The Dark Age

Chapter One

The Beginning of the End

It was a beautiful summer day when everything started. The sun was shining, school had just let out, and all around the world children and teenagers were rejoicing at the newfound freedom the holidays brought.

However, one Virginia Lynn Weasley was not happy at all. More commonly known as Ginny, the attractive red head was storming around her dormitory at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry throwing belongings into her trunk. Whilst most of the students she knew were excitedly packing and getting ready to go home, she was not looking forward to it at all and had waited stubbornly until the last minute to pack.

One of her roommates poked her head in the door. "Are you okay Ginny?" Tamara Pierce asked.

"Bloody wonderful." Ginny replied grouchily.

"Aren’t you excited? The school year is over, no classes for three months."

"No, not really." Ginny replied. She would have been happy, if not for what the end meaning.

Tamara shrugged and headed over to her own carefully packed trunk. "Well, your brother and his friends are downstairs looking for you. Said he wanted to talk to you before they had the ceremony."

"Yeah, well, I don’t really feel like talking to him." Ginny replied.

Tamara gave her a shocked look. "But Ginny, it’s his big day. He is graduating. You are so lucky he is your brother." She got a dreamy look on her face. "He has gotten so handsome."

Ginny made a face. "Well Tam, I would hope you wouldn’t want to be his sister if you are thinking those thoughts. Unless you go for that sort of thing."

"Well jeez, what’s wrong with you." Tamara demanded, a scowl forming on her pretty face. "You don’t have to be rude to me just because you are in a terrible mood." She left the room snippily. "I’ll go tell Ron you are being hateful."

"You do that." Ginny snapped. She knew she wasn’t being very nice, but she didn’t feel like insolent chitchat right now. She tossed a few more things in the trunk and then froze at the sight at the very bottom of her drawer.

She managed to move after a minute and put it gently into her trunk, covering it with a robe. She was done packing. She grudgingly decided to go talk to Ron. She went down the stairs and saw Tamara and Emily Johnson, a fourth year talking to him and Harry.

"Ginny!" Ron called out, looking over at her. "Your little friend said you weren’t going to come down. What are you all mad about?"

Ginny smirked at the upset expression on Tamara’s face at being called her little friend. "I’m fine." Ginny said coolly. "You all look nice." Harry and Ron were wearing dress robes and had their hair neatly combed and Hermione was wearing form fitting pink robes and her hair was up in a fancy twist.

"Well, aren’t you going to even wish me luck?" Ron demanded, sweeping her into a hug. "It’s the last time we’ll go to school together, you’re the only Weasley now."

"I know." Ginny said irritably. "Good luck."

"You’ll be there won’t you?" Hermione asked.

"Of course." Ginny replied. "The whole family will."

The common room started filling up with people at that moment. Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati, and Neville came over to stand near them, all dressed up as well. There were congratulations all around to the seventh years and Ginny quietly slipped away from the crowd and sat in a chair.

She could hear everyone in the background, talking about what they were going to do after the graduation. Ginny didn’t care what they did. They were abandoning her. She would be here next year, completely alone. None of her roommates liked her, they had always been jealous because she was better friends with the older students. For the first time, she would be in school without any of her family. She was furious at Ron for doing this to her. She was also furious with Harry and Hermione for leaving her at school with close to no friends while they went out and got jobs with the Ministry and she only saw them during break. She was plain furious with everyone, and afraid of being alone, no older brothers to protect her or anyone to help her with her homework. No one.

Pretty soon, Professor McGonnagall came in, to send everyone off to the train. Ginny didn’t go, she was staying at school until the graduation ceremony. After several years of traveling back and forth for Percy’s graduation and Fred and George’s, her parents decided to just have her stay this year.

The common room emptied out, all except for the seventh years. Ginny felt like an intruder as they reminisced. Mercifully, they had to leave shortly to get ready for the ceremony. Ginny was alone in the common room now. She sat for a few minutes, staring at the fading fire.

Then she got up and quietly went up to her dorm. It was strange to see it so empty, usually her roommates were up here giggling or talking about something they enjoyed excluding her from. Almost trancelike, she went over to her trunk and pulled away the spare robes and books. She pulled out a bottle of red ink and a quill. Then she took out the diary.

No one knew she still had it. Way back in her second year, she had seen Harry give it back to Lucius Malfoy. He had in turn tossed it in the lake. Ginny, feeling some inane desire had waded in and got it. Of course, it hadn’t even been wet. She had felt an inexplicable urge to keep it. She knew it was dangerous and she planned never to use it again, but she still had to have it. She had been carrying it around for four years now, and she had never tried to use it again. This night was so lonely though, she figured talking to him for a bit couldn’t hurt.

She opened the small book up to the first page. Shakily dipping her quill in the ink, she wrote. Hello.

Hello. Who am I speaking to? My name is Tom Riddle.

Cut the lines Tom, this is Ginny, I know who you are.

Ah, Ginny, you haven’t written to me in ages.

Ginny was not able to stop the lone tear that fell from her eye onto the page.

Crying for me are you? I’m touched.

That isn’t amusing. I trusted you more than anyone else and I told you things not even my family knew. Then you turned out to be using me. How do you think that felt?

Have you ever heard of the Machiavellian Code Ginny?

No.

Well, it is what I live by. The basic understanding of it is: Do what you must, as long as the ends justify the means.

That is very selfish.

I am a selfish person. Are you not selfish also?

Not to the point where I kill people.

No, but you’ve killed animals haven’t you? Strangled those roosters.

Ginny frowned, that was a bad memory for her. Only because you made me. I never would have otherwise.

I didn’t make you do anything. You wanted to trust me, you told me you would do anything for me. And I had you do some tasks for me.

I am going to stop talking to you now. You almost killed me, you don’t care anything about me. I don’t know why I even pulled this thing out again.

But you were not able to throw it out were you? Because you are still drawn to it. It calls to you. I call to you and you will answer.

I will not! Ginny slammed the book shut and forced herself to put it away. She meticulously put the ink and quill back in her trunk also and shut the lid. Composing herself, she stood up and looked at her watch. It was almost time to go, she never knew how but time seemed to lapse when she was talking in the diary.

She changed into her nicer set of Hogwarts robes and ran a brush through her long red hair. She left her trunk upstairs and headed out of the portrait hole. It was eerie to see the school looking so empty. Occasionally she saw a few Hogwarts students pass, seventh years or their families mostly. She went into the Great Hall, where most of the people were. Parvati Patil and Hannah Abbot were greeting people at the doors.

Ginny said hello and went inside, if the rest of the school was empty, the Great Hall was an exception. There were at least two hundred people sitting at the tables and more mingling and talking amongst one another. She saw her family sitting at one of the tables reserved for the Gryffindors. She slid into a seat in between Fred and Charlie.

"Hey Gin." Fred said.

"Hi." She replied, looking up at the front, where the staff usually sat. There were several rows of chairs set up for the students and seats off to the side for the teachers. The ceremony would be starting soon.

Ginny glanced around the room, she saw Hermione’s parents sitting at a table not far away, looking extremely nervous. She realized Harry wouldn’t have any family coming to see him, no one except her family. All of the Weasleys were present and accounted for, her parents, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and herself. She wondered if she would make it through the next year and have everyone at her graduation.

Professor Dumbledore stepped into the room just then, and everyone fell silent. He stepped up to the front. "Hello and Welcome." He said, his blue eyes twinkling. The other teachers came in then and took their seats. "Our ceremony will start in a moment. If our students would please grace us with their prescence."

The seventh years proceeded to the front. Grouped together by their houses, Gryffindor in the front. They sat and Professor Dumbledore began clapping for them, the rest of the room following his lead.

"Now, I believe there are a few awards to give out." Professor Dumbledore said. "The teacher’s awards and then the N.E.W.T.’s." He took a seat and Professor McGonnagall stood up, holding several certificates in her hand.

"Here at Hogwarts," She said, her eyes looking a bit mistily at the seventh years. "Each teacher gives out an award to one seventh year student who has shown outstanding progress in that class. This years awards will be twenty galleon certificates to Hogsmeade, at any store of choice." Ginny gaped, that was a pretty hefty amount of money.

"Hey," George said next to her. "Our class only got five."

Mrs. Weasley shushed him and he fell silent. Ginny distinctly remembered that George hadn’t gotten any teachers awards anyhow, but she didn’t mention it.

"The outstanding Transfiguration award goes to Hermione Granger." Professor McGonnagall read off. Ginny clapped, it wasn’t surprising. "Also to Miss Granger," Professor McGonnagall said, while Hermione was still standing up. "The outstanding Arithmancy, and Charms award." Hermione blushed as the audience cheered.

"The outstanding Divination award goes to Parvati Patil." Parvati took her award, smiling happily at Professor Trelawney, who looked very strange with four or five shawls draped over her face. "The Potions award, to Draco Malfoy."

Ginny rolled her eyes as Draco smugly accepted it. Of course Snape would never give it to a Gryffindor. Padma Patil received the Astronomy award, and Hannah Abbot the Herbology. The Muggle Studies award went to Lisa Turpin and Study of Ancient Runes to Terry Boot. There was a tie for Care of Magical Creatures to Harry and Ron, Ginny knew that only Hagrid would be so kind. Her mother beamed though and burst into tears.

"A N.E.W.T. award must go out tonight." Professor McGonnagall said. "For the highest score in Hogwarts history, Hermione Granger will receive a fifty galleon savings bond in Gringotts Bank."

Ginny clapped hard, for Hermione deserved it, she had studied for months in advance for the N.E.W.T.’s. There were a few more awards, the Quidditch captains all received them and then it was the close of the ceremony. Professor Dumbledore stood up and called off each name. The students stood up and received a rolled up scroll stating their graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardry and qualified them as a fully trained witch or wizard.

There was one more round of clapping and then a feast. Ron, and Harry sat down with the family and Hermione dragged her parents over also. Ginny was a bit quiet, thinking about the diary again. No one seemed to notice, everyone was too busy congratulating and loudly talking about everyone and everything.

Finally, the whole night was over with. Ginny had to go upstairs with the rest of the seventh years and heave her stuff on to the near empty train. It was a late one and almost all of the compartments were empty. She sat in one near the back and waited anxiously to see if everyone would leave her alone.

When the train started moving and it seemed clear that no one would come in, Ginny eased her trunk lid open and pulled the diary out again. She took out her quill and wrote again. Hello.

Hello Ginny. I knew you would be back.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to let myself get stuck under your possession again.

Tiny writing appeared and Ginny leaned in, her nose touching the book to read it. You already are. She barely had time to process the message, and she was falling into the book, whirling around and she knew that he had her.