Pretender

By Sakura

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this so don't sue.

He's a pretender, he knows just what to say

He's a pretender, yeah you meet him every day

He's a pretender, that fish that got away

He's a pretender, why'd I fall in love

            Ginny Weasley sighed and shook her head. It had been four years since the disastrous Chamber of Secrets incident, but she still hadn't gotten rid of Riddle's diary. It had been a miracle she had managed to keep it hidden for this long. Of course everyone had thought it had been destroyed to begin with so it wasn't too hard to hide it.

            Weeks before the boy had come out of the diary and confronted Harry, Ginny had somehow been able to convince Draco Malfoy to help her with copying the little black book. Lucky for her the Slytherin boy's father happened to know someone who had plenty experience in copying memories.

            She knew she should have told the headmaster or her parents about the copy, but she hadn't been able to let go of her first and only friend and crush. She did however confront Riddle for using her only to find herself patching things up between them. 'I know what he's capable of, but I still love him,' she thought as she got ready to go to Hogsmeade with Ron, Harry, and Hermoine.

It was strange the way he held my hand

I wanted more than just a one night stand

He had a way of making me believe

That he was mine and that he'd never leave

            'He's always been so nice to me, even now that he can't use me anymore. But still, I sometimes wonder.'

            Just as with before, Riddle had had poured on all his charm once he learned that the diary still existed. But when he learned that Ginny was no longer as gullible as before, he stopped writing back to her. But that didn't last long. The trapped boy found himself talking to her out of boredom and soon found that he actually did like her. 'Besides I won't be alone anymore,' he found himself thinking when he decided to truly make friends with the girl.

I know I should take my friend's advice

'Cause if it happened once, you know it happens twice

If there's a chance then I know I've got to try

I'll make him dance with me, I'll make him tell me why

He's a pretender

He's a pretender

            Even though she had managed to keep the copy of Riddle's diary from the entire school, Draco Malfoy never ceased to remind her of the favor she begged from him. She had paid him back several times over, but he still liked reminding her that she had come to him for help. "I hope you know what you're doing Weasley," he had whispered to her once when he'd seen her with the book in the library one day. "He is you-know-who after all."

            "I know," she whispered back, "but would you throw away Crabbe and Goyle?" 

The blond boy just sighed, "Just watch yourself," he said leaving in search of the research he needed.

Ginny knew she should listen to him and turn herself and the diary in, but she thought as long as Tom kept behaving and not try to use her she'd keep it hidden. Besides she knew her parents would only worry and fuss over her like before. Still she wondered what had driven the boy to try to kill anyone.

'I really should ask him,' she mused one day during lunch, 'He almost never talks about himself and when he does, it's not much to go on.'

I'm not afraid to fall a hundred times

And I'll believe in all your silly lies

I'd like to think that I could change your mind

Don't say that I'm blind, I know all about your kind

            Later that night, Ginny sat in her bed, the diary propped up in her lap. She was glad for once that she was Head Girl. It meant she'd have her own room and there'd be no one to pry as she 'talked' with Riddle or any chance of any one finding the book.

            'Tom, can I ask you something?' she wrote after talking to him about her recent trip to the nearby village.

            'You just did,' appeared in blood red ink.

            She giggled quietly at the joke. 'I'd really like to ask you something,' she wrote.

            'Go ahead, Gin. I'm listening,' came the reply.

            'It's about what you did to me four years ago. I want to know why you did it.'

            'Oh,' was Tom's answer. She got the feeling that he wasn't too pleased with her inquiry.

            'Tom, please I have to know,' she pleaded after several minutes of silence from the boy.

            'If you insist, Virginia,' he finally wrote back. She imagined he had been sighing as he wrote. 'Just promise me you'll never breathe a word of this to anyone. I do have a reputation to uphold. ^_-'

            Ginny giggled again. It seemed that her habit of inserting little face marks to emphasize her sentences had rubbed off on him. 'You know I won't Tom. I haven't told anyone I still had your diary all these years.'

            'Just being careful, Gin. I'm not sure how to begin though.'

            'Why not tell me what you're really like. I know how you were when you went to Hogwarts, but what about when you weren't here? What was life like for you away from school?'

            There was another long silence as if Riddle was debating to answer her or not or how to tell her. Finally blood red lettering began to slowly appear on the blank page.

            'I really don't like to talk about it.'

            'I can see that ^_^' she wrote back, trying to make him feel more at ease.

            'Please don't interrupt,' Riddle chided.

            'Sorry Tom, go on.'

            'I lived with muggles during vacations if I couldn't stay at the school.'

            'Like Harry does?'

            'Yes. But they weren't relatives. I grew up in an orphanage you see.'

            Ginny looked sadly at the book. 'It must have been terrible not having a family,' she thought before writing again. 'That's too bad. ;_; Didn't anyone know who your family was?'

            'No. I only found out when I started at Hogwarts. I still don't know who my father is. I do know that my mother was a witch and that she named my after my grandfather before she died.' 'I think it's best that she doesn't know I'm a descendant of Slytherin himself. No telling what she'd do if she knew,' Tom thought waiting for Ginny's next question.

            'So you had to stay at the orphanage? Wasn't there anyone who'd take you in?'

            'If only I had been so lucky,' he wrote back. He knew she'd ask that and the memories of that time still hurt. 'A few muggle families tried to adopt me, but whenever my magic got out of control, they'd just send me back to the orphanage.'

            'That's horrid! They shouldn't have sent you back because you couldn't control your magic!' She nearly broke the tip of her quill, never had she been so angry.

            'That's how muggles are, princess,' Riddle replied, the ink a bit darker than usual.

            'But it wasn't your fault,' she argued.

            'So?'

            'That's why you tried to kill everyone using me?!' she wrote furiously. 'Because you kept being sent back?!'

            'Not exactly, Virginia. I probably wouldn't have turned out so bad if the muggles I lived with were a bit nicer. -_-'

            'They weren't?' she dared to ask.

            'Precisely. The other children would tease me about being sent back all the time. They constantly called me names like 'Reject' or 'Damaged Goods'. Some of them even dared to call me trash.'

            'Those brats!!!!!' This time, the redhead did break her quill. Swearing, she quickly got up and searched for another. Luckily she'd bought plenty during her last trip to Diagon Alley. 'Sorry. Broke my quill. -_-'''' she explained a few minutes later.

            'It's ok, Gin. I'd be angry too.' And he was, even now he never forgave the people he lived with. 'Anyway that wasn't all that happened at the orphanage.'

            'Oh?' Ginny dreaded the answer. 'What else did they do to you, Tom?'

            'The person in charge used to beat us if we broke the rules or caused trouble. "Building character" he called it. He beat me more than the other children because of my being sent back all the time. He said I was a "bad egg" and needed constant discipline because of that.'

            'No wonder you went after muggle-borns first,' she wrote back when she was able to stop fuming and think clearly. 'But you really shouldn't have judged this generation for what they did to you, Tom.'

            'I know, I know. I've learned my lesson this time around. No more picking on children. Listen, it's got to be late, we'll talk some more tomorrow if you'd like.'

            'I am a bit tired,' she replied, yawning. 'Goodnight, Tom.'

            'Goodnight, Gin. Sleep well, dear. ^_^'

            Ginny couldn't help but blushing as she carefully put the diary away in a secret drawer in the nightstand. "You poor thing," she murmured before putting out the light and drifting off to sleep.

            She was sitting on a bench in one of the many alcoves outside the castle, Riddle's diary in her lap. 'Tom, you're not going to go after Harry again are you?' she asked after discussing the boy's past again.

            'I can't promise you anything, Virginia, but I'll try my best to behave as long as you don't tell anyone what I told you about me. I really don't like having my private life gossiped about,' he wrote some minutes later after thinking.

            'It's a deal, Tom,' Ginny replied, feeling somewhat relieved that Riddle actually seemed to be telling the truth this time.

            'I need you, Gin,' he wrote suddenly.

            The red haired girl turned several shades of red before asking, 'You do?'

            'It's less boring when I have someone to talk to. ^_-'

            'Oh,' she wrote, trying not to feel disappointed. 'I'm glad you decided to be friends after all, Tom.'

            'So am I, Gin.' 'Is that how you think of me?' he thought somewhat disappointed himself.

            Several loud voices drew her attention away from the book and she frowned. 'I have to go, Tom. Some of the first years are causing a ruckus. Again,' she quickly wrote.

            'Have fun, dear. ^_^'

            She smiled, slightly blushing still as she closed the diary and carefully pocketed it in her robes. She completely missed what the trapped boy had added to the last sentence.

            'I love you, Virginia,' was written in bright red ink.

~End~

This is my second attempt at a HP fic so please go easy on me ppl. I'm not sure what went on at the orphanage Riddle stayed at so I had to make it up. Please forgive me if I got anything wrong.

Riddle: Actually I think you did a better job this time.

Sakura: You're only saying that because I let Ginny keep the diary this time.

Riddle: …

Ginny: Please review this for her.

Riddle: And be nice or else!