Paper should be good enough: 04; she diminishes

Harry doesn't look at her the next morning, rather pointedly. Ginny decides not to protest, but Tom is appalled. Look at him, Ginny, he says. How passionate he was last night, and how very cold he is today!

Ron may notice, he's just acting, she thinks back at him. He still cares.

Are you sure?

She isn't. She smiles at Harry, who nervously smiles back. Ron is chattering about something. She hasn't paid attention to Ron since Tom's been with her; she's realized what a huge prat her brother is thanks to Tom.

"...And so I said to Hermione, 'You might want to look away from a book once in your life... Parkinson was just humiliated and you missed it.' And she punched me in the arm."

Idiot, Tom says. He's an idiot. You don't need Ron, he's a loser, he's not talented like your Harry... what use is Ron, really? All he is is Harry's sidekick, spineless, the cowardly jester fool.

Yes, she agrees. Yes.

Ron has poked her at least five times in the shoulder. "Ginny."

She jerks up. "What?"

"I said, what is with you two? You're all quiet and I don't know why. Honestly, am I the only one talking here?"

Probably, Tom says. It's not as though he knows when to shut up.

Ginny snorts a laugh. "I'm wonderful, Ron," she says. "Wonderful." Smile at Harry, Tom commands, and she obeys. Harry freezes, staring into her brown eyes. "In fact, I feel better than ever."

"Well, that's good." Ron frowns at her. "You've been so off, thought something might've been wrong. Glad to see I was being a bit overprotective."

As usual, Tom says.

"I don't see what you mean," Ginny says. She glances up at Harry, who is rather busy picking at some eggs. "It was just that bloody headache. I came down with something not too major, I reckon."

The students start to leave the hall. Ginny makes sure to grab Harry before he runs off to meet Ron. "You were quiet," she says. "Even to me. What's going on?"

"I..." He doesn't look at her. "It's wrong. I know it, we both know it. We should forget it ever happened, Ginny."

"You think I can?" Idiot, tossing me away like I'm nothing... "You know I love you, Harry, and I will never forget last night."

"It can't happen again." He pushes his glasses farther up on his nose. "You know it can't."

Destiny is homemade, not tailored to fit, Tom says. "Destiny is homemade, not tailored to fit, Harry," she repeats.

He sighs. "Ginny, I'm sorry, but that was just... hormones. I can't -- I don't -- I don't really feel that way about you, Ginny, I don't."

Are you convincing me, or yourself? Tom says. "Are you convincing me, or yourself?" she repeats.

"Hopefully both," he says. "Transfiguration. I have to go, you do too."

"Remember that you wanted me willingly, Harry, that you accepted me so eagerly, when they ask you why," Ginny says, and is surprised by it. So familiar... what could it be? More of Tom's words?

Harry blanches. "Goodbye," he says, and fairly flees from the hall.

Tom! Tom, what did I do? He's afraid... what did I do?

You must trust me and I'll give you everything you desire, Ginny... you must know that I have a plan for this, too. Just trust me, Ginny.

Tom? He doesn't respond to her call. Tom...

With Tom's sudden absence she wakes. She now stands alone, useless as any mortal soul, in what feels like the cosmic vastness of the Great Hall.

She flees to Charms, glad to know where she is headed for once, where she is meant to be.

"What has gone wrong?" The Dark Lord is infuriated in his cold way, pacing, tracing the connection to the girl over and over again with a growing frustration. "Why have I lost her?"

"We can fix this, my Lord," Bellatrix says with an urgent optimism. "There must be a way -- "

Bellatrix is caught in the agony of the Cruciatus Curse as the curse snaps out of her Master's mouth. She writhes, screaming violently for the long moment that he tortures her, and then when he releases her, she chokes out, "Thank you, my Lord."

"Aid me," the Dark Lord says, touching his mind to hers, and Bellatrix nods fervently, helping her master force his way into the girl's mind.

Ginny screams in pain while rushing down the hallway and collapses right in front of the Transfiguration room. She writhes as though the Cruciatus Curse is upon her, and the sixth year Gryffindors are there, she is in Harry's arms, Harry and Ron trying to control her, trying to calm her down.

Eventually the pain stops and she grips Harry's hand so hard that her knuckles turn white. He says nothing.

McGonagall looks more than a little thrown. "I just don't see... well... Weasley!" she snaps. Ron looks up at her. "Take your sister to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey must see her immediately."

Ron nods, and Harry helps her to her feet. She looks up at her brother, up at Harry, still silent. Tom's voice is gone, and there is only concern in Ron's eyes. Maybe he's not as much of a prat as I thought he was. "Ron," she says, and pain throbs throughout her head. She sinks to her knees again, and Harry is there, pulling her up again.

Ron gives Harry an odd look, one Ginny can't decipher. "Go ahead, Harry," he says shortly. "I've got her."

Harry quickly nods to Ron without giving Ginny a second look, and goes into the classroom. Ron puts his arm around her and they start for the hospital wing. They are completely silent until Ron speaks tersely to her.

"Do you fancy Harry?"

She freezes, and many things flicker through her mind. The truth. No, a lie. Tell him no. No. He'll find out. How can she think without Tom? Where is Tom? "Did you hear me, Ginny?"

"What?"

"I asked if you fancy Harry." He doesn't look her in the face. "Do you?"

Her face goes red. "Oh, Ron, you know I do. I have since... well, you know I do."

"Please stay away from Harry," Ron says, and she stares up at him, surprised.

"What?"

"I..." He seems to be debating in his head, then settles. "He's Public Enemy #1 for You-Know-Who, and we have to be really careful. You must stay away from Harry because if someone bad finds out you fancy Harry, they could.... take you over, like back in your first year. And they could kill him."

"Ron, you're not making any sense."

"It doesn't matter. Stay away from him. He's probably going to hide off with Sirius soon anyway, wherever he is now. Hogwarts is safe, but You-Know-Who will do anything to get to Harry, that's what everyone in the Order's been saying." Ron gives her a sharp look. "Besides.... oh, never mind."

"What?" He says nothing. "You know I hate when you do that, Ron! What is it now?"

"My best mate and my sister can't date," Ron says. "It's just wrong. All I could see would be you two snogging in a corner when I looked at my baby sister, and that I could not take."

Ginny says nothing, mainly because this was what she and Harry were doing the night before. "Ron," she says. "Don't worry about me."

He looks at her as though she's mad. "You just were twitching like you were under the Cruciatus Curse, and you don't want me to be worried?"

She laughs, and then Tom is suddenly back in her head. Ginny, he says. Are you all right?

Where did you go, Tom? she thinks back at him. I was thinking, Ron isn't so bad after all, you know?

Ginny, Ron was the one who did it to you.

She looks at Ron quickly, then just as swiftly away. What, Tom? What are you talking about?

Don't look at him like that! He's jealous because he knows about you and Harry. He thinks that you're stealing his best friend from him. That's why he attacked you. Why do you think it hit you when you were going past that classroom?

That's ridiculous, Tom! Ron wouldn't hurt me!

Ginny, don't be naive. Your brother has you fooled. Do you understand? He's one of the bad guys!

A Death Eater?

Yes, yes... a Death Eater, Ginny. He's trying to get you to leave Harry alone so he can have him all to himself to kill him.

In her now-warped mind, she believes this. Yes, you're right, Tom. I'm sorry for not realising it.

It's okay, Gin. Just act normal. If he realises you know what he's doing, he'll hurt you for sure.

"Thanks, Ron," she says to him. "But I think I can make it the rest of the way there."

"Ginny," he warns. "I'm not going to fall for that again."

"I'm fine," she insists.

"Fine, go alone," he says. "I'll just follow."

She shakes her head. "You're impossible, Ron." She continues on and Ron follows. They reach the hospital wing in a few minutes. Ron leaves, saying, "Remember what I said, Ginny."

There is nothing wrong with her, Madame Pomfrey says, but Ginny knows that if Harry doesn't take back what he said earlier, she'll be back in here for a broken heart.

Don't worry about Harry, Tom says. I've got that covered. He won't be able to resist you, Ginny love.

I love you, Tom, Ginny says to him.

I love you too, Ginny. Now go get him.