Black Tears

How can you see into my eyes like open doors
leading you down into my core
where I've become so numb without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
until you find it there and lead it back home

(Evanescene, "Bring me to life")

~*~*~Chapter 1~*~*~

There was always the darkness...and with the darkness he came. Every night the same awful dream, the same tormenting voice and the same handsome face haunting her and her long ago buried feelings that came with painful memories. He would always wear black robes, and his stormy blue eyes would always pierce her own blue ones like frozen daggers. When his whispery voice greeted her ears, she would feel pain along with pleasurable, cold shivers running down her spine. She could feel the brush of his breath on her milky white skin, and his cold finger tips as he brushed her hair away from her nape, only to grasp it delicately with his chiselled hands. He would start squeezing her neck lightly at the beginning, smiling slightly. Then as his smile turned more and more sinister, he would increase his grip on her neck and she would wake up choking, trying to grasp some air into her dying lungs. This happened every night, since, she believed, her seventh year...since the attack on Hogwarts when he Crucioed her...

:: Flashback ::

Wand in her hand as instructed by Professor McGonagall, Ginny ran alone along a deserted hallway in the south wing of the school. 'If only I could reach that damn passage way,' she thought panting as a sharp pain stabbed her stomach due to the non-stop running. She could hear her own heartbeat throbbing in her ears and cold sweat trickle down her back. She sharply took a left turn and beside the torch light she saw a black haired man, which looked of about Harry's height. Ginny heart jumped in her chest at the mere thought and hope, and started running towards the turned man.

"Harry," she screamed, smiling as she ran using her last remaining strength. The black haired man turned slowly and Ginny's smile fell lifelessly from her lips, only to be replaced by a terrified expression, her wits barely holding back a blood chilling scream. The man's green eyes were so similar to Harry's but yet different in so many ways. He smiled cruelly as he advanced with small steps towards a cowering Virginia that was clumsily backing away. When he was only a few feet away from her, he drew out his wand and before Ginny could react, he had relieved her of her wand, casting the Cruciatus Curse on a defenceless Virginia. She instantly crumbled to the floor, gasping in pain as she felt tiny and sharp invisible knives piercing every inch of her skin. Her body felt cold and she could begin to sense a numbness claiming her arms first, then moving upwards through her body. Her eyes were watery and her vision was blurry as she looked at him, but with her mind's eyes she could imagine his sinister smile as he watched her withering in pain at his feet. She tried and tried with all of her physical and psychological energy to think of a solution. It was very hard to do such a thing, since her body was being tortured, thus her mind was in pain as well. Laying on the stone floor moaning and gasping in pain, something clicked inside her head as information pieces started to puzzle themselves together. As though a light had been lit in her head, she thought of the Dementour Kiss and how if one thinks happy thoughts, it might sometimes go away. So if she was to think that her body wasn't in pain, maybe she would be able to overpower the curse. It was a 5% chance seeing as the curse was powerful, coming from the Dark lord itself, but it was the best chance she had.

She thought of a tropical place, with white sandy beaches and clear warm water. She thought of palm tears and a long relaxing swim in the ocean, followed by a nap under the exotic sun. She could slowly feel her body relax, and he numbness slip away from her body. She thought of exotic fruits like mango and banana, coconuts, pineapples and herself feasting on them greedily. She could almost taste the fruits in her mouth as she moved slowly into an almost standing position, a small amount of numbness remaining in her arms, but the pain gone, hopefully forever.

Tom's smile dimmed and slowly died as he saw her get up and stand daringly in front of him. He quickly glanced around and snapped his Death Eater mask back on his face, resuming his previous action of looking at her in amazement. When she trusted her mouth to speak and move, she allowed a few words to escape her peachy lips. "Is that your best?" she asked, making a noise that might have resembled an unladylike snort. All she saw afterwards were Death Eaters swarming around Tom and Aurors coming form all sides, throwing spells at the army of Death Eaters. She saw no more as she felt someone pierce her skin with a small needle and drag her away from the fight. She then blacked out.

:: End of Flashback ::

She sighed and wiped some cold sweat from her brow, preventing it to trickle down her face annoyingly. She stood up in her bed and after shaking the sleep out of her, glanced at her muggle clock on the bedside table. It read 3:45 am. She threw the covers aside and pushing herself on the edge of the bed, tried to search for her slippers with her feet in the pitch black darkness, only the silvery moonlight as her guide. Once she had slipped them on her small feet, she stood up and stretched lazily, a loud yawn escaping her lips. Another night wasted because of him, she thought sourly as she made her way to the kitchen for a quick drink. She turned on the taps, and thrusting a glass of water underneath the tap, she waited for it to fill with the cold transparent liquid. She drank the glass fully and set it on the counter with a small thud. Walking over to the living room, she went to the French doors leading to the balcony and opened them swiftly. Warm summer breeze swept through her rebellious red hair as she advanced towards the railing. It was peaceful outside, much unlike in her mind. The sky was clear and black, lightened by the intense gaze of the moon and the stars. She smiled as she welcomed the light onto her face and the wind in her hair, fluttering her skimpy night gown as it enveloped her whole.

She felt safe now. She felt as though she could forget about the world, her job and the Death Eaters, but most of all she felt she could forget him. These moments rarely came, but when they did she welcomed the happily, discarding her life for a couple of minutes of peace. She was snapped out of her trance as she heard a couple of twigs snap broken bellow her balcony and the wind picking up speed as it howled through the trees. She went back inside and after locking the doors shut, sighed, looking outside at what seemed to be a fast coming storm. Only minutes before the sky was clear and the stars were shinning brightly. Now, violet and rain promising clouds weighted heavily on the night sky that had once been peacefully, crystal clear.

She cast one more look outside and decided that since she couldn't sleep, a hot bath wouldn't take a lot of her time. It was after all, her sleeping time which was every night cut short because of her nightmares.

Her apartment was very big compared to what some people owned. It was situated in the middle of the new Wizarding London, which was a five minute walk away from Diagon Alley. It had cost, she had to admit, a fair bit of money but the space was worth it. Besides, now that her father was the Minister of Magic and they didn't have to worry about the money anymore, it wasn't a problem, although her flat was bought from her money that came from her job. The dreadful job of an Auror. She couldn't say that she truly despised her job. Brining in Death Eaters was always a great satisfaction, just to see them suffer in turn for all the pain that they had caused her and her family. But there were and still are days that she would rather choose to forget if she could...Days when she saw her colleagues and often friends get murdered under her eyes.

She shook her head and disappeared under the foamy water of her large bath tub. When she reached the deep bottom she let go of her breath, enjoy the insecurity it provided her, knowing that if she stayed at the bottom longer she would die. Through the perfumed water she smiled weakly and resurfaced, breathing in a mouthful of air. She already felt bored of the bath and the water was growing cold. Of course she could always grab her wand and make it warmer, but she didn't really feel like it. She got up and reached for a pair of fresh towels. Drying herself, she wrapped her wet hair in a tight buddle of towels then slipped on a transparent bathrobe. She went inside her bedroom once more and taking a good book to read, she resumed her place underneath the covers, reading till morning came and it was time for her to go to work again.

~*~*~

The day had gone quite as she had expected till then, a new mission and fighting afterwards. These constant wars were very tiresome. She listened to her boss go on and on about the objective of the mission: Eliminate all the Death Eaters. When he was done he sent the team away to change into their robes. Ginny had the green rank robes.

After the Great War of Hogwarts, the Aurors had been divided into four groups or rather ranks. The weakest ones were the White Ranks, which were mostly healers, but trained to defend themselves in case the need arose; they also had some knowledge of the Dark Arts but not enough to sustain them in a face to face encounter with a fully trained Death Eater. The red ranks came next and they were the adepts of the white rank. Red ranks didn't quite posses the knowledge of healing but were trained in fighting and knew little Dark Arts. The Blue Ranks were the second most powerful of Auror grading and they were more specialised with missions that involved stealing something from the Death Eaters or obtaining information of some sorts. The Blue Ranks went on missions when the Ministry didn't want to risk putting the green rank Aurors at risk with minor fights. Ginny was the last and most powerful of all the Auror grading. She was part of the Green Ranks which were the elite army of the resistance and only fought the big wars such as the one that was to take place today, this due to the fact that they were trained in both magic (Dark Arts) and hand to hand muggle combat. They rarely went on individual missions, but because Ginny was far more advance in requirements for the Green Ranks than the rest, she was sometimes dispatched on difficult rescuing missions or missions that involved infiltrating a Death eater facility in order of acquiring information. After the Hogwarts War, they had also imposed a masking system. It pretty much worked like the Death Eaters' for it was used for the same reasons only it was slightly different. All the Aurors were supposed to wear masks of the same colour as their rank when on the battle field so the opposing forces would not be able to recognize their faces and afterwards track the Aurors down and murder them. This was an essential and strongly imposed rule for the green ranked Aurors which were at great risk, if without their mask.

Having completed the task of getting dressed in her green robes, she pulled the green mask over her face and headed out to join the rest of her colleagues. They were to take the Death Eaters by surprise in the Valley of Fernhyde that ran around somewhere near the Death Eater camp. Ginny sneered; Of course the bloody bastards were surely expecting an attack form the resistance so they wouldn't be completely defenceless, she thought acidly as she mounted her broom and took of with the rest. She was in front of them all, having been appointed as the leader and commander of this mission. They were to fly, not apparate so they wouldn't be detected. The flight only took an hour and when they landed somewhere close to the Valley of Fernhyde, she ordered them to shrink their brooms to a hair pin size and slip them up their sleeves for safe keeping and a quick getaway in case the need arouse. They walked quietly down in the valley and on her command moved into the camp. The first Death Eater that met the end of her Avada Kadavra spell gave a high pitched scream that would've, and probably did, wake up the whole camp. Her acclamations were proved to be right as over five hundred black robed men and women also swarmed the once quiet valley.

She could guess which one was His tent but didn't dare get near it. Instead she sent some of her loyal friends to burn it down, as she proceeded to kill numerous Death Eaters in the meantime. She saw some Aurors die in the corner of her eye and hastily turned to help them, a killing curse hitting two Death Eaters squarely over their chest. She was so busy helping others that she barely heard the warning scream that erupted from Emma's lips as a fairly large and wandless Death Eater came running towards her, knocking the breath out of Ginny with one swift punch. She saw a blue light whiz past her head as another, thinner and equipped with a wand, Death Eater aimed a curse. She moved out of the way just before the curse hit her, only to receive another blow in her stomach, which, as she felt pain sting her belly, believed broke a few ribs. Anger surged through her out of nowhere and all the frustrations bottled deep inside her toppled over and burst as she furiously punched the large Death Eater in the face, making him double over in pain backwards. His companion shot the green light of the Killing curse but she effortlessly moved out of the way and with just a flick of her wand, he fell breathlessly to the ground, followed shortly by the large Death Eater. A couple of other Death Eaters, upon noticing the commotion she was making around her went to help their fellow partners fight off the angry Auror.

With Emma at her side, Ginny was in a killing like trance. All that she saw dressed in black fell to the ground breathlessly in just mere seconds as she violently threw the Killing curse repeatedly...and then she felt Him. She quickly, in the flash of battle and curses, turned to look at him. He was swiftly and effortlessly killing Aurors as if they were mere playthings to him. She turned back to the battle trying to focus. She was not like them, she was not just a plaything.

Ginny didn't even notice when he killed Emma or even when he sneaked up on her, maybe it was because part of her wanted him to that and because part of her did not care. She turned around and met his mask-less face, his sharp and nowadays immortal features. She sneered under her green mask and before he could accio her wand or grab her, she backed away in a swift back flip and was gone through the mass of swarming Death Eaters and Aurors. He stared after her, wondering why she had not killed him, or why hadn't he reacted quicker, as his instincts had told him. As she was running through the crowd of Death Eaters, aiming killing curses here and there to make her way as far from him as possible, she failed to feel someone grab her from behind, wand at her temple, pulling her away from the fighting on a stony hill over viewing the battle.

"Zhat do ve 'ave here?" a strongly accentuated voice said in her ear. Ginny struggled helplessly, but the man was far too strong and muscled.

"Let me go!" she yelled forcefully, clawing at the arms holing her in place, one draped over neck and one over her slim waist. She tried to kick backwards, aiming for his sensitive area but he only effortlessly raised her up by her long, slender neck. That's when she begun choking and gasping for air. She panicked and started pulling frantically at the hand that held her neck firmly in place, squeezing it from time to time, making her gasp with pain and lack of air. "Let me go," she gave a choking yell, "please!" she pleaded.

"Ah, iz 'hat a surprize. 'n Auror pleazding," he said mockingly as his grip on her neck increased. "'et's zee 'ho'z hiding under 'hat pretty mask." He said and pulled out a knife, releasing the mask off her face with a swift cut. She struggled but it was for no avail. The mask fell like a white feather in the muddy ground, revealing her soft, curly red hair and her baby-blue eyes, stoned over by the hatred and anger the battle and Him had brought over her. "A little angle or iz it a devil?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and twirling a lock of her hair on the finger of his free hand, as she felt her body running out of air by the second.

"Let her go Arden, before I have to kill you?" a cold voice said behind them. The Death Eater by the name Arden that had Ginny up by her neck with only wand hand, turned at a 360ْ angle, with the Auror swinging by his hand. Ginny's eyes grew big and watery as she felt her breath slowly begin to leave her body at the intense and rowing pain applied to her veins and air flowing tubes inside her neck. She gasped a few times due to the lack of air and was shocked to find the owner of the voice. Tom Marvolo Riddle was standing carefree in front of them, as if the battle didn't even exist, looking down on her, in her eyes as though they were doors to her soul and he was taking a small peek at it.

"But I'm a vampire...I 'ave to veed!" he exclaimed angrily. "And she iz a pretty one!" he grinned and Ginny saw his monstrous teeth. That would explain his strength, Ginny thought as she struggled yet again, kicking with her long, thin legs backwards.

"Take a look Arden, there are thousands out there. Let her go, before I'm forced to kill," he bit out icily, the wind forcing his robes to move forward. The vampire released her and Ginny fell to the ground with a quiet thud, rubbing her neck where Arden's hands were sure to leave bruises. She looked up at Tom, who had seemed to have forgotten her momentarily, and was pleasuring his sick self, by torturing the Vampire. Ginny, silently got up and tried to get away, but didn't get farther than a leap when a spell hit the back of her neck and she fell to the ground frozen. Tom came by her, still oblivious to the battle taking place just bellow the hill, picking up her mask on the way and grabbing her up by the collar of green robes. "Where do you think you're running off to?" he asked in a deadly soft whisper. Al she could do was manage to keep her breathing in check as she turned her blue eyes towards him. He took the spell off her and pointing her wand at her head said. "You're coming with me!" and muttered a spell that sent her whiling through the darkness of the abyss.

~*~*~

That's that for the first chappie! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Review!