Difficulties of Avoidance by chaiteelatte
Ginny cast another anxious glance at the chair in the corner of the room. Riddle was propped haphazardly in a chair, and he looked so stiff that he was bound to slide out of the chair any second. Or wake up, which would be worse.
“I am sorry, Miss Weasley,” Dumbledore said, regaining her attention, “but you, of all people, understand why I must keep an eye on him until suitable security can be conjured up.”
“I understand perfectly, sir,” Ginny answered, tearing her gaze away from Riddle. “It’s just a little… disconcerting, is all.”
Dumbledore nodded and procured a tin of peppermints from his desk, offering one to Ginny. “And understandably so,” he answered. “It’s not every day that a ghost from one’s past rears its ugly head.”
“Except he’s not a ghost,” Ginny said, jerking her head toward Riddle as she popped the hard candy in her mouth.
“He does seem to be of a tangible nature, doesn’t he?” Dumbledore said, taking a peppermint for himself.
“But how?” Ginny asked, finally voicing the concern that had been fluttering incessantly in her head. “The diary was destroyed, wasn’t it?”
“Completely,” Dumbledore assured her. “I examined it myself.” Ginny thought he looked conflicted when his eyes flicked toward the ceiling, but then he regained his composure and continued. “I suspect the appearance of this Tom Riddle has nothing to do with the diary, because I am quite certain this Tom is none other than his real seventeen year old self.”
He paused to let Ginny digest this information, a pause Ginny desperately needed. She twisted full around in her seat and stared unabashedly at Riddle. It was half a minute before she could speak. “It’s really him?” And before Dumbledore could answer, she added, “How?”
“I believe he is, Miss Weasley,” Dumbledore answered sadly. “I can’t be sure until he is awake and I can properly question him, but I have a few theories, all based on the presupposition that it was not Tom who transported himself into the future.” Ginny opened her mouth, but Dumbledore cut off her question with an answer. “Correct me if I am wrong, but you stated that Tom looked out of sorts when he first woke up. In addition, you said he approached you with a threat concerning his current situation, which leads one to believe that he was not plucked out of time of his free will.”
Ginny wrapped her mind around this, and then nodded. “But that doesn’t explain how he got here.”
Dumbledore sighed “ a sound Ginny found horrifying when it escaped the lips of the greatest wizard of their age “ and his eyes searched the ceiling again. “It is my intuition “ and my intuition is usually right “ that it was the Voldemort of this time that transported his younger self forward. For what reason, and which spell he employed, I cannot yet say. It is sufficient to say that we must keep Tom from falling into Voldemort’s hands at all costs.” His eyes returned to Ginny, and she saw that he was now resolute.
There was a low groan from behind Ginny and she almost fell out of her chair in fright. Gripping the armrests in white knuckles, she glanced over her shoulder at Riddle, who was finally stirring.
“I’m afraid this will not be pleasant,” said the headmaster, already drawing his wand. “Would you kindly escort yourself out, Miss Weasley?”
Ginny did not have to be asked twice, and as she scrambled down the spiral staircase she faintly heard Dumbledore say, “Hello, Tom. I suppose I’ve gotten grayer since you last saw me…” Bursting from behind the stone gargoyles, Ginny stumbled into the waiting arms of Harry Potter.
“Ginny! Are you alright?” he asked, hugging her close. “We heard what happened from Luna.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ginny answered, her voice wavering only slightly when she looked around at the concerned faces of Ron, Hermione, and Luna. “Dumbledore’s questioning him now. He thinks Voldemort “ the one in this time, I mean “ brought him here.”
A grim look passed between Harry, Hermione, and Ron. If Voldemort was planning something, it would affect all three of them when they began their fulltime assault after they graduated. “They’re probably going to be awhile,” Hermione said gently, breaking the silence. “It’s almost midnight and we need to start packing in the morning. I’m sure Dumbledore knows what he’s doing,” she added, almost as an afterthought. They all allowed themselves to be herded back to the Gryffindor common room, realizing too late that Luna had tagged along. Hermione was beside herself. “Oh, Luna, why did you”Never mind. Here, take this hall pass, just get to bed…”
Usually Ginny would have been swallowing her giggles on the way up to her dormitory, but tonight she did not feel like laughing. It took hours of tossing and turning for her to get to sleep. When she woke up she was cold with sweat and had vague memories of nightmares about rooster feathers and ink. Harry rubbed her back when she came down to breakfast bleary eyed and still breathing hard.
The swirl of packing blurred in Ginny’s memory as her mind remained focused on Tom Riddle. At any moment, she expected Dumbledore to tap her on the shoulder and explain what had happened, but that did not occur. The day passed and Dumbledore was absent. She finally saw him at the Leaving Feast, but he made no formal announcement about Tom, nor did he talk to her. Ginny half-expected it, and when she boarded the train to go home she tried not to think about the boy she encountered in the dark, cramped passageway. Dumbledore would sort it out and she would never have to see Riddle again.
The heat was sweltering. Ginny had charmed a paper fan to cool her down, but it had waved progressively lazier as the afternoon wore on. Luna was baking beside her on the front lawn, her usually pale skin a fluorescent red color. Ginny sighed again.
It had been more than a week since she had last seen Harry, when he had stopped in long enough to celebrate her birthday. He had been in and out of the Burrow with Ron and Hermione, always sweet and considerate when he spent time with her, but very vague about what they were doing. She could venture a guess as to where he was now (Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Order Headquarters, currently off limits to herself compliments of Molly Weasley), but beyond that was a mystery. That was how it had been all summer. Ginny tried to remind herself that this was what she had signed herself up for, but that did not quell her frustration.
“We have school in two weeks, don’t we?” Luna said drowsily.
The idea struck Ginny over the head like a two-by-four. It was amazing how she lost track of time during the holidays. “School…” she mumbled back, saying the word with distaste.
“I feel the same,” Luna answered, rolling onto her back without flinching. Ginny winced for her; it was a terrible sunburn. Staring up at the cloudless sky, Ginny considered school. Her last year. N.E.W.T.s. A year without Harry. A year of worrying while he was off fighting Voldemort.
Riddle.
Trying to sound conversational, she propped herself up and peered over at Luna. “Luna, you remember our scavenger hunt last year, right?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. We never did find my paperclip.”
“Well… No, we didn’t. But do you remember that boy we found? Do you suppose Dumbledore’s gotten rid of him?”
Luna stretched her hands toward the sky. “I don’t know. Shall we send him an owl and ask?”
“No, it’s not that important,” Ginny answered, waving her hand dismissively. She lay down and stared into the sky without really seeing it. Dumbledore was involved, so there was probably nothing to worry about. And while Ginny told herself this, the rest of her family observed that their youngest became rather jumpy and out of sorts the last few weeks of summer “ she hardly even reacted to being made Quidditch captain.
Ginny heaved a long sigh as she tried for the third time to shove her trunk into the un-magical taxi cab they were taking to King’s Cross. The driver looked vexed enough as things were, but Ginny just could not get her trunk to fit. She doubted it would be a comfortable ride sitting with the trunk on her lap, though, so she put her shoulder into it.
“Here, let me get that.” Ginny nearly fell into the trunk of the car as her luggage shrunk. A strong hand caught her mid-fall, and Ginny almost cried with happiness.
“Harry!” she shrieked, throwing herself into his arms. “We were afraid you wouldn’t be able to make it!”
Harry laughed and kissed the top of her head gently. “I wouldn’t miss seeing you off to school, what with it being an opportune time to laugh at you.”
Ginny pulled back and punched him playfully. “You watch it, young man,” she said sternly as Hermione and Ron approached.
“Just imagine,” Ron said with a grin, “getting up at 7:30 in the morning every day and going to classes. I can’t wrap my mind around it; can you, mate?” He nudged Harry in the ribs.
“Yes, this ‘school’ concept is strange to me,” Harry said, edging away from Ginny’s strong right arm. Behind the boys, Hermione rolled her eyes. The blaring of the taxi horn startled them out of their reunion and the quartet scrambled to get into the cab.
Mrs. Weasley had not planned on three extra people, so the space in the car was tight. Ginny sat on Harry’s lap “ to Mrs. Weasley and Ron’s disapproval “ but even so, they were so sandwiched that if Ron so much as scratched his head, he elbowed Ginny in the face. Needless to say, the ride to the train station was not pleasant. Ginny, however, was simply ecstatic that Harry was there.
She had not seen Harry for weeks, if you did not count the time he Apparated into the shed outside the Burrow to get an extra broom. He had only stopped for a brief hello then, and Ginny knew better than to question him about what they were up to. Harry would probably tell her when the time was right, like he always did.
Usually Ginny got on the Hogwarts Express as quickly as possible to ensure a good compartment, but this year she stayed on the platform with Harry until the engine was pulling away. After standing in the doorway and waving until Harry was no more than a speck, Ginny finally dragged her trunk through the corridors to find Luna.
Ginny found her in a nearly empty compartment, staring dreamily at the floor from her upside-down position on the seat. Across from Luna, three first year girls looked halfway between amused and horrified. They had somehow managed to squeeze themselves in the corner of the compartment in an attempt to get as far away from Luna as possible.
“Oh, hello, Ginny,” Luna said. She waved at Ginny, lost her balance, and landed on her head.
“Good morning, Luna.” Ginny levitated her trunk onto the rack and offered Luna a hand. Once they were both seated “ upright “ Ginny motioned to the three first years. “Who’re they?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Luna answered. “They couldn’t find a compartment and I figured the compartment would seem rather lonely without the upperclassmen. There was a fourth one, but she ran away.”
“Ah…well, hello girls,” she said, waving to the first years. One squeaked. “I’m Ginny. This is Luna. What are your names?”
“HestiaLockeNataliePryneLauraBrooks,” they all answered without breathing. Ginny snorted and looked over at Luna in amusement. Except Luna was not amused; she just nodded and smiled. With a sharp pang, Ginny realized how much she was going to miss Harry, Ron, and Hermione this year.
The train ride seemed longer than usual. The carriage rides seemed less magical than usual. The Sorting was bland, even when Hestia and Natalie got Sorted into Gryffidor. She picked at her food. When Dumbledore stood up to talk, she hardly reacted to his introduction of their new teacher, a Professor Slughorn, and Snape’s reassignment to the Defense post. Even his annual speech about Filch’s bans and the Forbidden Forest seemed drab. Then his eyebrows beetled, he drew himself fully erect, and he looked over the students with grave eyes.
“Now students, I say this with all the severity I can muster. Do not go into the seventh floor corridor, or we may very well have death on our hands.”
The room snapped back to vivid clarity. Ginny’s skin tingled and she knew. Her mind tore through Hogwarts up to the seventh floor corridor, where she knew the Room of Requirements was located. She knew. She could see him sitting there. She knew that her face looked white and her freckles stood out violently. She knew she had not eaten anything all day and her head was swimming. Then she was falling backwards.