Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling; all characters belong to her. The italicised lyrics are from the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack and belong to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Written as a birthday present for SycoCallie, owner of Fiction Net (fiction-net dot org) and wonderful writer! Check out her Gin-n-Toxin website, ego-eris dot net. Happy birthday Syc! Have fun being 21!
(Rated for implications.)
In sleep he sang to me; in dreams he came…
"Ginevra."
A ghostly voice that echoes throughout the sixth year Gryffindor girls' dormitory and is only heard by one person. Ginny smiles in her sleep, the voice easing her troubled dreams. She burrows down further into her bed, curling up and appearing like a small, vulnerable rabbit.
A ghostly hand that reaches out and brushes aside a strand of red that slips across her sleeping eyes. She tilts her face up to the hand, drawing some semblance of comfort from the eerie touch of the hand that nobody else can see. She murmurs something softly in her sleep, lost before it reaches the ears of any corporeal body.
"My Ginevra," the voice whispers. A ghostly mouth is lowered to her forehead, leaving an ethereal kiss on the pale skin. Her troubles are soothed for now, and the once restless sleep is calmed to a steady, normal one. Her eyelids are flickering, as if she is dreaming.
A moonlit dance, swirling around the dancefloor with the man of her dreams- face shrouded in darkness but for now, just this one time, just here, she doesn't care because for once in her entire life everything is perfect.
When she wakes up, she thinks it's Harry. His eyes are green, she realises when she sees him at breakfast; green like the Killing Curse. She never thought of it like that before, and can't seem to concentrate on their horcrux hunt at all.
"Ginny?" Hermione, always the perceptive one, is worried. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Ginny shrugs. "Slept badly." Hermione is sympathetic. It's hard for everyone, but Ginny knows they are all up to the task. She just can't seem to shake that dream, the dance; Harry's stare, that might kill her if she looks for long enough.
"Want a Dreamless Sleep for tonight?"
"That'd be brilliant. Thanks, Hermione." Hermione goes to find one, and Ginny knows already that she won't be taking it. If the only perfection she can get is in her dreams, then she will never stop herself from dreaming.
Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation…
This time when she dreams, she's not dancing.
A floor, somewhere that she doesn't recognise and couldn't care about; it's cold on her back but her front is warm from where he's resting. She can feel his hands on her body and even though she can't see his face she isn't afraid because she knows he is the one, her one, whoever he may be.
Her hands move in her sleep, a state of semi-consciousness. A ghostly figure pulls the curtains around her bed, casts a silencing spell, sits at the end of her bed and leans a ghostly head in to lay a trail of kisses down her neck. Her hands slip beneath her nightgown and she lets out a sleepy groan.
He's all around her and she wants it to be more than just a dream.
A ghostly smile flickers in the air and he watches her hands move clumsily.
"Soon, my Ginevra." A ghostly tongue flickers out into the air, as if it can taste her thoughts, taste her skin.
When she wakes up her bed is damp and her hands are sticky, and she can't remember what she was doing or why. All she can think of is her dream, and Harry's eyes. Like his mother's, she remembers. Then she remembers a myth, that the last thing you see stays imprinted on your eyes. Maybe when Harry was a baby, the Killing Curse stuck on his eyes.
She shivers. There's something important about his eyes that she can't remember, can't quite grasp; it scares her. She looks around, shivering again; for a moment it felt as though something was watching her.
"I can't sleep like this," she mutters in annoyance, and clambers out of bed. There's a voice in her head that's calling her, and she can't quite hear it yet. "We've got more horcruxes to find," she told herself firmly, slipping unseen out of the dormitory and down to the Library.
Unseen by everyone but the ghost. His eyes follow her through the corridors, watching over her possessively. He knows what has been happening, and he doesn't agree with it.
"Soon, my Ginevra. Soon…"
Abandon thought, and let the dream descend…
She thinks she's going insane.
Every night the dreams taunt her, the face growing a little clearer each time. She can make out a mop of dark hair, and piercing eyes that chill her to her very bones. Harry's eyes do that to her, too. Is he the man in her dreams? She doesn't know, and that is why she is going insane.
Ginny can't even look at his eyes any more. They scare her; she's convinced that one day he'll stare at her and wish she was dead, and she will be. His Avada Kedavra eyes, that could kill with a flicker of a thought. She tries everything she can to avoid them.
"Gin?"
Harry is behind her. She doesn't look up from her book because she's terrified of him.
"Have I done something to upset you?" He sounds genuinely upset but it could all be a ruse. Something has put these thoughts into her head, a part of her knows it, but that part of her is drowned out by sheer fear. His eyes! She keeps her back to him.
"Gin?" He sounds as if he's going to cry. "Why won't you look at me any more…?" She gives a shrug, hoping it will get rid of him. To her horror he puts a hand on her shoulder and she flinches, drawing away as if his hand will cause her to drop down dead. After every dream comes a warning, Harry's eyes are the same as the Killing Curse, and she just can't shake it off. Dreams have a tendency to come true.
When she flinches, he moves his hand.
"Harry… I'm trying to read," she croaks out. He sounds disappointed when he speaks.
"Oh… okay then. Well… if you want to talk, Gin…" His voice trails off and she can see his shadow shrug.
"Okay," she answers, knowing that if she wants to talk she can just go to sleep, and talk to the man of her dreams. She feels safe there; you can't die in dreams. Nobody can hurt you there.
Down that path into darkness deep as hell…
After every dream, Ginny wakes up feeling as if someone has just left, and she's convinced that Harry is trying to kill her. It's the only thing that makes sense any more, no matter how irrational it is. Harry thinks she was turned into a horcrux in her first year, and now he wants to kill her. That's why her dreams are warning her. Harry is trying to lull her into a false sense of security, and then he's going to kill her, with his Killing Curse eyes.
"Can't sleep," she mutters. The ghostly eyes watch her as she walks the grounds of Hogwarts, and prepares another dream for when she returns. It's nearly light when she does, and as her eyes close with exhaustion he blows the dream into her subconscious.
The Great Hall. Harry is standing in the centre. His wand is out. "Ginny," he says. "Gin." It's mocking. "You're too much of a threat now." A threat? She tries to run but she can't, suddenly she's stuck in place, and Ron is crying- what's going on? "I'm sorry, Gin," he says, and he turns and stares at her and she-
-wakes up.
"No," she whispers. Her eyes glaze over slightly, and the ghost notices with a smile. His spell is finally going to work. "I can't let that happen." She gets out of bed and tries to find her wand, but the ghost puts a knife in her hand instead.
"Wait," he urges, and her subconscious listens. Ginny pauses, unsure of what to do. The ghost stands behind her, guiding her feet towards the second floor girl's bathroom. "Wait for proof."
"I can't do it yet," she mutters distractedly. Everything is working. Ginny is led through the common room by the invisible hands to wait for Harry to come and try to kill her.
Dreams never lie.
…still he calls her, luring her back, from the grave…
Harry wakes up with a jolt. His scar is hurting.
"Ron?" he hisses into the darkness. There's no answer except for a slight snore. Ron always could sleep through anything; if the world ended outside his window, he doubted Ron would even turn over.
It was nothing, the rational part of his brain says. Just stress. He leans back to try to sleep again, and even though he can't shake the feeling that something is horribly, horribly wrong, he falls back asleep.
The ghost watches with a smirk.
Ginny is lying in the Chamber and her life is dwindling out of her, just like in his second year but worse because her eyes are open and she's calling his name, and he knows it's happening now and she needs help now…
He wakes up again. The pain in his scar has doubled, tripled; he can't see because it's hurting so much. Hermione will know a spell to ease it, but she's in bed and he doubts he can make it out of his own bed, let alone across the common room to shout for her.
"Ron!" he yells, hurling his pillow out of his bed in Ron's general direction. A muffled thump and a groan follow, and then the redhead sticks his head over.
"Whasuparry?" Ron mumbles, still half asleep. Harry gestures to his scar.
"Something's wrong."
"Voldemort's probably having a party or something," Ron grumbles, rolling back over into his bed. "Death Eater exclusive, with a Muggle menu – and I don't mean food." Harry laughs weakly as Ron goes back to sleep, but he still can't shake the feeling that he needs to go and find Ginny.
"I'm going for a walk," he announces, but Ron is already lost in his dreams. He swings his legs over the side of his bed and grabs his glasses and, on a second thought, his wand.
"I know something's wrong, Gin," he mutters as he heads through the common room, still clutching his head. "I'm coming."
No-one will find you; your fears are far behind you…
Ginny is lying on the floor of the Chamber and staring up at the columns of snakes, and she finally feels safe from Harry's eyes.
"He won't find me down here," she announces in a slightly manic tone. The ghost is behind her, playing with her hair; she's too far gone to notice. "I'm safe."
"Safe, Ginevra; safe with me," croons the ghost. Ginny closes her eyes and she can finally see the face of the man of her dreams, now that she has freed herself from Harry.
Dancing again, and when she looks up she can see Tom's face, and it's smiling down at her with such love that she feels faint.
"Tom," she sighs happily, infatuated with her dream. The spell is working, the ghost thinks; soon she will be his forever more. The only one who could stop him is Harry, and he has taken steps to deal with the foolish boy once and for all.
"Ginevra," he murmurs. Ginny throws her hands into the air, the knife lying forgotten on the floor next to her. She's acting like a child again, completely obsessed with her fantasies; completely insane. It's sad to see his Ginevra like this, but the ghost knows that the end justifies the means.
"Free!" she cheers. "No more eyes!" That's what scared her most, that Harry was going to kill her with his eyes; she used to love looking into those eyes, and all the while he was planning on killing her… she ought to get him back for that, but for now she's glad for freedom with her dreams.
"Wait!" The ghost is flickering, becoming a little more visible. "Ginevra… He's coming."
Instantly her face changes; her smile turns to fear. She sits upright, and reaches out for the knife.
"I'll hex him," she says desperately, gripping the knife by its blade as if it was her wand. The ghost corrects her gently, touching the blood on her hand as he does so- soon it will be his.
"Don't let him kill you," the ghost encourages. Ginny finds herself nodding along, in a trance, and she stand her ground.
"I'll kill him first," she says determinedly, watching the Chamber's entrance warily. "I'll kill him before he can kill me."
Past the point of no return…
"Open," hisses Harry in Parselmouth. Moaning Myrtle pointed him the right way – he sent her to get Ron and Hermione, because now he's worried. Ginny couldn't get into the Chamber without help. Who helped her? When the door opens he sees her standing still, facing him but with her eyes closed.
"Ginny!" Harry runs up to her, nearly dropping his wand in relief because she looks alright. "What're you doing down here? How did you get down here? Come on, come back to the common room-"
"No." Her voice cuts him off, echoing around the Chamber. It sounds as if someone else is speaking with her.
"What?" Harry paled. What was going on? He lifted his wand- "lumos" and looked around the Chamber. A pale outline could be seen behind Ginny, a ghost, and suddenly everything seems to make sense.
Parselmouth- Ginny- why she's been acting weird- of course- scar hurting- why didn't I think of this before?
"Riddle," he said evenly. A disembodied laugh filled the Chamber, that Harry hadn't heard since he fought the Basilisk.
"You'll never pass your NEWTs that way, Harry Potter." The ghostly voice is pleased, and Harry can't figure out why; or why Ginny's lips moved when Riddle spoke. The ghost gives another laugh, and Ginny's joins it.
"What-" Harry swallows, determination overcoming his panic. "What have you done to her?"
"Nothing that she didn't want, Potter." Ginny is repeating this along with the ghostly voice, and the chorus is scaring him. Harry grips his wand tightly, trying to think what the best hex is to stop a ghost.
"Let her go," he said evenly. "It's me you want. Don't hurt Ginny."
"My, my; we are slow on the uptake, aren't we?" Riddle's voice is mocking and Ginny's is unusually cruel. "It's not you I want, Potter. Not any more."
"Then- why?" Nothing makes sense tonight. Ginny is moving closer, the ghostly form moving with her, and he looks down to see if he can disarm her before she casts a spell; the knife gleams in his wandlight.
"What?" he asks, but Ginny gives a feral snarl and pounces, knocking him to the floor. She hits his hand against the floor, dropping the knife to grip his throat when he tries to choke out "Expelliarmus!". His wand is finally released; she throws it across the Chamber.
"No more," she breathes, madness in her eyes. "No more, Harry. I won't let you kill me!"
"What?" It's the stupidest thing he's ever heard, but Riddle has put it into her head. "Gin, I don't want to kill you! I love you!"
"Lies!" she shrieks, struggling atop him. His arms get pinned to his chest by her knees, and he tries to break out but cold, ghostly hands stop him. Ginny raises the knife, a manic tone to her voice. "You want to kill me, you and your eyes- your eyes are a Killing Curse, did you know that? They'll kill me!" She's hysterical, and brings the knife slashing down across his shoulder. Blood flows across the floor, and the ghost moves into it.
"Now, Ginevra!" he cries, and Ginny raises the knife again and slashes her own arm. Her blood mingles with Harry's, and the ghost drinks it in. And before his eyes, Harry sees a weak, transparent form arise; it was the same as Riddle had been when the diary was draining Ginny's life away. And now it was using them both.
"Ginevra's got such a wonderful imagination," Riddle says happily, stepping lightly over and caressing Ginny's face as if he were a lover. Harry feels sickened by the way she leans back into him, and lets the transluscent monster kiss her.
"No!" he screams, and struggles even more; Riddle was kissing Ginny, Riddle was alive, Ginny was possessed; he could feel his magic building up inside him as if he was going to explode with rage.
"Now," whispers Riddle, and Ginny lifts the knife one last time.
"I will never let you kill me," she says in a harsh voice, and she brings the knife down onto Harry's face; once, twice, agonising pain through his glasses and his eyes as the blade drives through them, and he hears footsteps in the distance, as if Ron and Hermione are coming, but it's too late- Riddle has won. Blood is trickling from his eyes, he can feel it but he can't see it; he can feel Ginny move from on top of him, but he can't see her any more, because she has taken his sight with her.
"Come, Ginevra," Riddle says softly. "We have done what we needed to do."
"I will follow you everywhere," Ginny whispers back. There's an explosion as the door to the Chamber is blown apart, more running footsteps, but he knows they're too late because they both scream "Ginny, no!", and then there's a thump and warm blood starts to trickle into his shoe.
And he knows that she is dead; the last thing he will ever remember seeing is her face as she tore his eyesight from him, and now she is dead.
"Ginny," he whispers, but opening his mouth is foolish because it lets blood in. Someone is kneeling next to him, he can feel them there, but now he feels slightly numb.
"She's gone, Harry," Hermione whispers. Harry clenches his fists, and Riddle's mocking laugh, echoed by Ginny, is replaying in his mind.
"I know," he whispers back. Ginny is gone, and she took more than just his sight with her; and Riddle knew exactly what he was doing.
He only wishes Ginny had left him dead, so that he wouldn't be feeling so hurt and betrayed and alone.
"Ginny…"
I can't escape from him… I never will.