Ginny pants heavily as she makes it back into town. The usual hustle and bustle she is used to seeing in Hogsmede is gone. Now the street is empty, the shops are without customers, and it seems almost like a ghost town. The only reminder of the hundreds of students is the shopkeepers sweeping away torn wrappers and the footprints, thousands and thousands, it seems, left in the snow.
The carriages are gone, too. Ginny lets out a curse as she kicks the ground and sends snow flying.
…Damn. Where's Tom? Ginny knows he couldn't still be dealing with that Death Eater.
"Tom," Ginny calls out softly, weary of the few shopkeepers outside. "Tom? This is not funny." She receives no answer.
Ginny sighs and heads over to the Three Broomsticks.
"Rosmerta," Ginny calls as the bell attached to the door jingles. "Rosmerta, are you here?"
"Ginny," Rosmerta exclaims as she appears from the back room. "What're you still doing here? The carriages to Hogwarts left almost fifteen minutes ago, they're bound to be to the castle by now!"
"I got lost wandering around," Ginny lies easily.
Rosmerta tuts at her playfully, her light brown curls bouncing as she shakes her head. "What will we do with you, dear?"
"You could start with getting me a ride back to Hogwarts," Ginny trails off and smiles just a little, batting her eye lashes like a child trying to look innocent.
"Alright, alright; let me floo the Headmistress," as she heads off into the back room, where the fireplace is blazing.
Ginny and Madame Rosmerta have always gotten along better than any of the other students to grace the Three Broomsticks. On the very first day Ginny stepped in the little, homey establishment, her third year, Rosmerta liked her instantly. Ginny was young, brave, witty, not too bad with the boys, and always brought a nice little crowd with her (always a plus when you're running an Inn and pub); Rosmerta had even told Ginny a number of times she reminded her of herself when she was young (however long ago that was has yet to be disclosed). Whenever Ginny sat down, Rosmerta always made a point to talk to her, friendly, laughingly, like sisters who hadn't seen each other for years. Over the countless trips made to Hogsmede in the winter, spring, and fall, jokes were thrown, confessions made ("We're dating Rosmerta, can you believe it?"), and even threats ("Call me 'Rosey' one more time, Ginny Weasley, and I'll get my cleaver!"). And through it all they liked each other more and more.
Things only became strained in the middle of Ginny's fifth year, when Ginny spied Rosmerta handing a package to Katie Bell through a crack in the lavatory stall. When Ginny heard Katie was in St. Mungo's because someone had given her a cursed necklace, she didn't know what to do. When she learned Draco Malfoy had caused it all, she all but danced in relief. They haven't spoken since the Final Battle.
This isn't the reunion Ginny wants.
Rosmerta walks back in, a smile on her weary face, "alright, you; the Headmistress is sending back one of the carriages. She didn't sound too miffed, so I think you'll be fine."
"I should hope so; you know Headmistress McGonagall. She can be kind, but when her rocket is lit-"
"She starts breathing fire worse than a Hungarian Horntail, I know," Rosmerta giggles. When she sobers up, she looks Ginny in the eyes and asks, "So where were you today? I saw you went to Honeyduke's, but left me out in the cold. I nearly cried, you know." She throws an over-theatrical weep Ginny's way.
"Well," Ginny thinks hard. How is she to tell Rosmerta that she had planned to visit the Inn, but had been set upon by a rogue Death Eater who had wanted to kidnap her or even kill her to hurt a boy who couldn't look her in the eyes anymore? "I planned on it, but…" She can't, that's how. "But, like I said, I got a little lost in the wood on the way back from the Shrieking Shack. I just found my way back and, well, I'm here now!"
"Well, better late than never. How's the Lover Boy?"
"Harry and I… aren't exactly talking, 'Merta."
Rosemerta instantly looks shocked and sympathetic. "What? But, Ginny, you love him. And he loves you…"
Ha. Sure. "I don't know. I just think he needs to, err, get over all the grief. Me too, a bit."
Just as she finishes, Ginny hears a loud "neigh" outside.
"Well, that was quick. Someone must have been halfway." Ginny stands and turns to Rosmerta before leaving. "Thank you, Rosmerta. I'll make sure to spend extra time at the Broomsticks next trip."
"You'd better," she smiles. "Ginny… be careful, alright?"
Ginny hesitates at the door. Looking back once more, she tries to looks like she wasn't just nearly killed, like she hasn't been virtually alone for the last few months and yet never alone- always being watched and scrutinized, and yet… No. Ginny knows she mustn't let it show. Rosmerta is the last person in Europe she wants to worry about her. Smile, damn it. "Of course. I can take care of myself, Rosmerta. See you."
The bell attached to the front door jingles, announcing her departure as she hops in the carriage pulled by two rather large thestrals.
As the merry, brightly lit town of Hogsmede becomes a faint glow in the distance, Ginny silently asks Rosmerta's forgiveness and wonders what kind of person she's become; afraid to fight and lying all of the time to friends who don't deserve it. Once more she thinks: How did she get like this?
The Room of Requirement is empty, thank Merlin, no one is using it. Sitting in front of the warm, blazing fire with deliciously hot cocoa in hand, Ginny is almost ready to fall asleep right there on the plush, beat-up yellow sofa. But she can't, can't fall asleep…no, she mustn't…if she does, then she'll have to tell everyone why she never came back to the Common Room. So she can't… can't…
The fire becomes a blur, and is swallowed by darkness.
Warm…so warm…
Bathroom, water- no, not water… ink, so much ink, snakes, holding her down, can't move, can't move- why, why, why?
Screaming, so afraid, so, so afraid.
Swim, swim, swim…!
Ginny screams as she jumps out of the nightmare, that same one she had so long ago.
"Calm down, will you. Someone will hear you." Tom Riddle stands over her, looking like a parent scolding his child.
"You…you're back. But I called you and you didn't answer…" Ginny is confused.
"Well, I spent a little too much time teaching Talsley a lesson. Couldn't very well appear only half there, could I?"
"Talsley?"
"A very, very low ranking servant of mine. What he thought he could accomplish by attempting that disaster is beyond me."
"Oh," something comes upon Ginny's mind. "You sent me that dream again, didn't you?"
"Hm? Oh, that. Well, you wouldn't wake up. Nothing like a reinstating of one's greatest nightmares to wake one up," a boyish, handsome grin sits on Tom's face. Had Ginny not heard a word he had she would be sure he was flirting with her- but that's impossible for Tom Riddle, the wicked boy who was always destined to grow into the world's greatest monster.
Ginny knows she should be extremely cross towards him, but resolves that she'll grant him pardon for saving her. "Thank you, by the way. For getting me out of there. You saved my life."
"No, I saved my soul," Tom corrects.
Ginny smiles ruefully. "Either way, I'm still here, and it's 'cause of you. Thanks."
Tom looks away momentarily as he mumbles a small, "welcome."
"What was that spell, anyway? The one you told me to use on the Death Eater- Talsley."
Tom gives a wicked grin. "Oh, just something I picked up while skimming a book from the Restricted Section. I've used it quite a few times. "
Ginny really doesn't understand Tom's fascination with Dark and evil things, and says so.
"They're just so," Tom searches for the right word, "enthralling. When I first entered Hogwarts, I didn't know the Restricted Section existed- then, in my third year, a professor sent me back there to get a book for him. I picked up an old, leather bound book with chains hanging from it and ever since, I tried any excuse to get back there.
"The things I learnt… how to curse people so that every time they said or thought a certain word, they would get the sensation of a rust sword piercing their lungs; objects that made people hate the giver and want to murder them; potions that turn your enemy's skin into an acid material, so they can never have contact with anything but the strongest of elements. It's like learning a whole new type of magic, so different from the type taught here- what use do I have for turning mice into teacups? When will I ever need to know the charm to make light bulbs engorge to the size of a watermelon? It's far more useful to know how to defeat your enemies and conquer your rivals," Tom speaks about the Dark Arts as Snape did her fifth year; as a lover, as something so utterly precious to him, that he'd die without it.
Somehow, as she looks at Tom's face, lit up with the joy of a child and yet discussing terrible spells and curses and potions, Ginny understands. Ginny thinks back on the six years of proper teaching she had. How many useless things had she learnt? How to turn fruit into silverware, how to make animals tap dance, how to stare into a glass ball and pretend to see disaster; none of these things is of consequence to Ginny, not then or now. She sees how a small child, so used to being on his own and very proper, who didn't have time for nonsense, would be pulled from mundane things and attracted toward something seen as useful, as important, as powerful.
"Come," Tom changes the subject. "You need to get back to your dorm. The last thing we need is for questions to be raised."
A/N: It's 8:40 PM, Christmas Day, so, technically…here's my present to you! It's not much, but I put my heart into it…no one month period of waiting for you! However, because I wrote it a little bit quicker this time, I don't promise that I won't go back in a day or two and COMPLETELY change a thing or two.
As always, thanks to all the reviewers, so much love to you, the old and the new. ms masen(Me? Hang you from a cliff? Surely not…hehehe.), Kitten Little, FYInichole, .91, Kaali Oppenheimer, readingandwriting (I hope no one you know is near you when you read this, all the jumping may frighten them… ha-ha.), kaarmae Zia, and MissScarlet202(I completely agree, I think…maybe…just let me get my dictionary…).