Choosing Death

Chapter 2

Her head was filled with dread as images of Draco Malfoy spilling her secret out to the world played through her mind. The only thing that kept her calm was squeezing the place where Malfoy had left his bruises on her. It was one thing to have your enemy know about your life long love, but it was another to have him blackmailing you with a secret that, were anyone to find out, would definitely have you carted off to St. Mungo’s! Trying to calm down, she took a seat inside of the Gryffindor Common Room and picked up one of the scattered books that lay there.

"‘Lo Gin," greeted Harry happily as he came down the steps of the boy’s dorms and made his way over towards the couch that Ginny sat on. Smiling, she moved to make room for him.

"Oh, hullo Harry. How’ve you been?" she asked casually, trying to make some sort of small talk.

"Great! Quidditch practice is going better than expected, even though we don’t have you on the team. I saw you there rooting me on...with Malfoy. Is he still giving you a hard time?" he asked, hints of overprotectiveness flooding his voice.

"Oh give it a break, Harry! You’re not my brother, and I already have Ron to make sure nobody talks to me. And Malfoy? He wouldn’t know how to give me a hard time if I sent him a hardback copy of 'All the Things That Personally Annoy Ginny Weasley: Chapter One, Draco Malfoy'. Honestly, he’s that thick," she teased, though she still went a bit rigid at the mention of him.

"You know I can’t help it. You’re like a sister to me, Gin," Harry confided in her as if she didn’t already know. Inwardly, she spited him for telling her so often, for it completely disgusted her when she thought about him in a certain way, but she smiled appreciatively and socked him on the arm like she would if Ron was trying to help her, though not as violently.

"Well, I’m going to head up to bed. You have a good night, Harry! And don’t stay up too late, you’ll need your rest for practice tomorrow! I’ll be sure to be there, watching!" she added helpfully, giving him a hug goodnight. She winced inwardly as he squeezed her upper arm, the spot where Draco had bruised her, a bit too tight, but did her best to not let it be known.

Entering her room, she did her best to keep from waking any of her dormmates up as she quietly made her way over to her bed. Seeing a letter on her bed, she frowned.

Dearest Virginia,

Meet me in the library.

Or else.

T.M.R.

Finding it odd, and feeling a bit hopeful, she looked outside to make sure that the sun hadn’t completely receded out of sight and made her way back down into the Common Room and out into the hall, running off towards the library.

"Tom?" she whispered loudly, trying not to upset Madame Pince. "Tom, are you here?" she called, making her way back towards the Restricted Section.

"Calling out his name, and yet you were manipulated into loving him, eh Virginia?" The cold, cruel voice that sent shivers up and down her spine greeted her with from behind her. Looking around to see if anyone else was in their with them, she pushed him into one of the empty sections for more privacy.

"What the hell are you trying to pull, Malfoy?" she asked, squinting at him as if he was nothing more than a mere bug to be squashed beneath her feet, much as he used to stare at her, however now his eyes were full of sheer amusement.

"Me? Trying to pull something? You must be off your rocker, Virginia. I’d never do anything to manipulate you...I was merely stretching the truth in order to get you here faster is all," he informed her, feigning grief at the fact that she would accuse him of such a thing. He managed to do it in such a way that it even caused her to feel some shame at how she had accused him.

"Well, why did you ‘summon’ me here, just to mock me?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her as a defensive tactic.

"No. I wanted you to tell me more about the Chamber of Secrets and your run-ins with Tom Riddle. It’s all very fascinating to me," he mentioned eagerly, causing her to be surprised.

"You mean your father never told you what went on?" Ginny asked curiously, unsure if he was being truthful or not, but wanting desperately to be able to finally tell someone of her most passionate experiences.

"I don’t think that even my father knew exactly what went on in there, Virginia. Only you and Tom really knew. My father was merely a pawn in Riddle’s game," he muttered once more, a bit spitefully.

"Well, how do I know that you aren’t simply going to tell everyone exactly as I have told you and force upon me even more ridicule about the event than I have already?" she asked him curiously, finally letting her fear take hold of her.

"Well, you’ll just have to trust me, Virginia."

There it was again. Her proper name. It sent shivers down her spine as she said it, and at the same time it made her angry. Only one person, not even her parents, really had called her Virginia on a regular basis, that person being Tom.

"You have to understand that what I’m about to tell you has never been uttered to a single other person in the entire world, so, if by some odd chance somebody does find out, I’ll have you bleeding to death while I watch, laughing," she warned casually, as if it was the most appropriate thing to use to threaten someone with. When he didn’t say anything in return, she took that as an understanding and continued.

"I was eleven years old. Growing up in a family with six kids, not including myself, had lead to having a very lonely and boring life. Nothing ever happened to me, and nothing I owned was really all that new, for I had six older brothers of whom I could easily fit into their old clothes. It was hard, but then, one day, I received a diary out of nowhere. A special diary. One that spoke back when I wrote in it. He listened to my every thought, my every emotion, my every little pet peeve, and always had something to say back that could cheer me up. So one day, when he said he needed to tell me something, I listened. And he told me about his conquests. By then I was hypnotized. Captivated. In love. I would have given him my soul if I thought it would help him...in fact I had planned on it, but he wouldn’t let me. He said he had something else planned that he’d need me later for, so instead we contrived a plan in which we’d fool everyone into believing that I was taken into the Chamber against my will and he was going to kill me, knowing that someone would come to rescue me, which is exactly what happened. Unbeknownst to him, Harry’s soul was being sucked out once he entered that room to save me. Something, however, went terribly awry and Harry, by chance of course, ended up beating Tom and rescuing me. Since then, I have had ‘memory damage’ and am supposed to take a potion once a week to help with the ‘trauma’ of my experience." She laughed as she finished her tale for him. He stared at her in shock.

"That’s true? That’s what happened? Tom just lost? Harry won? You’ve got to be kidding me!" Draco snorted, not believing that the information told to him was in the least bit true.

"Of COURSE Harry didn’t win. Tom promised me he’d be back, somehow, someday, when Harry killed him that time in the Chamber. He wouldn’t lie to me," Ginny said, defensively.

"That’s a very interesting story, Virginia. I’m glad you trusted me enough to actually share it with me," he muttered, though he seemed to be having a hard time with spitting the words out.

"You know what? I’m kind of glad I did too, at least I am finally able to tell someone the deepest secrets that I can’t even write down in a journal anymore," she muttered disdainfully, hating the fact that she had been forced to keep her emotions all bottled up. "Well, I’d better head back to Gryffindor Common Room. It was nice talking to you, Malfoy," she added thankfully.

"Likewise, Virginia," he stated, glancing at her knowingly as she walked away.

It was the end of Ginny’s fifth year as she boarded the Hogwarts’ Express to head home. Gryffindor had won both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup for the fourth consecutive year in a row, and, as usual, Malfoy had been in an uproar about this. He had complained about Gryffindor’s being cheaters to Ginny all day in the library on their last day of school. They often met there to talk, to tell each other the things they could tell no others, or just to argue. That was something that always went on between them. The arguing, the teasing. It was as if they despised each other and yet were being forced to have some sort of friendly relationship with the others, though nobody would ever be able to find out about it or it’d be the end of them. As she took a seat in her usual compartment, she smiled as Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined her.

"Hullo Harry! Where’ve you been?" Ginny asked curiously as he took a seat next to her, trying to ignore Hermione and Ron’s new ‘lovey’ behavior.

"I’ve been in the library, trying to clear my thoughts," he added, his voice sounding disgusted as he watched his two best friends flirt relentlessly. Ginny reached up and tugged on a piece of his rather untidy black hair, trying to get it to fall into place.

"The library is good for that sort of thing," Ginny muttered remotely as she moved her other hand up to tidy his hair, causing him to laugh. The smile fell off of his face, however, when Draco entered the compartment. Ginny’s hands fell immediately to her lap guiltily.

"Oh look, it’s Pathetic Potter, Ghastly Granger, and the two Wretched Weasley’s all alone in one compartment. Must be a tight fit?" he asked, trying to come up with an actual insult, his eyes piercing through Ginny’s, who glared at him with such blind fury that, had there been any more hatred in her glare he would have turned to stone. Harry, obviously, noticed the spite between the two, and spoke up to defend her.

"Malfoy, why don’t you leave Ginny alone? She’s just a little girl!" Harry defended, thinking that he would be thanked by Ginny for his helpful nature. She, however, didn’t think it to be helpful at all.

"Little girl? Little GIRL? UGH!" was all that she could manage to spit out before she stood up from her seat and exited the compartment. Draco seemed to have been the only one to follow her out, for she felt his icily cold flesh grab onto her skin and, with one swift move, throw her up against the wall and lean in close to her.

"What are you doing in there, your hands all over Potter? I thought he was the enemy of your love? Wouldn’t you hate him?" Draco bombarded her with the questions furiously, completely aware that his fingers had dug so far into her skin that it had drawn blood.

"Tom is GONE, Draco! I know that now! Harry... well, Harry is the closest I have gotten to Tom in a long time. They have a lot in common...except that they are on opposing sides in a war is all. Now, if you’ll excuse me," she muttered back, just as furious. Pushing away from him, she walked away, heading right back into the compartment to be with Harry.