Ginny
Soon-to-be 4th year Ginny Weasley wandered the halls of Grimmauld Place, where she and her fellow young Gryffindors were staying for the Summer; Ginny personally found it quite boring, even if the shape-shifting metamorphmagus Nymphadora Tonks and the Weasley twins kept everyone entertained and on their toes with a good prank every once in a while.
The youngest Weasley, however, was not entertained at the moment; in fact, despite months of living in the large, grim old place, she could still get turned around in its halls, confused at her location due to every wall having some form of decay and gruesome paintings on them, causing them to blur together for the young witch at times.
"Merlin, how did I get lost just looking for my bedroom?" Ginny muttered to herself with an irritated tone to her voice, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the post-dinner drowsiness that was threatening to settle down upon her.
"I suppose this looks like my door," Ginny shrugged, standing before a door near the end of one hallway, that was between a portrait of Regulus Black and a mounted rat on the walls on either side.
Ginny pushed the door open, walked into the dark room, and pretended that she did not jump slightly as the door slammed closed behind her.
As if, and it probably was, by magic, the lamps in the room lit themselves up, and revealed the room to be a dusty old office space, with a desk so covered in dust, Ginny was not able to see any of what was on top of it. The black drapes were pulled closed, adding to the atmosphere of dreariness that the clearly forgotten office had going for it.
Just as Ginny was about to turn away to leave, the redheaded witch noticed a small cabinet in the corner of the room; after blinking to adjust to the lighting, Ginny realized that the cabinet was shaking and rumbling.
"I have to get out of here..." She whispered to no one but herself, backing towards the door slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible.
She failed, and winced as the sound of a creaky floorboard filled the room, quite possibly the first sound it had heard in ages.
She drew a deep breath of trepidation as the cabinet gave a fierce tremble, before its doors were flung open.
A huge black blur shot into the air in front of Ginny, and was spinning and contorting itself into different shapes and sizes as it floated before her. Ginny took out her wand, underage restrictions on magic be damned in that thing came at her.
Her confidence didn't last long.
Ginny's back hit the door, just as a small black book fell open on the floor.
Ginny gave a shriek of fright, for she immediately recognized that this was no ordinary book at all; In fact, this particular book has had a starring role in her worst dreams since she was a mere 11 years old.
This book was none other than the diary of Tom Marvollo Riddle, who was better known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, whose spirit had possessed a younger Ginny, and forced her to unleash a Basilisk upon Hogwarts and cause the petrification of almost half a dozen people, including her closest friend and surrogate older sister, the muggle born Hermione Granger.
"No...no, no, no, you can't be here...Harry destroyed you in the Chamber of Secrets..." Came the whispers of a horrified Ginny, who was frozen in place at the sight of the diary.
Like a puppet guided by a puppeteer, the diary slowly rose into the air and began floating towards Ginny, who scurried away from the door and diary; it was no trouble at all for the diary to follow the frightened young teenager across and around the room.
Ginny was cornered, the diary floated between her and the door. Her legs were trembling so hard, it was a miracle the girl was still standing up, and she nearly broke her wand from how hard her now white knuckles were gripping it.
Suddenly, elegant handwriting began to appear on the open pages of the black diary.
'Hello, Ginny; Long time, no write. Did you miss me as much I missed you?'
"NO! This can't be real...don't come any closer! You're supposed to be destroyed!" Ginny shrieked, eyes wide in horror.
'Ah, my young friend; did you really think you could ever be rid of me? After all, we were soulmates...well, I was stealing your soul to revive myself, yet my point still stands'
"G- get the hell away from me!" She stammered, trying to point her wand at the diary, "Stupefy!"
Alas, Ginny's body was trembling in terror and horror, the normally pinpoint accurate aim of the witch could not have hit a target right in front of her...one much like the diary was right now.
'Now, now, Ginerva, that won't do at all; I'm afraid it seems that I must teach you manners...after all, we can't have my servant being naughty, can we?'
Ginny cast more hexes, and seemed to hit everything except the diary; Ginny's legs had given out, and she was sliding down the wall, until she was sitting on the floor.
Ginny Weasley, a confident spitfire of a young woman, had been reduced to cowering in fear, cornered by a nightmare that she'd prayed would stay in the past.
"You can't be here...it's impossible...I watched you be destroyed...you can't have come back..." Ginny whimpered in a horrified whisper at the diary that floated above her, writing out its plans to posses her once more.
'I think I'll have to be more strict this time...no downtime from your duties, I think is the correct strategy...I was too kind last time. I think you'll make a fine full-time servant of me, Lord Voldemort...now, who will I force you to eliminate first? Perhaps your muggle-loving fool of a father? Or maybe your slut of a mother who can't seem to keep her legs shut?'
Ginny's ability to speak had vacated her; the horrified witch could only manage a weak glare.
'Maybe your youngest brother, tag-along to the Boy-Who-Lived?'
Somehow, Ginny managed an audible growl.
"Stay away from my family," Ginny growled through gritted teeth that momentarily stopped chattering, and she glared at the diary with the most hateful look she could muster.
'Or maybe you will deliver me the sweetest revenge... I shall force you to destroy Harry Potter, while I control your body and you watch helplessly, trapped inside your own mind...the very same boy who stopped me in the Chamber and saved your worthless life...and unlike last time, I will not be so kind as to allow you anonymity...no, you will eagerly confess to the Potter brat's murder...after that, there will never be any future for you, whether you are my possessed slave or not...even if you should break free, who would want you? Who would love you? The answer to both, is 'no one', Ginny. Face it...I, Lord Voldemort, are the best friend you ever had...the only friend you ever will have...you will serve me!'
"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME! I'LL NEVER SERVE YOU!" Ginny screamed at the top of her lungs, trapped as the diary slowly floated towards her, emitting a black cloud that began to envelope her struggling form...
"This is it...Tom is right, I can't fight it anymore than I could last time," were Ginny's last conscious thoughts, "Im so sorry...Harry, I'm so sorry...I love you!"
And with that, Ginny's world went black.
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Blurry rays of light were starting to dance at the edges of her vision.
Bleary blinking showed the redhead was awakening.
Ginny could only see blurry rays of light.
Was this Heaven?
Wait a minute...she was Ginny Weasley...this surely had to be Hell, the sins she committed under Voldemort's possession were unforgivable, as was what he promised to use her body to do, while she could only watch, a prisoner trapped in a body she couldn't control...
Wait a second...was someone calling her name?
'Ginny...Ginny!'
"Huh?" She groaned softly, finally opening her eyes fully; the faces of Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon came into focus.
"Ginny! You're finally awake!" Hermione cried tears of joy as she leapt onto the younger girl, who was laying in a bed, giving her a fierce hug.
"Blimey, Hermione! Get off of her, you'll crush her!" Ron exclaimed, pulling Hermione off of his younger sister, and both blushed when Hermione fell backwards into Ron's lap before scampering back to her own seat.
"Ginny..." Harry whispered, gently placing his hand atop Ginny's own. Ginny's head turned, but her eyes failed to meet his.
"What...what happened?" She whispered, "Did...did he...he..."
Ginny couldn't finish the thought, taking in a shaky breath as the tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Nothing happened," Ron said in an uncharacteristically caring whisper, "You're fine, he didn't make you do anything,"
"You encountered a boggart, Ginny," Hermione said in a soft voice, "that old office had one hiding in the cabinet; apparently, we missed one in all our cleaning. Professor Lupin heard your screams, and banished it. He brought you here,"
"He said...he said that your boggart was a diary...the diary," Harry said softly, gently squeezing Ginny's hand, and he gave a very small smile when she gave a light squeeze back, "He said he found just after you lost consciousness...that he heard you begging him to spare you,"
For a moment, the heavy silence that settled upon the group was broken only by Ginny's soft crying.
"He...he said that...that he was going to...to take me over again...like last time..." Ginny gasped out, squeezing Harry's hand tighter as she tried to tell the story.
"You don't have to say, if you don't want to," Hermione whispered, and a chocked-up Ron could only nod in agreement, trying to hold back his own tears and be the strong older brother he felt Ginny needed right now.
Showing a flair of her trademark courage and defiance, Ginny slowly shook her head.
"He said...," She gulped, "Tom said he would take over my body, and force me to be a prisoner in my own head, able to see and hear everything but be unable to move a finger..."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione gasped at that image, trying to imagine the horror that the boggart had forced Ginny to believe was her future.
"He said...he'd start with our parents," Ginny whimpered as she looked up at Ron, "He said he'd force me to kill them...and...and...and then you, Ron,"
Ginny could only whisper that last part, silently crying tears of horror over the mental image of herself murdering her parents and siblings.
Ron could not hold anymore; he, too, leapt onto Ginny and gave her a Weasley-style bone-crushing hug.
"Never in a million years...you're the strongest of us, you'd have fought him off..." Ron whispered into Ginny's hair as the siblings clung to each other, "I love you, Ginny,"
"I love you, too," The youngest Weasley whispered back, crying softly as she let herself collapse in Ron's embrace, letting go of Harry's hand to hug Ron.
Harry and Hermione were shedding tears of their own at what Ginny had said, and at the loving scene between brother and sister that they were witnessing.
Eventually, they let go and Ron sat back down in his chair.
Ginny's gaze slowly made its way to Harry.
"He said...that he'd force me to kill you...as revenge for saving me in the Ch...the Chamber," Ginny managed to say to Harry, who wordlessly went back to holding her hand.
As the time had gone on, Ginny's confidence had begun to return, and she was shuddering and stammering less the more she talked.
She continued in a whisper.
"He said that...that he'd make me confess...eagerly confess to your murder, Harry...and that even if I ever did manage to break free of Voldemort, he said I'd never have a future...that he was the only friend...the closest f-friend that I'd ever have,"
Disgusted by her own words, even as a retelling of the story, Ginny looked down at her lap, tears falling down anew.
A thoroughly horrified Harry took a moment to gather himself after that revelation.
"Ginny..." He started in a soft, soothing voice, "There's no way you could've ever done something like that. I saw you after the Chamber...you were horrified at what Riddle made you do, you would have found a way to resist him again; after all, you almost did it at 11, imagine what you could pull off now, with your courage and bravery; you're the most Gryffindor person I know,"
"Do...do you really mean all that?" Ginny whispered, gazing into Harry's emerald green eyes as her cheeks flushed.
"I know you, and I trust you," Harry replied, "and that's all I need,"
And though Ron's protests lightened the mood, Harry and Ginny were lost in their own world together for the rest of the day, even as people came to check on Ginny; the Weasley twins began taking bets on when Harry and Ginny would officially get together, claiming no one who weren't crazy about each other looked at each other with the affection in Harry's and Ginny's eyes.
Hermione won the bet, with a smirk and a wink, when Harry and Ginny were caught sharing a calm, heartwarmingly sweet kiss just hours later.