Thanks to the Reviewers: And here we go: Professor Weasley (Yes, I know it has a Phantom Shadows feel to it. I think this story is going to end up what I wanted that to be, but more deeper), Chocolate Muse (possible foreshadowing. ^_^ I'm toying with a rather interesting idea at the moment), Falco, Midnight, Vera Priscaleth (Oh, shivers? Really? I feel very honoured to have given someone shivers from my writing), Wednesday Blue, Kim The Manipaltive Little Mo, Kitsuneko, gooshiplollypop, One of Grace, darthmorgana, backtalons, Kiyoko, Catt. And if there's any questions about this fic you'd like to know the answers to, feel free to ask and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.
Friendly Neighbourhood Disclaimer: Characters not mine, plot is, I need my money for AnimeNorth, so please make with the lack of suing.
Chapter Notes: I think I've figured out why I like writing about Tom & Ginny so much. They don't really have set "character" traits so I can manipulate them for my means. :D Yay. Lesse, what do we have this chapter? Hmm . . . flashback-y type stuff, Diagon Alley, Lucius Malfoy's obligatory appearance, scary skulls in the sky, mass mayhem and of course, our favourite heroine and somewhat-villian. Now, read on, Macduff!
Sometimes I feel I've got to
run away, I've got to get away
From the pain that you drive
into the heart of me
The love we share seems to
go nowhere - I've lost my lights
I toss and turn, I can't sleep
at night.
~ Tainted Love, Soft
Cell
The red cuts were an insult to the whiteness of the pale skin of his torso. A blank expression stared back from the mirror. Blue eyes the colour of the ocean during a storm, which gave off the air of innocence. But his blue eyes weren't focused upon the reflection of his face. No, they were looking at the reflection of the angry looking cuts.
"What happened to you, luv?" the mirror asked curiously.
"Duelling accident." Tom replied softly, watching as blood still continued to seep from the cuts. The red liquid was running in small rivulets from their origin. Blood always seemed to seep from them, even hours after they were made. These cuts were made right over the fading scars of the other ones. Twin cuts, placed just below his ribcage. They were shallow cuts and no more than two inches wide. The knife they had been made with lay on the desk, its shining blade clean.
Not for the first time, Tom was glad that Prefects received their own rooms. After all, he didn't really think that practising the Dark Arts would really go over well in a dormitory room. He took his wand out of his pocket, still staring in the mirror, "medicor." A simple healing spell couldn't completely heal the cuts - healing spells never worked really well on inscisions made for magickal usage. "Ferula," however, a quick bandaging spell took care of what the healing spell couldn't accomplish. A long loop of gauze erupted from the end of his wand and encircled his torso several times, covering the cuts. He placed his wand on his bedside table and picked up his shirt. He buttoned it up slowly, trying not to wince as the cuts expanded and contracted with his movements. If he slipped up and winced outside of his room, there would be questions asked. Normally, he would attribute it to a Quidditch injury, but as Slytherin hadn't had a Quidditch match in weeks, that excuse had gone out the window.
Sitting beside his wand on the bedside table was a small black book. There was nothing spectacular about it, really. Tom had bought it at a store on Vauxhall Road prior to beginning his first year, intending to keep a thorough record of everything that happened to him. And a thorough record he had kept. Five years of classes, scribbles in the margins, random notes on interesting-looking spells and research on less than savoury things filled the pages.
However, if someone were to pick it up tomorrow, the words would not be there. Tom reached into the drawer of the bedside table and drew out an ink bottle filled with a red liquid.
"What are you doing, dear?" the mirror asked, curiosity being quite imbued in its nature. Tom looked at the mirror and crossed over to it. Swiftly, he took it off of the wall and placed it in his trunk. The mirror's next question was quite muffled as he closed the trunk. It wasn't important anyway. He placed the ink bottle on the small table and opened it. Next, he dipped the nib of a quill into it and then opened the diary to the last page, which was the only clean one in the book. He began to write.
The liquid in the ink bottle was his own blood, which now formed the words on the page. Blood magick was some of the most powerful magick that existed and Tom was taking full advantage of that fact. It was often said that the smell that some of the most powerful castings left behind was the smell of blood. And he could definitely feel that the words written in blood held power.
Tom picked up his wand and pressed the tip to the page in the diary. The blood was still wet and gleaming - it hadn't soaked into the page yet. "Vivo vixi victum," he whispered and a soft glow emanated from the tip of his wand. The glow grew even as he drew his wand back. Soon, the entire diary was glowing with a soft light. Tom watched, oddly fascinated. Quite suddenly, the light grew brighter and brighter until it suddenly flickered out completely. When the light vanished, there were no words left on the page. The blood had vanished.
Seized by a sense of euphoria, Tom grabbed the diary and flipped through it frantically. Everything on the pages was blank, not a word anywhere in the book. He set the oddly warm book back down on his bedside table.
A slow, eerie smile spread
across his face in triumph.
The roses had been removed from their perch upon her dresser. To appease her mother, Ginny had explained that the charm on them was wearing off and they were fading. It was a plausible story and the roses were now beneath the soil in the garden, decomposing and nurturing it.
It was now two weeks after Percy and Penelope's wedding. The couple was away in France, finally taking their honeymoon. After the hubbub of the wedding, the Burrow seemed unnaturally quiet. Well, as quiet as the Burrow could get. It was almost lonely without Percy. Ginny reflected on this thought. Out of all her brothers, Percy had seemed the one closest to her - even more so than Ron. Probably because he had actually wanted to spend time with her. Charlie and Bill had been best friends, even when they went away to Hogwarts. Naturally, the twin spent all their time together, being twins. And Ron had gone with them, because they were boys and Ginny was just a girl, not a suitable playmate for a boy. That had left Percy. He had been the outsider in his own family for awhile and when Ginny had been born, he took it upon his responsibility to look after her.
A random glance at the clock told Ginny that any given moment, her mother might call her downstairs, because today they were going school shopping. Ginny needed some new robes and the new textbook needed for this year. She didn't need The Standard Book of Spells - Grade Five, because she could use Ron's from last year.
"Gin, we're leaving now!" And there came the predicted yell from downstairs. Only, it had been Ron who had shouted it, not her mother. "You better hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" Ginny called back downstairs as she hurriedly got changed into something more suitable than a snitch and broomstick print nightgown. Of course, in trying to pull on a sock, do the buttons up on her shirt and brush her hair all at the same time, she had made a mistake. And the mistake ended up causing her to fall down and bump her shoulder off of the corner of her dresser. Rather hard, too.
"Damn!" she hissed, clutching the injured limb.
"Ginny!"
"I said, I'll be there in a minute!" Ginny yelled back, attempting to massage the pain out of her shoulder. It wasn't working too well. At least if she got a bruise, the sleeves of her shirt would cover it and not cause any embarrassing questions to be asked.
"Come on, come on," Molly Weasley said as Ginny entered the living room, hopping on one foot as she finished tying her shoe. As soon as she was done with that task, a handful of Floo powder was shoved into her hand. "Hurry up, Ron and the others have already gone on ahead."
"Diagon Alley," Ginny called as she chucked the handful of powder into the already burning fire. The flames roared green and she felt the familiar twinge of apprehension as she stepped into the fireplace. Something about travelling by Floo powder always made her feel uneasy. Oh, right, Ginny though as she was spun around and sent hurtling through the Floo network. It's because the journey is nauseating.
Thankfully, before the nausea had fully set in, she was suddenly shot out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny scrambled out of the way quickly, so that she wouldn't be knocked over as her mother came through.
"Flourish and Blotts," Hermione was saying to Ron, a rather ticked off expression gracing her face.
"Quality Quidditch Supplies." Ron shot back, folding his arms. "Tell her Harry. It's better to go to the Quidditch shop first. Supplies sell out very quickly." Harry just shifted uncomfortably.
"Uhh . . ." The Boy Who Lived said, trying to make his one syllable answer sound neutral. "Oh, look, they have new drinks." With a hasty exit from the argument, Harry walked over to look at the menu which hung on the wall.
Instantly, the two Gryffindors resumed their argument.
"As do books," Hermione retorted to Ron's previous comment, her eyes darkening. Even though she was almost a full head shorter than him, she still could beat Ron at some things. Verbal arguing was usually one of them.
Ginny shook her head as the argument continued. It was the same one as last year, the traditional decision of which shop to go into first. Although Ginny didn't really have any say in it. Because of the fact that Ron, Harry and Hermione were older than she was, her mother thought it was safe for the three of them to go shopping together. Of course, since Ginny was the youngest Weasley child, she was assured an escort from her mother around Diagon Alley on school shopping days. At this, said youngest Weasley child sighed and finished brushing the soot off of her clothing. Of course, while she was doing so, she was also turning around to glance at the fireplace.
"Do watch where you're going, Miss Weasley." A sneer was audible in the quite recognizable voice. Of course, the last time Ginny had heard this voice had been around two years ago, a the Quidditch World Cup.
"I'm afraid that I don't have eyes in the back of my head, Mr Malfoy." Ginny said, turning around. She kept her expression and voice as innocent as possible. "So it would be quite impossible for me to watch where I am going when I am walking backwards."
"So you are not quite witless, after all," a slight raise of an eyebrow was the only change in Malfoy Senior's expression.
"Great, it's Malfoy," Ginny heard her older brother mutter sarcastically under his breath as he spotted the younger Malfoy as well.
"I have something you need, Miss Weasley," Ginny jumped slightly at the sudden touch to her elbow and the fact that Lucius Malfoy's voice came somewhere very near to her ear.
"Haven't got kicked out of Hogwarts yet, Potter?" Draco sounded rather disappointed as tried to instigate some sort of confrontation with Harry.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Malfoy," Ginny said slowly, stepping forward. As she did so, Lucius's light touch on her elbow changed to a tight grip.
"I'm sure you do," Lucius said with a smile that had undertones of darkness. As Ginny turned to look him face on, he let go of her elbow and his hand disappeared into the folds of his robes. When it emerged, a black book was held in the pale, manicured hand.
Ginny backed away. "Um, no. Definitely not."
"Why not?" Lucius's smile grew slightly wider and more chilling. "I was under the impression that - "
"Come on, Ginny." Ron was grabbing onto her arm and pulling her away. "Don't talk to him."
Ginny allowed herself to be led away from the elder Malfoy, to where her mother (recently arrived from the Floo network), Harry and Hermione were. She glanced back only once as they stepped into Diagon Alley and saw Lucius still holding the diary.
"Flourish and Blotts."
"Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Obviously, the argument between Ron and Hermione had not been solved yet. Even as the trio of sixth years wandered off, the first place they would go was still undecided.
"Molly? Molly, is that you?" Turning, both the mother and daughter Weasleys saw a woman hurrying toward them. She had dark brown hair and eyes, which were gleaming with excitement, which was matched by the expression on her face.
"Anenome?" Molly looked rather shocked. "I thought you were in New York."
"I was, but I've come back to good old England for a visit," the woman - Anenome - said. As she talked, Ginny noticed that there was a slight Scottish tinge to her American accent. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Quite a few years, it must be," Molly agreed.
"And who is this lovely young girl?" Anenome turned to Ginny, who stiffened slightly at being called a "young girl".
"This is my daughter, Ginny," Molly smiled. "Ginny, this is Anenome Moon, one of my old school friends."
"Nice to meet you," Ginny smiled slightly and shook the woman's hand. She then turned to her mother, "what about my school supplies?"
Molly looked slightly torn. She reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of Galleons. "Here, Ginny. You're old enough to buy your own things. Run and catch up with Ron and the others."
Ginny was quite surprised, to say the least. However, she did the smart thing. Which was accepting the money and hurrying off in the direction that her brother and his friends had left in earlier.
The size of the crowd in Diagon Alley was no different than the usual one. People walked in different directions, some ducking into stores, some coming out of stores with their purchases, to join the crowd. Ginny squeezed past a group of people and entered Flourish and Blotts. She stood by the entrance and looked around, trying to spot either the familiar red, brown or black hair.
"Guess they went to Quality Quidditch Supplies first, instead," she muttered and walked back out into the crowd. There was a shortcut to the Quidditch supply store near Flourish and Blotts. It involved one of the alleyways, but Ginny wasn't exactly sure which one. Of course, the old nursery rhyme of "eenie meenie minie mo" could possibly help her at that point.
With a rather confused air, she stood at an intersection of alleyways for a moment, before deciding to take the left one. As Ginny walked along, she noticed that it was getting dimmer. She stopped and rubbed her eyes. Do I need glasses now? Ginny thought absently as she blinked. No, the light of day was still fading.
She turned around to look at the other shoppers, to see if it was just her that was experiencing this loss of light. But no, the others around her looked confused and a mumble of increasingly bewildered chatter was streaming from their mouths. Ginny blinked and placed a hand on the wall near her. After all, with the constantly dimming light, it would help her not to crash into anything.
"Is it an eclipse?"
"The Daily Prophet didn't say anything about one." That was what the pair closest to her were saying as the sky finished fading. It was now so dark that Ginny couldn't even see her own hand less than two feet in front of her face.
However, the brilliant green skull that lit up the sky was easily visible to everyone. Ginny stumbled backward, her brain failing to function for a moment. In that moment, a terrified hush fell upon the crowd in Diagon Alley. It was as if time had stopped. However, the silence and the feeling of absolute stillness was shattered in an instant.
"Avada Kedavra!" It was a chorus of voices and the crowd panicked as the bolts of green light flew through the crowd, killing the first person they hit. Horrified, Ginny watched as one of the curses hit a person five feet from her. The fight or flight mechanism was taking effect in her brain.
She turned and fled down the alleyway, away from the chaos in Diagon Alley. She turned the first corner she came to, not knowing where she was heading in the darkness. Panic was clouding her mind and impairing her judgement.
However, her fleeing came to an abrupt halt as she crashed rather painfully into a wall. Ginny fell to the ground, injuring her tailbone. She sat there for a moment, before getting back up. Now that her eyes were somewhat adjusted to the unnatural darkness, she could make out the faint out lines of certain things. Such as the door in the wall she had bumped into. Without thinking, she climbed to her feet and twisted the handle on the door. Locked.
However that was easily remedied. "Alohomora!"
The door swung open easily now and Ginny stepped inside the building. She didn't know what it was, but it was probably much safer to be inside a building than be out in Diagon Alley. However, now the blind panic that had taken over was beginning to abate.
"Mum," she whispered, sinking to the floor. Her mother was out there. And so was Ron. So were Harry and Hermione. Ginny's eyes widened and filled with tears. Maybe there was another entrance to this place, near Diagon Alley? Maybe she could somehow see them?
"Oh, Gods, what if they're dead?" Ginny whispered, her voice sounding incredibly tiny in the dark room she was in. I've got to do something, she thought desperately. Slowly, she got to her feet, keeping her wand clutched in her hand. She had the feeling that her knuckles would be white if she could see them. "Lumos," she whispered and a beam of light streamed from the edge of her wand.
She walked forward, keeping the trail of light in front of her. The way the floor of the building she was in was laid out, it seemed to be some sort of a house, instead of a store. The Leaky Cauldron? Ginny wondered, no, it's on the other end of the street. She wondered if her mother was in there, having tea with her friend or something.
There was a window in the next room; she could see it through the doorway from the room she was in. "Nox." With that command, the light from the end of her wand vanished. Quietly, in the darkness, Ginny crept forward. She could see beams of vivid green light being shot across the street. Death Eaters. Ginny shivered. She knew she was lucky to have got away when she did.
"But what about the people who weren't able to get away?" She found herself whispering out loud.
"What about them, indeed?"
The voice nearly caused her to have a heart attack.
"L-Lumos," Ginny's voice was shaky as she intoned the spell. Slowly she turned around, not really wanting to see who was in the room with her. However, she had to know. She gulped audibly when she saw who it was. And it was just who she thought it was going to be, too. Which made the situation a whole lot worse.
Tom Riddle sat in a chair, his feet propped up on a table. He held a small black book in his right hand and a quill in his right. Slowly, he closed the black book - the diary, Ginny dazedly corrected herself - and placed it in a pocket in his midnight-hued robes.
"Why, hello, love."
Tom's smile was slow and sinisterly
eerie.