a/n: Well, it only took me a month to upload this time, but I did it before school started! Woot! So... I can't promise the next update will be within a month, but I will certainly try! Especially since the story gets much more interesting from here on...

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Chapter IX: Captured

When Ginny awoke, she couldn't remember what had happened to her. All she knew was that she had a terrible headache and was in a stuffy room that she did not recognize. She rolled over and stood up.

"Morning, sleepyhead," came a voice from behind her. She turned around.

"Harry. What happened?" She saw Paul standing next to him, and felt a shiver run through her body. Then she remembered everything.

"Where are we?" she demanded.

"Death eater's headquarters," Harry explained. "We're imprisoned here until they send for us. They're preparing for the ritual."

"How long was I out for?" she asked. Harry shrugged.

"An hour or two."

"We have to get out of here," she said. She went over to the door and tugged on it over and over. Then she began slamming her fists on it until her hands hurt. "Come on," she said to Harry and Paul, "help me!"

"It's no use," Paul said. "You can't open it or break it down by force. You need magic." Ginny slumped to the ground and started to cry. The only time she'd been in such a scary situation was when she was in the chamber of secrets, and even then she hadn't cried. Now, she felt lost, defeated, and alone. She was probably going to die, along with Paul and Harry, and Voldemort would be resurrected.

Ginny felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. Paul had knelt down beside her.

"We'll get out of here," he told her. "Don't worry." This made her feel ever-so-slightly better, but it didn't change the fact that she had been captured by death eaters and locked into a tiny room. Still, being in Paul's arms… well, she couldn't help but feel good.

"Someone's coming," Harry said. The door did open seconds later, and in walked Paul Zabini. Paul (Elddir) stood up.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"The ritual is almost ready," Zabini explained. Paul looked at Ginny.

"What happens to her?" he asked. Zabini hesitated.

"That's… up to the Dark Lord," he said. Ginny's eyes widened. So her fate rested in the hands of Tom Riddle. Great.

"And what about Paul and Harry?" Ginny asked, looking Zabini in the eye.

"Potter will die. As for Paul… he'll live. Sort of."

"What do you mean?" Ginny demanded. Zabini sighed.

"His body will become the Dark Lord's new body. So, actually, 'Paul Elddir' will cease to exist." Ginny gasped. Her worst fears were realized. Not only was Tom coming back, but he was going to use Paul's body. So Paul would die, then. Just when she was starting to like him… a lot.

"This can't be happening," Ginny said.

"I'm afraid it is," Zabini responded coldly.

Ginny turned to Paul and took his hand in hers.

"I don't want to lose you," she said to him.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Ginevra," he replied.

"I have to! Don't you realize this may be the last time we'll see each other?"

"Of course! But you're talking as if there's no hope at all," Paul explained.

"There isn't," Zabini said. "I'm sorry, Paul, but this has to be done. You're a good bloke, really. I liked you. But you knew the Dark Lord had plans for you ever since the horcrux ritual. The last part of his soul is inside of you, and it is because of that link we are able to perform this ritual."

"What?" Harry exclaimed. "You mean Paul is a horcrux?" Zabini nodded.

"A walking, talking horcrux. And that's how we'll be able to bring the diary back. The memory of Tom Riddle will be restored. We need the girl and your blood to complete the restoration, though. Brilliant, isn't it?"

"Er, quite," said Paul, "But why didn't I know about this?"

"The Dark Lord did not wish it to be known to you," Zabini explained. At that moment, Lucius Malfoy came waltzing in. Ginny shivered at the site of him. So this was the man who started everything 6 years ago by dropping a little black book into her schoolbag.

"It's time," Malfoy said. He and Zabini 'escorted' the three teenagers outside. They were brought to an open field, where maybe a half dozen death eaters stood. The sky was dark, even though the sun hadn't yet set. There was a large cauldron in the middle of a circle of candles. It was lying over an open fire, and there was steam rising from the top, but it looked like liquid smoke. In front of it, on the ground, lay the diary, which Ginny immediately recognized. She cringed.

Malfoy began reciting some Latin words from memory, probably an incantation. Zabini took out his wand and moved towards Harry. He grabbed Harry by the wrists and forced him over towards the cauldron. Ginny turned around. She and Paul were surrounded by the death eaters.

"Paul," she said, "do you think there's any hope now? Do you think we'll get out of here at all?" He looked down at her and just smiled, then kissed her on the forehead. She looked over at Harry and Zabini. Zabini had made a small wound in Harry's arms and let the blood drip into the cauldron. Malfoy's voice grew louder, and the cauldron hissed. Zabini threw Harry to the ground. Then he turned to Ginny next. Oh God, she thought, this is really happening.

"Wait," Ginny said to Zabini. And for some odd reason, he did. She turned to Paul and whispered "I love you." Paul reached out and hugged her before Zabini started to drag her away.

She was brought up to the cauldron. Zabini held her arm out and pointed his wand to it. He said an incantation, and her arm began to bleed openly. A few drops went into the cauldron, and the steam rose higher and hissed. Malfoy's voice grew even louder, and Ginny felt dizzy. Zabini stopped the wound in her arm from bleeding, and brought her to where Harry lay. Harry looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he said. Ginny reached out and hugged him tightly.

"You did nothing wrong," she said. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I dragged you into this. If I had paid more attention, I'd be at Hogsmeade with you right now, you would never have met Paul, and we wouldn't have been brought here. So it's my fault, really."

"Don't blame yourself… Ginny, I'm supposed to protect you." Ginny smiled.

"It's okay. Thank you, though, for always caring about me." She hugged him again. Finally, Malfoy's voice stopped. She looked over in the direction of the cauldron and immediately stood up. The liquid smoke rose up, out of the cauldron and into the diary on the ground. Out of the diary came the weak, transparent form of Tom Riddle. Paul looked at Ginny, who had a terrified look on her face. He mouthed the words 'I love you, too,' before being knocked unconscious by Zabini's spell. Riddle then moved towards Paul's body and disappeared into it. For a while, nothing happened, and all was silent. Then Paul began to move, and stood up. Only this time, it wasn't Paul. It was Tom.

"No," Ginny murmured to herself. Harry turned to her.

"Wait for the opportunity to run," he whispered.

"I-I can't… Paul is…"

"He's gone," Harry said. "There's nothing we can do to change that. Now, just wait. You do want to get out of here alive, don't you?" Ginny nodded, and a tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey," Harry said, "we're gonna get out of here, alright? Paul was… he was a great bloke. We were talking to each other before, and I realized that he's a good person, and… I don't think there's anybody else I would have approved of for you, Ginny." Ginny smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

The death eaters that were surrounding them made their way towards Paul, or rather Tom. Harry looked at Ginny. She nodded in response. They got up and ran as fast as they could towards the building they were previously in. By the time the death eaters had their wands out, the two were already inside the building.

"What now?" Ginny asked as they ran through the hallway.

"Find our wands," Harry shouted back to her. Suddenly a death eater apparated in front of them. Harry made a turn into a nearby room and Ginny followed, but the death eater grabbed her. She shrieked. Then she realized something.

"Harry, you can apparate from here! Go! Get out of here!" she shouted. Harry shook his head. "Go!" she screamed. The death eater dragged Ginny with him into the room Harry was in. He pointed his wand at Harry and threw a stunning spell at him, but it was too late. Harry had disapparated.

At that point two other death eaters had apparated inside the room. The one who was holding Ginny pushed her to the ground.

"You stupid girl!" he hissed. She looked up and her eyes widened as she saw the death eater point his wand at her. A beam of red light hit him in the back and he fell to the ground. Behind him was Tom Riddle. He turned to his death eaters.

"Leave us. And take this filth with you," he said, pointing to the stunned death eater on the ground. The two death eaters obeyed and left with other one. Tom turned to Ginny.

"Well, well. Ginevra Weasley." Ginny was frozen with fear. The look of terror on her face made Tom grin. She shuddered.

"You've got more spunk in you, I see. That's good. But you're still weak when you're in my presence. I guess some things never change," he said with a smirk. Ginny got to her feet, slowly.

"Well, I suppose we're making some progress," Tom continued. "My goodness, though. How long has it been?"

"Six years," Ginny said. Tom raised a brow.

"I see we've been counting. Very good, Ginevra," he said. Ginny wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off of his face… but she didn't dare. She was too afraid.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked. Tom's grin widened.

"Kill you." He raised his wand. Ginny's eyes widened. She closed her eyes and prayed for everything to just disappear. She hoped within all hope that this was just a dream; a terrible nightmare that she had yet to wake up from. She heard Tom's voice say "Avada Kedavra!" Even from beneath her eyelids she could see the flash of green light. And then… blackness.

Am I dead? Ginny thought. As soon as she opened her eyes she realized that she was very much alive… and she hadn't been dreaming. Tom was still there, in front of her, and he looked more shocked than she was.

"Why didn't it work?" he asked. "Avada Kedavra!" This time, nothing happened at all; no green light or anything. "Damn it!" He shouted, "Why won't you die?"

Ginny was slowly regaining confidence at this point. For some reason, Tom was unable to kill her. Maybe there was hope, after all. Too bad I never learned to apparate, she thought.

"Can't you just let me go?" Ginny asked. "It's not like I'm going to tell anybody what happened here. They wouldn't believe me anyway." Tom shook his head at her.

"Nice try. It's bad enough that Potter got away. I have no choice but to kill you. Here, I'll just use another means." He lifted his wand and said an incantation. A rope shot out from the end of his wand and wrapped around Ginny's neck. She grabbed at the rope and struggled to pull it off, but it was getting tighter. She couldn't breathe. And suddenly, neither could Tom. He lifted the spell and the two gasped for air.

"W-what happened?" she asked. Tom glared at her.

"I don't know. I felt like I was being strangled along with you…" he seemed more scared than disappointed. He walked closer to Ginny and transfigured his wand into a knife. Ginny backed away.

"Wait," he said, "don't move. I'm not going to kill you. Yet."

"T-that's not very reassuring, you know," she said, still backing away. Frustrated, he grabbed her arms and made a small puncture in her the palm of her left hand with the knife. Her hand began to bleed. Ginny clutched her hand away. Tom then looked at his left hand.

"Look!" he said, showing Ginny his hand. There was a small wound in the same place that was on her hand, and it was bleeding. Ginny tilted her head to the side.

"I don't understand," she said.

"Neither do I. But somehow, our bodies- and our souls- must be connected… Maybe the ritual had something to do with it, or maybe… maybe it goes farther back, to six years ago. The point is, if you were to die, I'd probably die, and the other way around. Maybe that's why I couldn't kill you," he said.

"Maybe it's only temporary," Ginny said.

"Can't take any chances, though. I'm going to have to keep you alive, and keep a sharp eye on you," Tom said.

"You can't keep me here!" Ginny pleaded. "I… I have to go back to Hogwarts! They'll realize I've been missing. Harry- he'll have gone to the Ministry of Magic by now, anyway. They'll find you! Please, let me go!" Tom thought about this.

"Well," he said, "I guess I could send you back to Hogwarts, but only if I go with you."

"What?"

"You said they'd realize you were missing, but my clone was a student there, too. I can't have anybody asking questions, so I'm going to Hogwarts with you as this 'Paul Elddir.' Besides, like I mentioned before, I have to keep a close eye on you, to make sure nothing happens to you. As long as we are connected like this," he gestured to his bleeding hand, "I have to assure your safety in order to assure mine."

"You can't go to Hogwarts," Ginny said. Tom smirked.

"Why not? I never finished my seventh year anyway, so I might as well do it now." (a/n: the diary is from his seventh year-or was it sixth?- so either way I'm guessing Tom's memory in the diary doesn't remember finishing seventh year…?)

"You don't even know anything about Paul! How are you going to masquerade as him without knowing who he was?" Ginny argued.

"Actually, I know everything about him. It's weird, but when my soul was transferred into his body, I regained all of his memories. So I remember everything from the moment he was created until now. I even know about his and your little tête a tête." Ginny's face turned bright red. Tom smirked. "I'm surprised about that, actually. You're not a bad kisser. But then again, look at who gave you your first kiss. You learned from the best, right?" Ginny slapped Tom as hard as she could, only to feel her own face sting.

"Ouch," she said, rubbing her cheek. Tom didn't even look hurt. In fact, he looked angry.

"I'd slap you back, you know, if I couldn't feel everything that happened to you. …Still, someone's going to have to show you your place, and I can take the pain better than you can." He slapped her, and she shrieked. He merely winced. Both their cheeks were pink.

"Don't ever do that again, are we clear?" he asked. She nodded in response. "Good. Now, I'm going to talk with Lucius and get a portkey ready to take us to Hogsmeade. In the meantime, you will stay put." He exited the room and closed the door behind it, saying a spell to keep it locked. All Ginny could do was sit down and mope. She was going back to Hogwarts, yes, but she would still be around Tom 24/7. It would be worse than being in Azkaban. In fact, she'd have preferred it if Tom had been able to kill her. She also had to live with the fact that Paul was gone, and there was no way of bringing him back.

After what seemed like forever, Tom entered the room. He motioned for Ginny to follow him, which she did. The two were silent as they went outside. Lucius Malfoy was standing there, waiting for him. On the ground next to him was the diary.

"Miss Weasley," Malfoy addressed her. "Say hi to my son for me." Ginny looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" she queried. Malfoy just grinned.

"You'll see," he said.

"You know, Mr. Malfoy," Ginny said with a mock smile, "the Order is going to find this place, and find you, and put you in Azkaban." Malfoy laughed.

"I doubt it," he said. Then, turning to Tom, "are you ready, my Lord?" Tom nodded.

"Ginevra," he addressed Ginny, "grab onto the diary at the count of three, or else you'll be left behind and Lucius will have to punish you." Ginny looked at Malfoy and cringed.

"1…2…3!" At the same time, Ginny and Tom grabbed onto the diary. Ginny felt as if her stomach was being turned inside out. She was not standing on anything solid, and her head felt as if it were a million miles away from her body. Finally, the feeling stopped, and her feet were on solid ground again.

Ginny looked at her surroundings. They were in Hogsmeade, in a dark corner where nobody could see them. Tom made sure they weren't being watched, and then turned to Ginny.

"What happened to you doesn't leave this place. Nobody is to know about it, or I will have you locked away. You don't want that, do you, Ginevra?" Ginny shook her head. Tom grabbed Ginny's arm, leading her out into the open. Ginny stopped him.

"Wait," she said, "can I at least have my wand back?"

"Not until we get to Hogwarts," he said. He then proceeded to walk towards the direction of Hogwarts, and Ginny reluctantly followed. They were stopped by Luna Lovegood, Colin Creevey, and somebody Ginny did not recognize. He was tall, handsome, with square, black-rimmed glasses, sandy brown hair, and a warm smile.

"Hey, Ginny, Paul! Where have you been? We were looking for you," Colin said. Tom smiled.

"Oh, we've been… around," he said.

"How was the date?" Luna asked. Ginny turned red and opened her mouth to speak, but Tom was quicker.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, smiling wider. Luna nodded. "Well, then. Ginevra and I have decided to start seeing more of each other. We're really fond of each other, aren't we, love?" he turned to Ginny. Her face reddened even more, and she turned away.

"What's wrong, Ginny?" Luna asked.

"She's just a little embarrassed," Tom explained.

"Gin, what's there to be embarrassed about? You two like each other, don't you?" Colin asked. Ginny sighed.

"Yes," she said. Might as well play along, she thought.

"Oh, by the way, Ginny- this is my boyfriend Anthony," Luna said, referring to the older boy beside her.

"It's nice to meet you, Ginny," Anthony said, extending his hand, "I've heard a lot about you." Ginny shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too," she said. The five all began to make their way back to Hogwarts, talking along the way. Tom kept up his facade and nobody seemed to notice a change in him. After all, Paul and Tom were both very charming people, with whom anyone would easily get along.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Anthony bid them goodbye and left them, and the rest of the group went back to the Gryffindor common room. Luna and Colin entered the room, while Tom held Ginny back.

"Here's you wand," he said, taking her wand out of his robe pocket and handing it to her. She took it gratefully and stored it safely away.

"Why did you tell them we were dating?" Ginny demanded. Tom smirked.

"I have to be keeping a close watch on you while I'm here, don't I? People will start to wonder why we'll be so close together all the time. It's better that they believe we're, well, intimate," Tom explained. "Is that a problem?" Ginny shook her head.

"But," she said, "just let Luna and Colin think that. I don't want the whole bloody school to think we're dating." Not after what Romilda put in the paper about me and Harry. Then they'll think I'm some kind of slut, Ginny thought.

Tom shrugged. "Let's go," he said, then muttered the password. The portrait of the fat lady swung aside.

"You go ahead," Ginny said. "I'm sleeping in the Heads' dormitory tonight." She couldn't stand the thought of sleeping with Tom so nearby. Tom seemed a little upset about this, but then retired to the common room alone. Ginny went back to the Head Girl's room and fell asleep.

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SOOO? What do you think? Do you like the fact that Tom's back? Or do you miss Paul? Please review!