'Important matters must be discussed,' Snape reminded himself. Straightening in his chair, he released her hand, steeping his fingers over his stomach.
"I trust it the Headmaster told you about the upcoming lessons?"
She looked at him and smiled, "Yes, when will we begin?"
Considering, he replied, "Today you should rest and we shall start tomorrow. My final lesson is at eight, I believe yours end at seven?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"Good, I'll be waiting for you in the potions class at eight ten then."
"I'll be there," Ginny said.
Snape stood up, squeezed her hand gently, and left.
Madam Pompfrey held Ginny in the Hospital Wing until nine. Once released, having promised that she won't be doing any more physical exercise for the rest of the day, Ginny went to quickly change her clothes before heading to the Great Hall to have dinner. She saw Justin standing there, looking around the room with a frown on his face, obviously looking for someone. He saw her and ran towards her, hugging her tightly, making her laugh.
"How are you, Gin?" he asked after letting go, and she smiled.
"I'm fine Justin. Let's go eat something."
Justin hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Why were you in the Hospital Wing? The Headmaster told us you were there but he said we couldn't visit you."
Ginny smiled, he must have been really worried if he had asked.
"I fell down a couple of stairs and twisted my ankle, so someone brought me to the Hospital Wing and Madam Pompfrey healed me. I'm okay now."
That seemed to convince Justin because he smiled and nodded.
"Glad you're okay." He took her hand and they made their way to the Dining Hall.
A group of Slytherins passed them by, with Malfoy at its head, and as Draco's eyes met Ginny's, he gave her a cold smile. He brushed past her with and murmured in her ear, "It's not over, Weasley."
Her expression didn't change at his statement. The only indication that she heard him was in her eyes. The color flickered, but then she blinked, and it was gone.
Dinner passed as usual. Her brother and his friends didn't question her and she silently thanked the Headmaster for it. A part of her, long suppressed, wondered if they'd even realized she'd been gone at all. She doubted it.
Much later, as she lay awake between the cold sheets in the Girl's Dormitories and listened to the soft even breaths of the sleeping girls around her, she envied them for being able to fall asleep so easily.
There were times when sleep didn't come to her for whole nights. Those nights, she would stare out of the window by her bed into the dark, starry sky. Thoughts ran through her head, even when she closed her eyes and willed her mind to go blank.
An owl hooted somewhere in the distance, and Ginny's mind turned to the youngest Malfoy once again. Remembering his cold eyes on her made her shiver, and she pulled the covers more tightly around herself.
The newly discovered powers of hers were bound to draw attention, and she hated the thought that that one small moment of lost control would force her to step out of her comfort zone.
On the bright side, she reminded herself, it just might help her bring down Tom, somehow.
Ginny didn't need to be a hero. She'd gladly leave that role to Harry Potter, should he succeed in fulfilling the Prophecy. She knew that nothing could get her innocence back, but she couldn't rest until the monster that had used her and twisted her up so badly was gone from the world of living.
"Soon," she promised herself. And with that in mind, she finally relaxed enough to sleep.
Ginny woke up the morning after not rested at all. As usual, dreams which she couldn't remember had haunted her sleep and as the light from outside made her open her eyes, she discovered that, once again, her blankets were on the floor.
Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, then plastered a fake smile on her lips, stood up and went to get ready for yet another day.
She left Gryffindor Tower by herself and went to the Great Hall, hoping to finish eating before her brother and his friends woke up. Ginny definitely wasn't a morning person. She got annoyed even at her friends, because it took her a while to wake up.
Her plan succeeded as always – the Gryffindor table was almost empty – but eating early had its disadvantages. Apparently snakes liked waking up early too, because the second she walked into the hall she felt eyes on her, looking her up and down.
"Great," she muttered softly under her breath, but she held her head up high and sat down with her back to the Slytherin table.
Dark grey eyes watched every step of the little lioness. Her graceful movements, as if she was floating and not walking, her blood-red hair in those shiny curls and the creamy long legs that her short skirt did nothing to hide.
'There is something about her. Maybe I should try her out,' Draco thought as he watched the girl.
"She won't get into bed with you, mate. Stop staring," Blaise said as he sat down next to Draco. As plates appeared in front of them, they both began eating.
'We'll see about that, my friend,' Draco thought, glancing once again at the Gryffindor table.
The day passed quickly and, to Ginny's pleasure, it was soon eight o'clock, and she was standing by the doors of Potions class.
She opened the doors after knocking softly and entered. Instead of one pair of eyes, two pairs turned to look at her.
'The gods aren't on my side today,' she thought bitterly as she forced a sweet smile.
She looked at Snape with a look that clearly said, 'I am going to kill you, revive you, and then kill you again,' and he had to smirk.
"On time as always, Weasley," said Snape.
"Hello, Professor, Malfoy," she greeted.
'Such a waste of talent, putting the girl into Gryffindor,' Snape thought as he watched Ginny avert her eyes to Draco, her smile unwavering. Noticing the way she looked at the boy, the Potions Master hoped that Dumbledore knew what he was doing.
"Weasley," Draco returned with a sneer, not hiding his hatred. Turning to Snape, he said, "I shall be going now, Professor."
He left the room, but not before shooting one last glance at Ginny, and this time Snape was surprised to see something else in Draco's eyes – lust. And that worried him greatly.
As Draco left, Snape turned to Ginny and told her, "You can drop the façade now."
"What façade, Professor?"
"You and Malfoy have a great relationship between you, don't you?" he asked.
Her face closed down as she became expressionless.
"Let's start the lesson, shall we?" she said shortly and sat on one of the desks, crossing her legs.
The fact that she avoided his question didn't pass unnoticed by him, but he knew that to push her was the wrong thing to do, so he simply nodded. Leaning back against his desk, he locked the door with a quickly whispered spell.
"Alright, Ginevra. Tell me, what do you know about Legilimency?"
"Legilimency is the ability to look into one's mind. And then there's the opposite – the ability to close your mind so that nobody could see your thoughts, secrets and memories," Ginny replied softly, but with confidence.
"Correct. I will teach you how to block your mind, and should you be successful, you will also learn how to read others'."
"How do I close my mind?" she asked before she cursed under her breath at the interest that was evident in her voice. Snape noticed it and allowed himself a small smile, which looked to Ginny like a strange smirk, to appear on his lips.
"It's natural to be curious, Ginevra. I was very interested when it was my time to learn."
"Who taught you?" Ginny asked. "Somehow, I can't imagine my mother or father teaching me such a subject."
Smiling cynically, Snape replied, "Oh no. My father certainly was not the one to teach me. But never mind that now." He reached into his robes for his wand. "Shall we begin?"
At Ginny's nod, he lowered the light in the room, dimming the candles.
"Stand up, Ginevra. I could waste both of our time by telling you all about the history and meaning of this spell. But then, I can also simply show you."
"But what do I do?" she asked, suddenly nervous.
"You try to close your mind."
Not allowing her time for any more questions, Snape pointed his wand at her.
"Legilimence!"
And so they began.
Three weeks passed by quickly for Ginny. She went from the usual classes, to the library to do her homework and assignments, and from there, every Monday at eight o'clock, she went to the dungeons for her special lessons with Snape.
Once in a while she succeeded in blocking her mind, but she usually just ended up on the floor. It seemed to Snape that the youngest Weasley wasn't taking the lessons seriously, simply because she had nothing to hide.
However, soon came a day when he was proved wrong.
The hour was nearing midnight, and once again the Potion master's wand was pointed at Ginny.
"Ready?" he asked for the tenth time.
"Yeah," she answered with confidence. Seconds later she felt that feeling of something pushing forcefully into her mind. She saw her younger self swimming in the lake by the Burrow, laughing with her brothers. The memory made her smile, but then the scene changed around her, and she was in a different place.
'No, please not that memory,' she begged mentally, but her mind refused to heed and it had surfaced.
"Stupid, stupid little Gi-" this time, though, he didn't finish the sentence.
Panicking, Ginny concentrated hard, fingernails biting into her palms, and she pushed the memory away, forced her mind to go completely blank, causing Snape to stumble backwards.
Snape looked at her in surprise. Since they'd begun their training, he hadn't seen anything unusual in her mind, just memories of her childhood. So when he'd seen a dark corner in her mind that he had never paid attention to before, he'd entered without a second thought.
When he saw the smaller version of Ginevra, so small and frightened, he felt everything she felt at that moment and he was shocked to see how much evil had really changed her, how deeply it had touched her. Of course, he knew she had been possessed by Riddle sometime in the past, but she looked so unchanged on the outside, and he'd assumed the obvious, as he suspected most people who knew about the incident had.
It was no wonder she hadn't even tried to stop him one moment and was pushing him out with all her strength the next. Apparently, she had a lot of strength. Snape was surprised that he was still standing. Any other person probably would have been on the floor already.
"Good, Ginevra. Really good," he praised softly, his heart aching for the girl.
"Thank you," she replied just as softly. And then she was gone.
It was obvious this girl didn't want, or need, his pity. And that made him respect her even more. Still, remembering his own problems, he wondered how she could deal with her demons alone at such a young age . Even after all this time, living the mess he'd been living, he sometimes wished for a companion to help him to carry his burden.
Walking in the softly lit corridors on her way to Gryffindor tower, Ginny fumed. How dare the Professor invade her privacy like that!
However, as her anger slowly lessened and allowed her to think clearly, she understood that it was good that he did it. She indeed hadn't been taking the classes seriously, thinking that no one could really read that memory, and he had made her see just how wrong she'd been.
It's a good thing that Snape had been the one who broke her illusion. She knew now that those cursed memories were closer to the surface than she had thought and she would do anything to keep them undiscovered. She would give the training her all.