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 First of all I just wanted to thank all of you so much for the positive feedback last chapter, I was really nervous about just basically changing the story route. But I couldn't have you guys being able to see the plot from a mile away, lol! Most of you seem to be right on track but for those of you who are confused, don't worry this chapter should clear up some things and there will be some action in this chapter as well for all of you who have been getting bored and impatient. Also I was going to put a scene in this chapter but I didn't really feel like it because it didn't fit but Lucius was using the Polyjuice Potion and he was pretending to be Remus Lupin. He was only Remus for that particular day though, the rest of the time it has been the real Remus, sorry for any confusion!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hate Me Now

It's been a long time, been a long time comin
Looks like the death of me now
But you know, there's no turning back now
This is what makes me - this is what I am Nas

The words no and Evansole kept running through my mind as my newly stretched legs gave out in surprise and I ended up on the floor.

"Virginia do get off the ground it does nothing to improve my already low expectations of you."

I sat on the floor in defiance as my aunt entered the room. "Hello dear aunt of mine, fancy seeing you here. You know you always do pick the most opportune times to enter a room, I just thought that you might want to know that it turns out that Tom here is related to us; now there's a plot twist no one saw coming."

She continued to look at my position on the floor in disgust, "I am well aware of that fact Virginia. You should be proud to have such a great wizard as a member of our family."

"Please, could you suck up to him anymore? My God, you are like his little lap dog or something." She took a step towards me and I raised myself to my feet, "what, planning to hit me again?"

She made the usual hollow noise that came out of her mouth when she wanted to laugh, "you always were quite the naïve one Virginia. You honestly believe that I would have lost control like that? Don't get me wrong, I did rather enjoy our argument but did you really think that it was real?"

I looked from her smirking face to Tom's matching one and felt my temper rising through my veins. I grabbed a hold of Velena's robes and pulled her threateningly close to my face, "I am sick of being told that I am foolish and naïve, you will explain what the hell you meant by that or I swear that I will take out nine years of pent up anger on you."

She stopped smirking and tried to push me away, "have it your way then Virginia. Do you think that Lucius would have been dense enough to leave the door to his study open while I was there? You were meant to here that conversation and I was supposed to get angry, although the slap was through a bit of improvising on my part, it was something that I had been longing to do ever since you were foolish enough to go to the Weasley's."

I opened my mouth to respond but the only thing that I could think of was that my head hurt. Why did I have to be a part of these plans? I let go of Velena and walked aimlessly away from her. I ended up close to Tom and I saw him looking at me expectantly.

"Are you all right Virginia? You look ill." The future dark lord asked me without any real concern in his voice.

"Yes, I am quite fine. I'm absolutely lovely in fact. I could not be happier that I now have two deeply twisted and psychotic people in my family-" I turned to Tom, "how the hell am I related to you anyway?" I didn't wait for a response, "and it is just wonderful to find out that everything that has been going on in my life for the past few months has been completely FAKE!"

Neither of them said a word for a few minutes, they simply watched in shock as I lost my composure. After the initial shock wore off Tom merely looked amused, "there is no need to throw a temper tantrum Virginia. If you want questions answered all you have to do is ask, we have no reason to lie to you. My mother relates me to you, of course. She was an Evansole."

"She was my mother's sister," Velena finished. "Now if you are quite finished Virginia-"

I cut her off, "I am not finished." I looked at Tom once again, "You said a moment ago that any questions that I had would be answered if I asked, as an Evansole I know that you would not go back on your word so I have a few questions for you."

"Go on then," he said.

"I want to know what the prophecy says. Everyone is so interested in it and what it entails, so being that it is about me I think that I deserve to at least know what it is."

Velena began to protest but Tom held up a hand to silence her, "very well Virginia, you may read the prophecy for yourself." He snapped his fingers together and a parchment appeared in his hand. He walked over to me and gave the prophecy to me, "here you are, we'll leave you alone so you can make of it what you please."

Tom led Velena reluctantly out of the room and I was left alone with the thing that could answer so many questions for me. I took several deep breaths and debated not even looking at the prophecy; if it made my aunt happy then it could only be bad. Finally I mustered up my courage and flipped the parchment over so I could read the thing that had set so many tragic events in motion.

The seventh child of the seventh son,

The second true determiner of how the war will be won.

Daughter of dark turned light

Daughter of she with the sight.

Child of evil, child of good

Child of all things becoming the way they should.

Her future is wavering, be forewarned

Her life will be one that is scorned.

I dropped the prophecy and sat down in the chair that had been previously occupied by Tom. This didn't answer anything, it only raised more questions. I heard the door open but I didn't bother to turn around. "Go away Velena."

"If I were Velena that might be of some interest to me."

I took a moment to place the voice before rephrasing the statement, "go away Blaise."

"Ah, much better. Why are you so moody? I see that you got the shield taken off of your bed so I would say that you should be in a jolly good disposition." I heard footsteps coming towards me but I still couldn't bring myself to care. Blaise faltered for a moment before continuing his journey towards me and waited until he was right in front of me to set the parchment in my lap, "I see that you have read the prophecy then."

I finally looked at him before nodding silently. He took a deep breath before continuing, "why are you so upset about it? This prophecy should make you happy, your life is still up for grabs, you don't have to be evil and you don't have to be good, you get to choose."

"Gee, lucky me." I said dryly.

"You know I don't get you, most people would be thrilled if they heard a prophecy saying that they got to determine how the war between dark and light would be won and you're here sulking about it."

"Okay, first of all I do not sulk and second of all why should I be happy about this? All I want is to be normal and being a savior for the light or leader for the dark does not qualify as normal."

He looked as though I had just told him that the earth was flat. "You want to be normal?" He repeated slowly stressing each word.

"Yes," I hissed. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"I suppose I just never thought about it that way. I mean at school you're like the ice queen of Slytherin and going out with Draco Malfoy doesn't help with the whole shunned from the public thing you seem to be going for."

I looked away from his gaze as I found that it was making me uncomfortable. "Yeah well I didn't exactly choose those things. I had to be cold if I had any chance of surviving and Draco…Draco just kind of happened, I didn't plan for that."

He sat down on the bed and looked at me for a moment before responding, "I can respect that, doing what you have to do to survive; I can also relate." He leaned down towards me and lowered his voice to a whisper, "I don't normal pledge loyalties as it is a sign of weakness but I must say that I do hope that you prevail over these fools."

And with a smile and a nod we reached an understanding with each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So tell me Virginia, what did you think of our beloved prophecy?"

I turned to face Tom with resentment in my eyes, "I thought that it was complete bullshit, but thanks ever so much for sharing it with me."

He shook a finger at me, "language Virginia, it is so unladylike to swear."

I glared and mumbled "damn forties mechanism," under my breath. He raised his eyebrows at me and I smiled sweetly once I was sure that he hadn't heard me. "So tell me Voldemort, how are you so sure that this prophecy is even about me? For all that you know you could have the wrong girl here."

"I don't have the wrong girl," he said smugly. "It is about you, but if you are confused I could have Velena explain things to you. I'm sure that she would more than happy to set things straight for you."

I glared at his confident face; he was under the impression that I didn't want to see my aunt. I didn't, but it wasn't as though I was afraid of her or something, I just didn't like her. "That sounds wonderful, why don't you send her in here."

His face fell as I called his bluff but he quickly regained composure, "of course, I'll send for her right now then." He left the room and I waited for a few minutes before Velena entered alone.

"Where's your fearless leader?" I called out to her.

She smiled at me, "if you wish to continue living Virginia I suggest that you stop speaking to me in that manner."

I rolled my eyes, "your threats have really gone downhill, you used to be more creative then having to resort to the common death threat."

Her fake smile was replaced with a scowl as she came closer to me, "what did you want Virginia?"

A look of surprise came on my face, "what, no comeback? You know everyone around here really needs to find a sense of humor." I saw her anger continuing to rise as she reached for her wand; maybe it wasn't the best idea to provoke her. "I wanted to discuss the prophecy with you, how are you so sure that the girl described in it is me?"

She sighed impatiently as she stood in front of me. "The seventh child of the seventh son, Weasley was the seventh son, you were his seventh child. Daughter of dark turned light and she with the sight, Molly," she scowled as she said the name, "turned good and she was a diviner. Need any more proof?"

"My mother was a diviner?"

"I just said that didn't I?" Velena gave me one final glare before stalking out of the room. I had no choice but to accept the prophecy now, but the news of my mother having the sight certainly made things interesting. Comprehension came upon me as I remembered the day that I had so often blocked out. Before my parents were murdered my mother had sent me into the house, she had known that they were coming.

I held my head as all the repressed memories from the fatal day came rushing back to me. I remembered lying under my bed for hours waiting for my parents to come and rescue me, but they never came. I remembered the ministry workers who made attempted to make an effort that showed that they cared, I remembered my brothers crying, I remembered…I remembered Velena.

Why had she come to get me that day? She was the one that killed my mother, I heard her confess with my own ears, so why did she leave and then come back? I was disturbed from my thoughts as the door opened once more.

"Is everything clear now Virginia?" Tom asked with his usual indifferent voice.

"Crystal." I responded with the same amount of carelessness. I got up from my seat so we could be eye level, "why did you say that it was prophesized that we would rule together, that prophecy said that my future was unclear."

"That was made many years ago Virginia. You are an Evansole, I think that it is quite obvious which way you will choose."

I gave him a look of incredulity, "well then it's too bad for you that I'm a Weasley."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't believe that you told him that you were a Weasley."

I groaned and made a pathetic attempt to roll over on the bed, "I can't believe that he went absolutely crazy because of it."

"Well what did you expect Virginia you practically told him that you were going to destroy him."

I looked up at Blaise who was brewing a potion beside of me, "what kind of curse did he use, I have never heard of one that causes these effects."

Blaise grimaced as he looked at the bruises that now covered my body. "It's an internal bleeding curse the bruises are from the extreme amount of blood loss that you're experiencing. You're lucky that I excel in Potions or this would literally be your death bed."

I closed my eyes as a wave of dizziness came over me. It's a weird feeling to be dying, everything is so surreal and you just don't care about anything anymore. I thought about not even taking the potion, it would be easier to just die. I didn't want to save the world, sometimes it's just feels too hard to live.

I thought about my parents, it would be nice to see them again. I thought about a lot of things, hell I even thought about Maria. A part of me wanted to see her again; even though she betrayed me I was feeling forgiving.

Suddenly I felt my lips being parted and a slimy feeling liquid was forced into my mouth. My body's immediate reaction was to cough up the foreign substance but Blaise was holding my mouth together, forcing me to swallow the potion.

After there was no more left in my mouth he let go of me and began cleaning up. "You aren't going to die that easily, you can't escape your destiny Virginia." I said nothing as I remained still in the bed waiting for the potion to take effect. I found myself wishing for the hundredth time that day that my destiny was different.

When I was strong enough to be alone Blaise left the room and I glared at him on his way out, I wished that I could at least leave the room. I coughed harshly and found that my ribs were still extremely sore. Finally I grew tired of being in the bed so I got up and walked around the room.

When I reached the table that Blaise had been brewing the potion on I saw that there was a small black book that remained on the table. "No way," I muttered to myself as I went to the book as quickly as I possibly could. I picked it up and felt like Christmas had come early this year as I read the words on the cover, T.M. Riddle.

A rabid like glee came over me as I greedily opened the cover and found a note enclosed in it, Here's a step towards normalcy. I squeezed the diary as to make sure that it was real and gained a newfound love for Blaise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I spent hours alone in the room that I had grown to hate planning out the many ways that I could kill Tom Riddle.

By the time that I had gotten to beating him to death with his own book Tom came back into the room with more arrogance than someone who was about to die should ever have.

"Hello Virginia, I see that you're still alive."

I smirked and had tried to restrain myself from putting on a singsong voice and saying I know something you don't know. "Riddle I see that you were never really alive to begin with."

He smiled viciously, "would you like to experience some more of my favorite curses Virginia?"

I returned the smile and brought the diary out from behind my back, "would you like to die Thomas?"

The arrogance slid off of his face and he became an unnaturally pale color as he looked at the book. "Where did you get that?"

I continued to smile as I carelessly flipped the book over a few times, "now maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that I have to answer any questions for you."

He regained his composure and smirked at me, "you won't kill me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you Riddle." I walked over to the fireplace that was in the room, "take any spells off that you have on my or this room right now or I swear that I'll throw it in." He looked as though he wanted to argue but the cackle of the fire caused him to comply with my wishes.

We stared at each other for a minute before he attempted to manipulate me, "you know it makes no difference to me if you destroy the diary, it will not kill me."

"Judging by your reaction when you saw that I had it I'm going to have to think that you're lying."

"How do you expect to leave here Virginia? Even if you do kill me do you think that your aunt will just let you walk out?"

I waved the diary menacingly in front of his pale face, "don't you worry about that, I have a few tricks up my sleeve." I sighed as I continued to stand in front of the fire, "you know what Tom, I'm getting tired of toying with you so I think that I am ready to just throw this in and see what happens."

He attempted to look as though he didn't care but his actions proved otherwise as he even tried an accio diary spell. "Now Tom," I said, "you were the one that put the spells on this diary so people couldn't do that, you should really know better." I suddenly took a step away from the fire and closer to Tom, "I'll tell you what Tom, you want to live and I want to get out of here so how about we both just get our wishes granted. If you take me out of here I won't destroy the diary."

"It seems I have no other choice."

I smiled maliciously and headed towards the door, "lets go then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N Thank God that chapter is finally done, it took me forever! Sorry about the long update but I just haven't had the motivation to write this lately. Don't worry though, I promise that it will be finished. There are only probably two more chapters so it should be done very soon; I'm going to try to wrap it up this week. Please review; your reviews are what is driving me to continue writing this right now.

S.e.a- Ha, yeah I am very self-criticizing. I normally drive my friends crazy because I'm such a perfectionist. Oh well though, it works out because even when I don't care about things, like school, I still end up getting A's because me not caring is about the same amount as other people when they do care. And now that you have no idea what I'm talking about I'll just shut-up, lol! I completely agree with you on Umbridge, as I was reading it I was like die bitch die! And I have to comment on this part of your review, YOU HAVE NATURALLY PURPLE HAIR??? That is so freaking awesome! Well thanks for reviewing!

Eclipse- I'm glad that you liked the last chapter, I liked it a lot more than twenty-five also. I put in the chapter how their related but let me know if you're still confused on it. I loved that Ginny was actually involved in book five, every time she was in a scene I got so excited! So, who do you think she is going to end up with in the books? It sounds to me like her and Harry might get together but I'm hoping for Draco! Thanks for reviewing!

Ace of Spades- Yeah, I finished book five, I loved it too! I actually didn't work in the Black family tree, but that was a cool part of the book. Thanks for reviewing and I hope that you update your story soon!

KeeperOfTheMoon- Ha, I know I thought of that too when I wrote it. I always thought that it would be funny if Voldemort was related to someone who was good. Thanks for reviewing!

Writing*-*Wonder- I'm glad that you liked the new twist in the story! What do you think now that Virginia is the one in control? I thought that the girl deserved a break, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Gin- Okay it's question and answer time, lol! Tom's mother was Virginia's grandmother's sister. I'm not really sure where Draco and the others are, maybe they died. Just kidding, I know where they are (and they are alive) but I can't tell right now! Maybe they're looking for her, or maybe they're having a wild party or something. Don't way any attention to me, I tend to ramble and make dumb comments, lol! Thank you for reviewing!

JerseyPike- I'm serious I started cracking up when I read your comment about a group of people following the stock boys around like lost little puppy dogs! I got such a clear mental picture and what can I say, I'm easily amused, lol! Good guess on Tom's mother and you are actually on a good route on the heir of Slytherin thing, but maybe not the way that you think. Thanks for reviewing!

Auri- Thank you so much for all of your reviews! Umm, lets see *scans many reviews* okay you said something about a prophecy, before it was even mentioned, good guessing job! I had that one planned out before I read the new book and I was actually tempted to take it out because I try to be original, but I didn't really feel like it. Sorry about the cliffhanger and the long update. Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure that you reviewed my story on fictionpress.net so thank you so much for that!!! And if I'm wrong then just don't pay attention to me, lol!

Fallen Angel of Darkness- I'm really sorry about your grandmother, I'll be sure to pray for her as well as the rest of your family. I would love for you to e-mail me updates, I hate it when I can't get to the new chapter of a story that I like (like yours!) Hmm, the name thing with Remus and Ginny, I assume that you meant when he used her and Draco's first names? Well it was really Lucius so maybe that clears it up. He has always called them both by their first names. Thanks for reviewing!

fantasy angel- Yep, Tom and Velena are blood relatives. All evil seems to be interrelated, doesn't it, lol! Sorry for the long update and I hope that you got enough Tom knowledge to last you until the next one! Thanks for reviewing!

Caffeine- I loved your review, it cracked me up! I constantly trail off and don't finish sentences when I'm talking so I knew exactly what you were talking about! I'm glad that you liked Blaise, what did you think of him this chapter? Sorry about the incest thing, that was just kind of my own sick sense of humor, lol! Don't worry there won't be any real incest so you don't have to go throw up or anything, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Darcel- I'm glad that you thought that the last chapter was interesting, I've been kind of worried that people have been getting bored with the story. Or maybe that's just me, lol! I feel bad for Blaise too, I'll have to make sure to do something about him! Thanks for reviewing!

Frananddragon- I'm sorry that I made your head hurt with Tom being an Evansole, lol! Virginia's grandmother was Tom's mother's sister, better now? I'm glad that you weren't completely confused last chapter, I thought that a lot of people would be but luckily most people are okay with everything! And I know what you mean about forgetting Blaise, I forgot about him too, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Kinky Kiwi- Lol, yes I am a girl and I completely know what you mean about confusing screen names! I gave someone a you go girl one time and they were like thanks but I'm a guy, lol! The teacher's name was Umbridge and I see what you mean. All really evil characters are kind of alike aren't they? Thanks for reviewing!

Lyss- I so know what you mean about Umbridge! I hated her with such a passion, you would think that she was real, lol! It was kind of sad actually. I'm glad that agree with me on Harry, I was really surprised with how he was acting. I hope that this chapter was a little faster and thanks for reviewing!

prexus- I'm glad that you are enjoying the story! I think that everyone was surprised with Tom being an Evansole, but that's good because that's how I wanted it to be, lol! Thank you so much for reviewing!

Lauren- Wow you read just read the whole thing straight through? That's dedication right there, lol! I'm really glad that you like it, I always enjoy hearing from new reviewers to hear what they have to say! Thank you for reviewing!

TokyoGal90- *grabs Tokyo's shoulders* stop jumping up and down before you hurt yourself! Lol, I'm just kidding, you can jump all over the room if you want! Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad that you liked Tom being an Evansole!

FiCtIoNfAn- I'm glad that you liked Ginny being in Slytherin! I was getting tired of seeing her being the weak little girl so, I just tried something new. Thanks for reviewing!

Brown-sugar- You know what, now that I think about it this story is turning into a soap opera of sorts. Lol, I think that I watch too much day-time TV! I'm glad that you like all the twists and turns that the story has been taking! Thanks for reviewing!

AnGeL*Of*MiNe- Yeah I have read OotP and I know what you mean! I reread that part of the book like five times! I was like he can't really be dead! Maybe he'll come back to life or something. Thanks for reviewing!

Kryptonite- Good job on Lucius being Remus I award you five brownie points! Lol, I'm sure that your really excited. Blaise was placed in Ravenclaw and thanks for the translation website! Thank you for reviewing!

RonandHerm4eva- Don't worry about not reviewing in a while, I know what you mean about getting busy it happens to me all of the time! I'm glad that you liked the last few chapters and thank you so much for all of the wonderful compliments! Thanks for reviewing!

Zainab- I'm glad that you've stopped banging you head! I hope that you liked this chapter and thank you so much for reviewing!

Tainted88angel- Wow, thank you so much for all of your compliments I really appreciate it! You have no idea how much it meant to me when I read your review! Thanks for pointing out to me about the Remus confusion, I hope that I cleared it up for you at the beginning of the chapter. If not then just let me know. Do you have MSN messenger? If so then I'll add you on my list for that and we can talk sometime. Thanks for reviewing!

Cyndi- Thank you so much for being honest with me about the last few chapters. Your right about me not taking my time, I've been getting kind of tired of the story lately and it probably hasn't been as good as it could be. I am going to try really hard to make things better though because I don't want the story to end badly. Thank you for reviewing and for the advice!

A/N I promise to update soon and I'm going to make sure that the next few chapters are really good because it's really important to me to have a good ending for this story!