Riddled

|13| The First Attack

After agreeing to help Tom, Ginny wrote to him every day. She skipped meals so she could have the library to herself and write to him. They talked about everything: Harry, the Chamber of Secrets, how Ginny was doing in her classes, everything.

What exactly is the Chamber of Secrets? Ginny asked him one day. It was Halloween. Rain poured down in buckets. She had the common room all to herself; everyone else was at the Halloween feast.

A chamber created by one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin, Tom replied. It's beneath the dungeons of Hogwarts. Only the heir of Slytherin can open it. I could open it when I was at Hogwarts, because I am a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

I don't understand, said Ginny. How do you expect me to open the chamber for you? I'm not the heir of Slytherin.

Let me show you, said Tom. 

Then something strange happened. Ginny felt as though there were an invisible hand interlocked with hers, pulling her along. It led her to the girls' bathroom. It pulled her to one of the sinks. There was a snake embossed on the faucet. Ginny heard a sound escape from her throat that she hadn't intended to let out, yet it came out, a strange, raspy voice that was not her own. To her surprise, the circle of sinks split in half, revealing an entrance. The hand pulled her forward and she found a circular stone door with another snake carved on it. The rasping noise escaped through her lips once more and the door opened.

What lay beyond the door was pitch black and silent. Ginny found herself letting out the peculiar noise again. And then it was over. The invisible hand that clutched hers tugged her along back to the girls' bathroom, and to her dormitory...

She found herself sitting on her bed just as she had been before. What had just happened. She picked up the diary. A note from Tom awaited her:

That was the Chamber of Secrets.

I made noises but I don't know what they were, Ginny told him. She knew she sounded stupid but she didn't know how else to describe it.

I spoke through you in Parseltongue, said Tom. Ginny marveled at this. Parseltongue... She had spoken Parseltongue, sort of...

Now we need to do something else, said Tom. Come with me.

Again an invisible hand grasped hers and led her out of the castle. Everything was deserted; the staff and students were all at the Halloween feast.

We're going to Hagrid's hut, said Tom's voice in her head.

"How come?" she asked.

We have a job to do.

They arrived at the small house, and Tom spoke again: We're going in through the window, it's open, see?

Sure enough, Hagrid's window was wide open, sucking the cold autumn breeze into the tiny hut. Ginny climbed in. Grab the knife on the kitchen counter, Tom whispered in her ear, echoing in her mind. Ginny found his voice strangely intoxicating, feeling as though it would be foolish to disobey or question his orders. Grab the bucket that's by the door, too, added Tom. Ginny did. Now come with me. Tom's invisible hand grabbed hers again. They walked out the front door together. He led her behind Hagrid's house, towards the coop where Hagrid kept his chickens.

The rest was blurry. Ginny couldn't identify what was real and what wasn't. She saw herself, as though she was someone else watching herself, stabbing the chickens, cutting them up into pieces, their crimson blood pouring into the bucket. But... She couldn't  be. Could she? She saw herself writing something on a wall by the girls' bathroom... Something in red... Blood...

And then she woke up in her bed. Sunlight seeped through the window. She had a faint memory of being pulled along by an invisible, ice cold hand, a voice echoing through her mind, a pitch black room, a blood-stained knife in her hand...  And for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about the Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. She shivered. What a strange dream...