From the darkness came a hand, lifting him, placing a glass to his frail thin lips and he drank.

His spidery fingertips closed in around Severus's wrist to help steady the glass. Slowly he forced his muscle to obey, forced them to work for him as he aided the stranger that offered him the glass. The terrible tension was beginning to leave his body, so that he could breathe easier now.

Snape lowered the Dark Lord's head back against the bed. He was very pale, so vague of color his skin appeared pearly beneath the moonlight.

Severus, simply did not speak. He was not sure of which direction the magic had gone. He was not a wizard suited for magic such as this, it was beyond his level. He was a potion's master, he knew only of medicine, roots and tonics. Not this area of magic. This was best suited for the likes of Dumbledore. But, his old friend was not with him now.

The Dark Lord looked up, after Severus lowered the glass.

"My Lord, can you hear me?" said Severus.

His eyes, Severus notice were not filled with the redness. They were life-like, almost normal, black as coal against the wizard pale skin, but normal and surely not the eyes of Voldemort.

"He's sleeping." The words his master mumble back were low, but they came from his own lips, then he rolled onto his side, covered his head and went back to sleep.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my imagination. I was inspired by J.K. Rowlings wonderful world. Enjoy!

Author's Note: For Story Profile and theme song chosen for this story please visit my profile page under Spellbinding.

Spellbinding

Page 6

She screamed and shot upright from her sleep. Something was terribly wrong. Why was she here?

She recognized the strange carvings and darkness of the lime stones carved to copy the eerie, long and winding body of snakes. Columns so enormous and stretching all the way up to the cave's ceiling. Ginny, was lying on her back, against the icy stone floor, she got up to her feet. There was little light, and a body of water twisted into long chanels, surrounding the stone slab the was lying on like a moat. The water gave the only light, a green glow, it was soft but strangely it made her feel nothing but sadness as she looked into the reflecting pool.

"Hello." she said and the cave filled with her echo. No one was there. At first, she walked along a stone path, it made a perfect bridge. She used it to cross to the other side of the watery green moat. Ginny cried out another hello, but again no one answered back.

"Tom." she said.

But no one answered her. The first thing would be to get to safety. She said to herself. She walked slowly towards one of the waiting tunnels ahead. Her walk became a simple jog as she soon realize the tunnel was moving further and further away. She started to run, and an inky blackness was now closing in all around her fast. She stopped and searched for another way out. Was this even the Chamber she wondered? She wasn't sure? She wasn't sure if these were even the same walls as before, the cave began to fill up with a strange plasma-like ooze. It over took the green lake behind her. Searching above her, she found her only chance, she reached up and grabbed the fang of a stone serpent. She used it to hoist herself up, and struggled to climb onto its back. But the black sludge was spinning all around her now, and it came from everywhere, pouring from the walls, it bubbled up from the floors below, and the ceiling above became a spinning whirlpool. A black void. She screamed for Tom. She was hanging on stone serpents neck, hanging on for dear life, with everything she had. But her fingers were slipping as the snake began to crumble into fragment beneath her. The slimy substance flowed like lava coating her, soaking her gown, pulling her deeper, deeper in. Her hair was painted with it, it forced its way into in her mouth. She gasped for breath and started coughing, choking, she couldn't breath. "Tom!" she screamed "Tom!"

If she was here, if this was the chamber then why could he not hear her. Why wouldn't he come for her. Oh god! She was going to die. She tried to grab hold to something, anything at all. The snake beneath her became nothing but broken rubble "Harry....Harry please!" The floor disengaged like tumbling blocks and she watch them fall into the nothinginess, a bottomless, shadowy void of utter emptiness. Her hand slipped and, she was being swept away ...she screamed.

A dull sun ray struck the corner of her face. She was lying safely beneath her blankets and in her room, in her bed. She had been dreaming. But, after all that had happen the other night, she was lucky to still have her wits about her at all. Ginny looked over at the spare bed in her room, Hermione moved slightly, she was wrapped up with the covers drawn over her head.

Her heart was pounding both in her chest and in her ears, hammering away as the sweet sound of reality told her morning had come. She was sweating, her gown was soak, drenched and clinging to her, but she was dying of thirst.

The late morning sun peeped between the moth eaten curtains of her room. And the Burrow stood perfectly still without and single sound coming from below. It had been a long night, she knew everyone was more than likely beyond exhausted. There was a good chance her family had chosen to sleep in a bit later than planned.

She spoke to soon, as the satisfying smell of bacon crawled from under her bedroom door. Pushing away the last of her nightmare.

She should have guessed, that her mother would be awake and preparing breakfast for everyone. Ginny tossed her legs from beneath her damp covers and her feet made promising contact with a solid hard wooden floor. The ghoul in their attic began clanging the pipes and she could hear her mother shouting at it from below as she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Oh Good morning sweetheart, glad to see you're up. I can use a hand this morning, we've got a full house to feed. I hope there's enough for everyone." said her mother as Ginny came down the staircase. She was feeling a bit clumsy and shaken still. She heard her mother clearly, but she didn't feel at all normal, it was as if someone had place their hand over her ears. It was a creepy feeling, to even stand, as if her feet wouldn't obey her.

"Alright." she mumbled back to her mother, slowly she shuffled her stubborn body and heavy feet over towards the kitchen table. She found that she even struggled with lifting the butter dish. She turned to take it to her mother. But then something happen so fast that Ginny wasn't exactly sure what she saw. There was a girl, with red hair. She was standing in the kitchen beside her chair at the table. She looked very thin and ghostly.

Ginny was positive she wasn't dreaming anymore, and even more sure that the apparition was standing there, looking back at her. The younger girl smiled at her, stretched out her hand and touched Ginny's. It was like a flash of blinding light, to quick to determine if it was at all real, but definitely to real to say it had not happened at all. The strange weight lifted off of her, it was the burden of something extremely heavy holding her captive, as if it wanted to guide her. But now it was gone and so was the girl. Ginny threw her hands to her mouth and screamed. The butter dish dropped and shattered at her feet.

"Ginny!" shouted Molly, she sat down her mixing bowl and started fussing about the mess she had just made.