The Heart Asks Darkness First

CHAPTER ONE - THE HEART ASKS PLEASURE FIRST

The redhead wandered through the corridors, lost in thought. She couldn´t believe she was finally, truly alone. Of course, she should have seen it coming - everyone knew that Ron and Hermione would eventually get it together. And everyone knew how much Harry had liked Cho, so it was hardly surprising when they got together. But even though they had never paid much attention to her, even before now, she had managed to delude herself that she could become part of their group. She shouldn´t have been so foolish as to presume such a thing.

As she kept walking, she thought back to her first year at Hogwarts, where she had made her first and only friend. Circumstance had caused her to lose him, and now she felt herself sorely longing for him to come back - to have just one person who would see her as more than `the Weasleys´ youngest child´.

Turning the corner, she spotted a familiar blond male walking towards the library. Surprisingly, there was no one else with him. An idea suddenly formed in the redhead´s mind and before she knew what she was doing, she had called out "Malfoy!"

The blond boy stopped walking, glanced around a couple of times as though trying to pinpoint the noise then shrugged and continued walking. Normally, this would have been enough for the redhead to give up, but this time she was determined to get what she wanted. Gathering all her courage, she raced up to the boy and grabbed his arm. "Malfoy!"

The Slytherin pulled away as though she had burnt him. "What do you want, Weasel?"

The Gryffindor chose to ignore his manner of address, and uncertain of what to say blurted out "Does your father still have that diary?"

Malfoy gave the girl a confused look. "Diary? What diary?"

"You know, the one that nearly killed me in first year?" Ginny was surprised she was being so forward, but then she was desperate.

Draco shook his head. "I have no idea what you´re talking about." He moved to leave, but Ginny grabbed hold of him. "You do! I know your father gave that diary to me!"

"Will you stop it?!" Draco pulled away from Ginny again. "Look, whatever happened to you that year was nothing to do with me. Father wouldn´t let me get involved, so I have no idea what he may or may not have done."

"You must know something!" There was a pleading tone to Ginny´s voice.

Draco thought for a moment. "I do remember the summer before that school year; Father practically tore the Manor apart trying to find something. But I couldn´t tell you what it was or if he still has it."

"Malfoy, please!" There was no doubt about it - Ginny was now begging. Malfoy seemed amused by this. "Look Weasel, I don´t know why you´re so desperate to find a book that almost got you killed, but this is my father´s business. Not mine."

Ginny took a moment to consider this. "You could write to him and ask him!"

Draco snorted derisively. "Yeah, I can see that happening. `Dear Father, do you happen to have a diary that nearly killed the Weasley girl back in second year? She really wants it back.´ Why are you so desperate for it anyway?"

Ginny replied to her feet. "I miss Tom."

Draco looked at her as though she was mad. "Tom? Who the hell´s he?"

"You should know, considering you´re being conditioned to work for him!" Ginny snapped.

Draco glared at her. "If you mean Voldermort-"

"Of course I do! Well, obviously not current Voldermort. I mean, he wasn´t Voldermort at the time. He was just sixteen..."

Draco sneered. "Oh I get it. You don´t have the Potter dream anymore so you conjure up some guy to replace him. I gotta give you credit Weasel, you´ve got some imagination."

Ginny scowled at him - how dare he belittle her like that? "Well if that´s all you can come up with, I guess I´m gonna have to find my own way to bring him back!"

Draco looked at her, a strange look on his face. "You´re serious, aren´t you Weasel? Well, if you´re determined to go down the Dark path..."

Ginny shot a look at him. "What makes you think I´m gonna-"

All of a sudden, Draco grabbed Ginny by the arm and pulled her into the library. Much as she protested, he only let go when they were in as secluded a part of the room as possible. "What the hell was all that about?"

"Strangely, I didn´t think McGonagall would appreciate hearing us discuss the Dark Arts," Draco hissed. Then, by way of explanation, he added, "Dark magic can only be brought back by Dark magic."

"What do you - oh!" Realisation dawned on Ginny. "Of course. I mean, if he could open the chamber..."

"What?" Draco looked confused.

"He was the one who opened the Chamber the first time. He made that diary so that someone else could continue his work and somehow your father ended up giving it to me." Ginny sighed. "So, I´ve gotta look Dark, huh? Thanks for the tip."

She moved to leave when Draco spoke up, stopping her in her tracks. "The Dark Arts aren´t something you play about with unless you know what you´re doing."

Ginny rounded on him. "Well it´s not like I can ask Ron or Harry or Hermione or someone, is it? And like hell you or Snape would help me."

Draco pretended to look hurt. "Well if you don´t ask..."

"What would there be in it for you that you´d help?" Ginny challenged.

Draco smirked. "Believe me, the satisfaction of seeing a Gryffindor - and a Weasley at that - dabbling in the Dark Arts is more than enough."

"You wouldn´t tell anyone, would you?" Ginny was slowly being persuaded, and Draco knew it. He shook his head. "Your secret´s safe with me."

"Your word´s not enough." Much as she longed to trust Draco, Ginny knew she had to be surer.

Draco sighed. "What do you want Weasel, blood?" He thought for a while then said "If I tell anyone about this, I give you full permission to exact the worst payback you can think of on me - and I´ll even give you hints on how to do it. Satisfied?"

Ginny smiled. "I suppose so. So, what do we have to do?"