Thrash went Ginny's arm. Thump went her fist. Crash went the portal pendant.

Visions of Crumper's body chasing her through gnarled trees, flashes of green light blinding her vision, and the high-pitched cackle of Tom Riddle deafened her as he sent her falling straight through the ground into fathomless darkness pursued her.

"No," she murmured. She was falling, her stomach swooping as she tumbled. Her bare feet touched down on land once more, and she ran through another set of trees. But she was losing momentum, and she was slowing down.

"Where am I?" she said. Her legs gave way and she slid to the ground in slow motion. Three figures were ahead, cloaked and coming closer. "Where am I?" she asked again, hoping these strangers could give her answers.

"Ginny? Ginny, is that you?" called a familiar voice, which made her heart soar. "Harry! Hermione! It's Ginny!" The tallest figure ran closer, bent down to examine Ginny, and lowered the hood to reveal a cheery looking Ron Weasley.

"Ron!" Ginny cried. "How did you- Where did you-"

"Ginny! My goodness, are you alright?" Hermione chirped anxiously. "Here, let me help." She took one hand, Ron took the other, and they both hoisted her to her feet. "Harry! We found Ginny," she smiled to the third figure.

Harry lowered his hood and grinned. "Ginny," he laughed. He stepped towards her and clasped his arms around her. She was in such shock she barely managed to hug him back. This sudden company was completely overwhelming.

"I-I thought you were on your … mission?" she croaked. The three of them looked at each other.

"Well, we were," Ron replied, scratching the back of his head, ruffling his hair further. "But I couldn't turn down the chance to visit my favourite little sister, could I?" He smiled kindly, but Ginny blinked back, still in a state of confusion.

Something was not quite right. Yes, it was Ron, Harry and Hermione. But they were robed in black from head to toe like Deatheaters, the trees still stood angrily behind leading back into the darkness, and although she was now standing, Ginny was looking up at them all as if she was only four foot tall.

"Come on, we'll help you find your way home!" Harry announced. Ron and Hermione nodded encouragingly from behind. Feeling weary and tired, Ginny let Harry take her hand and lead her onwards through the trees. She felt blind and clumsy as she fumbled through the darkness, not letting Harry loosen his hold.

The ground was squashy beneath her feet, and the air around her was breezy and cold. Feeling light-headed, she allowed herself to be pulled along in a dreamlike state.

Little did she know, back at Hogwarts, she was standing upright, one hand wobbling awkwardly in front of her, and she was about to make her way out of the dormitory. The portal pendant had miraculously stayed settled in the palm of her hand.

"It's just through here. C'mon!" cried Harry, his voice sounding distant. Then Ginny realised she had let go of his hand. Panicking, she sped up to reach him. Everything felt like it was going down hill in awkward steps and stages. She was struggling to keep up.

Fumbling and stumbling, she walked down the stairs from the dormitory, and padded across the carpeted floor of the common room.

"Harry, you're going to fast," she gabbled breathlessly. "Harry?" She looked around, and saw that Ron and Hermione were no longer following them. "Harry! Where's Ron? Where's Hermione?"

"We're taking a short cut," Harry replied back, then he laughed, sounding quite out of character. "Come on!" Ginny found herself running faster and faster to keep up with him.

Ginny tumbled out of the common room, earning a highly reproving look from the Fat Lady. Swaying slightly, she walked along the corridor, the floor icy cold against her bare feet.

"Agh! Harry, slow down," she gasped. Finally, Harry stopped. Without looking back at Ginny, he put his hood back up and bent down. He appeared to be rummaging for something within the roots of the trees. It was too dark for Ginny to see what he was looking for.

Harry then stood up, his cloak masking half his face in shadow, and stood level with her. "Close your eyes," he said, in a normal voice. Too out of breath to question him, Ginny shut her eyes. The black against her eyes was soothing in this instance - at least she could control this darkness. But everything was silent now.

"Open them," said a second voice. A different, yet oh so familiar voice. Ginny's eye lids snapped open. She was not greeted with Harry's face, but the face of Tom Riddle. He was not smiling brightly, he was impassive, almost scowling.

A dozen questions flitted through Ginny's head. It took her moments to register what was going on. Was she dreaming? Was she awake? How did she get here?

"What have you done?" she asked in a shaking voice. Tom did not reply. He pulled his hood down with one hand, and revealed his wand with the other. Ginny froze on the spot. She gripped her arms and shivered; partly from the midnight cold, but also because she was now shaking with fear. The last consultation with Riddle had ended in fiasco; she was not in the mood for a repeat.

Ginny jumped as Riddle snapped his fingers with his free hand, indicating for her to bring forward one of her own. When she did not respond, and only stood looking blankly at him he sighed, reached for her wrist himself, and drew it forwards.

He placed the tip of his wand on the inside of her wrist, pressed it down against where her veins were pumping, and waited.

All of a sudden, a searing pain flashed in Ginny's wrist. She looked, and gasped to see Tom cutting a neat line with his wand across her wrist.

"Agh! No!" she breathed in pain, trying to pull her wrist away. But she was weakened from the dream, and Tom kept too firm a hold. As each tiny smidgen of blood leaked from her skin, Tom brushed his thumb against it.

As he did, Ginny felt her all-over strength fade. Tom breathed slowly and closed his eyes. Her strength and power was passing through to him. Her diminishing blood was empowering him. His eyelids flickered and his mouth twitched as magic flowed through his skin. Ginny could only stand and watch, wishing and wishing for him to let go.

But the feeling of his hands around her wrist was taking its toll. Her head felt clammy and her vision became blurred. She felt as if she was swaying on the spot. His thumb no longer felt tight and clenched, it felt soft and padded. She was literally losing her senses. Tom was gaining them.

Slowly, he loosened her wrist and removed his wand from her vein. Before he fully let go, he waved the tip of his wand above her wrist, and by doing so cleaned away the blood and healed where the wand had sliced through. Ginny looked down in a dazed amazement. No-one would have known he had slashed through.

She brought her hand close to her and slid her fingers over where the slash was. She idly wondered what would happen next. She felt ever so sleepy and flimsy.

Tom, on the other hand, stood tall. His pale complexion was glowing and pearly, and his eyes were bright and glossy where the light hit them.

"This is what happens when you get hurt," he said, his voice almost shaking with all the excitement of this newly found power. Ginny looked at him with a glassy expression. Tom cleared his throat. "I need your hand again."

Too drained to retaliate, Ginny held her hand out again. Tom accepted it, only this time he placed the handle of his wand in her hand, and enclosed her fingers around it. Ginny flinched as he touched her. Realising he would have to take control for the moment, he pulled out his free hand and revealed the underside of his wrists, where his own veins showed up.

He positioned Ginny's hand to aim the wand at his wrist in order to repeat what he had done to her. Without even a mutter or a murmur, the process was being reversed.

A clear red line appeared across Tom's wrist. He carefully arranged Ginny's fingers so that they firmly touched the slash in his skin. He did not gasp or wince as Ginny did, but his jaw tightened as he watch the magic flow from him to her.

Ginny, who had been standing by watching the display of magic like a life-less mannequin suddenly regained a sense of awareness.

Something was happening. Some strange energy or magic. She could feel the magic crackling through her veins. She tried to pull away, but using his remaining strength, Tom kept a hold of her, maintaining her fingers over his wrist.

Magic was coursing through her, making her skin prickle. Meanwhile, the little colour in Tom's face was fading fast, and his eyes were loosing their sparkle.

When the stabbing feeling of magic streaming through her became unbearable, she yanked her hand from Tom's grasp, running her finger along the insides of her fore-arm. Her skin felt alive and crawling with all this power.

Tom stood still, breathing shallowly and massaging his wrist. He had finally lost eye contact with Ginny. Instead, she stared hard at him, waiting for an explanation. She suddenly felt braver than she was before.

"And that is what happens … when I get hurt," he concluded, finally looking up to meet her eyes. As the light from the moon outside flooded into the corridor through the arched windows behind them, Tom lowered his eyebrows, as he thought he saw the ghost of a red flash in Ginny's eyes as she glowered back at him.

"So, either way, I suffer," Ginny scoffed. This newly found power was surging beneath her skin, fuelling this newly found anger. "Great."

"Wake up. We are both suffering here. Maybe by different hands, sometimes in different dimensions, but suffering all the same," he murmured, still cradling his wrist. Ginny rolled her eyes dramatically.

"This is your doing!" she hissed. "You didn't have to-"

"I've already told you," Tom cut in, "there is a connection between us going beyond my magical capabilities." He paused. "Do you really think I asked for this?"

"So you saw fit to draw me here for the fun of it?" she folded her arms and stared at the dark lord before, who was looking decidedly defeated.

"No," he sighed, "this was merely an experiment. And my findings prove me correct." Ginny irritably rolled her eyes towards the floor, and noticed she wasn't even wearing slippers.

They both looked up and their eyes met.

"You don't know the power you have over me, Ginny Weasley."

Ginny only just managed to suppress the smile tormenting her mouth. To think, she could potentially control the most evil wizard to walk the earth. If only he could be like this all the time.

"You should get back to your dormitory while you still can," said Tom in a quiet voice.

Ginny bit her lip. "What about you?" she asked. She surprised herself by doing so. Any other time she would have jumped at a chance to get away from him. Why show compassion now?

Tom briefly smiled. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Miss Weasley. You run along."

"And just leave you. You, Lord Voldemort, biding your time down a corridor at Hogwarts in the middle of the night?" she queried, raising an eye brow.

He smiled again. "Simply use the portal pendant. It'll send me back where I belong."

Ginny blinked at him. "Where's that?"

"I'll show you…" he began, "…some other time, maybe," he replied.

"Well, good night, then," she said, turning slowly on the spot, pausing before she turned her back on him.

"Good night…" he whispered back, just as she pulled at the pendant and vanished in a gust of gold smoke.

"…Ginny Weasley."