Phantom Shadows

Phantom ShadowsChapter OneClose Your Eyes and Surrender    Close your eyes and surrender to yourdarkest dreams!Purge your thoughts of the lifeyou knew before!Close your eyes, let your spiritstart to soar!And you'll live as you've neverlived before~ Music of the Night  

The stone floor rushed towards her face quicker than anything Ginny thought imaginable. It was if she was falling at the speed of light. However, just before she hit the ground, time seemed to slow almost to a stop. As if she was moving in slow-motion, she twisted her head to look up at Tom. Something was wrong with her eyes, she could tell that by the way his features were blurry, unclear and unable to be recognized. All that the girl could make out was a black blob which was Tom's hair. Then, a sharp shock came to the back of her head. She had hit the floor and her eyes rolled up into her head, effectively plunging Ginny's world into a black abyss, the image of Tom Riddle burned in her mind.

There was an odd sensation creeping up over Ginny's body, as if she was falling. But that was impossible, there was darkness all around her. But no, there was the feeling of tumbling over and over into infinity. Her eyes were open, yet she saw nothing, even though she strained hard to see. Only by feel was she able to place her hand on her face, then move it slightly away. Still, she saw nothing. Simply blackness all around. Just falling, falling through and endless space. Ginny wrapped her arms around herself as a chill seemed to permeate her spine. You'll be all right, she told herself firmly, even though, in the pit of her stomach, she certainly had doubts.

A sudden jolt travelled up her spine, as if her feet had suddenly hit ground. And, judging from the fact that she fell to her knees and felt something solid beneath her, she had hit ground. Ginny sat there, momentarily stunned. She hesitantly reached out with a trembling hand to touch the ground. It was most certainly solid, and cold as ice, but not wet or slippery. In face, it had remarkable traction, Ginny realized as she hesitantly stood up. It was chilly where she was, almost as if it was in the middle of winter. She quickly sat back down, bunching herself up into a ball, to conserve body heat.

"Where am I?" Ginny asked aloud, her voice sounding weak and thin in this large black expanse. Wait a minute, she thought as she squinted in the darkness, I can see. And that was true. It seemed that the darkness had seemingly become lighter, enabling her to see a bit.

Above her, as far as she could see in any direction, was a dark expanse of grey clouds, ranging in hue from off-white to a threatening almost-black. Beneath her, she felt the ground, hard as a rock. Ginny moved her hands about her gingerly, trying to feel her way around in the semi-darkness. It was still almost too dark for her to see, so this was her best bet on how to find her way. Suddenly, her fingertips brushed against a sharp rock. She hadn't put much pressure on the rock, but it had still managed to cut her still. Ginny cried out and her voice echoed slightly. She then brought her hand in front of her face and saw in the dim light that she was shaking. Ginny brought her bleeding finger to her mouth and felt the metallic tang of blood on her tongue. She gingerly reached out with the other hand, but found no other obstacles.

"Where am I?" Ginny whispered again, now she could see a bit more. The expanse was continually lightening, as if it was sunrise. But still, there was nothing around as far as she could see. Just a grey expanse of sky above her and a solid black expanse below her. Black rock, hard as diamonds.

"Well, if you were to call it anything, I'd say it's limbo." a very familiar voice said. Ginny whirled around and looked up to see Tom Riddle there, looking as cool and collected as always.

"Get away from me!" Ginny shrieked, scrambling backwards from the black-haired male, "You already made me fall down the stairs in Gryffindor Tower! Go away! I don't want anything to do with you!"

"Actually," Riddle began pleasantly, as if he was simply having a cup of tea, "I wasn't the one who made you fall down the stairs. One, I do not have a physical form. Two, why would I be in Gryffindor Tower?"

Ginny paused, still on the ground, to muse this over. Actually, he does have some good points... she admitted to herself, biting her lip. He didn't have a physical body - Thank Merlin for that fact, she sighed. She looked back up at the Slytherin and flinched as he walked towards her.

"Get up," Riddle said sharply, "And stop cowering." he ran a hand through his thick black hair. Ginny watched him with wide eyes, privately she had always thought he was in good need of a trim. "I thought you Gryffindor folk were supposed to be brave," he smirked, "How you ever got into that house is beyond me, precious Ginny."

"Shut up," Ginny snapped, getting to her feet, "I don't have to listen to you preach about how I'm not fit for the house that I'm in," she pushed her red hair out of her face so that she could look him in the eye. Well, to the best of her ability, for he was a full head taller than her, "Just leave me alone."

"Certainly," Riddle smirked, executing a sweeping bow. He turned and started to walk away, standing out clearly against the monochromatic landscape. As Ginny watched him saunter off, walking as if he owned the world, an icy fear gripped her stomach.

"Hey!" Ginny called after him, "Wait!" No reply from the walking Riddle, who continued along, ignoring her, "How am I supposed to get out of here?"

Riddle's light Welsh accent floated back across the distance, "Don't ask me. You told me to go away."

"You're impossible, Tom Riddle!" Ginny screamed after him, sinking to her knees. She looked down at the ground, her eyes filling with tears. Obviously, she was stuck here and her only way out was walking away from her. Stop it, she told herself, if you keep thinking that, then you really will be stuck here forever. "There has to be a way out." she muttered to herself, still looking down at the ground. Roughly, she wiped the tears from her eyes, I will not cower like some weak little thing, Ginny resolved.

"Oh, there is a way out," said Riddle, smugly. Ginny looked up to see him standing beside her.

"How..." Ginny trailed off, her brow furrowed in confusion as Riddle grabbed her arm and lifted her roughly to her feet.

"I've learned to manipulate this place to my needs," Riddle said, letting go of her arm and fixing her with a condensing look, "When you've been here for..oh...about three years now, it's really helpful to know how to manipulate limbo."

"Limbo?" Ginny inquired, twirling a strand of red hair. It was a nervous habit of hers and she instantly stopped doing it when she realized it.

"You know, the place where souls that don't have bodies hang about?" Riddle said, a sarcastic bite to his tone.

"And how do I get out of here?" Ginny asked, panic rising in her stomach.

"Well now, Ginny dear," Riddle said, his tone patronizing as he smirked down at her, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Smack!

The sound reverberated throughout the area. Ginny stood there, glaring up at Riddle, her hand still raised. Her eyes were narrowed and her mouth was set in a scowl. There was no sound except for Ginny's heavy breathing for a few moments. There was almost a tangible aura of anger surrounding the girl and Riddle's violet eyes were wide as he reached one pale, spider-like hand to his face, where there was a red mark in the shape of a hand.

Then, he started to laugh. Not a slight snicker, but full-blown hysterical laughter. Riddle's eyes gleamed as he threw his head back, still laughing. Ginny simply started at him, why was he laughing? He should be angry, mad at her for slapping him. But no, he was laughing.

"What?" Ginny asked, backing away from him. Riddle was acting as if he were some crazed lunatic.

"Oh, this is rich!" he exclaimed, his laughter slowing slightly, "Bravo, dear Miss Weasley!" Riddle smirked, his violet eyes sparkling with light, "Look around you, precious Ginny."

Ginny stopped backing away and looked down at the ground. It was no longer smooth, as a matter of fact, the ground was as far from smooth as it was possible for it to be. The solid rock had broken into millions of sharp, pointed smaller rocks that jutted out, like a rocky cliff. Ginny's eyes were wide as she turned in a circle, this went on for as far as she could see in every direction. She turned back to Riddle, her eyes wide and frightened, "How..." she trailed off, swallowing hard, "What happened?"

"You happened, precious Ginny," Riddle said, laughter still breaking out from him in spurts. His eyes were gleaming, like those of a madman and he had a horrible mad smile on his face, "You did this."

"No...no.." Ginny whispered, backing away, slipping on the protruding rocks. She would've fallen, had Riddle not grabbed her hands. "What are you doing?" she whispered, eyes wide.

"Dancing, precious Ginny," Riddle said, laughing once more. He spun her around by her hands, "Celebrating," he smirked, "Oh, this is so much better than I had planned,"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, as she was being whirled around. It was taking almost all of her concentration not to trip on the rocks. She had never been one for twirling around because she got dizzy very, very fast. And this was no exception. Her mind was whirling, the scenery turning into blurring streaks of monochromatic shades of grey. The only thing that was clear was the face of Tom Riddle and even that was becoming blurry. She felt herself trip, as if she was detached. She tripped and fell.

"Precious Ginny, what's the matter?" Riddle's voice floated down to her, "Are you all right?" the world was fading into darkness once more.
 
 
 

"...all right?" it was still a question, but the voice was different, one more familiar, heard everyday of her life. It was Ron, her brother. Ron wanted to know if she was all right.

"She'll be all right, Mr. Weasley," a crisp voice was saying in a matter-of-fact tone, "Honestly, all she did was fall."

"And hit her head off a stone staircase!" came Ron's fiery voice. Obviously he was hacked off at the person with the crisp voice, "And then she fell the rest of the way!"

"Mr Weasley, honestly!" Ginny now realized that the crisp voice belonged to Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, "Must I make you leave?"

There was silence and then the sound of the nurse bustling away, muttering something under her breath.

"I don't understand it," a new voice said. Ginny's ears perked up, it was Harry.

"What do you mean?" a third voice, this one female with a light Irish accent asked. Ginny recognized the voice to belong to the third member of the Wonder Team, Hermione Granger.

"I was walking up there to tell her something," Harry said, "And she came flying at me. Then she screamed and fainted."

"Why would she do that?" Hermione puzzled.

"I don't know," Harry sounded confused and Ginny felt a pang. He had every right to feel confused. She herself was confused...she had bumped into Harry?

Something clicked in her mind and it all made perfect sense. Ginny had been blinded by fear and, in her panicked state of mind, she had mistaken Harry for Riddle. She groaned at her mistake.

"Ginny?" came the question of Ron immediately. Ginny slowly opened her eyelids to see the faces of her brother, Harry and Hermione there.

Ginny closed her eyes again and shuddered. She opened her eyes and gazed up at the three around her, "My head," she mumbled, bringing one hand to her forehead. She rubbed a temple and winced. There was a continuous pain in her head, a throbbing ache that didn't seem like it was going to go away any time soon.

"Ah, you're awake, Miss Weasley," Madam Pomfrey came bustling back. She looked at Ginny appraisingly, "You look all right, but you'll have quite a headache for awhile."

"Actually," Ginny found herself saying, "I feel quite fine, Madam Pomfrey."

"Are you sure?" the nurse looked suspicious.

"Yes," Ginny lied. She waved her arms around in circles, "I feel like getting up and dancing."

"If you're getting up and doing anything, it's going to your classes, Miss Weasley," Madam Pomfrey said sternly.

"Yes," Ginny bobbed her head up and down in agreement, "I'll go straight to my..uh..." she paused, looking around at the fifth years, "What time is it?"

"Just after lunch," Hermione said, pushing her hair out of her face. She had gotten it cut and permed over the summer. A great deal of bushiness had left it and it was now tameable, "On 7th October."

"Oh." Ginny squeaked out, "I've been out the whole day?"

"Yeah," Ron shuffled his feet. He looked at the clock, "We're going to be late for Potions!" he yelped, eyes wide. Hermione immediately raced out of the hospital room, yelling over her shoulder.

"Hope you get better soon, Ginny!" she called as her brown hair flew behind her as she left.

"See you later, Gin," Ron said, patting her on the head, then took off after the brunette. Ginny scowled at his back, she did not like being treated like some sort of pet. Within two seconds, however, Ron was back in the room, "And mum sent you an owl. It's in your dorm." with that, he left again.

"Well, here's your bag, Miss Weasley," Madam Pomfrey sighed and handed Ginny her worn, blue schoolbag. It still had the books in it for her afternoon classes, she had put them in there before she had had her nap

"Thanks," Ginny said, climbing out of bed. She was still in her school uniform, to her dismay. Well, at least it was only the afternoon classes and she could get changed quickly. She stopped and turned. Harry was still there, watching her. "Don't you have a class to get to?"

"I thought I'd walk you to yours first," Harry said, taking her bag from her gently, "To make sure you get there all right."

"Oh," Ginny said, a faint blush staining her cheeks, "Okay," she added, mentally smacking herself, Oh, real smooth, Ginny. The guy you've had a crush on forever finally pays some notice to you and you act like a blithering idiot.

"What class do you have?" Harry asked as they stood outside the hospital wing.

"Umm..." Ginny said, what classes do I have? she wondered. She mentally smacked herself again, Stop acting like such an idiot, Virginia Weasley! "I have Divination." She stole a glance at Harry as they walked down the hall, heading for the North Tower.

Harry Potter had changed quite a bit over the summer since she had saw him last. He was much taller now, as if he had suddenly had a massive growth spurt. Ginny even thought that he was almost the same height as Tom Riddle. His hair was still unruly as ever and his green eyes peered out brightly from behind round glasses. His face was more square-shaped, less round than the year before and his voice was deeper too. In fact, it seemed like all of this had happened in the blink of an eye to Ginny.

"Well, here we are," Harry's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. Blinking, Ginny realized that they were just below the Divinations room.

"Thanks, Harry," Ginny smiled, taking her bag from him and turning to the silvery ladder.

"Hey, Ginny?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" the red-haired girl turned around.

"You know the Hallowe'en Ball that's coming up..." Harry's cheeks were slowly, but surely turning a crimson shade.

"Yeah..." Ginny said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She winced slightly as she felt a dull, throbbing pain in her head.

"Well, I was thinking..." Harry continued, not looking at her face, but at the wall behind her. He coughed and then blurted out, "Will you go with me?"

"What?" Ginny's eyes widened and a slow smile spread across her face. "Sure!" she said, after a moment of silence, her cheeks becoming red too.

"Great," Harry grinned, his face still red, but fading slightly. He then did something Ginny was not expecting him to do and kissed her on the cheek, "See you later," he said, before walking quickly off.

"Yeah," Ginny smiled, raising a hand to her cheek, "See you later, Harry."