Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hazardous Sanity

Chapter Nineteen: A Dinner Party

You almost always pick the best times

To drop the worst lines

You almost made me cry again this time

Another false alarm

Red flashing lights

Well this time I'm not going to watch myself die

I think I made it a game to play your game

And let myself cry

I buried myself alive on the inside

So I could shut you out

And let you go away for a long time

-Buried Myself Alive by The Used

"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.

Harry stepped over her body, leaving Ginevra shivering in fright. He was walking in the direction of Ron, who looked up at him rebelliously.

"What have you done to Harry?" he spat rudely at him.

He merely chuckled. "I don't know what you mean Ron. I am Harry."

He bent over and retrieved the black spiked collar. Ron's eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously.

"You're not putting that on me!"

"I don't believe you have a choice."

Ron looked desperate. "Harry! C'mon, mate! You can fight it! I know you-"

Draco kicked him in the face again.

Harry chuckled again and stepped over Ron, who was spitting out a tooth. He placed the collar easily on his neck, then turned towards to Hermione.

"Will you be as foolish as your little boyfriend here?" Harry asked seriously.

Hermione shook her head. "And he's not my boyfriend," she told him quietly. Ron and Ginny gave her a surprised look, but neither said anything.

Harry's eyes hardened as he placed the collar around her neck. The thought that he probably made it too tight to be comfortable passed through Ginny's mind, but her heart was beating so quickly in fright that she didn't care.

"What are you going to do with us?" Hermione asked.

"As I said previously, we will be joining a little dinner party. Now that I have all my guests of honor, we will be leaving shortly in time for the… festivities."

Ginny shivered, feeling her heart ice over at the words.

To the shock of everyone in the room, Harry spun sharply on his heel and dropped heavily on the floor. Facing Ginevra. She shivered again.

"But first I wonder how I will bring young Ginny to the party. Shall I bring her as herself, defiant and afraid? Or shall I bring her as Lana, submissive and confident?"

The silence in the room seemed to buzz. Ginny glared at a far away wall with a fierce kind of plead.

Let me be me… Please let me be me! At least I have hope that way!

But a voice whispered in her ear, gentle and commanding at the same time:

You will have hope with me. I am on your side, Ginevra. Tom expects you to want to be yourself; to be in control. But he does not know that I still stand as my own, on your side and in love with your Hermione.

A fierce jealousy suddenly ripped through Ginny's stomach. She shoved it down.

She is not mine, but as long as I shall exist as an independent thinking soul, I will do what I can to protect her. Being with Tom will never let me achieve that.

You would give up all of that power, Ginny thought, just for one muggleborn witch?

Power? The voice scoffed. I have long since learned that there is no power with Lord Voldemort as your master. You become a toy, a simple event in the larger scheme of events where he is concerned. I sometimes wonder if he was ever loved, or how he could have avoided such a thing in all of his years.

He was loved, Ginny replied. He just never loved back.

"Ginny?"

Brought back suddenly, she blinked and the room came back into focus.

"I was asking," Harry said impatiently, "if you would like to choose for yourself."

She nodded, a ball of hope and uncertainty unraveling in her chest.

Harry waved his wand and she found that she had access to her vocal chords again.

With a rasp in her voice, Ginny sealed her fate. "I want to be Lana. I don't want to know what is going to go on. I'd rather be ignorant."

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, his eyebrows almost lost in his hair.

Harry smiled. "Very nice choice, Ginevra. Though if you choose, you can still know what is going on. You just couldn't do anything about it." He laughed harshly.

Hermione was frowning, but showed neither disappointment nor acceptance.

Harry held the collar in his hands, and slid it, almost gently, around Ginny's neck.

After a last breath of air and glance at her surroundings, she felt a sharp tug around her waist… and all was gone.

Lana opened her eyes to several gasps.

"Hello, master," she greeted Harry, feeling strangely tired.

Harry smiled his cruel smile at her and grabbed her chin. He pressed down his fingers and watched in satisfaction as the beautiful girl before him winced.

"My Lana."

Eyes watering from the pain of his fingers digging into her flesh, she merely nodded. Tears fell from her lashes before Harry finally let go. He stood suddenly, and pointed at Wormtail.

"Grab the girl, she shouldn't be too much trouble for you. I suppose you remember where you're supposed to go?" he asked Wormtail snidely.

Wormtail nodded, grabbed Hermione, and before any of them could blink, they were gone.

Ron yelled in outrage. "Where has he taken her?"

Draco kicked him in the face again and looked towards Harry.

"Take him," Harry simply commanded, and they too were soon gone.

Lana said nothing as all of this transpired. She was to be a good servant and good servants were silent unless spoken to. Deep inside, there was agony in her. Ginny was watching. But the best thing to do was remain passive until the time was right to strike. She really hoped Ginevra would understand that.

Hands curled themselves around her wrists and she realized she was free to move.

Harry Potter, Lana thought, looking into the emerald eyes.

However, she knew it was not so. Where are you? she wondered desperately.

There were lips crushing themselves against hers, and it took a moment to realize she was being kissed. A familiar kiss with new lips. The lips were softer, but just as fierce and the new teeth just as painful. More tears made their way down her cheeks.

Where are you?

Then she was being pulled into a dark tunnel.

"TRAITOR!"

The words echoed in the emptiness of her own mind. Ginny punched a dark wall and screamed in frustration.

"I TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU SIT AND DO NOTHING! YOU KISS MY ENEMY!"

Bitter tears rolled down Ginevra's cheeks in time with Lana's.

"You better do something good, Lana! You better have one bloody brilliant plan in your pretty head to save us all, especially now that you let us into their 'little dinner party'."

Merlin's beard, was the first thought that came into Lana's mind when she next opened her eyes.

They were in a large ball room, probably belonging to a mansion. Even as they stood there people emerged. Dark cloaks swishing to and fro and porcelain masks being carried and worn. Over the sea of black she could make out Ronald's fiery hair, and her precious Hermione's wild mane. Many people whispered and spoke around her. Many more pointed. It took a moment to register that they were not looking at her, per say, but Harry. Or in this case, Voldemort.

Voldemort chuckled and tightened his already vice like grip on her wrist. He began pulling her to the front of the room roughly, so she tripped repeatedly on various death eaters' cloaks and her own two feet. Stumbling on, he shoved her onto a platform and stepped over her when she took too long to get up.

"My faithful death eaters," he said, striding gracefully towards the center of the platform.

Dozens of cloaks swirled around to face him immediately if they were not already doing so.

"I would like to welcome you to one of the greatest… celebrations of the century. We have here, four Hogwarts students. Usually, this would not be such a grand accomplishment, but you will soon know why it is tonight. As you can see, and already knew (for I have warned you beforehand), I hold one of their forms. Harry Potter, simpleton with a mind of gelatin. How easy it was to gain access of the so called 'Savior of the Wizarding World's mind," he told them, a hint of red overtaking the green for a moment in his eyes.

"Next, we have Ginevra Weasley, who has had her soul ripped in two. My greatest accomplishment. Two girls in one body, able to switch at my will."

Many gasps filled the air, and Voldemort's snake-like smile returned.

"You see here now, is the one and only Lana Gwen," he continued.

More gasps this time from those who have heard of her murders at Hogwarts.

"Soon to be my mistress."

Somebody fainted in the crowd and was quickly revived before the Dark Lord could become displeased.

"Silence," he ordered. "There is also the famously clever Hermione Granger. Mudblood. Lesbian," he added spitefully and there were growls of anger and bloodthirst in the audience.

"Last and definitely least, Ronald Weasley. Sidekick, blood traitor, relation to Ginevra and a bitch of both Potter and Granger. Filth."

"You may wonder why I tell you all of this. Well, my dear death eaters, it is quite simple, really. It is so you have things to scream at them while they bleed and writhe in pain. Humiliate them. Hurt them. Then I expect us to have some uninvited guests drop by," Voldemort told them, Harry's lips stretching over his face in a horrific parody of a smile.

"I want each and every one of those 'guests' killed on sight."

It didn't need to be said outright. The four teenagers were there as bait. Bait and a death eater's idea of fun. When the order was led there to save them, they would be overpowered and killed. Lana shuddered and wiped away more tears. She needed to be strong. She needed to be strong for Ginny; for Hermione; for Harry and for the entire wizarding world.

How had she grown so weak when she once was so strong?

You were never strong, her own voice told her. You were cruel. Now you're becoming one with Ginny again, so you're cruelty becomes evened out with compassion and love.

But not completely evened out, Lana thought, sighing sadly. We are still going mad without this damned collar to control us.

"Let the party-"

Voldemort snapped his fingers and stepped off of the platform (Lana again in his grip) as a table cloth flew onto it.

"begin."

Plates upon plates of food and goblets of drink were soon piling onto the table cloth. The Dark Lord waved his wand carelessly over his shoulder and everyone watched in astonishment as the platform began to change forms. It was now a long, elegant looking table. Seats placed evenly around it along it, with settings at each. Death Eaters began taking off their cloaks and masks, revealing (usually) rich, silken clothing underneath. Robes and dressing robes, sparkling jewels, and wonderfully made ornaments in some witches' hair.

It truly was a celebration, and Hermione, Ron, and Lana were to be their entertainment.

This is sick, Lana thought, her lips slightly agape. This is really sick.

Music began as the Death Eaters seated themselves to eat. It was obvious they weren't used to such treatment- the Dark Lord must be gleeful indeed. There was a familiar taste of bile entering Lana's mouth, and her eyes watered at the taste. It had to be one of the most disgusting things she had ever witnessed. These people were celebrating death and torture- and eventually the battle that would soon break out in the very grounds of this mansion.

Where did they get a mansion? Lana vaguely wondered.

"Sit," a voice said behind her.

She turned to see the Dark Lord at her side, grabbing her again and steering her towards one end of the table. The end they were headed towards was large enough to hold her, Voldemort, Hermione and Ron, which it did. Hermione and Ron were both in shackles at their seats, while Voldemort and Lana sat in the center in rather comfortable chairs.

The Dark Lord snapped his fingers again, and then a leash was held in his hand. The leash was unsurprisingly connected to Lana's collar. When everyone was seated, he rose. Silence entered the room immediately.

"Eat, drink, and dance if that suits your will," he told them all (the last suggestion held a hint of displeasure). "Then you will fight and we will have many more things to celebrate. Now my future bride has a few words to say." He tugged once on the leash and Lana found herself standing.

"Much gratitude to the Malfoys for hosting such a grand event." She paused as the death eaters around the table clapped appreciatively. Then she raised her goblet.

"To the Dark Lord's reign! May it last eternally as the earth!"

People cheered and raised their goblets, praising their lord.

"Traitor," Ron hissed at her.

Lana blinked away her confusion and realized something. The Dark Lord could control her with that leash.

He could force me to do anything he wishes, she thought, trying not to show her panic.

Across the long table, she saw the Malfoys seated comfortably. Draco smirked at her and Narcissa gave her a calculating glance. Lucius made no change in demeanor.

What can I do?

Almost automatically (and by no will of her own), Lana found herself eating. The food was undeniably delicious but everything felt like rubber in her mouth. It was awfully hard to get down, and she almost choked several times.

He's forcing me to eat.

What else can he make me do?

Dinner seemed to go on for ages. Lana wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing. The faster dinner went, the faster this could all be over with. On the other hand, what if they lose? What if somebody dies? Then she would be wishing to be sitting here again like a loyal dog, shoveling food into her mouth against her will. Lana sighed.

She needn't have worried about when the feast would end. The food disappeared from the table a moment later. Only then did she realize Ron and Hermione were given food, but refused to eat it.

They wanted to see the two of them sick up while they're being tortured, was a passing thought in her mind. How very revolting!

Harry (Voldemort, she reminded herself) stood. The joyful, yet eerily sinister talk around the table ceased at once. Voldemort smiled. It was amazing how somebody could smile and not look nice at all, but the complete opposite.

"I have a question to ask, my dear Lana," he announced, that creepy smile still planted on his face. He stared intently at her and brought out a small black box from under his cloak. Lana felt a wave of dizziness come over her.

"Will you be my wife?" It didn't sound like a question at all.

"Yes, of course, my love," Lana found herself answering.

The Dark Lord popped open the box and slipped a silver ring on her finger. In the middle was a large, bright emerald.

Lucius began to clap, and following his example, so did all of the death eaters.

Voldemort waved his hand for silence.

Apprehension radiated off of the three teenagers as he stood silently for a few moments and snapped his fingers. Everything on the table disappeared, along with the chairs that some death eaters still sat on. They fell to the ground with a thud, getting up quickly if not too much alcohol was consumed. Most of the others stood. Lana didn't even feel a spike of pleasure when Draco fell on his bottom and couldn't get on his feet until his father helped him (rather stiffly and angrily).

Hermione and Ron sat on the floor, still chained up.

"Crucio."

The curse was unexpected and quite sudden. Hermione fell back on her chained arms and blood curdling screams soon filled the large room and echoed… Lana winced. The curse seemed to go on for ages. Hermione writhed on the floor, screaming and sobbing and begging. Then it stopped. She was laying still and it was no doubt in anybody's mind that she had passed out.

Lana felt herself getting up, which felt as strange as you could imagine when she hadn't even realized she was on her knees. Her face felt oddly sticky and wet. She had been crying. Quickly wiping away the remnants of her tears and sniffling, she tried to compose herself.

Voldemort pointed his wand at the unconscious Hermione and the struggling Ronald. He was in a rage, trying to get to his best friend and (Former? Lana wondered) girlfriend.

"Hermione!" he yelled. "HERMIONE! Please wake up," he pleaded her still form as they floated onto the platform that was the dining table a few moments before.

"My followers," Voldemort said, spinning around to address them all. "Our lives begin tonight."

Rows and rows of death eaters cheered.

In a flurry of confusion and movement, Lana could only feel Harry's (Voldemort's!) hand clutching her own and see a swarm of black all around her. People were radiating with different emotions, the atmosphere sizzled, panic and claustrophobia was ripping through Lana's very soul…

"HERMIONE!" a familiar, male voice shouted.

Death eaters laughed and cheered. Screamed and whispered.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

Who was screaming?

"Go AWAY! Leave me alone!"

Who's voice was that?

"Shut up!"

SMACK!

Screams… Screaming. Lana's face felt sore. She was being choked by her collar and was being forced to the front of the room.

"Help me! Help me! No! NO! STOP IT!"

Who was that?

"LET GO OF ME!"

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"I SAID 'SHUT UP' YOU WORTHLESS LITTLE BITCH!"

Lana cried out. Her face was in such pain!

"Why doesn't this damn thing WORK?"

Lana sobbed and fell on her knees again. "Go… away."

Voldemort (HARRY!) pulled her leash again until she stumbled forward and crawled behind him.

"Harry," she cried.

Tom…

The hand on the leash twitched.

"Harry Potter," she sobbed, her face near his feet as she crawled.

Tom Riddle…

"Please, Harry… Harry James Potter, please…"

Please, Tom… Tom Marvolo Riddle, please…

The hand twitched again, more violently this time.

"Shut up," he whispered.

"HARRY!"

VOLDEMORT!

"I told you to shut up!"

A worn trainer (Harry's trainer! HARRY'S!) smashed her in the face and she recoiled, whimpering.

"Harry…" she whispered again, barely audible as the leash forced her to continue behind him.

Lana felt confused. Her brain was buzzing. Thoughts decorated her head like rainbows, beautiful and tempting and looking so real... but unable to hold onto.

"Harry," she mumbled, sniffling. Why did she keep saying Harry?

Who is Harry?

Where am I?

Who am I?

Harry! Tom! VOLDEMORT!

She winced as someone stepped on her hand. Harry was a good name. Good. Good. It was a good thing to say, so she had to say it.

"Harry, Harry, Harry…" she whispered, remembering it. It was important to remember it, it just was.

The hand in front of her dropped the leash. Working quickly, though with no effort of thought, she began clawing at her collar.

It won't come off! Why won't it come off?

There was a reason, and she knew the reason, but it was buried so deeply in her brain that she couldn't reveal it.

So instead, she tore off the leash in a frenzy and clumsily shoved herself to her feet.

Voldemort (Harry!) was still standing in the same place, clutching at his messy head of hair and gritting his teeth.

"My lord…"

"Are you okay, my lord?"

Several death eaters stopped and gathered around Voldemort (HARRY!) and were attempting to help him. Lana slipped away in the crowd, feeling strange in the ocean of black cloaks and porcelain masks.

I wonder where I am.

She wandered to the very front of the room, where a platform rose before her. There were many people gathered around it, cheering insanely. On the platform were at least a dozen death eaters yelling and cackling while pointing their wands at two figures laying on the platform floor.

A girl with brown fuzzy hair was weakly getting to her knees just to be hexed back to the floor again. Her clothes were in tatters and her face was bloody and tear streaked. Bruises were already forming on various body parts and blood seemed to be leaking from everywhere. Her nose, her ears, her mouth… Lana shivered and was surprised to find that she was crying silently.

A boy with red hair was laying next to the girl. He seemed to have more energy in him, and was valiantly trying to get over to the girl. He yelled and cursed and screamed at the death eaters around him. One of his arms seemed to be in an unnatural angle, along with several fingers. His ankle was swollen, and so were both of his eyes and lips. The boy looked particularly beaten. Even as she watched, he was hit with diffindo and several articles of clothing fell off, revealing deep gashes in his flesh.

Lana stumbled away and was sick in a corner. Shuddering and gasping, she wasn't sure of what to do, or why she was there at all.

"Help me, oh, help me…" she pleaded no one in particular.

Then she spotted him.

Drunk, a boy somewhere around her own age was passed out on the floor. Nobody paid much attention to him, except to frown and shake their head, or perhaps kick him in the side when they thought no one was looking. She knelt beside him and pulled back his hood. He wore a mask on his face and had silvery blond hair. Not knowing what she was doing and not really caring, she pulled off his robes and slid them on quickly. Then she pulled off his mask and saw a pale, pointed face before slipping that on as well.

I'm supposed to do something else. What it is?

The thought bothered her, so she knelt by the boy again and studied him.

What is it that I'm supposed to do?

He looked disturbed in his sleep, and mumbled occasionally. He had on what looked like a school uniform. Above his head, his hand rested. It held a wand loosely. Lana took it, somehow knowing it was what she was supposed to do, and ran from the boy knowing deep inside that it wasn't good to stay near him any longer than necessary.

Where am I going? she wondered, running toward the middle of the crowd aimlessly.

There she saw him.

Voldemort.

Harry.

He looked absolutely furious, and his eyes were leaping from green to red at an alarming rate. She was right in front of him and he was looking at her. He was looking right at her and speaking. No sound made it to Lana's ears, however. The only words she heard were her own panicked thoughts.

He knows! He knows! Oh, no, oh, no, no, nooo…

The Dark Lord (the savior) strode over to her and grabbed the neck of her cloak. He pulled her masked face closer to his and snarled at her.

"Didn't I say, go and find her right now? Are you deaf, or just stupid?" he roared at her, throwing her to the floor like a rag doll.

Lana jumped to her feet and ran.

Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry…

"The time is coming soon," he yelled at them all, shoving people aside as he made his way to the platform.

"Find her now! FIND LANA GWEN! We have no TIME! If I find ONE PERSON standing idly and not searching, they will be at the end of my WAND!"

People scattered like mice. A yell came from someone off to the side of the room.

"My lord! Draco Malfoy is over here! And he has no cloak and mask!"

"What?" Voldemort (HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!) roared.

Lana felt as if she was spinning. Everything was wrong. She didn't belong here. She was so confused! What was going on?

Death. Life. Love. Hate. Pain. Pain. Pain.

The girl on the platform lay still. Too still. Her arm was hanging off of the platform and her eyes were closed. Abandoned as they were, the boy with the red hair crawled over next to her and grabbed her other hand and cried bitterly over her.

She could almost hear him moan, over the loud crowd, "Hermione…"

A light went on in her head suddenly.

Hermione…

Lana stared intently at the bedraggled girl. Hermione…

Hermione!

It was such a familiar name.

Suddenly there was a loud noise coming from the door of the room. Lana turned towards it.

"They're here!" several voices yelled.

"The order is here!"

Happiness flowed through Lana at the statement, though she knew not why.

Chanting arouse that soon squashed it.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

"DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!"

"KILL! KILL! KILL!"

"KILL THEM!" Voldemort ordered from the top of the platform.

"DEATH EATERS! DEATH EATERS! DEATH EATERS!" the crowd chanted, falling into some kind of formation and charging at them.

"DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!"

Lana screamed and covered her ears, running the opposite way and getting bustled by blood thirsty death eaters.

"Traitor!" somebody yelled at her.

She missed a bright green light by an inch or so and continued her stumbling run.

"The Dark Lord will deal with her later! C'mon!" someone else yelled and began chanting again. Only two words were heard over it all.

"DEATH! EATERS! DEATH! EATERS! DEATH! EATERS!"

Tears blurred her vision as she ran. Where was she running?

Away, was the only answer she could come up with.

Lana was closer to the platform now. Voldemort (Harry!)was levitating a large cage above himself. In it she could see the boy and girl. His eyes were a furious red now, and two people were behind him. She could make out more white blond hair, and the other had greasy black. Two women ran up to them. One with blond hair, the other with black. Voldemort said something to them and all four raised their wands. Now they were completely shielded with a sparkling green barrier.

They began to walk, or march as a better word, with the blond haired man and the black haired woman in the front, and the black haired man and the blond haired woman in the back.

A few dislocated thoughts came and went through Lana's brain:

Lucius… Malfoy… Bellatrix… Lestrange… Narcissa… Malfoy… Professor Snape…

Everything got cloudy again as she watched them march behind the charging crowds. Everyone seemed to be heading outside into the grounds. She stood there silently for a few moments before following quietly.

A/N: You would not believe how happy I am to finally get this up! has been absolutely horrible to me these past few days and I wasn't able to upload this. I know I said I wanted this done before the New Year, but that obviously isn't going to happen, so I'll just say this- it'll definitely be over soon. Only two more chapters to go! Well, actually there's one chapter and an epilogue.

Anyway, I'm happy to say this is three times the usual length of Hazardous Sanity chapters, so I hope you enjoyed it! Think of it as a late Christmas present ;) Heheh. Extremely late.

Hope everyone has a happy new year!

Chapter Twenty: The Final Battle