Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the creator and owner of all things Harry Potter.

Chapter Two

That night, I dreamt of Hogwarts in the time of Tom Riddle. There was little difference, as he had told me, but I actually had people to talk to and who listened to me—it was refreshing to say the least. However, when I encountered Tom Riddle (I knew who he was due to a picture I had seen in the Daily Prophet after he had won the award for school service) he seemed cold and much darker than the Tom I had spoken to. As he knocked into me in the hallway, I woke up with a start.

I looked around quickly, trying to get my eyes adjusted to the dark. I had always been an early riser, and I wasn't terribly surprised when I turned to the clock I kept on my desk and found it was about an hour before sunrise. I decided to open Tom's diary once more.

"Tom?" I wrote quickly, hoping I had not somehow imagined my new acquaintance.

"Good morning, Josephine. It is morning, is it not? I cannot know for sure, but it does not seem like long since you last wrote."

"Yes, it is; I just rose. No one is up yet, so I decided to say hello."

"I was always an earlier riser as well. Would you like to continue our discussion from yesterday?"

"I would, but I really don't recall what I was going to say. By the way, just wondering, how exactly did you get stuck in this diary?"

"Well, I was always looked down upon in my school days; my service to the school was really crowning achievement. There was a boy, Abraxus Malfoy (perhaps you know his descendants), who despised me and performed a very dark spell that trapped part of my consciousness in this book in revenge. He thought it would allow me to become dazed and fail my NEWTs. From the look of things, he probably succeeded."

I stared at the reply critically as it began to fade away. He was lying, and I could tell. I was always able to pick up on when people were lying to me, and I couldn't decide whether or not I should I call him out on it. "That's..interesting," I wrote after a prolonged moment. That whole story was suspicious. Not to mention, in my reading of my parents and grandparents libraries (which were both very comprehensive), I had never encountered a single spell that could entrap another's consciousness.

"You doubt my story?"

"You shouldn't lie, Tom."

"I suppose you believe I lied about Hagrid as well?" he asked after a moment.

I glared at the page—he was trying to turn the situation around and put me in the wrong. "You were lying then as well. Now really, I'm not a confrontational person, but liars and manipulators anger me. Do not prove to me you're one of the two, or even both."

"You have quite the bark, Miss Farley."

"Oh, we're back to this already. I don't give many permission to call me Josephine, and if I do give you that permission, please make use of it. I'm quite aware I can be sharp—as you've probably gathered I don't exactly have many friends."

"My apologies, Josephine. I did not mean to offend you; I was merely surprised. You're acting rather different than you did last night."

"I suppose I should express my apologies as well; I just get exhausted with courtesies after a while."

"I'm very sorry to have caused you so much distress. You do not have to mind courtesy with me. I am just diary after all; I am meant for truths— you have not been completely honest with me either Josephine."

I could feel my eyebrows raise as my mind peaked with interest. How had he been able to tell my lie only through paper? Did we share a similar gift? "Quite. I suppose I should start with my reasons for wanting to live in your era. However, I doubt you will read anything you couldn't already guess at. I merely want a time where I'll get some respect. My grandfather might as well have slaughtered our families' name, and I'm stuck now trying to put it back together again. Not to mention, no one understands the term "reserved" these days. If one does not wish to spew out their mind at every possible opportunity, they're looked on as suspicious. Just because I don't wish to gossip at every available moment and have a touch of maturity, the girls in my year, and boys, I assume, believe me to be intimidating and cold. I enjoy solitude but forced isolation is not to my liking."

"My, you grow more interesting every moment, Josephine. I believe we might have been gotten along. However, I'm afraid I really must request something of you."

"What?"

"If I had much choice, you must believe, I really would rather speak to you, but I must ask that you find some way to return me to my previous owner, Ginny Weasley."

"You'd rather talk to that blood-traitor!" I wrote quickly, enraged. When he didn't respond immediately I became quite afraid I had spoken much too harshly, "I'm sorry, I spoke with little control. Please forgive me."

"Even the keenest of Slytherins cannot always hold their tongues. As I said earlier, Miss Weasley is not my favorite choice of conversational partners, but we have unresolved business. Will you return this book to her?"

"I suppose I must, even though I will miss the conversation. However, I believe I may have some complications considering I don't even know where the Gryffindor common room is. I could try enchanting it into her bag someday, but that may take a while and she'd have to be stationary—not to mention, I'd first have to locate her. Do you know her usual places?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean where does she usually go when she's not in classes, besides the common room? For instance, I always sit by the third table to the left right next to the law section of the library. In a school as big as Hogwarts, it's almost impossible not to have a small section that one familiarizes themselves with."

"One would think, but I assure you Ginny Weasley only stays in the Gryffindor common room. You will have to find the password for yourself, but I can certainly inform you of the location."

"That's better than nothing. Where is it?"

"It's behind a portrait of a rather copious woman on the seventh floor."

"Why does it have to be a portrait? How am I supposed to not be caught by the lady?"

"Perhaps the direct approach would not be wise."

"Yes, but I don't exactly have any friends in that house. I could try to gain help from Vanessa Rowley, seeing as we used to exchange words at the occasional Christmas gathering, but it would take weeks to gain her trust enough that she'd take the book, not ask questions, and safely deliver it to Weasley without investigating it herself. I take it you don't have that much time, and I, frankly, would find it trying."

"Time is rather of the essence."

My mind came to a conclusion I was not terribly pleased with—something I didn't have any right thinking in the first place, if I knew what was good for me. I felt nervous even writing it on paper, though I knew it would soon disappear and never be traceable. "Well if it's as important as you say it is, I suppose there is a possible solution, but if I got caught, there would certainly be some disastrous consequences."

"I think I have a fairly good guess as to what your answer is. I must admit I didn't expect you to think of such a thing, Josephine. You would really cast an unforgivable curse for me?"

"As I said earlier, I don't have many friends. Really now, it's not as though I'm going to order her to jump off a cliff."

"You consider me a friend?"

"Of course not, I've known you for what? Less than a day? But I don't have many acquaintances either."

"I'm not sure I want to know what you would do for your friends."

"I don't plan on having too many; however, I'll try to tell you when I get one. Well, I suppose this is goodbye. I have to go to class now. You should be pleased; because of you, I was writing straight through breakfast. I hope, perhaps, I may find this book again. Best of luck, Tom Riddle."

"The same to you, Josephine Farley; I'm sure we'll meet again."

I shut the book somewhat hesitantly before putting on my uniform with as much haste as was possible while maintaining neatness. I straightened my tie while looking over my appearance in a mirror that hung on a nearby wall. My appearance was neat enough with my dark curls twisted in a long braid. I straightened my glasses so they were perfectly placed over my grey eyes. I certainly wasn't a stand-out in a crowd, but, then again, that's what the Blacks and Malfoys were for—they were the face of pureblood society, but families like the Farleys were the brains.

Some ten minutes later, I walked through the door of Professor Snape's classroom for double potions with the Gryffindors, taking my usual empty table in the back right of the room. I did not sit in the back because of fear but rather because I preferred to sit alone. I had always done fine enough without a partner, and I was a creature of routine.

Professor Snape soon began lecturing about Strengthening Solution while my mind began to drift. How in the world could I approach Rowley again after not talking to her for ages? Not only would I have to separate her from her friends, break the law, but then I would have to make her forget returning the diary. I had some serious thinking to do.

"Miss Farley?" asked Snape, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yes professor?" I asked smoothly, an eyebrow raised in polite curiosity. I would never let him catch me not listening, especially considering he had a habit of writing everything he said on the board.

"What exactly is the importance of adding the Griffin claw on the second day of brewing?"

I almost laughed. Out of all the questions, he had asked the one I already knew the answer to. "It absorbs the potency of the set Salamander blood."

"Exactly; ten points to Slytherin."

I smiled. It was all far too easy. When the professor instructed, I continued brewing the Strengthening solution. All went perfectly, from the exact heating to the addition of the Griffin claw. Professor Snape must have thought so as well, considering I left the class having gained 25 points for my house.

After a fairly uneventful charms class centered around disillusionment charms, I found myself sitting at the Slytherin table for lunch, thinking very carefully over my plan. I had my eyes trained on the back of Vanessa Rowley's head, waiting for her to leave the great hall. I would then follow her from a distance where I would wait for her to go down a deserted corridor which at some point she was bound to do, that was if she left the hall alone. I would then cast the curse, give her instructions and the diary, and be on my merry way. As I saw her blond curls begin to rise, I carefully gathered my materials and waited until I saw her l get up from her seat, unaware of what was to come.

I walked quickly as to keep up but slowed when I felt I was getting close enough to be seen. It wasn't long before she turned down an obscure hallway, and all I had left to do was merely pull out my wand, point it at her curls, and faintly whisper, "Imperio."

"Stop," I murmured, only loud enough to be heard. Vanessa quickly stopped and turned to face me. I knew immediately why exactly the curse was against the law as I looked into her clouded eyes. I could tell that if I did instruct her to jump off a cliff, she most certainly would without the slightest thought. That sort of power was both enthralling and frightening.

"Now listen very carefully Vanessa. I need you to do me a favor. Take this book," I grabbed the diary out my bag and put it in her outstretched hand, "and put it on Ginny Weasley's bed. If you are addressed or asked a question, you are to act normal but quickly end conversation. After you have done as I have asked, you will forget this whole encounter and be free of this spell. Now go." I was surprised how cold and commanding my voice sounded. I waited until after she was out of sight before I scurried off to the library. I had a good portion of A Secondary Guide to Wizarding Law left to reread.

A/N: The next chapter is after a rather sizable time skip, so if Hogwarts age Josephine is really getting on your nerves, you'll find that she's changed some and is definitely more savvy when it comes manipulation in the coming chapters. Anyway, I'd really like to get some feedback, so please review and have a wonderful day!

P.S. Thanks to everyone who's followed the story so far!