Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other character in the books.

Chapter Two: Pain and loneliness

Ginny heard the pop of someone apparating in the room but she did not opened her eyes. She just left herself lying on the floor waiting for death or someone to save her.

"I brought you food and water." she heard Draco saying but she didn't move. "Get up and eat!" he said raising his voice. Ginny opened her eyes but still did not move. He stepped closer to where she was lying. "Planning on starving to death?" he said in a snake like voice. Ginny remained quiet. "And drying too?" he continued but she wouldn't pay attention. Maybe if he got tired he'd go away and leave her there, because she was planning on doing exactly what he was saying.

Draco walked towards the girl until his feet were only a few inches away from her stomach. She was starting to get on his nerves.

"Weasley I made you two questions. Didn't your parents taught you to answer when someone asks you a question?"

Ginny finally decided to answer. "Yes and Yes. I am planning on starving to death!" she scram. Draco held her by her hair and forced her to get up.

"You will eat the good way or my way!" Draco threw Ginny against the wall "And believe me you better do it the good way."

Ginny drowned herself in the darkness of his eyes. Something inside those cold grey eyes reminded her of a boy she had trusted and that almost killed her. Draco Malfoy was following the steps of Tom Riddle. So much hatred, evil, coldness and power inside him that could scare many people, but she was no coward and there so she would not break down.

"I'm not going to eat! Torture me if you please but I will not eat or drink or do anything you want me to!"

"Bad decision Red. I was hoping you had left that stupidity you call bravery behind. I guess it will be my way then." Draco said. "Crucio!"

Ginny felt like all her bones were breaking, a thousand needles were getting into her skin, like she was burning inside and her brain was getting bigger and her head was going to blow. She felt blood in her mouth coming from her nose but the pain was not going away. She felt Draco letting her hair free and Ginny felt on the floor screaming with pain. Suddenly it stopped.

"That's my way. So are you going to eat or not?"

Ginny was in too much pain to speak but she didn't feel like being tortured one more time so when Draco put the bread and the glass of water by her side she forced herself to eat cursing her for being so weak.

"Good girl! Not so stupid after all." Draco walked around the dungeon looking at her with a smirk. "You know, I'm going to enjoy this. I didn't forgot that jinx you threw me in my fifth year. Want to see a jinx Voldemort taught me?"

Ginny shivered. No Death Eater had the courage to say Voldemorts name but Draco had said it easily and with a pleasure it was scary in a weird way. Ginny had lost the fear of that name long ago but in Draco's voice it was frightening.

"No? I'm going to show you anyway! Praefocus!"

Ginny just had the time to see a violet light coming in her direction before she felt her lungs crush. She tried to breath but she couldn't, it was like someone had put something heavy over her chest. She started feeling dizzy her eyes were feeling heavy. Her heart was slowing sown. And when she had stopped her desperate moves trying to breath she felt the sweet taste of air feeling her lungs. She took three deep breaths before starting to shake. One more of those curses and she would beg to die.

"It's funny isn't it? I guess you didn't find too funny! But this is nothing compared to what I'll do next." His mocking voice chanced for a deep and dangerous one. "Physical pain is difficult to bare but there's another pain so much deeper and colder. One pain that it gets so much time to heal that you prefer all the torturing curses in the world but that one: Loneliness. Days and days alone, with no contact with humans. You start talking to yourself trying to find something that can fill that hole inside you, then your voice is not enough you start walking, running doing something to distract but the hole gets bigger and it starts to hurt too much, you start doing all kind of things just to forget but it doesn't eases the pain so you try to find some other pain that can make you forget that one. You kick yourself, you cry, you hit your head on the floor until the day you can't take it anymore and wish to die but you can't because I won't let you!"

Ginny knew what loneliness was. She had tasted it before but she was sure it had been nothing compared to what Draco had described. Something inside her told her that only someone who had felt it before could describe it with so much detail.

"You'd know that!" You've felt it didn't you?" she dared to ask.

"No! The thing is I've done it so many times it's easy to predict what is going to happen." he said after a long minutes of silence but something in his voice had weakened.

Ginny felt something close to pity. Maybe all that cruelness was just a way for him to run away from loneliness.

'Virginia Weasley you're feeling pity of the man that just tortured you? The Cruciatus Curse must have damaged something in your brain!' a voice scram inside her head.

"See you not soon Weasley." and Draco disapparated.

His words were repeating inside Ginny's head: "... You start talking to yourself trying to find something that can fill that hole inside you, then your voice is not enough you start walking, running doing something to distract but the hole gets bigger and it starts to hurt too much, you start doing all kind of things just to forget but it doesn't eases the pain so you try to find some other pain that can make you forget that one. You kick yourself, you cry, you hit your head on the floor until the day you can't take it anymore and wish to die...". She realized how lonely she was. Suddenly the sound of the ocean was to low, the room too dark, her clothes too cold. The absence of Harry was deeper now that had ever been. Once again tears rolled down her face washing the blood spread all over her cheeks. She was sure loneliness was very painful but there was something more painful than that: the fact that Harry was going to get hurt because of her and she couldn't do anything to ease his pain. That was the most painful feeling she could have.

She looked at the little window. The room was lighten by shades of violet and orange. The sun was setting. Soon the night would fall and she had survived the first day of many.