Lesser Virtues, Greater Goals | Tomarry

Chapter 26: Heroes? No. Just us

Ginny is trapped amongst shadows.

She has lost her brother. She can't find her friends. She doesn't see anyone anywhere. She can't find Harry. She is yelling out their names, one by one. No one is there to answer to her calls.

She changes her route, turns to the left in another corridor with long, empty shelves where the prophesies should be. They had broken almost every single one of them. She turns to the right. Keeps running. No one.

"Harry? Ron? Anyone?" She screams. "Where are you, guys? I'm here!"

The tip of her wand is lit up. She is expecting a Death Eater, or even Voldemort himself, to appear before her. She would kill them without hesitation.

There's a swish slicing through the air behind her. She turns on the heels of her trainers to find the other person there with her. She steps closer, wand
at the ready, with a Segmentum hex on the tip of her tongue. She sees nothing. No one is there.

She leaves a breath out and keeps walking this time, not running, all the way forwards. She doesn't change her pace. Huh. It's strange that no Death Eater is here...

"You just have to ruin everything, don't you, Gin?"

Sure. No Death Eater is on sight. But someone worse, why not?

He appears to her left, as if the shadows themselves nourish him to life, cradling him gently, with utmost care.

While dark corners are her enemy, they become his ally without a doubt, for Tom Riddle was always a creature of the darkness and a couple of friends and a kid wouldn't change his vital core of character.

She doesn't leave out a yelp or a scream. Merely stares, wand raised to the height of his neck. Her hand is shaking and she cannot focus.

"What do you want in here?" She asks. Keeping panic into a minimum appears to be a herculean task for her, at the moment. "Where are the others?"

"The others?"

His voice drips with taunt. She hates him for that.

"My friends." She clarifies. "My brother. Harry, where's Harry?"

"Oh, them. Right." Mutters Riddle in a devil - may - care sort of manner. "Well, I'm afraid they left. They're back in the castle - where it's safe."

"Safe?" She scowls. "Just say that you didn't want them here for whatever reason."

He smiles faintly. It makes her gut roll around. "It's nice to see you gaining somewhat of a perception, even after three years."

This positively makes her shudder, from the beginning of her back to the end of her spine. She has nothing to reply with to it.

"Come." He says. That brief glimpse of entertainment is gone from his features. "You have to leave too."

She stays still on the spot her feet reach, at the time. "Why should I come with you? So you can kill me?"

She hears the light sigh that his throat omits. She feels a little bit puzzled.

"I think you forgot a crucial lesson from your little misadventure." He mutters and raises his right hand out.

That makes her feet move on their own. She finds herself following after him, but without the use of Imperio, for her mind is still clear, still hers. Her face betrays annoyance.

His? Absolute delight.

"I don't have to kill you to cause you pain." He says, grin barely visible, as if showing off some great feat. Wait. He is. He absolutely is. It's his own carefully weaved manipulation. He is the best at that game and Ginny knows it.