A/N: Hello, hello! I'm very sorry that it took me so long to update, I've been soooo busy. You have no idea how long these chapters take me. Well maybe you do, but that's besides the point. Thanks for bearing with me and my ridiculous updating time, and thanks for reviewing!
"So you do recognize it, Ginevra." Tom chuckled as she looked at the old leather-bound diary. "I wonder, though, why it inspires such horror in you when I do not. Could it be because you know that it has the power to possess you," He asked rhetorically, "and make you do unimaginably wicked things?"
"I…" She began. But she trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"I could do the same thing, you know." He said, moving around the desk and standing behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders and she winced a little, even though it didn't hurt. "I could own your soul if I wanted to." He moved one of his hands to her bare neck and let his thumb make lazy circles on the back of it. "I could break you without even raising a wand." He said as he removed his hands.
"Then why don't you?" She thought challengingly. But she did not say it.
"It would be so easy to do." He said as he went back to the other side of the desk. "But I can see that this," he made a sweeping motion with his hand, indicating the diary, "already has quite the hold on you. It would be a shame not to just let it finish what it started."
"You're going to kill me?" She asked, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Not kill you, foolish girl." He answered. "I have greater plans for you, when the time comes and you are mature enough." He turned to Draco, who had been casually looking through the books on Voldemort's bookshelf. "And Draco…"
"Hmm?" Draco said as he turned to face Tom.
"Have her write to my memory in the diary every night before bed." He ordered, like a doctor prescribing which medication to take when.
"For how long?" Draco asked.
"You'll know when." Tom said just before he disappeared with a crash.
Later that day, Ginny was sitting in one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room (now Draco's personal quarters). Draco had already taken the charm off the stairs to what once were the girls' dormitories, so he could now use them. He was sitting in one of the chairs, reading a book.
She stared at the rug.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled. Harry had taken her book and was in the process of tossing it to Ron over her head.
"Oy, Harry, go long!" Ron called as Harry rushed across the room.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled at him. "You give that back, right now!"
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan laughed as Hermione furiously got up and walked over to Ron. "Come on Hermione, you've been studying for weeks. It's not even Halloween yet, we don't have any exams for months and months." He pleaded.
"Give me the book, Ron." She ground out angrily, as she put out her hand to receive the book. Ron looked at her for a minute, with a secret deep concentration. He quickly pushed his hand up and tossed the book across the room and out the open window.
"Ronald Weas…"
"…Weasley!" Draco shouted, standing right in front of her.
"Wha-what?" Ginny asked in confusion.
"What's wrong with you? I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes." He asked, sitting back in his chair.
"I was just thinking." She said, sadness coursing through her. It didn't show in her voice.
"What were you thinking about?" He asked, his book apparently forgotten.
"Nothing."
"Granger, Potter?" He asked. "Your brother?" He raised his eyebrow.
"How did you…"
"The expression on your face." He answered. "Plus, I'm a good guesser."
"Can you tell me something?" She asked hesitantly.
"It depends."
"Is my brother Ron… did he survive?" She asked.
"Everything has its price, what will you give me for the answer?" He asked, while propping his feet up on the foot rest and stretching back with his hands behind his head.
"What do you want?"
"I want answers to my questions." He said.
"You have questions?" She asked, unsure of why she might know something that the dark lord's right-hand man didn't know.
"I have questions." He said in a flat voice. "And they're not about the Order of the Phoenix."
"You know about the Order?" She asked in mild shock. Just how much does he know?
"And about 12 Grimmauld Place." He answered.
"I'll answer your questions. But is Ron ok?" She asked impatiently.
"Patience, Weasley." He drawled. "Your brother is not here."
"What do you mean not here!" She asked with alarm in her voice.
"He seems to have escaped." Draco replied dryly.
"He… he escaped." She whispered dreamily, relief racing through her for the first time in days.
"Now, time for you to give me some answers. Answers to some long-pondered questions, I might add." He said, his tone becoming completely business-like.
"What do you want to know?" She asked, a little hesitantly for fear of what he might ask her.
"I have been wondering since second year what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. I know very little past the heroics of Potter." He spit out the name like it left a foul taste on his tongue. "And why you, Ginny Weasley? What makes you so special? There has to be a reason why Voldemort told Father to give the diary to you." He thought, not actually voicing out loud.
"I… where do you want me to start?"
A/N: Alright, I know it's shorter than usual, and it took so long to write. I'm already angry enough at myself, so no need to be seething with rage. You got some good news in this chapter, and this is probably the last time in a while that this will happen. But I'm not sure yet. Anyway, the next chapter won't take nearly as long. Please review!