The Heart Asks Darkness First

CHAPTER ELEVEN - LOST AND FOUND

An hour later, the trio were sat in Dumbledore´s office along with Snape and a revived Draco. Draco seemed to be looking at the Gryffindors with more hatred than ever, and Snape also looked less than thrilled about the turn of events. Dumbledore finally spoke. "So it seems that at least one Voldermort is dead."

"Taking Narcissa with him." Snape sighed. "I don´t doubt that Lucius is aware of what happened."

Hermione turned to Snape, confused. "Why would killing Voldermort mean killing-"

"She was bound to him, wasn´t she?" Ron spoke with sudden understanding. "Just like Ginny´s bound to Tom."

Snape nodded. "All the while he was forcing Lucius to remain loyal only to him, Voldermort was busy making Narcissa dependant on him."

Draco spoke up, voice trembling. "I shouldn´t have told her how to. I shouldn´t even have helped her bring him back."

"We all learn from our mistakes, Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore spoke in a gentle voice. "I suggest we now put our energy into breaking this bind so that we can vanquish Mr Riddle."

"Can...can´t we wait until morning?" Harry was still trying to come to terms with Cho´s death. "I mean, if there´s nothing else we can do..."

"Mr Potter, you and your friends may go." Dumbledore moved to show them out. "I just need a few more words with Mr Malfoy."

~GW~ ~TR~

The next morning, Ginny arrived at breakfast to see the Hall draped in black. The Ravenclaws were all looking stunned and Harry looked distraught. Sitting down next to him, Ginny asked, "What´s going on?"

"This is your fault." Harry stood almost as soon as Ginny sat down. "If you hadn´t tricked me into getting caught by two Voldermorts, she wouldn´t have had to come and find me."

Without another word he stalked out of the hall. Ron glanced at Hermione before going to follow their friend. Ginny turned to the only remaining member of the Trio. "What does he mean? What happened?"

"Cho´s dead, Ginny. Voldermort - the older one - killed her, and could have killed us all." Hermione stood up. "We tried, Ginny. We tried to make sure you were alright - even Malfoy tried to stop this happening. But you´re too far gone." As the other girl left, Ginny slumped back into her seat. Cho was dead - and all because she had been taken in by a memory. She turned around to look at the Slytherin table - Malfoy seemed almost as distraught as Harry. Surely he wouldn´t care what happened to Harry´s girlfriend? She was interrupted by Lavender and Parvati, who were chatting excitedly amongst themselves. "Still, even though Cho´s dead, so´s Voldermort. Or, from what I hear, one of them." Lavender was saying.

"How do you mean, one of them? There were two Voldermorts?" Parvati sounded amazed.

Lavender nodded. "Apparently someone brought back a younger incarnation of him."

"Why would anyone want to that?"

Ginny couldn´t listen anymore. She stood to leave, but a familiar blond, flanked by his two lackeys, blocked her path to the door. "Leaving so soon, Weasel?"

"What´s it to you?" Ginny challenged.

Malfoy moved closer, leaning in so that only Ginny would hear. "You could be dead now, you know? If anyone decides to kill Tom..."

"How do you mean?" Ginny sounded a little frightened.

Malfoy moved back. "I think you already know."

Motioning to Crabbe and Goyle, the Slytherin left the hall. Ginny waited a few seconds before following, mind whirring. What had he meant by that? She had to get him to tell her...

She stopped abruptly as she heard another familiar voice in the hallway. "Draco, someone´s finally got to him...and her."

"I know." Draco´s voice was small.

"How?"

The younger Malfoy sighed. "I have a lot to tell you Father. You´re not going to like it - but I think you should know."

Ginny kept on walking, not wanting to eavesdrop any further. So Lucius Malfoy was in the school - talking about two dead people. Suddenly, Ginny remembered what Malfoy had said to her before.

"I hope you do end up like Mother. She got caught up in something she couldn´t control as well."

So Malfoy´s mother had been bound to Voldermort? Ginny shuddered as she though of what could have happened. She didn´t know what had happened last night, but now she knew she had to find out.

~GW~ ~TR~

Draco was sat in the sleeping quarters adjoined to Snape´s office. Snape and his father were talking, and both adults had all but ordered Draco to stay out of the way until they wanted to talk to him. He sat thinking about his last face-off with Ginny. `Should I have explained?´ he wondered, before deciding that she could probably work it out for herself.

He was roused from his thoughts by his father entering the room. "Severus has just told me that you helped the Weasleys´ girl to bring back Tom Riddle. Is this true?"

Draco nodded, looking incredibly ashamed. "I know I shouldn´t have."

Lucius sat down next to his son. "Maybe so, but from the sounds of it, she would have looked for a way to do it with or without you. Things could have turned out a lot worse if she´d done it by herself."

"Maybe she wouldn´t have, though." Draco could barely look his father in the eye. "I mean, I was hardly expecting her to go through with it as it was."

Lucius sighed. "Draco, I admit you made a mistake - and I do wish you had shown a bit more aforethought. However, Severus has told me that you have been trying to watch her - and encourage others to watch her - so I think you´ve more than paid."

"Too right he has." Snape´s voice cut in from the doorway. "The state he was in when Hagrid found him..."

"WHAT?!" Lucius stood up forcefully at this. "What happened to him?"

"I went to confront Ginny after...that thing," Draco still couldn´t bring himself to talk about his attack on Snape. "Riddle found me and decided to `punish´ me."

Lucius scowled. "Just wait until I get my hands on him! I´ll kill him!"

"You can´t!" Draco stood, a pleading tone to his voice. "Or you´ll kill her as well."

Lucius turned to fully face his son. "He´s bound to her?"

Draco nodded. In a small voice, he said, "I know I shouldn´t even have told her how to."

"Dumbledore is trying to find a way to break the bind." Snape said. "Until then, there isn´t a lot we can do."

Lucius shot a furious glance at Draco. "You let her bind herself to him? After what happened to your mother?"

Draco bowed his head, unable to reply. Lucius used his cane to tilt his son´s head back up and saw a faint trail of tears flow down the boy´s face. Pulling the cane away, Lucius whispered "I´m sorry, son."

Draco shook his head. "You´re right. I don´t know what possessed me..."

"A desire to make the Weasleys suffer?" Snape knew the Malfoys well enough to know how their minds worked. "You were losing Narcissa to Voldermort, so you thought they should lose someone too."

"I...I..." Draco trailed off, unable to either confirm or deny this.

Lucius sighed. "Perhaps, subconsciously. Still, this is not important right now. We have to work out how to break the bind."

~GW~ ~TR~

Ginny sighed as she made her way to the forest. Much as she had pleaded with the others, none of them would speak to her to tell her what had happened. Seeing no other option, she decided she had to find Tom.

Tom saw her approaching a long way off, but he kept to the shadows. He knew neither of them would want to break their bond, and there was only one way they could stay together. He hated the idea of not having a body - again - but he had done plenty of damage - his name would always be remembered. It was time for someone else to try and take his place.

Ginny reached the usual clearing, and was disappointed to see that there was no sign of her boyfriend. She sighed as she sat on the ground. She hoped he hadn´t deserted her - she felt like a part of her was missing whenever he wasn´t around.

~GW~ ~TR~

Ron shot a nervous glance at his two best friends. Both of them still seemed furious with Ginny, but he felt he should go and find her - after all, she was his sister. Cautiously, he said "I´m...I´m going to see if I can find Ginny."

"I´ll come with you." The anxiety in Hermione´s voice confirmed to Ron that he was not the only worried one. The redheaded boy turned to his other friend. "Harry?"

"You two go. I´m sure you can get through to her." Harry was still staring into the fire. Hermione sighed. "Alright. We´ll be back as soon as we can."

~GW~ ~TR~

Tom edged closer to his target. He wanted to explain to her - but he wasn´t sure she´d accept it. After all, she really was just sixteen - she hadn´t had a chance at a full life, as he had.

Ginny glanced up at a rustling in the bushes. She leapt to her feet, looking hopefully for Tom. She spotted him hiding amongst some bushes and rushed over to him. "Tom!"

`Damn!´ Tom cursed his inability to move quietly. Outwardly, he forced himself to smile. "Ginny! How are you?"

"I´m okay I guess." Ginny sighed. "It´s just...people keep talking about other people dying, and I wondered-"

Tom´s sigh echoed Ginny´s. "Ginny, you do realise that when you bind someone to you, it´s for life?"

Ginny shook her head. "Well, no. But...why should that matter?"

Tom looked away, refusing to meet her eye. "Ginny, I really don´t want to do this to you, but..."

"I get it." Ginny snorted. "You´ve found a way to break the bond, so now you´ve had enough of me you´re just gonna cut me loose."

"That´s not it at all." Tom gently cupped Ginny´s face in his hand. "It´s just that...because we´re bound...if one of us dies-"

"The other dies too." Ginny´s voice was cold. "So is that it? You´re fed up of living, so you´re going to take me with you?"

Tom shook his head. "If we both stay here, the others will find a way to separate us and then kill me. You´ll go back to being the lonely little Weasley. You don´t want that do you?"

Finally, Ginny seemed to get what he was saying. "So...if we both die now...we´ll still be connected somehow?"

"I can´t guarantee that," Tom warned, "but it´s got to be better than the alternative."

~GW~ ~TR~

Ron and Hermione raced through the Forbidden Forest. Hermione had figured that Ginny would run to the only person she thought she had - their problem was now finding them. As they scanned each pathway, Ron suddenly looked up. A flash of green could be seen from down the west path. Terrified, he nudged Hermione. "Is that..?"

Hermione took one look at the flash then raced towards it, Ron following swiftly behind. They ran into the clearing - but it was too late. Two familiar bodies were lying motionless next to each other. Unable to control his rage, Ron kicked at Tom´s corpse. Hermione stood back, knowing it was futile to try and stop him. Eventually, rage gave way to grief as Ron collapsed to the ground in tears. Hermione knelt down next to him and hugged him to her, consoling him as he mourned his lost sister.

~GW~ ~TR~

Snape was racing through the Forest, hoping to find Ginny before it was too late. Dumbledore had managed to find a potion that would break the bind, and so he and Draco had worked as quickly as possible to produce the elixir. The potions master had gone to the Gryffindor common room first, only to be told by Harry that Ron and Hermione were also looking for Ginny. Snape had tried all of the usual student haunts, and had eventually concluded that she must be in the forest.

As he reached the clearing, Snape dropped the potion bottle in shock. The shattering sound it made caused the Gryffindors to look up sharply. Hermione looked at the liquid spilling out onto the ground and whispered, "That was her cure."

"We moved as quickly as we could." Snape cautiously approached the pair of students. "It seems we weren´t quick enough."

Hermione turned to Ron, who seemed to have exhausted his supply of tears. "We should get back. There´s nothing we can do now."

Ron nodded and allowed Hermione to help him to his feet. Snape watched them leave then moved to follow them, allowing himself just one last glance at the fallen Weasley and the person who had been both her best friend and her worst enemy.