Yay! Thanks to all of those who reviewed. Namely, aims80, GlueStik, Name - Less One, flitwicke (you're in another one of your spammy moods agn unless I'm mistaken), Eriol's bear (would this happen to be a ccs thing? =) ), Athletic_gurl, jade and TFG. *huggies* I'm in a rather huggy mood today, but never mind. (",)

Chapter 2

[At the Slytherin table]

Draco caught the neatly wrapped parcel that fell from the owl in his hand. He raised an eyebrow. The delivery was more immediate than he expected.

Aware that the rest of the Slytherin table was staring at his "mysterious parcel", he swiftly tucked it firmly into the folds of his robes, and noticed that an attached letter fell from it.

Mister Draco Malfoy,

We are pleased to inform you that your application has been approved, and enclosed is your own personal log book, in which you can use to confer messages to your wiz-messaging friend.

Regards,

The Wiz-messaging committee

Draco crumpled the letter up. This action drew even more curious glances all around.

"Aren't you going to open it, Draco?" Pansy Parkinson fluttered her lashes. "It could be something important."

Draco waved his hand. "Whatever," was his reply, as he absentmindedly bit into a muffin. He chewed slowly, processing in his mind what he was going to do about the log book. Sure, it was for losers who had no friends, but come to think of it, he didn't really have any to speak of.

Suddenly, he started choking [A/n: forgot to chew before swallowing - too engrossed perhaps? :D ], and gulped down his juice quickly, in order to clear his throat. Pansy immediately started fawning over him, and Draco was torn in a moment where he felt like coughing and throwing up simultaneously. This was creating quite an uproar at the Slytherin table, and they crowded around him, each trying their own methods to ease the choking. Draco thought he was going to suffocate from all the pressure around him.

****************

[Meanwhile]

"What's going on?" Ron asked curiously, as the rest of the Great Hall gaped at the spectacle of a whole group of Slytherins crowding around a very embarrassed Draco.

Harry snickered. "Humiliation has officially become an understatement."

Hermione couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Draco. He looked as if he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, squirming in his seat. His coughing fit was over, but Hermione could still hear shouts of "Drink more! Drink more!" and "Let's administer the Heimlich!" It was pretty amusing, though.

Hermione was so distracted that she didn't notice the parcel in front of her.

"Hey, Herm, you got a parcel," Ron observed.

"Huh? Oh - thanks." Hermione unwrapped it eagerly, and beneath the brown paper was the most beautifully bound book she had seen in her entire life. The cover was made up of rather fancy looking leather, and the pages inside were made of cleanly cut pieces of parchment. She noticed the letter stuck onto the wrappings and read it with anticipation. The smile on her face widened as she quickly scanned the contents, and she turned to Harry excitedly.

"Harry! Look!" She shoved the book into his line of vision, so that he could get a good glimpse of it.

Harry smiled uncertainly. "Nice diary," he mumbled, before turning his attention back to his breakfast of cereal and fruit. He stared at his spoon as if it held the answers to life, obviously going into one of his "I'm- moody-don't talk-to-me" moods. Strange how Ron and Harry both had these moods swings lately.

Hermione directed her attention back to the log book, and grinned consciously to herself. She couldn't wait to get started.

****************

[In the Slytherin dungeons]

Draco hunched over the log book. It was fairly well made, he observed. He dipped his quill in the ink and paused over the parchment. On the paper was written: Log in name.

Draco hesitated, then scribbled something that popped out of his head. He watched in wonder as the words on the parchment disappeared, then, new words surfaced. They were questions on who he would prefer chatting with, and Draco, now feeling very confused, circled them randomly, not even looking at what he was choosing. He finally sat back and watched as the ink disappeared, only to reveal a blank page. Draco waited for more words to appear, but none surfaced. He was starting to feel impatient, and accidentally blotted the paper by mistake. To his amazement, the blot was absorbed into the parchment, and a short line of words appeared at the top.

SilverSerpent: .

Draco could only stare. The blot appeared next to his name, and looked exactly like one he had accidentally done on the parchment before. Before he knew what was happening, another line appeared under his sentence.

HgirL: Hi.

Draco didn't know how to respond [A/n: wizard born, remember? =) ]. At least he knew the respondent was female. He cautiously wrote once more, his quill making scratching noises against the rough surface.

SilverSerpent: Who are you?

HgirL: Who are _you_?

SilverSerpent: I asked first.

HgirL: I'm a student.

SilverSerpent: That's not what I meant. I said who, not what.

HgirL: I think we should keep our identities secret. You know, more suspense and all.

SilverSerpent: Fine.

Draco was secretly relieved that he didn't have to give away his name. In a way, he felt that he would be able to hold a better conversation if the other person didn't know that he was a Malfoy. He was tired of being constantly avoided by others who were scared of his family.

HgirL: Great. You don't sound so happy, though.

Draco frowned at the handwriting. It looked oddly familiar, and he was almost sure he had seen it before. . .

SilverSerpent: I'm just a little grouchy, I guess.

HgirL: You too? The people around me are pretty grouchy, too. Every time I try to get some kind of conversation going, I don't get much of a response.

SilverSerpent: Same here.

HgirL: Really? What a coincidence, huh? :)

Draco cracked a smile, and dipped his quill into the inkwell once more. He could really get used to doing this.



****************

Hermione grinned to herself, as she quickly flipped through the past few full pages she had written in the log book. Not bad. The conversation between her and SilverSerpent was actually pretty interesting. She felt as if she could relate to his problems of not being able to have a proper conversation with his friends. That is, if SilverSerpent was a "he". Hermione had simply guessed that the person she was conversing with was male, from the scrawled handwriting. It wasn't what you would call untidy, but just seemed to be very. . . boyish.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. Oops. She was supposed to be in bed by ten minutes. She hastily scribbled a message.

HgirL: I have to go. It's bedtime. SilverSerpent: Okay. Good night.

HgirL: Night.

HgirL: We'll talk again tomorrow, I hope?

SilverSerpent: Okay. Tomorrow.

Hermione closed the book, and restrained herself from laughing with happiness. She smiled at the log book in her hands, and headed upstairs.

"Good night," she whispered, and lay down in bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time before finally dropping off to sleep.



Tbc. . .

[A/n: Sorry for the slow update. I promise to update more frequently in future. Oh, pls review!! Thanks.]