Ginny woke with a start. She felt cold and held herself tightly, taking in her surroundings. She was in an empty corridor, and it was night. "Night? How could it be night already? What happened...?" she thought frantically, standing up. Something clattered to the floor. She looked down and saw the Diary. Quickly picking it back up, she noticed the edges of her sleeves, stained with something dark and sticky. She cautiously touched her sleeve and gasped when her fingers came away red. Panic stricken, she hurriedly looked down at herself, seeing dried, bloody hand prints... her bloody hand prints all over herself... she must've tired to wipe them clean... "What have I done?" she shrieked in her mind.
This was the most time she'd "lost" so far. Before, she thought she had just lost track of time, or had just phased out for a little while...but she couldn't ignore this...she had the blood on her hands to prove it.
She ran to the nearest bathroom and began to take off her clothes, anything with blood on it and tried desperately to rinse them in the sink, her mind racing.
"Blood...I hurt someone...I KILLED someone...I'M A MURDERER! I'll go to Azkaban...I'll get put in Azkaban with all the other murders..." tears streamed down her face as she started making sounds like a badly wounded animal, her hands turning red as the hot water scalded them. But still, she scrubbed her clothing, turning the water in the sink a swirled pink-red.
"Someone must've seen me...I'll be caught for sure...caught...if I get caught..." her breathing slowed as she started to reason things out. The blood was mostly dried, that meant it had happened a while ago. If it happened a while ago, and she had killed someone, the castle would be bustling with teachers trying to find who had done it. "IF the body was already found..." a dark voice in her head whispered. She shook her head trying to ignore it and continue. if no one was running around, maybe no one had died, maybe someone had only been hurt? she was starting to confuse herself, and now more than ever needed a friend she could count on. She left her clothes in the sink, with the water running and opened the diary, beginning to write.
"Tom... Tom please, I need your help..." tears fell on the page.
"What's wrong?" Just seeing the neat, tidy scrawl made her feel a little better.
"It happened again... I lost some time an-"
"We already talked about this Ginny, it's all in your head, remember?"
"But this time I woke up with blood on my hands! Something's wrong! I hurt someone and I don't remember it! Tom Help me!"
"Calm down. Obviously you're too worked up to think straight. Now listen to me carefully and do what I say. First, is there blood on your clothes?"
"Yes..."
"Get rid of them. Burn them. Destroy them. Make sure no one can find them."
"...How?" Ginny felt confused, but was too scared to think straight.
"Use 'Flaamella' "
Ginny used the spell, pointing her wand at her soaked, bloody robes as watched as they burst into tiny blue flames that seemed to ignore the water and burned only her robes. She recognized the spell as one of Hermione's favorites.
"Who should I tell Tom? Who should I go to?"
"No one."
"But..."
"No. Pretend it never happened. Those robes don't exist anymore, you won't get caught. Say nothing to anyone."
Ginny felt surprised, Tom was helping her cover up what might be a murder? She felt as though something was slithering in her belly. "What if it isn't ME... what if it's something else that's wrong?" She looked at the Diary in a new light. "I never lost time before I started school...no, before I found the diary..." she felt her heart pounding in her chest.
"Ginny? Are you still there?"
The words stayed there for a while before fading away again, leaving a fresh blank page; An 'innocent' page. She closed the book in a panic and quickly stood up glancing around the room. She heard voices and hurriedly threw the Diary in a toilet and flushed it, running out of the bathroom, grabbing her things on the way. She met no one on the way to the common room, and when she arrived it was empty. She felt confused for a moment, and then she remembered. It was Halloween. She had forgotten with everything else going on. Ginny yawned, her adrenaline rush coming down on her hard. She made her way up the stairs and crawled into her bed, not bothering to take off the rest of her clothing. She was utterly spent and despite her distrust of the Diary, a part of her told her to follow Tom's instructions. She knew she should tell someone, anyone, but there had only ever been Tom. She felt herself ready to cry, but was much too tired to actually do so.
Ginny slept fitfully, dreaming of red eyes and snakes in the darkness.