SERENDIPITY. ❪ harry potter ❫¹

𝐱𝐢𝐱. NYX THOMAS RIDDLE

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  GINNY WEASLEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT to do once her body was able to move again. There was something unbelievable about the situation at hand. Had Nyx really cursed her? Has she actually gone alone into the Chamber of Secrets? And what as all this talk about being the heir of Slytherin? So what if she had the same last name as the diary, that didn't mean anything! This was all Ginny's fault, and she was painfully aware of that fact. If only she'd never written into that diary. If only she had shown it to her parents the day she'd discovered it with her other things. If only she weren't so timid and naive. 

Ginny held her head in her hands as she grumbled. This was terrible. Was she going to be expelled now? What would her parents say? What would her brothers think? And what about all those people who'd been petrified because she was so weak? 

None of that matters right now! Ginny told herself. She got to her feet and started racing down the corridors. She couldn't think of herself at a time like this. Not when so much time had already gone by. Not when Nyx was alone, completely defenceless in the Chamber. Honestly, what was she thinking? How could she possibly believe she could defeat something, Dumbledore himself couldn't find? 

"Hurry up, Ginny," she murmured. Faster, she had to find help faster.

By some miracle, Ginny stumbled upon Professor McGonagall as she was exiting a classroom. At first, McGonagall seemed ready to lecture her running in the corridor and being by herself but Ginny tearfully cut her off. She explained the whole situation, the diary, the petrifications, and finally Nyx going into the Chamber alone. 

For a moment it looked as though Professor McGonagall was contemplating whether or not she should believe what Ginny was saying. But as more tears fell from the eleven-year-old eyes, McGonagall nodded and together they set off before it was too late.

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It didn't take long for the news to spread. McGonagall (headmistress while Dumbledore was gone) thought it fit to inform the students of the situation. If Nyx Riddle wasn't found—or worse—if they only found her body Hogwarts would surely be closed. She was more than an ordinary student after all. Nyx Thomas Riddle was the goddaughter of a professor, the illegitimate ward of Lucius Malfoy—a member of Hogwarts's Board of Governors and had ties to Voldemort himself. 

The Gryffindor common room was unusually still as they all listened to Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor house. 

Harry and Ron sat together in stunned silence. This couldn't be happening. First, Hermione had been petrified and now Nyx had been taken into the Chamber? How could ever that have gone so bad so quickly? How has she been lured down there in the first place without anyone noticing? 

Ginny sobbed into her hands while her brothers, Fred, George and Percy attempted to console her but evidently were failing.

Of course, not everyone had been friends with Nyx Riddle. But they'd all heard of her at least once before. First, she'd been the mysterious second year, who had just started at Hogwarts seemingly out of nowhere. Then, also seemingly out of nowhere, she'd become friends with Harry Potter. Suddenly, she was the girl who sat by the fire with her kitten while ready an assortment of strange books. The girl who, allegedly slapped Draco Malfoy in the face in the middle of Slytherin's quidditch practice. The girl who'd built a ten-foot fall snowman in front of the castle's entrance. The girl who'd burned her hands trying to protect a salamander. 

They couldn't bring themselves to believe that girl, Nyx Riddle—who smiled at nearly everyone and anything she came across—was lost to the chamber.

No afternoon had ever lasted as long nor had the Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded and yet so scarily silent. Near sunset, Ginny Weasley retreated to the dormitories, face still stained with tears. 

"Maybe..." Ron started, "Maybe she knew something, Harry. That's why she was taken. Maybe she figured something out as Hermione had. That must be why—" he stopped when he saw Harry's face.

Harry Potter was staring ahead, his expression overflowing with misery. He'd had a ton of bad things happen to him in his life and yet this had to be the worst of it. The worst part of it all was how useless he felt. He couldn't do anything and because of that, Nyx was probably going to die. He was infuriated just as much as he was sorrowful. 

"Harry," Ron said. "D'you think there's any chance at all that she's not—you know..." 

He couldn't say the word out loud. It felt like there was a jinx on it. Ron didn't want to take any chances, he didn't want to speak it into existence. 

Harry wasn't sure what to say. He shut his eyes tightly.

As was instructed by the acting headmistress, the other Houses were simultaneously getting informed of the situation as well. Down in the dungeons of the castle, a situation directly underneath the lake, Slytherin students listened as Severus Snape, their head of House explained what has happened and what it meant for the future of the school.  

Every last one of them sat there in shock. Although, unlike the Gryffindors, it wasn't because they cared at all about Nyx Riddle. No, what was more shocking was how they'd witnessed their professor's cold exterior cracking before their very eyes. 

Severus Snape was a master at keeping his emotions hidden, to the point that most people even believed he was devoid of them entirely. But today, they had gotten a glimpse at something unreal—his humanity. 

For a moment, Professor Snape's voice had faltered, nearly failing him completely in the middle of his announcement. His dark eyes were glossy, almost as if they were on the precipice of being teary. 

And it was a complete mystery as to why. Could it be, he had allergies that no one knew about? That's what most were thinking, all except for one, Draco Malfoy.

He was fully aware of Nyx's importance. He knew nearly everything about her, more than ever she knew about herself. She had a significant part to play in the future, that's what his father had told him. 

Draco listened as the common room began buzzing once Severus had left. People were starting to make their own assumptions: "Did you know she was muggle-born?" "Who even is she?" "Was Snape really crying?"

He clenched his jaw, suddenly feeling very irritated. He got up from his seat, leaving his friends behind him without a word and went to his dormitory to think and be alone for a moment. He glared at anyone who tried to come near him or dared to speak to him. 

None of this was making any sense. Hadn't his father told him Nyx was pureblood? If that was hte case, why had she been taken into the Chamber? More importantly, what did that mean for his family now? If Nyx was dead and the Chamber has opened again—what were they going to do? 

Draco rubbed his face. What would Father do? What would he say? He wondered while shutting his pale eyes.

Nyx was so weird. That was his first impression of her. She was just some girl who ate like a pig and didn't know how to take things seriously. Her obsession with the outdoors was strange to him as well as the number of grass stains on her muggle clothes. Not to mention she was a Parselmouth and thought befriending snakes was normal. Worse of all, she'd allowed herself to become friends with Potter, Weasel, and that know-it-all mudblood. Just what was she thinking? What had they told her about him? 

And yet... Draco's mind drifted back to the summertime before term began and before she started ignoring him. He thought of all that time he'd helped her study. He remembered the clueless expression she'd have on her face every time she'd gotten something or how brightly she smiled when she finally got an answer right. She'd been so nice to him, had trusted him so quickly... so blindly. He probably didn't deserve that.

What if she's dead? The thought crossed his mind. 

Draco recalled the last encounter with each other. How she'd gotten so angry at him in Potions, that she'd turn to violence. Even then, while he was desperately shielding his face, he'd noticed it, she was crying.