Title: Collage of Echoes
Rating: R
Warnings: OOC, Angst, Fluff, Redemption.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The poem used, "Collage of Echoes" belongs to Isabella Gardner.
Summary: She couldn't help the melody of a laugh that escaped as her playful lips parted, and she managed to skip a step or two, her rich, bright auburn hair, a swaying fire in her wake as she made her way down the corridor, the portraits staring longingly after her, envying her the life, vitality, freedom she had to be in the real world. But she was in another world entirely, though none save one knew...
Author's notes: This story was written based loosely on a plot bunny I have for a novel-length fic that I'm working on. It went out on a limb and a curve ball and swung way out to left field of course, but I like the way it ends and well, it's a novel approach to the Gin & Tonic ship if ever I saw it... Hope you enjoy!
Dedication: This goes out to everyone brave enough to face the most terrifying of fears, being honest with your family when they only want to believe in the good rather than the whole truth...

-Cassie

"Collage of Echoes"
By C.K. Blake

"I have no promises to keep
Nor miles to go before I sleep,
For miles of years I have made promises
and (mostly) kept them.
It's time I slept.
Now I lay me down to sleep
With no promises to keep.
My sleaves are raveled
I have traveled."

-Isabella Gardner "Collage of Echoes"

A sigh escaped the girl's ripe lips as her slim, warm, bare feet stepped silent over the cold stones of the long, lone corridor. A small, secret smile, playfully alighting those lips as her thoughts rose and gave way to the memories echoing within her. Oh, and what memories.

She couldn't help the melody of a laugh that escaped as her playful lips parted, and she managed to skip a step or two, her rich, bright auburn hair, a swaying fire in her wake as she made her way down the corridor, the portraits staring longingly after her, envying her the life, vitality, freedom she had to be in the real world. But she was in another world entirely, though none save one knew.

The girl soon reached her destination, her feet still beneath her, her rich, playful light brown gaze captured by the seemingly dark grey-green eyes gazing intently back at her, and she smiled, lifting her hand out to touch his full frozen lips, warmth pooling within her as she caressed the line of his mouth and heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.

Yes, he was with her. Turning around she would meet his gaze and reveal the secret that had kept her away from him those five long months. Could she turn around now, to face the man, the subject of the portrait that held her so enamored?

----------

Fear raced icy through her veins. Madness. Yes, that had to be it, after nearly five years she'd finally descended into madness. That was the only explanation. She'd suffered a great trauma at the age of eleven and now at sixteen it had finally caught up with her. Why else would he be with her? Why else was his voice always in her mind and echoing down the corridor now, telling her where to go? She nearly screamed when she reached the end of the corridor of Head Boys and Head Girls past and came face to face with his portrait, her wide light brown eyes locking with the cold grey-green eyes of the only muggle portrait in the corridor, the last portrait to grace this particular hall.

She couldn't help the scream that erupted from her mouth and played over and over; growing dimmer the further it trailed down the nearly empty corridor. She spun around ready to run as far away from the portrait as possible, and found herself face to face with the young man from the portrait, but that was impossible. Voldemort had been defeated and there was no way that Tom Riddle could be in that corridor with her. She'd finally sunken into dementia.

"Shhh… Ginny, you've no reason to be afraid," he whispered, as he reached out to push some wayward strands of her bright auburn hair back behind her ear, but his fingers went through her hair, and the girl's eyes widened even more, as her breathing increased and she took a shaky step back.

"Oh Sweet Circe, what are you?" she asked, and she began to tremble as she muttered on about impending madness, her legs giving way beneath her until she was kneeling on the cold stone floor, whimpering, and rocking back and forth.

He made soothing sounds and tried comforting her. He put his hand on her shoulder but it went through her and she felt the coldness of his presence as he removed his hand from her shoulder. She looked up, tears welling in her eyes as she met his startling grey-green eyes. He gave her a small smile of reassurance and was crouching before her, the balls of his feet supporting him. She looked at him, wondering how he could go right through her when he seemed so real. He wasn't corporeal and yet he was unlike any ghost she'd ever seen.

She reached out, her fingers tentatively tracing his cheek and she was surprised to note that somehow she could touch him, and his flesh was cold. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, and there was resistance, if she touched him he could feel her. He took in a deep breath and opened his eyes as her fingertips wandered from his cheek to his cool lips and he let the breath out slowly, and the girl gasped at the warm air that escaped his parted lips.

"How can I touch you when you just go through me when you try to touch me?" she asked in awe.

"I don't know. I just know I'm here because of you. When Voldemort was defeated I was allowed to be free. I'm not trapped with a planted memory or hiding within your mind. I'm free, but I can't touch anything, I just go through things. But when you touch me I'm warm. Gods I'm warmer than I've been in years."

"But what are you?"

"I'm a wandering soul, what wizards sometimes call an echo. I'm what you won't let go," he replied, "And you are what's keeping me here."

"How is this possible?"

"When Potter destroyed the diary I slipped into your mind, it was for my own survival. The memory he defeated was planted by Voldemort, it wasn't me. I've been with you since the Chamber of Secrets. Watched you, whispered the answers to you in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions when you were stumped, entered your dreams. Face it, Ginevra, I've become a part of you, and now I'm free to be in this world again. Still I have to find a way to become human. I have to find a way to touch you," he said and reached out to stroke her cheek but his fingers went through her and she shivered at the cold sensation that his non-existent touch sent through her.

Her voice trembled as the words fell from her lips, "But why me?"

"Because you allowed me into your dreams, your world. I've seen your soul, and now I can exist for you. Tell me that you don't want that and I can go away. I'll fade and you will never see me again, unless you visit this portrait, but that is really only a shadow of who I am, who I could be," he answered, his voice soft, promising, sincere.

Her soft, light brown eyes drifted to the floor, before she felt the cold sensation slip through her chin and she lifted her face so that their eyes met, light brown with grey-green, and she brought her hand to his cool, slender cheek, and blinking, tears slipped from her eyes and down her cheeks, as she leaned toward him until her warm lips pressed against his cold ones. When she drew back she opened her eyes and noticed the strange whimsical expression on his young handsome face. He didn't look a day over seventeen.

She couldn't help it as she licked her lips, blood rushing to her cheeks as she looked at him and whispered, "I won't let you fade away Tom. I don't think I could ever allow you to fade."

----------

"Where did you go? Why did you keep me away for so long? How could you trap me alone in this corridor? Five months Ginny, why? Was it because of the potion? Did I… I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked.

The girl took a deep breath and slowly turned around, hoping that her Gryffindor bravery would hold out as she faced him. Wondering what he would say upon seeing her, realizing the truth…

----------

The girl shivered as she recalled her last conversation with him, and smiled as she carefully pulled open the cabinet of Snape's private potion stores. She used the lit tip of her wand to read the labels and a broad, proud grin spread across her face as she read the label of the potion she needed. It was perfect. After months of searching for a way to make him human, corporeal, she was but one potion away from it becoming a reality.

She carefully lifted the dark blue vial, labeled in Snape's spidery hand. Vitae Corporeal.

She closed the cabinet, and hurried out of Snape's office, but she ran into a waste bin by his desk in the Potions classroom, knocking it over. She froze, afraid that the noise would attract someone and she would be caught, but luck was on her side. After a small eternity of fierce silence, she righted the waste bin, and hurried out of the classroom, quickly slipping Harry's invisibility cloak about her, glad that she'd had the foresight to ask him for it.

She hurried up various stairwells, practically leaping from one as it changed direction, and she found herself at the beginning of the corridor that housed the portraits of Head Boys and Head Girls past, the last portrait in the hall, being the portrait of Tom Marvolo Riddle, the only muggle portrait in the whole corridor.

Once she stood facing the portrait she sighed, and upon hearing a sharp intake of breath behind her she turned around, a smile gracing her face as she looked at his fair, handsomely angled face. He was a gorgeous man, with his dark hair, aristocratic bone structure, plump kissable lips and sharp grey-green eyes. She felt her breath still in her throat and her cheeks grew warm as she noticed the hungry look in his wide eyes.

"You look stunning," he said in awe as he looked at the fair skinned girl dressed in a simple white gown that revealed her curves and ended with the skirt fanned out just above her ankles. The sleeves barely covering the tops of her arms, and her hair rippling freely down her back in bright red flames. She was stunning.

"Thank you," she replied in a whisper and then took her left hand from behind her back, revealing the vile she'd kipped from Severus Snape's private stores. The boy's eyes widened even more, as he looked at the simple blue vile and then up to the girl.

"Is that the potion? Wherever did you get it?" he asked with wicked chuckle that sent a shiver up her spine.

She looked to the floor and then slowly meeting his eyes replied, "Professor Snape's private stores. According to what I've read, it isn't permanent, but it will give us the night together. We could have a night together, can you believe? You could hold me for a whole night and I could feel you. I wouldn't have to touch you because you could hold me."

"So, how does this work?"

She swallowed, bringing her right hand up to the back of his head, her fingers slipping into the dark strands of his hair, and he reached out to touch her arm but still his fingers swept through her arm. He moaned in frustration, closed his eyes, and simply stood there, his arms at his side as her fingers threaded through his hair, and she unstoppered the vial, bringing it to his lips and poured the liquid into his mouth.

He coughed at the unexpected sensation of liquid in his mouth and noted that the taste was horribly bitter, and then he'd realized that he could taste it, that the liquid didn't go through him. His eyes widened and he brought his hand up and it collided with the girl's arm. He grabbed her arm in disbelief and she looked at his hand around her right arm, and the blue vial slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor as she lifted her left hand to caress his face.

She closed her eyes as his fingers caressed her face, gliding across her temples, down her cheeks, and then they were tracing her lips and threading through her long red hair, and they were warm. She moaned when she felt his breath against her neck and then his lips were burning against her throat and she was moaning as his hands slipped down her sides, his thumbs brushing her breasts and then his hands were resting on her waist as he slipped away from her throat and his warm mouth descended on hers, his tongue gliding across her lips until she opened her mouth to him and he slipped his tongue inside, caressing her tongue in return and drinking in the sweet taste of her.

She moaned as a deep growl emitted from his throat, and his arms tightened around her. She was breathless when he withdrew and her legs no longer had the strength to hold her up, and she realized that it was him holding her, keeping her from falling, or perhaps it was him pushing her over the edge.

"Where should we go?" he asked breathlessly.

"Anywhere, as long as you hold me and don't ever let me go," she whispered.

"Lead the way. Wherever you want to go."

Ginny looked at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Still, Tom didn't hesitate as he took the hand that she held out to him. She led him down the corridor, and they hurried up various stairwells and down various corridors, the pair of them hidden in Harry's invisibility cloak as they traveled down the corridors. Finally she halted before a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. Tom lifted an eyebrow as he looked at the girl who held his hand firmly in her grasp. She tried not to laugh, though it bubbled in her, and she looked at the portrait and said, "Trouble in Shangri-La."

The portrait looked about in confusion, but having heard the password she opened up, revealing the doorway into Gryffindor Tower. Ginny let go of Tom's hand and stepped out of the cover of the invisibility cloak and Tom still under the cloak followed her into the lion's den. It was only ten o'clock and the common room was still full of various students, and it was Saturday, so curfew was suspended for the night. Ginny headed toward the stairwell leading up the girl's dormitories and Tom winced, wondering how he would be able to get up the stairs as he was now corporeal and without a wand.

He looked up and noticing that Ginny was looking around for him. He was about to uncover his hand when two boys a red head, and one with dark hair, green eyes and a scar, Potter, and a girl with long curly honey brown hair came up to the girl, asking where she'd been. Joking around about the mysterious date she told them she was going on, and asking why she'd come back so early, the red head, seemingly relieved that she was back so early.

She shrugged and with a small smile said, "Oh, it went rather well, though nothing too scandalous."

The red head rolled his eyes and the curly haired girl spoke up, "When will you tell us who he is?"

Ginny flushed as she turned her eyes to the floor and replied, "When he and I are ready to let the world know that we are together. He's amazing, but right now no one would understand. It won't be much longer though. Trust me. He's proud of us, it's just that right now things are somewhat awkward with his housing and living arrangements."

"Oy, you sound like you're going to be living with him. It's not that serious is it Ginny?" Ron asked.

"Perhaps it is Ron. We've known each other for years. He's knows all of my secrets and I know without a doubt that I could trust him with anything. I promise that I'll introduce him to you, all of you, when he's ready."

Ron rolled his eyes and looked somewhat annoyed at his younger sister and then Potter asked, "Well, at least tell us this much. It's not Malfoy is it?"

Ron's eyes bulged and he looked about ready to choke on the oxygen trying to escape his lungs. The curly haired girl swatted at Harry and shook her head with a laugh. "Come on, Harry, Ginny would never date someone so low. It's probably some Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff boy."

Ginny flushed and looked at the girl. "I can't tell you what house he's from, but he's seventeen, and he's wonderful, Hermione."

"I'm sure he is," Hermione said and then she calculated something in her mind. "Seventeen, so he would be in our year. Ginny! You're with a seventh year?"

Ron looked fit to be tied at this news. "He's a seventh year? And what's he doing with my baby sister?"

Tom watched the whole scene playing out and had to suppress the chuckles building within him. If they knew the truth, that he'd been a seventh year nearly forty years ago, they would really be fit to be tied.

Eventually Ginny managed to convince them that she was tired, and they left her to reconvene near the roaring fireplace. Ginny then looked about again and Tom slipped his hand through the cloak. Ginny smiled and pointing her wand at him said, "May your feet with wings fly."

Shimmery orange light shot from her wand and engulfed him beneath the invisibility cloak and he felt amazingly light, and as she began to climb the stairs to the girl's dormitories he followed her and not once did the steps change beneath his feet to prevent him from going up to the girl's dormitories.

Once he reached the top of the stairs the light feeling left him, and he saw her standing near a door at the end of the corridor. He caught up to her quickly and took her hand. She smiled, opened the door, and pulled him in behind her before she closed the door. He noticed the five four-poster beds in the room. They were all empty.

He shed the invisibility cloak and looked at the girl standing before him, a smile on her tempting lips. She pulled him toward the bed at the far end of the room and he followed her without protest, and then she let go of his hand and was reaching behind her, trying to unzip the dress she wore. She swore when she realized that she couldn't reach it and he grinned, before stepping behind her and getting the zipper for her, his fingers trailing the zipper and gliding down her spine. She shivered at his warm touch.

Once the zipper was undone he bent down and kissed her left shoulder, and relished the gasp elicited from her lips. She turned around to face him, and lifted her gaze until their eyes met. She lifted her hand and traced his cheek before she leaned up to kiss him. He eagerly returned the kiss, but she pulled back before he could deepen it. She saw the dark look of hunger and desire in his eyes and taking a deep breath she said, "I love you, Tom."

He froze for a moment, having never really heard those words before, and his expression turned to one of awe as he leaned down and swept her lips into a heavenly kiss as his hands slipped the sleeves of her white dress down her arms and the dress ended up pooled at their feet, revealing a simple white bra and white panties.

He pulled back from the kiss to look at her and took in a deep breath as he looked at her. He felt his heart beat faster, and then he was tearing off the Slytherin robes he wore, and then her fingers were tugging at his tie, and unbuttoning his oxford shirt, revealing a smooth, well defined chest. She leaned down and kissed the taunt skin as more was revealed and then she reached his trousers. She blushed, not sure how to proceed, but he took her hands and brought her back up into a kiss.

He guided her to the bed, her knees hit the edge of the mattress and then she was falling back on the bed, him leaning over her. He pulled back, kicking off his shoes, slipping out of his socks, and then he took off his trousers, revealing dark green boxers. Her eyes widened as she lifted herself up further on the bed and noticed his arousal. He crawled cat-like onto the bed after her, and soon had her straddled and she felt the weight of his arousal pressing against he and lifted up against him. He moaned at her actions and then leaned down kissing her, his tongue slipping between her lips and coaxing hers into a dance, and his hands ran over her bra covered breasts, her nipples straining against the cloth. As she arched her back into his touch he slipped his hands behind her back and undid the clasp, and slid the offending material down her arms, revealing her lovely breasts, and tossed it to the floor. He began to trail kisses down her throat, pausing over her pulse and giving it a little nibble, getting another gasp from her. She could feel his smile against her throat.

His kisses trailed across her collarbone and down her chest. She moaned and arched her back as he took first one nipple into his mouth suckling and nipping it gently, before giving the same attention to the other, and then he was trailing kisses down her stomach until he reached her panties. He looked up at her from hungry narrowed eyes and she let out a sharp breath as he kissed the flesh of her hip, his fingers curling around the edge of her panties, before he began to slide them down.

She squirmed against him, and then there was the sound of a doorknob turning. Thinking fast he quickly closed the curtains and snatching Ginny's wand from the floor he muttered a sealing charm and a silencing charm. Then he returned to worshipping Ginevra Weasley, making love to the girl, taking her maidenhead, and claiming her as his.

----------

He looked at her with wide eyes and took several steps back, colliding with the wall as he took in the sight of her. She was beautiful, positively glowing, and her belly was rounded with an obvious pregnancy. He brought his hand to his mouth, turned away; fighting whatever was choking off the air struggling to escape his lungs.

"Oh Gods," he managed at last.

The girl looked to the floor, tears welling in her eyes and slipping down her cheeks as she reached out for him, her hand landing on his shoulder. She winced at how cold his skin felt, but he'd been warm once. He turned to face her, tried to wipe the tears from her face, but his fingers slipped through her cheeks and he fell back against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, his left leg drawn up against his chest and his head in his hands.

He slowly looked up at her, fear, pain, and wonder battling in his grey-green eyes as he met her light brown gaze. "Is this why you kept me away? Is it…is it mine?"

The girl winced at his question as she got to her knees before him and drew closer to him, her hand reaching out to stroke his face but he turned from her. She drew back her hand as though she'd been bitten and sighed. "Of course he's yours. I love you, Tom. You're the only man who has ever made love to me."

----------

As consciousness filtered into the girl's mind she stretched and smiled as she realized she was being held in the arms of the man she loved. She turned over to look at him, her hand reaching up to glide across his cheeks and sweep through his dark hair. She leaned up and kissed him and noticed how his eyelids fluttered, and with a groan and stretch he began to wake up and drew her close against him, sweeping her mouth into the most delicious kiss she'd yet experienced.

He lifted his hand to push back some wayward strands of her red hair and his fingers went through her hair. His eyes widened and then he was looking desperately at her as he began to fade. He tried to touch her cheek, and noticed the tears pooling in the girl's eyes as he began to disappear, his hands going through her, until he was no longer in bed with the girl, instead he was in the hall of Head Boys and Head Girls past, fully clothed even down to his Slytherin tie and Robes. He threw himself back against a wall and slid down the wall, beating against it with his fist. He'd finally found someone worth living for and was so close to a life and love. She'd said she loved him, and all he would ever have with her was that one night.

"Damn it all!" he shouted and his words echoed through the corridor.

She wept in her bed, missing his warmth already and then her curtains were being pulled open. She quickly drew the sheet up as she was faced with none other than the Head of Gryffindor, Professor Minerva McGonagall.

The girl's eyes widened as she took in the stern look of the woman, and she winced as she noticed the clothing piled on the floor next to her bed. There was her white dress, and next to it her undergarments, and Slytherin robes, a boy's trousers and oxford shirt, socks, and shoes, and she vaguely wondered how his clothes had remained solid and in her room when he hadn't. The worst thing was the look of disappointment in the professor's eyes.

"Shower and get dressed Miss Weasley, and then I shall escort you to see the headmaster and you will tell him who it was that was in your room last night, though I wonder how he managed to escape this room and make it all the way back to the dungeons without his clothes. I know that he is no longer in this room. I've already had a look around," Professor McGonagall spoke sharply.

Still, Ginny refused to be ashamed. What she had done had been in love and she would never regret it. She got up with the sheet wrapped around her, went to the trunk at the foot of her bed, got out some under things, a skirt, socks, and blouse, and headed toward the girl's bathroom. Several of the girls that shared the dormitory with her were up and watching her as she walked out of the room. They were shocked and wondered how she'd had a boy in the room without any of them knowing. What was even more shocking was the fact that he was a Slytherin.

----------

"So it's a boy? But how?" he asked softly.

Ginny rolled her eyes at the absurdity of his question. "Must I really explain the mechanics of this to you? You were there and you have well over forty years more experience than I do."

"Not necessarily. I was trapped in a bloody diary for all those years. I'm seventeen. Do you understand that? I won't begin to age until I become human again, if that's even bloody possible!"

"And if it were?" she asked.

His eyes widened and his mouth went dry. "You know of a way? You could make me live again? This won't be like before will it? I need more than a night with you Ginny. I want to wake up next to you without drifting away moments later! I want a life. A life with you."

"What are you saying?" she whispered.

"I love you, Ginny. I love you and can't stop thinking about you and it's been killing me since I've been trapped in this bloody corridor and you haven't come to visit. I became trapped here after that night, but you visited those first two months and then you stopped coming. I had no one to talk to except these bloody portraits, and all they go on about is gossip for hours on end, and what's this I heard of a tryst with this Draco Malfoy, is he related to Xavier Malfoy by any chance?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I told you about how they found me that day and with Slytherin robes in my room on the floor, your clothes. Everyone is convinced that either Draco Malfoy or Blaise Zabini is the father of my child, but that isn't possible, because you are the only one, Tom. The only one, and I think Xavier was Malfoy's grandfather."

"So Xavier had a family. He was a good bloke when I knew him. Can't wait to meet his grandson. No doubt a Slytherin. And now I'm going to have a family…" Tom said, his voice taking on a whimsical quality. "Please Ginny, how can you make me human, make me real? I'll do anything to be able to touch you, to feel him moving inside of you, to hold him when he's born."

Her light brown eyes locked with his grey-green gaze and she could see the sincerity in his eyes, hear it in his voice. She wanted him, needed him more than anything and her son would need his father. Her family and everyone else would just have to accept her choice. Tom would be a part of her life, she would see to that…

----------

Two and a half months. Two weeks without seeing him. How could she face him without a way to make him human? How could she face him and tell him that he was going to be a father? She sighed as she slipped out of the common room, but instead of heading toward the corridor where he was trapped she headed toward the dungeons, and slipped into the Potions classroom, in the hopes of finding an answer to make the Vitae Corporeal potion more permanent.

She didn't notice that sound of two sets of footsteps following her, or the door to the classroom being opened behind her after she'd slipped into the Potions classroom. No, she only saw Draco Malfoy lounging at Snape's desk perusing a large Potions text. She gasped and the boy looked up startled, and then smirked at her.

"What brings the little Weasel to the deep dark dungeons?" he asked.

Before she could answer, she was pushed aside and Ron was charging at Malfoy. Ron jumped over the desk and tackled Malfoy chair and all to the floor, his hands tight enough to be uncomfortable around the boy's neck. Ginny hurried over to the desk, but before she could try to come between her brother and Malfoy a hand grasped her upper arm. She looked up and met the green gaze of Harry Potter and then glaring at him snatched her arm free before she began to try to pull Ron back.

"Is it him? Is this who you're protecting with your silence? You'd have a Malfoy's child? Why, Ginny? Why?" he asked, and Draco stopped struggling beneath Ron, and looked stunned from the brother to the sister.

"You mean she's pregnant?" he sputtered, and then began to laugh, until Ron's grip tightened causing him to sputter.

"Yes," Ron growled and then gave the boy a little shake about the neck. "And you're going to see to saving her dignity you ferret. As much as I hate the idea of having a Malfoy as a brother-in-law, I won't see my sister ruined! I'll just make her a widow after the fact!"

"What!" Draco wheezed eyes bulging.

"Ronald! Let him go! He isn't the father! I've told you it wasn't him, and I keep telling you over and over!" she snapped, and Harry finally saw fit to help her and pulled Ron off Malfoy.

Malfoy got to his feet and straightened his robes, and then he burst out laughing at the thought that he could be a father. Ron gave him a funny look and then nearly launched himself at the boy, as he demanded to know what was so funny.

Malfoy took a step back from the lunging Ron struggling against Potter's grip and then replied, "I couldn't be the father of your sister's child. Don't you know I've been disowned and disinherited? Bloody hell I thought everyone had heard by now. My father caught me with Blaise and now I'm on my own with only my mother's money to support me, which it's not a bad sum, but I've been completely disgraced by it."

Ron stopped struggling and fell into a dead faint, and Potter was so stunned he dropped Ron and stared in shock at the Slytherin before him.

"See, I told you he wasn't the father!" Ginny said.

"But it's a Slytherin," Harry said, "We all know that. Oh, please, tell me it's not Crabbe or Goyle!"

Ron relapsed into a faint as he'd come to enough to catch Harry's question to Ginny and couldn't take in the mental image of his sister with one of Malfoy's brainless flunkies.

Ginny made a horrible face, as did Draco, and she shook her head vehemenently. "Of course not! Are you mad?"

"What's this about a Slytherin being your child's father?" Draco asked in curiosity.

Ginny flushed. "It's true, but I'm not going to tell until I know some things, and he's not ready to be introduced to my family just yet. And didn't you and Blaise have a falling out recently?"

Malfoy's cheeks grew warm as he realized that Ginny was obviously very familiar with the rumor mill and then he wondered how her pregnancy had been kept a secret for so long. "Yes, and why haven't I heard about your impending motherhood?"

"I only found out two weeks ago."

"And does the father know?" he asked.

She shook her head, and Harry looked at Ginny in shock. "Why haven't you told him? Shouldn't he know at the very least?"

"Harry, mind your business and take Ron to the hospital wing before he ends up with brain damage from hitting his head on the floor every time he faints," Ginny snapped as she noticed the book that Draco had been reading.

Harry looked at the girl in shock, but did as he was told and then asked, "Well, are you coming?"

She shook her head, "No, I have some thing to look up, and I think Malfoy can help me find what I'm looking for. You go on Harry. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."

And looking at Ginny at that moment, Harry believed her. Whatever he'd thought before of Ginny Weasley, he knew that the girl was strong, a fighter, and when she put her mind to something was unbending. Harry took Ron to the hospital wing using a levitation charm, and while he was worried over leaving Ginny in the classroom with Malfoy, despite Malfoy posing no threat to her virtue, he still couldn't help but wonder if he should worry more over Ginny or leaving Malfoy at her mercy.

Once Harry left, Draco looked at the suddenly fierce and authorative girl standing before him and asked, "So what you do you think I could help you with?"

Ginny smiled. "I want you to help me find the secret to making the Vitae Corporeal potion permanent."

Draco's eyes widened. "Bloody hell, Weasley! The father of your child is a ghost?"

"Not quite," the girl replied with a small smirk and Draco wondered why the girl hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, and dying from curiosity to know the secret of her child's paternity, he agreed to help her if only to meet the mysterious Slytherin father of her child.

----------

The girl smiled at the boy before her and took a small blue vile from a pocket in her robes. Tom sighed and the hope seemed to fall from his grey-green eyes.

"Ginny, it only gives us a night and then we'll wake up and I'll be back here again. I need more than just a night…" he trailed as her fingers came to his cold lips.

"I know that, but I know how to make this potion permanent too. Three drops of my blood added to this potion will make you human. You'll be seventeen again, and you will live, grow old, and you'll die. Is that really what you want?" she asked.

"Yes," he whispered, "For you and for a family. Yes."

Her face seemed to glow as she looked at him and then using a black handled knife that she had hidden in her robes she cut the tip of her left index finger, unstoppered the potion and squeezed three drops of her blood into the potion. She swirled the bottle and it's contents, and then she sucked on her wounded finger to stop the bleeding, before her hand went around his neck, and she held the bottle to his lips, pouring the contents into his mouth, and like before the sensation of liquid in his mouth was strange, and the potion was still horribly bitter, but he could swallow it and swallow it he did.

She withdrew, wondering what affects the potion would have on him. She watched as his eyes fluttered shut, and then his body arched, his arms flying back behind him as a scream tore from his throat and he fell to his knees. The girl's eyes widened in fright as she rushed over to him and took him in her arms, and as he slowly opened his eyes, his body grew warm in her embrace, and he touched her hair, able to feel it without his finger going through it, and then his fingers traced her cheeks as he watched in disbelief as his fingers didn't go through her, and he could feel her warmth in a touch that he'd initiated.

He couldn't hold back anymore as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her desperately, kissed her with a need and longing of five months. When he drew back they were both breathless, and then he brought his hand to her swollen belly, and a look of shock lit across his face as he felt a light fluttery bump against his fingertips and looked at the girl in awe.

"It was like a collage of echoes, being trapped here without you. Never making promises and never having to keep them, but I wanted to make promises. I existed in a dream and then I seemed to just fall asleep and I'm awake now for the first time. This is amazing," he spoke softly and then he couldn't hold back anymore as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her desperately, trying to make up for all the time lost.

When he drew back they were both breathless, and then he brought his hand to her belly, and another look of shock lit across his face as he once again felt the light fluttery bump against his fingertips and looked at the girl in awe.

"He knows you," she whispered, and then he stood and helped her to her feet, and she continued, "And now you can finally meet my family. There are quite a few people interested in meeting you. My family, Harry, Hermione, Draco Malfoy, and especially Professor Snape, he was the one that caught me and Draco working on our modified version of the Vitae Corporeal potion. At Draco's request he eventually agreed to allow us to continue with the potion as long as we allowed him to supervise. This was our thirteenth attempt and the only successful batch. The potion can be so volatile if the last ingredient isn't added correctly and right before the potion is meant to be consumed."

Tom suddenly looked nervous. "Are you sure you still want me? I mean, I can only imagine how your family will react to me. No one could possibly like me after all the things Voldemort did using my body after he saw fit to remove me from it and corrupt it."

"I love you, and that's all that matters. This is our child, and my life, and I want you if you want me. They will just have to accept it," she replied.

"All right," he said and taking her hand, he let her lead him away from the corridor of Head Boys and Head Girls past and after a while he realized that she was taking him to Great Hall. Upon reaching the double doors of Great Hall the boy took a deep breath, and as he looked at the glowing girl that loved him and glowed with the life of their unborn son, he knew he could get through this. If she could risk everything to make him human, and have a family and life with him, then he could meet his future family-in-law, and with a small smile he realized that he would soon have what he'd always dreamed of those lonely days spent in the orphanage, a family, a real family.

He squeezed her hand and then she was pushing the doors open and he was led inside. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he noticed the room of anxiously awaiting people staring at the doors. He recognized Dumbledore, and a slack jawed Minerva McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Hagrid, and he also took in Harry, and Ginny's brother Ron, and that girl with the curly brown hair, Hermione, as well as a whole slew of red heads that more than likely were his future-in-laws, and then there was a boy with platinum blonde hair and silvery grey eyes, he could almost past for Xavier's twin.

"Bloody hell, Xavier?" Tom asked before he could help himself and he took a step in the platinum blonde's direction.

The blonde boy gave the strange young man with dark hair and grey-green eyes an odd look. "No, that was my grandfather. I'm Draco Malfoy."

"He really did produce an heir. And it's been over forty years. Ah hell, where does the time go? I've really been gone that long," he whispered in shock, as it finally hit him just how much he'd missed being trapped in that diary.

Harry looked almost as shocked as the professors as he took a step forward and said, "Bloody hell, Ginny, is that Tom Riddle?"

Molly Weasley fainted into the arms of her husband at this announcement and Ron, following her example hit the floor as no one was there to catch him.

Ginny sighed and then gave a nod, and the whole of Great Hall erupted into chaos as Snape stormed forward and faced the couple and glared hard at Ginny.

"You mean to tell me, Miss Weasley, that you wanted to brew that experimental Vitae Corporeal potion to permanently bring back Tom Riddle? What about what he did as Lord Voldemort? You single handedly resurrected the Dark Lord and I'm partially responsible?" he roared.

Tom winced at the strange man's harsh tone and was surprised that Ginny didn't so much as blink as she met the man's dark gaze and held her ground. "I'll have you know that he is the father of my child and he was never Voldemort! His body was taken from him and he was trapped in his diary with planted memories until Harry destroyed it and he took refuge hiding within my dreams! I won't let you accuse Tom of anything! He was never guilty. He didn't kill Harry's parents and I love him!"

Silence followed Ginny's confession and then Minerva McGonagall gasped and looked from Ginny to the young Tom Riddle by her side, holding her hand and stepping between her and the irate Severus Snape. She stepped forward and looking at the boy in shock she shook her head.

Tom then grinned at her, a grin she hadn't seen since her sixth year at Hogwarts and then he said, "Hello Min, it's been ages, tell me were you the Head Girl after I supposedly graduated?"

"Oh Merlin, Tom, is it true what Miss Weasley's said? Are you really…?" she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"Going to be a father?" he finished for her and then with a grin he put his hand over the girl's swollen belly and said, "It would seem so, and if she would have me, I intend to marry her. She's given me the chance that no one else ever did. I owe her my life, my very existence. She's amazing, don't you think Minnie? And my how well you've aged."

Minerva McGonagall couldn't suppress the blush that rose in her cheeks at her old school friend's observations, convinced that Ginny spoke the truth about Tom being trapped in the diary, and the silence previously dominant in the Great Hall was broken as the Weasleys, Professors, Harry, Hermione, and Draco Malfoy erupted into questions for the young couple before them.

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He let out a nervous breath as he resumed pacing, wondering what was taking so long. It was when he heard the cheerful gurgle of a baby, his son, Solomon Aubrey Riddle, that he realized it was time, because Saul only made that sound when his mother was near. He quickly resumed his place by the raised dais and looked down the makeshift aisle between the rows of arranged seats for the gathering at his hand fasting. He smiled as he watched one of his future brother-in-laws, George, or was it Fred, bouncing Saul on their knee. He couldn't see any harm in letting the twins look after his son, despite that many things Ginny had told him of her brothers.

Molly Weasley was just taking her seat next to the twins and took her grandson from them, cooing at the baby with the dark hair and soft grey-green eyes. A few minutes later Ginny made her appearance in elegant white wedding robes that flowed softly about her and were trimmed in silver and gold embroidery, a gift from the twins.

He looked out over the crowd, seeing Draco Malfoy, and many of Ginny's Gryffindor friends, most notably Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and the teaching staff among the guests. He also took careful note of the menacing looks he was getting from Ginny's older brothers Bill and Charlie, and the seemingly aloof glance from Percy, and tried to suppress the smirk that wanted to dance across his mouth every time Ron went faint. If he kept it up he'd be diagnosed with epilepsy at this point. He also swallowed thickly at the dark, protective look that was on Arthur Weasley's face, and wondered if he would ever seem worthy of Ginny in her father's eyes.

Tom's breath quickened as did his heartbeat as he looked down that aisle and saw for once, that he had a future. He spared a glance at his son being cuddled and cooed over by a teary eyed Molly Weasley, and then his eyes were once again focused on the woman that had given him the chance that no one else ever had. He didn't know by what deity he'd been given such a chance at a wondrous life, but he owed them an immense debt of gratitude.

End.

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Author's Notes: Please be a good reader and review!

-Cassie