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edenfallingSummary: "Chamber of Secrets" from Ginny's point of view. Things settle down over Christmas holidays, until Xanthe tells Ginny a bit of family history and casts the previous months in a new, and unwelcome, light.
This is not the climactic chapter -- that would be the end of ch. 12 and the start of ch. 13 -- but it is the keystone chapter, where the story pivots on a hinge. Up until now "Secrets" has been Ginny-and-Tom against the world; after this, it becomes Ginny versus Tom.
We open with some Weasley family fluff on Christmas Eve, but that inevitably devolves into angst because nothing good ever lasts very long in this story. *wry* Ginny muses a bit about her two oldest brothers, particularly Bill, which segues into asking Tom about Egypt. Tom tells her the legend of Isis and Osiris -- this is both because of Ginny's interest in Muggle fairy-tales and because it ties in nicely to various themes of the overall story -- and prods her into working ahead on her Potions reading. Ginny agrees both so she can show Snape up after the holiday and so she might be able to figure out the mysterious potion in Myrtle's bathroom, which she noticed when she performed the blood ritual to bind herself to Tom.
(I would like to note, for the record, that even though I didn't post this chapter until August of 2005, this scene -- where Tom talks about interesting Egyptian curses and experiments in search of immortality that included trapping souls after death -- was written well before HBP revealed Horcruxes and Voldemort's curse on the Defense professorship to the world. I don't spend much time on predictive speculation about unfinished stories, so this was created more as a way of broadening Rowling's world-building than as a guess about where she was going with Voldemort, but that little, "Ha, I was right!" moment is always nice.)
Christmas arrives with general amusing Weasley family shenanigans. Ginny gives scarves to her brothers, but is too embarrassed to give one to Harry (particularly since she didn't think to make a scarf for Hermione as well). She assumes Ron's given her a box of chocolates and is annoyed at the generic nature of the present, but later discovers he just reused a chocolate box and actually bought her a gardening book she really wanted. She attempts to spy on the Trio, but keeps missing them (mostly because of Percy checking up on her) and so only finds out about Hermione's Polyjuice mishap after the fact. Ron then demonstrates why he's a good brother and he and Ginny more or less patch up their relationship (at least temporarily).
The Christmas holiday ends and school resumes. (Note that Susan says she thought Ginny wasn't speaking to her; that's a direct consequence of the third attack, when Ginny utterly lost patience with her housemates' conviction that Harry is the Heir.) Ginny and Xanthe meet for their weekly study session and discuss Hermione's magical mishap, which makes Ginny realize that though Xanthe often acts Muggle-born -- she's unfamiliar with some basic things about the wizarding world -- she's never seemed afraid of the Heir. She asks, and Xanthe cheerfully explains some of her family backstory. Hopefully readers will remember that she's a Winterbourne on her mother's side -- the same family of Rose Winterbourne, the girl that Tom told Ginny had done him wrong. *evil grin* That connection now comes into play. Xanthe's version of the Rose-and-Tom story directly contradicts Tom's version, which throws Ginny's world completely out of kilter.
Ginny hurries off to try to figure out what to believe. Her first instinct is to ask Tom for help -- but that's exactly what she can't do. She also finds herself heading for Myrtle's bathroom when she's not paying attention to her feet, and she keeps reaching for the diary despite her resolve not to talk to Tom until she has her head on straight. This freaks her out. Also, now that she's been shown the cracks in one of Tom's stories, she starts to notice some other flaws -- specifically with the way he explained away the events of Halloween.
But all this depends on Xanthe's story being true and Tom's being false, and Ginny has no way to independently verify either of them. So she eventually decides to be sneaky and try to get Tom to confess; she asks Sir Vladislav to stand watch so she won't be interrupted when talking to (so far as anyone else can see) thin air. She pretends to be panicked -- this is easy, since she IS panicking -- and Tom reassures her as he's been doing all year, explaining away her fears and making offers to help that don't actually address the main problem. Ginny then raises Rose's name, Tom confirms her family name, and Ginny throws Xanthe's version of the story in his face. Tom tries to reason that away too, but for a moment he's startled into an honest reaction. Ginny sees, and she realizes he's betrayed her.
Tom likewise realizes the game is up, but he segues instantly into a new tactic: making Ginny feel complicit, as if the attacks are as much her fault as his. He tells her that he may have been using her, but he can't do anything with her body that she does not, on some level, agree to let him do. He also claims that she's been the one choosing the victims, and even implies that using Harry as a scapegoat was her own idea. Ginny, unable to effectively counter his words, realizes that she can at least get rid of him by shutting the diary, and does so.
She wanders blankly through the castle for a while, trying to come to terms with the way her world has just been up-ended, and stumbles across Percy coming out of an empty classroom looking rumpled and weirdly cheerful. (He's been snogging Penelope Clearwater, obviously, though Ginny doesn't know that yet.) He takes her back to Gryffindor Tower, but she slips away again soon thereafter, this time with a purpose. Regardless of what she might or might not have agreed to in her sleep, Tom is the one who knows how to Petrify people; therefore if she gets rid of Tom, the problem will go away. She's planning to set the diary on fire, but she's in Myrtle's bathroom (yes, again; the possession spell is still in effect and keeps drawing her toward the Chamber) and thinks that would draw Myrtle's attention, which she doesn't want. But Tom is bound by the rules of a diary -- he can't do anything if it isn't open -- so any other way to destroy a book ought to destroy him. Like, oh, say, water damage.
So she throws the diary into a toilet.
This is far from the end, of course, but it makes a lovely scene break. :-)
Bechdel Test = PASS
This is not the climactic chapter -- that would be the end of ch. 12 and the start of ch. 13 -- but it is the keystone chapter, where the story pivots on a hinge. Up until now "Secrets" has been Ginny-and-Tom against the world; after this, it becomes Ginny versus Tom.
We open with some Weasley family fluff on Christmas Eve, but that inevitably devolves into angst because nothing good ever lasts very long in this story. *wry* Ginny muses a bit about her two oldest brothers, particularly Bill, which segues into asking Tom about Egypt. Tom tells her the legend of Isis and Osiris -- this is both because of Ginny's interest in Muggle fairy-tales and because it ties in nicely to various themes of the overall story -- and prods her into working ahead on her Potions reading. Ginny agrees both so she can show Snape up after the holiday and so she might be able to figure out the mysterious potion in Myrtle's bathroom, which she noticed when she performed the blood ritual to bind herself to Tom.
(I would like to note, for the record, that even though I didn't post this chapter until August of 2005, this scene -- where Tom talks about interesting Egyptian curses and experiments in search of immortality that included trapping souls after death -- was written well before HBP revealed Horcruxes and Voldemort's curse on the Defense professorship to the world. I don't spend much time on predictive speculation about unfinished stories, so this was created more as a way of broadening Rowling's world-building than as a guess about where she was going with Voldemort, but that little, "Ha, I was right!" moment is always nice.)
Christmas arrives with general amusing Weasley family shenanigans. Ginny gives scarves to her brothers, but is too embarrassed to give one to Harry (particularly since she didn't think to make a scarf for Hermione as well). She assumes Ron's given her a box of chocolates and is annoyed at the generic nature of the present, but later discovers he just reused a chocolate box and actually bought her a gardening book she really wanted. She attempts to spy on the Trio, but keeps missing them (mostly because of Percy checking up on her) and so only finds out about Hermione's Polyjuice mishap after the fact. Ron then demonstrates why he's a good brother and he and Ginny more or less patch up their relationship (at least temporarily).
The Christmas holiday ends and school resumes. (Note that Susan says she thought Ginny wasn't speaking to her; that's a direct consequence of the third attack, when Ginny utterly lost patience with her housemates' conviction that Harry is the Heir.) Ginny and Xanthe meet for their weekly study session and discuss Hermione's magical mishap, which makes Ginny realize that though Xanthe often acts Muggle-born -- she's unfamiliar with some basic things about the wizarding world -- she's never seemed afraid of the Heir. She asks, and Xanthe cheerfully explains some of her family backstory. Hopefully readers will remember that she's a Winterbourne on her mother's side -- the same family of Rose Winterbourne, the girl that Tom told Ginny had done him wrong. *evil grin* That connection now comes into play. Xanthe's version of the Rose-and-Tom story directly contradicts Tom's version, which throws Ginny's world completely out of kilter.
Ginny hurries off to try to figure out what to believe. Her first instinct is to ask Tom for help -- but that's exactly what she can't do. She also finds herself heading for Myrtle's bathroom when she's not paying attention to her feet, and she keeps reaching for the diary despite her resolve not to talk to Tom until she has her head on straight. This freaks her out. Also, now that she's been shown the cracks in one of Tom's stories, she starts to notice some other flaws -- specifically with the way he explained away the events of Halloween.
But all this depends on Xanthe's story being true and Tom's being false, and Ginny has no way to independently verify either of them. So she eventually decides to be sneaky and try to get Tom to confess; she asks Sir Vladislav to stand watch so she won't be interrupted when talking to (so far as anyone else can see) thin air. She pretends to be panicked -- this is easy, since she IS panicking -- and Tom reassures her as he's been doing all year, explaining away her fears and making offers to help that don't actually address the main problem. Ginny then raises Rose's name, Tom confirms her family name, and Ginny throws Xanthe's version of the story in his face. Tom tries to reason that away too, but for a moment he's startled into an honest reaction. Ginny sees, and she realizes he's betrayed her.
Tom likewise realizes the game is up, but he segues instantly into a new tactic: making Ginny feel complicit, as if the attacks are as much her fault as his. He tells her that he may have been using her, but he can't do anything with her body that she does not, on some level, agree to let him do. He also claims that she's been the one choosing the victims, and even implies that using Harry as a scapegoat was her own idea. Ginny, unable to effectively counter his words, realizes that she can at least get rid of him by shutting the diary, and does so.
She wanders blankly through the castle for a while, trying to come to terms with the way her world has just been up-ended, and stumbles across Percy coming out of an empty classroom looking rumpled and weirdly cheerful. (He's been snogging Penelope Clearwater, obviously, though Ginny doesn't know that yet.) He takes her back to Gryffindor Tower, but she slips away again soon thereafter, this time with a purpose. Regardless of what she might or might not have agreed to in her sleep, Tom is the one who knows how to Petrify people; therefore if she gets rid of Tom, the problem will go away. She's planning to set the diary on fire, but she's in Myrtle's bathroom (yes, again; the possession spell is still in effect and keeps drawing her toward the Chamber) and thinks that would draw Myrtle's attention, which she doesn't want. But Tom is bound by the rules of a diary -- he can't do anything if it isn't open -- so any other way to destroy a book ought to destroy him. Like, oh, say, water damage.
So she throws the diary into a toilet.
This is far from the end, of course, but it makes a lovely scene break. :-)
Bechdel Test = PASS
