In Dreams
It was dark and cold and wet, in that heavy sort of way that penetrates to your soul. The silvery moonlight, so pale it was a ghost of a mockery, reflected off the polished stonework eerily.
Ginny wrapped her arms about herself, shivering in the dark. She could see her breath frosting the air. She didn't remember it ever being this cold. But then, the fact that she was wearing only her thin, worn pajamas and not her school robes might have made the difference.
"I knew you would come back."
Ginny jumped and whirled, her skin crawling. She squinted at the shadows- she couldn't see the speaker, but knew where he was.
"What do you want?" she asked tremulously, unable to keep the tremor out of her voice. A deep, velvet chuckle was her only answer. The sound was like poisoned honey.
"I'm not sure you want to know." He stepped into the dim light. It broke and shattered against his brilliantly blue eyes, reflecting the amusement there. His dark hair was in his eyes and he impatiently pushed it aside. Ginny felt an intense desire to run her fingers through it, a desire she immediately stamped down.
"Why am I here?"
"It's your dream, Ginny dear. I can't answer that." He walked slowly across the floor, his shoes clicking softly, until he stood mere inches from her. He seemed completely unaffected by the cold, although granted he was wearing robes and Ginny wasn't.
"Well, I want it to stop right now."
He laughed again, sending a thrill down Ginny's spine. "It is your dream, but no one controls their dreams consciously."
"I'll wake up," she threatened, quite aware of the fact that she sounded silly. She wanted to get away from this creature, in any way possible. Not because of him, but because of the way she was betraying herself.
"Go ahead and try."
There was a silence that stretched out into infinity, their eyes locked- blue against brown. Then he sighed and brushed his fingers against her upper arm, ignoring the sudden shudder than ran through her spare form.
"You were a pretty child," he murmured. "Too innocent, really, to be anything more." A shark-like smile drifted across his face. "Far from innocent now, aren't we Ginny dear?"
"Don't call me dear," she said softly and completely unconvincingly. "You've a lot of gall."
"Of course. What did you expect?" His spidery fingers left her arm and he tilted her chin, their faces suddenly far too close. Ginny became intensely aware that even with her height, he was at least eight inches taller.
"You are a very beautiful woman, Virginia. Too bad you had to kill me."
He kissed her then, and Ginny offered up no resistance- she was like putty, she could no more resist than Apparate to Pluto. It was a kiss of possession, a darkly intense thing that marked her as his more surely than any physical mark.
He whispered something then, words she could barely hear. The world became a mist of white fog…
And then she was sitting up in bed, clutching her blanket, soaked in cold sweat. She could still taste his kiss, still feel his hands. His final words were ringing in her ears even as she wrenched the curtains open.
"But you're still mine."