Possession
Chapter XXIV - Those Who Are Bound
--------------------------------------------

Harry blinked as he opened his eyes. He felt stiff, as if he'd been asleep for a long time. His mouth was dry and his skin felt, not clammy but gritty. It almost felt as if he was waking up in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. But his surroundings were definitely not Hogwarts.

He was naked. He could feel that immediately but he was neither hot or cold. He looked around but there was nothing to see. It was dark but he wasn't afraid. Dark was just dark, after all. There was no sensation here though but as he moved he could feel resistance to his motions, almost as if he was trying to move in honey.

:Master...: The word was whispered around him.

"Who..?" Harry coughed. His throat was sore.

:We are here, Master. We are those who saved you.:

"No!" Harry screwed his eyes shut as he remembered. He'd been raped... And this wasn't a distant childhood memory... This was something recent. Millicent... Millicent Bulstrode had done it and Blaise had helped her. It hadn't hurt, not physically at least but it had hurt... He'd been helpless... He'd been nothing less than a thing to them.

He gulped, feeling the mucus trace its way down the back of his throat. It was slimy but the feeling was real and in it's own way reassuring. He could still cry. He could still feel.

:Master.:

"I am no one's Master," Harry replied.

:You are our Master.:

"Who are you?"

Around him he felt amusement. :We are in everything you see, we are all around you. We are the power of Gryffindor.:

"The Power of Gryffindor?" Harry questioned, his eyes going wide.

:Master, rest here. Regain your strength. We will watch over you and we will teach you. When you are ready, call and we will come.:

"Wait!" Harry cried but the presence was gone and a lethargy descended upon him and he slept.

---

Binns droned on and on and Ginny tried without much success to keep her attention on the class. Last night... Had it really been only last night that she had bonded herself to Harry?

She could feel him. It was a blank nothingness but it was there and while she was happy she has successfully completed the spell, she was disappointed that it hadn't worked quite as she had expected. Harry wasn't responding to her calls. Despite her love she just wasn't powerful enough. It hurt... It really hurt her to know that.

Harry hadn't bonded with her in return. She thought it would be enough for her to make the connection but it wasn't. She could help him but she couldn't help him enough, not until he completed the ritual. She woken up to find the half bond in place and after the little serpent had hissed at her, she'd dressed herself and Harry, snuggling the covers around him before she'd picked up the book and had slipped out, going down to breakfast as if nothing had happened.

And now she was bored in her classes, just waiting to see if Harry would respond anyway. She looked up to see a flash of darkness before Hogwarts disappeared and she was somewhere much darker. Somewhere that like Hogwarts was made of stone but even though she couldn't feel she somehow knew that it was much colder than the school. Somehow, the dark shadows were darker. She looked around seeing the large room she was in.

There were men in the room - lots of men and for the most part they were naked. Their bodies were covered in blood and it almost seemed as if there was oceans of it slicked on the floor, but the blood on the floor was mixed with small gobs of white fluid. After a moment she knew what they were from. All the men were engaged in intercourse, some of them screaming in pain, others wearing the glassy eye look of men under the Imperio curse.

Ginny quickly pulled her eyes from the ground, gagging as she looked around the room trying to ignore the men in the middle. The middle of the room was light but the edges were cast in shadow and she could clearly see throne in the centre of the far wall but it was empty. There was a flicker of moment from the side and she spun to see it and almost screamed.

The men, as gross as that was weren't terrifying her but the sight that single being pacing was enough to send a chill down her spine. He was tall and thin, dressed in blood red robes that made his crimson eyes glitter even more brightly than they were. His skin was startlingly white and his hair was thick and black, just like Harry's. But what scared her was that this was the Dark Lord Voldemort and the realisation that somehow she was in his stronghold.

The Dark Lord continued pacing, his brilliant robes flowing around him, almost as if they were alive. He occasionally looked at the men, his eyes showing a mixture of satisfaction and an urge that was insatiable, as if he couldn't hurt them enough but his attention was focused on something else. It was an incorrigible sight but the Dark Lord was almost constantly itching at his arms. Ginny could almost hear his nails raking his skin and every couple of paces he'd hiss with frustration.

Suddenly one of the men cried out and the Dark Lord spun, wand pulled but after a moment he calmed and after he flicked his eyes over them, he snarled, dismissing the torture before his eyes narrowed. He began to look around the room and Ginny retreated, backing herself into a corner but it wasn't enough. His piercing crimson eyes spotted her and it was with quick strides he started towards her, his wand pointed directly at her heart.

Halfway to her position he stopped, looking at her and he smiled, a small half smile that didn't reach his eyes and wasn't comforting. Ginny shivered, shaking her head as she realised he knew she was there. The Dark Lord lowered his wand as he raised his other hand, the long white fingers gesturing to her. "Come to me," he murmured before he lowered his head, forcing her to meet his eyes and the power he held there. "Come to me," he ordered and she knew no more.

The room was gone and Binns was still droning on about the Goblin Wars.

Ginny closed her eyes for a moment as a shiver passed through her. She'd seen Voldemort and it wasn't as an anonymous student in the whole, watching as he'd killed Fudge, and it wasn't some abstract representation of him brought to life through her power. This was the real Dark Lord and he had seen her. She gulped but nodded to herself.

She had no choice but to obey. If she disobeyed she had no idea of the consequence but they wouldn't be good. Somehow the Dark Lord would make her pay even though she was tied to Harry who he had more than a passing interest in but through his actions she knew, somehow, that he was no longer interested in killing him. He wouldn't have set the little serpent there if he wanted Harry dead and Voldemort had proved quite clearly that he could go where he wanted and kill who he wanted without fear of retribution. He was immortal and not even Dumbledore could help them.

Only Harry could.

---

Ginny shivered. The forest was still around her but it was a place no human should frequent. It wasn't evil as much as it was dark. Only beings that were born here should live here. Around her there was the constant drip of water. It wasn't raining but it was cold enough that the water was condensing on the leaves and dripping from the trees, coating everything with a slippery sheen of water and making even the air she was breathing damp.

She wasn't sure where she was going but she knew she'd reach her destination soon. The Dark Lord's words were still echoing through her mind and she was compelled to obey.

Ginny stumbled over a rotting log and as her vision dropped she saw it in the distance - a dull light held by a robed figure. She nodded as she rose, brushing her hair back and pulling her Hogwarts robes closer around her. That was the person she was meant to find. She began walking towards them with a new purpose.

"You!" She couldn't help the exclamation of surprise once she was close enough.

She knew who it was. Ron had told her all about him. He was the man who had betrayed Harry's parents to the Dark Lord. He was the man Sirius Black would sell his soul to catch. Peter Petrigrew - Wormtail.

"Oh... so it's you," he said to her without much enthusiasm.

She decided not to answer that.

He looked at her carefully, squinting through rheumy eyes. "You'll learn soon enough that this is not a game child." He held out his silver hand. "Come... He doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Ginny reached out and took the man's hand and found it surprisingly warm. All that silver should be cold but it was as if it was flesh. She nodded to him, still not speaking. She hadn't come to talk to him and while for one instant she had been tempted to run back to the castle she knew she couldn't do that. This was the only way she was going to see the Dark Lord and this was possibly the only way she had to save Harry.

There was a blur and the forest disappeared and for a moment she was everywhere that was nowhere and then there was cold stonewalls around her and she recognised the room. It was the same throne room she had been in earlier that day but this time there was only three people in it - herself, Wormtail and the Dark Lord - and the blood that had stained the floor earlier was now crusted on the stones with a mottled pattern. It smelt sweet and while she knew of the events that had caused it to be there, they no longer seemed to affect her. She was, after all, dealing with a Dark Lord and shouldn't be surprised by the extent of any torture he bestowed on his captives although she was slightly curious as to why he was torturing Muggles.

Wormtail bowed deeply to his Master and backed away. He couldn't leave until Voldemort gave him permission but he was eager to be out of sight. Ginny just stood there aware that her every movement was being assessed by blood red eyes. Not many people were allowed to see the Dark Lord alone, no matter who they were, the risk was too great, no matter how powerless they may profess to be. Voldemort hadn't attained his power by taking unnecessary risks.

"Relax child."

Ginny started but strangely his rich voice surrounded him and she did feel her body relax.

"I know what you have done."

Ginny nodded. There was no use in denying it.

"You're not strong enough alone."

She hung her head.

"I can help you but you must help me."

She looked up, her eyes wide. "You can help me?" She asked in a small voice.

"You must help me," he said again, steepling his fingers. As his robes fell back from his arms she could see vivid red scratch marks running along his forearms.

For a moment the insane urge to run passed through her but she quickly quashed it. The Dark Lord could use more magic than she could dream about and use it in ways not even Dumbledore could conceive. "I will help you," she murmured quietly, looking back down at the floor.

He examined her closely and then nodded. "Who hurt him?"

Ginny felt the tears gathering in her eyes and she reached up and dashed them from her face, feeling the rough fabric of her robes scrape against her face. "I don't know..." she managed to croak. "I can't... I can't get through to him."

The Dark Lord just looked at her before he nodded. He wasn't happy with her response, she could tell, but he was satisfied that she was telling the truth. "If you knew, would you have acted?"

She cocked her head at him... That wasn't anything she had been expecting. "I'm not sure. If... If I knew what to do, I would have but for the pain they caused him, I don't know that I could inflict an appropriate punishment."

"Hehahaha!" Voldemort laughed. The girl was as deliciously pure as he had imagined and he could hardly wait to see her actions when she was truly angry. "I can help you there," he said softly, watching as she nodded.

"What do you want me to do?"

"You are not strong enough to awaken him alone. Your bond is to him alone, mine is not. Harry is bonded to me and I am tied to him so I may wake him."

"So why haven't you?" It didn't matter that she was speaking with potentially the most powerful wizard in centuries, one who wouldn't hesitate to kill her and wouldn't think anything of it, she felt her anger rising and couldn't keep it out of her voice or eyes.

The Dark Lord was not intimidated and her anger was merely evidence of the lengths she was now bound to go to defend his destined mate - a true Gryffindor. "It was not time."

He reached into his robes and brought forth a knife. The hilt glittered with emeralds and rubies and the blade was wavy like the body of a snake. With a cold glance at her he brought the tip down on his forearm, dragging it along to leave a trail of blood that welled thickly and then ran down to his hand. He laid the knife aside and brought forth another vial, letting the blood run down his long fingers and drip into the container. It splashed heavily, clinging to the sides but slowly the vial filled. The Dark Lord muttered a few words and the wound vanished and a seal appeared on the vial.

With a sudden movement he rose and strode towards her, stopping only a pace away and reaching out with his free hand to cup her face in a vice like grip. With a firm motion he pulled her head around to face him, forcing her to meet his gaze. "You will take this to him and you will mix it with his blood, then you will call me." There was no room for negotiation in his tone as he pressed the vial into her hand.

Ginny meet his gaze, not flinching at the sudden menace she could feel. "It will wake him?"

"Only if I am there to perform the final part of the spell," he replied coldly.

"I will call you," she acceded meekly.

Voldemort held her gaze for a moment longer, assessing something only he could see deep in her soul. "Wormtail," he snapped, releasing her and turning away. "Take her back."

With a swirl of his robes the Dark Lord disappeared, leaving her alone with the traitor.

------------------------------------------