Tell Me Lies

Disclaimer: If JKR knew what I did to her characters...

A/N: Ok, it took a ridiculously long amount of time to get this chapter up. Why? Because I rewrote it three times and I'm still not happy with it. But I'm sick of working on it, so here it is. Don't flame it. And much love to ronsfavfan18, my first review. 8D So. Here we go.

Tell Me Lies

Chapter One

The blackness of witching hour had settled over the castle and the only one still awake was too preoccupied to recognize the irony. The fire in the common room was dying slowly, sputtering on its last bits of flame. Shadows lurked just outside the circle of light cast by the fading embers, threatening to close in on the hunched figure sitting there.

It was late and the other students had long since departed for the comfort of their own beds. 'Oh, go one without me... I just have to finish something; I'll be up in a minute...' Excuses, excuses. He had churned them out, not even putting his usual effort into his lies. They had accepted them, left him alone. They would not risk angering him, not when they also ran the risk of incriminating themselves. Harry was treated like glass, broken, the pieces were lethal.

And so he sat, in his fading circle of light, his mind racing with a mixture of rage, disgust, fear and disbelief. How, how? The word ran through his head, his mantra in the night. Sleep was inconceivable. Once his fire finally died, and the shadow crept in to cloak him in darkness, would he retreat to the dormitory. He would stare at the ceiling, listening to the soft breathing of the other boys and wonder which one of them betrayed him. But for now he was content to sit here undisturbed.

"H... Harry?" A timid voice broke the silence of the room. Harry looked around incredulously. Who would be up at this hour? His gaze finally rested on a lone figure descending to girls' staircase, her feature thrown into sharp relief by the flickering firelight. Hair the color of blood cascaded down onto her shoulders, disheveled from sleep. Ginny.

"Harry?" She stepped off the staircase and towards him, stumbling a bit on the rug. Muttering a soft oath, she regained her footing and stood just outside the dying light.

White. She was wearing a white nightgown. White showed blood so easily.

"Why aren't you in bed?" She asked him, stepping closer. He surveyed her coolly, her concerned eyes locked with his cold ones. "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, just stared at the girl before him. She looked so small, lost in the dark. Where did her loyalties lay? Did her really need to answer her question?

"Oh... oh, you can't sleep." She sunk gratefully into a worn armchair, snuggling into the cushions for warmth. Her expression was pensive, as if she were measuring her next response. She knew how quickly Harry's anger could rise to the surface. He still wore his robes and his eyes bore the tortured signs of lack of sleep.

"It's hard on all of us, Harry."

Tipped the scale.

Anger, predictable anger. It coursed through Harry now, blindly, irrationally. He rose to his feet, towering over the girl in her chair. His robes whipped around him, fragments of the night, and his eyes flashed like deadly emeralds. All of us?!?!

"All of you?!" His voice was barely above a whisper, the hiss of a poisonous snake, "All of you?! You have no idea, Ginny."

Her temper was quick to rise these days as well, and she scrambled to her feet. Harry was taller than her, and she glared defiantly into those green eyes. She knew nothing, did she?

"Its one of my friends too, Harry!" She didn't bother to keep her voice in check, and her frantic, indignant yell echoed through the room.

"How do I know its not you?!" He was still using the same soft, venomous tone, and it sliced through her like a knife. Hot tears flooded her eyes in defiance of her efforts to prevent them.

"I... you... You just have to trust me!"

"That's just it! I can't!"

"I know!" She sank back into her chair, and he could hear the sobs as they threatened to break free. "I know." The tears spilled down then, glistening wet on her cheeks. "I know."

Oh, he knew how this all started.

Dumbledore had called Harry and five other students to his office after the opening feast; Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. The six that had escaped from the Department of Mysteries at the end of last term. Each had been sleepy and full and had only half paying attention. Ginny's head had been drooping off to the side, as she fought not to doze off in the chintz armchair Dumbledore had conjured.

"I have something very serious to discuss with you." The Headmaster had said, looking graver than Harry had ever seen him. His tone was grim, and his eyes absent of their usual twinkle.

Six murmurs of polite inquiry issued from various places in the room.

"This is extremely difficult for me to say." Glaring at the red- headed girl threatening to nod off in her chair, he cleared his throat loudly. She jerked back to reality with a start.

"We have reason to believe that someone here is passing along information to the Dark Side." He paused for the weight of the statement to sink in.

"If you're talking about the Slytherins..." Ron had begun, but Dumbledore raised a hand to silence him.

"I am not referring to Hogwarts Slytherin population." His voice had acquired a new tone; sadness.

"Because we all know whose side their on." Ginny had said and four heads nodded fervently in agreement. Luna had been too distracted by a bug just outside the window.

"Miss Weasley, you misunderstand me. We have reason to believe that this informant is currently in this room" Dumbledore's sad gaze rested on each of them in turn

. Harry had looked wildly around the room, half expecting to see a Death Eater standing in the corner. But no, it was only Dumbledore and his friends. What was he playing at? He turned back to Dumbledore, confusion etched on his face.

Neville whimpered. Hermione gasped.

"But, Headmaster..." She had said, her need to rationalize surfacing.

"One of us?" Ginny had squeaked, looking terrified at the thought.

So he knew. It didn't bother her. He suspected one of them. Oh, things were

going perfectly. He would be pleased.

Oh, yes.


A/N: And so I leave you with a cryptic message from our dear little traitor. Please review, I'm desperate for 'em. This chapter was considerably longer than the last. Tell me what you think 8D