Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER. Not that you all didn't see it coming, of course, but still. The warning is there.

Heir

Chapter Thirty-Two

The door slammed shut behind Harry and Ron closed his eyes and tried to think. His little sister was going to die today. He didn't feel bad, and a part of him felt terrible because he didn't feel bad. But then, she'd brought this on herself. What did she think was going to happen, accusing Draco of something terrible like that?

But… shouldn't he do something? It felt like there was something he needed to do. He knew that he couldn't stop Harry; he was pretty sure that nobody in the school would be able to. And… well, Harry had warned him. Ginny wasn't an innocent victim, and therefore she would die. He'd promised him that, and Ron didn't expect him to change his mind.

"Shouldn't we… I don't know, shouldn't we do something?" Granger asked beside him. Her voice was a bit shaky, and when Ron opened his eyes to look at her, she was very pale. "He shouldn't just go kill her right now. It would be awfully suspicious, wouldn't it?"

"And it won't help Draco," Ron said, realization dawning. If Ginny just disappeared, that wouldn't be enough to get Draco out of Auror custody. In fact, it could look even more suspicious. It could get Draco into even more trouble.

"I don't know if that should be our primary concern," Granger muttered.

"That's my only concern." Ron gritted his teeth against the rest of the frustrated words that wanted to come out and forced himself to take a deep breath. "Do you know where Professor Snape's office is?"

Granger's eyebrows went up. "I do."

"Go. Tell him that I'm pretty sure that the thing we were worried about has happened, and take him to the bathroom that Myrtle haunts. That's… the only place that I can think of that Harry would take Ginny to if he doesn't just do it right there in the hospital wing." Ron headed for the door himself. He had to try and talk sense into Harry. Not that he thought there was any sense to be had in this mess.

"Why would Harry take her there?" Hermione asked.

Ron shot a look at her over his shoulder. "That's the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Would you just go?"

She moved, finally, and when they left the room he took off in the direction that Harry had to have gone and she went in the opposite direction, towards the Professor's office.

It wouldn't be enough. They wouldn't be able to stop him, of course, but maybe they could make him see reason. Ginny had to leave behind something that would clear Draco's name.

ooOOooOOoo

Severus wasn't sure what he was expecting when the Granger girl burst into his office, chest heaving and cheeks pinked from the exertion of running, but it wasn't what he got.

"Weasley says that he's pretty sure that the thing you were worried about has happened and that he thinks Potter's taken Ginny to the Chamber of Secrets," she burst out as soon as she could catch her breath.

Severus was standing before she'd finished speaking. "Thank you, Ms. Granger. Twenty points to Gryffindor, now please return to your dormitory." He moved to the door and held it open for her.

She stared at him. "You can't possibly think that I'm going to just go back to my dorm when he's murdering somebody. There has to be something that I can do!"

He stared at her in silence for a heartbeat, then shook his head. "Come if you must, I suppose. But know that I don't know if I can protect you if…" He stopped. She didn't know about the fragment of the Dark Lord in Harry's head. The fragment that had been in Harry's head, anyway, if Ron was right. And, to be honest, Ron was likely right. That meant that he was heading into an extremely volatile situation.

He couldn't worry about protecting some stupid little chit from her own need to try and do the right thing. He sighed. "Stupefy!" He caught the girl as she fell back with a startled look on her face and placed her carefully on the ground. He would likely have to answer for it later, but if she was too angry when she woke up he could always alter her memory.

It just wasn't safe for her to come along, and he did still have a duty to the students to at least attempt to keep them safe. Not that he would even be attempting to keep Ginny Weasley safe. That would likely lead only to his death.

Severus left the room, then changed his mind. They needed a confession from Ms. Weasley if her death was to do Draco any good. He returned to his office and went through his desk until he had the sort of ink he needed, and a piece of parchment and a quill to go with it. This time when he stepped out of his office, he locked the door behind him. He had to make sure that Harry didn't hurt anyone else after he'd killed her. He had to get the boy out of the school so that they could see what could be salvaged of his mind. And he would have to report this to the Dark Lord. And then there would still be Granger to deal with.

He walked faster, almost running. It was going to be a very long night.

ooOOooOOoo

Ginny couldn't help it. She was bored. This was miserable, being stuck in the hospital wing. It was for a good cause, of course, even if the charges wouldn't stick.

But still, good cause or no, she was bored. She should have asked the Headmaster for a book or something, or maybe she should have tried to do some of her homework. If anyone asked why she was doing homework, she could always say that she was trying to keep her mind off of her ordeal.

That was a good idea. She would definitely ask for her books the next time she had a visitor. But for now… the boredom was almost crippling. She wished that she was tired enough to sleep, because at least then the hours would pass.

That boredom disappeared when the door to the wing slammed open.

"Visiting hours are over," she heard Madam Pomfrey say.

"Avada Kedavra!" An unfamiliar voice snarled, the rage in it making it alien to her. Then she realized what the words were and she scrambled for her wand.

She heard a muffled thud, followed by that strange voice hissing something she couldn't make out. It sounded sort of familiar, but the rage was something she'd never heard before.

Then the curtains to her bed were pushed aside, and she had just enough time to raise her wand. She began to breathe out something, anything, but Harry's eyes were sort of scary, and then the world went black around her.

ooOOooOOoo

She looked so surprised when he hit her with the curse.

Harry relished the shock on her face when the curse struck. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he was finished with her.

If she still had a face.

He wasn't physically strong enough to lift her, but that was okay. Magic would take care of that. And it did. He lifted her with his magic and took her from the hospital wing. He may have lifted a little too hard, because her head struck the ceiling with a disgusting crack.

Oops.

He spelled away the resulting blood and took her body from the hospital wing. It was fortunate that most students were already in their dorms, because he didn't know what he would do if someone tried to stop him. Actually, he did.

Anyone who tried to stop him would die, something quick and painless like he'd done to Pomfrey. Nobody was going to stop him. But nobody tried to stop him, and he made it to the entrance to the Chamber unmolested. Myrtle was nowhere nearby, not that he could hear, but then she'd left him alone when he'd been killing people last year anyway.

Nobody would ever accuse Myrtle of not being a clever little ghost. She'd been a Ravenclaw, after all, and they were known for their cleverness.

He opened the Chamber with a hiss and considered how he was going to get Ginny down. He could just toss her down, he supposed. But… well, it wouldn't kill her. He'd survived it. But she wasn't exactly awake enough to appreciate the experience. He instead murmured the proper word and stepped on to the invisible platform.

"Harry, wait!" Ron shouted.

Harry turned to stare at him. "She dies tonight, Ron."

"No, I know that. But… look, just hear me out, would you?" Ron asked, and stepped closer. There was nothing in his face that suggested that he was planning on trying to stop Harry. There was only friendly concern.

"Speak." His rage wasn't cooling. He was going to destroy the stupid little bitch. But for Ron, his friend, one of his three best, he could wait. For a short time, at least.

"If you kill her without her recanting her statement, it isn't going to help Draco," Ron rushed out. "We have to figure out a way to make her confess, to make it believable, and get it to the Aurors. Otherwise it's going to look like someone is trying to cover this up."

Harry's breath left him in an impatient hiss. "If there is no one to make the accusation, then there's no reason to keep Draco imprisoned." But even as he said it he knew that wasn't the truth. The filthy Aurors would use any excuse they could to keep his Draco imprisoned. He would be used as leverage against his father, and Harry couldn't allow that.

"Harry, you know that isn't true. If you would just give us a few minutes, maybe we can think of something together," Ron said soothingly.

His rage, instead of cooling, burned brighter. "I will find a way to make her confess," he snarled. "It isn't like torturing the confession out of her will be hard."

"Perhaps there is another solution," a dark voice said, and Harry snarled. The Professor was here. Of course. Because Ron wouldn't have come without some form of backup.

"Do not try to stop me!" he snarled, and forced the elevator to begin descending. He would not be stopped. Ginny Weasley would die for daring to touch what wasn't hers.

"Nobody's trying to stop you!" Ron lunged forward and landed lightly on the platform next to him. Professor Snape wasn't far behind. "We just want you to consider the effect your actions will have on Draco."

Harry's rage grew. "The effect my actions will have on Draco? You think that I'm not considering Draco? I always consider him! I'm the only one who does! Neither one of you even notice what his father is doing to him, and you think that I'm not thinking of him?" His laugh was bitter. "I've been worrying about Draco for the last two years."

Professor Snape's hand on his shoulder was a shock. "Nobody doubts that you have Draco's well-being as your first thought. You need to understand that we need a confession from her that the Aurors can hear before she dies."

Harry's breathing was quick and he closed his eyes and forced himself to slow it down. To think. They were right. Of course they were right. He wasn't helping Draco by losing his temper like this. But he couldn't hold on to it. This rage inside of him was worse than anything he'd ever known.

And… oh. Oh. Tom wasn't talking. At all. And his anger was worse than it had ever been and… and he could remember things that he had no business remembering. Things like what it felt like to kiss the Professor as an adult. Things like sex with the Professor, which was enough to shock him entirely out of his rage. That was… gross, actually.

"We've merged," he said dully as the lift touched down inside the Chamber. Now that his rage had cooled, he mostly felt tired. He wanted this to be over. He wanted to go mourn for his closest friend, the man who had mostly raised him, his mentor.

"We know," Ron said dryly. "Are you okay?"

And just like that the rage was back, roaring through him. He laughed. It came out high and cold. "Do I look okay to you, Ron?"

"I'm not answering that, thanks," Ron muttered.

Harry closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. He could still feel that rage, that fury boiling within him and he just wanted to let it out, to blast Ginny until she was less than a piece of meat. Until there wasn't a piece of her left bigger than his hand, than his fingers, hell, bigger than an eyeball. He wanted to ruin her like she'd ruined Draco.

He took a deep breath. "So. We need a confession from her. And we need it done in such a way that the Aurors will believe it. And then she's going to die. Any suggestions?"

Professor Snape cleared his throat. "I took the liberty of bringing this with me." He produced from a pocket a piece of parchment and an inkwell filled with a dark red ink.

Harry studied it, searching his memories. The ink… wasn't ink at all, was it? "Is that phoenix's blood?" he asked. Where Severus had found a resource like that, he was certain he didn't know.

"It is. And, as you know-"

"One cannot lie when using the blood of the phoenix as ink." Harry let another breath out. "Well then. She simply has to write the letter and send it off to the Aurors."

"And what will we do about her disappearance? If she disappears after she confesses, won't that look awful?" Ron asked.

Harry considered the matter, then an idea came to him. "Let me handle that," he said, a smile blooming on his face.

ooOOooOOoo

Ginny woke up in pain, and in the dark. She was alone in a circle of fire that was at least as tall as she was and outside of that circle was darkness, only darkness. "Hello?" she called, hesitant. Was Harry out there somewhere? Why had he been so angry with her? Had he really killed Madam Pomfrey?

Maybe she'd dreamt all of that. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe she was dreaming this right now. She closed her eyes and tried to think really hard about waking up. When she opened her eyes, she was still in the same circle of fire.

She started to sniffle, then when nothing happened, burst into loud and messy sobs. She couldn't stop herself. Where was she? She was terrified, and nobody was doing anything! Was anybody even out there?

"Stop snivelling. You're giving me a headache." The voice was sharp and she recognized it as Harry's.

Her eyes flew open. Harry stood before her, unbothered by the flames at his back. His arms were crossed and his wand, held loosely in his right hand, tapped idly against his left arm. His face was cool and implacable, and he looked almost as bored as she had felt earlier.

She wasn't bored now. "Harry," she began, and offered him a watery smile. She started to struggle to her feet.

His wand was pointed at her before she could even make her way onto her knees. "Don't stand up, bitch, or I'll cut your legs out from under you."

Ginny froze. "Why are you being so mean to me?" she managed to ask, her voice starting to wobble again. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. The Headmaster had promised… he'd promised that things would be different! That Harry would finally start to like her! Not… not be so cold to her.

"Did you think that we wouldn't find out?" he asked, and there was a trace of laughter in his voice. "Did you think that we wouldn't know that you had raped Draco, rather than it being the other way around? You and the Headmaster thought that you were so clever, but I know the truth. We know the truth. And now you're going to die for what you did."

Ginny started to cry again. "That isn't… I mean… No! Harry, please, you have to understand that what I did I only did for you! Malfoy, he's so bad for you! He's a monster, just look at what he's making you do! You have to believe me, please!"

"Crucio!" Harry snarled in answer.

Ginny screamed. Her body was burning on fire she couldn't make it stop oh Merlin why was he hurting her like this the pain she couldn't- It stopped. She lay there, on the floor, her body trembling with the aftershocks of it. "Please," she whispered. "Just let me go. I'll tell everyone the truth, I promise. Not about… they won't believe me about the Headmaster. I'll tell them that I thought it up. That I was doing it because I was angry. Please."

Harry's lips quirked into a smile. "Okay," he said. "If you tell everyone what you did, then I'll let you go." He flung something at her feet, then. A piece of parchment. And then, more carefully, he settled an inkwell and a quill in front of her. "All you have to do is write it down on this piece of paper here. A signed confession. They're very popular in the Muggle world."

Now that the paper and ink were in front of her, Ginny found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. "If this gets out, it will ruin my life," she whispered. "Harry, please, don't you care about that?" How could he want to destroy her like this? She wouldn't… nobody would want to marry her after this! Her life would be over before it had really had a chance to begin.

Harry's face shifted into that enraged snarl once more. "Crucio!" he hissed, and the pain started once more.

It stopped again and Ginny huddled in on herself. "Please," she whimpered, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. It was becoming clear that the Headmaster had been very, very wrong. It was obviously too late for Harry to be saved. Malfoy had managed to corrupt him entirely.

"I could kill you right now and nobody here would stop me," Harry snarled at her. "Isn't that right, Ron?"

She froze, then turned her head. How had she not noticed him, standing to her left inside the circle of flame? Her brother was there. "Ron," she began, but stopped when she shook his head.

"Nobody here would step in for her," he said agreeably. He looked her straight in the eye as he said it. "But maybe if she does what she should and confesses on that little piece of parchment, you'll be good enough to let her go."

There was something strange in Harry's voice when he said, "I promise that if she writes her confession to the Aurors that I'll let her go."

With shaking hands and a heavy heart, Ginny reached for the paper and the quill. The ink, when she pulled the quill from the well, was blood red. "What-"

"It's phoenix's blood. You can't write any lies with it. Which is why you're going to have to agree with the fact that you're running away." Harry's smile was cold. "You're going to be something of a social pariah anyway if you stay. So you might as well just agree to that part of it. Your family will certainly never forgive you for what you've done. Just look at Ron! He's ready for me to kill you. You might as well just go to the Muggle world and never use your wand again."

"But I-" Ginny stopped. Harry was right. Her parents would be so mad at her! If Ron was willing to kill her over this, what would the rest of her family do? Her mother would be so disappointed. She started to cry again. "You're right," she choked out through her tears.

"Of course I am. In fact..." Harry drew her wand from inside of his robes. "You might as well go ahead and snap it. If you're going to the Muggle world, it would be best if you don't have the temptation of using it. A pureblood like yourself might forget."

She picked up her wand and turned to look at Ron. "Ron?" she asked.

His face was cold. "I would snap it. Who knows what the Muggles might do to you if they figured out you could use magic? They'd probably dissect you or something."

She broke it before she could change her mind, and felt something die in her as she stared at the two pieces of her wand. She picked up the quill then and began to write.

To whom it may concern,

Draco Malfoy didn't rape me. I raped him. I was so angry with him for taking Harry and my brother from me, and I just couldn't stop myself. I'm ashamed of what I did, and I can't let him go to prison because of my actions. I can't face what the world will think of me after this, so I'm going to leave. I'm going to disappear into the Muggle world. I don't want anyone to look for me, please. Not my parents. Not anyone. I know that I don't have the right to ask for anything, but if whoever reads this could please tell my parents that I love them and that I'm sorry for disgracing them, I would be grateful.

Ginevra Molly Weasley

Ginny offered Harry the letter. "Is that…" She stopped and cleared her throat. "Is that good enough?"

He read through it, then nodded once. "It'll do." He stooped down, then, and picked up the pieces of her wand. "I'll just take these and send them with the letter, as proof that you really do intend to leave for the Muggle world."

"Okay." She stood, and smiled. "You'll let me go now?" The smile felt strange on her face, almost brittle.

Harry glanced at her. "No."

"Y-you said-"

"I lied. Crucio!"

ooOOooOOoo

He watched her writhe in agony on the floor, and stopped only when her nose began to bleed. She was crying, pathetic little sobs that would have made a better person's heart stir in sympathy. His didn't. He wondered if Draco had been crying in his own head when she'd forced him. He wondered if she'd laughed as she'd done it because she'd enjoyed hurting him. Had she gotten off on it?

His lip curled into a snarl. He was going to kill her. He was going to destroy her. She would regret ever having set eyes on his Draco. But how to do it? He fiddled with the broken pieces of her wand as he considered, and then his eyes widened.

Yes. That was it. He set one of the pieces of her wand on the ground and began to transfigure it. It was the work of moments, growing it until it was of a suitable height and giving it the right sort of base. This was brilliant. Using magic, he lifted her body and fastened her to the impromptu stake. It wobbled a bit, but that was okay. It didn't need to last long.

"Harry?" Ron asked. He was probably wondering if he shouldn't have stalled Severus. The Professor had left before they'd even begun this exercise, off to deal with Pomfrey's body. He probably hadn't wanted to watch one of his students die, no matter how much she deserved it. Severus was rather sentimental like that.

It was one of the reasons Voldemort loved him.

"I'm going to burn her, Ron," Harry said cheerfully, and Ginny began to sob and struggle against her bonds at his words. It wouldn't be enough, of course. She deserved something worse than this, something worse than this by far, but he didn't have an unlimited amount of time. He wanted to get up to the Owlery and post her letter so that Draco could be out of Auror custody as soon as possible.

"Right." Ron's voice was a little choked. "I… Do you mind if maybe I don't watch this? Not that she doesn't deserve it, but I…"

"It's fine. Do you want to go up and post the letter for me?"

"Yes. Yes, that sounds… I can do that. Using a school owl, yeah?" Ron began to walk back to the lift to leave the Chamber.

"Well we certainly don't want to use yours. Wouldn't that be horribly suspicious, if she felt so overwhelmed with guilt but still used your owl?" Harry followed him back to the lift, ignoring Ginny's desperate pleas behind him. He had to send Ron up. He wouldn't make him watch this.

"Probably so." Ron's voice was just a bit shaky, but he offered Harry a smile as he stood where the lift would form. "Harry…" He trailed off, then shrugged. "I hope this helps."

"It won't. Not really. Revenge never does." Harry laughed. He couldn't help himself. "I mean, I'm going to do it anyway. But no, it won't help anything." He murmured the phrase to summon the platform. "Now get that letter mailed. Oh!" He handed Ron the other piece of Ginny's wand. "Send this with it. They can test it to see who broke it."

"Okay," Ron said, and then the lift was raising him up out of the Chamber.

Harry watched him go and turned back to Ginny just before he'd reached the top. "Now, where were we?" he asked her, and she started to beg him for her life once more.

"Please, Harry, I'm sorry! I'll do anything you want, just please don't kill me, please!" Her face was a red and blotchy mess of tears and snot and blood and desperation.

He wondered if Draco had felt like that when she'd mounted him and his lip curled in disgust. "Incendio!" he barked, and flames leapt from his wand. They didn't take, but they did have the added benefit of terrifying her even more.

"Harry, please!"

Harry ignored her and looked around the Chamber. It was solid stone, with pools of water here and there. There really wasn't anything he could use for kindling. Of course… there was nothing down here that he could hurt, either, except for Saliss, and the basilisk was nowhere near them. And Voldemort knew how to control it.

He whispered the curse for Fiendfyre and summoned up a beautiful snake of flames. The snake sped toward Ginny and tore into her and she burned, screaming and crying and begging and was almost beautiful as she died. It was over far too quickly, and when nothing but her ashes remained Harry cancelled the curse and the fire dissipated.

He never even heard the stunner that hit him in the back.

ooOOooOOoo

Severus breathed a small sigh of relief as Harry fell. He hadn't been certain that would work. The boy was… not well. The dizzying way he went from rage to calm to rage once more was not a good sign. He was nowhere near in control of his emotions. And that high laugh he'd had…

Severus shuddered. It was reminiscent of the Dark Lord when he'd been at his worst.

Harry couldn't stay at Hogwarts like this. There were too many innocent bystanders at the school. People like Madam Pomfrey, who'd never done anything to hurt anyone on either side of the war. She hadn't deserved to die just because she'd been in Harry's way.

Harry had to go back to the Manor, at least until he could get this under control. They could use the trauma of Ginny's accusations as an excuse. Say that he needed to be with his friend as he recovered, say that he was taking private lessons for the rest of the school year while they tried to lock down all of that rage and anger and… everything that had made the Dark Lord who he was.

And if they couldn't do it, if they couldn't help him work through that rage, Severus knew what would happen to the boy. He just hoped that it wouldn't come to that. He was rather fond of the brat, after all.

A/N: Hey look, an update! Careful, you might scare it away!

But in all seriousness, a few announcements. First of all, brand new feature on my profile. As I work on stories, I'm posting my progress on the next chapter in my profile. I update progress every time I update a story, and if I'm not updating a story that week I'll still try to update the word counts so you all can see how things are going.

Also, there will not be a book two to this. I'm just going to keep it all in one book, I think. It isn't that major a change, but I thought you might all like to know because the originally planned ending of book one was at the end of year three. I'll update the summary to reflect this.