Ginny, Luna and Neville were led roughly through the castle, bound from their knees to their shoulders, their mouths jinxed shut. Snape had extracted the sword from Ginny's robes before handing them off to the Carrows, letting Ginny catch sight of the 6 inch cut in her calf.

"Oh, we are going to have fun with you, thought you'd break into the Headmaster's Office eh?" Alecto said mockingly as they walked.

"Tisk tisk, you'll learn soon enough. You'll all learn soon enough." Ginny tried to block out her laugher, but it was surprisingly difficult despite the concentration it was taking her to limp through the corridors without toppling over. The ropes had pulled Ginny's robes up a few inches when she was picked up off the floor and Neville kept glancing down at the blood trickling into her sock.

The eerily empty corridors were making Ginny even more nervous, students should have poured out of the Great Hall by now. Judging by Amycus and Alecto's dripping hair and robes, Colin and Sean had successfully set off the distraction at the very least.

"Down." Amycus snarled as they reached the stairs leading to the dungeons. Ginny glared at him and jerked her head down at the ropes binding them, making noised that would have been swear words if she had use of her mouth.

"Down." He repeated, this time pointing his wand at the space between Ginny's eyes. Ginny gave him a murderous look before turning sideways and beginning the ridiculous looking descent.

Alecto and Amycus called the group to a halt at the first door they came to, which Ginny had always assumed was a storage closet. It was almost directly below Filch's office and she had seen him coming out of it once on her way to potions.

Ginny felt Alecto's wand in her back and she stepped forward into the room, giving her eyes a moment to adjust as Neville and Luna followed.

"Shit!" a familiar voice broke through the darkness. Ginny felt the bottom of her stomach drop as she saw Colin's silhouette against the back wall. She assumed the shape next to him was Sean.

The door slammed shut behind them and someone came out of the shadows beside Ginny, grabbing her by the shoulders. She realized now that the room was too large to be a closet, but still smaller than any classroom she had seen elsewhere in the castle. It was dimly lit by four tall metal stands in the corners, each topped with a small fire. The flames cast eerie shadows, and glinted off what Ginny now realized were chains hanging from the walls and ceiling.

"We'll remove your ropes now, but I wouldn't run if I were you. We'd hate to take out all your punishment on these two." Amycus growled, motioning to Colin and Sean. Ginny met the Death Eater's eyes for a moment, locking his gaze, before slowly nodding.

Instantly, the ropes disintegrated and Ginny felt her chest expand, she hadn't realized how much they had been restricting her breathing. Nothing but pure spite and stubbornness were preventing Ginny from collapsing onto the floor, but it took everything she had to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Very good, we're learning." Amycus said. Ginny could hear the smile in his voice as the hands on her shoulders guided her to a space opposite Colin. A tall, thin looking figure Ginny couldn't recognize lit a fire in the fireplace near the door, adding enough light to the room that she could make out the feature's on the boy's faces across from her.

Ginny remained silent as Goyle grabbed her wrists roughly and clamped them into the shackles in the wall behind her. Crabbe was wrestling with Neville, who was substantially bigger than Ginny, to their right. Nearest the door was Luna, who had already been chained by Nott and was staring curiously around the room. Goyle gave the shackles one last shake before lumbering over to the hearth.

The dim light emitting from the fireplace revealed even more about the room, which Ginny decided could once have been a large office. Now there were small piles of clutter that looked like they had been carelessly kicked out of reach of the students bound to the walls and the air was thick with dust.

"We really should thank you." Amycus said, his twisted smile accentuated in the flickering light. "Our seventh years have been doing so well in class, this will be a real treat for them." The four Slytherins chuckled from behind their teacher, their faces hidden in shadow.

"Now then, why did you try to steal from the Headmaster?" Alecto asked, facing Colin and Sean first, then Ginny and the others. Neville spat on the floor.

"Oh, let's start with you then! Who's first?" She sounded gleeful as she spoke. One of the two thinner Slytherins stepped forward into the middle of the room, turning to face Neville with his wand raised. Ginny's stomach contracted as she saw the look of gleeful excitement on Nott's face.

"Crucio!" Nott's voice was disturbingly confident, but Ginny kept her eyes on Neville, his face was tense and his eyes were closed, but he managed not to make a sound.

"Stop it!" She screamed, unable to contain herself. Crabbe and Goyle guffawed in the background as Nott turned his wand on Ginny. She forced her breathing to slow and pulled the chains holding her tight and planted both feet firmly as she braced herself.

"Crucio!" Pain shot through her body as she clenched her jaw, trying to focus on the feeling of the cold metal around her wrists. It was over sooner than she expected, and she looked at Neville, confused. Laughter filled the air around her and it didn't take long to determine that it was not directed at Ginny's pain, but at her lack of a reaction to Nott's curse.

"Tisk tisk." Amycus chuckled. "Mr. Crabbe, show your classmate how it's done."

Crabbe shoved past Nott, who looked murderous as he stepped aside.

"CRUCIO!"

It wasn't pain that surged through Ginny's chest and spread into her limbs this time, it was white hot fire. She couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed, if she had been released from her restraints or if they had been tightened. All she could feel, all she could understand in that moment, were her bones shattering, splintering into her muscles, her scull contracting until it fractured against her brain.

And then it stopped. Ginny's other senses returned, but they felt muted and foggy. There was laughter again – no, not just laughter, yelling too, but from somewhere above her. Ginny realized her legs had given out and she was hanging by the shackles on her wrists. She took a breath and grasped the chains, pulling herself upright as she blinked and the room came back into focus. Everyone had gone quiet as she straightened up.

"Ginny…" Colin breathed; his eyes were wide and red around the edges.

"'m fine." Ginny replied, surprised as how quiet her voice was, her throat scratched and she realized she must have been screaming. Ginny looked to her right and saw that Neville was also regaining his composure; it looked as if Nott had slammed him against the wall.

"Oh wonderful, it sounds like you're up for another bought of questioning then. Mr. Creevey, Mr. Goyle, you boys haven't had a turn yet, have you?" Alecto said as she nodded to Goyle. Crabbe and Nott backed away to their place on the hearth.

"Why did you try to steal from the Headmaster?" Amycus asked. When nobody spoke, she nodded to Goyle.

Ginny made herself watch as Colin tried to double over and protect himself, his arms rattling their shackles as his screams pieced the air. Her throat closed up and she tasted iron in her mouth as she did everything in her power not to cry out with him.

"NO! No stop it! Let him go!"

Goyle moved to block her view of Colin, but seeing Sean was worse. He was pulling at his restraints, trying to lunge forward to protect Colin. Ginny couldn't tell who's screaming was more painful to hear.

And then it stopped.

"Why did you try to steal from the Headmaster?" Alecto repeated as Goyle stepped back so Ginny could get a full view of Colin. Her breathing finally slowed as she watched him struggle back to his feet.

"We wanted to return to sword to Gryffindor Tower." Luna lied, her soft voice barely auditable.

"I thought you lot were supposed to be smart." Alecto giggled. "Mr. Malfoy, let's see how you do."

The fourth figure finally emerged from the shadows, his face looking hollow and sour as he shuffled to his place in front of Luna. Ginny set her jaw and stared at Malfoy's face, she was determined not to give them the pleasure of hearing her beg. Seconds ticked by as Ginny stared at Malfoy, her chest heaving with every shallow breath.

"Crucio!"

Luna didn't scream like Ginny and Colin had, but she didn't quite manage Neville's stony silence either. Her cries were muffled though, as if she was trying to keep her lips sealed to hold in the pain.

"I'm disappointed Mr. Malfoy. Don't laugh Mr. Nott, you did no better." Amycus said solemnly as Malfoy let his wand drop and Ginny heard Luna gasp for breath.

Each of them experienced the Cruciatus curse at the hands of each of the four Slytherin boys. It was hard to tell what was worse, being on the receiving end of one of Crabbe and Goyle's curses or watching the others go through it. With coaching, Nott and Malfoy's skill improved slightly, but it was still nearly bearable compared to the others.

"Still won't tell us who put you up to this, will you?" Alecto asked as she traced a stumpy finger down Sean's cheek, which was damp with sweat. Silence followed as she patrolled around the room slowly.

"What else could we try? Hmm…"

"Professor Carrow?" Nott said suddenly, twitching his head towards the corner near himself and Colin. Alecto and Amycus strode over to him and the three bent their heads together, but Ginny couldn't hear what they were saying. Her eyes found Colin, who looked as though he was straining to hear.

"This may just make up for your poor spellwork Mr. Nott!" Amycus announced as he clapped the boy on the shoulder. Colin looked wildly from the small group to Ginny and back again, a panic stricken look etched on his face.

Amycus picked out a dented metal dish from the pile of rubbish in the corner and pointed his want at its center, muttering under his breath. Colin had started muttering wildly, and Ginny could just make out what he was saying.

"You fucks." He panted "you sick, fucking bastards."

"Mr. Crabbe, unchain Miss. Weasley and bring her here." Alecto instructed, pointing at the center of the empty wall. Crabbe did as he was told and advanced on Ginny as Amycus set the bowl where his sister was pointing.

"Don't you dare! Don't you DARE fucking touch her!" Colin's voice was loud and frantic now, he was pulling on his chains as the rest of them watched, paralyzed and terrified to know what Colin had heard. Ginny tried to struggle against Crabbe, but she was suddenly very aware that he was nearly three times her size.

It only took a few seconds for him to free Ginny and force her to stand in front of Amycus and Alecto. Ginny did her best to block out Colin's voice as she stared at the two Death Eaters, who unlike Crabbe and Goyle, were barely as tall as she was.

"Mr. Nott, this was your idea, do you think you can perform better than you have so far this evening?" Amycus asked. Nott nodded and stepped in front of Ginny, just out of her reach had she dared to lunge at him.

"Imperius."

Ginny suddenly felt as though she was floating, her senses were dulled down, the pain in her leg seemed to vanish. For the first time in recent memory, she wasn't angry or afraid or lonely. In fact, the only word she could think of to describe herself was happy. She wondered vaguely why nobody had done this to her sooner, the peaceful warmth that surrounded her was heavenly.

"Turn around." An unfamiliar voice instructed her. Ginny obeyed, spinning slowly on her heel to face the stone wall that had been behind her.

"Kneel down." Again, Ginny followed her instructions, sinking to her knees. She might have been kneeling on a down pillow.

"Put your hand in the bowl." As Ginny's index and middls fingers dipped into the warm liquid, she felt something change. For a split second, she was not in her cloud of happiness. She saw an image of a dark corridor, but it was gone before she could recognize it.

Ginny was glad, she liked it much better here, where the folds of the Imperius Curse blocked out all the pain and darkness.

"Write the message." Was the next command. The wall in front of her flickered again, but Ginny was eager to feel her bliss and ignored it, bringing her hand up in front of her.

The sight of her hand, dripping in blood and poised against the bricks of the castle shattered before her eyes. Instead, she saw an unfamiliar scene, of a hand much smaller than hers, mimicking her exactly.

"Write the message." The strange voice repeated. Once again she welcomed the peace that came with the command as she returned to the present, and she became eager to comply. If she did as she was told, she wouldn't have to go back again.

Her fingers touched the stone wall and she began to drag them downwards, leaving a streak of glistening red in their wake. She was dimly aware of people around her yelling, but she ignored them. If she didn't, it would all come back again.

"Very good Ginny…" Came a new voice, this one was not a stranger's voice, but one she knew, one she had not heard in five years. She was back again, back in the corridor, the strangely small hand extended in front of her, moving smoothly across the wall. Ginny felt the fear creeping back in, she wanted to leave, she wanted the clouds back, she didn't want to be there.

"I want to go!" She tried to say, but her voice sounded higher than usual. She was a passenger in her body now, nothing more than an observer as her eleven year old hands continued to move in front of her eyes.

"Don't you want to stay with me? Aren't I your only friend?" Riddle's voice whispered in her ear, as real as it had ever been.

"No, you're not, you're not my friend! I have friends now!" She argued back, unable to close her eyes to the scene in front of her. Even Ginny found it difficult to take the young girl's pleading seriously.

"They don't understand you Ginny. Not like I do. They'll never really love you, not after what you've done." Ginny could feel hot tears pouring down her cheeks, and her body began to shake. The scene in front of her changed again, she was sixteen again and the Imperius Curse enveloped her in warmth.

"Keep going…" Riddle's voice rang out in her head, but Ginny stayed frozen in place.

"KEEP GOING!" Riddle was shouting, filling her ears as if he was standing next to her. Someone else was shouting too, everyone was shouting. Ginny raised both her hands this time, placing their palms against the cold stone, but even that didn't stop her arms from shaking.

"KEEP-"

"NO!" Ginny screamed, pushing herself off the wall as the curse broke. Pain and shouting crashed down on her in an instant as she tried to get up. There was chaos in the room, Dumbledore's Army must have broken free of their restraints and were wrestling with the Slytherins and the Carrows. Nobody seemed to notice that Ginny had come to, let alone covered herself in sick.

Coughing and retching, Ginny rolled onto her side and tried once more to get up off the floor, but her arms wouldn't hold her. She collapsed again and lay panting on the floor, her eyes closed as she hit the ground.

Ginny could feel herself starting to lose consciousness and tried to force herself to stay alert. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall, then retched again as she read the message she could now remember writing. The words that the school had managed to keep a secret from her for five years, that Ron and Harry had seen, and never told her about.

HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER

A/N: Yes, Phineas Nigellus does tell the Trio that the detention was served with Hagrid, but I think that stealing from the headmaster, and Voldemort's right hand man, would warrant a more extreme punishment. At the beginning of the year, the Carrows would be pushing boundaries to see what they could get away with, it seems weird to me that two power hungry death eaters who were in charge of punishment would send them off with a known supporter of Dumbledore. But if Ron and Harry knew what Ginny had gone through, they probably would have stormed the castle, so Snape told Phineas to lie if he was ever asked what happened to Ginny and the others, which is why they thought she'd spent the night helping Hagrid.