Chapter 7 - New Directions

Ginny was struggling to stay awake as she went to breakfast the next morning. As she met up with the rest of her friends in the common room, it was obvious that Harry also was affected by lack of sleep. It was also obvious that Ron was suspicious about what they had done, based on the way he was eyeing each of them. Despite his prattish behavior, she ignored him for the moment.

As they left the Tower, Ginny purposefully moved back to walk by Harry. Unfortunately, Ron chose to walk on the other side of Harry, so she and Harry could not have a quiet private conversation.

“You OK this morning, Harry?”

“Just tired,” he told her. After a quick glance at Ron, who was watching both of them, he added, “Maybe a bit annoyed too. Some idiot decided to wake me up by jerking the curtains to my bed open so the sunlight hit me right in the face.”

Ron had the decency to blush in embarrassment. “I said I was sorry. I only wanted to know if you were there or not because I didn’t hear you come in last night.”

“That’s because you were too busy trying to bring the walls down with your snores,” Harry replied peevishly and giving his friend an irritated look.

“What time did you get in?” Ron asked.

Ginny noticed that Hermione was now half turning her head as she walked, listening in on the conversation.

“Late enough that I’m tired, but early enough that I’ll make it,” he said a little sarcastically. “And before you ask, we mostly talked about my family, and that’s all I have to say on the subject. So please don’t ask.”

“But what would Ginny know about your family?” Hermione asked.

While Ginny rolled her eyes, she managed to catch Harry’s glare at their bushy-headed friend. She also noticed that Harry did not answer the question either. Mercifully, further conversation was cut short since they had arrived at the Great Hall.

Except for Snape, all of the Professors were there for breakfast already. The four sat down and started eating. The Daily Prophet that Hermione received contained nothing interesting to the students that day. All in all, it was a very normal and mundane breakfast until it was time to leave.

“What do you think Professor Dumbledore will be like in Potions today,” Hermione asked to the group.

Ginny considered that, as she had forgotten about having a substitute for today. She grinned as an idea came to her. “I think that today should be a very eye-opening experience.”

“Why do you say that, Ginny?”

“Because, Hermione, this is our chance to ask Professor Dumbledore all the questions about Potions that we could never ask Snape. Think about it, we might actually get a decent Potions lesson for once.”

Harry appeared to have caught on to her idea, since he added, “Yeah, we can show Dumbledore how much Snape hasn’t taught us by asking questions.”

“What? Why would we do that?” Hermione looked and sounded confused.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend’s momentary denseness. “Because that way we can show Professor Dumbledore that Snape is not as good a teacher as the Headmaster thinks. Maybe that will get him to talk to Snape about becoming a better teacher. I’ll tell the Ravenclaws in my class.”

“Brilliant, Ginny,” Ron said with a grin.

“I’ll tell some of the Hufflepuffs,” Harry volunteered. “I think they have Potions after lunch. I know the Slytherins won’t help.”

“Too right,” Ron muttered.

Hermione looked aghast at the plan that was coming together. “But, but…”

“Oh, relax, Hermione,” Ginny told her. “You don’t have to help if you don’t want to. Besides, you really can’t ask questions you already know the answer to.” Her friend blushed at the implicit praise. “Time for class,” she told them as she got up from the table. “I’ll see everyone at lunch.” With her salutation, Ginny left for her Potions class, running to catch up with some of her classmates for a hurried conversation.

---

Ginny sat in the Potions classroom. Several of her friends in both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw looked at her with an “are you sure” look. She just smiled and nodded. As the beginning bell rang, Professor Dumbledore walked into the room.

“Good morning everyone. Since Professor Snape could not be here this morning, I shall be his substitute to the best of my ability.” Dumbledore waved his wand and the instructions for the standard Strengthening Potion appeared on the board. “As you can see, this potion has both Bullrushes and a pinch of ground crab shell. Who can tell me why those two ingredients are in this potion?” He looked around but no one raised their hand. “Anyone?”

Ginny decided to be the one to break the ice, so she slowly raised her hand.

Dumbledore smiled his grandfatherly smile at her. “Yes, Miss Weasley.”

“I’m afraid we don’t know, Professor. Professor Snape has never taught us why the ingredients react together like they do. Sometimes he’ll assign an essay where we encounter that sort of answer in the research, but he’s never taught us about ingredient reactions.”

The old man looked surprised and looked around. Ginny saw that several of her classmates were nodding their heads.

Matty, one of her roommates raised her hand, and Dumbledore pointed to her. “Professor? Your list says to finely cut the Bullrushes. Why do they have to be finely cut? Isn’t cutting them short enough to fit into the cauldron good enough?”

Ginny thought that one was a bit overdone, but they were first years and Snape had not told them why. On the other hand, she decided that maybe it was a good question after all when the Professor slowly looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds, as if asking for divine intervention. She suppressed a giggle at his action, and at his grimace as several Ravenclaws started to raise their hands with questions. She had a feeling that they would not be brewing a potion today.

---

Ginny purposefully took her time leaving Potions and a slightly flustered Professor. Her prediction had been correct; they had not brewed anything today. Once the Ravenclaws had started asking questions, Dumbledore never had a chance. She had barely left the classroom when Harry, with Ron and Hermione closing following him, walked up to her.

“How did it go?” Harry asked quietly.

She could not help but grin. “Spectacularly!” He blushed slightly when she flashed him her largest smile. “We asked so many ‘why’ questions we never brewed anything.”

“Brilliant,” her brother crowed, while Hermione frowned.

Harry gave her an impish grin. “That’s great. I’ve told the others. Of course, since we share a class with the Slytherins, it will be different.”

“Just do your best to ask honest questions. I gotta run, tell me at lunch how it goes.” She pushed her book bag back up on her shoulder and headed off to Charms. She was looking forward to swapping stories at lunch.

---

Ginny almost fell off her seat, she was laughing so hard. Harry and Ron had been telling her about their potion class, after she had told about hers.

“I can’t believe Malfoy actually tried to sabotage your Engorging Potion with Dumbledore in the class,” she exclaimed.

“It was great,” Ron said with enthusiasm. “Even though Dumbledore was helping Neville, he still saw Malfoy toss that bit of coal into our cauldron. After he quickly banished our work, as he said it could have exploded, he told Malfoy how disappointed he was with him, and then he gave the git detention for three nights for causing an unsafe situation.” Harry was nodding his agreement, also with a smile on his face.

“So,” she looked at Harry, “do you think Dumbledore thinks as highly of Snape as he used to?”

He shrugged. “It’s hard to tell; he doesn’t give much away if he doesn’t want to.”

“I can’t believe how many questions you asked him,” Hermione commented with a slight huff of incredulity. “I mean, if you’d only read your book, you’d know most of them.”

Harry shook his head slightly. “Yes, Hermione, the book might have told me that the badger bile had to be fresh, but did it explain why?”

“No,” Hermione answered, “but everyone knows that liquid ingredients are always better if they’re fresh.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “No, Hermione, everyone does not know that. And besides, most of us have better things to do than to read Potions books for fun.”

It was all Ginny could do to not laugh at the indignant look Hermione was giving her brother.

“I mean, look at Harry,” Ron went on, oblivious to the eruption about to happen. “He’s got Quidditch practice three nights a week, and those of us who want to be on the team have to practice too.”

“Ron!” she ground out, stopping him. “This is a school and we’re here to learn, not play some stupid game.”

“Stupid game?!” Ron looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted horns and a spiked tail.

Ginny looked at Harry, who rolled his eyes at her and motioned his head towards the door. She got up when he did and they two of them walked out of the Great Hall, their friends still arguing behind them and unaware of Harry and Ginny’s departure.

“I really wonder about them sometimes,” Harry said with a sigh.

She could not help but nod. “Yeah, they seem to argue about everything. It almost makes me wonder if they just like to hear themselves talk.”

“Could be,” he said without conviction. “What’s next for you?”

“History of Magic.”

“Right after lunch? I bet that’s hard to stay awake in,” he said with a grin.

Ginny gave a small snort. “Very.” She looked at him trying to see what he was thinking, but his expression gave nothing away. He looked like he was just enjoying the moment. “You gonna be OK after staying up so late last night?” she asked with concern.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I have Transfiguration and then Herbology. Those are pretty hard to fall asleep in.” He looked at her with a questioning look, but she was not sure what for. “Thanks for answering my questions, Ginny, uh, you know, last night.”

“Sure, Harry. I can’t believe I slipped up and let you notice what I was doing, but I’m glad you got to find out about your family.”

He nodded and then stopped, so she stopped in the corridor too. “I gotta go this way,” he pointed with his thumb. “Are we going to get together tonight so you can show me those exercises?”

“Sure,” she agreed. “We can find a room somewhere after dinner.”

“OK. Thanks again, Ginny.”

“Anytime, Harry.” She watched him walk away, before she turned to go to her class. “Anything for you, Harry,” she whispered to herself.

---

While the students were having lunch, the Headmaster and three heads of house went to the Infirmary to visit the last head of house. They let themselves into the small private room the injured Professor had insisted upon. Each of the visiting professors conjured a chair around the bed.

“What is so important that it could not wait?” McGonagall asked, breaking the silence in the room.

Dumbledore pulled a parchment out of his robes. “We seemed to have mostly solved the mystery of why Severus was bitten by a snake. He received this post this morning, which he had a house-elf bring to me. Dumbledore read the letter from “Concerned Citizens for a Better Hogwarts” out loud.

“That’s appalling,” McGonagall commented, deciding it was best not to say anything else. However, someone else seemed to have more courage at the moment.

“But not entirely surprising, is it?”

She looked at Flitwick, who had a resigned look on his face. “No,” she sighed, “it’s really not. I’ve seen the many complaints.”

“So a few brats complain,” Snape sneered. “Most of them are dunderheads who have trouble telling the difference between their head and their cauldron.”

McGonagall noticed that Sprout was completely silent and had a look of restraint. Dumbledore was watching them all, as if trying to divine who knew what.

“If my house is average, it’s not a few complaints, Severus,” Flitwick corrected the Slytherin. “I know I see at least ten a year, and that’s just from the students. I get some from parents too. Minerva, since they all should go to you, how many are there?”

“From the students, I see nearly twenty-five a year. From the parents, I usually see more than forty a year; the bulk of those coming after the school year ends.” When Snape started to protest, she added, “And these complaints have been registered since your first year, Severus. So I understand why alumni might say that they’ve had enough. Albus, I simply do not understand why you leave him as he is.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Severus is more than just a teacher. I also vouched for him at the end of the last war and promised to watch over him. I felt that was most easily done if he was here.”

“Albus, that may work well for you, but it does not work well for the students, and it makes it harder on the rest of us as well,” Flitwick said.

“How so?” the Headmaster asked.

“The most obvious problem is that we have to listen to all the complaints, take time to counsel the students, and take even more time with the parents.”

Sprout nodded her agreement.

“In addition,” Flitwick continued, “a number of students refuse to take NEWT Potions solely because Severus teaches it.”

Dumbledore looked like he was going to disagree, but McGonagall stopped him. “Filius is correct, I’ve had students tell me just that, even after they made a ‘O’ on their Potions OWL. I personally believe many students would drop the course after their first year if it was not a required core course.”

Sprout nodded at this too before she added to the conversation for the first time. “And then they come to us to tutor them in NEWT Potions, which they study for independently so they can take the test to try to get their desired job. That tutoring requires even more of our time.” Flitwick and McGonagall nodded their agreement.

“It has got to stop, Albus.” McGonagall turned to the Potions master. “Severus, while I violently disagree with their methods, I’m afraid I have to agree with their goal. You must either shape up or ship out, as they said. As Deputy Headmaster, I will do my best to help you become a better teacher, should you decide to stay,” she looked back at the Headmaster, “but I will not tolerate the status quo much longer.”

“I’m afraid I must agree with Minerva.”

McGonagall had rarely seen Filius look and sound this serious.

“I love this school and teaching. Finding gifted students, such as Miss Granger,” he shot the head of the lions a smile, “who really should have been a Ravenclaw, is an added joy. But if nothing changes, Albus, this will be my last year here.”

Dumbledore looked shocked to hear that, but the next one compounded the feeling.

“Headmaster, I too must offer my conditional resignation with my two colleagues,” Sprout told him. “I am loyal to the school, which is why I’ve been here for so long, but Helga Hufflepuff knew that it was better to stand by what was right. I can no longer stand by and see students hurt like this, and if my resignation is what it takes to force this terrible situation to change, then so be it.”

“I see.” Dumbledore looked very tired for a moment; his jovial nature and twinkling in the eyes completely gone. “I thank everyone for your input. I shall consider this and talk to Severus about it later this evening.” He got up and left, not even bothering to Vanish his chair.

As the other three professors started to follow him, Snape softly called to one. “Minerva? A moment of your time please?”

For one of the few times she could remember, there was no smirk or sneer on his face. She nodded to him and closed the door behind the others, although she continued to stand near the door.

“Minerva,” he paused, considering his words. “Minerva, were you serious with you offer, on teaching?”

She was surprised by his question, as she had assumed the battle to change him would be much harder; but then, perhaps the snake and the letter had already starting him thinking about his future. “Aye, I was. Besides discussing teaching, I thought that you might benefit from observing a few of my classes, as well as allowing me to observe a few of your classes, so we could honestly discuss techniques and problems. Are you serious about changing so you can stay here?”

There was silence for a long moment. “Perhaps. I have no desire to leave Britain, but if I were to stay in Britain,” his expression turned sour, “I do not believe I could get a job anywhere else than here.” He turned and looked out the small window in his room.

While she did not know for sure, she suspected he was correct. If the alumni were after him now, they could see that he was blacklisted all over the country. “I know you always haven’t had an easy life, Severus, but if you truly desire to change, I will help you. But if you are just scheming to stay here and act just like you have been,” her voice started to rise, “then I promise you, I will see you sent packing or Hogwarts will close! I completely agree that this school has already seen too much of your tom-foolery.”

He stared at her for a moment, his face an unchanging mask. “I shall consider your offer.” He turned to look back out the window, staring out it as if lost in thought.

Minerva McGonagall ignored the slight and left, wondering what would become of the man.

---

After the last class of the day, Ginny went to the library to see if Harry was there. He and Hermione were, each looking over books on the shelf -- he in Charms and she in Transfiguration. Ron was nowhere to be found. Ginny walked over to Harry. “Finding what you’re looking for?”

“Mostly.” He pulled down a book and flipped through it. “I think this one will be the last I need.”

As they were about to leave, Millicent walked in and over to the Charms section, probably to do the same assignment, Ginny thought. An amusing thought came to her, so she grabbed Harry’s sleeve to keep him from walking away. “Hey, Bulstrode.”

The Slytherin girl gave her a questioning look. It was not hard to interpet it to mean that she wondered why Ginny was speaking to her. “Weasley. Potter.”

“Bulstrode. Do you still have the green snake you got yesterday morning?”

“Sure. Why do you ask, Weasley?”

“I’m sure it would like something to eat and to see an old friend. Maybe you should bring it dinner with you.” Ginny could not help the knowing smile, or really a smirk if she was honest with herself. She also noticed that Harry seemed to struggling to hold laughter in.

With a perfectly straight face, Millicent said, “You know, you might be right. I’m sure Persephone wouldn’t mind some entertainment either.”

“Persephone?” Harry asked as if he could not believe what he had heard.

“Yeah. Anything wrong with that Potter?” she asked in a slightly challenging manner.

Harry quickly shook his head. “No, nothing wrong at all. I was just surprised, that’s all.” He now grinned. “I do hope you bring Persephone. I’m sure she’d be a big hit.”

The Slytherin girl reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled the little snake out, all coiled in her hand. It uncoiled slightly and tasted the air. Millicent gently stroked the snake’s head. “She is cute.” Millicent chuckled a little evilly and petted the snake again before she put the snake back in her pocket with a smile. “See you at dinner.” The girl walked to the end of section of books and started scanning the titles.

Ginny grinned and walked with Harry to check out his book and then leave. “That was interesting.”

He chuckled. “I can hardly wait for dinner.”

Ginny had to agree.

---

An hour later, they were leaving the Great Hall to look for an unused classroom.

“Can you believe the screaming Malfoy did?” Harry asked, barely containing his laughter.

Ginny could not help but snort. “I swear, he screamed more tonight than he did yesterday morning. He’s such a wimp.”

“Too true!” Harry agreed.

“How about here?” Ginny opened a door. Looking inside, it seemed perfect. Lots of room and empty except for a teacher’s desk a few old chairs. After Harry closed the door behind them, she showed him her levitation exercises by transfiguring the desk into solid iron and then levitating it and holding it there for as long as she could. She also showed him how to do push-ups, sit-ups, and some other simple exercises.

Harry knew a few more from Muggle primary school. He promised he would start doing them three nights a week.

Saturday morning finally came and Ginny was on pins and needles. Her father had replied that he would be here, and a part of her dreaded this meeting, even if she knew it had to happen. As with others, she hoped she could hide her secrets from him, but was afraid some of them might come out, and she was not ready for that yet. She really needed one more year.

Her brother, Hermione, and Harry joined her in the common room and the four went down to breakfast.

After they had sat down, Hermione glanced up at the head table. “I heard Professor Snape is out of the hospital. Since he’s not here, I assume he’s still not completely healed.” She was still the only Gryffindor that seemed to care in the slightest.

“Swt”, Ron said between bites.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Ron, that is so disgusting. Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

“Hey, I gotta eat, and if I’m going to talk, it’s going to happen sometimes,” he replied as if it should be obvious.

“No, Ronald, it does not have to happen.” Ron looked up in alarm as she used his full first name. “I swear, maybe we should make you sit somewhere else until you learn some matters.”

“Hermione, do you really think shunning will change him?” Ginny asked.

“Shunning? What’s that?” Harry asked. Ron had the same puzzled look on his face too.

“To shun, to deliberately avoid or push someone away from a group in an effort to make then change,” Hermione quoted from memory.

Ron looked a little apprehensive. “Isn’t that a little extreme? I’m only eating.”

“You’re being extremely rude, Ron,” Hermione answered. “If you don’t learn to do the right thing now, it will be much harder later after years of habit.”

“He already has years of habit doing that,” Ginny said. “Even Mum has been unable to break his bad habit.”

Hermione looked at her with a thoughtful look. Ginny started to snicker, as did Harry.

“What?” Ron asked.

“She has the look of a finding a new project, Ron,” Harry told him with a smile. “I suggest you just give up now and make it easy on yourself.”

Whatever Ron might have said to that was interrupted by the noise level quickly dropping. Everyone was turning to the doorway to see a man and woman standing there. Ginny instantly recognized her parents. While she put a smile on her face, inside she was not happy her mother was here. Ginny thought she would make things much harder. The couple walked over to the Gryffindor table, waving at the professors as they did.

“Ginny, Ron.” Their mother greeted them and pulled them into a hug. “Harry, dear, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Mrs Weasley.”

“And Hermione dear, how are you?”

“I’m dong well, Mrs Weasley. Thank you for asking.”

Her parents looked down the table and walked over to their other three sons at school, greeting each of them. After spending a few minutes at the other end of the table, the couple returned.

“Well, Ginny, since you appear to be finished with breakfast, how about we go for a walk and talk?” her father asked her.

“It would probably be best to find a classroom, Dad.”

He nodded and her mother looked at her with concern, but did not say anything. “If you like. The Headmaster said we could use the waiting room, if need be.”

She nodded. Before she got up, she looked at Harry and nodded, which he returned.

“Shouldn’t your brothers be coming too?” Her mother asked with some worry in her voice.

“No, Mum. This does not concern them, at least not now. I’ll tell them later.” Ginny noticed that Hermione was looking at her curiously, which she did not like, being afraid that her friend would try to stick her nose into this to figure out what was going on.

Ginny followed her parents across the Great Hall, with most eyes on the three of them. There was little she could do to avoid this, and wondered what rumors would be started about her now.

After they went into the room and sat down, her father asked, “Now, Ginny, what’s so important that we needed to come up here for?”

“Just a minute more, Dad. One other person is about to join us.” She watched him raise his eyebrow in question and her mother about to ask, when the door opened and Harry stepped through. She smiled at him and patted the seat next to her. “Now, if you could ward the room for privacy, Dad, that would be very helpful.”

He and her mother watched Harry come over and sit next to her on the couch. After a few seconds, her father slowly drew his wand and cast a silencing spell at the door. When he was done, he put the wand in his lap instead of into the wand pocket of his robes. He was much more serious when again asked, “What’s so important that we needed to come up here for?”

“Are you and Harry doing something together that you shouldn’t be?” her mother asked with suspicion on her face.

“Mum! Please don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve asked you here because, well, because I need your signature on a business contract I’ve created.” When her parents started to interrupt, she hurried on. “Harry is here because he’s a partner in the business venture. I need you to sign the contract as our adult representative because we’re underage.”

Her father’s eye narrowed. “Business contract? Business venture? Those are not normal for an eleven year-old,” her father said suspiciously. “What’s really going on, Ginny?”

This was not starting well, she thought. “Dad, I know that most eleven year-olds don’t start businesses, but I had an idea and I’ve spent a lot of time in the library doing research. Part of my research was how to how to protect yourself in a business and I’ve learned a lot of things, a lot of words, most people my age don’t know. It’s really that simple. You can ask anyone in Gryffindor, or even Madam Pince, about how much time I’ve spent in the library this year.”

Her father was still looking at her suspiciously, while her mother was looking between her and Harry.

“Why don’t you tell us about this business and let’s see where that takes us, hmm?” her father asked, looking at her intently, as if trying to see what she was really up to. A part of her cursed the twins for their pranks, which was probably driving their suspicion.

“Sure, Dad. You see, I was reading about the history of Hogwarts and one of the stories, uh, intrigued me, I guess. Fifty years ago, they say that Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets was opened, but they never found it or what caused all the problems surrounding it.”

Her parents both shuddered slightly. “Yes, we’re familiar with the story,” her father told her. “Please continue.”

“Well, I started wondering about it and did a lot of research about it, and I figured out where it is and what is in it.”

Her father looked astonished and slightly excited. “Really? Do tell.”

“I believe there to a thousand year old basilisk in the chamber.” Her parents rocked back in their seats as if they had been shoved. “Then I got to thinking about how much money could be made from selling it off as potion ingredients.” As her father started to say something, she hurried on. “Dad, I’ve never been embarrassed or anything by our lack of money because we have a great family, but if there was an opportunity to change that and make things a little easier, I thought I should take it.”

“A thousand year-old basilisk?” Arthur looked at Molly, who could not seem to speak.

“Yeah, I’m thinking it should be about fifty to sixty feet long by now, and that will be worth a lot of money. So I made a contract proposal to the Headmaster that we split the money from the sale of the potion ingredients: forty percent for the school, forty percent for me, and twenty percent for Harry. I want to keep a quarter of my share for me, perhaps as my dowry, and I’ll give the rest to the family so all the Weasleys can benefit.”

“Oh Ginny,” her mother finally found her voice as she leaned forward and gave her daughter a massive crushing hug. Ginny was feeling light-headed when her mother let her go. “You can use a little for spending money, but you can’t go spending all of that. You’ll need to put it in a vault and leave it there for later.”

Ginny could only nod at the command, as she knew fighting her mother over that would be useless. Of course, she would keep the key, so it would simply be a matter of not letting her mother know that she was making withdrawals when she wanted money.

“Do you really think it’s there?” her father asked with a slightly excited voice.

“Yes, Dad, I’m certain of it. It’s the only thing that fits all the clues.”

“But Ginny,” she looked to her mother, “you can’t go down there. Basilisks are very dangerous creatures. You’ll be killed!”

Ginny had to resist rolling her eyes at her mother. “Mum, I don’t have to kill it. Part of the contract describes who has what duties. Professor Dumbledore is responsible for killing the basilisk. He just has to make a rooster crow in its presence and the basilisk will die. As Bill has said, the hard part of any treasure hunt is learning what traps are there, and once you know, defeating them is usually pretty easy.”

“Well, that makes me feel a little better, knowing you won’t be killing the basilisk. But why is Harry part of this, if you did all the research?” Her father suddenly added, “No offense, Harry, but I want to know about all of this.”

“None taken, Mr Weasley,” Harry told him. “Ginny believes that the entrance to Slytherin’s Chamber can only be opened by Parseltongue commands.” At their blank looks, he added, “And I can speak Parseltongue.”

“No!” Mrs Weasley exclaimed.

“Mum!” Ginny had to shout to get her mother’s attention, although her father looked quite shocked as well. “There’s nothing wrong with Harry for being able to speak to snakes. There are others who can naturally or else learn to speak with some animals, and they aren’t considered Dark or evil. Harry is not Dark, but he inherited this ability from one of his ancestors.” She knew exactly where it had come from, but her parents did not really need to know that Voldemort had given Harry the ability.

“He inherited it?” her mother asked, calmer now.

“Yes, Mrs Weasley. The book in the library says that it’s an inherited ability, like a Metamorphmagus,” Harry explained.

Trying to change the current focus, Ginny said, “So, since Harry is the only one who can get us into the Chamber, he is a partner and receives a share of the treasure.” She pulled out the contract and handed it to her father. “This is what I gave to the Headmaster, and he’s taking it to the school’s Board of Governors. Assuming we all can agree on it, I need one of your signatures because I’m a minor.”

“I have to have an adult sign it with me too,” Harry added. “While Professor Dumbledore has offered to do that, I would prefer to have you do that, Mr Weasley.” When the man looked at him questioningly, Harry only said, “I have my reasons.”

The two adults read through the contract. After a few minutes, they put it down. “Well, it seems reasonably straight-forward.”

“So you’ll sign it?” Ginny asked hopefully.

Arthur looked at his wife. “As long as you stay out of the Chamber and away from the basilisk until after Professor Dumbledore has killed it, then I agree,” her mother said.

“I’ll stay as far away as I can,” Ginny promised, hoping that was vague enough, as she might still have to be nearby.

The parents nodded and looked at Harry.

“Yes, sir, I promise too,” Harry assured them. “I’ll have to be there to open the doors and such, but I’ll stay as far back as I can.”

“Very well then.” Arthur pulled a quill and ink bottle out and signed the contract. Giving the quill to the children, they signed it too. “I’ll give this to the Headmaster before we leave.”

“Thanks, Dad, Mum!” Ginny got up and took a step over to hug each of her parents. “Uh, will you do one thing for me, please? Will you keep this a secret? I’d like to surprise the rest of the family with it at Christmas.”

Her parents smiled at her. “Of course, dear, we understand,” her mother told her. “You are so much like your brother Bill,” she said fondly.

“Harry and I will probably have to use the Floo to come home, as we’ll only be there for a day or two. We’ll be spending the rest of the time at school, helping to harvest the potion ingredients,” she explained.

Her mother looked disappointed. “I had so hoped you’d be home for the entire time.”

“I’m sorry, Mum. How about we come home on Christmas Eve and then not go back until Boxing Day? That will give us a couple of days there with everyone,” Ginny offered.

Her mother looked disappointed, but nodded. “I understand. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Ginny decided that was her cue for the other thing she wanted to discuss with them. “Mum, Dad? There is one more small thing…”

Her mother looked alarmed again.

Ginny wondered why everyone always assumed the worst. “You know how the Headmaster says I can jump to the second year because I’ve been getting good grades here at school?”

Her mother’s expression brightened. “Yes, dear. We’re so very proud of you for being able to do so.”

“I am too, Ginny -- very proud.” Her father sounded and looked it too.

“Can you please keep that a secret until Christmas too? The Headmaster said I needed to wait until after the exams, and well,” she turned a little sad, “I’d rather deal with this at home than here.”

“Why?” her mother asked.

“You’re worried about Ron, aren’t you?” her father asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’d rather he blow up at home and have some time to get used to it before we all come back to school.”

Her father nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. I also think that your mother and I should be the ones to announce this.”

Ginny grinned and hugged her father again. “Thanks, Dad!”

“Anything for my favorite daughter…”

“Daaaaad!” While she was embarrassed by him, she was so happy to have him around to tease her.

Everyone else laughed.

“Was there anything else, honey?”

“No, Dad, everything else is great, other than a few idiots who can’t seem to stop showing their stupidity. But I have friends here, so it’s all good in the end,” she told them, and noticed that Harry was nodding his agreement.

“That’s good, dear,” her mother told her.

“Very good then, you mother and I will go see the Headmaster and leave the signed contract with him. You two have a good rest of term.” Arthur stood and lent a hand to his wife.

Ginny was surprised to see Harry mimic her father. She took his hand to stand, although they let go fairly quickly. When she turned towards the door, she saw her mother looking at them with a little smile on her face. She almost groaned at the thoughts she knew was going through her mother’s head. The woman was probably already planning a wedding. Ginny wanted a wedding with Harry, but it was far too soon to even think about it.

Exiting the little room, they found all of her brothers still in the Great Hall. They asked why their parents were there, but all they said was they needed to have a conversation with Ginny. When Ron complained about Harry being there, Ginny noisily cleared her throat and glared at him. Ron quickly dropped the question. A few minutes later, the adults left to find the Headmaster and were gone. A few glares from Ginny stopped all questions her brothers had of her and Harry. The power she had over her brothers was heady at times.

In many ways, the next week seemed quite normal for Ginny, except for one very significant thing. Professor Snape did not act like his normal self, and that gave Ginny hope for him.

In his first class back, she noticed that his teaching style had not changed. He still put instructions on the board and told them to follow them, while giving no help. However, she very quickly noticed that Snape had not insulted any of the Gryffindors in her class. True, he has said almost nothing at all, merely giving them glares, but she felt that was preferable to the insults he normally gave about the Gryffindors inability to do acceptable Potions work. He also had not taken any points from them today, which was a first in her experience this year.

At lunch, she was surprised to find Harry commenting favorably about Potions.

“I still don’t understand our good fortune with Snape,” Harry said as she sat down, “but I’ll take a lesson like that any time. I think I almost learned something in there today,” he said with a grin.

“Ha-ha,” Ron laughed, “good one Harry.”

“So you had a less stressful time in Potions today too?” Ginny asked as she dished her food.

“Yeah, it was amazing. Snape didn’t insult us once, and he’s never skipped any opportunity to verbally abuse me before.”

“Harry,” Hermione protested.

“You know it’s true,” Harry told her. “And he even stopped the Slytherins from sabotaging our work for the first time. He didn’t take any points away from them for trying, but he did stop them, saying it was very bad to add foreign substances to a brew, as it could be dangerous.” Harry rolled his eyes at the obvious statement. Ron snickered.

The conversation continued and Ginny wondered why she had not sent the threat sooner, or why no one else had ever done it. Thinking about it some more, she realized the threat would not have been enough by itself; the difference was the threat after the potentially deadly attack.

Over the next week, she heard more reports about Snape’s changed behavior, including sitting through a class where Snape actually explained the homework he had just returned, and why the correct answer was the expected answer. Ginny silently congratulated the man on his change. With more changes, he would soon become a real teacher.

Ginny received congratulations at the end of the week, when the Headmaster stopped her in the hallway on the way to dinner. He quietly told her that the Board of Governors had agreed with her idea, before he handed her two signed contracts, asking her to give one to Harry. She politely thanked him, after which he asked her and Harry to come to his office the morning everyone went home for the Christmas holiday. This was going to be a very busy, but happy, Christmas.

When Saturday morning arrived, everyone was at breakfast excitedly talking about the Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch match in about an hour and a half. She was really looking forward to watching the game this time around. She did not have a fond memory of it last time around as she had already been possessed by the damn diary by this time. A shiver ran through her as she remembered that.

Watching Harry leave with the rest of the team, as Oliver Wood led them off, she wondered if it was morally allowable to bet on the outcome of the game, considering she knew how the game should turn out. Of course, it was Quidditch, so some random factor might change the outcome of the game, but she did not think that would happen. She had faith that Harry would show Malfoy up and get the Golden Snitch, despite the fact that Malfoy had a newer broom. Harry would catch the Snitch despite the Rogue Bludger.

As that memory came to her, she mentally swore at herself for forgetting. Although she stayed calm on the outside, she was panicking on the inside. She had to stop that insane house-elf or Harry would get hurt again.

When the rest of her friends got up to start going out to the Quidditch pitch, started to go and then made the excuse that she had to go to the bathroom first. Hermione offered to accompany her, but she sent the rest on, saying she would only be a few minutes behind and asking them to save her a seat.

The moment she was alone, she darted into an empty room and quietly shouted, “Dobby! Dobby! Come here I need your help!” She waited and half a minute later, she was still the only one in the room. “Damn! I’m an idiot. Of course he won’t come to me, he doesn’t know me and he’s certainly not bound to me.” Thinking quickly about how to get a hold of him, she decided that the only way would be to find another elf to fetch him, so she raced towards the kitchens.

A few minutes later, she rushed into the kitchens as if the hounds of hell were after her. A few elves were in front of her and looked up in alarm. Releasing she must looking like a mad woman, she did he best to calm down and then knelt to be closer to their height and less threatening.

“Can we help you, miss?” one of the elves squeaked.

“Yes, I need your help. I need your help to speak to Dobby. He’s a house-elf for the Malfoy family. He might be at their house, or he might be here at Hogwarts, but I desperately need to speak with him.” Ginny prayed they would help her find him.

“Why do you need to speak with him?” said an older elf. “He is not here.”

Hoping for the best, she told them, “I think Dobby is going to do something to try to help a student, but he doesn’t know that when he does that, the student will get hurt. I need to talk to him to try and stop him. I know Dobby is only trying to help, but it’s the wrong kind of help. Please find him and ask him to come talk to me here,” Ginny said earnestly.

The elves looked at each other and seemed to have a silent communication. After a few seconds, the older elf snapped his fingers and he was gone. Ginny hoped that meant they had decided to help her, but they had not said anything. The other younger elves all turned around and went back to work making lunch.

Nearly half a minute went by before there were two pops. The older elf had returned and, thankfully, he had brought Dobby with him.

“You ask for me Miss?”

“Yes, Dobby. Listen, I need to know, have you already changed the Bludger in the Quidditch game that’s about to start?”

The elf suddenly looked very afraid and raised his hand.

“No, wait!” Ginny cried and Dobby stopped, although his hand was still up. “I’m not trying to hurt you and get you trouble, but I need to get you to make the Bludger normal again. Harry Potter is not in danger anymore.”

“How do you know about danger, Miss?” Dobby asked, his hand still ready to do magic.

“Listen Dobby, I know about you trying to keep Harry safe from the danger. I know what the danger is. It’s a little book, an evil book, isn’t it?” Dobby nodded, his big eyes focused on her. “Then please don’t worry because I destroyed the book; it can’t hurt Harry anymore.”

“You destroy evil book?” He sounded very amazed. “But you a little Miss.”

It took Ginny a second to understand, and it caused her to smile. “Yes, I’m a young witch, but I spent a lot of time in the library reading, and I found out how to destroy the book without hurting anyone.” OK, it was two half-truths, but that made a whole truth, right?

“The book be gone?” Dobby asked as if he had to make sure.

“Yes, Dobby. I used a special spell to burn it and it became ash. The book is gone forever. So, can you please fix the Bludger so it doesn’t hurt Harry?”

Dobby nodded and smile. “Yes. I go fix iron ball now.”

“Thank you, Dobby! You’re a good elf. I know that your cruel master is in prison now, but I’ll try to find a way to get you away from the Malfoys. It may take me a year or so, but I’ll try very hard,” Ginny promised.

The elf looked like he was about cry with happiness. “You are a great witch, as great as Harry Potter!”

Ginny was not sure if that was a good thing or not, only time would tell. “Thank you Dobby. Please go fix the iron ball; we don’t want Harry to get hurt.”

Dobby vigorously shook his head before he snapped his fingers and left with a pop.

Ginny sighed relief and told the older elf, “Thank you for helping.” The elf shook his head as if she was a mad woman.

---

Ginny made it to the stands only a few minutes before the game started.

“What took you so long?” Hermione asked when Ginny sat down.

“I wanted some pumpkin juice too, so I took a quick trip to the kitchens.” Ginny shrugged as if it was no big deal. Hermione looked at her strangely, but dropped it as the players flew out.

The game started and Ginny eagerly watched Harry whenever he did something other than circle around. The rest of the time she enjoyed watching the Chasers. It really was too bad the Gryffindor team had such good Chasers; she would have to wait a few years to play on the team again.

After a little over an hour, she watched Harry catch the Golden Snitch to end the game, giving the win to the Lions. Malfoy never had a chance. The even better news was that Harry did not get hurt and Lockhart never had a chance to remove the bones from Harry’s arm this time.

((A/N: Ginny averts a minor problem, but perhaps she should have let Lockhart remove Harry's arm bones to show Hermione how bad he is. :-))