Chapter Twelve:

All of the Death Eaters had rushed out of the way. The spell never hit Ginny, but she was on her knees and crying terribly. He lay motionless next to her...bloody and dead. Death had captured his soul like a monster, and he deserved it. Lowering his wand, his eyes narrowed at the dead man; his breathing was short and his lip bled and he was hunched over.

"You will never hurt her again, Lucius. You will never hurt another soul..."

And then he collapsed into the soil and lay there panting. Ginny scrambled to his side, rather slowly because one of the hooded figures had slashed her leg. She touched his face, pushed his long greasy black hair away from his face to see his eyes had closed.

"You saved me...I owe you my life." She whispered, as his fingers slid across her cheek. She shut her eyes against those cold rigid digits and frowned. Her tears dropped precariously onto his hand.

"How touching." His voice crawled with venom from behind her. When she was pulled up by her hair, she screamed and he slashed her cheek with his nails. They bit into her like talons. Touching her flesh, it made her sick. He'd cut straight to the bone...

"I knew you'd change your mind, my lovely." He growled against her clean cheek. He let his tongue slid across the heated skin and he now held her waist. She struggled, but felt faint each time.

"Let her go..."

"Silence! Or I shall kill you like I did the boy. You loved the boy, didn't you?" He whispered to Ginny, who had tilted her head to get away from him.

"I did..."

Then his fingers went around her throat and tightened. Things were growing dim, and she was gasping squeakily for air. Tom was going to win...she couldn't fight him any longer. She had just welcomed the dark when something happened. She felt herself falling back as she hit the ground. She heard shouting then felt someone holding her. Opening her eyes, she nearly did a double take. He was holding her, his long blonde hair windswept and his eyes a lovely shade of silver.

"You can't leave now...I'm still here."

She reached a hand up and started to cry. She could feel him.

"But you..."

"Died? Yes, I did. But then something happened. They let me come back...I'd never leave you alone. We're supposed to be together."

"I thought I'd lost you." Her voice was weak, and her throat stung.

"You can't lose someone when they're willing to put even the awaiting death aside to be with you."

And then he kissed her.

He filled every part of her that was broken before she pulled back.

"Snape...he killed..."

"I know."

Someone knocked into Draco just then and he dropped her. He stood facing the two lovers as Draco crawled back to her. Eyes flashed murderously.

"I killed you."

"Yes, well...good job on that." Draco smirked as Tom growled.

"No matter, I'll do it again."

"I highly doubt three against one will do, Riddle." Snape came limping toward them and looked at Draco.

"I knew you'd never leave her..."

"Not a chance, sir."

Tom was now outraged and he made a grab for Ginny. Draco didn't use his wand; though his fist collided perfectly with the Dark Lord's jaw.

"Resorting to human battle, are you boy? Then I shall do the same."

Fingers forcefully clutched Gin's arm and brought her out of Draco's grasp. Riddle's arm snaked around Ginny's throat and his elbow locked under her jaw to hold her while she panicked.

"Let her go..." Both men shouted, and Tom smiled cruelly.

"She belongs with me...and if you take another step, I will kill her. I will personally rip her insides out."

Nobody moved as the graveyard became darker. When only the red glow of Tom's eyes could be seen everything shifted again. Both wizards lifted their heads and gasped.

They were back at Hogwarts, and Draco could still hear her calling him. He pounded his fist into the floor and let the blood trickle down his knuckles.

"That's it...it's over."

(Author's Note: I'm going to update tomorrow as well. But I think that will be my last time. Oh, cliff-hanger. Many people haven't reviewed anymore, so I'm not even sure whose reading it. For now this is how it stands: I'll update once more and then I start school. Whether I update again within the week is entirely on the scheduled time.)