Choosing Death

    "Draco Malfoy! You give me my books back and you give them back right now!" Ginny yelled indignantly, standing on her tiptoes in hopes of snatching her school books out of Draco’s hands.

    "New books, little Weasel? Your family was actually able to afford new books? Did your father win another contest?" he mocked lazily, his movements fluid and his face contorted into a bored expression to keep his amusement hidden.

    "I’d think that being a sixth year would have given you a chance to grow up, Malfoy," Harry said casually as he approached the two. Draco gave Ginny back her books, though reluctantly. Happily, she moved over to Harry and glared, distastefully, at Draco.

    "What can I say? I derive sadistic pleasure from watching others squirm," he replied, his eyes locking intently with Ginny’s. Determined to contradict him, she glared right back, not allowing herself to move under his scrutiny.

    "Yea, well you can go get your pleasure elsewhere, Malfoy, because I’m not your toy!" she added confidently, though she stood slightly behind Harry for discrete protection.

    "Oh, but you are now. You Bat-Bogeyed me last year, you do remember? He started, inching closer towards her with a sneer placed delicately on his face, "You don’t expect me to just let that go, do you? Because I’m not going to sleep until I feel I’ve gotten proper revenge," his hand had reached up to touch her face by then, only Harry slapped it away quickly and stood, protectively, in front of her. "My, aren’t we testy? Be seeing you, Virginia," the sound of her proper name rolling effortlessly off of his tongue had affected Ginny more than he would ever know as she watched him walk away with blind curiosity hidden in her gaze.

    "Don’t let him get to you, Gin. He’s a jerk," Harry comforted, placing a hand on Ginny’s shoulder soothingly. Ginny smiled absently.

    "I wouldn’t say jerk; he’s more of a pain. A pain that’s not going to go away any time soon," she sighed as she began walking away from the scene with Harry happily, not noticing the fact that she had dropped her journal on the ground as she walked, or the fact that Draco Malfoy would be the one to intercept it.

    "How quaint, a journal," he muttered, not hesitating to flip it open. "What the hell?" he asked as he staggered through all of the pages, for inscribed over and over across every page were the initials T.M.R. As realization overtook him, an idea sprung up in his head. Smirking, he walked away, journal in hand.

    Gryffindor robes molded into little specs against a grey sky as Ginny watched the players practice for the sake of giving Harry some much-needed encouragement. Her eyes skidded to a halt as she recognized Draco Malfoy heading in her direction.

    "What choice of torture is it for today? Taunting? A game of Keep-Away? Ritualistic abuse?" she called to him helpfully, not liking the look that was on his face.

    I was thinking more along the lines of old fashioned blackmail." He smirked, his eyes filled with cruelty, and yet there wasn’t a sight of blatant hatred harbored in them anywhere.

    "You? Blackmail me? You’ve got nothing on me. I am, after all, the youngest Weasley!" Ginny muttered, feeling a bit self-centered, wondering what Draco could have dug up on her that nobody else could possibly know about.

    "Look familiar?" Draco uttered as he lifted up the journal he had found to show her. She watched the fiendish grin perpetuate from his face and realized that he understood what it meant.

    "You wouldn’t . . . I mean you couldn’t possibly . . . Nobody would believe you!" Ginny promised angrily, her eyes fixed intently on the journal.

    "Who needs the benefit of the doubt when you have outright evidence?" he informed her, flipping open to show her just one of the many pages of inscriptions he had in his possession.

    "You filthy, conniving bastard," she spat out vehemently, wanting with all the world to try and snatch it out of his hands, but knowing by doing so that she’d attract attention their way.

    "Yea, well, I try," he accepted sarcastically as if it was something to be proud of. "But that still doesn’t help the fact that you, my dear, have some serious explaining to do," he added, loving the fact that he had power over her.

    "I don’t have to explain myself to the likes of you, Malfoy," she retorted, crossing her arms in front of her chest furiously and throwing herself down across one of the benches dramatically.

    "Oh? But I think you do, or do you not realize that your biggest secret is currently lying in my hands?" he mentioned to her, hinting towards her journal. Erratically, she bit her lip and looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone around.

    "I really hate you for this, you know?" she added, just to make sure he understood that before she began to spill her deepest secrets to him.

    "I completely understand that, and forgive me if I don’t care," he added acrimoniously, winning himself yet another glare from her.

    "Do you remember your second year here at Hogwarts? My first?" she asked, waiting for him to nod. When he realized that she wasn’t going to continue until she was sure that he was paying actual attention, he did as was expected and nodded, "That was the year that the Chamber of Secrets was opened...by me," she finished perilously, waiting for some sort of startled response. When it didn’t come, she stared at him as if he were sick.

    "Forgive me, Virginia, if I don’t die of shock, but you are forgetting one thing. It was my father who gave you the journal, I was there when it happened. I knew that you were under Riddle’s spell, or whatever it was," Draco added, apparently unmoved by the forced confession.

    "No, you don’t understand. I wasn’t exactly under a spell...I was...I was...Oh hell, I was in love," she blurted out finally, waiting for the scrutiny to ensue.

    "In LOVE? With RIDDLE?" he practically shouted, earning more death glares from Ginny, who was glancing about nervously, looking for anyone who might have overheard.

    "Will you keep your voice down?!" she demanded angrily once she was sure nobody had heard. "Anyway, yes. I was in love with Riddle and was too young to realize that what I was doing was wrong and that I was hurting a lot of people," she preached as if she had been rehearsed in what to say.

    "You WERE in love with Riddle? Then why do you have this journal with a certain someone’s initials in it? Over and over and over again? This isn’t exactly five years old, you know?" Draco proclaimed curiously.

    "That would be something that is none of your business. Now, I advice you give that back to me or we might found out just how pure the blood of a Malfoy really is," she threatened forcefully.

    "My, my, the little Weasley has a temper problem, doesn’t she? If I were to give this back, I wouldn’t be able to torture you anymore, and torturing you is just so . . . fun, but you know, if you really want blood to spill, I could arrange that. Only it wouldn’t be my blood we’d have the joy of watching spill," he answered as he grabbed onto her upper arm, his fingernails digging far enough into her skin to leave a bruise. She didn’t flinch.

    “Until next time, Virginia,” he added before stalking off.