A Trio of Serpents

64: Wit Beyond Measure

This chapter starts a little bit before Ron's vision. Not sure of the timeline right now; gonna say it's near the end of September.

Summary: the gang at Hogwarts find something valuable; the golden trio are still waiting

In a moment's breathing space, Ginny reflected how much she had grown used to the horrors of listening to the Carrows prattle on about Muggle-born being a stain on the wizarding world and being forced to watch students get tortured for minor infractions. It hadn't even been a month into the term.

The only bright spot was escaping into the Room of Requirement or the Chamber of Secrets, the latter of which was diligent in not letting in anyone other than D.A. members. Not even the Dark Lord would be granted access, though Ginny had no doubt he would be able to force himself inside given time. But that would require him knowing about it, and as far as she knew, he didn't.

For now.

She cast a sidelong glance at Jayson. His hand twitched every now and then, something it didn't used to do. But she didn't ask. There was no point. Besides, it wasn't hard to imagine when Crabbe and Goyle loudly bragged about getting the Cruciatus Curse right on the first try when they were nearby.

Abruptly, Jayson slammed his quill down. "Let's go," he muttered.

Bewildered, she followed him to the secret entrance to the Chamber. Luckily, there were no other student around at the moment; most of the Slytherins spent the weekends roaming the hallways. No one dared to turn them in, fearing repercussions.

Jayson stormed down the corridor, spitting out the password, and entered the Chamber. He hardly seemed to notice it was already occupied.

"Neville! Luna!" Ginny ran up to Luna and threw her arms around her neck. "Are you okay?" She searched them for any injuries.

Luna smiled reassuringly. "We're okay. Well, as okay as one can be at the moment."

"What's wrong with Jayson?" Neville asked, watching him pace.

"Outside of this?" Jayson laughed humorlessly. "Nothing much. Just that, between being cursed, our dear Professor Carrow was very kind in letting me know just how well Sid was doing."

Ginny's stomach revolted. "A-and?"

"He's doing wonderfully," Jayson drawled. "The Dark Lord spent some time with him himself."

"He what?"

"That's all she told me." He slid down the wall, energy spent.

Ginny sighed. There had to be something they could do, even if they couldn't outright help Sid. "Come on. To the Room of Requirement."

"Why?" said Neville.

"I don't know. I just have a good feeling about it." Or at least it certainly didn't feel awful.

A touch of Jayson's old humor flickered in his eyes. "You sound like your brother. Ron always had a feeling about things. All right, Gin, lead the way."

Luna's hand slipped in Ginny's, giving her an anchor to keep her steady. Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw Jayson look away and realized he had no way of knowing if Logan was doing all right, either. The only comfort was that he had graduated the year before.

They stopped outside the wall that would lead into the Room of Requirement. Ginny released Luna's hand and began pacing, thinking, I need to find a Horcrux.

It felt vague, so when the wall opened, Ginny blinked in surprise. "Here we go." She led them in. Instantly, the hairs on the back of her neck rose.