avada kedavra: instantaneous death
•companion book to "imperio"•
harry potter was in hiding. but the war refused to hide with him.
leaving ginny weasley to fight for her life in the new, hellish world.
[DEATHLY HALLOWS]
It was always in the Chamber of Secrets, the dim light casting an eerie glow on the sprawling chamber. But Ginny Weasley could never focus on that.
Not when she was laying on the ground with blood-stained hands, her life slowly draining away.
Ginny's eyelids struggled to stay open as she stared at the entryway to the Chamber, waiting for a hero that would never come. There was no one coming to save her. There was only the pain of dying and the strange boy who had emerged from the diary.
His name was Tom Riddle and he was killing Ginny. Killing Ginny so he could live.
Ginny squeezed her eyes shut. She had been so stupid, she saw that now. So stupid to think that even a diary could care for her. So stupid to think that maybe she wasn't alone. So stupid to think that something cared about her.
It was harmless at first; it was just a diary, after all. Ginny had written in it casually, believing that it was a gift from her parents to celebrate her going to Hogwarts. But when the diary started writing back, she quickly learned that wasn't the case.
The diary had introduced itself as Tom Riddle, a student who had gone to Hogwarts years before Ginny had been born. He was sympathetic and kind, always listening to Ginny's problems. Tom had never laughed at her, or called her fears silly. He had reassured her that he cared about her, and that others cared, too.
But Tom Riddle was watching her slowly die. He didn't care. He never had.
Ginny was too weak to move, too weak to even cry. Her life was draining away, and she couldn't even cry about it. It was almost fitting; she had spent so much of this year crying, but couldn't in the last moments of her life.
She was dying. It wasn't such a scary thought. Not really. It filled her with wonder. What came after death? Would Ginny be able to meet Gideon and Fabian, the uncles she couldn't remember? Or would death be an infinite span of darkness?
Ginny kept her eyes closed, and felt her breathing become slower. Felt her heart slow it's beating. Everything felt distant and sluggish and murky, like swimming through pond water.
It was so hard to stay awake now. Everything was fading away, like the tendrils of a half-forgotten dream.
"Ginny," a voice called out, sounding as if the speaker were talking underwater. "Ginny—don't be dead—please don't be dead."
Ginny could feel hands grab her shoulders and attempt to shake her awake. But the feeling was distant, as if she were watching it happen to someone else. As if she wasn't here at all.
If she could move, she would smile. She would tell Harry Potter, who was doubtlessly the one shaking her, that she was alright. Ginny would die, but she would be alright.
And then, everything was gone. Her hearing, her breathing, the shaking. It was gone. And so was Ginny.
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