Ginny's Painful Secret
Warnings: Slight torture
Word Count: 1181
QLFC Beater 1 Round 3 Prompt:
Team: Kenmare Kestrels
Gothic Prompt - The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe: Write about someone hiding a big secret.
Additional Prompts:
Word - Monster
Season - Winter
Theme - Isolation
Ginerva Weasley was an eleven-year-old girl who preferred to go by the name Ginny. She was intelligent for her age, although not to the degree of being a genius. She was also rather tough, having grown up with six older brothers. That being said, she was still a little girl and prone to making stupid mistakes. Her biggest one was meeting Tom.
Tom had appeared to be a novelty at first: a diary that wrote back, one that had instantly promised not to tell anyone a single thing about what they talked about. Ginny should have known that talking to him was a mistake, but on top of being something new and solely hers, Tom also appeared to be charismatic. Then he showed Ginny what he looked like and she thought he was handsome too.
Although none of that was true. In truth, Tom was only one thing. Tom Riddle was a monster. Ginny may not have pieced it together the first time she blacked out, but it didn't take too long after that for her to realize that her lost time was unnatural. Now she sat in her dorm room alone, while half of her siblings, the ones still attending Hogwarts, were off having fun. It wouldn't have been so bad, if not for the fact that it was Christmas and none of them have seemed to care enough to even try to get her to leave her room.
Deep down the girl knew that she wasn't being fair, as two of her brothers, the twins Fred and George, had tried to get her to leave her room and enjoy the holiday with them. She couldn't though, as she didn't know if they would be safe if she did. The last person that she had spent any real time around was Colin Creavey and he was petrified in the infirmary now.
That was why she had to keep her secret. Not only was she protecting her family, but she couldn't risk being expelled. If she was then she would ruin her father, and the man would be kicked out of the Ministry because she had gotten possession of a cursed object in his house.
At the same time, the secret had to be kept, she had to escape. Tom's hold on her was only getting stronger and Ginny knew that he wouldn't stop until someone was dead, and the more his mind slipped into her body, the clearer his target became. He was after Harry, and she had no idea why.
The only real reason she could think of was that the monster disguised as a book wanted to hurt her in the worst ways possible, and after Harry he would likely start going after her siblings. Since they were all targets, she had to deal with things herself. But she was only eleven and had no idea how to destroy the cursed book as throwing it into a fire hadn't worked.
A bolt of white-hot pain shot down Ginny's spine as she thought of the memory. Tom had not been happy when she had tried to destroy him and apparently he had regained enough strength to hear her thoughts once more. With that in mind, the girl was in for a painful few hours and she knew it, so she curled up into a ball and let herself cry as the pain continued to race through her.
When the pain finally stopped because Tom had run out of energy, Ginny racked her brain, trying to think of a way to get rid of the diary before the monster inside killed her. She knew he would soon enough. The moment he was powerful enough and grew bored of torturing her, her life would be over.
Wiping away her tears as best she could, the girl made to stand. She had to do something, and even a temporary solution would be better than the hell she had been left alone within. A small part of her cursed her brothers for not trying harder. Ron especially as he was too caught up with Harry and Hermione to spare her a glance most days. Even Harry paid her more attention than one of her brothers, and she had only met him a single time before they went shopping for this year's Hogwarts supplies.
Shaking her head to clear it, Ginny took a step forward and felt her knees buckle. As she collapsed to the stone, she bit her lip to keep from screaming. Not that she had to be quiet, because every other girl her age had gone home for the holidays and she was alone in her dorm. It took a few minutes before the girl managed to stand once more, but she was more than stubborn enough. She had to find somewhere for the diary.
She had to be strong for her family and friends, and she couldn't let the monster win. With that in mind, she took a step, then another, and then a third. After that, walking became easier and she let a determined expression cross her face. She would not let Tom Riddle stop her and she would not ruin her family's reputation and lives.
No one said anything to the youngest Weasley as she entered and then left the Common Room, and Ginny didn't notice the concerned look that all of her brothers shared. Instead, she focused on her goal and started exploring the castle. She had to find a place that was mostly deserted and wouldn't see a lot of foot traffic. It wouldn't do for someone else to find Tom and get sucked in by his honeyed words.
They would get sucked in too; he was too charming for them not to be. So he had to be hidden, but there were very few places that she knew of that fit the bill. Before she could get too far, however, she blacked out. When the girl came to, there she felt like she was freezing. Melting snow was also covering her feet and on the floor around her. It was obvious that she had been made to go outside and with the bloody writing on the wall in front of her, she knew why.
ESCAPE ISN'T THAT EASY, MY DEAR GINNY
The moment she finished reading the words, more pain lanced through her entire body. She silently wondered if this was what the torture curse was meant to feel like. As the pain continued, she heard a voice in her head: I own you, my dear Ginny.
Hearing that made her let out a scream that echoed throughout the empty classroom she had awoken in. She cried even harder as she wondered if she would truly manage to escape from Tom, and at that moment she made a decision to toss the diary in Myrtle's bathroom. It was the best place she could think of for it, and if anyone else found it she would try to get it back and throw it away once more. She knew she had to beat Tom after all.