“I never knew what I wanted.
No, it should be said that it was not until I lost something that I realized I wanted -- a lot. "
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Ginny knew she was disliked, but she had no regrets.
Betrayal didn’t exist because she had never trusted Tom from the start.
What she hated was Dumbledore.
When she agreed to everything, she hadn’t known that Tom would absorb her soul as energy to make her own death come faster.
Dumbledore had only said three things:
"Tom's magic can control your body and communicate with your consciousness. Do you trust him?"
"If you refuse euthanasia, your parents won't be able to afford the hospital fees. You'll have to stay home and be cared for the rest of your life. Do you understand?"
"If there are any new methods in the future that can restore control of your body to you, I promise I'll bring you back."
But did Dumbledore care about her feelings afterward? No.
Did he put in any effort to find a way to bring her back? No.
Ginny didn’t ask, but she just knew: No.
Because she could see that Dumbledore favored Tom.
No, it wasn’t Tom himself, but rather his "function" far more.
On Christmas morning, she hadn’t fallen asleep. She was just too heartbroken to respond to Tom.
Watching Dumbledore and Grindelwald spend the holiday together, she couldn’t help but start to suspect she was being used, becoming a sacrifice for their "secret world domination."
Why go to such lengths to cultivate Harry, test his loyalty, courage, and character? And if Harry didn’t meet their standards, what did they plan to do to him?
Tom had no family, so he didn't see anything wrong.
But compared to her parents, Ginny felt that Dumbledore had never cared about Tom, Harry or anybody’s happiness.
Yes, sending Harry to live with the Dursleys kept him from becoming a "spoiled brat, growing up in excessive praise and non-sense adoration."
But would all those years of mental and physical abuse, and the unequal treatment, not harm Harry’s self-esteem, confidence, and compassion?
Before Harry came to their house, he was starving like a refugee, insulted daily, and locked in a room where he could only go out a few times a day to use the bathroom.
Was this also part of Dumbledore’s plan, to "starve Harry like a dog before feeding him," just to cultivate his "loyalty"?
Ginny had always thought she was a person who went with the flow, content and noble until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
Yes, she lied.
She had never been magnanimous enough to let Tom take her body and replace her life.
When Tom mysteriously told her that he was the seventeen-year-old Dark Lord, she hadn’t believed him.
Because the impression Tom gave her was too different from the Voldemort she had heard of. And Tom’s version of Dumbledore was too different from the Dumbledore she had in mind.
When she listened, she just thought: "Okay."
Although she didn’t know what Dumbledore’s plan was, she had to pretend to go along with it.
Tom initially told her he was a diary. In the end, he wasn’t.
Then he said, "I can leave if you want." But guess what, after they fell out, did he ever ask if she wanted him to leave now? No.
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Everyone beautifies their own story. Ginny grew up among brothers who loved to boast, so she knew this was the reality.
She sympathized with Tom, truly.
Tom treated her well within his ability, and she knew that.
But this wasn’t right.
She found it hard to express specifically the vague, all-encompassing dislike she felt.
If Dumbledore truly had no intention of bringing her back, she didn’t want to continue pretending for poor Tom.
Dumbledore had betrayed her, Tom, Harry, and everyone who believed in him, including her parents and brothers.
Her whole family believed Dumbledore was a completely selfless, righteous person, the embodiment of justice. She and all her brothers grew up hearing stories of Dumbledore fighting the Dark Lords twice.
The whole magical world praised the "Boy Who Lived," thanking and singing the praises of Dumbledore and other "human rights warriors."
No one ever talked about "why Voldemort became Voldemort" or "why Grindelwald became Grindelwald" anymore. Because they had failed and disappeared.
Ginny felt like she had also been failed and erased too.
Tom’s neurotic, sympathetic, "sincere" goodwill began to anger her.
Yes, she "pretended to be generous."
Everything she had said in the past was just to placate Tom, secretly hoping that when she returned, she could seamlessly pick up where she left off.
Yes, she was "narrow-minded."
She thought Tom reading his Dark Arts books in front of her was just showing off and pretending.
She thought Tom only knew old magic from fifty years ago, so it would be better to focus on finishing whatever Dumbledore’s plan was first instead, so she encouraged him to move on!
Her naive self secretly believed that once Tom completed his task, Dumbledore would restore her to her original state.
Because "good people always get rewarded," right?
Tom would also return to his body; he couldn’t possibly be the Dark Lord. Dumbledore was lying to him…
How naive and foolish she had been, adding a "confidence filter" to all Dumbledore’s "crazy" behavior.
Because her parents and Dumbledore had gone through the war, and her whole family had benefitted from Dumbledore's secret yet master planning, she had believed that "trusting Dumbledore was the right thing to do," that "if too many people know the battle plan, it will fail," and "just like Harry Potter, even a weak baby without a wand would ultimately survive and defeat Voldemort."
What a joke.
It is said that Muggles have researched the five stages people go through when facing disaster and grief, which repeat in no particular order:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
She thought she had been in "denial" for too long, so she became delusional.
She half "accepted" Tom, to only stay optimistic, thinking "things would work out eventually."
She dared not show her "anger" because she wanted to "be kind."
At some point, she just went straight to "depression", and cut off from participating in "Tom’s life."
At last, her only "bargaining" was: Please, let her tell Harry Potter "the truth, the whole truth, the nothing but the truth."
She couldn’t take it anymore; she didn't want to die with nothing accomplished.
If this lie continued, no one would ever escape Dumbledore's grasp, not in his lifetime!
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Dumbledore: "Hello, Ginny."
He took up his pen and wrote in the diary.
Ginny: "Give me back my body, let me out."
She hesitated for a moment but still expressed her wish with resentment.
Dumbledore: "Do you hate Tom?"
Ginny: "He had become a Dark Lord because of you! If you don’t release me, Harry will eventually become a Dark Lord too!"
Dumbledore: "May I ask what Tom has told you about me?"
Ginny: "It was you who forced him to open the Chamber of Secrets and frame Hagrid, wasn’t it?"
Dumbledore: "Yes. But no one is perfect. I believe I have been good to you."
He didn’t deny his mistakes. Everything in life has two sides.
There is no one who is entirely "upright" enough to defeat "evil."
He was not the wise old wizard with a white beard living in a fairy tale, though everyone automatically placed that label on him.
Ginny: "You lied to me. You didn’t tell me Tom would slowly kill me! I should have waited for my parents to make that decision. If you’d told me earlier…"
Dumbledore: "I believed your parents would choose to care for you no matter what you wanted, but even if you were cared for at home, the medical expenses would drain the whole family.
Then, your father would have to ask your older brother for help. Eventually, your brother would start questioning Harry, who was very wealthy yet always invited to your house for free meals."
Ginny: "This is just your guess. I want my body back, and I don’t agree with you tormenting Tom and Harry any longer."
She didn’t express her thoughts to Tom because she knew it wouldn’t make a difference.
Tom, threatened by his own future identity, wouldn’t dare oppose Dumbledore.
But Harry didn’t have that limitation.
Ultimately, only if Harry escapes his "Truman Show" could Dumbledore’s plan fail.
Even if Voldemort may return, she couldn’t stand to see Dumbledore trample on her body to "defeat evil once again."
Dumbledore: "I did what I had to do. At the time, there was no magic that could let your soul regain control of your body. Now, you can still choose to donate 'all your memories' to Tom, so that the love your parents have for you can be passed on through him."
Ginny scoffed: "So you can continue controlling my parents and brothers through Tom? You just want me to keep quiet so you can keep playing your little game with Grindelwald."
Dumbledore knew that there was no further discussion to be had with Ginny.
In his lifetime, he had only loved one person.
Grindelwald had given up the whole world for him, but that hadn’t earned any understanding or forgiveness from anyone.
Gellert’s inexplicable surrender made Dumbledore’s remaining years filled with suspicion—was Dumbledore merely the last pawn in Grindelwald’s final move?
Dumbledore didn’t want to recount how Ginny’s family had caused him trouble, nor how Hagrid, with his carelessness, had gotten into illegal dangers, and how he had tirelessly fixed everything around his supporters.
In life, things rarely go as planned.
When people don’t get along, sometimes it’s just better to part ways.
There’s no need to prove anything for the sake of proving it.
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Dumbledore: "And so, I find myself unemployed."
Gellert raised an eyebrow and said, "Should I congratulate you, or tell you I told you so?"
After Hermione was petrified, Lucius, who had been preparing for a long time, "united" with several board members to remove him from the position of Headmaster.
Albus said, "Ginny's resentment was the only thing I didn't anticipate. I thought Tom could calm her down."
Lucius' threats to the other board members only made the usually opportunistic board members secretly unite against him. After the Chamber of Secrets matter was over, Dumbledore knew that he no longer had to worry about Lucius.
Gellert coldly chuckled. "So, you're here to show off?"
Albus replied, "No, I'm here to settle accounts." He pulled a book from his robes and flipped to a page.
The title read: "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."
The illustration showed a steaming cauldron with a human-shaped form curled up inside, resembling a fetus.
This was one of the book copies Tom had given to Gellert as a Christmas gift, one that Dumbledore had quietly kept before sending the originals out.
Albus asked, "What does this mean? He clearly found a way to bring Ginny back to life. Yet, He didn’t tell me, but came to tell you."
Gellert rolled his eyes. "Who knows why he told me, and why should I tell you everything?"
Gellert speculated that Tom might have been afraid Dumbledore would kill him after his job was done, so he entrusted the hope of rescuing other Horcruxes to him, which he planned to ignore.
Because he wasn’t the man Tom had known fifty years ago anymore. The spirited Gellert Grindelwald was dead. He had willingly handed the world over to Albus and had no other intentions.
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Albus thought carefully. "Ginny's enemy could be whoever she perceives, but she has no servant. That’s the difficulty. Is he subtly asking you to find a servant for her?"
Gellert denied it. "Unless you break Ginny’s connection with Tom first, Tom will continue consuming Ginny’s soul. Having another body wouldn’t help. Tom doesn’t want Ginny revived, don’t think he’s that kind."
Albus said, "So, to bring Ginny back, I would first have to find a way to get Tom back into the diary and Ginny back into her broken body. Before I could place her into this potion made of 'blood, bone, and flesh.'"
Gellert replied, "But the problem returns—who will be Ginny’s servant to make the potion? Wait, do you really want to revive someone who resents you? Even if you revive her, you’d have to erase her memories. But memory erasure can always be undone, so..."
That’s Tom’s intent.
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Tom wanted Gellert and Albus to discuss whether Ginny should live or die.
If Tom had only reported to Dumbledore, he believed Albus would lean towards saving Ginny. Only Gellert, out of a desire to protect Albus, would want Ginny to die for knowing too much.
Realizing this, they both concluded that the "friendship" between Tom and Ginny was never simple.
It had always been about "you die, I live."
Albus couldn’t deny it—part of him still hoped Ginny would quietly die. But to honor the decision Gellert made to stay with him, he chose to continue as a 'good' person.
Albus sighed, "Let me be Ginny’s servant. I promised her. If there’s a way to restore her..."
Gellert asked, "And how would you make Tom obediently return to the diary? Give it up, this plan is impossible."
Albus said, "She won’t remember it, because you’ll cast a spell that makes her forget I’m her servant."
Gellert firmly replied, "No, I won’t participate in your plan. And Tom will never return to the diary!"
Albus sighed, "She said Tom became a Dark Lord because of me. Maybe I really am bad at teaching others, and you too, the world has gone to hell all because of me..."
Gellert covered Albus’s mouth. "I won’t allow you to say that about yourself."
Albus looked into Gellert’s deep eyes, feeling a wave of emotions.
"Ahem!" He distanced himself, maintaining his composure.
They were originally sitting on opposite sides of the table, but as Gellert spoke, he had subbently moved closer and had even taken the diary from Albus’s pocket unknowingly.
"Ah!" Albus realized that when Gellert started using wandless magic to burn the diary.
Albus reached out to snatch it back, and Gellert quickly stopped the fire, muttering, "Looks like I’ll have to use something more special and powerful..."
Albus said, "Wait, look!" While inspecting the pages for damage, which there is not, he discovered Ginny had written a message: Can house-elves count as servants?
Albus and Gellert exchanged a glance.
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At Hogwarts, Tom’s mission was not going smoothly.
"Fawkes, would you obediently let me turn you black?"
Dumbledore had sent Fawkes to him for fostering—after all, he didn’t have a roommate anymore.
Fawkes haughtily refused Tom's intention. Every time Tom turned him black, he would burn off that layer of paint.
So relying on this stupid bird to quietly fly into the forest with Harry to secretly keep him safe was out of the question.
While all the spiders of Aragog’s bloodline in the Forbidden Forest avoided Tom.
Tom wrote a letter to Dumbledore complaining about it, and only then did Dumbledore apologize for forgetting to remind him of this detail.
The spiders could smell him, and think that he was the Basilisk itself.
That meant Tom couldn’t personally follow Harry into the Forbidden Forest either.
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In the end, Dumbledore merely left him a modified Weasley-brand remote-controlled car.
Tom had no choice but to hide in his room, staring at a magical screen, remote control in hand, busy practicing how to maneuver the already broken-down car as it recklessly crashed through the Forbidden Forest.
Tom thought: If Harry Potter made the slightest mistake, he’d be torn apart by a horde of spiders…
In this entire school, was it really a good idea for only him to be handling this as if it were some kind of video game?
Tom sighed and continued complaining in his heart: But if I’m the one worrying about Harry Potter, then who will worry about me?
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Ever since Christmas, when he couldn’t help but tell Mr. Grindelwald about that method, he had been slightly regretting it all the time.
But at the time, he had truly sympathized with Ginny. And what has happened, happened.
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Life itself seems to be all suffering, no matter what he has done or not done, nothing changes.
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