Harry was numb as Crabbe and Goyle roughly wrapped him in the same ropes that Ginny had been in. Ginny... He HAD to be hard. Hard and strong. There was no way that he would tell them... tell them... His hope was swept away as the dementors scooped him up and carried him triumphantly towards the house.
Who was he kidding. He would break. And all his friends would never know until it was too late... Dumbledore would think the memory charm had worked. He felt it work on a mind... but not Harry's mind. But there was no way to sense that. In the end, he would give everything away. And then he would die.
xxxx
Ginny collapsed into her mother's arms, her family surrounding her. They were warm... A voice no one else heard whispered in her ear; "You want to be alone. You want to go to your room and be alone..." All right, thought Ginny absently. Sure. She pushed her loved ones away, and murmured to them her reason. Seeming to understand, they drew back and Ginny walked up to the bedroom she had shared with Hermione. She sat on her bed, and a wizard shimmered into view.
"Now, Dumbledore is going to stay here tonight. Hermione will sleep in the same room as you. When the clock strikes three, you will cast avada kedavra on both of them. Hermione first. You will then cast it upon Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and then yourself. Do you have that?"
"Ya..." Ginny murmured. "Sure."
xxxx
Voldemort came to Harry after a single hour of relentless torture. A SINGLE hour. Harry hurt just thinking about that. It hadn't taken long for the numbness to lose its grip on him. Not long at all. Five wizards had hit him at once with crucious, and two dementors had held him up. Turned out they had turned to 'the dark side'. They were just kept secret for a purpose; torturing prisoners. Had he been happy once? Had he ever not been in pain? He couldn't remember. All that was clear in his mind was his parents begging for his life, Cedric dying, Ginny's ransom letter, Sirius being hurt, Hedwig's death...
And now one more memory would be added to that. "I have some news to share with you, Harry," Voldemort said softly, petting his snake, Nagini. "I doubt you will take it much better than Ginny took the news you were sacrificing yourself for her. In fact, probably much worse. Although, it was fun to see her pain when I gave her, shall we say, explicit images of what we would do to you?" Harry's throat went dry. For Ginny to know what was happening to him... But Voldemort was continuing.
"Ginny will kill Dumbledore, Hermione, Black, Lupin and herself." In spite of himself, Harry snorted. Ya, right. She would never do that. At least not willful-... Fuck.
"She is under the Imperious curse," Voldemort said with a sick smile. Fuck. "Of course, this is just for psychological damage. All the 'good' sides best players down. Immediately. And the one who did it is everyone's favorite heroine. Who also happens to be dead. Then they will ALL die thanks to betrayal by you." Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Harry struggled vainly at his bonds. "Break him," Voldemort ordered curtly as he exited the room. He paused at the door. "Oh, I've discovered something. Crucious hurts MORE... when the person is already 'broken'. And meet the Lestranges. They got warmed up on Ginny. They'll have some real fun with you." He smiled again, then left.
The Lestranges walked in, but Harry barely noticed. The other five wizards had aimed another type of spell at him; a particularly painful one; the bonebreaker. Simultaneously, his arms and legs broke. Pain racked his body. The Lestranges took up crazy smiles, and aimed at him.
xxxx
A sleeping figure rolled over in her bed. Ginny slept one, as the clock struck one. Hermione dozed next to her, her face contorted with dreams. Dreams that were filled with Harry's screams.