Chapter Twenty-Eight
Effects of Affection

"How nice it is to see you again, Potter! I don't believe you realized that I possessed you earlier, did you? Oh, how disappointed I am. I wish you would've tried to fight back, so then I could just kill you then. But, that's to be expected with weak-minded, fragile people. After all, look who your parents are! Or, were, I suppose would be a better word. And I take full credit for that!" Voldemort shrieked as Snape tied Harry to a pole in the center of the room, and placed Ginny in a chair with arm and leg restraints.

After the metal cuffs were firmly clasped to the chair, eliminating any movement from Ginny, Snape strode over to the high, black velvet-backed armchair Voldemort was seated comfortably in, and whispered something in his ear. Voldemort cackled loudly and gestured for him to go ahead. Snape withdrew a long, sharp, silver dagger from within his robes somewhere, and caressed the blade gently with a long, sallow finger.

Harry and Ginny both thought that his skin resembled stretched wax, and his finger looked like an old candle, stroking that shiny stiletto.

Ginny thought of how good everyone had been to her, and she silently thanked them in her heart for all they had done fore her. What a great adventure this had been for her, but now it, and her very existence, would end. Just as Snape drew closer to her with that blade, her heart beat faster and faster, wishing that she could be somewhere else right now…

That was it! The Shadow Orb! But how to get it…She could do magic without a wand! Oh, how stupid she had been to just sit here the whole time and let Voldemort taunt them for a half hour. Their problems were solved (for now)!

Harry glanced at her, knowing that she was concocting an ingenious plan at this very moment. If only his mouth hadn't been sealed shut, he could yell some secret codeword to Ginny to tell her to summon the Shadow Orb and get them untied. But he didn't have to, because that's exactly what she did.

"Bloody hell! Why is that…what is that? And why is it floating before the Blood-traitor? What is she saying to it?" Snape stuttered as Ginny's Shadow Orb levitated in front of her, waiting for her to command it to do something.

"That is a Shadow Orb, Faithful Servant, and I believe she is wishing to be untied, if I am not mistaken. Despite her skill at being an Occlumens, which she only obtained in order to fulfill that prophecy, I am sure that is what she is doing, because that is what you would do, Severus. I know you very well, and if she is to have powers unmatched by only you, than it would be fitting for her to be a sneaky little coward, as are you, Half Blood Prince," Voldemort replied in a dry, dull tone, as if this whole fiasco was boring him to death.

Ginny was unchained from her chair, and Harry untied, and un-gagged.

'Well, we're free all right, but now they know that I can do magic without my wand. I'm sure they'll find a way to use that to their advantage,' Ginny thought to herself as she listened to her deep raspy breath. Searching the room silently with her eyes, she wondered whether Ivy and Ebony knew where they were.

"Well, dear little girl, your secret is out! Though I know already that both of you are capable of wandless magic. It is no secret because it is all in the prophecies. I'm not as obtuse as you may think, you know. If Severus and I are capable of doing wandless magic, then I just assumed you two would be able to also. I have in fact been waiting for the moment when you would reveal that power to us, hoping to catch us by surprise. But you can never surprise the Dark Lord, for he knows everything…"

His last few syllables sent chills up and down both Harry's and Ginny's spines.

'It's only twenty-five minutes before one. I still have time!' Harry thought to himself as he glanced at Ginny's slender, pale wrist, on which a pewter-rimmed watch was loosely fastened. How lonely she looked standing here next to him, no heat protruding from her body: only coldness, and emptiness, as if she was extremely depressed at the moment. If only he could make Voldemort feel this way…

"Harry, when are you going to start to do whatever you're going to do?" Ginny frantically whispered as she swiftly turned her head in the direction of the far corner of this 'attic'. She could have sworn she saw someone run past in that shadowy darkness: someone short and nimble.

"Now," Harry replied as he mustered all of his strength and all of his courage in one long, deep breath. Thoughts of what to say racing through his mind like a cat and mouse chase, he seemed to reach out an imaginary hand in his brain and grabbed one of them.

"You've never cared about anyone, have you Tom? And no one's ever cared about you either. Except for your mother, but she's dead. And Ivy, but all you wanted was to kill her parents, and obviously that didn't satisfy her. Your father hated both you and your mother, and your grandparents were no better. But there was one other person who was trying to care for you: your sister's mother. Yes, she talked to your father many times about adopting you from that orphanage you were sent to. She wanted to give you a chance. But your father's hatred for anything magical prevented her. She loved him after all, but still she didn't give up. Then, when Ebony was born, you know your half-sister? Or did you just stalk her without even knowing her name? Well, when Ebony was born, her mother actually went to the orphanage to get the papers to adopt you. But your father found out and threatened a divorce. The, when Ebony turned out to be magical anyway, they got a divorce. And then Ebony's mother tried even harder to adopt you. But what did you do? You found out your father had another child and killed him and his parents. You started stalking Ebony, and then Ebony's mom believed your father was right about you: That you were a good-for-nothing little beast. At least she actually knew you a little before she came to that conclusion, but your father just assumed you were when he realized what your mother really was. Can you believe that? Two people cared for you, and you drove them both away! You're pretty stupid you know…"

Voldemort stood, mouth wide open, in shock at what Harry had just said. Snape resembled nothing less than a ghost, his pale yellowish skin turning pearly white; beads of sweat were forming on his brow as he tried to think of a comeback to prove that he was faithful to his master.

"How did you know that? How are we to know that you didn't just invent that?" Snape bellowed, voice shaky and unconfident. Yet, Voldemort still stood motionless and speechless, and Harry and Ginny wondered how that just affected him.