The unknown daughter

Chapter 14: The diary

So they wait. They wait while the first children get petrified. They wait while Harry and his two friends search for answers. They wait while Hermione gets petrified, even if they do the last with a heavy heart. All of them have grown quite fond of the small girl. In order to make it up to her, they visit her every day, telling her stories about their day and bring her treats to eat once she wakes up. 

Hermione smiles at the screen softly. She loves the three siblings too, always will. They became her family through her Hogwarts years and especially after she had to obliviate her parents. They took her in, spent time with her and took care of her when she was buried too deep in grieve to. Knowing that they love her too, in their own way, makes her happy. 

Sirius grins at his best mate: "She definitely got their compassion from you." The brown-haired boy is quick to reply: "And their protectiveness from you." Remus shakes his head at his friends: "You're not wrong, but what's happening there is all Lilly's big heart." Said girl smiles at the werewolf and her eyes become a little glassy when all her friends agree. No one mentions the fact that she isn't related to Corvus, that she isn't going to be his mother, because she already saw him as part of her family. 

On this morning, Cassiopeia stops next to her brother, Marvolo, in the hallway: "Corvus and I are going to go after Ginny. Take the diary and see to it that she will get her magic back." She doesn't wait for his reply, just moves down the hall to where Corvus is already waiting. 

Now it's Ginny's turn to smile. Cassiopeia, Corvus and Marvolo had become an extension of their already big family. Her and the twins have the closest bond with the three, but her mother and father loved them just as much, saw them as their own children. That bond hasn't broken, even and especially after everything that happened during the war. She misses the trio incredibly, but she knew they would want her to be happy.  

Together, the two of them sneak down the empty hallway and into the girl's bathroom. Corvus stands back infront of the faucet. Hissing fills the room and then the faucet slides aside to show a tunnel. 

Gasps surround the hall, parents shouting in enragement. Moody is scribbling in his notebook, but his glass eye keeps a close eye on Dumbledore. Even the Minister looks stricken. Everybody thought the Chamber of Secrets was a myth, nothing more, nothing less. To see it exists, the entrance in the girl's bathroom of all places, it is shocking and disturbing. 

The boy makes to step forward, but his sister stops him with an upheld hand. Then she hisses something else, the words "steps" appearing at the bottom of the screen. Not a full second later, steps appear, winding down the dark. 

After they exchange a quick look, the two begin to make their way downwards, not before Cassie softly hisses "close" at the open entrance. The faucet closes behind them. The only thing lightening up their path are their wands now, which makes the descend a little harder, but not impossible. Even if the steps are steep and thin, only enough space for half a foot. 

Safely arriving downstairs, the duo hesitate on the last step. Kol, who had been silently following until now, curiously leans forward: "What is it, little witch?" But he gets his answer, when the young girl shifts to the side a little and allows Kol, as well as the camera to take a look at what lies below. 

They are infront of a small round room. It's clear what made the duo hesitate though. Bones cover the entirety of the floor, not letting the stone beneath be seen. One can only guess how many bones lay there, though one thing is clear. They aren't only animal bones. 

A girl from the Ravenclaw table is the first to move, running towards the bathrooms and barely making it in time to vomit into the toilet. Others follow, most of them from Ravenclaw, other's from Slytherin and even some from Gryffindor. The only one's who don't move their gazes from the screen, are the Hufflepuff students. One of them mutters: "These poor animals..." A student from Gryffindor  cries out in outrage: "Animals?! There are human bones and all you care about are the animals?!" Loyal as ever, the other Hufflepuffs come to their housemate's defense: "Someone needs to be sad for them!" "Exactly! I bet no one ever mourned the animals!" "Everyone always mourns the humans, but no one thinks about the poor animals!" 

Gryffindor, stubborn as ever, refuses to give in, but so do the Hufflepuff's. The fight continues to go on for more than ten minutes. All the students have come back by now, but the fight still doesn't cease. Dumbledore watches the whole thing with an amused glint in his eyes. McGonagall, ever the stern professor, stands up: "That is quite enough!" Immediate silence falls over the room. No one would dare to go against the old witch. Carefully, all the students settle back into their own seats, not even grumbles can be heard. 

Cassiopeia's face twists in disgust: "The poor animals." At his sister's words, the older sibling just sighs tiredly. They stand there for a minute more, taking in everything in the room. Then they slowly move further into the chamber. 

Snake skin lays in the hall that follows, but neither of the siblings reacts to that. Just step over it, making sure to not damage the skin. 

Some of the students move closer to their seatmate, some even hide their faces in the other's shoulder. No one judges them tho, seeing as the parents and teachers also looking plenty disturbed and frightened. If for the children's safety or because of what they have seen, no one cares. 

Finally they arrive infront of big doors, with snakes as handles. Cassiopeia hisses and the doors swing open. Behind the doors is a big chamber with statues and lots of water. In the middle of said room, lays Ginny. 

Molly holds a hand to her face, horrified to see her daughter look so deadly. Arthur is quick to wrap her up in his arms, but his eyes are misty too. Both of them steal glances at their present daughter, feeling the need to make sure she really is here and alive. 

Ginny is wrapped up in four strong arms, both Draco and Theo holding her close. Draco's arm is shaking and Theo is crying into her shoulder. The fact that she is alive not making up for the fact that she was so close to being dead. 

Fred and George also take glances at their sister over the back of their chairs, while Hermione is holding onto one of their hands. 

The only Weasley that doesn't seem unsettled by this is Ron. He's too busy telling Harry how bad his siblings are for doing this to him, for not helping when they could, that he completely ignores everyone else. Sadly, it would have been the same if he wouldn't talk to Harry. 

Cassiopeia falls onto her knees next to the weak girl: "Oh Ginny. I'm so sorry. We'll make sure that you live." Corvus takes the diary, which his sister holds out to him. Then she cautiously puts her hands on Ginny's forehead. Magic flows from her hands into the red-heads body. The younger girls breathing deepens and her heartbeat quickens back to normal pace. A last "We're sorry, Ginny," and the duo disappears back from the room, leaving behind the Weasley girl and a copy of the diary that looks exactly like the original and acts like it too. 

Back in the hallway, Corvus lays a gentle hand on her shoulder: "She'll be fine. We saved her." A relieved sigh: "I'm just glad we came when we did. One more minute and she would have died." Her brother is quick to reassure her: "But she isn't." 

They watch in silence as Harry and Ron disappear in the girl's bathroom with Lockhart. "Let's get back to Marvolo." Kol follows them with maniacal laughter. They just left the little Potter to fight a Basilisk and Voldemort alone. Well, a Basilisk that Cassiopeia told to attack but not to kill and a Voldemort that wasn't actually Voldemort. He loves it anyway.