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Ginny Weasley never expected to fall for one Perseus Riddle.

It was one of those things you just don't see coming until you face it right in front of you, until you were too late to do anything about it. I mean who didn't have some sort of crush on the then second year Slytherin? He was smart, charming and ridiculously handsome with his aristocratic features, silky black hair and piercing sea green eyes. The only problem was that he was a Slytherin, one of those rich wizards like Malfoy who probably looked at blood traitors like her as if they were dirt.

And yet.. he wasn't.

During her second year, when she got the strange diary, when her memories started getting fuzzy for some reason and she would forget what had happen the night before, Riddle was there. Every time it happened, Ginny would at least bump into the Slytherin when they were both alone and he would smile at her, turn his head and ask her "are you okay?" because by then she was scared. The chamber of secrets had been apparently reopened and she was starting to suspect that she was the one who did which didn't make sense but she can't remember and her robes were wet, her fingernail crusted with red (paint?) and chicken feathers could be found laying around near her bed.

She had gotten paler, paranoid and dark shadows were underneath her eyes and none of her brothers noticed but this Slytherin, this guy who was supposedly "evil and a mini deatheater" by the words of Ron did and he asked her if she was okay and dam it if only she was stronger.

But she wasn't.

Not then anyway, she was a terrified first year who unknown to herself was being manipulated by dark forces and was suffering the aftermath.

So she would shake her head no and Percy ("you can call me Percy if you want" Riddle had said one day with a handsome smirk) would smile kindly and offer to spend time with her, would offer to help with homework because she was falling behind in her classes due to the late nights she can't remember and the paranoia of another empty space in her memories. Ginny began spending more and more time with the older boy without her brothers or friends knowing. They would have screamed at her, would've warned her to stay away from that evil snake and she knows she should but he was just so nice and charming with that mischievous smirks of his and she couldn't stay away, couldn't stop looking forward to spending time with him.

Like she couldn't stay away from the diary.

She asked him once, whether he knew anyone called Tom Riddle. Percy hadn't answered, merely smiled and continued to help her with her potions homework which should've had her suspecting but she didn't, she just shrugged and went with it.

Ginny also once told him about her worries, about her paranoia and her blank memories and no she wasn't crazy maybe she was the one to open the chamber and showed him all the evidence on why she thinks so. Percy shook his head with a gentle smile "you're just tired and stressed, you need some more rest. There's no way you were the one to open the chamber of secrets, you're not even a parseltounge" and she had nodded, a bit of relief flooding her systems as she accepted the explanation because he probably knows more on the topic then she did.

When everything became too much though, when the suspicions grew bigger and she was so fed up with the diary because something in her gut told her it was so so wrong Ginny threw it away. Left the diary in the girl's lavatories where she knew nobody would find it.

But somebody did, Percy had come to her the next day and had presented the diary to her with a sly look and a smirk "I passed the girl's lavatory and it was flooded, came in to make sure Myrtle didn't left the taps running again -after making sure nobody was inside of course- and found this on the floor. It's yours isn't it? Here, take it." Ginny had simply accepted it, ignoring the twisting feeling in her stomach and thanked the Slytherin.

This.. strange relationship of theirs persisted for the entire year. Until one day she found herself waking up in a vast dark room, the diary in her arms and a tall figure in black looming above her. The last thing she saw was a dark expression on a handsome face before she passed out and woke up about a month later recovering from having her life force almost drained away by a dark lord looking for more power. She doesn't remember seeing Percy in the chamber, doesn't even remember spending time with him.

Ginny hadn't been lured into the Chamber of Secrets by the memory of Tom Riddle.

She had been lured in by the charming smiles and words of a single Slytherin.