Author's note: What can I say? I just like my story and readers too much to just stop writing. Hey, before you go on though, I have some sketches put up on deviantart of the characters. Ya know, in case you want to see how I picture them… or something. Ok, so maybe I am shamelessly plugging…but…yea. Go to spiritphantom dot deviantart dot com to see. Sorry, for the lack of hyperlink…but yea.
Hmm, for some reason, every time I upload the chapter, something goes bizarrely wrong. Like the disclaimer disappearing, the entire thing being underlined, spacing vanishing…Weird. I am so stupid sometimes…
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the affiliated characters and places. All of that belongs to J.K.Rowling and her people. (Man, I haven't used a disclaimer in a while…)…
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Blaise Zabini was not the average wizard his housemates thought they knew. He was a slender young man, with fine black hair, and brown eyes that seemed to have a tint of blue to them. Of course, anyone who knew him well enough could say that he hadn't always been that way. He looked darker this year. The shadows on his face were deeper, his appearance more skeletal, and his smile promised something other than happiness.
What had happened to Master Zabini? People had tried to ask, but they always managed to startle him, and catch him at the wrong time. 'Such a jumpy kid, that one,' they would say and leave him alone. If only Master Malfoy would say what he knew, but 'That would ruin all the fun.'
Draco Malfoy paced around his bedroom. Then stopped, Malfoys do not pace. He turned to his friend, who was still asleep. "Wake up, Blaise!"
The boy's head shot up, he looked disoriented for a moment before a sly smirk spread across his face.
"Ah, yes, so nice of you to join us, Zabini," Draco crossed his arms and frowned thoughtfully. "This morning, 10 o'clock, approximately six hours from now, I will be playing against Bloody Saint Pot-head. All I have to do is keep him from getting the Snitch before I do. That's it, nothing else."
Zabini sat up ran his hands over the silky surface of the bed he was sitting on. He drew lazy circles and acted as though he was not paying attention. He shrugged his shoulders after a moment of silence, "Do whatever it takes, Draco. Knock him off his lousy broom if you have to. Shouldn't be too hard, he is a rather weedy little thing, isn't he?"
Draco nodded his head and turned to the window, "So good to have you around, Zabini."
Zabini made to say yes, when he stopped himself. Something was happening, judging by the slight tugging feeling coming from his chest. His smirk grew to a sneer, "So sad it has to end so soon, I was getting rather comfortable in this body."
Draco's 'at ease' posture twitched. His eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean? You've always had this body."
"Not quite," Zabini laughed, "I've only been in it for a matter of months. The split persona of Blaise Zabini was difficult for me to deal with for a time. Pity it has to end so soon, I was getting rather comfortable. But it's time for me to reunite with my other half."
"What' going on here?" Draco spun around, and trying to remain as calm looking as he could muster, he grit out through his clenched teeth, "Who are you?"
The face of Blaise twisted in a malicious manner, "Riddle."
ooo
The Malfoy boy had struggled with the news. Riddle listened to him damn Ginny Weasley for lying to him, listened to him curse, listened to him complain mostly. Eventually, Riddle had to knock him out and use a memory modifier.
Riddle left Blaise Zabini's body with ease, his essence lingering in the room before setting out of the Slytherin Dormitories. He had felt Ginny's vulnerability through the stonewalls, and was instantly drawn to it. As much as it annoyed him to admit, he needed the brat in order to reunite with the other half of him and to be able to get his body back.
Nearly one year ago, all he had needed was her soul poured into the Diary. When Potter had destroyed the book, it had left his essence without a vessel to occupy. Virginia had awoken, and was too strong for all of him to be drawn back into her immediately. Instead, what was left of him had floated around until he found another body. This new body was of a boy already dealing with a power struggle between two personas.
Blaise Zabini had been born with a curse placed on him by none other than the older version of Tom. Voldermort, upset that the Zabini's had denied to join his ranks, cursed their child to be born with one natural personality, and one inherently evil personality. Every time the child was startled, the dormant personality would become the dominant. Voldemort then killed the man and wife after a hefty torture session.
Riddle waited until the personalities were in the act of switching, when he possessed the boy and overpowered the more evil of the two personalities. He staid patiently inside the boy until Hogwarts was once again in session, the thoughts of a fragile redhead playing endlessly in his mind.
He remembered the fist time he had seen her through Blaise's eyes, and how it aggravated him to find her too powerful for him to immediately steal away her soul and mind. Every time he saw her, she would get stronger and stronger barriers around her mind. Little Red, she was such a feisty thing.
ooo
Blaise woke with a start. He frowned at Draco's form, passed out on the floor, and at the absence of his wand from his bedside table. Blaise closed his eyes and tried to search for Zabini, and found his other personality safely locked away in the back of his mind.
His eyes opened, and he jumped to his feet. Blaise dropped to Draco's side and hurriedly searched his roommate's pocket for a wand. He found it and curled his hands protectively over the wood.
Riddle was gone.
Blaise was running out of the Slytherin room before he even realized his legs were moving. He needed to find Ginny. Once in the Dungeon halls, he stopped and closed his eyes, trying to locate the thin thread that now connected him to Riddle. It was faint, but he could feel it in the air as if it were a physical object. He dared not tug at it, feeling that surprise would be his only advantage over Riddle.
He started running down the murky hallways, following the twist in his gut. His sides were sore, as was his throat, and ankles. He could feel the thread thinning, and felt the influence of Riddle leave his body completely. Blaise stopped and choked on the air his lungs were gulping in thirstily. He leaned forward on his knees, and cursed loudly.
"No reason for that, young man," a portrait said indignantly.
"What do you know," Blaise spat and tried to stand straight. He looked at the lone portrait, scowling. "Have you seen a girl come through here? She has red hair, small figure, freckles."
The old man in the portrait tugged thoughtfully at his beard, and walked to the edge of the painting. "She's inside. You might need a strong unlocking charm for this, I'm afraid."
Blaise watched the man walk off into the unknown beyond the painting's frame. He set his jaw. "Alohamora!"
The painting exploded into the room.
ooo
Ginny was kneeling awkwardly on her legs and arms, her limbs numb and her chest aching. Through the veil of red hair in her face, she saw Blaise standing with a wand raised at Riddle, who was holding Ginny's wand. Both their wands snapped to a dueling stance and they shouted spells simultaneously.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Tempestsorcia!"
Ginny ducked as Tom's body was flung against the wall behind her. There was a crack and a thump as he hit the bookcase and fell to the floor. She turned and saw a very odd thing happening to Riddle's body. It was like looking through a camera and bringing the lens in and out of focus. His body shuddered and disappeared. Ginny's mouth was slack for a moment, but she snapped it shut and started crawling to the door.
Blaise was still conscious, only just barely. He had been knocked over by Riddle's hex, but the spell had not been able to manifest at the strongest since Riddle had been using Ginny's wand. Instead of the force of a concentrated hurricane hitting Blaise, it had been more of a bearable tropical depression. Blaise was merely soaked and wind-ruffled, albeit a bit disorientated. He shook his head, as though to clear it, as Ginny approached him.
"We've got to get out of here," she said tiredly, as she pulled herself to her legs and tried to do the same for Blaise. He nodded, and pushed against the wall to get on his feet. "Good, come on, before he comes back…"
"He's not gone?" Blaise and Ginny hurried out of the room, starting to run down the hallways.
Trying to control her breathing and speak at the same time, Ginny said, "Of course not. It's like the guy can't stay dead!" a thought hit her, "How do you know Riddle?"
"Because a part of him has been sharing room in my head for the past year," Blaise said between huffs. His eyes darted up the hall, looking for any doors. He frowned and held a hand out for Ginny to stop running. They both leaned on the wall for a second before he said, "Something's wrong here. These halls, they've…changed. Everything's moved around on us. Look, the corner we just passed, it's gone!"
Ginny looked behind them, and sure enough, an entire corridor seemed to have vanished. She looked back to Blaise and saw another opening to his left. She pointed, "Look, that wasn't there either."
He nodded and backed off the wall. Still breathing hard, he looked at the new hallway in consideration, "Shall we?"
"Let's go," Ginny said and started running again. The Castle would not move in a way that could get them trapped. She hoped.
After running in the endless maze of passages, it seemed like they were being led in circles. Finally, Ginny saw stairs at the end of the passage they had just run into.
"A way out, took long enough!" Blaise almost laughed as he dug a bit deeper for more energy and started into a sprint. He noticed Ginny match his pace beside him as they neared the steps.
Ginny felt as if she had hit a brick wall. She realized before blacking out, that she had in fact hit a stonewall, and that the staircase had moved right before her foot hit the first step.
ooo
Something unnatural was holding him back, Draco knew. Since waking up on the floor of his empty room more than an hour ago, he had had the strangest feeling. It was as if a hand was latched onto his shoulder, trying to summon him, but only succeeding in slowing his movements down. Even on his broom, he had felt it. Especially as he tried to accelerate, he could feel the force pulling at him, slowing his speed considerably. The Snitch was so close, and then there was Potter. Draco knew he had to do anything to win this game. Nevertheless, his attempts were futile. Potter caught the snitch, and won his team the Quidditch Cup.
Wanting nothing more than to drown, or see Potter drown, Draco slumped his shoulders and huffily walked into the Castle. He could not believe that he had managed to let Potter best him again. He entered the stairs to the Dungeons, the thought of a shower now the most prominent thing on his mind.
"Lousy little piece of —!" The rest of the sentence never reached Draco's ears, but a hefty fist did reach the side of his face instead. He fell heavily to the stone floor, his head ringing. It took him a moment to get up and see a few of his fellow Slytherins surrounding him. They were all older, and much bigger, he noted.
"You don't know who you're messing with, chaps," Draco stood up, wiping at his mouth where he had bitten his lip open. Inwardly, he cursed Goyle and Crabbe for not being at his side.
"Shut your mouth, you pouf!" The seeming leader of the group growled out.
It took much restraint to keep Draco's mouth from dropping open at that. He swung his broom lazily over his right shoulder. He curled his fist and felt his Malfoy signet ring pulsing on his finger.
Forgetting whatever Malfoy Laws there may have been on public displays of muggle fist fighting, Draco drew his left arm back and used the momentum of his entire upper body to slug the guy in front of him across the temple. Draco wanted to yell out 'timber!' as the giant form collapsed to the ground, but held his tongue.
"Now the rest of you, get the bloody hell out of my way!" He stormed off towards the Great Hall, trying to walk off his anger and high adrenaline level.
When his legs had carried him a good distance, and his heart rate had finally dropped to a safe level, he decided to head back to his common room. When he reached the entrance to the dungeons again, he noticed two people following him from the corner of his eye. Knowing immediately, since their stealth skills lacked greatly, that they were not in Slytherin, he decided against returning straight to the Slytherin dormitories, and instead chose to take his followers on a detour instead.
Draco successfully led them far away from the dungeon dormitories, and feeling confident that they couldn't get anywhere near them either, he turned to face his followers.
He cocked his head as two girls stopped ten feet from him. The pair consisted of a dotty-looking Ravenclaw and an alluring Gryffindor. Wait, an alluring Gryffindork? Two words that should never be in the same thought… Draco sneered at them, "What do you two freaks want?"
The Ravenclaw had a vague look to her eyes, but said in a rather serious tone, "We're looking for our friend, Ginny. Have you seen her, Malfoy?"
"Of course he's seen her! Probably did something horrible to her!" the Gryffindor's face scrunched as she shouted at him accusingly. She flipped a strand of silvery hair over her shoulder and huffed, "Just tell us where she is."
"Bugger off," Draco said, his nose twitching in annoyance. He was in no mood for false accusations. He pushed roughly past the two girls and stalked off.
Or, rather, attempted to stalk off.
"Have you seen her?" the Ravenclaw asked, tagging after him.
"No."
"She's been gone all day, and I know how you hate the Weasleys, you probably did something to her!" The Gryffindor muttered from behind him.
Draco did a fast one-eighty, glaring at the girl, "I did no such thing, you stupid Gryff! Get off my neck, will you? I don't know where the little Weasel has gotten herself, and I don't bloody care!"
"That's interesting," the vague blonde said, but she didn't seem to be paying attention to Draco. Instead, she was looking at the walls.
"What?" Draco glared at her, trying to snuff his temper.
"The walls have moved," she pointed to a spot behind his shoulder.
"Of course they haven't, you loony bint!" Draco turned, and felt his mouth drop slightly. He was looking at a dead end. "Oh, this is bloody fantastic! I'm stuck in the dungeons with two nutcases!"
He ignored the nasty glare he got from the Gryffindor, and looked at the Ravenclaw. "You're supposed to be smart, get us out of here. Oh forget it, I'll do it myself!"
"The Castle obviously wants you to do something," the Ravenclaw said quietly.
"Oh yes, because the Castle really thinks for itself, now does it?" Draco had started walking again, trying to look as though he knew where he was going. He heard the Ravenclaw converse with the Gryffindork as whether to they should continue following him.
"He's being a big lousy prat Luna, why should we go after him? Plus, I doubt he has any idea where he's going down here."
Suddenly feeling the need to prove himself, Draco scoffed loudly, "Follow me, my unfortunate mates. I'll get us out of here in no time —"
All three of them yelled as the floor gave an unexpected lurch as it started rapidly moving and shifting position, with them still on it. Draco fell to his knees with force as the Castle's hallway dragged them to an unknown location. And, just when his insides had had enough of the jerking movement, the floor halted. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, trying to will his head to stop pounding and his stomach to stop churning.
Draco pushed himself up to a crouched position, his eyes still shut tightly. He heard the girls moaning as well, they seemed to have had a bit of disorientation problems as well. He opened his eyes finally, and let a short gasp escape his mouth.
"Oh Merlin! Ginny!" One of the girls, Draco assumed it to be the rather loud Gryffindor, shouted exactly what he was thinking. Not a few meters from him was the crumpled form of Ginny Weasley.
Leaping to his feet, faster than he would have thought possible, Draco was quickly at her side. He held back another gasp as his eyes fell to the form beside Ginny. It was Blaise Zabini. Forgetting the redhead at the sight of his deathly-looking friend, he leaned over her and checked Blaise for a pulse and sighed with relief. Admittedly, as Draco looked over Blaise, his friend did look rather different. As if he had had a dark shadow lifted from his shoulders.
"Why are they both in their pajamas?" Luna, the Ravenclaw, asked vaguely.
Draco hadn't realized this detail, and felt a blush rise to his cheeks at the Weasley's attire. He was at least a meter away from the girl faster than he could blink.
"Who's the bloke?" The Gryffindor looked accusingly at Draco, as if he had planned all along for the Weasley and Blaise to be found suspiciously asleep in a dimly lit room, in their night garments.
"Blaise Zabini," Draco answered, scowling at her. He walked widely around the two unconscious forms until he was at Blaise's side. Gently shaking his friend's shoulder, he tried to wake him up. "Come on, mate. Get yourself up, now."
He noticed Luna take out her wand. Draco cocked an eyebrow when she pointed it at Blaise.
"Innerviate," she said, and instantly Blaise's eyes opened and he sat up so fast that he knocked Draco in the forehead.
"Watch't!"
Blaise didn't even notice as he got to his feet, looking around them with panic written over his face, "Oh shit, shit! What're you all doing here? Where are we? I've got to get Ginny out of here! Come on, close your mouths, we've got to move!"
Luna and the Gryff were glaring at Blaise as his mouth ran in a crazed fashion, looking at him as if he had gone mad.
Draco was quite convinced his pal was mental, "Calm down, and drop the Weasley will you?"
Blaise was trying to lift the still unconscious Ginny to her feet. He stopped at Draco's voice, halfway supporting to the redhead off the floor. "You don't understand, we've got to find Snape, Dumbledore, anyone before Riddle finds us!"
"Too late for that, I'm afraid."
All four heads snapped simultaneously to the orientation of the new voice. Draco's gaze met that of a slightly blurred-around-the-edges boy looking no older than seventeen. He had a sinking feeling in his gut of who this apparition of a boy was.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" The Gryff asked angrily. She obviously wasn't amused.
The boy's eyes traveled over the five of them, and landed on Draco, who he addressed first, "Ah, yes. Young Malfoy, of course. I followed your aura here, thank you for leading me to Virginia."
Who the heck is Virginia? Draco thought. He looked closer at the stranger, and noted the outdated robes and hairstyle. It was as if the person had walked right out of the fifties.
"Blaise Zabini, as tousled-looking as always," the boy continued, his eyes moving on. Blaise bristled and gained the look of a corned cat.
The boy looked at Luna next, "Don't know you, don't really care. A Ravenclaw are you? Always thought you lot were a bit too arrogant for my taste…"
The Gryffindor snorted at that, "You're the only arrogant person I see here. Now answer my question, who are you? I know for a fact that Ginny's brother is Head Boy this year. What are you, some kind of imposter?"
"I am no imposter! How dare you!" he hissed.
"He's Tom Riddle," Draco said flatly.
Riddle ignored him, and continued glaring at the girl. "I remember you, now. Yes, there's something unnatural about you…Quite a dark aura surrounding you, there is."
Draco saw the Gryffindor's eyes widen, and immediately she clenched her mouth shut.
"Since the cataleptic Virginia is giving me her energy once more, let us have some fun…" said Riddle, withdrawing a wand from within his robes. He brandished the wood gracefully, and sealed the room. With the three separate spells. "No chance for you this time, I'm afraid."
Blaise uttered a growl-like noise.
"I don't care who you are, or what you may know, but I'm not afraid of you!" shouted the Gryffindor, stepping forward bravely. And quite stupidly, Draco thought.
"Ashlyn, don't," Luna warned, getting to her legs as well.
"Splendid idea, my dear. You may not be afraid of me, yet, but how about we all find out just what your greatest fears are," a sickening smile spread across Riddle's handsome face. "I imagine that you all have your fears, yes?"
Draco inadvertently thought of his deepest fear. He looked over the others, and saw each of them flinch or twist uncomfortably. His eyes landed on Weasley briefly, and Draco's insides churned unpleasantly.
Riddle laughed. It would have been a charming sound, Draco mused, if it were not for the fact it was laced with evil, "Well, how about you have a chance to meet your fear head on?"
"What's he on about?" Blaise questioned, still holding onto Ginny protectively. Draco just shrugged in response.
"I'm not going to take this," Ashlyn, Draco now knew the Gryffindor to be named, flung her wand arm out a feral look in her eyes, "Petrifi—"
Riddle's spell cut her voice off, "—Metuovere!"
Draco heard Ashlyn scream out and watched as her spine arched backwards, her arms tense and her hands stretched like claws.
There was another shriek, this one from Luna. He looked to find the Ravenclaw stretching her arms in front of her as if she were trying to get her hands as far away from her body as possible. Draco's mouth was agape, realizing she was doing this for good reason. Both her hands had erupted into two fiery balls, which were climbing threateningly up her forearms.
Caught in an appalled fascination, Draco didn't notice Blaise until his friend had yelped out in pain. Turning to look at his fellow Slytherin, he watched in horror as Blaise seemed to be splitting down the middle in two. Literally. Draco opened his mouth in something faintly short of terror as Blaise was painfully yanked until there were two of his best friends breathing heavily as they stood opposite one another.
One Blaise remained in the striped pajama set, but the other had a completely different look to him. Physically, the second Blaise had longer, wilder hair, and looked a bit stronger than the former. His clothes were modern cut robes, with a definite 'hardcore' theme to them. Even in the midst of everything, Draco still had time to be repulsed at the rough and rugged look to them. That oddly dressed thing was most definitely not Blaise.
Finally, Draco's eyes dropped to the small form that was still limp on the floor. As he was being pulled apart, Blaise had dropped the Weasley, and now as Draco looked over the crimson crowned angel, he came face to face with his most feared of all his fears. He was overpoweringly in love with the filthy, muggle-loving, freckle-faced, red-haired Gryffindor, and by-association friend of Harry Potter, Ginevra Weasley.
ooo
"My sweet, wake up…"
The smooth voice filtered into her ears, reaching her closed mind. Ginny suddenly realized that her head was throbbing, as was the rest of her body. The pain was almost overwhelming and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep, the darkness such a welcoming presence.
"You're beautiful, like an angel. Please let heaven know that I need you more than anything…"
Someone was whispering into her ear. She shivered at the feel of their breath against her ear.
"I need you now, we all do…Please wake up!"
She could feel arms wrapped around her, but the darkness was too tempting. If she could only sleep for a little while more…
"It's Riddle, he's back…it's Riddle…"
Riddle. The name triggered something in Ginny's mind. Tom… It was as if a barrier had been broken, and a tremendous amount of noise reached Ginny's ear. She was aware of commotion around her, screams, pain. She blinked her eyes open, willing the darkness away. She needed to get up, now.
"Malfoy," Ginny's eyes had opened and she spoke the name of the very blurry person who was hovering over her. Ignoring the pain throughout her body, she shoved him away from her. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I was watching you sleep!" He told her simply, a smile across his face.
"Yea, you think?" Ginny said, rubbing at her temples. Her eyes finally took in everything that was happening around she and Malfoy and she swore loudly.
The room was very large, and completely made of stone. The ceiling was something left to be promised, being that all four sides of the room ran straight up until fading into darkness. The expansive walls were carved decoratively, punctured by Romanesque columns and long windows that had no scenery to depict, only darkness. There were no furnishings in the room, besides a throne at one end. It was elegant, but simple. Atop it sat Tom Riddle.
Ginny's eyes landed on Riddle for only a second, before loud yells and shouts deterred her thoughts.
Scattered around the room were her friends, and Malfoy. Closest to her, other than Malfoy, was Blaise Zabini. Two of him. Both Blaises were looked in a duel, using both their wands and limbs to hurt one another. Luna was further away, backed against a wall, and seemed to on fire. The only view she had of Ashlyn was a very silvery heap on the floor.
She looked at Malfoy, who had a clouded look to his eyes, and trying her best to ignore his rather odd attitude, she said, "Well, get out your wand! We have to help them!" Ginny's hand went automatically to her pocket—
Her smooth pajama nightgown greeted her fingers instead of her school robes. Mortified, she hugged herself and tried to cover as much of her exposed skin as she could. Malfoy cocked his head at her, a warm smile spreading across his face. "Don't worry, my sweet, you look like an angel—"
"Ginny!"
Draco and Ginny both looked at Luna, who had pushed herself off the wall (leaving a trail of flames from where her hands had hit the stone). Luna was gesturing wildly with her fiery hands. It took a moment for Ginny to realize that the Ravenclaw was trying to draw attention to Ashlyn.
Casting a worried glance at the Blaises (which Ginny was still very confused about), and trying not to look at the guaranteed smug look on Riddle's face, Ginny ran to her fellow Gryffindor's side. Noticing the seizure-like jerks and movements, she gently kneeled down to Ashlyn and tried to grab her shoulders. "Ashlyn, what's going on? Look, at me what's happening?"
"I―I should've told someone sooner, but I c-couldn't!" Ashlyn painfully growled out between yelps of discomfort. She was collapsed on her knees, leaning forward with her arms now wrapped protectively around her abdomen. Ginny asked what she was talking about, and Ashlyn said, "G-ginny, I think I'm c-cursed! I k-know I have veela-b-blood in me from my d-dad, b-but it's like I've b-been b-bitten…"
Ginny was rubbing Ashlyn's shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting motion, she looked at Draco for help. He just gave Ginny thumbs up and said she looked amazing, which she in turn ignored. "Bitten? When? By what?"
At this, Ashlyn started to bring her shoulders up, and the locks of hair in front of her face seemed to drift eerily out of the way, exposing face. Ginny gasped and retracted her hand to her chest in surprise. Ashlyn's face was definitely not as it should have been. Her eyelashes had grown bushier and darker, surrounding two completely black eyes. Ashlyn opened her mouth in a panting fashion, her canine teeth and fangs glistening from behind dark lips, and answered, "A w-werewolf. But I swear, I've never b-been bitten!"
"Have you, —before—, —the moon?—, —have you transformed at all—?" Ginny's mind seemed to have deflated. "Wait, you're part-Veela? That explains some things…"
Ashlyn doubled over again, choking out yells, "I've never fully Changed before…b-but I can feel it coming… It's that spell! Ginny, you've got t-to help me—"
Jumping back away from Ashlyn as the girl unleashed a rather howlish groan, Ginny scanned the room. Maybe if we could block her off…I can't keep her from changing, but maybe if she could be quartered off! Unfortunately, there seemed to be nothing around she could use. All that came to sight was Riddle, who was sending random hexes at the two Blaises joyfully, watching as they continued to duke it out. Then Ginny saw Luna, she was crying slightly and looking perplexedly at her hands, not quite sure what to do with them.
"Luna, I need you!" Ginny called out. She waved a hand to summon the Ravenclaw.
Luna just looked at her blankly, "I can't do anything for you. I'm afraid I can't even get to my wand…"
"Listen," she said, a plan forming in her head, "You don't need a wand to help me! Just, listen, look at me, use your hands to your advantage! What are you afraid of?"
"The fire, it'll spread," Luna said quietly, regarding her hands thoughtfully, "Just like the Heliopaths…it'll destroy everything"
Trying not too panic, Ginny was watching as Ashlyn's body convulsed and her muscles started shifting, a thick coat of black and grey hair tearing over her body. Ginny swallowed a lump in her throat and looked back at Luna, "Please, Luna, just lean over―" she demonstrated walking a line with her hand dragging along the floor as she went "―like this…and draw…a circle around Ashlyn. Luna, please!"
Biting her bottom lip, Luna contemplated her hands again. Ginny tried not to jump up and down, but Ashlyn's arms were more of front legs and paws by now, and her ears had moved doggedly up the side of her skull. "Please, Luna, now or never!"
And finally the blonde nodded her hand and began tracing a large circle around Ashlyn's form. Ginny began backing away, and subsequently walked right into Malfoy. She turned to look at him, and stiffened as he embraced her strongly. Rolling her eyes, and still at a complete loss over his change of heart, she pushed away from.
"What is going on here? Riddle did something to all of you," Ginny said, stating the obvious and hoping Malfoy would fill in the details for her.
"Yes, he did!" Malfoy exclaimed airily, happily taking hold of Ginny's hands and swinging them with his enthusiastically. "He has opened my heart to you! I love you, Ginny. Everything about you, from your poor blood-traitor parents all the way to your red hair and freckles!"
"Yea, that's great, but how did he do this?"
"Well, I know, —for the others of course—, he used a spell that manifested their worst fears into a physical being or ailment," Draco said, gently massaging Ginny's hands. He gave her a bright smile, "No idea what he did with me, but I feel amazing! Except, I'm afraid my hair has lost some of its sheen, but no mind. Anyhow, I simply—"
"—Am obsessed with me," Ginny finished, breaking her hands away from his and brushing past, "Yea, yea, I've noticed… So what's happened with Blaise?"
Malfoy answered, "He has two personalities. Looks as if his fear is that his 'bad' side would get out and beat the hell out of him. Good old Zabini, he was much fun for parties. You see, I always referred to 'big-bad' Blaise as Zabini, and the 'good-original-nice-guy' Blaise as, well, Blaise."
Luna joined them as Malfoy finished, "I did three separate layers of circles, but I don't think it will do us much good, Ginny."
Ginny turned around, and sure enough, through the many tongues of fire, she could see Ashlyn nearly fully transformed at this point. Her veelawolf form was turning out to be of considerable size. The creature would likely weigh one hundred and forty pounds at the least. The predatory cat-like hind legs and elongated torso would likely mean that the veelawolf would have no trouble bounding over the firewalls. Ginny sighed, and started to turn around to figure out what she was going to do with Blaise, when a chilling howl reached the air.
Everyone in the room stopped and looked over to where Ashlyn had been laying not moments before. In her place was an enormous wolfish creatures, but with strange adaptations. The front paws were still quite long, resembling talons more than anything else. The hind legs bent forward as did a human's, but it looked as if the ankles had been stretched over a foot with new bones, efficiently separating one leg into three segments and a long talon-like paw at the end. As well as the obvious anatomical differences between Ashlyn and a regular werewolf was the coat of hair that was eerily curling a floating off the veelawolf's back. The tail was more of a mane of feathery hair than a normal wolf tail.
Ginny's observation was cut short when the veelawolf stood back on its hind legs and sniffed the air. Another long howl escaped its mouth. Then, it jumped.
Or flew, Ginny rather thought marveling at the creature's grace, out of the rings of fire. It landed silently on the stone floor only thirty feet from where Ginny, Luna, and Malfoy stood. Snarling and bearing its teeth, the veelawolf flicked its tail, its eyes clearly stating that it was hungry. Ginny suddenly felt sympathy for any meal she had ever consumed, knowing how it must have felt to know it was about to be eaten.
"You know, I have nothing against half-breeds," Malfoy announced suddenly to Ginny, his happy and proud voice resounding in the room as if there were ten of him. It was like Ginny's mouth melted off her face at his boisterous statement, and she realized the spell must have zapped Malfoy's brain. Or maybe he just wanted to die faster.
At the sound of Malfoy's voice, the veelawolf had perked its ears and growled as if recognizing that it would be eating very soon. Ginny watched as it lowered to the ground, realizing a second too late that it was about to pounce. The large creature was soaring through the air, talon-like claws spread wide and ready to rip apart anything that they landed on. As her eminent death launched at her, Ginny had one last instinct to swing her arms above her head, and saw through the gaps of her arms the veelawolf's claws a meter from her. She was going to be shredded apart.
WHAM!
Before the veelawolf had actually hit her, Ginny was thrown backwards by an invisible force and her back hit the ground hard, her head hitting the floor with a sickening crack. Another large thump made the entire room shake as something very heavy dropped to the floor. There was a muffled yell, a scream, and whimpering barks. Ignoring the enormous amount of pain flooding her head, Ginny rolled onto her stomach and pushed to her feet. A heavy cloak of dust that had been kicked up in the room, instantly assaulted her eyes and mouth. She coughed as she stumbled around blindly with an arm stretched out in front of her. Immediately she called out, "Malfoy? …Luna?"
"Ginny! Love, you alright?" Malfoy's voice was stricken with concern. "Follow my voice…"
As hard as the floor may have been trying, the dust just did not want to leave the air. It was heavy and disorientating. Ginny inched along, her eyes clamped shut against the offending dust, and her outstretched arm finally hit what felt like an iron bar vertical to the ground. Scrunching her eyes shut, Ginny felt another vertical bar with her other hand. Fastening her hands around the bars, Ginny shook them and called, "Malfoy? Malfoy, where are you—"
Suddenly the bars Ginny had been gripping were struck heavily from the other side, accompanied by vicious barking and snarling. Screaming, Ginny fumbled backwards, anywhere away from the bars.
"No! No, stop it! Ginny!" Luna's yells rang through the dust. "I don't want to! No, don't!"
The Ravenclaws screams were joined by more masculine cries, and a jolt in Ginny's stomach told her it was Malfoy's voice.
Forgetting any caution, Ginny turned to the source of the sound and started running flat out. The dust thinned, and from within it, she could see into the front of the room. What first met her eyes was Luna striking Malfoy's back with her arms as if they were whips. Riddle was still atop his throne, a wildly gleeful smile playing on his lips.
"Draco Malfoy, disobey me again, and I promise the punishment will be much worse. Stop, Miss Ravenclaw," Riddle said coolly.
Luna was crying by the time she could finally step away from Malfoy. She looked from her fiery hands to Riddle and back to her hands, with a horrified expression. Very carefully, Luna dropped to the ground, hiding her face so that she couldn't see Malfoy's scorched back.
Sick of what she was seeing, Ginny finally emerged from the dust clouds, which had slowly been fading anyway. She started forward, when something grabbed her roughly around her arms. "What the hell—"
It was Zabini. He smirked as he pushed her in front of him and lead her to Riddle, placing cords around her wrists as he did so. Stopping a little distance from its base, he pushed Ginny into a kneeling position, and said, "She's yours, if I get the other one."
"…Yes, of course," Riddle stood and descended the steps of his throne slowly. "Feel free to do as you please with Blaise. He is of no more use to me, kill him if you wish."
As Zabini hurried off, Ginny lifted herself off the floor, refusing to bow before Riddle. She felt he would probably be enraged with her doing so, but she took her chances. Safely on her two feet, Ginny glared up at Riddle, trying to squelch her incredible fear. She was surprised to find him quite the contrary to livid at her disobedience. He kept walking closer to her, his vague smirk never fading. She growled out, "Stay away from me you sick creep!"
"Little Red, my darling Virginia," he said in a way that some may have confused with charming. He stopped walking once he was within arms reach from her. His handsome face glowed ethereally. "For one year you have evaded me, locked yourself away… Tried to rid your feelings for me…"
"The only feelings I have for you are ones of disgust," Ginny said honestly, ignoring the fast beating of her heart. She did only have feelings of disgust for Riddle, now.
His face didn't change at her retort, Riddle merely continued as if she hadn't spoken, "Seeking help from Severus for you to resist me. Silly girl, silly Ginny, you should have known he couldn't help you. He remains loyal to me; I am sure. I could feel it radiating off him."
"He remains…" Ginny closed her mouth, she had always heard that Snape was a Death Eater, but she still couldn't bring herself to believe it. Dumbledore trusts Snape, surely he would know if he were a Death Eater.
"None of that means anything now, don't fret, I have you," Riddle brought his hand to Ginny's cheek and traced her jaw line.
She narrowed her eyes, refraining from spitting at him, she snapped her teeth at his hands instead. Ginny got her desired effect of him withdrawing his hand. "You will never have me."
He laughed at her, his arrogance returning as he stroked her hair. "Our souls are linked together. You are mine, and you will be."
"I'll never belong to you," Ginny said, her voice quiet and cutting.
Riddle's eyes flowed over Ginny, and he seemed to cluck his tongue in disapproval, "What do you mean my little Virginia? You already belong to me. Why, just look at your arm…"
A sharp pain, which Ginny hadn't noticed earlier but somehow felt as if it had been there since she woke up, ran through her lower her arm as he finished his sentence. She looked down at her pale complexion, and caught a sob in her throat.
Glowing with a hideously dark radiance was the Dark Mark, burned into her skin for eternity. Her eyes wide and filled with a deep terror, she looked up at Riddle, her voice gone. Whatever flame of defiance she had within her was doused.
"It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it, pet?" Riddle laid both his long-fingered hands on each of Ginny's shoulders, then let them slip down her sides appreciatively. He clicked his tongue again, rubbing the fabric of her nightgown between his fingers. "Now, how about something more …appropriate for you to wear, Virginia?"
Ginny's muscle had frozen on her. She just watched as Tom drew her wand, did a complicated flick, and uttered a spell. A very odd feeling struck over her skin as her nightgown split into pieces and started spinning over her skin and changing texture and color as it was tugged and pulled in different directions. When it was finished and Riddle was pleased, Ginny looked down at herself. She resembled a trashy Raggedy Anne doll. Even her hair seemed to have arranged itself into curled pigtails on either side of her head.
Riddle laughed deeply, pleased with his work. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her backwards into him, leaning his head into the bend of her neck. He inhaled and sighed, "See what fun we're having, Red…"
Ginny just looked out at her friends, and Malfoy, and though she wanted to scream and protest, all she could do was stare. The veelawolf was pacing around and around in the giant birdcage contraption Riddle had trapped it in, its tail flicking in an aggravated fashion. Malfoy was still on his knees, screaming in agony as Luna was forced to slash him with her hands every time he breathed too deeply or tried to steal a glance at Ginny. Zabini had what appeared to be a collar around Blaise's neck, and was taking pleasure in kicking Blaise's knees out from under him repeatedly.
"This is fun?" she said, her mouth dry and her eyes wet.
Riddle draped his arms around her waist and let his hands link between her hips. He purred into her ear, "Yes. But of course, there's a difference between fun and pleasure…"
"Ginny, no!"
The outcry made Riddle stand straight again, growling through grit teeth.
"Don't let him get to you," Malfoy shouted, only be struck by the reluctant Luna as he did so. He tore his mouth open and hollered in frustration and agony, and then slumped over.
"His pain and fears feed me, did you know?" Riddle said almost cheerfully to Ginny. He was the worst form of a Dementor, she thought. A serious expression crossed his face, and he peered into her eyes, then said, "There's more from you—" his eyes fell slightly "—that I require…"
Her body shuddered.
"I know you," Riddle slipped his arms around her again, "I know your desires, Virginia…"
"You do," Ginny admitted quietly before she closed her eyes and felt Riddle's lips flutter hungrily over her neck.
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Author's note: Thanks to all my readers! You guys freakin' rock. Questions are welcomed!
Next Chapter – A Tip from Salazar… It's the final chapter! Of course, then there's a short epilogue…