Ginny's quill rasps against the aged paper. She knows she isn't the cleverest first year on the train, or the most interesting, or the prettiest, even. She's just plain old Ginny Weasley, everything she knows shoved chock-a-block inside her brain, the first and last daughter, youngest of seven, poor, ugly.
She tells this to her diary, who insists she call it (him?) Tom.
"There's a boy sitting next to you," says a voice, and it's trickling into her ears like water. Ginny's head snaps up, and there she is, Luna Lovegood, her blonde hair and wide blue eyes making her look like a little child.
Ginny looks around, but only she and Luna are in the compartment.
Harry smiles. "I love you, Ginny," he says, and she looks at him from across the picnic table on the beach, stares into his eyes - green, like the Avada Kedavra curse. Her hand twitches as if to go for her wand, toss an emerald lightning bolt out like candy, but she is just Ginny Weasley, it isn't like her to do that. That's something he would do.
Ginny draws the curtains shut and starts to write. She talks about everything, about Harry and how he never notices her, how mean Ron and Fred and George and Percy are and how she's just another Weasley to meet other people's expectations. How she's meant to be the perfect little sister, but it's not so easy all the time.
She almost feels a hand on her back, another body on her bed, but there is nothing there.
Her hands, tired after a long day of classes, smudge and slowly turn black with ink. It looks like they are dying.
When she falls asleep, she dreams of Harry, but this Harry has neatly combed hair and pale skin and eyes of quicksilver.
"Congratulations, Ginny," says Hermione, looking at the engagement ring on Ginny's finger. "It's so beautiful!" And it is. It's a silver band, encrusted with blue jewels, and the centerpiece, the master gem, is the color of his eyes.
There's blood under her fingernails. She must've been scratching herself in her sleep. She slips out of bed and into the bathroom, grateful that nobody else is awake. She washes the scarlet off her skin and watches it run down the drain. She looks up, and sees a stray feather in her hair.
Later, she tells Luna about the feather, and Luna says that it came from a rare magical creature with the power to put dragons to sleep. The Feathered Osertro, Luna tells her.
Tom thinks it must've been caught in one of her pockets from the chickens at the Burrow. She remembers telling him about her favorite hen - Maggie.
Ron is looking from Ginny to Harry to Ginny's swollen belly. "So... you're telling me I'm going to be an uncle?" When Harry and Ginny both nod their heads, his face splits into a grin. "That's great, guys! Just keep it away from Fred and George." Harry laughs, and as Ginny watches him, she can't help but feel that something is missing. He's not him and for her, that's a problem.
"Welcome to my diary," says Tom. They're standing in a room that looks a lot like the Gryffindor common room, but in green and silver.
"Is this the Slytherin common room?" asks Ginny.
"Oh, no, nothing like it," he said. "I can change the surroundings at will. I get... bored sometimes with nothing to entertain me."
Ginny looks at the floor, and then at her shoes.
"Ginevra?" Tom asks. "Is something wrong?"
"I was just thinking," says Ginny, "that I'd... I'd like to kiss you but I'm not sure I'd like it." Her face burns. Did she really just say that?
Tom smiles at her. "Well, Ginevra... there's one way to find out."
He kisses her. Harry doesn't seem so amazing anymore.