Difficulties of Avoidance

by dead2self

A/N: Whew! Long chapter! I considered splitting it in two because (spoiler alert) a LOT goes on in this chapter, but the place I wanted to split it made the second half too short. So you all get a longer, action-packed chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter because it was one of those that just comes to you easily. I hope you'll have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Please review! They make me sooo happy. And if you enjoy critiquing, please critique - specifically on whether or not this would work better as two chapters and where you would split it. I feel like I'm always editing this story (which means ff net is actually kinda out of date with the document on my computer now, but meh, what can you do?).

All that to say - enjoy the chapter!

In the morning, Ginny was still mulling over Malfoy. The encounter had been strange, to say the least. She had not seen Malfoy since Harry's seventh year, the year Harry had been near paranoia over Malfoy's supposed illicit activities. It had all come to naught, of course, and Hermione had given a stellar I-told-you-so speech at the Three Broomsticks after graduation. Ginny had heard rumors that he was a Death Eater now, which came as no surprise at all.

But what business would he have in Hogwarts? Although Dumbledore told Luna that Malfoy had indeed approached him about the job, Ginny did not believe for a second the position was the reason for his visit. Ginny felt in the pit of her stomach that Malfoy knew whom they were hiding in the Room of Requirements, although Dumbledore did not seem worried.

Her distraction cost Gryffindor points in Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Snape was in fine form that day. Ginny had never seen Snape quite so sour before, except when he was around Harry. Although she was rather competent with nonverbal spells by this time, he took points again for her lips twitching (an action that Ginny termed breathing). It was in ill spirits that she stormed towards her next class, but her mood alleviated the moment she stepped into the entrance hall. Standing there, surrounded by an assortment of excited first-years and old friends from Gryffindor, were Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Harry! Ron, Hermione!" She pushed through the assembled crowd to give all three of them hugs and a peck for Harry. "Between you three and Malfoy, you might as well hold a class reunion this week!"

Harry's easy grin was wiped away, replaced with sudden suspicion. "Malfoy was here?"

"Yeah, applying for the Defense position of all things."

The trio exchanged incredulous looks, until Ginny asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Just some business with Dumbledore," Harry answered, then in a lower voice, whispered, "Dumbledore expects he found something. We're finally going out tonight to destroy a You-Know-What."

"And here I've got History of Magic," Ginny pouted. Then, on a whim, she added, "You three haven't seen Snape yet, have you?"

Harry and Ron immediately snarled, but it was Hermione who answered. "Professor Snape, Ginny. And yes, he brought us up to the castle earlier this morning."

Ginny could not help but chuckle at the dissonant effect Harry had on Snape. "Amazing. Even after leaving school, you can still make Gryffindor lose points just by showing up." She glanced down at her watch, and leaving the trio puzzled, ran off yelling a threatening, "You better find me later!"

History of Magic had never been more dull and not for the first time she regretted taking History of Magic NEWTs just because she had a good memory for numbers and a knack for guessing goblin names. Staring blanking out the window, she imagined Binn's drone in a few hundred years describing how the great Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, had destroyed a part of Voldemort on this very day – and somehow making it sound boring. And then just as Professor Binn's constant drone faded away with the bell ending the lecture, Ginny left the room only to be faced with Harper.

"Ginevra Weasley," he said, standing straight in her path, "I have been looking for you all morning." She noticed he was carrying his file of carefully charmed notes and papers, color-coded.

"Ginevra? Who are you, my mother? Not now Harper."

Ignoring her, Harper opened the file and shuffled through until he found her name. "I have it on good authority that you have lost further points for your house this morning. This puts you officially on the 'frequent offender' list." He clumsily waved his wand over her file, which already contained a rather unflattering picture of Ginny that glared up at him, and the sheet turned a violent crimson color.

Ginny eyed him warily, although quite unable to keep her humor from her voice. "Frequent offender, Harper, really?"

Harper, detecting insolence, immediately puffed out his chest. "Yes, it is a new system I am employing as Head Boy that enacts stricter restrictions and surveillance on those students who continually flout the rules. Now if you're just sign right here to show you have been informed of the new procedures—"

"I'm gonna stop you there, Harper. I'm not signing that. Fred and George never had to sign some sort of surveillance contract, and I'll eat my wand before I sign any contract probably hexed up and down by you."

Harper sputtered in mute rage for a moment, nearly purple in the face before he exploded, "I'm Head Boy!"

"I try to forget it daily. Anything else?" Her haste to see Harry and the others had quickly moved this conversation from amusing to annoying.

"You need to sign this to show you've been informed of the new procedure!"

"I actually wasn't informed of any new procedure, but if something comes up, I'll be sure to talk to the Head Girl about it. Can you move now? I'm in a hurry to meet someone."

"The Headmaster will hear about this!"

"What, that the Head Boy is harassing her? Don't worry; we can tell him ourselves if you want." Ginny glanced over Harper's shoulder on tiptoes and grinned brightly at her approaching boyfriend. Harper merely whipped around, had the good grace to look shocked for a moment, and then sneered.

"What are you doing here Potter?"

"Some small matters to discuss with Dumbledore," Harry answered, taking in Harper's badge with some distaste of his own. "Nothing you students need to worry about. Mind if I borrow Ginny?" And without waiting for a reply, he hooked Ginny's arm in his own and towed her away from the smoldering Head Boy.

"Thank you!" Ginny laughed, now quite unable to control herself. She explained the situation between giggles.

"Good to see the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry is alive and strong," Harry chuckled. "I wonder what possessed Dumbledore to make him Head Boy?"

"You've heard the Sorting Hat; it's always going on about House unity. It's probably something like that – though why he would think Harper would bring us together is beyond me." The walked through a crowd of awestruck second years, but once out of range, Ginny whispered, "So are you nervous?"

Harry's mouth set in a firm line that Ginny could not decipher. "Well, Dumbledore will be there." He looked to be thinking hard, and when he clutched her arm tighter, Ginny knew he had decided something. "Promise not to laugh, but it isn't me I'm worried about; it's Dumbledore." Ginny cocked a brow quizzically, but did her best not to laugh. "That hand is worse than he's letting on, I know it, and for all we know the protections on this next one will be worse. I don't want him sacrificing himself for me if I can help it."

Ginny drew this in with a deep breath, clutching his arm closer. Then she looked up at a troll in a tutu looking curiously down at her from a wall tapestry and froze. "Harry," she said dangerously.

"Ginny, I need you to do me a favor," he said as Ron and Hermione strolled around the corner with Luna.

Ginny jerked her arm away from Harry. "Does Dumbledore know about this?"

"No, they are going behind his back," Luna answered as she drew up beside Ginny, and both Ron and Hermione went red. Ginny guessed they had not told this to Luna, and raised her brow at Harry. He raised his hands in defense.

"I need to talk to him Ginny. I'll be careful; just trust me. I need you to help me."

"Talk to him about what Harry? This is seventeen year old Voldemort. The diary is already gone and even if he somehow knew how his future self hid other Horcruxes, I highly doubt he would tell you."

"It's nothing about that," Harry answered. "I just need to talk with him."

"Go on Ginny; we don't have a lot of time here," Ron said impatiently and Ginny wheeled on him.

"Oh shut up, Ron! Shouldn't you be getting ready for tonight anyhow?"

"No," Harry said quickly while Ron, and surprisingly Hermione, glowered. Luna looked dreamily between the pair of them and abruptly asked, "You're not going with him?

The looks Ron and Hermione shot at Harry showed instantly that Luna had touched on something of a raw nerve. Harry picked the answer up before either of them could chime in.

"Voldemort has been quiet for the past year. The only thing we know that he's done is bring his younger self into the present."

"But he must have messed up or something, because he hasn't got him, has he?" added Ron. "He ended up in Hogwarts."

"Right and he had to have a reason for bringing himself into the future because he spent nearly a year to complete the spell – we think – and so he must be pretty desperate to get Riddle back—"

"What Harry is trying to say," Hermione interjected, "is that he thinks there's a connection between Malfoy coming to Hogwarts and Voldemort getting his hands on Tom Riddle. And with Dumbledore away from the castle tonight, he thinks this is when Voldemort will make his move." In a flash, Hermione looked quite indignant. "Although I still find it quite impossible. You can't Apparate into Hogwarts and I hardly think that the staff would allow an army of Death Eaters to fly over the walls on broomsticks just because Professor Dumbledore is out for the night."

"Actually, I agree with Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "Because I was thinking the same thing. We found Malfoy right outside the Room of Requirements."

"See!" Harry crowed, turning on Ron and Hermione, but Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

"I still don't see why you need to talk to Riddle."

"I can't tell you, Ginny. You just have to trust me." He met her eyes with a firm resolve and she got the sick feeling she would not win this argument.

Clenching her teeth and hopeful for another voice of reason, she turned on Hermione. "You can't agree with this."

Ginny saw clear anxiety in her friend's eyes, but she replied, "It's important Ginny. We need all the help we can get…"

Ginny stared between all three of them, feeling oddly betrayed, and floundered for words until Luna said, "If you don't go in with him, Ginny, I will."

With the feeling as if she had been caught in the stomach with a Bludger, Ginny grunted out, "Fine! Fine, I'll let you in. But I don't like this at all."

Harry touched her arm and she jerked away stubbornly. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"He's good enough at Legilimency that he can read your mind without a wand – just with eye contact," Ginny said with a short stab of guilt.

"I know, but I have a wand and I know a little Occulmency." Then Harry caught her offguard with a sudden teasing smile. "Besides, you're not planning on letting him out anytime soon, are you?"

"That's not funny," Ginny snapped, fighting off a smile. "Shouldn't we just get this over with?" Steeling herself, Ginny reached for the invisible door handle and strode through the enchantments, wand out.

Tom Riddle was pacing the length of the room with his eyes on the floor, but his head shot up when Ginny entered the room, a shadow of surprise crossing his face as he realized Ginny had come for a second time that day. But that was nothing compared to the surprise he showed when Harry stepped into the room. Then in a heartbeat his face was a mask.

"If it isn't Harry Potter the basilisk slayer," Tom intoned with an ironic bow of his head. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Harry did not look up at Riddle; rather, he was staring intently at some small thing he held in his palm. Ginny jumped when a terrible choking, hissing noise carried across the room, and belatedly she realized it was coming from Harry. Riddle blinked, and then replied in the same terrible voice. With sudden bile rising in her throat, Ginny realized Harry intended to hold the entire conversation in Parseltongue. A furious swell of anger buzzed at the back of her head before she pushed it back. With a huff she crossed her arms over her chest and felt heat rising to her face with each passing minute. Harry never once looked up from his palm, only wiggling it periodically, but Riddle's eyes grew darker as the conversation drew on. At one point, he let out a strangled hiss so vehement that the hairs on Ginny's arms stood on end.

Abruptly, Harry broke off and said, "Alright, Ginny, I've said my piece." Across the room Riddle's face was impenetrable, but if Ginny had to put one word to it, she would say he looked thoughtful.

Ginny tried to summon up a happy memory through her haze of frustration and worry, and her Patronus was understandably dim when it trotted through the wall. Luna's rabbit appeared a moment later and Ginny led Harry through the door, glancing back to see Riddle settling into the armchair with his fingers steepled.

"Thank you Ginny," Harry said, cautiously kissing the top of her head.

"Don't push your luck, Potter; I'm mad at you."

"Alright, Weasley," he chuckled.

"I don't suppose you'll ever tell me what this was about?"

"Maybe someday. Are you too angry to eat dinner with us? You too, Luna," he added.

"Oh yes, I have missed you all terribly," Luna answered. "And Harper is quite busy today chasing down frequent offenders, so I think he might forget our meeting about proper badge care."

Ron caught site of Luna's Head Girl badge, back in its proper position upside down on her chest, and snorted loudly. Hermione looked a touch disapproving, but made no noise.

"You know, Luna," Ron said, clapping Luna heartily on the back, "I've missed you too."

"Thank you Ronald!" Luna said. "Now let's not linger; Splatheries you know…"

Luna drifted off in the direction of the Great Hall and they followed, Ron mouthing, "Splatheries!" to Harry over Luna's head.

With Harry and the others in attendance, no one at the Gryffindor table seemed to notice or care that Luna was sitting with them too. Even a few other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs trickled over (including a Hufflepuff first year who just wanted to touch Harry's scar) and sat down. Colin and Dennis Creevey had cornered Harry upon entry and sat on either side of him, barraging him with questions about what life was like out of school – questions Harry dodged with practiced ease. The only people in the room who seemed to disapprove of their unconventional dinner was Snape, who was looking down from the Head Table if he felt sick just to see it, and the quickly approaching Head Boy.

"Lovegood!" he snapped, drawing even with the dinner party. "We had a meeting."

"I know," Luna answered, still eating steadily.

Leaning closer, Harper tried to lower his voice to a whisper, a task not quite accomplished in his anger. "If you cannot take this seriously, you should turn in your badge. Otherwise, I would appreciate a unified front on the matter of discipline. Even your own friend wouldn't sign the contract."

"So it was a contract then," Ginny said blithely, "not a notice that I'd been informed?"

Harper sent Ginny a withering glare and returned his attention to Luna. "I don't know what goes on in that head of yours, but if you could just try to understand that we have a responsibility to the school—for the love of Merlin, turn your badge right side up!"

Not blinking, Luna rotated the badge, but the indignity of it seemed to have stalled Harper's tirade. "Calm down Harper; you're going to give yourself a stroke," Ron said around a mouthful of chicken.

"Oh, Harper is only frustrated with me because he is mad at Ginny," Luna supplied helpfully. By now the rest of the table realized there was another person in their midst, and Hermione swiveled away from her discussion with a Ravenclaw prefect in surprise.

"Oh Harper! You're the one they made Head Boy? Congratulations!"

Harper jerked visibly and whipped around toward Hermione so fast it was a wonder he did not get whiplash. The change was immediate. He flushed red to the tips of his ears as he mumbled out something sounding similar to "Head Boy, me, yes, thank you" and puffed out his chest so the badge was more clearly visible.

Harry and Ginny shared a look of incredulous glee, but Ron had turned abruptly sour. "Right, right, you're Head Boy. Get on with it. Can't you see we're eating here?"

Harper gave Ron a look of the purest distain, but nonetheless muttered his goodbyes to Hermione and moved off to the Slytherin table. Ginny was no longer able to hold back a gale of laughter. Ron, meanwhile, was vindictively pantomiming Hermione in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh Harper. Head Boy! Congratulations! Blimey Hermione, do you want to go sit at Slytherin with him?"

Rather pink herself, Hermione stabbed a bit too hard at a carrot on her plate and missed it entirely. "Please Ron, he was a prefect last year; I had meetings with him all the time. I was just being polite."

As Ginny sat back and surveyed their table, she felt with a stab of pain that this – not Harry begging her to see Tom Riddle and worrying about Dumbledore – was what was supposed to be normal. She would have given any number of things to have this scene every day, even if it meant listening to Ron snipe immaturely at Hermione. But that did not stop Dumbledore descending from the Head Table towards them. He stopped behind Harry.

"Pardon my interruption, but I must have a word with the Head Girl," he said with a tip of his wizarding hat. Ginny could have sworn she saw a piece of paper pass into Harry's hands when everyone looked to Luna, but Dumbledore said no more and swept off with Luna in his wake. Conversations resumed, but Ginny felt as if some happy illusion had fallen away. Everything had changed.

Once they had escaped from the general chaos of the Great Hall, extricated themselves from excited Gryffindors in the Common Room, and waited for Ron to finish gaping around the room as if he had never seen it before, Harry showed them Dumbledore's short note. It said nothing more than instructions to meet at 9 o'clock in the entrance hall with his Invisibility Cloak, but Harry added that Order members would also be in the castle that night in Dumbledore's absence.

There were some futile attempts at conversation, mostly stabs at what Harry might be doing with Dumbledore that night or which corridors they should cover more carefully in their patrol around the school, but the mood from dinner had dissipated. When a first year approached them to say that the Head Girl was waiting outside for Ginny, all of them were thankful for the distraction of visiting the kitchens. Luna and Ginny gathered Riddle's dinner while Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught up with an elf wearing three layers of clothing and a rather waiflike elf in an off-color smock. Ginny glanced at her watch at the door and realized with a jolt that this was it.

Without thinking, she threw the plate down on the closest table (one of the elves stopped it from crashing to the floor with a terrified squeak) and rushed at Harry. She hit him with enough force to knock the air out of him, but Harry tugged her closer.

"It'll be fine. When we get back tonight, I'll tell you all about it. You still have the Marauder's Map?"

Ginny pulled it from inside her robes, checking it quickly for Harper.

"Everything's clear on the seventh floor," she answered, noting a few familiar names loitering around the castle, including her brother Bill.

Harry's blazing look passed between Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Luna. "Promise me you'll check it all night. And be safe. I know Malfoy is up to something." With a guilty, furtive look at Hermione, he added, "And Snape."

"He is a member of the Order, Harry," Hermione hissed, and Ginny got the sense that this was an argument they had often.

"We will," Ginny replied quickly, if only to steer them away from a crisis. "You have the Invisibility Cloak?" Harry patted his robes and nodded. Ginny stalled, then, "Well, good luck. I know you'll be brilliant." She picked up the plates again and nodded firmly at him.

"Be safe," he repeated. "See you later tonight."

"Later, Harry," Luna called, and then the portrait closed over the kitchen entrance. As they walked their well-trodden route between the kitchens and the Room of Requirements, Ginny could not shake a niggling seed of dread. It was a few minutes until upperclassman curfew, and students scattered in their wake as Luna called for people to return to their dormitories. They had to stop for Luna to confiscate an Anti-Gravity Hat that she placed promptly on her head (in a manner of speaking), but otherwise the walk was uneventful. The castle was warm despite the snow that drifted up against the windows. It was hard to imagine how she could feel so bad on a night like this.

On the seventh floor, Luna took the food from Ginny and slid into the Room of Requirements. Ginny glanced at her watch, imagining that Harry and Professor Dumbledore were well away from the grounds by this point. She could only imagine where they might be going and stubbornly Ginny pushed away the temptation to try. She would only make this harder for herself.

Luna's rabbit came out a bit earlier than normal, as Luna had recently taken to straightening the sparse furnishings in the room every evening. Ginny sent her Patronus through the door, mind still wandering, and was taken completely off-balance when Riddle darted from the doorway first.

"Stop!" Luna screamed lunging after him, the Anti-Gravity Hat flying wildly from her head, but even Ginny did not have the time to draw her wand before he rounded the corner.

"He was sleeping!" Luna cried miserably, slamming the door shut.

"Dumbledore isn't here tonight!" Ginny yelped, tearing after him. "Come on!" She struggled with the Maurader's Map as she ran, spotting Tom's small ink dot moving fast on the sixth floor. "This way!" she yelled, darting through a seemingly solid door that opened into a passageway that would head Riddle off. Bursting out from the middle of a portrait of a wizard tea party ("Excuse you!"), she spun and screamed, "STUPEFY!" at Tom Riddle as he rounded the corner. The burst of red light whizzed past his head as he made to change direction, but Luna was fast on Ginny's heels.

"Stupefy!" she cried, and her spell caught Riddle from the other side, solidly in the shoulder. He slumped to the ground, unconscious, and Luna's eyes were popping out of her head, looking surprised that it had worked at all. Both girls, shaking wildly, were caught completely off-guard by the voice that sounded behind them.

"What is the meaning of this?"

And there was Harper, clearly shocked at their sudden appearance, but his face shining red with triumph, his finger pointed accusingly at Luna. "The Head Girl Stunning a student! Even Dumbledore can't ignore your ineptitude this—"

"Stupefy!" Ginny shouted, and Harper fell beside Riddle.

Both girls stood as if Petrified above their two victims. "F-Five points from Griffindor!" Luna said abruptly.

Stirred into action, Ginny cried "What?" as she knelt down to check both boys.

"I am Head Girl." Luna knelt next to her, her lips screwed tightly in a line. "It would look quite strange if he woke up and I had just let you off for hexing the Head Boy."

"If he wakes up, I swear I'll do it again," Ginny said savagely, turning instead to roll over Riddle's prone body. His lip had split when he had fallen, so she used a corner of his shirt to wipe off the blood. "You better take care of Harper; he'll at least have a harder time taking points from you. I'll put Riddle back in the Room. Meet as soon as possible near Gryffindor Tower or with Ron and Hermione if you run into them first." She shoved the Marauder's Map at Luna, adding, "In case you need to run away from Harper."

With one more check to make sure he was knocked out, Ginny levitated Riddle and pulled him back through the portrait of the sputtering, red-faced tea party. She tore through the seventh floor, her levitating charm weakening in her haste until Riddle was bouncing along the floor like a skipping stone. She turned the corner into the now familiar corridor and shrieked, flinging out her wand to send Riddle flying back around the corner and out of sight. For the second time this week, the corridor was not empty.

"Merlin, Malfoy!" she yelled, clutching at her chest. "What are you applying for now, Divination?"

For the space of a second, Malfoy looked just as shocked to see her, nearly dropping the shriveled arm he was carrying. Then Ginny noticed the normally invisible door ajar next to Malfoy and the whole situation came into crystalline focus as he raised his wand and a figure in a white mask emerged from the door.

"NO!" Ginny screamed, throwing herself around the corner, her only thought going toward staying between them and Tom Riddle. A spell crashed against the wall where she had stood, and she had just latched on to his wrist when utter pitch darkness fell around her.

"Expelliarmus!" she cried indiscriminately, flinging her wand at the darkness behind her. There was a yelp of surprise and then "Stupefy!" Ginny brought up a Shield Charm, praying that she was guarding the right side, but felt no spell hit her. There was shuffling in the darkness of far more than two people and Ginny tightened her grip on Riddle's wrist, groping at the wall to pull herself into a crouch.

Then, with horror, Ginny realized that Riddle was moving too. Ginny let out a shriek as another stray spell seared past her head, still undetectable in the unnatural darkness, and Riddle's hand twisted away from hers. With a sudden, blazing lurch in her stomach, Ginny dove to the ground and clawed forward through the darkness, head low, and sweeping with her arms until—there! She clutched at a pant leg and swept her wand up, concentrating with all her might on a nonverbal Stunning spell, hoping beyond all hope that this was Tom Riddle. The figure slumped with a light thump and Ginny crawled along the body, feeling it for any sign as to who it could be. He was not wearing robes, his hair felt soft, if a bit long, and his face had no mask, so Ginny hooked him under the arms and tried to keep low as she dragged him, using the wall as her guide.

As suddenly as it had come, the darkness disappeared. Ginny blinked in the sudden candlelight of the corridor, glancing behind her at what appeared to be a heavy cloud of solid black. Her knees almost went weak when she realized the body she dragged was in fact Tom Riddle. Quickly she levitated the body and found her bearings. The Death Eaters were nowhere to be seen, but she could hear shouts from lower in the castle. With a mix of relief and a terrible sinking feeling, Ginny realized they had been wrong; the Death Eaters must not have come for Riddle.

The thought of Luna, Ron, and Hermione down below stirred Ginny into action. There was no way she would make it back into the Room of Requirements. Instead she darted with Riddle to the closest hidden passage she could remember, an alcove behind a ticklish wall tapestry of a sour-looking witch who dodged away unless you froze her in time. The witch gave Ginny a look of despair as the wall swung open and Ginny dropped Riddle onto the floor. Vines shot out of her wand, binding him until he resembled some strange Amazonian breed of mummy. She tried her hand at a few Sticking charms to attach him to the wall for good measure, and with one last harried look at Riddle, dashed back out of the passage in the direction of the shouts and bangs, wand at the ready.

Little could have prepared her for the rest of that night. And nothing could have prepared her to see Albus Dumbledore splayed spread eagle at the foot of the Astronomy Tower, illuminated only by the Dark Mark.