Written for Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments, Assignment 12 - Criminology #13 (extra credit): write a Serial Killer!AU.
Summary: Four times Ginny killed and didn't regret it, and the one time she did. Serial Killer!AU/Muggle!AU, based on/tied into "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago.
WARNING: This is a Serial Killer!AU and as such contains murder and violence (nothing terribly graphic, but still). Also contains mild language, adult themes, an unrepentant killer, victim-blaming and what might be considered character bashing on Ginny's part? Read at your own risk.
No Regrets
i. they had it coming
For the record, I have no regrets about killing so many people. Perhaps I should, but men are my vice and my temper is my fatal flaw. I accepted that a long time ago.
I've always gone from man to man, not because I need them but because I dislike being alone. Growing up, my house was always crowded with boys. I was the youngest of seven and the only girl, so I suppose it just felt natural to surround myself with testosterone even after I moved out.
I've always had a temper, too, especially when pushed too far. So you see, it's really not my fault all those men had to die.
They only had themselves to blame.
...
ii. it was a murder, but not a crime
My own brother Ron was the first victim. The only things you really need to know about Ron are that he was always a bit clueless, and that he had this infuriating habit of loudly smacking his chewing gum. I must have asked him a thousand times to stop popping that gum, but he never listened.
One night, I was in a bad mood when I got home from work. I was hoping Ron might be sympathetic, that he would maybe offer to share his weed with me. I certainly didn't want to find him lying on the sofa in our shared flat, nursing a beer, watching trashy TV, and popping that damn gum.
But that's exactly what I found, and something inside me snapped. My brain was screaming get the gun get the gun get the gun, so I did. I grabbed the shotgun from Ron's room and popped two rounds right into his head.
I won't lie and say I didn't feel a certain sense of horror upon gazing at the destruction I wrought upon his body, but I think the overwhelming emotion was relief.
Yes, Ron's death was unfortunate, but if you had heard the way he popped his gum...you would have picked up the gun too.
...
iii. he used me, and he abused me
My next victim was my lover, Draco. I lived with that man for two years, thinking he was all mine.
"I'm a wealthy bachelor," he had said, and like a fool, I believed him. Together, we lived the good life; boozing, traveling, buying whatever we wanted. I hoped we would get married someday, but Draco didn't seem to want to settle down with me.
Naturally, I had to do a little digging to find out why, and I got an explanation as well as the surprise of my life. The bastard was already married - to six other women.
I didn't take kindly to this, as you can imagine. In fact, I was furious, and I spent a whole day pacing on and off. Eventually, a little voice awoke in my brain and told me he needs to die he needs to die he needs to die. The mantra became so loud I couldn't hear anything else.
When I mixed Draco a martini that night, I slipped some poison in and watched him drink it greedily before he took his last breaths.
You know, some blokes just can't hold their arsenic.
...
iv. he ran into my knife ten times
After Draco's death, I quickly married Harry Potter, but he turned out to be the jealous type. He wouldn't let Viktor talk to me, he didn't want me to keep in contact with any males outside of my own family, and he had this weird paranoia about the milkman.
Dealing with his efforts to control me was exhausting. I knew it was only a matter of time before I snapped again.
Harry stormed in one night while I was making dinner, yelling about how I was screwing the milkman. Nothing I said made any difference; nothing I said made him see sense. He just kept shouting and shouting, and my brain started howling shut him up shut him up shut him up.
So I stabbed him with my carving knife almost a dozen times. Now he could never control me again.
...
vi. he saw himself as alive, while I saw him dead
I reconnected with Dean Thomas next. I had dated him before, and had always liked him. He was so kind and sensitive, and he had a real talent for art. He painted me countless times in various poses. I loved that.
"You're my muse," he would whisper adoringly.
I always wondered where he went at night, though. He said he was looking for himself, whatever that meant.
After weeks of asking what he got up to in the evening, I decided to follow him. Well, it turns out he wasn't really looking for himself so much as finding other people. People like Lavender, Parvati, Susan, and Seamus.
The following evening, I ran Dean a hot bath so that he could wash the scent of turpentine from his skin. When I went to help him wash his back, I held him under (kill him kill him kill him) until he drowned.
I guess you could say I murdered him due to artistic differences. We didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on his survival.
...
v. washing the blood off my hands
My brother Charlie had married this wonderful woman named Veronica, and the two of them generously offered to host me while I looked for a job. It was a perfectly nice arrangement, and I was happy, really happy, with my living situation for the first time in a long while.
That all changed one night when the three of us got drunk on cheap beer. We ran out, so I volunteered to go and get some more from the nearby convenience store. When I came back, not ten minutes later, I found Charlie and Veronica having a little too much fun. Let's just say they were giving the phrase "bottoms up" a whole new meaning.
I was jealous, I admit it. I was envious of my brother's relationship. He and Veronica were so...perfect for each other. I wanted that with someone, too - the sex and the moral support and the true love.
I don't remember what happened next; I must have blacked out from either the alcohol or the shock or both. Later, when I came to, I was covered in blood, and Charlie and Veronica were dead.
I cried for them. Genuine tears. They were my only victims I felt remorse for. They were the only ones who didn't deserve what they got.
...
vii. how could you tell me that I was wrong?
Prison is a lonely place. There aren't any men here, and I've never gotten along well with other women, probably because I spent so much of my time enticing men like a siren lures nearby sailors. All I can say for certain is that I don't like it here. The food is awful and my family never visits. I suppose I can't fault them for that when two of them died by my hand.
Some of the other inmates are disgusted by the murders I've committed, I can tell. My cellmate can barely stand to look me in the eye.
"I bet you would have done the same thing in my shoes," I tell her. The woman shakes her head, but I can see the uncertainty in her eyes and that's enough.
What I did wasn't wrong. What those men did to me was wrong. I'll spend the rest of my days here feeling guilty about Veronica and Charlie, but the rest...well, it's like I said before: they only had themselves to blame.
Word count; 1,279
Other prompts used are as follows:
Fortnightly Challenges: MUA - Happy Hour: bottoms up
Hogwarts Gym: Madam Pomfrey's Fun Fitness - Mini trampoline (themes): murder
Writing Club
Showtime - 12. Upgrade (drink): beer
Lo's Lowdown - 7. (weapon): knife
Seasonal Challenges
Gryffindor (characters): Ginny Weasley
Yearly Challenges
Insane Prompt Challenge #551 (song): Cell Block Tango, from Chicago
365 Words: 334. bachelor
A/N: I freely admit I tried to do way too many things with this. AUs (like, straight up "not-at-all-in-the-HP-universe AU") are new to me, songfics are new to me...I went full experimental with this one and I will probably never write anything like it ever again unless people actually liked it.
