A/N: this is my first fanfiction, and i would love contsructive criticism, but please be nice. Also I don't own Harry Potter.

Lily Potter skipped home excitedly. Uncle Charlie was home from Rumania, and he had taken her, Albus, and James to Diagon Alley; James and Albus needed their books for Hogwarts, but Lily still had another year to go before then, so she just tagged along. He had even gotten them ice-cream, the really good kind with chocolate and nuts while they were shopping. But the best part of it was that Lily had found a gorgeous diary. Her friend Sarah Jordan had a diary, and Lily had wanted one for at least a year. But every time that she asked Mum to buy her one, Mum would just change the subject. Now finally she had a gorgeous diary, the kind that had a lock on the outside, gorgeous pages with flowers in the outside corners, and a book mark to keep her place. She also bought a gorgeous quill to write in it with. Now Mum couldn't even complain about the diary because Lily could just say that she was practicing writing with her quill, something she still didn't have the hang of.

As they apparated to the edge of the wards around their house Lily said "Race you" to Albus, and of course he won again. Mum was in the kitchen when they got in and she smiled, "Did you get all your textbooks, Albus? How about the new robes you need, your old ones are far too short"

"I forgot about the robes, but we got all the books. Oh and look at this cool quill, it changes colors when you tell it to, you just say red, and it turns red, it'll be really useful for note taking."

"Mum, Mum," Lily jumped up and down, "look what I got, isn't it pretty" Ginny looked at the pink cover with the word diary written in cursive, her face turned pale, and she stumbled over to the kitchen table. "What is it Mum? Are you okay?"

"I'm alright Lily, I just need a moment, and I had a little bit of a shock." At that moment James and Uncle Charlie walked in, "I'm alright", mum repeated.

"Gin are you sure?" asked Uncle Charlie, "I can stay if you need anything."

"No I'm alright and Harry should be home in a moment, I think I hear him coming through the wards now."

Lily ran outside to greet her father, "Mum just turned really pale and I don't know what's wrong. I showed her my diary and she almost fell over. Do you think she's sick, should she go to St Mungo's" she blathered.

"Shh Lily I'm sure she's fine, let's go inside"

When they got inside, Mum looked a little bit better, Al had brought her some water and she looked less pale. "I'm fine" she said again this time to Dad, "I just had a little shock, seeing this diary."

"What do you mean Mum" asked James.

"Let's go to the living room, there's a little bit of a story about me and diaries, and it's probably time that you kids should know about it anyway."

"In the living room Mum sat on the couch with Dad and the kids around her, James on her other side, and Al and Lily on the floor in front of her. "Before I started my first year at Hogwarts, when your grandma and grandpa took me, my brothers and your dad to Diagon Alley, someone slipped a small diary into my new cauldron together with my books. I started to write in the diary about myself, about how Uncle George and Uncle Fred were playing pranks on me, Uncle Ron was annoying me, Grandma made me do too many chores. Just ordinary complaints. But someone started writing back to me, his name was" Mum sighed and looked at Dad, "Tom, and I started to be really friendly to him, he was always nice and understanding. Then I started to become too obsessed with it, I would barely talk to my roommates, I skipped meals, and I would write in it during class. Around Halloween, I started doing things but not knowing that I was doing them, this continued for almost the whole year. Tom was making me do things to hurt muggleborns, and at the end of the year he made me go down to a room in Hogwarts called the chamber of secrets. He wanted me to die there so he could use my life force to bring himself back to life."

"Lily that's not what every diary is like, and in fact I heard from professor Dumbledore, you know Albus is named after him that that diary was unique, but can you understand how it kind of scared your mother to see it" said Dad.

"I'm so sorry Mum "Lily cried. "I didn't mean to upset you; I'll go throw it away right now"

"No Lily here's what we'll do I'll bring it in to the auror office with me tomorrow morning and I'll check it for any spells, just to make your Mum feel a little more comfortable with it, and then you can write in it as much as you like. Okay, Lily" said Dad.

"Thanks Dad and I am sorry Mum. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's alright Lily," Mum reassured her, "can I have a hug?"

Late that night Lily's dad woke up suddenly and saw a small figure clutching her teddy bear. "I had a nightmare Daddy. Can I sleep with you and Mom tonight?"

Sure Lily, is it the diary?"

"Yes, I dreamed that it came and ate me all up"

"It's okay Lily, it was just a dream. Remember that it was only Mum's diary that worked like that okay. And just in case I'll take it into my office tomorrow and make sure. But if it starts responding to you, even after all that let me know alright?"

Harry looked over and saw that Lily was sleeping peacefully and quietly went to sleep himself.