Disclaimer: This story includes characters and situations that are part of the Harry Potter universe, which is copyright J.K.Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made in the production of this FANFICTION. Not many outside resources were needed this time, but I (as always) made extensive use of the Harry Potter Lexicon when writing this chapter.
Author's Note: Another exciting chapter for you, or at the very least an exciting ending, so I hope you enjoy it. I have the next two chapters sitting on my computer, but my beta-reader (who is absolutely wonderful) is taking a well-deserved break, so it shall be a couple weeks before I get anything past chapter 24. Just warning you, whoever cares. Thanks to Amazing, Sarcasma (I'll give you another chance for your clever tune) and Ray (I find it really amusing how… insightful your comments are in your past two reviews. I hope you like the ending to this chapter and the beginning to the next one as well). Enjoy!
Expectations of Grandeur: Chapter 22: Home for Christmas
A fresh, white, blanket of snow covered the Hogwarts grounds, and more was falling from the sky to hail in the Hogwarts Express that would take students away for the Christmas Holidays. Ginny, however, was sitting on her bed with the blinds pulled, brow furrowed in concentration as she read about enchanted parchments. None of the examples in the books seemed even remotely similar to the parchment that Tom had given her, and to tell the truth that bothered her more than a small amount. She rubbed her eyes and tossed the fourth library book across her bed, picking up the final text.
Chapter 17: Linked Objects
The art of linking two objects has been practised since the early middle ages, when lovers would trade linked rings to ensure fidelity – either partner would know if the other ring was taken off. Since that time, however, the spells used to link two objects have become at once more powerful and more subtle – allowing wizards to create pendants that will radiate heat when the master is cast into the flames, or even recreate writing on a parchment.
This was interesting. Ginny continued reading, but unfortunately the textbook said nothing about dangerous side-effects, and in fact hardly mentioned parchments for the rest of the chapter. She sighed unhappily and threw the last book to the foot of her bed, swinging her feet out from under the covers and wondering what there was to do.
Across the room, Elisa's bags were stacked against the wall, and beside them stood Gwen's luggage. The students who were going home for the holidays had disintegrated into the frantic preparations for their journey, but Ginny had refused adamantly, and instead read, staying tucked under the covers in her four-poster. Sighing, and realising that she had nothing better to do, she leaned over and picked up the first book again, beginning to search it once more for any information. She wasn't too hopeful, but there was always a chance.
Elisa entered with a sigh. There was still snow on her scarf and robes, although Ginny couldn't tell why the girl would have been outside. Elisa tossed her things onto her bed and turned to Ginny, who was thinking very vaguely that Elisa was lucky she wouldn't have to sleep on that bed tonight – chances are the sheets would still be wet from the melting.
"Ginny? Aren't you going to pack?" Elisa asked. Shocked out of her thought process, Ginny turned back to the book almost to hide her face. She didn't want to respond. There was no good response. "The train is leaving in an hour or so – why aren't you packed?" Ginny remained silent, pulling the curtains shut on her bed.
"I'm not leaving," she mumbled into her book. She could hear Elisa pacing outside; she could hear her friend start to talk several times before she settled on whatever it was she was going to say. Ginny ignored her, and tried to study the text, tried to ignore the world around her. She had never been able to do that very well, and it certainly didn't help that someone was trying to have a conversation with her at the moment.
"Ginny, I'm getting Hermione," Elisa said warily. Well, that certainly wasn't what Ginny wanted to hear. She tore the curtains open and, pushing the book off of her lap, jumped from the bed.
"Elisa!" she yelped. "How can you… why do you…" she trailed off. She knew exactly why Elisa was doing what she was doing, and, disappointing as it might be she couldn't deny that her friend thought it was all for the best – her honest brown eyes attested to that. Finally, she just sunk back onto her bed and pulled shut the curtains once more. "Do what you like," she answered sullenly. There was no use in saying anything different, her momentary fright was gone and had been replaced with a calm sort of indifference – she wasn't going and that was final, but she was too frustrated with the textbook, which was telling her nothing, and too frustrated with the world, which seemed all too ready to pull her and tug her until she ripped in two, to honestly care one way or another. One thing was certain – Ginny Weasley was not going home for Christmas, no matter what Hermione had to say.
Elisa left and a few minutes later came back with the sixth year prefect. "Ginny Weasley, what's going on? Ron is waiting for you downstairs to see you to the train," Hermione snapped, pulling open the curtains to see Ginny inside, still in her pyjamas.
"I'm not getting on the bloody train, Hermione, so he'll be waiting for quite some time yet," Ginny snapped back, closing the book and turning to her friend with a stony expression.
"What are you reading?" Hermione asked and snatched the tome from Ginny's hands, skimming the first two pages before she quickly flipped to the pages Ginny had dog-eared and shook her head. "Why are you reading this? Notes on enchanted parchments? Ginny, what's going on? I thought you were going to destroy the parchment, but obviously you haven't and obviously something's wrong with it, or you wouldn't be doing research." She looked at Ginny in a way very reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny looked away from shame. Avoiding eye contact, she just grumbled, trying to snatch the book back from Hermione, but the older girl was too quick and began to read from the section Ginny had marked. "Soul-spilling? Ginny?" Hermione paused and her entire being seemed to soften as she saw Ginny cowering from her in the far corner of the four-poster. "You know we're here for you – what's going on?"
She reached out to touch Ginny's shoulder supportively, but Ginny shrunk away, sullenly silent. "Nothing," she answered a mere whisper. Hermione frowned and picked up the book again, hiding her face. Elisa, seeing the two of them had come to an impasse, quietly left and closed the door behind her.
An awkward silence passed between them and Hermione spoke up again. "It's about Marvolo, right? He's convinced you to help him on some project or another?" Ginny was silent so she was forced to continue. "Look, I don't think he's evil – the way Harry and Ron are treating him is downright outrageous, as though he were You-Know-Who or something. He's not, I know. I'm on your side, Ginny."
Ginny looked up at the older girl half frightened and half angry. "You're not on my side, or you wouldn't be trying to get me to go home for the holiday. You're on Ron's side because you fancy him," she said in as calmly caustic a tone as she could manage.
Hermione dropped the book and looked as though she was about to slap the younger girl across the face. "No wonder your parents treat you like an infant – you behave like one, Ginevra Weasley. I don't know what's going on between Ophicus and yourself, and I don't think I want to know at this point, but if you don't see your mother over the Christmas holidays none of us will be held accountable for our actions toward you." Ginny was frozen with fear and anger – how could Hermione do this to her? "You, Ginevra Molly Weasley, are going to pack up your things and go home for the holidays, just as was planned, and that is final."
Ginny glared at Hermione, she seethed at Hermione, she hated the older girl and everything she stood for, hard work and prudence and following the rules and doing what Harry said for the good of wizard kind, but all she did was whisper, "His name is Tom," before she stood up and started to toss things violently into her trunk. Hermione sighed, said some sort of reconciliation that Ginny was most vehemently not willing to accept, and left the room, leaving Elisa in an open doorway. The fifth year, shaking her head, sat on her bed and started chattering to Ginny about something or another. Ginny was too furious to think about what. Her trunk was packed in five minutes, and leaned against the wall with the other two.
Elisa started leaving the room, motioning for Ginny to follow, and, with the spirits of a forced labourer or a convicted felon being led into Azkaban, Ginny picked up her trunk and exited her dormitory. In the Great Hall, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were waiting, but she bypassed them and went instead to the Ravenclaw table where Luna was quietly studying, hoping vaguely for some support from a member of another house, as none of the Gryffindors were being forthcoming.
"Going home for the Holidays?" the Ravenclaw asked Ginny as she fell into a seat with more than a bit of a flounce. Luna didn't even look up from the book she was reading.
"Yeah, parents are forcing the matter. I don't want to," Ginny responded.
Luna shrugged lightly. "At least they have time for you – my father is busy on location looking for blue hinkypunks." She seemed to regard it with the same sort of calm indifference that she looked at everything else in the world, and Ginny wondered if she really was calmly indifferent or if it was a mask. Maybe she should be comforting the girl.
She couldn't do that, not in the mood she was in now. Instead, she just nodded slowly, and although Luna wasn't going to say anything more, apparently, Ginny felt that she couldn't just let the conversation stand there. "That's not the point, though. My parents don't want to see me; they want me away from school, what with Tom here. And Harry and Hermione and Ron are on their side completely – they don't trust a word that Dumbledore says about him, how he's not guilty of any of the horrible things they're accusing him of at all." Ginny looked down at the table, petulant and a little guilty. Luna was probably very upset – she couldn't really expect the other girl to pity her instead of think of her own problems, could she?
Luna didn't make eye contact with Ginny; she just sighed slightly and shook her head. That was a bad thing, Ginny decided, and was about to apologise when Luna spoke up again. "I'm sure Ronald has your best interests at heart, Ginny."
That was worse that she had expected, Ginny thought in silent rage. Was everyone here determined to gang up on her? Could no one believe that she was a competent adult? She tried to calm herself down, realising that it would do her no good to explode at Luna, especially when the other girl was in such a touchy mood as this one, but she found that she couldn't handle the situation as it was, couldn't face her friends when she felt so betrayed. She strode across the room to find a small alcove where no one would see her, and pulled the parchment from her pocket. Tom had written her a note, asking her what was wrong. She knew, at this point, that in her anger she had wrecked havoc on the ink again, and so she hardly had to ask why he knew she was upset. Instead she started writing. "Harry and Hermione and Ron are being wretched, Tom, they're making—"
But Elisa saw her across the hall and she rapidly folded the parchment and hid it before the other girl had gotten close enough to see what she was doing for certain. Ginny grumbled as Elisa pulled her away from the alcove and dragged her from the Great Hall, saying "We've got to hurry, Ginny, or we'll miss the Hogwarts Express!"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were behind her, smiling at Elisa. Ginny felt sick to her stomach. If they just wanted someone who would do as they said, they could have Elisa – she felt certain that not a one of them actually cared for her, but for the idea of the last Weasley child, the only girl, some symbol of purity and innocence, like Ron had said.
Ginny felt not like a symbol of purity or innocence to be locked up in a white tower. She felt like the darkest and most wretched being on the face of the planet, and she was going to the deepest dungeon where the sun would never shine as she left the Great Hall and was dragged out of Hogwarts. She winced. Some adult she was making – unable to stand up to her brother and his friends, unable to assert her own personality at what she considered to be a crucial point. She yanked her wrist out of Ron's hand and stomped her foot down, stomping her foot and shouting "I'm not leaving Hogwarts!"
Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, Tom was there and spoke over her rather infantile approach at making a stand against her brother's oppression. "I think it would be better for everyone involved if Ginevra stayed here over holidays," he said calmly, stepping from the doorway towards Harry and Ron.
Ron spluttered and Hermione was silent, leaving Harry to do the talking. "Why is that, Riddle?" he hissed, reaching for Ginny's arm, but she pulled it away. Harry whirled around to look at Ginny but Riddle was talking again and he spun back, looking slightly confused.
"She's horribly behind on her Potions work," Riddle said with a slight smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't failing. Sending her home over Christmas would put her in even graver danger of flunking the class."
Ginny would have protested that that was false – she was doing better in Potions than she ever had before, but she thought better of it. Harry was glaring at Riddle furiously, ignoring her entirely now anyway, and she wasn't sure she wanted to change the situation. "I'm sure you and Snape have long discussions on the matter," he snapped, and Riddle winced visibly. Harry continued. "Being as there's no way for you to know what her marks in Potions are, I think that you should stop lying and get away from us."
Riddle took a step back, shocked, but gave a warning glance to Ginny that stopped her from shouting at Harry. Ron grabbed her wrist again and pulled her towards the doorway again. She pulled and tugged at it and finally said, "He's right, I need to work on my Potions marks," with as much calm as she could muster.
Ron stopped walking and turned back to face her. "Hermione will help you."
"Hermione will be here with you!" Ginny shouted, frustrated, "In case you've forgotten, you're not going home for the Holidays and neither is she, it's just me that mum wants to see. Doesn't it make you feel unloved that she could care less what her youngest son does, while she's so very worried about her only daughter?"
Ron froze in place, dropping Ginny's hand, and she could tell that Riddle was smiling behind her, but she didn't have time to think about it before Harry had swooped in and snatched up her wrist again. "Maybe it's a sign that she thinks Ron is old enough to take care of himself, whereas you are most adamantly not," he hissed, just loud enough for Ron and Ginny to hear, but it echoed in her head as though he had shouted it to fill the entire hall. She was numb with shock – how could Harry say a thing like that? How could Harry betray her like that, be so totally unfeeling and brutal as to say that to her? Her feet moved without intention, just following as Harry led her towards the door.
How could he, how dare he say something like that? A cold resolution was forming in her mind that he would pay for that comment, she didn't know when or how, but he would pay for it. But it appeared that he was winning. She was almost out of the door and Tom was doing nothing, after all that he was just going to let her go home over the holidays because Harry had made fun of Snape's new-found hatred for him? She was appalled, but she couldn't do anything, really. She wanted to throw a fit and hide in her dormitory, but Hermione would find her there and Tom's look had made her sure that the last thing he would have her do was throw a fit.
She was at the door, in a panic of confounded desires – the desire to stay at Hogwarts and discover what was going on with the parchment, the desire to please her family by returning home, the desire to show Ron up and get herself out of this situation and above all the desire not to have Harry dislocate her shoulder as it appeared he was trying to do, when Tom shouted something and the doors suddenly shut. A high pitched voice intoned above her head, mocking the Hogwarts students and their teachers, Harry and Dumbledore.
She felt the ground swell under her, and then everything went horribly black.
Tom had guessed at what was going on when Ginny complained of her brother and Harry, and had hurried out in hopes of catching her on her way out of the school, which was exactly what he did. Of course, all that meant that he saw the agony of all his plans nearly falling apart as Ginny fought against her brother in such a childish manner. That was no way to get out of it – if she had behaved like an adult and they might have trusted her, but as she insisted on continuing to act like a sullen teenager, it would be absurd to expect Ron or Harry to do anything but treat her like a child. Tom felt like screaming at her, knocking some sense into her thick skull. But now was not the time to talk to Ginny about her absurd behaviour. He stepped forward and confronted Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Or rather, Harry, because Hermione was sullenly silent – not fully in on the game, clearly, and Ron was tongue-tied as he generally got when faced with a situation that required finesse.
When all was said and done, he should have had a thicker skin and stood up to Harry's jab about Snape – but the very thought that the Slytherin house master preferred Harry Potter to his best student was a low blow to the Slytherin's pride, and what would Tom Riddle be without his pride? Ginny had put up a valiant fight and almost convinced them of the fact that she should stay, and in fact had it not been for Harry she would have certainly remained at Hogwarts for the holidays, but there he was swooping in and ruining Tom's plans yet again. After a while it certainly got frustrating. So they were leaving, again, and Tom had let them go, too shocked to put up much of a fight as Harry Potter led Ginny Weasley out the door and towards the horse-less chariots that would take her to the Hogwarts Express.
But Tom wouldn't let them win quite that easily. He shouted out, an entrancing enchantment, and Ginny stopped moving as Harry jumped backwards.
The doors in front of them slammed shut with an echoing boom. Tom was shocked at the result; he stumbled back as the walls resonated with the blow.
Ginny, however, remained absolutely motionless, her nose nearly touching the door, but not quite. A high pitched wail began and turned into a laugh, and still Ginny didn't move. The laugh was unnatural, scathing, it made the hairs on the back of Tom's neck stand up, set him on edge with the premonition of known evil. It was misery, torture, pain to hear that laugh, but it continued, and Ginny didn't move.
"Students of Hogwarts," said the voice, the painfully cruel and familiar voice, the voice the laugh belonged to, "Your school is beginning its fall on this very day." The laughter began again and it seemed like it would never stop, but it could only have been a moment before the voice began again. "Your pathetic heroes, your precious Boy Who Lived and your worshipped Headmaster, are soon to be no more, as are all the rest of the Mudbloods and blood traitors amid your ranks. There is no hope for them now, no hope from the fate that comes from their best intentions, their caution, and their pathetic and deluded wishes." The laughter rang out in the hall, it pierced Tom's head and he covered his ears to try and drive it out, to no avail. Ginny fell to the ground by the doorway, but Tom was in too much pain to do a thing. "Students of Hogwarts, your bastion of idiotic notions is soon to become a stronghold for the very forces your deluded Headmaster tried to fight during his life – his soon to be ended life. And you will be the ones to witness my glorious revolution first hand. Rightful students of Hogwarts, your school has a new master."
Harry was rushing towards him, grabbing his arm, pulling him away, and Tom didn't have time to think about where the boy was taking him. The voice had been like his, only twisted. The last thing he saw before he stopped looking and just followed Harry wherever the other boy was going was Ginny, still lying by the door, apparently forgotten by everyone in the school.