Disclaimer: As you all undoubtedly know, all Harry Potter Characters belong to the fabulous J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 1Harry stood in the middle of the Great Hall, watching as Ron and Fleur danced a ridiculous waltz, while Hermione looked on scathingly. She leaned over to him and whispered
"You know, he did promise me thousands of Chocolate Frogs cards if I married him, and all I get is this sham of a marriage. I've half a mind to run off with Dobby. He's been offering quite regularly lately." Dobby suddenly appeared before them dressed in a ridiculous lime green tuxedo.
"Dobby will do anything to marry Master's best friend, who has made him so many lovely hats!"
Harry laughed and turned away. The scene had changed. Hermione and Ron were gone. The Great Hall was gone. Harry looked around in confusion. What was he doing here? This place had not haunted his dreams in months. A long corridor, with a dark door at the end. The door to the Department of Mysteries. A place he had not been in so very long, and one he had never intended upon seeing again. And yet here he was.
The door opened before him and he glided, rather than walked through it. So familiar…a door across the room opened, and he suddenly found himself in the middle of what appeared to be a large, circular, very empty room. He turned slowly on the spot, gazing at the walls that were completely free of writing or marking. As he glanced around the room, he realized that "almost empty" was a better description. At the far end of the room, four figures seemed to be conferring around a small shape in their midst. As Harry drew closer, he recognized the figures. One was Severus Snape, who looked frankly bored with everything going on. A wave of loathing rushed over Harry as the picture of an old man falling over the battlement of a tower flashed through his mind. Macnair, who Harry had only seen a few times, stood next to him, a sick look of lustful hunger on his face as he stared at the shape before them. Most terrifying of all, Lord Voldemort was reclining near them, in a throne he seemed to have conjured out of midair. Nagini, his hideous snake, was curled around his arm, moving her scaly body across his hand. Bellatrix Lestrange was standing quite close to him, simpering over Voldemort, but keeping a wary and fearful eye on the snake.
Harry drew even closer, and with a terrible realization, realized that it was Ginny kneeling tied up on the floor, a look of defiance on her face. Harry attempted to run to her, to yell her name, to tell her it was only a dream, but his feet and voice would not obey him. He opened his mouth and found nothing but silence. His feet refused to move as if they had been glued to the floor. Voldemort smiled in Ginny's direction, sharp teeth gleaming against the pale face, red, snakelike eyes flashing with the bloodlust Harry knew so well.
"How long do you think, my lady, until Harry Potter comes to your rescue and inevitably, to his death? An hour, perhaps? Two?" His voice sent chills down Harry's spine. Ginny's eyes burned with angry fire as she spat at Voldemort's feet. Even at a time like this, Harry had to admire her bravery.
"To rescue me, yes. To his death, I very much doubt." Ginny spat. Bellatrix scoffed and slapped Ginny in the face. Again Harry tried to cry out, tell her not to worry, they would wake up soon. But again, his voice caught in his throat.
"As if anyone could even come close to defeating the greatest wizard of all time, you stupid girl. The very idea-"
"Hush, Bella." Bellatrix fell silent and Voldemort gazed at Ginny with a scrutinizing look in his eye.
"You speak with a great amount of courage for someone in your situation."
"I speak only what I know is the truth. Not something you would know much about, I'm sure" Again, Bellatrix's palm collided with Ginny's cheek, this time bringing blood from the corner of her mouth. The Cruciatus Curse Bellatrix uttered a moment later hit it's mark with excruciating force. Harry's brain was now screaming
"Wake up! Wake up! Please! Wake up!" But the image refused to fade, and consciousness refused to come.
Voldemort held up his hand and Lestrange released the spell. Voldemort approached Ginny's now shaking form.
"Where is he, Blood traitor? Why had your precious Harry Potter not yet come to your rescue?" Ginny said nothing, only stared at the floor. "Perhaps he is too afraid" Without looking up Ginny responded, her voice trembling
"Maybe he is afraid, but there's the difference between you and him. He will come in spite of his fear. You are nothing but a coward, the lowest piece of filth to walk this earth."
The Cruciatus Curse hit her again and Harry could do nothing but watch. Even the tear he could feel inside refused to pour out of his eyes.
"Still he does not come! Why? Why does he continue to allow you to suffer?" Voldemort spat.
Ginny looked up through her pain
"He will come. And you will die."
"Let us see if we cannot speed up his reaction time a bit" At these words, Harry braced himself again for the Cruciatus Curse, but each time he tried to turn away, the image appeared in front of his eyes again. Again and again he attempted to turn his eyes from the scene, but it stubbornly remained rooted directly in front of his eyes. His palms began to sweat as he waited for the word. But it never came.
"Macnair" the Dark Lord began, "You remember what we discussed, I trust? You remember what the Dark lord promised you?" Macnair nodded, a greedy and lustful look in his eye as he approached Ginny. Voldemort spoke again.
"You see, my dear, there is nothing worse than death, but to a man in love, I have gathered, there are things much worse than watching his love suffer the Cruciatus Curse."
Realization dawned in Ginny's eyes and in Harry's heart before Macnair's groping hands even touched her. Her screams echoed in his head as he awoke in his bed at the Burrow, yelling her name.
