Erm…hello?
…
Good, the ink didn’t seep through or anything... This journal thing isn’t some Dark Art artifact…it’s normal, well, from what I can tell so far. I can keep my thoughts to myself without some ghost of a person giving me feedback, as it was in second year.
First off, my name is Ginerva Weasley, better known as Ginny or Ron’s sister. I found this blank journal under the armchair when I dropped my wand earlier today. Sadly, since my second year when I had the run-in my Tom Riddle’s ‘ghost,’ I had developed a phobia of writing in journals or diaries. Can you blame me? However, when I saw this little black leather-bound journal under the armchair, I just thought ‘I might as well give it a shot,’ because, honestly, I can’t graduate from Hogwarts with a phobia of writing in diaries. That is horribly embarrassing. I think I am doing well so far though; it isn’t going bad at all.
Well, I have six older brothers: Ron, Fred & George (they’re identical twins), Percy, Charlie, and Bill. We all share the same flaming red hair and the same sense of humor. Percy would be the exception, though. He always has to be serious about everything and he never lightens up. My family is not very rich, but that’s okay with me. Money doesn’t matter much to me as it does to some people I know…Slytherins in particular… Anyways I go to Hogwarts, of course. Where else would I go? I’m in the house of Gryffindor, which is the house my entire family has been in, and life so far has been good.
A couple of days ago was when our first DA meeting of the year took place. I’m so proud of Harry and Hermione for starting it up again. It was a big hit; even a few Slytherins showed up. The only bad part was that I had to be partnered with Draco Malfoy. The DA (Dumbledore’s Army) is so helpful to everyone, especially now that the public knows that Voldemort has returned. At the meeting, we pretty much reviewed everything from last year, and tried to teach it all to the newcomers. Hermione did a great job of leading the class while Harry was out talking to Alicia.
Speaking of Hermione, we are actually planning a surprise birthday party for her! It’s going to be on Saturday, only four days from now. The plan is that she will be walking down to the Quidditch pitch for practice with Harry, Ron, and I and Ron will accidentally ‘forget’ his broomstick. He will ask Hermione to go get it for him or else he will be late. Hermione, of course, being the nice person she is, will comply. When she gets to about the second floor, Nearly Headless Nick will talk to her for a bit and try to stall as long as possible. Then Harry, Ron, and I will rush up to the common room and put up the decorations with magic. They are hidden in various places around the common room; the grandfather clock being one of those places. Neville said he would get a cake and other food from the kitchens, so that will all ready be up there. Most of the Gryffindors should be up there since we told them all about it during and in between all of our classes. When she comes through the portrait hole, then we’ll surprise her! I’ve all ready got her gift, which is a book on the most significant wizardry advances of this century. I’m sure she’ll love it. It is a book, after all. I can’t wait to see her face! She will love the surprise! Harry planned the whole thing, actually. It was his idea. That was really sweet of him. At the very beginning of this year, I thought I sensed a slight something between Harry and Hermione that they possibly haven’t even noticed themselves. I guess I was wrong though, because Hermione is completely ecstatic about Seamus. There seems to be something funny about him, though, but not funny in a good way. Whenever he passes, I can swear I hear some dark whispering going on between other students. Hopefully, hopefully, I’m just imagining this, though.
I’m also hoping that I will get a permanent spot on our house Quidditch team. It would be great if I got a spot as Chaser, since Angelina left last year. Alicia Spinnet, the new quidditch captain, actually wants to talk to me after dinner tomorrow. I hope what she has to tell me is good news. I love playing quidditch…but maybe not as much as Harry or Ron. The thrill of flying up and playing is amazing, though. I really do hope I get the spot.
Oh, I almost forgot about this; though I don’t see how I could have. This year I signed up a Muggle Studies class. I thought it might be interesting to try and see why my dad loves muggles so I decided to give it a try. It turns out to be quite an interesting class, actually. It’s funny how muggles have evolved so quickly. They’re really quite clever, and wizards in general don’t really give them enough credit. Automobiles and microwaves…how did they have the time to come up with this crazy stuff?
Well when I took a seat in class yesterday, I saw that the person sitting next to me was none other than Draco Malfoy, the most anti-muggle person I have ever met in my entire life.
My mouth dropped open in surprise. “Malfoy?” I asked; just to be sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
His platinum blonde head turned to face me. “Yes, Weasel?” he spat. He seemed even more hostile than normal as he glared at the muggle objects around the room in disgust.
“What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? That is a very good question, indeed. This is some kind of sick, twisted punishment that Dumbledore gave me. He has possibly the worst sense of humor out of anyone in this school.”
“What did you do to deserve it?” I said as I raised my eyebrows, trying not to laugh.
“I didn’t do anything to deserve this type of cruel and unusual penalty,” Draco stated stubbornly as he brushed some of his white blond bangs to the side.
“Fine. What did you do to make Dumbledore think that you deserve to be put in this class?”
“I only insulted a group of muggle-borns in the hallway.”
“And then? I know that’s not the end of the story,” I said.
“And then I had Crabbe and Goyle hang each of them by the tags on their robes along the torch mantles on the walls,” Draco muttered.
“My point exactly,” I said, making my point.
“The old man calls this ‘muggle appreciation.’ What is he thinking?” Draco said angrily.
“What were you thinking when you hung students up by their robes along the hallway? That’s crazy,” I countered.
“It’s not crazy…just a bit of fun,” Draco said simply as he placed a silver ink bottle on his desk.
I rolled my eyes and then faced the front. I took out my book and some parchment, along with my quill and ink. The rest of the class was fine; fine meaning that there wasn’t anymore comments from Malfoy. When the class ended, I gathered up all of my supplies and put them in my book bag. I then headed outside for some quick fresh air before I went to my next class. I walked along the castle and took in the cool day with the refreshing autumn wind. The sun was barely visible hiding among the numerous clouds in the dull blue sky. I was about to turn around and walk back but I stopped when I heard my name.
“Hey, isn’t that one of those Weasleys?” someone grunted.
“Oh well spotted,” a cool voice replied sarcastically. I recognized it to be Malfoy’s. The person who said my name was probably Goyle.
“Well, don’t you want me to teach her a lesson?” another voice said. This was most likely Crabbe speaking. I then turned around at this comment and glared at them.
“What did she do?” Malfoy asked, not aware I had turned.
“If I recall correctly,” I said, “it was me teaching your friend here a lesson a few days ago. He would have never conjured a Patronus without my help. So I suggest that before you think about beating up or taunting someone, you should question whether not your leader owes them something.”
Crabbe and Goyle just stared at me with stupid, blank expressions on their faces. That wasn’t surprising. I then began to walk back into the castle, angry and thinking that I should have never even come outside in the first place. Why do Slytherins always want to make trouble, especially Malfoy and his posse?
I heard footsteps behind me, and then a touch on the shoulder. I turned around to see Draco’s cold grey eyes boring into mine.
“Yes?”
“Err, sorry about what happened back there,” Draco said awkwardly, referring to what had happened a few moments before. “I didn’t ask them to give you trouble or anything, they just-“
“I know. I heard you before I turned around,” I interrupted him. I was a bit thrown off by this act, intended or not, of sincerity from him.
“I never properly thanked you for helping me the other day either,” Draco said, quickly regaining his placid composure.
“I noticed,” I replied. “You were probably too busy telling the entire room, quite loudly, that you detested the fact that you were partnered with a Weasley,” I said, entering through the main doors of the castle.
“Well I’m saying thank you now, aren’t I?” Draco snapped. “I do not completely lack manners.”
“That’s true,” I replied. I decided to go along with his sincerity (possibly sincerity ruse) to see what would happen. There’s no harm in that, right? Besides, it would get Malfoy off of my back for at least a little while.
“I’ll also tell Crabbe and Goyle to shut up before something like this happens again,” Malfoy said as his thin lips formed into one of his trademark smirks. “Even I can’t deny that they’re complete imbeciles.”
“I always wonder how they pass each year,” I muttered as I climbed a staircase.
To my surprise, Malfoy chuckled. It wasn’t one of his mirthless, malicious laughs either. It sounded, well, genuine. “Thanks again for your help, Weasley. You really are quite clever.”
“You’re welcome then.” I walked into my next class, which was Transfiguration. “I’ve got to go now.”
“See you next Muggle Studies class, Weasley,” was what I heard as his voice, barely audible, wafted through the doorway.
By now I have decided to hide my writing with a spell because now I feel that it’s too private for anyone to stumble upon. Image what someone would think if they found this and read I still had a slight case of fear against diaries, or if Hermione found out about her surprise birthday party? Anyways, later that night, during dinner, I think, was when my mind wandered and stumbled upon that subject. I wondered what Malfoy was up to, or maybe he just wanted a real friend for once. Not one that his father bought for him. Maybe he was actually sorry about what happened, and thankful that I helped him a few days ago. But much more likely, maybe this whole thing is a joke and I am the punch line. Malfoy has given himself an image far too inhuman to care about anyone else other than himself.
I shook my head and looked back up at the people around me. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville were chatting about something that I didn’t really catch up to. I thought about mentioning the weird incident that happened earlier, but then decided against it. I know that they all deeply hate him and would probably never give him a moment’s chance. Hermione might be an exception, though. She is completely for house integration ever since the sorting hat song in third year (her fourth). I think I should give him a chance, though. Even if it doesn’t work out, and my gut is right, at least I’ll have a pretty funny story out of it.
“So what do you think of it, Ginny? I haven’t heard you say anything yet,” Hermione asked me as her voice broke me away from my miniature brain storm.
“Think of…what?” I asked, confused. I looked around at all of them who were staring at me.
“You know, the DA getting back together,” Harry said.
“Did you hear anything we said in the past fifteen minutes?” Ron asked from beside me.
“Erm, no, I think I must’ve spaced out,” I replied. “But I think that having the DA back is great, and so do my other friends. I think we were talking about it earlier yesterday or something.”
“I don’t feel like a Squib anymore after these lessons,” Neville said shyly. “Gran was so proud to hear that I can produce a corporeal Patronus. Actually, she almost choked on her dinner when I told her.”
“We’re happy we could help, mate,” Harry said to him as his fork pierced another pork chop that he piled onto his plate.
Later that night, my mind came back once again to the subject. My mind was troubled by it, but I think it was strange to be overanalyzing the whole situation. To trust or not to trust? To allow Malfoy a chance, or to disallow him one? I eventually figured it’s merely a question of heart. I’ll give Malfoy a chance, and I’ll try (even if my gut tells me not to) to warm up to him. My heart contradicts my gut, and anyone with a heart would give him a second chance. This is no matter how vile he was before. Like I said before, it’s really just a question of heart.