Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The publishers are the ones that have the papers to show that. Them and JK Rowling. I just love to manipulate her characters for my own strange humor.
Summary: Chapter II: In which you meet the mysterious shadow at the end of chapter I, of witty humor, dark flashbacks, and sporks! Everybody loves sporks!
Author's Notes: I'm looking for a Beta! I realized in the last chapter while I was reviewing it, that I had switched from saying that Raleigh's eye color was hazel, to saying it way grey. In truth, they're really a steely hazel. Sorry about that. I'll go back and fix it later if I can figure out how to do it. A few lines in this chapter are taken from two songs by Nine Inch Nails. They are called: "Head Like a Hole" and "Closer". They get all the credit! (I just thought it would fit in this darker chapter, you can find them in bold!) Emma Barrows- My first EVER review! Thank you, and I'm glad that you won't have to wait that long! KateinVA- Truly thanks. I admire your honesty (look down at the notes at the end of the chapter). Lithui- Yes, I know. ;) Sorry to say, but Raleigh isn't in this chapter. He'll be in the next one though! Draco's Voice- "OnG! U iz lyke sos funneh!11" Kidding. -.- Thanks, prepared to be tortured:)HarriettaPotter- You'll find out in this chapter! lemondrop101- I hate them too! lmpd- I really like yours too, thanks! Ophelias dream- Is your username referring to a fan fic on schnoogle? If so, I've read it! It's great.
Thanks for all the reviews! Love ya'! (And just think, we just met!) Oo
Chapter II How Ironic
"Eh, Weasley, why so surprised?" Blaise Zabini asked, waving his hand through onyx hair. His hazel colored eyes had a shine that danced with laughter. He was equipped with a black briefcase and a letter opener in his right hand. Blaise was wearing a long leather coat that was probably from one of the latest designers and a pair of plain black slacks. He bore an ivory colored shirt that was loosely fitted, and he seemed like he had not cut his hair for a while. It was nearly down to his shoulders.
Ginny couldn't comprehend why she wasn't asking him questions. She knew for a fact that he was trying to intimidate her. And who couldn't with an eight inch, sharp letter opener and a dark appearance like his? Now Ginny remembered all the Death Eaters from her past that she forgot while talking with Thomas.
She left Zabini out.
"Who says I'm surprised?" Ginny asked and stood, praying that he either had forgotten she was almost an Auror so he wouldn't kill her, or that he had remembered she was almost an Auror so he wouldn't kill her. Either way was fine with her.
"The look on your face. You show nervousness, Weasley. You just looked to your left, proving my point. Right now you're about to begin moving your hands. Did they teach you anything in training?" He sneered and tightened his hand around the letter opener.
'Holy-' In truth, Ginny was terrified. Draco, a Death Eater, was upstairs and most likely sleeping. Blaise, a Death Eater, was six feet in front of Ginny and was grinning wickedly at her. Ginny, an almost fully-fledged Auror was backing up away from Blaise at an unnoticeable pace. Incidentally, Ginny was scared out of her wits and prayed that Ferret Boy would make his entrance any time soon.
"Not going to answer me, Gin?" Blaise taunted, enthusiastically waving the letter opener through the air.
'It's MY job to protect the ferret from his old friends! Do SOMETHING!' Ginny found courage wavering into her voice as she said, "Why should I? I generally don't talk to your type."
"Ah, that's it! That's the ticket, poppet. That is precisely the Ginevra Weasley that I remember. The one that is in the papers. The one that my Lord talked about." Blaise smirked at her and dropped the sharp tool. It tumbled to the floor less than three feet away from Ginny.
"I have the tea, Blaise." Draco said as he came into the sitting area. He looked at the pair, Ginny's wand at Blaise' throat and the letter opener in her other hand. "Holy Hell, Weasley. That was quick. And yet, I'm mildly disappointed. You're supposed to be protecting me, and yet you stand there stupidly for ten minutes while he threatens you?"
"I-" Ginny stupidly stuttered and dropped the offending weapon, putting her wand in her boot.
"That's right, Weasel. And by the way, nice outfit." Blaise smirked and graciously took the cup of tea from Malfoy's silver tray. "Where'd you get it, Slag Rags?"
This erupted a loud roar of laughter from the two fully grown men, and Ginny pretended not to be highly offended. She had actually gotten it from Muggle Wear, a company she happened to favor. Ginny murmured, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, and where'd you get yours from? Your boyfriend? Fag Rags?"
The two men immediately stopped laughing, but they did not cease smirking. "I have a proposition for you, Ginny. You help me, just like Draco, and get them off my tail. I'll pay you."
"No. Way. In. Effing. Hell. Go there, would you?" Ginny replied, trying to sneer. It seemed that everyone had mastered the art of it except her. "Why do you think I'd help you after all you've-"
"Fifty thousand galleons. Does that change your mind? Look, all I'm asking is that you help me with the whole set. A Fidelius Charm, the whole shebang. I'll pay you a fifth in advance if you'll be in agreement to a legal deal. That, and I ask that you bring Lovegood over to the manor tomorrow." Blaise grinned to himself and leaned farther into the couch, Draco still standing and watching the whole scene.
"Fifty- fifty galleons? A thousand. Fifty bleeding thousand." Ginny spoke to herself aloud, slightly rubbing her chin. "Deal. Where do I sign, Zabini?"
"We'll talk about that after you bring Lovegood over. And in the meantime, think about buying yourself some new attire." Blaise said, looking her over and making Ginny feel quite out of place.
"Arse," she muttered, giving him a rude hand gesture. She then trotted off to her room, unknown to the dangers of helping Zabini. How hard was it to protect people from Death Eaters, anyway?
96969696
Ginny woke up to the sound of birds chirping. She looked over at the clock on the wall and noted that it was nearly eleven. "Bleeding…" Normally that was an ungodly time of day for her. Ginny got on a pair of jeans and a baggy tee. Blaise was right. She did need clothes that actually fitted her.
After sliding on a pair of socks that her mum had knitted her, Ginny fully rose and fought against drowsiness to make herself find something to eat in the kitchen. She quickly fastened her pace after smelling burnt food.
Ginny flung herself at the kitchen's doors and widened her eyes after looking around.
Quoting one of her favorite sayings from Fred and George, Ginny exclaimed, half yawning, "I'm not stoned enough for this!" She slumped against the wall, her eyes nearly bulging.
Draco Orion Malfoy and Blaise Xander Zabini were sitting at the oak dining table, playing cards, and eating some strange substance from two large bowls. There was a pile of galleons in front of Blaise, and Draco wore a scowl. They both had their shirts off, showing both Dark Marks tattooed into their forearms. Ginny desperately tried to hide her laugh and the small smile creeping onto her face. She would never admit that this was the best view she had gotten since seeing Oliver Wood in the quidditch locker rooms.
"Find something funny, Weasel? If you like it so much, then why don't you take off your own shirt?" Draco commented, taking a larger bite from his- cereal bowl?
Indeed, Zabini and Malfoy were eating muggle cereal. The idea was just ludicrous! Ginny realized that she had eaten the sugary sin before.
Walking over to the abnormally large coffee pot, Ginny poured herself a cup and noted that the pair had taken their attention over to her. "You want me to take off my shirt? Are you sure?" She looked dubiously at them and rolled her eyes.
They eccentrically nodded, and Ginny said cynically, "Oh, alright." Ginny pulled at her overly large tee and deposited it on the floor. Underneath her tee was a large sleeveless pajama top. It didn't show anything but her bare arms. Draco and Blaise seemed mildly disappointed. "What do you think I am? One of your whores?" Ginny smirked and began to place her hair up into a knot.
Ginny was slightly afraid that they would say something like, 'Do you really want us to answer that?' or, 'No, but do you want to be?' Thankfully they didn't, and Ginny continued to look around the room. Ginny now saw why they weren't wearing shirts. On the stove were pans of burnt food. Apparently, Draco and Blaise had decided that putting their expensive and high class tops onto smoldering food would exterminate the smell. It didn't.
Turning back to the duo, Ginny sat down at the table. She poured herself some- Trix? 'What the hell!' -into a bowl and dumped in half a jug of milk. Ignoring the amused looks of her male counterparts, Ginny took a large bite and chewed, her mouth slightly open.
"Eh, Weasley, what's that say on your arm?" Blaise asked, scooting closer to her and examining her appendage.
"T.M.R. It's my own mark." Ginny said, finishing a bite.
"You know what that means, right? Jesus.. Tom did that to you?" Blaise asked her, touching the maroon tattoo.
"No, Blaise. I just love self mutilation for my own sick humor." said Ginny sarcastically. She eyed him darkly and shivered when his cold fingers grazed over her marked flesh. She, in truth, had gotten cut by Tom in the Chamber. It had been a revenge gone wrong.
FLASHBACK:O
His bright red eyes leered at her, following her own as she backed up against the cold dungeon floor. For the first time in her first year, Ginny could vividly remember trying to hurt someone.
Tom.
She had tried to get rid of him by flushing his diary down a toilet in one of the lower level loos. She failed miserably, and after she had watched the porcelain bowl begin to bubble, the one person she knew who could get hurt- She didn't want him to hurt Harry. Harry, Hermione, and Ron tended to ignore an innocent little firstie. She was certain that Harry would do everyone a favor and throw the diary away. Ginny couldn't ask him about it because he would know that she had done it. So she waited.
After a day of not seeing Tom and gaining back meager memories, Ginny decided that she would check for him to see if he was still in the Chamber of Secrets. She tripped on Moaning Myrtle's pipe right in front of the entrance and wailed out in pain.
"Why me? I'm only eleven…" Ginny whined, feeling a small tear drop down her face. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist and started dragging her toward the entrance. She kicked and was very surprised. Tom let go.
Tom let go…
Still feeling a force, Ginny decided right then in there that Tom wasn't in a mortal body. It was something else. She could still feel his touch, but- he wasn't real.
Ginny felt herself being tugged into the Chamber. When they both met the bottom, Ginny cried out in anger, frustration, and pain.
Seeing what was coming, she begged, "Please, Tom. I-"
"It's Master to you now. I gave you a chance, Ginevra. You now belong to me." His eyes seemed to flash yellow.
"No, Tom. I won't. I'll- I'll get my brother Ron to rescue me-"
"You think that pathetic boy will help poor little you? Honestly, Ginny, he's afraid of arachnids! Tell me that he's not afraid of me!"
Ginny realized that Tom was right, and she sobbed harder. Percy still went here and so did Fred and George, but they- Oh! They'd never find her in time.. Harry wouldn't save her; he was too busy with Ron and Hermione…
"Can I- Can I leave, Tom? Please, I swear I won't tell anyone!"
"I said Master! You are not allowed to call me Tom anymore!" Tom yelled, pointing his wand at her.
'What good will that do?' Ginny thought.
"Bow down before the one you serve, you're gonna' get what you deserve… Head like a hole, black as your soul. I'd rather die, than give you control." Tom was now leering over her, his mumbling not ceasing.
"Please, Tom! I'm sorry. I don't have enough strength to bow!" Ginny cried harder and looked down at the floor, avoiding Riddle's eyes.
Tom came closer, holding in his hand a golden quill. Ginny thought he was giving her a gift and smiled slightly until he held it in his fist like a knife.
A bottle of ink appeared in his other hand. Ginny looked at the liquid through her clouded eyes. It looked like- blood? Swear words that the eleven year old had gotten from her older brothers began to pop into her mind, and she stayed silent. She was too afraid to move. Where would she run?
Ginny let Tom grasp her left forearm as he grinned wickedly. He dipped the quill in the inkpot and Ginny winced as he first punctured her arm. "My blood-" Tom gestured to the ink pot, "And yours." Tom made sure that Ginny was looking at her arm as he punctured the skin again, blood trickling down to her hand.
"I'm sorry, Master. Please, please- Tom." Ginny cried, not taking her eyes off of her skin.
As soon as he had finished with the 'T', Ginny had bitten a hole in her lip, and she tasted copper mixed with other metal. She wanted to hurl.
Scaring her even more, Tom began to recite words that would never leave Ginny. They were as permanent as the initials on her skin.
"You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you. You let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you. You can have my isolation; you can have the hate that it brings. You can have my absence of faith, you can have my everything." Ginny grew sicker as he repeated it over and over again.
'How can he touch me!'
When he finished, Tom asked her, "Do you want me to kiss you to make it all better? I'm sorry, Gin. Do you need a hug?"
"No! I'm fine. I'll leave and find your diary." Ginny said, still feeling tears on her face.
"Alright, that's a good girl. Get along now, Harry Potter wants to play. Just remember, Gin, I love you." Tom looked into her eyes; they were now a deep blue.
"I- I know, Tom. I have homework to do, see you later!" Ginny said and turned to run. She ran the fastest she had ever ran in her life. 'More like never again…' she muttered after getting back to the commons. She covered a hand over her large wound and noticed that not only would she have a scar, but that his blood wasn't leaking in with hers. It stayed at the top, never leaving as it healed.
She figured that was a good thing. Now all she had left to do was get the courage to warn Harry.
End Flashback:O
Ginny found herself hunched over her cereal bowl, shoveling food into her mouth.
"Did it hurt?" Blaise asked, still looking at the scar.
"What the hell do you think, Zabini? He took a quill, dipped it in his blood, and sliced the hell out of my skin, signing me. He proceeded to tell me all the while that I was his and that he was mine. Tell me that it didn't hurt. I'm effing traumatized." She drawled, much like Malfoy. Ginny finished her cereal and got up to put it away.
"Why are you helping us then? Why did you even become an Auror?" Malfoy finally spoke up, pushing his cereal around his bowl.
"Because- because, Malfoy, it gets to a point where you have to swallow your fear and actually step out into the real world. You want to know what I wanted to be when I grew up?" Ginny asked, rinsing her bowl.
Draco didn't say anything and this surprised Ginny greatly. She continued, "It's amazing really. I didn't want to be a bartender shaking my arse or anything that involved the ministry or Death Eaters or Aurors. I wanted to become the next Astronomy teacher at Hogwarts. It was the safest place in the world because Tom was gone."
"Why didn't you then?" Malfoy asked, now watching her.
"I didn't because- I didn't have enough courage to even fill out an application. There were so many memories- and then Harry came along. Amazingly, he still wanted to become an Auror after defeating Voldemort. He said he could get me a job. I bet him that I'd be rubbish. After all, here I am, a Weasley. He got his badge after a week on the job. I've been training for three and a half years."
The room was naturally quiet. Dishes began to put themselves away, and no one talked much. It wasn't until Ginny spoke again that Blaise or Draco looked up from their papers.
"Umm- Could I invite someone over? Other than Luna, I mean."
"Sure, Weasley. After all, you are doing me a favor. When is your mother coming? Just tell me so I can get out of the house and give you two some privacy." Malfoy surprisingly said, a small smirk on his perfect lips. Normally ones hair would be rumpled and askew after sleeping on it all night. Malfoy's wasn't. His platinum blonde hair was mixed with silver- 'Tease him about that later…'-, and yet it lay there, very much like-
"S'not my mum, Malfoy. I'm talking about bringing over a-" Ginny stopped herself and tried not to blush. She thought of Raleigh again, his dark appearance much like Blaise.
"Who then?" Draco asked, looking strait at her.
Ginny acted like a deer in the headlights. Although, how could grey eyes be compared to headlights?
"Umm- Just a friend from work."
"The bar or the Ministry?" he asked gulping down a glass of orange juice.
"Bar," replied Ginny confidently.
Blaise interjected, "Oooh! Gin's got herself a boyfriend. I always thought it would be Potter. Who is it then?"
"I don't like Harry, thank you very much! How do you even know it's a boy?" Ginny mockingly said, her hair splashing to the side.
"Jesus, Weasley, I didn't imagine you to be the type to fancy girls. You'd be more of the type to pick a Nancy boy.. Take Draco for an example-" Blaise' speech was suddenly cut off as Draco dug his spoon into the other man's hand.
"Stop it! You two act like children!" Ginny yelled, taking the spoon away from Draco. She thwacked him on the head with it, desperately wanting to mess up his hair.
Draco grinned at her and then turned to Blaise, "Oi, mate! Be glad it wasn't one of those muggle contraptions! What do they call it? Sort of a spoon with sharp edges-" Draco made a strange concentrated face and pointed to the spoon.
"A spork, Malfoy?" Ginny supplied, rolling her eyes.
"Ah yes, that's the ticket! Thank you, Ginny… Now, who is this man that you want to bring over to my house with Lovegood?" Draco asked, eyebrows raised.
"Raleigh White…" she mumbled incoherently.
"I'm sorry, Weasley, what was that?"
"Raleigh White!" She practically shouted, exasperatedly.
'NO! NO! NO!' Draco internally shouted and griped the tablecloth, his phalanges turning white. "Alright, Weasel. You can invite your friend. But first, have Lovegood come an hour earlier."
"Okay, thanks- Ferret. I appreciate that."
Ginny finished with her cereal bowl and put it away. She walked away towards the greenhouse, leaving Malfoy and Blaise by themselves.
"That man will ruin our chances of actually trying to attempt to lay low. He knows people, Malfoy. Why'd you let her have that privilege?"
"It makes occupied which will leave her oblivious. We get to intimidate White and Lovegood. Besides, it keeps her happy. That leaves her out of our hair so we can take care of grown up things." Malfoy explained, eyeing the spoon on the table.
Before Draco could do anything, Blaise was tackling him with the spoon.
"Oi, Weasley! Help!"
96969696
Author's Notes: As stated above, I am in desperate need of a BETA. Forgive me, I am naively new to this, and I need help. Anyone gracious enough to help me, I would greatly appreciate it. And in case you're wondering, updates will not always be this quick. I haven't even started on chapter 3. I promise that I will try and update each week. To my new reviewers: I am very excited about eight reviews in just two days. It makes me eager to type more. - As stated by KateinVA: Thank you for pointing out that I do have grammar errors. (No this isn't sarcastic) I am actually sincerely happy that you have mentioned this, which makes me even more eager to get a Beta. The worst things I have trouble with are inserting quotations and commas. Heh.