smiled ruefully and shook Astrid’s hand.

“Why did you leave then?”

“Mandrake draught!” she said excitedly and held up the piece of parchment she’d been taking notes on. “I’m certain I saw big yellow eyes in a suit of armour. And there’s very few documented cases of creature-induced petrification and revival. I was recording all my symptoms after waking. I’m going to send it in to Healer’s Monthly.”

Ginny stared at her.

“That’s why you ran out after I apologised?”

“Pfft, you have nothing to apologise for. You’re just as much a victim as me. I assume it was Tom?”

Ginny blinked. “How…”

Astrid rolled her eyes.

“You were possessed, I was the first petrified. I wonder who it could be? Maybe the talking diary, obsessed with the dark arts that only I knew about?”

Ginny stared at the girl.

“Just because I’m failing half my classes, doesn’t mean I’m an idiot you know.”

“You’re failing half your classes!?” Ginny exclaimed.

“Errr, yeah. Well, I was. Now I get to just skip exams due to the petrification. So thanks for that.” Astrid made an odd hand sign with her thumb and index finger.

“Why are you failing your classes?” Ginny said, dismayed—both at her friend possibly having to repeat a year if this continued and because she sounded like Percy.

“They’re not interesting. I gave up on doing essays in my classes except for Herbology and Potions. Plus, grades don’t even matter. All that anyone looks at are your O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. results. I’ll just make sure I can ace those.”

Ginny rubbed her hand against her face.

***

Ginny, Astrid, Aurellia, and Luna led Pansy and Hermione to the balcony. Hermione seemed scandalised by their destruction of school property, but refrained from saying anything when Pansy elbowed her.

They stepped out onto the balcony, and Ginny grinned. It was a rare cloudless night and the stars were out in force. It added some drama to the reveal of their hideout.

“This is…” Hermione started.

“So cool,” Pansy finished, throwing herself into an armchair. “So is this where we find out what really happened?”

Ginny nodded. She then proceeded to tell them everything. Hermione, much like McGonagall, held her hand over her mouth in horror. Pansy, to her surprise, hugged her when she described waking up in the chamber. Aurellia started crying at the end.

“I’m such a bad friend,” Aurellia said. “He didn’t even need to petrify me. I didn’t figure it out!”

“You’re not a bad friend,” Ginny said. “He had access to all my memories. He could impersonate me pretty well.”

“I should have known,” Aurellia said, and her voice evened out. “We need a way of making sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Ooh! We can have a code phrase,” Astrid said excitedly. “Purple Spotted Orangutan.”

They all stared at her.

“No one would guess it.”

“I like it,” Pansy said.

“And Professor Snape said we should learn occlumency?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sure there’s stuff on it in the Parkinson library,” Aurellia said. Then she glanced guiltily at Pansy. Pansy waved her off.

“Speaking of,” Ginny said. “Can you get anything on the history of Morgana and magic in Britain?”

“Sure,” Aurellia said, shrugging.

“What are you going to do?” Hermione asked Ginny. She glanced at Pansy. “About your family over the summer?”

Ginny sighed. 

“Nothing right now. We’ll see how it goes. Fred and George are on my side even if they aren’t the biggest Slytherin fans. Bill and Charlie likely will be too. No idea about Percy.”

Ron’s reaction went unsaid.

“If you need to, you can stay with me,” Hermione said. “I wrote to mum and dad. They’re okay with it. Only… don’t tell them about me being petrified…”

Ginny shot her a look, but Hermione just shook her head.

“Or me!” Astrid said, sounding excited by the idea.

“Or me,” Pansy added, smirking. “I’ll be in Knockturn this summer.”

“I told you you could stay with me,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m afraid I’d burn your house down,” Pansy said seriously. “But you can teach me how to do muggle stuff over the summer… slowly. Also, I can use magic in Knockturn without activating the trace.”

Ginny couldn’t fight the grin splitting her face.

“Knockturn sounds cool.”

“Yup. I figured I’d expand my horizons. I heard they have hags there.”

Astrid looked incredibly jealous.

“You can visit, dear,” Pansy said, noticing her look and patting her on the shoulder. Astrid brightened immediately.

“I’ll see what it’s like… Maybe it’ll be okay,” Ginny said with more confidence than she felt.

***

All six girls sat together on the Hogwarts Express. Ginny was both incredibly nervous to be going home and very happy to be surrounded by friends.

A few people stopped in to wish them all well. Ginny was surprised when Lucian Burke, a Slytherin boy in her year with long brown hair and blue eyes stopped by to say he was happy they were alright, but he looked at Ginny the whole time. He turned a little pink and then dashed off. Pansy smirked at her and Ginny told her to shutup.

The Carrow twins also stopped by to wish them well and, although they were, as ever, hard to read, Ginny thought they looked a little sad.

Fred and George grinned at them and waved, but moved on quickly after their friend Lee. Ron and Harry stopped by.

Well, Ron stopped by and Harry looked uncomfortable and like he didn’t want to be there.

“Mum’s furious with you,” he said, ignoring the rest of the compartment.

“What tipped you off?” Ginny said sarcastically. Ron reddened and glared, then he turned to Hermione.

“So this is how it’s going to be? Gonna hang with all your dark wizard friends?”

Hermione’s jaw dropped open. But before she could say anything a spider fell on Ron’s shoulder and he screamed and tried to knock it off.

“Ah ah, little brother. You wouldn’t hurt Stewart, would you?”

The twins summoned the tarantula and handed it to Lee, who smirked.

“Run along now Ronniekins.”

Ron glared at them, but then eyed the box in Lee’s hands and left.

“Hermione, I—” Harry started.

“Don’t even bother Harry,” Hermione said. “You ignored me all year until I got petrified and then ignored me after I woke up. And you just let Ron berate me again.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. He looked it too. “I just… I’m really sorry.”

“I need more than a sorry, Harry,” Hermione said, unrelenting. He straightened a little and nodded.

“I’ll make it up to you… I swear.”

Hermione nodded, looking uncertain for the first time, and Harry left.

The atmosphere was a little gloomy after that, until Neville Longbottom stopped by. He looked uncomfortably at Pansy, who surprisingly, looked equally uncomfortable.

“Uhh, Herm—”

He cut off as Pansy shot up to her feet. Neville took a step back. Then Pansy bowed formally to him.

“I apologise for my behaviour to you, Longbottom,” she said in a stilted tone. Neville blinked in surprise, but it was nothing compared to Hermione’s expression. She stared at Pansy in utter shock.

Neville gave Pansy a formal sort of nod.

“Your apology is accepted, Parkinson.”

Pansy looked relieved and sat back down.

“Err, Hermione, I was just going to see if you’d like me to owl you the Herbology notes you missed this year.”

Hermione perked up.

“Oh that’s so thoughtful, Neville! Thank you. I would love that.”

Neville grinned and left.

“Was that some sort of ceremonial thing?” Ginny asked. Pansy looked at her and rolled her eyes.

“It’s traditional, if you wrong someone, to apologise formally in front of witnesses.”

“Traditional?” Ginny asked.

“Did you not learn any wizarding forms and etiquette?” Pansy asked, surprised.

“No… My mum and dad don’t really go in for tradition. I know my mum’s family did before the war… Could you teach me sometime?”

“Of course!” Pansy said, clapping her hands delightedly.

“Umm,” Hermione broke in. “Could you teach me as well?” She looked really nervous, as if afraid Pansy might hit her. Pansy, for her part, just looked shocked.

“You want to learn?”

“Of course!” Hermione said in exasperation.

“Yeah, of course I’ll teach you.”

Hermione beamed at her.

“But your parents have to get a floo connection.”

Hermione’s face fell.

“I don’t think they’ll like that. They aren’t anti-magic or anything, but…”

Pansy waved her hand at her dismissively.

“I’ll talk to them.”

“What?” Hermione said in a panic. “No you won’t.”

“Yes I will. You can’t go through life without a floo connection, Hermione.”

“I made it thirteen years without one.”

“I know,” Pansy said, patting her on the shoulder condescendingly. “It must have been hard.”

Hermione glared at her.

Ginny badly wanted to see Pansy Parkinson attempt to convince two muggles to install a floo connection, but she was waylaid by her mother and she waved a hasty goodbye to her friends.

“Come on. We’re going home. Your father is getting your brothers.”

They apparated and, not being prepared at all, Ginny had to focus on not sicking-up the candy she’d eaten on the train. She stumbled in the kitchen and made a wretching noise before her stomach finally settled.

“Sit. Now.”

Ginny sat.

“Give me your wand.”

Ginny handed it over. Professor Snape was arriving in two days to take her to buy a new one under the pretext of tutoring sessions anyway.

“You will not use magic except during your tutoring sessions. You will not raise your voice to either myself or your father. You will not fight with your brothers.”

Ginny opened her mouth to object.

“No. I do not care. You will not see your friends,” she said the word with disgust. “You are grounded all summer.”

Ginny glared at her mother.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s your own actions that led to this.”

Ginny stood up.

“My own a—”

She kept speaking, but no words came out. Her mother had silenced her!

“You can start making dinner for the family.”

Her mother slapped a recipe down in front of her. Ginny glared and grabbed it, absolutely furious. If she were this mad at Fred and George she would have had them muck out the chicken coop or de-gnome the garden. But because she was a girl, she had to make the family dinner. Because she was a girl she was never allowed to play Quidditch growing up. 

She slammed a few cabinets. They wanted dinner? She’d give them dinner.

Her mother had left the house for the past hour and her brothers and father were all just getting in. She saw that Ron and Fred still had ice cream cones from what must have been a stop in Diagon. She glared at her father who at least had the decency to look shame faced.

It had pained her to do it given how much effort it had taken, but she had purposely burnt the chicken and vegetables into a blackened mess. She threw down plates for each of them.

“What’s this?” Ron said.

Ginny just glared.

Fred and George wisely kept quiet. Percy, to her surprise, kept quiet as well, but he looked at Ginny with interest. She wasn’t sure how much he knew about what had happened over the school year. Even her parents accidentally left him out of the loop a lot. 

“Ginny! You did this on purpose!”

Ginny turned to see her mother standing over her shoulder. Ginny just looked at her.

“Answer me!”

Ginny rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you dare roll your eyes at me.”

Ginny shoved her hands into her pockets and her mother finally seemed to realise why she wasn’t responding.

“Finite!”

“Molly! You silenced her?”

“I will not be talked back to.”

Ginny laughed.

“Fred and George talk back to you about five times a day.”

“Fred and George haven’t—”

“What? Had the gall to get sorted into a house?”

“I warned you—”

“Gonna slap me again, mum?” Ginny turned her cheek to her. “I’ll make it easy for you.”

“Bed. Now.” Her mother was red with rage.

“At six o’clock?” Ginny jeered.

“Yes. If you can’t act like a civilised woman—”

Ginny interrupted her again with a laugh.

“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? That your precious baby girl isn’t who you thought she would be?”

“I said bed, Ginevera.”

Ginny folded her arms.

“I’m not done talking.”

“Yes you are.”

Ginny, aware of what her mother was about to do this time, ducked the silencer.

“Using magic on your own children now?” Ginny jeered, moving away from her mother. She didn’t think she’d ever been this angry. “Is this the example of a civilised woman I should be following?”

“ENOUGH!”

Everyone turned. Her dad never yelled. Ever.

“Ginny, bed. Molly, we need to talk.”

Ginny glared at her father. As scary as it was that he was yelling, she was beyond fear right now.

“Make me.”

“Fine,” he said, exhausted. “Stay here. Molly, let’s talk outside.”

Both parents left out the back door. They could hear her mother, “I do not know what to do with that girl—” before a silencing ward went up.

Ginny turned to her brothers.

“You were saying about the dinner, Ron?”

Ron, for once, kept his mouth shut. She stormed out the front door and heard it open again a moment later.

“What?” she said, angling away from whoever it was so they couldn’t see her tears. She was suddenly enveloped in two huge hugs from her brothers.

“You know we’re on your side.”

“Never seen anyone stand up to mum like that.”

“Damn terrifying.”

Ginny choked a half sob half laugh of relief that at least someone was on her side.

The twins stayed like that, hugging her for a moment and then let go.

“We heard you were grounded. If you need a jailbreak, let us know.”

“I will,” she said fervently.

Her father sat her down a half hour later.

“Your mother and I are very disappointed in the way you’ve been acting.”

Ginny scoffed.

“But your mother should not have used magic on you, or slapped you.”

“And tell me, what are you disappointed in?”

“You’ve been acting out. Your behaviour toward your mother this year was unacceptable.”

“The only thing I did to mum was get sorted into Slytherin.”

“You burned your jumper she knitted and sent back the ashes.”

She goggled at him for a moment. She did not remember Tom sending back the ashes. And even though she stood by it, he really was a dramatic wanker.

“It was in Gryffindor colors!” she snapped. “Do you have any idea what would have happened if anyone saw that, let alone if I wore it?”

“All the same, your mother took her time out—”

“Took her time out to give me a Christmas present that made it clear how disappointed she was with how her daughter turned out. I’m a Slytherin, dad. Both of you need to get over it.”

Her dad ran a hand through his hair.

“You have to understand. When we were at school, during the war, Slytherin was synonymous with the blood supremacy movement.”

“No, you have to understand that it’s not the sixties. Voldemort is dead. You have no idea what Slytherin is like because I didn’t receive a single letter from you!”

Her dad flinched violently at the name and stared at her with something like confusion. Ginny laughed.

“Surprised I say his name? Did you think I was, what, going to become a Death Eater next? Show up with a tattoo on my arm one summer?”

“That’s not funny, Ginny.”

“No, I think it’s hilarious. Absolutely ridiculous.”

“Ginny,” he said reprovingly.

“I’m not going to sit here and listen to how much of a disappointment I’ve been when you refuse to listen to me. I can defend my choices, dad, but I have yet to hear you defend yours.”

She stormed out of the room and glared at all of her brothers who were clearly listening at the door.

The next two days were hard for Ginny. She was still so angry. She wanted to pick a fight, but she knew she had the moral high ground and picking petty fights with her parents would not help her cause. She mostly received the silent treatment from her mother and sad looks from her father. It was a relief when Professor Snape showed up at their door. She almost laughed when Ron ran out of the room.

He took her to Diagon by apparition and steadied her when she stumbled in the apparition room at the Leaky. He handed her her wand—Molly had given it to hold on to.

“It is wrong for me to hold on to this. A wand is an extension of a witch.”

She nodded, relieved to have it back.

“How are things?” he asked in his cool tone.

“Could be better,” she said, trying to go for dignified, but only managing to look constipated as she fought to keep herself from throwing up.

“Explain.”

They started walking and Snape nodded to the barman.

“Mum and dad are furious over my sorting. Well, mum’s furious, dad’s disappointed. Mum used the silencing charm on me and tried to use it again, but I dodged it. Dad put a stop to it all, but now it's just the silent treatment.”

Professor Snape’s brow furrowed.

“If she tries to use magic on you again, write to me.”

Ginny nodded.

“Spinners end.” 

He nodded in return.

“I might run away,” Ginny said casually.

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment.

“If it gets to that point, do you have a safe place to go?”

“Yes. Three of my friends offered for me to stay with them.”

He nodded. They made their way down Diagon and finally reached Ollivanders. Snape opened the door and let her in first.

“Ah, Ms. Weasley. Yew, Dragon Heartstring, 11 ¼ inches.”

She nodded.

“What can I do for you?”

“Due to an… accident my wand seems to no longer work for me.”

“Did you bring the wand?”

Ginny pulled out the wand.

“Give it a wave.”

She did. Some sparks shot out.

“Hmmm. Not a terrible match, but not ideal. How interesting. I don’t suppose you could tell me what event caused this?”

“No,” Snape said in a tone that shut down the conversation.

“Very well. Hmmm.”

He then had her try Yew and Unicorn Hair—nothing happened when she waved it. Willow and Dragon Heartstring. It was even weaker than her current wand. He had her go through about fifty wands and he only seemed more and more excited.

“Tell me. Have you a familiar?”

Ginny shook her head.

“Hmmm. It is very rare that some combination of the classic wand woods and the three major cores do not work for a witch. I wonder…”

“Umm, why did you ask about a familiar?”

“Ah, well in some cases, a magical familiar may give a core material willingly. This often produces an excellent match for the witch or wizard that has bonded the familiar.”

Ginny glanced at Snape.

“No.”

“But—”

“Absolutely not.”

“But she’s really a sweetheart,” Ginny said, widening her eyes a bit in a strategy that now only worked on her dad—although probably not anymore.

Snape closed his eyes.

“Mr. Ollivander, we will have to swear you to secrecy if we do this.”

Note to self, doe eyes work on Snape.

“Sure,” the man said amiably. Ginny watched with interest as Snape had him swear a secrecy oath. He looked at her suddenly.

“Do not do this lightly. You will lose your magic if you break one.”

She nodded.

“She may… have bonded a basilisk.”

Ollivander’s eyes went wide and he looked at her excitedly.

“Are you a parselmouth?”

“Yes.”

He eyed her shrewdly.

“And is this a recently acquired trait?”

“Ollivander,” Snape said warningly.

“And you think you could obtain perhaps a bit of its horn? The fang is also usable, but given that the creature is alive…”

“I can ask her. Can we go today Professor.”

Snape looked very put upon.

“Yes.”

“Thank you!” she said happily.

Seraphina loved Snape. Mostly because he bowed deeply to her upon meeting her. Ginny giggled and Snape shot her a glare.

“He has manners,” the giant snake hissed.

“Most of the time,” Ginny said, still trying not to laugh.

Seraphina allowed Snape to scrape some of her horn into a few vials and they bid her goodbye.

“We should set up a phonograph down there,” she said thoughtfully. Snape looked at her as if she had gone mad.

“She likes music,” Ginny said simply.

“I think we’ll make a Slytherin out of you yet, Ms. Weasley.”

Ginny turned red at the compliment.

Ollivander was only too happy to help make her wand. He had her try touching different woods to determine which would be best for her and narrowed it down to either Yew and Cherry.

“It will take four hours, come back tonight.”

Snape sighed, but nodded.

“Umm, professor?”

“Yes?”

“Can I go and visit Pansy while we wait?”

“Where?”

“Knockturn Alley.”

“Ms. Parkinson is living in Knockturn Alley?” Snape said, and even his cool exterior seemed to crack at that news.

“Yes, well she could hardly go home,” Ginny said, unconsciously mimicking Snape’s usual tone.

“I am aware. Yes. Let us visit Ms. Parkinson.”

They set off to Knockturn, Ginny giving him the address.

Ginny’s eyes widened when they entered Knockturn. There were actual hags here! And… oh Morgana, was that a vampire?

This was so cool! She couldn’t believe she’d been living with her stupid family while Pansy was out here having adventures in Knockturn.

***

Severus Snape was thinking quite different thoughts. Alas, it is the curse of adulthood to see danger and responsibility, where children only see wonder.

Snape knew, generally, that Knockturn was safe. It had a well earned dark reputation, but it heavily self-policed and there was actually much less crime here than in Diagon.