She sits in her room, on her small, little-girl-pink bed and waits; waits for it to pass, because she knows that it will. It must. It must because if it doesn't she doesn't know what will happen, what she will do. She knows it is only her imagination and it will go away. It must.
Ginny does her best to ignore the large, scaly green snake in the corner of her room that wasn't there ten minutes ago and is hissing at her and bearing its fangs.
She looks away from it, shuts her eyes tight, and covers her ears.
It will go away. It must.
***
Her family is acting strange. Her brothers won't look her in the eye and neither will her father. Her mother only looks at her with a sort of anxious worry and Ginny knows they know. They may not know what is wrong but they do know that something is wrong with her and it scares her. It scares her even more than the dream or the diary or the snake because what if they leave her alone? What if they leave her in an empty room and then there will be nothing but her and the things she sees, alone? And then she will go mad.
Although it is once again her turn to put away the dishes, her mother volunteers to do it for her. Ginny knows it is not because her mother thinks she needs rest. And so does her mother. So Ginny goes to bed early, feigning fatigue.
Her family gives her a shaky "Good night", but otherwise ignores her.
As Ginny climbs the stairs to the second floor of the house she passes moving photos of her and her family. Her mother and father getting married. Her mother pregnant with the twins while Bill, Charlie, and Percy stare at her large stomach in wonder, asking how it got to be so large. Bill with a particularly large Irish Hook Tail dragon. Her and the twins playing with her first ever Zonko's product (Also her first ever present from Fred and George when they went away to Hogwarts).
She smiles as she watches bright blue sparks come from the small toy unicorn's horn, making the younger version of herself clap and smile. She was ten in that photo, eight months away from her first year at Hogwarts.
Ginny continues up the stairs.
***
Soft, warm, and cozy. This is what her bed feels like, Ginny thinks as she lays under the covers. She lays in her bed and watches everything going on outside her window. The sun is getting lower and lower in the sky, the same large tree she sat in not too long ago sways in the evening breeze.
Seconds pass.
The sun becomes lower.
Ginny yawns. Her eyelids close, and everything goes dark.
***
"Wake up, Ginevra," a small voice whispers. "Wake up."
Ginny's eyes fly open and she bolts up straight, silent. She looks around her room, searching for the source of the soft and strangely familiar voice and its source.
"Just my imagination," she whispers to herself.
It is pitch black outside, she can not even see the old tree.
Crash!
A small glass figurine is thrown from her dresser by an invisible force, making Ginny jump in surprise. She squeezes her eyes shut and her hands fly to her ears.
No, no, no, no.
And there she sits. A minute passes. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. She sits, her eyes and ears blocking out everything. After such a long time that Ginny couldn't even keep track, she slowly lowers her hands from her ears and, even slower, opens her eyes.
And screams. She screams as loud as her body would allow, but for naught, as hands, large boys hands, cover her mouth. Her eyes move upward, meeting steel grey ones.
Tom Riddle is standing over her and holding her mouth shut.
No, no, no!
And she is staring up at him, scared and shaking.
It's a dream, a dream. Just imagination! No ones there, no one!
And as if a tightly wound coil is suddenly let loose, she begins to flail, her arms hitting him and her nails trying to scratch him; her legs are kicking and flying but nothing works and he's still there, why won't he go away, why won't-
And he speaks. And his words fall from his handsome mouth like liquid silver. Ginny stops, and is so still it is as if she is petrified. She listens.
"Ginevra," her name. That is what he says first; her name. But Ginny doesn't recognize it as her name, just as one of the many words that fall from his mouth and he isn't speaking, not really, not to her. He is speaking to a little girl with a diary and a trusting heart, comforting her like a child. Like he did many years ago when the world was new and amazing and when Tom Riddle was an angle from heaven, sent to love and comfort Ginny. Now he is a demon, sent to torment her with his mere presence. But Tom cares not for Ginny's current opinion of him. He only quiets her, one hand still clasped tightly to her mouth and the other is now stroking her hair. "Hush, hush, Ginny. It is all right. It isn't a dream. Calm now," over and over he says these things. "Hush, little Ginny, all is fine. I won't hurt you. I promise," over and over and over for what seemed like hours on end until finally, Ginny quiets, doesn't scream, and her hands unclasp from his wrist and her eyes relax and are not so wide, though they still plainly show fright.
"Now," he says, and his eyes, just for a moment, show relief. "I'm going to let go of you, Ginevra. And you will be quiet and listen to me, do you understand?"
Ginny nods, and can only hope that if she does what he wants he will leave and never return.
He slowly backs away and finally, finally releases his hand from her mouth. She does not scream. She knows now that it is real and he is there. Tears begin to run down her face.
"What are you doing here, Tom? Please, please don't stay, leave, you have to! I won't do any of those things anymore, I won't, please leave. I'll tell, I will, and they'll find a way to-" he cuts her off, his voice harsh.
"Tell? Who will you tell? Who will believe?"
She answers, her voice laced with desperation. "Harry, Harry will believe me, he knows, he knows all about you Tom and he will-" again she is interrupted, this time he laughs at her.
"Harry Potter? Harry Potter, who believes he killed my memory off forever, who saw to my "demise" with his own two hands? He won't believe you, silly Ginevra. No one will," Ginny tries to speak above him, to tell him he's wrong, but he continues as if she had not said a word. "Not your family, who have seen your mind slowly unwind this past summer with visions of things that aren't there. Not the professors, who will say it is only repressed trauma of that horrid night poor little Ginny endured at the tender age of eleven. Not your friends or class mates who only believe what they wish. Any spells to locate Dark magic or some sort of parasite won't detect me, Ginevra. They will all of them laugh at you and put you in the Mental Ward in St. Mungo's, locked away in a small room for the rest of your life."
Ginny stares at him in defeat, her eyes red rimmed. There is nothing she can say, because she knows it is true. They sit in silence.
"Why are you here, Tom? I thought you died, I thought you were gone."
He looks at her, hard and calculating. And then, as if he has just decided something with absolute finality, he says, "You really want to know, Ginevra? All right, I'll tell how I came to be here, in your mind, instead of rotting in Hell, where I'm supposed to be."
And he does.
A/N: Sorry, folks, but the tale comes next chapter! I know, I know, "Where's the damn romance?" But understand, good reader, that falling in love with someone who tried to kill you takes time, me non? Tell me what you think, Duckies! And thanks to chapter two reviewers, ms Masen and NevemberDreamer! Love you two! :]
Ah, my lovelies, my imagination hath been cursed with another idea! I figure I can get opinions on it before I bother writing- and since even if I do start it I want to wait a while to begin writing, so I'm just jotting it down here, 'kay? It's basically an epiphony story. But be not alarmed for it is….GINNY/DRACO! DUN DUN DUUNNN. Alright, here it is:
Ginny and Harry are engaged, and Ginny's life is…happy…ish. Like, she thinks she loves Harry, but we all know better, don't we? So one day while out on some errands at Diagon Alley, Ginny has some vaguely horrible accident(I'm thinking robbery, how about you?)! Oh NO! When she "wakes up" she's in a sort of limbo…if you define limbo as a coffee shop. There she meets the all knowing deity who all religions base their beliefs off of. That's right, ladies and gents, God, Allah, the Grecian/Roman gods, the blue chick with the six arms, and all the chi in the world- are all the same person. Who, surprisingly enough, sort of looks like a very small little six year old girl in a baby doll dress. Hm. Anyway after a chat and some muffins Ginny wakes up…again. At home. All, she believes, is normal…until she finds out that the Vaguely Not Starbucks wasn't a dream and she's in an alternate reality where she's dating Draco Malfoy who isn't a death eater and her mother doesn't know who Harry Potter is, and the people who do know him thinks he's an asshole, OHMIGAWD! And she's stuck there until that brat from mocha limbo says otherwise. Damn.