Chapter 11: Slugulus Eructo

Ginny yawned widely and stretched in her bed. Finally, it was Saturday. The Gryffindor Quidditch team had a practice scheduled for today. She got dressed and ran out of the Gryffindor tower, invigorated by the thought of seeing Harry play. When she got outside though, she found the Gryffindor team coming back inside the castle with frowns on their faces. Harry was not among them.

"Is practice over?" she asked Fred.

"Cancelled," he answered.

"Slytherins," George added, accentuating the 's'.

The team made their way inside, grumbling about the Slytherins and Snape. Only Colin was left behind.

"All I wanted was to take a picture," he said before she even asked. "It was interesting, that's all. And they got all angry at me and pushed me aside. You don't see someone coughing up slugs every day, you know? It probably wasn't pleasant but I'm sure he would find it funny later. And wouldn't a picture be a great keepsake of a funny moment like that? I would've wanted a picture if it was me. Why don't they get it?"

"Who was coughing up slugs?"

"Your brother, Ron. I think that broken wand of his malfunctioned when he tried to jinx someone."

Ginny shook her head in disbelief. "That's what he gets for being too much of a coward to ask mum for a new wand."

Colin sighed and blew invisible dust off his camera.

"I was hoping to get a few pictures of the Quidditch practice, but it's just Slytherins on the field now. I don't like them. They keep making fun of me because my parents aren't wizards."

"Don't worry, Colin," Ginny patted his arm. "You'll get your chance to see Quidditch later. And those Slytherins are jerks. Just call me if they ever give you trouble. Gryffindors stick up for each other. Now, let's get to breakfast. I'm starving."

Colin's frown lifted a little, and she offered him a hand to help him get up. He followed her to the Great Hall with the usual bounce in his step. It was really unfair how some wizards treated Muggleborns. Colin had as much right to attend Hogwarts as any other student.

When they got to the Great hall, they found Merlin and Jack already seated.

"You're back quickly, Colin," Merlin said. "I thought practice would be longer than that. We were hoping to catch some of it after breakfast."

"Practice was cancelled," Colin answered grumpily and sat down with Ginny. "Snape gave Slytherins permission to take the field. How did you all do on your Potions homework?"

"I aced it," Merlin said smugly. "Snape looked really unhappy that he couldn't fail it. I think, Jack, you got a good grade too, right?"

Jack nodded but stayed quiet, picking at his food.

"What about you, Colin?" Merlin continued.

"Not so great." Colin bit down his bread angrily. "Apparently, I missed the whole point and wrote off-topic. Snape hates me just like all the Slytherin kids do."

"Let me look over it next time. I'll let you know if you're on the right track," Merlin offered. "How did you do with Snape, Ginny?" Merlin asked, and Ginny felt a sting of panic, realizing that his cerulean-blue eyes were on her.

He had pretty eyes but not as pretty as Harry's. Harry's eyes were the most beautiful green she'd ever seen: lime with specs of gold at the center and dark grass-green at the edge. She would love it if she felt brave enough to look into those eyes straight up and… Oh, no. Why was she thinking about Harry now?

"I did okay," she answered quickly and hoped that her cheeks did not betray her.

If they did, Merlin did not comment, and she felt thankful that boys were not as nosy as girls. The Chatties would have picked up on her little daydreaming immediately and would have surely teased her about it.

Jack suddenly got up and called over their heads, "Hey, Luna."

A short blond Ravenclaw girl walked up to them and all of their eyes turned to her.

"Have you seen Elsa?" he asked her. "I haven't seen her come down yet."

"She said she wasn't hungry," Luna answered, looking at the space above Jack. "But she didn't stay in the dorm. Honestly, I'm worried about her. I think her ears must be infested with Wrackspurts."

Jack frowned. "What's that?"

"They're these little invisible creatures that fly into your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. If you find her, tell her to think happy thoughts to dispell them."

She smiled and walked away, leaving Jack with worry etched on his face.

Ginny waited until the girl left and tried to suppress a laugh. "Don't worry, Jack. Your sister is fine. It sounds like one of those made-up stories The Quibbler keeps producing. Mum says it's full of rubbish."

Jack didn't seem reassured but remained standing, looking after Luna and switching his weight from one leg to the other. He finally sat down and stabbed a sausage link with his fork.

"Merlin," Colin asked, "would you help me prepare that photo potion?"

"Sure, we could work on that today."

Ginny wanted to ask them if she could join but held back, not feeling invited. She wasn't part of their group. They allowed her to sit with them probably just to be nice.

Merlin craned his neck to see the Gryffindor table. "How come Harry is not here yet?"

"Oh, he took Ron to that big guy, the gamekeeper," Colin said, "because Ron was coughing up slugs. It was disgusting but also fascinating. They were huge and slimy." She winced at the description but Colin did not stop. "I wanted to take a picture but they wouldn't let me. Did you know there is a jinx that can do that? Ron tried to jinx some Slytherin, I don't know why, but his wand is broken. Did you notice? And so his jinx backfired. The Slytherins were laughing. I wonder how long he's going to be coughing up slugs. How long do jinxes normally last? What do you think slugs taste like?"

Ginny suddenly felt nauseated and excused herself.

When she was leaving, she overheard Colin say, "Oh, should I not have mentioned slugs?" which was followed by the boys laughing.

Ginny dragged her feet back to the dorm, mad at herself for having a weak stomach. She was too much of a girl to fit in with the boys.

The chatties were thankfully not back yet and she sat down on her bed, blissfully alone. Back home, there was always someone in the house, it was never quiet, but at least she had her own room. At Hogwarts, she shared a room with three other girls, who occupied each free moment with their favorite topic: making fun of boys. She loved these brief moments of privacy.

After a while though, the blissful silence in the room lost its appeal. It was Saturday. She should be doing something fun, something with friends. Her roommates were nice but she didn't have anything in common with them. She liked sports, they liked fashion. She liked rock bands like Weird Sisters, they liked boy bands. And the boys didn't see her as one of them either.

She dug in her trunk and pulled out her journal. She touched the leather cover tenderly and wondered what she could write in it. A recap of her first week at Hogwarts sounded like a good start.

Dear Diary, she scratched with her quill and paused, wondering how to summarize it all. History of Magic was as dull, though watching the ghost of her professor float about was entertaining. Professor Snape had lived up to the savage stories her brothers had told her. Herbology was fun since it didn't take place in a boring classroom. Charms looked promising but they hadn't done any spells yet. And Transfiguration was a bust so far. Nothing exciting had really happened.

She thought to write just that but got confused by a blank page under her quill. Hadn't she just written something in there?

Dear Diary, she wrote again and gasped as her words were absorbed by the paper, leaving her with a blank page again.

"Are you okay, Ginny?" one of her roommates asked. She didn't even notice her come in.

"Yeah," Ginny cleared her throat. "Just remembered something."

She looked at her ordinary quill and ink bottle. She had just used them for homework earlier. With a shaking hand, she scribbled, Is this a magic diary?

After a short pause, the words disappeared and new words appeared on the page in a script too elegant for her handwriting.

Obviously.

Ginny inhaled sharply and looked around the room. Her roommates had come back but didn't pay her attention. No one noticed that she was holding a diary that could talk back to her.

She had never heard of such a magical object, but anything was possible. Her own father enchanted a car to fly. Could she have a conversation with this book?

Hi, Diary. I'm Ginny Weasley.

My name is Tom, not Diary.

Ginny stifled a giggle. Her diary was a boy.

Hi Tom. How come you can write back to me?

I enchanted my own diary to preserve a memory of myself in its pages.

Ginny turned the book over to look at the inscribed initials on the cover: T. M. Riddle. T. like Tom! He was a real person.

It's nice to meet you, Tom. Why did you preserve a memory of yourself?

Tom didn't answer immediately.

Didn't you ever want to leave something behind so people wouldn't forget you?

I'm one of seven children. I know what it's like to feel forgotten.

I'm sorry to hear that. What is it like to have so many siblings?

It's chaotic. You can never get a moment's peace and you live in a world of hand-me-downs.

But at least, you can rely on your siblings to be there for you, right? They are your friends?

Most of the time, my brothers just pick on me or tease me. They're not my friends.

Ginny looked at the Chatties having fun together on the other side of the room and thought about how apart she felt from them.

I don't have any friends.

She immediately regretted admitting to it. It sounded so whiny.

Then, I will be your friend.

She read the words over and over before they disappeared. Someone wanted to be her friend. The thought made her feel warm inside. Was it possible to be friends with a boy she could never meet in person? Unless she could one day.

Thank you, Tom.

So, tell me. Did anything interesting happen today?

I was supposed to watch my team practice Quidditch but it was cancelled so I'm left with nothing to do.

We'll find you something to do, Ginny. Now, how about we talk about you? I want to know more about you, my dear friend.