Difficulties of Avoidance

by dead2self

A/N: Special thanks to akeginu, whose in-depth reviews are in part responsible for this chapter being written so quickly. Thanks for those! I really am motivated by the thought of people reading my story, and reviews are the only tangible way for me to get that. The other reason that this chapter came so fast is that I've been waiting to write it for FOREVER. Get excited.

Also, awhile back I think someone asked me if Harper is an original character. The answer is yes and no. In the books, Harper is a character mentioned once in HBP who subs as a Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He is in Ginny's year, and she describes him as an idiot. He calls Ron a blood traitor, is snide, and gets distracted by Harry, missing the Snitch as a result. Of course, that one Quidditch game isn't a whole lot to go off of, so I've developed him quite a lot more. My Harper is much less concerned with blood purity than what people think of him - but the whole purity thing is a popular opinion in Slytherin that I think he buys into as a result. I hope under the ridiculous caricature of a disciplinarian, I've started to develop a truly interesting character in Harper.

I'm pleased with this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it!

Recently, Ginny had been in charge of serving Tom's dinners to avoid loitering in the corridors after hours without Luna. Now she was delegated back to breakfast for the same reason – only Luna could be out and about at night. They managed it the first night by hiding Ginny in an alcove where she could shoot off her Patronus. Ginny could have cared less about House points now, but the memory of McGonagall's unsettled features kept her from blatantly patrolling alongside Luna. A near miss with Harper meant that she spent much of her free time practicing the Patronus Charm, urging her mare just a bit further each time. Most unfortunate, she did not find her morning schedule as conducive to studying Potions with Riddle.

This did not bother Riddle, who had seemingly lost interest in striking deals with her. "I find there is not much else I require from you," he said over his breakfast.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she answered. She was busy weeding his small library collection for books that were due back at the library.

" The only things I need you to give me are food and a wand." His eyes flashed to her bag. "And perhaps that marvelous map."

"Riddle," she warned. She glanced over her shoulder, holding a surely untouched copy of Little People, Big Plans, and saw that he was grinning at her, all gleaming teeth. She spun, feeling that nothing good could come of that smile. "You have a terrible sense of humor, you know that?"

"Perhaps you don't understand the joke. Truly, though, where did you come across such a treasure? Surely it is beyond your skill to create."

"Family pass-down," she quipped, because that was mostly true. She picked up Predicting the Unpredictable. "So, did you read this? I thought you wouldn't."

"What do you think?"

"I think I'm right, and I think I'll take it back since you clearly have no intention to read it. You could help, you know. It would make it faster if I didn't have to guess."

To her surprise, Riddle stalked over and began fingering through the volumes that had gathered dust on the solid, towering bookshelf. Without a word, he deposited an armful of books atop her floating pile and consolidated a handful of titles to keep back, including the Potions manual (Luna had owled for a new copy from Flourish and Blotts) and the mysterious wandlore book.

"Is that so interesting?" she asked, pointing to the thin volume. "It's nearly all pictures."

Raising a brow at her, he slid Predicting the Unpredictable from her stack of books. "I have yet to make up my mind on this. You and Luna will not have your answer yet, it seems." Studying it briefly, his manic grin returned. "The title is appropriate, is it not?"

"I'll say," Ginny answered, rolling her eyes.

It was not just Tom who seemed more volatile – more unpredictable – by the moment. In spite of McGonagall's speech to the Ravenclaw table, more and more students began to take stock in Rita Skeeter's book. The Slytherins were nearly beside themselves with some of the revelations in the book – namely Dumbledore's association with one of the Darkest wizards the world had ever seen. Ginny spotted a third year trying to Charm the cover onto his T-shirt and would have cursed him there in the corridor if Flitwick had not been strolling nearby.

Worse still were the looks students were beginning to level at McGonagall when she sat at the middle of the staff table. Prodded by the Daily Prophet, nearly every house but Gryffindor somehow found issue with the new temporary Headmistress. Ginny outright refused to approach the Ravenclaw table after Orla squeaked out that it seemed unfair of Dumbledore to favor his own house, as if the Headmaster had handpicked his replacement before swan diving off the Astronomy Tower.

Then, naturally, there was Harper. He had taken to manhandling Luna along with him to evidently urgent tasks throughout the castle, making it difficult to catch a moment alone with her outside classes. Additionally, he made a habit of parading this fact. She was studying in the library with a handful of Gryffindors when he frog-marched Luna up to their table.

"Harper and I are patrolling together tonight," Luna told Ginny through thin white lips. "He thinks it might further house unity. Personally, I think his mind has been irrevocably damaged by Wrackspurts and is not to be trusted."

"House unity, Harper?" alluded Gregory, glancing between the pair. "If you need a discrete spot, there's an excellent place behind a tapestry on the third floor—"

Harper cut in front of Luna, leaning down over Ginny. "You're up to something, Weasley, and I'm going to find out what it is."

"I'll be up to something too if you don't back off, Harper," said Demelza, shoving away from the table.

"Threatening the Head Boy, Robins?"

"Didn't say that, did I?" said Ginny's former Chaser, tossing her head. "But since Ginny's studying now, maybe you should leave her to it. We've got N.E.W.T.s coming up, haven't we?"

Sneering, Harper turned back on Ginny. "I'll be keeping an eye out for you tonight. If I see you with even a toe outside Gryffindor Tower, I'm taking you straight to the Headmistress and there's nothing Lovegood can do about it." Luna met Ginny's eye over Harper's shoulder and huffed, but she looked resigned. They had talked about McGonagall's precarious position. Harper spun, snatching up Luna's arm. "Come on, Lovegood,"

"You're delusional!" Ginny called after him.

"I could probably still get a decent Stinging Hex from here," scowled Gregory. Ginny waved him off, already wrapped up in considerations of how they would manage to slip Harper that night. Luna finally escaped Harper's attention by lingering beside the Gryffindor table at supper. The Head Boy almost seemed inclined to follow her there, but even he had a hard time facing down the full force of Gryffindor glaring at him. Word had travelled.

When dinner finished, Luna made a beeline to Ginny. With the noise of the scraping benches covering them, Ginny and Luna put their heads together and talked quickly as they joined the droves leaving the Hall.

"What should I do?" said Luna.

"I suppose we can bring up the dinner before curfew or I'll have to sneak in. I don't know how to hide food in my bag, do you?" Luna shook her head, eyes darting over her shoulder to locate the Head Boy. Ginny bit her lip. "I'll have to ask Fred and George how they managed to smuggle all that food upstairs for all those Quidditch celebrations. There must be a trick to it." Or perhaps her brothers were just that much better at sneaking around the castle.

"I'll try to keep him away from the seventh floor," said Luna. "There are the Dust Mice in the dungeons that need checking. Harper doesn't think so, but they are running rampant. Keep checking the map, just in case."

"It's times like these I wish I had Harry's Invisibility Cloak."

"Harry has an Invisibility Cloak?" Luna asked, voice going wispy.

"Oh, er, yeah he—" Ginny cut off as a hand closed heavily around her shoulder. She yelped, throwing an elbow on instinct and caught Colin in the stomach. "Sorry Colin!" she said, patting him on the back as he coughed. "Thought you were Harper."

"No, but he's—"

"And your first thought was to attack me, Weasley?" But for the lack of the telltale crack, Ginny would have thought Harper had Apparated behind her. She turned on her heel, chin up, and the crowd of students slowed around them, no doubt waiting for a fight.

"Not like I haven't done it before! Don't tell me you need Luna again."

Harper's mouth curled and for a moment he looked so like Tom Riddle that Ginny almost recoiled. "As a matter of fact, I do—"

Luna stepped between the pair and flourished a roll of parchment that she drew from her robes. "Actually, Harper, I took the liberty of compiling this list during supper. There are so many things I mean to bring to your attention while we're together tonight, and I think it would be best if we start at the top of the castle and work our way down." Flicking the parchment open, Luna let it trail to the ground and past Harper's feet. "First, I think it would be best if we check each suit of armor. I've had an inkling that they have been switching places, just out of the corner of my eye. I think with the pair of us, we may be able to keep an eye on them all and catch them in the act. Must be careful – revolts, you know."

Harper's determination to discover what Luna and Ginny were doing had surely reached new extremes, because his only response was to take a hard swallow. He swiped the list from Luna and surveyed it with thinly veiled dread. "Very well," he gritted. "Shall we start now?"

"Merlin, no," cried Luna, taking it back. "I have so much to add to it. I haven't even mentioned the dabberblimps yet. We'll meet just before curfew, as promised."

A strangled noise escaped Harper's throat and he retreated without another word. Ginny watched him go, eyes bright. "Nicely done, Luna," she said.

Luna tilted her head to the side, no trace of humor evident on her face. Rather, her eyebrows had climbed with obvious concern. "Harper has been avoiding these issues for quite some time. If he'll force me to patrol with him, I'll very well force him to consider the dangers all around us at Hogwarts. Why, if we can't be counted upon to warn the Merpeople of the dabberblimps, who will?"

Ginny could just picture Ron mouthing 'dabberblimps' over Luna's head, and struggled to suppress a laugh. "Alright, the added bonus that you'll drive Harper mad is just coincidental."

At this, Luna grinned. "Best keep working on this. And don't worry – I've practiced casting a quite discreet Patronus."

Ginny waved her off and then nearly bowled over Colin again as she turned toward the Grand Staircase. "Oh, Colin, I didn't realize you were still there."

He had been standing patiently, and his hands were twisted in his robes. "It's nothing. I was just wondering… Have you talked to Harry lately?"

Ginny's heart sank so suddenly that she felt like elbowing him in the gut again. Instead she kept her voice even and replied, "No, I haven't talked to Harry since we broke up. I suppose he'll be at Bill and Fleur's wedding." She realized this was true as she said it and her stomach gave an involuntary flop at the prospect of seeing Harry again. "Why, did you need to tell him something? I'm sure a Hogwarts owl could find him if it tried, but—"

"No, it's nothing like that. It's just…" Colin, still so skinny even in his seventh year, stood a little straighter and looked her in the eye. "Ginny, does he have a plan? All this rot in the Prophet about Muggle baiting and the business in Diagon Alley. And You-Know-Who had to be behind Dumbledore dying, no matter what the Prophet is saying. We all saw the Dark Mark. I just…I have to know. My family could be in danger."

Kicking herself for letting this conversation degenerate into self-pity, Ginny seized his wrist and held tight. "There will always be people fighting back against Voldemort," she promised. "And they absolutely have a plan. And not just in the Ministry – fat lot of good they do anyways. In fact…" She slipped closer, scanning the now sparse Entrance Hall for any students that might be eavesdropping. "If you're worried about your family, you best talk to McGonagall. I bet she can set it right."

"Th-Thanks, Ginny," stammered Colin, taking his hand back. He blinked down at her like she was one of Luna's dabberblimps, as though he had never seen anything quite like her. When he walked away, his shoulders were squared. With a glance at the time, Ginny let Harper see her on her way up to Gryffindor tower and paid a second year a spare Nosebleed Nougat she found in her trunk to tell Harper she was in her dormitory if he asked. As close to after hours as possible, she drew out the Marauder's Map and avoided Harper and Luna on her way down to the dungeons. Filch gave her a nasty look when she stowed the map at the sight of him, but as after hours had yet to begin, he could only snap at her to hurry.

Ginny had gotten rather good at dodging prefects and teachers in her seven years at Hogwarts, and she prided herself to do it that night with the Map in one hand and Riddle's food in the other. Luna and Harper had worked their way down to the sixth floor on the map, presumably to continue downward, and Ginny managed her way to the Room of Requirement without much fuss. This time she carefully said, "Mischief managed," and stowed the map before entering the Room.

"You again?" Riddle said by way of greeting. He was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Harper commandeered Luna for the night. He won't let me around after hours by myself, so I'm sneaking out." Riddle swung himself off the bed, and she added, "Don't worry on my account. I'm pretty good at it."

"Got some practice your first year, I suppose," he answered. She scowled at him, shoving the plate at his chest.

"I'll trust you to eat that," she said. "I'm going back to Gryffindor Tower before they get up here again."

It occurred to her then that it might be best to check the corridor before unlocking the door. She put distance between Riddle and herself, unfolding the map. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she whispered to the map. It stayed innocuously blank, and emboldened that the map was effectively locked to anyone without a wand, she pulled her wand and casually said the incantation. She followed it closely with a curse. Luna and Harper were standing just outside the Room of Requirement, and they were not moving.

"Harper is just standing out there!" she cried.

"About time," Riddle commented. "Neither of you girls is particularly subtle." He crossed the room and now peered over her shoulder, but Ginny was fast enough to say, "Mischief managed," before he got too close.

"Knowing Harper, he'll likely stand there until the prefects are supposed to sleep," she rejoined, tucking away the map. "Best settle in for a long evening." A chair would be nice, and briefly she wondered if she had had enough practice to Conjure her own like Dumbledore had. She turned around and was pleased to see a plush armchair next to Riddle's strict wooden chair. It seems the Room really was unfrozen – no need to practice Conjuring after all.

"Don't look at me if you want to stay up late and giggle over the wireless."

"Giggle over the wireless?" she laughed, bounding over to settle into the new chair. "You're showing your age, Riddle. No one does that but old witches and my mum."

Riddle raised an eyebrow at her and retreated to his bed with his food. Ginny took the liberty of angling his chair so she could prop her feet up, and took the time to grind out an excellent essay on the importance of utilizing one's environment for Defense. It was a shame no one was lining up for the position to read it. Once finished, she checked the map again, and was relieved to find Harper and Luna moving on the second floor. It was a clean shot to Gryffindor Tower, so Ginny sent off her Patronus. She had just hauled herself through the portrait hole when she heard a shuffle behind her and a sudden cry. The Fat Lady slammed shut before anyone could see inside, and Ginny checked the map under wandlight. Artemis Flint, a fifth year Slytherin prefect, she recalled, was barreling away from the Gryffindor Common Room. Ginny grimaced, but there was nothing left to do but go to bed.

Harper was livid at breakfast. Ginny caught sight of him, heads together with Flint and McGonagall and making wild hand gestures. Luna stood by serenely, though every time she did open her mouth it produced an apoplectic spasm in Harper's forehead. Ginny chewed on a strip of bacon and thought he looked like Snape in miniature. It was not a happy comparison.

The first time Ginny caught Luna alone that day was in Transfiguration. McGonagall was lecturing on the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration when they put their heads together to whisper.

"Harper thinks Artemis Flint saw you," said Luna. "He is… rather upset."

"He did see me. Doesn't matter; Harper can eat my hat before it's okay for him to yell at McGonagall."

"He's asking me to patrol again. He means to stand in front of the Room all night if he has to, and I don't think I can get him away like last night." Luna scrubbed at a scorch mark on the desk, huffing. "If only the Room could feed him until all this blows over."

Frowning, Ginny watched McGonagall flick her wand at the blackboard, which wrote "Food" in strict letters. "Suppose that's why it can't," she said, jotting this down in her notes.

"Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood, I would appreciate your full attention," barked McGonagall.

Ginny sat up straighter and gave Luna what she hoped was a reassuring glance. She hastened to copy down the rest of the five exceptions. Just before "Food" was "Magically imbued objects (Wands, amulets, etc.)." Ginny supposed that it was a fair trade off; they had to feed Riddle, but the Room could not accidentally conjure him a wand.

While in Potions, Ginny and Luna agreed that Riddle would just have to eat a sparse portable dinner that night. Rather, Ginny suggested Riddle could survive until breakfast and Luna had given her a surprisingly Head Girl sort of look, deciding the matter. Ginny would smuggle it upstairs and get back to the dormitory before after hours. It was a shame, because she could have used Riddle's help on the essay due the next day. He still owed her one lesson and she was not about to let him forget. But Luna still did not know about that arrangement.

Unfortunately, when she left the tower about an hour before nine, Harper was laying in wait. "Where are you going, Weasley?"

Ginny stopped in the portrait hole, her face growing red. "That's it!" she crowed. "I'm going to McGonagall. You can't follow me around the castle just because you imagine I've done something wrong." She pushed past him.

"That's a joke, Weasley," he snapped, dogging her steps. "We both know you're as bad as Potter. He had Granger, and you have Lovegood, but it stops here. The Head Boy and Girl aren't meant to cater to the lawless miscreants that Gryffindor consistently churns out."

"Lawless miscreants? That's rich, coming from the breeding ground of Death Eaters."

Harper went a deep shade of puce, but he retorted, "Just because Lovegood has shrivelfigs for brains doesn't mean you can traipse about as you like."

"I can 'traipse about' as much as I want before hours—Wait." She spun on Harper and advanced on him until he had the good sense to back away. "You think I'm taking advantage of Luna?" she asked, ignoring a prick of guilt. "She is my friend. And she's smarter than you'll ever hope to be."

"Is there a problem, Miss Weasley?"

Both Ginny and Harper whipped around at Slughorn's companionable drawl. "Harper has been following me since Gryffindor Tower," Ginny said loudly before Harper could open his mouth. "He's been bothering me and my friends for a few days like this. I'm going to talk to McGonagall about it."

"That's quite alright, Miss Weasley. Mr. Harper, do leave the poor girl alone." And then their professor winked, and Harper and Ginny shared perhaps their first glance of agreement – one of horror.

"I was just going," gritted Harper, deeply red, and Ginny was on his heels before Slughorn stopped her.

"Just a moment, Miss Weasley. A word."

Dread fluttered in Ginny's stomach as she thought of the time slipping away and Harper no doubt waiting to pounce at the strike of nine. She did not have time for what would likely be a roundabout dance for information, so she resolved to be blunt.

"I'm not going to be able to tell you anything about Harry or the Order," she said fiercely once Harper was out of earshot. "No one tells me anything, and I wouldn't likely tell you even if I did know."

She might well have struck him, for he stumbled back a pace and blinked rapidly at her. "Miss Weasley, that was certainly not what I—"

"Professor McGonagall told me you might be after me for this. Don't try to deny it."

"Wh-Why—" Sputtering slightly, the old man finally pulled his spine straight and eyed her down the line of his straining waistcoat buttons. "Young lady, that is no way to talk to a professor. Five points from Gryffindor!"

"Fine," ground out Ginny. "Can I go now?"

"I simply wished to remind you of your essay due tomorrow. I hope you will put the proper effort. You may go."

Ginny walked away as quickly as she dared, taking note of the time. She would have to double back now that she had faked going toward McGonagall's office, and an errant staircase rerouted her back through the third floor, taking too long even with another shortcut she knew. By the time she stood tapping her foot in the kitchen, she knew she would be cutting it close. The Hogwarts elves, though concerned that presentation would be lacking, carefully wrapped up some fruit, bread, and meats that would not ruin Ginny's bag. By the time she convinced them that double-wrapping everything was not necessary, she knew her only hope was to make it up to the seventh floor without running into Harper. She noted his position on the map and took secret passages as much as she could manage.

Luck was not on her side. As she hopped a trick step and emerged through a false wall in a sixth floor corridor, she froze. Harper stood at the end of the corridor next to Luna, startled. For all his talk, he had not expected to see her so suddenly. Taking the advantage, Ginny bolted. She flew up the hallway, darting up the stairs in bounds of two and making no attempts to be quiet. She skidded in front of Barnabas the Barmy's tapestry and seized the invisible door handle to catch her momentum. She was inside the Room just as she heard footfalls echoing around the corner.

Heaving, Ginny held out the bundle of food to Tom and braced herself against the door. "I've well and truly mucked things up tonight," she confessed, but she could not keep the grin from rising on her face. The hair on her arms still tingled from the chase and her narrow victory.

"Not yet," he answered, coming over from the table. He took the different parcels and studied them dubiously. "There is still time."

"Harper practically saw me come in here. He won't move from the spot if the castle crumbles around his ears."

"Is my rescue imminent?"

"Harper wouldn't know who you are," she said flippantly. "He just hates me and Luna."

"A friend of mine, then." He unwrapped an apple and took a bite, taking no care to swallow before he continued. "I suppose it will be another late night?"

"I'll break out the wireless if you want to giggle over it." A corner of Tom's lips turned ever so slightly up and she blazed into the room, settling in her chair. "Actually, I have a Potions essay due tomorrow and you still owe me. Let's get to work on that."

"I do not recall allowing that last 'favor' to count toward our running deal."

"Do I need to conjure you a mirror, Riddle? Besides, you're brilliant and you have nothing to do." She levitated his copy of the Potions Manual from the bookshelf and dropped it on the table, paging through to the right section. "Come on, I'm the breadwinner here. I dodged Harper and professors to get you this meal. It's the least you can do."

Riddle took his seat, pulling it opposite her. "This is the meal upon which you wish to negotiate?" he asked, holding up cold meat.

"If you're not going to eat it, I will. I've worked up an appetite bringing it up here. The kitchens are in the dungeons, you know."

Staring at her steadily, Tom pulled the Potions book toward himself. "Well, who am I to deny you one last Potions lesson?" A thin smile, almost predatory, rose on his face, but this was business as usual with Tom. "Especially with a teacher so brilliant as I."

Naturally, once they settled down to work her giddiness at outsmarting Harper gradually wore off. Her Potions homework concerned a complicated mix of measurement calculations, which Riddle figured out by staring hard at her textbook and muttering numbers and ingredients. Ginny saw no rhyme or reason to it, but his answers were right and he was fast. She insisted he explain them to her, and he insisted that he must finish them all before she could have a hope of understanding. Checking the map showed that Luna and Harper were stationary out in the corridor, so she borrowed from Riddle's accumulated library to pass the time. On a whim, she chose Predicting the Unpredictable and swung her legs up around the arm of her chair, reading to the constant hum of Riddle's calculations.

It was honestly one of the worst books she had ever read, and that included Binn's History of Magic textbooks. She caught Riddle's eye over the cover and mimed gagging. Stone-faced, he pointed to her bag.

"Can you hand me your notes from class?"

Nodding, she prodded the bag as far toward him as sitting in the chair allowed. He sighed and crossed the rest of the distance, rustling through her papers. She returned to the stunning testimonial of a witch who predicted that she would be green for a year – and then proceeded to wear the color green for 365 days. The trick to insulating yourself against shocks seemed to be having such a tight control on your life that shock was not possible. Clearly the author had never come across Tom Riddle.

Riddle's quiet voice brought her out of her reading. "Dumbledore isn't in the castle tonight, is he?"

"Wha—?"

"Expelliarmus!"

Ginny whipped around in shock, but her wand was ripped out of her hand. Riddle did not bother to catch it, and as it rolled far out of her reach, an exultant grin rose on his face. He was staring at her down the length of a short, black wand, the Marauder's Map hanging in his free hand.

"Crucio!"

Ginny was faintly aware that she screamed, that she pitched from her chair onto the floor, but her awareness of this was nothing next to the fire that lit her every nerve. Her body arched against the pain of her spine snapping in half and in the next moment her fingernails found a ridge in floor, digging in just to have an anchor as she writhed. But this would never end, not before her blood boiled and her skin peeled back from her bones.

Her breath still came ragged when she realized the pain was gone. It took a moment for her eyes to focus on Riddle, standing above her with a delighted gleam on his face. Horror clutched at her chest; it was the Chamber all over again.

"You're not going to kill me?" she rasped. Her body shook uncontrollably from her shoulders down and she clutched her arms to her chest. For a terrible moment, she thought his wand hand moved and she hoped for the Killing Curse – anything but another Cruciatus. Shame washed over her as sudden as the thought came, and she made sure to scowl up at Riddle with every fiber she had left.

His face twisted in glee as he towered over her. "Don't tempt me… There is no evidence in this time period that I am guilty, now that the diary is destroyed. Once I escape the castle, it will be Dumbledore's word against mine. Although his testimony will hold a great deal of clout, there is little real evidence that he can produce that I have done anything wrong."

Ginny would beg to differ, but Riddle did not need to know that.

"You look skeptical," Riddle observed. "There is something I am unaware of?"

"Don't be ridicu—"

"Legimens!"

Ginny tried to fight him, but holding back an armed Riddle was like damming the ocean. Memories poured from her head. It seemed like she was trapped for hours, watching her life, all her conversations about Harry and Voldemort and Dumbledore and the war, pass before her mind's eye. He was taking everything. Some moments, with a jerk, she would realize no, he can't see that and the room would swim before her eyes before the tip of a wand flicked and it disappeared all over again.

When Riddle finally released her, Ginny found herself sprawled out on the floor. Riddle was standing above her, clutching the wand and breathing heavily. He smiled strangely, a mix between annoyance and intense satisfaction. "So, the old coot is finally dead, is he? And you've been keeping it from me for weeks. I must admit I am impressed. You are quite the unabashed liar, aren't you?"

"You've never met my brothers," Ginny gritted.

She could see where her wand had fallen, now only inches away from her shaking fingers. Riddle followed her line of sight, but his smile only widened. "Oh, yes, Ginny. Do pick it up; I have wanted to duel you for months now." And he kicked the wand to her outstretched hand.

Ginny wasted no time. "Expelliarmus!" Riddle blocked the spell as Ginny struggled to her feet, diving to the side as he shot a jinx past her head. She shot a Stunner that he deflected almost lazily and was hit immediately with a curse that made it feel like her insides were curling in upon themselves. She doubled over in pain, but yelled "Accio chair!" in time for the wooden chair to catch a curse for her that sent it up in flames. Riddle swept the room with his wand and a large black serpent appeared, coiled around Ginny, its head raised to strike. Adrenaline overtook the pain in her stomach, and she screamed "Reducto!" reducing the snake to dust.

"You can't get out of here without me, Riddle!" she yelled, diving to the floor just as he cried, "Imperio!"

Ginny knew she was helplessly outmatched, and as she shot another useless Stunner at him, she wished that she had at least something to hide behind. No sooner had several pieces of large furniture fallen between Ginny and Riddle than an overstuffed armchair took a Blasting Curse for her. She dodged behind a loveseat and shrieked when it suddenly began wrapping around her. Managing to pull her wand arm free, she caught sight of Riddle advancing on her.

"Imper—"

The world slowed down around Ginny, for she saw her only way out. She pointed her wand not at Riddle but at the heavy black bookshelf next to him. With a thundering crash, the bookshelf toppled onto Riddle, splaying books about the room. "Reducto!" The loveseat turned to dust around her and she spotted Riddle trying to struggle out from underneath the bookcase. His arm was caught and bloody. "Expelliarmus!" She caught the wand deftly and then levitated the bookshelf off of Riddle. He moaned once, clutching his arm to his chest but nonetheless leveling himself to his feet before Ginny knocked him back with possibly the strongest Stunner she had ever cast. He lay still.

Ginny's breath labored as she stood over him, and a new wave of pain washed over her with the loss of adrenaline. Collecting the map, she noted that Harper and Luna still stood sentry outside the Room, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. It took three tries to summon the concentration to cast a Patronus and the seconds passed intolerably slow until the door unlocked.

"Luna," she gasped, stumbling out from the Room. To her relief, Luna had managed to turn Harper away from the door, and she edged the door shut before he spun on her.

"Ahah! Out after hours! I—"

Ginny vomited blood over his shoes and that shut him up. "Ginny!" cried Luna as Ginny went down on all fours, retching. Her insides were on fire, no doubt ripped to shreds. How was she still breathing?

She managed to gasp out, "He attacked me." She had forgotten she clutched the spare black wand until Luna slipped it from her shaking fingers. At least she hoped it was Luna. The candlelight in the corridor was turning murky. Harper's face, chalky and contorted in horror, swam above her.

"What do we do?" said a boy's voice that twisted an octave too high with nerves.

"Help me get her to the Hospital Wing, Harper! Please!"

With every jolting step, Ginny thought her intestines might spill out. Her eyes fluttered into her eyelids and when she pried them open, Madam Pomfrey hovered above her, holding the back of her head as she poured a foul potion down her throat. "This is very Dark magic! Who did this to her?"

Ginny was diverted by the icy burn that trickled through her chest and down into her stomach, glad that she could breath again. "Just—got—in a fight—with some Slytherin. Can you—fix it?"

Madame Pomfrey looked faintly horrified, but she hurried Ginny to the nearest bed and handed her a potion to drink. The room went fuzzy around the edges before she passed out entirely.