Chapter 5: Ghost of Him

"So Harry, have you talked to my sister lately?" Hermione asked as the trio exited Transfiguration a couple of weeks later.
"Nope. She's been disappearing for days at a time and when I do see her it isn't for long. Plus, she doesn't much like talking to me. Killing me seems more up her alley," Harry replied, earning a scowl from the Head Girl.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Why should we care where she is? She always shows up again… unfortunately. Can we just go to supper now? I'm starving."
"You're always starving, mate."
They walked in silence for a time; at least until Vanessa and Malfoy were seen walking toward them.
"Great, the devil and her minion too," Ron muttered as they approached.
Hermione smacked his arm before turning to her twin. "Where have you been? You've been missing your classes."
Vanessa stared blankly at her. "Why should I care?"
"For one thing, I can give you detention for intentionally skipping class."
"Let me rephrase my previous question. Why the hell should I care? If you do give me detention, not only will I not go but I will also let some very valuable and embarrassing information about you slip out at dinner. What's it going to be, Goody-Two-Shoes?"
The two Grangers glared at each other, searching the other for a weakness. Harry, Ron and Draco looked from one to the other, watching the silent battle between good and evil play out. As the seconds lengthened, Hermione's will began to fade, bringing a smirk to Vanessa's face.
She shoved past the trio with a laugh. "Never had, never will."
Malfoy strode passed Hermione and hissed, "Grow a spine, Granger."

Once the Golden Trio was out of earshot Vanessa grabbed Draco under the arm, pulled him into an empty classroom and spoke harshly. "You told me you could fight! How the hell am I supposed to practice?"
Draco yanked his arm out of her grasp. "What I told you, Granger, was that I could duel."
"Fight, duel, same thing," she replied before glaring. "And what did I say about calling me 'Granger'?"
"Dueling is with magic," he defended.
Vanessa froze. "So, what you're telling me is that you've never hit someone before, right?"
Draco avoided her gaze when he replied. "My father is the violent one. I refuse to be like him." He shrugged. "Besides, I can't hit a girl."
"Well, you're going to learn today." She stood squarely in front of him. "Hit me."
"What? No!"
She began to harass him, both with words and annoying little shoves. "You're weak! You're a pretty boy who has someone else fight his battles for him. You cower behind your magic and can't fend for yourself without it. You're no better than Potter!" He stiffened at the last comment. She smiled, finally hitting a nerve. "Damn goody- goody! Potter pal. Why don't you transfer into Gryffindor to be near your idol? You're not fit to be in Sly-."
"Shut your filthy mudblood mouth!" Draco yelled angrily.
Vanessa smirked and leaned very close to his face. "Why should I? You won't stop me. You can't even rise above your damn morals. You're weak, Malfoy. The strong kill the weak."
"I'M. NOT. WEAK!!"
"Then HIT ME!"
He made a fist, pulled it back but faltered.
Vanessa's smirk widened. "C'mon, you wuss. You should be the muggle, not me. At least I've got-."
'BAM!!"
Vanessa's entire body turned from the force of his punch connecting with her jaw. Draco stared at his fist a moment as she dropped to her knees to steady herself.
She touched her cheek slightly, hissing at the pain. "Damn, Hun. When I say hit me, you really hit me. I haven't lost my balance from a punch in years."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't say you're sorry, idiot! I asked for it. Now don't forget what that punch felt like. I'm not volunteering to teach you again." She looked at him over her shoulder. The left side of her face was beginning to bruise.
"You should get that looked at. I think I might've broken your jaw." Draco held a hand out to help her up.
She accepted it with a smile that became a grimace of pain. "Bit full of yourself, huh? What would I tell them? 'I told him to punch me'. That'd go over real well. Anyway, I'm fine. I'll take some pain killers."

After supper that night, which was eventful in itself- Ginny stuffing Ron's face in the mashed potatoes because he was telling she couldn't talk to Vanessa- Harry sat on his bed looking at the Marauder's Map. Vanessa's suspicious behavior earlier made him curious as to where she was going and what she was doing. For weeks she'd vanish to some unknown place for hours at a time but today was the first time Malfoy had disappeared with her. It was just too strange to overlook. As he watched, the little dot marked 'Vanessa Granger' walked out of the Slytherin common room.
Grabbing his invisibility cloak, which lay beside him, he hurried quietly out of Gryffindor and down the hall. He kept up his silent pace; glancing down at the map every so often to make sure he was going the right way. As he neared her location, he saw that a door had magically appeared across from a tapestry of trolls in tutus.
"The room of Requirement," he breathed. He reached the door just as she walked through and snuck in after her. The door closed and the entire room was blanketed in darkness. Vanessa just stood in the void, waiting.
Suddenly out of the black a deatheater materialized, wand at the ready. Vanessa appeared not to notice. Harry looked from her to the deatheater and back. 'Isn't she going to attack it?'
Just as the thought passed through his mind, a beam of green light shot out of the deatheater's wand… right at Vanessa. Acting on instinctually, Harry pulled off the cloak and shouted, "Pretago!" The light ricocheted back and struck the caster in the chest. Vanessa turned to face his very visible self in rage. 'Oops…'
She grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him further into the room. "What the hell are you doing here?!" She spat, inches from his face.
At this range he could see that the left side of her face was bruised. 'When did that happen?' A rough shake from Vanessa brought him out of his musings. 'Let's see how she likes an attitude.' He narrowed his eyes and snapped back at her. "I'd ask you the same thing."
She frowned and let him go. "Fine, Potter, you wanna know? I was practicing."
'Wow, I guess that worked.' "With deatheater? And what was the deal with you and Malfoy earlier?"
She shrugged. "I need target practice. Malfoy is a pansy so I conjure up simulations of the things I hate most."
"I'm surprised it wasn't me…" Harry muttered, but she heard.
"These are memory simulations. It would've been you but you haven't attacked me, yet. Those deatheaters though… well, they pissed off the wrong girl."
The –Boy- Who- Lived nodded and made a mental note to ask Hermione about what happened to her sister later. "So," he said after a minute. "You basically need someone to practice with…"
"Yeah. The sims. are getting old anyway. Too predictable."
"And I'm supposed to have a class outside of schoolwork with you…"
Vanessa frowned. "What are you getting at, Potter?"
Harry smiled at her. "Fight me."
A smile became giggles and those giggles became laughter. "You? Fight me? Haha… Alright, if you insist."
He placed the map and his wand near one of the walls and got into a fighting stance. "You may attack when ready."
She tsked and shook her head. "Moron before beauty, Potty."
They circled each other for a time, learning the other's weak points. Harry stood in a boxing stance, fists guarding his face and standing on the balls of his feet. In contrast, Vanessa had a more predatory stance, hands as claws held out from her body and crouched low.
Without warning, Harry threw the first punch aiming at her face. She ducked it easily and kicked at his defenseless stomach. He grunted in pain as she tsked.
"Too slow."
He threw another punch and she snatched his wrist. She twisted his arm behind his back and spoke close to his ear.
"Your defense sucks, Potter. Never let the attacker this close."
Harry smiled although she didn't see it. "But now I can do this." He elbowed her with his free arm and spun around during her momentary distraction and pulled free of her hold. "Not so bad now, huh?"
Vanessa grabbed his shirt and pulled back to punch him when he leg swept her. The two fell to the ground. Harry landed on top, pinning her shoulders and legs with his hands and feet.
She growled at her own defeat and laid back onto the floor. The longer she stayed there the more she became aware of a pain in her left shoulder. The pain was traveling throughout her body, intensifying with each second. She began to fight against Harry once more. "Let me go, Potter, let me go."
Harry shook his head. "You'll murder me!" As he said those words his scar began to prickle.
All the pain was centering from her heart and head, pulling memories to the surface. Her entire body felt like it was being set ablaze. 'God, make it stop!' "I'll murder you anyway, Potter, of that I'm sure!" Vanessa screamed, another voice speaking with her. At that instant Harry's scar began to burn and an invisible force shoved them apart.
Once they were separated, Vanessa began sobbing. She rolled to her knees slowly and trembled. That pain only happened one other time in her entire life and never wanted it to happen again. Yet it seemed that all pain now stemmed from that horrible memory.
Harry watched the girl before him in concern as he held his scar. 'What the hell was that?' "Vanessa… are you… ok?"
Her gaze turned toward him and as it did, another gaze did as well. A ghost of 17 year old Tom Riddle appeared beside her, arms around her in protection.
Harry gaped but she didn't seem to notice anything wrong. 'What? How?' But his train of thought was interrupted by a voice resonating in two different tones. It was Vanessa and the Riddle ghost.
"Get out! Leave me! Stay the hell away!" The two spoke, the ghost pointing at the door for emphasis.
Harry rose to his feet, picked up his invisibility cloak and wand before walking past the two. As he reached the door, Tom Riddle called to him.
"Heed my words, Harry Potter. Stay away. She is mine."

"Where have you been?! Ron and I have been worried- Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione looked at him, his face grim.
"Nothing, I just need some sleep." He collapsed into a chair, absently rubbing his scar.
"What happened? Was it Voldemort?" She asked in concern.
He said nothing. 'How do I tell her that her sister is protected by a ghost friend by the name of Tom Riddle?'
Ron eyed him. "Did you have a vision or something? I mean, you look like you've seen a ghost."
'I did.' Harry looked at the Head Girl. "Why was your sister sent here?"
She seemed unsure. "Well, I think it was to protect her. If the deatheaters knew about her, she'd be used as bait..."
Ron stared at her. "You're lying 'Mione. Why are you lying? We're your friends."
"All right. I don't know why she's here. All I know is that Dumbledore said she lost control of her powers. Whatever happened must have been horrible, though, because she had the strongest control I'd even seen. She could totally suppress her magical heritage for 7 years."
Harry said nothing and walked up to his room. As Ron came up, he was getting into bed.
"Harry, what do you think happened?"
He looked at his friend, fear in his eyes. "Truthfully, I think it's something that could kill us all."

A/N: So, was it worth the wait? If you'd like you can make guesses as to why Vanessa has a Tom Riddle ghost protecting her and what happened that could kill them all.
The next chapter should be up soon. I'm sorry again for the delay of this one. I was getting picky about it.