Possessing the Night

Possessing the Night

By Arianrhod

Ginny lay back with a sigh and stared up at the red velvet canopy above her bed. She was very tired. Tonight had been their final Quidditch practice before their match against Slytherin tomorrow, and it had worn her out. She shuddered - Slytherins always made her think of the chamber and of Tom. Her bed didn't feel as warm and comfortable any more. She could feel herself falling asleep, however. No, she thought, this isn't right. She knew that Tom was here again and she fought him, but sleep was sliding down inexorably, embracing, suffocating...

***

Night-time sharpens,

Heightens each sensation...

That's right, isn't it, Ginny? Yes, you always reacted better when I visited your dreams. You still do. And I needed you to be sharp - you were to be my sword, my lance - to be the weapon I would use to defeat Dumbledore, the Mudbloods and that boy, all in one move.

Darkness stirs and

Wakes imagination...

You were afraid the first time you came to the chamber. I know you don't remember - I made sure of that - but I'll always be able to see you, picking your way down the passage in your pale nightdress with your hair screaming defiance at the shadows, as you were pulled inevitably to me.

Silently the senses

Abandon their defences...

You tried to fight me, but you couldn't. I made you love me, and you love me still. Even if you don't know it and even if you think you love that Potter.

Potter thinks he defeated me; he thinks I can't hurt you any more. But he's wrong, isn't he? You've never told him. He doesn't know that you see me every time a boy smiles at you, and every time a boy is charming or clever. He doesn't understand that I talk to you day and night, or that I leap at you from walls and paintings and books. You were mine, Ginny, and you always will be.

Slowly, gently

Night unfurls its splendour...

It was so gradual, the change from love to hate, that you barely noticed it. Then you saw me for what I was, saw me in all my splendour, and you could barely remember the nice, gentle boy who had sympathised with your troubles. You saw me, and it was too late to escape.

Grasp it, sense it

Tremulous and tender...

It was odd for me to enjoy you, Ginny. At first I thought that cultivating you would be dreadfully dull, but it wasn't. It made me flesh. I can't describe that sweet joy to someone who hasn't spent fifty years as a memory, a spirit. Once again, I could hold and feel. I was nearly alive.

Turn your face away

From the garish light of day,

And I nearly had you, Ginny. If I had got you, you would have joined me, here in the dark. The dark is soft and understanding. The dark will allow you to do what you've always wanted, not force you to its strict principles. Only the darkness can give you freedom.

Turn your thoughts away

From cold unfeeling light -

And listen to

The music of the night...

I know you can hear me. You think you're having a nightmare, because you don't understand that the soul I gave you to replace what you gave me lives on, and it lives within you. I am weak still, but only because you don't listen. Oh Ginny, why don't you listen? I'm not unfeeling like your brothers, I don't tease you. I understand. I listen.

Close your eyes

And surrender to your

Darkest dreams!

That's all you have to do to let me out, Ginny. Do the things you want to do but dare not. The unscrupulous things that would make you soar above your brothers in achievement and success, so that they could no longer treat you like a child. You squash those thoughts as all your Gryffindor classmates do. But you could be better then them, my Ginny. All you need to do is give in, give in to me, to the dark. It would be so easy, like falling back into a bed of feathers after a long day...

Purge your thoughts

Of the life

You knew before!

You won't have to remember betraying your friends, Ginny, because I'd take the memories of their deaths. I wouldn't force you to remember that. Your family's deaths, too: those brothers who tease and patronise you, your mother who never has enough time to share between you all, your father who loves filthy Muggles more than he loves his own daughter. Forget them, Ginny.

Close your eyes,

Let your spirit

Start to soar!

And you'll live

As you've never

Lived before...

Can you feel the freedom? You wouldn't have to answer to anyone but me. No more worrying about what Dumbledore will think of you, or about McGonagall taking off house points. You'll be as free as when you play Quidditch, soaring through the clear air, gliding through the gentle night.

Softly, deftly,

Music shall surround you...

It's so gentle that you don't feel it, Ginny. We used to dance in your dreams when we first met, do you remember? Dance with me now; never stop, never leave me...

Feel it, hear it,

Closing in around you...

There's no escape, Ginny. It gets harder and harder to wake up, doesn't it? One day you won't wake at all, or not as yourself, anyway. We'll wake together and you'll never leave me. It frightens you, I can tell. Don't be frightened, Ginny. You love me, I know you do. You hate me too, but that only makes your attraction more powerful; they are very similar emotions after all.

Open up your mind,

Let your fantasies unwind,

In this darkness which

You know you cannot fight -

The darkness of the music of the night...

Give in, Ginny. Come on... That's right, think of all the things you want. I can get them for you. There's no point fighting because it's pointless, and it's not like you could ever run away from me. Where would you run to? How would you escape what's in your own mind? Where would you be safe from what's in your own soul?

Let your mind

Start a journey through a

Strange new world!

If you helped me, Ginny, the world would be better. No danger, no uncertainty. There would be no Mudbloods to ruin things and no threat of Dark wizards, because I would be master of them all, Dark wizards and Light wizards alike. And you would aid me, because you would be my queen. It is a beautiful world that we would create, my Ginny.

Leave all thoughts

Of the world

You knew before!

You don't like this world much. You hate the impending threats and the uncertainty. Don't waste tears for this world, Ginny. You don't want to be here. You don't belong here.

Let your soul

Take you where you

Long to be!

You should listen to reason, Ginny. Listen to your soul; let it tell you what you should do. I am that soul. Let me lead you. Let me guide you. I can take you to the most wondrous world, Ginny. But you must follow me.

Only then

Can you belong

To me...

You will, Ginny. You will acknowledge your master. You will bow. You belong to me, you always have and you always will. And yet you still fight. Why do you struggle, my Ginny? Am I not handsome? Am I not clever? Am I not charming? Am I not all you need?

Floating, falling,

Sweet intoxication!

It feels good, doesn't it? To fall under my spell again, to fall under my control. So gentle, so right, like a leaf drifting to earth in autumn. No other boy has ever made you feel like this. You can't drown in their presence or fly in their smiles. They can't make you cry with a word or smile with touch. You don't belong to them. You belong to me.

Touch me, trust me

Savour each sensation!

You trusted me once, and you will again. You can't have any other man, Ginny. I won't let you. You'll see me in their eyes and in their smiles. You'll feel me in their kisses and in their touches. I'll have you kill those you think you love, those you think are better than me. Don't you see, Ginny? You are mine, and you mustn't be unfaithful.

Let the dream begin,

Let your darker side give in

To the power of the music that I write -

The power of the music of the night...

You always claimed that you haven't got a darker side, Ginny, but I know you're lying. It's there in everyone, a precarious balance, but in you I can tip the balance. You'll fall, my Ginny. Trust me, you'll fall. Fall for me, for the dark, for yourself.

You alone can make my song take flight-

Help me make the music of the night...

Oh, Ginny, I need you. Remember when you promised to help me in whatever I wanted, because I'd helped you with your worries? Of course you don't remember; I took the memories from you. But you said it, Ginny, you know you did, and a promise is a promise. You'll help me, my Ginny, because you are mine. You belong to me. I am your Master.

***

Ginny forced herself awake. He was right; it was getting increasingly hard to do. She was drenched in cold sweat and was shivering in the night air... Night air? Where was she? Carefully, she took stock of her surroundings: a round tower room with drafty shutters and five red-curtained, four-poster beds. It could have been any Gryffindor dormitory but for the boys asleep in it. She was standing between two beds. To her right slept her brother, to her left slept Harry Potter. Her wand was drawn and it was pointing straight in front of her, she had no way of knowing which boy Tom would have made her curse.

She peered at her brother's sleeping form. He was sprawled almost diagonally across the large bed, one arm flung out so that it dangled over the edge. The slightly frayed cuffs of his paisley pyjamas didn't reach the protruding bones of his wrists, she noticed. He needed new ones. Tom always talked of having her kill her family, and it made her shiver uncontrollably now.

Turning to Harry, she heard his words again. "I'll have you kill those that you think you love, those that you think are is better than me. Don't you see, Ginny? You are mine, and you mustn't be unfaithful." Kill those that you think you love. Not Harry. Of course not Ron, but not Harry either. Her eyes traced his face longingly. They ran across his scar and took in his stubborn frown. Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks as she sank to the floor, crying silently. And the worst part was that Tom was right, because she couldn't escape what was in her mind and her soul. And I'm tired of fighting, she thought. I can't always go on fighting. I'm too tired. One day I'll have to give in. But not yet, she vowed. Not yet.