Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hazardous Sanity

Chapter Eighteen: Voldemort's New Bride

Don't stop if I fall
And don't look back
Oh baby don't stop
Bury me and fade to black

-Hang 'Em High by My Chemical Romance

Hermione thrashed in her arms. "Let me GO! Ron can't just run up to the whomping willow! He'll be killed!" Tears splashed down her cheeks as she said this.

The creaking of wood startled them both, and they looked up in horrified fascination as the whomping willow began to move.

Ron didn't seem to notice. His long legs were carrying him, faster and faster, towards his goal. Ginny couldn't breath. Pure panic ran through her veins and her hands slipped from Hermione's sides.

A branch swung down, aiming straight for Ron. Hermione mouthed wordlessly, which made Ginny think she wanted to scream out a warning, but couldn't locate her voice to do so. Ginny felt the same. Ron ducked under the branch quickly and never stopped running.

"Ron…" Hermione squeaked.

He was exceptionally close to the trunk now. Ginny's heart was beating loudly in her ears as she watched him.

Please, please, please… Let him be all right, she thought in time with the pounding.

Another branch swerved in his direction. Ron dropped to the floor and lay flat for a second before jumping back up again and running. He dodged another branch, but just as he did, another one smacked him on the back of his head. Hard. He hit the ground and stayed still for what seemed like too long.

The branch came pummeling toward his still frame, and for one heart stopping moment, Ginny thought she was going to lose another brother. However, Ron wasn't going to be defeated so easily. He quickly rolled away and onto his feet again. He ran towards the trunk with renewed speed. Dodging tree limbs with astonishing ease and grace, he dived near arms' length of the trunk and punched the knot on the tree. The willow suddenly froze.

Hermione squeaked in what Ginny guessed was relief.

Then he turned around, and tripped over an upraised tree root.

So much for grace, Ginny thought, watching him.

Hermione suddenly started laughing, which quickly turned into sobs. She began running to Ron and threw her arms around his neck, still crying uncontrollably. She planted kisses all over his face, before kissing him deeply. Ginevra followed at a jog, frowning at the stabs of pain going into her heart.

When she got there Hermione was only sniffling. Ron beckoned her over to the trunk. When he spoke, he sounded breathless.

"All right, Ginny. I know you've never been here before, so keep close to Hermione and I, okay?"

He waited for a response, so she nodded.

"Ron…" she started uneasily. "What if-"

He turned to her sharply. "No what ifs. It's Harry in there, no matter what's wrong with him. All we need to do is bring him back to the castle."

"But-"

"It's three against one, Ginny! What can happen?" he challenged.

She bit back her retort and motioned for him to go ahead, not trusting her voice. To her surprise, Hermione's sniffling was gone and she jumped in immediately after.

They are too used to things like this, she decided grimly, and went in after Hermione.

The first impression Ginny had was that everything was too old. It was extremely dark and dusty, so much in fact that she felt herself wanting to sneeze. Her footsteps were padded by the thick layers of grime, spider webs, and dust.

"Lumos."

Ginny glanced quickly at Ron, who had just lit his wand, and do the same. Hermione followed directly after.

"Let's go," Ron said, and started walking off ahead of them again.

Ginny was startled to see that from where she was walking behind him, she could see that he was bleeding from the back of his head. Through his fiery hair it was hard to spot, but now it was there, trailing down his pale neck. She swallowed uneasily and grabbed his arm.

"What?" he hissed.

"Ron, you're bleeding!"

"I know. It's nothing, Ginny. Just a scratch," he insisted, and started walking ahead of her again.

A scratch doesn't bleed that much, she thought to say, but what was the use? They couldn't turn back now. They had to get to Harry first. Before it was too late.

"Where do we go?" she asked them.

Ron was looking around. "I'm not too sure, but the last time we were here..."

He started up a flight of stairs, holding the creaking banister to steady himself.

He's becoming dizzy, Ginny thought sadly. But he couldn't have lost that much blood... The wound on his head must really be bothering him.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Ginny inhaled deeply to calm her fretting nerves. Beside her, Hermione's hand slipped into her own. She half wanted to knock it out of its grip, but couldn't find the heart to do so.

Ron went ahead to a door and pulled it open. He paused in the doorway.

"Harry," he croaked.

Ginny's heart sped up. She pulled her hand out of Hermione's and ran toward the door, shoving Ron aside.

Harry sat on a bed in front of her, smiling calmly. A fire was lit on the other side of the room. She looked around, astounded. The room was beautiful. It was well furnished, clean, and warm. Nothing like her brother had described. Harry got up from his seat on the bed and approached her. By then she realized Hermione and Ron were next to her, gaping at the room as well.

"Hello, Ginny," he said, giving her an eerie smile. In the firelight she thought she caught something in his eye. A red, catlike glint.

She gulped. "Hello, Harry. How are you?" she asked slowly, stalling for time so the other two could realize what was going on.

This isn't Harry. Harry... he would have never known how to transfigure so many things, or would have bothered just to make himself comfortable for a short while. He doesn't say "Hello" like that. And now he seems so confident and sure of himself... That isn't Harry at all. It's Voldemort. Those eyes...

Hermione was watching him oddly too, Ginny noted, with that calculating look in her eye. Ron didn't seem to notice anything at all. He was flamboyant, asking how Harry had transformed the room so well. Hermione caught her eye and Ginny nodded. They had to get Ron to notice so they could stun him and bring him back to the castle. He was too dangerous to provoke now.

"Would you like something to eat?" Harry asked charmingly.

Ron blinked. "Sure, but Harry, we need to talk. You have to come back to the castle. This is insanity, mate. You can't just stay here all your life, waiting for You-Know-Who to brainwash you or something. We're your friends. We can help you."

Harry's eyes flashed for a moment before his smile slipped on again. Now Ginny knew why it was so eerie. It was snakelike.

"First let's eat a bit, won't we? You all must have missed dinner on my account. It's the least I can do."

Ron seemed to be noticing the strangeness as well. Harry was never very interested in food. "Yeah, okay… But what have you got to eat? It doesn't look like you have much."

"Yes, Harry," Hermione said cautiously. "We can all just... eat in the castle, you know. The house elves are always more than happy to serve you."

Ginny's head snapped in Hermione's direction. It was a test. A very subtle test, but one nonetheless.

Harry just nodded, apparently seeing nothing odd in what his best friend had said. "Yes, but I had a nice dinner planned for all of us. An apology dinner for me running off like I did. It wasn't a very smart thing to do, now was it?" He smiled at them all in such a way that they couldn't disagree even if they had wanted to.

"Now all we have to do is wait for another dinner guest. He should be arriving shortly."

"What?" Ron asked, startled. "Who?"

"Actually, two dinner guests. But one is already here. You three, of course, will be the guests of honor."

"Harry... Are you all right? What dinner guests? There's no one else here," Hermione told him, her eyes scanning the room quickly.

"How wrong you are," he told them, grinning. It wasn't a nice grin.

We need to do something. We need to do something now.

The door closed behind them, making the three teenagers jump.

Ginny tried to give Ron and Hermione a signal, but they seemed too confused and startled to notice.

"Oh, wait, I think he has just arrived," Harry informed them all, his smile, if possible, growing even larger.

Suddenly a red light came shooting out of thin air and hit Ron in the back. He fell to the ground, the look of shock still frozen to his face. Before Ginny knew what was happening, Harry shot another red light toward Hermione and someone had a steel grip on her hands. She screamed.

"Silencio."

Ginny's voice died in her throat. She twisted her head so she could see who was holding her and saw one of the most repulsive men she had ever encountered. He had beady little eyes, a balding head, and large ratlike teeth. Only one of his hands held her. It was silver.

Pettigrew, she thought, shivering slightly. All of the things she had heard about this disgusting little man...

"You may come out now, Draco," Harry said into the air.

Ginny gave a silent gasp. Malfoy.

He was the happiest Ginny had seen him, though he was looking at the image of Harry with thinly veiled dislike.

"Take care of them," Harry told him, motioning toward Ron and Hermione.

Ginny's struggling increased.

No! she screamed in her head. Please don't hurt them! Please!

But Malfoy wasn't intending on hurting them, he just binded them securely and turned toward Ginny. "Her, too?"

Harry nodded. Ginny felt the steel hand release her arms, and she went to run, but Malfoy had already shot the spell at her. She fell to the floor, wriggling somewhat like a worm. Harry laughed at her and she winced as the binds started cutting into her flesh.

"It's no good to struggle, little Ginevra," Harry whispered.

"Or shall I say Lana Gwen?" He asked, pulling her up and holding her against himself.

Ginny was revolted- and terrified.

"Wake them up," he ordered, pointing at the two still forms by the door.

Draco nodded and waved his wand in their direction. Two groans and they began wriggling on the floor, trying to escape their bonds.

"Hey!" Ron yelled hoarsely. "What's going on?"

Draco smirked at him, and Ron saw.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Ron asked loudly, struggling to see his surroundings.

Draco walked over and kicked him in the face, smirking in triumph when Ron began to cough up blood.

"Now, now, Draco…" Harry, or as Ginny began to think of him as, Voldemort chided joyfully.

"We must play nice with our guests of honor."

Ron moved his head and glanced at Voldemort. "What did you do to Harry? HARRY! We're right here, Harry! Your best-"

Draco had kicked him again. Ron started cursing Draco with every word he knew, it seemed like, and a few that he seemed to have made up. Hermione, who had been strangely quiet during all of this, finally spoke up.

"Leave us alone!" she screamed, and Ginny realized that while silent, she had worked herself up into a sitting position.

Harry chuckled into Ginny's ear and she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. He slowly ran his hand (Voldemort's hand, Ginny tried to remember) down her side.

"Get your fucking hands OFF OF MY SISTER!" Ron bellowed, struggling against his bonds harder than ever. Ginny was saddened to see that blood was dripping from the shallow cuts where they had cut in, and his teeth had a layer of pink on them as he spat out more blood on the floor.

"Oh, I will, Weasley. But only for this," he dug in his cloak pocket, and let Ginny fall to the floor. Ron looked further enraged by this.

He took out a small velvet sachet, and held it up for everyone to see. Using Harry's now almost unnaturally long fingers, he opened it and pulled out what looked like a spiked dog collar.

"I got one for each of you," he said, sounding very pleased with himself. "They even have your names engraved on the ids."

They all stared at him as if he was mad. Harry merely chuckled.

"They can only be taken off by the one who put them on, a simple trick for animal owners so nobody can steal their pet. But these," he said, holding one up, "are very special. I have tampered with them personally. They drain every little drop of magical power out of the 'pet' and give it to the 'master'."

There was a shocked silence.

Harry waved the black spiked collar and read off of the id. "Ronald Weasley." Then he threw it at Ron's feet.

Next he took out a thinner collar, still black but just studded with metal, instead of the lethal looking spikes jutting out of Ron's. "Hermione Granger," he read and tossed it at her feet. She glanced at it with unease and tried to inch away.

"And now I have a very special one…"

Harry pulled out another. But this one was different than the others'. It was black on one side, and white on the other. It looked like a cat collar, thinner than Hermione's. However, it was also very thick. Instead of metal spikes or studs, it held emeralds. The id was a gleaming gold.

Harry held it delicately. He held out the white side first, and the emeralds melted through the surface, changing sides. He read the name. "Ginevra Weasley." Ginny waited for him to drop it to her feet like he did the others, but instead he turned it over to the black side.

The emeralds melted through the surface again. He read the other side of the id. "Lana Gwen Riddle."

It felt like her lungs collapsed.

"You'll be mine, Ginny," he told her in a low voice. "And with this, I can change who you are whenever I like. See? You don't need to be insane." He smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"You just need to be my slave."

And your wife, Ginny thought, horrified.

From the looks on the faces of Ron and Hermione, they felt the same.

"I do hate you having two names…" Harry said, as if to himself. "How about we scratch this-" he pointed his wand at the id, "out?"

He smiled to himself. "Gwen Riddle. I have to keep my lineage going, don't I? Don't worry," he said to the dismayed looking Ginny. "I will properly propose at tonight's little… party. Then we will marry after I have finished some business."

"I always told you, you will be my queen as I conquer the world. The conquering begins tonight, and so will our lives together."

It sounded so frightening, Ginny would have vomited again if there was something left in her stomach.

A/N: This chapter was finished weeks ago, but only just now has decided to calm down and actually let me submit it. I hope you enjoyed it! It's longer than usual, if you haven't noticed ;) Chapter 19 is already underway, and I'm hoping to finish this story before the new year so I can focus more on "Nox" and "Shards of a Diamond". Comments and threats to cut off my ears are most welcome! Heheh .;

Chapter Nineteen: A Dinner Party