I wait until I reach the servant quarters before I let the tears fall from my eyes. I shut the door to my room and slide to the floor, my knees giving away, salty tracks making their way down my face as I sob quietly. I can still see his smug face in my mind and the visible cruelty in his eyes that has already festered and made its home in the dark cavity where his heart should have been.

When I first saw him standing on the porch, my muscles clamped down and I froze. The only word my mind could formulate at that moment was DANGER, DANGER. I could feel a panic attack coming and I knew I was moments away from dropping to the floor and hyperventilating. The only thing that had stopped it, ironically enough, was the sound of his voice, which had abruptly cut through the haze of fear and had slowly brought me back to awareness. In that hazy moment between reality and memories, I had been stupidly uninhibited with my emotions and had violently flinched in practiced fear when he moved to brush past me. I had felt like prey as his striking eyes roamed over me in curiosity.

I had taken his cloak from his hands and run away as fast as I could, unable to bear being in his suffocating presence any longer. I hadn't wanted to go into the sitting room to serve my new Mistress and him but I knew the consequences of shirking my duties. As soon as I had walked into the room, I had felt like an insect as his eyes automatically looked away from Hepzibah and pinned me under their terrible gaze. I could feel myself trembling as I drew closer to him, but I didn't dare run away.

The malicious smirk he had given me just before he deliberately spilled hot tea on me had broken some barrier inside me and, for a few seconds, brought forth the feisty and vindictive side of me that I had lost during the war. I admit, it had felt undeniably good to tip the searing hot tea onto his immaculate robes. The look he had given me when he had jumped up had quickly replaced that feeling with fear. His eyes had promised retribution and I knew that Tom Riddle would make good on his silent promise.

I didn't care that Hepzibah had given me a tongue lashing when Tom had left, I was too busy mulling over the silent threat in his eyes. I knew I had to be more prepared for the next time I saw him. I should have been more prepared to see him today; after all, I was living in Hepzibah Smith's house, the woman who possessed Slytherin's locket. The locket that Lord Voldemort would steal and use to create his first horcrux. But I hadn't been prepared, in fact, all I had been worried about when I had begged Hepzibah for a job as a maid was escaping from the damnably twinkling eyes of Dumbledore. I had been more concerned with protecting Jamie from Dumbledore then protecting myself from a young Lord Voldemort, the future killer of my husband.

I weep unrepentantly on the warm floor of my shabby new home. I weep for the loss of the life I could have had with Harry and Jamie; I weep for the loss of my long dead friends; I weep because of my own weakness that had overcome me when I had been faced with the person that had stolen the only world I had ever known away from me. Finally, my sobs subside to gentle hiccups and tears refuse to fall from my eyes any longer. I feel hollow, empty, as if all of my pain and loss has bled away in my crying frenzy.

Slowly, I can feel determination building up in my bones, channeling my anger and regret into a sharp tool. I am not going to let him intimidate me any longer. Lord Volde- no, Tom Riddle is just a man, a cruel, heartless man with a soul weaved from the fabric of evil, but as of yet, he is still a man. I have spent enough sleepless nights with him to inevitably know his strengths and his weaknesses. I remember one such night, when he unknowingly provided me with the key to his destruction.

"Ginny, wake up," An impatient voice rouses me from my deep slumber. I open my swollen eyes to see a young Tom Riddle staring at me with narrowed eyes.

I scramble up from the hard, dirty floor and look warily at my captor. I am in the Chamber of Secrets, an unwilling prisoner of Tom Riddle.

For one long moment he stares at me, his face shrewd and contemplative. Finally, unable to bear the oppressive silence any longer, I blurt out the first thought that comes to my mind. "He is coming, isn't he?"

"And how would you know that?" he asks mockingly, his eyebrows raised in scorn. "Your boyfriend is a little too busy fighting off my Death Eaters to come to save a pathetic little thing like you."

"I'm not pathetic!" I shout back instantly, my fists curling in anger even as Tom Riddle stalks closer to me.

He kneels down beside me and in a perverse mimicry of tenderness, gently cups my face in his hands. I hold my breath in fear, afraid that if I so much as breath I will be executed on the spot. He seems to understand the thoughts running through my brain because his lips curl into a wicked smirk and he further invades my personal space with his dark presence. He is so close to me now that I can feel his cool breath on my face. He stares deeply into my eyes and excruciatingly slowly strokes my sweaty matted hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. After having performed that strange act, he gets up of the floor and moves away from me, staring around the Chamber of Secrets in contemplation. I begin breathing again and strangely enough, feel like I passed some sort of test.

"He will come. You will see," I mutter quietly under my breath, watching Tom Riddle's shoulders tense-indicating that he has heard my declaration-and then relax again.

He turns to face me again, the taunting expression back on his face. "I wouldn't place too much faith in him Ginny. It has been two days already and your supposed love has yet to come save you. What makes you think he will come now?"

"He will come," I declare resolutely, my voice not betraying any of the anxiety that I feel building in my soul as the hours tick by and Harry doesn't walk through the Chamber doors.

"No, he won't come," Tom says calmly. "I believe that he is afraid; afraid of what I will do to him when he walks through the Chamber doors. He may be a Gryffindor, but I believe that even Gryffindors value their lives."

"No," I shake my head firmly, dismissing his words, "Harry is a true Gryffindor and not a coward. He isn't afraid of the likes of you. He will find me."

"Really?"

"Yes," I say, "And even if he doesn't find me, I will still find a way to escape."

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave me Ginny?" he asked me with an uncharacteristic pout on his lips, his hands dramatically moving to rest on his chest.

"Because you are the epitome of all evil," I spit out at him.

"Tsk, tsk," he tuts in amusement, "You are being a little unfair aren't you Ginny? I am not the one who has been killing roosters this school year, have I? I'm not the one who has been writing in a strange diary for almost all of my fifth year now, pouring my heart and soul into the "epitome of evil" as you say. No, that person is you Ginny."

"STOP saying my name!" I yell out angrily, already feeling the prickle of tears in my eyes. I lower my head and stare at the floor, forcing myself to breathe evenly and not cry, I won't give him that satisfaction.

"Ginny...Ginnnny," he repeats my name, swishing the syllables in his mouth and elongating my name. "It's such an infantile name, I can understand why you wouldn't want me to say it. I much rather prefer Ginevra, it's much more dignified."

"Just stop," I plead quietly, the fight seeping out of my veins. I can already feel myself growing weaker as Tom slowly drains me.

I feel a sudden bout of dizziness and I lie back down, my breathing growing labored as dark spots invade my vision. I hear loud footsteps hurrying to my side and the last thing I see before I let the darkness enfold me in its warmth is the face of Tom Riddle, looking uncharacteristically worried.

I jerk away from my memories, feeling drained from everything that has happened today. I am just glad that one good thing did come out from this, that Tom didn't see Jamie. For that I am grateful. He would have instantly known the truth had he seen Jamie; Jamie resembles his father too much.

I get up off the floor and walk over to the small cot where Jamie is sleeping. I smile softly at his innocent face and smooth back his dark hair from his forehead.

I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow or what the future holds, but I am not going to let anyone hurt my son, not Dumbledore and certainly not Tom bloody Riddle.

I lie down on my own cot and silently make the same promise to myself that I had made to Harry, to protect Jamie at all costs. I close my eyes and will sleep to take me away, so that I can be ready for what tomorrow holds.

A/N: I'm sure that this chapter confused a lot of people, especially the flashback scene. I just want to remind people that this story is AU and thus, will not follow the canon timeline, meaning that Ginny found the diary in her fifth year, not her second year. Because of this, the interactions between Tom and Ginny were different and changed the outcome of the war. Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows, I appreciate them. Please remember to review this chapter. Ciao :)