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Chapter 3: The Reoccurring Nightmare Part One

            The dementors were driving Ginny almost as insane as Harry. Tom's voice was in her mind again, she could feel his touch on her skin; it made her pale flesh crawl. She'd taken to keeping a bit of chocolate in her pocket just in case but the dementors had also brought back her nightmares. Ginny tried very hard to keep from waking her roommates and for the most part she was succeeding. At least she thought she was.

            Remus Lupin stared at his second year Gryffindor class and frowned at the red head in the back of the class. Her skin looked pale and sallow; there were circles under her bleary hazel eyes that were so dark they were nearly black. She could never fully concentrate on the lesson. Remus had a feeling that it had very little to do with her intelligence. No, there was something on the girl's mind, and he'd let it go long enough. As soon as the class was dismissed he went out to the small garden by the quidditch pitch, where he knew the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress took lunch every day. It was Albus's way of getting Minerva outside and away from her work for a little while, and it was gave Minerva the chance to bring up concerns as his friend as opposed to as his deputy.

            Sure enough, when he got out there, they were there. Remus was invited to join them as soon as he was noticed. "What brings you out here Remus?" His former head of house asked as she sipped her tea.

            "Ginny Weasley. I'm worried about her. Have either of you noticed how she looks?"

            "It's the dementors." Minerva whispered.

            "And the nightmares." Dumbledore added.

            Remus raised his eyebrows. "Dementors, nightmares?"

            "Ms. Weasley was the student involved in the Chamber of Secrets incident last year Remus." Albus told him.

            "Those are terrible things to have to relive." Minerva spoke out loud, but her voice was haunted and her eyes stared unseeing at the horizon. It was at that moment that one of the dementors decided to push closer to the castle. Her breath became shallow and panicked and she began shaking. Tears leaked out of her dark eyes just before they rolled back in her head and she blacked out. Albus moved quickly, catching her limp body just before she cracked her head on the stone bench.

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            "Minerva, I want to learn how long the cruciatus curse can be employed before a person goes insane, or dies." Tom told her in that voice that she knew she shouldn't argue with.

            It was dark and they were in one of the very old, unused dungeons of the castle. There were manacles on the wall and she shuddered to think what may have happened in here before. His words were cold and fit with the environment. The combination made her quake with fear. She had to do this, she reminded herself. She had to save Malcolm. But, to be the one who kidnapped the one of her fellow students so Tom could kill them, or drive them insane…could she do that? Would Malcolm ever forgive her?

            "I…can't Tom. I can't." She finally whispered.

            "Can't?" His face twisted cruelly and she began to shake harder. "CRUCIO!" Her screams echoed in the empty room. Her body was on fire, every nerve ending exploding in painful sensations. The last tiny rational part of her mind knew that he was overloading her nerves, knew they would deaden from having too much sensation, and it waited for the relief of numbness. But it never came; such was strength of the curse. It was like someone had light her on fire from the inside, and there was to be no relief.

            He finally removed the curse, and she was a simpering, limp mess on the floor. "I think you need another lesson in who the master is here." He hissed, his voice as snake like as it could be while he spoke English. "Imperio!"

            She walked through the empty halls mechanically. Her mind was fighting for dominance, and ordinarily she was strong enough to win, but after the bout with the cruciatus curse that she had just survived, she didn't have the strength of will. The first person she ran into was Madam Comfornas, the nurse. Minerva began fighting with all of her might as she listened to her voice ask the matron to come with her. Of course she did, especially after Tom made her tell the unsuspecting woman that there was student injured.

            She followed Minerva all the way into Tom's lair. Madam Comfornas was surprised to say the least to find herself chained to the wall. Tom began to experiment with duration and number of times cast, until all that was left of the old woman was a practically soulless, drooling, living corpse. He held Minerva under the Imperius curse the whole time, forcing her to watch.

            When he was finally done he burned a mark into her forehead, a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. As soon as Minerva was released from the spell she threw up all over the floor, tears and blood mixing with the contents of her stomach. Tom watched disinterestedly before dismissing her.

            She fled immediately up the stairs and the next day when Madam Comfornas was removed to St. Mungo's, Minerva again took solace in the comforting arms of her favorite professor.

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            Minerva woke in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey, Remus and Albus standing over her with varying expressions of worry. The first thing Minerva did was roll over and retch, all over the Headmaster's robes. Then she began to cry, hysterically, incoherently. Poppy couldn't even get her to take a piece of chocolate.

            Albus muttered a quick cleaning spell and sat on the bed next to her. The trembling woman launched herself into his arms. He held her as she cried herself to exhaustion, then managed to coax her into eating a bit of chocolate before she slipped off to sleep. He laid her back on the bed and stood to leave, but her grip on his hand was tight even in her slumber, and she stirred fitfully when he tried to remove it.

            Poppy got him a chair and he stayed at her side, stroking her hair as she slept. Remus stared down at Minerva in surprise. "What horrors has she known that have caused so strong a reaction?"

            "Minerva had a terrible past with Tom Riddle. What in specific she's seen or had done to her I don't know. She never told me."

            The Defense against the Dark Arts professor looked down at the haunted angel on the bed. He wondered how he'd missed how awful she looked. Minerva must have been very good at concealment charms he finally decided. Her face looked like Ginny Weasley's, her hair was dull as it lay around her and she had clearly lost a dangerous amount of weight, either from not being able to eat, not being able to keep anything down, or as he suspected, a combination of both.

            "Remus, will you go make sure that the students know that Minerva's classes will be canceled for the rest of the day?" The headmaster asked softly.

            He nodded, and with one last look at Minerva, he left.