Shadows

Chapter Seven: The Nightmare

Ginny woke to the sound of a stream rushing by her, and birds chirping over her. She was lying on a bed of soft green grass and the world smelled sweet and fresh...

She was outside.

Her eyes opened suddenly, and she leapt to her feet. It wasn't a dream! She was outside, somewhere unfamiliar. She was still dressed in what she'd been wearing to bed, but at her feet were her broom and the folders containing Lord Voldemort's records.

"What did you do?" she spat. "You...you..." she couldn't speak. Breathing was difficult, too. Being possessed had been her worst fear since her first year at Hogwarts, when Tom Riddle had possessed her through the diary.

I summoned the records and your broom to your hands, and then I made you apparate. You won't find your way home unless I guide you. I won't guide you until you read.

She looked at the stack. "But that'll take all day!"

Start reading, he suggested.

Ginny walked over to the stream and knelt beside it, then splashed cold water on her face. It didn't wake her up. Still, it felt nice, so she splashed some on her arms, and then behind her neck. "How am I going to explain this to my family?" she demanded.

The very least of your problems. He seemed more impatient than ever. What was the urgency in her reading those records? What was it he wanted to happen from that? Yes, she'd been avoiding reading them. She had wanted answers, but knowing Lord Voldemort had kept records of her made her vaguely terrified. And now, hearing his urgency, though she was curious about them, she felt like she was falling into a trap.

"I could find my way home on my own, I don- ahhh!" she gasped as the sudden pain in her head returned. She splashed her face with the cold water again and again, and when that didn't work she submerged her head in the water. Nothing. She pulled her head out, caught her breath and sighed. "Okay! Okay. I'll read them."

The pain disappeared instantly. Ginny crawled to where the records lay in the grass. She wiped her face dry with her sleeve and then reached for one of the folders. Flicking a bug off the edge of it, she opened the folder and pulled out the papers inside. The top was some sort of coversheet reading 'TOP SECRET – RECORDS of THE DARK LORD'. She turned the page.

These were handwritten accounts, with the date on one side (the first reading SEPTEMBER 1993) and paragraphs on the other. Some of the paragraphs were long and detailed, some a couple of lines long stating only basic facts. But it was immediately obvious that this was a day-to-day account of what Tom Riddle's memory had experienced through the diary. How Lord Voldemort knew any of it, she did not understand.

Ginny took a deep breath to steel herself, and began reading.

SEPTEMBER 1993 – A girl began to write in the diary. Ginevra Weasley, called Ginny by her family. She complained that she had no friends, and that she thought her brothers would ignore her and Harry Potter wouldn't notice her. My sixteen-year-old memory found this opportunity to learn more about this time and his future self's fate, and perhaps gain power. He introduced himself and became Weasley's confidant.

Ginny closed her eyes tight. She did not want to do this. She did not, she did not...she did not want to have to go back and relive all that awful time. Her first year had scarred her more than anyone really understood. She'd been possessed. And now to have to relive it through her possessor was...a nightmare.

But she had no choice. She opened her eyes and skimmed what lie ahead of her, and realized that Voldemort had changed pretenses a lot while recording. It went from talking about his memory to talking about himself often. He was probably too wrapped up in the memories to recognize...