Summary: What if Tom's Riddle's diary was successful and the Heir of Slytherin once again returned? The story of a boy trapped in a diary and the girl he loved.

(A/N) Ginny was born in the past and was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Tom Riddle. As a result, history had changed somewhat and someone else ends up with Tom's diary. The story is told in non-linear and has lots of flashbacks.

This is a prezzie for the lovely ewa-jednak-chce-spac on tumblr. I asked people to send me some lyrics from a song and I'd write a drabble for them. The lyrics are "Thine eyes betray confusion Am I friend or am I fiend? Pardon me for this intrusion And I'll show you what I mean I've come to claim a heart from thee (My heart is broken can't you see?) Your final kiss belongs to me (Your scarlet kiss will set me free)" - Omnia "Wolf Song".

Tags: #Alternate Universe #Ginny was born in the past and goes to Hogwarts with Tom #Angst #Fluff #Villain Wins #Dark #Possessive Behaviour #Non-Linaer Narrative #Flashbacks #Minor Character Death - not Tom or Ginny

A boy called Harry once found a diary, mysteriously tucked away in his school bag.

A short time later the boy died, his life drained by the leather-bound book.

Tom couldn't help but find it funny, what a silly little book could do, in the hands of a silly little boy. The Boy Who Lived was now The Boy Who Died - as it should have been from the start.

Tom Riddle paces around the Chamber of Secrets, his steps light and echoing. His Basilisk coils itself around the stone statues, watching, listening, waiting.

No longer was Tom a memory trapped in ink and parchment, he is alive and breathing, solid and full. Tom reaches out and runs his hand across the Basilisk's body, feeling the jagged emerald scales under his fingertips. He can smell the damp musk of the chamber. Hear the subtle breathes of the creature in sync with his own, the soft echo of water dripping against stone. He breathes in deeply, feeling the air fill his lungs then leave with a satisfied sigh.

He is alive in every sense.

Too long he has been suspended in darkness, unaware of the world. Too long the world has been void of his presence and touch. It is time for things to change. Time for his work to progress - it has been stagnant for far too long.

His future self had failed, and thanks to Harry Potter, who had naively filled his diary's pages with detailed accounts of Voldemort's demise, Tom knows how to succeed where his other self had failed. The wizarding world would once again learn to fear the name Voldemort, to never dare hold a thread of hope that someone could challenge him, that someone could survive where he promised nothing but death. With Harry Potter's departure of life, no one would question the power of the Dark Lord again.

Tom moves towards the statue of Salzar Slytherin, his greatest ancestor, the giver of his heritage and noble mission. From inside the open mouth of the statue, Tom removes a withered tomb. It is autumn in colour, bound with a red leather strap. He strokes it fondly, the cover coarse to the touch. A name is etched at the bottom in bold black letters.

The Journal of Ginny Weasley.

You're having girl trouble?

No... maybe. Ink drips onto parchment. Yes. I feel silly asking.

After nearly fifty years of solitude, of impatiently waiting for someone to find his diary, it has finally found itself in the hands of a thirteen-year-old boy in his second year at Hogwarts. It displeases Tom when he discoverers that the boy was a half-blood, a Gryffindor at that. Given his lack of corporal form, Tom would have to make do with what he had been given. Ideally, he would have preferred a pure-blooded wizard or witch to be the catalyst for his rebirth and the carrying out of his families purpose. Someone worthy of the honour. A Slytherin like himself.

It matters little now. The more Tom learns of the boy, the more suitable he becomes. Perhaps it is fate that has put the boy in his path.

Harry was no ordinary child.

He was Harry Poter - The Boy Who Lived. The boy who somehow - impossibly - survived the killing curse, the killing curse cast by the Dark Lord Voldemort. And worse still, it was this boy - no more than a babe at the time - who had lead to the Dark Lord's death. How this child had done such a thing, defeated his older self at the peak of his power, Tom does not understand.

As the months dragged on, Potter wrote to him almost daily - telling him of school life, homework, and life back home. Tom acted the part as the ever-supportive friend, nothing more than a harmless memory stuck in the pages of a diary, there to help anyone who should stumble upon it. Tom took in every crumb of detail he could squeeze from the boy - about Harry's life, about the modern world, the fall of Voldemort, and the descendants of the families Tom had once knew at school. Tom was always asking questions but seldom giving any information back.

At first, Harry had been cautious with what he revealed, but Tom gave him no reason to suspect anything foul about the diary. It was almost too easy lulling the boy into a false sense of security. The more he trusted Tom, the more he wrote. And with every letter foolish little Harry scribbled onto the yellowed pages, Tom grew stronger and Harry unknowingly grew weaker.

There's nothing to be ashamed about, having feelings for someone, Tom writes back reassuringly.

Are you speaking from experience? Harry replies.

There is a moments pause before an answer appears on paper.

Yes.

What was her name?

Tom is loath to share too much with the boy. He tells him what he has to, little details here and there, useless information that could lead him nowhere should the boy decide to look. All Tom knows of the modern world is what Harry has told him so far and he could not be sure if there is information out there that could link the Dark Lord's true identity to Tom Riddle. Tom has to play his hand carefully. If the boy discoverers who the boy in the diary truly is too soon, then it would spell the end of Tom's resurrection.

Tell me your secret first and I'll consider.

Hermoine, Harry answers. But I think she and Ron have feelings for one another. I wouldn't want to come between them. They're my best friends. It's just a crush. I'm sure I can get over it - eventually. Who did you have a crush on?

Her name was Ginny.

A crush is too simplistic a phrase to describe his feeling for Ginny Weasley. There had been a time when she brought him nothing but comfort and warmth. She had been the one person he could call a friend and truly mean it - others held the title, but they meant nothing to him and where simply a means to an end. His companionship lasted as long as their usefulness to him. But Ginny, Ginny had been by his side since his first day of Hogwarts, when by chance they had ended up in the same carriage on the Hogwarts express. With her, his smiles were genuine with no hidden malice. He held a true desire to make her smile and laugh. He felt content in her company, longed for it when she was absent. Their first two years in Hogwarts, it had just been the two of them - friends with no one but each other.

Things had changed between them when he learned the truth of his bloodline. With the knowledge heavy on his shoulders, he had not been satisfied to sit idly by, scorned and ridiculed for his father's filthy muggle name. He was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, the greatest wizard that ever lived and the purest of bloodlines. He deserves respect. He deserves much more than the squalor he had settled with.

But to gain what his family had lost - the respect, the power, the connections - would not come without a cost. Lies, empty promises, deceit and blood. It had loomed over Tom and Ginny's relationship like a foreboding cloud, one he thought Ginny had been blind to. He had underestimated her, or maybe he had been willfully ignorant (he knew she hadn't been ready to understand.)

Was she a classmate? Harry asks.

We were in the same year, though different houses. She was my best friend.

Was?

We had a falling out. Much to my dismay. There is another pause as Tom sees an opportunity to sway the conversation to his advantage. We were inseparable. But after the Chamber of Secrets was open and I turned the culprit in... she refused to even look at me.

Wait! Do you know about the Chamber of Secrets? It's been opened again!

Tom smirks to himself, darkly amused of the boys ignorance. If only Harry knew that it was himself who had opened the Chamber of Secrets once more. Harry had poured so much of himself into the diary over the last few months that it has given Tom more than enough power to control him for short periods. When would Harry realise that his tiredness was from his lack of sleeping, that at night he was nothing more than a puppet to do Tom's will? When would he spot the blood staining his robes or the stray feathers clinging to his shoes?

Someone opened it. Someones released a monster within it. It killed all the school's roosters, Harry continues, his writing quick and messy. It petrified Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat. The professor's are worried that soon a student may be hurt. Is there anything you can tell me?

That's not possible. It can't have been open again. Professor Dumbledore would never allow... unless...

Unless what? Please, Tom. There are rumours that the last time it was opened a girl died!

Tom remembers Myrtle with a sneer, the bothersome girl with her shrill and petty whining and obnoxious flirting. Why Ginny had ever bothered to befriend the girl was beyond on him. Mrytle had been nothing but an embarrassment. The girl's only worth had been her death. allowing Tom to create his Horoxcrux. Without his interference, the girl would have been nothing.

Only the Heir of Slytherin can open the Chamber. And I cannot imagine he would ever have been allowed back to the school.

Who? Who was the Heir of Slytherin?

You wouldn't believe me if I told you.

Why wouldn't I?

I can show you...

Tom watches unseen as Harry sees the memory unfold. After Myrtle Warren's death, the Ministry had decided that the only appropriate response was to close the school - for the safety of the students and teachers. If they closed it, Tom would have nowhere to go. Hogwarts was his sanctuary, the one place he felt truly at home. He refuses to be sent back to that wretched Muggle world. If the Ministry want a culprit, he would give them one. He has planned for this, should things go wary, and already knows the perfect scapegoat.

"I have to turn you in Hagrid. I don't think you meant it to hurt anyone."

"You can't! You don't understand," Hagrid pleads.

"The parents of that dead girl will be tomorrow," Tom says. "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

Harry Potter stands to the side, watching as Hagrid steps before a wooden chest, protecting it. Tom keeps his wand pointed at the chest, wary of what lies inside. Hagrid's little pet has been a well-kept secret, one that Tom never would have discovered if it hadn't been for Hagrid's one mistake - all best-kept secrets were shared with no one but corpses.

"It wasn't him," Hagrid says desperately. "Arragon wouldn't hurt no one. Never!"

"Monster's don't make good pet's, Hagrid. Now step aside."

"No!" Hagrid shouts.

Tom levelles his wand at Hagrid.

"Tom stop!"

A flash of red, a swirl of black, and a girl appears before Hagrid and the chest. She outstretches her arms, the sleeves of her Gryffindor robes cascading down. Red hair spills across her dark uniform, her cheeks flushed from running. Tom stills before a determined look crosses his face. He hadn't expected her to be here and certainly does not appreciate her arrival - but dear Ginny has never been shy of going where she was not wanted.

Who is that? Harry asks.

Tom says nothing and the vision continues to play, undisturbed by the young boy lurking by the door.

"Ginny, move," Tom demands gently.

"Hagrid had nothing to with the attacks or Myrtle's death!" Ginny says, eyes shining with conviction. "You know it wasn't him!"

"Ginny, step aside," Tom says firmly. "You have no idea what he's done, whether he's meant to or not."

"Arragon is an Acromantula. They don't petrify people!"

"They're highly poisonous, Ginny. We don't what the effects of their toxins on humans are."

"It doesn't make sense, Tom! Why petrify people and leave them?"

"Ginny, I won't ask again. Move aside. I'm doing this to keep Hogwarts and everyone in it - including you - safe. If I don't do something now another innocent person could die, and I will not allow it. What if the next person is you? Another friend? How about one of your brothers?"

Ginny shakes her head, fury sweeping her features. There is something in her eyes - hurt, sadness, anger - as she looks at Tom. It is a look that tells him she isn't going to back down. And unlike Hagrid, she is more than willing to back beliefs with actions. He knows what she is about to do even before her hand whips towards the inside of her coat, to the pocket containing her wand. Having predicted it, Tom moves faster and cries out the Expelliarmus spell, sending Ginny's wand clattering across the room.

Tom points his wand at the chest.

"Sectumsempra."

The chest explodes in a shower of splintered wood. Hagrid and Ginny jump back, shielding their faces with their arms. A creature the size of a small cat scurries out of the box in a flurry of hairy limbs. Tom's wand trails after it, taking aim before he launches several spells at it, attempting to destroy it. The creature escapes, disappearing down the dark corridors.

"Arragon!" Hagrid calls out, attempting to chase after it.

Tom steps in front of him, his wand rising threateningly.

"I can't let you go, Hagrid," Tom whispers regretfully.

"He hasn't done anything wrong!" Ginny pushes her way forward, standing between Tom's wand and Hagrid. Tom narrows his eyes, displeased by her interference and willingness to endanger herself for someone so unworthy of her attentions. What appeal she sees in Hagrid he would never know.

"Keeping dangerous monsters in the school that kill classmates is something wrong," Tom replies, his voice patient but stern. He gives her a look of disappointment.

"Tom-"

"He'll lose his wand for this. He'll be expelled from Hogwarts. And if you don't stop interfering, if you keep defending him, they may start to think you had something to do with it too." Ginny looks ready to argue, always so quick to put herself in difficult situations for others. But there is one thing that would halt her long enough for him to gain control of the situation. "Think about how this will affect your father. Having a daughter suspected of being an accomplice in attacks on muggle-born students? His career won't survive that."

Ginny's family is poor, their main source of income coming from her father's job at the Ministry. A scandal such as this could easily cost him his job and with it putting her family in financial ruin. Ginny may be willing to sacrifice herself for others, but she is not going to jeopardise her family - they mean too much to her. It is a low blow Tom is not ashamed to stoop to, and he can see the pain in her eyes that he has twisted that particular knife.

He will make it up to her later - one day she would see that everything he did was the greatest good. Life would be so much easier for both of them once he has won. He would give her everything she deserves and more. No more second-hand books or hand-me-down clothes that earn them nothing but snide remarks from those who thought themselves above them. No more scrimping and saving to treat themselves to basic necessities. No more being looked down upon for their family names and lack of fortune. No, soon everyone would learn who their true betters were.

"Ginny... just... just step aside. It'll be alright. I'll explain everything to the Professors," Hagrid mumbles, gently pushing her away. "I don't want you getting into any more trouble on my behalf."

Tom escorts Hagrid out the room, sparing Ginny one final glance. She looks at him fiercely, betrayal burning in her eyes.

Hagrid? He's the heir of Slytherin? No. No, he can't be.

I told you you wouldn't believe me. My best friend wouldn't believe me so why would you?

But Hagrid... He wouldn't hurt anyone. There has to be a mistake.

He didn't mean to do it, I don't think. At least... not back then. Who knows how the years have changed him? Wandless. Banned from Hogwarts. Responsible for the death of a poor innocent girl. It's enough to drive anyone mad.

No, you're wrong, Tom. He can't have done it. You made a mistake.

Ginny didn't believe me either. How easily the girl that died could have been her. I was protecting my school. Protecting my friend. If you thought someone would do harm - intentionally or not - to someone you loved, would you too not act?

Harry's quill pauses above the paper.

I don't want you to hate me. I consider you a friend, Harry. Don't spur me for my action protecting the things that are most important to me. You've written about Hagrid before, I know you consider him a friend. But sometimes it's the people closest to us that are ones we have to watch out for.

I just... I need to go. I need to think.

Promise you'll write again.

I promise.

And write the boy did. He poured his secrets and soul into the diary until there was nothing left to give - until he was completely leached of life. By the time Harry realised what had been happening, it was too late. Tom was in control. He had marched the boy to the chambers like a prisoner to the gallows. Here the boy's skeleton would lie forever, the boys undeserving reward for his servitude to Lord Voldermort. With his death, Tom was reborn from the pages of the diary.

And now, there is one other still to be reborn.

Tom strokes the journal in his hands, thinking of autumn hair, lush green eyes, and a pale face sprinkled with freckles.

He has kept her journal here, hidden away from harm. Here she lay in the Chamber, safe and asleep, where no one could hurt her and she could cause no trouble. He had hoped she would come to his side of her own accord, that he wouldn't have had to resort to the means that he had. But after the incident with Hagrid, she had never looked at him the same way.

Tom thought himself above others, that no one held power over him in any measurement. Yet the day she had walked away from him, with venom on her lips as deadly as the Basilisk's poison, he knew she was too dangerous to him not to act. Love was a weakness and his feelings for Ginny were too much of a liability.

She could have been his greatest ally in his quest, a source of power and strength. But she hadn't understood, too wrapped up in her idealistic views. And if she was not with him, then she was against him. She was a threat. And he took all threats to his power seriously. No matter who they were.

Hogwarts - 1943

Tom watches as Hagrid is taken away, never will he walk through Hogwarts doors. With Hagrid's unwilling sacrifice, Hogwarts will remain open, and the filthy mud bloods who walk the halls will be granted temporary peace. Tom knows he will need to come up with a new plan to cleanse the school of its impurities. If he releases the Basilkils now, they would close the school down and he would have nowhere to go, but an impoverished orphanage that could be destroyed by falling bombs at any moment. He never wants to hear the sirens cries or the whistle of falling bombs again.

The click of echoing footsteps makes him lookup. Standing on the balcony, one hand resting against the rail, is Ginny. She looks down at him with an expressionless face, her face half-hidden behind a curtain of red hair.

"Ginny," Tom calls up to her, his voice soft in a way it only is around her. There is no facade of tenderness when it comes to her, not like it was when he spoke to everyone else. He makes his way up the stairs, stopping a few feet away from her. He has to tilt his head to see her. "I know you're not happy with what I've had to do."

"You didn't have to do anything," Ginny grits out. "You just ruined Hagrid's life, based on what? Nothing but speculation on what his pet could have done. You don't have any proof."

"I've been watching him closely since this all started, Ginny. He's been acting strange, missing classes, acting paranoid-"

"He's my friend, Tom!"

"And so am I!" Tom snaps, voice raising. He takes in a deep breath, calming himself but his words still come out vicious though quiet. "I've been your friend longer than he has. I'm more than a friend. I'm your boyfriend. I was trying to protect everyone."

Ginny bites her lip, looking bitter and angry. Tears well in her eyes but she refuses to let them fall. "You should have trusted me. I told you he didn't do it and you wouldn't believe me. How did you even know about Arragon?"

"It doesn't matter," Tom retorts. "You should have told me what Hagrid was up to. I thought there were no secrets between us."

"It was none of your business, Tom!"

Ginny turns, ready to leave.

"Ginny, wait-" Tom reaches for her sleeve but she brushes him off.

"I don't want to speak to you right now, Tom."

"Why? What did I do wrong?" Tom demands to know.

"My boyfriend wouldn't trust my judgment and has just sent my friend to Azkaban!" Ginny hisses, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Why do you think I don't want to speak to you?"

"Ginny! You're being unreasonable."

Ginny pulls a face at him and storm off.

Tom watches her leave.

Present Day - The Chamber of Secrets

Tom sits upon the floor of the Chamber, his back resting against the Basilisk. He opens the journal, flipping through the pages until he comes to the end of Ginny's writings. With a flick of his wand and a silent spell, he conjures a quill and ink. In elegant script, he began to write. He hesitates only a moment, knowing she will not pleased with him. Half a century they have been parted and the first words they will share will be an argument.

Hello, Ginny.

A moment passes before his writing vanishes, replaced by a familiar wobbly scrawl.

Is that you, Tom?

Yes, you once knew me by that name.

It is not his name anymore, but it is the only name she knows him by.

How long have you left me in this journal? Hours, days weeks... months?

Nearly fifty years.

There is a long pause.

You're lying. Not even you are that cruel to leave me here for that long.

It wasn't intentional. There were... complications.

It can't be true. It can't be! If fifty years have passed...

He knows her first concern is her family - her father, mother and brothers. How have they fared over the years? Are they even still alive? Did they know what had happened to her? Had they mourned for her? Tom has few answers to give her, stuck in a diary for fifty years as she had been. He knows her brothers have had children, seeing as Potter had mentioned the Weasley name on occasion. He isn't sure if that is news she will want to hear, to know that her family has moved on without her.

I'm sorry, Ginny.

You're not sorry. Don't lie - you've never been sorry once in your life. All you care about is yourself!

That isn't true. I care about you.

Then why lock me in a journal? Why treat me like a prisoner?

To keep you safe.

You did it to save your own skin! You knew I'd tell the Professors the truth. That it was you who opened the Chamber of Secrets!

He does not deny it. It had been unfortunate that Ginny had followed him on their last night at Hogwarts. He had wanted to see the Basilisk one final time, not knowing when he would be able to see the beast again. It was a mistake that had haunted him for years, for it had forced his hand to imprison Ginny in the journal. He no longer regrets it - as it is the reason that Ginny is here with him now.

I hate you, Ginny scribbles furiously. I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you...

Tom slams the journal shut.