Disclaimer: HP is JKR's. TDD is by me.


September 2, 1995

Dear Journal,

Being a prefect is a refreshing notion, I suppose. It's fun to tell off whomever you want, pointing to the slightly luminous, glittering, and green badge. Though it's not fun when some brats decide to retort. One second-year who looked quite too young to be snogging replied swiftly, "Oh yeah? Well what about you and your dark-haired angel over there? Is what you were doing last night something that the headmaster would appreciate?"

I almost started to lose my paleness before starting to revel in his attentions. "And how would you know what Professor Dumbledore's opinion of his Prefects are?"

Obviously he had expected me to burst out a defense, which would have not only incriminate me but humiliate me to the same extent. He was unprepared and while he was hesitant in his response, I, full well knowing there were several options for him to take to retort to my rather lame response, hastened to send the young blushing girl to bed before returning to the side of my 'dark haired angel' in the useful shadows of the common room (did I ever call them a downside? how silly of me!).

"I had no idea you were so against such behaviors, Draco," she whispered to me so quietly it was like a puff of air, her lips brushing my ear as she spoke. I easily caught the grin in her voice, however carefully controlled her face was.

Considering my range of honest answers, such as 'they're much too young' and 'innocence must be preserved,' I replied simply, "Well, haven't you discovered the joy of a badge?"

As she turned her head, I felt her raven-shaded locks silkily glide across my cheek. So different from a slap. "I prefer to be a liked prefect," she said, turning idly to the pages of her Witch Weekly. And so, recognizing the wisdom of the popularity princess, I decided to knock off my antics; well, to the Slytherins at least.

Potions seems to retain it's interesting-ness, despite the dark circles of Professor Snape's eyes. As a spy for the Dark Lord, I suppose he has to dedicate a lot of time to both sides. The Potions Master singled out Potter's Potion of Peace (or whatever the hell it's called) and criticized it sharply as I attempted to aid Gregory with somehow fixing his potion, which was starting to hiss ominously as it steadily melted through his cauldron.

The bell was welcome, so we all shoved our materials into our bags (with perhaps the exception of Greg's shattered cauldron) and scurried out the door. Arithmancy has gotten, if anything, more difficult. Professor Vector is intent on giving us the Arithmanciatic tools to root out almost every magical and non-magical property of every number into infinity. We'll be starting simply, she said, with random four digit numbers. For one and a half hours per day. Magical properties of 8925, quick!

Simply, she said.

O.W.L.s year,

DLM


September 3, 1995

Dear Journal,

Care of Magical Creatures has started again. And hey, it's actually decent! Professor Hagrid is gone (Father hinted earlier that it has something to do with giants -I wouldn't be surprised; this isn't the first time Prof. Hagrid has futilely attempted to make peace with creatures) and Professor Grubbly-Plank.

I was feeling very much in my element today, able to quickly run off a joke about Potty, Mudblood, and Hagrid in quick succession. Potter, trying to eavesdrop (there's one with no subtlety), was clawed by a Bowtruckle, which only added to my glee. How many times has he disregarded my third-year injury with the reason that I wasn't paying attention? It's like revenge, except I didn't even have to do anything.

Can you believe it? Care of Magical Creatures actually made me happy,

DLM


September 6, 1995

Dear Journal,

Quidditch tryouts today. No one had even bothered to try out for Seeker other than yours truly, for they knew about Father's generous donation, and felt that they had no chance. Shame. But oh well.

And hey, did you know -since Wood has graduated long ago, the Gryffindors have chosen another! New blood, you ask? Well, actually, not so much new as Weasley. Yep. The third remaining male weasel in school has now also decided to play on the team. "Haven't you discovered the joy of a badge?" I had said, days ago, to Pansy. As for that...

Muaha- oh forget it!

DLM


September 10, 1995

Dear Journal,

God, I wish we could just learn Dark Arts and be done with it! The Defense Against the Dark Arts is more useless than ever. For the first lesson, we just stared blankly at the pages. Sure, we can't do magic, but seriously, shouldn't there be discussions, or notes? Any rousing of the class, or at least of the teacher, would have been quite welcome, instead of her just sitting, smugly staring at the dozing students, unblinkingly and sharply. She has to be the worst teacher in the history of Hogwarts. Well, dismissing Professor Binns; he's dead, maybe his lessons were better when he was alive.

It has to be expected, though. "There again, progress for progress' sake must be prohibited, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering." Since when has the wizarding community been perfect? The Slytherins had listened attentively that long ago day of the feast, for while we knew that the Ministry, in being against Dumbledore, was effectively in the Dark Lord's pocket, none of us really knew what was going on with the whole thing, thanks to our careful parents, so there was nothing doing but to listen to what little the Ministry would reveal.

She makes it too easy, as we discovered by the time we sat the second class, because Professor Umbridge thinks we're all idiotic, immature, mischievous, and altogether simple-minded and untrustworthy. Which is not an attitude that fits at all well "those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching," is it?

After the confused first lesson, us sly, slithery Slytherins made good out of dull (now, if only we could apply these techniques to Vince and Greg). We just raise our textbooks to our faces and spread the news. Um, Professor, of course it's not Dark Magic that we're using to gossip about the Dark Lord's return and what we can glean from our stoic Death Eater parents, because remember you don't believe in the existence of any of those things! As I said, it is just too easy.

So what have we decided, after about two hours of discussion so far? Sturgis Podmore may have been part of an anti-Dark Lord organization, and consequently was arrested by Fudge, whom everyone agreed was playing straight into the Dark Lord's pocket. And, as for the matter of Sirius Black, some of them think the dog was a pet and therefore secret trademark of Black's presence, while the few others assumed either that the animagi theory was correct or are still puzzling over it. That Sirius Black was present, however, was a unanimous idea, especially considering the recent report in the Daily Prophet about his presence in London. Finally, the current location of Professor Hagrid was a quite debated subject. Teddy claimed that his father, in between bouts of laughter, had said privately to "a friend", "...The fool...oaf...giant...vacation...France...Ha!...Idiot!..." Some people thought that the half-giant might have been foolishly vacatioing in France. Some surmised that their teacher might have made a stupid alibi involving vacationing in France. Yet others hypothesized that the words were entirely unrelated, humorous bits of the man's day. And a select few of the class believed that Teddy was making it up because he wanted attention. In summary, a quite successful first meeting; and one that not only provided us with information but an even larger thirst for more. I, of course, had a little idea of the truth, but I wasn't very eager to share it. Teddy was quite self-sufficent and had never gone out of his way to respect or admire me, so I didn't feel any pressing need to help him out. Any evidence of the shady spell (and we didn't leave anything physically traceable) could be attributed to Professor Umbridge, because that cannot be put beneath her, with her slightly (for lack of a better word) Slytherin ways.

Speaking of her, she also appeared in Care of Magical Creatures today. She had nothing to complain about for Professor Grubbly-Plank, the excellent substitute (why she doesn't teach us permanently is the mystery), but seemed to hint that she had no patience for Professor Hagrid. She asked Gregory about previous injuries she heard about, which in itself is slightly unfortunate, seeing as Greg is the thickest person I have ever had the fortune to meet. I quickly retold the heartbreaking tale of my injuries. Potter tried to intervene, but only earned detention- a fact that both reminded me of that late night confused by dragons in which I was unjustly punished and made me very smug. It was the first time I had a glimpse at her allegiances (houses, the war, and otherwise), and I soon realized she very much despised Potter, at the very least.

Unfortunately, Milly and Tracey have been feeling very left out, because they haven't quite learned the art of Dark; Milly with a father a muggle and therefore her mother a blood-traitor, and Tracey being the Slytherin-y little sister of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captian; her resentfulness, pride, and determination to outshine her (she calls them "oppressing" and "old-fashioned" and "idiotic") family landed her in Slytherin for the first time in generations. We tried to tell them that it was for their own good that they didn't kow these endangering facts, so we switched to another cheering tactic that we wouldn't feel guilty about them knowing if they found out on their own, so it was just for our own selfish sakes and yeah, we're horrible people, but aren't you too for pressuring us? They slightly cheered at our self-mocking manners, and Milly dismissed it completely when Pansy said that it was just a load of guessing and gossip; meanwhile, Tracey became more upset. However, you know me; I was never quite fond of Tracey, so I let Pansy go comfort the girl. Milly then offered to lend me a book, but I quickly declined, to her bemusement. "Look, Mil. I can't accept that. I explained this to you at the end of last year, when I returned that Walk Two Moons book to you unopened. Don't you understand the obligations I have? To all that my family believes in? This is my duty, however I may want to refuse it, to stand against Muggles and Mudbloods and the Headmaster and the peace-activists and the troublesome threesome-"

"Like you have a problem with that! You hate Potter and his pals, and you already spat on anyone with an ounce of Muggle in them, no you listen, Mr. Pure-blood Malfoy! It would've done you a lot of good to read that book, you know! I thought you were different when you were actually kind to me before, but I don't know, that was probably one of your random mistakes in judgement. You have an obligation to hate me, too! Am I right? You know, it's at times like these that I hate being in Slytherin and I know why I am one. Because I know, the Sorting Hat may even say this is my great ambition that landed me here, that I will not sink to anyone's level, or just to anyone!" She paused for breath, and I was horrified to see the tear streaks lining her face. She had never, in all her less-than-pretty years, looked so magnificent. "So there, Draco Malfoy. I guess I was swayed by you, and I started almost being convinced. I helped you in your madness against Potter, for goodness sakes! He's- you know what, forget it. I'm sick of this. I'll... I'll... I'll talk to you later." And she fled into the girls dormitories, where I assume Pansy fixed her up.

God, why do girls PMS like that? And Potter has even converted Milly, for goodness sakes! Not only can he stick with his pals and Headmaster and teachers and everything, he has to stretch out his influence and take my friends, too. To think I had ever thought of him the slightest bit differently after that Diggory ordeal.

Thankfully, she emerged from the rooms, with Pansy supporting her, her face dry and calm. "I'm sorry Draco, I just overreacted." I accepted it, and hinted towards it being her time of the month. She playfully slapped my cheek (not hard), which reassured me that we were okay now, and exclaimed, "Ugh! Boys are so immature!"

"And that's why you love us, right?" I replied, just happy and relieved, smacking Pansy on the cheek. So drama's good now. Phew! I would just have to avoid the subject of Potter and books around her, just in case.

Hm, I'm still trying to expand my "epiphany" thing from the last entry. I've got an idea that might resolve a little bit of punctured pride from last year. Oh yeah, and the reason I love taunting you about random stuff, my sweet (ugh, quick mental image of Filch crooning at Mrs. Norris) book, is because I can drop hints like I can't do for anyone else I know (you won't annoy me or guess, use it against me, or force me to tell you; therefore, you are safe) while still satisfying myself...

Sorry dear, it has to be done. But my final point would have to be that you don't mind, so I can't feel guilty, now, can I? Unless you do mind... But books don't mind things, right? Other than minding the secrets of their owners, that is... I hope not...

DLM (is spooked)


A/N: For Draco's information, what he refers to as "Potion of Peace" is actually "Draught of Peace." Personally, I find Potions a possibly thrilling class. I would certainly love to try it, though maybe with a more forgiving Master than Sevvy. I know, it's shocking, Draco and his fellow kids know Dark Magic, but you know their home environs... Oh yeah, and Milly is wise beyond her years, though it's too bad that Draco doesn't listen to her (gah, I have to wait until sixth year for enlightenment)

*HYPERVENTILATION!* New reviewers! Yay! (If you are still a 'silent' reader, I'd love to hear from you... even if you have terrible typos... I know you're out there...)

tweetybird123: You're very welcome! Thank you for calling it 'different,' I was so worried that this had been done before, because the idea of a journal from Draco is so basic. Keep reviewing, please.

Your Undoing: Ah yes, frightening but satisfactory, I would imagine. Though probably strictly raised, I've tried to write a slight warmth to them, especially Narcissa with her non Death-Eaterness. Can't you just imagine Mrs. Weasley exclaiming "This is so perfect!" when Ron tells her that he's getting engaged to (or just dating) Hermy? I hope this fulfilled your wishes, sorry it took so long to post. (two days instead of one- what a nightmare!)

mjmusiclover: You skipped it? (eyes pop out of head) YOU SKIPPED MY IMPASSIONED NOTE ABOUT DH AND MUSIC AND BEAUTY? Go back and read it, quick! Egads! (and thanks for the magically -ooh, that gives me an idea that means a one-shot is in order! Must hurry!)

Lovealwayshopes: Complicated? Success! This is my first fanfic, and utmost importance has been placed on the point of characterization. I do not want to be one who has all the characters the same bubbly way, or opposing JKR's wonderful, er, "seven bibles" of sorts. As a story in a review, quite excellent (as I imagine an humorously-exaggerated Voldy would have a quite Mr. Burns way of saying it) and EYE-TWINKLING indeed. *eye twitches creepily* Now why wouldn't anyone not shudder at that? Histrionic Prat was very 'excellent' indeed, Voldemort is quite stupid and arrogant sometimes. As Tom (ha, another Tom, so there, Riddle!) in Abarat wisely remarks, "Intelligence without love is an empty thing."

pigsrulealot: My disclaimers? Sorry about the terribly short one. Wish granted (sorry you had to wait twice as long as it usually takes) And of course, keep reading, keep reviewing, and I keep writing. Love? Your choice of words is so flattering! I'm thrilled, really!

This chapter has been slightly grammar and spell-checked now. Ack, I must have been really sleepy when I wrote this. So anyway, it should be better now.

More updating has occured. I noticed I had completely passed over a very important scene in which Draco displays a knowledge of what's going on with Hagrid. So another entry has been added, with a few little changes to the others as well.