Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1 – The Chamber and Azkaban

It had been a week since the Chamber of Secrets incident and Ginny was nearing her wits end. Since her rescue, her brothers had stuck to her like glue, treating her as a fragile, naïve porcelain doll that they had to protect. It made Ginny angry. Where were they earlier in the year? Where were they when bloody Voldemort was taking over her mind? She could have used them then, if only they hadn't been so wrapped up in their own lives to care that something was wrong with their only sister. It helped that they at least had the decency to feel guilty. They'd admitted after their mother had begun screaming at them that they'd noticed something was wrong but had written it off as first year nerves. Mrs. Weasley was not pleased with that excuse, yelling that even if it had been only first year nerves they had noticed that something was wrong with their sister and said nothing. She had then extolled the fragility of eleven-year-old Ginny and all but commanded them to take better care of her. All four of her six brothers that were still at Hogwarts took that task to extremes and hadn't let her out of their sight except for classes, and even then they walked her to and from her lessons, telling her to wait safely in her classroom until they could come get her. Even Fred and George were unusually serious, though it didn't surprise her; the twins may be pranksters, with their siblings being some of their favourite targets, but when it came to their family's safety they did not joke around, and they clearly thought Ginny needed protecting.

Of course, since Harry had once again defeated Voldemort it wasn't the Dark Lord she needed protecting from, but from herself, which made it all the more worse, especially once Bill and Charlie got involved. Her two eldest brothers had sent frantic owls after receiving two from their mother, the first to say that their baby sister had gone missing, and the second to say she was back safely; both owls had arrived almost at the same time so luckily they hadn't had the chance to get too worked up. They had, however, had the chance to get angry and were quite vocal about how stupid she had been to trust an object that could think for itself. Bill especially was quite upset, having told his sister many tales about some of the dangerous artefacts he'd come across as a curse breaker. However, the eldest Weasley brother's letter had also been full of concern and love as well. Though Ginny loved all of her brothers, Bill was arguably her favourite. There was an eleven-year age difference between them but they had always been close; Bill saw to that. As Bill's birthday wasn't until November, he hadn't started at Hogwarts until the year after Ginny was born, and though she remembered none of that year, she had been told often how Bill would care for her and play with her during that year. This had continued as they grew, even if Bill was then only around for the summer and holidays, and a young Ginny worshipped her eldest brother. In his letter he promised to come visit this summer, and although it would mean she'd have yet another brother watching over her, Ginny was quite looking forward to his visit.

Now, after a week of her brothers'…company, Ginny finally managed to find a moment alone, though she knew they'd come looking for her soon. Even Ron was overbearing in how he watched over her, though, she supposed, he had the most reason of all her brothers, as even if he hadn't seen Voldemort or the basilisk himself, he had been down to the Chamber. With Ron came his two best friends Harry and Hermione, though those two were much better at giving her space, Harry often even being heard telling Ron to lay off, so it was with a sense of relief that her five minutes of solitude was interrupted by the Boy Who Lived and not her brother.

"Hey Ginny." He said, taking a seat beside her in the astronomy tower where she'd sought refuge.

"Hi Harry." The crush she'd had on this boy had by no means gone away, though after he'd risked his life to save her she had calmed down a great deal and could now speak with him instead of just blushing and running away as she used to.

"You know Ron's looking for you." She scowled.

"As are Fred, George and Percy, I take it." Harry merely nodded. "They're getting bloody annoying."

"They're worried about you." Ginny couldn't deny that, but it didn't stop them from being annoying. "I'm worried about you." His confession surprised her for a moment, but it went away when she remembered why he'd gone into the Chamber in the first place; she was his best friend's sister.

"I'm fine, Harry. You can tell Ron I'm fine."

"I'm not worried merely because of Ron." He murmured. "Yes, you're my best mate's sister, but I care about you, Ginny. And I'd like to be your friend if you let me." Ginny turned to look at him for a moment before once again blushing in front of him. This time though she didn't run away, but merely averted her gaze and nodded.

"I'd like that too, Harry."

~~/~~

The first time Ginny realized something was wrong was when Harry told her that Sirius Black, notorious Death Eater and the one responsible for his parents' deaths, had escaped Azkaban to kill him. The two had kept up their own correspondence throughout the summer, beyond what Harry wrote to Ron, even while Ginny was in Egypt with her family, her dad having won the Daily Prophet draw. When Harry told her, alongside Ron and Hermione, Ginny felt an anger build up that she'd not felt before. Her very magic seemed to boil alongside her blood, tingling within her and pooling at her fingertips, waiting to be unleashed. It scared her, what she felt, and Ginny retreated into herself as she tried to figure out what was wrong. To their credit, her brothers – who had let up their pseudo imprisonment of her over the summer – had noticed and this time had asked her what was wrong. She'd said that nothing was wrong and she must have been convincing enough for they believed her. Harry, on the other hand, hadn't and told her straight up that he knew she wasn't fine but as long as she promised him that it was nothing serious or harmful, then he would wait until she was ready to talk. It was several months before she was ready for that but she felt that she could no longer keep it to herself and Harry, above all others, had a right to know.

"How did you know something was wrong, Harry?" She asked him as they walked along the shore of the Black Lake just the two of them.

"It was obvious." He said with a shrug, and Ginny raised an eyebrow. Harry sighed. "I've spent my life hiding things, Ginny." He admitted. "My relatives hated me from the moment I was left on their doorstep and I learned early to hide anything that might upset them…which was basically everything to do with me. I know what it looks like when someone's hiding something."

"Well you're right." She confirmed unnecessarily, stopping to turn and stare out at the lake.

"What is it, Ginny?" It took a moment for her to work up the courage to answer.

"I think…I think that Tom left something behind when he tried to use me to come back." Harry's eyes widened.

"Left something behind? Like what? Another diary?"

"If only." Ginny muttered. "More like a piece of him…inside me." Harry took a moment to process that.

"Ok…what makes you say that?"

"I know things I've never learned. Classes are easier, and I get the feeling that I've learned it all already. Spells also come easier to me than my classmates and my magic itself feels different than before. It feels more powerful, it responds to my emotions, especially anger, and I can feel it wanting to escape. And…" She paused and Harry could actually see the fear in her eyes.

"And?"

"I can feel him, Harry. I can feel him like last year, but…more." She continued before he could interrupt. "Last year I felt like something was wrong with me, like I wasn't the only person in my head but I could never place it, I don't remember anything of the times when Tom took over. Now though, that feeling that I'm not alone, that I now know to be him, it's still there, but stronger. Also… I can speak it." Harry's head snapped towards her and Ginny grew silent and waited for Harry to say something.

"So…you have a piece of Voldemort in your head." He replied in parseltongue, needing to know if it had been a fluke.

"Yes." Ginny nodded. "Unless I'm going insane, which honestly I'd prefer." She switched back to English, but it was enough for Harry.

"I don't think you're insane, Ginny. Having a connection to him…it's not that far out. I should know." His attempt at making her feel better was appreciated but didn't exactly work.

"I knew you, of all people, would understand."

"I do, but Ginny I don't know what else to say." He turned to face her, looking quite out of his depth.

"You're only thirteen, Harry, I didn't expect you to fix anything. I just…I needed to tell someone, and out of everyone you had a right to know."

"I've had this connection to Voldemort my whole life, but I don't think it's the same thing as yours. We should tell Dumbledore."

"No!" She was adamant. "Harry, promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Why? Dumbledore can help!"

"Maybe, but Harry what do you think is going to happen if it gets out that a piece of Voldemort still lives?" She began to cry and Harry grew uncomfortable, never being good with tears. "I'm scared enough already, I can't even think of what people would do if…" She broke off and Harry did the only thing he could think of and pulled her into a hug, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"I won't say anything, Ginny." He said, and instantly felt her relax a little.

"So you don't hate me?" She asked, pulling away enough to look up at him.

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

"Because I've got bloody Voldemort inside me! After everything he's done to you-"

"It's not your fault." He insisted. "It's his, and I could never hate you for this." She relaxed more and even managed a smile. "But we should try and learn what's going on. There's got to be something that can help us." She liked the way he said 'us' and certainly didn't disagree with him that it would be best to learn all they could.

"To the library?" Harry smiled.

"To the library."

A/N - My first Harry Potter fanfic! I'm honestly surprised its taken me this long given how much I love Harry Potter, but here we are.

This is going to be a relatively short fic, 10 chapters all already written, and is gonna kinda be a snapshot kind of fic. As you can tell from the first chapter there's a lot of time skips and actual scenes are only gonna be for important parts that are different from the books/movies. If major events aren't specifically mentioned, like the entire ending of Prisoner of Azkaban, assume they happened the same way that J.K. Rowling wrote them or as they were in the movies, as this fic will be a combination of both the book and movie worlds. Hopefully the snapshot formula (I don't know how else to describe it) isn't too disappointing and I've done my first HP fic justice!

Review please!