A/N: Tom's in this chapter! YAY! Sorry that this is late; I spend so much time writing on my laptop that I got it confiscated again… meh. Anyway. Quite a long chapter. Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: Get the idea into your head. I don't own it. Now move on.
The Letter P
Chapter Thirty: P is for Privacy Intruded Upon
The redhead lifted her hands and looked at them; trembling. With good reason, too – she had seen her own future. She was going to start to feel for someone, and truly feel for them. And then she'd be torn into pieces again when it couldn't work out, or – worse – when she had to go home, back to the twenty-first century.
And that was why she was shaking. She was going to fall in love.
xxx
"Condelesam," Ginny told Robin the Rich, not even giving him time to chastise her for being impolite or un-ladylike. Still, the portly gentleman opened his mouth to be nosy, but she interrupted, "Just let me in, okay?"
With a huff, and a mutter of something obviously insulting and degrading, Robin the Rich swung forwards to admit her.
"Thank you," she simpered at him, and stepped into the Head common room, shifting the sheaf of parchment in her arms that contained the plans for the Christmas Ball. "Hey," she called, smiling brightly. "I'm back!"
The other Prefects grunted or mumbled their greetings; Scott avoided her eye totally and said nothing; and Eleanor rushed over to welcome her.
"Are you feeling better, Ginny? That was a nasty fall," she worried, her motherly side coming out as ever.
"It's all been taken care of," Ginny replied. "Don't worry."
"Did you break anything?" Eleanor fussed.
Ginny looked towards the sofas where the Prefects were sat. In his usual seat of superiority was Riddle, who wasn't turned to face her at all, but she could see his gaze focused on her out of the corner of his eyes, and she could see the smirk lifting the corners of his lips.
"No," she replied, with a reassuring smile, and sidestepped the Head Girl neatly. As she made her way to a vacant seat, her hazel eyes flashed a warning look to Riddle, whose dark eyes were glittering with amusement, one eyebrow slightly raised and the smirk still present.
The most common of Slytherin expressions, Ginny thought, shaking her head inwardly.
She dropped her parchment untidily on the coffee table in the centre of the semi-square of sofas, and sank into a seat opposite Antonia Durrell and Jack Swithin, beside Mia Brown.
Eleanor came and sat next to Riddle, and smiled around at everyone. "Now, then," she said, cheerfully, "I've had a great idea!" She looked at each person in turn, as if to say well, aren't you going to try and guess what it is? When she found that no-one was going to, she, peppy as ever, chirped, "we're going to hold the Prefect meeting in Hogsmeade!"
Everyone cheered – all but one. Riddle said, "What?"
The blonde Head Girl turned to him. "Well, I thought, because it's coming up to Christmas, and up to the Christmas Ball, we should have a more festive Prefect meeting-"
"Isn't this festive enough for you?" said Riddle, a note of incredulity in his voice. The room did,admittedly, look as though it had been hit by a rogue bomb from the Festive Fairy. Baubles, tinsel, and little gold stars were everywhere.
"-and also, to celebrate the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match," Eleanor continued, ignoring Riddle's input to the conversation, "and to celebrate Ginny coming out of the Hospital Wing in one piece."
"She doesn't care," Riddle said. He looked pointedly at the redhead, his dark eyes gleaming. "Do you?"
"Actually, I think it would be quite fun."
If looks could kill, Ginny would have been twelve feet under. However, after four months with Riddle, she was quite unbothered by it.
"Yay!" Eleanor clapped her hands. "Okay, I'll meet you guys out by the carriages in…" she looked at the clock- "ten minutes? Get your coats and things!" she scurried up to her bedroom, and the Prefects ran; not only anticipating and excited, but sensing the air in the Head common room, and perfectly aware that if they remained behind, they'd be killed.
Riddle stood, and glared down at Ginny. "Thank you," he snapped. "You could have saved me an afternoon of Eleanor's endless pestering, but I suppose that's beneath you. The entire Christmas Ball will be destroyed within minutes once she gets her cheerful little hands on it." He turned his back on her and stormed up the stairs that lead towards his bedroom.
"What? Why?" asked Ginny, bewildered.
"Because I'm not going!" Riddle snarled, and then there was a snap of a door closing.
Selfish, arrogant…
"Why not?" Ginny bellowed, hurrying to the bottom of the stairs. She was determined to make him go, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of. "Riddle?" She stared at the wooden door at the top of the stairs, heart pounding in her chest, and then ran up them.
Oh Merlin, intrusion of privacy, he's going to kill me and eat me, ohh Merlin…
"Riddle?" she called, knocking timidly on the large wooden door. She supposed that it had to be large, to allow someone as massive as Riddle to pass through it comfortably. "Riddle?" she knocked harder. "Riddle!" she kicked it, and pounded it with her fist. "Answer, goddamnit!"
"I'll thank you not to break my door down," said an absolutely glacial voice from inside.
"Well, then answer!" Ginny retorted angrily. "Riddle, please come!" she shouted. "Please, you need to have some fun."
There was a silence, and Ginny levelled her shoulder with the wooden door, preparing to barge it open. Then suddenly it opened, and she stumbled.
She caught a glimpse of dark green furnishings before Riddle blocked her view, glaring at her. "Fun?" he echoed angrily. "Fun? Peregrine, it isn't a matter of me needing… 'fun'. I – can – not – go. In case it has escaped you, I have no guardian to sign the stupid Hogsmeade form for me!"
"Neither have I!" Ginny shouted, quickly wedging her foot next to the doorframe as Riddle tried to slam the entrance to his bedroom close. The door ricocheted painfully off it, and the Head Boy wrenched it back open to stare at her. "Neither have I," she repeated, "and you know that, so don't try to play the woe-is-me-I-have-no-parents line."
For several seconds, Riddle stared at her, eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her as if trying to work out if she was serious. Then, finally, he said coldly, "Fine."
"What?" Ginny frowned.
"I'll go." Riddle's tone was icy. "You owe me," he snapped, in addition, and then did he slam the door.
Her heart beating a violent tattoo against her ribcage, breathing hard, Ginny turned away from the door and made her way down the stairs. At the bottom, she leant one hand on the banister and stopped to catch her breath. Then a triumphant grin broke out on her face, and with a squeal, she grabbed her parchment plans from the coffee table and skipped merrily away to fetch her things.
xxx
Snow decorated Ginny's hair lightly, contrasting brightly, white against scarlet. She twirled in a circle – green scarf, purple skirt and vibrant hair fanning out spectacularly. Her feet crunched the ice underfoot, and she grinned at Eleanor, caught up in the awe and magic of the Winter Wonderland that the Hogwarts grounds had become.
Spinning again, the redhead caught sight of the person at the back of the group, lingering behind everyone else. The tall young man was holding his robes tight around him against the cold.
Ginny spied something poking up through the thick snow, and, with a burst of inspiration, snatched it up and hurried over to Riddle.
"Hey!" she beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet in front of him.
The Head Boy narrowed his eyes at her. He was obviously still extremely irritated about coming.
"You know how you said that I owed you?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Riddle said, frowning, not seeing where she was going.
"Well…" she drew the word out like bubblegum, grinning broadly. She twitched the object she had taken behind her back. "You got me a flower… so I got you one!"
It was taking everything in her not to burst out laughing. She could barely contain her glee and mirth.
Riddle's brow furrowed in the deepest of frowns. "You got me a flower?" he said disbelievingly.
"Yep!" she chirped. She brandished the item from behind her back and put it in his hand, folding his long fingers over it.
The seventeen-year-old, still frowning, uncurled his cold fingers and his dark eyes were met with…
A blade of grass.
"Slytherin colours!" Ginny hooted, and skipped away, laughing her head off. A few metres away, where she knew that she was safe from his death-glares, she turned and grinned at him. "Well?"
Riddle looked up from the grass to her face. Strangely, he didn't look disgusted or angry. A bemused expression flickered in his eyes, and one corner of his mouth twisted in a half-smile.
It was the first time that Ginny had ever seen him ever come close to a smile – or even anything that wasn't totally frosty and evil. The hard, masked lines of his face almost softened with it, and the change was astonishing. Just as there had been the transition from glacial Head Boy to Lord Voldemort, there was this new transition – from glacial Head Boy to… well. An actual human being.
"Very funny," he said wryly.
Ginny was basking in happy victory. She had not only persuaded Riddle to come to Hogsmeade, but she had made him smile.
Almost.
"Come on, then," she said brightly, hopping into the last remaining carriage, occupied by only Robert Harris. "Hey," she said to the Gryffindor.
Robert ignored her, choosing to stare out of the window.
"Someone's in a bad mood," Ginny stage-whispered to Riddle when he got in, nodding towards Robert.
Riddle raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to?"
"Yeah – who are you?" Ginny demanded.
"Tom," said Riddle simply. "Tom Riddle."
She didn't know if he was merely responding to the question, or trying to make a point. Either way, she grinned at him.
xxx
"Oh, please can we just quickly go into Honeydukes?" begged Ginny, pleading puppy-dog eyes at Eleanor and Riddle.
"Oh, I don't see why not…" said Eleanor, looking over at her companion Head, who was frowning a definite no. "Yeah, sure."
"Yeah!" Ginny cheered. She immediately turned to Riddle.
"No," he said, before she could even open her mouth.
"You're coming," she told him.
"Did you not hear me?" Riddle said. "No."
"Am I going to have to drag you there?" asked Ginny, hands on her hips, eyebrows raised.
"Is there any answer I can give that will result in you leaving me alone?" Riddle asked bemusedly.
"I don't think so," laughed Eleanor. "Have fun."
Riddle only had time to send a death-glare at the blonde before Ginny grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards Honeydukes.
The bell dinged noisily as they entered, and a powerful smell of chocolate and sweets wafted towards them. Two young children were scrabbling with each other for a certain type of new sweet, and they looked up at the intruders for only a second before continuing their fight.
"What are these?" Riddle's voice floated into her head, sounding slightly disgusted.
Tearing her gaze from the squabbling children, Ginny turned to Riddle. He was pointing at several brown, wiggling lumps in a tray.
"Oh. Cockroach Clusters," Ginny explained. "You don't want those," Seeing him point to a box of red lollipops and open his mouth to speak, she cut in, "or those. They're Blood Pops. For vampires." She scanned the shelves. "You want… these!" she crowed, standing on tiptoe to take a box of Whistling Wizards.
"How do you know what I want?" asked Riddle, taking one of the boxes that she indicated (much to Ginny's chagrin, he barely had to reach up) and observing it. "For all you know, I could be a vampire, and want Blood Pops."
"Riddle, my friend, I know you better than you do," she joked, looking around for some Sugar Quills.
The Head Boy stayed silent and didn't move. He was staring at her.
"What?" she asked, feeling self-consious. She ran over her previous words.
Riddle, my friend, I know you better than you do.
Riddle, my friend.
My friend.
Panic and worry ebbed through her. Was Riddle really her friend? Did she really count him as one? Worse still, the look on his face read one thing only – he was thinking the same.
He's never had a friend before, Ginny suddenly realised.
I'm the first ever friend of Tom Marvolo Riddle.
And, shortly after, I have to kill him.
How does that help?!
"Nothing," Riddle finally replied, looking away sharply. He turned, and started to browse through the chocolate selection. And, Ginny worried to see, a faint pink tinge smudged on his pale cheeks.
Certain that she was blushing too, Ginny continued to gather as many sweets as possible, and then headed to the counter. She paid, flashed a grateful grin at the women now counting her money, and then walked towards the door, calling, "Riddle? Come on."
However, he didn't arrive. He was at the counter as well.
Curious, Ginny waited for him to finish his purchase, and then they left the shop. "What did you buy?" she asked the instant that they left the shop.
"This." Riddle said, and lifted up a small, sugary-looking snake.
Ginny burst out laughing. "Why did you buy that?"
Riddle frowned at her. "It looked interesting. Why – what's wrong with it?"
"Oh, nothing," Ginny lied. "I dare you to eat it."
Dark eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. "Why is it a dare?" he asked warily.
"Well, it isn't. I didn't mean it as a dare," Ginny said quickly, mentally kicking herself. She knew what the snake did, and Riddle didn't – she couldn't wait to see what happened when he ate it. "Go on. Try it."
"I'll eat it later. What have you got?" Riddle inquired.
Delighted to know something that he didn't, Ginny gave him Bertie Botts, first giving him a nice one and then deliberately giving him a really unpleasant one.
"What the devil is that flavoured of?" Riddle exclaimed, looking repulsed.
Ginny peered at the chart on the back of the small tub, as though she didn't already know. "Hm," she said, "it says here that you just ate a soap flavoured Bean."
Strangely, Riddle didn't allow her to give him any more sweets. He chose them one at a time, asked what they were, and then tried it.
"So what, may I ask, is this delightful little food item?" said Riddle dubiously, squinting at a Whistling Wizard, held between finger and thumb.
"A Whistling Wizard," Ginny prompted. "Eat, eat, eat," she chanted, smiling.
Riddle put the little, round, red tablet in his mouth, and swallowed. Right away, there was a low buzzing noise, and then a ridiculously loud whistle, and a large amount of curly steam, issued from Riddle's ears, sending meticulously-combed wavy hair flying sideways.
Ginny burst into laughter at the sight of Riddle's alarmed and slightly bewildered expression, almost finding tears in her eyes. "Your face!" she giggled.
"Yes, well," said a rather affronted Riddle, straightening his robes. "I presumed, from the name, that it would make me whistle, but I also presumed that said whistling would come from my mouth."
"What gave you that impression?" Ginny chuckled. She peered into the paper Honeydukes sweet bag; empty. "That's my sweets gone," she said cheerily. "Now, don't you have that snake?"
Riddle nodded, and took the tiny serpent from his pocket. Still chary of Ginny's previous reaction, Riddle glanced at her one more time before breaking off the tail of the snake and apprehensively putting it in his mouth.
There was a moment when nothing happened.
Three…
Two…
One…
Riddle, being an impassive, show-no-feelings kind of person, didn't gasp audibly, or shriek, or swear; but Ginny knew that the effect had taken place, as he quietly sucked in his breath and croaked, "Water."
"What was that?" Ginny teased, cupping a hand around her ear, though she had heard perfectly.
"I need… water… now, damnit," he rasped, glaring at her.
Chortling gleefully, Ginny lead him through Hogsmeade towards The Three Broomsticks – her skipping, laughing her head off, and Riddle a few steps behind, one hand clutching his throat, and the other clinging to his stomach.
"It's closed," Ginny tutted, after a few knocks on the door. "It's not a Hogwarts' outing today; they aren't expecting anyone."
"I… don't… care," Riddle snapped, through small gasps.
The redhead took him further, looking for The Hog's Head.
"Ginny!" Eleanor called across the street. "What did you do to him?"
"I didn't do anything!" Ginny shouted back. "He bought a Sizzling Serpent! Poor, naïve little Riddle!"
Eleanor, and the Prefects gathered around her, all laughed uproariously, calling mocking names and jeering as Ginny ushered Riddle into the abandoned, but unlocked pub.
"I take it you won't be wanting a Firewhiskey?" asked Ginny teasingly as she hurried behind the bar and poured Riddle a glass of water. The dark-haired male did not reply, but he fired her a glare to chill the dead, and sank into the nearest chair. She crossed to him and handed him the glass.
Riddle downed it in one, gasped as the liquid struck his flaming throat, squeezed his eyes closed, and then buried his face in his hands. From that position he didn't move, and after a few minutes of total stillness, Ginny began to worry if he had actually died.
"Er," she said nervously. "Riddle, are you okay?"
"How could you say that?" he snarled, standing so suddenly that Ginny stumbled backwards. "How the hell could you just stand there and say that?"
Confused, Ginny exclaimed, "I only asked if you were alright!"
"Not that," he spat, turning away and raking one long-fingered hand roughly backwards through his hair. "You said that… you said that I was your – and then you humiliated me. I didn't want to come, but I came because you asked me to – and then you… you humiliated me."
Then, with a sinking heart, Ginny understood.
Riddle, despite what he showed other people, was socially insecure. He didn't like being in large crowds of people and even more so detested being involved with large crowds of people. He had reluctantly agreed to take part in exactly that – being involved with a group of other people. He'd been given his first ever friend, and then had her do one of the most horrible things he could imagine; publicly embarrassed him.
And it killed her on the inside.
Anger, she could deal with. Snide sarcasm, hell yeah. Happiness, she'd be overjoyed. But mortified sorrow was something that Riddle just didn't do. It was wrong on so many levels.
"Riddle, I-"
"Do you have any bloody idea what you've done?" Riddle snarled.
"No," she replied honestly in a very small voice. "I – I'm sorry, Riddle."
"After I reluctantly, warily trusted you, you…" Riddle couldn't even put words to what he wanted to say.
"I-"
"You have no idea, do you?"
He roared. He actually shouted. Not a sneer, not a snarl, not an icy and sarcastic wryness.
"Stop it!" Ginny cried. "For God's sake, Riddle, stop it!" she stamped her foot, trying frantically to get him to calm down.
Okay, okay, don't panic, freaky shouting Riddle, don't panic –
And, finally, he did. However, it wasn't so that he could embrace her and apologize. It was to send the most evil, the most terrifying of stares at her. Ginny knew that the scary yelling Riddle was gone – but so was the Riddle she had come close to befriending.
There was no trace now of the lifting smile on his face. It was a storm on human features, and it was directed at the redhead.
With a bang, the others started to come in loudly.
Ginny knew that she had no chance of getting him back if there were other people around. "Please," she whispered, "Tom."
His name was out of her mouth before she could think about it, and the Head Boy wheeled around to face her. His eyes were suddenly no longer bottomless, and swirling with raw emotion; his mask of I don't give a damn expression had fallen, just for a second. He stared at her for barely a second, before wrenching his gaze away, and turning his back on her, covering any breach in his guarded feelings as if it had never happened.
You almost had him. And then you lost him.
Eleanor pulled off her coat and started to chat animatedly to Ginny, but the redhead wasn't paying attention. She had just realised what had happened. What she had done.
Stamping her foot, shouting, near the verge of tears.
The first of the many events she had seen coming, in the water. And if it was true, then the next was soon approaching. And the next…
Death.
xxx
A/N: DUN-DUN-DUNN! AAH! Oh no. Poor Ginny. Thanks to my beta SilvanXan. I love you all, please review…
xxx
Saene: Same. Because if you get caught, it's kind of like "omg. 13!+ch." Lol. Aw. And that makes me smile.
AppleC0re: Three answers: 1. Yes. 2. No. And 3. Maybe! Hahaha.
BDSanta2001: Scary, isn't it? Knowing that someone's going to die, but you don't know who, and there's no way of saving them? –shiver- I'd hate it. Er. Smoochy time is a leetle wait away. Understatement. Hehe.
creative-writing-girl13: I can't answer that. Might be Tommy-boy, might not be. Who knows. Well, I do. But shhhh.
audrhole: Yeah, some chapters are pretty much fillers from one plot point to another. There was plenty of Tom in this chapter, I hope you liked it.
Josephine Sawyer: Thanks! It's nice to hear what I did well, because then I can think of adding some more of that later. You'll find out about the Svengali thing in good time. Er. Well, Scott's a bit of both. I wanted her to get feelings for someone else, because then she could be kissing him and Tom would be watching sadly, and she'd be thinking: What's his problem? Hehe. And also because its fun to make fictional characters get their butts kicked. BWAHAHA.
SiRiUsLyInLuV71: Don't worry, that's not the end. Sorry that it's kind of long.
ShhImNotMVP: Yay! A new reader. I like your pen-name. Interesting. Thank you so much!
storm-brain: Well, this fic is pretty much going to shatter your opinion. No offence. Thanks!
muggle wishing for magic: Thank you!
XxRandomHeartxX: Thanks! I know! I wish I could be more like her. She's what I wish I was. Someone would be like "oh you're weird" and I'd just be silent… silent… silent… silent… silent… silent… "YEAH WELL YOU SUCK!" And then they just laugh and walk away. For me, it's easier just to slap the person upside the head. All of my friends deliberately poke me just to see how pissed I get. Gr. Tom was here, I hope you liked his niceness and then his angstiness. Ooh, Angst!Tom. Don't we just love him?
KayRose: Yeah. Spoons are dangerous things. Thank you, I hope this long chappie made up for those short ones…
Crazedreader: Okay, it's good that you like long fics. Because this is going to be HELL long. I LOVE HermionexSnape. It's so cool. Anywho. Thanks!
Xxx
Ow, I'm in pain… I had try-outs for my school athletics team and I twisted my ankle. Meh. –pout-. Ouchie.