CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END

AN: Thanks so much to my new friends at the Neko's stories community. Thanks also to Manofthefuture for favoriting and all of the people still watching on alerts. It means a lot to me to see your support and I'm glad that you are enjoying.

Here is the stuff you've been waiting for. The first looks into the inside of Harry's mind and memories. However, this chapter, and the next one, is EXTREMELY violent, with abuse, sex, rape of a minor, assault....really you name it and it happens. Hints at incest. Hope I haven't scared you off. You must have known that it would be bad to change everyone as significantly as it has. Hope you enjoy!

Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour, I hold secret's flame
You can watch the world devoured in its pain
Strange...

Lyrics are from The End is the beginning is the End by Smashing Pumpkins

It was almost like looking down into the Pensieve as he was seeing the room they had entered from above. It was a dark, dank dungeon type room and torches burned along all of the walls. Standing around a burning circle of purple flames around the center of the room, nearly fifty people cloaked in Deatheater robes and skeleton masks chanted in verses of languages Harry didn't recognize. He scanned the room searching for Snape as it was his memory but couldn't find him. Lucius Malfoy's silvery blond hair was easier to locate, and next to him the giant forms of Crabbe and Goyle were obvious. Harry's jaw clenched as he noticed the sultry form of Bellatrix Lestrange walk across the circle to whisper into Lucius's ear, receiving sharp glares from a blond female form standing beside him. Finally Harry's eyes located the slithering form of Snape, and in between his arms was a struggling youth that only by the glint off the glasses did Harry recognize as his younger self.

Harry watched as he was thrown up against a wall and held there by some unseen force, barely able to even struggle against the bonds that held him. None of this made sense to Harry as he tried to locate this in his own memory. This bizarre scene was definitely of importance, but not a trace of it surfaced. That is, until she was brought in.

Harry's head felt like it was going to explode as the horrible vision began to burst through and meshed with the one Snape was already playing. The room changed to be viewed from past Harry's angle and as Snape stood back into an off set room, Harry watched, unable to stop it now as he had been then, Ginny's struggling form being levitated into the middle of the flames to rest on the stone floor of the dungeon.

"Ginny! Get out!" Harry heard himself scream through a strangled throat that made his voice sound weak and ill. He watched as Ginny looked up from the floor, her blood running over the stone, seeping from her mouth and nose as a dark purple welt formed on her cheek. Looking over at himself he saw as much blood coming from the open cuts on his own body and knew that they had been fighting long before now.

The chanting became louder as a ritual dance progressed around Ginny's shivering body. The chanting became nearly deafening until, all at once, it stopped. For a moment, nothing moved but the dancing flame around Ginny. Suddenly, as if a great serge of electricity was coursing through the wall behind him, Harry began to seize, screaming in agony for nearly a minute. Ginny couldn't tear her eyes away from her struggling love until a new form stepped forward through the flames.

"Potter. Weasely. So glad that you could join me in my hour of triumph." Voldemorts' intimidating physique formed from the smoke, a look of sheer exhilaration on his face. He turned to look at Harry, still gasping for breath, and sneered as if his mere presence was enough to make him sick. "As for now, Harry, you'll have to settle for being just a bystander. Miss Weasley here is going to be our guest of honor. But don't worry. We have a fine parting gift for you as well, you're just going to have to be patient." His sneer turned into a smirk, nastier than Draco had ever dreamed of achieving.

He turned his back on Harry, still trying in vain to break the force around him, to eye the beautiful youth lying on the floor, the purple flames dancing off the water shimmering from her eyes. "Now, now, dear child. If you let the tears fall now, they might dry out before we're finished. Save those tears for later." He crossed the flames without even a flinch of pain and knelt down near Ginny who laid too terrified to move as he grasped her chin firmly in his fingers and licked the tears from her cheeks. "Yes, much later. Don't waste them on these mortals. When you're mine, then they can flow." He kissed her cheek softly and she pulled away in disgust. The Dark Lord didn't retaliate, even flinch, but he did smile at her look of disgust. "You will suffer. You will bleed. And then, you will watch as the immortal before you becomes God with the death of your love, before you beg me to let you join him." He stood and towered over her as she looked up from the floor trying to fathom what terrors await her. His arms outstretched to his most loyal followers, his robes billowing behind him completely engulfed in the flames which neither scorched his robes or burned his skin. He truly was an awesome being, his features holding the lingering look of great beauty in it's time, his posture and manor that of someone who had complete confidence in every move of their sculptured form. His followers, who had spent many hours in the presence of this being, still tremored slightly as he crossed the room to stand next to the boy wonder, still fighting as if the next move would free him.

"Now, my dear boy, I don't want you to think that I'm leaving you out of the fun, so I'll let you chose where we will begin. Deep inside your so-called pure heart there is a black spot, an impurity that you can't hide, where you harbor a deep loathing and revenge that if you're not careful, will bring you to murder. But you couldn't do that? You're the "Boy-Who-Lived", you couldn't do exactly what you're after me for now, could you? It's so easy, Harry, to hold someone's life in the palm of your hand as you squeeze it from their body. You've seen it, dreamt about doing it, and for what? To pay them back for killing someone you loved? Did you ever stop to think about the people that loved them? No, of course not, because those rules only apply if they're on the "good side". People as evil as I should be forced to suffer and lose their family. You and I are not that different. Both without family. But you've found a new family in your little friends haven't you? You'd hate to see something happen to them, but don't you think I feel the same about my family? My friends?"

Harry looked at Voldemort defiantly as he was determined to keep him from his thoughts. "Your friends? You'd let any one of them die to let you live. They're just puppets to you to get what you want. They don't matter. You only keep them around so they can do your bidding."

Voldemort's face broke into a wide smile that made Harry more uncomfortable than anything else he could have done. "Ahh, you see, we have more in common than you think. Where are your dear 'friends' right now Harry? Are they not doing your bidding, risking their lives to fight yourwar? The Prophecy tells us that this is to be a battle between you and I. There is no mention of Miss Weasley, or the werewolf, or even Albus Dumbledore needing to be involved. But they will all die for you, Harry. And you will still fail. Pity," He looked over his shoulder at Ginny, "such a pretty young thing." Harry gave a great thrust from his restraints but only managed to bring himself less than an inch from the wall. "She will now suffer for your beliefs Harry, and I will let you chose the people that will punish her for loving you." Voldemort looked deeply into Harry's eyes as he caressed the side of the struggling boys face. "It's in there, Harry, and you're going to tell me." He leaned forward and ran his serpent tongue over Harry's shivering lips before snapping his head firmly to the right to face his circle of followers. "Bellatrix. If you'd do the honors."

Breaking the circle, Bellatrix stepped forward as if she had just won a drawing, her lips curled in a lustful smirk. Voldemort looked over at Harry, a look of pure triumph on his face. "Don't look so disappointed, Mr. Potter, you chose her. She is quite the choice. Good work, old man." He smiled over at Bella, her mask now shed, as she hungrily eyed Ginny through the flames. "Your heart beats with hatred for her, yearns for her death. You couldn't hide that from me, no matter how hard you tried. Now she will be the one to start off the fun."

" Voldemort....leave her out of this....you want me? Take me! Just leave her alone....She doesn't love me. We're not even really friends. You've got the wrong girl." Voldemort wasn't convinced by Harry's rantings.

"Harry, you think you can hide that from me? You wear your emotions on your sleeve. Still want to deny your love, while she's conscious enough to hear you?" Harry made sure to get complete eye contact with Ginny to convey to her that it wasn't true and he could tell she understood what he had tried to do for her. "It's really a shame then. Seems like you could at least have died with a little pleasure in your life." He turned to look at his fellow Death Eaters before staring down at Ginny, the same animalistic hunger in his eyes as he licked his lips as if trying to taste her. "Virgin meat, boys." This statement was followed by catcalls and cheering that filled both Harry and Ginny with the deepest fear they had felt yet.

"Back off, you dogs, she's mine." Bellatrix pulled out her wand and parted the flames, opening a door in the circle. For the first time since being carried in, Ginny found her legs and got up to run. She reached the edge of the flames and felt the heat searing off the tips of her hair. The heat became too intense and, despite the need to flee, she was stopped in her tracks. She searched Harry's eyes for the strength to brave the fire, but just as she found it, she was grabbed fiercely from behind by a strong hand with long black nails which dug into her neck. "Leaving so soon, my love? The fun is just beginning." Ginny suddenly lost all control of her body as she was overtaken with a feeling of total bliss. Her mind was blank and she looked as though she felt as if she was floating.

As Harry watched, Ginny turned slowly towards the black haired beauty behind her and bowed her head in utter submission.

"Ginny, run! What are you doing?" Harry screamed as Bella began to laugh.

"She's mine, Potter. She'll do whatever I ask. Won't you, love?" As she dug her nails down the side of Ginny's cheek, Ginny nodded her head in agreement. Harry watched as Bella brought her head down to nibble on the bottom lip of his girl. That was his lip! But to his horror, Ginny not only kissed back, but began to slide her hand up Bella's inner thigh, moving the slit in her skirt so that her hand would be on bare skin. As the circle watched, chanting and cheering her on, Ginny willingly dipped her hands into the depths of the Lestrange woman who moaned when she did well and slapped her when she was bored. Ginny took it all in stride as if the brutal blows to her head didn't even phase her, in fact she acted as if she quite enjoyed them. As Bella tired of Ginny's hands she layed on her back, pulling Ginny down until her lips where forced to pleasure her in other ways. Harry turned his head and was sick over his shirt as Voldemort stood by, a pleasing look on his face at the show progressing around him.

"Not to your liking, Potter? Well, we mustn't displease our guest shall we? Bella, finish yourself later. Potter grows tired of you. Release that girl. I want her to know what is happening to her." As he waved his hand, Ginny raised her head with a look of absolute disgust as she reached up to wipe Bella off of her lips. Her fingers trembled as the reality of what had happened hit her and she looked over at Harry, pure desperation in her eyes.

"Harry, help me." Ginny mouthed and Harry found a new strength to struggle.

"Now, now, young boy. You really never learn do you? You'll soon find why I asked Severus to perform the binding spells. He seems to have a bit of a talent, as I'm sure that you're experiencing. Now just relax and tell me, how do you wish to continue the party?" Harry closed his eyes, wishing more than anything that he had practiced harder in his fifth year. He knew he couldn't hold him out, even felt himself at that very moment being violated by Voldemort's searching and just as he thought he was gaining control, he heard Voldemort begin to laugh again.

"This is really going to please him." He turned his head as if he couldn't wait to deliver the news to the next candidate. He became agitated quickly as the one he searched for wasn't immidiatly at his comand. "SEVERUS!"

Present Harry turned to look wide-eyed at his potions master who wouldn't meet his stare. "Just watch, Potter. You cannot judge me before the crime has even been committed."

From the corner behind past Harry, Snape materialized out of the shadows, his black cloak and greasy black hair making his pale silhouette the only visible thing. "Ah, Severus. Mr. Potter has just selected you to hold the privilege of showing his woman the ways of a man. And what a better way than for a Professor to teach her. She's yours, my loyal servant. Make me proud."

Snape stood for several minutes, his face unreadable as he looked between his master and the now sobbing girl. "I had just come to tell you, my Lord, that I heard trespassers outside. I think perhaps, I would do better to go find out what the noise is about, seeing as how it wouldn't be wise to have the ceremony interrupted."

Voldemort looked over his comrade and Harry recognized on Snape the face of someone that was blocking out a probing mind. "Crabbe, Goyle, go see what this noise outside is. Let them handle it, Severus. I wouldn't want to disappoint Harry now."

"Do you think it's wise, master, to trust such a task on those two? I best go make sure it gets done properly."

"You'd deny my wishes, Snape?"

"No, my Lord. It is my honor to follow them, but, not to overstep your ruling, I think you know that it is not wise to allow those two to take on the Order alone. You know as well as I that it is they that snap the twigs above our heads." He waited for several moments as if waiting to be denied exit, but all he received was a slight nod in agreement.

"However, Severus, you cannot just deny Potter either." He pulled Snapes wand from his robes with the flick of his wrist and extended it mid-air in offering. "As you go..."

Harry saw the hesitation. Voldemort saw the hesitation, and then the wand was in Snapes hand and Ginny's scream echoed through the cavern.

Present Snape looked over at Harry and saw that now it was Harry that couldn't meet his glance. "I had to, you understand that. It would have been all of our lives if I had let him know that I was lying about the noise and my loyalty. At this point, the only members of the Order left to fight was Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, and Draco, and the first two were unconscious, if I remember correctly." Harry watched Ginny seize on the floor as Crucio racked her body with pain, and silently nodded a small curt understanding.

As Snape left, Voldemort watched him leave and Harry silently wondered with this new knowledge if he knew that he was being betrayed at that moment. "Severus has more important things to do than to pleasure you, Harry. So, who will take his place as the first to penetrate the innocence?" This question was posed to the chanting circle instead of Harry. Harry looked over Voldemort's shoulder and saw a flash of silver blond coming down the steps of the dungeon. "Malfoy?" His mind whispered, but not quietly enough.

"Malfoy? Harry, what a noble choice. I'm glad that you are so willing to cooperate." Voldemort met eyes with Lucius Malfoy who began to disrobe, handing it over to his wife who took the robes grudgingly.

Harry met eyes with the Malfoy he had meant and pleaded for him to intervene. Draco seemed to have lost his nerve at the sight of his father, however, and cowered against the wall, unable to even look Harry in the eye anymore. Harry cursed him verbally and was sure that Voldemort now also knew of the blond boy crouching on the stairs.

Lucius looked like he was to receive a noble honor, placing his mask firmly on his head and adjusting his gloves on his hands. He would serve his master but nothing would make him touch a filthy blood traitor child. As he handed his serpent head cane to his wife, she looked pleadingly into his eyes.

"Lucius, don't. She's only a child. Younger than your own son." She was stopped short as the cane that should have been layed gently in her hands swept firmly across her face.

"How dare you defy the Dark Lord. This is a great honor. You will die for treason if you continue to try to dissuade me from doing my master's bidding." No one from the circle moved toward Narcissa as she began to sob and fell onto the stone floor. She looked up and met Ginny's eyes through the flames and Ginny very distinctly saw an apology deep within those eyes.

"I'm sorry, sweet child. I was wrong." A flash of green light swept through the room and then on the floor sprawled the shimmering gold of Narcissa's blond hair. Voldemort nodded his approval as Lucius re-sheathed his wand.

"Weakness at this point will not be tolerated." Voldemort's voice echoed around the walls and Harry looked up to find Draco's horrified eyes unmoving from the still body of his murdered mother.

Lucius parted the flames as his sister-in-law had done before and he made sure to look directly at Bella as he closed the circle behind him. She stood up proudly as if to show him that she was impressed with his dedication and a smirk crossed his betraying lips. He walked forward towards the screaming girl, as he conjured up a stone slab and lifted her weightlessly into the air. As she was transferred to the slab, her clothing vanished around her and she was left vulnerable as she was chained down on the cold granite.

"Harry, don't let this happen. Help me!" She twisted and struggled to get out of her bonds but only succeeded in ripping the skin off her wrists and ankles, covering her arms in running red streams. Present Harry was forcefully reminded of his vision and knew now that it had some substance, if not true prophecy, it was at least partial recollection. He remembered that she was screaming for him as she begged for him to save her and slitting her own wrists to try to save herself. He looked over at himself, chained against the wall, unable to save her and felt a surge of dedication rise in his stomach. He was doing this for her, watching this for her, and even though he knew he hadn't saved her then, he was sure as hell going to save her now.

Lucius layed on top of the slab, a sinister sneer on his face as the chanting once again commenced around them. Narcissa's body was kicked roughly from the circle and they tightened their ranks, eager to see Ginny's undoing. Harry was forced to look away as Lucius roughly entered the screaming girl and as her screams turned from horror to pain, Harry was sick again. He began screaming to her, trying to keep her mind on anything other than what was going on and as she heard his voice, she turned her head to look deep into his eyes, the pain increasing in hers with each thrust, and he saw her lips part, shakily, in pleading.

"Kill me, Harry. Kill me."

Harry struggled yet again against his binds to get to his love, as Voldemort crossed to taunt the frustrated lover. "She asked you for a simple favor, Mr. Potter. Surely you can oblige." He pulled Harry's shirt up revealing his wand tucked into the back of his pants. He lifted it out in offering, as he had done for Snape, and released Harry's right arm, begging for him to take it. As Harry reached up to take the wand however, it was roughly pulled away and snapped against the far wall. "You better think again before toying with that idea, Harry. I would not be so eager to attempt to kill someone as powerful as Lucius while you were still tied against a wall. I offered you one chance to redeem your love and you failed it with a pitiful attempt to attack Mr. Malfoy. Now you can watch her die at our hands, instead of at yours like she so desperately wanted. I'm sorry Miss Weasley, but Mr. Potter doesn't love you enough to free you."

Lucius obviously climaxed and then he ripped himself forcefully from her as if glad to be free of her. "When were you planning on telling Potter that you were not a virgin?" He eyed her knowingly as she continued to sob. As he walked to leave the circle, he was stopped in his tracks by an unexpected voice echoing through the chamber.

"Leave them alone! " Draco had found his voice and leapt off the steps into the midst of the chanting Death Eaters. He landed gracefully knelt down on one knee and supported by his hands before standing up to his full height to face his long time fear with a look of vindiction on his face. He had found his courage in the face of his murdered mother and his agonizing friend's screams and there was not a hint of his childhood fear in his steel grey eyes. Lucius was caught off guard by the sudden disrespect and missed the cue when Draco pulled his wand and knocked him backwards into the circle, knocking down Bella in his travels.

"How dare you defy me, child? And in front of your Lord and Master."

"How dare I defy you? I have defied everything you stood for for years now, and if you had ever payed any attention to me you would have known that. My Lord and Master is not in this room." He looked defiantly over at Voldemort and noticed that all the Death Eaters had drawn their wands and he was now the target of at least fifty executioners. Draco closed his eyes, preparing for the pain of death, but as the minutes ticked by, it didn't come. He slowly dared to open his eyes and his first view was that of a tear on Ginny's cheek, frozen and unmoving down it's watery path. His father and his companion's wands stayed fixed on his spot, but not one of them made any attempt to fire. Voldemort himself sat frozen in a half sneer, as he awaited Draco's demise which seemed farther away with every tick of Draco's watch. He looked around, even dared one of them to move, but nothing did until a voice came flowing down the stairs.

"Draco, do you wish to have us both killed by the end of the evening or do what you came down here to do?" Snape's voice was cold, but comforting, and he walked down the stairs easily to join his Godson. "I'll move the two of you to a safe location where you can tell your father whatever you wish, and yes even attempt to avenge your mother, but I will not let you risk my life as well as yours in an effort to take on the entire Death Eater clan."

"But, how did you...?"

"I've spent many years practicing controlling space-time, and I do believe that it is a talent that I shall be thankful for once the Dark Lord realizes that you are missing. Now, is this what you want to do? Knowing that your father is very powerful, and that you might not live long enough to avenge anyone?"

"Why don't I just kill him before he can move?" Draco pointed his wand at his father and looked up questioningly at his Godfather.

"Because then you would be one of them." Draco nodded in understanding and Snape looked at this child that had suddenly grown into a man in less than a minute. "I'll help you to move them, but that's as far as I can help. I cannot be seen defying the Dark Lord yet as we can't be sure that Potter is going to survive this meeting."

Draco looked back and forth between Harry and Ginny then up to Snape. "Why are you going to help me and not them, than?"

"I may be able to stop and control time, but I cannot change destiny. This battle has been prophecized, I heard it myself, and as it has been told, 'neither can live while the other survives'. It's not right, but either Harry or Voldemort must die for the world to continue. We'll just pray that Harry is strong enough. However," he walked over to Ginny and waved his wand over her, nearly healing over all of the cuts on her body and drying the tear on her cheek, "this one is just an innocent bystander. Her path is not set and I think Potter needs her strength to do what he needs to do." He hadn't apologized verbally for attacking her, but present Harry knew that in that one motion of his hand, he had redeemed himself for anything he had ever done to Harry during school.

As Voldemort called for the attack on Draco to commence, many confused faces could be seen searching for the boy that had just disappeared in front of their eyes. Lucius was also missing, and as the search continued, Voldemorts lip curled in a disgusted growl.

"Outside, now! Find the boy, and bring him to me. He shall join his companion on the slab." The Death Eaters scrambled to follow their master's orders, and Harry and Ginny shared a confused look. She looked over her body and noticed that it no longer hurt when she moved her arms and the blood was dried on her wrists. Her head wasn't pounding like it had before and she felt uplifted and even hopeful.

Voldemort, obviously not satisfied that his followers where capable of the task he had set them, began to cross to the stairs out of the chamber. "I trust you will not leave," he mocked the fatigued lovers. "Just remember, there is nothing like being tortured when the one that is making you bleed doesn't have to watch it flow. You will not be unwatched. I will be sure that you will not be leaving me before I have finished all I want to with you."

As the door closed behind him, Ginny began to scream for Harry to get her off her prison slab. "Harry, please, do something before they come back. We have to get out of...." Before she could even finish the sentence they were both contorted by the pain searing through their body's. An unseen wand was performing Crucio and Harry knew that Voldemort had obviously wanted to make sure that they knew he was still in control.

In between the moments when their screams echoed through the chamber, Harry tried to comfort Ginny with stories of school and moments they had with each other until the pain was so severe that he was unable to even breath properly. When that time came, they both just sat with their eyes closed, imagining that they where holding each other anywhere but here.

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Chapter 25 Teaser

They say that lightning will never strike the same place twice, that power corrupts, and that love is blind. In that instant, however, Ginny found that power can also be an incredible ally, that love sees and knows all and that even lightning will disobey God's laws if need be.