Summary: Through a sudden twist of fate, Myrtle is spared the deadly gaze of the Basilisk, unfortunately Tom wasn't so lucky.

An: Another chapter coming up soon I swear.

Amethyst: This one isn't as long as I would have hoped but the next will be longer and will come out before Christmas. Thanks for reviewing!

DiagonAlleyParis: Thank you for reviewing, and for your wonderful offer. I can honestly say I haven't been this flattered in a long time.

Chapter 4 The Name Game

For the next two weeks, Tom fell back into his old routine. When the darkness fell he would return to the library to read more of Hogwart's extensive collection that he was only half finished with; and in the morning he would remain in his bathroom in stasis to contemplate what knowledge he had acquired the night before. But again the tiny Weasley girl interrupted his pattern on the Monday of the third week of his solitude. She was back in the restricted section, but this time instead of a lantern she held a small jar with a tiny blue flame floating in the center.

"Back again Miss. Weasley?" she flinched badly and almost dropped the jar. She whipped around to face him her eyes large and round in terror as she stared at him uncomprehendingly, as if she didn't recognize him. A minute passed before she relaxed, her shoulders slumping in undisguised relief.

"Oh thank Merlin it's you, I thought you were a professor," Tom quirked an eyebrow in response and she blushed. "You are the only one who calls me Miss. Weasley. Besides the teachers." She muttered quietly, her soft brown eyes flickered up to his face for a quick moment to see if she caused any offence before carefully examining the flames in the jar she held.

"Would you prefer me to call you something else?" he asked casually. She shook her head quietly for a second, paused, and then started to nod.

"Ginny, all my friends call me Ginny," Tom frowned, Ginny picked up on it and quickly barreled on "But you can call me Ginerva if you like, only mum calls me that though and that's only when I'm in trouble and I really don't like it all that much but you've used it before and it seems like the logical choice for you to use." She took a few deep breaths after the rushed statement and Tom gave an amused quirk of the lips in response.

"Alright, Ginerva it is." Her smile was half relieved, and half annoyed. She would get over it eventually, he refused to call her Ginny- out loud at least. It sounded like a name one would grace a pet not a person; and while her responses to him were becoming more and more like a puppy trying to please its master, she needed to be called by something he could stomach saying.

"Now why have you graced the library at this fine hour?" Her smile turned almost guilty as she glanced around the room, as if to be sure it was empty, before pulling out the book he had recommended to her.

"I finished it," she said, her fingers stroking the careworn cover, "You said that if I wanted to read anything more interesting that I could ask you so…" She looked up at him beseechingly and again he couldn't help but mentally compare her to a puppy.

"Indeed I did." He said and floated to the tomes that lined the walls, carefully scanning the different texts for something that she would be able to read. After a minute of searching he found a large book that he had found mildly interesting at her age about curses and cursed objects, it would most likely take her a long while to read but that was fine. It was true that he wanted her interest in the dark arts to germinate and grow into a tree of black corruption in her soul, but the process would have to be slow. Ginerva was young yet and still very tightly linked with her family's Light ideas. Should she come across anything too- intense for her to handle he would lose her and all his new plans would have been for naught.

Tom couldn't have that, so he smiled at her and gestured toward the thick book that he was sure would take her at least a month to read, and started to mentally catalogue the books he would give her when she finished with it. With a small grin she pulled out her wand and with an exaggerated swish and flick along with a clearly annunciated, "Wingardium Leviosa." The book floated down from its perch and down onto the single table in the restricted section.

She beamed in pleasure and carefully scooped up the book into her arms, after a moment though she grimaced and carefully put it back down. "Its heavy." she offered by way of explanation at his questioning glance.

"I see, you will have to forgive me Ginerva I had forgotten how heavy it was."

"O-oh its no problem I'll just-" she lifted the book again and her arms trembled under the strain, she set it down with a sigh "I'll just levitate it everywhere I go." She grumbled to herself and glared at the book as if it had grievously insulted her by being so heavy.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance?" Tom floated down and stood next to her, giving her a slight chill from their close proximity. Ginny sighed and grabbed her jar with the tiny blue flames inside, hugging it close to her body to warm herself.

"Can you do anything?" she asked with a tilt of her head, looking up at him disbelievingly through ginger eyelashes. He gave an unnoticeable twitch and felt the urge to put her through some of the more violent torture curses in his arsenal, how dare she imply that he was incapable of assisting her? He, Lord Voldemort? It was then he remembered that she saw him as nothing more then a useless ghost, and that reminded him of how much he needed a living person to bring him back to his full glory. 'And then I will torture her,' He thought in quiet relish 'And make her scream until her throat is raw and bleeding.'

"I might not be able to move it," he lied, he wasn't ready to give up that particular secret yet, "But I can teach you the feather light charm. You would have been learning it later this year anyway." Her eyes lit up and she instantly set down the jar and pulled out her wand.

"Teach me." Her eagerness was mildly irritating, and he briefly considered revoking his offer before deciding that he would use this opportunity to see how well she could cast. He started to carefully explain the spell and she listened intently as he spoke.

"You understand?" She gave a determined nod and pointed her wand at the book. She harshly tapped the tip against the old leather binding and mumbled the incantation with a growl. She paused for a moment, shoved her wand into her pocket with a carelessness that made him twitch, and gingerly lifted the book.

"It worked!" she crowed in delight balancing the book in one palm. Tom nodded in satisfaction, it wasn't a difficult spell to master, in fact he thought it was rather easy to accomplish. But for some reason first-years always seemed to have problems with it (If he could trust the tiny Charms teacher's grumblings he heard every so often) so her progress pleased him.

"Indeed it did, congratulations." She turned to face him, eyes wary, as if she wasn't sure if he was mocking her or not; but after a moment she gave a small pleased smile in return.

"It was all thanks to you, you told me how to do it." He accepted the credit with a small nod.

"I did, but you are the one who cast the spell in the end." Ginny's cheeks flamed and her head whipped down to look at the book in her arms and she mumbled something under her breath. Tom frowned, he hated mumbling with a white hot passion, he would have to work on the girl until she stopped the infernal act all together. "Do you have anything else to say Ginerva or is that all?" Her eyes met his again and she shook her head. "Alright then, you should be heading back to your tower. It is late and it would be most unwise to be caught outside of your dorm after hours."

She nodded and started off toward the library's doors but before leaving she paused and looked over her shoulder at him. "Good night, Tom." She whispered and left before giving him a chance to reply. Tom stared at the spot she had been in for a moment before returning to the table he inhabited. He was surprised to see the jar with the blue flames inside sitting on the edge of the table. She had forgotten it in the excitement of her small success.

'Poor little Ginny forgot her light,' he thought and reached into the jar with a single ghostly finger, stroking the sides of the glowing blue flame and was silently delighted as the flame bent away from his caress 'How will she ever find her way in the darkness without it?' He unfurled his other fingers and let the flame float above his palm for a moment before slowly curling his fingers around it, forming a fist. It cracked and fizzled at the cold that surrounded it, struggling like a living thing for a long while before slowly going out, casting the room in darkness once more.