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[personal profile] primeideal posting in [community profile] rarepair_shorts
Author: primeideal
Recipient: magic_knickers
Title: Perchance
Pairing: Tom/Ginny
Request: perchance to dream; "I want so much angst with this"
Rating: PG
Word Count: 548
Author's Notes: Titles, I suck at them.



Tom, she writes, I'm scared.

There's nothing to be afraid of, he writes back.

But. I thought I saw something about skeletons...Is the Heir going to kill me, Tom?

There's nothing to be afraid of, he repeats. Death can, after all, be defeated.

Ways to get around death? That's impossible! Everyone up there is terrified.

They do not know what I am capable of—what anyone might be capable of. Someday, I think, they will understand. Soon.

Then why have you brought me here? She's not really sure where she is, only that Tom has guided her here, Tom has been within her—not quite alive but far more than dead. Easier to keep writing, keep trusting in the familiar.

There is magic in this place, magic yet to be carried out. But he is weak—can he rely on her? He has to. It has worked out, so far. You can help me.

I don't know how.

It's all right. Keep writing. He needs something more, more than the child's struggles with schoolwork, her gossip about her brother, even her deluded, wild fears. Something deeper. How are you?

I'm still a little scared.

Tell me, Ginny. What do you dream of?

Dreams? I dunno. I guess I'd like to pass my classes and play Quidditch for Gryffindor. And fall in love and get married and have kids someday...

So banal, and yet, the longing...Love seems a little early, doesn't it? Didn't you say you'd never had a friend like me?

I haven't. But you're just a book.

Just a book? I will show you, Ginny, I am more than a book. You will see. But tell me, what do you dream of at night?

I don't know. Sometimes birds, singing. But I don't dream very often.

People dream every night. They simply can't remember most of it.

Really? I didn't know that.

It's true. And so it is with all of life—time can pass you by, even if you do not remember it.

There have been times—even during the day—when I forget where I am, where I'm not sure where I've been the last few hours. I don't know what's happening.

It is magic—magic you cannot understand quite yet. Even then when you cannot see me, I am closer to you than ever. And for some reason it is knowing this that thrills her, sends life coursing through her and into his diary, feeding him. The time draws closer.

Will I ever get to see you, Tom? In my own time, not just your pages?

Of course you will. Very soon. Living beyond time—beyond death—all this, and more, is in my power.

She picks up the quill to write again, but the pages of the book are slowly waving, as if turned by an unseen hand or caught in an underground wind. Then, slowly, there's a sketch on the page—standing up, out of the paper—taking on color—growing into a young wizard.

Ginny gives a quick breath. “Are you—”

“Real, yes,” he whispers. “But now it's time to dream.” Her eyes widen, but she stays silent. “Close your eyes. There's nothing to fear.”

She rasps for breath, already blanching, and by the time Tom lays her down her skin is pale and thin like a new page.



Date: 2012-06-16 05:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] magic-knickers.livejournal.com
And for some reason it is knowing this that thrills her, sends life coursing through her and into his diary, feeding him. The time draws closer.

Guh. I am so simultaneously disturbed and fascinated by the Tom/Ginny aspect in book two, and you wrote it all perfectly. That line struck me, especially. Thank you for a perfect wish-granting!

Date: 2012-06-16 05:26 pm (UTC)
ext_1581797: (Default)
From: [identity profile] notearchiver.livejournal.com
The way Tom manages to elude every question Ginny poses is to entrancingly him. Lovely work.

Date: 2012-06-16 05:42 pm (UTC)
brightflower: (Default)
From: [personal profile] brightflower
Love this! I'm a huge fan of Tom/Ginny, and I just adore what you've done with them here. Your Tom is perfect.

Date: 2012-06-23 07:17 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
That was like, really intense.

i mean, like it was so heartbreaking how ginny trusted Riddle so much even in this moment, and how Riddle managed to finally reach her heart, though lies and sweet nothings.

but this was really good.

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