Set after Ginny's fourth year, post OotP following the rise of Voldemort. When Ginny encounters a trying time in her life as Tom Riddle unleashes himself in control of her once more, she finds comfort in the arms of an enemy.
A/N: Another DM/GW fiction—this is my favorite pairing and as much as I love reading fics about them, I enjoy writing about them too. Read and review, of course, and if anything needs to be corrected, please point them out.
By the way, FLAMES ARE NOT ACCEPTED, but CRITICISMS are. There's a fine barrier between the two, and a writer/reader would know the difference between the two. Criticize me all you want, just don't flame me. I'm a student and an aspiring writer, and I'm allowed to commit mistakes too, just like any bloody person out here.
Anyway, enough with me. Remember to review! Lovelots, shadowlessphantom. -
Who Knew
By shadowlessphantom
I - Prologue
The room was dark. Ginevra Weasley couldn't see a thing. There was nothing at all except… the sound of trickling water far off at the distance. But apart from that everything was silent. She had been here before, yes. The chamber.
"Ginevra?"
She looked about at the sound of the voice. The voice that was so familiar—a friend, and the only friend she had that long, lonely life of being a first year at Hogwarts—where was he? She continued to walk the familiar path towards the handsome boy who loved her, or at least pretended to do so.
Her heart felt light as he stood there, waiting for her it seemed. His dark hair was fluttering with an unseen breeze, and his lips curved into a smile once he saw her. He held out his hand and beckoned to her.
"Nice for you to come by,"His voice was so musical, and Ginevra found herself lulled into a trance, forgetting about the terrors that ever occurred in the place, knowing only him and where they were, and how reassuring the smile on his face seemed to be. Like always.
His smile widened as she continued on, stopping in front of him. He stepped forward to close their distance, pushing back her long mane of vivid red hair away from her face, his hands lingering unnecessarily on her cheek. And then he leaned forward, his breath warm on her face.
"Aren't you going to say something, love?"Yes, Ginevra wanted to say a million things. But she couldn't. He knew she couldn't, and he smiled. He took her hand lightly on his, and they started to tread a dark area of the chamber she had never seen before. Finally, she found her voice.
"Where are we going, Tom?"The young boy smiled and glanced at her before continuing on. She was confused, but curious as well, as to where he was taking her and what they would find there.
"I have something to show you. You have to wait and see."
Ginevra nodded soundlessly, trusting the hand that held her own, as if her very life depended on it. The darkness seemed to envelope and swallow them whole, but as quickly as this occurred, suddenly they were somewhere lighted, a room situated in Hogwarts itself, judging from the look of the castle stone and the view she could see outside.
"Where are we going, Tom?"
"Do you want to know?"
"Yes."
"Follow me then."
He walked off, leaving her behind, and suddenly Ginevra found herself aching for his touch once more. She couldn't move, not without his hand guiding her through wherever they were going. And, as if he had received this message, he turned around and smiled.
"Come on. Take my hand, love."
Now, they were walking, hand in hand, at a corridor. Torches sprang to life as they passed, and extinguished themselves while they were far enough. The corridor seemed to go on, but they didn't stop walking. Tom led Ginevra onwards, and she was getting rather impatient.
"It's okay. Just one more minute, we're almost there,"
He said softly, turning to her with a knowing smile and giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. They walked on, until the double doors of the Great Hall were visible and both of them stopped before it. They had been heading towards there, after all.
"What's in here?"
"It's a surprise, Ginevra. You open it, I'm right behind you."
She looked at the doors, stared at them, wondering what was inside. With a great sigh, she pushed them open and went in, to find the most horrible sight she had seen far by in a lot of years.
"You like it?"
The Great Hall was dark, and only the bewitched ceiling gave little light, allowing her to see what had happened. Everyone was laying dead on the floor, staring up with blank eyes and rigid bodies, one beside the other. There was an obvious absence of many Slytherins.
The long tables were gone and the Hall looked like a museum of dead people lined up with isles separating them from the next column so anyone could pass through and admire them, if there was anything at all to admire.
But, most horrible of all was the people in front lying on a table. Tom had led Ginevra where the staff table used to be in, and there, the people she loved most were beside each other, all bloodied up in the most hideous bloody deaths she could imagine.
And yet, Ginevra found herself smiling at the sight of this. Found herself turning to the handsome boy beside her, and hugging him around the neck.
"I can't believe this! This is great Tom!"
"I know you'd like it, love. After all, I'm the only one who can ever love you like you want to be loved in the whole world."
"Thank you Tom."
"My pleasure. Now, now, what shall we do with your special prize?"
Tom snapped his fingers and six hooded figures went inside via the side entrance near the front, dragging someone she didn't know. She couldn't see whoever it was yet.
"Special prize?"
"Why, yes of course."
"Who?"
"Who else? Harry Potter."
The hooded figures set Harry down, who fell on his knees weakly on the floor before the sixteen-year-old Tom and herself. He looked up at them, and he looked very tired and angry, but not on Ginevra.
"Oh, love, I'll handle Harry Potter myself."
"Go ahead, Ginevra. I'm here for assistance, if need be."
She walked towards Harry, circling him slowly and looking at every inch of his masculine form maliciously. His angered face turned to a cross between concern and sadness.
"Ginny, no, don't let him control you. You have a choice! You can still be saved!"
"Saved? When did you save me, Harry Potter? Down there, at the chamber during first year?"
"Ginny I…"
"No. You don't understand, do you? Tom has always been there for me—loving and understanding me, while you, Ron and Hermione were always too preoccupied saving the world, while I, someone beside you, was the one who needed saving!"
"I know where I'm wrong Ginny but—"
"I'm not Ginny anymore! I am Ginevra, who doesn't need you, or anyone for that matter. Ginny is the weak and foolish little girl, and Ginevra is the strong woman, the Dark Lady! And in my hands, you deserve to die!"
"No! Ginny! Fight him, you can escape this! You can be saved!"
Ginevra didn't heed the words of them emerald eyed boy, and she kneeled before him, touching his cheek and memorizing the face of the one person she was going to kill tonight. Turning to Tom, she smiled before pushing Harry back on the floor, wrapping her delicate hands on his neck.
"No, Ginny…" "You deserve to die, like everyone else!"And she was squeezing tighter, tighter still, watching in fascination as life left his eyes slowly, and the brightness of the green turned duller. All the while she was laughing, and so was Tom.
"Yes, Harry Potter deserves to die, isn't that right, Ginevra?" -
Ginny woke up in a bead of sweat, sitting up in bed with a scream. It was seconds later when she realized that, in fact, she had been woken up. She looked at the shadowed face of the one who had roused her, and leaned back as she remembered the dream.
"Ginny, are you all right? Everyone else was in the kitchen, and then we heard some shouting. Are you okay?"
Ginny stared at Harry—the very thought of him there with the dream still fresh in her memory—it horrified her that she took, even in her dreams, some pleasure in killing Harry Potter.
"Ginny, are you okay?" he asked, giving her cheek a light slap. She took a deep breath. "Yes, yes. It was… it was just a bad dream, is all."
For a long while Harry looked concerned, searching her face, his brows scrunched in worry. And then, he smiled lightly and rubbed his hand on her shoulder, before kissing her on the forehead.
"All right then, if you're sure. If you need anything, everyone's downstairs."
"Yes, thanks."
Ginny watched Harry leave her room in Grimmauld place, disgusted with herself and the still present thought that she had killed him in her dreams. Despite this—the disgust and the incredulity that she could have done it—a voice at the back of her mind was whispering to her.
These started off when she went home from the battle in the Department of Mysteries, and since then, had been whispering on her subconscious so terribly like…
"Oh, but you would do it, wouldn't you? You want to do it sometimes."She closed her eyes. Now, once more, she could hear voices at the back of her mind again. Like before—with Tom and the diary. But then, it could only be stress, and besides she had other things to worry about, like the start of term a few days from now.
And yet, the more she ignored the voice, the more did it seem to whisper cunningly to her ear, its presence there but gone again. She shivered and lied back on the bed, wrapping the covers around herself.
"Tell me, Ginevra. You would have killed Harry Potter, right? You would do it, not now but maybe sometime."
It was the voice, again. "No," Ginny whispered in the dark.
"Oh, yes love. You could have killed them all."
"Why would I do that?"
To Ginny, speaking aloud without someone there felt stupid, but then again, the presence—there was a presence she could feel—if not before her or around her, inside her. She closed her eyes, and the picture of a handsome boy was all she could see.
"Because no one can love you… the way I do."
"That's not true Tom, you liar!"
"Is that so? You said it yourself, in the diary. I'm the only one who understands you too, am I right?"
"That was four years ago…"
"What's the difference? You're still Ginevra Weasley. I'm still Tom. You go unloved, misunderstood… but I will understand and love you, Ginevra."
"I don't believe you."
"You will, soon enough." -
A/N: Well, how was it? Tell me by clicking on the Submit Review button, now go! Your reviews are well appreciated, and I would want to reply to them too. Thanks a lot! You guys rock totally rock!