Dancing With Shadows

In the Minds Eye

Always know sometimes think it's me,

But you know, I know when it's a dream.

I think I know I mean a yes, but it's all-wrong,

That is I think I disagree.

~ Strawberry Fields.

Four boys stood, their heads lowered, in front of him. Black cloaks covered their faces, but beneath the hoods they were visibly shaking. He placed his white hand on each of the first three's shoulders, his blue veins were startlingly obvious through his pale skin. On the last figure, however, he hesitated and pulled off the hood. It contained a small, red headed girl. Her cheeks were awash with tears and her eyes, covered by their lids, were cast down onto the flagstones. His hand gripped her chin and pulled her head up so that her eyes met his. The Dark Mark was instantly visible on her cheek, next to her hollow eye sockets.

Tom awoke with a silent scream.

He began to shake his head violently to dispel the images within. But to no avail, the skull-like Ginny haunted him, scurrying around in the deep crevices of his mind, throwing open long locked doors with a giggle and a smirk. As memory after memory hit him, he began to rock back and forth, crooning every so often like an injured animal.

"Tom?" Lianna opened the door slowly, and looked uncertainly about herself. "Are you in here Tom? The Malfoys said you were and I have a slice of cake for you..." She trailed off as he appeared behind a stack of books. She let out a slight gasp as she realized he was only wearing his robes, which lay open, closed only across his chest by a serpent brooch.

He advanced towards her and took the plate. "Lianna," he purred, placing the plate on the desk, "My darling, has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?" One hand stroked her cheek, the other was hurriedly unbuttoning her dress. "Yes," he soothed, "When I first saw you I was mesmerized beyond belief. I knew I had to have you."

Lianna at first stood still, shaking a little at his cold touch, but as the shock of seeing a naked man began to wear off, she began to struggle, pulling away from his grasp. "Let me go Tom! If you touch me again, I'll... I'll tell Dippet."

"No, you won't," he shook his head to add emphasis, "My darling, you won't remember any of this." A wand and a quickly whispered word stilled her struggling. "Now, why don't you just lie down on this desk?" He brushed the paper off and the plate gave a sharp crack as it split in half. Outside, Tom could hear faint sniggering and knew that he wouldn't be disturbed for a long time...

"Stop," he wept as door after door crumbled in her, the giggling scarlet hell daemon of his own dreams, wake. Girl after girl, face after face, he could see them all so clearly. Lianna, Maria, Ariel... all names mixed into the large melting pot of his mind, all beautiful, young girls. All his, either giving themselves willingly, or "encouraged" by spells of his own invention. Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. He was always their first, he had to be. It was the thirty's, sex before marriage? An abomination for most people, but the orphanage was inter-denominational, or to put it another way, the owner was too lazy to teach church morals and left it up to adoptive parents to explain right from wrong. Tom was never adopted.

Little girls crying in his mind eye, they were nothing compared to the boys. First and second year angels, clear skin and big wide eyes, not yet touched by the adolescent ravages. Tom was the first to invent proper rent boys around the school, and had been proud of it at the time. However, her merciless laughing at the sniveling of the little fallen angels brought strong tears to his eyes. He had to blink rapidly as her mocking echoed around his head, bouncing off the many deep caverns, shedding light on so many unwanted thoughts.

He began to shake, not from the pain of her, but from the icy cold that had collected around his bones. Beyond his blurred vision he could see a thick blanket, left there by Ginny, he suspected. However, he seemed unable to move and realized he was paralyzed, forced to sit crossed-legged forever, in a damp dungeon of a classroom. Forced to re-live old memories over and over again by a blind figure with red hair and a devilish grin. He suddenly realized that this must be what Azkaban was like and wondered if good people ever went mad, having less evil deeds to relive then those in the criminal sector.

He was just pondering this, in the welcome silence, as she poked into a few corners and seemed to be searching for something in particular, when the door opened with a loud BANG. Unable to do much else, Tom just raised his head to see two moving mountains ambling towards him. They picked him up by the armpits and left him dangle there, looking to all the world like an oversized puppet. She peered out of his eyes and jumped a little at the figure that entered the open doorway, blocking the light. She scurried back into the labyrinth of his head and threw something upwards. Tom was suddenly struck by it, and peered closely at the figure. He was shorter yes, and his cheekbones were much more prominent, but the expression and cold sharp eyes were the exact same. If he was whom he suspected, then it would be he who would speak first.

"So this is the great Tom Riddle of Slytherin fame. My, I thought you'd be taller" Even the voice was uncanny.

"And let me guess, you're a Malfoy" He could feel her rummaging around and every so often an image would fly up. "My my, they've really left the family go to pot, if you're the only heir." The boy visibly bristled and stood up to his full height, which wasn't much taller then Tom, who knew that he'd reach six foot by age 20.

"I have you know," the boy spat, "That my name is Draco Lucius Malfoy, and it was I who returned you to your pitiful existence." He smiled at the fury in Draco's eyes, Lucius had definitely taught him well.

"You did? Well done boy, I'm sure your father must be very proud. I'm guessing it's something he couldn't manage himself," he faltered a little at this and turned wide-eyed to Tom.

"How do... you don't even know my father!" He had returned to his former bravado, and was smirking at him. Something Lucius had apparently forgotten to teach, Never underestimate your opponent.

"I do, and your uncle. I knew them both very intimately at one point." Tom's lip curled as he stared at the boy confusion, "Bet you didn't know you had an Uncle, I suppose your father had him "disappear". I wouldn't be too surprised if he's still in your house somewhere, you should explore Malfoy Manor properly one of these days. I recommend you try the button underneath the fireplace in the drawing room, the one that is never lit." Draco seemed to have visibly shrunk.

"But, father said he only knew you as a grown man... He said he met you in Romania, after he had finished school."

"He lied boy, did that ever occur to you? He always lied at school, he probably has been lying about his age ever since." Tom sighed at the boy's mistrust, "His brother, your missing uncle, was four years older then him. Not as clever or as devious by a long shot, but he had a streak of cruelty I have not yet seen matched. He also had the Malfoy good looks, and the body to attract any loose females, and while your father was quite handsome and eternally young, he was always a scrawny little thing. Didn't "pack it" if you understand my meaning. So there was always that sense of jealousy between the two. Lucius was so clever, he was doing the same work as his brother by the middle of his first year, and getting better marks as well if my memory serves, to get his own back I shouldn't imagine. I was in the year above Drake, didn't know you were named after him did you. By the look of you, I guess it was a final revenge act." Draco visibly fumed and clenched his fist. She was laughing, and threw open another door. "I deemed both useful of course, and both were admitted into my circle. Of course, I knew of their rivalry and used both equally, on minor pranks as well as in bed."

Malfoy, who had been standing quietly suddenly yelled. "What the hell do you mean "in bed"? Are you trying to suggest my father is a... poof!" He was shaking with rage, but Riddle only laughed.

"Not as such, or rather, not like adolescent boys fantasize over. We were a threesome, once twice, sometimes every day during the week. It was fun, tremendous fun. But that was only during the night, the day time they were in charge of capturing girls for me, using every trick in the book. Mustn't have let the side down you understand," Ginny was laughing evilly at this and he inwardly cringed. "But those nights," he smiled and licked his lips, "They took my breath away. Drake of course was the best, able to perform whenever I wished. Your father we always had to wait for. Of course, I was always in charge of both and they followed my orders. It would always be me that tied the knot, and clinked the handcuffs closed." Tom took a deep breath as she lazed just behind his forehead, apparently satisfied for the moment. Draco was also standing perfectly calm and unmoving. He appeared to have not listened to a single word, rather, was wrestled with a particularly tricky word problem.

"Is that... right." He sensed a sudden dangerous air as each word arrived slowly and perfectly formed. "Well, the things you never knew, hmmm..." He placed a finger up to his mouth and started to speak again, then stopped and walked closer. He took in a breath and spoke once more, a little smile lingering on his lips, as if he had just heard a particularly amusing joke, and was just re-thinking the punch line to himself. "The only difference Riddle, is that, unlike my father I refuse to take orders unless I see something in it for myself, and as much as I believe you are a wonderful shag I really don't think it is what I would prefer." He was dangerously close now and Tom could smell his minty fresh breath. His next words were whispered under a haze of it, "What I would prefer is your bloodied corpse,"

He walked away before Goyle preformed the first blow.

Living is easy with eyes closed,

misunderstanding all you see.

It's getting hard to be someone where it all works out;

it doesn't matter much to me.

********************************************************

Tom could barely crack one eye open to view the visitor. She was sobbing gently behind the closed eye, but he was shocked to view the real Ginny with both eye's wide with horror.

"Oh Tom," she whispered, "Why did you have to aggravate him?" Tom was not sure that opening his mouth would be any good for his over all pain limit, so he stayed silent. "I don't know if I can fix this, I mean, you're bleeding practically everywhere, and..." She broke off with a gasp as she touched the head wound, he shuddered violently and she drew back. "How on earth are you still conscious? God, this is all my fault." She bent down and kissed his cheek, then worked her way down to his mouth, licking off the blood as she went." Somewhere between her soft kisses Tom slipped away to the back of his head, to escape the pain and guilt the real was Ginny bestowing on him. While there he found skull-like-Ginny, still sobbing, her hands covering her eyes. He hesitated for a minute then knelt down and put his arm around her, as this was all his fault he might as well stay here for a while.

To be continued...

A/N:

Well? What did you think? Much darker then the earlier one's, which might very easily have veered into utter fluff. (Tom and Ginny parading around in sun drenched fields and picnicking in fields of golden sunflowers. Someone pass the vomit bucket, please!) But this is the Dark Arts people, and you're reading a Californian Poppy creation to boot, what did you expect? Anyway, if there are any younger readers I'm gonna scold you, if there are any old readers, I encourage you very strongly to leave a review! Oh, and this is dedicated to Rhi *snuggles* love you babe! And Ivy of course, who I am dedicating the entire series to! If there is a series at the end of this... or will there be another century to wait for the next one...?