In Essence Divided

Chapter 14

“How did you know about the Horcruxes?” Dumbledore asked mildly.

Molly opened and closed her mouth and turned to stare at Ginny. She had been so busy being angry at Ginny about sneaking out of school and conspiring with Remus that she hadn’t really heard what her daughter had said. She wondered to herself if she did that often.

“Fred and George aren’t the only ones who are devious in this house.” Ginny said, haughtily.

“It’s true. She’s just quiet about it.” Fred said.

“We actually get a lot of ideas from her.” George said, referring to many of the items in their store.

Ginny beamed at them. “Really?”

“Enough, answer the question, Ginevra.” Arthur said.

She looked sharply at him. He never called her Ginevra, unless she was in a lot of trouble, or her dad was in a very serious mood. He looked more tired than angry, so she took it for the latter.

“I learned a lot about Voldemort when I was in there with Tom.” She said. Molly visibly shuddered, both at the name, and knowing that her daughter had been so exposed to something so evil. She blamed herself, knew she shouldn’t, but just could help herself.

“A person will actually talk a lot when they think the person they’re talking to is going to be dead in a day or so.” Ginny said quietly. “I suppose he wanted me to know why he was doing it. All Tom talked about was how hard things were for him, and why he felt that this was the way to go about things. It was like he was trying to convince me. Or himself.” She said.

Molly looked at the table. Ginny had never told her any of this, and it was a fact that was not overlooked by her father.

“Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” He demanded, pounding his fist into the table, now visibly angry. Ginny flinched, but looked into his eyes.

“I don’t know. It was personal. In there, I wasn’t dealing with Voldemort. Not until Harry got there. I was dealing with Tom Riddle. He was only a kid in there, just a kid who was sad, knew things were going badly, knew his life was going to fall apart. I knew Voldemort made the journal, but he wrote it when he was Tom. And Tom was just a confused teenage wizard.” Ginny said. “I didn’t think you’d understand. And by the looks you’re giving me right now, I wasn’t far from wrong.”

There was silence around the table. Fred and George looked at their little sister with a deep emotion crossing their identical faces. They had been crushed when Ginny was locked in there, and inevitably relieved when she emerged, but they had no idea that it had gone the way it had in there. They realized with a sheepish look that they had never asked her what had happened in there, all anyone was really concerned with was how Harry had come to get her out. No one had paid her a lick of attention other than the hospital wing and to admonish her about enchanted books that were unfamiliar.

How had they all missed it? Dumbledore mentally slapped himself. He should have known that the journal was not all that it appeared to be. It made so much more sense that Voldemort made the diary when he was Tom, and the thought scared him. Tom had been working on Horcruxes when he was a student, that he knew from the memory with Slughorn. This one had been a success, that he knew from its destruction and the ensuing issues with Lucius. But what he hadn’t known was that at the time Voldemort made the journal, he was Tom Riddle, a young boy just growing into his name Voldemort, along with all the growing pains that went with being young. If only he had thought to ask. Ginny undoubtedly carried so much valuable insight into Tom as a person. More than he would ever have been trusted with as a teacher, more than he could gain from any memory.

Molly didn’t move for a long time. She was thinking all the things that the others were thinking, but she should have known. A daughter tells her mother things, right? How could Ginny have kept this from her. She was angry, angrier than she had been in a long while, and her tears evaporated. This had gone far enough. Knowing how deeply involved Ginny was before and how in the dark she had been kept infuriated her.

“I forbid you to do anything else in this, Ginny. Tell Dumbledore what you know and get back to the school now.” She said quietly.

“No.”

There was a beat of silence. It was rare that the Weasley’s heard the deadly tone that their mother was speaking in, but Ginny matched it with one of her own.

“You heard me, Ginevra.”

“Likewise.”

The tension was so thick in the room, Fred and George could choke on it. It permeated the room, and they had a feeling that neighbors could feel it. Miles away.

It was Ginny that broke the silence. “I’m of age, mother. I stayed on at Hogwart’s for this long for you. I knew you had Minerva watching me all the time. I knew you thought I was going to be safer there. And I am. But this is what I have to do now. I’m not the little girl you think I am. My teaching job is one thing, but this is something I need to do just as much.”

Molly opened her mouth to say something, what it was, no one was sure, because Minerva took that oppourtunity to come crashing through the floo, rage on her face.

“I never! To be so insulted! You-Poo?? How did that end up in my tea? And above all, a house elf pops into the loo while I’m there?! I’ve a mind to transfigure you, Miss Weasley, and I may not be able to control myself.” She said, her wand hand shaking.

Albus Dumbledore tilted his head back and laughed as though he had forgotten how. Startled, Minerva dropped her wand, and Ginny was grateful for the distraction. She wasn’t sure who she should be more afraid of at the moment; her mother and Minerva surrounded her in two towers of rage. Dumbledore’s laughter had knocked both of them into a momentary stupor, and she could have hugged the man.

“What, may I ask, is so funny, Albus?” Minerva said, closing her eyes and seeming to count to ten.

He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. “I’ve never seen a student get such a beautiful one over on you. Never in all my years.” He said, returning to his laughter.

Ginny grinned, tentatively. Fred and George gave her appraising looks, and Remus even beamed at her. Arthur looked as though he wanted to laugh, his face was red with the effort, but the glares he got from Molly and Minerva kept him from letting out a single drop of mirth. The Weasley couch was over twenty years old and not comfortable to sleep on.

“Well, Ginny, I believe you have made a point that you will stop at nothing to achieve your goals.” Dumbledore said. “Now, Minerva, if you will take a seat, I believe another point of view could be helpful; I will tell you all that you need to know.”

Fred and George beamed at her again and silently agreed that they were happy to have taught her everything she knew.