Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, the only thing I can claim ownership to is the wanderings of my mind.
In a shadowy back corner of the library sat a young first year named Ginny Weasley who furiously scribbled away into a plain looking diary. Now normally Ginny wouldn't have been found in the library. Or at least she wouldn't have if it weren't due to the rain storm outside and her obsessive need to write in her new diary. She had chosen this spot because other students rarely ventured this far back, unless they needed something about the history of the use of runes in Goblin's society. A little nudging feeling, something she couldn't quite explain, forced her to hide the diary's existence.
Ginny hadn't told anyone about the diary or its ability to write back, but wasn't one supposed to keep a diary secret. The diary, or Tom, had become her best friend and closest confidant since coming to Hogwarts. In a family as big as hers and with six brothers Ginny knew how hard it was to keep a secret. Besides she was having a hard time adjusting to Hogwarts and with making friends in her first year, leaving her unusually lonely. All of her brothers had made friends easily enough and her whole family had told her that she would make friends quickly but she had yet to make one other than Tom.
So from the moment she had gotten it, during her family's trip to Diagon Alley to get all of their school supplies, Ginny had been filling the diary with her thoughts, dreams, and secrets. Usually she could have told one of her brothers or one of her parents but she didn't want to look like a baby always clinging on to one of her siblings or always writing home. Making friends would be impossible if she had the reputation of a crybaby, at least it wasn't odd to write in a diary. Not that she let many people see her writing in it if she could help it. With no one else to tell it was easy to lose herself talking to Tom, telling him all the details that no one else cared to know.
How she embarrassed herself several times in front of Harry Potter, who was her brother's best mate and stayed at their house for a while before Hogwarts started again. He probably thought her daft or something, but who wouldn't have become tongue-tied when meeting him. All of the stories about him made him sound like Prince Charming and he had been so polite over the summer, unlike Ron and the twins. Perhaps not everything about him was true but he was still amazing. Tom was very curious about Harry and wanted to know all the details about the night that made him famous.
Tom listened as she poured out her feelings about being the youngest and only girl in her fairly large family. How she couldn't connect with other girls in her dorm well because of her 'boyish' ways. Even if he knew little about family Tom said he understood not fitting in with your classmates.
How she knew no one really besides from Luna, who got sorted into Ravenclaw. Her family's reputation meant that she got some teasing from the Slytherin's and with no friends in Gryffindor to stand beside her it was tough to defend herself. Though she had started looking up a few hexes to use, the bat bogey one looked promising.
Throughout it all Tom listened patiently and offered advice even if he was a boy and had little knowledge of girl things. But that was ok since Ginny wasn't entirely sure about them either she was a bit of a tom boy growing up with six brothers after all.
Ginny froze when she thought she heard something, she sat perfectly still like a statue, waiting for another noise. When she didn't hear anything else she turned back to her diary and continued rambling to Tom about her life. She didn't really know why she felt the need to keep Tom a secret other than him knowing all of hers, she had kept secrets before but the need to keep the diary hidden far outweighed any of her previous attempts at keeping secrets.
She set down her quill once she had finished writing down her worries about the attack of Mrs. Norris and how she remembered nothing of that evening. Ginny remembered that she had felt odd a few times in the evenings but she never blacked out before and she really hoped that she wasn't sick with some rare disease. But Tom soothed her worries, of course she was safe and fine, she was at Hogwarts after all and none of the professors would let any harm come to her. And it was perfectly normal to feel tired in the evenings she had never been learning magic before or lived in a boarding school. She still had to adjust to the strain on her magic and energy, soon she'd be perfectly fine again.
Ginny was glad she had Tom, without him she wouldn't know what to do. He seemed to have an answer for everything and was a great listener. If only he had better advice on gaining friends but then she'd have less time for him. Oh she didn't know that going to school would be so complicated, she almost wished that she had been too young to come but not really. Learning magic was great if a bit lonely. She told Tom this and then started writing about Harry again when Tom asked another question about the boy who lived.