When Myths Meet Magic || 2

28|| Annabeth

"Ginny!"

Annabeth stood back as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley ran over, practically tackling their daughter. She and Jason exchanged smiles, though Annabeth could tell what Jason was also thinking. Ginny was lucky to have parents who worried about her so much. Bitterly, Annabeth remembered when she'd run away, so many years ago. Her father and stepmother probably hadn't even cared, or noticed, until days later.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you manage to do it?" Mrs. Weasley sobbed with joy as she crushed Harry, Ron, Jason, and Annabeth into a hug, nearly suffocating them.

"I think we'd all like to know that," Professor McGonagall said weakly. Mrs. Weasley let go of them, and Annabeth was glad Harry's silver sword hadn't impaled anyone. Then she noticed with a jolt that there was someone standing by the fireplace. Dumbledore met her eyes and smiled warmly.

Harry hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid down the diary, the sorting hat, and the sword. Then he began to explain everything.

For fifteen minutes, he spoke into rapt silence, except for Jason, Ron, and Annabeth chiming in with little bits and details he'd forgotten.

Then he stuttered to a halt. So far, he hadn't mentioned Ginny, or the diary. Annabeth could see his struggle, but before she could say anything, Dumbledore spoke up.

"What interests me most," he said gently. "Is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania."

Harry visibly relaxed.

"W-what's that?" Mr. Weasley sounded more stunned than Percy when he'd found out Ron ate all the pancakes one morning. "You-know-Who? En-Enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"

"It was this diary," Jason said, picking up the diary and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen."

Dumbledore took the diary and peered keenly down at it. "Brilliant," he exhaled. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."

Annabeth smiled slightly at what Hermione would say about that, then remembered Hermione was petrified. Which made her think about Percy, which made her want to run to the Hospital wing that very instant.

"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle," Dumbledore continued. "I taught him myself, fifty years ago at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school... traveled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

Annabeth was suddenly hit with a pain in her chest. It sounded like Luke's story. A brave, good demigod who traveled far (his quest) and sank deeply into darkness and consorted with the worst of the kinds (allied with Kronos and other monsters) and went under a magical transformation (Kronos taking over his body) and hardly anyone thought of Luke as the brave soul who was one of the reasons Annabeth and Thalia were alive today. And without them, Gaea wouldn't have been defeated and then the world wouldn't have been there anymore.

"But, Ginny? What's she got to do with— with— him?" Mrs. Weasley had wrapped her arms around Ginny again.

"H-his diary!" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been writing b-back all year—"

"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley was flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it's keeping it's brain. Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother—"