Angel of My Nightmares

Additional Disclaimer:

I do not own the lyrics - or the song, for that matter - used in this chapter. The lyrics belong to Evanescence, and anyone else who can rightfully lay claim to them. The lyrics are that of the song "Surrender", and the lyrics are courtesy of azlyrics.com

Big thanks to:

Thanks bunches to Grim Star and Snazzickle, my two lovely betas. Without you two, the story would be lacking both punctuation and content. I owe you a lot!

I would also like to thank and acknowledge the two people that inspired me to keep writing this fic. So Translucent FW, and PreciousOne, this fic would have remained forgotten on the floppy disc under my bed if it hadn't been for your constant nagging.

Heaps of praise for the four of you.

Sincerely,

Chapter One, "Surrender"

Is this real enough for you?
You were so confused.
Now that you've decided to stay
We'll remain together.

I was running; running from something. Or rather from someone.

Tom.

My mind was riddled with questions. How? Why? Where am I? Where is he?

I could answer one of them right off the bat. I was in the chamber of secrets; the gloomy atmosphere and dark, dank tunnels were enough to send me reeling. I don't know how I remembered where I was. I had only been in here once before, and I had no recollection of how I had arrived there.

Yet I knew where I was. The layout of the tunnels was unfamiliar, and I didn't know where I was going, but I ran despite that. My feet carried me swiftly throughout the various, foul smelling passageways.

I looked wildly around, but I failed to see him anywhere. I failed to see anyone. Yet I knew he was there. There was no mistaking his bitter, malicious presence. It was too haunting for me to forget so easily. Besides, my mind would never let me forget him. Not even the strongest memory charm could erase that memory.

I could hear him taunting me, his deep, raspy voice breaking the silence that previously had only been penetrated by the sound of my breath. I inhaled and exhaled, trying to lessen the sense of panic I was feeling.

He was laughing at my fear, evidently amused. I hated him for it. I hated him for many things, none of which were insignificant reasons, either.

Run.

I had to run; had to get away from him. His mere presence was killing me, driving me to a point where I would rather take my own life than be within ten feet of him. I could feel him tearing at my heart and soul, and yet, still I could not see him.

That fact scared me. How could he be right there; how could I feel him so close to me? He couldn't be under an invisibility cloak. Somehow, I just knew it. He was there, though how, I had no idea. The possibilities could be endless, but I knew that I would not think of it.

My hair whipped around behind me as I ran; splashing through the puddles of still, filthy water. My bare feet were soaked, and were I not so preoccupied with the fact that I was running as if the devil himself were behind me - in a sense, he was - I would have taken a moment to wonder why on earth I was in only my nightshirt.

The hem was soaked, stained with the water and dirt splashing up at me with every hurried step I took. It was freezing, and goose bumps covered my arms and legs - partly from the sub-zero temperature, partly from my fear.

Tom was a powerful wizard, where as I was just a poor excuse for a teenage witch. I had only truly mastered one spell in my life: the Bat Boogey hex. I could pull it off quite nicely, but what good would it do me if I couldn't even see my target?

Besides, there was no way I could ever hurt Tom, not for lack of trying. Oh, I could try all I wanted, but he was too powerful. I hadn't faced him in years, but I still knew it. I may not be particularly skilled with a wand, or at recalling spells, but I could recognize someone's power like no other in my family.

Tom had power beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and boy could he wield it.

Escape.

I needed to escape him; I had to. I continued to run, but I felt as if I were going nowhere. Still, I could feel Tom. His presence was suffocating me, causing me to doubt myself and my speed. I wasn't fast enough - or strong enough - to escape him.

Still, he taunted me.

You can't abandon me.
You belong to me.

It was happening all over again. I had been snagged in Tom's deadly snare of deceit, his trap. How I had reached the chambers, I didn't know, but I was there, and that was all that mattered.

In a way, I was reliving the frightful day in my first year at Hogwarts, but there were differences. I had been eleven then, as opposed to sixteen, and I had walked willingly to the main chamber. I hadn't known then what was in store for me.

How foolish I had been to believe that Tom really loved me, as I loved him. How idiotic of me to place all of my trust in a stupid little diary. I had been a silly little girl, as many have referred to me as being since then. I hated the title, but I had lived with it since.

Freedom.

I craved it; the eternal desire to be truly free. I didn't want some illusion of freedom, I wanted the real thing: freedom from Tom, freedom from lies, from deceit, freedom from ignorance, freedom from myself.

I had fallen in love with a monster, a result of my childish whims. I had fallen for Tom Riddle - for Voldemort - and I had fallen hard. My fall from grace had felt like nothing one would expect. My ignorance and longing to be loved had made me a perfect target for the menace that was the Dark Lord.

Who would have thought that such a simple diary could contain such dark history - such dark magic?

I hated him now, and yet, part of me still loved him. I hated myself for it, but there it was, love.

Love is meaningless. I know that now. It's Worthless. The ones you love are the ones who hurt you the most. Love is the thing that really kills you in the end. Love had almost been the death of me when I was eleven, surely it would be the death of me now.

Love: the deadliest of weaknesses.

Weaknesses in general: I had too many of them. I couldn't hide any of them, not from Tom. He knew me better than I knew myself. I had poured my deepest, darkest secrets into that cursed diary, handing them to Tom on a silver platter.

I was so naïve. I still was, nothing had changed.

Still, I ran - afraid he might catch me, kill me.

Breathe in and take my life in you:
No longer myself, only you.
There's no escaping me, my love.
Surrender.

The soles of my feet were scraped and bloody, torn up from the rough surface of the ground in the tunnels. My feet were throbbing with pain, but I didn't dare stop. If I did, he would surely catch me.

Somehow, no matter how fast or how far I ran, he was all around me. His laughter echoed in the tunnels, and try as I might, I could not figure out where his voice was coming from. Terrified, I stumbled and scrape my knees.

In seconds, I was on my feet, dashing around a corner into another stench-filled tunnel. It was cold and drafty in the tunnels, and I could not see how. The tunnels were below ground, how could the wind reach there? The walls were as wet and slimy as the air was musty, stinking of the centuries of dark magic the chamber contained.

Picking my way over a horribly decayed basilisk skin, I dared to look over my shoulder. To my slight relief, I could see no one - and by no one, I mean Tom. Trembling, I continued, past the snake skin and started to run again.

I had the distinct feeling that I was running in circles. The tunnel I was in now looked much the same as the one I had started off in. Of course, there was very little to tell one tunnel from another. They were all built of the same stone; all were wet and slimy; and all contained various scatterings of bones - probably those of some unfortunate fish or rats.

I feared that my bones would soon lie among them. I swallowed a lump in my throat and forced myself to keep going, though my legs ached for me to stop - to give up.

I couldn't give up, not now. I just couldn't. Despite this brief confidence, a wave of sorrow and despair washed over me, and I nearly tripped over myself. Regaining my balance, I ran, a few tears streaming down my ashen face.

Darling, there's no sense in running,
You know I will find you.
Everything is perfect now.
We can live forever.

The tears were flowing freely now, running down my freckled nose, dripping from my chin onto my already wet night shirt. My knees were as bloody and torn as my feet. I could feel small rocks and bits of dirt caught in the wounds on my feet, and winced with every step I took.

The laughter had died down. Again I dared to slow and peer warily over my shoulder. My heart skipped a beat.

There he was, standing in all his demonic elegance, watching me. A smirk had settled on his pale, structured face. Oh, how I had loved him. No matter how much I hated him, no matter how much fear he instilled in me, I still found him attractive. I mentally cursed myself for it, and as if he knew what I was thinking. His mouth curled into a ghost of a smile, but he said nothing.

I whipped back around, hurting my neck as I did so. I started to run, limping along now that the pain in my feet were nigh on unbearable. I sobbed, and looked over my shoulder. Tom was walking at the same speed I was running, if not faster. His arms swung leisurely at his side, and his eyes never left me.

Turning back around, I tripped, the action only aggravating the ache in my neck. Tom was easily gaining on me; I wanted to scream, to cry for help. I couldn't find my voice, and no matter how hard I tried, I could issue no sound from within me. It was as if I were mute.

Scrambling to my feet, I took a second to wipe the dirt and blood off of my knees, and continued on.

"Give up Ginny," he called out, his voice sending chills down my spine. There was a sense of cruelty in his voice, and in his presence. "You can try and hide, darling, but I will find you. I will have my puppet back."

I sobbed, sending him into a moment of genuine laughter.

You can't abandon me.
You belong to me.

Beads of sweat dripped down my forehead; my hair was plastered to my face as I dashed through the tunnels, Tom merely ten feet behind me - still walking. How he managed to keep my pace, I didn't know, but it was only another reason for me to cower before him.

I tripped again, splitting open my palms in an attempt to break my fall. My whole body was throbbing, and my legs went against me as I tried to stand. My knees buckled, and I fell back to the ground. Using the wall to support myself, I pulled myself to my mutilated feet.

Taking pleasure in my apparent pain, Tom chuckled, his voice again echoing all around me. I shuddered, and stumbled onward, trying to shut out his voice and the sound of his methodic footfalls as he followed along.

I gained only a little distance, my knees threatening to buckle once more.

No longer crying, I turned down another tunnel, hoping against hopes that I would find a way out. It was not so. Instead, I found myself at a dead end. I spun around again, thinking that maybe - just maybe - I could get out of the dead end tunnel before Tom arrived.

But it was too late for that.

He leaned into the entrance was of the tunnel, his muscular arms folded over his chest. His eyes were piercing my skull, but I dared not lift my gaze to meet his. Instead, I focused on the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

I stepped backward, finding myself up against the wall. Somewhere to my left, water was dripping to the ground, the sound echoing.

I gasped for air as my whole body shook violently. Finding my voice, I let out and ear piercing shriek. Well, it pierced my ears; Tom seemed altogether unaffected by the scream I emitted.

Tom only laughed, his shoulders shaking as he did so.

"No one can hear you Ginny," he said once he had stopped laughing. "We are all alone down here. It's just you and me. I thought you'd like that."

I tried my hardest to ignore his words, to shut them out, but I couldn't. The sunk into my very soul and another wave of despair passed over me. I screeched again. He was lying, he just had to be. Someone had to hear me - rescue me.

My legs shook, and I sunk to the ground, paying no mind to the puddle I sank down into.

Breathe in and take my life in you:
No longer myself, only you.
There's no escaping me, my love.
Surrender.

"Give up," Tom said again, shaking his head in amusement. "You can't beat me Ginny; I thought we went through that last time. I beat you."

"And Harry beat you," I said, daring to speak, and choosing to bring up the one thing I knew would severely anger him. "He bested you, he always beats you. You might beat me, Tom Riddle, but never Harry. Against him, you always lose."

Tom's expression turned from one of playful - yet terrifying - amusement, to one of anger the instant I mentioned Harry's name. His face twisted, yet still he maintained an air of elegant attractiveness. I trembled, sure that my simple act of defiance, if you will, had been my death sentence.

He crossed the distance between us, and I was sure he would kill me. He started to raise his hand and I flinched, thinking he would strike me. His expression - though still one of anger - had softened a little, and he crouched and took a lock of my wavy, damp hair in his hand.

As he twirled it between his fingers, I tried to pull away. In a flash, his free hand was at my throat, applying pressure as he straightened up, lifting me by the throat as he did so. Unable to breathe, I choked, clawing at his hands. I failed to do any good, and though my nails bit into his flesh so hard I drew blood, he didn't so much as flinch or twitch.

His face had returned to the twisted expression it had momentarily worn before, and he examined the blood on his hands as if it were fascinating. Feeling lightheaded, my vision faded in and out. I felt myself crumple at his feet the instant he let go.

I struggled to regulate my breathing - or at least get my lungs functioning properly again, but I was still dizzy and disoriented. As I fell to the side, my head making contact with hard ground, I could hear him speaking softly to me, as if he were whispering not just into my ears, but into my very soul.

"It's not nearly over yet, my puppet. I'm coming for you..."

Breathe in and take my life in you:
No longer myself, only you.
There's no escaping me, my love.
Surrender.

I sat straight up in my bed, my body drenched in sweat. My hands instinctively went to my throat, and I breathed heavily as my eyes adjusted to the darkness in my bedroom. A let out a small sigh of relief as realization hit me.

It had been a dream. Just a silly nightmare and that was all. There was nothing to be frightened of.

Though I repeated this to myself over and over again, it didn't give me the kind of confidence I had hoped it would. Lying back down, I pulled up the covers. Though it was only a nightmare, I could not fall back into sleep. Tom's voice continued to ring in my ears.

"I'm coming for you."