Title: Shadows of a Past Forbidden
DARK, DARK, DARK, DARK, FIC WARNING! This will be a dark fic with lots of angst and such. There will be suicidal themes in this, self mutilation, death and dark marks. People will die in this fic. This fic is my version of HBP. if you haven't read it, this contains spoilers such as who the half blood prince is and who is the DADA teacher is.
Chapter One
Tainted Girl
Ginny stared at the scared cherry that covered her bureau. Her hands pressed against the wood as though to learn all its secrets when in truth she was merely trying to hide the shaking of her hands. Her breath came in slowly calming gasps, and her heart was slowly returning to normal.
She glanced up at her reflection again, cautiously, this time. He was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her hands from the table. They still shook and she knew from experience that they would for a good hour yet.
It happened all the time. She was sick of it, but there nothing she could do about it. The bastard kept showing up in her mirror, her dreams, the corner of her eye. It was a child's game of hide and seek.
She slammed her hand into the beautiful wood of her dresser and winced as the cuts on her palm opened. She opened her hand, sighing at the crimson blood that began to trickle down her hand. She picked p her wand in her left hand, her dominant hand and headed toward Fred and George's room. Sometime during their experimentation, the two had managed to spell proof their room. Even the Ministry had no idea what happened in that room, Ginny suspected Hogwarts knew, but they didn't seem to care.
Ginny quickly climbed the two flights of stairs to her brother's room, careful not to be noticed. Ginny had perfected the way to get around the house with out being noticed overtly. If she made a fuss, even the normal slightly furtive glances about, her brothers were suddenly every where. If she strolled about the house like nothing was wrong then her brother's never noticed. Only Molly and Hermione seemed to care when she acted this way, having used the same methods themselves. It was disconcerting when there was nothing wrong.
Ginny stepped into her brother's room, intent on her objective. She started at the sound of Harry calling her name. She swore and fell to the floor, rolling deftly into the spelled space beneath George's bed. Harry entered the room a few moments later, still calling her name and telling her Fleur needed her help. Ginny groaned, secure under the Sight/Sound Spell the twins employed on the undersides of their beds to prevent their mom from complaining. Fleur had been at the Weasley house for three weeks and Ginny was ready to hurl. The French girl was utterly annoying. She went on and on about her wedding and how she thought about everybody in the house hold. It was obvious that Fleur considered Ginny a challenge in the romance category. Ginny always had to control her laughter at that. Why the Hell would she want to try and steal her brother from the stupid vapid girl? I mean, relationship with Bill? Yuck! he was her brother for Gods' sake.
Ginny waited patiently for Harry to leave. To her relief Hermione called him downstairs. Ginny sighed and stretched lazily. The stretch renewed the pain in her hand and she rolled from under the bed, her objective remembered.
She sat on her heels and looked at the old wounds. School started in three weeks and she needed to be healed or someone who actually cared might start asking questions.
It wasn't that Harry and Hermione and Ron didn't care, it's just they were so busy saving the world to notice the little girl in the corner. The one with the knife held to her wrist.
It was a bad habit, one that Ginny endeavored often to stop. but she never could quite do it. It didn't start with Riddle. That was the main assumption that every one jumped to. Riddle was the reason. True he caused those fits like the one before, his image appearing at random times. Just when she thought she was free of his memories. But he hadn't started her cutting. No, that was a different story and one Ginny felt no inclination to reminisce on once more.
Ginny pressed her wand to her palm and whispered the words to a healing spell she had long since memorized. She watched the skin knit together and wondered what anyone would think if they knew the trouble she had gone to keep her bloody little secret.
&&&&&
He ran a hand through his ash blonde hair. His left throbbed painfully and he whispered an incantation over the tender marked flesh.
He had learned the spells years ago, when his father had drilled the family's code of honor into him over and over. His mother, meanwhile had drilled into him hundreds of healing spells and potions.
He slumped into a chair by the fire. It was the middle of summer and he felt cold. He had felt cold since that night. Nothing could warm him. He looked at his watch. He needed to head into town. He had things to procure.
He looked at the paper that floated to rest on his lap. A letter from HIM.
He lifted it.
Draco Malfoy,
It has come to my attention some little chit has been running around claiming she is my child. I am severely vexed at this. In addition to your task, if you could provide us with any information on this bitch, it would be most helpful. She goes by the name Adriana Riddle. She is rumored to be more than proficient in the dark arts. We have as yet no description of her, but she appears to wear a cloak often.
As usual there was no signature and the parchment crumbled into dust.
Draco sighed and wrapped a cloak around him. He needed to get some business done.
(A/N: I'm a really terrible person. I'm trying to make this fic nice and long, so each chapter will probably take one to two weeks to get up. I hope you don't get too addicted. I'm writing this in my spare time between All and Revenge. I hope you liked. Can you guess who Adriana is? I refuse to tell til about chapter ten or so. Again this fic will contain HBP spoilers, but somethings will change because this is my take on book five.)