Lyrics from STP, "Plush". Some Trent, too, because I have a feeling this story is going to end up a lot like the song "The Fragile".  Because everything I bloody WRITE ends up like… never mind. Well. Ahem.

Apologies for my "Latin" in advance, but thanks to Chloe for the word for "sin". This is a kind of flashback/backstory bit. Yeah… um… just read it. Third chapter should be along soon enough.
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And I feel, so much depends on the weather
So is it raining in your bedroom?
And I see, that these are the eyes of disarray
Would you even care?

And I feel it
And she feels it

Where you going to tomorrow?
Where you going with that mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?

Remus awoke before Ginny did. He brushed a bit of hair off her neck carefully, so as not to wake her up, and glanced at the bite he'd given her a few hours ago. It had, as he'd expected, already healed in true werewolf fashion. She was just like him now, in that regard. He had given her the one darkness he knew she could not attain on her own.

That though stirred a good blend of emotions in him as he felt her tremble in her sleep. He found, oddly enough, that guilt was not among them. He was sure it had been there initially, but when he thought about it, it did give her something to cling to. And, if he was to be truly honest with himself, the wolf had wanted a mate since the first time he'd smelled her blood…
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Her voice was soft and steady, barely audible. Walking by her room, he almost didn't realize she was inside. The other children had trounced back inside and gathered in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place to show off their new school items a few hours ago and had remained there talking about the year ahead. He had thought she was with them, but his chest tightened when he passed her door. The faintest of lights seemed to be coming from the crack above the floor.

Curiosity and a flicker of concern brought him to touch the door, though he jerked his hand back when the magic hit him like an electric shock. Despite the shock, his touch carried enough force to push the door open a crack and allow him to see in.

"Peccatus cruor addo vos volo… Peccatus cruor addo vos volo… Peccatus…" Ginny sat on the floor facing the window, her back to the door. From her came a soft glow in a distinct shade of green. Remus knew that green far too well. His eyes widened.

Disregarding energy crackling around, he kicked it open and entered, expecting Ginny to stop, the light to go out, and to drag her down to her mother for a chat.

"Peccatus cruor addo vos volo… Peccatus cruor…" she chanted with conviction. Desperation.

'Sin of the blood will bring you to me…'

Remus' eyes went, if possible, wider than before. "Ginny?" No response. "Ginny!" he cried, darting over to her and jostling her shoulders.

That broke her focus. The light faded almost instantly as she stopped chanting, but there was something else that Remus noticed as he inhaled. The scent of blood went straight to his head. Ginny, having been shaken from what appeared to be something much more powerful than Remus had realized, rolled onto her side, drawing her knees up to her chest. He knelt down to her and saw that blood dripped steadily from a wound on her left forearm. "Ginny…" he breathed.

"Merlin… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, but I just can't… I couldn't help it. I could feel him…" she babbled. Her eyes were held tightly shut and she bit down so fiercely on her lip Remus thought she might go straight through it.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, incredulously. He paused for a moment, looking around, before looking at her again. "What were you DOING?" He touched her face. She jerked away from the contact, but her eyes opened slowly and met Remus'. Her stare drifted over his shoulder to the array of items her body had been blocking from his view before. With a furrowed brow, he followed her gaze to her wand, a freshly extinguished candle, a rumpled piece or paper that seemed to have been ripped from a journal, and a white mask, streaked with what could only be her blood.

When he turned back to her, she was sitting up, worrying her bruised bottom lip between her teeth. "I wanted him back," she whispered apologetically.

Remus paused, looking back again. He reached out to the mask, picking it up and almost instantly dropping it again. "Where did you get this?"

Her eyes welled up and her voice cracked. "Tom."

His eyes narrowed, though a stab of something akin to pity hit him in the side. "Ginny, this is…"

"A Death Eater's mask," she finished, quietly. "They all wear them… whenever they're close to him, they have to wear them. Even her." Her eyes became unfocussed as her thoughts overtook her.

"Who are you talking about?"

Her eyes met his again sharply. "Bellatrix," she said, a note of anger evident. "He loves her, now. But she never… I gave him… and my blood…" she said, her tone growing less stable with each word. Her right hand rubbed at her injured forearm, smearing more red across the white skin. "I was going to give him my blood. He would love me then."

The pang of pity turned to a dull ache in his chest. "Bellatrix has a knack for stealing what people love most," Remus murmured, flicking his wand to bundle up the supplies from her attempted sacrifice. He then turned his eyes to her forearm and flicked his wand in that direction as well, cleaning the area and seemingly stopping the blood flow. Their eyes locked briefly. This time, he looked away first. "Cover that. And eat some chocolate. Whatever Dark Magic it was that you intended to dabble with, it will inevitably leave you drained. The spell was stronger than you think."

"I loved him more than you think," she retorted.

He nodded, brushing a few hairs from her eyes and glancing at her wound again, fighting the urge to lick at it. "I believe you." He closed his eyes for a moment, covering her small hand with his larger one. "You're not… Dark like Bellatrix, Ginny."

"I can try," she said, stubbornly. "I can do… the things she does."

Remus smiled slightly at that. "Yes. And you can grow your hair to your knees and live like a prisoner. You could become her if you wanted to… but I think you've got too much pride for that. You know, deep down, that your loyalties lie here."

"And so what if they do?" she asked, pulling her hand back. Her voice sounded tired. "I can feel the world ending, Remus. It won't matter soon enough, because I'll be too far gone to care."

Another sharp pain. 'Perhaps too close to home, this time.'

"You won't be the only one." He looked at her intently for a few moments, fighting a new urge to lean in and kiss her forehead. "I promise I…" he faltered for a moment. "We won't let you fall apart," he said. "Not before this is over."

As he helped her climb into bed with a promise to keep their run in a secret, as he sat in the Order meeting later that night, and even as he fell into his nightly hours of restless slumber, the coppery scent of her blood lingered in his nose.

'I won't let you fall apart.'