Artificial Imagination

Pomegranate 

Tell me your favorite story, Ginny Weasley had written, all those years ago. Back when she'd been a naïve little first year.

It's an old Muggle myth, Tom Riddle had written back.

Tell me, she had pleaded.

The Dark Lord Hades ruled the Underworld. One day he was on his way to Olympus – home of the other Gods – and the Goddess of Love spotted him. She told her son, Cupid, to shoot an arrow at him, to make him fall in love. When the arrow pierced his heart, he looked around and saw a young spring goddess named Persephone. He fell in love with her, kidnapped her and took her to the Underworld with him. He offered his riches to her, but she still hated him for taking her away from her mother. He married her anyway, and made her his Queen.

Ginny waited, but he did not continue. Is that the end?

I don't remember the rest.

It's not very romantic, Ginny had written, and instantly regretted it. The tale probably wasn't supposed to be romantic.

But he loves her. He has been alone for a very long time; he has never been loved. Perhaps he's expressing his love in the only way he knows how. If it were you, would you hate him?

She had paused a moment, wondering how she would feel if she were Persephone. No. But I'd try to make him let me go.

And if he said he simply could not watch you leave?

I don't know. She had sighed.  Why are you asking these questions?

Just curious.

Blinking the tears away, Ginny felt herself return to the present moment. She was in the abandoned kitchens, and the Battle of Hogwarts had just ended. Needing an escape from the choking misery in the Great Hall, she had taken refuge here, trying to ignore the empty shells of her former comrades that filled the corridors. She wasn’t certain what had caused those memories to swim across her eyes in that moment, but she was almost grateful for the temporary reprieve from reality.

Ginny noticed a bowl of fruit resting on a counter, one fruit bizarre and red. She picked up the fruit and tore it open. Starving, she consumed half its seeds before setting it back down again.

"Ginevra..." a voice reached her ears suddenly. Deep, cultured...beautiful.

Ginny glanced behind her, but saw nothing. How could she hear his voice, now? That voice had died many years before the body had. The beautiful voice had been replaced by a hideous, high hiss...

But why did she hear it now? "Maybe I'm going insane..." she muttered to herself. She wouldn't be surprised.

"You, Ginevra? Mad? Never," his voice scoffed. She spun around, and this time her eyes met a face. The only way he'd changed since the last she had seen him in the Chamber was that he was now...ghostly.

She reached for her wand, and was terrified to find that she'd left it in the Great Hall. "T-Tom?" Ginny stuttered, not believing what she was seeing. "You're-”

"Dead?" Tom Riddle smirked, walking up to her. Ginny wanted to get away, but her legs felt weak. “Yes, I know. I wouldn't be a ghost otherwise."

"But shouldn't you be..."

"Lord Voldemort?" He laughed. "Now that I am dead all of my soul has been put back together. I'm no longer the...ah, reptilian creature I was."

"But why are you here?"

“Unfinished business. Did you ever have a chance to finish that story I started for you all those years ago?" She shook her head. “Shall I tell you the end of it?"

"Go ahead," she said, stalling him. Maybe someone would think to feed the exhausted army, and the house elves would return.

"You remember where we left off?" Ginny nodded. He smiled. "Hades made Persephone his Queen. On Earth, Demeter – her mother – was very angry. She threatened to freeze the Earth unless Persephone was returned to her. Zeus – King of the Gods – ordered Hades to return Persephone. But of course, Hades couldn't let his wife go. So...he gave her a pomegranate – that fruit you were eating earlier. You see, in the Underworld there was a law, that anyone who ate of something grown and harvested there must live there. She ate six seeds. Zeus decided that she would return with her mother, but for six months of the year she would be with her husband. That is why there is winter. Her mother grieves every month her daughter is, essentially, dead."

Ginny’s heart raced. Dead. Because of a pomegranate.

"Did you know,” he continued, "That pomegranate is used in a number of potions...and poisons? So is aconite, a poisonous plant." She heard Tom's voice speaking to her, but it seemed so distant. "You should be feeling the effects soon..."

Ginny rushed to the sink and tried to force herself to vomit by sticking her scarlet juice-stained fingers deep into her mouth.

"It's too late for that, Ginevra...the poison is already in your system." She heard him approaching behind her. "If you relax, it won't hurt so much."

Ginny spun around, blinded with anger. She charged Tom, but went straight through him. She collapsed onto the floor, and could hear him laughing at her. She began to shake uncontrollably, and she felt like she was on fire.

A fever, some rational part of her mind explained. Extreme poisoning caused fevers, as well as the shaking and the sudden extreme thirst she was beginning to feel.

Ginny felt her strength quickly disappearing, no matter how hard she fought against it.

"Harry will...Harry will..." she couldn't finish.

"Harry will what?" he spat. "I'm already dead!"

Ginny felt tears running down her face. She was going to die at the hands of a ghost. She could feel herself weakening. She had strength enough for only one last word.

"Why?" she choked out.