Summary: Horrified, she swatted at the feathers, feeling them prick her skin. Blood pooled on her blanket and she let out a small scream as she attempted to wipe it off of her. But the harder she tried, the more hopelessly covered in blood and chicken feathers she became. Revolted, tears stained her cheeks and splashed onto her hands, failing to wash away the imagined crimson and white.

After Voldemort's rebirth, Ginny Weasley's fourth year brings with it an onslaught of nightmares as Tom Riddle seeks to satisfy the obsession he developed with her mind in the Chamber of Secrets. Will Harry be able to save her from totally losing her mind to Voldemort or will he be too late? AU version of OotP and HBP. Full summary inside.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; not the plot, not the setting, not the characters. I'm just making a few changes. You should be able to recognize them. =D

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with my second fic! For those of you that read Diary of James (Yes, I'm still working on it. I'm just suffering from a little bit of writer's block), I dedicate this story to you. Without your reviews I would never have gotten this far. If you're a new reader, I hope you enjoy! Please read and review, that's all I can ask.

Chapter 1

The Scarlet Hogwarts Express spewed charcoal colored smoke into the air, its wheel's squeaking shrilly, its whistle beckoning the students inside. It was time to go home. Summer Break was starting and the chatter at the Hogsmead platform was so loud and boisterous that conversation was restricted to the simple, "Have a great summer" or, "Promise you'll write." But inside the brilliant red train, the sound of the prattling students was muffled to little more than a buzz. It was almost irritating, especially to Ginny Weasley who sat alone by the window, watching as her classmates said their good-byes. The reason she sat alone was not entirely by choice. The circumstances of that year had left her virtually friendless and entirely too self-conscience to attempt making friends anew. Seeing others happily planning meetings with their friends over the summer was almost too much for her.

A tear trickled down her cheek.

It wasn't that she minded being alone, because she didn't. What bothered her was why she was alone. At the beginning of the year she'd been alone, but in an entirely different way. She'd come to Hogwarts with a diary in her pocket, her confidant and only friend. Now, at the end of the year, she had no friends and no diary, though she was grateful for the latter. Perhaps she was alone, but that meant the Tom could no longer bother her. At least not during the day. At night, she was still haunted by memories of the Chamber of Secrets and Tom Riddle's face often swam in front of her, that deceptive smile playing at the corners of his mouth. She shivered at the thought.

"Last call boys and girls! Last call!" shouted the Engineer, his voice magically magnified to be heard over the noise of the crowd. "All aboard!"

The slow trickle of students entering the train suddenly magnified to a flood of boys and girls, bringing with them the racket of the platform. Several of them looked into Ginny's compartment hopefully, then turned away quickly when they saw its occupant, muttering conspiratorially. No one really knew Ginny's true connection to the Chamber (other than a handful of teachers, her family, and her brother's best friends, Harry and Hermione) but many rumors concerning her and her kidnapping were floating around, some of which were almost worse than the truth.

After a few minutes, the Trio walked past Ginny's compartment, pushed on by the crowd. Hermione glanced in through the window and did a double take when she noticed who was inside. She grabbed hold of Ron's arm and yanked him back towards the door. He looked like he was about to argue when he too noticed his sister. Throwing open the door, he put on a huge smile and said, "Hey Gin! You mind if we sit with you?"

Ginny shook her head and forced a smile as well. The three friends squeezed into the compartment, dragging their trunks behind them. Ron sat down beside her and Hermione settled down opposite them. Next to her sat Harry and Ginny's heart began to race as she looked at him. From the first moment she'd seen him, Ginny had started to develop a very girlish crush for the Boy Who Lived. At first it had been because he was who he was, Harry Potter. But now…now that he'd saved her life, that he'd risked everything to rescue her, her feelings were far less shallow. She, of course, knew better than to get her hopes up. Harry was a hero, and as such saw it his duty to save her. Not to mention the fact that she was his best friend's sister. She really didn't think he could have developed any sort of attachment to her that would have fuelled his desire to save her.

A little more time passed and the twins joined them. The rest of the train ride was spent playing Exploding Snap and chatting, rather loudly Ginny thought, about the more pleasant aspects of the past year. The past several nights of disturbed sleep finally caught up with Ginny about half-way to King's Cross and she drifted off to sleep, to the sound of Fred and George's boisterous jokes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny's eyes snapped open. A long moment passed as she tried to catch her breath, her mind still filled with images from her dream. Why on earth was she dreaming about the Chamber now? It had been three whole years since she'd last heard Tom's voice, or seen his face, or even thought about him as anything other than Voldemort. And yet here she was, dreaming about him. She shivered as the sound of his laugh echoed in her ears.

She sat up, looking around at her companions. Neville sat opposite her, stroking his new Minbulus mimbletonia with one hand and clutching his toad Trevor as tightly as possible with the other. Next to him sat Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw in Ginny's year. She was a pretty sort of girl with long, wavy blonde hair and pale blue eyes. But she was also extremely odd. At the moment she was reading the magazine her father printed, The Quibler, upside-down while wearing a pair of "spector specs." Neville seemed slightly awkward sitting next to her and Ginny couldn't entirely blame him. Luna was sweet and extremely nice, but she was strange to say the least and tended to say whatever was on her mind which was usually brutally honest.

Ron and Hermione were currently out doing rounds, their new Prefect duty on the Hogwarts Express, and would probably be back sometime soon. The only other person in the compartment was Harry, who sat by the window next to Neville, looking dejectedly out at the farms that were flicking past the train. Ginny sighed heavily as she looked at him. He'd been extremely moody of late, worried by the sudden onslaught of dreams he'd been having since Voldemort's rebirth at the end of last year. This bothered Ginny quite a bit, especially since her dreams had started just recently as well. Somehow, that didn't seem like a coincidence. Harry was dreaming about Voledemort, she was dreaming about Tom Riddle….No, it had to be a coincidence. His dreams were about last year, about his only true enemy coming back to life. That was reasonable. If she were Harry, she'd be having those dreams too. But she was dreaming about something that happened three years ago, something she'd been ignoring for a long, long time. How was it that she was suddenly being thrust back into memories of that awful first year?

Harry frowned suddenly, sensing Ginny's eyes on him. He turned around, glaring in her direction. She shifted awkwardly in her seat, looking down at the floor and trying to seem bored.

A few minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined the group and Ginny forced herself to enter into the conversation again, pulling herself out of her thoughts. It was frustrating to sit there, unable to explain to anyone about what she was currently going through. Not that it mattered. At the end of her first year, she was friendless but now she was not. The difference was, she'd gotten used to being alone and keeping things to herself so she could go on like this forever, hiding her dreams and her secrets. Her fake smile lasted the whole way to Hogwarts.