June 31, second year

Home.  I forget how nice it is to fling myself onto my own bed.  How nice it is to have a room with no one else in it.  How nice it is not to have to lie to people anymore.

Journal, the friend I had worked so hard to maintain this year, is no longer my friend.  Why? you might ask.  Well, it's because of his Slytherin prejudice.

I was minding my own business on the train home this afternoon.  The train hadn't left yet and I was very comfortable alone.  I was reading, as usual, when the door burst open and Ron Weasley came in.

"Hey, Jeremy," he said.  He was followed by two people.  One, I knew as Harry Potter.  The other was a girl with bushy brown hair, that I would bet my life to be the girl that Draco referred to as "mudblood Granger."

"Hi, Ron," I said cautiously.  I wasn't sure where this meeting would go.

"Would you mind if we sat with you?  Everywhere else is full," Ron continued.

"Sure," I said slowly.

"Great.  This is Hermione Granger," he said motioning to the girl.  "And you probably know that this is Harry Potter."

I nodded.  "Who hasn't?"  It was not in my nature to make a big deal of him.  After all, I've only heard bad things about him.

"How do you know Ron?" Harry Potter asked me.

"We met at a Quidditch game.  He asked me who I thought would we and then we --"

"Ended up sitting together," Ron said quickly.  Looks like someone wasn't supposed to be gambling.

The door opened and in walked, much to my dismay, Genevieve Weasley and Colin.

"Jerry?" my former friend asked.  He looked surprised to see me with Gryffindors.

"Colin," I said curtly.  I avoided the gaze of Ginny Weasley.  Then I realized something.  "Your friends with her?"  I was astonished.  Why would Colin be with the girl that had ruined his last year.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.  He didn't know.  I remembered that no one knew.  Well, Potter and Ron probably knew.  Granger might have.  And the Slytherins all did.  But that was it.

After all, Draco did know who the Heir of Slytherin.  He wanted to make it known through out the Slytherin House, so he told everyone.  But the Gryffindors still hadn't figured it out.

"No reason."  I turned my cold glare onto Ginny, letting her know that there was a perfectly good reason.  And that I knew it.  And I could tell from her expression that she knew I knew.

The door opened again.  I looked up, expecting to see another Gryffindor, but instead, there stood Draco Malfoy, flanked as usual, but Vincent and Gregory.

"Look, a little Gryffindor party," Draco sneered.  Then he saw me.  "What are you doing here, Jeremy?  These Gryffindors invade your compartment?"

I looked at Ron, his eyes wide with confusion.  I knew that he didn't know that I knew Draco.  And I knew that it made a big difference to him.

I looked at Colin.  He did not look at me, however, and that is what made me make my decision.

"Something like that," I said.

"Well, get your self out of this stinking compartment," he started with a pointed glance at Ron.  "Slytherins sit together."

"You're a Slytherin?" Ron asked, loudly as I was about to leave.

"Yes, he is.  He is a proud member of the greatest house in Hogwarts," Draco answered for me.

"Slytherin isn't the greatest!  Gryffindor is!  We're the bravest!" Harry exclaimed.

I looked him in his famous green eyes.  "There is a very fine line between bravery and stupidity."  And with that, I left the room, slamming the door behind me.

So I spent the rest of the trip home translating whatever Greg said into understandable English for Draco.  I was also forced to answer many questions about my home-life. 

Let's just say, I'm glad to be home.