For Monikka- I'm afraid of the tale myself but something compels me to let it unfold like a black rose...
I am not awake...I never truly am.
I stood at my mirror last night for an hour. Mum is not home...neither is dad...they are with the order, and I, little Ginny, left home again. Ron is afraid to leave me alone.
He thinks it is because Sirius is dead. How little he knows. Sirius's image haunts Harry's thoughts, not mine...my thoughts are not truly haunted, for I could never exorcise Tom.
"Are you sure you're alright, Ginny?" Ron asked, his face pale, his hair vivid.
I had nodded.
Then I took a long bath.
When Hermione tries to calm herself, to cleanse herself of evil, she takes a hot bath, one that scalds her skin. I do not want to be cleansed. I bathed in cold, in almost icy water.
Then I stepped out and let the water drain...and I wrapped the towel around myself and looked in the mirror...
I sat myself, my lips blue, my eyelids weak and half-shut, my long hair dulled by the water, not so vivid, clinging to my bare shoulders.
My freckles are fading, it seems...a memory returns to me...
"You will have anything you want, and will banish anything, anything at all, if I have my way."
"Can I banish my freckles, Tom?"
He laughed, and I shivered and let him hold me closer.
"Of course, Ginny dear. When you are Queen you will be the most beautiful woman in the land. Men would drown themselves in the ocean for you, but you'll belong only to me..."
I see a shape in the dark corners of the mirror.
Tom! How did you find me!
I spun around, staring, my heart beating so quickly that I fear my tiny chest will burst open and expose my elegant, bleeding little heart to the world.
He is no longer there. I am relieved yet also tormented. I turned back to the mirror, pleading.
"Tom, why do you run from me? Why do you only appear in my mind? My reflection? My dreams...."
His voice, harsh as ever, resounds in my ears... because I exist only within you, Ginny, but you can let me out if you'd like...
Again, the voices. I pulled on jeans, a red shirt to ward him away- he always preferred green- and I vanished into my room, to sleep. Which is where I am now.
It's dark. How dare he choose this night, of all nights, to not visit me?
I will wait. I will sleep myself into death if need be.