#1 Despite the mistake in the last chapter, Ron is still dead. Sorry.
#2 Thanks to all the super reviewers, I love y'all
#3 This chapter is VERY dark and complicated and twisted, but it's just the direction this story is taking.
#4 I got some VERY harsh feedback in chapter 3 of my story Getting it Together. Read it & tell me what you think!
CHAPTER 20 Waiting
Draco was tired of waiting. For four long, cold days, he had waited. Waited to hear from Dumbledore, waited to hear reports from the Order, waited for someone to give him information. Once again, he was cooped up in someone else's house - he had to give Dumbledore credit though, he certainly did know wizard's everywhere - about three miles from his family's summer home. I should have just stayed at Hogwarts, he thought bitterly, for all the good I've done here! Potter hadn't spoken much to him, but he never really did. The Mudblood had taken back to glaring every time she saw him, none of the Order trusted him except maybe, just maybe, Snape, but many in the Order did not trust him, and as for Ginny's family, well, it was clear they thought the blame lied with him. Plus, the thought of a Malfoy taking their precious daughter to an Inn for the night was unthinkable, no matter that they had slept in the same bed all summer with them in the house.
"She's there," Snape told him on the afternoon of the fourth day.
"I already knew that!" Draco snapped back, feeling rather ill towards everyone.
"Well, now it's confirmed," he said calmly. "And we know she's still alive."
Draco nodded, thinking of the ten thousand ways he would torture his father before killing him when this was all said and done. "When we were at Harry's house, Lupin said something about knowing that he wouldn't kill Ginny."
Snape looked at him in silence, so Draco pressed on.
"Who was he talking about?"
"I think you already know that."
"My father?"
"No."
"The Dark Lord?"
Snape nodded stiffly, as if this was a conversation he wanted no part of.
"But why?" Draco had to know. "He said Dumbledore told them why."
Snape silent and then finally said, "During her first year at Hogwarts the Dark Lord possessed her, and she let him. Because she willingly let him possess her, some shadow of himself has stayed with her."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.
"She did not know it was the Dark Lord. She was only eleven then, and only knew of her friend . . . Tom Riddle. When Potter destroyed his journal, he did not destroy Tom Riddle. Tom faded, but only until the Dark Lord had risen back into power. It is Dumbledore's theory that in some sick and twisted way, the Tom part of the Dark Lord loves her."
Draco's insides rolled at the thought of the Dark Lord loving his girlfriend. "He's not capable of that."
"Maybe. Or maybe not."
"What does he think? That she'll fall for him?"
"As Tom, he is quite different. He would never go before Ginny as himself. Or perhaps it's you he wants."
Draco had heard enough. He stomped from the room and headed down the hall until he found Potter in the bedroom they were currently sharing with the twins.
"Ginny told me once that there is a prophecy about you that says you have to kill the Dark Lord," Draco barked without so much as a greeting.
"Or he has to kill me," Harry replied without looking up.
"Right. Count me in."
Harry rolled over and looked at him. "What?"
"I want Ginny back. I don't want to have to fucking worry about some bloody Mudblood Dark Lord trying to get with Ginny or war or death or anything. Let's end this because this is bullshit!"
Harry looked at him calmly. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure! I want Ginny back! I hate this, sitting here on my ass like a prat doing nothing! I'm sick of Ginny's family looking at me like I'm evil. I can't fucking stand this! Why isn't anyone trying to do anything? Who knows what he's bloody doing to her!"
"Right then." Harry stood up, with a tiny smile. "So what should we do?"
"To start," Fred said, entering the room, "let's keep our voices down so that You Know Who doesn't hear us."
"Cause Ginny's whole family did," George added. "We don't think you're evil by the way."
"It is a bit odd to see you with our baby sister though," Fred mused. "Of course, there's always the satisfaction of knowing we can kill you if you hurt her."
Draco glanced back and forth between the twins, unsure whether so pull out his wand and start a duel or get the hell out of the room.
"Anyways mate," Fred continued. "You know about the wards. You teach us, and we'll go get her."
***
Ginny tried to keep track of the days by forcing herself to stay awake when she could see sunlight trickling in narrow window. So far it wasn't working out very well. When the fear would pass, the boredom set in. She hadn't seen Tom since the first night, or anyone else for that matter, but she knew he had come in at some time. The room now held a small sleeping cot, two blankets, and usually when she woke up she found food. At first, she had been petrified, but after at least three days that she had counted of not seeing another person, the terror began to wear into the monotony of doing absolutely nothing.
She entertained herself by reciting the spells and charms and hexes she had been studying for her N.E.W.T.s. She wondered if the Holidays were over and Hogwarts had started again. She wondered if Draco was looking for her, or if her mum was out of her mind with worry. And when all that lost its fascination, she slept.
Draco's hands were gliding over her body, feeling every curve in her skin. His lips skated from her ears to her neck to her breasts, brushing against her thighs and finding their way between her legs.
Ginny moaned from underneath him, wanting him, wanting his touch. She bent her legs to give him more access and gasped as he pushed into her, each thrust eliciting moans from her. She came quickly, arching her back and crying out as the prickling heat overtook her.
"I love you Ginerva," Draco whispered.
Draco doesn't call me Ginerva, she thought, her own thoughts nearly lost beneath the beginnings of a second orgasm. She tried to life her sleepy eyes to look at him, but she couldn't - the second orgasm exploded through her body stretching all the way to the tips of her fingers and into her toes.
"I'm going to make you mine forever," he growled into her ear.
Ginny tried to fight the risings of a third orgasm. Something's not right, she thought. But the pleasure was greater than she had ever experienced and was seizing control again.
"Don't fight it. He was never this good to you, was he?"
Ginny forgot the pleasure and began to scream as she saw that the wizard inside of her had dark hair and red eyes.
Ginny's eyes shot open and she scrambled from her bed, the scream still clinging to her lips. Wildly, she glanced around the room and found no one. She was still clothed. A dream, she told herself firmly. But the feeling hadn't stopped. The sensation that someone was still thrusting themselves inside of her didn't go away. "Stop," she whispered to the empty room. But the feeling increased. The driving became harder, faster, and her skin prickled as invisible fingers stroked her body.
This can't be happening, she told herself rationally, trying to ignore the contrary evidence her body was giving her. I'm alone. I'm fully clothed.
But as the pounding inside of her grew more intense and more undeniable, she began to claw at her body and cry. "Stop! Please stop!" She fell to the floor, sobbing, unable to control what was happening, and drew her knees to her chest. "Please stop!"
It felt like an eternity before she felt the shuddering gasp inside of her that signaled the end, and Ginny began to throw up.
After that she refused to let herself sleep. She sat huddled against the wall, ignoring the bed, afraid of what would happen when she slept. Two more days passed, and occasionally she would find that she had dozed off, but she always woke with a start, afraid of what might be lurking. She sat against the wall, her mind repeating what had happened over and over again, trying to figure out if she was raped, if it was just a nightmare, or if she was going crazy. Because she didn't know what Tom's spell had done to her and she didn't know how to block it. On the third day since her dream, Tom came back.
"Waiting for me?" he asked, entering the room.
Ginny looked at him but said nothing.
"You look awful," he told her, conjuring up food.
She was sure she did. The last thing she had eaten was three days ago, and she had thrown that up. She had barely slept, and fear kept her huddled against the wall, shaking and sweating, even during the cool nights.
"What's the matter?" he asked, his voice like silk. "I thought you'd be happy to see me."
Ginny drew her knees closer to her chest and didn't answer. She felt Tom's hand brush against her cheek and she flinched away. But Tom was still standing across the room. Ginny's eyebrows drew together and he began to smile. "What did you do to me?" she hissed.
"I told you," he smiled, "we're going to always be together."
"You can't do this to me!" Ginny screamed at him, suddenly more furious that scared. "You can't just rape me!"
"I would hardly call it rape, Ginerva. Not when you enjoyed it so much," he told her, his wicked grin expanding. "Besides, I was no where near you."
But even as those words left his mouth, Ginny could feel his hands, sliding along the skin of her bare stomach, his fingers slipping beneath the waistband of her knickers. "Stop it!" she screamed, charging him. She swung her hand back and slapped him as hard as she could.
Tom looked mildly surprised and rubbed his cheek. Then he reached down and grabbed Ginny by the neck and shoved her against the wall. "You are mine. You will always be mine."
Ginny struggled to remove his fingers which were blocking her wind pipe.
"Do you understand me? Do you?" He shook her harder.
Ginny tried to nod her head, but the room was going blurry. Spots danced before her eyes, and then everything went black.
Tom didn't come back at all after that. Every once in a while she would look up and find food, but she saw no one. She could feel his presence occasionally. An invisible kiss or the brush of a hand stroking her cheek or her name, lingering in the air, but there was no Tom. It felt like years had passed, as she was too afraid to sleep and too bored to stay awake. The fear won out. The thought of waking to someone inside of her was worse than boredom.
Just before Ginny thought she might give up her sanity, just before she was ready to relinquish control of her mind, just when she began to contemplate taking her own life, the door finally did open, Ginny looked up to find Draco and Harry staring at her.
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