Ashes to Ashes

The next Saturday, Ginny wandered out by the lake and settled herself against a tree, looking out into the distance. After checking to make sure no one was around, she opened the diary.

She had to raise Tom. It was as simple as that. Tom could control her, and if he made her do the ritual and she fought him, she would likely die. Raising him would also, she hoped, stop the dreams. It was more selfish to let another Voldemort come into being, but he could make her do it. Either way, as she saw it, he won, so it would be best to accept it to make it easier.

'I'm ready to learn,' she wrote without preamble.

'Let me show you,' said Voldemort-of-the-diary.

She wasn't drawn into the diary as she had expected, but fell back against the tree as the knowledge flashed before her eyes. Detachedly, she watched herself do the ritual, aided by dark, shadowy figures, surrounded by candles. She saw the entire thing, and when it was over, opened her eyes, feeling the adrenaline rush. It was not a vision she would easily forget.

'That was amazing,' she wrote after a moment.

'There are some other things you need to know as well,' wrote Tom. 'You must practice anchoring with Snape, and I'm sure Lucius will want to speak with you. The ritual will take place in the Chamber on Halloween.'

She frowned. 'How will I get the Chamber open, though?'

'Obviously, Virginia, I will speak through you.' She could almost see him smirk. 'Or have you forgotten the last time?'

Blushing even though he couldn't see it, she wrote slowly, 'Right.'

'Go talk to Snape now.'

Closing the diary, Ginny sat there for a moment, struck by the knowledge that she was going to do it - she was really going to bring Tom back. After a short pause, she got up and, tucking the diary away, went toward the dungeons, wondering if Snape was there.

It turned out that he was in his office, marking assignments. She knocked, and the door opened with a creak. Snape jerked his head in the general direction of a chair across from his desk; she sat down, bringing out the diary.

There was an awkward moment of silence before he snapped, "Well, what?"

She held up the diary, but didn't hand it to him. "He showed me how to do it," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking nervously. "The ritual. He said to practice anchoring with you."

Snape stared inscrutably at her. "You're going to do it."

Ginny nodded and put the diary down.

"An anchor is someone who links you to this world when you are in the other world," he said slowly, sounding rather surprised that she was there. "There isn't that much you need to know about it, since it is I who will be holding onto you and you will be doing the work. He said to practice? Perhaps I should talk to him."

She frowned, but not seeing any good reason to keep it from him, pushed the diary across the desk. He opened it and wrote, pausing once in awhile while she waited. Finally he closed it and gave it back to her. "We will practice next Saturday. Come down here at nine that evening."

"Okay." She picked the diary up. "Anything else I need to know?"

Snape paused. "What did he tell you about that diary?"

"That it's more powerful than the first and that he obliviated himself after making it, because..." she trailed off at the sight of his eyebrow going up. "What?"

"He lied," said Snape abruptly. "The Order of the Phoenix obliviated him, not himself. He wouldn't, of course, remember."

"What-" gasped Ginny. Tom had lied to her. "Why- who are they?"

"A group of necromancers," Snape said slowly. "They will likely be approaching you. They surely know of your talent and will want to train you as they trained him."

Ginny stared at him, trying to decide if that was a good thing or not. Yet again, her brain was fizzing from the new revelations. She needed more time to think.

"What should I do if that happens?"

Snape stared at her as if she had gone mad. "That's up to you."

"Um," said Ginny. "All right. Thank you." She escaped in a hurry only to walk outside again, dazed, and sat back down against the tree.

First, Tom had lied to her about his obliviation. She knew he lied to her sometimes, but she liked to think it wasn't so. She felt hurt, though; why hadn't he told her it was the Order? Maybe he really was just making it up to save face if he didn't remember.

Snape had said the Order was a group of necromancers that had trained Tom. But why had they done so, and where and when? Tom had said he would train her in necromancy, but if the Order had obliviated him... it sounded as if he had done something wrong. Perhaps they could train her, and get rid of the dreams, too... then she wouldn't have to raise Tom after all.

But she wanted to.

Ginny shuddered involuntarily at the prospect, then realized there was someone next to her. She started to shriek in surprise, but the woman clapped a hand over Ginny's mouth. "Please. I'm not here to hurt you."

Ginny nodded nervously and looked at her. She was a plain-looking woman wearing silky red-brown robes over a brown old-fashioned dress. "Are you from the, uh..." Ginny trailed off.

"The Order of the Phoenix presents its compliments and sends an invitation to you," said the woman formally.

"An invitation?" asked Ginny cautiously.

"The Order wishes to train you rather than have Voldemort do it. He was expelledand obliviated in the middle of his training for becoming too power-hungry. The art is too dangerous to half-learn as he did, which is why he's turned out so badly, and it would be better for all involved if you recieved full training from us."

"What happens if I say yes?"

"You will be trained at night by an agent of ours. If you say no.. the Order will be working against you." The woman's face grew grim.

Ginny wasn't quite sure what that meant, but it was obviously a threat. "Will the - will the diary be destroyed?" she asked, thinking of the dreams plaguing her nights.

"Yes."

"I... I want some time to think about this," she hesitated.

"I will see you again, then." The woman nodded to her and slipped away silently.

Ginny let loose a deep breath she didn't know she had been holding and sat back again, bombarded by questions. How had the woman known who she was? Could she trust the Order? And come to think of it, how had Snape known they would be after her? Maybe he had encountered them before, with Tom... who had been obliviated. No, there was something she was missing.

She was lost in her musings for a few minutes until she noticed Draco swagger up to her. "What, Malfoy?" she snapped, annoyed. What if he had seen the woman?

"I just wanted to let you know," he started smoothly, "that I'm glad you've decided to do it. If you ever need my help, you have but to ask."

She stared at him. This was too much. "How is it that there are no secrets around here?"

An odd look flashed in his eyes for a brief moment. "Oh, but I think you'll find there are... it's a tangled web we weave, hm?" He seemed to be speaking to himself, then shook his head and snapped out of it. "Anyway. I'll be there." He turned around and went away without waiting for an answer.

Ginny groaned. This deal with being visited by people who only revealed parts of secrets and made her think was getting old. For Merlin's sake, who was next? She needed a place where no one would find her, where she could finally think in peace. The solution came to her almost instantly, but she dismissed it just as quickly. Who knew what going back to the Chamber of Secrets might do to her mental health?

'No!' thought Ginny fiercely. 'I don't have any stupid post-traumatic disease, I'll be just fine.' She squared her shoulders, made sure she had the diary, and marched off to the castle, luckily encountering no one.

She took a deep breath at the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and walked in, stopping at the sink that opened into the Chamber. It was unnerving, certainly, but Ginny told herself had nothing to worry about. She took out the diary and let a drop of blood absorb into it by thumbing the knife. Tom appeared almost immediately, looking around. He raised an eyebrow at her inquiringly.

"Open," she ordered Tom, pointing at the sink.

With a great creaking of heavy stone, the entrance opened and she stepped back, astonished. "Did I do that?"

Tom looked thoughtful. "I suppose you did. Some of my powers must have absorbed into you from the last diary. How interesting," he mused. "At one point, we must have been almost one person. Go on, then. Ladder," he hissed.

Stunned, Ginny watched as he was sucked back into the book and a moving staircase appeared down the sides of the tunnel. She lowered herself onto it cautiously, lit up her wand, and, feeling a bit foolish, told the entrance to close, which it did. It had sounded like English...

She wandered about aimlessly for a bit, unconsciously avoiding the hall with the statue of Salazar Slytherin, just thinking about what to do. She hated being interrupted, especially while pondering, and that had happened quite a few times today. Was it all really just coincidence, these chance meetings and revelations, or was there the hand of a higher power in this - the Order of the Phoenix? She wasn't sure.

And now she had two choices, having had none just an hour ago. She could accept the offer of the Order and kill Tom - she shuddered again - or keep going on with Tom's plan and possibly get them both killed. And then, what had Malfoy meant, and how did Snape know so much about the Order? There were obviously a few missing pieces of information, and she didn't know how to get the answers to this puzzle without asking the Order.

Which would mean she would have to abandon Tom. Ginny was full of doubts - would the necromancers really train her correctly, would they be able to get rid of the dreams and the diary once and for all?

Did she really even need this special training? Couldn't she just go on with life as a normal witch and forget all this business?

Arriving at Slytherin's statue, Ginny started shivering and cast the calming spell on herself. It worked, but didn't stop her from staring, horrified, at the site of her almost-death. 'Yeah. Normal. Right. Now what's happened to that British stiff upper lip, Virginia?' she thought. Then, 'It's turned into a snake's tongue.'

She realized that either Tom hadn't known about her new ability before she opened the Chamber, or else he had lied to her again. He had said he would open the Chamber through her, or have him come out using her blood. Why didn't he want her to know about the Parseltongue? What other parts of him were still in her?

Ginny sat down at the base of the statue, cradling her head in her hands, wondering if she should confront Tom about his lying habits, or Snape about the Order. She wished things weren't so black and white: save the Dark Lord or save the rest of the world. But then again, the Order made things a little grayer - they were necromancers, but fighting Voldemort. Either way she was damned, becoming a Death Eater or a necromancer, so why not try to redeem herself by killing Tom once and for all?

Because she couldn't trust the Order. She felt suddenly indignant: they had given her nothing to go on, no reassurance that their way was the truth. When that woman came back, Ginny would question her unmercifully. If they didn't give her a good reason to join them, she would keep on as planned: with Tom.

It was decided for the moment, then. Ginny felt better than she had in awhile.