Pain! That's something I haven't felt in a very, very long time. It really hurts! I feel Luna clutching my pages, which is in and of itself a disturbing sensation to go with the pain. Then, I hear her crying I feel the pain and the wetness of her tears as they drip on my pages. The pain is the biggest sensation it is powerfully vibrant and slashes through my pages while my ink runs out in rivulets. Her hands press harder into my pages begging me not to go. I feel her hand on my own, dragging me pulling and yanking. Doesn't she know it hurts?

There's more pain and flashes of my memories and then black, black, and more black. At least the pain is gone now, but if I'm dead it's actually quite boring. I sigh which is more a metaphorical statement than an actual thing. I'm sure I've mentioned that from before since, again, I lack an actual body. Perhaps this is like limbo where parts of souls go and wait for the rest, no that can't be right. I mean I killed another one of my parts right? Shouldn't he be here with me?

Maybe that should be more of a sort of I should be here with him, or possibly we should be here with us? It's rather annoying to try and figure it out you know. Again I am annoyed with myself for making me. Wait no is that right? I'm annoyed with myself for putting myself in this situation. Much better, I guess although I suspect that language wasn't really designed to explain what happens when a soul is split apart and each bit goes its separate ways.

All in all I think I will prefer the darkness to being any part of Lord Voldemort. It did seem like a good name, but I had intended to use it as a backdrop to my plan to become Minister of Magic. Voldemort was going to be the guy all the Purebloods bowed down to in secret meetings and we'd look down on muggleborn and maybe kill some muggles in towns that no one cared about. Then I'd pass laws and make the world better for myself plus I'd have that whole army of loyal followers and I would live forever. Over time I could have ruled the entire magical world.

I'm thinking that the whole plan was flawed to begin with, but oh well too late now right? Maybe I should have just shot for Minister of Magic or maybe I should have seen what became of the Pure Blood children. If I had thought my plans would make kids like Draco Malfoy exist I'd have killed his father and ended the Malfoy line. Or not, maybe I was just a stupid sixteen year old kid. Now there's a news bulletin for you "Sixteen year old boy is stupid" they can play it at the local theatre before the nickel movie or however much a movie costs these days.

Wait I hear something or do I? No I certainly hear something. Oh and there's light over that way. Paradise maybe? "Are you okay dear?"

Oh yes feeling quite fine and dandy. "Mrphrghll phrgm glurp"

"Here try this shall we?" It's a nurse what's her name? Well I'm sure she has a name, but we'll just go with Nurse for now. She feeds us a potion and well that does feel better.

"Oh thank you, I do feel better." See I can even talk in coherent sentences. I decide not to go with any other languages I know right now as that would just confuse the situation.

"Oh good, your father will be coming to see you shortly and your friends wanted to see you too." What friends? My lackeys are all dead and where am I?

I look around and Luna's right here with me. Why Thom what a genius plan you had! Now, instead of dying you're stuck in a twelve year old's body. Fine just fine, I'll just take her over and be done with it. Stupid girl deserves it and . . . and. . . .

Oh fine, never mind it is utterly clear that I will not be killing her or taking over her personality for my own. So, where was I in my thought process? Oh yes what friends? The people who used to follow me around are long gone, apparently onto terrorism and then bribing officials to get out of their deeds, so I'm at a loss.

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, and her brother show up. I'm pretty sure it's her brother they share a passing familiar sort of look. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure they are related his face has a sort of dim look about it as if he might be hard pressed to add two plus two while Ginny seemed to actually have some intellect.

Harry has taken our hand, "You okay Luna. You were very upset when I destroyed the diary. I had to though he was going to take you over."

Well at least I convinced someone, even if it was just Harry Potter. "What happened after?"

I really wanted to know and so did Luna. "Well you passed out and I used the Levicorpus spell to bring you along and out of the chamber. We ran into Professor Lockhart and found out he had been stealing people's memories and taking the glory of their deeds for himself. He wanted to use the whole Basilisk incident to further his career and erase my memory, Ron's, and yours too."

I wanted to ask who Ron might be, but Harry took a breath and continued, "He didn't realize the wand he was using, Ron's wand, was fixed with spellotape and when the Professor cast his memory erasing hex it backfired on him. So, now Professor Lockhart doesn't remember anything at all."

We blink and look at him. What sort of insane luck is that? As a baby the killing curse fails because I/Voldemort messed up on making him into a Horcrux and Lockhart's spell backfires at just the right time? I'd calculate the odds, but I just sigh. We sigh that is and it's rather nice to feel the air going in and out of our lungs. "Well I suppose I should thank you Harry. I still think Thom had something good in him though."

I wouldn't go so far as "good" maybe more like a death wish. A slight inclination to prefer my own death over that of the only, non-giant basilisk, friend I have ever made in my life? Sounds a bit selfish to me actually and probably not dictionary definition of "good" still, it's the word we used. Harry didn't seem to know what to say to it.

Neither did Hermione, Ginny, or her brother. At least until Hermione said, "I don't know Luna, I mean he took over your body and tried to kill people. Sure, everyone seems to have been lucky, but he was out to kill all of us muggleborn because we aren't pureblooded wizards."

Sure, she says that like it's a bad thing! I wanted it to kill Draco Malfoy too you know, that utter arse, it's just that Salazar Slytherin got to the Basilisk first so I couldn't have it kill Malfoy because he was a pureblood. Well we shouldn't actually say that I suppose. "I just had a feeling that he liked me, that we were friends. I never had any friends before and it was very nice to have one."

Now she's hugging us, it's soft and yet a bit bony. It feels odd a bit warm and Luna reminds me that we ought to put our arms around her to complete the whole hug process. So we do that and it becomes a bit warmer and less bony somehow. Oh look Harry's hugging us too and Ginny Weasley, now it's a bit awkward, but still warm. I believe the human body is thirty six point eight or so degrees so it does make sense that it would be warm. Finally it ends and somehow I feel a little better is it because the hug ended?

Luna informs me that Hugs make us feel better. I would have gone with awkward and warmer, but fine we'll use that as a basis for better, especially if we're feeling cold. Now that the hug is over I believe we should ask the obvious question "Does this mean we're friends now?"

Everyone laughs and we are assured that we are indeed friends. We decided to ask another question, "If we are friends now do you think I should know this red haired boy's name? I think he might be your brother Ginny?"

He looks like someone hit him on the head. I guess he never thought that someone wouldn't know him? I can't see why though. Luna had met Ginny at the beginning of the year and they had a class or two together. Ginny had asked Luna some questions about the class and Luna helped her out. There had been mentions of a "brother" or was that "brothers" I think it was the plural form. Either way, names had not been associated with them and we were only relatively sure that the red headed boy was Ginny's brother due to superficial resemblances.

The red haired boy was introduced as Ron. The same Ron, I gathered, who had fixed his wand with tape and I was even more convinced that he was an utter dunce. Before Luna or I had a chance to remark on it the group was shooed out of the infirmary by the nurse. Soon after that Xenophilius, Luna's father, came in. Apparently there were different rules for visiting friends and visiting relatives. It made some form of sense we supposed. The man gave us a hug and we assured him that we were in perfect health and that we would see him once school was done for the year. This hug was also warm and a bit less bony, but personally I much preferred the one from Hermione Granger before other people piled into it. Something about that one had a pleasant feeling that felt nicer than the rest.

Then Luna pointed out that we could help her father by writing up an article for his paper, so we offered to do that. Maybe we could do something along the lines of "I was possessed by an Evil Diary an Insider's view". I was relatively sure we could make something up and it wasn't as if his paper was known for excellent high quality journalism. More like the reverse actually. Our or I mean Luna's father left and we rested.

We were released from the infirmary and sent to visit The Headmaster. Apparently the password was "gumdrop" and I learned something about Albus Dumbledore that I hadn't known before. He liked sweets, not exactly a world shattering revelation, but it was something new.

His office was set up with numerous magical items most of which were doing nothing more than looking impressive. His desk was large and imposing and the chair on the other side of the desk was set so that he was looking down at us. I suppose his star and moon robes were intended to lessen the effect just a little bit, but it was more like they were shouting out that he was so powerful that he need not cater to anyone else's fashion sense.

He gave us a sort of smile, something I think was intended to look grandfatherly. This in and of itself was an imposition, he wasn't our grandfather and he had no right to assume any sort of familiarity with us. He just pushed it onto us and said, "So Luna, you have had a hard time of things."

It was a statement of fact, not a question so we stayed silent. He pulled out the diary and by Merlin it looked like a dead animal. That was me? I almost died and yet I didn't feel nearly that afraid. Dying wasn't scary more like incredibly boring. Well that was more like almost dying, but we suspected that actual dying wouldn't be much worse. "This was Thom Marvolo Riddle's diary and he took over your mind?"

His eyes twinkled and was that Legillimancy? It was indeed so we tossed him out of our mind like yesterday's newspaper. He looked a bit surprised, "Did he teach you things Luna? Maybe dark things?"

"He told me that crumple horned snorkcacks probably don't exist and that there probably isn't a Rot Fang Conspiracy. I said, I didn't mind, but I liked to pretend they did sometimes." We used Luna's airy sort of voice. That's a voice that suggests that we may not be exactly all there in the head. The one that makes Ravenclaws and other people call her "Loony"

"That's it then, nothing else?" He gave us another concerned grandfather sort of look.

We shrugged, "Nothing terribly important I don't think. I don't remember setting the Basilisk free or writing on the walls though. So he probably did some things that I never saw."

Technically that was true Luna wouldn't remember those things and I myself avoided thinking about them since I had ended up splitting myself into two parts and going a little bit insane. As Dumbledore continued to speak I wondered if the insanity was partially due to being separated from Luna. "Well, do be careful, and I think you've learned a lesson about magical things that think for themselves yes?" We looked over at the sorting hat and wondered if he even recognized the hypocrisy inherent in his statement and the hat sitting there.

"Yes, sir I think I did learn a lesson." He nodded and sent us off.

More than one lesson I think. The first was never to attempt to be in a diary and a mind at the same time as it utterly messes your rational thought process up. Well at the very least the diary was destroyed so we wouldn't be tempted to do that again. The second lesson was that I was apparently incapable of performing actions that I might think Luna disapproved of. Mostly that seemed to mean that I was going to have to figure out exactly what she did and did not approve of or at least end up apologizing later. The third lesson was one I was learning even as Luna and I walked towards her room. I quite enjoyed being in Luna's head and maybe, just maybe it wouldn't be so horrible to stay with my friend.

I did wonder exactly what I was supposed to do with these other people who were now classified under the term friend, but mostly it seemed like I could ignore them. Well some of them at least. Hermione continued to enjoy spending time in the library with Luna and together we were more than happy to share some extra information with a mind that was intellectual instead of the general idiots and fools who walked around the castle.

There were tests to make up and classes to attend. However they were all exceedingly easy so I spent time studying my favorite subject. That subject was magic and the Dark Arts. I know the name is associated with evil, but it's also associated with blood magic. If Lilly Potter could craft a blood ward against the Killing Curse then what else might be possible?

We didn't get as far as I would have liked due to a lack of decent reading material in Hogwarts and somehow time had passed to the point that there was an end of the year feast where Gryffindor won the school cup due to a last minute change in points. When that happened I stared at Dumbledore wondering just what his plans were.

Then I realized that it was somewhat possible that he had discounted the possibility that I survived. Could I possibly ruin some of his plans now? Maybe I could in a petty sort of vindictive manner, but then again I think that's all I'm left with at the moment. Some bit of fun at his expense mostly because simply killing his biggest pawn isn't the right move. I'll have to think about that some more.

Luna and I took the Hogwarts express and her father picked her up. The first thing I did was start some research on Dumbledore and what he had done since 1942. I wasn't getting much from it in a way of understanding his plans though. So I passed the time helping Luna writing some articles in the Quibbler. Circulation increased some after that and a number of people wrote in to praise Junior Staff Writer Lovegood for her dedication to truth and journalistic integrity.

I wondered what was so hard about going to the Ministry of Magic, getting the information, and then publishing the facts. It seemed easy enough to me, but apparently it was entirely new to everyone who was reading the paper. Then I picked up an issue of the Daily Prophet and no longer wondered.

If the Quibbler had been a rag then the Prophet was a rag that had been used to wipe after using the toilet. I suppose it had been the same when I went to school, but such things were beneath my notice then. Then again a lot of things had been beneath my notice. How much time had I spent getting my Slytherin house in order and making them into my minions? How much time did I spend peddling Pureblood propaganda? So much time that I ended up believing my own lies?

It was a harsh realization and not one I wanted to dwell on. So we spent some time learning Norse runes, learning some blood magic rituals, and new spell casting techniques. We researched some of my/Voldemort's history and we wrote letters to Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. The last was apparently expected from friends during the summer months.

Ron and Harry weren't very good with keeping in touch, but Luna felt that boys were just like that. I had no response for her since I had never been the sort to write many letters anyway. Hermione and Ginny were, on the other hand, much more prolific with their letters. So we kept in touch with the other two witches one pureblood and one muggle born.

We didn't attempt to contact any of my/Voldemort's followers because honestly it didn't interest me anymore, especially not the whole terrorist leader thing. Not surprising either since I had way too many reasons to avoid following in his footsteps now. The biggest of which was my decision to continue dwelling in Luna's head.

Hermione asked us if we would like to visit and we decided to go ahead. Thus, we visited Hermione at her house and I must say that 1994 Muggle London was vastly different from 1942 Muggle London. Everything was faster and more fascinating there were even phones in people's cars now and it seemed like everyone owned a color television. We visited the Museum of Natural History and the nearby Museum of Un-Natural History. I honestly couldn't seem to get over all the changes on London and the rest of the Muggle world. It was like the Muggles had remade their entire world into a new image in only fifty or so years.

Not that there weren't issues in their world including their own terrorists, some of whom had apparently bombed a large building in America, but it was very interesting to see. We wizards were living behind this world secretly and that began to make sense to me. I had been tormented and fought back against muggles in my orphanage, but they were nothing compared to the muggles now. High powered rifles, nuclear weapons, laser guided bombs, maybe a ward could defend against the weakest of these things, but not the strongest.

I checked in Hermione's encyclopedia and the population was in the Billions. It made my plans to rule over Wizarding Britain seem like a child ruling over a toy castle. The Muggles had even gone to space; they had stepped onto the moon and returned. They had a station orbiting our planet and a probe called Voyager that was at the far corner of the solar system. All of this was done without magic and what had we accomplished? What had pureblood's accomplished with our vaunted principles and knowledge? I thought about it and realized that the answer was easy we had accomplished very little in any real comparison.

What I learned at the Granger household changed my world. It changed Luna's world too I think. The Wizarding World was amazing and spectacular, but so too was the Muggle world. Maybe there was a place for both to exist? What wonders could we accomplish if we put our minds to it?

Luna and I dreamed about it, we dreamed about colonizing the other planets and becoming the first Solarian Empress. Ships powered by magic and muggle means would head towards distant stars in our name. Our rule would be terrible and cruel and then we woke up, which was too bad because it was a nice dream.

The week at the Granger's was educational and Hermione hugged us at the end of it, which was really nice. I had to admit hugs were beginning to grow on me.

Not to be outdone Ginny offered to let us stay at her house as well. We were able to walk over from our own house and shared a room with the Red haired girl. She seemed to talk endlessly about two subjects Harry Potter and Quidditch. We avoided these conversations and met her many older brothers. Ron was also keen on Quidditch as well, but he also liked Wizard's Chess so we played a game with him. He was actually half decent at that, but it just made me wonder why he was such a dunce in every other way.

Fred and George Weasley were twin brothers and seemed quite disconcerted that Luna and I could tell them apart. At one point they even asked us not to do so in front of their mother. Honestly though all someone had to do was look at their magical cores and they would see the differences. Honestly why didn't their mother just do the seven hour ritual and cast the runes that would enable her to view magical cores with a single spell from that point on? Either that or she could have simply cast an ancient spell that hardly anybody left alive knew. Knowing she had done neither of these two things was depressing, especially since it was just one more example of how little wizards and witches actually bothered to study beyond their classes.

Percy Weasley was also in residence at the household, but we didn't get much chance to meet him. There was also an older brother named Charlie who was doing some job elsewhere and yet another even older brother named Bill in Egypt. Considering the chaos of the Weasley house I didn't blame either of them for leaving as soon as they could.

We also learned in this visit that Ginny's mother was something of a smothering sort and she seemed to wish to hug us any number of times. Her hugs were much too warm and although I think she was trying to be comforting, but it seemed more like overcompensating. Ginny's father, on the other hand, was mostly at work. He seemed to be an average wizard working in the misuse of muggle artifacts department.

That last bit was quite fascinating and when we had a chance we ended up asking him any number of questions about how wizards and witches had misused muggle artifacts over the years. If he thought we were asking these questions with an intention to misuse the artifacts in our own ways he didn't show it.

Time passed much too quickly and we left for home again. Apparently Harry Potter visited the Weasley's after we did, but we didn't hear much more about that. We were a bit busy in fact because after our visit to the Weasley house Luna and I took a little trip to Little Hangleton Village. I had already known that the Gaunt family was related to Salazar Slytherin before my first trip here. On that trip I had murdered a muggle girl in cold blood and tried to use that murder to put a Horcrux in my diary. I ended up putting myself in the diary, or perhaps I should say he ended up succeeding and thus I was born. I'm sure I've mentioned it, but being left to live in a diary was not exactly a pleasant experience. In point of fact it had driven me a bit insane something that only now seemed to be somewhat rectified by living in Luna's head.

So we were in the Village trying to find out what happened here. A bit of research into the Ministry of Magic's archives showed that Morfin Gaunt, the brother of Merope Gaunt went to Thom Riddle Senior's house and killed everyone there with the killing curse. Strangely enough he did it the same day that I was trapped in my own diary. That couldn't have been a coincidence really. Reading the history from the Ministry I think he used Morfin. There's no proof, of course, but I'm interested in walking down his path to see what he did. To understand maybe or perhaps I just want to laugh at his stupidity.

Better to laugh than to cry yes? Because if I sat back and thought about every idiotic plan he/I came up with there would not be enough tears. Better to laugh at him and maybe learn more. So in the spirit of learning Luna and I head into the Gaunt shack. Inside the shack it is cold and dark. It feels a bit like the web of a spider waiting in the dark and brooding. The walls are peeling and the rugs are dilapidated. The cupboards are falling apart and there is a must sort of smell coming from any number of leaks in the roof which have caused the wood to mildew and rot. The Gaunt shack is the very definition of dilapidated. It is a horrible place left to rot alone and in silence, but even so there are in the remains little reminders that this was once someone's home. That some long time ago this place was inhabited by humans instead of rats and cockroaches.

I doubt the Aurors who inspected the crime actually did much here. Mostly because, according to the Ministry report, Morfin gave himself up. Said he couldn't stand that Riddle had raped his sister and left the child while Morfin was in Azkaban. A confession like that and why bother investigating right?

We move further into the shack and note that it has also become filled with malicious traps and wards. I'm quite impressed with the ward work if I do say so myself. Still, they are not too difficult for me to remove and we find a blanket and a bed. It will have to do I think and this ritual will barely tell us much of anything. Still, Luna insists that we press on to find out more and so we do. Find out more about this person I could have been about this other bit of my soul that killed my father and left my uncle to fall for the crime.

With all the wards and traps taken care of we prepare the ritual and spill some blood into a cup. Blood magic is "evil" except it's also damn useful. Luna agrees with me that it has just been misunderstood because of the uses some people have put it to.

The blood in the cup shimmers and shows an image, it's me or more like almost me. I'm still sixteen not long after I trapped myself in the diary, but there's this look in my eyes that creeps me out. Insanity? Madness? I'm not sure and I don't like it at all. He/I am casting spell modifying Memories and then pulling Morfin's ring from his finger. The image fades and I feel very uneasy.

No, not uneasy, ill sick, twisted. There is a cancer eating at me and it is in this room. Luna feels it too and we can't help but dig at some bit of the floor until we find a secret panel. It is covered with more wards, but we easily take care of them. The panel opens and then we see the ring. Oh Merlin it tears at me, it fills me with loathing and disgust. I know what to do right now, just like I did with Harry Potter a swish of our wand and, "Avadakedavra!"

Green death hits the ring killing the thing inside. Killing something that was a part of me? I don't care, I don't want that. Maybe I thought I did want it may be somewhere in my puerile teenage mind I was that sick, but Merlin I don't want to be. I laugh at myself oh yes, much better to narrate your life as if people were listening to you. I laugh and tell Luna and she smiles thinking that it is much better; I can't honestly say I disagree.

The ring seems to be destroyed, but the stone set into it has survived. A strange symbol is on it and Luna remembers it from "Tales of Beetle the Bard."

The book isn't history, it's some sort of Wizarding fairy tale book. I think I remember the story. In it there were three brothers Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell. They came to a river which was too deep to wade across, and built a bridge using magic. Death appeared to congratulate them for their ingenuity, and offered them rewards (or so he said; his real intent was to give them traps which would be their undoing, because he felt cheated by their survival.) Antioch asked for a weapon that would always win any battle, a weapon worthy of one who had cheated Death. Death snapped a twig off an elder tree and gave it to him — the Elder Wand. Cadmus asked for something to give him power over Death, for he had lost his loved one before this encounter. It was also an attempt to humiliate Death. Death gave him a river stone, which, by the terms of the deal, became the Resurrection Stone. Ignotus, however, did not trust Death, and asked for something that would allow him to avoid Death. Death was trapped by his words, and handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility. The brothers continued on and went their separate ways.

Time passed. Antioch provoked a duel with a wizard he disliked, left him for dead, and afterwards boasted of his unbeatable wand. He was killed that very night by someone who had heard his boasting, and wanted the wand. Cadmus found misery when he brought his former lover back to life with the Resurrection Stone and learned she had been happier dead, ultimately committing suicide in order to truly join her. Ignotus hid from Death his entire life using the cloak until he finally reached a ripe old age, and he gave the cloak to his son. He and Death finally "met as old friends," and departed as equals.

The symbol on the stone we see is apparently the same symbol in the book. Honestly I never thought Wizards had children's tales until I read that book and now I think that maybe they still don't because here is the stone. Huge warning lights are going off in my head now and we breathe in and out slowly.

Today we decide not tempt magic stupidity shall we? Let's put it in a pack using something not our fingers to touch it and get it looked at by . . .

Well there's a problem. Dumbledore isn't exactly our first choice now is he? He wouldn't trust us and we don't trust him. As much as Luna wants her mother back and I'm sure I could use it for something, but this is deadly dangerous. Think about it Luna, think about it Thom even the Killing Curse didn't destroy it. Now that is a truly scary thought. This bit of gem work wasn't even hurt by the deadliest of the unforgivable curses. We carefully find something to put it into a pouch and head out of the Gaunt Shack.

The return to Hogwarts was nigh and so we packed our things and father, that is Luna's father, took us to the train station. The stone was left at Luna's house behind blood wards and notice me not charms.

We get the stone off our minds by examining the train to Hogwarts. A better example of muggle technology working with wizardry could not have been provided to us. The Hogwarts express was just a beginning of what could be done, but we didn't get to appreciate it nearly as much as we wanted because we needed to board the train. We put it on a list of things we needed to do at some point and then found a compartment. We ended up in a compartment with Hermione and Harry along with a sleeping man who was clearly in need of better clothing. When we entered we hugged Hermione and then Harry when we met them and then sat down.

Ron entered the cabin soon after that he held out his hand and so we stood and hugged him. Apparently this was not the exactly appropriate greeting as we recalled moments after hugging him. So we ended the hug and sat down he sat as well with his face a brilliant shade of red. Hermione and Harry looked at us and we said, "I had assumed he was to become one of our friends. Are hugs the wrong manner to greet friends?"

Hermione shrugged, "Well I guess. I hadn't exactly thought about it. I think he was expecting a hand shake though."

We looked over at him with our patented airy sort of gaze and he blushed even brighter as he looked away. Almost as if he had been caught taking something that didn't belong to him. "It's . . . ahm . . . okay she can ahh . . ."

Before he got very far there was a fracas as Hermione's part kneazle cat attacked Ron's robe pocket. "Ow! Hey call that beast off!"

Hermione took Crookshanks in her lap and petted him to calm him down. We looked at Ron, "Usually kneazles or part kneazles are somewhat okay with the friends of their owner. I wonder what he sees that leads him to think you are false."

"I'm not false. He's just bloody crazy!" A very defensive response if I have ever heard one. I was amazed that the other person in our compartment could sleep through this. I was also surprised that Ron suddenly had an extra magical core that wasn't his usual one.

"Ron how did you get another magical core? That could be why the cat doesn't like you"

He rolled his eyes, "Oh please Luna give it a rest won't you. Kneazles and extra magical cores what's next your Snorcacks again?"

Well that was rude of him; he could deal with it on his own then. Hermione on the other hand instead of responding to Ron asked, "Part kneazle?"

It was easy to know because he had been suspicious of Luna and I when we were visiting at least until we promised that we wouldn't harm Hermione. After that he had been pleasant enough. "Oh yes, he's definitely part kneazle. Suspicious of anyone or anything that's not trustworthy and highly intelligent."

Said animal preened as we complimented him. Since we were on the other side of Hermione from Ron we rubbed his ears and Hermione said, "Oh, well I did buy him in a magical pet shop and he's simply gorgeous. Now that you mention it I can see the kneazle in him."

"You don't actually believe that do you?" Ron dropped into the conversation.

I looked at him and said, "Care of Magical creatures page 235 look it up. Lion like tail, larger than normal cats, highly intelligent. A full blooded kneazle would have longer ears and a more leonine tail as well as more fluff, but honestly Crookshanks is clearly at the very least half kneazle." Crookshanks purred even louder at that and seemed to enjoy being lavished with even more attention as Hermione and I petted him.

Ron gave us both a look that suggested he thought we were entirely insane and that was fine by me because I personally thought he was a moron. Harry didn't get involved looking a bit embarrassed by the entire situation and unsure of what to do.

As we pet Crookshanks with Hermione we pulled out our book and pointed out what features were kneazle inspired. She nodded with us and then we went onto looking at other magical creatures while I spent a bit of time thinking about familiars. I didn't want a snake anymore, but Luna's idea of a rabbit wasn't making me excited either. So, we decided to go without.

Hermione and tried chatting with Harry, but he wasn't as interested in out visits to both Museums in London. He and Ron ended up talking together while Hermione and Luna caught up on everything since we had parted. As we chatted suddenly I could feel an icy chill of cold and memories from the Orphanage when it was at its worst hitting me. I knew exactly what it was and I knew exactly what could kill it.

Unfortunately Fiendfyre wasn't exactly a spell Luna could use right now. The cheering charm on the other hand was something we could cast and so we did. Even as the creature came to the window and the sleeping man woke up whereupon he cast the Patronus spell and sent the Dementor away.

Harry spoke up saying, "What was that?"

"I'm Remus Lupin and I'll be the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year. What we saw outside was a Dementor. They feed on happy memories leaving you only with the sad or frightening ones and if allowed to they will steal your soul with a kiss."

Hermione spoke next, "Why would it be here?"

"The Ministry thinks they can use them to capture Sirius Black." He responded and yet something in him looked less than trustworthy to me. Then I heard the story and here it was again Sirius Black was a follower of Voldemort and out to kill Harry Potter. Set to guard against him were Dementors.

From what Professor Lupin was saying the Dementors were sent by the ministry. Were they and who had a hand in ensuring they would be around? This Sirius Black wanted to kill Harry and here was Dumbledore playing the game again. Instead of myself or myself/Quirrell/Voldemort her was setting the board against this Sirius Black.

I decided not to get involved this time. I wanted to see or find out how it played out. Harry spoke as we were thinking about that, "What was the spell you used to get rid of the Dementor?"

Lupin explained that it was the Patronus charm and seemed to know a bit about Dementors, but didn't know that Fiendfyre can kill them. The Patronus charm works to chase them off, but trust me I know how to kill the things the problem would be using the dark spell in front of people. It really seems such a shame that so many decent and powerful spells are classified as dark which meant that Luna and I would have to be careful when casting them so as not to draw too much suspicion.

As we left the train we ran into Ginny. "Oh you sat with Harry! Wow I just couldn't get up the nerve to be in the same cabin. Oh and you were rescued by him too last year. Oh I totally forgot to ask about that when you were staying with us. I'm so jealous you know that?"

I think she went on and on, but thankfully we had to split off to Ravenclaw table. As we sat there thinking about it we realized she had actually said she was jealous that Luna had been rescued by Harry Potter. Can you even imagine that? She was jealous that she hadn't been in mortal peril.

I wondered if there was some method to remove someone from your friendship at that point. Luna wasn't sure and vehemently disagreed with my plan to put Ginny in mortal danger which might accidentally just end up being well mortal. That was entirely too bad, because the young red haired girl was entirely too annoying and the world would be better off with one less of her. Right there I personally decided that she was not my friend even if she hung around with people who might be such as Hermione.

Thus it was determined that Harry, Ron, and Ginny were just Luna's friends. After all they did not have anything to merit them to me. Soon after that decision we were at the Sorting Ceremony. There it was announced that Dementors would be guarding the school because Sirius Black was at large and potentially intending to kill Harry Potter for the Dark Lord. It was clearly overkill to use packs of Dementors outside of a Children's school just to catch one man, but it was just piling up evidence for a new theory I had in my mind.

In addition to the Dementors it was announced that Remus Lupin would be our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. From what I understood via Hermione he would be the third in just as many years. I had seen firsthand that he could defend against Dementors, but if he was actually any good at really defending against Dark Arts, then he'd still be a teacher next year.

That was the end of the ceremony and we all went to our respective dorms. Ah Ravenclaw tower how lovely it is to see you again. If I had known they had their own library I'd have tried harder to be a Ravenclaw when I started out. Then again Slytherin was much better for recruiting fallible purebloods whose only redeeming qualities were their ability to follow orders. Someone really ought to have explained the dangers of inbreeding to them, but that someone wasn't me, especially not when I had needed gullible followers.

We were only in second year now and couldn't take any elective courses yet, so Luna and I decided to learn Swedish while Luna and I excelled in our classes. Hermione had little time to visit with us although we were able to socialize on the weekends again. Sadly all Ginny wanted to do was talk about Harry Potter while Ron and Harry weren't terribly interested in the study sessions and extra education that spending time with Hermione ended up as. Yet another reason to keep them off of my list of Friends which now numbered a total of two.

"Ugh I really need to get back to my Arithmancy homework." Hermione said as we began our normal Saturday socialization.

"Do you have it with you?" She nodded and pulled it out. "Show me what you're having issues with."

"Here you see the equation isn't making sense." We looked where she pointed and considered it.

"It's written wrong here." We took the book and flipped through to find a different section. "See according to this here you can't have a negative in that part of the equation. I suspect it was meant to be a plus and someone printed it wrong."

We fixed the equation and then solved it. Hermione stared at us, "Luna that's amazing. How do you even know these things?"

Partial truth here, "Oh I spent a lot of time studying this already. I just enjoy knowing things."

"Well I'm taking Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures along with Muggle Studies." That plus her regular course load sounded nearly impossible.

"Well if you need any help I'm more than willing to do so. I know a lot about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes along with Care of Magical Creatures." We put a hand up and moved a wisp of hair from her face. Her brown eyes were almost mesmerizing.

"Thank you Luna. I will certainly need as much help as I can get." She hugged us and then we continued to study.

Sadly we only saw Hermione on Saturdays and the Ravenclaw house was filled with people who seemed to look down on Luna. Some of that might have had to do with her earrings and necklace and some of it was probably because Luna was far and above the best student in her year. We didn't bother trying to understand them they weren't worth our time.

Having friends in different houses was rather a gigantic pain. So we ended up doing some research on magic and the wizarding world. Mostly we had already determined that a large proportion of wizards and witches were idiots. They got themselves killed in moronic ways, they invented foolish games, and they seems to lack any form of sense. Magic seemed to make up for that by allowing many of them to actually survive even after a colossal blunder. Usually this just seemed to lead them into a more colossal blunder that finally ended their life.

That made me think some more. Grindlewald had a decently good plan, but it did have flaws. He got pretty far and then he was stopped as stupidity piled on stupidity and he lost the war. He got very powerful, but he was stopped. Yet at the same time the British Ministers of magic have all done utterly idiotic things and survived. Somehow Britain didn't fall apart unlike Grindlewald's magical empire. In the same vein Gilderoy Lockheart wanted to become famous and from Luna's memories and some research he had indeed become famous. However, that fame was at the expense of others. He wiped their memories and claimed their deeds for his own. Tighter and tighter he wound his lies until he came to Hogwarts and it all came undone. Voldemort, my other self the person I would be if I hadn't trapped myself in a diary. He'd gone totally off the wall, but still managed to get close to ruling Magical Britain anyway and then suddenly a baby takes him down.

Back to me again, I hatch a scheme to get Luna to basically kill me and I almost kill Harry Potter doing it. But I never realized that I was splitting some part of myself between Luna and the Diary or that I would end up insane. Harry Potter basically killed me because of that, except Luna dis something utterly Idiotic and somehow saved my life.

There's this connection again magic seems to incite stupid schemes and yet some people survive them and others don't. What's the difference between the people who survive and the others? The ones who survive had the motive to help other people or what might be called "good" motives. So there's a scary thought "good" intentions somehow help you survive and "bad" intentions somehow help ensure that your stupidity will get you in the end.

Where does that leave me? Dead I would say except for Luna. I'm not sure it counts as a get out of stupid intentions free sort of thing, but maybe we can keep experimenting with magic. Find out more about the very base nature of its workings. I'm sure I've said this before, but hey these are my thoughts and I'm allowed to repeat myself.

In addition to studying the link between stupidity and magic Luna and I also decided to read up even more on muggle history and science too. While they seemed to have their own colossal blunders and deaths due to ignorance it seemed as if later generations built on that knowledge anyway. Radium killed Madame Curie, but she inspired others to follow her while using safer techniques. So many people who, due to their muggle nature, lived in a world that acted within recognizable laws. Unfortunately those same laws were broken by Luna and I everyday by using magic.

In one of our study and social sessions with Hermione she spoke out, "I can't believe it! Harry and Ron are just refusing to speak with me."

That was new, "Oh why is that?"

"Harry received a Firebolt from an anonymous benefactor and I told Professor McGonagall about it." Okay that made sense Hermione told her head of house about a potential danger to Harry. He should have been thanking her right?

Apparently our confused look had Hermione continuing on, "He and Ron are upset because he could have used in in a Quidditch match. But, honestly he has a dark wizard out to get him I can't understand why they are so angry at me for keeping Harry safe."

Luna and I threw up our hands at that point. "I don't even have words."

"Then there's Divination! The professor is just arghh!" I do believe Hermione was actually pulling her hair now.

Neither Luna, nor I believed in Divination. Strange creatures that no one had seen yet there was some possibility that they might exist, but some way to predict the future? I thought it was utter rot and Luna spoke up for us, "You know it's just the old fashioned version of Arithmancy. Back when Arithmancy began it was seen that you could predict magical effects and so people branched out and started using it for divination. When Arithmancy itself didn't work they tried other methods like tea leaves and palm reading, even star gazing."

Hermione looked at us as we spoke and she said, "The professor didn't mention any of this."

I shrugged, "Well that's because some people believe it actually works and there have been a few of what they call true prophecies. But, most of those prophecies that were called true were what I think of as self-fulfilling. Basically some idiot believed the prophecy might be true and either tried to prevent it or worked to make it happen."

"So they made them happen purposefully or even accidentally?" Oh see there was the bright witch who was my friend.

"Exactly and with the rest well if you're vague enough you can claim to be correct or you can just make prophecies and lots of them then when something comes true point to one." We smirked at the end there.

"Well I'm stuck in that class though." She sighed.

"Just make it up and then take something useful next year or just drop it and enjoy some free time. You look like you could use it. How do you even sleep?"

Her schedule had to be crazy full and she must be working herself to the bone with all the classes she was taking. She shrugged and said, "I'll be all right Luna."

We hoped she would be.

Another study session came into our life and apparently Hermione and Harry were over their argument as she spoke, "Oh I met a hippogryph and he was simply lovely. Harry rode him you know?"

"He does like flying doesn't he? I hear he's the best seeker McGonagall has ever seen?" I may not even like Quidditch, but I do hear things.

She nods, "Yes, I barely do well at all on a broom comparatively. I don't think I could have even tried riding a hippogryph, but it didn't matter."

She sighed, "Oh why not?"

Luna suggested patting her shoulder so we did that. Apparently it caused her to sigh, but it did elicit more information as well. "Draco of course, he was rude and stupid and so Buckbeak scratched him."

"Leave it to that utter imbecile to ruin classwork for others around him. Merlin I can't believe he even remembers to breathe." Hermione laughed and she looked much less sad. I would have to work on figuring out how to provoke that reaction since her smile was simply stunning and her laugh was a delight.

"You know he hangs out with Crabbe and Goyle they're like his henchmen and they are even stupider than he is." She said this with a rather serious face.

Even so it seemed utterly impossible, "You know Hermione just because I believe Crumple Horned Snorcacks exist does not mean you need to tease me about other impossibilities."

There was that laugh again, "Oh Luna! It's true they exist and they are even worse than Malfoy when it comes to stupidity."

Merlin that boy was even denser than Ron and I thought Ron was a moron. The possibility that there were two Hogwarts students even dimmer than Malfoy seemed entirely impossible and yet Hermione hadn't lied to us before. "I trust you Hermione."

The study session ended with Hermione telling us more about the two and their escapades into the realm of utter idiocy beyond what I had ever considered possible. Unfortunately Draco Malfoy had powerful parents like Luscious and the whiny little brat complained to his father. Hagrid ended up teaching about less dangerous animals and Buckbeak, the hippogryph, was chained up.

In the meantime Professor McGonagall continued to teach transfigurations and sparked some interest in us. The interest was more related to the Professor than the class though, because she was actually in school with me way back when I was sixteen and now she taught transfiguration. Luna and I wondered what had happened to her in the intervening years, but apparently she hadn't done all that much other than fight Voldemort.

Professor Snape sneered at us as if making perfect potions was something he didn't wish anyone could do except himself. We began cutting corners and using little tricks I had picked up from Salazar himself and I'm relatively sure it just made Professor Snape even more miserable.

Professor Sprout continued to teach Herbology and Flitwick charms. We also had astronomy, but in general I would say we learned from these teachers and others, but that would actually be a lie. Even Professor Lupin's class was basically boredom writ large for someone who had literally practiced much Darker Arts than even the highest level classes would know how to defend against. Mostly we just passed our classes with perfect marks because we knew the material and in the meantime we continued to practice magic that was far more advanced.

The year was mostly interesting for the time spent with Hermione, "I need to find more on magical Trials. There must be something that can get Buckbeak off."

There wasn't the Wizarding world would kill the animal now. Nothing could be done and I had few words of encouragement for her. Then she added, "Plus Ron's rat has gone missing and he blames Crookshanks for it. Can you imagine that?"

"No, I really couldn't I think he'd have better taste than to actually eat a rat. Especially one as old as Ron's. Maybe it just curled up and died? After all rats only live about ten years usually." It seemed odd that his rat was so old anyway. I almost asked Hermione to see if she could find it and bring it to me for examination, but it was Ron's rat and his stupid problem. Let him deal with it.

If only he'd stop annoying Hermione about it. "Oh Luna! I feel like it's all hopeless." She threw her arms around us and began to sob. If I have not mentioned it before allow me to reiterate there is nothing pretty about a crying girl. Not even one as normally pretty as Hermione.

We put our arms around her and hugged back. Sure we could go blast the chain off the hippogryph, but people would know it was Luna. The same was true with transfiguration or really any other spell over where the creature was held. Anything we might do could lead back to Luna and if someone examined her wand they might just find spells we didn't want them to find. As much as Hermione was our friend it just didn't seem worthwhile to get in trouble for some stupid animal.

Not long after that we heard that Buckbeak had escaped and that Sirius Black had fled from Hogwarts with Aurors on his trail. The Dementors were sent away and the final feast of the year was held. I don't think it would surprise anyone if I mentioned that Gryffindor, Harry Potter's house, won the house cup yet again.

We later found out that Hermione, Harry, and Ron had a pretty interesting adventure relating to the gryphon, but Luna and I didn't get to hear much about it. It seemed to involve the fact that Sirius Black was innocent of informing me/Voldemort about Harry's parent's location. It also involved Peter Pettigrew who was the actual traitor and a rat animagus. Then it involved Professor's Snape and Professor Lupin, who was actually a werewolf, along with the Pettigrew situation.

I was sure we would get more information about it over the summer and yet at the same time we had mostly avoided any part of it. Whatever scheme Dumbledore was running he missed us entirely this school year. To me that showed he wasn't nearly as great a planner as perhaps he thought. It suggested that Luna and I were now free of his plots and could begin to think about working on other things.

Notes: Thanks to Byakugan 789 for a number of corrections and plot holes that needed to be fixed. This is a better story because they helped me out.