Lightbringer

2

Ginny

She didn't know how long she'd been in this dungeon. Initially, she had tried to count, but by now, she had long given up.

No light penetrated the room, no window in sight, and no door. By now, she knew every stone and unevenness by heart. When a dark, veiled figure entered the dungeon, it was only to pull her into a streaming white light and torture her even more. Every time, a part of the wall would open. However, she couldn't move that wall herself.

Currently, she sat on the floor, leaning her head against the stone and waiting. This seemed to be her only pastime. Waiting. Waiting for the glaring white light. Waiting for rescue. Hoping that she would endure. The air was magically pumped into the room. It smelled of dirt and corruption.

The desperate scratch marks on the walls, which she had touched so many times, indicated that she wasn't the first in this prison. Presumably, she wouldn't be the last either.

Ginny tried to play her little memory game. First, she mentally counted all the Hogwarts teachers. Then her friends, "Hermione, Luna, and Sue Li." Lastly, she went through her family in her thoughts.

Her father, Arthur, had a loving warm smile, but whose scent she had long forgotten. Molly, her mother, baked chocolate biscuits at Christmas and gave her the best hugs, but whose face was no longer in Ginny's thoughts. Of course, her brothers. Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George, and the last one. She clenched her fingers lightly. What was the last brother's name? Lately, she had more and more difficulties. The pain of torture weakened her brain, making her memories feel distant.

Her last brother. Now she remembered. Ron. Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron. There was a great chaos in her head. The memories didn't fit together. Christmas. A field in flames. Luna singing a song. Harry on her first day at the station. Hermione helped her with Transfiguration homework one summer. Her first kiss with Michael. Vincent yelled at her to run as fast as possible. Luna sings a song, talking about her dream, about the future. Her head began to ache.<

Ginny wished she could be forgotten. She wished she could become part of the darkness instead of just being surrounded by it. So far, it hadn't happened.

Occasionally, Ginny trained. Sometimes even until she could hardly breathe, she was often interrupted. They would pull her out of the cell again and cast curses at her that she could barely remember. All Ginny knew was the pain. Insatiable pain that robbed her of her sanity. Literally.

One day, the wall opened again. She heard loud voices. "Take her, today the relocation will take place," echoed a deep male voice. Ginny knew she recognized that voice, but no image appeared in her mind. Her eyes were too heavy to open. "Is she even still alive?" another voice asked.

Then came a stabbing pain on her cheek. Someone had hit her in the face. Startled, she opened her eyes. Her dungeon room was bathed in the same bright, blinding light as always. And a dark veiled figure stood over her. The person smelled like the plague.

"Don't damage her," she heard the command from the door, and Ginny recognized that the man with the deep voice was standing there. "She's already broken," the other one grunted.

Ginny tried to pull herself together. She felt like an animal in a fight. "The Dark Lord wants her intact. She's supposed to be transferred today," said the deep voice.

Ginny tried to pull herself up. Previously, the torture had always happened here in the room. It had been a while since she had seen so many people at once.

She felt like an animal in a cage. "The Dark Lord wants her intact. She's supposed to be transferred today," said the deep voice. The man above her roughly grabbed her arm, lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and dragged her into the light. For the first time in ages, she left the darkness, and Ginny felt as if she had lost her protective cloak. She didn't resist.