Ginny Weasley and the Hidden Gift

Prologue

"Come to me", the huddled figure whispered in a high, cold voice which filled the room with a lingering menace. His gnarled hands were placed on his skeletal knees; in them they held the instrument that had ruthlessly robbed so many lives. The wand; whose brother, belonged to his greatest and most unlikely enemy, a teenage boy.

Lucius Malfoy steeped forward, lowering his hooded robe and bowing his elegant head in submission.

"I live to serve" he declared obediently to his master. A twisted mockery of a smile briefly crossed Lord Voldemort's features before being replaced with a look of cold indifference.

"Yes, my loyal servant" he mused darkly, "That is your purpose. Servitude to my cause…the most noble of causes…"

Lucius dared to raise his hard, silver eyes slightly towards the Dark Lord, who was sitting on a wooden throne, which was adorned with the familiar serpent motif of Salazar Slytherin.

"Do you remember the task I set you nearly six years ago?" Voldermort began, changing the subject.

"One of the many that you managed to fail, No? Well let me refresh your obviously appalling memory. It began with a whiny girl and her little book…"

Lucius's pale face hardened slightly and underneath his long, black robes, a slight tremor swept through his body.

"Yes of course" he voiced with a hint of anger, "The youngest of that bastard Arthur Weasley"

Voldemort shook his head and let out a high, eerie laugh "Now, now Lucius no need for bad language. You may wonder why I should bring this up now. Why should I possibly care about a stupid little girl? Especially one who was been dragged up in a pigsty by her traitorous parents" At that point he bared his yellowing teeth in a strange leer.

"Yet there are matters which have thus far been concealed from my death eaters. Secrets about this girl, which are known to only one person, me"

Voldemort stalled and stared down at the blond death eater, carefully scrutinizing his reaction to this news. Other than a swift appearance of shock and apprehension in those metallic eyes, Lucius seemed unfazed.

The unnatural red eyes of the dark wizard narrowed slightly before he continued, "After all I could have chosen any of hundreds, of lonely children beginning Hogwarts that year. Any one of them would have been gullible enough to spill their hopes and fears to my patient and understanding younger self. Manipulation is after all, so simple. A trick I am sure you are well adapted to yourself, Lucius. But no, I selected her. I chose Ginny Weasley"

Voldemort suddenly sprang up, the creaking sound of his bones reverberating round the room. Lucius shuddered and took a step back, but he was too late. His body was immobilized in a frozen cell, a sudden circle of death eaters surrounded him, chanting fiercely.

Voldemort glided towards the trapped figure, when he was just inches away, he uttered in a mocking, deadly voice,

"Did you honestly think that you could fool me? The Dark Lord who has more power than your minuscule brain could phantom? Did you and your band of weak bloods believe that I wouldn't know my own followers?"

The vicious gang of death eaters moved closer, each pointing their wands at the caged wizard. Several, muttering curses under their breath, causing 'Lucius' to scream out in pain. His once gleaming eyes dulled and rolled horribly inside his head. The perfect blond hair was now matted with sweat and plastered onto his deathly white face.

"Tell me, where is the real Mr. Malfoy? Not that it's a great loss to the cause; he always was prone to mistakes, ruled by his arrogance and greed. But I am curious…"

'Lucius' shrivelling with pain let out a quiet, but defiant, "No!" through gritted teeth and shallow breaths "No!"

A sardonically wicked grin glued itself to Voldemort's reptilian face. His contorted hands stroking his wand with growing pleasure,

"Hmm…I had a feeling that you'd say that. The old fool Dumbledore always did value loyalty in his people, in that we are alike.

I already posses a belief of your true identity, but my servants remain uniformed. I think it's time to reveal the man behind the mask, don't you?"

The Dark Lord hissed out a counter spell and within a few seconds the identity of Lucius Malfoy began to fade away into the red haired impostor. He was tall with balding hair and a poorly concealed expression of fear.

"Arthur Weasley, as I thought" Voldemort stated, "How ironic that you should have become the person who hates you the most…Yes, it was clear from the very start that a filthy Weasley had stolen Lucius place in my service; who else would be stupid enough to readily accept a suicide mission? I must admit Albus has sunk to new lows, sending out a Weasley to do a wizards work. Tut Tut!"

"You're nothing compared to Dumbledore" Arthur rasped, struggling to stand up. Horrible, damming thoughts began running through his mind, he would never leave this place alive, never see his beloved family again. "Oh Molly" he thought desperately, "What have I done?" He looked at the wizard who he had despised for as long as he could remember, without his glasses all his blue eyes saw was the blurry outline of a monster.

"Of course, it was your youngest, the apple of your eye, who I so easily corrupted. What fun it must have been for my younger self, to play with the mind of such an innocent creature" Voldemort drawled, loving every second.

Arthur winced as he thought back in horror to what his Ginny must have gone through, how she must have felt when she discovered that her special friend was really this evil man…this beast…this despicable thing.

"I wasn't lying when I said I knew secrets about her…oh no. Little Ginny and me are destined to once again meet. She has powers which are quite out of place within your pitiable family. Talking of which…" Voldemort lowered his voice and moved closer to Arthur

"I'll look after them for you…when you're gone"

The last thing Arthur saw was a blinding green light.

Then everything went black.