AN: This chapter was a bich to write, A: im falling outta the loop, and B because its something very close to me..If you for some reason i could not possibly fathom, read this (you know who you are, leech) now you know::..
Ginny sighed watching the mirror anxiously, a medi-witch had just come in to
take his temperature, and see how strong he was by seeing how many sparks he could
make come out of a wand by placing it in his hand, he barely stirred and he was still so
unconscience the wand just made one small spark and rolled out of his open hand.
"How's it going?" she asked turning to see Hermione and Harry working over the
Dreamscapeparale, Missy was making some brief calculations on the chalkboard while
Ron and Mandy were getting lunch from the kitchens. After their fiasco at St. Mungo's
Hermione and Ginny were pretty hungry, skipping breakfast hadn't helped that much
either.
"Tiresome, I need to keep prodding through a lot of these random thoughts before
I can get to the actual dreams. Why on earth would Draco be thinking about Pyramids?"
Hermione asked, Ginny turned to see images of pyramids in the crystal ball and Hermione
with an almost amused look on her face. Ginny laughed quietly shrugging.
"I have no idea.." she replied watching as the images of the pyramids fading in a
misty haze. Harry watched, prodding it with his wand as the image turned into a picture
of a rabbit.
Ginny sighed, sometimes she didn't even know what went on in Draco's head not
matter how hard she tried to find a decent, semi-sane explanation for whatever he was
thinking.
Suddenly Ron and Mandy came in through one of the doors, but everyone in the
room was surprised to see Dumbledore walking in behind them with a smile on his face.
"Uh..." Ginny stammered, how the hell could they explain this one? Everyone
watched him with wide eyes and open mouths while Ron quietly shut the door and
Mandy crossed her arms patiently as Dumbledore looked around with a look that showed
he was impressed.
"I have always been so fond of this room, it serves for so many purposes. I never
thought it could become this complex." he said looking at all the leather volumes
scattered over the tables. "Madam Prince has been wondering where some of her books
had been going, I will be pleased to tell her their not in disarray."
Ginny finally managed to clear her throat and try and make coherent speech.
"W..w..we're trying to help Draco, we weren't just skipping classes." she said quietly.
Dumbledore smiled his eyes twinkling from behind his half moon spectacles.
"I know Miss Weasley, I am here to help. I'm sorry to say I cant stay but I can
help speed up the process with the Dreamscapeparale, which Miss Granger has done an
amazing job on may I add." he said turning to the table where Hermione and Harry were
sitting. Hermione's cheeks flushed and she moved out of the way. Everyone came closer
and peered into the orb, watching as Dumbledore put his hand on the crystal ball.
He muttered something quietly, in a tongue none of them could understand. A
bright flash of gold light filled the room, emitted from the ball, and they all watched as
the smokey image unfolded above the Dreamscapeparale, the crystal ball acting like a
projector.
Draco was in a stone chamber, he examined the open mouth of a statue, and they
all cringed when they heard the noises.
"The chamber of secrets!" Ginny noticed aloud, she shivered as she remembered
when she had been in there. They all watched the scene unfold, the rotting Basilisk, the
ink spot on the floor, then Tom threatening to take Ginny back, and to kill him in the
process.
The image unfolded into another one, Tom with a silver and red shimmer around
him.
"So he is draining his energy." Ron said.
"I think we could get the better picture, if Miss Weasley touched the crystal ball."
Dumbledore said, he looked at Ginny confidently.
Ginny swallowed, aware of all the weird looks she was receiving, but with a shaky
hand she reached out and touched the ball. The touch made her jump a little as the
imagine of her dream, the dance with Draco, that turned to Tom and the voice of a
younger Ginny.
She sighed as they all gave her odd looks as she pulled away, she blinked when
she looked to see that Dumbledore had disappeared.
"Why you didn't tell us?" Hermione asked.
"I was still pretty shaky about it, I didn't think it was relevant.." Ginny shrugged
with one shoulder wearily.
"Well either way we still don't know too much..except Tom seems to be," Missy
swallowed, her eyes wide with compassion for Ginny's pain, "well, in love with Ginny."
Ginny let her head fall on the table, she really didn't want it to come to this.
"He didn't love me," she sighed. "I thought he did when I was younger, you
wouldn't believe some of the things he told me." she laughed grimly, miserably. "You're
the most beautiful creature I've ever beheld, like a fragile doe in a meadow of cold and
unloving wolves. They'll pounce on you any minute my sweet, unless you come to me, I
can protect you." she quoted, she smiled a bit, another grim smile. "Worst part was, I
believed him. I was so stupid in those days, I didn't believe him, but I wanted to. I told
myself I loved him, but I don't think I ever did, I think I loved the danger of it all.
Talking to someone where you couldn't really see who it was, who couldn't see
your flaws. To hear them tell you you're the best, the most beautiful, the most talented. It
was like having an ego booster in your back pocket, but it was secret.
The secrecy was great, I felt like a spy or something," she stood up crossing her
arms, still smiling that cold grim smile at no one in particular. "hiding something like that
from everyone, the beginning it was great. Then it got to hard, the waking up not knowing
where the hell you've been. Why the hell your covered in feathers and have cuts from
little feet and beaks on your hands and neck." she ran a hand through her hair, she was
saying things she had sworn for so long to keep a secret, Draco only knew half of what
she was saying, Dumbledore, even less.
"When he took me into the chamber, I knew what he really wanted, then I knew
he didn't love me. He wouldn't do that to someone he'd loved, then he told me who I was
and I was so scared." she paused looking up at the ceiling, tears finding their way out of
her dry eyes, angry, spiteful tears.
"You don't want to steal someones' life, then bring them back so you can rape
them. You don't make someone you love, bare your child when she's eleven, so your evil
can live on in the world. So when your child is seventeen you can possess him if
something bad happens to you, so you can become Lord Voldermort again." the tears ran
down her cheeks, yet her pose was calm and proud.
"He never got to of course, and that's why I really admired Harry for so long. He
was a hero to me, and he only thought he knew why." she swallowed. "You all thought it
wasn't my fault..but it was. I was the one who never stopped it in the beginning..I know I
could have.
But I didn't, I was stupid and I just about got myself killed..and for what? To feel
like someone needed me, when I had people who did and I was just to stupid to realize it.
And now Toms back, and he's taking revenge on me through my other hero, to probably
also kill my other hero, Harry. I'm going to take a walk.." she whispered the last sentence,
and went out the door to the kitchens, more then likely to sneak out onto the grounds.
Everyone just watched after, too shocked to say anything.
Ginny collapsed on one of the steep stone steps, the cold of them making her shiver. She
cried silently, her head in her hands, she felt so alone. Strange how with Draco being so distant,
not having spoken to him in so long, that word to a whole new meaning.
Ginny sighed looking up at the stars. Was her strength so dependable on Draco? What had
happened to the strong, independent Ginny she had been just a year ago? Had she changed that
much.
"Maybe it doesn't depend on him..but the well-being of someone, anyone I love." she said
quietly to herself. Hearing that made it firm for her, she was still as strong as she always was.
She knew she had to be, she had to be strong for Draco..she had to be..
"Merlin!!" she said loudly, a few owls flew out of a tree nearby. Running she threw open
the ajar door to the kitchens and back to the Room of Requirement.