The Black Lake Chapter 9, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: From here on out, chapters are going to be much MUCH shorter. I don't prefer it that way but that's about all I can handle right now, and I don't want to abandon this fic. The long (for me) chapters were becoming discouraging and difficult when I have so little time to write. They were also causing my updates to occur much less frequently than I would like. Thank you Gin110881 for your help!

The Black Lake

Chapter 9

When Harry had watched his Godfather fall, it had felt like something jagged had pierced his heart, like shrapnel tearing through flesh. The gash had left behind a bleeding, consuming ache. In the weeks afterward, it became chronic, leaving behind a web of scars.

In time the scars grew stronger, and the torn tissues found strength and renewal- but forever weakened, never to be the same. The ache lessened but never left. There were still rough, uneven parts of his heart that remained stubbornly unhealed.

But Íde - Ginny- right at this moment, she held his heart in her hands. The distorted, broken thing from a lifetime of hardships. He should be afraid- be terrified- of the vulnerability, of laying himself utterly bare to her, but he was not. Because sitting in the frigid lake water, holding her as she cried, he felt her warm hands encasing his heart, so gentle in their touch. All the hours spent talking with her in the sunlit days, the gentle glow of their evenings in the grotto, were moments where her gentle hands smoothed away the sharp edges of what he held inside. And if she was afraid of cutting herself in the process, she didn't show it, because she always had come back to him. She had come back again, and it wasn't until her absence that he knew with every cell in his body that they were not meant to be apart.

He wondered if perhaps somewhere deep in the Department of Mysteries lay a prophecy unnoticed or unacknowledged, where he was meant to find this girl and she was meant to heal his soul, meant to give him purpose when he had been drowning. Because he felt that to be so bound and tethered to someone must be written in the stars somehow.

He didn't know how long he held her for, but her shuddering sobs subsided, and he had recast the warming charm on himself and the water around him, if only to stay in the water with her a few more moments. She clung tightly to him, sniffling. He had to fight the sudden urge to shake her shoulders and demand to know what the hell had happened, and why she had been gone so long. But she broke the silence before he had the chance.

"I remember you," she breathed softly against him.

His breath hitched in his chest. What did she remember? Gently, he pulled back from her embrace. He smoothed a lock of hair away from her tear-stained face. Her eyes fluttered closed and she seemed to be trying to calm her breathing. He tilted her chin up to look at him. "Tell me."

"I saw you that night."

His brows raised. Had she not been so close to him, he wouldn't have heard her words. Her face had become so familiar to him. Dark eyes. Red hair. Had they ever not known each other? And the somewhat blank, unreadable look that had been present since they had met seemed to be falling away. Looking into her eyes he could see something deeper, something more. "That night?"

She licked her lip nervously. "The night of the Battle."

The night of the Battle... the night it all ended and then began again. The Day.

"You remember?" His throat clogged, and he tried to ignore the memories as they began to claw their way in. She opened her mouth as if to answer him, but a small cry left her lips and she grimaced as if in pain, a hand flying to her temple.

"What is it?" He asked softly, his demands forgotten and his impatience giving way to concern.

Her brow furrowed a bit as she sucked in a small breath, but she gave a small shake of her head in response to his worry. "I'm alright. I'm fine."

A flash of green light and Harry nearly doubled over in pain. A high-pitched laugh reverberated through his aching skull. A hissing noise escaped his lips. Sirius was shaking his shoulders. Harry was brushing away the caring hands. I'm fine. I'm fine. He always said he was fine. Otherwise, Sirius would only worry. But it had never been this bad, and then the Death Eaters had found them. And then Sirius was dead but so was the Dark Lord and the Healers at the hospital kept pestering him and he was fine, he was fine...

Harry swallowed, a wave of grief coursing through him. He shook away the thoughts. She must have seen the flash of pain in his eyes or felt it when his hands clenched tightly to her.

Her dark eyes were warm on his, but there was a deep pain echoing inside them. What had happened to her down there? She touched his cheek. "I-I have so much to tell you."

Harry held his breath. For several moments, the two just looked at one another. He wanted to hear every word, every detail. He wanted it desperately, but she seemed either unwilling or unable to form more words. Her eyes roved his face, and she suddenly looked miserable. Harry could feel her trembling beneath his hands. "Hey," he soothed, pulling her to him. "It's alright."

Two bruised and wounded souls suspended in time, two shattered hearts heavy with painful memories. The rough, uneven parts of him were seeking comfort in the rough, uneven parts of her. His forehead met hers, and he breathed her in, selfishly seeking as much comfort as she could give.

The Queen and the Shaman stood nearby. They were stoic and unreadable, towering above her like stone sentinels. She knelt before a stone altar. Her heart was thrumming, and her hands were clutched around the pearl she wore around her neck. They had told her to wait, but she refused. She couldn't wait a moment longer. Those first days were agony as the veil continued to lift, her body wracked with fever dreams, her fractured mind struggling to right itself.

They warned her that this would be worse. Much worse. The pain she had felt from a few faint thoughts and memories she had obtained was nothing compared to what she would go through now. But the thought of waiting one more day- or even one more hour- seemed just as terrible.

She thrust her hand away from her neck, tearing the Keshi Pearl away from her throat, breaking the clasp. Holding it out in front of her, she gently lay it on the altar. The Queen and the Shaman began to chant- a whisper of incantations in their most ancient language. Their eyes went wide and blank and began to glow, and as they did the necklace hummed with magic. Ide clasped the rock in her hands, lifting it above the pearl. The chanting stopped, and Íde hesitated. She looked to the Queen, eyes no longer glowing. The Queen gave her a simple nod. Steeling herself, Ide plunged the rock downward onto the pearl. With a piercing crack it shattered into pieces. In the place where the pearl had been, a bright light erupted, blinding her. A shockwave of power slammed into her, exploding into every cell.

Pain.

Her hands flew to her temples as she curled in on herself. Flashes and scenes burst across her consciousness, each one excruciating as it forced its way back in, reconnecting the severed synapses in her mind. She vaguely noticed hands around her, could not make out the murmured words that were spoken. But then-

She was running across the grass-strewn grounds of Hogwarts, as fast as her Quidditch-toned legs would carry her. The school behind her was engulfed in a fierce battle. Spells and screams filled the air in the distance, and rumblings of the stone walls cracking and tumbling down could be felt underneath her feet. Lives and loved ones were being torn asunder left and right. Her entire family was somewhere in that castle fighting, but she did not stop. She could not stop...

Pain.

She clenched her teeth. Another blinding light.

She watched in horror as she saw a tall, wizened wizard struck down. Dumbledore. A snake-like man full of darkness and distortion opened his mouth, beckoning her forward.

Ginevra...

A group of men with red hair were dragging her away, trying desperately to hide her. One of them fell when a blue light struck his arm. "Ron!" She screamed. She reached out to him but was pulled away by the fleeing men. Her brothers. Her family.

Pain.

Another jolt of electricity exploded in her skull and she couldn't help but cry out.

The men were restraining her as she screamed in rage and anguish. In a jet of light, she watched the couple fall. Lifeless eyes stared up at nothing, eyes that a moment ago had looked at her so full of love. Her parents. Limp in her brothers' arms, she felt as if she were dead as well. He might as well have plunged a dagger in her. Her hand moved to her heart, unable to soothe the invisible wound.

Pain.

But it was different this time- it was deeper, more consuming as it ached within her, like a blow to the gut that slowly bled. She much preferred the agony in her head over this. Tears leaked out beneath her closed eyes, lost to the waters of the lake. A sob escaped her lips. What had she done? She wanted to end the pain more than anything... but she was also desperate to see more.

She was running. She was waving her wand wildly and shooting sparks as she flew through the castle, ignoring the cries of her family and friends for her to stop. She ran through the doors and out onto the grounds. She had to draw him away before he slaughtered anyone else. She knew he would follow.

Pain.

A tall, dark figure stood directly in front of her. He smiled down at her wickedly, twirling his wand between his fingers. The fingers were white like bone, and unnaturally long. Red, snake-like eyes danced with amusement, and tiny slits for nostrils flared. It was truly a monster and not a man who towered over her.

"Do you want to keep running?" He pointed his wand casually at her. "It was quite entertaining to watch."

She clambered to her feet, wand raised. She would not serve as his amusement. Distraction, yes, but never amusement. Never again.

Pain.

She groaned, clutching her head. It was surely going to split open. Her heartbeat pounded behind her eyes from the pressure.

"Little Ginny Weasley..."

Voldemort.

"But not so little anymore, are you?"

His poisonous words were serpentine and lustful. He was hungry and she was his meal.

"I can't decide which version of you pleases me more. Here you stand- all fire and passion- knowing you will soon breathe your last breath but still ready to challenge me..."

His head tilted to the side as he considered her. "I rather like that other version of you, as well. The little girl who faced Tom Riddle..."

Pain.

The name echoed something inside of her, something that had become lost. Her mind searched for the connection, but it was a wisp of smoke; shapeless and colorless.

"That girl was special. She was so devoted to me, so loyal and..." His smile widened, "Well, she was rather submissive, wasn't she? I quite like that. She would have done almost anything for her dear Tom. He held an enormous amount of power over you, something I feel that in this current form, I couldn't possibly replicate."

Pain.

Her eyes were closed but she was watching, unable to look away from the horror film playing in her mind.

The horrid, snake-like appearance of him began to ripple and disintegrate. Skin melted and sloughed away, revealing a much younger and less pale face. Jet-black hair appeared, along with a handsome nose. His face no longer looked monstrous but bore the features of a teenage boy. Eyes were no longer snake-like but were still cold- framed by dark lashes. He was ethereal and otherworldly...

Harry! No, not Harry. Not even close. The eyes were wrong. The face was wrong. Everything was wrong. Harry wasn't a monster.

He smiled in satisfaction like he had just presented her a thoughtful gift.

"That's better, isn't it?"

Feathers.

Bloody hands.

A caressing voice that whispered to her in the night...

Pain.

"No," she moaned.

She was drowning.

Hands squeezed around her neck, holding her beneath the frigid water as she struggled. Her muscles contracted violently to the cold. His cold, pale hands were like stone. It was dark and so cold and she couldn't BREATHE-

Pain.

She coughed and sputtered. Her robes clung to her flailing body.

"There are so many ways to kill you, little Ginny... so many ways to make you suffer." He contemplated her with a leer, a wolfish grin sliding onto his face. "You have shown yourself a capable vessel in the past, and I'm not sure I want to waste such an opportunity."

"No," she choked, her voice hoarse and strained. "I'll kill myself first."

Pain.

"No, no more..."

Something lit a hunger in his eyes- He was looking towards the castle, at a figure who was standing on the hill.

It was Tom Riddle on the hill- except it wasn't. This boy wore glasses and she could barely make out a pair of striking eyes beneath the dark hair. A jet of green light flew towards the figure, who disappeared into the brush.

Tom looked down at her. "I've got a guest to greet, little one." He looked excited. Exhilarated.

"Wait for me here, won't you?"

Tom's wand began glowing.

Pain.

"No- No, don't!"

"Be a good girl, Ginny Weasley."

Flashes of light striking her. Clothes being torn away from her body. Her cries echoing in the night. Water lapping up around her.

"Be a good girl and hide in the lake for me."

Her legs on fire. Her throat parched.

Her body slid into the water. It wasn't so cold anymore. Thoughts and worry seeped out of her mind. The water was up to her neck now. The golden ribbon of light grew tighter around her. Enveloping her within its threads, it lit brightly before soaking into her body...

Her body was no longer human.

A Mermaid tail.

"Wait for me in the lake. Do not come until I call."

Pain.

She writhed and thrashed. Her nails dug into her flesh, breaking skin until strong hands pried them away.

Wait for me.

She was sinking, sinking, sinking.

Swallowed up by the lake. Doomed to wait.

Memories floating away in the cold waters.

Her numb mind and body could still feel despair, and oh god did she FEEL it.

Alone and crying in the great watery darkness.

Waiting and waiting, for so very long.

Waiting for a rescue that never came.

Lost at the bottom of the Black Lake.

Pain.

"No!"

A gut-wrenching wail escaped her lips. The pain- the despair- it was in her bones. It was in her soul. Her sobs shook her entire body as she lay curled up on the lake floor. She had truly been lost. Everything she had ever loved had disappeared that night. Her brothers, her parents... her mind, her identity... an entire life LOST.

He had taken everything. He had taken it all.

The images swirled in her pounding head. The pain was unrelenting, squeezing and suffocating her. She could breathe under the water but she was drowning. She could feel the lake bottom but she was sinking. The grief welled up inside her, combining with her pain in a sadistic dance within her. She only barely recognized the touch of a hand resting gently on her hair.

"Please," she begged, "make it stop. It hurts too much."

The Queen's hand stroked her hair, motions tender. "The pain will pass. You must be strong."

She felt her head being moved onto the lap of the Queen. Vision still blinded by pain, she focused on the soothing, grounding touch of the Mermaid.

"What did you see, little one?" The Queen's voice was low and laced with emotion.

She curled into the loving hands, eyes clenched shut. The relentless ache in her head began to dull. Words were failing her as she took in shuddering breaths. The images and memories began to slow their carousel of blinding colors. They were misaligned but fighting to configure. Her heartbeat echoed through her limbs, and she stilled.

"I had a family," she whispered brokenly.

The Queen's hand slowed, resting on her head. "Tell me."

She allowed the silence to soothe her for a moment, allowed the stillness to press around her. She finally dared open her eyes, blinking as more tears were lost to the lake. Ahead stood the elderly Shaman, clutching his staff. He stared down at her coldly. She ignored him- couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She drew in a shuddering breath. "I was at the school..." The words didn't want to flow- coming out stunted and jarring. "I was wearing a uniform, and there were people with me. It was my family. I had brothers and- and parents... I had people that loved me." She took another trembling breath, staring unseeing into the distance. "We were there and- and there was a man... but something was wrong with him. The way he looked was all wrong. Like he wasn't really human. He was calling for me. He wanted to hurt me. We were running from him, and my family... they were trying to protect me. They- they died trying to save me. All of them." She sat up suddenly and turned to the Queen. She wrapped her hands around the arm of the regal Mermaid, skin cold and green. "Why?" She demanded (or was she begging?) "How could they just die like that? Why would they do that? They should have- they should have just run away. They should have just given me up and been done with it. It wouldn't have made any bloody difference, would it? They didn't need to die, not like that. And what was the point? I'm lost. I'm alone. They're all gone. Why would they just- just LET him kill them?" Her last words were choked out in grief and anger. The wracking sobs returned. How much fuller would the lake be now, when her pointless tears were refusing to stop?

The Queen again began her soothing touch. "They loved you, little one."

Her heart clenched at the words. Loved. She had had a family that loved her. Loved her enough to die for her. But didn't they know how broken she would feel, knowing they were gone? The chasm that would break within her at the loss? And... and there were so many things she still didn't understand. The scenes began replaying again in her mind.

"He chased me to the Lake," she said softly, eyes downcast. "All the sudden he looked younger and more normal. But he still felt just as wrong as before. We fought and he pushed me under the water. He cast some sort of spell and... and then I was a Mermaid. It was like something was pulling me into the water. Pulling me under. He told me... he told me to wait for him. And I did. I waited. I waited for so long, and no one came for me except you. And when you came, I had already forgotten everything. I'd forgotten my entire life. I'd lost it all." She covered her face with her hands as she was once again overcome and allowed the Queen to wrap her arms around her in an embrace.

"What did he want with me?" The redhead's voice was hollow. "Why kill them?"

She felt the Queen sigh. "I wish I knew. I wish I could tell you so many things. I wish I could give you more than just the memories of this one night. The veil on your mind was far too heavy, I worried I would salvage nothing at all." She moved a floating lock of hair away from the girl's face. "I know there is much that is still unanswered. I know you are still greatly troubled."

The young Mermaid averted her gaze. Perhaps this taste of her past had been a mistake after all. The mystery would never be solved, the stone that caused the ripples of events never to be found.

Why?

Why had she been allowed to go on? Why did she live? How very cruel to find out she had a family, only to have them wrenched away from her. She sagged in the Queen's embrace. "He may as well have drowned me that night. That would have been more merciful, wouldn't it? I mean, the way things are now, it's as if he's destroyed me twice."

"And yet he has not."

Queen Merneith broke through her sinking misery, holding her firmly by the shoulders. "Your soul was not lost that night. Your memories, yes, but not your essence. You lived on. You persisted- through many horrible things I could never hope to understand." Her piercing gaze softened, becoming sad. "Can you truly find no reason to persist through this as well?"

The young Mermaid's heart clenched in shame. Of course, the curse on the Merpeople. She was the key to ending their destruction. She would help- of course she would help. And she could ask Harry-

Harry! He was right about everything. She needed to talk to him, needed to see him. It felt imperative that she go right away to find him. She opened her mouth to say as much when she was overcome with a wave of exhaustion and wavered, blackness dotting the edges of her vision.

"Little one, you need more rest. Give your mind more time to heal itself."

She blinked in and out of consciousness. She felt herself being carried. Something soft was beneath her. "Harry..." she murmured sleepily.

"Hush, now, Íde. You will see him soon."

The redhead's eyes somehow pried themselves open. "Ginny."

Queen Merneith touched her arm. "What was that, my child?"

"Ginny. My name is Ginny." Through her haze of tiredness, she saw the Queen nod at her.

"Alright then. Rest now, Ginny."

Sleep overcame her, and she rested.

Hours later- or perhaps it was days- Ginny's eyes fluttered open. So deep was the fatigue in her bones that she could not lift her head from the soft bed on the lake bottom. Something had awoken her- the sense of someone's presence. She blearily glanced around. The Shaman and Djet stood watching her. Waiting. Eyes cold and still. The Queen was gone.

"What do you want?" She asked, voice heavy. Her heavy eyelids were trying to close once more.

Djet sneered at her. "The girl only wants to sleep. Weak and selfish, when there is much to be done-"

"Djet." The elderly Shaman rose his hand to halt his son. But when he looked down at Ginny, he held no more regard for her than his son. "It is time you hear your destiny."

Her brow furrowed. Destiny? The curse? God, she was so tired...

"I- I thought... Queen Merneith-"

"Never mind the Queen. She has indulged you long enough." The Shaman peered forward, yellow eyes tearing into her. "It is time for you to embrace what you must do. It is time for you to break the curse on the Merpeople."

"I have so much to tell you."

They were holding each other closely. Ginny felt the cold seeping out of her bones, feeling and warmth and sunlight caressing her as she was held by this wonderful boy. This boy who understood her in a way none of the Merpeople could- a boy who had also seen such sorrow and confusion in his own life. A boy in whose eyes reflected a pain so similar to her own. They'd both been burned and were standing in ashes.

He held her close as she told him her fractured and scattered memories of that night. Her words were whispered into his shoulder, his shirt soaked with lake water and her tears that just couldn't seem to stop. He hardly breathed as she spoke, tracing small, comforting circles on the bare skin of her back. The warmth of his hands encouraged the words to keep coming, and a great weight began to be released from inside of her. But as she neared the end of her memory, her throat closed up, the grief cloying up inside her, threatening to drag her down again.

"Why did it have to be this way?" She whispered, gripping onto Harry for dear life. "They're gone and it's all my fault!"

Harry pulled back from her, but she found she couldn't look at him just now. She might completely break if she did. "Ginny," he breathed, wiping her tears with his thumbs, "It isn't your fault. I know it seems like it is, but it just isn't, alright?" She felt his hands on either side of her face, coaxing her to look up at him. She leaned into his touch, her own hands clasping his strong forearms. Then she dared open her eyes. He looked so sad... so concerned and yet his eyes were full of something so warm and beautiful it made her breath catch. She never wanted to look away from him as long as he was looking at her like that.

"I know it hurts," he began again. "I know this pain. I know how it feels to be so broken and lost... like you'll never be whole again..." He swallowed hard and seemed to struggle with his next words. "I know how it feels to lose everything. And I know how it feels to wish that death had been kinder and taken you as well, because being left behind hurts so goddam much." Another tear fell from her dark pain-filled eyes. Her lips trembled as she soaked up every word. His emerald eyes blazed down at her.

"But it wasn't meant to be, Ginny," he said fiercely. "You didn't die. You're here. You're here with me, and..." He moved closer, their noses mere millimeters apart. "And I'm so grateful for that."

Her heart felt full- so full it might burst out of her chest. She threw her arms around him again. Yes. She was here, he was here, and right now being together like this felt so right.

Like it was meant to be.

And she held him closely, seeking as much comfort as he was willing to give.

The Shaman and Djet swam away slowly, leaving a thunderstruck redhead collapsed behind them.

"She is in shock," the Shaman murmured quietly. "That is to be expected."

Djet glanced surreptitiously over his shoulder. "The Queen will not be angry?"

The Shaman stomped his staff angrily into the sand. "The girl should have been told long ago. The Queen knows this. She had her memories from the Keshi pearl. It was time."

"And you think she will agree?"

"The girl is fixated on the surface. She thinks she belongs there. But she cares for the Queen."

"Will that be enough?"

"If not, my son, she will just need to be persuaded."

TBC

A/N: Coming up, Ginny will find out Ron is still alive, and the process of breaking the curse will be fully revealed, among other things. Thanks for reading. Your reviews keep me motivated so please drop me an encouraging word or two!