The first period I had no classes and I found myself walking to the dungeons to Snape's classroom. He was examining papers. He sneered derisively at one of them and then noticed my presence. His sneer turned into a genuine smile. The door closed behind me and with a flick of his wand a luxurious chair appeared for me to sit on. "Draco, how good to see you," he drawled. "Surely you can tell me why he is getting a Troll for potions?" I smirked, it was from Terrence Higgs.

"Because he's a prat?" I say hopefully, looking over the paper. Sev rolled his eyes. I started reading the paper about felix felicis and I soon found it to be full of mistakes.

Sev was looking at me. "So he was a prat?"

"It's not his fault," I say sheepishly. "He's just upset that he lost his position as seeker.

Sev's eyes were sparkling angrily. "I think I am going to have to put him into detention for an abysmal effort in potions."

It was no use telling him that that is not necessary. Sev seemed personally offended. I then remember Pansy helping him with his potions assay and I smirk. She must have been less fond of him then she had seemed, as she normally was pretty decent in potions. "Is he normally so bad in-" I am asking.

"No," Sev shortly says. I was sure Pansy did it because Terrence Higgs had been a right prat to me the past few days and even if she was cross with me, she'd never like anyone being mean to me.

"Ginny has been helping me with quidditch," I then blurt out.

Sev seemed a little bit distraught for a moment and then smiled. "I take it you are doing well?"

"Ginny has good pointers," I answer, with a shrug.

"At least the weather has been good for quidditch," Sev said.

"Or good for reading a book at the lake," I say.

Sev smirks. "That's my godson," he said. "I expect being back at Hogwarts has been nice?"

"Pansy's angry with me," I admit.

Sev raises his eyebrow. "You seem confused?"

"I am!" I blurt out annoyed. "I have been nothing but kind and she's been absolutely foul. I just don't get it, Sev." I complain.

"I would have thought it was obvious," Sev said. "Pansy is jealous. You have been spending a lot of time with Ginny and Pansy has always been protective of you.."

Understanding dawns. "Thanks, Sev," I say as I quickly walk away. I was going to solve this, I decided. I was happily anticipating the Halloween feast that was tonight. A rumor went that Potter was attending the deathday party of the Gryffindor ghost. Why someone would want to was beyond me.

The last few days I had been missing Pansy a lot as GInny had seemed particularly absent. I was writing a paper for transfigurations during DADA. Lockhart was incredibly incapable, even more so than professor Quirrel. I could hardly waste my time listening to that idiot. My thoughts then drifted towards Ginny. Last time I had seen her was in the library and she had seemed a bit off. She had been avidly writing in that black book of hers.

It was not a new thing. The past few weeks Ginny had been thoroughly distracted and was writing more and more in that black, leathery book of hers. Whenever I would ask her about it, she snapped at me, so I had stopped asking. She also seemed to be isolating herself more and more. I never really saw her hanging around Astoria either like she did at the start of the school year. If Astoria or Vin and Greg wanted to see her, they had to search her and she always looked so incredibly confused to see them as if they did not go to the same school and were in the same house. It was actually Greg who had noticed it and was growing worried. Maybe she was just missing her family, I mean, the Weasleys always seemed so close. Or maybe school work was too much.

"Malfoy," professor Lockhart said, interrupting my thoughts, "Are you listening to what I was saying?" He shot me a broad smile, showing off his white teeth. I wanted to snap at him. Of course not. Why would I ever listen to that utter idiot? Well, better not serve detention with him, I decided. "Of course," I sneered, "You were reenacting one of the scenes from your books. Quite the actor you would have made, Professor, if I may add. And so humbling for us to meet the hero from the tales." A bit of flattery went a long way with that humongous bighead.

Professor Lockhart nodded happily, continuing on with his useless tales.

That book that Ginny always carried with her, bothered me more and more. At first I just thought it was a diary, but the more time I spend thinking about it, the less plausible it seemed. Ginny just did not seem the kind of girl that wrote in a dairy, but on the other hand I was no expert on girls, far from it, otherwise Pansy and I would not be fighting. I'm probably just overreacting, I then thought. Am I really that desperate for her full attention?

Maybe I was just missing Pansy.

Yeah, that was probably all.

I found Ginny walking in the halls. "Hey Ginny," I called. "Excited for your first Halloween Feast at Hogwarts?" She turned around and I notice she looked a bit pale. "You okay?"

She smiled, but her eyes looked a bit vacant. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired. That's all."

It made me a bit uncomfortable. Was she the only student that was not excited for the feast? "Let's go to the great hall, okay? It will be great. I even heard a rumor that Headmaster Dumbledore has booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for entertainment!"

She then said "Yeah, yeah, of course I'm excited. First feast at Hogwarts."

I felt a bit unsure. "It will be great. It will be decorated thousands of live fluttering bats. There will be into lanterns carved pumpkins that are so huge that you could sit in there with three people." I hooked my arm through hers. I felt myself getting more and more excited and I did not notice her not matching it. Just as I did not notice her nervously stroking the black, leathery book in her pocket. "And the food, Ginny, is absolutely brilliant. Carrot cake. big lollipop, black cauldrons.."

Then Greg and Vin joined me, smiling excitedly. "Yeah," Vin said, "The food will be brilliant. You'll love it, Ginny."

Greg nodded. "And there is always some sort of entertainment afterwards. Last year the ghosts popped out of the walls and did some gliding in formation and stuff."

When we walked into the Great Hall, it looked just as brilliant as last year. I felt myself in awe again.

The feast was nice. I enthusiastically dug in all the sweets, just as Vin and Greg did. Pansy actually smiled fondly at me. The feast seemed to get everyone in an outstanding mood. Greg was telling stories about his uncle's magical plants, Vin about that one time he tried to bake when he was seven, afterwards his mother taught him baking very well. And Pansy was talking to me. "You're mother would be horrified, seeing you eat that much candy," she said. "You are going to be bouncing though our common room."

It felt so familiar and right that I totally forgot the cold shoulder that she was giving me. I stuck out my tongue. "Well, you'll manage with me being twice as annoying." I then remember I had wanted to sit next to her, but I guess it did not really matter as she had been missing me as well.

She sighed dramatically. "I don't know. Can't you just get lost?"

I laughed. "Dream on. I'm going to keep annoying you till the day I die." Then Ginny stood up rigidly, I had not noticed, till Greg asked Ginny if she was okay.

"Yeah. I just.. I gotta go to the toilet," she squeaked. Then she quickly walked out of the hall.

Pansy was looking at me shyly. "You're not going to run after her?"

I felt confused. "Why would I follow her to the toilet?" Merlin, women could be strange sometimes.

She then stood up and took the now empty place next to me and she put her arms around my shoulder. I looked happily at her. "So we're fine again?" I took a giant lolly and put it in my mouth.

She rolled her eyes fondly. "You're such a sweet tooth," she then complained. SO we were fine, I thought giddily, this was a good day. "You're even worse then Greg and Vin, though you eat less."

Then the feast was done, I walked with Pansy, Vin and Greg though the halls. Ginny joined us. Then we saw Potter looking frozen at the wall, where in red letters was written: "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." Below that Filch's cat was hanging petrified from a torch bracket. If Potter would stretch his hand to the front, he could touch Ms. Norris. Ron and Hermione stood next to him, looking genuinely shocked.

We all looked in shock at it.