Disclaimer: This story includes characters and situations that are part of the Harry Potter universe, which is copyright J.K.Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made in the production of this FANFICTION. Not many outside resources were needed this time, but I (as always) made extensive use of the Harry Potter Lexicon when writing this chapter.

Expectations of Grandeur: Chapter 26: Collusion

Tom let the relief sink in, the feeling of lightness float into his throat and a smile crack on his lips. He had shown Malfoy up, oh, how he had shown Malfoy up. And with no harmful consequences either – just a plain, simple, joyous victory for the first time in what must have been an eternity. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the parchment, where the watermark was still bleeding and oddly disconcerting.

"All right, you're forgiven, I suppose," Ginny wrote. The watermark was moving slowly now, painfully, as if through molasses. He supposed her head still hurt.

"Have you seen Madame Pomfrey today?" he asked, and it was a while before the response came.

"No. I just woke up and anyway, I don't think I will. I'm horribly tired – couldn't sleep last night." That was another bad sign, Tom thought. When he had seen her dilated pupils and dazed expression last night, he had expected that it was his charm that had done it, that although his aim had been slightly off he had still affected her to a point. But now he was unsure, these things fit with a major head wound more than a simple entrancing enchantment, and there shouldn't have been any lasting side effects.

"Does your head still hurt?" He wrote in response. "Your thoughts look blurred from here."

He could see her slight fear on the parchment, but her response didn't betray it. "My head is fine," she lied.

"I know you're lying. Does your head still hurt?"

"It feels like a jackhammer."

"You have to go see Madame Pomfrey."

Silence. He almost felt Ginny distancing herself, and the watermark grew weaker until it was just a haze in the background, now blue, now red, now pale, pale gray. He could almost hear her sigh, or he thought he could. But she would go to Madame Pomfrey, he knew, and she would find out what had happened to give her the headache. That was a start, he supposed. "Okay," she wrote.

"I'll meet you in the library afterwards," he answered.

There was no reply.

.\/p>

Ginny hadn't slept at all the past night – her headache would wake her up every hour on the hour. The painrelief charms that her mother had taught her and advised her to use at every opportunity were of no use to the poor girl – the pounding in her head simply refused to go away. She was groggy and exhausted and her head was about to split open, and the last thing she wanted to do was leave the dormitory, much less go across the castle to Madame Pomfrey. But she knew that it would all be better if she did, and so she dutifully dragged herself into her recently discarded workrobe and stumbled downstairs to the hospital wing.

The nurse had heard about her, it seems, and didn't even question Ginny when she saw her. "I suppose your head hurts," she said, and directed Ginny to one of the beds. She touched her forehead and Ginny winced. Madame Pomfrey clucked in disappointment. "You should have seen me about this last night, Miss Granger came here to warn me but I had no idea that it was this serious. You've probably had a concussion, dear, not to mention bruising all over your head – I'm surprised you made it this far."

Ginny smiled ruefully. This was just wonderful, but when all was said and done in the fight against Voldemort that she could tell was coming, a concussion was going to be the least of her worries. "Okay," she responded. "What should I do?"

Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "Did you sleep last night?"

"I couldn't – my headache was so bad I woke up every few hours."

Finally the woman allowed herself a smile. "That's a good thing. I can heal the bruising and the exterior wounds, but no one is really sure how a concussion works, so we can't do much about what's causing the symptoms. You're still having headaches?"

Ginny nodded.

"How about dizziness? Vision problems? Nausea? Balance loss?"

"A little bit of all of it, really."

Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Well, nothing to strenuous until the symptoms go away, dear. That means no Quidditch, I know you're on the team so I'm going to go ahead and tell Harry and Katie now. Nothing that risks you getting another blow to the head – we don't want this to get serious, young lady."

Ginny nodded slowly. "How much longer are they going to last?" she asked, a bit nervous.

"Who knows – anywhere from a few days to a month is normal. I can get a medic to come from St. Mungos and give you some more screening if they're still going on after winter holidays, but I don't imagine they'll see anything – there's no external sign of bleeding or serious nervous damage."

Ginny nodded slowly. "Can I go now?" she finally asked, as Madame Pomfrey began to leave the room. "Or am I to stay in the hospital wing until I'm recovered?"

"Oh, there's no sense in you staying, at least not for now. If anything happens, tell me, and in any case, why don't you come back every day or so to tell me what's going on – so I can talk to people in St. Mungos if I have to, you understand."

Ginny nodded slowly and made her way to the library.

Tom was waiting for her with a pile of books. She sank into the table across from him. "I didn't think there were this many books on enchanting parchments in the library," she commented with a yawn.

"They're not all on that. Quite a few of these are Potions texts," he responded. "I'm having to keep up to date with what you're doing in class, you know."

Ginny shook her head. "Wardens of the Peace – What Everyone Should Know about Elementary Wards and Beyond? That sounds very much like Potions, Tom."

He blushed. "Okay, so my project for Defence has got me worried a bit as well. You'll understand when you're a sixth year – there's a lot of work."

Ginny shook her head. It throbbed painfully. "And O.W.L.s aren't? I'm not very much younger than you are anymore, Tom. And why are you still working on that Defence project? I thought it was assigned the very first day of class."

Tom smiled. "It's an ongoing project – Professor Quinn keeps bringing up new elements of defensive magic and so Hermione and I, and the rest of the class, keep thinking of new ways to improve our runes. Every week, on Friday, someone tries to get theirs to work – but so far we've only missed class once, and that was when Hermione and I tried."

Ginny frowned. "When did you try?" she asked, slowly.

"On the last class before Holidays," Tom replied. "I suppose that since Professor Quinn knew we would be the only ones to actually succeed, she put us right before the holidays, so no one would miss a class that would otherwise be useful."

Ginny frowned further. "Didn't she say that a backfired ward of the size you and Hermione were thinking could negate the wards around the school?"

Tom nodded, but then added, "But our ward worked. So there's nothing to be worried about."

Ginny almost winced. "Are you sure she didn't just let you have the day off?"

Tom looked livid. "Of course I'm sure she didn't just let us have the day off! I could hear her knocking on the door to be let in the entire time! Honestly, Ginny, have you no faith?"

Ginny sighed. "It's just… she didn't have class for us the day before holidays either, and we're not doing any fancy projects. But my head is splitting – let's get down to business."

He sighed and begrudgingly handed her a book on parchments. She set to reading, forcing her eyes to focus on the small text and not blur the page into a nondescript blob. The disappointing fact that nothing on the page was remotely relevant or interesting made this a harder job than it would otherwise have been, but Ginny plowed through it – or attempted to – nonetheless.

Several hours passed before they were disturbed, but when they were it was absolutely astounding. Elisa crept up behind Ginny silently and whispered to her, "What are you doing, studying with him?"

Ginny jumped out of her skin and very nearly side-seher housemate in the jaw with the heavy tome she was inspecting at the time. "Elisa!" she yelped, and belatedly remembered to keep her voice down. She now had Madame Pince's complete attention. She went to whispering. "What did you do that for? And what do you mean?" She glared at her friend, as if daring her to answer that Tom was certainly not someone to be spending time with.

"Well," Elisa answered, "I would think, what with your brother's hatred, and Harry's for that matter, you'd have a little more sense than to go about setting up more study parties. Honestly, Ginny, show a little sense! We just want to protect you!"

Ginny looked at Elisa calmly and then turned to Tom, who was looking up from his book. Of course, he had heard all of Elisa's whispered advice. "You hear that, Tom?" she laughed. "They just want to protect me. How sweet of them." She turned back to Elisa, a forced smile on her face. "Thank you for your advice, Elisa, but I know just as much as my brother does and I'm certain that I'm in no danger. You can tell Harry and Ron, again, that they don't need to protect me." She laughed slightly and kept her rising temper under control, although it pained her to do it. Her head was beginning to hurt more. She wondered if the two were related.

Elisa, however, was not to be persuaded. "Ginny, I'm serious," she hissed, stealing a glance at a very amused Tom. "You should listen to your brother and Harry. They've always looked out for you."

Again, Ginny smiled calmly. "The only time I needed someone was during my first year, and Harry and Ron were only there at the very last minute. Harry defeated the monster mostly by luck – he'll admit it himself. I certainly appreciate their…" Ginny almost trailed off, finding it very difficult to go on, but shook her head and continued. "I certainly appreciate their chivalrous convictions, and when there is an attack on the school I'm sure they will be the ones to save the day once more, but they have never been particularly attentive before, and I assure you that I can take perfectly good care of myself."

Elisa stared at her for a moment before beginning, "But, Ginny,"

She was interrupted. Ginny had turned away and was calmly reading, and now Tom said, in a voice barely above a whisper but strangely echoing, "She's her own person, you know. You'd do best to leave before either of us gets particularly upset at your insistance."

Elisa, cowed, slunk out of the library. Ginny looked up at Tom and smiled. "Thanks," she said. "That was going to get really annoying."

"Understandably so," he said, and then, "but you handled yourself very well. Have you found anything?"

"Nothing. My head is hurting more, though. Maybe because I'm so frustrated with my housemates. Soemtimes I wish I was sorted into Slytherin, I hate Gryffindors so much."

Tom shook his head. "No you don't, Ginny Weasley. You have no idea what it's really like in Slytherin – you wouldn't fit. But I can certainly understand your loathing of Gryffindor stubbornness and selfrighteous pride."

Ginny laughed a bit. "And the bits about just wanting to protect me! That was rich coming from her, she never moved a finger to save anyone in her life!"

Tom smiled in response, and added, "But doubtless she would have, had a suitable opportunity presented itself," with a smile.

Ginny shook her head. "Bollocks. The majority of Gryffindors would crack under pressure – I've seen them studying for exams. The only one who is really any good in a stressful situation is Harry, and he's become an obnoxious prick. There's no saving any of them."

Tom just laughed. "Imagine that coming from a Gryffindor. I'm surprised at your continued devotion to the wonderful Harry Potter, though."

Ginny just laughed. "Oh yes, the wonderful Harry Potter, everyone's favorite savior," she said with a scathing grin. Tom smiled widely, her deprecation of Harry warming his heart. "The boy who just doesn't know when to give up," she said. Then he began to laugh, and she joined in. They hardly noticed that they were getting louder until they noticed that the people at the table next to them were staring. Madame Pince hissed at them from her desk and then slammed her fist on her desk, silencing them before she quietly, and furiously, asked them to leave.

On the outside of the library, bereft of books, Tom and Ginny once again collapsed into laughter. "She made more noise than we did," Ginny commented, "Slamming the desk like that."

Tom calmed down enough to say that Madame Pince was a fairly nice person, really, but that she was just very touchy about her library, before they both realized that even if study sessions were acceptable meetings, laughing mischeviously in the hallways was probably off-limits. "I'd better go, before my brother finds out – he'd have your head on a platter," she said, and, blushing, turned away. "I should be getting back to Slytherin anyway," Tom muttered, and departed.

Ginny slowly made her way back to her common room. Her headache was subsiding a bit, and she smiled at the world. If nothing else, she could claim this as reason not to get on her bad side, she thought absentmindedly. To argue with her was to give her acute physical pain. She was invulnerable, in a strange way.

And sure enough, when Ron confronted her in the common room, a quick, "Madame Pomfrey says I can't excite my emotions – can we have this discussion later?" changed his condemnation of her actions to a shocked inquiry as to her health. "She says I've had a concussion – the doors hit me right in the face – and now whenever I get angry my headache gets worse, and that's no good."

Ron nodded dumbly and allowed her passage to her room. Sure enough, her concussion served her well in the coming days, and she got all the way to Christmas Day before she had to actually address any of their concerns. She took personal pride in the matter. But on Christmas Day, she woke up to see Hermione looking at her inquisitively.

"Happy Christmas," the older girl said. Ginny mumbled a salutation and sat up in bed.

"What are you doing here, Hermione?" she asked.

"I have a few questions to ask you, is all," Hermione answered. She looked rather guilty.

"Did Ron and Harry put you up to this, Hermione?" Ginny asked sullenly. Her headaches had subsided somewhat since the beginning of Holidays and were now fairly minor, if ongoing. She blinked. Fortunately for her head, the room wasn't lit.

Hermione sighed. "Yes," she answered, "and before you refuse to answer any of the questions, I know they're being absolutely absurd about Tom, and I know that you are really just studying with him, but please – Voldemort might have gotten into the school so we all need to be on the same page, we need to pull together to get through this and beat whatever we have to beat this year."

Ginny smiled ruefully. "Whatever Harry has to beat, you mean."

Hermione shook her head. "We were all there – you were there with us – last year. Whatever wehave to beat, Ginny, I mean what I say."

For a brief moment, Ginny's heart swelled. Maybe Hermione did understand, maybe the older girl really was on her side after all. "Okay, Hermione. Ask away."

"What are you doing with Tom and the parchment?" she asked.

Ginny frowned. "Nothing untoward – it's just to communicate, we write messages back and forth." The question seemed reasonably harmless. She couldn't go anywhere with this, certainly.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Okay, Ginny. Why won't you stop, then? We would all help you with your studies, you know that."

Ginny bit back a shout of frustration. Her head throbbed painfully. "I don't want your help, Hermione. I want Tom's help – because I want to convince myself that he's not evil after all. You have to understand that that's harder for me than it is for anyone else, and you see what a hard time Harry and Ron are having of it, but logically I know that he's not evil, even if in my gut I'm still terrified that he's just going to stab me in the back. I had a best friend my first year, and then I learned that he was my worst enemy, and now I'm learning that he's somewhere in between, and I need to figure that out, and get over my fear. And to get over that I have to spend more time with him, even if it means going against you and Harry and Ron. So it's not just studies – but perhaps advanced psychology, too. Who knows." Ginny shrugged. Hermione smiled. She felt her headache subsiding.

"Okay, Ginny," she answered.

"Don't tell Ron," Ginny suddenly added, "Don't tell Ron and Harry."

Hermione frowned. "Why not?"

"Because if you tell Ron and Harry, they'll get it into their heads that because I say I'm studying with Tom to get over my fear of him what I mean is I'm studying with Tom because, like half the female population of the school, I fancy him. And the last thing I need is for Ron to be afraid that I'm going to start dating Tom Riddle."

Hermione smiled wisely. "Of course. I'll tell Harry and Ron that you don't want to stop because he's much better at Potions than any of us are. They'll believe that – they're both wretched at Potions." She smiled. "But between you and me – do you fancy him?"

Ginny stared, shocked, and then frowned, and then shook her head, and then frowned some more. "No, I don't think so. Not much at least. Although he's very clever, and pretty brilliant at, just about everything."

"One last thing, though," Hermione added as an after thought. "Do you know what spell he cast just before the doors closed and Voldemort spoke to the students?"

"An entrancing enchantment. It just barely hit me and slowed me down so the doors didn't hit my face quite as hard. Or at least, that's what he says, and I've done some reading ahead in Charms since then so it does make sense given the effects. And I suppose you all have learned those in Charms class."

Hermione's smiled and she picked a square package up from the ground. "In that case, I don't feel bad at all giving you this," she said, and handed the package to Ginny.

"From you?" Ginny frowned. "But Hermione, I don't have anything for you – we've never exchanged gifts."

Hermione shook her head. "It's from Tom. He insisted that I take it the last time we met to work on our Defence project, and told me to give it to you. But I wasn't going to until I found out what that charm was – it was suspicious, after all."

Ginny nodded slowly and picked up the package, unwrapping it to reveal a plain leather journal with a note on the cover. I haven't enchanted this one, don't worry, it read. Ginny paled and gulped. "He… shouldn't have.

Hermione was shocked. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Ginny nodded slowly. "I guess so. I don't know. I wouldn't make light of it," she said. And then a thought came to her mind – Hermione had talked about her Defence Against the Dark Arts project. "Say, Hermione, did your ward turn out all right for that project?"

Hermione nodded slowly. "I was nervous at first, because it seemed like nothing had happened, but Professor Quinn was slamming at the door all class and she couldn't get in – so I would suppose it worked."

Ginny frowned. "Because, well, she let my class have the day off our last class before holidays. So I was thinking…"

Hermione gasped. "That maybe the ward backfired, and that's how Voldemort got in?" She looked as though she would never be able to forgive herself.

Ginny shook her head. "No, worse, that Tom made the ward backfire on purpose, so that You-Know-Who could get in."

Hermione was silent. "That… it… it couldn't be, could it?"

"I don't know," Ginny replied. "But it's a frightening thought. Maybe we should stay away from him, just in case…"

Hermione shook her head. "You know we can't do that," she said bracingly. "We've got to stick to him like glue – to see what he's up to. He'd never suspect us, he thinks we're on his side, Ginny."

Ginny smiled and almost leapt from her bed to embrace Hermione. The older girl smiled back. "But no telling Harry and Ron?" Ginny asked.

"Of course not," Hermione replied. "They'd throw a fit."