A/N: Have I checked that this is historically accurate? Did I proof-read this? Did I ask someone to beta this? *laughs in tired* Guess we'll never know! Hope you enjoy it nonetheless! Title from A Way Back Into Love
QLFC - Round 12
Team: Puddlemere United
CHASER 3: You and your soulmate interact in dreams until your first meeting.
Optional prompts: 7. (emotion) startled, 12. (dialogue) "I've waited my entire life for this. What if I mess it up?", 14. (object) champagne
WC: 2,982
And also Hogwarts, Auction 3 Day 10: Tom/Ginny
hiding all my hopes and dreams away
"I've waited my entire life for this. What if I mess it up?" Ginny murmurs.
She's sitting in front of the large mirror of her vanity, and the words slip out almost against her will as she watches looks at her pale face and carefully done-up locks. She doesn't quite recognise herself, all painted up and curled. It was more to this stranger in the mirror that she was talking to, but it's her maid that answers.
"Don't worry, miss. You can't possibly mess this up," Demelza reassures her as she arranges the last few tendrils of hair that want to escape from her bun.
Ginny tries a smile. The stranger in the mirror smiles to, and it's entirely strange. Mama had never allowed her to wear make-up before this night, and though she has been secretly wearing it for some time, actually taking the time to properly apply makes her look entirely different. "Thank you, Demelza. I certainly hope so."
The maid grins at her through the mirror, and finishes Ginny's hair-do, before moving on to the jewellery Ginny selected—which aren't the jewels Mama picked, but she'll never know. After all, it is Ginny's introduction ball, and surely she should be allowed some freedom in the way she looks.
Especially because she's got someone to impress, and that truly is the reason she's so nervous.
Of course, an introduction ball is quite a big deal, and of course she's nervous for that. They've spent months and months preparing it, every single detail. She's the first female Weasley in generations, so it is rather important, and she knows quite a few people want to meet her—officially, that is, and Mama wants her to impress as many a dashing young gentleman as she can tonight.
Money is a little tight, nowadays, and if she could make a wonderful match, it really would be better for everyone. Papa gave Mama and her carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with the ball, but the truth is, he made sure they got everything within a very reasonable price.
And even when everything was planned and prepared, Papa hesitated to cancel the ball. This time, it wasn't for questions of money, but rather because of the tense political scene. With the country edging closer civil war every day, it isn't really the best time to throw a ball.
But Mama insisted, and when Mama insisted, Papa could never say no.
But that's not the reason she's so nervous. Ginny doesn't care too much about being introduced. She already has a bunch of friends, Luna and Hannah her closest friends, and she can claim acquaintance with all the girls from school, and regularly writes to them.
As for dashing young gentlemen, she's got six older brothers, and these brothers have friends around sometimes, and she's always willing to go horse-riding, shooting or even play the occasional football game with them. She's already had a little flirt with Dean, and she's pretty sure Ron's best friend, Harry has a crush on her. Ginny knows she's quite the popular girl.
But she doesn't care about them.
No, she cares about him, her secret beau, who has promised to meet her at her ball tonight.
The mere thought of meeting him makes butterflies leap from her stomach and get stuck in her throat while her heart beats furiously in her chest. She feels exactly like those ladies in the books Mama thinks she's hidden so well but that Ginny still reads.
"Alright, miss. You're all done!" Demelza exclaims.
Ginny looks one more time in the mirror and sees that Demelza has indeed done a most wonderful job. She does look quite stunning in her deep green dress that compliments both her eyes, and her hair, which is always an accomplishment, given her chronic case of carrot-coloured hair.
"Thank you, Demelza," Ginny says just as someone cracks the door open.
"You ready, Ginny, darling?" Mama asks.
Ginny stands up, leaving behind her mirror.
"Oh, you look gorgeous, sweetie," her mother exclaims and Ginny blushes a little.
But now it seems so terribly close, this grand and wonderful ball, that her heart speeds up in her chest, and she's dimly aware of being led out of her room, through corridors and finally at the top of the staircase, where her father greets her.
Maybe they talk, she's isn't too sure, because now she knows it's only moments away before she meets him.
It started just a few months ago, when she turned the sweet age of sixteen. Her dreams were filled with this dark and handsome stranger who's smile was equally dashing and dangerous. At first, he'd only grace her with this gorgeous smile of his, and her heart would leap in her chest. Usually, she tried to follow him, but he would always slip out of her reach just before she could reach him. And every night, she'd been drawn like a moth to flame to this dark and formidable stranger.
Then, one night, after endless dreams of chasing him, she finally caught up with him and tapped him on the shoulder. The simple contact suddenly made the dream so much more lucid, and suddenly, it wasn't as if she was dreaming at all, but rather she was just… somewhere else with this stranger.
"Who are you?" she murmured.
"You could call me Tom," he replied before slipping back into the shadows of a dark alley, taking his dazzling smile with him, and she woke up.
Ginny confided in her best friends, Luna and Hannah, over a cup of tea and told them about these strange dreams. Hannah laughed and teased her for dreaming about a mysterious beau, often asking her about her mysterious man-lover who would appear and haunt her.
Luna's response on the other hand, was more troubling.
"He must be the one your soul yearns for," Luna said, sipping daintily from her cup.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "So you really think I'm dreaming up a 'mysterious beau'".
Luna shook her head. "No, no. He must quite literally be the one destined for your soul. Your soulmate, if you will."
"Soulmate?" Ginny repeated, surprised.
"They come from Ancient Greece. And they're quite rare, you're quite lucky, truly," she told her in her nonchalant matter, as if it was simply the most obvious thing in the world. "The dreams must be the way for you to find each other."
Ginny frowned. "That sounds an awful like magic, Luna."
The blonde shrugged. "There are some things magic in this world."
Then, Hannah butted in. "Like the ifrits you swore were in the woods and that we never found?"
"If not ifrits, then definitely crumple-horned Snorkacks," Luna replied, though with a small smile on her face, that showed that she clearly new Hannah was teasing.
The three of them burst into laughter, but the conversation stilled marked Ginny, especially as that very night, Tom didn't run away when she spotted him in the crowd. Even stranger, he was the one to head over to her.
When he reached her, Ginny looked up at him, completely startled. The shock must've read on her face because his teasing smile played across his lips. He was completely silent as he led her through the crowd through an alley. The alley opened up a wide expanse of sea, and he motioned for her to come into a cave that was close by.
Ginny watched everything, completely dazzled. She didn't understand how the change of scenery had happened, but then, she remembered that she was only dreaming, and that anything was possible in a dream.
"Who are you?" she asked again, once they had stopped in the cave, her surroundings quite reminding her of Mama's romantic novels.
"As I've said, I'm Tom, and you are?"
"I'm Ginny," she managed to breathe out.
"Pleased to meet you milady," he said, and gestured for her to sit.
"But—"
He shushed her. "Don't break the magic of this place with such things as 'but'. Let's talk about more trivial, things why don't we?"
Ginny was burning up with questions for him, for he seemed to know what was happening to them. She desperately wanted to know if he was indeed, her soulmate, just like Luna had said. And though the notion seemed ridiculous, she wanted answers.
But he wouldn't hear it. Instead, he made her talk about herself, her day. He had a way of urging her on, asking all the right questions, that made her want to never stop talking. It was the most absurd, but exquisite thing.
Ginny woke up from that dream with a smile on her face.
And from that night on, there was no more chasing, no more disappearing. Instead, they met up always at the same place—though the notion of 'place' itself made Ginny's mind twist—and then he would take her somewhere positively splendid, and they would talk and talk for hours.
It was never Ginny who chose where they went, but she didn't care because everywhere he took her made her gasp at it's beauty. Sometimes, they rode horses, sometimes they went and swam in lakes. One time, they even went to a snow covered mountain and played around in the snow.
It was just the two of them, and he was so mesmerising. Ginny was absolutely captivated.
She started to press him more and who he was, what he did, but he rarely divulged anything about himself, unlike her. She knew at the same time everything and nothing about him, and it made him so much more interesting.
Then, one day, he abruptly suggested, "We should meet up."
Ginny felt giddy elation fill up her heart. "In real life?" she murmured. Of course, it was ridiculous. This man she'd been spending her nights with was only a figment of her imagination. It would explain why she didn't know anything about him. And yet the hope that he was real, that he truly was her soulmate somewhere in the world was always secretly in her heart, and the words had leapt out of her mouth without warning.
He flashed her one of those wicked grins of his. "Where else?"
"But where? When?" She could hardly believe her ears.
"I'll see you at your ball," he promised.
"My ball? But, how?"
"Well." He smiled. "I suppose I must be invited by the hostess."
Ginny looked at him in amazement. "Of course you're invited! But how will you come?"
He didn't answer her question. "See you soon." And he kissed her cheek before fading away.
Ginny was stunned to silence.
And that's the truth. That's why she's really so nervous. That's why she's so worried she's going to mess up. Ginny is good with people, she knows how to make conversation, keep them entertained, but what does one say to a man she met in her dreams, to her soulmate.
Maybe she's actually just going crazy. She isn't too sure.
"Ready, darling?" her father asks, and she's pulled back to the present moment as he offers her his arm.
Ginny smiles brightly and takes it gratefully as she descends the stairs and into the bright light of chandeliers.
The ball has been going on for some time now, an hour, maybe two, and yet, she still hasn't seen Tom.
Ginny tries to not let it get to her. Her dance card is full, she's danced with countless of dashing men, who all complimented her beauty. She even granted Harry, her brother's best friend two dances, which had most of the ladies twittering. Harry, after all, is quite the fine catch, with his large fortune and good looks, but Ginny doesn't particularly care for him, no.
Every moment she doesn't see him makes her skin tighter and the frown on her brow a little deeper. So deep, that even Ron, her most oblivious brother notices it.
"What's wrong, Ginny?" he asks her during one of the rare moments when her dance card isn't quite full and she desperately needs a break for her aching feet.
"Oh, nothing… I'm just a little tired," she dismisses.
Ron snatches two flutes of champagne as a servant passes with a tray full of them. "Here, drink this. You'll feel a bit more awake afterwards."
"Ron.. Mama only said one," she protests.
He rolls his eyes. "She'll never know."
Ginny raises her eyebrows. "And how many have you had, may I ask?"
"No more than Mama needs to know," he promises with a cheeky grin, and Ginny can't help give him a reprobating look, but still smiling as she reaches for the flute he offers her. She takes a small sip.
"I won't say anything, if you won't," she tells him.
"Deal." He grins at her, a grin all of the Weasley's share and she smiles. "Now, you wouldn't have happened to spot Miss Granger perchance?"
Ginny is about to reply, and tease him some more for the small crush she knows her brother has on Miss Granger, nouveau riche, invited to her ball, when suddenly conversations cease, and everyone stares at the people who have just entered.
Ron and Ginny turn to look to and her brother sees the newcomers before her. "What is he doing here?" he growls.
"Someone uninvited?" Ginny asks.
Her brother only glares more and Ginny is conflicted. Maybe, just maybe, it is her Tom. She didn't see any 'Toms' on the guest list, and she doesn't know his social class. But then again, the pure hatred in her brother's eyes, and the tense silence of the room makes her worry.
"Who is it?" she murmurs.
But then, suddenly, the heads of the crowd part slightly and Ginny catches a glance of the stranger.
And it's him. Tom.
Of course it's him.
Her heart fills with elation and she makes a movement to go join him. He came! He actually came! He's real, and she isn't going crazy. Good Lord, she has a bloody soulmate and he's in the same room as her!
Ron catches her arm. "Lord Riddle," he mutters. "Self proclaimed Voldemort."
Ginny freezes. Tom Riddle? It can't be. He's the very man who is leading the country to civil war, his speeches filled with hate and revolution, bringing things back to the glorious old days where only the richest and purest should enjoy everything.
It's the name she's been hearing her parents murmur heinously all the time, the one they don't want her to hear, the reason they don't let her read the papers. A man who's portrait she's never seen before and yet knows what she feels is intimately.
And yet, he's here. And he's her soulmate?"
Completely startled, she drops her champagne flute, which falls to the ground and shatters at her feet. Although it's the only sound in the audience, deafeningly loud, Ginny is deaf to it. Shock courses through her, as well as the terrifyingly dark realisation that deception is.
Her father breaks the silence once more. "You aren't welcome here, Riddle." His voice is colder that she's ever heard it.
Oh, Lord. Everything is going to wrong. Ginny can hardly comprehend what is going on.
"Really?" Tom says, and his voice, usually filled with such smoothness and honey, the voice that she loves, is now sharp and amused. "I was actually invited here, as a matter of fact."
"Who invited you, may I ask?" her father asks, and it's almost like Ginny can predict what is about to happen. It's like her worst nightmare is coming true.
"Why," he pauses. "By your lovely daughter herself."
There's a gasp from the people at her ball and all turn to look at her. Suddenly, Ginny, in her lovely dress, intricate hair-do and carefully applied make-up doesn't feel like the beautiful, confident stranger in the mirror earlier. She feels like the frightened little girl of eleven she was when she went to school for the first time, friendless and alone.
Everything is falling to pieces. Why is Tom doing this? She hasn't even looked at her once yet. Could this really be the man she's been dreaming of for so long?
"Get out," her father orders, trying his best to ignore the previous comment, though already, there is twittering amongst the nobles.
Tom only smiles once more. "Very well. Tell Ginny I look forward to seeing her tonight." And with those loud, ringing words, he swiftly steps out of the ballroom, presumably led to the door.
The message is clear. Of course he is the same she's been meeting up with. Of course she'll see him in her dreams tonight, the way it's been for the last few months.
But the message is also horrible. The people around her don't know she's been dreaming of him, and to them the sentence sounds like… God, she blushes at the thought of it and suddenly, the eyes of everyone around her seem to burn with disgust, pity and fear.
Ginny shrinks into herself. Why has Tom done this? She thought he loved her! Don't soulmates love one another?
But as the tears start to stream down her face and she tries to make her way through the people to get to her room, one thing become clear to her. The disgust, pity and fear isn't only directed at her, but everyone in her family. Her parents, her brothers, her friends.
Horror fills her as she rushes up the stairs. What has he done? What has she done?
Everything has gone horribly and terribly wrong. She's waited for this moment her entire life, and now, it seems like this single determining moment, has ruined both her and her family.
He may or may not be her soulmate, but Ginny starts to curse Tom Riddle's name.
If she thinks it hard enough, she can almost ignore the sound of her shattering.