"And then he moved his hair and showed me his sc-"

"What color was his hair again? Was it black black, or more dark brown?"

"Merlin, Ginny. . ."

"Let him finish, would you?"

"Let him start, is more like it."

It was a hot summer day at the Burrow, the sun shining down on the garden and warming it so it felt like a furnace. The grass was yellowing from the lack of water, and the flowers wilted and lost their petals to the heat. Ron, Fred and George Weasley had been playing Quidditch in the paddock since early that morning, hoping to get a good game in before it got too hot to tolerate. They were now sitting under a tree drinking the ice cold pumpkin juice Ginny had brought them. She had heard Ron telling the twins about his best friend, Harry Potter, and sat down to join them. This was the fifth time she had interrupted.

"It was black, Ginny," Ron said, exasperated. "Just black."

"Well," Ginny justified her question. "You should have said that the first time."

Ron sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes his little sister was just too much. He had no idea how Bill had done it, having all of them to deal with. He was probably questioned like this all day, every day! "Would you just. . . I don't know, hold it in?"

Ginny pretended to think seriously about Ron's question before answering, "Fine, but you have to answer all my questions later."

"Deal." Ron drank the rest of his pumpkin juice and cleared his throat before continuing. "As I was saying, he showed me his scar, and I knew it was really him."

It was George's turn to interrupt now. "And he hasn't answered any of your letters?"

"Sounds like a waste of time to me," Fred put in.

"He hasn't," Ron said, hesitating before adding, "But he's probably busy, right?"

"How come they get to talk, but I can't?" Ginny asked, frustrated with her brothers for ignoring her.

"Quiet, Ginny," George asserted.

Fred paused before replying to Ron, deep in thought. "You know," he said, a mischievous look on his face. "We could go get him. . ."

A grin broke out on George's face, but Ron looked more reluctant. He knew how dangerous his brothers' plans could be, especially the ones that involved travel. "And how exactly would we be getting to Surrey?"

"Dad's car of course," George explained before Fred could answer.

"You can't!" Ginny exclaimed. "Mum will kill you!"

"The flying car?" Ron asked, his voice rising with his worry. What if they did get caught? Ginny was right, their mum would murder them.

"What other car is there?" Fred replied, his grin growing broader. "It's brilliant!"

"We can leave tonight," George planned, setting down his pumpkin juice. "Get back before morning, and Mum and Dad'll never know!"

"You can't!" Ginny repeated, standing up with the hope that her brothers would notice her if she was taller.

"You really think it'll work?" Ron asked, ignoring Ginny. She sat down again with a grunt and crossed her arms.

"For sure," Fred assured him.

"No doubt," said George. "But will Ginny squeal?" He looked over at his sister, an accusing look in his eyes. Fred and Ron joined him in staring her down, making her squirm uncomfortably.

Ginny inched away from her brothers, hoping to ease the pressure of their stare. They just moved in closer to her, though. "Promise?" Fred asked maliciously.

"Fine!" She exclaimed, cracking under the strain of her brothers' gaze.

"Thank you," George said, backing away.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Fred added, joining his brother.

"Yeah," Ron said lamely, sitting back against the tree. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to go against the rules to Fred and George proportions. "Tonight, then?"

"Tonight."

***

Ginny went through the rest of the day wondering what she would do if one of her parents or Percy asked her something about Fred, George and Ron's plan for the night. She briefly considered ignoring them, but she knew they would be able to tell something was up if she did. She also thought about telling them that her brothers were playing Quidditch in the paddock that night, but she knew they would immediately go look for them.

She finally decided on telling them the truth and hoping nobody would ask. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all she had.

When the time finally came to go to bed, she cast one last look at her misbehaving brothers and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. She threw on a nightdress and got her diary out from under her mattress. The bright green leather cover was soft and worn with use, and some of the pages were ripping away from the binding. She had written in the diary for as long as she could remember, and Bill had put a charm on it that made it magically expand whenever she ran out of pages. It was filled with all of her thoughts since she was a very little girl.

In the diary, she wrote of her brothers' plan to get Harry and how she was worried for them, yet excited that she would finally get to see and talk to Harry Potter:

4 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Today, Fred, George and Ron went to get Harry Potter. Yes, Harry Potter! I couldn't believe it when Ron told us his best friend was Harry Potter in the beginning of the summer, but he insisted, and now he's coming to stay here! I can't wait! I just hope I'll be able to talk to him. Fred and George tell me I'm obsessed, but I don't think so. Do you, diary? I'm sure you don't.

Fred and George thought of the idea to take dad's flying car to Surrey to get Harry, and I think it's crazy, but brilliant at the same time. Does that make sense, diary? I mean, it's crazy because there's no way they're going to get away with it. But it's brilliant because if they do get away with it, they'll have Harry really fast without having to use magic and get expelled from Hogwarts.

Did you see how I was able to just say Harry? Maybe I'll be able to talk to him!

Anyway, they're leaving after mum and dad go to bed and they're going to bring him here before morning! I hope mum doesn't get mad when she finds out. They'd better get to Harry's house and back before her and dad wake up, or they'll be in huge trouble!

I promise I'll tell you all about Harry tomorrow, diary!

Ginny

When she had written a good page about her mixed feelings, she decided it would be best to try and figure out what she would say to Harry when he arrived in the morning.

"Hi, I'm Ginny," she told her mirror, smiling broadly. "No, that's too cheery. . ."

"I'm Ginny Weasley," she tried next, looking more passive and moody. "Not that either; it's too old for me."

"Ginevra," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Ugh, still no. . ."

This went on for a good hour, and by the time she finally gave up, it was pitch black outside. She stuck her head out the door and was met with silence, which was very unusual for the Burrow. Her parents must have gone to bed by now.

She closed the door again and went over to her window. She looked towards the garage, wondering if her brothers had left yet. There was a light on in the garage, and she could see the silhouettes of the tall boys through the windows. They must be almost ready to leave, she thought.

Sure enough, the light went out in the garage. She watched as the car was driven into the yard, the headlights illuminating the yellow grass. She could just barely see her brothers' faces in the car. Fred, driving, looking excited and rebellious. George, next to him, looked the same, but slightly less carefree. Ron, his head poking in between his brothers' from the backseat, seemed frightened and pale by comparison.

The car inched forward for a few meters before gaining speed and taking off into the air. Ginny thought this must be what it was like watching an airplane take off, except for the fact that it was actually a car, of course.

Ginny watched as the car disappeared shortly before the edge of the yard. She knew her father had added an invisibility booster so the Muggles wouldn't see a car flying and think they were losing their minds.

She kept watching, even though she was sure the car and her brothers were gone, until she started dozing off. At this point, she climbed into her bed and turned out the light. When she woke up tomorrow, Harry Potter would be at her house in the flesh.

***

Ginny's first thought when she woke up in the morning was, Harry Potter!

Then she heard the yelling.

She jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Looking out, she saw her mother shouting at four figures standing clumped together: her three brothers. . . And Harry Potter!

She gasped and stared at Harry, taking him in. He honestly wasn't as magnificent as she was expecting; he was just a normal boy of twelve. Average height and skinny, he didn't look as healthy as her mum probably wanted him too. Ginny was sure she would fill him up with food the first chance she got. His hair - black black, Ginny thought - stuck up in the back and his glasses were black circles around his shiny green eyes. She could see his fear in his eyes, and could tell he was nervous and slightly scared of her mother.

Her mother turned around then, and started walking back towards the house. With a look at Ron, who ushered him forward, Harry followed. Ginny's brothers were right behind him, knowing breakfast wasn't far away.

Ginny moved away from the window and towards her mirror. She fixed her hair so it didn't look like she had just got out of bed and practiced talking a few more times. Percy walked by on his way to the bathroom and said through the door, "You okay in there, Ginny?"

"Fine," she replied, knowing he had heard her talking to herself.

"Okay. . ." He trailed off and continued in the direction of the bathroom.

"Now that he's gone," Ginny said to her mirror. "Ginny Weasley, sister of Ron. No, I'm not proud to be his sister. . ."

***

Finally, Ginny felt she was ready to meet the famous Harry Potter. She walked slowly down the stairs, rehearsing her speech in her head. She reached the bottom stair and stepped into the kitchen, where Harry and her brothers were eating breakfast.

She took one look at Harry, who had turned toward her, apparently waiting for an introduction, and squealed. Shocked and angry with herself, she immediately turned and ran back up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

That was the most humiliating moment of my life, she thought.

She got out her diary and wrote about her embarrassment in it:

5 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Oh, diary, I was wrong! I can't talk to Harry Potter! He arrived this morning, and I went down to talk to him, and it was like someone put a Tongue-Tying curse on me! I didn't say anything at all! I might have made a . . . squeaky noise . . . but that was it! I'm so mortified, diary! What in the world should I do? I need to talk to Harry!

Ginny

When she had finished, she heard voices on the stairs, and went to her door to watch and see who it was. She opened it a crack and saw Ron and Harry walking up to Ron's room. She gasped as they went by, and Harry looked at her through the crack in the door. She quickly closed it and leaned against it, breathless. She couldn't believe Harry Potter had just looked at her, Ginny Weasley!

When she was sure her brother had taken his friend upstairs, she sneaked down to the kitchen to eat. Her mother didn't question her too awfully about her unusual shyness, but Ginny could tell by the look on her face that she was worried. Ginny herself knew that it was odd for her to be this quiet, but she couldn't help it; Harry just made her speechless.

The days had passed quickly since Harry had arrived at the Burrow. It was just another week of a fairly normal summer for the Weasleys - most of them. For Ginny, though, the week had been one embarrassing mishap after another. She had dropped countless things throughout the week, most of them being dropped whenever Harry entered a room.

Some of the less embarrassing moments had been when she had dropped a sweater she was folding, when she had jerked her fork at dinnertime and a carrot had slid off it, and when she had spilled the afternoon's tea over the edge of a mug. The more humiliating things were ones she would rather not mention, such as accidentally dropping her toothbrush into the toilet and adding one tablespoon of salt to the biscuits instead of one teaspoon.

Needless to say, it had been a bad week for Ginny Weasley.

On the day before her birthday, Ginny had gone down to breakfast early with the hope that she would be able to eat and get back to her room before Harry and Ron woke up. Unfortunately, her wish didn't come true, for soon after her mother handed her a bowl of porridge and sat down, Ron and Harry walked into the kitchen. She promptly knocked over her bowl and leaped under the table to recover it.

Upon rising, she saw Harry looking at her, probably trying to act as though he hadn't noticed her escapade. She blushed furiously and tried to smile, failing miserably. He almost certainly thought she was insane.

She took her Hogwarts letter from her father, opening it with less exhilaration than she had assumed when she had pictured this day in her mind. She had thought it would be a joyous day with her family, with much laughter and many tears from her mother.

Instead, she got the silence that came with many people reading at the same time. She saw that she would need an abundance of books for her first year at school, including all the usual first-year books and seven written by Gilderoy Lockhart. She realized that the books would be very expensive, and George voiced her concerns.

"That lot won't come cheap,"* he said. "Lockhart's books are really expensive. . . ."*

Ginny's mother mentioned that they would be able to get some of her things secondhand, and Harry asked her if she would be starting at Hogwarts that year. She nodded self-consciously, and her elbow slipped into the butter dish. She pulled it out quickly and rubbed her elbow with her other hand, pretending she had hit it on the table.

Just then, Percy walked in, saving Ginny from further humiliation. He accidentally sat on Errol, who was carrying a letter from Hermione Granger, Ron and Harry's other best friend. It was decided from the letter that they would be going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday, in two days' time.

After Harry, Ron, Fred and George went to play Quidditch, Ginny helped her mother with housework before retiring to her bedroom to write in her diary and reread her Hogwarts letter. She wrote:

10 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Guess what? We got our Hogwarts letters today! All of us; even Harry and I! Dumbledore must have known he was here. I finally get to go to Hogwarts with my brothers! I'm so excited, diary! We're going shopping in Diagon Alley on Wednesday, and tomorrow's my birthday! This must be the most thrilling week ever!

There were all these Lockhart books on our list, though, diary. Every book but one on everyone's list but mine. I need all of the books for every subject, too. I'm worried about it. The Lockhart books are expensive, and I know more than mum and dad think about our money. I hope we have enough, diary. I really do.

Ginny

It was easier for her to be excited about finally going to school when Harry Potter wasn't in the room with her, making her nervous.

That night, Ginny fell asleep easily, knowing that the next day was her birthday, a day she had always loved and always would, no matter how embarrassing it was to be around Harry constantly.

***

The sun was bright when Ginny woke up on her birthday, shining through her window onto her eyelids to awaken her. She turned over and buried her head in her pillow, trying to dim the light. "Augh," she said, not wanting to get out of her bed quite yet.

This was before she remembered the date.

Ginny shot out of the bed like a weed in a garden, throwing the blankets off onto the floor. She quickly picked them up and put them back on the bed in a pile. She put her hair up into a ponytail and got dressed faster than she had previously thought possible. She was ready for her eleventh birthday.

Upon arriving in the kitchen, Ginny was presented with a plate of all of her favorite breakfast foods: eggs, bacon, toast and marmalade. "Here you are dear," said her mother, handing her the plate. "Eat up! It's a big day!"

Ginny sat down at the table in between Fred and George. This proved to be a mistake. "Oh, is that for me?" Fred asked when she sat down, pointing at her plate. "You know how I love toast and marmalade."

"Indeed, Fred, indeed," added George, looking at the perfectly crisp toast.

"Shove off," said Ginny, covering her plate with her arms.

"Feisty," stated Fred, backing away with his hands above his head in surrender.

George leaned so close to her she could feel his breath on her ear as he said, "I'll bet Harry loves that."

"Shut up," said Ginny, looking down at her plate, concentrating on not blushing and giving herself away.

With perfect timing as always, Ron and Harry walked in. "Happy birthday, Ginny," said Harry as he sat down, taking a piece of toast from Mrs. Weasley.

"Thanks," she mumbled back, not looking at him. She heard Ron mutter something to him about her acting oddly. She ignored it, silently agreeing with him. She was never this quiet, especially not on her birthday.

"Now that we're all here," said Fred, standing up and looking important, "we can give Ginny her present."

"We aren't all here," George pointed out. "What about Percy?"

"Oh yeah." Fred plopped back down into his seat, sounding defeated. He whispered under his breath to Ginny, "But he's a right git; we don't need him, do we?"

Ginny laughed into her breakfast. Thankfully she hadn't had anything in her mouth when Fred commented. With Harry sitting across from her, anything sprayed across the table would have hit him directly, making it a new early-morning record for Ginny's embarrassment level.

Sparing Ginny from doing anything else, Percy walked in, head high as usual, wearing his prefect badge on his chest. "Good morning, everybody," he said, sitting down at the table. "Happy birthday, Ginny."

"'Morning, Percy," Fred said quickly, before standing up once more. "Now can we give Ginny her present?"

"Yes," Ginny's mother said, setting a plate of food in front of Percy, "you may give her her present now."

Fred cleared his throat and walked over to a cabinet. He pulled the door open slowly, building the suspense. George hummed a song that she had never heard before. She assumed it was a Muggle song. As the door opened, Ginny saw what was inside, and gasped. Fred finished opening the door and George reached the climax of his humming at the same moment, and Ginny saw more sweets than she had ever seen before, all in one place: the cabinet.

There were Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Fudge Flies, and Licorice Wands, along with Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Fizzing Whizbees, and Pumpkin Pasties. Any sweet Ginny could imagine was there. She gasped and ran over to the cabinet, gazing in awe at the candy.

"How in the world," she asked, shocked, "did you get all of this? It's not stolen, is it?"

Fred laughed and messed up her hair. "Now why would we steal this?"

"We bought it," amended George, glancing in Harry's direction, "with a little help from each other."

Ginny looked over at Harry, who grinned at her. "You all bought this?" She asked, looking at all of them in turn. "Even Percy?"

"Yes," said Percy, gesturing to the room at large, "we all chipped in."

"It was all the boys' idea," Ginny's father said, smiling broadly. "Your mother and I didn't help at all. Which is why," he added, looking at his wife, "we have this for you."

Ginny's mother rummaged in another cabinet for a moment before producing a beautiful charm bracelet. It was shining gold and had a single red charm hanging from it: a lion. A Gryffindor lion. "It was mine when I was a girl," explained her mother. "It already has my old Gryffindor charm on it. Since you'll be going to school next month, I thought it was time to pass it on to you."

She took Ginny's hand in her own and hooked the bracelet on, being careful to have the lion facing up. "Thanks, mum," said Ginny, before she was pulled into a hug.

"How touching," interrupted George, his hand on his heart sarcastically. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast so we can go play Quidditch."

Ginny's mother glared at her son, breaking off the hug. "You are most certainly not playing Quidditch today, young man! It's your sister's birthday, and you are going to spend time with her!"

"Well that's why we're playing with her, isn't it?" asked Fred, saving his brother from his mother's wrath.

"Yeah," added Ron, "we were going to let her be a Chaser."

Ginny's mother looked shocked, and she looked at her husband questioningly. He nodded, and she turned back to her sons. "Well, alright then," she said, "but you must let her play as much as she wants, and stop when she gets tired!"

"Thanks, mum!" Ginny exclaimed, hugging her again.

"Yeah, thanks mum!" said Fred, grabbing a piece of toast and heading to the door. "Let's go!"

George, Harry, Ron and Ginny followed him out, each taking some bacon or toast with them. Ginny had taken Percy's arm before leaving and dragged him out with her as well. "Come on Percy," she pleaded, "you can be a Chaser too!" He came reluctantly, knowing that his mother would make him go no matter what.

They played for hours, right up until lunch time, when Ginny's mother lured them inside with promises of cake and ice cream. The cake was in the shape of a lion, just like the charm on Ginny's bracelet, and was chocolate flavored, her favorite. They ate ravenously, only leaving a few slices for later. When they were finished, they were feeling too full for more Quidditch, so settled on the floor for games of Exploding Snap. Ginny won four out of five with Percy, three out of five each with Ron, Fred and George, and all five games she played with Harry, though she suspected he had let her win some.

Finally it was time for dinner and bed. Ginny said goodnight to her family and Harry before walking up the three flights of stairs to her room. She put on her pajamas and got out her diary to write about what she considered to be the best birthday she had ever had:

11 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Today was my birthday, and it was amazing! It was one of the best I've ever had! My brothers and Harry all chipped in to get me candy from Honeydukes. I have enough Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to last until my next birthday!

Mum and dad gave me a Gryffindor charm bracelet. It's beautiful, and I'm going to wear it every day. I think it makes mum sad that I'll be going to school next month. I hope she's okay.

We did lots of fun things, and I was even allowed to play Quidditch. I played Chaser, and I scored on Ron five times! He wasn't very happy about it.

This was the best birthday ever, diary!

Ginny

After putting it away under her mattress, she got into her bed, thinking about the day. She remembered her past birthdays, and was able to confirm this had been the best yet. And the best part?

She had talked to Harry Potter.

12 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Today we went to Diagon Alley to get our supplies for this year. I got everything I need; even a wand! We didn't have any other wands for me to use (Ron got the last one), so mum and dad said I could get a new one! According to Ollivander, my wand is "ebony and dragon heartstring, nine and three quarter inches, slightly bendy."

Mum and dad didn't have to worry about buying my Lockhart books, which helped them pay for my wand. Harry got the books for free from Lockhart, but he didn't want them, so he gave them to me! I'm glad he did; I would have felt bad if mum and dad had bought them, especially new ones.

At Flourish and Blotts, there was a really mean boy who insulted Harry and our family. I think his name was Draco Malfoy. I really hope I don't have to deal with him at school. . .

I'm all ready for school, diary! Only nineteen days left!

Ginny

***

On the day after her birthday, Ginny was woken up by her mother coming into the room and opening the blinds with a wave of her wand. Another movement had her blanket pulled off of her abruptly and the pillow yanked out from under her head. "Wake up! It's another big day!"

Shading her eyes from the sudden light, Ginny exclaimed, "I'm up, I'm up!" She yawned as she hung her legs over the edge of the bed and stretched.

"Breakfast will be ready in five minutes," her mother informed her before walking briskly out the door and back downstairs to the kitchen.

Ginny got up and walked over to her closet. She chose a light blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and put them on quickly. She hurriedly brushed out her hair and headed down the stairs.

When Ginny arrived in the kitchen, she saw that the rest of her family and Harry were already at the table, tucking in to bacon sandwiches before their trip to Diagon Alley. She sat down across from Fred and George, having learned the hard way not to sit between them, and took a sandwich. They ate hastily, worried about being late to meet Hermione, and were finished right before nine o'clock.

They all gathered around the fireplace as Ginny's mother grabbed the Floo powder off of the mantelpiece. "We're running low, Arthur,"* she said as she looked inside the pot. "We'll have to buy some more today. . . . Ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!"*

Ginny watched as Harry stared at her and the rest of her family, a look of confusion on his face. "W-what am I supposed to do?"*

"He's never traveled by Floo powder,"* Ron pointed out. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot."*

The conversation continued, with Harry explaining how he had gone to Diagon Alley last year on the Underground with Hagrid. Of course, this triggered Ginny's father's Muggle interest, and he asked about escapators. Fred and George volunteered to go first, showing Harry how it was done. Next was Ginny's father, and then it was Harry's turn.

She watched as he took some Floo powder, threw it into the fireplace, and stepped in. She gasped when he took a breath and swallowed the ash from the fire. He stuttered when he talked, saying, "D-Dia-gon Alley."

He couldn't be going to the right place.

Ginny just knew that because of his stuttering, he wouldn't be taken to Diagon Alley, but somewhere else. She didn't know where he would be taken instead, but it wouldn't be Diagon Alley. She voiced her opinion to her mother, Ron and Percy.

"Oh, I don't know, dear," said her mother worriedly. "I'm afraid you're right, though. . ."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Ron, a look of bewilderment on his face. "What if he comes out at the Malfoys' or something?"

"We should follow him," instructed Percy as he took some Floo powder from the pot. "Maybe we'll see him somewhere." He walked up to the fire and scattered the powder in. He stepped inside and said, clear as day, "Diagon Alley!"

Ginny followed, her mother and Ron right behind her. She closed her eyes tight and pressed her elbows to her sides, keeping still while she spun around and around. She squinted and watched carefully for the rest of her family, keeping an eye out for Harry as well. Finally, the spinning stopped and she fell out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, where she was caught by her father and Percy.

"Okay there, Ginny?" asked George as he helped her brush herself off.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm fine."

"Where's Harry?" questioned her father as he glanced towards the fireplace again.

"We think he got lost," explained Ginny, following her father's gaze and praying that Harry would step out of the fireplace unscathed. "He opened his mouth too wide and got a lot of ash. Then he coughed while he said where he wanted to go."

Her father frowned, looking as worried as she felt. Just then, Ginny's mother came out of the fireplace, making a much more graceful entrance than Ginny had. "Have you found Harry?" she asked frantically, digging in her bag for the clothes brush they used when traveling by Floo powder.

"No, we've only just found out from Ginny what happened," said her father, taking the brush and wiping soot off of himself.

"What exactly did he say?" asked George.

"I think 'alley' came out alright," explained Ginny's mother, fidgeting with her bag, a habit she had when worried. "It was 'Diagon' that was confused."

"What if he's gone to Knockturn Alley?" Ginny's father asked, the look on his face becoming darker.

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Fred and George together, smiling broadly.

"That is most certainly not brilliant!" Percy reprimanded his brothers, shooting them a glare. "Knockturn Alley is no good. He could get in serious trouble if anyone recognized him down there."

As soon as Percy had finished his speech, Ron came tumbling out of the fireplace, catching himself right before he toppled to the floor. He coughed and regained his balance, leaning on the wall to steady himself. When he had caught his breath, he said, "I think he went one grate too far. I thought I saw him out of the corner of my eye."

"Oh, thank goodness," exclaimed Ginny's mother, letting out a rush of breath she had been holding while she hurried over to Ron with her clothes brush. She swept the soot off of his clothes and fussed with his hair.

"Mum. . ." Ron protested, trying to get around her.

"Hold still!" Ginny's mother moved to trap Ron, picking a few last bits of soot off of him. He unwillingly obliged, and she finished with a satisfied noise, backing away. "Fine, there you go."

Ron moved quickly over to the rest of the family. Ginny asked, "Can we go find Harry now?"

"Yes, let's go," said her father, making for the door into Diagon Alley.

They gathered in the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron, and Ginny's father tapped the correct bricks to get to Diagon Alley. Ginny watched in awe as the archway formed. She had seen it before, when her family had gone shopping for her brothers, but it never stopped amazing her. They stepped into the alley, and her father and brothers sprinted ahead, looking around for Harry on their way to Knockturn Alley. Ginny's mother grabbed her hand and they followed, still running, albeit slower.

Ginny saw her father and brothers disappear into the crowd, and her mother sped up to catch up to them. She tried to hang on to her mother's hand, and was just about to lose it when she caught sight of Harry, Hermione and Hagrid talking to the rest of her family. "Oh, Harry - oh, my dear - you could have been anywhere -"* said her mother, pulling the clothes brush out of her bag and wiping Harry down with it. Her father took Harry's glasses and fixed them, for they had broken somewhere along the way.

Ginny wanted to hug Harry and tell him how worried she had been, but she didn't want to make a fool of herself. She settled for smiling at him and was about to ask him if he was okay when Hagrid said, "Well, gotta be off."*

She waved goodbye and turned back to Harry only to see he was talking to Ron and Hermione about Borgin and Burkes, a shop in Knockturn Alley. She sighed and followed them and the rest of her family up the steps to Gingotts bank.

***

When they were finished getting their gold from Gringotts (and her father was done interrogating Hermione's parents on Muggles), they went their own ways. Ginny needed robes for school, so she went with her mother to a secondhand robe shop.

It was quite a simple process for her to get the robes she needed, and it didn't take her and her mother nearly as long as expected. "We have time to get your wand before we need to be at Flourish and Blotts," announced her mother after checking the time.

"Really?" asked Ginny, bouncing on her toes with excitement.

"Yes, really," confirmed her mother, smiling at her. "Let's go."

They walked to Ollivanders, and Ginny had a skip in her step the whole way. This was the moment she had been waiting for her entire life: getting her wand. She stepped into the shop, her mother right behind her. The bell tinkled, alerting Mr. Ollivander to their presence. They were the only people in the shop, and Mr. Ollivander came out from behind one of the shelves immediately.

"Good morning," he said, smiling at them. He looked up at Ginny's mother and said, "Molly Weasley. . . Tulip, nine and a half inches?"

"That's right," replied Ginny's mother.

"You need a wand, correct?" Mr. Ollivander directed this question to Ginny.

"Yes, sir," she answered shyly.

He pulled a silver tape measure out of his pocket and asked, "Which is your wand arm?"

Ginny held up her right arm, and Mr. Ollivander started measuring her. Some of the places he measured were the oddest she had ever seen, such as around her head and between her nostrils. How could this possibly help him choose a wand for her? Did her nostrils really matter that much?

Finally, the tape measure stopped its work, and Mr. Ollivander went over to a shelf. "Here, try this," he said, taking a box down. "Teak and unicorn hair. Ten inches. Swishy."

He handed her a wand, and she waved it. Nothing happened, and Mr. Ollivander quickly took it away. Ginny looked over at her mother, who made a face as if to tell her to have patience. She sighed and turned back to the wandmaker.

"Maybe this one?" he questioned, handing her another wand. "Aspen and phoenix feather. Nine and a half inches. Bendy."

Ginny waved the new wand, and again nothing happened. She was starting to worry. She had heard of people who had taken this long to find a wand, but she had never pictured herself as one of them. Mr. Ollivander took the wand away and came back with one more.

"I think we have it this time!" he announced, and handed her the wand. "Ebony and dragon heartstring. Nine and three quarter inches. Slightly bendy."

Ginny waved the wand, and was amazed when sparks came out of the end of it. They were red and gold: Gryffindor colors. She looked over at her mother again, who seemed to be bursting with pride. She grinned broadly and allowed Mr. Ollivander to take the wand back from her.

"Congratulations!" he exclaimed. He looked genuinely happy for her. Ginny supposed after doing this for his entire life (a long one, she thought) it had become exciting for him to help someone find their first wand.

Ginny's mother paid for the wand, and they walked back out into the street, heading for Flourish and Blotts. Ginny was still giddy with the excitement, and couldn't wait to show her brothers and father her wand.

When they arrived at the bookshop, they saw a sign outside announcing that Gilderoy Lockhart would be there signing copies of his new autobiography, Magical Me. "Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Ginny's mother when she saw the sign. "Does my hair look okay?"

"It's fine, mum," said Ginny, exasperated. She didn't understand the allure of Gilderoy Lockhart. She personally thought he was annoying, especially with the way he always boasted about his 'Most Charming Smile.'

"Let's hurry and get inside," said Ginny's mother, grabbing Ginny's hand and leading her into the shop. It was more crowded than Ginny had ever seen it, and she held tight to her mother's hand so as not to get separated. There was a crowd of witches talking to each other about Lockhart and his accomplishments, his smile, his books, and his smile again. Ginny rolled her eyes and followed her mother around the shop, picking up the books she needed.

Finally they had everything except the books by Gilderoy Lockhart himself. They squeezed into the line and looked for the rest of the family. They found Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny's father and made their way over to them.

"This is crazy," announced Fred when they had at last found each other. "Who cares about Gilderoy Lockhart anyway?"

Ginny's mother shot him a look and Fred quieted, holding up his arms in mock surrender. "Sorry mum, didn't know you were such a fan."

"Oh, you haven't seen the half of it," Ginny informed him, rolling her eyes.

The family found a place in the line and waited for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ginny's mother reminded Ginny of herself when she had gotten her wand. She was bouncing around, trying to see past the crowd to the table where Lockhart would be signing books.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione had finally worked their way up to the rest of the group, they were almost to the front of the line. "Oh, there you are, good,"* said Ginny's mother as she tried to fix her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute."*

Ginny noticed that Harry and Ron didn't seem to care much about Lockhart, but Hermione had a look of awe on her face. Apparently she had read about him.

They were finally about to see Lockhart, and a photographer pushed Ron aside to get a good shot. Ron said something, and Lockhart looked up at him. "It can't be Harry Potter?"*

Ginny watched in horror as Lockhart grabbed Harry and took pictures with him. The look on Harry's face told her that he was not happy with this special treatment, and she was disgusted with Lockhart for treating him like he wanted it.

The photographer was taking so many pictures, the smoke covered her entire family. Coughing, she moved to the edge of the room, where she dropped the books she was holding into a cauldron and waited for the rest of her family.

She saw Harry approaching her, and blushed, thinking she was finally going to have the chance to talk to him. He dumped the books Lockhart had given him into her cauldron. She started to thank him when someone said, "Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?"*

She turned and saw a blond-haired boy sneering at them, looking cruel. Fuming, she exclaimed, "Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!"* She glared at the boy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!"* said the boy, and Ginny blushed hard. Ron and Hermione made their way over, and the boy insulted them as well. Ginny was getting angrier by the minute. Ron dropped his books into her cauldron and looked like he was going to hit the boy when her father came over with Fred and George.

"Ron!"* he exclaimed. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."*

Just then, a man came up that looked like the rude boy. Ginny's father called him Lucius. She had heard him talking about a Lucius Malfoy before, and if the boy was his son Draco, Ginny knew from Ron how awful he was to them at school. Lucius took the Transfiguration book out of her cauldron and inspected it. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"*

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy,"* said Ginny's father, turning red just as she had.

"Clearly,"* Lucius Malfoy looked at Hermione's parents. "The company you keep, Weasley . . . and I thought your family could sink no lower -"*

Ginny's father accidentally kicked her cauldron aside when he went flying at Mr. Malfoy, scaring Ginny out of her wits. Before she knew it, Hagrid had pulled the two men apart and Mr. Malfoy had thrust her book back at her, saying, "Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -"*

The family left the shop with Harry, Hermione and her parents, and walked quickly back to the Leaky Cauldron. They parted with the Grangers and Flooed back to the Burrow after an extremely eventful day, which left Ginny feeling that if she had to deal with Malfoy when she went to Hogwarts, she would explode.

12 August 1992

Dear Diary,

Today is the last day I'll be writing in here. I found another diary in my new Transfiguration book, and I really want to try it out. I'll remember you forever, diary, and I'll look at you when I want to read about something that happened during the years I had you. I'll miss you!

Love,
Ginny

***

When Ginny Weasley and the rest of her family arrived back at the Burrow from Diagon Alley, they went their separate ways. Fred and George locked themselves up in their room to try out the new jokes they had bought; Percy did the same, though to read his new textbooks. Harry and Ron went to the paddock to play Quidditch before it got dark. Ginny's mother hurried to refill the pot of Floo powder, and her father quickly wrote down everything he had learned from Hermione's parents about Muggles before he forgot.

Ginny, on the other hand, walked slowly up to her room, lugging her new books and robes with her. She was supposed to be packing them away for safe-keeping, but she decided she would rather marvel at her supplies.

Upon arriving in her room, Ginny emptied her load onto her bed. Everything was there: her books, including the new Lockhart ones from Harry, her robes, her wand, her cauldron, her Potions ingredients, and everything else she could think of that she would possibly need for school.

One odd thing caught her eye, though: there was another book peeking out from inside A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration. She picked up the book and opened it, turning to the page that the other book was tucked inside. It was a thin book, and smaller than the textbook it had been hiding in. The black cover was worn with age and use. Ginny flipped through the pages of the book, only to see that there was nothing written on them. The only sign of anyone owning the book was a name printed carefully on the first page: T. M. Riddle.

Wondering who T. M. Riddle was, Ginny hurried over to a table where she kept her quills and ink. She took out what she needed, dipped the quill in the ink, and wrote the date at the top of the second page. To her shock, the words faded. She turned the page, but there was nothing there either. Looking at the bottle of ink, Ginny saw that it was some of Fred and George's disappearing ink. Sighing, she took out a new bottle, double-checking that it was real ink this time.

She dipped the quill in the new ink and wrote the date again. And again, the ink sunk right through the page. Exasperated, Ginny held the ink bottle right up to her eye, reading all of the fine print. There was absolutely nothing on it saying that it would disappear.

Just as she was getting ready to go and yell at Fred and George for switching her ink bottles, she noticed new words forming on the page she had been trying to write on.

"My, is it 1992 already?"

Shocked, Ginny sat back down, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the page. The words faded and were replaced with more.

"May I ask who is writing?"

Despite the fact that she knew there was something wrong about the diary and that her father had told her not to do things like what she was about to do, Ginny dipped her quill in the ink once more and wrote, "Ginny Weasley. Who are you?"

The words seemed to sink through the page once more and she watched nervously as a reply was scrawled out.

"Hello, Ginny. I am Tom Riddle. Do you go to Hogwarts?"

Ginny quickly responded, her hand shaking slightly as she wondered how this conversation was possible. "I'm about to go into my first year." Tom's answer was slower this time, almost as though he was thinking deeply about what she had revealed.

"Excellent. Are you excited?"

"Yes. I have six older brothers who have told me all about it. Do you go to Hogwarts too?" She had never heard of a Tom Riddle, so none of her brothers had ever talked about him. Maybe he was in the year above Ron or the year below Percy; they wouldn't have talked about him then.

"I did, in my day."

Ginny, wondering what he meant by this, scribbled out, "When was that?" She didn't have to wait long for a response this time; almost as soon as her words faded, new ones appeared.

"It is 1992, you say? A good fifty years ago, then."

"Wow. What was it like then?" replied Ginny, curious. How could someone who was at Hogwarts fifty years ago be talking to her through a diary?

"It was. . . Unusual. Not like it is now. It was much more exciting, I assure you."

Ginny leaned back in her chair, confused. She wondered what Hogwarts would be like if it was any more exciting than it already was. It seemed like a wonderful place to her, and she couldn't imagine what would have to happen to make it more exhilarating to be this close to going. She hunched back over the diary and wrote, "How could Hogwarts be more exciting than it is now? What happened?"

"Ah, but it is not something for a first-year to know. Maybe when you are older you shall find out."

Frustrated, Ginny wrote back, "But I want to know now! Maybe I can make Hogwarts that exciting again!" She watched the words disappear, hoping Tom would tell her if he knew she could do it again, whatever it was. She waited for what felt like an eternity for the words. When none came, she closed the diary angrily, enjoying the slamming sound.

If Tom Riddle wouldn't tell her what had happened, she would just have to find out herself. She grabbed one of her textbooks, A History of Magic, and flipped to the table of contents.

***

Three hours later, Ginny still had not found anything about something interesting happening at Hogwarts fifty years ago in her book. Frustrated, she threw the book on the top of her trunk and leaned back on the bed, thinking about Tom Riddle. She wasn't sure if she trusted him. He hadn't told her all he could; she knew he knew more than he was letting on.

"Supper is ready!"

It was her mother, calling the family downstairs. Ginny rolled off her bed reluctantly and started slowly down the stairs, still deep in thought. She didn't realize anyone was behind her until she heard the low hum of a funeral march.

She turned around and saw, not to her surprise, that Fred and George were coming down the stairs too. They were humming together, their eyes closed and their arms around each other. Even after Ginny had stopped, they kept walking, and continued until they ran into her. They opened their eyes abruptly, and Fred said, "Go any slower and you'll be dead."

"You going to eat or not?" George asked, tapping his foot and pretending to look at a watch on his wrist. He pointed to the pretend watch and said, "Looks like suppertime to me."

"Can't a girl think?" asserted Ginny, glaring at her brothers.

"Well then," said Fred, backing up a step, "don't mind us."

Ginny turned and continued down the stairs, irritated with her large family. She knew she wasn't acting like she normally would, but the diary and Tom Riddle had set her on edge. She tried to make her face look more normal before walking into the kitchen, but it was still set angrily.

"Are you okay?" asked her father, looking at her worriedly as she sat down.

"I'm fine," she replied, taking a roll from her mother. "Just tired."

He didn't ask any more questions, but Ginny could tell from the look on his face that he knew something was wrong besides tiredness. Her mother glanced at her and gave her a look, clearly telling her to stop being so sour. Ginny sat up straighter and plastered a smile on her face, taking a bowl that Percy offered her.

"You really should be more considerate," he stated as he gave her the bowl. "You aren't acting very grateful for the things they've done today." As a second thought, he added, "They bought you a wand," under his breath.

"I know," she said. "Sorry. . ."

For the rest of dinner, she was unusually quiet. She only spoke when Harry asked her if she was excited to go to Hogwarts. "Yes," she replied softly, looking down at her plate, "it should be fun."

Nobody made the mistake of speaking to her after that, knowing that she wasn't in the mood. She ate her dinner slowly, only paying attention to a small amount of the conversation. Nothing came up that particularly interested her, so she just thought about the diary some more, wondering what the exciting thing Tom had mentioned was.

By the time everybody had finished eating and they had been excused, Ginny had decided to search the rest of her textbooks for anything to do with Hogwarts, even her potions book. She walked quickly up the stairs to her room, avoiding everybody she could on the way, and closed the door behind her once she got there. She sat down on her bed and picked up One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

Before she got very far, though, something on her desk caught her eye. She looked up from the table of contents and saw that Tom Riddle's diary lay open. Confused, she set down the book and walked over to the desk. She was sure she had closed the book. . . Hadn't she?

She gasped when she looked at the book and saw fresh writing. It read,

"Do you think you could do that? Make what happened repeat itself?"

She hastened to get her ink bottle and quill, wondering how long this reply had been there. When she had dipped the quill in the ink, she wrote as fast as she could while still being able to read what she had written, "Yes! I know I can!"

The words faded and were quickly replaced, making Ginny think the last reply hadn't been written that long ago. "Then allow me to show you."

Ginny stared at these words, and to her shock, the pages of the diary began flipping wildly. She gasped and leaned back in her chair, frightened. What was happening?

At last, the diary's pages slowed down and stopped. Ginny looked at the date, and she saw that the box for September eighth wasn't the normal color of parchment; instead, it housed a miniscule figure that seemed to be speaking. She leaned closer, hoping to catch what he was saying. She had tried to be cautious, but she felt herself falling forward. She screamed and tried to hold onto the desk, but she continued falling until she was standing next to the boy, who was hissing like a snake.

The boy looked to her to be about sixteen years old, and reminded her of her brother, Percy. He had a prefect badge pinned to his chest, and was standing in the middle of a deserted bathroom. Still scared, Ginny tried to speak to him.

"Hello?" she asked. She was met with more hissing, and the boy didn't seem to have heard her at all. Suddenly, one of the sinks sank into the ground, and Ginny gasped. "What's going on?"

Once again, the boy didn't answer, but instead jumped into the hole left by the sink. She walked over to the hole and looked down, trying to find him again. All of a sudden, she felt a strong gust of wind, and fell once again, this time into the hole after the boy. She screamed loudly as she fell, trying to grab onto a wall, a crack in the cement, anything that would hold her.

Unfortunately, the walls of the chute were smooth as glass, and there was nothing for her to grip. She landed in a heap at the bottom, and saw the boy in front of her. He didn't seem to have heard her, and Ginny was forced to conclude that he had no realization of her presence.

The boy walked forward into a dark tunnel. She quickly got to her feet and followed him, not caring that she had no idea where she was, only worried about losing him. If she let him get away, she had a strange feeling that she would never get back to her room.

They walked until they came upon a wall with two snakes carved on it. She shuddered, feeling suddenly cold. The boy stopped and hissed once more, and the snakes came apart, revealing another room beyond the tunnel. The boy walked into it, and Ginny followed him, walking so close behind him that she was treading on his heels. He took no notice.

Ginny looked around and saw huge pillars all around her, with more snakes that seemed to be staring at her. She followed the boy up to a gigantic statue of a man. The boy hissed again, and the statue's mouth opened wide. Before she was able to see inside it, however, everything went black.

Ginny could still feel and hear even in her blind state, and she felt as though she were moving very fast backwards, then up for a long time. Just when she was beginning to think she was going back to her bedroom, everything stopped abruptly and she could see once more.

She saw a large boy with fiery red hair like her own lying on the floor in front of her. She was in a bathroom again, but a different one this time. The boy was near the mirror, and he looked like he had seen a ghost, one that wasn't very nice at all. He seemed frozen in his position, and the boy from the other bathroom was standing over him, grinning and completely mobile.

She heard the door open, and turned to see an old, bald man hurrying into the room. "Oh, thank goodness you were here, Tom," he said, bending down over the frozen boy. "Thank you so much."

Tom nodded at the old man, and everything went black once more. Ginny experienced the same sensations she had before, and this time she came out into a hallway.

There was a small girl on the floor this time, surrounded in water from a recent spill. At first Ginny thought she had slipped and fallen, but then she saw that the girl had the same mortified look that the red-headed boy had had in the bathroom. Two teachers came running into view with a woman who seemed to be the school nurse, and they hauled the girl away. Ginny could tell by her vision becoming blurrier that things were about to get very dark again, and she was right.

She arrived in another bathroom, and she recognized it as being the very first bathroom that she had been in with Tom. There were more people in the bathroom than she had ever seen in a room, even at her family's reunions. They all seemed to be teachers, and there was one by the door telling some students to stay outside.

She walked right past them to a stall at the end of the bathroom, where they all seemed to be gathering. To her horror, she saw a girl lying on the floor, who looked remarkably like how the others had. There was something in her face, though, that told Ginny her situation wasn't nearly the same.

This girl was dead.

***

After seeing the dead girl, Ginny had felt herself being pulled up through the pages of Tom Riddle's diary, and was soon sitting in her chair at her desk, breathing heavily.

Once she had regained her breath, she looked back at the diary, disgusted. Almost as though it could read her mind, the words appeared.

"Wait. Don't go."

She felt herself being pulled towards the diary again. She thought of how her father had told her never to trust inanimate objects, but the thought was quickly blown from her mind as if the wind had sent it away. She couldn't remember what she had been thinking about, and found herself writing back.

"I'll do it."

The last few weeks of the summer holidays passed quickly for Ginny and her family. With Harry there, her mother had someone new to fawn over and feed, so Ginny was spared from being forced into second and third helpings at mealtimes. He was also a welcome distraction for her brothers. Fred, George, Ron, and Harry would spend hours on end playing Quidditch in the paddock when it was sunny outside and Exploding Snap in the house on rainy days. Percy was constantly in his room, and when she walked by, Ginny could hear the scratching of a quill on parchment. She wondered who he was writing to, but she didn't care much as long as whoever it was kept him busy. Finally, her father was occupied by work and the "absolutely preposterous" number of raids there were on any given day.

Luckily for Ginny, this left her free to write to Tom Riddle any time she wanted to. Well, almost any time.

"Ginny dear! Would you come down here?"

Sighing, Ginny quickly scrawled, "Sorry Tom, I have to go," and closed the diary. She had been discussing the Chamber of Secrets with him. He had explained what the place with the snakes and the pillars was called, telling her all about what lived there and what part he had in it. They had just been talking about the many interesting characteristics of basilisks.

Ginny got up from her chair and stretched out her limbs. She hadn't realized how long she had been sitting there, and her legs were sore from not having been used in hours. She walked over to her window and was surprised to see that it was getting dark out, and that the sun was already low over the trees. Worried that she had missed supper, she hurried out into the hall.

When Ginny arrived in the kitchen, she saw that the rest of the family was sitting at the table waiting for her. They turned when she got to the bottom of the stairs, and she felt their penetrating stares as she walked to her seat and sat down. "Er, hello," she said, unsure of herself.

"Are you alright, dear?" asked her mother, looking at her curiously with her brow furrowed.

"Yes, I'm fine," replied Ginny.

"Well then why did it take you so long to get down here?" questioned Fred, reaching for a plate of food.

"Um," said Ginny, shifting uncertainly in her seat, "I lost track of time?"

"Yeah, right," stated George. "You were probably writing in your precious diary. Telling it about Harry being so wonderful, I suppose?"

Ginny blushed dark red, and she saw Harry's face go the same way out of the corner of her eye. Fortunately, her mother seemed to forget about her offense in the shadow of George's statement, and turned her glare in his direction. She sighed with relief and loaded up her plate, making a mental note always to pay close attention to the time.

***

31 August 1992

Dear Tom,

Do you have any idea how embarrassing older brothers can be? You know Harry; he's staying at our house for the holidays. Fred and George always tease me about him, make fun of how I act around him, do impressions of how I squealed that first day. . . Oh, that's so humiliating. I'm blushing just thinking about it! I only wish they would stop. What would you do?

Ginny

***

Ginny,

I have never been in a situation quite like yours, but I think that I would make fun of them in return. They must have someone to them like Harry is to you if they're teasing you about it. You'll find that it is often the case with teasing that the person is making fun of you for experiencing something they are currently going through, and that it makes them feel better to taunt other people about it.

Good luck, and have fun.

Tom

***

After reading what Tom had written her, Ginny didn't feel completely comfortable with his advice. She knew that teasing people was wrong, but if Tom thought it was a good idea, maybe she should try it.

Bearing this thought in her mind, Ginny closed the diary with a short note of farewell to Tom and walked to Fred and George's room. The door was closed, and she could hear noises from behind it that told her that the twins were probably doing something dangerous and possibly illegal again. She sighed and knocked on the door.

Suddenly, all of the strange noises emanating from the room were silenced, and Ginny could hear scuffling sounds as Fred and George tried desperately to hide what they were doing from whomever they thought was at the door. Ginny yelled to them, "It's just me! Mum's downstairs!"

The door opened quickly and she was ushered inside by a bewildered George. "Er, excuse our mess," he said sheepishly.

"About time," Ginny said, walking into the room and sitting carefully on the bed for fear of sitting on something explosive. George was right about the room being unorganized; there were odds and ends laying around everywhere. Everything from old socks to newly bought schoolbooks were on the floor, shoved onto shelves, and just creating mess in general. Ginny felt something poke her bottom and stood up, looking at what she had sat on. It was a fireplace poker. "How did this get here?"

George looked at Fred, who said, "Um, we accidentally-"

"He means we borrowed-"

"No, we actually traded it-"

"Get to the point already!" exclaimed Ginny, exasperated with Fred and George's back and forth bickering.

"We, um," Fred started, wringing his hands together nervously. Ginny decided it must have been something really bad if Fred was this jittery.

"It was a gift!" George interjected. "Yes, a gift . . . from Lee! Lee Jordan, you know?"

"Sure," Ginny said, deciding not to argue. She had business to take care of. "Look, I'm-"

Before she could get out her apology, she felt an all-consuming urge to insult one of her brothers. She didn't know what was going on, because her plan was to apologize for her earlier behavior and offer to play Exploding Snap. She tried to control her impulse, but it became constantly harder until she could no longer bear it. "Sorry you were ever born!" She finished her sentence abruptly, and clapped her hand over her mouth.

What just happened? She thought, watching as her brothers reacted to her rash statement.

"Ginny!" exclaimed George.

"What's your problem today?" asked Fred.

"I-I don't know!" pleaded Ginny, but she felt the urge overcome her again. "What's yours?"

With a look of horror at her behavior, George pointed towards the door. She got up off the bed and walked out with her head down, ashamed that she had allowed herself to say those horrible things. What had happened back there?

***

The next day was finally the day Ginny had been waiting for as long as she could remember. It was September first, but not just any September first, where she would watch her brothers head off to school before coming home with her parents. No, this September first was different. This year, she would go with her brothers to Hogwarts.

They woke early in the morning, when the sun was just barely peeking over the clouds. Ginny yawned as she checked her trunk to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything; everything was present. The only thing she had outside of the trunk was Tom Riddle's diary, which she had been up late writing in the night before.

She had told Tom of the odd occurrence in Fred and George's bedroom, and asked him what he thought about it. His response had been unclear, and it had left her wondering what Tom's real thoughts on the subject were. He had eluded the actual topic of conversation and tried to distract her with further details of the Chamber of Secrets. Strangely, she couldn't remember much of what they had ended up talking about, but passed it off as a side effect of her tiredness.

Ginny dressed rapidly in the outfit her mother had helped her choose a few weeks prior. It had been cleaned and ironed, and was now ready for her first day of school. She pulled on the pale blue sweater and tan skirt, then made sure her hair was brushed and braided before heading downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, dear," said her mother when she arrived. "Eat quickly; we need to leave soon."

Ginny took her plate of eggs and sausage and sat down next to her father, who seemed to be shoveling in his food in a hurry. Ginny knew he needed to get all of their trunks in the car by the time everyone else was ready to go, and therefore had to be ready soon. "Is your trunk all packed?" he asked her when he had finished eating.

"Yes," she replied, "mum helped me last night."

"Fantastic," he said, and hurried up the stairs, almost running into Fred, who was coming down from the room he shared with his twin.

"Careful, dad!" Fred yelled up the stairs, and took his plate from their mother without sparing Ginny a glance. She looked down at her own plate, still ashamed of her behavior the previous day. He was obviously still upset with her over it, and she hoped he wouldn't bring it up.

After Fred arrived, Ginny sped up her eating and finished much faster than she would have under normal circumstances. She watched as her father walked slowly down the stairs, balancing her trunk carefully in his arms. He walked it outside and to the car with Fred following close behind.

Ginny helped her mother clean up the kitchen and walked with her outside. They got into the front seat of the car and were on their way.

Unfortunately for Ginny, they didn't get to King's Cross station as soon as she had expected. They stopped twice for what she considered stupid little things, like George's Filibuster fireworks and Fred's broom. They had brooms at Hogwarts, didn't they? And fireworks could be mailed, right?

She discovered for herself how necessary it was to stop when she remembered something very important. "My diary!" she shrieked. "I've left it at home!"

With a groan, her father turned around and they drove back to the house. When they arrived, she launched herself out of the car and sprinted through the yard, up the stairs, and into her room. The diary was right where she had left it on the desk. Sighing with relief, she grabbed it and ran back to the car.

"Really, Ginny?" asked Ron. "A diary?"

"A very important one," she said, turning her back to him.

"Okay then. . ."

The rest of the ride to King's Cross was spent in silence, with just the sounds of driving to listen to. When they arrived at the station, they hurried inside and to platform nine and three-quarters. Percy went through the barrier first, followed by their father, Fred, and George. Ginny and her mother left Ron and Harry to get through and walked through the wall onto the platform.

Ginny saw the scarlet train and marveled at it as anyone would do. No matter how many years she came here with her family, she thought she would always be excited to see the steam engine. It was a truly wonderful sight, especially since she was a first-year about to board it for the first time.

They hurried through the crowd and her mother helped her into a carriage. They didn't see any of her brothers, but came across her father making sure their trunks were loaded onto the train. "Everything's set," he said, wiping sweat off his brow. "You ready?"

Ginny nodded and got onto the train. "Oh, Ginny. . ." Her mother trailed off, her hand over her heart. "My last baby, going to Hogwarts for the first time. . ."

Ginny's father moved to comfort his wife, and said to Ginny, "Go find your brothers and sit with them. Take your trunk with you."

"Have a wonderful year, dear!" her mother managed to get out before the train started moving. "Behave, don't worry about your classes, or your teachers, your house. Don't fight with your brothers-"

Before she could finish, however, the train was moving too quickly and the sounds of the platform were too loud. Ginny could no longer hear her mother, and found herself rolling away from her parents. She waved hastily and took her trunk, starting down the train, looking for her brothers.

As the train rolled down the tracks out of the station, she knew that Hogwarts was only hours away.

Her first year was about to start.

The train ride was crazy for Ginny, from pulling out of King's Cross to arriving in Hogsmeade. It had almost driven her to tears at some points, but she had tried her best to keep control of them. She was a first year; everyone would expect her to cry, but she wanted to prove them wrong.

Right off the bat, she had walked down the train looking for Fred, George, Ron, and Harry, but hadn't found any of them. She had known that she wouldn't be able to find Percy, but she had expected the rest of her family to be nearby. Unfortunately, they weren't in any of the compartments that she checked in. She had gone in both directions as far as she could bear, and had finally given up and sat with a few nice-looking girls who she thought seemed to be first-years as well.

One of the girls had introduced herself as Luna Lovegood, and had been reading a magazine upside down. When Ginny had turned her head to read the title, Luna had said, "Oh, don't you read the Quibbler?"

She had then handed Ginny a magazine identical to her own and scooted over to make room for Ginny to sit. Ginny sat down reluctantly and opened the magazine to the first page. It was very colorful and had a headline that read, Origin of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. "What's a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" she asked Luna, not looking away from the magazine.

"Oh, it's a fascinating creature," answered Luna. "They live in Sweden, you know."

"Right," said Ginny, dragging out the word. "Sweden."

One of the other girls in the compartment, who had long dark hair and olive-colored skin, had caught her eye then, and made a motion in Luna's direction to indicate that she was crazy. Ginny hadn't joined in on the other girl's thinking, but she did have to admit to herself that the idea of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks was an odd one, especially after seeing the picture in the magazine that went with the article.

The supposed 'Crumple-Horned Snorkack' was a blinding shade of purple, and it had an uncanny resemblance to a pig, except for the fact that it had an enormous horn sticking out of the top of its head. The horn was several feet long, gray, and spiraled, and Ginny was surprised that the pig-like creature wasn't tipped over. It seemed to be very top-heavy, but it was standing firmly on all four feet.

"Um," she started, not wanting to hurt Luna's feelings but wanting to ask her about the strange animal, "is it supposed to be purple?"

"Oh, yes," replied Luna, pointing to a sentence in Ginny's magazine. "You see, it's from all the grapes they eat. Their urine is wonderful wine. . ."

Ginny's eyes widened, shocked at this statement. "Er, okay," she said, as the girls across from them laughed hysterically. "That's . . . um, very interesting."

The rest of the trip was spent in silence, while Ginny pretended to be reading the magazine and the girls who had laughed at Luna gossiped quietly to themselves. Luna seemed unfazed by their behavior, and was content with reading her magazine, occasionally pointing something out to Ginny, who acted as if she cared.

When the lunch trolley came around, Ginny realized that she had forgotten her corned beef sandwiches in the rush to get to King's Cross on time, and had her birthday sweets in her trunk, under all of her clothes. She didn't have any money either, so she wasn't able to get anything for lunch. Luna seemed oblivious to the fact that the trolley was there, but the two gossiping girls bought Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes.

"Would you like one?" asked one of the girls, holding out a cake to Ginny. The girl's brown eyes sparkled with mischief, but Ginny passed it off as Fred and George-like.

"Oh, yes, thank y-" Ginny started, reaching for the cake, but the girl pulled her arm back and cackled with laughter.

"Like we would share with you," she said, exchanging a look with her friend, who was also laughing. "You're a Weasley, aren't you?"

Ginny nodded her answer sadly, and the girl burst out laughing again. "The blood traitor Weasleys? Has to be, right Allie?"

"Definitely," answered the girl named Allie. "Well, we know one pure-blood who won't be in Slytherin!"

This was one of the moments that had almost caused Ginny to cry, but she had bit her lip hard to hold back the tears. She started to taste blood, and let up a bit, allowing her eyes to water. She could pass this off as allergies if need be. She didn't answer Allie, but turned back to her magazine, staring intently at the page entitled, So You Think Your Home Has Nargles.

***

When they finally arrived at Hogwarts, it was already dark outside, and Ginny shivered a little as she stepped out onto the platform. She was greeted by a giant, hairy man who was yelling, "Firs' years over here!"

She walked over to the giant and stood before him. "Hello," he said, leaning down to see her face better. "Are yeh related to Ron?"

"Er," she said, caught off guard, "yes."

"Thought so," he replied, holding out his hand for her to shake. "Name's Hagrid. Could yeh help me get them firs' years over here?"

Ginny turned around, and saw that Hagrid was looking right at the mean girls from her compartment on the train. They were pointing at her and Hagrid, looking specifically at Hagrid and laughing. She turned back to Hagrid and said, "Um, sure."

Gulping, she walked over to the girls, who were watching her approach with sour looks on their faces. "We need to get all of the first-years together," she said, waiting for the awful response she was sure would come.

The girl named Allie glared at Hagrid and replied, "Why should we? Who would want to stand by that oaf anyway?"

"Yeah, he's disgusting," added the other girl, whose name Ginny didn't yet know. "Would it kill him to comb his hair?"

The girls laughed, and Ginny asserted, "Hey! You can't talk about him like that!"

After they had stopped laughing, the girls looked at each other and nodded in agreement, as if they knew what the other was thinking. "Oh, is he a friend of yours? Maybe a cousin?" asked Allie, smiling cruelly.

Infuriated, Ginny felt her face turn red, and was glad that it was dark outside. Then she felt herself become angrier than she had ever felt before, and clenched her fist. The anger bubbled up inside her until she felt like she would explode, and she was about to punch the girls when Hagrid came up behind her. "About ready?" he asked.

"Of course, sir," answered Allie sweetly, smiling at him.

"Well then let's go!" Hagrid turned around and started towards the water, where the boats to the castle were.

Ginny, shocked at how close she had come to violence and at Allie's polite behavior, followed him, wondering why she had suddenly become so mad. She had calmed down quite easily, but the anger she had felt a few moments ago had been so intense, so strong, that it scared her.

What was going on with her?

***

Meanwhile, in Ginny's trunk, Tom Riddle's diary shook as the students' luggage was moved to the school. If it could have smiled, it would have been grinning broadly. The plan was working, just as he had hoped it would when he had created the Horcrux.

The girl had fallen for the bait. She had written in the diary every day that she could, telling him all about the boy. He was staying at her house for the summer, and she was spending a lot of time with him. It was a perfect arrangement, really. Brilliant of Lucius to put the diary in the girl's cauldron. He had picked just the right person.

Such a gullible girl. She trusted him so, told him all of her secrets. He knew about her family problems, her friend problems, even some he would have cared not to hear, such as her dropping her toothbrush in the toilet and what she ate for dinner.

Those were unimportant things. The details he really paid attention to were the ones about the boy. That boy. The boy, who had caused his downfall, defeated him. No, not defeated. He was still alive, was he not? Living through the diary, through the girl.

And he would succeed.

***

The ride across the lake was, for Ginny at least, the most wonderful thing she had ever experienced. She completely forgot about her problems and was enthralled by the beautiful sight of Hogwarts castle. The lights in the windows lit up the night, and the many towers of the castle made for a magnificent silhouette. There was truly only one word that could do it justice:

Magical.

When they arrived at the castle, they walked through the grounds to the giant front doors. Ginny was hypnotized by how tall they were. She found it hard to believe that they opened at all, let alone as smoothly as they did when Hagrid knocked.

A tall witch in scarlet red robes stood behind the doors, which opened immediately. They followed her through a huge entrance hall to a small, unimpressive room. The witch, who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, explained to them the different houses and how they were about to be Sorted into the house that was most appropriate for them. Ginny thought Professor McGonagall glanced in her direction when she mentioned Gryffindor, and assumed that she knew she was a Weasley. She left after her speech, and they waited in silence.

Or, near silence.

"Why do they even bother making us wait?" It was the mean girl who Ginny had met on the train but didn't know the name of. She walked over to Ginny, her friend Allie following close behind.

"Do you think they should make us wait?" she asked, flipping her curly blond hair over her shoulder and staring at Ginny pointedly.

"Um," Ginny began, fiddling with her fingers in her nervousness. Most of the people in the room were looking at them. Even Luna Lovegood had marked her place in her magazine to watch. "Maybe it's a tradition."

"Who would have a tradition to wait?" asserted Allie, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know," said Ginny apprehensively. "It could just be something they do."

"Whatever," stated the blond girl. She turned around and walked away again with Allie following her once more. Ginny thought it seemed like the blond girl was in charge and Allie was just tagging along, but what did she know?

Just then, a pair of double doors on the side of the room opened, and Professor McGonagall appeared behind it. "Please form a line and follow me," she said, and waited for them to organize themselves before walking back through the doors.

They were in a wonderful hall now, with what seemed like millions of candles floating in midair over long, huge tables packed with students. There were four tables, which Ginny knew from her brothers were for the four houses. She scanned the tables, seeing Percy, Fred, and George, but not Ron or Harry. She looked up and down the table where she had found her other brothers, but they were nowhere to be found. She saw their friend Hermione, and noticed that she looked just as frantic as Ginny felt. She gave Hermione a small smile, but was unsure as to whether she saw it.

They walked down the hall and finally stopped in a line facing the rest of the students. Ginny gulped, realizing that they would all watch her be Sorted. She was confident that she would be in Gryffindor, but what if she wasn't? What would these people - strangers - think?

Before she grasped what was happening, everyone in the hall was applauding. She looked around and figured out that the Sorting Hat had already sung its song. She had missed it, wrapped up in her own thoughts. Pay attention! she thought to herself.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,"* said Professor McGonagall, who was holding a roll of parchment in one hand and the Sorting Hat in the other.

Ginny felt her heart start to beat faster, and spent the time it took for the professor to call the first few names trying desperately to calm herself down. Before she knew it, Professor McGonagall was saying, "Bishara, Aaliyah."

The olive-skinned girl from the train stepped up to the stool, and Ginny made a mental note to call her by her full name sometime and see how she liked it. What are you thinking? she asked herself, for this was not something she would normally want to do, what with having an unusual name herself. She shook her head clear just in time to hear the Sorting Hat's verdict.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The second table on the right exploded with cheers and applause, and Allie hopped off the stool looking excited about her house.

Once Ginny started paying attention, she was able to enjoy the ceremony more. "Creevey, Colin" entered Gryffindor, and she thought he seemed to be a very hyperactive and irritating person, just by the look of elation on his face. He ran to the table and almost tripped over the bench sitting down, a camera around his neck snapping all the way there.

Luna Lovegood stopped reading her magazine after having her name called twice, and was Sorted into Ravenclaw, to Ginny's surprise. She didn't think Luna seemed to be very intelligent. Luna walked dreamily to her table and sat down lightly. As soon as she was seated, she pulled out her magazine again and paid no attention to the rest of the Sorting.

"Rhodes, Cassidy" was called soon enough, and the blond girl from the train bounced onto the stool happily. She grinned when the Sorting Hat announced that she was the newest member of Slytherin, and she took a seat next to Allie. Ginny was glad that she finally knew her name; maybe it would help her stand up to the mean girl.

Ginny waited for her name to be called, listening politely to everybody else's Sorting, but privately thinking about what house she would be in. She knew she didn't have anything to worry about, but she did anyway. She was sure every other member of her family had felt the same way: what if they were Sorted into the wrong house? Soon, she would get her answer.

"Weasley, Ginevra."

“Weasley, Ginevra.”

As soon as her name was called, Ginny’s heart started pounding. She could feel it through her chest, and wondered if everybody else could hear it as well as she could. Worried it would pump right out of her chest, she walked slowly towards Professor McGonagall and the stool with the Sorting Hat.

She sat carefully on the stool. It was hard and uncomfortable, and Ginny hoped she would be one of the easy students to Sort. She didn’t want to have to sit there for long. Professor McGonagall put the hat on top of her head, and it sunk down to cover her eyes. She couldn’t see a thing, so she wouldn’t know the other students’ reaction to her house right away.

“Ah.” Ginny heard a voice in her ear, and jumped slightly. She wondered if everybody could hear the voice, or just her. “Oh, it’s just us, my dear. A Weasley, I see. My goodness, are they quite done?” Ginny gripped the stool, trying to control her anger at the hat.

“My, a temper, this one has,” the hat said thoughtfully. “Maybe the tradition shall break this year. . . Imagine, a Weasley in a house other than Gryffindor! Of course, you are also the first female Weasley in generations, are you not?”

Ginny’s heart seemed to skip a beat, and she breathed heavily, trying not to hyperventilate at the thought of not being in Gryffindor. Please, Gryffindor, she started to think, but then she was interrupted with a sudden longing.

Slytherin, she felt herself thinking, and gasped at the thought. Yes, Slytherin.

“Slytherin, you say?” the hat asked, sounding surprised. “Oh yes, I see it now. . . My, what would your mother say?”

Ginny felt the desire for Slytherin fill her up, just like the anger had in Hogsmeade. Like how she had insulted her brothers against her will. Before she could stop the hat, it had announced its verdict. “SLYTHERIN!”

She heard a mixed reaction of gasps and whispering emanate from the crowd, with the occasional clap here and there. Professor McGonagall, who looked at her with a shocked look on her face, took the hat off her head. Ginny was sure her visage showed the same emotion as she slid off the stool and walked slowly over to the Slytherin table. She couldn’t bear to look over at the Gryffindor table and her brothers, fearful of what their expressions would betray. She concentrated her gaze at the floor and sat down uncertainly at the table.

“Well, look who’s here,” said a voice Ginny recognized as the blond girl from the train, Cassidy’s. “Didn’t think we’d be seeing you, did we?”

Ginny didn’t reply, and tried to ignore Cassidy and Allie’s laughing. When food suddenly appeared on her plate, she didn’t flinch and didn’t start eating, but continued staring at the plate, trying her hardest not to cry. What had overcome her that caused her to be placed in Slytherin? She knew that she had teased Fred and George, but was that really bad enough for Slytherin? She hadn’t even had control over herself when she had bothered them! Should that even count?

Most importantly, why didn’t she have control over herself?

***

Ginny spent most of the feast in silence, picking at her food and staring at the floor. How could this have happened? Slytherin? She wasn’t a Slytherin!

She ignored Cassidy and Allie when they made fun of her, and bit back possible retorts. She was thinking about her family, and how she had betrayed them by being Sorted wrongly. Would they be upset with her? She thought of the Sorting Hat’s question: what would her mother think? They probably wouldn’t be mad, right?

The truth was, she didn’t know.

After the feast was over, she walked swiftly with the rest of the Slytherins to the common room, avoiding her family, who she could hear calling after her. She discovered that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons. The group walked through the corridors until they came to a blank, slightly wet wall. Disgusted, Ginny was caught up in her thoughts and almost missed the password.

“Gaunt,” said the prefect who was guiding the first-years. Ginny wondered what it meant, and the prefect also answered that, almost as though he were reading her mind. “Pure-blood family,” he said as they walked through a newly opened door into the common room.

Their group separated, with each student going his or her own way. There weren’t many people in the common room yet, so it looked hostile and unwelcoming. It was a long and skinny room with hard-looking stone walls and greenish light that made Ginny feel sick. There was a fire burning in the hearth, but it wasn’t a homey one like at the Burrow. Ginny knew the Gryffindor common room was much nicer from her brothers’ descriptions, and wished yet again that she were there instead of in this cold, wet dungeon.

“Boys’ dormitories are on the left, girls’ on the right,” the prefect informed them before sitting down in a tall chair near the fire. He said no more, and Ginny walked towards the stairs on the right, hoping that Cassidy and Allie wouldn’t be turning in for the night for a while.

She was in luck, and the dormitory was empty when she arrived. There were three four-poster beds, covered in green quilts and sheets, which told Ginny that the mean girls from the train were her only roommates. Typical, she thought as she found her trunk and sat down on its accompanying bed. She supposed the bed wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t the same as her bed at home. She couldn’t help but wonder if the Gryffindors’ beds were better.

Looking around the room, Ginny took in the most green she had ever seen in one place in her life. She had just left the common room, so this was no small feat. There were no windows, for the room was underground, but there were green and silver curtains hanging on the wall anyway. Each of the beds was green, and the walls had green and silver stripes. She looked down and saw that even the carpet was green. She felt sick again, and drew the curtains around her bed, hoping to lie down and take a nap. Not to her surprise, the curtains were green as well. She fell back on the bed and buried her head in the pillows, and fell asleep within moments.

***

When Ginny woke up, the first thing she noticed was that the room was filled with the sounds of snoring. She sighed deeply and pulled back the horrid green curtains, looking around for the source of the noise.

She saw that Allie had taken the bed on her left, with Cassidy apparently in the far left bed. Cassidy’s curtains were closed, but Allie had left hers open. Her mouth was hanging open, a trickle of saliva rolling onto the pillow. Ginny could tell that it was Allie snoring as well, and turned away in disgust. She would have to deal with her as a roommate for seven years? She had no idea how she would survive.

Ginny tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t clear her mind enough to drift off. She decided to write in Tom Riddle’s diary to try to get some of her feelings out. She got out of bed quietly, afraid of waking Cassidy and Allie, and knelt on the floor next to her trunk. She rummaged around in the dark feeling for the diary. Luckily, she had almost forgotten it so it was on top of her clothes.

She took the diary and found a bottle of ink and a quill. Then she moved back onto her bed and closed the curtains to muffle the scratching sound of her quill. Finally, she was able to begin writing:

1 September 1992

Dear Tom,

Today was one of the worst days ever. I know I’ve been excited about going to Hogwarts for a really long time, and I’ve probably been bothering you about it, but it isn’t nearly as amazing as I thought it would be.

The train ride was horrible. I had to find a compartment by myself because I couldn’t find Fred, George, Ron or Harry. I still haven’t seen Ron and Harry, and I don’t know where they are! Anyway, I had to sit with three other first-years, and it was a nightmare. The first one, Luna Lovegood, is completely insane. She was trying to tell me about the ‘wonders’ of this thing called a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, which I’m certain doesn’t exist.

Then the other two! Oh, Tom, they really were awful. One of them is Cassidy, and she’s really mean and kept making fun of my family. And Allie is her friend and she seems like her sidekick or something. She was pretty much just agreeing with everything Cassidy said. They made fun of Hagrid, too. He’s a half-giant who’s friends with Ron and Harry. He seems nice, and I didn’t like how Cassidy and Allie were teasing him.

The worst part, though, was the Sorting. I never thought it would happen. I mean, I worried about it, but who doesn’t? I didn’t think I would actually have reason to worry, Tom! I was Sorted into Slytherin! So were Cassidy and Allie! It’s terrible here. Everything’s so green, I feel like I’m going to get sick.

Tom, what do I do?

Ginny

***

Ginny sat on her bed for another half an hour, waiting for Tom to answer her questions. She was confident that he would know what to do, if there was anything she could do. While she waited, she flipped through the pages of the diary, admiring the old quality of the paper. She wasn’t as crazy about books as Percy, but she had to admit that the smell of aged books was wonderful.

Eventually, she had meticulously smelled every page in the diary and opened it again to the page that she had written on. Her writing was gone, but there was nothing in its place. She sighed and lay back on the bed, holding the diary above her head. She thought about the great summer she had had, and it almost wiped the thoughts of the day out of her mind.

Almost.

***

She was standing in the compartment on the train that she had been in earlier. It looked the same, but there was nobody in it except for her. She looked down, and she realized that she wasn’t alone at all. No, there was a strange pig-like animal at her feet, its horn almost poking her in the shin. It was bright purple, and she gasped when she saw that it was going to the bathroom on her feet. Wonderful, she thought.

Suddenly the animal was changing, and Luna Lovegood knelt at her feet. “Oh, hello,” she said happily. “I see you’ve collected some wine.”

Before Ginny could reply, Luna doubled over. When she came back up, it was Allie in her place, laughing and pointing at her wet feet. Then she became Cassidy, who kept repeating, “Would you like one?” while holding out a Cauldron Cake.

Next was Hagrid, who got up off the floor and banged his head on the ceiling, asking her, “Are yeh related to Ron?” repeatedly.

Once Hagrid bent over to make room for his head, he changed into Professor McGonagall, who was holding the Sorting Hat and beckoning her closer. Ginny sat on one of the seats, and the hat fell over her eyes.

When she managed to move the hat so she could see again, she saw that her entire family was flashing before her eyes, one by one saying, “Slytherin?” before changing into someone else. They all had looks of astonishment and disappointment on their faces, ranging from mild shock to flat-out rage. Ginny could hear screaming, and realized it was herself right before her family vanished.

In their place stood a dozen different Harry Potters, with the same angry look on each of their faces. “I can’t believe you’re in Slytherin,” they said together, and Ginny sank back into the seat in shame. The Harrys advanced towards her.

“I thought you were a decent girl,” they said. “One that I liked. However, I was wrong. Who would ever like a Slytherin girl?”

Ginny tried to hold back a sob, but couldn’t, and it came out as a tiny squeak. She felt her eyes watering, and began crying against her will. The Harrys came at her one by one, turning into smoke right before her eyes. When only three were left, she closed her eyes.

***

Suddenly she was back in her dormitory, with Allie and Cassidy standing over her. “Aw, is poor Ginevra sad?” Cassidy asked, wiping a pretend tear from her own cheek.

“Does she want to go home to mummy?” Allie added, her lower lip jutting out in a fake pout.

They cackled with maniacal laughter, and Ginny burrowed her head in her pillow. She yanked the curtains closed and tried not to listen while Allie and Cassidy got back into their beds. She must have woken them up with her nightmare. She was glad they hadn’t gone for a teacher; that would have been humiliating.

At last, the sounds of their glee quieted, and Ginny was sure they were back asleep. Soon enough, the sounds of Allie’s snoring could be heard once more. Ginny picked up Tom Riddle’s diary and opened it one more time to the page that she had written on. The response was only a few sentences long.

Ginny,

There is a good reason for your being placed in Slytherin. Don’t worry, all will end well. You did say you wanted Hogwarts more interesting, after all.

Go to October 17 tomorrow morning. All will be revealed then.

Tom

When Ginny awoke the next morning, she immediately got out of her bed and went to her trunk, where she had returned the diary after reading Tom’s late-night answer multiple times. It didn’t make sense to her that he wouldn’t just tell her what he was thinking, like she did for him. It was true, though, that he hadn’t informed her of the Chamber of Secrets right away, and needed some thinking time first.

It had taken her some time to fall back asleep since she was wondering about what Tom’s real response would be. It was as though he knew that Allie and Cassidy were in the room with her, and didn’t want them to find out what she was doing when she wrote to him. When she had finally fallen asleep, it was with the reassurance to herself that she would turn to October 17 in the diary first thing in the morning.

So, now that it was morning, she would do just that. She had already checked Allie and Cassidy’s beds, and neither of them was still there. She figured they must have gone to breakfast, and silently thanked them for going early.

The diary was on the top in her trunk again, and she picked it up without sparing a second glance for her clothes or other belongings. She sat on the bed as she had the night before and closed the curtains just in case her roommates came back. At last, it was time to read the diary.

The suspense building in her chest, Ginny opened the diary to the page marked October 17. She saw that there was nothing written on this page, and she let a stream of breath out. She was unaware that she had been holding her breath, but now that she thought about it, it made sense. She had been very nervous as to what she would find: perhaps something about how she was a long-lost relative of Salazar Slytherin, adopted, or worse yet, that she wasn’t really both of her parents’ child.

It would have been awful for her to find out that her mother or father had had a relationship with someone other than their spouse, and that she was the product of that. Ginny shook the thought out of her head. That was crazy; it would never happen!

What had Tom meant to tell her, then? And why hadn’t he written it? She looked at the clock: it was indeed morning. She pinched herself hard and winced. She was definitely awake.

Then why wasn’t there anything on October 17?

Frustrated, Ginny slid off the bed and returned to her trunk. She dug past a pair of pajamas and a set of robes, looking for her quill and ink bottle. She knew she had used them the previous day, and that they had to be near. She found them underneath one of her Christmas sweaters from her mother, and brought them to the bed. She glanced at the clock again, and determined she had about ten minutes before she should be at breakfast. That was more than enough time to write an angry letter to Tom.

She reopened the diary to October 17 and dipped her quill in the ink. Carefully balancing the diary on her knee and the ink bottle on her pillow, she began to write:

2 September 1992

Dear Tom,

Where are you? You said you would write on October 17 this morning, but there’s nothing here! Why was I Sorted into Slytherin? My whole family has been in Gryffindor, and I’m worried. I don’t know what my family will think. I really want to know, Tom. Would you please tell me?

She was about to scratch out her letter and start again with a slightly angrier tone when the words disappeared. She smiled triumphantly, knowing from experience that this meant that Tom was going to reply to her.

But nothing showed up on the paper. It remained blank. Ginny flipped through the diary at lightning speed, searching for any sign of writing on any of the pages. It no longer mattered to her that Tom said he was going to write on October 17. She would settle for anything.

Again, the diary was empty. None of the pages showed any sign of writing, even though Ginny knew that they had been written on by her. To any person who didn’t know its true secrets, it was just an empty old diary.

Suddenly a feeling of intense tiredness enveloped Ginny, causing her to lean back on her pillows. She had never been this exhausted in all of her life, and she was afraid that it would last all day and she would fall asleep in one of her first classes at Hogwarts.

She didn’t have enough time to worry, though. Right then and there, her eyes closed of their own accord and she lost consciousness.

***

She was in her dormitory, standing near the door. It looked just the same as it had moments ago, except all three beds were made and none of the curtains were drawn. There was nobody in the room, just her. She turned to the door and walked out of it and down the short hallway into the common room.

It was just as green as she remembered, and she gagged at the serpentine wall hangings. There weren’t many people sitting in the chairs. She recognized the Malfoy boy from Flourish and Blotts, and quickly turned away in case he happened to glance her way and think of the same experience.

She crossed through the common room swiftly, running away from the horrific green and the other Slytherins. It was odd for her to use the word other when thinking of the Slytherins, for she was not comfortable with being one herself. She found that it was becoming easier, though, which was strange.

Once she exited the room, she found herself in the twisting dungeons again. She hadn’t been paying much attention the first time she went through the day before, but found herself going through them as easily as though she had been doing it for years.

Soon enough she was in the entrance hall. Its grandeur impressed her greatly, and she spent a moment marveling at the grand staircase and the huge front doors. She had no idea how it was possible for them to open, since they were so large. She made a mental note to ask Hagrid about it when she got a chance.

To her surprise, her feet directed her not to the Great Hall, but to the staircase. She started up the stairs and continued until she reached the second floor, where she walked until she reached a girls’ bathroom with an ‘Out of Order’ sign on the door.

As Ginny wondered what the significance of this bathroom was, she inadvertently opened the door, ignoring the sign, and walked into the room. She shut the door hastily behind her after checking the hallway to make sure nobody had seen her go in.

She turned away from the door and surveyed the bathroom. It was more run-down than she had expected when thinking of bathrooms at Hogwarts (which she hadn’t often) and was quite beat up. The wooden stalls were worn down and chipped, as were the mirrors and sinks. She walked over to the sinks and looked in the mirror, shocked at how dirty it was. Was this bathroom never cleaned?

Gross, she thought, and turned around.

Unfortunately, her body returned to face the mirrors and sinks, and she studied the different taps carefully. They were normal copper, but one of them had a mysterious symbol carved into it. She touched it slowly, almost as though it might break, and rubbed off some of the grime around the symbol. It still wasn’t quite clear, but she thought it resembled a snake. It reminded her of the Slytherin common room, and she gagged again. She was in a disgusting bathroom with a serpentine tap. She needed to get out, now.

“Hmm,” she heard someone say behind her. “What do we have here?”

Ginny turned around and saw a ghost floating behind her, an inquisitive look on her face. The girl’s lank hair was pulled into pigtails and her thick glasses formed circles around her pale eyes. She studied Ginny, biting her tongue.

“Now why would you want to be in here?” she asked. “Everybody complains about Moaning Myrtle. . .”

“Still here, are you?” Ginny heard herself say, and clamped a hand over her mouth. How would she know how long Myrtle had been there? She hadn’t even knowing there was a Moaning Myrtle until today.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” questioned Myrtle, backing away from Ginny.

“Oh, I—“ Ginny started, meaning to apologize for her unintentional words.

“Don’t bother!” exclaimed Myrtle. She sobbed and dived swiftly into the nearest toilet, crying all the way. Ginny could still hear her sobbing, and made a mental note not to come into this bathroom again for the rest of her time at Hogwarts.

Once Moaning Myrtle was gone, Ginny walked back over to the sinks and continued studying the snake on one of the taps. When she felt confident that it was a snake, she backed up and cleared her throat. Digging back in her memory—or was it her memory? She certainly had never been here before—she thought of what she wanted to say.

“Open up,” she said, but instead of the actual words it came out as a series of hisses. Shocked, she jumped and gasped. What had just happened?

As she tried not to hyperventilate, the tap spun quickly and glowed with brilliant light. She stared at it in awe and was able to watch when the sink began to sink, right through the floor. She leaned forward and looked into the hole it had left. There was a corpulent pipe in the sink’s place, which reminded her uncannily of the one from her endeavor with Tom in August, when he had first told her of the Chamber of Secrets.

The Chamber of Secrets!

That had to be where she was going, she thought. She began to feel nervous about going; she hadn’t seen the basilisk that Tom had told her about, but she knew from her conversations with him that it killed with a glance. What would happen if it looked her in the eye now? It was just a dream, after all.

Against her better judgment, she jumped into the hole.

It was as though something had caused her to jump besides curiosity. Like maybe someone else was telling her to go ahead and hurl herself into an unknown hole to a dangerous place with a deadly creature. Under any normal circumstances, Ginny would have left immediately and told her mother about the bathroom and its secrets. But today it felt right to just take the risk. She was at Hogwarts now; she could make her own decisions.

The hole was slimy, dark, and long. The walls were even more repulsive than the rest of the bathroom, and Ginny tried to keep her arms at her sides and her feet slightly elevated so as to not get too much grime and dirt on her body. She slid for what seemed like hours before the slide straightened out and she flew out the end, landing in another pile of wet gunk.

She sat up and wiped herself off to no avail; the slime was caked on her body too thoroughly to just swipe off. Standing up, she rubbed her back where she had landed. This was not a good situation. How would she get back up that never-ending chute?

Ginny decided she would worry about it later and started walking down a long tunnel. She vaguely remembered this from her tour with Tom Riddle, and before long she was in the Chamber of Secrets itself. It was just as she recalled it: huge, serpentine, and watery as the bathroom above.

She walked forward into the chamber, attempting to step around the countless puddles of water. By the time she reached the gigantic statue of the man, her feet were soaking wet and she could tell that some of the water was soaking through her shoes onto her socks.

This time it wasn’t Tom who was talking, but her. She heard the hissing sounds and realized they were coming from her own mouth. The large mouth of the statue opened slowly and she heard slithering behind it. She hurriedly closed her eyes on impulse and waited for the basilisk to pass before opening them again.

When she could see once more, she kept her back turned to the beast and issued its orders:

“You know who I am,” she began, not knowing where her words were coming from, “for you have worked with me before. I wish you to continue what we have started. Stop for no one. Go.”

The words came out as hisses once more, and Ginny knew what she was saying but couldn’t understand what was coming out of her mouth. The basilisk hissed in response, and she closed her eyes as it slithered back into the statue’s mouth. She heard the stone sliding back into place and opened her eyes again.

The basilisk was gone.

Ginny awoke lying on the floor in her dormitory, right next to her bed. She looked up and saw that her bed was still unmade. I must have fallen out, she thought, and rubbed her head. It did hurt, now that she thought about it.

“Oh, that was an awful dream,” she said to herself as she got slowly up off the floor. It was almost as though she had actually walked around the school in a hurry. She felt like she had run a marathon. Her legs ached, and she was sweating.

Once she was standing again, Ginny glanced at the clock, wondering whether or not she would be on time for breakfast. To her shock, there were only ten minutes left until her first class started. She had missed almost all of breakfast!

Hurried now, Ginny quickly pulled up the blankets on her bed as she would at home when she was rushing. She found that Tom Riddle’s diary was in her bed as well, and threw it back into her trunk. Hoping that nobody was there, she ran into the bathroom. Luckily for her, it was empty. She shut the door behind her and started the water for a shower, still wondering about her strange dream.

***

With speed that could only be learned from living in a house with eight other people her entire life, Ginny was ready to go to breakfast with two minutes to spare. She sighed with relief and hurried out of the dormitory clutching her bag filled with all of her books. She didn’t know what class she would have first, so she had had to pack all of the books. The bag wasn’t light, but she was prepared.

The common room was empty, what with everybody already down at breakfast or heading to their first class of the day. Ginny silently thanked her housemates for being more timely than she was and practically ran out the door.

The hallway to the entrance hall was equally deserted, and Ginny navigated it better than she had expected. It felt like she had just walked it effortlessly, and she was able to do it again.

The entrance hall, contrary to the hallway, was packed with students milling about, conversing with each other about their individual schedules. Ginny heard the occasional squeal as friends discovered they had classes together, and the more common moan when they found that they had to be on separate sides of the castle at any given time.

Ginny worked her way through the crowd, worrying that she would be late for class. Just when she had made it to the other side of the hall, near the staircase, she realized that she hadn’t gotten her schedule yet. She had no idea where she was going!

Irritated, she pushed through the groups of students much less politely than she had the first time, making it to the Great Hall’s doors just as the bell rang, signaling the start of the first class of the day. The students in the entrance hall started hurrying away to their classes before they were marked late. Ginny walked as fast as she could without running to get to the front of the Great Hall, spotting the Heads of House with the last few student schedules in their hands.

Ginny was almost to Professor McGonagall, who was looking at her strangely, her arms crossed threateningly, when she remembered that she wasn’t in Gryffindor. She turned to Professor Snape as her heart sank, and saw that he only had one schedule left in his hand. She looked up at him and gulped; the look on his face was not a forgiving one.

“Miss Weasley,” said Snape, shaking his head with fake regret. “Late on your first day, I see. Oh, I hate to take points from my own house, but . . . 10 points from Slytherin.” He gave Ginny a look that made her want to crawl under her bed and hide there until Christmas. “Let’s not let that happen again, shall we?”

He thrust her schedule forward, and Ginny took it, her hand shaking. She nodded and quickly turned away, and walked swiftly down the hall.

She didn’t look at her schedule until she was safely away from Snape. Once she was sure he couldn’t see her anymore, she looked down at her schedule. It was very complicated, and it made her wish even more that she was in the same house as her brothers so they could help her decipher it. Then again, they would already be in their own classes by now. . . .

Shaking her head clear of thoughts of her brothers and Gryffindor, she studied her schedule closely. The first item on the list was Breakfast, 8-9 am.

Great, thought Ginny angrily, I’ve already missed that. . . .

She looked down to the next item, and saw that she had Herbology first this morning, a Wednesday. Not one of the most entertaining subjects, in Ginny’s opinion, but more bearable than something like Potions would be. She scanned the rest of her schedule quickly – frowning when she passed flying lessons on Tuesdays, for she had been looking forward to them and would have to wait a week – and made her way out the huge oak doors to the grounds.

She was able to appreciate the beauty of the grounds more than she had the night before even in her rush. The sun was making its way slowly across the sky, lighting up the grass, the trees, and the lake. Ginny shielded her eyes from the glare of the sunlight off the lake and started on her way to the greenhouses.

When she had almost reached greenhouse one, where her class took place, she heard hurried footsteps following behind her. She turned and saw a disheveled woman rushing along. Ginny thought the woman looked old, but not as old as Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore. She was short and squat, and the walk seemed to be straining for her.

Ginny thought about where she had seen someone like this before, and remembered how, only moments ago, she had been in the Great Hall with the Heads of House. Now that she thought about it, this woman was one of the Heads. She tried to remember the layout of the staff table from the night before, and finally decided that the woman must be Professor Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff house and the Herbology professor.

“Oh,” Professor Sprout said as she caught up with Ginny. “Hello, dear. A first year, correct?”

Ginny nodded in agreement, and added, “You’re Professor Sprout, right?”

“Yes,” the professor answered. “Are you heading for Herbology?”

Ginny nodded again, her rare shyness kicking in. She had a feeling that she was about to be reprimanded for being late. “I got a bit . . . lost,” she said sheepishly.

“Oh, well that’s no problem,” Professor Sprout replied, waving her hand in the air like lateness was no big deal. “Everybody gets lost on the first day. Let’s head down together, shall we?”

Shocked, Ginny followed her teacher to the greenhouses. She had really gotten lucky. Any other teacher probably would have given her detention. That was how Fred and George made it sound, anyway. Fred and George. . . . She might have eaten breakfast with them, if only they were in the same house.

Her whole Slytherin situation was eating away at her; how had it happened, and was there any way to undo it?

***

Unfortunately for Ginny, the day passed very slowly, with each class seeming to last five hours instead of just one. They had been assigned homework in every class as well, leaving Ginny torn between wanting classes to be done and wanting them to last forever so she would never have to do her many essays. She had known going to Hogwarts would mean more work than she was accustomed to, but she still wasn’t happy with it. She never would be.

Finally, it was time for her last class of the day, Charms. Upon walking into the classroom, Ginny found that she had this class with the Ravenclaws. This seemed to please Professor Flitwick, the Head of Ravenclaw, as he was beaming from ear to ear when Ginny entered. Looking closer, she noticed that he was having an animated conversation with Luna Lovegood, who was sitting to his right. Luna seemed to be enjoying herself as well, but she didn’t look nearly as pleased as the professor. Ginny saw that there was an empty seat to Luna’s right, and headed to it.

“Yes, daddy has told me your class is delightful,” Luna was saying when Ginny sat down.

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Professor Flitwick, waving his arms wildly. He turned to Ginny now, “Hello, dear. Are you a friend of Luna’s?”

“Oh yes,” Luna spoke before Ginny was able to, surprising Ginny. “We met on the train here.”

“Wonderful!” said Flitwick, grinning once more. “Welcome to Charms!”

He turned to greet the students sitting on his left, and Ginny turned to Luna. “You really didn’t need to tell him we’re friends. Not if you didn’t want to,” she said, feeling embarrassed.

“But we are,” stated Luna, smiling at Ginny. “You seem like a very nice person, if self-conscious.”

“Oh,” said Ginny, surprised again. “But. . . . I’m in Slytherin. I wouldn’t think you would want to be seen with me.”

“Those silly houses don’t matter,” said Luna, a look of shock on her face. “All that matters is our qualities, and you really don’t seem like a stereotypical Slytherin to me. If you were, you wouldn’t want to be seen with me.”

“Um,” Ginny wasn’t sure what to say now. “Thanks.”

They passed the rest of the wait until class started in silence. Luna was swaying in her seat, her eyes closed and her head back as though she had fallen asleep. Ginny spent her time dipping her quill in and out of her bottle of ink, watching the droplets fall back into the bottle, making a tiny ripple with each drop. She almost missed Professor Flitwick stepping up onto a pile of books to address the class.

“That was an awkward silence.” Ginny swiveled on the spot, and saw that it was Luna who had spoken. She was staring right at Ginny, a friendly smile on her face. It was somewhat unnerving, and Ginny nodded slowly and turned back to face the professor.

“Today we will be working on getting to know each other and teamwork,” Flitwick was saying, gesturing with each word to a different student. He was a very visual teacher, Ginny noted. “It is very important that we all know how to work together without fighting. I will be putting you in pairs, and you will prepare a short skit about each other to be performed in front of the class.

“Look at the person across from you. This person will be your partner for this project. Everybody know who they’re working with? Okay, go ahead! I’ll let you know when we’re starting the skits.”

The class started shuffling around and finding their partners, some students more enthusiastic about the project than others. Ginny looked across the room for her partner, hoping it was a Ravenclaw. She didn’t want to have to deal with a rude Slytherin who didn’t want to do anything.

When she had found the spot symmetrical to where she was sitting, she found that the seat was empty. Confused, she started to stand up to tell Professor Flitwick that she had no partner, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around, and there was Cassidy, her brown eyes sparkling with glee.

“Howdy, partner.”

Time seemed to slow down once Ginny saw Cassidy standing behind her. Ginny’s heart thumped in her chest, and then sank when she realized how awful this last class was going to be. It was only the first day; there would be plenty more of these moments, and Ginny sighed with the thought.

She looked Cassidy up and down. The girl’s pristine new uniform mocked Ginny’s own, its pitch blackness looming over her like a death threat. Cassidy’s long blond hair seemed to be laughing at Ginny, bouncing up and down with Cassidy’s light chuckles as she watched Ginny carefully, waiting for her to break down.

Ginny took a deep breath, willing herself not to hyperventilate. It was only one class. She could make it through the hour and then sit in her dormitory alone for the rest of the night. She didn’t even need to go to dinner if she didn’t want to.

Again when she thought of her dormitory the magnitude of being in Slytherin hit her, and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying. If only she had been in Gryffindor, she wouldn’t have had to deal with Cassidy at all.

If only.

“Hurry up, would you?” It was Cassidy, tapping her foot and looking irritated. “Flitwick looks like he’s going to come over here if we don’t start the project.”

“Oh,” said Ginny, shaking herself out of her thoughts. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever,” replied Cassidy, sitting down.

Ginny steeled herself for a hard class and joined her partner to start working.

***

Half an hour later, things were not going much better. Ginny and Cassidy were having an awful time agreeing, and so far they had only decided to act as each other in their skit. It would be a conversation between the two, who had just met for the first time. Other than that, they had no idea what they were going to say. Cassidy had suggested reenacting their time on the train, but Ginny had shot it down, saying that they would also have to play the parts of Allie and Luna then. Since both of the other girls were in the class, Ginny didn’t know if they would want to be portrayed, especially Luna with her Crumple-Horned Snorkack comments.

“How about we pretend we’re in the Great Hall eating?” asked Ginny cautiously, well aware that this would probably be protested.

“No way!” exclaimed Cassidy. “That’s stupid.”

“Okay. . . .” Ginny trailed off, frustrated that it was taking so long for the pair to gather ideas. They were running out of time, and Ginny didn’t want to be the only group not to perform. All of the other students seemed to be enjoying themselves, almost finished with their presentations. She heard laughter coming from every corner of the room, and could practically feel friendships forming around her.

“Oh!” Ginny turned at Cassidy’s exclamation, and saw that her partner was bouncing in her seat. “We could pretend we’re interviewing each other for Witch Weekly!”

Ginny sighed inwardly. She didn’t particularly like Witch Weekly; she thought it was just a stupid gossip magazine. But they needed something, and Cassidy seemed enthusiastic about the idea. Not wanting to aggravate her, Ginny agreed.

“Sure,” she said, not trying very hard to sound excited. “That sounds great.”

“Fantastic!” Cassidy beamed at her, and Ginny was glad they had finally decided on something. Just as she was about to ask about writing down lines, she was interrupted by Professor Flitwick, who had climbed back up on his pile of books.

“Quiet down now,” he was saying, and Ginny turned to look. “That should have been more than enough time to get your ideas together. Now it is time for us to enjoy your skits! I’ve been looking forward to these for a while now, and I’m excited to see what you’ve all come up with! Would anyone like to volunteer to go first?”

The classroom remained silent as every group looked at the others, willing someone else to volunteer so they wouldn’t have to.

“Nobody?” asked the professor. He made a clucking noise with his tongue and scrutinized his class, seeming to search for weak links. “Ah, how about you girls?”

Ginny felt her stomach churn as she realized who Professor Flitwick was pointing to.

It was her and Cassidy.

Ginny gulped and glanced over at Cassidy, hoping to see her fright mirrored on Cassidy’s face. To her shock, Cassidy seemed to be gloating, smiling and delighted at their professor’s choice. “We would be happy to!” she cried, probably louder than she should have. She bounced out of her seat to the middle of the classroom, motioning for Ginny to join her.

Ginny got out of her seat self-consciously, and walked slowly to Cassidy’s side. Her heart felt like it was ready to jump out of her body, along with the rest of her precious organs, and die on the floor in front of her.

“Ready?” questioned Cassidy, and Ginny nodded quickly, unable to speak in her nervousness. Actually, she was shocked that she was able to move enough to show Cassidy that she was ready. Or, as ready as she was going to get.

“Hello,” started Cassidy, standing up straight and projecting her voice across the classroom. Professor Flitwick nodded his approval. “Welcome to Witch Weekly. Please take a seat, and we will begin your interview.”

Ginny and Cassidy sat on two chairs they pulled from behind desks, and Cassidy continued her speaking, still sitting with perfect posture. “I understand you’ve just gotten over spattergroit?” she asked, leaning forward with acted interest.

“Um,” choked Ginny, wondering what Cassidy was talking about, “no. . . .”

“Oh, but of course you are!” insisted Cassidy. “I can see the scars here!” She pointed to Ginny’s face. Ginny reached up and touched her cheek, feeling for anything that could possibly be mistook for scars.

“No, I –“ she started to protest, but was interrupted again.

“Well, memory loss is one of the symptoms,” concluded Cassidy, before moving on to another subject. “You’ve had a lot of diseases, haven’t you? Quite a survivor, isn’t she?” Cassidy turned to their class questioningly, and they nodded, smiling. Cassidy giggled and continued.

“And you were almost a Squib, correct? You just showed magic last week, and had to rush to buy your supplies and get here before the term started? How ashamed you must have felt.” Cassidy grinned evilly, clearly taking pleasure in torturing Ginny.

“No,” stated Ginny, becoming angrier by the second. The insults burned her cheeks, and she could feel herself getting redder and redder. Before long, she would look like a tomato, and she was sure Cassidy wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make fun of her for it.

“Oh, I see you’re in denial about it,” replied Cassidy, waving her hand and acting carefree. “We’ll move on to something else. You’re the first of your family in Slytherin, as I understand it?” She leaned closer to Ginny and put her head on her hand, raising one eyebrow and looking genuinely interested.

Finally something that’s true, thought Ginny. She answered, “Yes,” timidly.

“Oh, how wonderful!” Cassidy clapped her hands in fake happiness, grinning from ear to ear. “Maybe you’ll bring some glory to your family. I’ve heard they’re the biggest blood traitors the Wizarding world’s ever seen!”

Ginny’s heart skipped a beat. Blood traitors? She hated that phrase, that was used so often by other pure-bloods. She felt herself becoming red again, and struggled to regain control of her emotions. She looked over at the class, and saw them sitting in shock, their mouths half open, waiting for her to speak. Even Professor Flitwick seemed to be on the edge of his seat, as though he was unable to move until Ginny said something. He didn’t look like he was about to come to her rescue and punish Cassidy.

She returned her gaze to Cassidy, and saw that she was still staring at her intently, waiting for a response. The mischievous gleam was back in her eyes, their brown glow taunting Ginny. “Aren’t you happy to be the only daughter of your Muggle-loving parents? I’m sure they would be so proud if you found a Muggle to marry, don’t you think?” she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

Flitwick seemed to snap out of his stupor then, and said harshly, “That’s enough, ladies. Who’s next?”

Ginny, thankful for her professor, sighed deeply and breathed in and out slowly. Cassidy’s words had stung her, and she was extremely angry with her. Ginny could practically feel her blood boiling, and worked hard to cool it down so she could make it through the rest of the class. Looking at the clock, she saw that she only had ten minutes left. Ten minutes. She could survive ten minutes, couldn’t she?

The other presentations were quicker than Ginny and Cassidy’s, and each group only took a minute or two. There were still groups left over when the bell rang, and Professor Flitwick told them they would have to finish next time they met, on Friday.

Ginny left the classroom in a hurry and rushed back to the common room as fast as her legs would take her. Luckily, Cassidy and Allie hung back to speak to some of the first-year boys, and Ginny entered the common room alone. The only people there were older students, working on their homework or chatting quietly by the fire. Ginny hurried past them to her dormitory.

The room was empty, as she had known it would be. She had a good feeling it would remain that way for a while, while the other girls mingled and worked on their homework together. Ginny opened her trunk quickly, stacked her schoolbooks inside, and took out her most prized possession: Tom Riddle’s diary. She had a lot to tell him about.

***

2 September 1992

Dear Tom,

Today was horrible. It feels like the day has lasted forever, and it’s only a quarter after two!

First, I was late to breakfast. Professor Snape is really scary when he’s mad. I hope I don’t sleep in again, or I’ll have to live through that nightmare again too. Speaking of nightmares, I think I was having one right before I woke up. I was on the floor, so I think I rolled off the bed because I was frightened. I can’t remember a whole lot about my dream, but I know it wasn’t good.

Since I was late for breakfast, I was late for Herbology too. That didn’t turn out too badly, because Professor Sprout knew that there would be kids who were late the first day. I didn’t get in trouble, and the class wasn’t horrible. I actually kind of enjoyed it.

The rest of the day went fine, but then Charms was awful. We had to act out a skit, and we had to work with a partner. I didn’t think it would be that bad, until I found out that one of the mean girls from the train, Cassidy, was my partner. Our skit didn’t go well at all. She took over, and kept insulting me. She called my family blood traitors, and she called me a Squib and said I had spattergroit.

I hate Cassidy.

What am I going to do, Tom? How can I survive a whole year of this? And then another six before I leave school . . . ?

Oh, Tom, this is terrible.

Ginny

***

Luckily for Ginny, she didn’t have to wait long at all for Tom’s reply. She had only been working on her homework – an essay on Travels with Trolls for Defense Against the Dark Arts – when she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, and saw that there were words forming on an open page in the diary. She quickly picked it up and started reading.

Ginny,

I think I know how to solve your problem. I know just the thing that will make you feel so much better about everything that has been going on.

It will take me a few weeks, but I should be able to help you by Halloween.

Hang in there.