Difficulties of Avoidance
by dead2self
A/N: And we're back! This one is short, but intense, and I can't wait to hear what you think of the end. Enjoy!
This new hope had Ginny daydreaming about what they could do with Tom once they had him out of the school, once they were no longer restricted by their classes and Death Eaters. The warming weather had her imagining all sorts of ludicrous ideas, finding a way to take him outside in the sunlight, introducing him to Fred and George who would make him laugh, him being taken by her mother's excellent summer trifle.
It was all utter nonsense and she knew it, but she could not help but feel that leaving Hogwarts would open a world of possibility to them.
It was with renewed excitement that she wrote the concealed letter to the Order to give to McGonagall at their meeting. She and Luna had written and rewritten the note over the last week, trying for few words and discretion just in case the Charm was cracked. Two things they made clear: they needed a safe house with all the protections the Order could offer, and that safe house needed to be equipped to keep someone contained.
In the morning, Tom finally helped her with her Anti-Alohomora Charm, but Ginny was too impatient to appreciate it. There was a conversation she had been itching to have with him for the past week, and now that he was speaking to her again, she could not hold it back.
"Since we're actually speaking again, we should talk about something that matters," she said. "You asked me how we'll move you at the end of term. We have a plan now, but I think what happens to you on the outside depends on you."
"Your confidence is laughable," said Tom as he pushed her Charms textbook across the table, standing. She stowed the bag and stood with him, undaunted.
"Things are about to change for us, Riddle. I really don't know what's going to happen to you. After a certain point it might be out of our control. You're going to be at the Order's mercy."
He snorted at the word mercy. "Of course. With Dumbledore gone, it's only a matter of time before I infiltrate the Ministry."
If I haven't already done it, he implied and Ginny responded only with a raised brow. "The Ministry can go jump off a cliff," she said. "We've known it for years. You should be concerned about the Order."
"And yet I am not."
She set her jaw, and pushed for what she wished to say. "You know what I want, Riddle. I think I owe it to you to ask you plainly. Do you want me to carry you out in my trunk, or do you want to walk out of Hogwarts on your own terms? Do you want me to ask the Order to spare you, or do you want to present them with a really good reason to keep you alive?"
It felt good, so good, to finally ask him frankly what they had been hoping for since Dumbledore died. She watched him with expectation, but he was shaking his head.
"Walk out on my own terms?" he said, betraying some humor. "Not even you would be fool enough to trust me to walk free."
"Who said anything about trust? I wouldn't accept anything less from you than an Unbreakable Vow."
He scoffed. "A rather less reliable spell when death has no hold on you."
"Even if you still had a Horcrux, who's going to bring you back, Riddle? You don't have any followers here. You aren't the Dark Lord."
For the first time, he did not immediately deny it. The silence was resounding, even as he turned his back on her, waving a dismissive gesture. She caught him by the arm, and pulled him back, saying words targeted to reach him, that she willed to be true as she said them.
"You aren't the Dark Lord, but you're something more."
It was terrifying to be this close to him, now that she had felt how he could overpower her if he wanted. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she stayed close even as he pulled his arm away.
"You're not the same person, you can't be. He's never lived a year of his life imprisoned in Hogwarts. He didn't fully unmask himself to Dumbledore as a teenager. He waited until he was buffered by Horcruxes and followers."
Tom's mouth drew tight and he did not immediately answer, which seemed as good a sign as any. What he said next felt as hard won as any victory Ginny had experienced, better than winning the Quidditch Cup, on par with finally kissing Harry Potter. Small, hard, and bitter, he bit out two words.
"I know."
The words hung between them, shocking. Ginny swallowed. "He won't care about your grudges, has not made your promises."
He did not say the words again, but they hung between them unsaid.
"He's never fought with me or laughed at me, or laughed with me or spat at me." He scoffed, but emboldened, she picked up his hand and put a finger to the scar she had given him in November. "You have scars he doesn't." He frowned, but she tugged him closer, looking up into his face. "You have people he doesn't have. People that care what happens to you."
"People who gave me those scars," he countered, sneering. The words had all but evaporated now.
"I've given my brothers scars."
He tried to snatch his hand away, but she held tight. "Are you still afraid of me, Tom?" she asked, mock serious.
"You're pathetic." This time he succeeded in freeing himself.
"Why? What part of what I'm saying isn't true?"
"Truth has nothing to do with it."
"It has everything to do with it."
"No, Weasley, you are pathetic. Pathetic because you are out of time and grasping at straws, pathetic because you have failed. Knowing you changes nothing. You think, in seven years of school, that no one tried to mark me, imprint themselves upon me, influence me? The only reason that knowing you and Lovegood changes anything, is that when I make another Horcrux, I'll know who to use."
Ginny fixed him with her most blazing look, and pushed her conviction into every word. "You will not get to live, you will not get to choose. You are spare parts at best, a forgotten plot in the grand plans of a greater wizard, and the only one you have to blame is yourself. You will let him be the greater wizard."
Words seemed to fail him for a breath, as though shocked by her sheer audacity. Then he ground out, "You would not speak so freely if I had a wand."
"What makes you think I wouldn't?" she countered. "Think about it, Tom. There's not much time left."
Her meeting with McGonagall in the afternoon was more heartening. Having seen the messages on the D.A. coin, their professor had an idea.
"Aberforth may be able to get Portkeys from the Longbottoms," she told Ginny and Luna without preamble when they both stayed after class, casting a detection spell on the doorway. "He owns the Hog's Head, and has reason to leave Hogsmeade on occasion. His more illicit dealings," she sniffed, "have allowed him some margin with the new regime."
Quickly, Luna filled their professor in on their progress with the trunks, though Ginny felt as though her letter was burning a hole in the pocket of her robes.
"I applaud your initiative, but I pray we do not need them," said McGonagall grimly. "I worry that your plan will put too many students in danger. Should the trunks be searched and the students found, you will all be punished.
Ginny stirred, forgetting for a moment her letter. "We know it is a risk, but we have to do something!"
"And that we will. Outside Hogwarts, the situation worsens, and I fear Severus is planning something dire. I may not be able to visit London without being followed, but I can still frequent Hogsmeade without question. I will speak with Aberforth, and arrange to pick up these Portkeys. I beg you not to place yourself in any more danger."
Luna and Ginny exchanged a glance, and finally Ginny withdrew the letter from her pocket. "That's not entirely possible, Professor." Furrowing her brow, McGonagall moved to take the letter, and Ginny pulled it away. "We're on Dumbledore's orders, Professor, as members of the Order. He told us not to tell you what we're doing, but I need to get this letter to someone who can prepare a safehouse for us. I think my parents' mail is being taken."
McGonagall sat silent for a long moment, clearly struggling within herself. Then, mechanically, she held her hand out for the letter. "Very well, Miss Weasley, Aberforth will be able to contact your brother Bill, and he shall make sure it arrives in the right hands."
The whole conversation lasted less than five minutes, but Ginny and Luna ran for their next class with the sensation of an enormous burden having been lessened. That feeling evaporated when Alecto interrupted their class.
"Need the Head Girl," she spat, though Binns hardly paused his monotone discourse to note that someone was at the door. He continued speaking until Alecto snarled, "Come on, girl," and the ghost started, finally looking at the other professor with some offense. Shakily, Luna rose to her feet and left the class. Befuddled, Binns took up his lesson once more, but Ginny's mind was no longer there.
Luna did not appear even after classes ended, and Ginny truly started to worry. Could someone have overheard their conversation with McGonagall? But if that were the case, why would Snape take only Luna?
Ginny got to the Great Hall for dinner early, glancing around for Luna. She was not at the Ravenclaw table. Strangely, none of the teachers were at the Head Table yet either.
Almost the entire school was seated without food by the time Snape swept through the doors of the Great Hall, the Carrows and the Heads of House at his heels. Behind them were Harper and Luna, and one glance at Luna's face chilled Ginny to her bones. What was happening?
Voices rose around Ginny as she reached for her wand in her pocket, ready for flight. Harper and Luna stopped just below the Head Table as Snape took his place, and Luna found Ginny in the crowd, face white.
"Silence," sneered Snape, remaining standing as his staff sat in their places. The Hall quieted as his lip curled looking out over them, and he drew out the silence until it was absolute.
"The task given this school by the Ministry of Magic has been, and always will be, the magical education of Britain's young witches and wizards. Despite the unfortunate circumstances that have plagued this year, the education of our students remains our highest priority."
Unfortunate circumstances? Ginny's hand tightened on her wand. How dare he—
"After careful consideration of the results of our evaluations following my appointment as Headmaster, the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic has decided to postpone end-of-term exams, as well as the O.W.L and N.E.W.T. examinations." His voice rose, disallowing the school to begin talking over him, and Ginny's world spun out from under her. "As such, the school year is to be extended. In two weeks' time, any Pureblood and Half-Blood students who so desire may return home for a two week summer holiday. Muggle-born students will be required to stay at Hogwarts during this time to satisfy new requirements from the Muggle-born Registration Committee. All students will then report back to school for a summer session. This session is mandatory for all students and will culminate with the aforementioned exams."
"Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. Your families will be informed. You may speak to your Heads of House for further details."
Bloody hell.
Bloody hell.