Rag Dolls

Rag Dolls

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"I'll forget you. I will."

"You can try."

-Alpha-

His eyes look like stars. They're glossy and gleam silver under the moonlight. It makes him look hypnotised.

"Do you hear that?" The softest whisper, echoing around the room.

"Hear what?" Ginny asked, though it is probably not a very good idea.

"The walls, the ceilings, the entire castle. They scream. They're sad and in pain." He clutches at his head. "It's horrible."

"Why are they sad?"

"These walls will fall soon." His tone turns cold. "It will all be over, after midnight."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

"Will Tom make things better again? Will he stop the wailing?"

Please please please make it stop

"He will take away their pain. And yours too, Ginny. You can finally see your family again. It will be wonderful." Perfect bliss.

"I'll stop hurting? The pain will go away?"

Please stop. Stop stop stop

"It will be okay. You'll be free at last." Just like you wanted.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you Har-"

Screaming.

"Don't call me that. I told you not to." You can't. It gives me pain. So you have to feel it too. Share everything with me. You wanted to, remember?

"Yes. Yes. I'll never do it again, please just stop!" Oh please please please

"Don't you want to help me, Virginia? Share my pain, like you promised?" Silence.

"You promised." He sounds hurt. "Everyone betrays me in the end. They all leave. They all lie. Even Tom lied." A dreamy smile suddenly lights up his face. "But that will change. He keeps his promises."

"I'm sorry..." There was nothing I could have done.

"For what, Virginia?"

"Sorry I couldn't save...save you...from him..." Sorry I could not bear the burden myself.

'What's there to be sorry about? You can't save me. No one can." I don't want to go back to the grief the pain the accusing stares, the responsibility for everything.

He tips her head up with one finger and kisses her forehead. "Goodnight, Virginia. Sweet dreams." The perfect nightmare that will never end, the illusion that's so much easier than the real thing.

You broke your promise, Ginny. Now I have to make you keep it.

"Harry, Harry, Harry!" The echoes of her own voice scare her, but she cannot stop. She cannot be left here tonight of all nights, alone to decay and die. "Please come back! Come back..."

"Make the pain go away..."

- A V A D A K E D A V R A -

Later, she wakes with no memory of her dream, but deeply shaken nevertheless. She knows that she is Persephone now. The only problem is, she is no longer quite sure just who Hades is.

- A V A D A K E D A V R -

"They hate me now, don't they, Harry." She is tiring.

"You've made a choice, Virginia. Remember." You can't turn back.

"I know. Everything will be better soon, when I have become his queen." Dream, ecstatic.

"Go to sleep, Ginny. Your worries will melt away before the sunrise." Laughter, dark and playful.

- A V A D A K E D A V -

"What does the Weasley brat think she's doing?" Draco drawls, sounding as bored as ever.

"Simple. She wants to be Persephone."

"And you're just going to let her give up her oh-so-innocent soul to the Dark Lord, Potter?" At least, his biting sarcasm hasn't changed.

"She chose him. I cannot interfere." Assuming I wanted too, that is.

- A V A D A K E D A -

"I almost pity the girl." Almost.

"Why? She has everything she wanted, Lucius." Fame (infamy), riches, (bathed in her family's blood), position (the consort of the Dark Lord) and her Tom (who has his eyes set on another).

"Ah, yes. But she's also caught between the little power games between you and Potter. She won't last long." Just long enough for Potter to make his move.

"She's quite resilient. Besides, she has to last." At least until Harry changes his mind.

"Says who, if I may ask?"

"Me, of course." Dead finality.

- A V A D A K E D -

"Potter, what do you think you're doing?"

"I can't take this anymore." The screaming the anger the resentment that seems to fill my mind. "I never asked for these powers. I never asked to be driven insane." But there is a choice I can and will make. A cold smile. "You know he'd never let me die."

Snape snorts. Ironic, isn't it.

"It's over."

- A V A D A K E -

Green eyes meet green. Ginny feels like she's seeing double. Both tall, dark haired, charismatic young men. Her childhood crush, and the boy she sold her soul to. It's a disturbing resemblance, and the screaming in her mind is probably akin to the Crucatius Curse, which she has never felt.

More disturbing is the way in which they regard one another. Like she doesn't exist. Harry has this way of regarding people with utter focus that makes them feel like they are the only person in his universe. But it's not only him. Even Tom, who would surely never just ignore her, is acting like there is only him and Harry in the room. The silence is stifling.

Tom breaks it, finally. "You've decided." Ginny is confused, but Harry smiles.

"Why else would I be here?"

He is, of course, welcomed with open arms. Tom seems delighted to have someone to speak to and the conversations go on late into the night. His eyes seem to gleam as they launch into debates on one controversial point or another. It's nice to see.

- A V A D A K -

"I can't take it anymore, Harry." Sobbing.

"What's wrong, Virginia?"

"It's all so horrible. I'm so tired." All that blood like paint that seems to seep into her bones and eats them inside out. All the screaming that never ends. "I can't take it anymore."

"You need to hold on. Share it with me if you must." After all, what's one more drop in a sea of anguish?

"Let's always share. When it gets too much..."

"Of course, Virginia. Now sleep." You may think we're different from the punished. Our lives are battered and fragile, but still ultimately expendable. We're really just puppets on strings, dancing to his whim.

- A V A D A -

"The girl is even more foolish than I realised."

"Don't speak ill of Persephone, Professor."

"You will find that that title no longer applies."

"Ah, sorry. Why do you dislike Virginia so much, Severus?"

"She should be trying to keep out of trouble, but she's clearly neck-deep in her infatuation with you." Foolish little girl. It's not wise to attract his attention these days.

"Ah really? I haven't realised. Poor Virginia." Wide innocent smile. Harry's poker face is perfectly constructed, yet the eyes shine with calculation and not a little unstable delight.

"How true. You do realise that you're pulling her into pieces, you and the Dark Lord?"

Wide-eyed look again. "I take good care of her. The Heir and I want nothing but the best for Virginia. We do everything we can to help her get through her days." Everything.

"Drop the act, Potter. You know it doesn't fool me." If eyes are truly the windows to the soul, then yours is poisoned, corrupted and truly beyond help.

"I don't lie. I am doing every I can. Whether she will hold together or let her desires tear her apart is a different matter."

"As your own desires have torn you apart?"

"Now that's not fair. How's Draco?"

"As well as one can be, when one is a St. Mungo's patient."

"I'll convince Tom to let him out. If I'm walking around, he should be too. I'm sure he's no worse than I am."

"......Unfortunately, yes, he is."

"Liar. You keep him in there because he knows, don't you?" A sharp, bright grin, complete with rows of white teeth.

Silence.

"I think this discussion is closed."

"Bye Severus. Thanks."

"You're welcome, I'm sure. What for?"

"You've told me all I need to know." Harry turns back around, bows, and sweeps out, but not before a flash of silver catches Snape's eye. A serpent pendent, its eyes poisonous red, glinted back at him.

- A V A D -

"Are you thinking of betraying me, Harry?" Such an important question, asked so causally. Just like Tom, really.

"I could be." An answering smile.

"So I really should have killed you."

"I suppose so." He laughs, sounding carefree and naïve, two things he definitely isn't. "But I'm still alive, aren't I? So what made you decided not to?"

Wand tip at his throat. "What makes you think I had?" Vice grip on his arm. "Maybe I just wanted to kill you myself."

Harry grins. "Maybe."

"I wonder, though. What do you think will happen if I try?"

His fingers at Tom's throat. "I don't need a wand to kill. Neither do you."

They held each other at wand point for an eternity. Then they drop their hands as one. Their laugher would have given the Devil nightmares for weeks.

- A V A -

The little girl used to be quite amusing in her own way with her paradoxical sense of self-importance and lack of self-worth. But now she is getting rather boring, going out of her way to get the attention and affection she so craves. Even more importantly, her life is draining away, slowly but surely. There isn't much more he could get from her before she turns into a mere empty shell.

On the other hand, Harry has never yet given him a moment of boredom. His fractured psyche makes even everyday activities amusing, and watching him grinding the pieces of his mind into powder every passing second is as compelling as watching a train wreak. What he has asked is not exactly unreasonable either, so...

"Alright. You may."

He executes a semi-mocking bow. "Thank you, Tom."

Virginia sleeps on, unaware of the sealing of her fate.

- A V -

Tom is the very image of brilliance and power, calculating and charismatic. However, he is also very cold, especially these days, and especially to her. She has seen him smiling and even laughing with Harry, but all she ever sees in his eyes is death, and looking into the void becomes a bit too much at times. Even if she would never admit it, a tiny voice in her soul has started to revolt. She longed to be free again, to see the sun and have friends to talk to. She wanted no more part in his world.

"Yes, of course I would like to." She tries not to sound too eager, but fails miserably. "Anything for you, Harry"

His answering smile was so bright it hurt her eyes and she could feel them screeching in pain.

- A -

Draco knows that it's too late. He agrees with Severus. He's better off in here, out of Potter or the Dark Lord's reach. Especially since Potter knows that he knows.

Hell, if his father was right, he's not safe in here anymore either. He's not going out there. It would be a fate worse than death, he knows that much.

Maybe Potter will just kill him outright. That would be a blessing. However, he's way too cynical to trust his peaceful demise to whatever is left of Potter's sanity. He wonders if the Dark Lord knows just how damaged Potter is, or if he's encouraging it. Wonders if he knows that he's raising a monster. Or he may keep Potter around for the danger aspect. Who knows.

Draco wonders how it will go. Neither of them is stupid enough to let down their guard, but the Weasley girl is done for. He wonders if Potter will really come to visit his grave like he'd promised.

Of course I will, Malfoy. I'll plant lilies by your grave and pour wine over your coffin. Oh yeah, and there will be a puppet with red hair sitting on your gravestone.

-Omega-

His eyes look like stars. They're glossy and gleam silver under the moonlight. It makes him look hypnotised.

"Do you hear that?" The softest whisper, echoing around the room.

"Hear what?"

"The walls, the ceilings, the entire castle. They scream. They're sad and in pain." He clutches at his head. "It's horrible."

"Why are they sad?"

"These walls will fall soon." His tone turns cold. "It will all be over, after midnight."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

"Will Tom make things better again? Will he stop the wailing?"

Please please please make it stop

"He will take away their pain. And yours too, Ginny. You can finally see your family again. It will be wonderful." Perfect bliss.

"I'll stop hurting? The pain will go away?"

Please stop. Stop stop stop

"It will be okay. You'll be free at last." Just like you wanted.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you Har-"

Screaming.

"Don't call me that. I told you not to." You can't. It gives me pain. So you have to feel it too. Share everything with me. You wanted to, remember?

"Yes. Yes. I'll never do it again, please just stop!" Oh please please please

"Don't you want to help me, Virginia? Share my pain, like you promised?" Silence.

"You promised." He sounds hurt. "Everyone betrays me in the end. They all leave. They all lie. Even Tom lied." A dreamy smile suddenly lights up his face. "But that will change. He keeps his promises."

"I'm sorry..." There was nothing I could have done.

"For what, Virginia?"

"Sorry I couldn't save...save you...from him..." Sorry I could not bear the burden myself.

'What's there to be sorry about? You can't save me. No one can." I don't want to go back to the grief the pain the accusing stares, the responsibility for everything.

He tips her head up with one finger and kisses her forehead. "Goodnight, Virginia. Sweet dreams." The perfect nightmare that will never end, the illusion that's so much easier than the real thing.

You broke your promise, Ginny. Now I have to make you keep it.

"Harry, Harry, Harry!" The echoes of her own voice scare her, but she cannot stop. She cannot be left here tonight of all nights, alone to decay and die. "Please come back! Come back..."

"Make the pain go away..."

He plants a cherry tree over her grave. The blossoms are crimson, just like their blood.