July 4, 1995, 12 Grimmauld Place
It's very late. I think it's around eleven, but that wretched house elf Kreacher came in here and broke our clock when we were all downstairs yesterday cleaning the kitchen. Hermione was furious when I started shouting at him. She's still going on about S.P.E.W.
I am so tired. Mum's been on a cleaning rampage, and we've been scrubbing floors ever since we got here. But I do have good news: we finally know what this secret society is.
It's called the Order of the Phoenix, and it's made up of a lot of full-grown wizards who are secretly fighting You-Know-Who. Mum, Dad, and Bill introduced all of us to the other members who came for dinner last night, and there sure are a lot of them. Professor Lupin is staying in the house, I'm happy to say. He's got to be the best DADA professor we've had at Hogwarts.
Hermione and I have taken a liking to one of the few female members of the Order. Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, but she wants to be called by her surname only. Here's the thing: she's a Metamorphagus! She can change her appearance at will. Right now, she says, her favorite hair color in bubble gum pink, worn in short spikes. She's very funny, and I can tell we'll be great friends.
Today, Mum had Hermione and I cleaning our own bedroom. I never realized how filthy it was! I mean, I barely spent any time in there, after all, because we've been cleaning the kitchen. The windows in here were covered in a solid layer of dirt! This house must be ancient!
Yeah, I know, I said I was tired, butI can't sleep. This house is so creepy. There are snake-shaped things all over the place. The people who lived in this house must have been some pretty die-hard Slytherin fans! Kreacher is always mumbling about the Dark Lord. The old woman's painting downstairs keeps screaming about "creatures of dirt". It's like this house is holding a secret.
Speaking of secrets...
No one will tell me why I'm not allowed up on the fourth floor! Mum said that she would explain it to me tomorrow morning, but she'll probably "forget" like she did this morning. There's obviously something she doesn't want me to see. But Ron and Hermione have been up on the fourth floor, and they come back perfectly fine. Mum's being very suspicious...
Speaking of suspicious...(okay, I think I should stop doing this now, but...)
So far, there's been one Order meetingduring the time that we've spent here, and when all of the members started to arrive tonight, I heard someone(or something) moving around on the FOURTH FLOOR. But before I could go investigate, Mum and Hermione shoved me back in the bedroom and stood guard outside the door until the person(or thing) was gone. Later on, I heard Mum telling someone out in the hall that they should have "waited for the signal" and that they could have "been seen by her before she knew".
For some strange reason, I think this "she" Mum was referring to was me.
You see? I'm almost fourteen years old, for crying out loud, and people still protect me from things that they think I won't be able to handle. Hello? I faced Riddle when I was eleven years old! I think I can handle anything.
Okay...I'm still having nightmares about that. Maybe that wasn't a good example.
Speaking of nightmares...(okay, just this one last time!)
I had another one last night. It's the one that I had my very first night back at home after my first year. It started out with me writing in a diary, smiling away, and then everything flashed, and after that, I was lying in a stone dungeon, and Riddle was looking over me, laughing...
Then, I woke up, because Hermione was calling my name softly. She said she heard me moaning in my sleep, and she wanted to know what was wrong. I told her, and she was staring at me all day. I think she thinks that by giving me this journal, she's dug up my fears of Riddle, and that it's HER fault I'm having these nightmares. But it's not her fault at all.
Hermione and Ron had their first fight of the summer yesterday. I overheard them. Okay, they were shouting at the top of their lungs, but I had to go outside in the hallway and listen in, because the old woman downstairs started shrieking again. They were arguing about Harry. Hermione wanted to send him a letter about where they were and about the Order, but Ron didn't want to, because Mum and Dad told all of us not to tell a soul about the Order or the headquarters.
They went on and on for about ten minutes before Mum came upstairs and told them to shut up, because the old woman wasn't going to quiet down unless everything in the house was silent.
Oh, god. I can barely even write anymore. I'm probably in for a long day of cleaning tomorrow.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll investigate the fourth floor tomorrow as well.
-Ginny
Was that one too short? Sorry I posted so late, and sorry about the short chapter. I'm on a deadline here. I have to clean my room before nine, and it's five-thirty, and I'm in a rush because I woke up late and had to go out and get a mattress and I didn't have enough time to write a good chapter. I PROMISE: the next one will be longer.
Happy Independence Day, all of my American readers!
I'd like to thank my reviewers: prongsgurl1202113, uasoccerbear08(hey, soccerbear, if you look through this chapter, you'll find the explanation for the shouting yesterday! sorry for the confusion!), Draco'sBrokenAngel, Jazipan, and Yasona Black. Thanks so much you guys! You're the best!
So...how did you like this chapter? Again, I'm sorry it's short, but I'm running on a deadline here and I have to make it quick.
Please, review! I love seeing comments from you guys in my inbox every morning!
-Rox
