Cruel Beauty

Rating: PG-13

Summery: Alternate Universe. When Ginny was six years old her parents died and she was left in the care of her mother's beautiful yet cruel sister. She raises Ginny with misguided views on love, will Ginny be able to love or is she too late to save?

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize is not mine

A/N This chapter may be a bit depressing, because I'm in a depressed kind of mood. It has been raining here for almost three days straight! I'm about to flip out; I am not allowed to leave my house! God, just because there is a flood is no reason to lock me inside. Lol, anyone got a boat that I can borrow? I'm not kidding though; we have had so much rain this month that the freaking river has flooded. Ugh, oh well, I'll stop my rant now, but I'm still mad.

*Chapter Warning* I feel as though I should post a warning that this chapter contains some rather vulgar cusswords, if this offends you then don't read the chapter. I don't think that it will really bother any of you but if it does then I'll take them out and e-mail you the clean version upon request.

Chapter Twenty-four

Hotel California

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
to the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave Eagles

I avoided Hermione like the black plague after that. Come to think of it, I avoided everyone. My usual low desire for social interaction became non-existent and I refused to even look at my bed, much less sleep in it. I would never go up to my room out of fear that another message would be waiting for me. When I did sleep I shared a bed with Draco and I didn't care what his roommates or anyone else thought of it; I needed that sense of protection, however false it might have been.

Draco gained a list of questions that he would ask me every night when I came into his room and climbed into his bed. He thought that it had something to do with Velena and I did nothing to discourage his beliefs; I didn't want anyone else to know about my situation.

One morning I awoke from a restless sleep in Draco's bed to find that I was alone. I sat up and saw a piece of parchment lying next to me. My breathing hastened as I picked up the note with a shaky hand.

Virginia,

I went down to breakfast, I didn't want to disturb you since you were finally asleep. Come down when you wake up, I'll save you some food.

Draco

I put a hand over my chest and felt my heart racing, God I was getting so paranoid that I was a borderline mental patient. I had to stop this; I would not allow some invisible stalker scare me. I had no fears and if they wanted to come after me, let them come; I could take on them, Velena, and anyone else who wanted to mess with me.

I went to the Great Hall with a newfound confidence. Once I began to think about it, it was silly that I had almost became afraid of this person. Why it was practically laughable that some wannabe badass had kept me away from my room as well as other people. If they were really so evil they wouldn't have to sneak notes to me, so I really had nothing to worry about, right?

I sat down in the empty spot beside of Draco and he shot me a sour look. I returned it with a confused one as he leaned down and hissed in my ear, "I need to talk to you."

I nodded and put some food on my plate, "after breakfast."

He shook his head and continued to fume at me, "now." I sighed and reluctantly got out of my seat and allowed him to lead me out of the Great Hall, but not before I snatched a muffin from the table.

He refused to speak to me as he led me down deep into the dungeons. Draco stopped in front of a portrait that held an odd resemblance to himself and said, "oscuridad cae." The portrait swung open and permitted entrance. He signaled for me to enter first and he stormed in behind me making sure that the entrance was shut before saying a word.

"You know I found out something very interesting this morning."

I ignored him and looked around the room with interest, "what is this place?"

"Never mind that, I am trying to tell you something important and I would appreciate your attention!"

"Fine, you have it. Now what is it that is so important that you felt the need to forbid me to eat breakfast and drag me all the way down here."

"Anyway, as I was saying I learned some interesting information this morning from Granger of all people. Do you have any idea what she could tell me about you that would make me angry?" Damn it. I should have known that Hermione would tell someone. She probably thought that Draco already knew and she wanted to converse with him about the best route to take with me.

I sighed, "all right, so you know about the notes then."

"Yes Virginia, I know about the notes. Why is it though, that I had to learn about the blood messages through Granger instead of you?" His voice had a dangerous calmness to it and I knew that he was livid; it was best for me to deal with this carefully.

"I didn't want to worry you, I didn't think that they were important or anything. I thought that I could handle it, and I still do."

"Your idea of handling it is ignoring it. Is this why you've been sleeping in my room every night? My God Virginia, how many of these have you received? I want you to tell me everything, now."

"Look Draco, I don't know what you want from me. There isn't anything to tell, I got a few of these notes and they are always placed on my pillow. That's all that I know about it. I tried some spells to see if I could find out who the sender was but they have protection spells on them."

He sat down on a couch and I followed his action, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but I needed someone to be calm for me and I knew that you would freak out if you found out about these; so I didn't tell you."

He turned to me with a desperate look in his eyes, "please don't keep things from me like this again. If someone is after you, then they are after me too. I don't want you to go anywhere alone," I began to protest but he cut me off, "I mean it, I want to be with you at all times. If someone is going to go after you they will wait until you're alone."

I agreed to his circumstances even though I wasn't happy about. I looked around the room again now that our conversation was over, "seriously though, what is this place?"

"Salle du péché."

I quickly translated the French in my head, "you do realize that translates to room of the sinned."

"It's also known as room of the Malfoy, rather fitting don't you think?"

"Your family has a weird sense of humor."

He looked at me and smiled, "where as the Evansoles are known worldwide for their humorous antics." He turned serious after a minute, "this has been my family's private room every sense we started coming to this school, no one else knows about it. You can come here whenever you want and you'll be safe here."

"So is this where you were every time that I couldn't find you?"

"Probably." I looked around the room again and saw many portraits of men with silver hair. It had an eerie feel to it, but I did feel safe. If it was a room that had been inhabited by Malfoys then I could be assured that it had many curses and protection spells on it. They were a paranoid lot.

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I began to sleep in the room of the sinned; in fact I spent all of my free time in there. I even stopped going to classes and I talked Draco into doing the same. It was a temporary escape from reality, one that I needed desperately. Here I didn't have to think about Velena, she did not even have to exist if I didn't want her to. Here there was no psychotic person writing me notes in blood about how we would be together soon. Here, I was free.

I half expected Draco to tell me that I couldn't hide from life and I needed to face things, but he seemed to have no qualms about my cowardly actions. He felt that I was protected here amongst his ancestors and he wanted me to stay.

One afternoon I was sitting with great boredom in the salle du péché waiting for Draco to return with food. I heard the portrait swing open and turned around with a smile, "there you…" My sentence trailed off as I realized that it wasn't Draco that had walked into the room, it was Sally. "What are you doing here Sally? How did you even get in?"

She smiled sweetly and walked towards me, "I saw Draco in the hallway and asked where you had been. He told me that you were in here and he gave me the password to come and see you."

"Oh, all right then." The story sounded a little odd, I didn't think that Draco would just give anyone the password to this room; it took him five years to tell me that it existed.

Sally looked wearily at the portraits in the room, "can we go somewhere else and talk. I really need to speak with you." I looked around the room as well and understood her apprehension to be in the area, the pictures were rather intimidating. I agreed and she led me out of the room with a smile.

We walked up many staircases and ended up on a floor that most people tend to avoid. "Sally, where are we going?"

"You'll see." I kept walking behind her and finally we ended up in a bathroom.

I looked at the restroom, "this is Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, isn't it?" She nodded but didn't face me. "Why are we in here?" She ignored me and walked towards the sink with a mission in mind. She began to hiss at the spot above the facet and I only grew more confused, I didn't know that she was a parseltounge.

It then opened up into a big hole and I gasped, "Sally what is going on? I think that we should leave." I attempted to grab her arm but she overpowered me and flipped me down into the hole. I fell for what seemed to be a long ways before landing roughly on a pile of what appeared to be junk. After a minute Sally landed next to me but she quickly got up and began to walk through the darkness. I pulled out my wand and followed her.

I had to jog just to keep up and we ended up in a strange room that looked like something from ancient times. She walked to the center of the room and collapsed. I ran to help her but when I got there a bizarre smoke rose from her and took the shape of a person.

"Hello Virginia, I've been looking forward to meeting you." The smokey figure grew clearer and less transparent as Sally grew pale and skeletal.

"Who or what are you?"

The ghostly form continued to look more human as he took on the shape of a rather handsome teenage boy. "I'm sorry, I forgot that introductions are needed, I am Tom Riddle."

"What the hell did you do to Sally?" I demanded with my wand pointing at him.

He smiled and looked at the little girl, "I did not do anything that Sally did not give me permission to do." He turned back to me and looked at my wand, "would you mind putting that away? It is rather rude to carry on a conversation with someone when your wand is pointing straight at them."

"I don't think so." He continued to smile and began taking steps towards me. I held my wand steady and tried to remember the new curses that I had read about in the library, "take one more step and I swear that I will curse you."

He laughed lightly, "ah Virginia, don't you know who I am?"

"I don't give a flying fuck who you are."

His eyes narrowed, "watch your language Virginia, you don't know who you are messing with."

"Yeah? Well you don't know who your fucking with," I said with defiance. If he didn't want me to cuss, then I would only do it more.

"All right, be stubborn. But once you know who I am, I doubt that you will feel that way."

"Fine, who are you, besides some child molester that possessed an innocent girl."

"My full name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"And how is that supposed to change the way that I feel about you." My eyes itched to look around the room for an escape but I knew better than to look away from my enemy.

"Come now Virginia, I know that you are more intelligent than that. I'll even give you a hint, I am the heir of Slytherin." He gave me a patronizing look, "I am…"

Tom Marvolo Riddle. The words drifted through my head as the puzzle fit together. "Lord Voldemort." I finished slowly for him.

He looked delighted, "good girl."

I looked at him skeptically, "that's impossible though, Voldemort is dead."

Tom began to look angry, "yes, so I heard. But I am the past, I am his sixteen year old memory, and," he looked at his body and touched his arm, "I am feeling very alive; thanks to our dear Sally over here that is."

I looked back at Sally and saw death beginning to overcome her, "what do you mean, what did you do to her?"

He smiled and picked up a black book, "my diary," he mused. I had seen Sally with that book, she was constantly writing in it when she thought that no one was looking, but I had thought that it was just her diary; a normal diary.

"You possessed her through it." I said with a certain amount of disbelief.

"You know I was told that you were quick, but I didn't really believe it. Better for me though, I did hope that you would be smart; it works out better for us that way."

"What do you mean better for us, I'm not doing anything…it was you!"

He shook his finger in a disapproving manner and made a tsking noise, "you should really finish one statement before you make another Virginia."


I ignored him as the thoughts began to come together in my mind, "it was you that sent me those notes, wasn't it? You possessed Sally and made her write them and leave them for me."

"Very good. Now that you have that figured out I presume you know why I brought you here." It didn't make sense to me though, why would he want us to be together? How did he even know who I was?

But you never let your opponent know when you do not comprehend something, "yes," I began to say, but I suddenly didn't care about the rules of engagement, "actually no, I don't understand. How do you know who I am and why do you want us to 'be together'?"

He shrugged, "I want us to work together because it was prophesized that we would be great together. As for the information I gained on you, well again you can thank Sally for that." I must have looked confused because he cleared his throat and began to mimic in a high-pitched voice, "oh Tom, why doesn't Virginia like me? She's so beautiful and did I tell you Tom, she's an Evansole; they are very powerful you know. She has the prettiest red hair and she has the coolest attitude Tom! It's as though she is made of ice or something."

He rolled his eyes and I glared at him, "that doesn't explain anything."

He looked bored, "honestly don't they teach you anything useful here anymore, have you not read the prophecy?"

"I don't give a damn about prophecies and I will not do anything to help you."

He smiled and shook his head, "that is not really up to you. You have already been promised to me and I will take what is mine."

"Promised to you? What, you want me to be your evil queen or something?"

"No, it would be more of a partnership or sorts. We would rule together but not in a lovers sort of way." He looked thoughtful for a moment before walking towards me and running his finger down my face, "of course if you wanted to be my queen, that could be arranged, you are very pretty after all."

I jerked my head away as if his touch had burned me. "You know I always figured that if I ruled the world it would be a solo act so I'm going to have to decline."

He sighed and paced around the room. After a few minutes his face brightened as he was struck with an idea. He drew his wand and conjured up a chessboard. "Chess," he mused, "mimics life. We are but kings and pawns in this world, which will you choose to be?" With a flick of his wand the chessboard disappeared and he walked over to Sally, picking up the diary that lie beside her, "can't forget this." I said nothing as he walked to the area where I had come in, "I'll give you a few days to think things over, but don't get it confused, you have no choice in this." He walked out the door but called over his shoulder, "I'll be seeing you Virginia."

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A/N All right, I hope that no one is too lost. I'll summarize some of the things for you, okay Draco left Virginia alone in that room, Sally came in and took Virginia to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom where Sally forced her into the Chamber of Secrets. Then it turned out that Sally was possessed by Tom Riddle who appeared and said something about a prophecy and Virginia being promised to him. That is pretty much all that I can clear up right now, but you aren't supposed to know or understand some things until the next chapter where I promise will hold the explanations that you are looking for. Please review with questions though, so I can make sure to explain certain things more in detail.

Also I guess that there are no questions left about whether Tom or Voldemort would be in the story. I wanted to thank everyone who took their time to vote and give me suggestions on the subject. I know that a lot of you wanted something different than the diary for Tom Riddle but that was all that I could think of. But the whole Chamber of Secrets killer snake thing never happened so hopefully that's original enough. Also five brownie points to frananddragon for guessing that Tom Riddle was behind the letters!

Cactuskitty- Thank you for saying that Draco is in character, I really appreciate it! Also I'm so glad that you got where I was going with the whole slap thing; Velena is feeling threatened by the fact the Virginia is not afraid of her anymore. Thanks for reviewing and I hope that this was enough info about the notes to tide you over till the next chapter!

Caffeine- No problem about the chapter dedication and Blaise is coming up soon. Thanks for the suggestions about what to do with him, I really appreciate it! I have a rough idea of how he is going to be though, so hopefully you'll like him! And now you know what happened to Sally, she didn't get eaten by the Giant Squid, lol! Thanks for all of your ideas on what's up with Sally and who's child she might secretly be, some of those were pretty humorous! Thanks for reviewing!

Eclipse- So were your suspicions right about who wrote the notes? Thanks for wishing me luck on the ACTs, I hope that I got a good score because you're right, that's a lot of what colleges look at. So the SATs suck too? I hope that you did good and thanks for reviewing!

BlackMage- Well of course I was right about Hermione, I am always right about everything. Just kidding, I'm weird, pay no attention to me, lol! And sense I am literally trapped in the house right now writing is pretty much all that I ever do, lol! But maybe if I get some reviews I'll be less depressed. Wow, that was not even a subtle hint, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Fallen Angel of Darkness- Sorry about all of your school stuff, teachers are mean towards the end of the year. I read chapter nine of your story but I didn't have time to review; but I promise that I will! It was good by the way. Thanks for the links to the TR pictures, I checked some of them out, and they were really good! And speaking of Cassandra Claire, she updated her story you know. I just got done reading chapter 13 and I'm not really sure how she got so popular. Just word of mouth I guess, like you said. Thanks for reviewing and I hope that you got your project done!

RonandHerm4eva- I'm not sure how Velena could kill her own sister, she's just evil I guess. You're welcome for all the updates, but believe me; I don't have anything else to do! That should change in a couple of hours though. Thank God that one of my friends is going to come and kidnap me from my house. (Don't tell my parents though, lol!) Thanks for reviewing as well as for saying that this is your favorite fic, I really appreciate it!

Ace of Spades- Lol, I was just a little bit upset with those damn testing people last chapter, wasn't I? And now I'm mad at the weather, I haven't been in very good moods lately. Oh well. Sorry that you got kind of crept out by the blood notes thing, but I figured that since the messages in the book were written in (chicken's?) blood that these would be too. Thanks for reviewing and update your story soon!

Mixed- The stories getting scary? I hope that the whole blood thing wasn't too Stephen King for you, lol! That parts done though. I'm glad that you like overprotective Draco and I'll tell you what, you can have him when I'm not using him to write, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

S.e.a- Thanks for the reviews and sorry that you got deprived of the internet, that happens to me a lot too. Hermione will start her role in the story next chapter, but I can't tell you what it is yet! I'm glad that you liked the notes and I hope that you liked this chapter!

fantasy angel- Well, now you know who sent the letters, were you surprised? In the books Ginny uses chicken blood I think to write her messages. But I'm not going to really specify if it was human blood or not, everyone can just decide for themselves. Thanks for reviewing!

Kinky Kiwi- Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you're enjoying the story! I'm American myself so I'm not really sure what's up with British slang either, lol! I know some of it and I try to use it since the story is supposed to be in London or wherever but I don't declare myself an expert or anything like that. I put what Virginia was supposed to be saying to Hermione at the top of chapter twenty-two, but if that's messing up for you just let me know and I'll e-mail it or something to you.

k00lgirl1808- Okay, so now you know who was behind the letters. Were you surprised? Hopefully, because I was going for that effect. Thanks for reviewing!

Kryptonite- You're right about Velena wanting to do something that would leave more of an impression. But I was trying to go for the whole her losing grip thing, she's losing the control that she once had and she's going a little off her rocker. Not that she wasn't off of it before, lol! Thanks for pointing that out and thanks for reviewing! Remus returns in the next chapter!

Marchione- I'm glad that your exams are done, I hope that you did well! You're right about whoever wrote the letters being psychotic; but come one, it was Tom Riddle, do you expect any less? Thanks for reviewing!

Frananddragon- Hey, we actually don't live that far from each other! I live in northern Ohio and most places in the US have the legal drinking age at 21. Our federal government sucks, you can fight a war at 18 but you can't drink. Good job on finding out that it was Tom behind the blood letters and don't worry, Lucius will be getting more evil soon. I know what you mean on the books, I see Harry/Ginny coming too. I write some of that but I'm more of a D/G shipper myself. Thanks for reviewing and have fun at your prom! You guys have yours late though, we had ours at the beginning of May.

Emily22- I get what you're saying about Ginny. I hate that she is always the weak little girl that needs to saved too. Damsels in distress, ugh, gag me with a spoon! Don't worry though, she will be taking down Riddle herself in this story; too bad that I can't promise the same for the regular books. Thanks for reviewing!

Lyss- I'm glad that you like the protectiveness that has entered the story. I'm big on psychology so I always try and insert things like showing how the two care for each other unconsciously. Notice that they never voice how they feel about each other but their actions show it. Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you agree with me on Velena.

doormat-wit-attitude- She doesn't tell Dumbledore because Virginia doesn't really trust people easily. She's never really talked to the man so she doesn't feel comfortable telling him that someone is stalking her; she thinks that she can handle it. Of course she can't, but I never claimed that she was smart, lol! I'm glad that you are enjoying the story as well as all the suspense! Thanks for reviewing!

Malkavian Kirie Croiff- Wow, so you should be able to translate really well then! The password for Draco's room was in Spanish, it was supposed to be Darkness Falls (oscuridad cae) did I get it right? I just watched the movie last night so I decided to just put the title in another language and use it as a password, lol! Thanks for reviewing and I'll check out the lyrics to that song, maybe I can use it at the beginning of a chapter!

Nalia- Don't worry about not reviewing, I understand about your computer being broke! I'll be telling the big Evansole secret probably in the next chapter so you won't have to wait too long! Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that my Spanish wasn't too horrible!

Zainab- Don't bang your head against a wall! You might put dents in the poor wall! Lol, I'm just kidding. For real though, don't worry about not reviewing last time, I kind of added the two chapters about the same time so I didn't give people a lot of time to find 22. Thank you for reviewing this time though!

Writing*-*Wonder- Aw, you might be writing an AU fic? I'm touched that I inspired you to write something like that, it makes me happy! I'll be sure to check out your stories as soon as I can, I'm sure that they're really good! The karaoke one sounds funny too! And don't worry about not knowing who the note was from, only one person got it right. Thanks for reviewing!