Haunted
The corridor was dark and dank with a foul smell of rotting filling her nostrils, and still she ran, tears streamed down her face as her eyes frantically searched for an escape she felt it, the dark foreboding shadow at her heels, not daring to look over her shoulder she pushed on. Ahead of her flashed a light, far down the end of the passageway, as always it was far away, no matter how far or fast she ran, it danced away from her, just out of reach. Then the empty space came, to her left she could see everyone she knew sitting around talking to each other, she screamed and begged for someone to help her. No one turned, no one heard, no one came to her and she did not run to them, instead she pushed on, knowing that she had to reach the end. But then the dead-end came, abruptly, a black wall… a wall that she could never touch nor see but knew it was there… the dreaded part was turning to face the shadow… and it was a shadow, a shadow with the red eyes of Tom… glaring at her with his those bottomless and soulless eyes and then laughed as he advanced on her. A deep laugh that chilled her heart, not high and shrill, but deep and dark… the shadow consumed her, wrapped itself around her, choking and suffocating her until she crumpled to the floor staring up into the wisps of blackness. The light still shone above her, again so far away… fading as the shadow rose and hovered above her, Tom's face staring back down at her with his blazing red eyes. Suddenly his face faded away and she was staring back at herself… laughing in her own face as she lay dying, her wrists and throat slashed and the blood pooled around her and ran black in the darkness.
Ginny gasped as she sat up in bed clutching her throat and finding herself sobbing. Again… the nightmare came again, as it did so often since her first year she could hear her heart pounding in her chest, throbbing in fear as if she had physically been running. Quickly she glanced down at her wrists, nothing. Ginny sighed in relief and lay back down in bed, staring out the window.
"What do you want from me, Tom?" She whispered into the darkness, "What do you want from me….?" a question she knew would never be answered. Closing her eyes Ginny allowed herself to fall back into slumber, ignoring the tears of frustration that bled from her eyes.
That morning Ginny dragged her feet into the great hall for breakfast, Collin trailing behind her with his camera dangling from his side. Ginny sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table and poured herself a pumpkin juice without saying a word. The nightmares always drained her, she'd go to Promfrey for some sleeping potion later.
Glancing up at the entrance to the great hall Ginny saw Harry, Ron and Hermione enter. They'd changed she thought darkly to herself, no longer was there an air of flamboyance and happiness among them. Harry looked how she felt, his face pale and his eyes sunken from lack of sleep, no doubt he was haunted by nightmares of his own, Merlin, if she was having nightmares related to Voldemort than he definitely would be.
Ron had gone quiet… too quiet for a Weasley, in some ways he'd matured like Bill... he was more observant and seemed to have started thinking before he spoke. Still… he was her closest brother… seeing him change so fast disturbed her. Since the summer after his fifth year Ron was a changed man…no longer was there the Fred and George within him, the twinkle of mischief in his eyes was no more.
Hermione now had a permanent frown plastered on her forehead and was forever buried in a thick ancient looking dusty book. She had become more serious now than she ever was before, something Ginny had believed to be impossible.
No… the whole school was on edge, even the Slytherins… the wizarding world was on the brink of war and they could feel it, the tension in the air was so taught it could be sliced with a knife. Azkaban had been breeched, the reality was so clear, death and chaos was in store for them all… and there was no way out of it, their only hope was Harry, the-boy-who-lived. Death Eater's sons and daughters knew where their future would lead them… into the ranks of Voldemort's Death Eaters… the bottom line was that there was no choice for either side and the tension was there because reality was hitting them like a ton of bricks. Hope for the future was dark and clouded, many would die, anyone could die…
Glancing at the Slytherin table Ginny's ochre orbs met those cold steely grey ones that were gazing intensely at her. A shiver ran involuntarily up Ginny's spine before she turned away stiffly. All were on edge save him… Draco Malfoy, he alone seemed to be the only person that was calm and impassive about the surrounding situation. He alone seemed to know something no one else knew, he was neither smug nor was he fearful or excited, he was nothing, just simply calm and cool. She hated him, regardless of the fact that he had backed off Ron, Harry and Hermione.
He watched her, this much she knew, his eyes trailed cold patterns over her body making the hair on her arms and the nape of her neck rise on end as if in defence every single time he laid eyes upon her. It was as if her body knew something bad was going to happen to her, something horrific that only Draco Malfoy knew of. It unnerved her, he scared her and made her feel uneasy, she hated the fact that she could feel his presence knowing that she could only feel it because he wanted her to, it infuriated her that again she was not fully in control of her own mind or body… his presence made her remember Tom so much stronger… the memory of his close to complete possession of her soul became so much clearer under the scrutiny of Draco Malfoy, and she loathed him for it, passionately.
"Ginny, coming for Potions now?" Collin said tiredly from beside her.
Ginny sipped at her pumpkin juice and nodded, "mmm, yeah," she mumbled before draining her glass and standing up, "though I really don't feel up for a session of Weasley-Gryffindor abuse from that prick Snape." Ginny sighed, "Come on then!" and headed out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons, she knew that his eyes never left her.
She'd had a nightmare, it was evident, and there were dark rings under her eyes, showing up clearly on her freckle-dirty pale skin. Draco smirked, she'd break, no muggle-loving fool could last for much longer under the Dark Lord's influence. Though Draco wondered, after four years of her surviving, what were the odds of her breaking now? After his conversation with Blaise he had to ask himself, did he really want to see her fall?
"Blaise, I want her watched, sixth year Slytherins, I want every move she makes, wherever possible." Draco hissed, "And be discreet about it."
Blaise sighed and nodded, it was useless, a Malfoy, how in Merlin's beard did one argue with a Malfoy? "You waste your time, Drake, she'll not break, and if and when she does, you're the last person she'll come crawling to." He muttered.
Draco smirked in reply before leaving the Slytherin table. She would break all right, she had to, Salazar knew that if she didn't break then Draco himself would for certain.