Healing Rain

Ginny traveled the length of the hallways to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Before she stepped in front of it, however, she peered out the window and towards where she had come from.

The rain created a diaphanous curtain, which caused Ginny to squint before she could fully make out Tom's figure. He stood examining the forest in front of him, unaffected by the rain beating down upon his shoulders that caused even Ginny to shiver a little from the drops of icy water.

She watched him for a moment, entranced by him. How was it that he was able to remain so sure of the success of his future plans, when he of all people should have known that fate could twist around even the best laid plans and tear them at the seams? The fact that he had no fear of failing made him even more daunting, and yet, just as curious.

She saw Tom's shoulders suddenly straighten a little. He turned and looked towards the tower . . . at her directly.

Did I not tell you to get some sleep, Weasley? she heard him demand inside her mind. Down on the grounds, she saw him give her a short wave, which was more dismissive than friendly. He looked into the forest for a second more, and, with one last sharp look towards her, he disappeared into the thick cover of the trees.

Ginny sighed sadly. She loathed Tom as much as she possibly could. Unfortunately, however, it wasn't enough to keep her from the danger of falling under his spell. She wondered if there had ever been a way to avoid it.

"Pepperup Potion," Ginny whispered. The Fat Lady looked down at her and gasped quite loudly. Though Ginny wasn't expecting that reaction, she knew it wasn't unwarranted.

"What on earth has happened to you?" the portrait demanded, her eyes traveling over Ginny's bloodstained and muddy clothes and her dripping hair and reddened eyes.

"Nothing," Ginny answered, trying to keep calm. "I just . . . couldn't sleep, so I snuck out to practice a little quidditch."

She stepped in as the portrait swung forward, deciding upon a plan of action, and that this was a good story to tell somebody if anybody knew of her disappearance that night.

She entered the common room and took off the cloak. The fire was still blazing warmly, casting shadows upon a silhouetted figure lying upon the couch in the back.

Ginny tiptoed carefully, trying not to wake whomever it was.

Just before she reached the stairs, she looked backwards to see that they were still asleep. She misjudged a step and fell with a loud gasp, knocking a book off of the table nearby.

The figure sat up quickly. As the light shined properly upon its face, she could feel her heart doing unpleasant turns.

"Ginny!" Harry hissed, "Where were you!"

Ginny took a deep breath and tried to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary.

"I was practicing quidditch," she said. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I had to check in with you first, before sneaking out. Especially since you and my brother are always out at night anyway."

"But you could check in," Harry told her slowly, "before stealing my invisibility cloak."

Ginny's cheeks now reddened. "Oh, yes. Er . . . sorry," she said sincerely, tossing the cloak over to him. "How did you know it was missing?"

It was now Harry's turn to redden. "Because Ron and I decided that we would go sneaking around and try to find the book that you were reading last week."

He pointed at the book that Ginny had knocked over and she picked it up. It was titled Noted Dark Spells of the Dark Order in gold across the black leather cover.

"Well you managed, didn't you?" she said, flipping through some of the pages again, stopping to look at things like "Human Transfiguration" and "Invisibility Counters".

Harry bit his lip. "Barely. Ron makes for a terrible look out. He jumps at every noise and goes on and on about family members who were caught in the Restricted Section and how they just began to un-hex themselves after so many years."

"He's right. But there was always the same problem."

Harry raised an eyebrow curiously.

Ginny smiled. "They all had terrible look outs."

She crossed the room to hand Harry the book. His eyes widened, however, as the light hit her, unveiling the bloody, dirty mess that she was.

"I had to use a school broom," she said quickly.

"And it tried to kill you?"

Ginny sighed. "You could say that. I ran into a tree. Well, I ran into a tree branch, and fell the rest of the way."

She handed Harry the book, avoiding his eyes. She was terribly afraid that he was not buying her story. However, he simply shrugged and took the book.

"I'm tired, now," Ginny said, feigning a yawn. "I'm going to go clean up and go to bed."

Harry nodded. "Alright, then."

She crossed the room and began to ascend the stairs.

"Ginny?" Harry called to her.

She turned around to face him.

"Er . . . it's good to see that you're . . . somewhat okay," he told her, blushing a little.

Ginny couldn't help but smile. "You were worried?"

"Me? Not as much as Ron. He was going on about you being taken by a lethifold."

"Ron's an idiot." Ginny smirked. "Lethifolds are only in tropical areas."

She gave him one last smile and hurried up the stairs. She couldn't take the kind, concerned way he looked at her. The guilt was too much.

****

Tom stood at the edge of the forest, staring past the trees into the thick darkness.

The orphanage where he lived had access to a small forest where Tom would occasionally sneak to when he was younger. He would hide behind the largest tree, as the owner of the orphanage, a large, slimy looking man with beady little brown eyes named Henry Melbourne, would call him fiercely.

"Riddle!" he would bellow. (Tom could hear it echoing inside his ears even now) "You'd better be coming back. Come back, Riddle, or the creatures will find you and kill you. What I do will be nothing compared to those creatures, Riddle."

Like hell it wouldn't.

Tom had thought that then the same as he had thought it now. The six-year-old boy had looked around, wondering if there was anything at all to take him away from that place, even if it meant death. But he had gone back. He hadn't been able to find anywhere proper to stay out there. There was nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. He couldn't sneak off to the nearest town; it was much too far for the boy to walk without being caught.

Now Tom stared into the shaded woods once again. This time, he was in control of everything. Nothing in those woods could be as nightmarish as what was back at the orphanage. Nothing.

He suddenly felt as if something were hovering over his shoulder. He turned to look at the tower window and saw Ginny Weasley staring down at him through the curtain of rain that fell into his eyes, stinging them unpleasantly.

Did I not tell you to get some sleep, Weasley? he said in way of an order, rather than a question. He waved her away, and, hesitating momentarily much to his self-disgust, he entered the shroud of the Forbidden Forest.

Tom hated the outdoors, and spending the night in hiding from a weakened friend of mud-bloods did nothing to ease this. He knew that this was too much below him, but he also knew from Ginny's memories that he had to step carefully around Dumbledore. He could not give the headmaster any reason to suspect his presence.

Tom found a dry place in the heart of the forest and settled down by the trunk of a very thick-branched tree. He thought about his plans for the next day, which included sending the Weasley girl to gather information from Potter about the Phoenixes; a group of those faithful to Dumbledore, which Tom wanted as much information on as was possible. He would have to deliver this information to her somehow. Perhaps he could steal the proper tools to make a small Polyjuice Potion, but for the time being, a couple quick changes to his appearance by Charm work would suffice.

He looked down at the robes he was wearing at the moment. They were dusty and tattered; being that the orphanage was not the best of all places to store them. The Slytherin emblem, however, still gleamed proudly, as if newly stitched. He had taken extra precautions and used an Anti-Fading spell to repel any age-caused damage to it. It was, after all, his birthright; a symbol of the most powerful family of witches and wizards who had ever lived: his family.

"I'll have to change it to a Ravenclaw shield tomorrow," he muttered to himself. "Just for the time that I'm speaking to young Miss Weasley."

As Tom leaned back to rest, his thoughts turned to Ginny. She had wanted him back so much, but for what? Despite what he tried to make her believe, she wasn't a stupid girl. Had utter loneliness really been that bad, that she had brought back the very person accused of trying to steal her very soul?

But that's what it had been, hadn't it? Tom thought about it as he drifted off slowly. She had given him as much of her as he had given her of himself. She had been able to share her most inner secrets and desires with him; including the ones that she had not been aware of. He, in turn, had put his anger and rage into her. He had given her his very essence.

How many people could say that they had done that?

****

As the alarm clock beeped in her ears, Ginny woke and stretched. In her mind, a flash of happenings the night before played in her mind. There was one wild moment when she believed it all just a horrible dream.

She quickly dressed and ran downstairs where Ron and Harry were playing chess by the fireplace and Hermione was talking idly to Parvati Patil.

"Ginny!" Ron gasped, as if seeing a ghost.

Ginny held up her hand. "Save it, Ron. Ask Harry later; I'm sure he'll tell you everything. Why aren't you four down at the Great Hall?"

"We're waiting for Hermione," Ron explained, looking over his shoulder and dragging out her name impatiently as he said it.

Hermione shot him a very cross look. "I told you both just to meet me down there. I'm helping Parvati with her Ancient Runes homework."

"We asked you to help us with our Potions homework and you said no. Why is Parvati different?"

"Because, Ron, Parvati actually wants help with her homework. You two just want me to give you the answers."

"Er, she's got a point, Ron," Harry pointed out.

"Whose side are you on?" Ron asked impatiently. He set his queen down two spaces in front of Harry's king. The piece stood and angrily began to destroy the king with her sword.

"I suppose that's checkmate," Harry said, not taking his eyes off the queen (who was now stamping on the king's severed hand repeatedly) and grimacing.

"C'mon," Ron said, throwing his pieces back in the box and magically restoring Harry's pieces before Harry threw them in the small blue velvet bag that he kept them in.

Ron and Harry placed the chess pieces on the table by the fireplace. Harry made a motion inviting Ginny to follow them down.

"We're going now," Ron announced. Hermione could not look up from the book that was sitting on her and Parvati's lap, so she merely gave him a short wave.

As they walked towards the Great Hall, Ginny listened to the two boys argue about the upcoming quidditch game against the Ravenclaws.

"So you're doubly ready, right, Ginny?" Ron said, after Harry explained where she had been the night before.

Ginny nodded. "Uh-huh. I've even got my maneuvers right on an old school broom."

"Good," Ron told her, opening the doors to the Great Hall. "I can't stand to see Slytherin win again. Draco Malfoy was walking around last year as if he owned the entire quidditch pitch."

"Draco Malfoy walks around as if he owns the entire quidditch pitch every year, Ron," Harry told him. "Don't expect that to change."

Ginny took her place at the Gryffindor table. She stared ahead towards the Ravenclaws' direction as the boys delved deeper into their mutual hatred towards Draco Malfoy.

And one Ravenclaw boy caught her attention.

He was talking to Cho Chang, using wild gestures with his hands as he did so. She was caught in avid interest as he spoke, her eyes sort of hazy from admiration. He had sandy brown hair and seemed to be built perfect for a quidditch chaser: very athletic, but still somewhat small.

He turned and looked at Ginny, causing her to gasp. His eyes were the color of dark malachite and the smile that floated across his face at that instant was a daunting one.

Good morning, Weasley, she heard Tom greet inside her head. I hope you slept well, because you have a lot of work today.

"Ginny?" Ron said, pulling at her arm a little.

"Huh? What?"

Ron followed her gaze to where Tom was sitting, talking to Cho once again and smiled slowly.

"Aw, Gin, going for a Ravenclaw this time?"

Ginny's cheeks turned scarlet and she quickly stood.

"I forgot something in the common room," she said quickly. "I'll be right back."

And she left the Hall before Ron or Harry could stop her.