A Ginerva Interlude
July 15, 1992:
Ginny raised her eyebrows as she saw an unidentified diary-like thing in her cauldron: where all her books were kept -what was it doing there?
She hesitated but proceeded to pick it up and open it. What even was it?
She opened it. There, in smudged handwriting was written,
T.M. Riddle
Who was that?
Ginny shrugged, maybe somebody had kept it there and forgotten it, or maybe mum or dad bought it for her...
~~
Ginny couldn't ignore it anymore, the impulse to write in the diary was getting stronger as she left it there for longer and longer.
She sighed, opening it and picking up a quill.
Gin paused, letting some ink drip onto the diary.
Hello, it's been some time since somebody's written in my diary
Ginny let out an alarmed cry as she threw the diary away from her and backed into a wall.
Diaries couldn't talk.
What-what was that?
~~
Ginny was feeling a bigger pull from the diary and she finally decided to give it another try.
Hi?
Oh, you wrote back! I didn't mean to spook you the last time!
Uhm... that's okay I guess.
I'm Tom Riddle, how about you?
Ginny paused, should she...?
She tentatively wrote back, Ginerva Weasley
Nice to meet you Ginerva.
Call me Ginny
Ginny, then.
~~
Ginny started writing to Riddle -or Tom as he asked her to call him- more and more as the weeks passed.
He became somewhat of a confidant to her, a helping hand when she felt down.
See, you might be thinking that Ginny was an 11-year-old with a doting family, how hard could her life be?
Very.
You see, growing up with six older brothers was hard.
They were sexist and/or overprotective. She knew they didn't realize or mean it, but they were.
Bill was the only one who she would say wasn't, but he had moved away already...
She knew all of them loved her, and she loved them, but she was tired.
Tired of being constantly told she needed to be protected.
Tired of being constantly watched.
Tired of being underestimated.
Tired of being could she couldn't do something for gods' sake!
They wouldn't let her play Quidditch, wouldn't let her help in say, something as simple as de-gnoming a garden because she was a flipping girl.
(Not like Ginny listened, she always snuck out to play quidditch and who cares about de-gnoming a garden anyway?)
But her mother was the worst.
Ginny was being told that she needed a man every chance she got.
You know, the stuff like, 'Find a boy for yourself as soon as you can' and 'Ginerva you can't play quidditch it's a boy's thing' and 'For merlin's sake Ginny go put some makeup on.'
It angered her.
There was so much pain and so much anger and oh so much resentment and she didn't know how to put it into words
One day, Ginny knew, she would prove herself and one day they would know how much of a mistake it was to underestimate her and one day other young girls wouldn't be told that they're fragile and need to be put into a glass box to be protected and they wouldn't be told that their man defines them and they would be able to play quidditch and they wouldn't have to use makeup ever and one day society would see girls equal to boys.
One day Ginerva Weasley wouldn't be underestimated.
~~
Ginny sat in the car, hand-twitching, she has managed to leave Tom's diary. She was nearly free.
She felt lighter, they were on the road and she was free!
And then they had to go back for Fred and George's fireworks. Her eye twitched.
Fred forgot his broomstick. Not again. Please don't.
This time the feeling didn't pass when they hit the road.
She managed not to yell but she still exclaimed "My diary!" and clapped her hand over her mouth.
Nonononono.
She opened her mouth to say something along the lines of 'Nevermind, let's keep going' but no sound came out as they pulled back into the house and she got out of the car.
She climbed to her room as if a robot (not that she knew what that was), and she saw the diary lying on her bed. Wait- hadn't she left it in her cupboard? How did it get there?
But as she walked towards the diary she felt her reservations melt away, honestly, Tom was her friend, what was she thinking?
~~
'...are you sure? Slytherin will help you achieve what you have set out to accomplish' the hat advised.
'No thank you, mum would disown me'
'sadly' the hat remarked, "GRYFFINDOR"
She got up to cheering from her brothers and went to set by the other first-years. Fred and George whooped for her and Ron gave her a thumbs-up and Percy gave her a reassuring smile.
"Hello, I'm Demelza. Robins." A platinum blonde girl with warm brown eyes introduced herself from next to Ginny.
"I'm Ginny Weasley" Ginny replied, feeling a bit better.
Once the sorting got over, all the first-year Gryffindors introduced themselves.
"Colin Creevey"
"Demelza Robins"
"Ginny Weasley"
"Romilda Vane"
Colin Creevey was also a blonde with brown eyes while Romilda Vane was a brunette with blue eyes.
They started chatting and Ginny wouldn't help but feel some of her stress melt away.
~~
Mrs Norris had been petrified and Ginny had no idea where she was at the time. She was terrified.
~~
And now Colin was petrified too and she once again didn't have any memory of the time he was petrified. She knew she should approach someone about this, but who? Morrigan? Headmaster Dumbledore? Professor McGonagall?
Ginny sank to the floor in the abandoned classroom she was standing in and felt pressure building behind her eyes. She wouldn't cry, she wasn't weak!
But she had no idea what to do. Was Tom her friend or her enemy? Was she the one who petrified Mrs Norris and Colin? Would she do it again? ...Would she? Why could she tell no one about this?
Negative thoughts echoed in her head as Ginny let out a choked sob, why did it have to be her? why? WHY?
Wouldn't it be better if she just wasn't alive?
As soon as the thought came to her head Ginny's eyes widened. No. She wasn't a weak damsel in distress who could see no other way to cope than to unalive herself. Squash the thought, Ginerva Weasley, cause you have way too much left to do on Earth.
But just this once, maybe she would let herself be vulnerable.
Ginny put her head back into her hands and let out another sob, which soon dissolved into full-on cries.
~~
Ginny was racing towards the girls' bathroom, one thought in her head.
It all started when Tom came into the picture.
And now she was gonna get rid of him for good.
She opened the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and there Tom's diary into the first stall she saw, before racing back to the Gryffindor common room without looking back.
Tom Riddle was gone for good.
~~
It had been a few weeks and she was feeling so much better! Her grades were getting better and she was starting to enjoy her time with Demelza and Luna even more.
But then she saw Morrigan ("Please call me Morgan") with Tom's diary!
She had to get it away from her. Morrigan couldn't go through what Ginny had!
So that night, she broke into Morgan's dorm and stole the diary back. Maybe she could throw it into the black lake this time?
Newsflash: There was another petrification an hour later
~~
"YOU DON'T CONTROL ME, TOM!" Ginny yelled through her tears to what would be thin air to any onlooker.
His voice once again spoke in her head, this time with no pretence of being nice, "But I do, Ginerva dear. You're so weak that you didn't even put up a good fight, now stop fighting,"
Ginny didn't listen.
~~
Ginny could listen to everything going on between Morrigan- Morgan- and Tom. She was weak, she couldn't move, but she had to help Morgan. She fought to open her eyes and tilted her head to see Morgan being backed into a corner with Tom advancing on her.
The diary was lying to her left and a sword was a little farther away from her.
Time seemed to slow down for her as in a last act of desperation she grabbed the sword and plunged it into Tom's diary as hard as she could and she heard Tom yell "Avada K-" right before he started flailing and twisting and then he was gone.
Ginny suddenly had the strength to sit up as all her previous courage drained out and she slumped against a wall as Morgan rushed to her, saying "Ginny, are you ok?"
"Morgan," She said weakly "oh, Morg — I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Morg— but I — I s-swear I didn't mean to —" She stuttered out, afraid what Morgan would think of her now.
"Ginny- Ginny, he's gone. You killed him! Him and the basilisk. C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here —"
Ginny's fear sunk back in as she remembered that there was more to this than just surviving Tom, there would be an aftermath.
"I-I'm not going to be expelled, am I? What will mum and dad say? I-"
"Ginny. Weasley. You will NOT be expelled. You were as much a victim here as anyone else, even more. In fact, I'd be surprised if you're not awarded an award of Special Services to the school, for killing Riddle. Now, let's get out of here."
Ginny gave Morgan a faint smile as she stood up, swaying a little, letting Morgs support her so she wouldn't fall.
It was only as they were walking to Professor McGonagall's office she noticed the writing on the sword...
Godric Gryffindor