Oh," said the shadowing figure in a high cold voice, with mock pain, as if deeply hurt, though VERY obviously faking, "Ginny, dear. Don't look at me that way. You used too look at your dear Tom so fondly . . . Almost lovingly," said the man, sneering wickedly. Ginny scowled even more deeply, the utmost loathing possible to a mortal etched in every line in her face, his taunts still echoing in her ears as if he had yelled them. Her gaze left her tall, skeletally thin, white as death, and scarlet eyed captor to examine her own hands that were in her lap, thinking over the day's earlier events.

The day had started out so normally. She never expected that things could go so wrong so quickly. She had only been going out with Harry Potter for a couple of weeks now, but the Dark Lord's last informant at Hogwarts (what with Professor Snape and Draco fleeing, and Barty Crouch Jr. having been gone for over two years) had been quick to notice, and even more quick to tell her master. The Dark Lord had obviously wasted no time in formulating a plan to draw Harry in, for he, Harry, had planned on biding his time for a while. But the Dark Lord had no time for games or waiting. He wanted to end this quickly, and efficiently. Harry knew where to look, and now, he also had a reason to. She wondered however, had Harry even noticed she was gone yet? Or had anyone noticed for that matter? It wouldn't be like she blamed them. She probably wouldn't have noticed either, what with all that was going on.

Ginny had woken that summer morning to the sun shining brightly and birds singing outside, just like any other morning. That morning was particularly exciting however. Later that afternoon, Bill and Fleur were getting married, and when Ginny went downstairs for breakfast, still in her pajamas, she found the kitchen full of people and excitement. Mrs. Weasley was nearly beside herself with the thoughts of what all had to be done, plus fetching breakfast for Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Charlie, Harry, Hermione, Mr. Weasley, and a few other friends and family that had already arrived. The tiny house had been packed with relatives from out of town for days, squeezing as many people into the rooms as possible. Luckily most everyone was pitching in to help however, and most of the preparations had gone without a hitch. MANY seats and an alter were already set up out in their spacious front garden, and a large tent with several tables were already set up around the back. There was no where near enough room in the kitchen for everyone to be in there, so tables had been set up outside of the kitchen on the side of the house where everyone who wasn't helping Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen was already gathered. Ginny took an empty seat between Hermione and Harry and accross from Ron. The sun was shining cheerily down on all of the happy, care-free people, there were almost no clouds in the bright blue sky, and the ones that were were white, puffy, and pillow-like.

Morning," Harry said cheerfully, as Ginny sat down, and leaned over slightly, and kissed her on the cheek. She turned slightly red, but had long since gotten used to it, and wasn't bothered.

Morning," she replied, then said, "Morning all," to everyone else who wasn't busy in their own conversations.

When breakfast was finally over, and Ginny had helped her mother clean and stow the dishes, she hurried back upstairs to get ready, putting on the best dress robes that the poor family could afford, though they were in considerably better shape now that all the Weasley boys except for Ron had VERY well paying jobs. When she returned downstairs she found most everyone else also ready and more guests had arrived, and were out on the lawn talking, as there was not enough room in that little house.

You look beautiful," said a voice behind her, and Ginny actually did turn red as she turned and faced Harry in his dress robes.

Thank you," she said smiling, still quite red.

Finally, after a very long while, everyone was finally ushered to their seats, and the ceremony began. As soon as it was finished, everyone was dismissed to the back yards for the reception, though most of the people actually staying at the Weasley house hold went back it to change out of their nicer clothes so that they would not get too messy, and to better enjoy themselves in more comfortable clothes, but they were by no means shabby clothes, still almost as dressy, but more comfortable, and Ginny was no exception. When she was upstairs in her room however, Arnold, the Pygmy puff, had hopped around and made noise to get attention from Ginny. Ginny assumed that he didn't like being left alone all day, and, hearing the excitement outside, wanted to come out too, and thought nothing of it, and took him with her back outside.

The party went on all after noon, and it was long after dark before people even started leaving, though that was only a few people who had to leave in the morning and wanted to get some sleep. Most of the guests weren't even near ready to leave, as Bill and Charlie were entertaining them all with stories of ancient Egyptian tombs and Dragons, Fred and George with jokes, pranks, and products, and not to mention the simple enjoyment of so much good company. No one would be quick to leave such a happy occasion, especially in light of recent events, making reasons for happiness few and far between.

Ginny was sitting with a small crowd of people at a table, listening to one of Fred and George's latest stories, and playing with Arnold, when suddenly, he lept from her hands, and began to scurry accross the ground and away between people's feet. Ginny smiled, thinking he was just playing, and stood up quietly without bothering anyone, and went after him.

Arnold!" she called after him, "Come back here!" Usually he would have turned and came back when she called, but he continued running as if he had not heard her.

Arnold!" she said more sternly, "Come BACK here!" but he still did not listen, hurrying along between the shrubs that marked the edge of the garden and back into the small woods behind their house. Finally he stopped in the clearing where the Weasley children used to play Quidditch, and turned to face her, smiling shrewdly.

Arnold," Ginny said, scooping to pick him up, "What's gotten into you?" She turned around to head back to the house, the bright lights in the tent and happy voices still close enough to see and hear slightly, when she heard another scurrying sound behind her. She wheeled around quickly, feeling slightly nervous, now realizing just how far away this was to be at night, and in these times, especially in a large crowd when you're less likely to be missed. Panic slowly gripped her, and she wanted to run back as fast as she could, but found herself stuck facing the direction the sound had come from, and only backing away slowly. She heard the sound again, and there was a rustle of bushes in front of her. A large grey rat emerged from the bushes, and looked up at her, actually smirking. Ginny let out a shriek, and yelled, "Scabbers!" out of force of habit, but of course knew that wasn't his real name. The rat's smirk turned into a wicked grin, there was a flash of light, and Ginny knew no more.

There was a glint of gold above her in the blackness

. . . was it the Snitch?

She reached a hand out to grab it, but her arm felt like led, and didn't go far.

No . . . there were two . . . WAS it the Snitch, or even two? . . . No . . . It was a reflection . . . of fire . . . in something, or somethingS, red . . . Where they eyes? . . . They couldn't be . . . eyes weren't red . . . and DEFINITELY not that cold. No eyes could be that cold . . . or red . . . could they?

Her hand was still outstretched slightly, when she felt what she could only assume was a hand catch it, but she had never felt a hand so cold and bony. It sent a spasm of fear shuddering down her spine, and she struggled to focus her vision to see what was happening. Just then, all hope of focusing her mind faded into blissful emptiness. She wasn't afraid, or worried, or ANYTHING for that matter. Her mind was completely and happily blank. She heard a voice through the mist of her foggily empty mind speak, and any focus she had vision wise swam so that only the eyes remained, as she decided that's definitely what they were.

Go back to sleep," said the voice. It sounded cold and eerie, but layered thickly with magic, making it strangely beautiful and impossible to resist, especially with those fathomless eyes, looking endlessly back. It felt like they were completely engulfing. You could drown in those eyes if you were not careful. "Go back to sleep," it repeated, "There is no need to wake yet. Rest. Enjoy an empty mind for now . . . You'll wish it had lasted longer soon." Ginny nodded and let her arm go limp as the hand released it, and it fell back to her side.

Yes," she murmured, "Rest . . . That sounds good . . ." The face hidden in shadow that the red eyes were attached to seemed to nod encouragingly, and they slowly faded, making the blackness complete.

What seemed to be a moment later, though it was impossible to say how long it actually was, her consciousness seemed to be stirring again.

Was it a dream? . . . No . . . a nightmare? . . . or perhaps . . . a memory? . . . No . . . Both. It was definitely a nightmare, and it seemed like a memory too . . . but it is hard to tell for sure . . .

Ginny could see herself seated at the desk in her room, but she couldn't be any more than ten or eleven there. Yes. She was definitely eleven. She was writing in a small black book that had small gold letters on the front in the bottom right corner. She couldn't QUITE remember what that meant, but it wasn't good, and it gave her a feeling of dread. Then her memory seemed to speed up, as if watching in fast forward, until once again she was writing in the book again. This continued to happen until she had seen all of her memories of her writing in the book at the Burrow, and into Hogwarts. By Halloween she had seen herself even be possessed by a boy that came from the diary, attack a cat, and write a threatening message on a wall in red, blood-like paint. And things got steadily worse from there as she lost control more and more often, attacked other students, and finally was trapped in a dark chamber with a huge snake-like monster and a tall, thin, pale boy with black hair. Then, she blacked out again.

Again what seemed like a moment later, though it could have been any amount of time, Ginny slowly began to come around again, this time more quickly and completely. She gasped audibly as she suddenly remembered being in the woods, seeing Wormtail, those horrifying red eyes, and the terrible memories of the Chamber of Secrets and Tom Riddle. She gasped again as she took in her surroundings, and realized as well that she had an agonizing head ache. She was in an unfamiliar room, sitting in a large and very old arm chair side ways as if laid accross it, with a rotting hearth rug and fire burning slowly and quietly in a huge fire place before her. The walls were lined with shelves that where full to bursting with books except for one place in the wall that held a -blocked- She started to read some titles curiously from where she sat, trying to over come her panic, and relax to figure out what was going on. Reading the titles of these books was the wrong way to go about this however, as MOST of the titles were sinister and/or grotesque, or else in a strange and unfamiliar language, so she quickly stopped, feeling slightly sick now. She leaned around the side of the arm chair to examine the rest of the room, spotting still more shelves with books, a large and very old piano, and - She screamed at the top of her lungs. A HUGE snake had been curled up on a rug, but had now raised its head to look at her, and uncurled itself, coming slowly closer, its red eyes looking carefully at her, and the fire dancing off of it's diamond patterned scales. She froze with horror and pulled her legs up so that her chin was on top of her knees, trying to stay as far away from the snake as possible, and shield her body from it. She assumed instantly that this MUST be the snake that had attacked her father about a year ago, and Harry had told her was in the grave yard the night the Dark Lord came back almost two years ago. It was so huge and eerily unique looking, she couldn't see how it could possibly be any other snake. A door in the far corner of the room opened and two people looked in. She recognized one to be Wormtail, the short, chubby, balding, and grubby rat-like man, and knew the other from her wanted posters and picture in the paper. She was a tall, thin, pale woman with long black hair and a slightly crazed look about her. She was the shadow of beauty, as she had once been very pretty, but Azkaban had robbed her of this. Ginny had seen one picture of this heavily lidded, and snobbish before she had been to Azkaban at the head quarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and had had to try to escape from her and a few other Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, and knew her to be Bellatrix Lestrange. Ginny's eyes widened with horror and she gave a sharp intake of breath. Bella left the door way, but Wormtail came inside.

So. You're awake are you?" he asked, and it looked as though there was a shadow of genuine concern on his face and in his voice for a moment, "What happened?" Ginny scowled at him, HATING him.

Nothing," she snapped, "That great bloody snake just startled me," she said coldly.

She comes across that way to most people," Wormtail muttered, looking resentfully at the snake, who glared back up at him.

Great bloody snake?" said another voice that was high, cold, and made Ginny shudder with spasms of horror for a moment. "That's not very nice. You ought to be a little more polite when speaking about something that could kill you in so many different ways. Not to mention when you are a guest in another's house." Ginny chanced it to look around the side of the arm chair, though fearing what she would see. Peter had jumped about as high as Ginny had, if not higher, and now had no trace of concern, not for Ginny anyway, though she wasn't sure he had had it in the first place. Bella had come back, and come in, but this wasn't what made Ginny gasp again and turn quickly to face forward in the arm chair. The Dark Lord himself had entered the room, but she knew a voice like that couldn't have been anyone else, so she hadn't been surprised when she saw him, but she was still horrified all the same.

I believe you know Wormtail and Bella already," he continued, walking slowly up to the back of the chair, sending goose bumps all over Ginny, knowing he was right behind her, and also knowing it was he who had done what she could only assume was the imperious curse on her, though to do what was anyone's guess. As if hearing this thought aloud, Voldemort spoke again.

I have taken the liberty of viewing your memories of when you found my diary four years ago," he said, with a hint of very grim amusement, "Lucius," he continued, sneering, though a vein pulsed in his temple at the thought of the man and the incident, "was unable to supply adequate details." Ginny was horrified at the thought of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named going through HER memories, shuddering to think what other things he could have seen. Not just embarrassing things she wouldn't want ANYONE to see either, but things that could hurt her or, more importantly, those she cared about. Voldemort hesitated a moment, then continued, confirming her worst fears.

I also questioned you extensively about Mr. Potter, and other related subjects. You sang like a bird," he said, smirking. Ginny was disgusted with herself, feeling filthy for betraying Harry and who knew who else. Though she knew no one would blame her for it, she felt miserable for it all the same.

Do you know why you are here?" Voldemort asked suddenly, though not quickly. Ginny shook her head quickly a few times. Voldemort's eyes narrowed, not believing her, but smirking with amusement all the same. Bella too was smirking broadly. She LOVED watching her master do what he did best, intimidate, humiliate, and eliminate, as long of course she wasn't the victim. Wormtail on the other hand was edging towards the door with a look of longing on his face that said clearly he wished desperately he was anywhere else at the moment.

Guess," Voldemort said quietly, still smirking and leaning a little closer. Ginny shuddered, feeling him draw closer, but still staring into the fire.

I don't know," she insisted, "To question me? Now you're done, you'll have your gloat, and then you'll kill me," she said, more bravely than she felt, now glaring rebelliously at the fire, instead of staring at it.

Do not lie, to Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort ALWAYS knows when people are lying," he said, sounding testy, but humoring her, playing along, trying to make it interesting enough to engage his attention fully, "You know exactly why you are here." Ginny shuddered again. She DID know. She had figured it out shortly after coming round. She had wondered when he said he had seen her memories and questioned her if she was wrong and that was all he had wanted, but it seemed her first thought had been the correct one. She knew, but she now insisted on staying stubbornly silent, NOT wanting to play this stupid little game, and continued to glare at the fire.

You are here," the Dark Lord continued, ignoring the fact she wasn't playing along anymore and pressing on with the necessary villain monologue anyway, "Because a little snake told me," he said, changing the original phrase to suit him better. Cutesy things like 'a little birdie told me' was not how he worked. "that you are in love with Mr. Potter . . ." He said the word love with the utmost revulsion, but continued to smirk, enjoying the absolute power he had over the moment. " . . . and what's more . . . he loves you back." He was utterly disgusted by this, but was glad for something to use to his advantage, as usual. Harry had been afraid of this, but Ginny had reassured him that it would be alright, as the only time they ever showed they were going out was at Hogwarts which was now, to their knowledge, void of any spies as Draco and Severus were now gone, and then at the Burrow, but surely there would be no spies there. She was completely shocked that he found out about it, and figured that he may not just have been being clever when he said a snake told him, even if it wasn't likely.

You will remain here," Voldemort continued coldly after letting her brew in her thoughts for a moment, "until Harry comes to save you, and he WILL come, and at such time you may leave, or be killed." Ginny looked slightly confused.

Why wouldn't you just kill me anyway?" she asked suspiciously, swallowing her fear and thinking that he may have some other sinister plot in mind that needed her alive, but she wanted no part of it if that was true.

Voldemort sneered then said, pretending to look slightly shocked and hurt, and even a little sympathetic, "Why would I kill you, Ginny dear? You've been so helpful. As long as you follow instructions and leave as soon as Mr. Potter gets here, there is no reason you couldn't walk away from this unscathed.

Ginny glared, loathing Voldemort with every fiber of her being.

And what, makes you think I'll cooperate? I would never leave Harry to fight you alone. Especially if he's here because of me in the first place." Voldemort smiled and shrugged.

Well that's your decision," he said coolly, "It is no skin off of my nose. I won't lose any sleep over killing you." Ginny had a sudden fleeting thought almost completely off of the subject, and she figured that that may sometimes happen when you're scared. "He doesn't look like he could afford to lose any skin off of his nose," she had thought, noticing his oddly snake-like nose and that if he lost anything off of it, there would be nothing left at all. She shook herself mentally focusing again as best she could.

Bella, Wormtail," Voldemort said turning his head to look at them, "Go make sure that the final preparations are completed for Mr. Potter's arrival," he ordered, smirking wickedly. Bella too smiled eagerly in a sort of furious confidence and determination, and she and Wormtail bowed quickly and left. Another spasm of horror crossed through Ginny at the thought of now being alone with Voldemort and his giant snake, but there was nothing she could do about it now. For a moment, Voldemort said nothing, then scowled and said coldly,

If you're feeling better, get out of my chair.