Harry sat back against the compartment window. He had promised to save Ginny and Ron a seat while they said goodbye to their Mum. Mrs. Weasley wasn't taking well to the idea of her youngest child and only daughter leaving for Hogwarts. Harry watched out the window as it took the combined strength of both Remus and Mr. Weasley to pull the redheaded matriarch away from Ginny. He was once again glad that Remus had come with them today; it looked like Ginny had been having trouble breathing, her Mum was holding her so tightly. He still didn't understand why the gateway to platform 9 ¾ had sealed itself. And if it hadn't been for Remus being there Sirius would have had to apparate him to Hogwarts. Harry really hadn't wanted to miss Ginny's first train ride. Luckily, the werewolf had known the spell to unlock the gateway and they had been able to get through.
Of course, Sirius was now convinced that there was a plot against Harry. He was exceptionally paranoid.
"Harry! It's so good to see you."
Harry turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway, her hair somehow looking bushier than he had remembered. He stood up and quickly pulled her in to a hug.
"Hey Hermione! You look good. Come tell me how your summer has been."
"Well, my parents took me on vacation, but I told you all about that in my letters. And then I spent most of the summer reading and preparing for the new school year. Were you able to get all of your summer work done?"
"Yes, Hermione. I didn't want to have to face your wrath if I didn't." He watched her with a small smile as she tried to decide whether to yell at him for teasing her, or praise him for getting his work done. She settled for sitting down on the seat opposite him.
"Where are Ron and Neville? Have you seen them yet?"
"Yeah, Ron is outside trying to fend off his mum. I promised to save him a seat. And Neville is a couple compartments down playing Exploding Snap with Dean and Seamus. He said he would join us later in the ride."
"Hey you lot!" Ron stood beaming in the doorway with Ginny standing nervously behind him. "Can we crash this party?"
"As if I could stop you," Harry grinned. He got up to help load their trunks into the overhead storage compartments.
"You must be Ron's little sister," Hermione was saying to Ginny.
"Yes, my name is Ginny. And you must be Hermione. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Hermione eagerly pulled Ginny down in to the seat beside her and started asking her all sorts of questions about what she expected this year. The older girl's excitement made Harry wonder if she ever felt awkward being the only girl in their group of friends last year. But Harry was glad to see Ginny talking happily. She had been very quite on the way to the train this morning. As Harry was watching the two girls talk Ginny looked up at him quickly and sent him a full smile before returning to her conversation.
"Hey, mate. Do you want to play chess?"
"That eager to boost your ego, are you?"
"Nah, my ego doesn't need the boost."
"Then maybe you should join Ginny and I tomorrow morning for our sword practice. I'm sure I could fix that problem for you." Ron blanched at the thought.
"Not necessary. I already know you can wipe the floor with me."
Harry laughed as Ron set up the chess set. "Let's see if we can get a good game in before Malfoy comes around to annoy us."
The two boys settled down to their game as the girls continued to talk. Several hours later they were joined by Neville, whose right eyebrow was slightly singed—though they politely ignored this. It wasn't until they were finishing up the last of their sweets from the cart that the compartment door slid open.
"Well, if it isn't Potty and the gang," Malfoy drawled. "Looks like you've found yourself a new blood traitor to protect, Potter."
Harry instantly reached out to grab a fistful full of Ron's robes to keep him from punching Malfoy. "Ginny? She doesn't need me to protect her. She does fabulous on her own." Harry hoped Ron didn't notice the slight blush on his cheeks when Ginny beamed at him for that comment.
"Really?" Malfoy asked turning to the youngest Weasley. "Bet you couldn't curse me if you tried."
Ginny smirked at him and pulled out her new wand. "Well, since you asked so nicely…"
Harry laughed as the jet of light hit the blond boy and he started clawing at his face, attempting to stop the attack of the giant bat bogeys. It really was such a nice spell that Ginny had found, and it was her specialty—she had learned to cast that spell at the tender age of seven, borrowing someone else's wand. The curse was even stronger now that she could use her own wand to cast it. Harry raised his own wand and sent the Slytherin flying in to the corridor so that Neville could shut the compartment door. Then he turned towards Hermione for the inevitable.
"Harry! You shouldn't be using magic on the train! And Ginny! I know you don't know any better, but that really wasn't very appropriate."
"Oh, I knew better. But little rich boys need to be taught a lesson every once in awhile, and he won't be bugging me again until he can rid himself of the memory."
"Ginny!"
Harry thought that Sirius himself would have been proud of the smirk on Ginny's face.
Harry quickly settled in to his second year at Hogwarts. Ginny's presence at the castle added a great deal of enjoyment, as the two were fast on their way to becoming the next generation of Marauders. In keeping with this goal, they spent some time nearly every day working on their animagus transformations. Ron generally joined them for these sessions, but the redheaded boy wasn't nearly as motivated as his best friend and sister. They wanted to be able to fly. To her very great surprise, Ginny had been invited by Professor Dumbledore to join Harry in his extra sessions. In addition to continuing with their sword training the two friends were learning a form of combat training most comparable to Muggle martial arts. It was supposed to help you become a better fighter if you could duck and dodge better. Also, they spent many evenings in Dumbledore's tower office learning the types of spells that would never be taught to them in class. These lessons encouraged both of the students to excel in all their studies, and for once Hermione had willing study partners. Ron had complained about how much time Harry was spending in the library (though Ginny privately thought it was more how much time he was spending with her) until Harry had silenced him using a rather ingenious spell that only allowed the victim to speak in Pig Latin for the next twenty-four hours. Ron thought the spell was so brilliant he wasted no time before casting it on Professor Lockhart.
Sadly, this did not seem to hinder the defense Professor in any of his lessons.
There was only one dark spot on Harry's happiness. Professor Lockhart would not leave him alone. The defense professor seemed to think that the best way to further his own career was to become Harry's mentor. Only Harry had enough mentors already to realize that the man was a complete buffoon. This view was cemented in early December.
Lockhart, in a vain attempt to influence Harry, organized a dueling club for the school. Not knowing beforehand who was running it, it wasn't hard for Harry to talk the others in to attending with him. All five Gryffindors groaned when they walked in to see not only Lockhart but Snape standing on the large platform. They could not imagine any positive scenario involving their two least favorite professors.
"That man actually thinks he can teach me anything worthwhile?" Harry muttered to Ginny. "This is going to be a complete was of time." Ginny privately agreed, until she caught the somewhat enamored look on Hermione's face as she gazed at the smiling Professor.
"Not necessarily. Maybe we can show up Lockhart so much everyone else will realize what a buffoon he is." Harry grinned at her, he liked this idea. Maybe they could finally convince Hermione that Lockhart was a fraud. The bushy-haired girl had not taken kindly to the idea that Lockhart's books might not be entirely truthful, despite the many inconsistencies they had pointed out.
Thus it was that Harry made no objection when Snape volunteered him to duel against Malfoy. Instead, a feral grin spread across the face of the Boy-Who-Lived. This was going to be fun.
Lockhart counted to three for them to start, but Malfoy released his spell on two. With a large noise a great black snake shot out of his wand and started to crawl towards Harry, hissing the whole way. (Interestingly enough, he was hissing a rather strange rendition of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow".) Harry slowly lowered his wand as he eyed the snake. He knew he could keep it from hurting him, but he didn't want to publicize the fact that he spoke Parseltongue. He could still remember the explanation Sirius had given when Harry had discovered the talent at the age of eight. Most people believed the ability to be inherently dark. Once more raising his wand, Harry cast a silencing charm around himself and the snake. That should keep away curious ears. And just for good measure he cast a neat little charm to create copious amounts of blue smoke.
"Hello," he hissed. The snake stopped abruptly.
"What issss it you wantssss?"
"I'm going to release the smoke and I want you to go after Malfoy. But don't talk to me again, please. I don't want anyone to know I can talk to snakes."
"Very well. I can helpssss you."
Harry nodded before lifting both his charms. The conversation had taken less than a minute and it seemed that most of the school thought he had just been trying to confuse the snake. Only Hermione was looking at him oddly. Harry smirked at Malfoy as the snake slowly retraced its path back towards the blond boy, who was trying valiantly to hide his fear. Using the snake's distraction, Harry once more raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
This was his specialty, and thus it was no surprise when Malfoy flew backwards, his wand arching towards Harry who caught it easily. All would have ended well if Lockhart hadn't tried to banish the snake. He only managed to enlarge it to three times its size and set it upon a group of terrified fourth years. It was only Harry's whispered "Stop!" that kept the snake from attacking them. Luckily, everyone was screaming so much Harry didn't think anyone had heard him hiss at the snake. Though he had doubts based on the way Snape was eyeing him.
It was perhaps the dueling club fiasco that was the cause behind Professor Lockhart's appearance the next morning. The usually impeccably dressed Professor arrived in the Great Hall, shortly before the end of breakfast, with his hair hanging limp around his face. It was the most shocking shade of orange, and clashed horribly with his purple robes. He was heard to complain throughout the day that no matter how many times he tried his curlers would simply not work.
Harry spent most of the day breaking out into fits of laughter, and Ginny would not stop giggling, despite Hermione shooting them both glares throughout the day.
Christmas was soon upon them, and the five friends were talking excitedly as they boarded the Hogwarts Express for the journey back to London. None of them noticed the small figure hidden behind a large bush.
But Harry quite easily saw the large tree branches that came suddenly hurtling his way.
It was only his recent training that enabled him to roll out of the way quickly enough not to get hurt. When he raised his head from the ground it was to see the branches once more coming at his head. Harry only had time to hear Ginny's shocked scream before he once again was forced to roll out of the way. But Ginny's yell drew the attention of her twin brothers, who had been walking shortly ahead of the five friends. The two Gryffindor beaters quickly subdued the branches that were trying to demolish Harry. But they were forced to incinerate them, as the stubborn wood did not seem to want to give up.
Harry shrugged the whole incident off as one of those things that sometimes happened around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He never saw the small house elf who was now repeatedly bashing his head into the ground only a short distance away.
It was early February, and Ginny Weasley was very conflicted. She didn't know if she wanted to get Harry something for Valentine's Day. Well, that wasn't quite right. She very much wanted to. She just couldn't decide if she should or not. And she didn't know how he would react to a gift from her. There was no doubt that they were the best of friends, but Ginny couldn't tell if Harry thought of her as anything more than a friend. Perhaps he was too young for that idea to have occurred to him. Boys were notoriously stupid about such things.
But all of this was not helping her to come to a decision. She really needed someone to talk to. Her first confidant was always Harry. Even though she was now here at Hogwarts with him, they still spent a rather large portion of their class time writing furiously to each other on their parchments. But she couldn't very well ask Harry for advice about Harry. Ron was out for the same reason. He would be livid about the idea of his sister and Harry together like that. Ginny had briefly thought about talking to Neville, but the boy was so shy sometimes that Ginny didn't think she could ever get a straight opinion out of him. That only left Hermione. And Ginny did not feel comfortable talking to the older girl about her romantic problems. Hermione did not understand anything she could not get out of a book.
This left Ginny with no one to talk to while she tried to make up her mind. In frustration, she pulled out the battered diary her mother had gotten her over the summer. She needed a place to put her thoughts down.
Dear Diary,
Ginny paused while she tried to gather her thoughts together. But when she glanced back down at the book in her hands, the writing on the page had changed.
Hello! My name is Tom. Who are you?
Shocked, Ginny looked at the words. Was her diary really talking to her? That seemed so bizarre to her. The only thing that could compare was her and Harry's parchments, but they had had to charm those themselves. The charm only worked for you if you cast it on your own. How could this diary be writing to her without her doing anything? It made Ginny nervous. She wasn't used to the idea of talking to anyone but Harry this way.
Ginny put the pen down. She didn't want to write to this diary when she didn't know who was talking back. She would ask Harry about it tomorrow. Maybe he knew a way to make that charm work for anyone.
A/N: I know, it has been a couple weeks. But I had huge ideas in my head for one of my original stories, and so this took a back seat for awhile. The next chapter should be much quicker as I already have most of it mapped out in my head. I hope you enjoy. And, as always, I look forward to hearing your comments.
