Chapter 11
Diana woke up in a very unfamiliar place. There were windows, for one. She sat up and saw third year boys who were still asleep. She looked down beside her and saw Fred. George was in the next bed. Lee was on the other side. She was in the Gryffindor dormitory for the third year boys.
She must have been in deep sleep to have not awakened when she was taken here, because this was on the eighth floor. Diana shook Fred lightly to wake him up, but he didn't budge. She poked his ear, and he instantly awoke.
"Diana, whadar you doig id by bed?" Fred asked groggily.
"Someone brought me here," said Diana.
"Diana, did we do adythig lasnight?" Fred asked.
"Dude, Fred. What's she doing in your bed?" asked Lee.
"Zhe woke be up," complained Fred, "but I lub her, so I can furgive."
"Busy night, huh?" asked Lee, snickering.
"Lee!" hissed Diana.
She sang a little song to lull Fred back to sleep, then looked at the door longingly. It was still dark. She looked to Lee's bed. He was as asleep as Fred. Diana smiled and walked out quietly. Maybe they would forget about this the next time they woke up, or think it was a dream of some sort. Lee would probably tell all of his friends about the crazy dream he had. Diana went back to the Slytherin common room unnoticed, and she smiled when she got there; glad to be in a familiar place.
She was wide awake, so she waited in the common room as she counted stones in the wall. Draco was the first to come down, and he didn't come down until about nine. He was closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle, who grunted at Diana. This was worse than their usual behavior towards her. They usually kept to themselves.
"They are disappointed that you didn't give them anything for Christmas," said Draco.
"They didn't give me anything, either," said Diana.
"I told them that. They just grunted," said Draco.
"They grunted? How very unusual!" said Diana.
"Well, I was just trying to give you an explanation," said Draco.
"That was very nice of you. 'They grunted' doesn't explain much to me, though," said Diana.
"They did, though," said Draco as if he had some sort of point.
"I see," said Diana, grinning slightly.
"How was your Christmas..and birthday?" Draco asked, changing the subject.
"Great, but I bet yours was much more interesting. How was Japan?" asked Diana.
"Japan was great. I wish I could speak their language, though," Draco stated.
"I want to go there someday," said Diana.
The two continued to talk about Japan, and Draco taught Diana a few completely useless phrases, such as "This is a monkey". Diana figured someone would know if they had seen a monkey. Someone could easily mistake a gorilla for Crabbe or Goyle, but a monkey didn't resemble much that she could think of. She wondered where Draco learned these phrases. Diana knew a few things already, such as "Look at the armadillo in that hovercraft!"
Blaise came in later, and she told them all about her trip to London. They had already been to London. They had to go there to get to King's Cross Station. Blaise visited some of the castles, and she described them in deep detail. She even described the paintings on some of the walls.
She told them how Muggles from other countries found double-decker buses fascinating. She said, "There's always the Knight Bus. That's a triple decker." Diana reminded her that Muggles didn't have that. Blaise described all the places she went in London. She talked about this huge store called Harrod's. It had many floors, something different on each floor.
Draco got kind of bored when she talked about all the shopping. Diana wasn't all that interested, but she listened nonetheless. She had been to London with the Weasleys before. She decided to tell Draco and Blaise about her visit. With Mr. Weasley's obsession with Muggles, they went to every place Muggles were. He made everyone dress like a Muggle when they went.
Diana somehow remembered refusing to wear a puffy pink dress. She wore a black sleeveless shirt and emerald pants with a silver belt. She also remembered the navy skateboard shoes she wore. She actually learned to work a skateboard quite well when she ran into some skaters who really seemed to like her. Fred didn't seem to like them much, but Diana insisted that she stay with them while Mr. Weasley went into an electronics shop.
The skaters liked Fred well enough, but they could tell that he didn't like them much. He didn't like how they said 'dude' so much. It bugged him, and he asked Diana what it meant. They thought he was a weirdo.
She didn't tell them much else about it. They seemed very interested, but her memory could only go so far, as she told them. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell them about anything that happened. That could never be the case. She would never hide anything from her fellow Slytherins, especially Draco and Blaise. Draco was her best friend, and Blaise was certainly one of her best friends. Everyone knows you're not supposed to keep things from your best friends.
Then again, the only people that knew who her parents were knew because they could match her name with that of Lord Voldemort. She was a bit uncomfortable with Dumbledore knowing, because he was probably watching her somewhat closely to make sure she didn't turn out like her father.
She was sure there were many people who hoped she didn't turn out like her father. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to think there was no hope of her not being like her father. She thought this was quite sad.
Now that they had all talked about their Christmas vacations (except Diana, since she didn't have one), they talked about their presents. Draco greatly enjoyed talking about his presents. Diana told them about the music box. Blaise found it hilarious, but Draco didn't react. She told them how she enjoyed their gifts, and Draco lightened up a bit. Blaise didn't have as many presents from classmates as they did, but she had a fair amount from people in her family.
Diana didn't get any from her family, and both Draco and Blaise knew why. They knew that her parents weren't among the living. They felt a bit guilty about mentioning their own families, but Diana insisted that it was okay.
The subject shifted to Quidditch, and Draco made a comment about Harry falling off his broom. Blaise wondered what Draco had so strongly against Harry. Diana didn't wonder. Diana knew that it was just a combination of jealousy and being rejected by the kid. She knew that Draco thought that popularity gave people a certain sense of power. Being a Slytherin herself, she knew that Slytherins seeked power more than anything else in life.
They went out to the lake, which was still frozen over. Draco ran across it, and he slipped halfway. Blaise found this very amusing. He got back up quickly, but Diana still stifled her laughter for some reason. Blaise was laughing hysterically. Draco blushed and came back to the shore. The three of them walked across the ice slowly. They got all the way to the other side after about fifteen minutes. They got to the forest, which Draco was afraid of, even if he didn't admit it.
The three of them went back to the center of the lake and sat down. Draco blushed when Blaise sat on his lap. Diana snickered. She decided to stand next to them. They talked about the New Year that was coming. None of them was really excited about it. It was just another day. Draco said there should be presents so it could be a proper holiday. Diana was sure he cared more about presents than proper holidays.
Blaise said something about a Muggle tradition of making New Year's resolutions, where you say you'll improve something about yourself for the New Year, but never quite get around to it. Diana had heard of it. Mr. Weasley decided all the members of the Burrow had to one year. Diana said she would stop playing the random word game with Fred and George past midnight.