Escape

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, why would I be writing fan fiction?!?!?!?

She sat on the roots of a tree facing the lake. It was midnight and Ginny Weasely was alone again. She leaned back and decided to rest her eyes for a second…

What seemed a moment later, sunlight was pressing heavily against her eyelids. She groaned and lifted a slim hand to try and shield her aching eyes. Her other hand was clasped tightly around a small, black diary. It was "destroyed" in her first year, but now it was her sixth year and repairing the diary was easy. His memory was still contained in its pages, but only because when Tom had taken her into the Chamber and given her part of his soul, she had held on to it. He was always with her as a barely noticeable presence in the back of her mind. Yes, repairing Tom Riddle's black diary, filled with Tom Riddle's black thoughts, was easy. He was just what Ginny needed. He gave her an escape from her gray world, into one of black diaries, thoughts, and most important….

Ice cold black hearts.

Yes, his black existence was just the escape she needed.

()~()~()~()~()~()~()

Ron wasn't worried about her. She knew that for a fact. He wouldn't care if she dropped off the face of the earth one day. Ginny had been watching the "dream team" for quite some time now. They were laughing while the memory of Tom Riddle was laughing at them. He didn't even pretend to care anymore, and Ginny realized that she didn't care either. Harry, Hermione, and Ron. They were perfect. In every way. Even in her mother's eyes they could do no wrong. There was never room for her.

Tom made her see the way things really were. Her mother loved the `Boy-Who-Lived` more than her, as did everyone else. All her life, she had never really experienced friendship. When she was younger she only had her family for company. Since she was the youngest, and the only girl, her brothers never wanted to play with her. Her father was too busy with work, and her mother to busy with something around the house to give her extra attention. Just when she was thinking that Hogwarts would be her chance to make friends, she met Tom. He promised to be the only friend that she would ever need. Her first mistake was keeping the diary. Her second, and much more recent, mistake was restoring it. He promised to be all she needed, and she

hoped he was a man of his word.

()~()~()~()~()~()~()

Ginny didn't just hate Harry right now. She despised him. He wouldn't even give her the time of day...literally. She had just wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to be late for class, and he told her that he was busy. yeah, busy trying to get some girl's name.

He was so.. so.. AARRRRGGGGHHH!!!! At the moment, she would have preferred the company of Draco Malfoy and Snape.

"Where's your boyfriend, Weaslette?" Speak of the devil, or Slytherin God, whichever you prefer.

"I fed him to a dragon because he forgot my birthday. He was a slimy little git. I hated him anyway. OH! Was that a rhetorical question? I honestly thought that you wanted to know. I'm so sorry. I hope I haven't been a bore! It's time for me to go! Ta-ta! I never want to see you again, Ferret Boy! Go choke on something!!!"she finished speaking over her shoulder as she headed toward the Gryffindor common room. She had taken to calling it the "Great-Big-Bore". (A/N-Get it? Gryff-in-dor? Great-Big-Bore?)

That wasn't based on the people there, of course. She just... oh well. Why bother to lie. She hated them all. Tom was right. They were imbeciles. He said a few days ago that he didn't think their combined I.Q. was higher than that of butter. Ginny agreed. Enthusiastically. She scared a few first years in the process though. Fun. She needed to quit thinking in single-words. It made her sound stupid to herself.

"Ginny? Are you alright?" Ron asked, seeing the direction from which she was walking.

"HUH?!??!" She asked, ever so eloquently, surprised at being interrupted.

"Malfoy was back there. Did he do anything to you?" Harry clarified.

"WELL? DID HE????" Ron shouted, gaining unnoticed attention.

"Why would he want to do anything to me, when he likes him?" she asked, pointing to Harry. "Didn't you know?"

Harry `s face got red, and he fell to the floor twitching. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" The girls in the hallway all joined in on the cry.

"Are they mourning the loss of Malfoy, or Harry?" Hermione asked.

"DDDRRRRRRRRAAAAAACCCCCCCOOOOOOO!!!!" The girls screamed at her.

()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()

"Um, okaaaayyy.. I thought that they would all be whining over me." Harry said, looking rather put out.

"Aren't we getting a little TOO conceited, Harry? Not everyone likes you."Ginny stated, trying not to laugh at the group of girls that had just proven that butter was indeed smarter.

"You like him though." Hermione pointed out.

"NO I DON'T!!!!!" she shouted, while inwardly hoping they wouldn't believe her. That way she wouldn't have to explain her affection for a memory.

"Then who DO you like?" Harry asked. "I was quite sure I was attractive enough...and I AM The-Boy-Who-Lived."

Ginny cut him off by yelling, "I LOVE TOM RIDDLE!!!! YES, THAT'S RIGHT! I LOVE VOLDEMORT'S SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD MEMORY!!!!!"

"Miss Weasely!" A rather shocked McGonagall ran around the corner. "Come with me to the Headmaster's office immediately!!"

Instead of waiting for a reply, the harassed-looking teacher grabbed her arm and started dragging her down the hall.

"Gummy Bears." She said upon reaching the statue that lead to Dumbledore's office.

"You know...I'm allergic to those." Ginny said, looking rather dazed. "I ate some one time, and I-"

"MISS WEASELY!!!" McGonagall shouted.

"Yes?"she asked, blinking innocently.

"The Headmaster and I would like to speak with you now."

"Okay." Ginny said, looking at her like she was crazy.

"That means that you have to pay attention to us, Miss Weasely." Dumbledore's kind voice clarified for her.

"You could have just said that, you know."she told McGonagall. "It would make it much easier for me to-"

"Miss Weasely, it has been brought to my attention that you said you loved Tom Riddle. Is this true?"

"That I said it, or that I love Tom?"

"Both, Miss Weasely."

"Yes, and yes."

"So you admit it? Miss Weasely? MISS WEASELY!!!"

She had blocked him out and was now staring at Fawkes. She didn't see the glimmering feathers, or the watchful golden eye. She only saw the bird that helped kill Tom. That evil bird. it must feel her pain. The pain she and Tom shared in the Chamber.

()~()~()~()~()~()~()

"Miss Weasely? Are you listening to me? Miss Weasely?" Dumbledore asked Ginny, wondering WHY she was glaring so viciously at Fawkes. To his knowledge she didn't know anything about the pheonix except for it helped Harry in the Chamber. The Chamber!!! If she does still 'love' Riddle, then she knows who Fawkes is!

(A/N-DUUUUHHHH)

Ginny had pulled out her wand and had gotten as far as saying "Avada Ked-" Before she was cut off. By a blow to the back of the head with McGonagall's wand.

"I couldn't think of anything else to do."she muttered. "I couldn't let her kill Fawkes.."

"Lets get her to the Hospital Wing." Dumbledore said with a sigh. It appears that there was no way he was going to avoid this headache. He could feel the migraine coming already.

"Of course." McGonagall answered, magically lifting Ginny into the air and moving her down the hall. The students that were lingering after their last class were gawking at them.

Yes.. This was the beginning of another year at Hogwarts.