Riddled

|14| Petrified

Ginny walked to breakfast with Nat that morning, her mind fuzzy about what she'd done yesterday night. She remembered writing to Tom, but after that her mind was blank. She supposed she'd fallen asleep. She was still shaken from the strange dreams...

"Who do you think did it?" Nat asked her.

"Did what?" asked Ginny, confused.

"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Nat seemed shocked. "Last night? The attack? The writing on the wall?"

Ginny shook her head. She had no idea.

"Come on," said Nat, pulling on Ginny's arm and taking her through the crowd of students on their way to the Great Hall. They turned a corner which led to the girls' bathroom.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked. "Nat-"

They came to a halt and Natalie pointed to the wall facing opposite to the bathroom. "Look," she said. "The whole school's talking about it and you didn't know?"

There, on the wall, someone had written in blood:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Looking at the words sent chills down Ginny's spine and sirens went off in her brain. Her vision blurred and her heart hammered. The Chamber of Secrets...  She recalled Tom had told her about it, he'd said they needed to open it. Who had opened it if it wasn't them?

"Somebody Petrified Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, last night, and hung her by the tail there," said Nat, pointing to a rusty nail sticking out of the wall beside the writing.

"Petrified?" asked Ginny.

"Like, froze," said Nat. "Kind of. I don't really know. Really bad magic that can paralyze someone, sort of."

Enemies of the heir, beware. Ginny repeated the words over and over in her head. Why did she feel like they were so familiar?

"Ginny, where were you last night, anyway?" asked Nat, putting her hands on her skinny hips. "Wendy and I saved you a spot at the Halloween feast and you never showed up."

"I... Wasn't hungry," said Ginny. Nat raised her eyebrows.

"Really? You've been skipping a lot of meals lately, hiding away in the dormitory," said Nat. "In fact, I'm surprised you're coming for breakfast this morning, I don't think you have in weeks." Her tone sounded icy and accusing.

"I meant to come to the feast," said Ginny.

"Then why didn't you?" asked Nat.

"Well, I was in the dormitory getting ready and then I fell asleep," Ginny. Which was true... Wasn't it? She couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember anything?

"You say that every time you miss something, Ginny," said Nat. "And you've got your lame excuses mixed up this time. First you say you didn't come to the Halloween feast because you weren't hungry, but then you're saying you meant to come but fell asleep. That doesn't make sense. Besides, Violet said she saw you wandering around the castle like you were in a daze. She saw you when she went to the bathroom during the feast."

"Who's Violet?" asked Ginny.

" Violet Ebbens! She's in our dormitory, her bed is next to yours and you've known her since the first day of school!" Nat was fuming now. "You're already acting crazy, Ginny, there's no need to make it worse, pretending you don't know people! If you don't want to be friends with Wendy and I, then just tell us!"

"I do want to be friends with you!" Ginny protested. "Nat, I swear, I've got no idea what's going on and I've been really tired and-"

"You're still lying!" shouted Nat. "Quit acting stupid, Ginny! I'm done with you!" She stormed off, her long black poinytail swing behind her.

When she arrived at the Great Hall, Ginny slumped glumly into an empty seat next to Ron.

"What're you doing here?" asked Ron. "Don't you have friends? Those little gossipy girls?" Ginny shook her head. "Are you okay?" said Ron. "You look pale."

"I can't believe it about Mrs. Norris," Ginny told him.

"You barely knew her. We're better off without her, she's just Filch's dumb cat, and stuff like this hardly ever happens at Hogwarts. They'll catch the culprit and it'll be all over."

Ginny felt nauseous. She was forgetting everything yet everything was so vivid and familiar. The words enemies of the heir, beware felt like something she'd been rehearsing her whole life. Why?

"Seriously, Ginny, you look really pale," said Ron. "You should go see Madam Pomfrey." Harry nodded next to him. Ginny tried to ignore his green eyes she'd thought about all summer.

"Okay," said Ginny, getting up from the table. But she didn't go to the hospital wing, she went straight up to her dormitory. It was a weekend so she didn't have to worry about classes. She reached under her mattress for her diary and began to write to Tom.

Dear Tom, Everything's going wrong. I think I'm going mad. I keep forgetting everything. Somebody opened the Chamber of Secrets that you told me about and it wasn't us, was it? My friends are mad at me, and someone's attacked Filch's cat.

Tom replied:

Silly girl. You did open the chamber last night. Don't you remember?

Ginny gasped. Slowly, she remembered speaking to a snake carving on the sink faucet in the bathroom...

Why did I do it? she asked.

I made you do it, said Tom. And you've done a very good job.

No! said Ginny. I attacked Mrs. Norris!

No you didn't, you just opened the chamber for me, but you didn't attack anyone. said Tom. 

Then who did? Why can't I remember anything?

Who attacked Mrs, Norris, Tom?

She waited and waited.

Tom?

He never answered.

author's note

Violet Ebbens is another character I made up, she is not from the Harry Potter books. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

xoxo zoe