Good Enough | hp

28| Prove It

Swallowing her fear, knowing she had to be brave, she edged forward. From the corner of her eye, she saw Harry do the same.

They raised their wands.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly, but Estella barely heard him.

Her attention was captured by something small and white, glinting from underneath the scales.

She took a step closer and knelt down.

It was a chicken feather.

As if it was on autopilot, her mind flashed and she saw an image of another feather in her mind's eye. The scene replayed and with sudden, perfect clarity, the truth hit her like a bullet.

Not a chicken feather. A rooster feather.

"Ron." Her voice came out strong, but thin as if it balanced on a knife's edge, and she knew that if she kept silent, if she didn't say anything, she would be pierced by that blade.

Ron gave a grunt to signal he was listening.

"The diary," she said cautiously, hesitantly. She took a breath. "I know who took it."

Harry's head whipped up.

Estella met Ron's eyes; wide, blue ones that seemed to stab into her soul.

"It was Ginny."

The accusation sounded bizarre, insane in the barely lit tunnel. Those three words echoed around the chamber, bouncing off the walls and hitting her with their force.

Ron stumbled back. "What?" Disbelief. Stunned mistrust.

Don't, Estella pleaded silently, Please believe me. This time... please.

State your case, Estella. Prove it. "The night before the cancelled Quidditch match." she swallowed, remembering what she'd heard in that corridor, remembering her tears. Don't cry. Don't let it affect you. Nothing has to hurt unless you let it. 

Harry and Ron stared at her, waiting.

She could almost see them turning towards each other, exchanging disbelieving looks.

Quickly, before they could contradict her, she continued. "I met Ginny in the Gryffindor Common Room. I didn't realise it at that time but she was coming from the boys' dormitories." she let that sink in for a moment and then continued.

"She was holding something." She spoke quietly but they hung onto her every word. Is this what it was like? she wondered, For her. On that day. "It was this black, indistinct notebook... a diary."

"No," Ron's sounded almost angry. "No, it can't be Ginny, it can't. She's- she's a victim; she's the one who's been taken into the Chamber!"

"Why can't it be her?" Estella demanded, her eyes narrowing. "Because she's your sister? Hermione's my twin and that didn't stop her from suspecting me."

It was Harry who spoke next. "How could she have known?"

Estella knew. Her mind retraced back and she caught the exact memory. "Valentine's Day," she asserted. "She looked so scared when she saw you with the diary."

Ron was shaking his head frantically like he couldn't - wouldn't - dare believe it. "No, not Ginny. Don't..."

But Estella continued. "She wanted to tell you something, didn't she?" They didn't answer, but she didn't need them to. "Ginny stole the diary," she said again. She was certain of it.